#so like there's this weird tension between them where she kind of hates him but is determined to use him for all he's worth

[konstantya]

Tfw you want to write fic for a hella obscure pulp story, but it isn’t even available online, so now you gotta figure out someway to get it online, so that any prospective readers will actually be able to have some fucking context. 😂😂😂

[damiansgoodgirll]

I just read “think I need someone older” and omg it was so so angsty and so so good! I was hoping to request sort of the reverse where Damian has a crush on reader (same age gap and everything) and he’s worried that she doesn’t feel the same and all of his conflicting emotions in having feelings for someone much younger than him. Angst would be great too but the ending is totally up to you! 🖤

omg love this idea! a little similar to the other one!

damian priest x reader

likes, comments and reblogs are always appreciated!!

‼️a little angsty, some feels, sexual tension, age gap between damian and reader

beautiful angel

damian felt like something was wrong with him but he couldn’t help it. he couldn’t stop looking at you everytime you were at the gym together and you were training with him or rhea. he couldn’t help but love your company, even if it was just for the amount of time he would drop you back home. he just loved being in your presence and he couldn’t understand why.

he felt weird for even looking in your direction sometimes. he was way older than you and in his eyes you were just a young spirit full of life.

you, being in your early twenties, wanted to live your life at fullest. you were building your own career in wrestling, you were trying to do as many fun new things and adventures as you could. and damian felt like if he tried anything with you, he would stop you from doing that.

he was attracted by you. not only by your looks, even if he thought that you were the most beautiful person he ever met, he was attracted by your personality, your kind and genuine self, your funny side, he was attracted by you.

he was happily looking at you as you were training with rhea. he didn’t know what you told her but he didn’t missed the laughs escaping her lips.

“you coming too damian?” rhea woke him from his dream.

“sorry?” he apologised, feeling like the missed all of the conversation you were having before.

“y/n asked us if we want to join her tonight, she’s going to this new club downtown” rhea explained “i’m definitely going”

“oh” he thought about it for a moment. he was a party boy. he never missed going to clubs and having fun but you two never actually went together so he didn’t know how he should behave “yes…count me in” he faked a smile that turned genuine when he saw you happily jumping in the ring.

once you all finished your training, damian offered to drop you off at home, as usual. he was so whipped that he even let you play your pop playlist in his car. he never done that for anyone except you.

“you and rhea went hard today” he laughed watching how tired you were.

“yeah…i think i’ll sleep for a bit and then i’ll get ready for tonight” you replied back.

“what time do you want me to pick you up?” he was natural. he could be your private driver and he wouldn’t care as long as he could spend time with you.

“oh…rhea said around midnight…” you thought about it for a moment. truth was that you didn’t tell them the complete truth. you weren’t going to the club just to have fun as you told the duo, you were going there because a boy asked you out but you were too scared of going alone so you tried to convince them to be your back up in case something happened.

you didn’t really want to meet anyone as you were happily enjoying your youth but when he appeared to ask you out, noticing how good looking he was, you gave yourself a chance.

“midnight…okay, i’ll text you once i’ll be down there” he smiled.

you couldn’t notice how kind he always was towards you. he never minded taking you home, going grocery shopping with you when you asked him, going to the theatre with you even when it was about stupid comedies that he hated. he always offered to train with you. he liked to push you to your limits but he never went to far, always checking in with you.

you couldn’t stop but thinking that all he did was just with you. you knew how close he was with rhea but never once in his lifetime he let her play her music in his car, not even when they both liked the same type of music. he did things for you that he wouldn’t do for anyone else and that feeling made you think.

“here we go angel” the little nickname he used for you made you blush. it wasn’t anything knew for you but yet, the way his voice sounded made you always feel butterflies that you couldn’t understand.

“thank you…see you tonight” you happily said, leaving a soft kiss on his cheek as usual before leaving his car and going strong into your apartment.

damian stood there for a moment. you always kissed him goodbye and to this day, he still wasn’t used to it.

with the biggest smile on his face, he drove back home.

once inside, he took time to wash himself and trying to distract himself from the thought of you. walking half naked in his home, he tried to think about anything else but he couldn’t. everything remained him of you. he went on instagram, seeing if any of his friends posted something new but somehow he always managed to find your profile and look at your pictures.

in his eyes, you were the most beautiful person he ever laid his eyes on but he couldn’t stop wonder what his family and friends would say if they knew he had a crush on you.

the age difference between the two of you was symbolic. hell, he could have been your big brother or father - almost - and he was worried that in your eyes, he was just an old man.

“fuck…” he cursed while scrolling down your instagram. there were pictures of you in your ring gear, in your bikinis, in your pjs. there were selfie with your friends and family. there were a few pictures with him and rhea too and he smiled seeing the sweet captions you wrote under those pictures.

you had him wrapped around your finger and you didn’t even know about it.

he was sure you were sleeping now and he tried to rest a couple of hours before getting ready for tonight, but his mind wouldn’t stop thinking of you. he wanted to text you but he knew he just couldn’t so instead he scrolled through all of your old messages, smiling from time to time when you texted him personal things or just stupid things you read online.

but right when he was thinking of you, he received the notification and that person was you.

rhea asked me if you can pick her up too tonight, she doesn’t feel like driving all the way downtown. she can be annoying sometimes :/

he genuinely smiled. just the simplest text could bring a smile on his face. he replied with an okay before starting to get ready.

he wore just a pair of black leather pants and a white shirt, his rings and necklaces being the main accessories. he looked one less time in the mirror before leaving his house and making his way toward your apartment.

he picked you up first cause he wanted to be able to spend at least 10 minutes alone with you before picking up rhea.

his breath caught in his throat when he saw you walking down the street with the cutest and hottest short green dress you’ve ever worn.

“dios mio…” he whispered. you were flawless. your make up matched your outfit. your hair falling effortlessly on your shoulders. your smile always present on your face.

“hey” you smiled at him before sitting on the passenger seat, knowing that later you would have to fight with rhea for that seat as she always hated sitting in the back.

he greeted you before driving over “that dress looks good on you” he tried to compose himself but your were making it hard, you were making him hard.

“oh thank you…” you blushed “ you don’t look so bad either” you made him laugh.

you could feel the tension while he was driving to rhea. it was like as if he was nervous to be in your presence.

he drove fast, not trusting his own thoughts. of course, rhea fought to be in passenger seat but damian wasn’t having any of that so the moment she stepped into the car, he drove towards the club.

he thought that maybe once there, he could use some distraction.

the moment you entered the club your eyes met the infamous boy you’ve been texting for the past few days. he wasn’t alone either. but before you could approach him, rhea led you and damian towards a little table in the corner, saying that over there you would have more privacy.

damian started to feeling a little uncomfortable. he was used to partying but he couldn’t put his mind together when he was around you.

“it’s a party rhea…let’s dance!” you shouted trying to speak over the loud music.

“i’ll drink something first, you go and have fun! damian are you staying here or are you going?” rhea asked t turning to face damian.

“i’ll order a soda…don’t wanna drink if i have to get your drunk asses back home” he tried to laugh about it but the when he saw boys looking at you, he just wanted to rip their heads off.

“fine…i’ll see you later” you smiled and waved them goodbye.

damian watched you while you were getting loose on the dance floor but when people started to join the party, he lost sight of you. you moved to the back, trying to see the famous boy you wanted to meet but when you saw him dancing with another girl, your heart dropped.

why did he even invite you if he didn’t want to see you?

you moved the bar, wanting to drawn your sorrow in alcohol. the guy at the bar saw how miserable you were and he pitied you so he offered you a strong vodka cocktail. you didn’t know what you were drinking, you didn’t even care, you just wanted to forget how excited you were for tonight and how stupid you were thinking that some guy finally thought about you.

while drinking you spotted rhea already on the dance floor, awkwardly dancing knowing that the clubs weren’t exactly her places. that brought a little smile to her face but the smile suddenly fell when you saw damian dancing with a woman.

no, not a girl. a grown ass woman.

in your eyes, she was beautiful. she was everything you weren’t yet. she had some cute wrinkles when she smiled. a blue dress that fitted perfectly her curves. damian’s hands were all over her body, from her back to her ass and you couldn’t shake those weird feelings away.

maybe it was the alcohol - you thought.

damian didn’t even know the woman’s name. she told him but he didn’t care. the moment he lost sight of you, his mind started to wander ;

what if you were making out with some guy? what if you wanted just to have fun and not have anything serious?

you were young after all, he would have perfectly understood if those were your intentions. but then he spotted you. a drink in your hand and an empty glass next to you, sign that it wasn’t your first drink. you were dozing off and when he looked at the time, he was shocked when the clock signed 2 am already.

two hours passed in what felt like ten minutes and he wondered what did you do all night long. he excused himself from the unknown woman and he walked towards you.

“mariposa…” his voice gently woke you from your own thoughts.

“hey…” he knew something was off.

“i hope you’re not abusing these cocktails” he joked making you chuckle a little.

“this is my second -…”

“third” the barman corrected you.

“oh right…third vodka cocktail…it’s good, it tastes like syrup but alcoholic” you joked, clearly drunk.

“and that’s my sign to take you back home” damian laughed, helping you off the bar stool and keeping a firm hand on your back to make sure you wouldn’t fall.

he signed to rhea and she happily left the dance floor “finally…my feet are killing me” she laughed but her face drop when she saw your condition “what’s wrong with her?”

“she’s drunk” damian laughed.

“i hate boys…” was all that came out of your mouth. your mind wasn’t even thinking at this point, you were just expressing your feelings.

damian wanted to know more about your outburst but the music was making it hard for him to understand your words.

he took you out and back to the car, rhea following behind. she was too tired that she didn’t even want to to fight with you for the car seats.

“why do you hate boys?” rhea asked laughing a little. she knew you could be a little dramatic sometimes.

“i was supposed to meet a boy here but when i saw him, he was dancing with someone else…and she was very pretty…very very pretty” you said half drunk.

damian was pissed. oh, he was beyond mad.

that guy didn’t even know how lucky he was to even be in your presence.

“she couldn’t have been prettier than you” damian whispered “you’re so beautiful, angel” he tried to cheer you up.

you genuinely smiled and put your hand over his bigger one.

too tired, rhea didn’t even know what was going on so she simply agreed with damian.

once rhea was back home, damian felt more at ease being alone with you. he finally could talk with you, comfort you or let you cry if you needed to.

“damian…” you called his name.

“yes?”

“can you stay at my place? i feel like i don’t wanna be alone tonight…” your soft voice said and he nodded, promising you that he wouldn’t have left you alone.

he gently helped you out of the car, his hand on your hips making sure you wouldn’t lose your balance. once inside you kicked your heels somewhere in the room, making damian giggle. he helped you sitting down on your big puffy couch and he gave you some water to drink.

“thanks…” you shyly smiled.

he sat next to you, gently covering you with your pink blanket.

“do you wanna talk?” he offered but you shook your head no.

“i just wanna a hug” at this point you weren’t even drunk anymore, maybe a little tipsy. you were miserable and embarrassed.

damian sadly smiled and opened his arms for you. he could hold you every night.

“it’s okay…” he whispered when he heard you sobbing “angel…it’s okay”

“it’s not…i thought that someone finally liked me…” you cried.

he wanted to scream how much in love he was with you but he didn’t want to overwhelm you know. and the worst, he didn’t want to ruin your friendship.

“hey…you’re young, you told me that you weren’t looking for a man, this was just a boy…you’ll find someone who can appreciate you, i promise you” he softly kissed your head.

“it’s easy for you…you’re hot and all the women want you, you don’t know what it’s like to feel attracted by someone only for that person to ignore you” you didn’t mean to be so rude towards damian, at the end of the day, he was just trying to help you.

“mariposa trust me…i know what it feels like” his words made you curious so you looked at him, letting him continue “i like someone who doesn’t like me back” he chuckled “and she’s the most beautiful person ive ever seen…”

“she’s stupid” you said making him laugh. if only you knew he was talking about you “does she know?”

“i can’t tell her…” he whispered.

“why not?” you were now invested in this conversation.

“i don’t wanna ruin our friendship, she’s special to me” damian tried to hold himself back when he saw your little face scrunch while you were thinking of something to say back. he found you adorable.

“i think you should take the risk…you’ll never know what she feels if you don’t tell her”

“it’s not that simple…i feel like i’m not good enough for her. she’s so full of life, and younger than me…i don’t know if she would like to date an old man like me” he spoke like he was really in love with this person and the fact that he couldn’t have her was hurting him.

“as long as she’s not a minor i would say, go for it” you made him laugh.

“i promise you, she’s not a minor” he couldn’t keep his smile off of his face “i feel like if i do something wrong i might lose her and i couldn’t handle it”

“you really like her uh?” you teased.

“more than you can imagine…” he breathed.

you thought that the situation was serious and you didn’t know why but you felt some sort of jealousy towards this mysterious woman. you’ve never thought about damian like that but you couldn’t stop imagining all the times he’s been sweet and kind with you.

“i wouldn’t mind dating someone older” you said, making damian’s head turning immediately to your face again “as long as he’s treating me right, as long as he respects me and loves me, age is just a number right?”

he looked into your eyes, trying to see if you were lying or if what you were saying was true “yeah…age is just a number” those words gave him a little hope.

there was silence between the two of you. you were both staring at each others, wondering if you should talk or not.

you broke the silence first “she would be so lucky to have you damian…the way you’re always generous and supportive, the way you care about others, i love how you always make sure everyone is okay before you check on yourself” you softly laughed “plus you give the comfiest hugs…i’d be jealous if she wouldn’t let you hug me anymore”

damian found your little confession cute, and even if you were still a little tipsy, he knew you and your words were sincere.

“that won’t happen trust me” his voice thick, sending shivers through your body “but maybe you’re right…i should tell her how i feel”

you nodded, feeling a little jealous about the woman he had a crush on but before you could speak, he gently lifted your chin up, making you look him into his eyes “i’m taking the risk now so please don’t freak out…but i like you, i’ve always liked you…and i know it might sound crazy but you’ve been on my mind since i’ve met you…”

“that was two years ago…” you whispered.

“yeah…i’ve been trying to tell myself that this was only a crush, that it would go away but two years have passed and i’m more in love with you than i was before because i got to meet you, i got to work with you and get to know you better…and i tried to get you out of my head because in my mind this thing couldn’t work, i tried to get with other women but everything reminded me of you” his thumb softly stroking your cheek, making you melt into his touch “this probably is gonna ruin our friendship or we can pretend nothing happened but i needed to say it, you deserved to know…”

you took his hands into yours and softly smiled at him. in that moment you realised that you didn’t need to look for any man, you already had one by your side, ready to risk it all just for you.

“please say something” he begged, worried that he might overstepped.

“i think i just realised how stupid i was for not noticing this before…i always complain and complain and you’re always here for me…you’re always here to support me and cheer me up and i’ve never noticed how much you actually care for me…”

“i will always care about you y/n…” that was all he said before you took control of the situation and gently pushed him to the edge of the couch, hoovering him and sitting on his lap. if you were sober you probably wouldn’t have the courage to do that so you thanked the vodka running through your body before touching his face with your small hands. one look at him was all you needed before softly kissing his lips. he melted into your kiss. his hands moving to your back, keeping you still while your hands moved from his cheeks to his long hair. tugging and playing with them, you both smiled into the kiss.

“i like you too damian…” you whispered making him chuckle.

“well i hope so”

“oh shut up” you joked before kissing him again. you didn’t mean to grind on his lap but when you did, you heard him moan into your mouth, making you shiver.

“fuck…” he whispered.

he needed to have you. he wanted to have you naked for him but not tonight. not like that, with you still half drunk. you made him hard but he knew he could take care of it, right now, he wanted to make sure that you were okay.

“y/n…” he softly said making you look at him “we should go to bed…”

“and?”

“and sleep” he laughed at your annoyed face “not tonight hermosa…i wanna take things slow with you, i wanna do this right”

you saw that he was being serious so you nodded, trusting damian completely, you knew he was going to treat you the way you deserved and you couldn’t complain - for once.

[nadvs]

out of bounds (part three)

pairing zach maclaren and soccerplayer! female reader

rating mature 18+

summary zach has never been the type to rebel, but when he meets you at a soccer camp where you’re both working as counselors, which has a strict policy against dating between staff, he’s tempted to break the rules for the first time.

» part one | part two

» masterlist

Zach regrets coming to your cabin last night.

Not because your boss stopped by. Early this morning, he ran into Ruby and she didn’t even mention catching you together after hours. She doesn’t suspect a thing.

He should’ve known that she wouldn’t think he was breaking any rules. He has a reputation for being responsible.

He regrets coming over because now, when he sees you from across the loud dining hall at breakfast, he can’t reign in his rushing thoughts about last night.

You’d stood over him as he sat and his hands were on his knees, nearly brushing against your legs, and it wouldn’t have taken much effort at all to run his palms over your thighs as your fingertips ghosted over his face.

You looking down at him like that, having full control over him, stirred something deep in his core. The way you touched him was innocent, but it made his body tense with desire. You were so close to him, your presence so intoxicating.

He fell asleep thinking about your time alone in your cabin, but instead of remembering the reality of you stepping away, he imagined you straddling him in the chair he was sitting in, pressing your lips against his, and giving him permission to run his hands over your curves.

Zach looks down at his plate. He’s sure he’s blushing. It’s insane how fast his mind has run away from him. His longing for you is starting to feel like a need, like he might feel actual pain if he doesn’t get to touch you in some way.

But it’s not allowed. And besides, if it was, even though you’ve definitely been flirting with him, you might not even like him that much. Maybe if he asked if he could kiss you or touch you, you’d tense up and look at him with distaste. He’d hate to make you feel uncomfortable.

He clears his throat and tries to focus on work. Oliver is actually eating a decent amount for once. He’s still not really talking, but he seems a little more at ease.

Zach has to thank you for helping him figure out that apparently, the kid is very particular about his appetite. He’s excited he’ll have a chance to do so when you run morning drills together.

After breakfast, as scheduled, you approach the west field with your girls following closely behind, listening to them chatter about the weird dreams they had last night.

Seconds later, one of them calls your name.

“Yeah?”

“Who are we running drills with now?”

“Zach’s group,” you say. A couple of girls giggle.

“He’s so cute,” one of them says quietly. You look ahead. They obviously have a crush on him. So do you.

You’re kind of nervous to see him considering how tense things got last night, but when he spots you, he smiles, and it brushes away all your worry.

“About time,” Zach playfully scoffs when you reach him, his campers jogging up and down the pitch.

“What’d you wait, like two minutes?” you reply, dropping the bag of supplies you’re carrying.

“Hi, Zach,” one of your campers sing-songs, earning her friends’ laughter.

“Hi,” he says kindly. “You ready for some passing drills?”

You smile to yourself. He’s totally oblivious to the fact that he has almost every girl on this campground smitten.

After you finish setting up cones and soccer balls across the field, you stand next to Zach at the touchline. As the vet, he takes the lead, shouting instructions to the group of 18 kids.

You glance at him every so often, pretending you’re following along, when really, you’re thinking about last night. Every word and every touch you shared was light and friendly, but it was all over an undercurrent of tension.

You look out at the kids again, reminding yourself that you need to keep things professional, no matter how charming he is.

After the blow of Zach’s whistle, you walk along the line of campers practicing passing, arms crossed as you focus on their footwork. You offer compliments and suggestions as you pace up the field, and minutes later, you join Zach at the side again.

“So, is it working?” he asks. “Do you like soccer again?”

You smile. He remembers how you told him that part of the reason you came to work here was to rekindle your love for the sport.

Even though the job is tiring, you have enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s refreshing seeing kids get excited about soccer the same way you used to. It’s a good reminder of why you started playing.

“Yeah,” you say, your tone soft as you look out at the deep green pitch. “I came to the right place.”

Zach’s eyes trail over your profile. He couldn’t agree more.

A few minutes later, Oliver breaks out of the line and approaches you.

“Hey, buddy,” Zach says. He’s dreading that he’ll tell him he wants to sit out yet again.

“Can I have some water?” he asks. Zach realizes he’s looking up at you, clearly having found some comfort in you.

“Of course,” you say, fishing out a bottle from the cooler. “Did you like the waffles this morning?”

“Yeah,” he says timidly. “Thanks.”

“It was all Zach,” you say. “He’s the one who bought them and got up early to make them. I think you got the best counselor here.”

Oliver looks up at Zach with a small smile. It’s the first look of genuine happiness he’s seen on the boy’s face. After he drinks water, he rushes back out onto the field.

“I didn’t mean it,” you tease Zach. “You’re the worst.”

He laughs and resists the urge to playfully push your shoulder. Getting close to you is a bad idea, because he’ll only want more.

“You’re good with kids,” he says. He can’t help but think about you meeting his sister. He knows she’d like you. “Pretty sure that’s the first time he smiled since he got here.”

You were expecting him to tease you back, so the sincere compliment throws you. You meet his eyes, feeling the same sense of easy compatibility you felt last night.

The morning sun washes over his features in its orange glow. He’s so handsome that you almost forget you shouldn’t be staring.

“So, I’m better at this job than you are?” you say.

“Okay, whoa,” he replies. “I didn’t say that.”

“You implied it.”

“Did not.”

You share a moment of laughter, but once it fades, you don’t look away from each other. Your heart starts to speed up like it always does when he gazes at you.

It feels like an elephant in the room, what happened the last time you spoke, and you desperately want to clear the air.

“Everything good after last night? You seemed…” You don’t want to use the word nervous. And upset doesn’t feel right, either. You decide not to finish the sentence. “Did you talk to Ruby?”

“She didn’t think anything was up,” he tells you. You sigh in relief, glad your jobs and reputations aren’t in jeopardy. “I mean, not that anything was up.”

You slowly nod, not sure how to take his words. Maybe it really was all in your head. Maybe your feelings are totally unrequited.

Zach catches the way your lips twist. He immediately feels anxious. He doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. And he definitely doesn’t want you to think he feels nothing for you.

“I mean,” he stammers, “that’s not what I mean.”

His muscles lose some tension when he sees you crack a smile.

“So, what do you mean?” you ask.

Zach looks down, digging the tip of his sneaker into the grass simply to have something to do as nerves fill his body. You have a ridiculous effect on him.

“Just that we weren’t breaking any rules.” He swallows the lump in his throat. “But, uh, if there was a rule I’d break…”

Your skin flushes, butterflies going wild in your stomach. He’s saying it without saying it.

“Same,” you reply. His gaze darts up to you. A pink hue spreads over his cheeks.

You both just indirectly confessed your feelings for one another and there’s nothing you can do about it. You blink a few times as you gaze at him.

“God,” he mutters with a half-laugh. “Don’t do that.”

“I literally didn’t do anything.”

“You’re…” He sighs and crosses his arms. “Looking at me like that.”

You tear your eyes off of him, stifling your smile.

“Like a coworker, you mean?” you reply. “Professionally?”

He laughs again, unsure of how the hell he’s going to last the rest of the camp season wanting a girl and knowing she wants him back and having to pretend like none of that’s true.

After the passing drill, you work on defense with your campers while Zach works on offense with his, then switch. For the last drill, you set up games of two-on-two.

You’re winded when you’re behind the touchline again, having run a drill with every girl in your group in quick succession. You’re downing water when Zach jogs up to you.

“Hey, your…” he says, pointing down. “I’ll just do it.”

In a second, he’s on his knee in front of you, tying your loose shoelace. You swallow your water, looking down, wondering how nice it’d feel to have your fingers in his tousled hair.

“Thank you,” you say, still a bit breathless.

He looks up with a smile. Your stares linger and then he straightens, standing beside you. And you’re supposed to keep your distance from this man? It’ll be impossible.

The rest of the day is a tiring blur. After dinner, you find Ami to remind her that you’re on one of the overnight shifts, so if she wants to see Malcolm after hours, your cabin will be free.

You only really do it for Zach’s sake so that he doesn’t get kicked out of his cabin again. Before you head over to one of the girls’ cabins to sleep, you text him: just so you know, i made sure ami knows i’m on an overnight so if she needs an empty cabin tonight, it won’t be yours.

Zach replies a few minutes later: You’re the best.

Then, a second text from him comes in: Professionally.

Over the next few days, your encounters with Zach are quick and friendly. He’s keeping his distance just like you are, avoiding any opportunity to have time alone.

It’s not until Friday afternoon, day seven of camp, that you’re scheduled to work another drill together.

When you meet Zach at the pitch, you’re endeared to see that Oliver is actually talking with him. As you approach, directing your girls to line up for a dribbling drill, you overhear them talking about video games.

“You can’t even get past the second one?” Oliver says.

“Does it count if my sister helps?”

“No!”

“Then, no,” Zach replies.

“But it’s so easy,” he says. “And you’re so old.”

“Alright, ten laps just for that,” Zach jokes. Oliver laughs and you smile to yourself.

“You are old,” you say to Zach when you approach them at the touchline.

“We’re the same age,” he replies.

“That’s irrelevant,” you say, then look to Oliver. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” he says. “We saw a badger yesterday. He was huge.”

“I hope he didn’t get too close.”

“Zach didn’t let us chase him,” Oliver complains.

“Probably a good thing,” you giggle, your eyes flitting up to meet Zach’s gaze.

You smile at him and even though it’s only been a few days since you had a proper conversation, he really misses seeing that smile.

Your campers settle into their own drills before merging, giving you and Zach a chance to chat privately.

“He’s really opened up,” you say, standing next to him.

“Yeah. He’s still not talking much with any of the other kids, but we talk all the time.”

“Baby steps,” you say, smiling as you watch Oliver practicing backheel kicks with another boy.

“I asked him if he’s making any friends, but he didn’t really answer,” Zach says. “I have a bad feeling they’re being rough on him and I don’t see it. I hope I’m wrong.”

“I hope you’re wrong, too,” you say sadly.

Zach gazes at you again, heart pinching from the way you frown at the thought.

“Tomorrow should be fun,” he says, changing the subject. “It’s a good break for us.”

You nod. Saturdays at camp are dedicated to fun instead of training, with plans to have a barbecue lunch by the lake, where campers will be free to swim and canoe.

“I’m looking forward to it,” you say. “Oh, have you been kicked out of your cabin lately?”

“I gave Malcolm a cut-off,” Zach tells you. “So, if he does need the place, there’s a time limit. Felt like a decent enough compromise.”

You’re glad he’s not having issues with his friend, but you do sort of wish he had an excuse to visit you when your cabin-mates are hooking up.

“Good,” you say simply.

Zach’s smile is tight, knowing you’re just trying to keep a professional distance like he is. But this sucks.

He refocuses on work.

“I was thinking of doing a round of Four Goal,” Zach says, pointing at the field. You nod, well acquainted with the games at this point, but still appreciative you get paired with vets for the support.

“But, they’ve been doing a lot of possession drills lately,” he adds. “Maybe Airball would be better.”

You glance at him to see the same pensive expression you’ve seen before. His indecisiveness is so cute.

“I can decide for you,” you say. He smirks, thinking back to that night in your cabin.

“Have I told you that you’re bossy?” he says.

“You have,” you reply, tapping his name-tag. “We’re playing Four Goal.”

“Deal,” he says with a chuckle, appreciative of how quick you are to choose. “You wanna take the lead?”

“Sure,” you say.

Before you can blow your whistle to get everyone’s attention, two of your campers come to grab water. You can tell by the way they’re eyeing Zach that they came solely to talk to him.

“Hey, Zach?” one of your girls says just loud enough to be heard over the shouting on the field.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

You’ve never been so glad that some preteen girls can be so unabashed, curious to hear how he’ll answer this.

“No way. There’s no time for girlfriends,” he says. “I’m married to this beautiful sport.” You smile, admiring how appropriately he handles the kid’s intrusive question.

Both girls giggle and rush back into the field.

“You realize that like, all the girls have a crush on you, right?” you laugh.

Before you step forward to call over all the campers on the field, Zach can’t hold himself back from flirting with you.

“I only care about if one girl has a crush on me,” he says quietly.

Your lips quirk into another smile.

“She does,” you say.

Zach purses his lips, blushing again.

You call over the campers and set up the game of Four Goals quickly. Within minutes, four teams are scattered across the field, attacking and defending goals.

You pace up and down the field on one side while Zach supervises in the other direction. Moments later, he raises his voice in a way you haven’t heard before.

“I don’t want to hear it again,” he says sharply to two boys. You realize that Oliver is standing to the side, arms crossed, looking down, and you rush over.

“We were just kidding,” one of the boys whines.

When you get close enough, you see Oliver’s eyes welling with tears, surely from whatever the boys said to him. It makes your heart ache instantly. You approach him and lead him off the field.

“You weren’t,” Zach says behind you. “That’s unacceptable.”

You lead Oliver to the main office, curious as to what was said, but not wanting to push.

You trained for this. In times of conflict between campers, one counselor should address the problem, and the other should separate the kids involved.

“You okay?” you ask softly, crouching down to his eye-level. Oliver only leans against you, sniffling. You gently pat his shoulder, letting him cry for as long as he needs to.

You confirm with Zach over the walkies that you’ll meet in the dining hall for dinner. When you make it to the building, you see him settle at the head of his table, clearly having instructed the two boys who were in trouble earlier to sit right next to him.

You ask Oliver where he’d prefer to sit. He tells you he wants to be at your table. Zach flashes you a small, grateful smile once he sees you sitting with Oliver, who keeps his head down, acting just like he did when he first got here.

Zach approaches Oliver as dinner wraps up and while you hang out with Ami by the dock during free-time, Zach sits next to Oliver at the campfire. You’re relieved when you see Oliver finally smiling again.

After lights out, Zach leaves his cabin to sit on the dock for some time alone. Minutes later, his phone buzzes with a text from you: i hope everything’s ok.

He looks up at the starry sky, wishing he could shake the heaviness sitting on his shoulders. Something that he lived through years ago was dug up today, a pale memory made fresh and cutting.

He never liked the discomfort that came with negative emotions and bad memories. It’s why he prefers to focus on having fun in the here and now.

But when he does find himself in this hole, he typically isolates himself, feeling like a burden for being anything but happy, so it’s jarring that while he doesn’t let many people see this part of him, he thinks about you sitting next to him right now.

You’re relaxing in your cabin when Zach texts you: Can you come to the dock?

The evening air is cool when you step outside. As you approach the lake, you see Zach’s broad frame in the distance, sitting at the end of the dock.

You settle beside him on the hard cedar wood, noticing that his work clothes have been swapped out for sweats and a t-shirt.

“Hi,” you say over the sound of the lake lapping against the rocks lining the shore and crickets chirping around you.

“Hey.” His eyes meet yours. They don’t have the brightness you’re used to seeing in them.

In any other scenario, you’d be worried about what sitting next to each other like this looks like to anyone who might see. But Zach’s clearly unhappy and the last thing you’re thinking about is your job right now.

“What happened?” you ask, replaying how sternly he snapped at his campers just a couple of hours ago.

Zach sighs and shakes his head, looking out at the lake.

“They were giving him crap for being shy,” he mumbles. “Calling him mute and mocking him, asking if he even knows how to talk. They didn’t know I was close enough to hear.”

Your forehead crinkles, your heart aching for Oliver all over again.

“Thanks for removing him from all that,” Zach tells you.

“Of course. I wish I could’ve done more,” you say. “He wouldn’t tell me anything, so I let him hug me until he stopped crying.”

“He just needed someone to be there,” Zach says. “And you were.”

You find relief in his words.

“He looked like he was feeling much better when you were by the fire,” you say, hoping to console him.

Zach nods gratefully and looks up at the crescent moon.

“Kids can be harsh,” he tells you. “Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, there’s bullying here. It sucks.”

He breathes out slowly, linking his fingers together. He’s in his head again. In the past. The bitter pain he’s feeling right now is another version of what he felt when he was a kid.

“He needs all the support he can get,” Zach says. “And you’ve been trying to help him since he came here. He’s not even in your group. You didn’t have to do all that, but you did.”

From the tone of his voice, you can tell he’s building up to something. He keeps his gaze fixed ahead, the moon and stars reflecting over the smooth plane of water.

Zach thinks back to the way you approached Oliver at breakfast on the second day of camp. He couldn’t make out your conversation, but he saw the pure kindness in your expression.

“I came here when I was a kid because my parents didn’t know what to do with me,” he admits. “I had no interests. No friends. I was really quiet and really shy.”

You tilt your head, your throat tight. You can’t imagine happy, outgoing Zach being anything but the life of the party like he is now.

“Kids at school would say the same kind of stuff to me that they said to Oliver today,” Zach explains.

He clenches his jaw as he thinks about the way he used to feel on the playground, being berated by other boys and pretending like he didn’t hear them.

“I’m so sorry,” you say quietly.

“I’m such a buzzkill,” he says with a humorless chuckle. “I just - I’m telling you this so you know that when you try to make a kid feel welcome, it makes a difference. Thank you for everything you do for him.”

Zach finally looks at you, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

“My aunt and uncle ran this camp for as long as I can remember. My mom called them the summer I turned eleven, asking if they had space for me here. She just wanted me to find a hobby, you know? Something I liked. Even though I had no interest in sports at all.”

“But you ended up loving it,” you realize, a small smile growing on your face. The night you met, he said something about how he owed this place a lot. Now you know why.

“I did,” he says with a nod. “Don’t get me wrong, a lot of my teachers tried to make me feel better, but it never worked. Here… I belonged. I came out of my shell. People were nice to me. I fell in love with soccer and it’s why I come back every year.”

You don’t have the words to express how touching it is that he decided to share this with you, so you gently grip his forearm, stroking his soft skin with your thumb.

Then, you pull away, because now, the need to keep things strictly friendly is a thousand times heavier.

He doesn’t follow rules simply because of his tenure or because the directors are his family. It’s because of the impact they had, pulling him out of a dark place as a child. He probably feels like he owes them the world. He has a reputation, and a responsibility, to uphold.

“I’m so happy for you that you found this place,” you say. “And you help him, too, okay? A lot. Everything you did just to get him a breakfast he’d like is evidence enough.”

Zach breathes a quiet chuckle, his brows drawing together.

“Thanks, newbie,” he says.

“I’m sure it was really shitty hearing that stuff today,” you empathize. “Especially here. I’m sorry.”

He nods. You get how painful it is for him to see the beauty of this place be sullied. You get how important it is to be there for the kids who are outsiders.

He hates this walk down memory lane. While he doesn’t regret opening up, he needs a break from the tension, to come back to the present.

“You didn’t have to stop,” he says, eyes drifting to his forearm, a hint of playfulness in his tone.

You laugh, putting your palm on Zach’s skin again. He feels like he’s floating. He loves being touched and wants nothing more than to be touched by you.

“I don’t know how professional we’re being right now,” you say with a giggle.

“You kidding?” he says. “This is the definition of professional.”

Zach’s eyes wash over your face, looking at you like he’s in awe. He’s so happy that he met you and so frustrated that it had to be while you both live in the confines of workplace rules.

“In six weeks,” he says, “when the season’s over, what do you think about getting dinner with me?”

“It’s a date,” you say.

Another moment of peaceful quiet settles between you. He parts his lips to say something else, but no words come out.

“What?” you ask.

Zach sighs slowly, shaking his head ever so slightly. He runs his tongue between his lips. His stare drifts to your mouth. He feels completely helpless in the best way.

Slowly, he brings his hand up to your jaw, cradling your cheek so warmly and gently that your breath catches.

“Can I?” His voice is low and raspy, just loud enough to be heard over the crickets.

Even though you promised each other you wouldn’t do this, you couldn’t turn down his kiss if you tried.

“Yes,” you whisper.

His lips are soft and warm, pressing against yours with such sweet tenderness that your body goes numb. You shouldn’t be doing this. You’re afraid you won’t be able to stop.

Zach pulls back, his nose nudging against yours.

“We should stop,” you breathe.

“Yeah,” he says. “We should.”

But you lean in to kiss him again, your lips slowly parting, tongues meeting, tasting each other. You separate.

“This is a bad idea,” you whisper.

“Mhm.”

He kisses you for a third time, your lips smacking together with hunger and impatience. His body is on fire, never having wanted somebody this badly.

“Zach,” you say, finally finding the willpower to sit up, losing all contact with him. “We can’t. It’s too risky.”

“I know,” he mumbles. “I know.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Now that you know his history, you care more about him keeping his job than you do your own. “Six weeks. That’s all.”

“Fuck,” he whispers with a dry laugh. “That feels like forever.”

It’s the first time you’ve heard him swear and it’s unexpectedly attractive. You shuffle a few inches away from him, catching your breath, and take in his strong features in the moonlight, wishing you could go back to his cabin or yours and continue this.

“It does,” you agree, your eyes trained on him.

“You have to promise me you won’t look at me like that at work,” Zach says, his tone light. “For real.”

“Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you say. “But you know what? I won’t look at you at all. How’s that?”

You stare forward at the gentle ripples in the water, your lips still warm from his kiss.

“That’s worse,” he says with a hint of a whine in his voice.

“There’s no winning with you,” you laugh.

You look over your shoulder, making sure nobody is around to witness you two alone like this.

“You can go if you’re worried,” he says after a moment.

You give him a quick peck on the cheek before you stand. He watches you disappear off the dock, leaving him with a yearning he’s never had to bear before.

When Zach lies in bed that night, replaying how mind-blowing it felt to kiss you, he accepts the fact that the rest of the season will be torture. Six weeks does in fact feel like an eternity.

The summer heat is harsh the next morning, perfect for a day at the lake. Counselors lead their campers to the water after breakfast, not backing down when some kids inevitably argue that they don’t need life jackets.

When you spot Oliver alone, throwing rocks in the water, you imagine Zach at his age, dealing with bullies, feeling lost and alone.

You approach him, exchanging kind hello’s, and an idea strikes you. One of your campers, Jemma, is one of the chattiest and kindest kids you’ve ever met.

“What do you think about going out on the canoe with me and Jemma?” you ask Oliver, pointing to the girl as she rifles through inflated toys. “She’s very nice.”

“Sure,” he says quietly.

When you ask Jemma if she’d like to go with you two, as expected, she happily accepts.

You lead conversation between them as you set out on the canoe, but Jemma soon dives into asking Oliver questions. His answers are short, but it doesn’t faze her, allowing her to ramble to her heart’s delight.

Every so often, you catch a smile on Oliver’s face, clearly happy he’s not expected to talk a lot. Eventually, his answers to her questions get longer, and he starts asking her things, too.

When you dock the boat about ten minutes later, you look up to see Zach leaning forward, holding the brim of the canoe against the dock, meeting your eyes.

“Why are you stealing my friend?” Zach asks you, nodding to Oliver.

“He’s my friend, too,” you reply, looking at the boy. “Right?”

“Yeah,” he says with a smile.

“Mine, too!” Jemma exclaims. Your heart warms when you see Oliver blush.

Once Zach helps the kids out of the boat, they run off together in their matching bright-orange life jackets.

“How’d you do that?” Zach says.

You smile, taking his hand as he helps you step up onto the dock. Just last night, you were kissing right where you’re standing. You quickly pull your hand back so nobody suspects anything.

“It was a long shot,” you tell him, “but it seems it worked.”

Zach smirks, feeling his chest tighten as he stares at you. Staying away from you is ridiculously hard.

“You think anybody would notice if I kissed you right now?” he asks quietly, heavy-lidded eyes travelling over your face.

You laugh and look around at the crowds of campers and counselors surrounding the lake.

“Think so,” you reply. “You can kiss me in six weeks.”

“Six weeks,” he echoes with a sigh.

Tom fires up the grill outside the dining hall as counselors help set up for a lunch picnic. Zach’s close by, bumping against you as he puts out stacks of paper plates. He keeps his eyes low, but you can tell by his dimpled smirk that he’s touching you on purpose.

As you pass by a table to move the cooler, a few kids playing tag dart by you, tripping you up and causing you to lose your balance.

You involuntarily yelp when you feel a sharp sting on your arm, realizing you just made direct contact with the scalding barbecue hood.

“Come on, guys!” Zach calls tersley. “Look where you’re going!”

You look down at the underside of your forearm, blowing on the burn.

“You alright?” Tom asks.

“Yeah,” you say. “I’ll go run it under some cold water.”

Zach wishes he could follow, but it’d be too obvious.

You reassure your coworkers that you’re okay when you come back, loud enough to make sure Zach hears you. You’re still flattered by his protective reaction.

After lunch, the kids go back to their day of fun, most of them swimming. Dinner is quieter than usual, likely because the campers are so tired out.

Once lights out hits, you’ve never been happier to be done with the day. You enter your cabin, which is dark and quiet because Ami has already settled across the campground for her overnight shift.

You sigh in relief once you’re in the shower, washing away the sweat and grime of the day, planning to do nothing but rest tonight. The burn on your arm stings under the water, so you do your best to keep it dry.

You’re lounging in bed in your empty cabin, still in your towel, when you hear a knock at the door.

You open it to see Zach standing there, his hair wet, his college t-shirt draped over his wide shoulders as he holds out something in his hand.

“Just thought I’d…” Zach’s eyes travel down your body. He’s never seen this much of your skin, the towel offering a view of your cleavage and your bare legs. “Uh…”

“Yeah?” you laugh.

“This,” he says. He holds out a small tube of cooling gel. “For your burn. It was in the kitchen’s first aid kit.”

“Thank you,” you say, taking the tube. “That’s sweet of you. It still hurts a little.”

You look down at your forearm as Zach rests a hand on the doorframe, leaning over as he stares at you. You feel warm from the way he towers over you, gazing at you in pure desperation.

You shouldn’t invite him in. It’s a risk. There would be no going back. But the way he looks so hungry for you, the way he smells like fresh laundry and strong body wash is so painfully enticing.

His heartbeat is loud in his ears. He’s still processing a lot. How good your lips felt against his last night. How angry he was when you got hurt earlier today. And now, how very close to being completely naked you are. This is absolutely impossible.

He’s looked at you this way before, but this is a new level of intensity, making your skin prick with excitement. The thoughts of what could happen if he came in rush through your mind.

“Why do I feel like we won’t make it to six weeks?” you say meekly.

“We gave it a solid effort,” he says.

“It’s been one day,” you laugh.

“And do you have idea how hard that day’s been for me?” Zach says, making you laugh again. “We’ll just do a really good job keeping it a secret. If you want to.”

You smile again. But, you can’t do it.

“We shouldn’t,” you force yourself to say.

He nods, trying to hide how sad he is.

“Right. Yeah,” Zach says as he steps back. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you reply. “I just… I would hate it if you got fired because of me.”

“If I got fired, it’d be my fault. Not yours.” His lips curl in nervousness before he says his next words. “And you’re worth the risk.”

Your eyes are hard on each other, both of you fully aware that you’re close to teetering into dangerous territory.

Finally, you say the words that he’s been aching to hear.

“You want to keep it a secret?” you say.

“Yeah. Do you?”

You nod, your eyes wide.

“You’re sure?” he asks.

You glance past him into the dark to make sure nobody else is witnessing the second you officially lose all of your willpower.

“Come in,” you say.

(part four)

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[lazycats-stuff]

Hii, can I request dc x teen male reader? They’re partly part of the batfam, he’s Batman’s second youngest son. And he tags along with Batman to a mission with Superman and Wonder Woman, and guess what, they brought their kids too? I mean not like the already existing kids of them, like they’re original characters? Imagine them just not liking eachother at first but they just become best friends during the mission when they almost die and just laugh it off. They are literally just like Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman trio.

Yup yup, you sure can. I feel like the OG trio would freak out at the similarity. I think I kind of strayed off, but I kind off got hit with inspiration, so I hope you don't mind.

Summary: Kids of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman don't like each other. After a near death experience, they become friends.

Warnings: explosions, cursing, tension between teammates, they like each other after near death experience, injuries, OG trio is worried, OC kids, except for Batman.

(Y/N) knew that missions with kids his age was going to be a normal thing. He knew it and there wasn't anything he could have done. But to go with Althea Prince and James Kent? There was no such thing that would make Bruce drag him on a mission with them.

The trio hated each other. (Y/N) didn't like how Althea thought that men were beneath her and James is too soft for (Y/N)'s liking. That boy is a personification of a golden retriever and his father was no better too.

Althea and (Y/N) had way more problems than (Y/N) and James had. While James was somewhat okay with the no kill rule, Althea found the rule ridiculous and thought that the evil should be eradicated. No matter what.

That grinded (Y/N)'s gears and it made him want to bash her face against any type of hard surface, but he couldn't. He would be grounded and she wasn't worth it. At all.

But this mission was a test for them. This was going to be their first solo mission without the supervision of their parents. It was just a covert one and intel collecting. Get in and get out.

And that's why they were siting in Justice League HQ, in a dull meeting room. Batman was presenting something that (Y/N) already knew. He has heard it before they left.

" Now, (V/N) will take the lead on this, since it's covert and intel gathering. I don't want to hear any arguments about this. " Batman said, knowing that the trio was going to argue about it.

But lets be honest, if there was anybody who knew how to be stealthy and quiet, it was (Y/N). Well, (V/N) in this case. (Y/N) forced himself to suppress a smile from blooming on his face.

Take that you two. He glanced at the two of them and Althea frowned a bit and James just rolled his eyes. Oh you two sacks of shit.

" Now, (V/N), would you like to take over? " Batman asked, well, demanded. (V/N) nodded and stood up from his chair. Bruce moved over and (Y/N) stood in his place. It felt weird, but you know, it made him feel powerful.

" Right. Like my father said, this is a covert and intel gathering. Which means it's get in and get out quietly. This is a base on a remote island in the Pacific ocean. We have reasons to believe that that's where Vandal the Savage and Deathstroke may have stashed their weapons, however, that is not our primary cause. It's intel that it's kept there. We will probably encounter Deathstroke or Lady Shiva, since those two started working together. " (Y/N) said, pressing a few buttons on the screen keyboard.

" This is how it's supposed to look. It's a pretty classical look for a base, but the security system is very tight and nearly impossible to hack into. However, I saw a small portion of the system and I know that I can hack into it. Now, the problem would be Deathstroke. If you see him, call me through the comms. Don't try to fight him, because he will win. " (Y/N) said and he nearly wanted to smack Althea for rolling her eyes.

" And also, he has experience fighting meta humans, like Wonder Woman and Superman. " (Y/N) said, glancing at the said duo, who nodded in agreement.

" (V/N) is right, he is not to be underestimated. " Wonder Woman said.

Batman stayed quiet, watching as (Y/N) dealt with the two. (Y/N) was growing into a brave and a mature person. And his hero side was no different. He knew that the trio didn't like each other and that was just normal and in life you are going to work with shitheads, as Jason would so kindly put it. And you would have to know how to deal with them.

Again, it's just life.

And Bruce could tell that (Y/N) was dealing with them well. Sure, his way was sarcastic and sometimes it could get ugly, but it was funny and sometimes it was outright murder worthy.

But Bruce loved him none the less.

" We are going first thing tomorrow evening, believe it or not. And that would be it. " (V/N) said and the other two left the room with their parents. Bruce and (Y/N) stayed back and (Y/N) looked at his father.

" You did good. You stayed professional and I could tell you wanted to smack Althea, but you controlled yourself. "

(Y/N) smiled, happy to hear this from Bruce. It wasn't like he never praised his sons, quite the opposite, but when he did, you know that he meant it.

" Lets go back home. Your brothers would like to spend time with you before you go on the mission. " Bruce said and the father son duo left the room, moving to the Zeta tubes.

" I know, but I just want to sleep. I had a tiring day at school. " (Y/N) admitted as they started the teleporting. Once they got into the cave, they both took their cowls off.

(Y/N)'s hair was going in all of different directions and Bruce ruffled his hair even more with a quiet chuckle. (Y/N) whined, trying to push Bruce's hand away.

" You kids grow up so fast. " Bruce admitted to (Y/N) and gave him a quick hug.

" You say that every year. " (Y/N) retorted, chuckling. It was true though. He said it every year when they did good in something.

" Am I wrong though? I would suggest you go up now. Jason called me and told me that if you aren't up in about 20 minutes he will come to get you himself. And you have about 5 minutes to get up there or he will kidnap you. " Bruce warned and (Y/N) ran into the locker room.

Jason would absolutely make that threat a promise and (Y/N) didn't want to fight with any of them. Bruce shook his head fondly at his sons antics.

All of them are going to be with the death of him.

The young trio was in a plane, flying to their location. It was quiet and they had a few hours to kill before landing down at their designated location. (Y/N) put it on autopilot and leaned back. He adjusted his gauntlets on his hands.

It was slightly nerve wrecking for all of them. When on missions they had supervision, they had guidance and they could call the moment something went wrong.

This time is a bit different. Did they have guidance? Yes. Did they have supervision? No.

But the trio knew that their parents were watching. They weren't completely alone in the dark.

" And what do we do know? I'm bored. " James said, crossing his arms.

" And that doesn't sound like my problem. You know you don't have the stamina to fly so long and you can't be weak for this mission. " (Y/N) responded, rubbing his eyes. He heard a tsk and for a split second he thought that Damian was behind him. But no.

" You know Althea, I wouldn't tsk since you can't fly that long either. " (Y/N) snapped back.

" I thought you two are supposed to be strong. Men like to boast about their strength. " Althea said and (Y/N) turned his head to look at her.

" I still can't believe that you are Wonder Woman's daughter. She doesn't hate men and yet you are so far up your own ass that you can't see reality. Is that the result of Amazon upbringing? " (Y/N) asked, sarcasm slipping through into his voice.

There was silence before she huffed, turning her head away. James sighed, shaking his head. They are supposed to be a team and not sworn enemies.

" Well, this mission is going to go well. "James mumbled and (Y/N) closed his eyes, just ready to meditate and get himself mentally ready for the mission.

The landing was quiet and the trio embarked on the shore. They stopped in the bush and (Y/N) zoomed in the view he had. Thank God for built in binoculars within his cowl.

He saw 2 guarding the door.

" Give me a minute and I will disable the security system. I think we will have about 20 minutes to get in and get out. I will take out the 2 in the front and when we get in, we are separating. I know we don't like each other, but we put all of that aside. Now we are teammates. " (Y/N) said and the two nodded in agreement.

" Good. Comms are going to be on the entire time. And if you see Deathstroke, call me. " (Y/N) said, opening up the tiny computer on his gauntlet. He typed a few buttons and the system was officially down.

(Y/N) took a deep breath. It's time to go.

" Lets go. " (Y/N) said and ran towards the two, seemingly out of nowhere. They didn't have a chance with (Y/N). After taking their cards, he swiped it to open the door.

" Now we split. Wonder Girl, you are going left, there is an office there, see if you can find anything there. Superboy, you are going to the right. There are guard's room on the right so if you see some, knock 'em out. I will go straight for the hardware room. And if I find any weapons, I will destroy them. Comms ON. " (Y/N) said and the other two nodded.

And so they separated. Wonder Girl went left, (V/N) went straight ahead and Superboy went to the right. (Y/N) ran in the hall, passing by the grey walls.

There is a certain adrenaline rush you get on certain types of missions. If he is patrolling in the city, it's something normal and usual, almost like a routine. It was nice, but deep down he is an adrenaline addict and he is just looking for some extra adrenaline.

Missions alone with his dad or with others was a bit better in terms of adrenaline. The missions were always out of Gotham city and he was in place were he has never been before. And it always led to him doing some crazy shit that is guaranteed to give Bruce a lot of grey hairs.

But a mission alone, without the supervision of their parents? It brought out a new wave of adrenaline rush that he has never felt before. It made him feel free and way beyond light. When he started being a vigilante, there was this constant fear. But now, there was no fear.

It was just sheer bravery and intent to get his dad proud. Bruce was already proud, but it would mean everything to (Y/N) that he could prove himself. "

" Yes. I checked everything. And you said yes to my proposition. " Bruce said, looking at the two.

" Are you sure about this Batman? " Wonder Woman asked as they were sitting in the conference room, waiting for their children. None of them are able to sleep without their children in their own homes. Bruce more so then others.

" I know that he wouldn't send them straight into fire. Intel and covert, that much they can handle. " Superman said, clearly agreeing with Batman.

" I know and I know that they are more than capable of doing this mission, but I worry. She is my only daughter and I love her to death. (Y/N) and James are my nephews and I love those two death to. " She said, sighing quietly.

" But I worry about them working together. And also, weren't they supposed to report back? A few minutes ago? "

Everyone was silent before running to the second airplane they had. Yeah... Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let them go alone.

The mission kind of went south. Their cover was blown and now they had to fight their way through the guards. Thankfully, there was no Vandal Savage and his kids, but there was Deathstroke.

Turns out, there was no actual intel. This was meant to be a trap for Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Now that ticked (Y/N) off and he couldn't let it happen.

Absolutely not. Nobody threatens his family and just goes on with his business. And he had to settle a score after putting Nightwing out of action for months on end.

And even if he dies and this is the last thing he does, then so be it. Deathstroke didn't have any objections to (Y/N)'s plan. But the plan went tits up when (Y/N) got blown up to the next room. He hissed as he looked down to his stomach.

A shrapnel. A fucking shrapnel. He hissed as he took it out and took a syringe of something similar to the liquid from the Lazarus pit. He pressed the syringe into the wound, allowing the liquid to heal him.

It's a liquid only used in the emergency situations. (Y/N) lunged back at Deathstroke, taking advantage of the surprise. He managed to knock the bastard out. He was huffing at the dull pain, trying to block it out.

" Shit... " (Y/N) cursed, leaning down to rest his hands on his knees. It would all be fine if another bomb exploded, nearly knocking him out cold, but he was dancing on the edge.

He could hear a female and a male voice above him. He was blinking, trying to regain focus. He laughed as he saw their worried faces. They froze, looking at him worried.

" Why are you laughing? " Althea asked, worried beyond belief.

" Because you think a bomb can take me out. " (Y/N) said, laughing even more. When he calmed down, he took a deep breath and looked at the two.

" You two can help me up now. This was a trap for our parents instead. " (Y/N) said and James nodded.

" We know. Comms are always on. " James tried to joke as Althea and him pulled (Y/N) up.

" Our parents are going to kill us. " (Y/N) announced and the other two nodded.

" I don't know about you two, but I'm going to the plane, with or without you. " (Y/N) said and they agreed. The trio ran, just ready to get the hell out of here.

It was nice to see their parents, ready to fight for them. All 3 fussed about them, Bruce more than others. (Y/N) knew that they are going fight about rest when they come home. At one point, the trio started laughing out of nowhere and the OG trio looked worried. Some inwardly, some outwardly.

" What is going on? " Superman asked, looking around for some answers.

Nobody answered him.

After 2 months, they worked together again, but with their parents with them. It was a one completely 180 from their previous communication. The OG trio noticed a lot of similarities.

They were turning into their parents.

" Should we be worried? " Wonder Woman asked once, watching the footage from their last mission. It was just like them.

" I mean... Are we bad role models? " Superman asked out loud and Batman stayed quiet.

" No. But... You know, lets see where this goes. " Superman suggested. Bruce just pinched the bridge of his nose. May God help them.

[weezerfan123]

If you have any headcanons for sweet dirt? Like about their futures or relationships

People showing interest in the obscure rarepair I made up over a year ago is something I never could’ve imagined and I appreciate it beyond words, seriously😭💗

ANYWAY yes I think about them all the time and have so much to say about them!!

Scott definitely falls first. Sugar rolls around in dirt and puts makeup on pigs and has violent tendencies and Scott is like WOW. What a woman. When Scott has a crush, he’ll try to play it cool, or even pretend he hates Sugar, but his true feelings are painfully obvious.

If he tries to play it cool, he’ll go out of his way to hang around Sugar, making lame excuses just to be near her. He might start mimicking her interests, like rolling in the dirt alongside her or acting like he’s suddenly into pig makeup. Of course, Sugar’s suspicious, and thinks he’s only hanging around because he wants something/will backstab her eventually. It’s a bad mentality she can’t shake from her pageant days, she’s convinced anyone being nice to her is faking it.

They’d definitely develop a rivalry before they’d become any kind of friends. Wether it’s on the show, at their local county fair— in every universe, these two fight like feral animals. It’s not cutesy stuff like tripping or hair-pulling; Scott will put nails in Sugar’s driveway and Sugar will hit him on the back of the head with a steel pipe. There will be many concussions and broken noses before these two even consider becoming friends.

As their rivalry intensifies, Scott finds himself in a strange predicament. The more they clash, the more he’s drawn to Sugar. Every time she pulls some wild stunt, his respect for her only grows. Sure, she may have just stabbed him in the foot with a rusty pitchfork, but Scott can’t help but admire her strength and determination.

On the flip side, Sugar’s suspicions about Scott’s intentions only deepen as he sticks around. She’s used to people being fake nice, but Scott’s different. He’s not pretending to be sweet; he’s openly antagonistic, and for some reason, that feels more genuine to her. Even though they’re constantly at each other’s throats, Sugar starts noticing the little things—how Scott’s always around, how he never really tries to hurt her too badly, and how, despite everything, he’s weirdly consistent in her life.

Their rivalry becomes the foundation of their bond, and before they know it, they start to rely on each other in odd ways. Scott might complain about Sugar being impossible, but if anyone else messes with her, he’s the first to step in. And while Sugar might talk about how she hates his guts, she’d secretly miss their fights if he ever stopped showing up.

Eventually, the tension between them builds up to a breaking point. Maybe it’s another over-the-top brawl, where they’re both covered in mud and bruises, panting from the effort. In that moment, there’s a pause—just long enough for them to catch each other’s eye and realize that underneath all the chaos, they actually care about each other.

From there, things start to change. Their fights become less about hurting each other and more about pushing each other’s buttons in a way that only they can. It’s still a mess, but now there’s a weird, unspoken understanding between them. They’ll never admit it, but both Scott and Sugar find a certain thrill in their bizarre relationship.

Once they’re in a relationship— however the fuck they figure that out—

Scott’s love language is 100% acts of service. He’ll wake up at 5am to feed the chickens and weed the garden. When Sugar’s like why’d you do that for me Scott says “BECAUSE I FUCKING HATE YOU!!!”

He also brings Sugar home little trinkets, cool rocks, and flowers he finds out and about. He tells her “This reminded me of you FUCKFACE,” and kisses her on the cheek. He can’t give affection without being a little mean to balance it out.

Sugar, instead of getting mad, just beams at him, knowing that Scott’s bark is worse than his bite. She’s used to his rough edges and tough love, and she can see right through Scott’s attempts to hide his feelings. It’s why she likes to smother him with affection, knowing it drives him crazy.

Sugar’s love language is touch. She loves hugging Scott so hard his ribs crack and carrying him around like a sack of potatoes. She likes to kiss him all over his face until he gets embarrassed and shoves her away.

Their relationship is a mix of insults and affection, bruises and hugs, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. AND I LOVE THEM!!!!!

[uhohbestie]

There Are Monsters Nearby [Chapter 20]

🏜 Pairing: Grian/Scar

🧟‍♂️ Tags: zombie AU, zombie apocalypse, lovers to exes, slow burn, eventual reconciliation

📖 Summary: The day after Scar breaks up with Grian, the dead come back to life. Knowing that venturing out alone is a death sentence, the sudden onset of the apocalypse forces them to stick together despite the tensions between them. In the wreckage of the world, they're forced to survive side-by-side, coming to terms with the fact that—try as they might—there's still no one they trust more than each other.

Chapter 20 - Goodbye California, hello Oregon. Scar and Grian keep heading north, gearing up for winter, finding a nice place to stay the night, and continuing to struggle on where they stand and what they mean to one another.

📝 Words: 10,142

🔗 Link: Read Chapter 20 on AO3

—

“Cub used to— god, he’d hate it. Every time we saw a nice sunset, or some satellite passing, or a shooting star, I’d say ‘I wish Grian was here to see this.’” Scar shakes his head, crouching down with the box of winter gear as he starts to sort through it, pairing off the gloves to see what suits them best. “He’d always tell me to give it a rest. He’d say, ‘Grian can look outside and see his own sunset.’ I thought it was kinda sweet at the time, like he was showing me how close we still were. Under the same sky, y’know?” He scoffs absently as he slips his hands into a pair of fingerless gloves, curling his palm into a fist before seeking out its mate. “Now I get he just wanted me to talk about literally anything else.”

Grian stands in silence, unable to articulate a response. The tenderness of Scar’s confession sits uneven within him, mixing with the deep shame at the implication that Quackity wasn’t the first to point out to Scar that he deserved better in a partner.

“I wish I’d gotten to know Cub better,” he settles on at last, the words quiet, not nearly what Scar deserves to hear right now. “I think I missed out.”

“You did,” Scar says, agreeing so easily that it feels rehearsed, finding the pair to his glove and putting it on his other hand. “He was one of a kind.”

“I enjoyed the few times we hung out together…” Grian offers, feeling suddenly meek.

“Cub did too,” Scar hums, focused and entirely unaffected by the conversation. It makes Grian wonder how long he’s sat with these feelings so that he can speak without any anger or resentment. “And so did Pearl—though she always got the impression you felt uncomfortable around her.”

Grian shakes his head. “It wasn’t discomfort so much as… jealousy, maybe,” he admits, quiet. “She was weird and chaotic in the same ways you were, and sometimes it seemed like you two had this whole world of in-jokes I’d never be part of. I guess… I felt it was impossible to compete with.”

“There was nothing to compete with, Grian,” Scar insists, looking up for the first time, his eyes sharp and focused. “You were the one I was dating. Not Pearl. Not Cub.”

“Yeah,” Grian sighs, “I see that now.”

—

Friday time, TAMN time! We're on the penultimate chapter of this arc! These two :') will they ever learn...

You can read the whole fic thus-far in the link below!

You may not rest now, There Are Monsters Nearby (on ao3!)

[slutforsnow]

His Sunflower

CHAPTER 6 BABY

I'm on a roll 🕺

Tw/CW: drugging, sexual implications, mentions of violence, murder mention, scars, blackout, vomit

On the way to Clemensia's party, Sunni kept the tension in the car light by rambling about whatever was running through her pretty little head. Talking about anything from art, to video games, to food. Sej and Coryo didn't mind, as it kept them distracted. They occasionally engaged in conversation with Sunni, only to quickly stop when Festus interjected.

Coryo's eyes were staring into the back of Festus' head, and if looks could kill Festus would've dropped dead the first moment he saw him after Sunni revealed they were together.

When the group arrived and Festus parked his car, he led Sunni into Clemensia's estate, where she stared up in awe, talking excitedly while Festus had a hand on waist. Sej and Coryo got out of the car, glaring at Festus.

"I brought my pocket knife, so if I need to, just let me know," Coryo mumbled to Sej as they walked up the steps, earning a hit to the chest.

"No!" He hissed, earning an eye roll from the blonde. "No murder again! The judge let you off the first time because you hadn't been diagnosed with I.E.D. yet and you were ordered to get court-mandaged therapy!"

"Damn, Sejanus, you're no fun," He grumbled as the two followed Festus and Sunni inside.

Inside of the estate, there were hundreds of students talking, dancing, some drinking alcohol, others doing drugs to let loose, making out, or doing whatever else. The lights were blinding and changing between a bunch of different colours as all kinds of music artists played on the speakers.

Sunni was eating a sugar cookie by Festus near a wall, trying not to feel uncomfortable by everyone else doing things she was taught not to do.

"It's kind weird... seeing everyone drinking alcohol," She whispered to Festus, finishing her sugar cookie.

"Oh, come on, baby, it's fine. C'mon it'll be fun," Festus encouraged, pouring Sunni a cup of whiskey. She shook her head, covering her nose with her hand.

"Nuh-uh, I refuse to try and drink until I'm 21," She refused, earning an exasperated groan from him. He downed what he poured, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever."

An hour passed, and by then, Sunni was in the middle of the dance floor, giggling up a storm as Festus had his hands a little too low on her as they danced to some popular song. His hands danced on her hips, and he was murmuring soft nothings in her ear that were lost on her due to the music.

Sunni was leaning into his touch, laughing and tossing her head back into his touch, feeling his thing against her back.

Sejanus and Coryo hated the sight as they mingled with the crowd. They had everything set up, and soon, it would be known to the entire grade what Festus was really like behind all that fucking charm and flirtatious attempts.

Then it happened.

The lights turned on, and Sunni was covered in a bunch of different foods. Then laughter erupted.

Sunni felt tears erupt in her eyes.

"And, THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you embarrass a naive little bitch!" A loud voice boomed in the room which was followed by laughter.

Sunni brought a hand up to her head as she felt two pairs of hands pulled her up. She blinked a few time, trying to focus on Festus.

"Fes..? Why did you do that?" She asked, not realizing tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh, because I can! I had to embarrass you and your pathetic District mind!!" He replied, grinning maliciously.

"Why?" She asked stumbling, and feeling a familiar warmth embrace her.

"Because I can't believe how stupid you were to believe that I love you!!"

"You... you don't...?" She asked. Sunni started to cry harder. How could she be so stupid? Why didn't she believe Sejanus? Why hadn't she trusted him?

"No, you fucking moron!"

Sunni started getting dizzy and she felt sick. She placed a hand on her stomach, feeling warm until vomit spewed from her face, earning groans of disgust from their classmates.

The next morning, Sunni groaned feeling the sun's rays on her face. She slowly opened her eyes, her eyes slowly scanning around the room. She was home?

She blinked a few more time, focusing on the figure who was seemingly asleep in a chair next to her bed.

"Cori...?" She mumbled, furrowing her brows a tad.

"Mornin', Sunshine," Coryo greeted, opening his eyes and sitting up. He reached over, brushing a lock of hair out of her sleepy face. She smiled a little at his touch, leaning into him. She was usually always warm, so his cold touch was a nice change to have against her body.

"Wha' happened...?" She asked. He grimaced, the events of last night came flooding back. Sunni's eyes soon noticed the bandages on Coryo's hands.

"Coryo, your hands-"

"I'll be fine, princess. You rest up, I'll go let Sej know you're awake and we'll bring you breakfast before we tell you what happened last night," He told her, gently cupping her face in his hand.

"Okay."

Tags: @etfrin @hearts4court @snows-wife @delusionalbunni @kiraflowersworld @victory-scream0462 @curled-hair-red-lips @morallygrayboys @phoward89 @xoxo-eyeballs @thereeallink @graciouslyc @acidaciruela @wanda-maximoff-enthusiast @firstworldproblemthings @nowitsmissing

[battleswanofciya]

Okay *mentally prepares to be viscously attacked* tbh I really don’t see any chemistry between Carmy and Syd, it’s just not there. It might be that the actors don’t have good chemistry(not their fault at all)but I just don’t see it and as soon as I saw them together I fully expected to start shipping them but no matter how hard I thought about it I just couldn’t manage it. They have great friendship chemistry but no romantic chemistry.

Now *prepares to be even more viscously attacked* about halfway through the first season I realized that Richie and Syd have great chemistry, classic enemies to lovers trope yes I’m a sucker for that trope no I do not see it everywhere(I hate the Shuri x Namor ship but that’s a different rant which I might go on later we’ll see)but even in season 2 it’s very obvious that they have some sort of tension. In the first episode she almost bumps into him when he’s coming out of the basement and they kind of awkwardly stand there looking/not looking at each other and baby there is some tension there! I’m not even gonna talk about the last episode of season 2. Yes I am aware that Richie is an asshole but he is working on it which is obvious in episode one of season 2 where he fucking counts so he doesn’t lose it! It’s even obvious in season 1 episode 7 where he doesn’t freak out at Syd as much as he usually does, yes he still acts like an ass but less so, and only really loses it when she pulls his daughter into which is so fair that was really crossing the line I love you Syd but you can’t pull that shit and even when she accidentally stabs him in the ass he doesn’t start screaming at her like he definitely would have in the beginning of the season.

I know another thing people freak out on sydrichie shippers is the age gap but I honestly don’t see a problem with it, they are both consenting adults and if they want to start a relationship who are you to tell them no? And if you can think of one reason why age gaps are so weird please feel free to comment, I can’t think of a reason of what’s wrong with them as long as there’s nothing illegal and no grooming going on before age of consent.

Thank you for coming this far in my little rant and if you wanna attack me go ahead but be warned: idgaf what you think and I will reply to every comment.

[shipcestuous]

SPOILERS FOR HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

Sooo... how are we feeling after episode two?

For my part, I liked that Daemon and Rhaenyra got to acknowledge the tension between them and air out their problems by actually talking to each other... and without him resorting to violence like last season. However, I'm afraid a new wedge has been driven between them. Rhaenyra's trust in Daemon and faith in him being ultimately not that bad of a person has obviously been shaken, but I think rn Daemon, too, is feeling rejected and might be questioning her love for him. His interactions with her actually reminded me of him and Viserys. I think either it will escalate until her cheats on her with Nettles (if she will indeed be cast for the next season) or he'll do some grand, reckless gesture to prove himself to her, like when he won the Stepstones by putting himself directly at risk and then immediately handed the crown to Viserys. But then, there's the question of Mysaria, too... have her and Rhaenyra actually reached some kind of understanding/respect/female solidarity? And will this draw Rhaenyra even more apart from Daemon, who doesn't have the best relationship with Mysaria?

Still on Team Black, I didn't really feeling anything either way for Jace/Baela as a ship last season, but I kinda loved the short exchange we finally got to see between them now. The contrast between fierce Baela and a more diplomatic Jace is cute, and they seem to feel comfortable with each other, talking openly about their feelings and especially their complicated relationships with their fathers. I thought that would be more of a sore subject for Rhaena than for Baela... but I'm here for Baela calling out Daemon and not really knowing how to feel about it, too. I feel like she should be the one more similar to him between his daughters, so that contrast makes for an interesting dynamic.

Moving on to the Greens... oh, man. Where do I even start!? Aemond's mommy issues being confirmed in canon, with him seeking motherly comfort and affection in the prostitute Aegon took him to as a young boy and lying in her lap to be petted and served milk? Yeah, that seems a good place, even with how weird it felt fro Aemond "I'm not like my brother, I'm better" Targaryen to visit a brothel. I think Ewan said something about him to the effect of "I'm not sure he has issues with his mother, but maybe he wishes he could have been her firstborn son and get that unconditional love from her." Which, on one hand, makes me sad, as Aemond and Alicent seemed to have a pretty tight relationship in season one. But on the other hand... he was already wishing he could have been the son she put on the throne instead of Aegon even back then. I remember seeing around that time a post that said something like (paraphrasing horribly because alas I can't seem to track it down and have to improvise) "maybe Aemond wants to be the perfect son for Alicent, the heir to the throne who's good at both fighting and studying, because he knows that, no matter how much Aegon messes up and how much Alicent resents him and punishes him, he'll always be her firstborn and she'll always defend him no matter what, while Aemond secretly fears that, if he didn't cling to his perfect son persona and messed up, her disappointment might lead her to throw him aside." And the thing is, with Luke's death, Aemond absolutely has already messed up. We didn't see Alicent's immediate reaction to the news, but obviously she wasn't happy, and Aemond seemed to have tried to hide his inner turnoil by pretending it wasn't an accident, only bringing himself to admit her regretted with the suspiciously motherly prostitute. Now, I don't think Alicent actually hates Aemond or thinks of him as a heartless monster now, especially with the way she was talking about him being angry ever since he lost his eye and Luke wasn't punished for it last episode... but Aemond himself wasn't there to hear those words. And he seems to have closed himself off from Alicent, switching from "Mother" to addressing her by her name and seemingly focusing on the war only, so chances of them having had a heart-to-heart to clarify their positions and feelings look very low to me. Which leads me to wonder... maybe the OP of that post was onto something, and now Aemond believes his fears have come true, but there's now way he can open up enough to let Alicent reassure him of her love? And instead, he seeks out what he thinks is the next best thing...

Not that Alicent's been very good at reassuring her children in this ep. The scene where she was just silently looking at Aegon as he cried broke my heart. Especially because we now from episode nine of season one that, when Aegon is desperate, he just wants his mother. However, I can't bring myself to agree with the people bashing Alicent for it. For one thing, she's literally said herself that she feels responsible for Jaehaerys' death and is terrified of it being actually a divine punishment for her affair with Criston. It's clear to me that she feels horribly guilty towards her children and grandchildren, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was partly her guilt paralyzing her in that scene, making her think she's not "worthy" of offering comfort or really get close to them after what she believes she's done. But also, Aegon's clearly always been the son she's had the most difficulty relating to, possibly because he's the one who's been put in a position that's eerily similar to her own (he was pushed into preparing himself to be and then actually becoming king for the good of the family when he wasn't ready or even willing for that, like a young Alicent sent to entice Viserys and become his queen) but he always reacted to that in ways she could have never even thought of, and the crushing weight of grief isn't that likely to make the relationship between them any easier, just even more awkward... can you imagine if Alicent tried to hug him and he was just like "why do you care? You wanted me to be king and that put a target on my children's back" or "what, no more slapping me for not being dignified enough?" I can't help but feel those thoughts might have crossed Alicent's mind, too, despite we as the audience being more inclined (this is the impression I'm getting, at least, and I do agree with this line of thought) to imagine him needing and appreciating her support. And finally, Alicent herself doesn't exactly have the best tracked record being comforted by her own parent. With Otto, it's either "sure, I'll hug you and kiss you, but I'll also make you fear for your life and that of your children and plant the seeds of doubt re: your former best friend killing you all for her own gain at the same time" or "look, I already have my own shit going on, of course I DON'T wanto to hear about your angst or your sin or whatever." When your'e basically self-taught at offering support and comfort, I can see your skill failing in the tough situation where they're most needed.

Speaking of Alicent and Otto... I can really get a hold on their relationship this season. They ended the last one with Alicent standing up for herself and Otto having to give in a bit even while still having his own machinations going on. But in the first episode of this new one, Alicent had to beg him to support her instead of undermining her and confided her troubles with her children to him. And now he's not Hand of the King anymore, and he's done caring (or pretending to care?) about her feelings, but it seems she still needs his guidance as she goes along with his plans even when they leave her appalled, as exemplified by Jaehaerys' public funeral procession. It's just a weird, shifing dynamic...

But, leaving Alicent alone for a second (as difficult as it is, because I like her a lot and I feel after this season people will treat her even more unfairly than they used to, lol) and going back to Aegon. I'm not sure I would ever want the show to go in a more Helaegon direction, after all the "it's fine, he doesn't give a shit about me and only fucks me when he's too drunk to tell I'm not one of his whores" stuff in season one, but seeing both of them grieve for their son in their own different ways... I don't know. I wish they could help each other through, connect like they'd never been able to before, even just as brother and sister rather than husband and wife. She doesn't want anyone around her and was just forced into a public event that looked about to give her a panic attack. He's so full of rage and despair that he just wants to kill and destroy and go to war. Such different reactions to the same intense, devastating feeling.

Oh, and we got a Daeron mention at last! I thought he'd have to show up at some point, given his name was in the season one intro, but after no casting had been announced for him before season two, I'd figured they'd just cut him. I wonder how they'll justify his total absence in all the important events up until now in the next season, and how he'll fit in the already very complex Green family dynamic.

Also, as a closing note, I really liked Arryk and Erryk. It was so tragic and full of emotion. They went from "one soul in two bodies" to "I have no choice but to kill him even if I don't want to and I'll regret it forever" to "I hate you for picking the other side and forcing us into this but, more than that, I love you and always him." And that ending... makes me wish we'd seen more of the twins before it came to that point!

Thanks so much for sharing all of your thoughts, Anon!

Daemon & Rhaenyra: I did not enjoy watching them fight, but I think it might have done them good to air out some of the dirty laundry. Daemon never actually told those guys to kill Jaehaerys, or to kill Jaehaerys as a back up, or anything like that. He told them to kill Aemond, which is what Rhaenyra said she wanted. So I feel like this was more of a straw that broke the camel's back situation, and Rhaenyra took the opportunity to list her insecurities and grievances and fears, and it may have been good for Daemon to hear those things, but surely he must be hurt. I liked that Rhaenys expressed sympathy for him, knowing what it's like having been passed over for the crown. I hope she'll say something similar to Rhaenyra at some point. I just hope Rhaenyra we'll realize that she and Daemon are stronger together, and by all appearances, they've had several very happy years of marriage. Daemon's obviously got some issues, and some skewed perspectives, so I guess we'll just have to see if he's going to hold on to them or let them go. They won't come back easily from this fight, but I definitely think it's possible.

Baela/Jace: That was a cute scene and it was nice of the writers to let the step-siblings interact and give them something more than just standing together as a family.

Baela/Daemon: Can you imagine having Daemon Targaryen for a father? I don't think we'll see his relationships with his children explored very much, so it was nice to have something, even if it was just a few lines. I could see a very interesting mix of hate and hero worship co-existing for his kids.

Alicent/Aemond: Aemond's scene with the prostitute screamed mommy issues. The implication of a scene like that would normally be that he needed that kind of love/affection from his mother and never got it. But I don't think Alicent was all that cold of a mother. And that pushes Aemond's need into a more suggestive/interesting place, in my opinion. If he still wants that kind of attention, and to be held and comforted like that.

I didn't like the way Alicent had seemingly turned on him, the way she snapped at him for being at the council, especially. I really liked what we saw of their relationship in s1, which gave me the impression that he was the son she trusted. Smarter, measured, reliable, everything Aegon failed at.

I love that analysis that he has tried to be the perfect son because he'll never be the first born.

Aemond seems to have turned on her a little as well, but I think that's in response to her behavior. If only he would confide in her that Luke was an accident. But he's too proud.

Alicent/Aegon: People will use any excuse to hate on Alicent. And she's just about my favorite? I don't get it.

Alicent not comforting Aegon had, as far as I'm concerned, absolutely nothing to do with her being a bad mom or not loving Aegon enough or anything like that. My impression was that she felt unequipped to comfort him, in large part because of this "sin" that's weighing on her. She feels terribly guilty, like all of this is her fault. It was like you said, Anon.

I also had the impression that maybe she thought he would not have been receptive to her attention. Like he might have been embarrassed and would have lashed out at her.

Alicent is terrified that Aegon is going to stop listening to her. So why would she pass up an opportunity to endear herself to him and put him back in his place as the child? - unless she thought it wouldn't go down like that. Or if she felt unworthy.

Aegon is proving to be a much for layered character than Joffrey, and I'm so glad.

Aegon/Helaena: I actually really liked the moment between Aegon and Helaena in this episode. A moment of sweet comforting would have been better, but that was a pipe dream anyway. What I liked was that Helaena seemed to be seeking comfort from Aegon, which is not what I would have necessarily predicted. When she saw him, she partially-expected but I think mostly wanted to have a moment with him of shared grief. And I think the reason why Aegon refused to do that is because he wanted to be all rage and plans and revenge. That moment where Alicent sees him sobbing is probably what he was trying to avoid with Helaena, either because he didn't want to go there emotionally, or because he didn't want it to happen in front of her. And Helaena really did seem hurt when Aegon refused to stop and speak with her. She expected better, which is interesting.

Aemond/Helaena: You didn't bring this up but I'm going to. What the hell? Two episodes and they haven't even been in the same room together. He has barely been around. The writers really said, "Oh, Aemond is a fan favorite? Let's see what we can do about that." "Oh, a lot of people ship Aemond and Helaena? Let's see how much they ship two characters who are never even in the same room together."

Otto/Alicent: Choo choo, this train is really chugging along this season. I already shipped these two a lot, but their scenes this season are making me love it even more. I'm bummed he's seemingly going away for who knows how long, but surely we'll see him again, and hopefully he'll have Daeron in tow. Otto and Alicent were really working as a team this season. Yes, Otto pushed Alicent into a marriage with Viserys and that was messed up, but we saw in this episode how much Otto actually respected Viserys. And Alicent had the choice not to fight for Aegon's succession, and she chose to put him on the throne, so she's a gamer too, when the chips are down. She's going to miss Otto's wisdom and sanity when he's gone, as much if not more than the first time he was removed as Hand.

I didn't read Otto not wanting to hear her sin as harshly as some people seem to have. For me, it wasn't, "I don't care" as much as, "It doesn't matter". You don't need to come clean with me, you don't owe me honesty, that kind of thing. But also, "I can't offer you absolution." Whatever kind of relief she was seeking, he knew he couldn't give it to her.

Let's not ignore the fact that she wanted to confess to him about her torrid illicit affair.

Arryk/Erryk: I was watching Jeremy Jahns' review of this episode and I really loved what he said about how it didn't really matter which brother won the fight because they both lost no matter what. I just killed my brother and so I'm killing myself, my gosh, what pain.

[abarbaricyalp]

sambucky + 12. babysitting together 👀 if you like!

Oh, fun! Since this came from this forced proximity list I did it a little different than going a Wilson Family route.

(That said, I do have several Wilson Family fics 💜)

I'm sorry this is so so so late. I forgot how to write. Or really even think

Waltz of the Bees

Sam wasn't even aware that the library could close in the middle of the afternoon.

This stupid project just kept getting better and better. Which was probably his fault because he'd said something stupid after getting paired with Bucky Barnes, like that it couldn't get any worse. This was the universe laughing at him over and over. They were a month away from graduating and Sam was going to be stuck working with Bucky for most of it.

True, they could just not try with this project. It's not like it was really going to affect their GPA and they were both already accepted into their colleges. (College. That's where this whole cruel joke had started. Bucky was going to the same school Sam was) But they were both categorically incapable of not trying. This whole weird tension between them was born out of their inability to not try.

Sam had transferred to this school at the beginning of sophomore year and the next three years were a battle between him and Bucky for top marks. Bucky scored a chemistry award over Sam. The baseball coach took Bucky away from pitching to put Sam in. Sam took the basketball team to the state quarterfinals. Bucky placed at state in the high jump. Sam created a robotics club and Bucky won a pretentious English scholarship. This teacher adored Bucky, that one thought Sam might've created the moon and its gravitational pull on the tides.

He and Bucky had managed to avoid each other for the most part. They didn't sit near each other in class and, other than during baseball season, their extracurriculars didn't overlap. And now, thanks to this awful Modern History project, they were tangled together for the last part of their high school careers.

Possibly the worst part was that Bucky was fine. Nice, even. He was studious and friendly. He actually put in his part of the work, which was kind of a double-edged sword since it meant they were both passionate about various decisions and both of them were bad at the 'kill your darlings' part of the creative process. They argued about little things constantly, but the project as a whole was looking fantastic. So Sam couldn't even hate the actual work.

What he could gripe about was that Bucky was nosy. He asked a thousand questions about Sam and committed all the answers to memory. Walking into the Barnes house, because the library was inexplicably closed, Sam wished he had the same habit because he knew nothing about Bucky's life.

Like the fact that he had five sisters.

Or the fact that not everyone called him Bucky.

Bucky's two older sisters and his mom called him Jamie, while his three younger sisters and dad called him Bucky. The two baby nieces just babbled and anything with a B or U sound was interpreted as Bucky's name.

There were a lot of people in Bucky's house. Sam had known plenty of big families but never in a context where he was sitting in the house with them. And there were so many girls.

Sam also learned Bucky wasn't allowed to have boys in his room and the suggestive reminder of that from one of his older sisters was enough to make him blush furiously and scowl at her as he elbowed Sam back out of the kitchen. And, oh, Sam hadn't known that about Bucky either.

"Alright, Jamie, we're heading out," Mrs. Barnes said. "The show should be over around nine and we're going to get dinner after. We'll bring you and Sam something back." She ruffled Bucky's hair and leaned over to kiss his head afterwards.

"The girls need to be in bed by--" his oldest sister started to say.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Bucky waved off. "And Sam probably won't be here by the time you all get back." He gave his second oldest sister a hug and wished her good luck, then pulled on his twin little sisters' braids. Rebecca, the sister Sam knew from school, had escaped a few minutes earlier, off to a friend's house. She'd also had waggly suggestive eyebrows for Bucky when she and Sam had passed earlier. Sam had no idea what that meant, but it brought out the same blush and scowl.

Everyone else filed out of the house and suddenly the bustling, too small space became far too large. Especially when the older niece suddenly shot across the room like a rocket as soon as the door was closed.

"Gus-Gus!" Bucky called, hurrying after her while Sam still tried to fathom how something so small could move so fast.

The baby was in a small rocker by the couch and she watched Sam with the same crazy blue eyes that Bucky had. Most of the Barneses had those eyes. Becca and Mr. Barnes were the only exceptions. Sam was pretty sure the odds of that happening, genetically speaking, must've been astronomically low and yet. Augusta, the toddler, also had dark eyes, but she didn't sit still long enough to let anyone know it.

"How are you this evening?" Sam asked the baby. She grinned at him and then giggled wildly, kicking her little legs hard enough to get the rocker started. "Well, I'm glad to hear it," Sam continued, which just made her laughter that much louder. "You don't happen to have any opinions on Mutant Rights do you?" When the baby just kept giggling and chewing on a teething ring, Sam sighed. "I thought not. It's too bad. You would have been an interesting interview source."

"You're not really getting to recruit my niece into our project are you?" Bucky asked from somewhere behind the couch.

"She volunteered. She was interested in it," Sam defended lightly.

Bucky reappeared on the right side of the couch, holding his older niece. "Sorry about this. I don't know if it's better to get everyone out of the house or worse to be forced into babysitting with me."

"I don't mind," Sam said honestly. "Down in Louisiana, my mama had an open-door policy. Anyone who needed a place to stay for a little while was welcome in our house. I've done plenty of babysitting."

Bucky sat beside Sam, keeping Augusta in his lap and offering his fingers up as captives for her attention. "Right," he agreed, even though there was no way he could've known that. "Still, thanks for coming over. I know some of your friends from the team were doing something tonight."

Sam barely kept a grimace off his face. "Trust me, I wasn't going to that either. I'm not driving to a field to drink shitty beer. Could've stayed in Louisiana and done that."

Bucky shot him an almost shy smile and then pulled open his laptop on the coffee table. He passed it off to Sam when he opened the project file again. For the past week, they'd been conducting interviews with people who'd been there to see Leshner and Xavier go head to head in debates. They’d been trying to transcribe them, but it was slow work between all their other commitments. Luckily, the rest of the project had come together on its own without the interview quotes, so they weren’t too far behind.

“Do you think we have any homo Superior classmates?” Bucky offered up while Sam was in the middle of parsing out a name.

“I dunno,” he said with a shrug. “It’s not my business.”

“You ever think you were one?”

“I thought I could talk to birds when I was a kid.”

He could feel Bucky staring at him and he let it marinate a bit. “What, like you understood them?”

“Yeah, like what they were singing about and everything. And they understood me. Mostly, I was a bored kid with a second story window,” he admitted. “But it was fun to pretend.”

Augusta squawked like a bird and then giggled to herself. Sam smiled at her and chirped back and she copied the noise. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It was just like that.”

Bucky ruffled Augusta’s dark hair and moved her to the other side of the couch again so he could sit closer to Sam. They fell into another productive silence, broken only by Bucky pointing out when Sam transcribed something incorrectly.

“It just…it would suck, don’t you think?” Bucky interrupted again. “To be a mutant and have to watch some of your dipshit classmates talk about the fight for your basic recognition and protection.”

Sam’s eyebrows rose slowly. “We do it with the Civil Rights movement every year,” he pointed out. “And in the debate classes, someone always has to argue against something that should be innate. Healthcare, marriage equality, taxes for the stupidly rich.”

Bucky’s mouth twisted and he sat back heavily. “It just sucks. Other people are talking about super soldiers and spy rings.”

“We’re not taking a side. We’re just delivering information. Besides, I’m not a dipshit, so we’ll be fine.”

Bucky snorted and pushed a hand through his hair. It was longer than he’d ever worn it and Sam wondered if he was going to cut it back to his normal pomp and fluff before graduation. He played with it now, as he thought or while he was waiting for Sam to finish talking so he could argue or as he stood in front of the vending machine and worked out how to shake a snack free.

“You have a homo Superior friend you’re trying to protect?” Sam asked to distract himself from Bucky’s hair.

“Nah,” Bucky said with a shake of his head. He released the lock of hair he had been crimping between his fingers. “With Xavier’s school being in New York, I think most of them just go there. I wonder about your old school.”

“Louisiana has its own schools,” Sam said. “It’s not like X and Magneto are the only ones out there. A kid I used to go to summer camp with was a mutant. He was pulled out of our school before seventh grade but he kept coming back to camp. He had, like, lava in his veins. We always made him get into the pool first to warm up the water. He ran so hot.”

Augusta mimed an explosion, making a bursting noise as she threw her arms wide. Bucky quickly reached out to steady the small lamp on the end table. When the toddler yanked on his shirt, he leaned over to listen as she babbled nonsense. Sam had not inherited his mother’s ability to understand babies. Old people, no problem. Lisps and stutters, easy. Listening to his dumbass friends after they’d caught a linedrive to the mouth and had more gauze than teeth in their gums, sure. But babies were something else. He just took in their facial expressions and went from there.

“A phoenix,” Bucky said with a nod. Which, how he got any semblance of a question from the girl was beyond Sam. But that was closer than the fact that Augusta knew enough about phoenixes to ask about them.

She jumped up from the couch, threw her arms wide like wings, made the explosion noise again, and then took off, shouting Feeeeeeeeenix over and over.

“She’s gonna think she can talk to birds for years now,” Bucky said to Sam. Sam couldn’t tell if he was exasperated or fond as he shot an exasperated/fond half glare to him before following after the toddler again.

“Your uncle is difficult to read,” Sam told the baby next to him. He’d expected her to have drifted off, but she was still wide eyed and attentive. She blinked at him and smiled softly. "Do you think so too or does he just do that for me?"

June blew a raspberry and then brought a teething toy to her mouth instead of giving him any more information. Sam sighed and turned back to the laptop in front of him. Bucky's computer was as chaotic as his backpack. Nothing was organized and there were five different sets of browser tabs open, all full of research and YouTube links and documents. He clicked away from the transcription page, fully intending to go back to their PowerPoint, but he got distracted by a tab in the far left corner called Compos'R. He clicked over to it before he could convince himself not to be nosy. Bucky had dug through his journal the other day anyway.

The website was a simple affair, like one of a half dozen Sam used for drafting essays. No frills, no distractions. But instead of writing, it was full of sheet music. Lines and lines of complicated notes and piano riffs. Sam used to sing in his daddy's church choir–the ability had left him when his voice dropped–but he never learned to play an instrument and he'd never seen hymns with music this intricate. The piece was called “English Class Tango,” which helped Sam find the beat of the notes.

He'd noticed a piano tucked away near a window in what he assumed was supposed to be a dining room but had been converted into a pseudo-office. He hadn't really thought about it, except to think that it was adding to the cluttered, claustrophobic feeling of the house. Now, he couldn't stop thinking about it. About Bucky curled over the keys, papers strewn around him as he tried a bar over and over again. He thought about Bucky in the sleep clothes he sometimes showed up to early Saturday practices in, playing the piano in the middle of the night. Did he ever get kicked out when someone had to take a meeting? Did he have to cherish stolen moments in a shared space? Or was he good enough that no one even minded him playing while they worked?

Down the side of the webpage, there were tabs to other songs. "Waltz With Bees (under the trees and sun)" and "Just A Little Peace" and "Junebug, 3am" and "Triumph in Red," which was a title Sam recognized. Not from Bucky or music. It's what the newspapers had called Sam after a run of games where he had made several spectacular plays. Why would Bucky name one of his songs after Sam's compliment?

He navigated to that sheet music. It was less complicated than the tango, but Sam could tell it would sound more voluminous. There was a play button at the top of the screen. It wasn’t necessarily sitting there pulsing and glowing and begging him to press it, but he did so anyway. Logically, Sam knew he and Bucky had had the volume up to help with the transcriptions, but he hadn’t expected the music to blare out like that. He scrambled to get the volume turned down, which he did just in time to hear Bucky shout out his name. But his voice was far away, down the other end of the house, maybe changing Augusta’s diaper or something. So Sam kept the music playing.

It was like something from a movie. The brash entrance bars were soon dialed back to a lilting, easy melody that Sam just knew in his bones. It was the wind and the sunshine and the butterflies of an early day warm up. It was the scrapping of the field and the sprinklers sputtering to life. And then the music got faster, the notes got more intense and heavy, the pounding adrenaline of a game getting started, the thrumming of a crowd. And that crack of a bat that had started the song. The sailing melodic rush of hope in the form of high keys as Sam ran back to the wall, glove outstretched, fighting to find the ball in the sunshine. The decrescendo of the out nestled in Sam’s glove.

“Wilson!” Bucky snapped again, closer this time.

Sam quickly paused the music and tried to get back to the tab with their transcription page. But he couldn’t do it with shaking fingers and, at the same time, June began to wail. Sam almost went to cover his ears but decided instead to reach out to the baby. She grabbed his hand but didn’t stop crying.

“Junebug,” Sam heard from behind him. And then, “Gus!” again and the patter of small feet and then bigger feet as Bucky retreated once more.

Sam looked back for the visual confirmation that he was alone in this and then just decided to pull June out of her seat. Babies liked to be held, right? She continued to cling onto Sam and even put her tiny, incredibly heavy, head on his shoulder but still kept crying.

“I don’t know what to do for you,” he apologized a little desperately. “I don’t know how to feed you or change you.” He wasn’t even sure which room was the nursery, though he imagined he could follow Augusta’s shrieking laughter.

June reached over Sam’s shoulder and Sam followed her gaze to the piano. “I’m sorry, kiddo. I don’t play piano and I don’t think Uncle Bucky would appreciate you crawling all over it without him.”

This just made June sob louder. Sam sat down on the couch and continued to gently bounce the baby on his shoulder as he looked at Bucky’s laptop again. He’d managed to click out of “Triumph in Red'' but the tab was still on Compos’R. He went to the waltz songbook and hit play. As soon as the notes were loud enough for June to hear them over her own crying, she settled down. It was a softer song. Again, Sam could practically hear the bees dancing around Bucky’s head in the shade of a tree on a sunny day. Or maybe Augusta’s head. Or Becca’s. Had Bucky watched Becca twirl aimlessly under a tree as she danced away from playful, sated bees?

He stood with June against his shoulder and began to turn in a simple waltz. His parents both believed that the only things someone really needed to know was how to properly eat spaghetti in company and how to dance at any function. Most of Sam’s childhood memories involved standing on his daddy’s feet while he held onto Sarah’s hands–her on their mama’s feet–while their parents danced together, explaining steps and beats to them. It had not been useful at junior high dances when no one else knew what they were doing, but Sam held his own at prom.

June was peacefully quiet. Her little fingers curled in Sam’s shirt as she clung to him and part of his collar wound up in her mouth, but he didn’t mind. So long as she wasn’t still crying.

It took three more turns for Sam to find Bucky standing in in the entryway, staring at Sam like Sam might’ve hung the moon just for him. Sam’s steps faltered a little and June seemed like she was taking in a breath to cry, so he righted himself, just made his waltz a little tighter so he could keep Bucky in his eyeline more often.

“I think she’s gonna be a dancer when she grows up,” he offered when Bucky didn’t speak after a few more bars.

“She likes music. She always has. It’s usually the only thing that calms her down. Other than food and a diaper change,” Bucky agreed. The moment of awe and adoration seemed to have passed and he came over to the other side of the couch to turn off his music. “What were you doing snooping around my things?” he asked and took June from Sam in the same moment, which staved off any impending meltdown.

"It's hardly snooping when you left me with your laptop. Why do you keep so much open anyway?"

Bucky made a face. "What am I supposed to do? Remember all the shit I wanted to look at?"

"You could save them as bookmarks."

"You actually use your bookmarks? If I'm not staring at the page, I don't remember it exists. It has to stay up."

Sam rolled his eyes and sat back in the couch while Bucky tried to juggle the laptop and his niece. The inequity between them didn't last long. Augusta came running up from the other side of the couch and crashed into Sam's legs.

"I dance!" she shouted. "I dance, I dance, I dance!"

Sam almost nudged her away with a suggestion she show them before he realized she meant she wanted to dance with him. So he scooped her up in a grand twirl and let her laugh herself breathless. The same kind of adoring look was on Bucky's face when Sam turned to look at him again. He took it as permission to keep spinning in wild circles with Augusta.

About the time that Augusta had laughed herself into exhaustion, June realized what was going on and voiced her own disagreement. Bucky tried to quiet her down by bouncing her on his hip or blowing raspberries on her shoulder or tickling her cheeks, but she wasn’t having any of it. She made grabby hands towards Sam and bawled louder when he didn’t immediately reach back for her.

Sam and Bucky looked at each other. Bucky looked apologetic but helpless and he held the baby further out to Sam. With a sigh, Sam put Augusta down on the couch, making a show out of her ‘crashing’ down, and bundled her up in a blanket. He took June then and cuddled her close before beginning to gently dance again. She settled instantly. Augusta finished digging her way out of the blanket and stood on the couch next to Bucky, peering at his laptop, which he’d picked up again. A few seconds later, the same song waltz began to play.

“I didn’t know you were a composer,” Sam said quietly over the baby’s head. “Or that you played piano at all.”

“Yeah, most people don’t, unless they go to church with us,” Bucky agreed. “I don’t talk about it a lot. Doesn’t have anything to do with school.”

“Yeah, but you’re really good,” Sam insisted. “I mean, is that what you want to do in college?”

Bucky shrugged, set aside his laptop, and picked up Augusta. She was nodding off again, the momentary rush of adrenaline wearing off. He picked up the same easy waltz Sam was doing and copied him on the other side of the living room. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t know.”

“You should,” Sam insisted. “At least as an extra-curricular or a minor or something.”

Bucky snorted. “A Fine Arts minor. I think that’s a lot of work for very little reward.”

Which, yeah, probably, Sam agreed to himself. How were there so many hidden depths to someone Sam had always figured was very…ken-doll like? Sisters and nicknames and a notable amount of empathy for people he didn’t know and a hidden talent and eyes that were way more expressive than Sam had ever given him credit for. Turns out, they weren’t just ridiculously blue.

“Is she out?” Bucky asked, nodding towards June. “We could probably get them both in bed at the same time.”

Sam nodded. He didn’t have to check. She’d gone from weighing almost nothing to being like a sack of potatoes a few minutes ago. He followed Bucky down the hall of the house, trying-not-trying to peek into the rooms to catch a glimpse of Bucky’s. Earlier this afternoon, he would’ve assumed it looked like a locker room, but now he wasn’t so sure. He felt like he wasn’t sure about anything to do with Bucky.

“Hey,” he said, putting June in the crib and pulling the blanket up to her waist. (But not near her face, he knew that was a rule, right?) “Which one of your sisters has the kids?”

“The oldest,” Bucky said. “April.”

“Right. Is that why she chose more month names? I mean, that’s not a pattern in your family right?”

“Definitely not,” Bucky agreed. “She was the only month name. But she always thought it would be so cute if her and her daughter had the same kind of name. She was going to go with Julia for a while, but she thought it wasn’t obvious enough. There’s always the next one.”

“Could always go with Jan,” Sam suggested. “And May obviously.”

“She didn’t want April and May,” Bucky explained. “Even though I thought it’d be hilarious.”

“But she’d be willing to do June, July, and August?”

Bucky shrugged as he turned on a castle shaped nightlight and turned off the overhead light. They stepped into the hallway and Bucky pulled the door three-quarters of the way shut. “You wanna sit in my room for a while? I mean, unless you wanted to put on the TV or something,” he offered.

“Your room sounds fine,” Sam said and hoped it didn’t sound as quick as it felt.

If it did, Bucky didn’t react. He opened a door at the end of the hall, closer to the living room again, and gestured inside while he went to get his laptop. In actuality, Sam wasn’t that far off in his assumption about Bucky’s room. It was fairly messy and he had clothes and pieces of uniform thrown all over and a baseball mitt crushing open the book they were supposed to be reading in English class. But there was a lot that Sam wasn’t expecting. A lot of books. A lot of journals. He had a whole pinboard full of scraps of paper with quotes or doodles on them. There were also a lot of blankets. More blankets than Sam could really start to count.

“I know the guys rag on you for always bringing a blanket on away-games, but do you have some kind of thyroid problem?” Sam asked when Bucky walked back in.

Bucky snorted again and threw himself across his bed. His music was still playing from his laptop, soft and quiet, the perfect background to his bedroom. “I just hate being cold,” he said.

“Sounds like you could use a phoenix yourself,” Sam joked.

“Unfortunately, I have you and you are no furnace.”

“Hey now!” Sam objected. He sat down on the corner of Bucky’s bed. The computer kept his attention for a few seconds before he was looking across all of Bucky’s things strewn around the room. He reached down for a very well loved beanie baby that seemed to be crawling under the bed. It was a white cat with floppy legs and long whiskers. Sam tossed it at Bucky and he ran his thumb over its head and back absently until he realized what he was doing and shoved it under his pillow. All these blankets and he only had one pillow on the whole bed.

“Anyway, I was thinking for our conclusion slides, we could talk about some younger activists,” Bucky said, turning the laptop to half face Sam. “I know we’re supposed to focus on the old guys, but their whole motive was building a better world for others. You know, however misguided they might have gone about it.”

“You’re very forgiving of these guys. I mean, you see a bunch of nuance that everyone has just reduced them down to facts in a book.”

Bucky looked up at Sam with a frown. “You do the same thing,” he muttered. “It’s not like I’m giving them much more grace than you.”

“No, I guess not,” Sam agreed. Though he mostly was thinking of them more critically because of this project. Other than that no one’s existence should be legislated and it was pretty damn rich for homo Sapiens to say that because some homo Superiors were violent it was a mark against all of them. “I guess I just didn’t expect you to put so much thought into this project.”

Bucky leaned back on his bed and leveled a stare on Sam. God, those eyes were unfair. Sam tried to not squirm. “Why’s that, Wilson?”

“I mean, you don’t have to. Neither of us do. You doing well is just gonna help me too.”

“So?” Bucky prodded.

“So I figured you’ve been trying to get a leg up on me for three years. I know you were the golden boy before I showed up and happened to be into all the same things you were.”

Bucky’s relaxed sprawl tensed suddenly and his obnoxious eyebrows creased down. “What?” he asked and sat up in an ungainly flail of limbs. “You think I was battling you?”

“I mean…yeah?” Sam said with his own frown forming. “I couldn’t turn in an assignment without you finding extra credit to add to yours.”

“And you thought that was me trying to one-up you?” Bucky asked again.

Sam threw an arm up in the air. It brought the corner of a deep blue blanket up too and he batted it off of his leg. “Yes! Obviously I did! Last year, when I was having that fantastic season and was a shoe in for All-State? You had the most phenomenal second half of a season ever. You qualified just based on six games!”

“I wasn’t trying to outshine you!” Bucky insisted. “I was trying to impress you!”

Sam came up short. The blanket somehow came over his leg again. “What?” he asked. He wasn’t even sure how the word came out because his brain was just static. Like the noise after a train runs into a wall, because that’s more or less what had happened in his brain. “What?” he repeated.

“Everything I’ve done since you moved in has been to make you notice me! I wanted you to think I was cool and talented. That I could keep up with you.” Bucky pushed his hands through his hair and stood jerkily. “Oh my God, no wonder you’ve hated me.”

“I wouldn’t say hate,” Sam defended. Just, kind of, like, really irritated by.

“I have been trying so hard to make you notice me and the whole time you were purposely looking the other way,” Bucky continued. “It’s been three years!”

Sam’s frown turned defensive. “That’s not my fault! You could’ve just talked to me! Maybe then I’d have known you have sisters you’re close with and you care about protecting people you don’t know and you’re always cold!”

Bucky flushed deeper red–which only made his eyes bluer, absurd–and he looked away from Sam. “I didn’t think I could,” he admitted. “You’re so cool and your friends are cool and you never looked at me.”

“My friends are idiots,” Sam said. “My best friend lives in Montana on a ranch and I get to see him, like, three times a year. He’s nothing like the people I hang out with at school.”

“You’ve never mentioned that.”

“And you’ve never mentioned that you play piano,” Sam retorted. He stood and took one step towards Bucky before taking two back.

Bucky crossed the distance between them. His eyes dropped from Sam’s face quickly. He reached for the middle of Sam’s shirt and curled his fingers in the material gently. “I think we kind of fucked this up.”

Sam tilted his head in acknowledgement even though Bucky couldn’t see him. He brought his fingers up to Bucky’s shoulder, just so he could get Bucky’s eyes on him again. “Maybe we could start over,” he suggested. “Hi, I’m Sam Wilson. I think we have a lot of common interests.”

Bucky’s mouth twitched into something that was almost a smile. “Hi, Sam. I’m Bucky. What things do we have in common? ‘Cause you seem a lot cooler than me. And hotter.”

Sam laughed. “Well, baseball,” he said. “We could go throw a ball around now and then if you wanted. And I know you’re good at mech-shop projects. I like circuitry stuff, which is just mech but smaller.”

“I dunno about that, Wilson,” Bucky teased. “But maybe I could watch you work a little. See what it was all about.”

“Could probably use your ridiculously long fingers for something,” Sam pointed out.

Bucky’s fingers tightened in Sam’s shirt. “Yeah, they’re good for a lot of thing,” he promised in a purr, which made Sam laugh again. “I can think of something else we have in common.”

“What’s that?” Sam asked.

“My nieces are obsessed with both of us. I’ll make music and you can dance.”

Sam dropped his arms around Bucky’s neck. “That sounds ideal,” he said. “I could teach you how to dance too,” he offered. “In case I’m ever not available.”

Bucky slid his arms around Sam’s waist. “Now, that sounds ideal,” he corrected in a sigh and pulled Sam closer. “I’m a very good student.”

Sam tried not to shiver. Failed miserably. “I know,” he breathed. “But I’ll still go slow.”

“That’s okay with me,” Bucky said. “I like being near you.”

“Especially when I’m looking at you?”

“Especially then,” Bucky agreed. He brought his eyes up to Sam’s face and grinned when Sam was already looking at him.

They, and the bees, waltzed.

[dnfao3tags]

Monthly Fic Roundup - May 2023

ok look man this is the third fucking time i've had to redo this entire post i dont give a shit anymore i hate tumblr i hope it and i die a very painful death does anybody have any idea how hard it is to edit these things with the shittiest site and shittiest laptop in the world

anyways. nobody reminded me i forgot about mays roundup. betrayal. leave all the writers here a warm kudos and comment :]

— find me here by womanhunt (mat. | comp. | 9k)

Dream and George through various phone calls across time.

— All paths lead to you by Simplysmitten (teen | comp. | 28k)

When George is stressed, he has nightmares, and when George has nightmares, he sleepwalks. In a subconscious search for relief, George sleepwalks to the safest place he can find- Dream's room. Dream finds out more than he bargained for when trying to decode George's nonsensical sleep-talking, but he struggles to make conscious-George as comforted by his presence as unconscious-George.

— i want you, and that’s the way it is by pondsofkoi (gen | comp. | 4k)

Sometimes George combs his hair with enough force Dream thinks he’s trying to yank his scalp out. “Dude.”

— a wish, a child by heartinhands (teen | comp. | 3k)

George wants a child. If he and Dream wish hard enough, there's a chance.

— every sunset by indigoh (mat. | comp. | 10k)

when George goes to sleep, it’s June 2020. When he wakes up, it’s 8 years into the future.

Part 2 of the past, the future, and everything in between

— what a childish thing by tippysleeps (teen | comp. | 7k)

“What year is it,” George repeats. “Um,” Dream frowns. “It’s 2020?” George just stares at him. “It’s 2027,” he says, finally. “2027.”

Part 1 of not afraid of living on a faultline

— Some Other Beginning's End by Scoops (consciousness_streaming) (expl. | comp. | 5k)

George's family takes a holiday to Orlando to visit Disney. Just before George is set to meet Dream, disaster strikes in the form of a werewolf pack taking over Florida, and maybe more of America. While George struggles to survive, scavenging for food and materials for the few survivors, and at the end of his rope--a miracle happens. He might get to meet Dream after all.

— falling in love in the cruelest way by twostorms (teen | comp. | 7k)

Dream can't remember a time where he wasn't at least a little obsessed with George.

— Maw by shrewtz (expl. | comp. | 1k)

To combine their two selves in one way or another, to blur the line between hunger and arousal, to consume a piece of his lover— would it not be the most romantic gesture possible?

— when you kiss my lips, you'll make it stick by demonstars (mat. | comp. | 6k)

Dream's hero's (MUA) journey.

— Can you make it feel like home (if I tell you you're mine?) by JanetBaby99 (expl. | comp. | 19k)

Dream and George go on a road trip together and the tension between them becomes too much. Eventually, it snaps, and they can’t keep their hands to themselves any longer.

— unbreakable heaven by furculaed (teen | comp. | 5k)

“I didn’t mean for it to get so messy,” she breathes, “I thought we could, I don’t know, just do whatever and we’d be okay. I can live with just this, I promise. I can do with nothing, even. I don’t know. Just don’t ask me to stop.” Dream’s breath stops right at her chest. “Stop what, George?” “You know,” she whispers. George looks at Dream, beautiful and breaking at the seams. “Don’t make me say it, Dream. You know,” George begs.

— fall into me by havocrat (teen | comp. | 7k)

Handing the tube back, Georgina smacks her lips together, and they make a little pop sound. It’s a weird feeling, a little sticky, but she kind of likes it. She wonders if it’s anything like kissing Dream for real. “Nice chapstick,” she says, and her voice comes out a little hoarse. Dream’s throat bobs, and she wets her lips again. “Yeah?” “Yeah. Tastes good, too.” She’s aware she sounds like an idiot, but this is the only coherent thought in her head right now, the only thought that isn’t about Dream’s lips and Dream’s mouth and indirect kisses and direct kisses and– God. She needs to get out of there, before she does something they both regret.

— right through your bones by dizzy (teen | comp. | 3k)

George tries to kiss Dream, and it doesn't go as planned.

— tall man’s burden by alreadyhateyou (expl. | comp. | 4k)

Clearly Dream is tall, clearly Dream is taller and bigger than George, in a lot of ways. Clearly, George is really into this. First it’s Dream’s hands, then his shoulders and chest and thighs. Soon it’s everything. Soon George finds out Dream is big everywhere.

— what a fucked up reality show by brokenlikeastitch (teen | comp. | 13k)

“Have you started studying for the map quizzes?” George asks, shoving some of her stuff over to clear the table in front of the chair next to her like she’s making room for Dream. It’s bizarre, and Dream is caught off guard at the sudden conversation. She’s not sure what exactly she was going to say to George, but now she’s even more unsure what to say. “Not yet, I don’t really like thinking about that class.” George giggles, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear as she does. “Me neither, but I don’t want to fail them because I think I’ll jump off a cliff if I have to take this class again, so.” The giggle makes Dream feel a little faint, and she sits down in the offered seat just to make sure she doesn’t accidentally actually fall out in the library in front of everyone.

— This Ambiguous Edge by Amoxil (expl. | comp. | 21k)

Dream and George don’t care about the label. For months, they do everything that couples do. Everything but sex. George is patient, but Dream’s beginning to skirt the line. George wants to see how far he can push him.

— it isn't new (but it's still you) by mocharex (teen | comp. | 15k)

The slow shift from friends to fiancés to having a family together may take years, but, luckily enough, Dream and George have all the time in the world.

— Reasons Not To Be An Idiot by VicIsWriting (expl. | comp. | 30k)

Dream and George– they used to be friends. Sandbox besties, cradle to grave, ride-or-die kind of friends. Now they’re nothing, just strangers on a college campus who barely look in each other’s direction as they pass by, neutral recognition in both their eyes. When their friendship is revived, something new develops too.

— get busy waiting by alreadyhateyou (expl. | comp. | 17k)

Dream claims he wants to wait until marriage, and while George does his best to respect his wishes, it seems like all Dream does is make them both so, so horny.

if you want a rec of your own on next month's roundup, send it in!

[bishicat]

I am curious...👀

What are your Lavellan's views on Solas beginning of their relationship and the final end to the redemption arc in Veil Guard? Love your art btw❤

Hi!!! omg thank you for the question, and people like you make posting art worth it! This is gonna be a long rambling answer so I'll tuck it under the cut. ❤

BEGINNING:

When I think of Emrys and Solas' relationship at the start of Inquisition (like Haven times), her view of him started off pretty neutrally. She saw him as an equal in intellect and magic know-how, and it comforted her to know that she wasn't the only elf in the party. I can imagine her developing a bit of a crush during their discussions about history, magic, or the Fade, but she kept her feelings on a short leash. His opinions about the Dalish made her more reserved about her own feelings, as she wanted someone who would accept all of her, rather than just the parts he liked. I think she saw through his harmless old man persona quite early, even if only in the sense that he was hiding something that he wasn't comfortable sharing. She liked the parts that he thought no one could see, like his quiet kindness. They would clash a few times (both being prideful), and after their intense debates, she would think they were finally going to do something about this weird energy, but he would just walk away. So in short, their dynamic was "nerds arguing but with sexual tension".

SKYHOLD:

This is where whatever icy barriers they had against each other melted and became real love :'). Though aware that he's still holding her at arm's length, she thought their love would get through whatever came their way. I think they have a lot of conversations about this subject, but he always finds some way to steer the conversation elsewhere.

I think she was caught completely unaware when he ended things at Crestwood. She was mad, confused, heartbroken, literally everything and more. The dialogue option "Tell me I was some casual dalliance..." gets me every single time!!!! It's the perfect mix between hurt and anger, and it fits Emrys' character SO well. After the break up, she tries to be professional (AKA too stoic & serious around him) but her inner circle (and Solas) can see how much she's imploding inside. She still works with him as a colleague but she can't stand looking at him without feeling like there's a gaping hole in her chest.

TRESPASSER - VEILGUARD:

After two years, the gaping hole heals into an ugly, knotted scar. When she hears the rumour that Solas is around, it feels bittersweet, cause how can you get over a relationship that ended like that? When she learns he's Fen'harel, it puts a lot of things into perspective. She feels toyed with, she hates him, but she still loves him. Like... two years of "healing" is undone with a short meeting, and a part of her will always wonder what could have been if he just talked to her about it. In the end I chose the "I will redeem you!" ending.

Honestly, I imagine that a lot of solavellan post-romance is just a lot of healing and breaking on both ends (Solas and Emrys). With every new piece of information they learn, their hearts need to learn how to mend all over again. And I'm not saying that Emrys is going to be a husk in all those years between DAI and DATV, but a part of her will feel rubbed raw during that time. It's hard to say right now but I picture her on a relentless search for the Dread Wolf, always inquisitive. As for Veilguard, I can see Emrys as bone-tired when she finally catches up to him. I'd like to imagine a sad embrace between the two, some tears, but a terse meeting is just as likely. Between the two of them, there's gonna be a lot of quiet yearning and sadness, and maybe even a small bit of hope? She'd still love him and we all know/like to think that Solas is still so down bad, but they'd put duty over talking about their feelings for now. I think when they finally have a truly private moment, they make up somehow. I truly hope they have some kind of happy ending, whatever it may be!

[greenerteacups]

I always felt like JKR was kinda throwing Dramione fans a bone with that line from Ron egging his daughter Rose on to be academic rivals with Scorpius. Like it was her weird way of suggesting there could be this resolution of that potential in the next generation (because she definitely knew it was a popular ship and both hated that and at the same time surely knew why).

i agree! i read the scorpius/rose shiptease as a deliberate wink at fans of draco and hermione, and to ice the cake, ron follows it up with "don't get too friendly with him" and "granddad weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood," which — although probably innocuous, ron is just cracking a joke to defuse the tension — is still an interesting choice of joke, from the author's perspective. like, ron could have said anything to change the subject here. i think it's on purpose.

at the time i read it, being a little tween, i thought it was adorable. because frankly, it kind of just is Gen-Z Dramione. rose isn't characterized at all outside of "got your mother's brains," and it's noted explicitly that scorpius "resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Harry," i.e., very much. so it really is a reskinned version of draco/hermione in all but name. i thought i read somewhere that Rowling was seriously contemplating a romance between rose and scorpius at some point, back when she did the pottermore postcanon stuff. nowadays i'm obviously not so much drawn to it — i mean, They're Eleven, so for me they will eternally live in that mental no-man's-land of "cool concept! get back to me when you're older." and of course, i am also a fan of a ship that would effectively render them siblings, so I can't, like... really get behind it? no matter what, i look at rose/scorpius and think: this is just a version of dramione where the characters are less fleshed-out. its only advantage is that it might conceivably, in some weird vaguely foreshadowed-slash-pottermore way, be kind of canon. and like, i'm not scared of noncanonical ships, buddy. i was born in the crackship. molded by it. i didn't see a ship I liked kiss in canon until i was already a woman, and by then it was nothing to me but fanfic inspiration.

[constelationprize]

The Kayleigh Lives AU - Part Two

And now for our check in with the World's Most Normalest Exy teams

Do you know who is 100% no exception capital T Thriving in this AU? Danielle Wilds.

I mean, she's still the first female captain in the NCAA, but in this universe she has actual support from inside the ERC board due to Kayleigh's insistance through the years

It has to do something for your ego when the creator of your sport namedrops you in multiple international interviews and also sends you a gift basket when you get nominated captain.

So yeah, even though the Foxes are still a mess and didn't pass the fourth game, Dan's having the time of her life. Good for her, honestly.

Kayleigh always attends the NCAA banquets because it's an easy excuse to be close to Kevin. Also the team spirit award isn't named after her, but she is the one to announce the winner every year. The Trojans have a running gag of the captain always making the exact same silly pose so they have a wall filled with basically the same picture a dozen times with minor differences – the main one being the five stages of grief on Kayleigh's face as she realises what's going on

Kayleigh's been avoiding Wymack at these things for ages because, look, when you decide you're gonna keep your baby a secret from your ex it's not a general expectation the two of you are going to meet face-to face regurlaly and be expected to make stilted small talk where he's very likely to ask about your son. And she doesn't need any rumors about them rising up again after all her efforts to kill the Baby Daddy speculation stories. If they come back, eventually someone is going to do the math right.

Also Kayleigh's pretty sure that after enough glasses of wine she'd hit on him again and even she's self aware enough to know that would be kind of a dick move

But she has always kept an eye on the Foxes, not only because she still has a little soft spot for Wymack, but also because his ideals of giving troubled kids a second chance trough Exy aligns itself a lot more with her ideals than wathever the hell the Ravens are doing now

(she would however like them a lot more if they were actually good at the sport)

So on these things she usually alternates between schmoozing with the ERC and being plastered by Kevin's side. She never wears red or black just to mess with the color scheme but claims it's not to show favoritism. She takes blatant advantage of the fact that Kevin never had an "embaressed of your mom" phase and frequently sits herself between Kevin and Riko.

Most of the Ravens don't complain because they are taught not to question authority but most importantly because Kevin's mom is hot. So she can disturbe the vibes a little, as a treat

Kayleigh is a frequent point of tension between Riko and Tetsuji, because she is of an almost equal standing to him in hierarchy (in that weird grey area where they both are important assets to the side branch with some autonomy but, ultimately, their leash is only as slack as Tetsuji decides to allow), so he's supposed to owe her some respect, but she is also his only competition for Tetsuji's affection and Kevin's obedience. The only reason he hasn't acted out against her yet is that Riko's waiting for Kayleigh and Tetsuji to fight so he can be sure his is the side his uncle will pick.

Jean is also not her greatest fan. Mostly because he sees Kayleigh as someone who willingly put herself and her son in a position Jean would do anything to get out of, but also because she's the safest person for him to hate. Jean learned the hard way not get in the Master or Riko's bad side, and Kevin is his only support inside the Nest. But she has very little direct impact on his life besides protecting him by proxy when she watches over Kevin, just because Riko's generally not allowed to hurt ANYONE during those times. It always gets a bit worse when she leaves, however, and Riko has pent-up frustation to take off. Jean hates her a little bit for that, too.

Neither of them could get Kevin to think badly of his mother, though. His faith in Kayleigh is one of the only things the Nest never managres to beat out of him.

At the Winter Banquet, the only time she leaves the Raven table is to approach Dan. She wants to congratulate her personally on the efforts this season and maybe offer some words of encouragement and advice.

Despite her many efforts to avoid the coaches' table like the plague, however, she ends up going up to the Foxes' table right when Wymack was coming to check that they hadn't set anything on fire.

It's an extremely awkward interaction. She calls him by his first name but looks like she's swallowed a lemon the entire time. He feels like there is no safe place on her person to look and so stares slightly over her shoulder into the distance. They can't decide wether to hug or politely shake hands and end up with stilted nods. They HAVE talked before, but it always feels like it's the first time they are seeing each other since the break up. It's been twenty years and at this point both of them have given up expecting things to get lighter. It's just that it's kind of hard to get over the multiple elephants in the room.

The Foxes eat it the FUCK up.

Allison could smell the divorce like a bloodhound. Seth however doesn't believe Coach could actually pull Kayleigh Day.

The SECOND Kayleigh and Wymack awkardly turn away and flee in opposite directions, the betting pool starts

The score is as follows: Coach hit on her when they were younger and got rejected (Seth, Fifth Year Seniors) / They had a one night stand a long time ago and it was Very Bad (Nicky) / They had a one night stand a long time ago and it was Very Good (Renée, Matt) / They dated but Kayleigh ended it (Allison) / They dated but Wymack ended it (Dan)

Andrew refuses to bet. When Nicky presses the twins a bit too much, Aaron gets annoyed and decides to bet that Wymack is actually Kevin Day's biological father. No one takes him seriously.

The team sat across them tries to pretend nothing happened

Some time between the reunion and her 100th check up on Kevin, Kayleigh ends up missing a very important discussion between the ERC and Tetsuji

[azsazz]

MM Feedback Contd.

Anon Feedback: for the midnight muse feedback: what was missing: for me most of the plot was missing, besides their bickering phase and then them getting together i think we didn't really get much else. also a backstory for the reader character but i understand why we didnt get it here since it's a x reader fic

Yes, backstories will be flushed out for sure, a bit difficult to do like you said because x reader, but i will for sure work on this!

what you didn't like: honestly most of the relationships between them, the talk between the bat boys and az was good but it felt like they just apologized and moved on and that was it. but feyre was a terrible friend with the whole rhys situation and in her talk with reader she basically admitted she was prioritizing rhys over her and reader was just like "it's fine, we're best friends" it made me not like feyre for the rest of the story. cass going to befriend the girls immediately also feels a little weird, like i get the vibes that he didn't really think about it but i think if i was azriel i would be sad about it, of all the people in the world my bestfriend went to befriend the people i don't like? that's low. and then their relationship because it felt like it dragged on where they hated each other to then have them get together after one nice talk and then the story ends after a couple of chapters. there was some tension between them but just sexual so when they got together that's the only thing i felt. the little fight they had was unnecessary, it literally served no purpose and made no sense.

Working on friendship relationships, noted! Will also work on Cass becoming a more gradual friend instead of jumping in headfirst with them behind az's back, good feedback for sure. I will also work on reader x feyre's relationship because they're supposed to be better friends than that, so good thing to point out, thank you!

what you adored: i like the characters. reader is cool but if it gets turned into a book like i said i wish we got more story for her. i like az and even when he was being an asshole it's clear it's mostly because he has a lot on his mind and probably needs a therapist. cassian is funny sometimes but he gives too much frat boy at other times and it's a bit icky because it gives me war flashbacks, i also don't love the himbo characters usually so i think it's really personal preference. feyre was a terrible friend but other than that she was just there i guess. rhys was also giving me the ick too much in the beginning but then towards the end it got better, i like how he went and talked to reader about feyre (almost better than feyre herself did) and he was really good with azriel especially during their talk. lucien ended up not really serving much of a purpose in my opinion but his character is cool

there were def some times where i was writing cass where i was like this is probably way too much, so i'll probably rework some of his liners and such. i didn't really have a backstory for feyre x rhys but i think i do now so that will help give the story and their actions some meat/will be reworking thier characters a bit so that makes more sense as well. yeah i need to figure out what i'm doing with lu. i was trying to allude that at the coffeehouse he was there to show off reader to make one of the barista's jealous, so they were kind of using each other a little bit, reader didn't know her feelings for az at the time so she wasn't hanging out with him to make az jealous but luc kept suggesting coffee because his love interest works there.

what I should remove completely: the fight after they got together and i think how they end up being friends. i don't know cassian just going up to them and suddenly they were all besties was a little weird to me also i get what you were doing with the elevator scene because at that point they only talked if they were locked together but it's just so cliché and it's another one to add to the others like the talk was nice but it being in the elevator was predictable

I did get a lot of feedback about the fight, so this has been added to my feedback notes a lot. i mean, i don't mind the elevator cliche, or a cliche at all, as long as the entire book didn't feel like one...i'll consider it for sure during the rewrite and see how i feel about it, so thank you for the feedback on that!

things that felt off or you felt were unresolved: their relationship because like i said we got them hating each other and then they got together and it just ended. and i think at that point they really didn't know anything about each other so there was even more of a whiplash when they actually start dating immediately because you only see sexual tension before that and then suddenly they're super nice to each other and act like they always liked each other. i think people go into it already liking azriel and knowing they'll end up together so they're just waiting on it and never take it as not being a possibility because its azriel and they're reading fanfics about him because they already like him but if it's a nameless character you need to make people like the characters and like them together and feel the tension between them and like they'd be good together which i dont really get from this fic. most of the plot felt unresolved too because the dad thing never really went anywhere which i guess was the plot besides the romance, also lucien was there and then just wasn't (it also didn't really feel like he liked her much)

will definitely be working on their chemistry and them getting to know each other/building a relationship. i agree with what you're saying that they just got together and didn't know anything about each other so i'll edit that too. az's dad will have more presence in the rewrite as well, as i was writing i kept thinking of ideas (as we can tell) so that's why they weren't predated in the story etc, so i will def fill those holes in as well!

also this might just be my opinion but the idea for her tattoo is so bad im sorry, i had to stop when i read it and it's her first tattoo as well. just the thought of it looks ugly to me but even the meaning is off for me... maybe if you want to keep the hand idea let him get it because he's already so heavily tattooed that the big two detailed hands piece might kind of blend in but for her first tattoo let him get her something else, either something meaningless and pretty (i mean she's in art school i know she has to have better ideas) or something important for her but not necessarily a relationship tattoo not even a year into their relationship.

i'm not going to lie, i struggled so hard with what to give her a tattoo of and i think that's also why i didn't actually add it into the story is because i had no idea what to do. i do agree that she shouldn't have gotten that when they've only been together for not that long, and it is cringey but i felt like it made sense at the time. i will work on her tattoo ideas tho

also (and i might be talking out of my ass) but if his injury only happened a year ago i'm not sure he'd be even drawing already even if shaky, you'd have to do some research there but i think it wouldn't be bad if you pushed it back a little further in the past

this is also a fair point, i'm also not sure, but if i ever go to publish it will be a different injury so i will for sure do some research about that when i go to describe it! and yeah, i can totally move it a bit further into the past like you said :)

Thank you for the feedback this is a lot to work with here, so thank you for reading and taking the time to send all of this back to me!! 💙

[thekimspoblog]

POV Jimmy McGill picks you up at a bar.

He's almost twice your age, but you've always had a thing for older guys and besides he's a riot.

In the name of full disclosure, he tells you up front: he's married. And he's cheating specifically to spite her. But the weird thing is he says Kim will be okay with this; she'll understand. Between two little girls at home and a wife he basically asked to wear the pants in the marriage, Jimmy's been feeling a bit stifled lately, in terms of his masculinity and his sense of independence. The last thing Kim wants is for Jimmy to feel trapped with her, so she told him it was fine if he stepped out to "get some air". She'd watch the kids and he could go out for the night.

It's not like they haven't both slept with other people at other points they were running hot and cold. Kim knows he'll always love her, so she says she's not threatened if (in times where that love starts to turn to hate) he blows off some steam with someone else. Parenthood is stressful, and it's not like they're strangers to arguing with eachother.

It's supposedly an open-marriage, but neither of them has had the guts to act on this option yet. Kim says she's just too busy with wargames to find a side piece, but Jimmy suspects she's still trying to spare his feelings. The whole reason he tells you he wants to do this, is to prove he can make her jealous. To prove she does mind.

He even shows you a picture on his phone. You're not sure whether to be insulted or flattered, that he says you're just as pretty as she is. You never thought of yourself as the kind of person to be intrigued by the idea of being used to make another woman jealous. And frankly this whole plan strikes you as a bit pathetic. But even the pity is almost kind of hot; you can sense how much pent up tension he's holding. The love he's wanted to give her, but every time he's reached out for the past few months, she's been too consumed in her work. All that energy's gotta go somewhere...