#thena isn’t sleeping

[sunshinethena]

i thought about sleeping then nanami fucking blew up

[lycheepocketwitch]

𝐡𝐜: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 (𝐦𝐚&𝐭𝐡𝐩 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞)

pairing: cheerleader!wanda maximoff x fem!reader

warnings: mentions of sex

a/n: i'm not ready to say goodbye to this universe lol so here's some headcanons i have about the characters of ma&thp. i also have some set during their college days and i'll be posting that soon:)

series masterlist | main masterlist | also on ao3 | library blog

You and Yelena are each other’s first kiss

It was just a peck and you felt a bit silly afterwards

“Yeah, this isn’t ever gonna happen again.”

“Ever.”

You laughed it off and went back to their usual shenanigans

Wanda’s first kiss was with Vision, shortly after they started dating

There was a rumor circling around after Vision’s valentine’s day party sophomore year that Wanda and vision finally did the deed, but that was false

Wanda didn’t sleep with anyone until she was in college

Wanda thought about asking you out all throughout senior year, but chickened out every single time

Makkari and Druig are wary of Wanda and Pietro when you become friends with them again, but they eventually warm up to them

Druig was harder to win over than Makkari; he was especially hard on Pietro

People start talking about what you must’ve done to convince the Maximoff twins to become friends with you again, but Pietro and Wanda quickly shut down all rumors and claim that they’re the ones who wanted and tried to win you back as their friend

Rumors about the twins being “weird” started spreading after

Their popularity dipped and some of their “friends” turned on them

Wanda was no longer part of Tony and Pepper’s group and she didn’t make captain of the squad senior year

The girls on the squad were civil, but the only real friends Wanda still had on the squad were Thena, Mantis, Nakia and Laura

It was hard, but they got over it eventually

By the end of high school, the six of you regularly hung out after school

[themculibrary]

Smut - Shower Sex Masterlist

En Suite (ao3) - valtyr steve/tony E, 1k

Summary: Written for Avengers Kink. Prompt: "Tony/Steve. Shower sex."

I hate you, I love you (ao3) - Andrea1717 steve/bucky E, 13k

Summary: Bucky Barnes hates Steve Rogers. Weirdly he also can't keep his hands off of him.

An enemies to lovers college AU.

In Twin Rivers (ao3) - RurouniHime steve/tony E, 3k

Summary: In Twin Rivers, Tony springs for a hotel room.

In your hands (ao3) - jeza_red thor/steve M, 2k

Summary: “Thor, I…” Again he was not allowed to finish the thought. And it was strangely okay with him; Thor was so much more experienced, much more qualified to make judgements here. If he decided that now it’s okay to move, Steve was all behind that decision.

Let Me Take You Higher (ao3) - BlossomsintheMist steve/tony E, 4k

Summary: “Good,” Steve said, and squeezed him gently around the waist. “I guess we should see about having an actual shower, huh?”

“It might be a good idea,” Tony allowed, smiling a little. It felt loose and warm and wide on his face.

Like a Daylight Savings Clock (ao3) - orphan_account steve/tony E, 4k

Summary: Would it bother Steve’s sensibilities to know that Tony was getting off on the idea of just being a thing for Steve’s pleasure, for his use?

My Arms Were Made To Hold You (ao3) - portraitofemmy, rainbow_marbles steve/bucky E, 55k

Summary: Tired of being kept awake at night by a screaming baby, Bucky decides to take matters into his own hands. Mostly he wants a good night's sleep, but what he gets is a beautiful baby boy with big blue eyes, a lonely father trying to move on from tragedy, and a chance at a family he never expected to have.

Out of Practice (ao3) - sassyseme sam/bucky E, 7k

Summary: Bucky claims he's out of practice, but his bed skills prove otherwise. He promises to do better, but Sam is already satisfied and eager for more each time. How much better can great sex get?

Rage Unleashed (ao3) - KurosakiIchigoat kate/yelena E, 86k

Summary: Following the fall out of being bonded with the symbiotes can Kate and Yelena move forward and heal or will other threats force them to reconcile with what has happened to them, and what they both want?

Shower Fun (ao3) - AkikoFumi steve/tony E, 1k

Summary: Anonymous sent: "NSFW prompt: Steve and Tony having shower sex for the first time. Please."

Shower to Save Water… Maybe Not (ao3) - Hades_LastSon21 wanda/natasha E, 1k

Summary: Day 24: Shower

Wanda get distracted while training

Slippery When Wet (ao3) - Jo (jmathieson) clint/phil E, 2k

Summary: Clint and Phil take a shower after a rough mission.

Steam (ao3) - LittleGooseWalking clint/natasha E, 775

Summary: *Follows after Clint's Nest in this series.*

A steamy shower encounter followed by an unexpected surprise.

Steam (ao3) - ladydeathfaerie clint/steve E, 4k

Summary: Long simmering emotions finally come to a boil one night after a training session, when Clint and Steve are alone in the mansion.

Steamy (ao3) - randomfatkid clint/phil M, 496

Summary: Clint wakes to find the bed empty and the shower running.

Substitute (ao3) - helens78 rhodey/tony E, 784

Summary: It's been four days with no booze and no sleep; Tony needs a substitute for the bottle, and Rhodey's willing to keep him company.

The Shape of Want (ao3) - praxidikai gilgamesh/thena M, 4k

Summary: The Eternals meet King Arthur, he grows fond of Thena, she isn't amused.

Under Her Thumb (ao3) - neon_jellyfish bruce/clint/natasha E, 3k

Summary: Dom!Natasha unwinds with her sub!boyfriends Clint and Bruce after a stressful week for the Avengers

We Don't Need Words (ao3) - abbyleaf101 clint/phil E, 525

Summary: The different ways they have sex says a lot about who they are.

what you see ain’t what you get (you ain’t seen nothing yet) (ao3) - six_demon_bag bucky/john E, 5k

Summary: John and Joaquin are sent undercover to investigate Alexander Pierce for illegal weapons trafficking from his company SHIELD Securities. Bucky and Sam are less than pleased at one of the things they do to avoid detection.

[devilwomcn]

THENA + @bridgesbxrned​ LOCATION: Thena & Gil’s Home in Australia

It hasn’t been this bad in a few decades. Not since the last time Druig had to step in, when Thena found herself drowning so deeply into her own mind and the grief that followed that he’d had to put her to sleep. This time, her bout of Mahd Wy’ry almost as draining — though she hasn’t exactly been coherent enough to realize it. Her eyes have been glazed over more often than not for the better part of a week, her body tensed and ready for battle, and not even Gilgamesh could bring her back to Earth.

So he’d called for back up in the form of Druig, a safety net just in case they have to put her to sleep again. It hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but with how long this has been drawn out and how unhinged she’s becoming, it might. Tonight has proven to be somewhat calm, despite the glassy haze that flicks in and out of Thena’s vision. Gilgamesh, despite his best efforts to stay alert, has nodded off on the couch following a long week of fending her off — which is dangerous, she’d scold him if she was even slightly in her right mind, because he certainly needs his rest but he should find it in their bedroom with the door locked and barricaded to keep her out. Though Thena knows better than anyone that her sweet Gilgamesh would never dream of doing that.

It leaves her crumbled in a corner of the back porch, trying desperately to keep a grip on herself so as not to disturb his rest. But her body tenses when she hears footsteps and the sound of a door shutting, her vision is blurred but she can make out the figure coming closer and closer to her in the darkness. Her fingers instinctively flex to form a long, golden spear as she pushes her body further into the corner of the outside wall to support her weight — the events of the last week have taken a toll on her, but even in her exhaustion Thena is ready in seconds for battle, as pathetic as she may look. 

“Don’t come closer—” she rasps the words out, head shaking as her veins pulse a glimmering gold. She can’t see him but her brain supplies that this figure, whoever it is, must be the one to cause all of the devastation her mind has been supplying her with, and Gilgamesh isn’t there so they must be the last two people left on the planet — how she’d survived it all, Thena doesn’t know. Either way, she lifts the tip of her spear to his chest. “You killed them.”

[taran-chan]

on a Wednesday, in a cafe (chapter 22)

Read on AO3

tuesday lunchbox: prank lunchbox

Thena, Kingo and Ikaris gawk at her lunchbox. She woke up late this morning so she didn’t see what Gil put in the box. And she’s about to have lunch with Kingo and Ikaris so that they can discuss work. Work is the last thing she cares about at the moment.

“Did he make a mistake or something?” Kingo asks.

“Did you two have a fight?” Ikaris eyes her suspiciously.

“We did not fight,” Thena glares at him.

“Then why does your lunchbox only have white rice and dried seaweed?”

“Hold on,” Kingo cuts him off, “Gil would never do this to Thena, even if they were fighting. He’s not that petty. Thena, try digging up the rice.”

They all hold their breath as Thena separates the rice and seaweed with her spoon.

“There they are,” Ikaris chuckles.

“See?” Kingo smiles, “I said he isn’t that kind of person. He’s probably bored and wanted to pull a prank on you.”

“And yet you look quite relieved,” Ikaris snorts.

“I just thought how bad your hangry would be if he actually forgot to put other side food in there.”

“Overtime works bad,” Thena says.

“That would be our situation today anyway,” Ikaris shakes his head.

“Let’s just eat then,” Kingo shrugs.

Thena sighs. She can’t escape work today but at least she can enjoy a real lunch after thinking that she would have to eat only white rice and dried seaweed. Gil hid a lot of side food under a thick layer of rice, undoubtedly on purpose. They are all her favourites; sauté salmon, fried squid with mayonnaise and a pinch of chili powder, asparagus and broccoli stir-fried with oyster sauce. He knows and remembers very well what she likes and doesn’t like. She likes when her meals have something spicy. She loves sweets, but not too sweet. She doesn’t like bitter food, he even remembers her weird grudge against okra.

She devours her lunchbox while Kingo and Ikaris are sharing a box of grilled eel rice and a roasted chicken sandwich they bought at Eternal. They arrived at the shop even earlier than yesterday but again there was only one box left. It seems like more and more people have heard about this impressive lunch set and wanted to try it. Maybe by the end of the summer, Gil would add it to Eternal’s fixed menu and maintain the limited policy so that his coffee shop won’t be turning into an eel restaurant.

★

“It was shocking, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it snapped me out of my grogginess,” she rolls her eyes and pulls her car to a stop at the red light, “I was wide awake for the rest of the day.”

She listens to his laugh on the other end of the phone, “I bet you already thought of quite a few ways to get back at me at the time.”

“Maybe just one or two,” she scrunches her nose, taking a right turn to the familiar street.

“Oh, I think I see your car,” he says. She speeds up a bit and Eternal comes into her view. Her nose stings with emotions when she spots Gil, still wearing his work apron, standing at the front door and waiting for her. It’s been almost two months since the last time she had to stay at the office until past 9 pm. Even though it’s only because they have too much work, even Kingo and Ikaris left at the same time as she did, but it looks like Gil has been worried. She stops her car in front of his shop and jumps to his chest. She can feel his arms around her and he asks:

“Have you eaten?”

“I have,” she rubs her cheeks on his apron, “Me and the guys called pizza.”

Gilgamesh always asks her that question whenever they can’t eat together. Perhaps many people would find it lame, even annoying but Thena finds it incredibly endearing, it’s likely that because it comes from him and he only ever has good intentions. But let’s face it, you usually just ask the question to the ones you love or really care about. You care about their well-being, you always want to know that they eat well, sleep well, those are human’s most basic needs.

“You’ve worked hard,” he nuzzles her hair.

“Thanks for waiting for me,” she closes her eyes, clutching at the back of his shirt.

★

Inside, the lights are still on, most of the chairs are put upside down on the tables so that he can clean up, except for one table with a cup on top, where he was sitting. The lights in the kitchen are on as well and she can hear the faint sound of a mixer.

“Who’s in the kitchen?”

“It’s Makkari. She took Kingo’s advice and started her baking vlog channel. I stay to prepare tomorrow’s ingredients and help her set up her camera and all,” Gil pulls out another chair and helps her in, “I think she’s making a peach mousse cake.”

“Will we get to try some of it?” Thena smiles, a mention of sweets cheers her up in no time.

“Chances are high. Can I make you a drink first?”

“Any suggestions from my chef?” She puts her elbows on the table, cupping her face with her hands.

“Special latte with lots of love,” Gil winks and Thena giggles, her cheeks flushed.

Gil makes her a cup of hot latte, with his full combo latte art that she thinks it looks like six tortured faces but in fact it’s a “smiling bouquet”, according to him. It’s delicious nevertheless. Gil refills his milk tea cup, then sits down across from her. He gives her an impromptu massage on her left hand while she’s sipping her drink. She starts talking about her day and soon enough, they once again laugh about her lunchbox.

“Very creative, I’ll give you that. But don’t do it again.”

“How about once a month? I’ll leave your favourites beneath the rice each time.”

“I want scallops next time.”

“Consider it’s done,” he presses a kiss to the back of her hand and switches to massage the other.

Thena asks him about his day and he complains to her that this morning he wanted to decorate the menu board at the front door but Sprite demanded that he should never do it.

“I know that’s her job but today is her second exam and I just wanted to help,” Gil pouts, “Instead she yelled at me and shooed me away.”

“Did you use your boss card?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Use it next time then,” she wants nothing more than to kiss away his pout, “You indulge her too much.”

“Could it be that my drawing skills are bad?”

For the record, he’s looking at her with his puppy eyes, and that affects a lot on her following answer.

“You have a unique style, it’s just that Sprite can’t see it,” She shrugs, “However, you decorate your food like little masterpieces, and no one can deny it.”

Now she’s the one that picks up his hands and gives him a massage. She treats his large, calloused hands as gently as she can, counting every old and new cut and burned mark on them, the hands of a true chef.

“Your hands are precious, don’t let anyone make you believe otherwise,” she says.

“You too,” he grins, nodding at the painting that she gifted him last Christmas.

“I’ll paint you another, it’s summer anyway.”

“Then I’ll hang it on that wall over there,” he squeezes her hands once.

Makkari puts two slices of pink peach mousse cake down in front of them.

Enjoy! the pastry chef/new vlogger smiles, signing at Gil, Thanks for helping me set up my “studio”. I cleaned the kitchen for you.

“Thank you!” He signs back, “Wanna join us?”

Nah, I know you guys miss each other. Just continue your date, I’m going home now.

Gil blushes hard but insists, “At least let me walk you home. You shouldn’t go alone at this time.”

“He’s right,” Thena says, “I know your place isn’t far from here but it would be safer if he went with you.”

Fine, Makkari rolls her eyes, Just so you would stop worrying.

“Yeah,” Gil gets up and Thena helps him untie his apron, “If Druig knew we let you walk home alone late at night, we’d never hear the end of it.”

He bends down to kiss Thena, she lifts a hand to caress his face.

“I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll try to save some cake for you.”

“Well, you can eat both slices if you want to,” he rubs his nose against hers.

“But you love peach cake.”

“I love you more.”

Makkari slaps Gil’s back, Are you going or not?

“Right, sorry, let’s go,” he says, giving Thena one last wave then runs after Makkari, who’s already out of the door. Thena looks out the window until they disappear around the corner before digging her fork into the cake. She sincerely hopes that Makkari would succeed in this vlog thing, and it has very little to do with her getting free pastries on their late-night dates at Gil’s shop.

[inklore]

a sonnet of love.

premise: when you wake in the middle of the night to thena not next to you, you go looking for her.

pairing: thena x (f)eternal!reader

warnings: very very soft smut, light descriptions of foreplay (fingering), a bit of angst, a lot of fluff, slight eternals spoilers, pet names (ο άγγελός μου meaning ‘my angel’ in greek). you are in control of your reading consumption so if you don’t vibe with any of the above please do not go on. 18+ only minors dni, you will be blocked.

word count: 1.53k

etc: the greek translation came from google translate so if it’s wrong please let me know. but when i say i’m soft for thena, i mean i’m literally as soft as soft serve ice cream melting in a pot. this woman is queen, god, and i will not be taking any criticism on the manner.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for you to wake up from the missing warmth at your side. To not feel the familiar slow breath of the body that was usually there now gone. The side of the bed becoming cold and desolate, something that you had become accustomed to. Something you understood. Something that always had you climbing out of bed and going in search of the missing warmth, the missing person.

Your Thena.

And she’s always in the same spot, always has the same mug of tea in her hands. Her night dress flowing slightly from the small breeze coming from the open window. The light of the moon shining across her face so beautiful, as if she could get anymore beautiful.

It had always been hard for Thena to sleep, especially at night. Her body was constantly ready for a fight making her more restless than not. And you couldn’t imagine all of the restless thoughts that must go through her busy mind. Thena making it almost impossible to read her, even after all these centuries together her stone cold features revealing little to what was going on within her. The woman only letting you see what she wanted you to see, only letting you inside, climb past her walls and guards only if she allowed, when she allowed.

It was something you never found yourself getting upset over. The two of you may have been polar opposites, but you made it work. Her hard edges fit perfectly with your soft ones, neither of you daring to, wanting to, having any desire to change the other. And would never think of it.

You walk up behind her, you know she had already sensed your presence from the doorway. So when you press your lips to the back of her exposed shoulder she doesn’t flinch, a soft hum coming from her pressed lips.

“Couldn’t sleep?” You ask softly, wrapping your arms around her midsection loosely, your chin settling atop her shoulder.

She sighs bringing her mug to her lips taking a small sip. “Got a few more hours than last night.” She inadvertently answers without really answering, something she’s amazing at. Something that makes you smile.

“I’m surprised Gil isn’t awake making you a morning feast right now,” you tease and it makes a soft chuckle cut through Thena’s hard features. The sound of her sweet chuckle, the pressed smile on her face as she turns her head to look at you sends a flurry of sparks through you, butterflies you once heard a human call it. No matter the name of it though, the feeling was other worldly, a feeling that nothing else could match, could feel as good as how it felt when Thena laughed, smiled, or touched you. The two of you had lived many lives, ones you didn’t even remember, ones you might live a million centuries down the road, and you couldn’t imagine yourself loving her more than you did right now. In these moments with her. The time shared with her, no matter how much of that time had gone by, would go by, it would never be enough and it would all be so much, so amazing all at the same time.

“He didn’t wake this time.” Thena sets her mug onto the windowsill before she turns her body towards you, leaving your arms wrapped around her. Her slim fingers meeting the soft skin of your cheek, “you should be asleep. There’s no need for both of us to suffer by moonlight.” The corner of her mouth quirks, her eyes glinting with softness as she traces your features with her fingers as if she needs proof you’re really here, that her sleep deprived mind hasn’t conjured you up or fallen into the routine of you always coming to find her even when you’re not really there. When her thumb brushes across your lips you press a quick kiss to the pad of it making her smile.

“If this is suffering than I very much like it.” You pick, smile. Shiver a little when her fingers come to rest at the top of your chest, her palm pressing to where she can feel your heart beating. The two of you stand like that for a while, swaying a little to silent music, heads pressed together, breathing the other in. You run your hand up and down the middle of Thena’s back slowly, the silence shared between the two of you saying more than either of you could right now. The softness of this moment in the late hours of the night one of your favorites with her. And you might suspect, despite her usual constant protest for you to go back to sleep, that it’s Thena’s as well. As if the dark of the night slows everything down, makes everything less loud.

And when she whispers the soft words, “take me to bed, ο άγγελός μου.” Those butterflies come back. Thena pressing a soft kiss to your cheek as she pulls back to hold out her hand to you that you gladly take and hold onto, as if your life depended on it, as the two of you walk to your shared room.

Slipping under the covers, the returned warmth of having her body next to you makes you sink into the mattress a little more; at peace, at ease.

Her hands haven’t left your body—and she would surely wound you if you mentioned it out loud to the other members of your little family—that in private, even in passing when the others aren’t looking, Thena always has a part of her touching you at all times. She’s never let it known as to why she does it, if it’s just because she can’t help herself from touching you or if it’s more complex than that. As if you ground her, keep her here, present. That if she’s ever feeling lost all she needs to do is reach out and you’ll be there. Always.

You’d never ask her what it is, it being one of those things that if Thena wanted you to know she would let you know. And whatever it was you were grateful for it, thanked whatever God the humans were always praying to when good things happened, that this woman, this warrior, the great and beautiful Thena needed you. Needed to feel your skin on hers.

And maybe it was foolish for you to look at her touch as some sort of praise, notion of devotion and admiration. Or maybe it was something else entirely, something the poets in the streets of Greece used to go on about.

“Thena,” you don’t know what you’re going to say, what you want to say, but your brain is going fuzzy with the way she’s looking at you. Her stone features holding in what her eyes shine with; sweetness, fondness, something made up of more than just shared breath and touches. Something you want to whisper against her skin right now but instead find the distance between the two of you being closed, her soft lips pressed to yours in a slow passionate kiss that burns and soothes all at the same time.

And doesn’t stop even when she lifts your night dress from your body, hers following. Her kiss only faltering in the slightest when she feels your fingers skate across her breasts, a soft moan breathed against your lips, mixed with your breath, breathed in and settling inside that part of you where only Thena lives, owns; your heart.

Her lips never leave your body as they kiss, bite, and suck at any part of you within her reach. Any part she can praise and worship and make that breathy whimper release from your lungs that she loves so much.

When her hand slips between the two of you finding the spot where you are wet and aching for her, your body shakes and withers under her touch. Her skillful fingers bringing you pleasure that’s only she can bring. As if your body was built in the name of her, for her. “Thena.” Your moan is low and burns your throat. And her sweet gentle lips swallow it down with a deep kiss as she makes you cum with her fingers. Every praise, admiration, and devotion of her feelings written out with her lips onto yours.

And when the two of you have caught your breath, when all that can be heard are the soft breaths mixed between the two of you with your foreheads pressed together, you feel her fingers dance along your back. “ο άγγελός μου,” she says softly. Her hand moving from your back to your chin to lift it, meet her gaze as she moves her head from yours. You feel sleepy, sedated, but Thena looks as beautiful as before, as ever. Always so beautiful Thena, your Thena. “I love you.”

And with the tears in her eyes, the knowing that she’s only whispered those words to you and only will to you. You know for sure that the poets in Greece were talking about this; love. Your Thena.

[rystarkov]

Jealousy, Jealousy

Hi there! I never make posts and I’ve never written anything before, but I have the strongest urge to write Druig fanfic! So, here you go! This story will be about a girl named Evie who is also an Eternal, with her powers focusing on energy manipulation and also being telekinetic. She is closest with Druig and Thena, but Druig is like her platonic other half. She has been in love with him since the day they met, but he’s only ever had eyes for another. Enjoy!

Ever since the day we arrived, I have loved the planet Earth. The beings on this planet are different than the rest of them and as each day passes, I feel my love and admiration for the human race growing. I’ve seen them fight, kill, and be horrible to one another, but i’ve also seen them love like no other. The way they protect and care for both their young and their old always leaves me in shambles, which Druig never fails to make fun of me for. He says I shouldn’t get attached, yet I always see him breaking up fights whenever he gets the chance.

My name is Evie and I am thousands of years old, yet I still have the impulsive tendencies and looks of a twenty year old. According to Ajak, all of us have been helping planets grow, thrive, and flourish while protecting them from Deviants. I wouldn’t know, as all I can remember is the day that I met Druig.

I remember Ajak’s calm and inviting voice saying,

“It is time. Welcome to Earth.”

I could not remember who I was before this, or what my purpose on this journey could have been, but I could never forget the beautiful yet smug man that stood to my right. I remember looking over and making brief eye contact with him before quickly looking away, as my cheeks began to involuntarily blush.

I did not know who he was or even who I was, yet his allure still drew me in.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I heard Sersi say, unknowingly beginning a love story with Ikaris that would span lifetimes. I briefly forgot about the gorgeous being to my right and ran over to the window, gazing out at the planet before me.

“She sure is.” I turned around, hoping it was the beautiful man that was complimenting me, yet I found that his words had actually been directed towards another, and that they were staring lovingly into each other’s eyes.

Since that day, I have known no peace and I fear I never will. All I know is that I will always come second in Druig’s eyes, no matter how badly or how much I am completely and utterly in love with him.

“You’re staring again.”

I blink and look away, grateful yet annoyed at Thena’s accurate observation, and quickly shift my body in an attempt to pretend to be watching Sersi dancing with the locals.

“I was not! I was zoning out. There’s a difference, Thena.”

Thena rolls her eyes and scoffs, “You know, I’m surprised he doesn’t know already. He can read your mind, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“He can’t read mine, Theen. I remember he tried once when he couldn’t figure out why I was crying that one day, but I blocked him.”

I watch with an unamused look all night, as everyone has the time of their lives and I’m ready to go to sleep. The night passes by and Ajak has rounded us all up again as we head back to the ship to turn in for the evening. I bid everyone goodnight and they don’t blink twice, knowing that we all have had a long day and that I simply must be tired.

I gasp as I shoot up in my bed, beads of sweat dripping down my forehead as I feel my heart beating out of my chest. I had another nightmare, and I groan in frustration over the impeccable timing of it all. I look over at the clock and read, “2:43 AM.”

I get up to grab a glass of water as I quickly realize i’m not sleeping again anytime soon, heading out of my room only to come across Druig and Makkari having a late night conversation in Phastos’s lab.

“Evie! What are you doing up? Is everything okay?”

Makkari signed to me, the usual concerned look in her eyes. Everybody on board knows about my chronic night terrors, yet nobody (not even Ajak) could do anything to silence them.

Druig looked at me with annoyance in his eyes, as I had unintentionally killed whatever mood he had been attempting to set between him and the speedster.

You couldn’t have waited to get a glass of water? You knew I was in here.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my water from the fridge, of course I knew. But I would never tell him that.

I’m sorry Dru, I forgot! I’ll be quick, don’t worry! I hope the date is going well, I mean it.

I turned around as I finished my thought, and Druig gave me a soft smile. I knew he wasn’t actually annoyed with me, but the sting of him on a date with somebody who wasn’t me didn’t hurt any less.

“Sorry to bother you both, I’m going to head back to my room. See you in the morning!” I signed to both Makkari and Druig, with Makkari giving me the sweetest smile and the cutest goodnight in sign language.

Druig, however, gave me a pointed look, which I knew meant that we will talk about everything in the morning.

As I walked away, I couldn’t get my mind to quiet down. My mind was racing with anxiety from my nightmare, worries about my disheveled appearance in front of Druig and Makkari, and how I had finally come to the conclusion that I was in love with my best friend.

I practically ran to my room and threw open the door, most likely alerting the others of my distress but in that moment I didn’t care. I was angry, hurt, upset, and experiencing a pain I had never felt before: heartbreak.

Why not me? Why couldn’t he have found me beautiful, charming, adorable, and all of the things he sees in Makkari? We come to each other for everything, yet I will always be “just a friend.”

I want him to hold me while I sleep, I want him to give me forehead kisses and remind me of my beauty everyday, I want him to hold my hand and see me as the light of his life like he is to me. I want to be loved, but instead I’m all alone.

I begin to heave and suddenly my cheeks are soaked with the tears I never let fall until this very moment. I will never forget the way he looked at me when I interrupted the date, and then how he looked at Makkari right after as if she was the Sun and he was planet Earth, happily tied together in harmony.

The objects in my room begin to shake and I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t believe it’s me, as my power is quite simple. I can read minds, nothing more and nothing less. Makkari can run faster than the speed of light, and she looks effortlessly beautiful while doing it. Thena can create any weapon she pleases and win every single battle with ease, Gilgamesh can destroy an enemy with one single punch, Ikaris can shoot energy beams out of his eyes and fly around the entire globe without a second thought, Sersi can connect well with others and transform anything into whatever she wants, Ajak can heal with the slightest touch, Sprite can create allusions with the flick of a wrist, and Kingo can create orbs of energy that will leave an enemy either dead or close to it.

What can I do? Read minds. That’s literally it. When it comes to missions, I mainly stay on the ship. I am good at reading the minds of both humans and Deviants, as I can sense their presence, but Druig can do the same but better. I have no purpose, I am just dead weight to the people I consider my family.

I fall to the ground as the room begins to feel smaller and tighter, with the tears becoming more and more difficult to wipe away as there are too many. There’s wind in the room yet I am not commanding it. I feel a scream begin to bubble up in my throat as the realization of being both unloved and useless hits me like a punch.

Suddenly, I am thrown back against the wall and I let out the most guttural scream I have ever made in my entire existence. I continue screaming as the room fills with a bright blue hue and the side walls of my room are blasted out. I have no idea what is happening or who is doing that, all I know is I need to let my frustration out.

I feel an overwhelming surge of power engulf me and it feels warm, comforting, and familiar, as if this power or ability has been waiting for me to finally embrace whatever I have unknowingly been keeping down.

“Evie! Evie, are you alright? What is going on in there?” I hear Ajak yell throw my door, but I don’t care. I feel good for once, I feel like myself again.

I’m tired of being the girl that is always put last, that is never considered as beautiful or strong or desired. I am tired of Druig not loving me back and having to face that pain over and over again every time I step outside my bedroom walls.

I now know that sitting by and letting the world walk all over me is not the journey that was intended for me.

While my love does not love me, my chaos and my heartbreak do not ruin me. In fact, it was my chaos that made me beautiful.

[seancekitsch]

hi! please do one with druigxreader where reader is an eternal and during the time they were all separated visited druig in the amazon frequently even though they weren't that close. but the reader stopped it a few centuries ago bc realised her feelings for him were too strong and got scared. when they meet again in the amazon druig demands an explanation and the other eternals are very confused. ty!

“Druig, Druig!” Sersi calls, “Are you even listening?”

No, he isn’t. He’s been staring you down intently this entire time, barely blinking. If you didn’t know any better you’d think he was one of those wax figures in a museum. He’s trained on you, and you can do nothing but shrink under his gaze, palms sweaty and heart racing, which had nothing to do with the hot weather.

“Why don’t you visit me?” he asks in a low tone, and Sersi and Gilgamesh rush to answer with their excuses (probably more valid than yours) when he shushes them.

“Not you, you have your reasons,” he nods to Gilgamesh and Thena, “You’re looking well.”

She smiles and nods in thanks before Druig is returning his attention to you. You feel like you could melt into the bench you’d straddled when you walked into this old building you’d tread through before. This is where he came to clear his head.

“Do I have to ask again?” his tone is getting sharper; he’s getting aggravated. You don’t blame him.

“I-l...” you begin, but you stammer and falter and fail.

“Wait,” Kingo interrupts, pointing between you and Druig, “What is this? What am I looking at?”

“Shhhhhhhh” Sprite shushes, playfully batting at his chest as she leans forward, enthralled.

“Sixty years, I’ve been waiting. Not even a goodbye? I used to go less than three years between our visits. And now you sit here like you haven’t seen all of this hundreds of times? Like I wasn’t your vacation home?”

He’s mad, and that’s fair. You remember the last time. 1961. Just after you bought your home. Visiting Druig was getting harder and harder with his wit and charm, the fleeting touches, the way you’d sleep in the same bed on rainy nights, almost like lovers but not quite. Every smile felt like the twist of a dagger between your ribs; every stolen look like a deeper thrust of the steel. And if he missed that, it wasn’t like you were hiding.

“Well...” you begin quietly, “You could’ve sought me out too.”

“You and I both know you didn’t want that,” Druig sneers, “How dare I come crash the mighty Y/n’s never-ending party in Hollywood! Tell me, is it still Laurel Canyon for you? Or have you completely sold out to system in the states in the past sixty years?”

“No, screw you, Druig,” you speak, lips moving faster than your brain to defend the tears that threatened to fall, “I wisened up and realized I rather be lonely Laurel Canyon than wasting my time down here knowing you’ll never feel the same way about me! I realized if you wanted to see me you could make it happen.”

And with that, you storm out, not even wanting to entertain whatever snarling comment he could bark back at you. Leaves and twigs crunch under your boots as you march deeper into the woods, at this point hoping you get lost. You push forward until you reach the first clearing outside of the little village Druig had created, sinking to your knees and closing your eyes to be consumed by the noises of the birds the the canopy above. If this was the place your heart was going to break, at least it was a beautiful place.

You peace doesn’t last, the sound of pursuit stopping only feet behind you.

“Did you have to run?”

“Yes.”

“Darling, why?”

“I think I made myself clear... and don’t call me that.”

Silence, and then

“I should have found you. I had your address.”

That was news to you. You’d told him your neighborhood. But he knew you were on the opposite side of Rothdell Trail and never visited.

“I came. I thought about it. You looked like you were having fun,” he sighs, you open your eyes, “It was 1973, I saw you through the window. I didn’t want to get in your way.”

You hadn’t known about this. All you’d ever dreamed of was for Druig to show up at your door. To know that he almost had...

You stand and turn to face him, eyes watery and full. His look the same.

“You know, if the world doesn’t end, you don’t have to just look through the window,” you chuckle weakly through a watery smile, “I could let you in.”

He takes a step forward, his grimace turning into the smallest smile.

“Oh yeah?” he tests.

“All you have to do is knock on the door.”

“I will next time”

[crguang]

hi! i love reading your ideas and fics a lot!! they are always so in character!! also, if ur still accepting requests, no pressure though, would you write how thena would date a non (or fellow) eternal reader? i've noticed that in the movie she can be aloof at times and always emotionally suffering (<//3) but in those few scenes especially with gilgamesh she's actually so articulate with her feelings which is such an underrated side for her... sorry for rambling! i just love studying them!

oh my god… i had to write this one immediately because i absolutely adore thena. i love studying them too, don’t worry!! there’s so much to take off from the way they act around each other. here’s my take:

• Thena isn’t a woman of many words herself. She feels safe and loved when she’s with family and that’s what makes her able to express her feelings around them. You’re no exception. She’s a very soft spoken person in general, but more so behind closed doors, where she has no issue confessing how grateful she is to have you in her life.

• I have a headcanon that her love language is quality time for the reason i stated above: she doesn’t need words to understand how much you love her. The time you choose to spend with her, whether it be in the early hours of the morning when she can’t sleep because of her recurrent nightmares, or at her side during battle, is enough.

• She may be a little hesitant about physical affection at first. The concept is a bit foreign but not unwelcome, she would just have a little difficulty approaching you about it. Over the time, she grows to associate your touch with comfort and seeks it out during random hours of the day. It’s also very grounding whenever she has an episode, an anxiety attack or nightmares. Your warm hand on her shoulder only makes her flinch once, still slightly disoriented, before you feel her relax against your palm and proceed to trail it down her back to soothe her. It works, all the time, and these moments are ones where Thena is particularly grateful for your lack of words.

• Her smile is one of your favourite sights and you notice it every time she glances at you, no matter how small. It’s contagious, and makes it seem like you two are teenagers in love, which obviously means some teasing on the others’ part (not too much because, well, some of them are very terrified of Thena’s brute strength and agility.)

• Eternal or not, for Thena to choose you as a partner means trusting you with her vulnerable state. She is a warrior, a goddess, but she crumbles at times and she needs someone to pick up the pieces. She doesn’t require around the clock care, obviously, but when she breaks, when her fears catch up to her and she feels lost, helpless, she can always count on you to ground her. With a soft, “Shh…” or your forehead against hers, it doesn’t matter. Your presence is enough to soothe her mind, to know that you constantly choose to love her every day, to take care of her, is enough.

• Thena gets insecure at times. Part of her is afraid that she’s too much of a burden to bear and that you’ll someday realize it. In these moments you take it upon yourself to prove that the love you hold for her is a genuine one, and that you aren’t going away for as long as she wishes for you to stay by her side. It’s in the particular attention you show her, in bed as well as outside the warmth of your bedroom. You want to make sure her needs are met, and she ends up telling you that what she needs is you. You effortlessly offer her all of you.

• She has a sense of humour, that much is evident. She likes to tease! Sometimes she would give you a look across the room, eyes leisurely trailing down your body before meeting yours. She enjoys the way you would fluster a bit, by the obvious blush of your ears or the way you quickly glance away from her, and she can’t contain the amused smile on her lips.

• You’d get back at her later in the evening with a chaste, teasing kiss, leaving her to chase your lips for more as you pull away. You’d only giggle for a moment before she’d pull you in for another, palm against your cheek, and who are you to deny her? The way her mouth moves against yours, the soft sigh that escapes her, mingling with your breath as you both part, tears down the walls of your resolve like paper.

• You have a habit of pressing kisses on her temple whenever you would wake in the morning and she would be sitting close to the window of your shared bedroom. You would sleepily make your way over to her and she’d acknowledge you with a small smile followed by a, “Good morning.” Then, you’d kiss her temple, gently, as a way of greeting her good morning too.

• Thena’s pretty tall (at least compared to the other Eternals) so if you’re shorter I imagine you’d be so used to share each other’s space that it becomes routine for her to reach things on higher shelves without you asking her to. There would definitely be a but of teasing about it, where she’d simply smirk as she watches you struggle for a moment, adoring the way your lips would purse and how you’d look back at her expectantly.

• If you’re human, she would be hyper aware of your mortality and it would result in her being protective over you, even for things as mundane and silly as handling the cooking when you hurt yourself with a knife or burn yourself on the stove. She knows she’s being irrational at times, but her heart skips a beat every time you get hurt. The time you have is limited and she’s determined in making it the best of your life.

• As stated before, she’s a warrior. She feels invigorated in battle, and it’s a huge part of her life. I’m thinking before her first Mahd Wy’ry episode, she’d enjoy teaching you a few things here and there. It doesn’t really matter if you’re already very capable on your own, something about the joy in her eyes as you would spar makes you melt. She wins more often than not, but you never complain when she presses her body against yours on the ground, the tip of her weapon on your neck forcing you to stay still. You merely look up at her through your lashes, meeting her gaze with a tiny smirk.

• “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” She realizes with a fond roll of her eyes. She doesn’t mind the position either.

• “You know me so well.”

[thelostwriterinthewoods]

Dead to Me.

  Warning: Cheating, strong language, and suggestive themes. ( I love Makkari don’t get me wrong but you know drama.)   

 Being a heavy hitter like Thena, and Ikaris you often went on sole mission to kill deviants. Having the power to move objects with your mind made it fairly easy to kill deviants. So Phastos sent you on a mission telling you that there would only be three of them and that it should take an hour tops. Phastos was in fact very wrong, there were five of them and it took you half the day to kill them. 

  Covered in deviant blood you waltz your way into your home at Tenochtitlan. You all arrived a month ago making quick work of the deviants that were killing the humans here. 

    “ Y/N I am so sorry,” Phastos spoke walking up to you. 

    “ I’m fine Phastos. No harm done just do a wider sweep of the area before sending anymore” you suggest making your way past him to Ajak. 

    You kiss Ajak’s cheek smiling at her “ No need to heal they didn’t get close enough to even touch me.” 

     “ Alright then,” She nodded “ Now go see your beloved he has been worried all day about you.” 

     You didn’t bother to hide the smile that grew on your face at the mention of your husband. From the moment you met on the ship you’ve love Druig with all of your heart. With similar mind powers you both bonded on how sometimes it was hard to control them. It didn’t take Druig very long to fall in love with you. He would often come up from behind you whispering confessions of love to you. There was no doubt in your mind that he loves you. But when you turned down the hall to your room, you saw several reasons to doubt his love.

     Making a perfect pathway to your door are Druig’s and Makkari’s clothes. Your heart dropped into the stomach praying to Arishem that this wasn’t real. Druig isn’t sleeping with Makkari right now in the same bed that you sleep next to him. If it is real you needed to see it. Not that you want to see Druig with anyone else but you needed to confirm it. To make sure that this moment is actually happening. 

    So you willed yourself to move forward, taking one step at a time till you reached the door. It was cracked just enough to where you could hear faint moans on the other side. Tears steamed down your cheeks as you listened to your husband and best friend. You bit down on your lip to avoid making a sob.

  ‘ Just open the door and let it be done y/n,” you thought to yourself. You took a small breathe in, then blew the door wide open. The force of the door was strong enough to shake the whole building. Like a fire started between them the Druig and Makkari broke apart quick to cover themselves. Druig opened his mouth to speak only to feel a strong slap right across his face. 

    “ There is nothing you or Makkari can say that won’t lessen my rage,” you point to him “ You have broken your vow as a husband.” 

     You then turn to Makkari “ You broke your promise as a friend,” you signed with shaky hands. The rage you felt was quickly morphing into sadness. Two of the most important people of your life just broke your heart. Not trust your voice to stay even you signed to the both of them.

     “ You’re dead to me.” 

[sunshinethena]

who knew the biggest challenge after moving out was going to be sleeping in separate beds

[lovedmoviesb]

In An Instance

Makkari waits until she can't wait a moment longer.

A few hundred years isn’t all that long when you’re Eternal. Even so, Makkari finds her mind straying. She tells herself it’s boredom; Deviants were a great distraction for a few thousand years. She just needs something else to occupy her time. A hobby.

By the time she realizes she’s gathering relics of their time here, the lab is almost full to bursting. Her jade tablet, Thena’s sword, a necklace Sersi loved, Gilgamesh’s ancient cookbook from Sicily. She organizes them, cataloguing in her own chaotic way, and waits.

She watches Kingo’s movies, every single one. Phastos’ gets relationship advice and regular letters. She keeps tabs on Ikaris, on Sprite, on Ajak. She could be at their side in a blink— If they need her, she will come.

In the meantime, the shell of the Domo will suffice. She reads, she watches, she collects. And she does her damndest not to miss him.

It’s a short run. She can get there and back in no time at all. No one sees her, not between the trees or streaking down the river. She runs the distance more often than she’d care to admit, cataloguing like she does for all the rest. He seems healthy. He seems content. It’s enough.

On her run tonight she only pauses once. The vibration of his voice from yards away halts her. She’s missed the cadence.

One second is enough. In a blink, the eyes of everyone in the camp turn towards her, golden irises swirling. They look away as a unit, dozens of feet shuffling off into cabins. All but one door shuts with a snap, and there he is.

“My beautiful Makkari.”

She feels the words like an earthquake beneath her. In an instance, she’s crying, rushing for the darkened doorway. Druig catches her, tugging her into a hug.

“I thought you might avoid me forever.” She feels this too, turns up to look at him. He can sign as well as the rest, but she always reads his lips.

“I wasn’t avoiding you.” Her hands move in a blur.

“Then—“

“I wanted to give you your space. After…”

That night. Makkari had seen many horrors in her time, but none that haunted her like the back of Druig’s head moving down the temple stairs.

“I never want space from you.” He annunciates every syllable, pressing the promise into the top of her head, lips lingering. “Never from you.”

She doesn’t sleep; none of them do. It suits her fine tonight. There are more comfortable places to lay than on the narrow cot in a cabin along the Amazon, but she’s spent enough years bereft of Druig’s company. He talks steadily, whispers in the dark, tracing the words out with his fingers in the palm of her hand.

She’s spent centuries waiting to go home. All this time, she could have simply run there. She folds herself closer against the warm body beside her. He smells the same, feels the same. It’s enough to make her cry again.

His hand leaves hers only to wipe her tears away. He pulls her close, resting his forehead against hers.

“I’ve missed you too,” he says.

Makkari closes the distance between them, pressing her mouth to his. Druig gasps and she can feel it rattle through her body. It would be easy to shed her clothes at the speed of light, to race to this finish line. She takes her time instead. Slow and steady, each touch like a brand, a promise repeated until it echoes.

Love. She knows the word in a thousand languages, but now she begins to understand.

The sun rises too soon and the forest stirs, the squeaks of birds and mammals, the rustling of wind in the trees. She barely registers these. Druig’s bare skin is flush against hers, his lips at her shoulder, his hands tracing patterns along her stomach.

“You’ll come back?” The question is tentative, his pulse racing.

Makkari spins to face him, smiling widely. She takes his hand, kissing each palm, then presses them to her heart.

“As fast as I can,” she swears.

She returns to the Duomo late in the day with a new souvenir. Druig will want his tunic back at some point.

She can’t wait to return it to him.

[kiiecarrera]

"you were going to leave without saying goodbye?" - i think we both know why i'm here.

prompts / @barrykeoghcn

It only takes her a half second to figure out that she isn’t in her own apartment. The mattress beneath her is softer than hers and the blanket draped across her body is lighter than the heavy one she is used to. It only takes her another half a second to piece things together, the memories from the night before to slowly come back to her and remind her where she is. They’d gone on a date — a real date. The first of what she can only hope is many, after having been such a long time coming. Months of build up and anticipation, a game of Will They, Won’t They finally ending with her hand in his as they ate halfway decent pizza and enjoyed each other’s company. They had gone on their first date less than twelve hours ago and now she’s waking up in his bed and maybe if it was anyone else, Makkari would be a little embarrassed about her lack of self control but she isn’t.

Because it isn’t anyone else — it’s Druig, who she has been head over heels for practically since the moment they met. Who fixes her sink for her at three in the morning. Who smooths her hair back for her when everything feels too fast and too much, keeping her grounded when she wants to spin out of orbit. Who looks at her in a way that she doesn’t even have a name for, but it makes her feel like she’s the only one in the room every time. That’s who she is waking up to now, and Makkari isn’t embarrassed at all — only, maybe, that it had taken so long for them to get here in the first place.

But the restless feeling in her body makes itself known, the urge to move around causing her to shift in an attempt to get comfortable again before giving up momentarily. She blinks slowly, letting her eyes adjust to the little bit of light that slants through the curtains. Everything feels calm and still and Makkari can only assume that it is still early enough in the morning that neither of his roommates have ventured out of their own bed yet. Beside her, Druig stays asleep despite the way she had been wiggling only a few seconds earlier. She pulls her arms from the sheets, moving so one of her hands rests on the side of his face gently and she can’t help the silent laugh that shakes her shoulders at the faint smear of lipstick on his chin. Her thumb strokes against it gently and her chest aches at the way that, even in his sleep, he seems to lean into the touch, seeking it out as she pulls her hand away.

From the corner of her eye she sees her phone flashing, a bright light blinking three times catching her attention and she reluctantly untangles herself from Druig’s embrace. It only takes her a half second to cross the room, plucking her phone from the desk where she had tossed it the night before and unlocking it while pulling one of Druig’s t-shirts over the top of her head. The screen lights up to a plethora of text messages and Makkari rolls her eyes, clearing all of the notifications except for one from Thena, who had simply texted to let check in and make sure that she was okay. She crosses the room again, sitting back on the edge of the bed and typing out a quick reply, exchanging messages for a few moments with her best friend slash roommate. She’d been so concentrated on that, that she hadn’t felt the bed dip behind her as Druig stirred awake. She practically jumps off the bed at the feeling of his hand on her back, startled at the sudden feeling. She can see his shoulders shaking with a laugh as she turns to look at him again, a hand coming to rest on her racing heart dramatically.

“You scared me,” she signs, shooting him an accusatory look and he lifts his hands in mock surrender and apologises in return. But then there’s something else in his eyes, beneath the amusement at her jumpy nature Makkari doesn’t miss the glint of vulnerability and questioning though she can’t fathom why — until his hands are moving, and she begins to put two and two together.

“You were going to leave without saying goodbye?”

Makkari’s lips twitch up into a small smile, her fingers snapping together as she signs “No” swiftly, trying to squash that idea before it has a chance to plant itself any further in his mind. “I’m not going anywhere — not unless you want me to?” And now it’s Druig’s turn to give her a look that makes her realize how stupid of a thing that was to even think, and her cheeks flush just slightly. “I was just telling Thena where I am. She texted me a couple times last night,” she explains, holding the phone up for emphasis before dropping it back on his bedside table. He nods, seemingly placated by her answer and reaches his hands out for her in a way that makes her laugh, fingers delicately moving to spell out the word ‘needy’ teasingly.

Druig appears unbothered by it, his hands clasping around her waist and pulling her back down to lay beside him again, blanket tucked up around them. His eyes are half closed and sleepy and Makkari takes a second to admire how he looks right now — the genuine happiness and peace that radiates off of him makes her own heart feel so full that she can’t understand how it hasn’t burst. It’s nice, she thinks, and she lets her eyes linger long enough to commit the sight to memory. I love you, I love you, I love you — the thought dances around her mind, fingers twitching with the desire to say it but it’s too soon. Makkari knows it’s too soon even if she knows it to be true and he busies her hands with tracing the length of his spine instead.

“It’s early,” he signs and Makkari nods in response. One of his hands smooths over her hair, down to the back of her neck where his thumb runs across the skin gently, a trail of goosebumps left in its wake. “Let’s go back to sleep.”

His arms come to wrap around her again, pulling her in flush against his chest and the feeling of one of his hands twisting in her curls has Makkari practically melting against him. She settles herself there, her cheek pressed against his chest where she can feel the faint thump of his heart and a soft sigh leaves her when his lips press against the crown of her head gently. Druig falls asleep first and Makkari wonders if he had even fully come back to consciousness at all in the first place with how quickly his breathing had evened out again. But it only takes a few moments for her to follow suit, eyes fluttering shut and letting sleep consume her again.

[finlaure13]

By KYLIE CHEUNG

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 14, 2021 11:00AM (EST)

Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier/White Wolf (Sebastian Stan) in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (Marvel Studios/Disney+)

The following contains spoilers for "Eternals" and the "Captain America" films.

Much has been made of "Eternals" being a "different" kind of Marvel movie, and in many ways, it is.

The Chloé Zhao-directed film follows ancient, supernatural beings who've defended Earth from creatures called Deviants for millennia and who reunite in the present day to save humanity from the latest catastrophe. Because of this long view of mankind's development, "Eternals" has been touted as a "love letter to Earth and humanity," as Angelina Jolie, who plays the Eternal Thena, has put it.

But producer Nate Moore also calls it "the first movie that's really built around a romance as the central relationship." In the film, Richard Madden's Ikaris and Gemma Chan's Sersi, two of the most powerful of the 10 Eternals have a love story that spans thousands of years, which is certainly a focal point from start to finish.

This is not to say that other MCU films have lacked in some romantic content. Moore acknowledges the love stories of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow); Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), a relationship that Steve gave up everything for in the final moments of "Endgame"; and the unnecessary romantic subplot between Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). But Moore makes the case for why, unlike these other romances, Ikaris and Sersi's love is the foundation of "Eternals," making the movie arguably not just an action film, but a romance, supposedly for the first time ever in the MCU.

Ikaris x Sersi parallels Steve x Bucky, before it

While this can't be denied, it's not the first love story-centric Marvel flick. Have we forgotten the entire "Captain America" trilogy, people? Or the whole plot of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," specifically? And, no, I'm not talking about Steve and Peggy, or even Steve and Natasha, though sparks may have flown between the two in "The Winter Soldier." I'm talking about Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), the Winter Soldier himself.

Let's rewind for a minute, here. The year is 2011. "Captain America: The First Avenger" has just hit theaters, and we watch as Steve Rogers rescues his childhood best friend Bucky Barnes from Nazi captivity, followed by a glorious montage of the two supposedly platonic besties going Nazi-hunting in the 1940s at the height of World War II. All of this is cut short when Bucky appears to fall off the top of a train to his death on a mission, devastating Steve. By the end of "The First Avenger," both Steve and Bucky are presumed to be dead, as Steve sacrifices his life to save humanity from the overwhelming power of the Tesseract. Of course, in the final moments of the movie, we learn Steve survived and is discovered frozen in ice 70 years later, in the present day.

But Steve isn't the only one who survived, and he certainly isn't the only biologically enhanced super soldier. As 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" — widely lauded as one of the all-time greatest Marvel movies — reveals, Bucky is alive too, recovered by the Nazi scientists of Hydra who made him into a super soldier and preserved him over the past 70 years through freezing him in cryogenic sleep. Steve and Bucky's lives are inextricably bound, forever intertwined through what can only be described as fate. Decades, lifetimes, wars, Nazis, mind control — nothing can separate the two.

In many ways, Steve and Bucky's relationship directly parallels Ikaris and Sersi's, and "The Winter Soldier" came out nearly a decade before "Eternals." Just as Ikaris and Sersi are bonded by their immortality, their love spanning thousands of years, Steve and Bucky are also bonded by their uniquely long life spans, owing to being frozen for decades in the Arctic Ocean for Steve, and being frozen in cryogenic sleep by Nazi scientists for Bucky.

In these two relationships, we see both couples at different points divided by opposing missions. For Ikaris and Sersi, this manifests in the final act of "Eternals," when it's revealed that Ikaris will do anything to carry out the Eternals' mission, meaning sacrificing Earth to allow for the birth of a new Celestial (aka a giant, ultra-powerful, intergalactic being). Sersi, on the other hand, is determined to stop the so-called convergence and protect Earth and humanity at any cost.

As for Steve and Bucky, much of "The Winter Soldier" follows Bucky hunting down his former best friend while under mind control by Hydra, which survived World War II by secretly merging into SHIELD, the agency that governs the Avengers. Throughout most of the movie, Bucky's face is masked until the two nearly fight to the death, causing the mask to fall and reveal Bucky's identity. Steve then realizes that the Winter Soldier — the mysterious Hydra assassin who's killed untold numbers of innocent people, and appears to have killed Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) earlier in "The Winter Soldier" — is his childhood best friend.

One particular memory of Bucky stands out to Steve, after this revelation: the day of his parents' funeral in the 1940s. When Steve repeatedly rejected Bucky's offers for help all those years ago, Bucky leaned in close to tell him, "I'm with you 'til the end of the line, pal." In the final minutes of "The Winter Soldier," Steve repeats these words to Bucky just before Bucky nearly kills him while under mind control by Hydra. The words — and the enduring love between the two — are enough to liberate Bucky from decades of mind control and brainwashing. He frees Steve and is simultaneously freed too, beginning to regain a sense of self through Steve's words for the first time in nearly 70 years. The two fall from an exploding helicarrier into the Potomac, and Bucky saves an unconscious Steve's life before fleeing the scene.

Steve and Bucky's unconditional love contrasts with the limits of Ikaris and Sersi's relationship

This is perhaps where "Steve x Bucky" and "Ikaris x Sersi" differ most: Steve and Bucky's bond is unbreakable, while Ikaris and Sersi's has conditions. Where Ikaris' great "sacrifice" for Sersi at the end of "Eternals" is sparing her life, Steve and Bucky have both repeatedly proven their willingness to die for each other, to buck any and all of their duties and allegiances for each other, as the aforementioned, final moments of "The Winter Soldier" show. True to their own words to each other, Steve and Bucky are together "'til the end of the line." Meanwhile, in "Eternals," we're supposed to see it as a romantic gesture that Ikaris opts to not kill Sersi with his lethal laser beams and flies into the sun instead. How . . . romantic?

Also, it's revealed early in "Eternals" that Ikaris and Sersi broke up after he essentially ghosted her, vanishing from her life for hundreds of years. We learn that this is because Ikaris had to keep the secret of the Eternals' true mission and purpose, shared with him by the Eternals' leader, Ajak (Salma Hayek). Eventually, Sersi gave up on looking for Ikaris, and wound up falling in love with Kit Harington's Dane Whitman as her hunky rebound.

This is all fair enough — being ghosted is as valid a reason as any to move on from someone, start seeing someone else, and stop waiting around or looking for your ex. But not for Steve and Bucky.

Between "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Captain America: Civil War," Steve and his new pal Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) have spent the past two years relentlessly searching for Bucky, never giving up despite Bucky's elusiveness. When they find him in "Civil War," Steve winds up not just risking his life, but willingly becoming an international fugitive and disbanding the Avengers, all to protect Bucky from being apprehended by international authorities. In "Civil War," Bucky is on the run after being framed for the assassination of King T'Chaka of Wakanda, and Steve is willing to stake everything on believing in his beloved "friend."

Steve arguably even gives up his identity as Captain America to save Bucky. After Iron Man learns that Bucky, under mind control by Hydra, killed his parents in the 1990s, Tony almost kills Bucky out of rage. Instead, Steve intervenes and saves Bucky's life, almost killing Tony in the process. It's in this moment that Tony reminds Steve that his signature Captain America shield was made by Howard Stark — Tony's father — and belongs to the government. Steve responds by dropping the shield and allowing a limping Bucky to lean on him, as the two flee and Steve metaphorically leaves his old self behind. It isn't until nearly seven years later in "Avengers: Endgame" that Steve and Tony mend their relationship, and Tony returns the shield to him.

True love isn't always "canon".

Sure, Ikaris and Sersi's romance is canon, or real, within the MCU, while Steve and Bucky's love is ultimately portrayed as a platonic friendship in the movies. But by all means, what legions upon legions of devoted MCU fans refer to as "SteveBucky" is real to its 'shippers, or supporters.

Fanfiction.net, Wattpad, Tumblr and other popular fan platforms are brimming with "SteveBucky" fan art and fan fiction, some of which is arguably better written and more logical than actual MCU plotlines — certainly more logical than Steve bailing on his closest friends and all of humanity to travel back in time and be with a woman he kissed once 80 years ago in "Endgame."

Sure, unlike Ikaris and Sersi, Steve and Bucky don't get an (onscreen) sex scene. But Steve and Bucky's intimacy was arguably portrayed in even more passionate and intense ways than the two seconds of joyless missionary that Ikaris and Sersi share in "Eternals." Much of "The Winter Soldier" features endless montages of Steve and Bucky just going at it, throwing each other against walls and choking each other, all while sweating, writhing, and trying to catch their breaths. Yes, "Eternals" is the first ever MCU film to feature an openly, canonically gay superhero, but "The Winter Soldier" was two hours and 16 minutes of pure, undeniable homoerotic tension.

In any case, one of the best parts of the Steve and Bucky 'ship has been the actors' support for it. For years, the two have romantically posed with fans at nearly every Comic Con, and their off-screen bromance and love for the fans who ship their characters has been a source of joy for so many in the fandom.

More recently, following Evans' departure from the MCU, Stan has continued to play Bucky in the Disney+ show, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," in which Bucky befriends and embarks on adventures with Sam Wilson, the next Captain America. Consequently, fans who once shipped Steve and Bucky have gone on to ship Sam and Bucky, seeing Sam as an extension of Steve's spirit, and upholding the immortal love between Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

Where Mackie has made some questionable statements about the same-sex romantic shipping of Sam and Bucky, Stan's response perfectly encapsulates the beauty of fictional shipping: "I'm just happy that the relationship is embraced, and it should be embraced in whatever way or fashion that people desire and want it to be," he told Variety earlier this year.

Stan is right — fictional love and relationships are what we make of them. The measure of a fictional romance isn't whether it was "real" onscreen, but whether it resonates with and brings joy and excitement to fans. To that end, no matter what anyone says, Steve x Bucky was the first great MCU romance, and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," the first MCU love story.

"Eternals" is now playing in theaters.

[angstyjellybean]

We’re back

9-1-1 “Outside Looking In”

✨spoilers✨

Let’s go baby

quinceañera how cute

Moms right that isn’t safe by the trees

That’s a lot of balloons for a windy day

New guy… huh

Are his feet gone?

oh oh shit

Yucky

Oh my god Buck stop waving like a princess

Oh so he did go to dispatch

Chris got so big

Wait what’s his job exactly?

Insomnia? Or just getting sick of the same stuff?

Public service officer? I have never heard of that

Why does Eddie look high? And this seems like a good family dynamic

Mmm cupcakes

“I like what I’m doing” that sounded so convincing

“You need to move on, I have” yeah that doesn’t sound like it has subtext

Oh I don’t feel like I’m gonna like this man

Hen baby he’s still the captain

Oh shit

Thena my love

RAVI OUR BABY

Be careful Buckaroo

Ooo 147 is cute

Is she our she buck?

They said kids but so far they’ve shown 1

Eddie knows his bombs even while sleep deprived

We don’t need to make life decisions rn maam

What the hell is she doing?

Ouch that couldn’t have felt nice on his ribs

Buck just hanging off the ladder shouldn’t be funny

Why does he look mad

Oof Joshy letting boundaries be known

Why would you say no??? Just because you got there later and they didn’t wait?

This woman looks familiar and I can’t place why

I sure as hell would want it if I were able

Athena coming in with the wisdom

Are y’all having them flirt are you serious he has a girlfriend

Stop it, let this man have a stable relationship for once

YOU BITCH AND BUCK YOU DUMBASS

FUCK THIS I’m not the biggest buck and Taylor but still

I know where I recognize her from, it’s Aquamarine

No buck you kissed her back and kissed her once she pulled away again

Tell Taylor istg

Eddie looks like shit

Ma’am you can’t police what other people have in their yard

Is that neighbor the bomber maybe?

Oh god I know she doesn’t die or get maimed but still

assault with a deadly weapon

Why would you go in alone maam I love you but still dumb at times

Eddie seems  delusional and idk why he seems to be spiraling too

ooo Bobby come from him

STOP BEING A DICK

God Buck lawsuit parallel

I feel like Taylor has an inkling what’s going on

YOU SHITHEAD TELL HER

He hired Lucy didn’t he?

THE LOOK ON BUCKS FACE karma baby

[vvivacious101]

Eternals - Ikaris & Sersi

It’s 3:28 AM on Wednesday morning and I have tried to get my mind to stop obsessing but I’m shit out of luck, so my obsession needs to get processed ASAP.

I watched the Eternals yesterday night. I started at around 10:30 PM and I was like it’s going be 1:00 AM by the time it ends and then I can sleep but who would have known that I would love it so so much that it would literally keep me up at night.

Eternals is amazing and I can’t figure out why nobody seems to be talking about it.

My mind is full of thoughts and I hardly know where to begin. I was really excited for the movie when the trailer came out. The trailer was so good and I was incredibly ecstatic to actually watch the movie but circumstances made it so that I couldn’t watch the movie in theatres and it was not from a lack of trying. But, I remember that ever since the movie’s release, its reception had been really low-key, nobody was talking about the movie and the murmurs I could make out were not complimentary so my interest in watching the movie took a swan dive. I explicitly remember checking when Eternals would be available for streaming because I really wanted to watch the movie despite everything. But eventually even when the movie came out I didn’t bother watching it and it has been sitting on the back burner for a long time but 12th April was the day.

I watched the movie and it was incredibly good, I literally can’t fathom it. It’s amazing and people should literally be shouting from the rooftops about how good it is.

I love this movie. I would rate it 5 out of 5 stars like it’s that good and I can’t believe that more people can’t see that because it’s SO GOOD!!!

If you haven’t watched the Eternals watch it, seriously.

There are so many things I love about the movie but first off, I want to tackle Ikaris and Sersi.

That particular ship has a lot of hate coming its way and it’s mostly in service of glorifying Druig & Makkari and Thena & Gilgamesh and I feel that’s a little disingenuous. If you love Druig & Makkari or/and Thena & Gilgamesh I’m right there with you but you don’t need to bring your preferred ship up by pulling another down. Anyhow, there are things to be said about every aspect of the story, the characters and their relationships and I’m going to do just that.

But first off, Ikaris and Sersi, their story is genuinely haunting me, it’s tragic and I for one don’t want this to be the end of it.

Richard Madden as Ikaris is phenomenal, I generally don’t learn actors’ names but I made it a point to learn his because he is just that amazing in this movie, he’s fantastic and it’s perfect.

What really made this movie different from the very start was that the main character of the movie was Sersi, that literally caught me off guard from the get go and that should have been an indication that nothing was going to be as expected. Sersi is not the leader of the Eternals, that’s Ajax and she isn’t a man. It literally felt weird for her to be the main character of the movie because it was that alien of a concept for me. Without even realising I had somehow internalised the algorithm these movies follow and when this movie bucked that expectation from the first scene itself, it felt like a whole new frontier had been discovered.

The fact that Sersi is played by Gemma Chan made the whole concept that much more unique. Frankly, the entire cast of the movie is so diverse, it’s refreshing and they are all treated with such respect. It’s like the best thing on Earth.

So, I don’t know about everybody else but when Sersi says, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” while looking at Earth while Ikaris is just staring at her face, it implies that he thinks she’s beautiful and that is literally Hollywood 101 for incoming ship like how did people not pick up on that. Hollywood has me trained so well that I can see heterosexual ships from a mile away and still somehow not pick up on the same signals when the exact same thing happens between two people presenting as the same gender.

I knew from that point on that Ikaris and Sersi were going to be a thing but I for the life of me could not have imagined what I was in for. Even thinking about what the movie did with these two characters feels like torture to me. Ikaris loves Sersi and he is really awkward about it and it’s cute and the entire movie revolves around the fact that Ikaris loves Sersi. It’s not so easy to tell if Sersi loves Ikaris I feel like those moments in the movie are a lot subtler but frankly it’s easy once you know where to look. Sersi as the movie starts in present day is in a relationship with Dane Whitman, a relationship that is serious enough that he wants her to move in, so that immediately has a fogging effect on her feelings for Ikaris, if she’s moved on then the relationship wasn’t all that deep was it? Well, you would be wrong.

BTW Ikaris gets kickass entrances he is the only one to get them as far as I remember and it’s amazing both the times it happens but especially the one in London, that was so cheesy but I totally loved it, it actually says a lot that both these heroic entrances happen in the beginning of the movie and not the end where they would traditionally be. Again, foreshadowing that I missed.

So, Ikaris comes in and Sersi and Dane talk about Sersi and Ikaris’ relationship there are three sentient points in that conversation, one they have been together for 5000 years, but one day an unspecified amount of time ago he left her for reasons unknown and she waited for him for years but when he didn’t return she moved on. The most striking part of this conversation was that how do you move on from a relationship of 5000 years and frankly speaking can you?

Now before I go further into Ikaris and Sersi’s relationship I would like to point out that according to Hollywood logic Sersi and Dane are endgame and this movie sets up their relationship as that, Dane definitely has a bigger role to play in this saga and this movie is focused on building up their relationship, of course plans change, sometimes things don’t work out and sometimes things are meant to be set up for dramatic reveals but the way this movie treated their relationship, that’s the way Dane and Sersi are headed. Now, since I haven’t read the comics I truly don’t have any insider info but the way this movie is structured that’s the reading I’m getting. But, this is definitely one thing I am not looking forward to.

Back to Ikaris and Sersi, so even if Sersi has moved on its frankly impossible to imagine that she isn’t feeling things when Ikaris drops back into her life playing the role of her hero no less. Like really it’s amazing how centred these two characters are because despite everything they hold it together amazing well when faced with each other especially Sersi because at least Ikaris chose to see her but she has to deal with the unexpectedness of his arrival on top of everything else.

Again, there are two concrete things that show that Sersi also loves Ikaris (frankly I don’t know how anyone manages a 5000y old relationship when they aren’t in love but even if you believe that that was the case, the movie is telling you otherwise). One, of the things is a parallel, when Ikaris confesses his love for Sersi he puts his hand on top of hers interlacing their fingers and tells her, I’m yours if you’ll have me. This scene is repeated later in the movie but with Sersi putting her hand on top of Ikaris’ and interlacing their fingers. The scene cuts at the shot of their hands and it’s a lovely scene frankly, the callback gives me chills just thinking about it, but again logic would suggest that her mirroring the scene implies that she also holds the same intention that he did. In other words, she’s saying I’m yours if you’ll have me.

The second thing that was actually not that clear to me but has become more and more prominent, as I re-watched the movie to look for it, was the necklace Sersi is wearing in the above scene. Sersi gives Ikaris a stone she modifies to match his eyes. She is wearing that very same stone in a chain around her neck, again forgetting my more meta thoughts she is literally wearing a stone around her neck that matches the colour of his eyes like literally is there any other reason to wear it but to look at it and try to imagine looking into his eyes. And frankly speaking even if that’s not what’s happening there is no way that stone doesn’t remind her of his confession, their first kiss and everything and she is wearing that in a chain around her neck. Now, for the kicker I only noticed the necklace in the above-mentioned scene but going back, I realised that Sersi is wearing the necklace for almost all of her present-day scenes, which begs the question since when has she been wearing the necklace. Well, the answer to that question is, she has been wearing it since the very beginning of the movie.

Now, for the clincher, when did she get the necklace, well... it’s literally a symbol of their marriage. This isn’t very clearly shown because we don’t actually see Ikaris give Sersi the necklace but after their wedding the scene is cut in such a way that in one frame she is just wearing the garland and in the next she is wearing her garland and a green necklace, which means that he gave her the necklace on their wedding and she has worn it ever since, literally the last flashback with them in Tenochitlan in 1521 AD has her wearing the necklace now on its gold string which is how we have seen her wearing it since the beginning of the movie.

They literally had a Hindu wedding and he giving her a necklace immediately had my mind screaming mangalsutra but since mangalsutras weren’t actually around in 400 AD I don’t think I should get too carried away, but then again neither was kissing after a wedding.

There is actually a gif and I have also seen it in certain fanvids where you can see Ikaris actually affix the necklace which can be seen prominently.

[EDIT: Okay, this scene is actually in the movie and I found it, so here you go.]

This brings me to another point what exactly is their relationship in present time. I was looking up the Ikaris entry on the MCU fandom wiki and it has Sersi mentioned as his ex-wife but all evidence points to the contrary she isn’t his ex-wife she is his wife, they are literally not only married but she has physically worn the proof of her marriage since. Frankly, not only has she really not moved on but maybe in some way she actually considers herself married to Ikaris even now. Like, WOW!!

At some unspecified time in history, Ajax confides in Ikaris about their true purpose and it breaks him, he literally can’t hide this from Sersi but he literally can’t break her heart when she learns that the people she has loved and helped along for so long are nothing but a means to an end. So, he leaves her and doesn’t come back till the world is ending, like he literally only comes back to spend his last day on Earth with her but then things go awry, Sersi gets selected as their next leader and learns their true purpose and she immediately wants to thwart that purpose from reaching its fulfilment and when it feels like the Eternals might just have a concrete possibility of stopping the birth of a celestial, Ikaris derails all their plans. His faith in Arishem and their true purpose is unshakeable and he will not let his sacrifice be in vain and he threatens to kill them all if they stand in his way but in the end words are just words.

It kind of says a lot that he kills Ajax, and beats up Druig, Makkari, Thena and Phastos and is actually ready to do the same to Sersi but when push comes to shove he finds himself helpless. That scene when she is just looking at him and his eyes glow and then fade off and then glow and fade away again that ends in him crying like literally broke me. His love for Sersi has been his driving force ever since he woke up on the Domo and in the end the purpose he put before that love couldn’t hold up to it.

This was the big villain fight, Ikaris vs Sersi and it was over before it began and it still held every bit of the impact a big action scene would have had.

Someone pointed out that Ikaris’ behaviour could be explained by toxic masculinity and I tend to agree. He tries to protect Sersi from the truth instead of giving her the opportunity to do so for herself. He puts himself in the position of her protector and makes the choice for her.

But, I also feel that this reading to some extent negates his own reaction to learning the truth. The whole Sersi loves humanity aspect is certainly true but frankly speaking the one person who has been protecting human lives ever since he got of his ship has been Ikaris, he is literally the first person who launches an attack on a Deviant to save a boy and he’s been doing that for atleast 2000y before he and Sersi even start their relationship. I don’t think we consider how traumatic learning the truth was for him. I mean learning you are not alive but instead a robot made to ensure planets grow and harbour intelligent life that can feed the Celestial nesting instead their planet is bound to be a shock and unlike everyone else when they learn the truth he literally can’t do anything to avert this from happening, except doing what the Deviants had been doing all along which I don’t think anyone would be in favour of. It stands to reason that he wasn’t thinking straight and atleast his initial actions were probably more emotional that logical or even all that well thought off. Maybe he actually didn’t leave Sersi with the intent of never coming back but later realised that would be the best thing to do, it’s hard to say but I feel like we can definitely see that this was not easy information for him to digest. Another thing that’s relevant is that since he has known the truth for quite a while he has had time to make his world view align with Arishem’s, it’s not unthinkable that the others might actually come to the same conclusion had they learnt the truth so early. I feel like the immediacy of the situation probably influenced the actions of the other Eternals more, also had they known the truth would they have really let themselves get so close to humanity to be able to drop everything to save it in the hour of need. The fact is that Ikaris not telling them the truth is probably the reason they banded together to save it which is an insane quandary but it’s true. Instead of having Sersi spent the rest of her life coming to terms with the ends of humanity he gives her the opportunity to love it more and more fiercely which probably saved humanity, so in a weird way his leaving is the reason the rest of the Eternals save the planet.

Wow, this is so long, it’s embarrassing but Ikaris seems to have taken permanent residence in my brain. It’s also so sad to see him die the way he did, who would have thought that the boy who flew too close to the Sun would end up being foreshadowing.

With everything that has happened in this movie Sersi and Ikaris need more closure, like literally this can’t be the end and frankly speaking it would be such a waste to not have Richard Madden reprise his role as Ikaris because he is bloody fantastic in it.

So, I have managed approximately 3000 words on this subject and that’s without touching the other 8 characters and their relationships and story line. I think this might have to be a series because I am not nearly done with screaming about this movie yet.