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takamiyaki · 3 months

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"I'll see you at home..." Hawks x Reader (FLUFFY WUFFY)

(This is my very first oneshot and I'm a bit nervous and I barely know how to use tumblr LOL

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As one can imagine, dating a Pro Hero can definitely have it's own perks and downsides. Especially when it comes to everyone's favorite winged hero.

With Hawks being so popular and busy with work, he's always coming home late which leaves the two of you with limited time together during the evenings. While you being able to work from home and Keigo barely being home gives you the luxury of shamelessly blowing up the toilet, it does get lonely ever so often.

Your days are normally just you being glued to the screen of your computer after you and Keigo have breakfast together. You wish the two of you could have breakfast together more often but with the work he does, it's only once every two or three weeks.

6:57 AM

"I have a surprise for you tonight." Keigo said with a smirk on his face. "A surprise??" Knowing Keigo, this "surprise" he's talking about is probably just him bringing back a bucket of half eaten fried chicken.

"You'll just have to wait till I get home. I have to run now but thanks for cooking babe, I love you and I'll see you at home tonight." Keigo gave you a quick peck on your forehead and your lips before he grabbed one last bite of the omelet left laying on his plate.

"I love you too. It better not be another "new" fried chicken spot. That fried stuff is so unhealthy for you bird brain! You better come back in one piece." You said, in between his quick kisses. Before you knew it, he was out the door.

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8:24PM

You just finished wrapping up a project with your teammates on Zoom. Around this time is when you're getting ready to shower and it's also when you shoot your normal 'Are you safe?' 'When are you coming home baby?' texts to Hawks.

After taking a much needed "everything" shower, you packed up some dinner for Keigo and left it in the kitchen with a note that said 'Don't burn down the apartment trying to reheat this' . It was very rare for Keigo to come back on time for dinner so this part of your night wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

Just as you got settled down into bed, the door to your apartment swung open.

'That's weird? It can't be him, it's only 8PM???'

You get out of bed with nothing but a fucking metal water bottle to use for your defense in the off chance that this was a villain targeting people that Hawks holds dear to his heart.

As you crept around the corner, your heart was pounding out of your chest. Only the bad could fill your mind with horrible thoughts 'What if it's a villain?' 'Why couldn't he just install the cameras when I asked him to?' 'Wtf is a water bottle going to do against whatever quirk this criminal has?' Before your negative thoughts could fully consume you, you were met with his familiar and comforting voice.

"Heyo!- Oh, how'd you know I would be thirsty? haha" Keigo said, while clearly mocking you. A sigh of relief left your system.

"Jesus! You scared me babe. I thought you were some rando!!! What are you doing home so early honey?" You scolded him while embracing him into a much needed hug.

"Well, I did tell you that I'd have a surprise waiting for you tonight, so surprise!! It's me." ( You can just imagine that stupid smirk he has on his face when he said this )

"You scared the shit out of me, is this why you didn't respond to my messages?"

"I wanted to mess with you a bit so that the surprise could be at it's peak. Sorry for scaring you baby."

Still holding onto Keigo, you started to smell something. Almost a mixture of a musty chicken shop. Without realizing it, you started sniffing your man. With no surprise to you, the smell was coming from HIM.

"Honey, I love you so much and I'm really happy that you're home early but maybe you should hit the showe- WHY IS THERE ANOTHER BAG OF FRIED CHICKEN WITH YOU??!"

"Surprise?..." He responded to you in such a pathetic tone. "Do I really smell that bad??" He took a whiff of himself then he met your eyes, trying to hold back tears from the smell of his sweat from throughout the day.

"Go shower so we can finally go to bed together." You gave him a peck on his cheek before he walked away dramatically acting like a hurt bird.

After Keigo finished his shower, he eagerly began to disturb your peace. I guess him seeing you so comfy in bed while watching a movie was too good for him to pass up. Just like a dog, he excitedly jumped onto you and started rolling around while messing up the sheets.

"Ugh, I need to do this more. I keep taking my bed for granted, it smells so good in here."

He rolled over and settled his head right onto your chest while looking up to you to see if you were getting annoyed with him yet. Not giving into what he wants, you smiled at him and gave him a few kisses on his forehead while combing through his semi wet hair with your hand.

"I missed you so much today my love, how about we get a cat? You're always leaving me alone at home and it'd be nice to add a new addition to our family."

Keigo got all pouty, clearly feeling bad about him being so busy. You understood why he was busy and he knew it too. He appreciated how you never pestered him about the way he balances his time for you. He loved how independent you are but part of him wishes that you could just relax and fall back on him but with his occupation, it makes things much more difficult.

"A cat?? I'll get you whatever you want but a cat? Let's put a pin in this conversation and just cuddle up. I missed you too honey."

He's clearly disgusted with the idea of getting a cat but I guess it probably has something to do with him being a bird brain. I'll definitely win him over tomorrow.

You started to drift off to sleep and Keigo noticed. He sent his feathers to turn off the TV and shut the door and lights.

"I love you so much honey, but I don't know about getting a kitty." He whispered to you as he brushed your hair out of your face.

"Goodnight, I love you" With one last peck on your forehead, he tucked you into bed and he got some much needed rest next to your snoring body.

#anime #mha #my hero academia #mha takami keigo #keigo takami #mha hawks #bnha hawks #hawks fluff #keigo takami fluff

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genericpuff · 7 months

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welp, this kinda sucks

I'm currently at odds with the PC that I got a couple months ago, it's started freezing and soft-resetting randomly for seemingly no reason. It would usually be after hours of use that I could chalk up to the memory overloading, but now it's happening as soon as I boot up the frigging thing. And just to make it clear how much I've done on my own to diagnose the problem, our attempts to fix it have included the following:

Limiting startup applications

Running virus / malware scans

Swapping out display monitors

Updating the GPU drivers

Setting a lower overclock profile in the BIOS settings

Swapping out power cables and outlets to check for power surges

So far none of these things have worked and if anything, the issue has just gotten worse in the last two days. Like, it can barely make it to the startup screen sometimes, despite the memory and CPU usage being >20%, there is zero reason it would be the PC overclocking itself just from startup.

(and no, it doesn't even compel me, i'm just annoyed to shit LOL)

So I dropped it off with the guy who built it (he runs an electronics / pawn shop downtown that's very reputable and well-known so it's not like I don't trust him or anything, he's been building PC's for people in the area for years) and it's now in his care for the next day or two while he tries to isolate the problem. Right now the only thing I can imagine being the problem is the power supply or my display monitor, which is my old Huion Kamvas 22 Plus that still works as a monitor, just not a drawing tablet - but if something's still fucking around in the tablet, it could be causing problems through the PC, maybe.

When I dropped it off with the guy, he went and set it up in his office and came out and told me that so far it seemed to be running just fine, when he asked me if I was doing anything specific I told him it was crashing even after startup so I gave him permission to overclock the shit out of it, run 53879205893 browser tabs, run my games, software, anything he needed to do to push it to its limits and see if he could replicate the problem.

I am terrified if it has to do with the motherboard, because that will be an expensive replacement that will also potentially lead to losing files / installations / etc. depending on how big an issue it is. It could also potentially be Windows 11 having a hissy fit especially seeing as how it's freezing up on startup, but doesn't freeze on the BIOS screen when it loads up in safe-mode after hard resets, so something is clearly happening between the hard boot-up and the startup of Windows 11 itself.

Thankfully I do have Google Drive sync support and plenty of external HDD's that I can back my stuff up to, but with the freezing and restarting getting as bad as it's been, I haven't been able to back anything up, and I don't want to risk doing it manually if it'll just freeze and potentially corrupt my files in the process. So I told the guy to call me if he needed to mess with anything concerning the system storage so that, if he could at least keep it running stable in the shop, then I could swing by and get everything I needed synced up safely before he messes around with anything.

It could also very well have something to do with the power supply itself, the house that I occupy the main floor of isn't exactly built with electric optimization in mind, we've had fuses blow on us before just from running the hair dryer at the same time as the TV, so if it's something to do with the PC drawing too much power for the electrical system here to keep up with, either (hopefully) the guy will be able to instruct me on how to lower and manage that power intake through the PC's BIOS (I believe you can but I'm still a massive noob on custom builds and I don't want to go tinkering with it myself) or, idk, maybe I'll have to get my landlord to drop by again with his electrician and check out the fuses to make sure they're all operating properly. I'm not an electrician either, so fuck if I know at this point what could be going on. I feel like it can't be the house itself because everything else is running fine and it's just become a recent issue, but our city's power grid is also not exactly praised for being good at its job, especially not in the winter.

So yeah, I'm a little - well, a lot - stressed right now, but all I can really do at this point is wait. Fortunately, I have my iPad and also remembered that I still have my old PC, so I've hooked it up, at best if the problem repeats itself on this PC then I'll know it has to do with the display monitor, at worst I'll just be stuck working with my clunky old hardware for a couple days, which is annoying, but it'll get the job done. Fortunately I had the newest episode of Rekindled uploaded to the cloud in Clip Studio so I can still download it and work on it, which was my biggest worry when everything started to go belly-up (next to just, like, having a working PC).

Sooooo yeah. It's annoying, but I'm hoping for the best. Send good vibes y'all, I really could use it rn, between this and slow traffic at work and some other personal shit that's been going on, it's been a shitty few days (╥﹏╥)

And yeah, I'll keep y'all updated on if it affects this week's update, it really shouldn't honestly as most of the work left is doable from both my iPad and PC, but obviously at this point anything can happen so if anything has to be postponed or changed to accommodate the current situation, I'll update y'all as soon as I can! Thanks everyone, y'all are the best, wish me luck <3

#self post #computer problems

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hellfire--cult · 1 year

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Baring Teeth {Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader} - Ch. 9

Edit of Eddie: pitifulbaby

Chapters: Masterlist (Go here to see list of chapters, plotline and general warnings.)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Non-Traditional Omegaverse, Slow burn, Modern!AU, Mechanic!Eddie

⚠️This chapter contains: billy hargrove x reader, smut (protected sex, p in v), manhandling, physical pain, hospital mention, dirty talking, mentions of cancer, grief

wc: 4.6k

Crossposted on: Wattpad & AO3

A/N: What a rollercoaster this chapter is. We are SLOWLY reaching the point in the story where everything will take a turn. Next chapter will have a small time skip, very small, but it is needed!

Anyways, Enjoy! ❤️ And don't forget to always support me by hitting the reblog button or leave a comment!

<- Prev. chapter - Next chapter ->

CHAPTER 9

A deep breath in.

A deep breath out.

Gaining the courage to see the other side of the screen was always challenging, because it was always different. Ever changing. He changed. He worsened, with each passing day, with each passing minute, with each passing second.

The screen lit up after a few seconds and Wayne’s face came up on screen.

“Hi there Son.” He greets in a grunt. His hair was gone, no eyebrows, no beard, no sideburns. He was skinny, skinnier than the last time he had a call with Wayne, and his eyes were now filled with weakness rather than the strong man he once was.

“Hi Wayne. Interrupt your nap time, old man?” Eddie replied as he leaned against his balcony with phone in one hand and cigarette on the other. He always needed one when talking to Wayne, because it was always painful, the reminder of a limit of time that one day will reach its end.

“I nap all day. I really just want to go fishing again.” He says with a chuckle this time, a weak one, but Eddie still smiled at him, reciprocating his laugh.

“Oh come on, as if you ever caught something bigger than the size of a hand.” Eddie joked and it was a bluff really, Wayne was an excellent fisher, and that worked in getting dinner on the table a few times in his childhood and teenage years while he lived with him. Wayne looked into the camera completely offended and shook his head.

“I didn’t raise you to be a liar!” He exclaims and Eddie finally lets out a chuckle while taking a drag out of his cigarette. “You know, that’s the reason I’m like this.” Wayne says pointing at the camera, at what Eddie is holding in his hand.

“Yeah, well… You smoked way too much when I was a teen, like two packs per week.” And Eddie knew the reason for it. Getting the money for his medication, for his treatments, for the hospitalizations in the specialty facility was nothing cheap, and Wayne had to work double shifts and even weekends to be able to provide for it.

The stress of not being able to pay for Eddie’s health was something that Wayne could barely stand, living off cigarettes and whisky, barely eating anything, his defenses falling gradually, his immune system deteriorating, but Eddie was alive. That’s all that mattered.

“Hey, it was my guilty pleasure.” Wayne jokes with a chuckle but Eddie’s eyes felt distant as he looked at his uncle, his guardian, his father. Because maybe if he wasn’t the way he is, just maybe–

“Is that Eddie?” Wayne looks up from the camera and nods, and Eddie hears a female chuckle from far away.

“Hi Lu.” Eddie greets her and he receives an ‘Hola’ from far away. She was the caretaker of his uncle because he didn’t want to be taken to a hospital or a geriatric. He wanted to be in the peace of his home, his trailer, and that was final.

“How are you feeling boy? I know your date is coming soon–”

“Yeah, it already happened. Lasted one day as always, nothing new.” Eddie shortly replies, taking another drag of his cigarette and Wayne gives him a nod after a sigh.

“Alright, remember to visit Murphy, you have to do the–”

“Check ups, once every two months. I know Wayne, you don’t really have to take care of me like that anymore.” Eddie says with a hint of sadness behind it, and Wayne frowns at that, chuckling softly.

“You’re my boy, I’m always going to take care of you, no matter how old you get.” He replied with a wrinkled smile and Eddie felt the lump in his throat starting to form. He gulped it down, feeling the all too well burning begin to happen in his eyes, but he gets interrupted by Wayne’s coughing, making Eddie look up at him alarmingly.

His coughs turned to wheezes as Lucia rushed to start the oxygen machine that was always next to Wayne’s bed, and the next thing Eddie was looking at the ceiling as he heard his uncle wheezing through the phone. He took that moment to look up at the sky as he bit his lips into his mouth to clench and swallow the sob that wanted to escape him.

He was fighting the tears, looking at the clouds above him, trying to distract himself, trying to think of something else rather than time. Time. It was always time. Time being the worst fucking thing that’s ever to exist, because it always took and took from him, and it never gave him anything. Not a single thing.

He heard some shuffling, and he looked up at the phone again, seeing Wayne now with the oxygen mask on over his mouth and nose. His breathing was heavy and a few wheezes came out here and there.

“I feel like Darth Vader.” Wayne jokes outloud, making Eddie give a sad smile. He knew that this happened because Wayne talked too much, and forced his lungs to do so. That’s why Eddie always preferred to talk to him through text, but his uncle always insisted on seeing him.

And Eddie knew that it was because Wayne didn’t know when it would be time to go.

“You sound like him too.” Eddie continues the joke as the turmoil of feelings in his stomach starts to betray him, and he knows he has to end the call soon, because he doesn’t want his uncle to see him like this.

“I have to hang up, son. I’m tired of seeing your young face.” He always joked, always kept it lighthearted, always made sure Eddie didn’t know his pain, making sure that Eddie would always see things with a positive aspect, with a laugh, with a smile.

“I bet, I can’t stand the wrinkles on your face either. Like a bulldog.” Eddie followed on the joke and Wayne smiled through the mask.

“I love you boy.” Eddie bit onto the inside of his cheek. He was always afraid of this part. Always afraid of the part of hanging up, and he knew why Wayne said this. He was never a sentimental man to begin with, but now, as time went on, Eddie knew that Wayne was saying goodbye, just in case.

Just in case this would be the last time he ever tells Eddie he loves him.

“I love you too old man… Talk to you tomorrow, okay?” Eddie says, almost with a whimper in his tone, almost breaking as Wayne nodded at him. There was always that hope that tomorrow would come, and that he would talk to his uncle again, he always said it to keep that hope inside of him, and when his uncle responds the next day it would always make Eddie’s nerves relax, even if a bit.

“Sure thing. Goodbye.” And just like that the call ended. Eddie had forgotten about the cigarette, already a bud in his hand, still smoking a bit. He put the phone in his pocket, and stared into the small city.

A tear fell down his right eye, the knot in his belly finally undoing as a choked sob erupted from his throat. He bent down, throwing the bud towards the street, over his balcony, and he crossed his arms over the rail to hide his face into his arms, his shoulders shaking as he let himself go and feel.

Time. Time is a horrible yet unstoppable thing.

“She told me she couldn’t hang out yesterday, and now she is showing up late!” Robin whines for almost the fourth time and Eddie was getting fed up already. They were at her’s and Steve’s home, enjoying the Saturday night, drinking a few beers, just talking with one another, but Robin had a very annoying mouth sometimes, and Eddie just wanted to rip it out.

“Maybe another date?” Jonathan asks as he lays back onto the couch’s rest with a hand around Steve’s waist. Nancy walked into the room with a tray of new drinks, her specialty, Caipiroska. She was always proud of this drink, because she had perfectioned it, and of course she did, since it was her favorite. Robin immediately took one as soon as Nancy put the tray on the table.

“No! She would tell me! She always tells me everything, and lately, to be honest, she is almost MIA.” Robin scoffs, taking a big gulp of the drink. Eddie was eyeing her and he felt his chest burn once more as anger filled him up for your doings. Robin clearly saw you as a best friend, to the point she would not shut up and worry about you, and she was probably thinking you were leaving her aside.

“Tells you everything? Don’t know about that.” Eddie says as he takes a glass for himself and Robin turns to him with a glare.

“Just because she doesn’t share a few things, doesn’t make her a liar.” She explains and Eddie rolled his eyes at her. It was almost the same thing. You could be a serial killer that escaped into another state for all he knows. But no, he couldn’t sense that from you.

“But she is okay, right mi amiga?” Argyle asks as he was rolling a joint as he sat on the floor, over the other end of the coffee table.

“Yeah, I saw her at work, and she was… I don’t know… Glowing?” Robin says and Steve is the one that intervenes now.

“Didn’t she get the Dior client thing? Maybe she’s happy about that.” He says and Robin shakes her head again, taking a sip out of her drink, sighing heavily into it.

“No, no, no! This is like… Different. And yesterday at work she was just jumpy, and excited, and as soon as the day was over she ran off.” She swirled the glass on her hand, looking at the cubes inside of it. Robin trusted you, you had told her about the big announcement and she was excited for you, happy even because she knew how much this means to you.

But she also knows there’s something from this life of yours, this new life, you are hiding from her. And in this life you never held any secrets against Robin.

“Maybe she went to get laid.” Nancy comments this time, taking a sip out of her drink, and Eddie scoffs at that, shaking his head lightly, but the sound of a door opening caught their attention, turning their heads to see who just came in.

You turned to them with a bright smile on your face, holding a bag of snacks in one hand and a six pack on the other. The sound of a revving engine could be heard in the distance as you walked towards the group, coming into the light.

“Sorry I’m late, had to buy a few things first.” You put the bag on the table as Robin inspected you, squinting slightly at your hair. You always had tidy hair, but this time, it was all over your shoulders, down, combed but kind of wild, covering you all over. You were wearing the same jeans you wore to work yesterday, but the shirt was different. Your makeup looked as if it were on since yesterday as well, tidied up in the best way possible.

You licked your lips as you felt everyone’s stares, sitting down on the floor next to Argyle. You put your phone on the table, facing down, and that’s when you looked up to see everyone simply waiting for you to say something, and Robin was glaring at you, digging into your eyes to look for an answer.

“Where were you?” She asked you, and you cleared your throat, looking over at the tray of drinks and taking one for yourself.

“I said I was buying things.” You say out loud and then you hear it. Your demise. The voice that might fuck everything up in just one instant. Bring your happiness down in just one second, but your eyes almost widened when he let out a small chuckle, and almost a whisper under his breath as he looked over you from the couch.

“Fucking finally.”

Everyone turned to Eddie, looking for answers, but he kept his mouth shut, taking sips of his drink. He noticed it of course, the change in your way of moving, your body language, and your smell. He could smell the male cologne, and by your cheerfulness, your genuine cheerfulness, he knew that it was a successful encounter.

“What does he mean?” Robin asks and you were speechless, feeling your heart racing as you stared at Eddie. How did he know? How was it so easy for him to read you? Or was it the other way around? Were you too easy to read?

“Holy schmokes, who ate you brochacha?” Your eyes widened when Argyle simply swiped your hair over your right shoulder, revealing the side of your neck, and you threw your hands over it but they had already seen it. It was too late, and you grimaced as everyone gasped loudly, except for Robin.

“You hooked up with someone?!” Jonathan asks excitedly and you sigh heavily, your mood dropping slightly because it was something you wanted to possibly keep secret.

“I– Yes– but–”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Robin asks, in a low voice, almost a whisper, and when your eyes met hers, you realized the damage you caused. She was hurt, and you were the cause of it. You neglected her into telling her this amazing thing that was happening to your life after so long, but it was because you didn’t want to put yourself or Billy on the spot.

He was famous, and you didn’t need people to go blurting out that you hooked up with him.

Yet, this was a one time thing, it probably was. And your thighs, as sore as they were now, almost clenched at the memory of his lips on your skin, the way he rubbed himself on you, manhandled you against the wall, railing into you without mercy, without stopping, to the point you were panting and you weren’t verbal anymore.

Just three glasses of wine, three, and you were already panting, sweating, as you were bent over the armrest of the couch, your fingertips touching the floor beneath you, and you were wincing as your hardened nipples brushed against the fabric of the leather couch, burning them slightly.

But that, compared to what was happening in the southern part of your body, was nothing.

Billy was over you, both arms gripping on the armrest, next to your ribcage, as his hips snapped against yours, the jiggling of your backside making him groan loudly as the noises of skin slapping filled the room, alongside your moans. If you sharpened your hearing, you could also hear the squelching of your slick as he pumped himself in and out of you, such perverted sounds.

But it felt too good. Way too good.

You were chatting away on his couch, getting to know each other, talking about work, about friends, all very plain and just over the surface, nothing too deep. That was until he asked if he could kiss you, and after three glasses of wine, how could you possibly deny that request. Not when his eyes were looking at you like you were the finest buffet in existence. And the way his lips moved as he talked to you, the white teeth showing here and there after a smug smirk was directed to you.

Yes, you were gone with that.

And thank god you were gone.

“B-Billy, F-FUCK!” You moaned loudly as he pressed one hand on the small of your back, pushing you down, making you sink and arch your back downwards, letting his shaft hit that spongy part of yourself just perfectly. Your mouth hangs open, completely bewildered at this feeling that you never had. You never had someone hit your spot like this, and he was relentless about it. You heard him chuckle above you as his thrusts became snappy and slow, making you gasp and jerk at each hit.

“You sound perfect, Mousy… Keep yelling my name.” Suddenly you were empty, and you were panting against the couch, trying to lift yourself from it to look at him, wondering what happened, but your waist was grabbed, pushing you to kneel on the couch as Billy stood next to you. Your breathing turned heavy as you looked at him completely bewildered, but he didn’t say anything, only chuckled as he grabbed you by the waist and then the back of your thigh to pull you against him.

You squealed at how easily he had lifted you up from the couch, as if you were just a feather, and your legs immediately wrapped around his waist, as your arms held onto his shoulders. His skin was sticky with sweat, glistening but yet– he smelled way too good. He walked you two towards a wall, slamming your back against it as he, in one strong movement, pushed inside of you again.

“Shit–” You gasp and he silences you with a brush of his lips as he stills his hips for a few seconds.

“You’re beautiful, Mousy. So fucking beautiful.” And he seals your lips together once again as the moans and the groans were present in the room once more.

It would be a hell of a one night stand.

So, fuck it.

“I couldn’t…” You try to defend yourself and she bit the inside of her cheek, her brows furrowing even more. “I mean… It’s too… Unprofessional, Robin.” You say to her, hoping she would catch on, but she just looked at you with a confused look on her face, tilting it as she thought.

“Unprofessional? Someone at work?! Tony?! Esteban?! No, wait he is gay– Maybe Pedro?” She started rambling and you sighed, taking a sip of your drink until the coffee table shook as Robin shot up, almost into the ceiling and everyone pulled back, completely startled as they all looked at her, including you who almost spilled your drink onto the floor. “HOLY FUCKING SHIT.”

“Robin, you almost dropped the drinks on the wooden flooring– Jesus Christ!” Steve complains, like the mother he is, as he looks around for any splashes and Robin looks down at you, putting up a hand towards you.

“Tell me… You’re fucking joking.” Oh, she caught on. You gave her a small smirk, shaking your head slowly. She ran her fingers through her hair as she walked off to start pacing in the living room.

“Is there something we have to know about, or why is Robin about to have a panic attack?” Eddie asks as he looks back at his friend and then back at you. You shrug at him with the smirk still on your face and he tilted his head slightly at you, trying to read you, but this side of you was something he never saw. Something he actually never felt from you. And he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

“Holy shit… Holy shit– I mean, good for you, but what if Liana finds out? You’re gonna be super fucked! But, that’s the thing right? It’s temporary, so you know it’s fine–” She rambled and Jonathan rolled his eyes and put his hand out to you.

“Can I see the guy?” He asks and you shrug, grabbing your phone to unlock it, and going into Billy’s instagram, putting it on Jonathan’s hand. He took the phone and saw the screen, allowing Steve to see too, who was drinking off his glass and his eyes widened, spitting out his drink towards his side, drenching the couch and almost hitting Nancy who yelled in complete disgust.

“Are you FUCKING shitting me?!” Steve yells, putting the glass on the coffee table and getting up off the couch to look at you, his hands on his hips. “Are you insane?!”

“What the actual fuck is going on?!” Nancy finally screams and Jonathan, still wide eyed and in shock, tosses the cellphone towards Nancy, who chokes up on her spit, putting her hand on her chest. “Holy mother of god…”

“Lemme see.” Eddie says, getting hold of your phone now, and for some reason you felt smug that he knew about someone like Billy. That he knew for once you got what you deserved for so long. That he knew you felt good, feel good, and will feel good for a while. His eyes were showing no emotion as he looked at the instagram, frowning slightly and then giving a nod in understanding. “So, you’re fucking your client. Nice.” He tosses the phone back to you, and you roll your eyes at him.

Of course he would remind you of that aspect to dampen the mood.

“Whoa, sexy dude, good job my friend.” Argyle says as he peeks over your shoulder to see the screen.

“No, NO! Not good job! He is a model! He is just using you, you know that right?” Steve was in his mom pose, in all of its glory and you couldn’t contain the laughter that wanted to come out of your throat.

“Right, like I used him.” You retort, and Robin catches onto the past tense, stopping her rambling and pacing, and heading back to sit next to you.

“So– Hang on, was this yesterday?” She asks you and you nod at her, taking a sip of your drink and handing your glass to her so that she could wet her throat a bit.

“Yeah, it was a one time thing, I am sure of that, but I don’t mind. It was great, trust me, but I do know who he is, Steve. I am not that dumb to fall for someone like him.” At your comment, Steve relaxed, sitting down onto the couch with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Okay… That’s good I guess, just be careful.” You knew he was protecting you from a possible heart break, but you knew better than to mess with a famous person.

But you didn’t notice someone was still staring at you. You didn’t notice the brown doe eyes that were trying to read you, investigate what was going on, or what it was that he was seeing. This was a version of you he never had the chance of seeing before. Yet, he didn’t know how to name it, maybe it was the excitement of finally getting properly laid, but there was something behind your eyes that told him that there was more than that.

And you were also hiding more than you were saying. More than you were implying, but he knew it wasn’t out of malice because he senses some kind of doubt within you. He’ll let you be, because at least you told some part of it to your friends, his friends, and that was enough.

So he sipped his drink as you whispered to Robin something, which she only looked at you with widened eyes and a blush to her face. She grabbed your hand and pulled you up from your seats on the floor, and you giggled as she pulled you away into a room.

“A fucking model, good for her!” Jonathan says as Steve scoffs next to him and his boyfriend chuckles as he leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek, making Steve smile at him as they engaged into conversation with Argyle joining them afterwards.

Eddie looked at them and then at Nancy who was fiddling with her phone and he moved closer to her on the couch, whispering towards her.

“I still don’t see a move Wheeler.” He says with a smirk to his lips and Nancy’s cheeks turned into a deep red as she rolled her eyes to whisper back, not losing her sight on her phone.

“In time, she is preoccupied with something else.” She answers him and Eddie simply scoffs, shaking his head at her.

“You’ve liked her for a fucking year now, and Robin most definitely finds you hot.” At that Nancy slowly turned to Eddie with a frown to her eyebrows, doubt displayed on her features and Eddie’s smirk turned into a soft smile.

“Really?” She asked him and he looked at her as if she were crazy.

“I am the most observant out of the group, remember that? I know everything about everyone without even asking.” He starts and Nancy was still doubtful, putting her gaze on the coffee table and then back up at Jonathan and Steve. Eddie followed her gaze and he felt the longing she had in her chest, because her eyes were filled with it.

“I just– I really like her, Eddie… But I don’t want to lose her…” She explains and Eddie knew that she meant to lose Robin as a friend because Nancy has feelings for her. But Eddie also knew the way Robin looked at Nancy when she bent over to pick something up, or the way Robin has the bravery to brush her fingers with hers as Nancy hands her a glass or a bottle of something.

He notices. But Nancy doesn’t.

“Well, I don’t think Robin is that shallow either, she won’t stop being your friend, no matter what.” He answers this time and Nancy looks at him, giving him a soft smile and a nod. She will try, maybe not too straightforward, but maybe start flirting with her, slowly. Eddie leaned back onto the couch’s backrest as you and Robin came back, sitting back down on the floor.

“I need a drink after hearing about heterosexual sex.” Robin says out loud with a grimace as she grabs her old glass and takes a long sip, despite the liquid being in a warm temperature now. You giggled and shook your head at her, but she was the one that asked for details.

Your phone vibrated in your hand, and you looked down to look at the notification, smiling as you saw the text.

‘You kinda forgot something at home.’

You wanted to kick your feet, giggle and just put the phone against your chest, but you took a deep breath to keep your smile down, not wanting to catch anyone’s attention as you opened the message to see the picture he sent you, but the smirk that came to your lips as you saw a picture of your thong, hanging off his index finger, was one you couldn’t hide.

‘Save it for me okay? I'll get it tomorrow.’

The part that you are avoiding telling them, is how Billy treated you afterwards. You didn’t expect him to let you stay the night at his apartment. You didn’t expect him to cook you breakfast this morning. You didn’t expect him to run a shower for you. You didn’t expect him to tell you about his sister. You didn’t expect him to take you out to lunch. You didn’t expect him to cuddle with you as you both watched Friends together. You didn’t expect him to offer to drive you to your friends’ place.

You avoided telling them that Billy Hargrove, did not simply fuck and ran.

You avoided telling them that you actually have a second date.

You avoided telling them that you didn't plan, not for a single second, to let Billy Hargrove be a one night stand.

Because he had told you, right before entering this house, as you were both in Billy's Camaro, and sharing a goodbye kiss;

"See you tomorrow night? I'll pick you up."

And you couldn't say no.

End of Chapter 9

<- Prev. chapter - Next chapter ->

A/N: I didn't expect to write angst and smut in the same chapter, but it is what it is my dudes. ALSO, WE NOW KNOW NANCY IS CRUSHING ON ROBIN.

Taglist: @enam3l @katethetank @seatnights @oliskitten @bebe07011 @seventhlevelofhell @babez-a-licious @arsenicred @bl4ckt00thgr1n @harrysgothicbitch @emma77645 @fictionalcomforts @hellv1ra @sarcastically-defensive17 @lodeddiperrodrick @corrodedcoffincumslut @peea90 @guyco @sidthedollface2 @elegantkoalapaper @ghost-proofbaby @take-everything-you-can

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holly-fixation · 1 year

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Well, here's my Happy Mother's Day but I don't have any Jenova content I can share so here's some exact opposite content with what I call "'wholesome' Hojo" (or as wholesome as he can get)

please enjoy!

...

It was so hot, so uncomfortably hot, yet his body shivered through cold sweat. His head hurt, foggy and struggling to process anything around him. He kept his eyes closed with a groan, only occasionally opening them to the world beyond his spot. He was sitting on something warm, but the warmth was cooler than his own body. It felt nice when he wasn't reeling.

It was his first fever. He didn't understand what was happening but he felt absolutely terrible. His perfectly kept silver hair had fallen to a bird’s nest of knots and frizz. His body subconsciously searched for relief, slowly turning and arching and stretching to find the cure he needed.

It was two days after Sephiroth's extended mako treatment began. He had no idea how much longer they trapped him in the glass tube. He only knew after a certain point he couldn’t breathe, and he vaguely remembered hearing something about a miscalculated value before they suddenly drained the lifeblood of the planet and he collapsed on the floor of the tank.

He was so weak, so tired, but his body was plagued with restlessness while his mind desperately ached for rest. He tried not to show it, tried to be strong and continue his training, trying to make Hojo proud. But he couldn’t think. His body delayed his commands, and his ideas were clouded and dangerous. He lost to the first machine that morning, and he had no idea why the scientist turned it off when his sight quickly went dark and he suddenly awoke on the ground. He didn’t even remember falling.

He missed Professor Gast. He missed him so much, especially on days like these. He didn’t want to be alone in his room until the ailment left him. He wanted to feel safe, but all he had left was Hojo.

“Ah ah,” He heard Hojo’s voice above him as he stared at the monitor, but it felt different. There was no bite, no snippiness. It was just a noise to get his attention, and it worked because his head of silver hair subconsciously turned a little closer to the source. “Against me.”

His delirious fever ailed mind didn’t understand the command. It didn’t make sense. He barely knew where the voice came from, his sight filled with cloudy substitutions of reality. The glow of the screen held his limited attention. He didn’t want to move, but he knew he had to. He tried to look toward the white above him instead of the black hair before it.

Two snaps hurt his ears, but it pulled his eyes to the black blob.

“Lean, Sephiroth.” When the scientist shifted his body, his weakness didn't allow him any freedom. He found the side of his body leaning against the white and his head used the folded fabric as a pillow. There was an arm around him. “Open your mouth.”

He did understand that command and opened his mouth like a baby bird, a small gap for whatever was coming. He saw and felt the warm spoon enter between his lips, but the contents made him wince and cringe. It was wrong and artificial and made him want to spit it out, bitter and tangy and nasty. He couldn’t hide his reaction. He had no strength to spare. He only used the last of it to swallow the medicine as fast as he could.

“Come now, it’s not that bad.” Even that snide comment was softer than normal. He wanted to think about it more, to understand why, but he was so tired, slowly and hesitantly nuzzling against the chest of the scientist while he continued his work without another word.

He wasn’t punished for reaching out for touch this time. It was the first and only time in his memory that Hojo made him feel safe. …maybe even feel care if he looked hard enough.

Thanks for reading! This is a sneak peak of one of my current multichapter fics, but this can totally be read on it's own. Happy Mother's Day!

#ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii #hojo #ff7 hojo #sephiroth #short sneak peak that's realistically a one shot #sneak peak but you wouldn't know it #screw it im posting this early lol

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folliesandfolderols · 7 months

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Writing prompts day 37

From this prompt list. If you've read this far, I'm not sure you need any explanation, but the short version is I hadn't written any fiction since 2019, I set a goal to write at least 150 words/day in 2024, and this list was my way to restart. Also I abruptly decided on day 2 I would write an entire Tim/Damian story connecting all the prompts, because I am Good at Judging My Limits. /sarcasm Anyway, I finished the rough draft a while ago and am now unlocking the old entries as I edit.

Read from the beginning here, or on ao3 here

Days 35-36 here

***

135. "I'll be honest; I get off to the thought of you."

***

The spaceship's sleep/wake cycle had been reset at some point while Tim was traveling, probably an automatic function of being planetside, and was completely opposite to Gotham. Tim discovered this fact as soon as sunset began to color the sky the distinct mixture of furious greens, reds, and oranges unique to his hometown. His body informed him that it was ready for a decent day's work—he'd actually caught up on sleep while the autopilot was in charge, and now he regretted it.

Jason arrived first, and Tim refused to examine the wave of relief that swamped him at the realization that he wouldn't have to be alone with Damian.

"Hey, Jason," he greeted as he swung open the door.

"What's up, Timber." Jason unlaced his boots and took them off before stepping past the foyer, unshakeable habit left over from his time in the League. "How was space?"

"You know. The usual. Food I couldn't eat, languages I couldn't speak, idiots who needed rescuing."

"That's not a very nice way to talk about Rayner," Jason said in mock reproval, heading for the couch.

Tim snorted. "He was actually really helpful this time. It's not his fault—" A knock interrupted, and he swallowed the rest of the words as something lurched in his gut.

"Whoa. You still spacesick or something?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow. "We can reschedule. I'd rather come back later than watch you puke in a trashcan."

Tim forced a smile and headed to the door. "Nah, everything feels like it weighs fifty pounds more than normal and I'm going to be awake for the next 24 hours trying to get back on Gotham time but I'm fine."

He opened the door and nearly choked on his tongue at the sight of Damian in the flesh. Time away had mitigated his recollection so he had sort of mentally combined annoying preteen Damian with his more recent memories. That had . . . probably been an error in judgment, he was realizing, as Damian walked past him, cologne wafting over Tim like a caress, and sat in the most uncomfortable chair like he was making a point.

"Let's make this fast, Todd. I don't wish to spend any more time here than is necessary." Damian's voice was deeper than Tim had remembered. He rested one foot on the opposite knee and leaned back as if he were totally relaxed, but the set of his shoulders told a different tale.

Tim barely remembered to shut the door as Jason chastised Damian for keeping his shoes on—"who raised you, I know Ra’s wouldn't have let you fuck up his floors like this"—and drifted to sit on the couch next to Jason.

Damian raised an eyebrow at Jason's tirade but made no response, and Jason apparently gave it up as a bad job because he opened his laptop without further comment. "So here's what these assholes are up to," he began, rotating the computer so they could see the pictures on the screen.

By the time he was done showing the evidence he'd gathered, Tim had forgotten about anything but the sheer rage throbbing in his temples. "Some of the kids are practically babies. Do their parents know what happened to them? Are they part of it or would it be safe to return the kids home?"

"That's what I need your help to figure out," Jason replied. "I can't find their transfer points, take out their operation heads, root out the lieutenants, and check into the home lives of these kids without you. Hell, I'm not even sure where they're coming from exactly. I didn't take the pictures of the kids, that was one of my contacts in Tulsa, and by the time he got backup to show the kids had been moved on. He did say they weren't speaking Spanish or Portuguese, though, so even though they're coming up through the southern border they're from a place that has a different language. He just didn't recognize it."

Damian hadn't moved during the entire discussion, and anyone who didn't know him would have assumed he was unaffected by its contents, but Tim noticed how his knuckles had gone white where they gripped the arms of his chair. "I will take the job of finding their transfer points. Our previous lack of thoroughness will be remedied."

They hammered out the rest of the details without much more discussion, and then Jason stood. "I've got patrol tonight so I'm gonna head to the Cave. See you, Timmers. Damian, you heading back?"

Damian opened his mouth to answer, but sudden impulse had Tim interrupting, "I've got something for Bruce, Damian, if you can wait for a second."

Damian's gaze flew to his face in obvious surprise, an emotion which Tim completely shared. Why did he always just babble shit out when he was around Damian? This had never been a problem before they fucked, so what was the connection between his dick and his inability to just shut his mouth?

Jason, oblivious, said, "Bye, then," and slammed the door behind him.

Tim spun on his heel and headed for his bedroom, calling over his shoulder, "Be right back. I ran into this Tamaranean who said she knew Bruce while I was on one of the places I made planet-fall, and she wanted me to give him this bottle of liquor I didn't recognize, but Kyle said it was okay and almost definitely not poisonous so I've got it in my bag."

He half-expected Damian to be gone by the time he returned, but instead he was just standing next to the door, looking bored. Tim was so determined to prove to himself that this entire interaction was normal that by the time he stopped in front of Damian, he realized he'd gotten too close. Damian's cologne once again floated over to him and wrapped around his throat like a leash, yanking him still closer.

"Here." He shoved the wrapped bottle into Damian's unresistant hands. "I'll be over at the Cave tomorrow. See you."

He would have made a run for it and let Damian show himself out, but Damian's hand shot out and grabbed his elbow. Tim froze and slowly looked up, making eye contact with some nervousness. That ache in his chest was back, along with the painful cramping in his stomach. Maybe he really was spacesick.

"What's up?" he managed, when no words from Damian seemed forthcoming.

Damian tilted his head, a gleam in his eyes that looked like green ice. "Why are you behaving in this fashion? Have you suffered brain damage in your absence? Oxygen deprivation, perhaps?"

Stung, Tim tried to wrench his elbow out of Damian's grip, but Damian didn't release him. He could have exerted more finesse and broken free with ease, but it wasn't worth the effort. "I didn't know that having a normal conversation was a sign of mental incapacitation. You can go now."

Damian stepped even closer. The heat from his body radiated into Tim's front. "I'm not leaving until you explain your erratic actions. Before you left you had barely said two words to me in months unless I forced the issue. I was actually there at Colu’s demise and you still didn't bother telling me where you were going. And now you're blabbering like someone poured truth serum into your water bottle."

The words hurt, but not as much as the tiny downward twist of Damian's mouth that was a greater sign of distress than he usually allowed himself. Without his conscious approval, Tim's free hand drifted up to cover Damian's where it held his arm. "I hadn’t said two words to you in months?" He had assumed their relationship would naturally return to its previous distant cordiality once Damian no longer required his services, but he hadn't intended to freeze Damian out. He'd let the pendulum of his behavior swing way too far if that were the case.

Damian didn't answer for a long moment, still examining Tim's face like he was trying to read a text in a language he barely spoke. "No. But I supposed that was to be expected, given my childishness. What I don't understand is why you've changed the status quo now."

"You weren't—you weren't childish," Tim said, forcing the words past a lump in his throat. Damn, his body was just falling apart. He needed to never go to space again. "I only—I thought we were done? You asked me for a favor and I delivered and so after that I figured the transaction was finished. We both had a lot on our plates and I guess I thought you were going to go broaden your horizons, work your way down your team’s roster or whatever. They're a lot more age-appropriate than me, anyway."

Damian rolled his eyes and dropped his elbow, though he didn't move away. "I would honestly wonder if you know me at all, if that's what you truly thought I wanted or needed. You don't, though. You should simply admit you weren't attracted to me and took pity on a virgin who begged for help. The truth is preferable to pretending the handful of years between us is an insurmountable gap."

Tim furrowed his brows in confusion. "It's not the truth, though."

Damian scoffed and turned away toward the door. "I've heard enough. Please return to not speaking to me if all you'll do is spout nonsense."

"No, wait!" Tim lunged for him, but Damian caught him by the shoulder and spun him to face him again, slamming up against the door with force that made his shoulder blades sing with pain.

"That is enough," he growled, but his eyes had begun to glitter and his nose was red and it hurt, it hurt to look at him feeling this way. Tim needed a ten-step plan and some advice from his friends but it felt like all he had was ten seconds and his gut, which was churning worse than ever.

"I really am attracted to you," he blurted. Damian straightened, eyes narrowed in guarded skepticism, his hand slipping off Tim's shoulder. "You want the truth? I'll be honest; I get off to the thought of you."

Damian stood immobile for a long second, and Tim stepped aside so he could finally walk out, face burning with embarrassment.

Instead of leaving, though, Damian leaned down and kissed his mouth.

days thirty-eight and thirty-nine here

#damitim #tim and damian and 150 prompts #like i know what you want #folliefic

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quinloki · 1 year

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i saw someone mention this a few months ago and cannot stop thinking abt it but um corruption with franky maybee and for the other two: gentle femdom and clothed partner/naked male (idk how this would work i guess a dress would make this easier but whatever u feel like writing!!) thank u for taking these and also having anon on im so shy bro but i love your writing and characterization!!!

Whew, okay, I'm going to do the best I can with this, which is admittedly going to be a bit of a let down so I apologize.

I have been looking at this ask for almost a week and I cannot seem to sort out how to head canon this. Don't get me wrong - Franky has like a very strong vibe of being just smooth AF when it comes to sexy times.

This is a guy who has good energy in bed, matches his partner well, isn't concerned or limited by gender or anything. He's there for a good time, and hey, maybe even a long time, but I think he tries to keep things casual upfront.

He has *swag* - 100%. He is so self-assured and confident it's almost dangerous arrogance, but it's tempered by a long life of shit going sideways, so he's very much a Super Safe (kinky) Partner.

All that said, my brain absolutely cannot seem to wrap around him in a way that works for answering your ask. I have blue screened dozens of times trying to find words for it.

So I'm going to go with some knee-jerk reactions and at least try.

Corruption kink - rather not - Franky's willing to try his level best, but this isn't really something he vibes with. He's a cool cat (daddy-o) and he's not here to collect v-cards or twist someone into his darkness - not that there's really any there. He tries to give off that hard-ass vibe, but he's a grease monkey and while he's experienced, he's not trying to pressure anyone into anything.

However, if you're into the kink and liable to go wander off and find someone less Super than Franky to feed your craving, he'll give it a try. He'd rather be a little uncomfortable himself than see someone get into something bad when he could've helped them avoid it. (which is the part of him that makes it hard for him to do the kink in the first place XD )

Gentle Femdom - FUCK Yes - Top, bottom, dom, sub, I think Franky's up for all of it. Well-kept secret - his service game is almost better than Sanji's, and Queen if you want to step on him, he's got a alloy chassis and he's happy to oblige. He certainly gives off more top/dom vibes as a general rule, and I think he leans more that way, but he's 60/40 a switch in all aspects.

Clothed Partner/Naked Male - Yes - Let's be fair. Franky's natural habitat is barely clothed in the first place. Don't think this setup will make him more compliant, he's more likely to be fired up because he's already out in the open. (For some reason I feel like he has a telescoping dick, prehensile and everything. ( "perfectly shaped for SUPER pleasure!" ).)

AHEM - anyway, he'd be into it - and he'd even let his partner keep their clothes on if that's what they wanted. Only gotta move a couple things off to the side to go at it, nothing has to come completely off >.>

... and now I'm going to be thinking about telescoping, prehensile, vibrating metal Franky dick.

Kinky One Piece Head Canons

#kinky one piece head canon #x reader #cyborg franky #franky x reader

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argentumcor · 10 months

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Speculating on the Unmade Cyberpunk 2077 Expansions

I lack hope for the other two planned expansions for Cyberpunk getting made, so I find myself pondering what might have been.

I think one thing that would have bounded the expansions is that they would have been set in Night City. Night City is a character unto itself in the game and the source material, which doesn't go outside the city much. A lot of work was put into the city, including places where there are no quests.

Also, the plot needs to at least seem to be offering V a solution to her dying problem. That's the motive for V doing all the major plot points in the game, while the rest is either helping Johnny save his soul, being able to pay rent, doing favors for friends, or V being mortally curious (many such cases).

That's a useful limit when pondering these never-to-be-made expansions, as is keeping in mind the themes, plot hooks, and existing "gaps" in the game map.

So:

The Arasaka Supercarrier & Arasaka internal politics

Del Coronado Bay is, effectively, a giant hole in the map that isn't used for anything. Existing aircraft carrier are essentially floating cities, so supercarrier Kujira- already named, discussed, and technically existing on the map- could be a "district" the size of Dogtown, easily. Saburo and Hanako traveled across the Pacific on this floating fortress, so it definitely isn't just all practical military asceticism. You'll have those military areas, as well as a hospital, luxury areas, labs, probably even simulated outdoor areas, and much more. The travel to and from the ship could play the role of hidden loading screen like the transition gates to and from Dogtown.

(Look at that concept art. That is some killer concept art.)

We get hints of Arasaka's internal turmoil in shards and in our interactions with Takemura and Hanako. It's the corp's internal turmoil that sets off the whole plot, really. We also know that Arasaka, and many other corps, tend to the cultish, especially in Japan, which is Kujira's home station. So post-Saburo strife to the point of shooting on Kujira is quite possible, with these conflicts serving the purpose of the gangs on land. There's also plenty of room for interpersonal drama- uncertainty about what is going on for employees far from home, the possibility that there are people who essentially live aboard the ship with their families considering the scale of the thing with their own social dynamics, Arasaka corporate backstabbing and secrets.

How would this all pull V onboard? Enter one Michiko Arasaka, granddaughter of Saburo, and her husband Marc Sanderson, one or both of whom get V onto the ship. "Oh not another damsel in distress!" First, couple in distress- more Casablanca, less Super Mario. Second, it's not about saving their lives, but choosing whether or not they come under Yorinobu's control or live free. This would not be black and white, for V, Johnny, or the player, as Yorinobu's motives are much more complicated than just corpo greed. The game ends with a non-solution for V where the pair get free of Arasaka or a solution tendered by Yorinobu, who in this expansion we'd get to learn more about. What this would look like, the mechanics of it, I don't know.

Oh, and we'd also figure out just what Netwatch wanted with the biochip and why Yorinobu insisted the engram on said biochip be Johnny.

Were I inclined to being hopeful, I'd say the convo you can have with Lizzy Wizzy after her Dogtown performance was hint at this one happening. She mentions that V could use spending some time at sea.

The Rest of North Oak & Follow-up to Black Dog

The other big map gap is the sealed off section of North Oak. There's a fully modeled, animated, and uninhabited country club up there, but it's locked off. It's a pretty big area, though I'm not sure how big. I wouldn't mind North Oak getting more filled in overall. I feel the bare minimum was done to it- time is my bet- and it should be more built-up based on in-game chatter. Not dense, but not so sparse.

All this would revolve around Angel (a fragment of Alt?) and the secret she'd keeping that is Johnny's frozen body. North Oak seems like a place she would be for some reason. A lot more glitz and glamor, given the locale. Exploring Alt, who is/was probably not a particularly good person (she made Soulkiller and while Johnny was a bastard, she was just as bad in that scene). This idea is a lot less defined and mostly exists because I swear Black Dog was written entirely to give Cyberpunk 2077 the option for a happy ending, then references were put into the game.

Ending Possibilties

So far, Johnny and V's story is missing only a few possible endings. One ending that isn't there, and I've seen only one fic exploring this, is stabilizing V's brain so how it is in the game is how it is, but with V not dying. I don't think either party views it as ideal, but also it means both live. Another is, of course, the widely explored idea where Johnny gets his own body back. Now, this could kill V, or leave V still dying, or fix everything. Phantom Liberty gave us 'V lives and is not left dying but Johnny is dead' and I would think every expansion would include some new version of an ending addressing the game's core conflict because it gives it stakes.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cybepunk2077

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lovecolibri · 1 year

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I hated 5a but it was saved by ep 6 and 8, then we got 5b and it was really good, then kr got scared of buddie and decided that for all 6a they shouldnt have scenes together anymore. I appreciate the effort of blog talking about the narrative but even without the romantically shipping them we went from 2 best friends to 2 people that just work together

I'm gonna be honest and say I didn't care for 5b for the most part either because the cheating, tay kay nonsense, and L of it all forcing Eddie and Madney/Chim's stuff into the background ruined a lot of it for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ (RIP to everyone who decided to follow me recently for Buddie stuff and missed the "salt gremlin" in my "about" section but this is a hate space for characters I Do Not Enjoy and that includes tay kay and L. Feel free to unfollow, or block the anti tags accordingly. I don't fuck with things that are a waste of time and take time, arcs, and storylines away from main characters, characters I actually want to see, and things that actually push the main character's stories along.)

When even the GA and people who very much state they do NOT ship Buddie are baffled at the choice to sideline their relationship entirely and are asking what the show is doing you know it's an issue. However, I will disagree and say that KR didn't get "scared" of Buddie suddenly after season 5, because she's never particularly liked or cared about Eddie as a character to begin with. We all saw 4x14 and how she sidelined the firefam from Eddie's shooting (they weren't even allowed at his welcome home party! You're telling me tay kay was in Eddie's Covid bubble and cleared to be unmasked around his kid but the firefam weren't?! Please), and sidelined Eddie himself from the whole thing, skipping his (and Bobby's) whole recovery and making the whole thing about Buck and forcing BT. In fact, had Tim not insisted on the scene of Buck telling Chris about Eddie being hurt, and The Will scene, we would have gotten barely any Chris OR Eddie even having LINES much less scenes in the whole episode! Girl has NEVER cared for Eddie or for Buddie and it shows. 6a was just her finding another excuse to not have them interact and because nothing was happening AT work, or in anyone's live OUTSIDE of work, there was no reason for them to have scenes. Like, 90% of 6a could have been an email and the big things that did happen with Henren and Athena haven't come up again or affected anything much outside of that one episode. Athena more so than Henren since I *think* Karen almost dying will come back up in the whole "bio-father" storyline, but Athena has had not a single mention of what happened in her big episode, or a talk with her BFF Hen about how it changed her perspective on things, or gave her closure, or anything.

It's just bad arc planning and episode pacing, and it's not exclusive to Buddie. Let's talk about Madney not even getting to go to couples therapy or talk about breaking up, or talk about getting back together, or have any kind of deep, hard-but-ultimately-healing conversation before moving back in together and buying a house. Boston was SUCH a good episode and everything after that has been off screen or a blink and you'll miss it moment. Regardless of any on set/film time limits for JLH, we could still have more Chim focus and make the time they DO have for JLH count for something.

#my sweet nonnie friends #911 #911 spoilers #buddie #madney #anti taylor kelly #anti lucy donato #clearing out my inbox #today in 'asks i got excited about at work but wasn't able to answer right then and then ran out of spoons to do when i got home'#this might be the last one today though because i have other plans #and i've probably been salty enough for one day

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the-demi-jedi · 2 years

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Okay, so after a little bit of thinking, I've put together a little Star Wars... theory? Observation? that I'd like to share.

Fear is Darth Vader's biggest strength, but also his biggest weakness.

So we all know this crazy overpowered, badass killing machine that is Darth Vader. Probably the most terrifying display of Vader's ruthlessness on-screen is the infamous Rogue One hallway scene (which I'm personally not a very big fan of, but I can't deny it's a good display of Vader's brutality).

Then there is this incredibly cheesy line from the comic:

In these instances, Vader moves with brutal efficiency and slices through his enemies effortlessly, as if they were just some insignificant vermin, like he wasn't affected by the suit at all. Because in cases like this, Vader feeds on the fear of his enemies. The Sith use negative emotions to gain power and while pre-suit Vader gained power through anger and hatred, post-suit Vader seems to grow more powerful when surrounded by fear.

This is why Vader works so hard to spread his infamy. Why he wants his mere presence to strike fear into everyone nearby, why he rules with an iron fist and punishes every little misstep with death. He wants to be surrounded by fear at all times, because that's when he is the most powerful.

And now, the opposite.

Post-suit Vader's first major battle was against Kirak Infil'a, an Order 66 survivor (Vader needed his Kyber crystal to "bleed" it and use it for his lightsaber). He nearly dies during the fight.

Then, Vader stood against the most badass granny Jocasta Nu who put up a hell of a fight.

And here, he's getting his ass handed to him by Padmé's handmaidens.

Even here, in Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker, a barely trained Force user, can fight Vader on equal grounds.

Sure, in all these cases, he eventually wins the fight, but it's not as effortless and crushing victory, even when it's against enemies he should have defeated with ease. What do they have in common? These enemies don't fear him. Or they do, but their courage and determination is stronger than their fear. When there is no fear he can feed on, his power diminishes and all the limitations and pain connected to the suit become more prominent.

That brings us to the most recent episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Vader could have walked through the fire to finish Obi-Wan off, the suit would probably protect him. He could use the Force to pull him. But he doesn't. Then I realized the possible reason: he is petrified by fear - the fear of fire. It's only logical that the end of the Mustafar duel and its aftermath gave him a debilitating phobia. And when Vader himself is afraid, he's close to powerless. He is so used to feeding on fear around him he has no idea how to fight the fear within him. And this is his biggest weakness (and also the possible answer to the question why does his power level seem to fluctuate throughout the saga).

Okay, this has been my rant, maybe I don't make sense, do anything you want with this information 😁

#star wars #obi-wan kenobi #darth vader #kenobi show #obi-wan show #long post

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helloalycia · 3 years

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my happy ending [one] // kara danvers

summary: your crush from work decides to make a move, but she keeps putting off telling you something that you don't realise is actually really important

warning/s: none

author's note: i'm still working on a bunch of stuff but here's some old stuff to tide you over as i do. this is part one to a two-parter! enjoy :)

part two | masterlist

I sketched out some designs at my desk, ideas for some new Instagram and Twitter marketing CatCo we were planning to do. I was in charge of social media marketing at CatCo Worldwide, so things like this were routine at work. What wasn't routine was the cute blonde, Kara, AKA Cat Grant's assistant, approaching my desk with a chirpy smile on her lips.

"Hey, Y/N," she greeted, before setting down a coffee cup in front of me.

I smiled automatically, Kara's presence instantly affecting my mood in a positive way. I glanced at the cup and quirked an eyebrow.

"Hey, Kara. Is this for me?"

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose adorably. "I was picking up Miss Grant's order and I remembered you said you loved the chocolate orange hot chocolates Noonan's do. So, I got you one."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Oh, wow, er, thank you. You didn't have to do that."

She shrugged, and I was sure she looked as flustered as I felt. "No biggie."

I took a sip of the hot chocolate and smiled at how good it was, but mostly because of who got it me.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked, walking around my desk and sitting at the edge. She glanced at my sketches and added, "Is that the new fashion post for our social media accounts? They look amazing!"

"Just some sketches, but eventually they will be," I said, before nodding. "And thanks. I just need the photos so I know what I'm working with. Gotta ask the new guy, James... you met him yet?"

Kara nodded. "Yeah, I just bumped into him earlier."

"Can you believe he knows Superman?" I asked with disbelief. "How awesome is that?"

She smiled with amusement. "Extremely awesome."

"Keira!"

Kara lost her smile when Miss Grant called for her, before looking to me apologetically. "I should–"

"It's cool," I said, nodding for her to leave before Miss Grant tracked her down. "Thanks again for the drink."

Kara flashed me a smile. "Anytime. See you later."

I watched her walk away, waving as she glanced over her shoulder. I found myself biting my lip to contain my own smile, feeling butterflies in my stomach.

Kara Danvers, assistant to Cat Grant.

Ever since she began working here, I found myself crushing on the blonde and her cute mannerisms. We were friends, occasionally hanging out outside of work and doing things together. But that's all it was, sadly. I knew she was friends with Winn – best friends, I think – and I also knew that the tech guy was practically in love with her. I didn't know him as well as I knew her, but I knew enough to not want to get in between the two of them. So, Kara Danvers remained a silly little crush.

I got back to my sketches, managing to draft up some mock-ups on Photoshop before my day ended. I was more tired than I thought that evening, ending up falling asleep earlier than usual. Which meant that I missed the biggest news in National City yet – a mystery woman saving a plane from crashing, possibly a new superhero.

I woke up the next morning to a million and one calls and texts from colleagues at CatCo, all expecting me to get on social media to post about this mystery woman. By the time I got to work that morning, I was caught up with everything and in awe at this new superhero we had. It was pretty darn awesome!

The amazement I felt however was short lived, as Cat was all over me when I got to the office, claiming I should have been on top of our social media coverage as soon as it happened. Apparently me falling asleep wasn't a valid enough point to miss it, so I was put to work instantly, working with the photography and marketing department to find some sort of coverage on this mystery hero.

As I was lining up some posts with the limited images available of this hero, I felt a presence stop by my desk and saw it was Kara.

"Morning," she greeted, before glancing at my computer. "Oh, so you heard?"

I chuckled. "Kind of hard not to. It's everywhere." I nodded to the many TVs around the office that were playing reruns of the news coverage from last night.

"Pretty cool, right?" she asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Very, but it also means I now have a lot of work to do, especially because I fell asleep when all of this went down," I said, jokingly. "Cat has been all over me about this all morning."

Kara laughed and it was literally the best thing I'd heard all day.

"So, I was actually hoping I could tell you something," she said, an excited smile on her face as she met my eyes.

I felt a little flustered under her gaze and found myself distracting myself with my computer screen momentarily.

"I actually have a lot of things to do right now,” I said regretfully. “Maybe later?”

Her smile faded as she nodded. "Right, no, yeah, that's totally fine. Sorry."

"No, no, don't apologise," I said instantly, feeling a little bad. "I just– if I don't get this done, Cat will kill me."

"I got it, you do this, it's cool," she said reassuringly, offering me a small smile.

"Sorry," I tried, a little sad that there was nothing I could do. I really needed to get this done, despite wanting to spend some more time with Kara.

"It's fine, good luck," she said, giving me a grin and thumbs up before leaving.

I sighed, before getting back to work. Unfortunately, it was a few hours before I could get away from my desk, and I managed to track down Kara at her own desk, remembering she wanted to tell me something.

"Hey," I said, earning her attention.

She looked up from her notebook, smiling when she saw me. "Hey, you manage to get that content done?"

"Just about," I said, before offering a small smile. "Sorry again for blowing you off."

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine, honestly."

"I'm free now though," I said optimistically. "Maybe we could grab an early lunch? You can talk to me then?"

Kara pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she nodded slowly. "That sounds nice actually, yeah."

I felt a little relieved when she agreed. "Great. Well, I'll let you get your things and meet you by the elevator?"

She pursed her lips, suppressing a smile. "You got it."

We ended up getting lunch, as agreed, and it was nice to make it up to her. Though, I never really noticed that she never ended up telling me whatever it was that she wanted to tell me. I was so distracted by how smoothly our lunch was going that I forgot to ask her about it. Maybe if I'd asked, she might have told me the truth. Or she might have made something up and lied. I guess I would never know.

–

Did somebody say tiny umbrella drinks? #gottalovethetinyumbrellas #CatCoFoundation [image here]

I sent yet another tweet and picture out from CatCo's Twitter account, watching as it instantly got responses from everyone. I was at an event that Cat was throwing for all CatCo employees plus special guests. It was an event to raise money for Cat's foundation – a charity for children's hospitals in National City. My job was to live-tweet the heck out of the event, hoping to boost donations online.

It was a formal event, so I was comfortably dressed in some high-waisted pants and a silk blouse, it being my best attempt at 'formal' clothes.

The event wasn't too bad. There was free food and drinks, plus I got to hang out with some of my friends from work whilst doing the bare minimum. I just wasn't an evening person, I guess.

"Hey, stranger," a voice startled me, and I turned around, surprised to see Kara Danvers stood there.

I hadn't seen much of Kara in the past few months, despite working with her. She always seemed to be caught up with Winn, and she'd gotten quite close with the not-so-new guy, James Olsen. I wasn't stalking her or anything, but I began to notice when I would try to make plans with her like we used to – little things like grabbing coffee or going to watch a film after work – and she would decline or have plans already. Then I'd see her constantly being surrounded by Winn and James, so I figured she'd just made new friends.

"Kara," I breathed out, smiling as I took in her appearance. "Hey."

I hadn't seen her at all this evening and I was sure she just showed up because I definitely would have noticed how good she looked in that fitted red dress of hers.

"You look really nice," she said, looking me up and down before meeting my eyes.

"Thanks," I said, hoping my cheeks didn't look as warm as they felt. "So do you. You liking the event?"

Kara looked around, nodding. "It's beautiful."

"You did a good job," I said, giving her a knowing smile. "I know you planned it."

"This was all Cat, I just–"

"Kara, everybody knows you plan the events around here," I told her with a chuckle. "It's okay."

She smiled to herself, looking down. "Right." It went quiet for a moment before she looked up and said, "Do you want to dance?"

I was a little taken aback by her confidence, but nonetheless, I found myself nodding. She smiled as she held out her hand. I took it, feeling goosebumps from how soft her hands were.

She led me to the dance-floor, stopping and resting a hand on my waist, the other holding my hand. I nervously rested an arm on her shoulder as I focused on swaying to the music playing rather than stepping on her toes.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in a while," she said after a moment. I looked up and saw her blue eyes staring right through me.

"Well, we've both been busy," I attempted to give a reason.

She shook her head, smiling apologetically. "No, it's not that... it's my fault. I've been hanging out with James and Winn so much lately that I've been neglecting you."

I laughed a little awkwardly. "Kara, it's okay. You don't need to feel bad for having other friends. I mean, you don't have any obligations to me. They're your best friends. Of course you're gonna hang out with them."

She pursed her lips and I admittedly felt nervous as she stared at me, her expression unreadable. She was a little taller than me which didn't help with me trying to keep my emotions in check. She was extremely close to me as we swayed to the music and I could just about focus on it as she continued to stare at me.

"What if I want to have obligations to you?" she asked, and I almost thought she was joking until I realised that she wasn't.

I wanted to understand what she meant, but I didn't get to ask because she leaned forward and closed the gap between us with her lips. I was surprised at her boldness, pinning Kara for the shy type. Nonetheless, I returned the kiss, melting into her embrace and warmth.

We pulled apart soon enough, myself a little flustered from the kiss. My lips were still tingling as she met my eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"I hope that was okay," she muttered.

I nodded slowly, still surprised. "Yeah, it was."

My stomach was doing somersaults as I mirrored her smile; the gala was merely a blur in the background as I realised Kara Danvers had just kissed me. I definitely wouldn't have thought she felt something for me other than friendship.

"I'm assuming you want this to go somewhere," I said, a little stupidly.

She laughed melodiously as she nodded, intertwining her fingers in mine. "That's the plan, yes. But actually, er..."

"Second thoughts already?" I joked, though inside I was genuinely believing she might be second-guessing her decision, judging from her sudden change of facial expression.

"No, no," she said, shaking her head. "It's just, I feel like we should talk first. I have to tell you something. Before this goes any further."

She sounded quite affected by whatever it was, so I nodded, losing my smile for a moment.

"Of course, you can tell me whatever you need to," I reassured her, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Do you want to talk now or after?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but tilted her head to the side as she grew distracted. I waited patiently, expecting her to snap back into reality, but she seemed caught up with something else.

"Kara? You okay?" I asked, growing a little concerned.

"What? Yeah, sorry," she said, shaking her head before meeting my eyes with apologetic ones. "I'm sorry, I have to go for a minute. I just realised I have to check on the desserts for the party."

"Oh, okay." I nodded, giving her a small smile. "You can tell me whatever it is afterwards then?"

She smiled, nodding. "Yeah. I'll be back after, I swear."

I believed her and watched as she let go of my hand, already in a rush to leave. I wondered what was so time-sensitive about desserts, but decided not to question it as I realised the very obvious and surprising fact that Kara liked me.

As she turned to leave, she quickly turned back to me and moved forward, pressing a haste kiss to my cheek. My face heated up as she flashed me a beautiful smile, before moving to leave.

Just danced with the most beautiful girl in the room #CatCoFoundation

I looked up and saw Kara by the door, about to leave, but she stopped when her phone vibrated. After glancing at the screen, she paused and a wide smile graced her lips. Her eyes lifted and she gave me a knowing look before disappearing. I found myself smiling like an idiot the rest of the night.

I guess I should have realised, once again, that Kara never ended up telling me whatever it was that she wanted to tell me. I was so caught up in the fact that she returned my feelings that I never remembered to ask her what it was that she wanted to say. Maybe if I'd remembered, things would have ended up a little differently.

–

Kara and I went on some dates, our relationship blossoming naturally. It was the best thing to happen to me at the time – finding someone who I thought truly understood me, and vice versa. We had inside jokes, an 'our song', a favourite restaurant we frequented; we were happy and it was amazing. I was really falling for her. I thought she was perfect. Nothing could change that, I thought. She was everything I wanted.

"What are you thinking about in that pretty little head of yours?" Kara asked, tilting her head to look at me.

It was moments like this when I was in awe of her beauty, inside and out. She was comfortable, with her hair tied in a loose ponytail and her face makeup-free. Her glasses were balanced on her nose as she stared at me with an easygoing smile and sparkling eyes. I felt a sudden overwhelming flood of love for her as she waited for me to reply.

"I'm in love with you," I blurted out uncontrollably.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, mouth agape as she realised what I said.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "That was random. And weird. Too soon, right? I freaked you out. I'm sorry."

Kara blinked several times, straightening up as she shook her head. "No, it's not, it's..." I watched her with anticipation, as she found her words. "It's fine. It's... I feel the same way."

It was my turn to be surprised now. I raised my eyebrows, a smile forming on my lips. "You do?"

Kara pursed her lips, eyes flickering up to meet mine. "Yeah."

I breathed out. "I'm really happy to hear that, especially because I thought I freaked you out, but like, I feel like something is bothering you, Kara."

Resting a hand on hers, I squeezed it gently. She offered me a small, troubled smile and I wondered what was occupying her thoughts.

"I trust you," she said gently. "I do. I love you. And I... I want you to know that I think what we have is amazing. I've never been happier."

"This sounds like a breakup," I joked, chuckling nervously. She wouldn't break up with me right after saying 'I love you', right?

"No, no, it's not!" she reassured immediately, taking any doubt from my mind. She leaned forward and cupped my cheek gently. "I'm not breaking up with you, silly."

"Good to know," I said playfully, resting my hand on hers and moving it to my lips, kissing it softly. "What is it though? What's on your mind? You can tell me anything you know."

She nodded. "I know... I can. I will. Now."

I stayed quiet, watching as she had some inner conflict going on. What was bothering her so much?

"I want to say that I–"

But she was cut off by her phone ringing. She rolled her eyes and I offered her an approving smile as she reached to answer it.

"Alex, hey, what's up?"

I sat back, keeping ahold of Kara's hand as she listened to Alex on the phone.

"Are you sure?" Kara said, concern in her voice.

I wondered what was going on, as the blonde was scrunching her brows together with worry. Her hand slipped from mine as she stood up, pacing.

"Okay, I'll be there now," she finished, before hanging up.

"Hey, that sounded serious, is everything okay?" I asked, standing up, too.

Kara nodded, already in the process of grabbing her things. "Yeah, sorry, it's just some family stuff with Alex. I should get going and help her out." She stopped moving and turned to face me, a distracted frown on her face. "I'm sorry. I know we were supposed to spend the evening together and I wanted to tell you something, but–"

"It's fine, Kara, you can just tell me another time," I cut her off, moving forward and rubbing her arm gently. "I hope everything is okay with Alex. I'll just see you at work tomorrow, yeah?"

Kara smiled tightly, nodding. "You're too understanding. It's annoyingly admirable."

I chuckled, stepping forward and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. She had a few inches on me, so I had to step on my tip toes to reach, but seeing the little smile appear on her lips when I did made it worth it.

"Don't get stressed about whatever it is you wanna tell me," I added, meeting her eyes. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I love you and I'm really lucky to have you in my life. I don't think anything will ruin that. Just... remember that, okay?"

Kara nodded, her eyes flickering to the floor. "Thank you, Y/N."

"I'll leave you to it," I said, moving away to grab my coat and put on my shoes. "Good luck with whatever is up, and see you tomorrow."

As I was about to leave, her voice called out, "I love you, too."

I smiled widely at her before leaving, feeling lightweight because of all the love that was bubbling around inside of me. Once again, Kara managed to distract me from the fact that she had something big to tell me, as when I followed up the next day, she assured me that she just wanted me to know that she sometimes moved too fast in relationships and she didn't want me to feel like I was being rushed.

I believed her, blinded by what I thought was my happy ending, and that was that.

#kara danvers x you #kara danvers #kara danvers x reader #kara danvers imagine #supergirl #supergirl imagine #supergirl x reader #melissa benoist

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hellowkatey · 3 years

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I refuse to believe the droid that blew up under tech's ass didn't cause more damage

3.9k words ~ depictions of violence ~ ao3 ~ a little whump for your troubles

"They're using live rounds!" Hunter hisses, and Tech's blood runs cold. Live rounds? The Kaminoans have never resorted to training with live rounds within the simulation chamber. Even at a low power, live rounds have 62% chance of causing extensive damage to the room's durasteel construction, as opposed to the 21% chance with stuns. That does not even account for the monetary loss if a soldier were to lose their life or require medical attention. All in all, it's a horribly irresponsible training tactic. Something has changed. But why? Tech does not have an answer for that.

He looks at Hunter and Echo crouched behind the barrier next to him. "Get Wrecker," Hunter commands, the flurry of bright red blaster shots zooming overhead. "We'll cover you."

Tech offers a single nod in confirmation and eyes the distance to his fallen brother. With cover from both Hunter and Echo, and if he approaches from the opposite side of his barrier, he should have a relatively high chance of success. Assuming he can keep his head down, of course.

Tech makes his way to the barrier closer to Wrecker without issue.

"Wrecker, are you alright?" He asks, his anxiety quelling at the sight of his brother crawling toward him. The shot did not seem to fully penetrate his armor, which is good news. Tech runs out to meet him, grabbing Wrecker by the shoulder to help him get out of the line of fire.

Just in time it seems. One of the trigger-happy droids notices their movement and leaves a trail of carbon scoring in their wake.

Tech and Wrecker collapse against a barrier just as Hunter, Echo, and Crosshair fall back from their previous positions. He can see them approximately eight meters away. Too far to hear any orders without Hunter alerting the droids to their potential plan.

Suddenly their barrier is getting pounded by blasters. The training droids have discovered their hiding place and are firing without mercy. Smoke from the live rounds curl from the other side of the barrier, fogging up Tech's goggles and filling the air with the horrendous scent of burnt plastoid.

Or perhaps that is the smell of Wrecker's melted chest plate. Difficult to tell. Tech is quickly inching toward overstimulation from the deafening shots, heavy footsteps, and smell of smoke assaulting his senses..

He peers around the corner of their hiding space to get an idea of how close the droids are when a shot slams against the corner— far too close to comfort. He recoils just in time, but the heat of the shot still warms the skin between his helmet and blacks. There seems to be no clear break as the line of their attackers moves forward. He and Wrecker are stuck unless the others can help.

A whistle cuts through the sounds of battle. Tech and Wrecker look at their sergeant who waits for their attention before going through a serious of hand signals.

Split up. Cover. Draw fire. Distract and manual take down. Reprogram. Tech nods along, recognizing this particular sequence.

"Oh!" Wrecker exclaims, collapsing dramatically from his crouched position. "I hate hand signals."

"Perhaps if you memorized them," Tech offers, though he knows there is no chance in hell that will ever happen.

"Why don't you memorize them?"

"I have." Tech is more surprised that Wrecker assumed he hadn't. "What we did on Felucia."

Wrecker is on his feet in an instant. "Why didn't you just say that?" He throws a thumbs up to Hunter and the others— the only hand signal they can ever trust Wrecker to remember— and crouches his way to the outskirts of the chamber.

Tech watches as Hunter and Crosshair lay down cover fire, splitting up to spread the attention of the droids. And Echo assumes his ARC trooper role of running head-on into the action. As the droids shoot at his quick run, Wrecker runs up from behind, tackling one of the training droids to the ground with a satisfied laugh.

Also in typical ARC trooper fashion, Echo jumps onto the back of the other droid as though it's an angry rancor he's attempting to ride. And the droid bucks as any rancor would-- until Echo slams his scomp link into its neck, deactivating it all together.

Now it's reprogramming time. Tech runs to meet them, catching Wrecker's eager arm as it moves to punch the fallen droid again.

"Reprogramming this thing will be pointless if you crush it."

Wrecker seems disappointed, but he resists the urge to wreck. "You better be right about this."

Tech ignores the doubt and gets to work in the droid's circuit board. He works as quickly as possible, acutely aware that Hunter and Crosshair are undoubtedly being swarmed by this point.

"Hurry up," Wrecker warns. It is a statement more of worry for their brothers than a critique of Tech's programming speed. With a quick glance at his vambrace monitor, he slams the circuit board shut.

"Done. Let him go."

Wrecker and Echo back off just as the other droids launch a new attack at the site of their droid field surgery. They run for cover. Tech, on the other hand, situates himself on the shoulders of his new pet droid.

If Echo is the rancor rider, then he is the rancor tamer in this analogy.

The droid stands at its full height, nearly throwing Tech off on the way up, but he manages to press his thighs against its head to balance his weight. Shots from the other droids are whizzing past him in growing frequency. He is an easy target at this height and visibility. He needs to work quickly.

Taking control of the droid's weapons, he fires the live rounds back at the combatant droids. While their training blasters were useless against the thick durasteel plated training droids— as they were meant to be in a simulation— the live rounds actually do sufficient damage. He breezes past Echo and Wrecker's battle stations. Instructs his droid to punch the other droids that managed to get past his initial rain of fire. And as he weakens their defenses his brothers move in with vibroblades, perfectly placed stun shots, and raw strength.

A little bit of pride swells in his chest. The tides appear to be turning in their favor. If they can keep up this pace, their outcome will be favorable.

With his vantage point, Tech spots a droid sneaking up on Wrecker, who is otherwise occupied by beating another droid into submission.

"Wrecker, look alive," he warns. Wrecker lets out a sound of confusion before whirring around to find his next victim. It only takes an impressive suplex and Echo jabbing the droid in the neck for the danger to be adverted. But a new danger has begun to emerge.

Warning signs start flashing across Tech's vambrace screen. His rewriting job had to be hasty, which means he did not get the chance to secure every single circuit. His rush may prove to be their downfall as the connection flickers in and out. The droid sways beneath him and he fights to remain on its shoulders.

"I can't sustain the connection," he says through grit teeth. But with two more enemies stalking toward him he has no choice but to hope he can hold on through the end. His droid manages a weak strike against one of the attacking bots, and a few point blank shots in the face of the other. The connection suddenly re-establishes with full strength, and he grins with glee.

But his success is only temporary. His ride jolts backward as a droid from the upper tier manages to shoot right though its chest— right into the main circuitboard, Tech realizes with dismay. He can't do anything but watch as the droid gets hit a few more times and explodes beneath him. The surge of the blast sends Tech flying backward with much more force than would have been a problem had he simply fallen off the droid. His body hits the ground back-first, ripping the air from his lungs. And then he bounces. When he hits it again, the back of his head slams into the durasteel floor and his vision swims with black dots. Tech tries to blink through the cloudiness of his vision, barely aware of somebody yelling his name through the ringing in his ears.

Everything suddenly hurts. The back of his legs are hot and the smell of burnt plastoid is even more putrid than earlier. Considering how long the droid had been engaging in active battle, and the numerous shots straight to the power source... the heat of combustion had to have been fairly significant. Perhaps even sufficient enough to melt his armor, he realizes with a deep groan.

"Tech!" his name reaches him this time. A little clearer. Definitely Wrecker. He tries to lift his head but only succeeds in lobbing it to the side. But it's enough to see Wrecker crouched a few meters away. "Hold tight, buddy."

Tech can see the consistent shower of blaster shots still thick in the air. It is a full-on battlefield tucked within the confines of Kamino's training facility.

"I'm..." he starts to say, attempting to assure Wrecker that he's okay, but even the act of raising his arm and head is enough to send a jolt of pain down his back and limbs. His vision blurs again and he suddenly is whipped by exhaustion. His adrenaline has finally dropped off and it is pulling him down with it. Tech collapses back on to the ground, letting out a shaky sigh. "...not going anywhere."

He wants to help. But he runs the numbers in his head even as the aura of a migraine starts to dance before his eyes. With the number of droids and taking into account their individual firepower abilities paired with handicaps that come from limited programming and movement, Tech calculates that they have a 46% chance of success without his help.

They've won on lesser odds.

And when he takes into consideration the alternate scenario of him pushing through his current injuries and attempting to aid them in completing the simulation, their chance of success actually reduces to 41%. He knows his presence would distract the rest of his squad, or introduce a number of uncertain variables he is too tired to take into account at the moment.

Well, the math does not lie, he thinks, and lets his eyes flutter shut.

Wrecker watches Tech's body go limp and he seriously considers running at that last droid and tearing its head clean off with his bare hands. His youngest brother mutters something he can't really hear— whatever it is, his voice is pinched with pain. Not a good sign.

This needs to end now.

As though Crosshair was reading his mind, the sniper appears out of nowhere with his rifle at the ready. (Sometimes Wrecker wonders if he really can read minds. It wouldn't surprise him.)

"Wrecker, knife!" he yells. He has no idea what Cross is gonna do, but he unsheathes his knife and throws it in the air with a backspin. Crosshair shoots and strikes his knife mid-air, sending it blade first straight between the eyes of the last droid.

"Wow," he says in amazement.

There's a moment of quiet after the droid falls. Wrecker stands at his full height, still in awe that Cross managed to actually get that shot! He knows his brother's aim is impressive but wow— sometimes it's just next level.

Wrecker suddenly remembers Tech still lying next to the burnt leftovers of his pet droid. He and Echo rush to his side. Though Tech has pushed himself to a sitting position, Wrecker has enough experience with explosives and getting too close to them to notice how his brother refuses to let the back of his legs touch anything. On top of if, he saw the way his head bounced against the floor. Wrecker's no medic, but he knows a solid hit to the noggin when he sees one. Tech's usually sharp eyes are unfocused. The smears of carbon scoring across the lenses aren't helping, so he tries to wipe it away with his gloves. He only succeeds in making the smearing worse, but what worries him more is that his younger brother didn't react like he usually does when anyone tries to touch his goggles. Usually he jerks away, insists he can fix them himself. But now he's just... staring at nothing. It sends a spike of worry through Wrecker's large body.

As they attempt to pull him to his feet, he glances down at the state of Tech's armor. A shutter runs up his spine.

It's not good. He can't tell if the red that is dripping down Tech's boots and onto the floor is from his melted armor or blood... neither is a good sigh. And as soon as he and Echo get Tech to his feet, he immediately starts swaying to the side. Wrecker catches him under the arms, hearing a low hiss of pain and wondering if he should let him lie back again.

"Tech, are you okay?" Hunter asks as he and Crosshair make it to their position.

Tech's reply is very not-Tech like. A low groan. Not a single word. But he shifts his weight to his feet and gently pulls out of Wrecker's grasp to stand on his own.

"Techy you don't have to--"

"We're being watched," Crosshair interrupts. Wrecker looks up and realizes that Tarkin guy and Lama Su are still watching from the viewing gallery.

A part of him is glad they can't see the death stare on his face for shooting live rounds— live rounds!— at them.

Another part of him wants to give them a piece of his mind.

But as they disappear from sight, it becomes very obvious that Tech was only standing for their benefit. This time, his knees buckle and he falls forward. Hunter and Crosshair both lunge to catch him.

"He's out," Hunter says as they gently lower him to the ground. Now the overhead lights shine down on Tech's back and all of them freeze.

"Shit," Crosshair curses. The explosion melted his armor for sure. But what concerns them all is the mess of raw skin and melted blacks behind his knees and at his ankles. "Where the hell is medical?"

For some reason, when Tech awoke he expected to be staring at the ceiling of a med tent. It is a natural association to make in his newly conscious state. He suffered an injury due to an explosion, which is usually a scenario that is only possible in an active battlefield situation.

Hence, why seeing the sterile white ceiling of the Kamino ceiling sent him into a momentary panic. Did they cart me straight back to Kamino from the battlefield? Am I that injured? Does this mean I am being decommissioned?

He begins to try and sit up, but strong hands press down on his chest. It takes a few rounds of blinking to clear the tears that have welled up in his eyes. Echo and Crosshair stand on either side of his bed. Still in their armor. Both wide-eyed and looking quite exhausted as they attempt to calm him.

"Breathe, Tech," Echo says, demonstrating by drawing in his own large breath and slowly releasing it through his pursed lips. Tech imitates him until the tightness in his chest subsides. And he remembers.

A simulation. We were doing a training exercise. I was sitting atop the shoulders of a droid and... the droid combusted.

Right. Suddenly the numbness in his legs and the dull bite of a waning migraine make sense.

"Did we win at least?" Tech asks, looking between Crosshair and Echo.

"You don't remember?" The sniper asks carefully.

Tech remembers falling. A white hot pain. And then a lot of yelling and a lot of darkness.

"My current memory of the end of the exercise seems to be a bit... murky."

Echo and Crosshair exchange glances.

"We destroyed all the droids," Echo says finally.

"Wrecker was pleased about that part," the sniper mutters.

"So we won then. That's good." Both of them are silent for a long moment. Long enough that Tech replays their conversation up to that point wondering if he said something incorrect. From his point of view, there has been nothing that would offend either of them. So why they are acting so strange is beyond his understanding, unless they are withholding other context from while he was unconscious. "...isn't it?"

Finally Crosshair clears his throat. "None of us would consider you getting blown up a mission success, Tech."

"Well, technically, I didn't blow up, the droid—"

"Technically, nothing," Crosshair snaps at him. Echo glares at the sniper but doesn't exactly try to correct his outburst. "Either way, you got hurt."

Oh. So they are worried about his condition. For the first time since he's woken up, Tech cranes his head to look down at himself. He's in a thin, medical gown. No wonder he was feeling a bit of a draft. His bare legs are completely wrapped in thick bacta strips. That explains the numbness as well.

"How... bad?"

"Not as bad as it looks," Echo admits. "Mostly second-degree burns on your legs with a few small spots of third degree burns. No concussion and no grafts needed. Doc said after this round of bacta they'll rewrap and we can take you back to the barracks. It'll just feel like you have a bad sunburn for a few days."

That's good news at least. He does feel much better. Not in terrible pain like before, though Tech suspects the IV in his arm might have something to do with that.

"You passed out after the simulation," Crosshair says with a haunted stare.

"From the pain, I assume?"

"Also from the adrenaline dump." Echo shrugs. "We all came out of that with shaky legs."

"Speak for yourself," Crosshair mutters but Echo ignores him.

"None of us expected to fight for our lives today."

All of them can agree on that. Speaking of fighting for their lives, Tech realizes it's just the three of them. He looks to the beds at his left and right and find that they're empty. The memory of watching Wrecker's body crumble after getting shot flashes through Tech's mind and he tries to sit up again. This time Crosshair presses his hand against his back and helps him up.

"Where's Wrecker and Hunter? Are they alright?"

"Wrecker also had a burn on his chest, but they discharged him already. Hunter is with him," Echo smiles. "I think Wrecker said something about being hungry."

"Well, we didn't get much of a meal before this," Crosshair says bitterly.

Tech finally relaxes back into the pillow. His brothers are all safe, he's going to be discharged soon, and they completed their training exercise. It's a much better outcome than he expected from waking up in the med wing.

After his bacta is changed, Echo helps him into a fresh pair of blacks while Crosshair grabs his armor. The shirt is no problem, but the tight-fitting pants prove to be a more difficult feat.

"Maybe we can go get you a looser pair," Echo suggests as Tech has to literally bite down on his own lip to distract himself from the discomfort. Even with the barrier of bandages, the thick material feels scratchy against his sensitive skin. So bad that shivers run up his spine and he begins to feel a little nauseous.

"No," Tech pushes Echo's hand away. Honestly, the very thought of the pants having to peel back down his leg is worse than the idea of keeping them on. "I'll adjust." Echo seems hesitant but he doesn't fight him further. Tech gets his armor on-- sans the pieces that were melted in the explosion, of course. Those will require a trip to the armory to replace. (But he is not exactly jumping at the idea of restraining his swollen legs right now, anyway.)

"Ready?" Crosshair asks, though his facial expression looks as though he won't believe a word that comes out of Tech's mouth no matter what.

"Indeed."

They walk slowly back to the barracks, taking the long route to pick up Hunter and Wrecker from the caf. For the first few corridors, the scratchy feeling is agonizing. He has to walk with stiff legs to avoid bending his knees too much. It earns him his fair share of strange looks from the regs that pass, though they usually look at him like he was some sort of abomination, so it doesn't bother him. (Tech hypothesizes it has something to do with his goggles and how they stick out of his helmet. Makes him look quite different from even his own squad.)

But as they reach the caf, the stinging has begun to fade. His body is adjusting, as he predicted. The pain receptors in his legs are finally recognizing that it isn't a stimulus worth the trouble to continue griping about. He manages to bend his knees just enough that his stiffness isn't so obvious, more of a limp.

Wrecker's joyful tone rings out as soon as they grow near to the cafeteria. The largest of their brothers appears around the corner, his face brightening as he breaks into a run. "Tech!" Echo and Crosshair are quick to jump in and stop him from body slamming Tech.

"Easy, Wrecker, you know better than any of us how it feels to get blown up," Crosshair says before stepping aside for Wrecker to pull Tech into a bear hug. He sees Cross glance at Echo and then smirk. "Well, maybe that's not true. Echo here might have us all beat."

The former ARC trooper rolls his eyes. "Very funny."

Wrecker releases Tech. Somehow without aggravating his burns too badly. He is glad he opted to wear his helmet instead of carrying it. The mask hides his wince as pain shoots up his legs when Wrecker drops him back on the floor. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"As am I," he replies sheepishly. They start to make their way back toward their barracks. "Though I hardly blew up, it was merely a droid overheating."

"Did it have smoke and fire?" Wrecker asks.

"Minimal, but yes."

"Did it make a boom sound?"

"Well I'm not sure I would classify--"

"And did you get thrown really hard and burn your butt off?"

Tech sighs. "Perhaps."

Wrecker shrugs with a smug grin, looking around at the others. "You may be the expert on most things, Tech, but I know explosions. And that sounds a lot like an explosion to me."

Crosshair chuckles, his face in its usual sneer as he pats Tech's shoulder pauldron.

"It's alright," Echo whispers to him as Wrecker starts a loud tangent about getting shot at. "Means you get to be a part of the Got Blown Up Club. Meetings are bimonthly."

Not exactly a club Tech expected to be joining at a battle simulation. But then again, when do things ever go right for their squad in normal circumstances? He is curious to see what justification they had for such an irresponsible stunt. Tech has a sinking feeling Tarkin and Echo's claim that he hates clones has something to do with it.

#newly inducted member of the got blown up club #im a posting fiend right now apparently #not quite late night posting hours but close #the bad batch #tech #echo #wrecker #crosshair #hunter #tech whump #Kate writes #the bad batch b-side #1x01 aftermath

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dumbikawa · 3 years

Text

Being Stressed About Exams & HQ Boys Comforting You

GN!Reader | Comfort/Fluff | Warnings: stressed reader

Characters: Atsumu, Oikawa

A/n: This is extremely self-indulgent as school has been kicking my butt and the future post-graduation is very terrifying lol

ATSUMU

You stare at the computer in front of you, the text you’re supposed to read for class beginning to swim together as your eyes fill with tears. Everything is happening too fast and you feel completely unprepared to take any of it on. What if you spent all of this time and money on schooling only to fail so close to the end? What if you finally do finish, but then can’t find a job in your field? Should you have studied something else? The questions become more exhausting and constant the closer it gets to exams.

Small droplets roll off your cheeks and begin to pool on your keyboard. You haphazardly wipe them away before powering off the computer and tucking it back in your bag. Out of sight, out of mind, you figure. It’s not like there’s any use in trying to finish it tonight when you can already feel another wave of stress induced tears coming on. Those have also become a regular thing.

You click the volume button on your phone so that the sounds of music fill the room before leaning back in the desk chair, testing the limits of how far you can recline before gravity takes over. Atsumu had made this study playlist for you when he first noticed how stressed you were. It contained a mixture of your favorite songs, his favorite songs, and a few ‘motivational’ songs he pulled from his work-out playlists. It was a bit of a weird Frankenstein mash up with the large variety of genres, but it quickly became one of your studying must haves.

Over the sound of the music, you couldn’t hear the shower click off and the door to the bathroom swinging open. When Atsumu steps out, he sees you sitting where he’d left you, although, in a more dangerous position than you’d been in before as he notices the way the desk char teeters back and forth. His attention is quickly caught by the music choice, though, recognizing one of the songs playing as a favorite of his he added to the playlist he made for you a couple weeks ago. A smile breaks through his face as he hurriedly jumps into a pair of sweatpants before approaching your quiet figure.

As he comes up behind you, though, he notices a slight glisten upon your cheeks and a few fresh tears that tumble from your closed eyes. His upturned lips quickly sink as worry floods through him. Exams had been taking a toll on you, it wasn’t hard to tell, but he would never get used to seeing you cry.

“Baby,” he whispers, gently wrapping his arms around your shoulders. “What can I do for ya? Food? Cuddles? Cry it out?” You nod, resting the chair back on the ground and practically launching yourself into his arms.

Atsumu catches you with ease, his strong arms holding you against his chest. His hand rubs up and down your spine, sending shivers racing down you back, but there's no ulterior motive to his gentle touches. He continues the soft touches as he guides you to the bed, only letting you go for a second before allowing you to bury yourself in his side again.

“What if I can’t do it?” you whisper, trailing your fingers across Atsumu's toned chest. “I’ve studied for so long, but what if it doesn’t work out? What if--What if I don’t actually know anything and I crash and burn and--”

Atsumu shushes you gently, placing a few comforting kisses to your forehead. He notices your breathing beginning to grow heavier as your anxiety takes over. There's a few moments of silence as you try to match your breathing to his, the two of you taking slow, deep breaths in sync.

“The future might be unsure and stressful, but I know you’re going to do your best and make it work. All you can do is continue to work towards your goals and handle everything as it comes. Not to mention, I’m always going to be here to remind you of how strong you are even if you don’t see it.”

A new wave of tears begins as his words echo through your ears. You bury your face in his chest as your arms wrap around his waist in an attempt to pull yourself as close to him as you physically can be. Somehow he knew exactly what you needed to hear and a part of you wonders if he’s ever repeated those sentiments to himself when things felt unsure.

He continues to whisper reassurances as you fully relax against him, your tears finally beginning to dry up. You lift your head and offer him a weak smile.

“Thanks for letting me cry on your abs,” you sniffle, allowing yourself to truly laugh.

Atsumu feels lighter as he watches you smile and joke, hopefully being able to forget about the more stressful parts of life for a while as he holds you close. There’s been countless times where you eased his worries about the future, so he’s just happy that he can return the favor and create a safe space where you’re allowed to simply be.

OIKAWA

The cup in your hand is warm and comforting as you trudge towards your bedroom, a sense of dread washing over you as soon as your eyes land upon the laptop you left sitting open on the bed. With finals coming up, you thought it would be a good idea to transfer the notes you had written down during lectures onto your computer, figuring it would make them easier to access and that the process of going back through the information would be a good way to ensure you remember the material.

What you didn’t realize, however, is how absolutely time consuming and exhausting it was going to be. Your neck hurts from constantly looking back and forth between the paper and computer screen, your back hurts because somewhere along the way you abandoned any semblance of healthy posture and decided to go full cave gremlin in the way you hunched over your work, and instead of absorbing the information for a second time it seemed as if your brain had completely abandoned you and gone on autopilot. Shoving the computer off the bed and taking a nap feels like the best course of action right now, but you know if you stop now there’s no way you’re going to want to finish later.

Begrudgingly, you settle back onto the bed and take a large swig of coffee before stretching your fingers and placing them back on the keyboard. It couldn’t take that much longer right? All you have to do is push through and get it done.

And, for the next few hours, that’s what you do. You jump back in where you left off and race through the next few, gruelingly long chapters. The daylight outside quickly dwindles away until you’re forced to turn on the bedside lamp when you realize the sun has sunk far below the horizon and is beginning to cast bizarre shadows around the room. It was no bother, though, because you’re so close to being done. The issue is that neither your brain nor your body could keep up anymore.

Your fingers keep hitting the wrong keys, typing made up words that have you constantly backspacing and starting sentences over again for a third of even a fourth time. The breaking point comes when you go to take a sip of your now cold coffee and look back at the screen after attempting to type an entire paragraph from your notes in one go. Little did you know your finger placement was off, yet again, and the entire paragraph is an unreadable mess that even spell check doesn’t want to touch.

The tears that sting your eyes make you feel stupid. It was entirely too dumb to cry over something as superficial as misspellings that could be easily fixed and cold coffee. But once the tears start they won’t stop. Suddenly, you’re not crying over the notes or even school work in general. You’re crying about the crushing weight of change that's soon to come once you finish with classes and how impossible everything has begun to feel.

You’re too exhausted to focus on anything anymore, letting the hot tears run down your cheeks freely, which is why you don’t hear the rushed footsteps of your boyfriend who could hear your hiccuping breaths from down the hall.

He doesn’t say anything when he sees you curled up on the bed, your face buried in your arms. Oikawa sits on the ground closest to you and lays his head near yours as he begins to run his slender fingers through your hair. It doesn't take a psychic to tell you've been stressed with the quickly approaching exams, and from the collection of notes littered all around to the half closed computer the dots practically connect themselves.

The slight dip on the bed near your head alerts you to his presence, but you don't move. His hands guiding themselves over your scalp is quick to relax your body, but your mind feels like it's about to burst any moment as the thoughts continue to race.

“You’re doing so good,” he whispers against your temple, planting soft kisses after every word, “and you deserve to take a break. Remember when you used to have to tell me that all the time?" The feeling of his quiet laughter against your skin makes you smile, along with the memories of simpler times before either of you had barely begun to grasp how harsh the world could be.

"I picked up dinner for us, it was an apology for coming home late," he admits, kissing the top of your head. "But let's go heat it up and you can either tell me everything you're worried about or we can try to forget all about it for now and watch a movie. I'd really like it if you talked about it eventually, though. I know I'm not going to be able to fix it all, but that doesn't mean I can't try."

You turn your head to the side, exposing your tear stained cheeks that are quickly wiped away by Oikawa's calloused thumbs.

"I will," you say, voice heavy. "For now could you just hold me?" There isn't a second of hesitation as Oikawa slips his arms beneath your figure and presses you tightly against him.

"Movie it is," he announces, laying you on the couch with the remotes so that you could put on whatever you want. Your brain would never stop the constant anxious thoughts, but losing yourself in those chocolate brown eyes made it easy to imagine a future where it all works out somehow. Little do you know, Oikawa sees the same thing reflected in your eyes as he wonders about the right time, perhaps a couple years from now when you've both settled down in your careers, when he can finally buy that ring he's been looking at.

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princecharmingmendes · 3 years

Text

Heart by Heart | Chapter II | Raul Mendes

*secret agent AU*

Y/N and Raul have been friends ever since they could remember. And falling in love with your best friend can be pretty tricky and messy 99% of the times, add that to the fact they're constantly risking their lives side by side on the field since they're both secret agents, and the best team that's ever existed. Perfect recipe for disaster.

Hi, this is the second chapter of this series, you can find the first one here. Please read the warnings on this one, if you don't feel comfortable with the contents listed on the "warnings" section, please read something else, there are a lot of other works on my masterlist and on the "fic rec" hashtag on my blog. Please give me some feedback and I hope you guys like. Happy Reading!

previous chapter | masterpost | next chapter

*Word Count: 5.2K+

*Warnings: cursing, mentions of violence/crimes, migraine due to work stress, Raul teasing the reader endlessly (for me, that’s the most important warning). Please don’t read it if any of this subjects make you uncomfortable, feel free to check my masterlist for other writings.

*Posted: July 8th, 2021.

-*-

A week later things were back to normal.

Sure, the night they came back, after they were checked for any injuries on the med department and were cleared, Raul dragged her back to his apartment claiming he was craving sushi and he was only ordering if she was with him. In reality, that was a way to keeping his head busy with something else so the events of that day would be coped nicely without so much suffering. And one way of doing it was keeping his girl, best friend and partner, at a close distance so he knew she’d be safe and well.

He was extra sweet that night, making sure she had everything she needed, even agreed to put on face masks with her while watching a random movie. And she was really glad to have him near. The thought of him getting her, or worst... it just killed her a bit. But he was safe and he had his arms securely around her, and that was enough to put her on dreamland and having a great night of sleep.

Unfortunately that was not the case for Y/N today.

Ever since Seth was back, he spent most of his time on the med bay to recover, he had to go through surgery and was finally recovering, but ever since he was back, every piece of information he had was being collected, and she was the one responsible to write it down. Most of the info he had was encoded and she was supposed to break it. Y/N’s been working nonstop for the past week, and when she had the opportunity to relax all by herself in her house, she felt restless. The main reason is that the person who had Seth was one of the most wanted man on the planet. Geonoff Reyes was capable of the vilest things without giving a second thought, and he’s been wanted for years now, and apparently Seth had the newest information of his whereabouts and new plans.

And knowing that was enough to put Y/N in restless nights of sleep, when she was even able to drift off. Most of her hours were invested on figuring out whatever she could, and several nights were only the continuation of her job during the day. And yeah, it was reckless and a bit stupid of her to sacrifice so much in a research, but Y/N knew this was a great opportunity and the biggest amount of clues they’ve ever received, she couldn’t let this all go. And she had to work fast, so Geonoff didn’t have enough time to notice some information missing or that someone outside of his limited inner circle so he wouldn’t chance anything. Or even move outside the country again, putting a massive political obstacle on their way.

Y/N should’ve known better than to barely get any sleep in over seven days. She knew better than to barely eat or drink anything other than coffee. She knew and did it anyone. And that’s why she ended up where she was. Seven A.M. sharp on her little office on her company’s Head Quarters with a killing migraine that only got worse under the fluorescent lights. Y/N groaned softly as she basically collided on her office chair, cursing under her breath whoever thought bright white lights was a great idea. She was softly rubbing her temples when she heard a knock on her door, before someone came in without being invited, a delicious smell of coffee coming alongside the intruder. She didn’t need to look up to know Raul would be standing right in front of her desk.

“What?” she grumbled, spinning in her chair to turn on her computer without even sparing a glance at him.

Raul chuckled “good morning to you too, sunshine, I’m not even daring to ask how you are”

Y/N rolled her eyes and wincing at the pain the movement brought her “look, go pester someone else, I’m not in a good day”

“Yeah, that’s easy to see, gremlin, that’s why I brought you this” and a soft thud on her desk made her turn.

Raul was standing in front of her desk as she imagined, wearing his usual black outfit, a long sleeved tight turtleneck, accentuating all the muscles on his arms and back, tucked into a pair of dark grey trousers and Y/N had to hold back all her thoughts that were rather inappropriate to have on your best friend. And she wanted to be mad at how effortlessly beautiful he looked, just standing there, hands supporting his weight on the glass table as he leant forward casually to pick at her computer. He looked like a fucking runaway model at seven in the morning, his citric scent leaving her slightly intoxicated, but she knew he didn’t do it on purpose, he was just naturally hot.

She than darted her eyes from his body quickly to not seem as if she was ogling him, which she totally was, only to be met with a steaming cup of black coffee. She rolled her eyes on the little attempts of black hearts he drew with a sharpie alongside a poorly written ‘secret admirer’ on the disposable cup. Y/N shook her head huffing a laugh as she took it.

“Aren’t you supposed to thank me?”

Y/N arched her brow at him “what for, exactly?”

“For being the best friend you’ll ever have?!” he stated as if it was obvious “come on, you look like you need it and I swear I didn’t spike it with anything”

“You’re saying you did out of your own free will? A benevolent act?” Y/N questioned playfully inspecting the cup.

Raul scoffed feigning hurt “Of course, I’m a good guy, practically a gentleman, you gremlin, how dare you think any different?” Behind all the teasing in his voice, she could see the worry evident in his golden eyes. Raul didn’t know all the details about what she was digging into since that were her boss’s order, but he knew enough to know she was probably overworking herself and getting a bit anxious. He knew her better than anyone and there were barely any secrets between them.

“Fine” Y/N sighed taking a sip from the coffee, and it was precisely what she liked “thank you for being a decent human being once in your lifetime”

“You are very welcome, so any news?” he asked pointing to the screens of her computer.

“Not really, I guess I was too tired to do much last night” she said opening all the images she had collected over the past week on her five computer screens “you know basically all the important stuff I gathered, I’m also monitoring the surveillance cameras on the places he might be, trying to get a glimpse of him, but till now nothing, only this car that’s been parked here for five days now”

“Weird”

Y/N giggled to herself before closing everything again “yeah, I know”

“So, I didn’t exactly came here just for the coffee” Raul said crossing his arms across his chest, standing on his full height, his biceps popping against the fabric of his shirt.

“Of course not, I was just waiting for you order, cap” she said as she reached into her purse for a painkiller.

His signature smirk appeared as he beamed down at her “Don’t tempt me, doll”

“What is it then?” she asked and before Raul could reply, someone knocked on her door.

“Come in” he managed to say before her and soon enough Raul’s copy stuck his head inside.

“Oh hi guys” Peter said before fully walking in and closing the door behind him “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, what do you need?” Y/N said turning to face him completely.

Seeing Peter right beside Raul just made them look a lot more different. Sure, they were triplets, but they had completely opposite personalities. While Raul looked like a super model bad boy out of every romcom, Peter looked soft and gentle. He was just as handsome, his hair a bit more messy and a pair of glasses perched on his nose, adding to the soft features. He also wore light washed jeans and a very soft looking button up, a permanent blush on his cheeks. And despite the 6’3 and big muscles, he was almost like a walking teddy bear with a golden heart, specially if you got to know him.

“I actually have some stuff for you two to test on my lab downstairs, and I thought since I was already here I could call you two to join me”

“Oh of course” Y/N said jumping to her feet and cursing under her breath, momentarily having forgotten the excruciating migraine she was still having “now right?”

“Yeah, but only if you can”

“Sure, come on, Raul” Y/N said grabbing her cup of coffee before walking to the door.

Raul chuckled lowly before following her and his brother to the elevator “whatever you say, boss”

“Don’t give me any ideas” she mumbled before pressing the button, but as soon as the doors opened, Y/N regretted getting out of her office.

Standing on the elevator was Daphne. Daphne was one breathtakingly gorgeous woman. With bright green eyes and golden soft model like waves, always dressed nicely and with paper white teeth, and to top that, she was a great agent. But she clearly had a crush on Raul and she’s been hitting on him for a while now, but he didn’t seem to care much, which made no sense at all. And for some reason she wasn’t as friendly towards Y/N, Daphne was never directly rude, but she always made sure to look her up and down and was never her friendly self. And Y/N wasn’t one to push anyone to like her, it just made situations like this a bit more awkward.

“Oh hello” Daphne said with a warm smile.

“Morning” Raul responded as he climbed in the elevator.

Y/N mumbled a quick “hi” before moving to the back of it with Peter.

Daphne turned towards Raul and gently placed her hand on his bicep “I heard about the little incident on your latest mission, are you alright?”

“Oh yeah, not even a single scratch”

“That’s great, I mean, how did it happen again? Was it a failure on the planning or watching?” she asked and Y/N almost spat the coffee she was drinking, seeing Peter send a look her way.

“It was my fault actually, the team handed it pretty well” Raul replied unceremoniously.

“Oh, I see” she said pulling her hand from his arm and nervously placing a strand of loose hair behind her ear “hm, actually there was something I wanted to ask you”

God, how long could this elevator take to arrive on the last floor.

Raul only hummed in response, turning his face to the side to watch her so Daphne proceeded “Hm, there’s this new place that opened this weekend down the street and apparently the sandwiches there are amazing, me and a few other agents were planning to have lunch there today, and I was wondering if you’d like to join”

With that he truly seemed taken aback a bit “oh, I unfortunately can’t today, I’m sorry” with that he turned back to face Y/N “that’s what I wanted to tell you earlier, we have that lunch meeting today, Shawn’s in town and he wanted to invite you to lunch with us and his friends”

“Oh shit, I completely forgot” Y/N whined, her head pounding “I don’t think I can make it today, I’m so sorry”

Raul smiled softly at her “yeah, I figured, if you get any better let me know”

“Oh you’re sick?” Daphne asked turning to her as well.

Y/N shook her head, regretting it immediately “just a bit of a migraine”

“I hope you get better soon” Daphne offered a tight lip smile and Y/N just nodded in response.

“We’re here” Peter said for the first time “Bye, Daphne” he said getting out of the elevator pulling Y/N with him.

“Why are you running? Slow down, you’re gonna pull my arm off” Y/N hushed it as Peter kept on with the fast pace.

“What was that?” he asked in a low tone.

Y/N then came in realization “right?! Why won’t he go out with her?”

“I think he might be just not interested at all, but I wasn’t talking about that, you know Raul can be pretty secretive about his feelings, right?” Peter asked with an archer brow, knowing look on his eyes.

Y/N stepped into his lab alongside him “well yeah”

“I don’t know, I think I saw something there”

“Between me and Raul?!”

Peter leaned against his desk with his arms crossed “Well, more of him towards you, it’s actually something I’ve been noticing for a while”

“What are you even talking about? He’s always been like that with me” Y/N tried avoiding Peter’s gaze, afraid somehow that would give away the little spark of hope on her eyes.

“No, I mean, yes, but I feel like that intensified a bit, just pay attention to it” he said and then looked behind her.

Y/N turned around only to be met with Raul standing at the door “sorry, got a little caught up”

“We noticed, cap, it’s okay, no important details were discussed in your absence” she said teasingly and he just rolled his eyes playfully at her.

“Okay, I upgraded your coms a bit, so switching between channels will be easier” Peter started picking up the little earpieces up “And I also took notes about the appearance of my glasses yeah? Now would you mind approving the design of it, miss fashion icon”

Y/N laughed softly and went to check on the 3D design “thank you, I do take fashion very seriously, I only loose it to your brother”

Raul scoffed “Of course I would be involved in it somehow”

Peter laughed “come on, I need to show you this thing I want to put on your suit, Y/N can you please check the new computer I promised you?”

“Oh my, it’s ready?” She said turning to them, suddenly feeling a lot better.

“It’s on the corner right there, just feel free to explore it and adapt it to how you like it best, and then it’s yours” Peter said with a bright smile on his features as he dragged Raul away.

Y/N sat down on the desk he pouted at, opening the super resistant protective case and being faced with a beautiful tiny computer she could use on future missions. She finished her coffee, feeling the medicine kick in as she dumped the empty cup on the trash, before sitting down in front of her new screen and starting to work on it. Y/N lost track of time as she explored the new configurations, installed the programs she used. She only noticed she’s been there for over two hours when she felt someone carefully placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and she looked up to check the time, being met with Raul standing right beside her.

“Oh, hi” she said feeling her face warming up as he smiled softly at her.

“Don’t spend too much time with this, you’ll have more opportunities later, sweetheart, don’t force yourself too much” he squeezed her shoulder a bit and she sighed nodding “how are you feeling?”

She looked up at him, cracking her back on the process “Better, I think the coffee helps a bit and the painkiller did a great job”

“Good, I’m guessing you still won’t be able to make it to Shawn’s crowded and noisy lunch” Raul had a little amused look in his eyes and Y/N giggled at that, shaking her head.

“Definitely not, might as well skip lunch and nap on my lunch break”

Raul nodded “It’s tempting but you need food, now how about I take you to that salad shop you like, we buy ourselves a quick to go one, eat it at your office and nao for like, forty minutes maybe? How does that sound?”

Y/N contained the urge to lunch forward and wrap him in her arms “Pretty fucking great, but what about Shawn?”

“I’ll meet him later for dinner with Peter, so he wouldn’t mind”

“Oh”

“So, are you in, doll?”

Y/N shook her head “you had me in the forty minute nap, say no more”

Raul laughed “Of course I had, know you better than anyone”

“That is unfortunately true” she mumbled grabbing the computer and getting up.

Raul stared at her quizzically “Why is that unfortunate?”

“Cause that will only feed your ever growing ego”

“You wound me, sweetheart” he said with frightened hurt, a hand clutched over his heart.

Y/N rolled her eyes at him as they both said their goodbyes to Peter, who only threw a knowing look in her direction and a little wink when Raul wasn’t looking. She only rolled her eyes, shoving her middle finger in the air behind Raul’s back to Peter, who only laughed in response. But Raul might have felt her arm hovering his back, cause he looked down at her, throwing his charming smile down at her and throwing his arm around her shoulders as the climbed in the elevator again.

Oh great, now Y/N had one more thing to keep her awake all night, wondering if she was crazy and Raul could be somehow interested in her and if she should do something about it. But do what? Tell him she liked him? Kissing him? Confronting someone who already has a hard time talking feelings about how he felt about her?! Only terrible scenarios played in her head with every little thing she thought about. But before she could go on spiraling, Raul gently squeezed her shoulder making Y/N look up at him.

“Still with me, sweetheart?” he asked smirking at her and she only huffed rolling her eyes, making Raul full on laugh.

-*-

Later that morning, they ended up following Raul’s idea. Around noon he knocked on her office again, with his leather jacket and ready to go, Y/N then just grabbed her coat and purse, ready to follow him to the elevator again. They kept a light banter, talking about conspiracy theories and random gossip, and she felt really better but was too tired to socialize with a lot of people. So they walked down the street a couple of blocks to a little shop where they bought salad bowls and iced tea “to balance things out” according to Raul about how much coffee she’s had the past week.

They ordered to go and walked back to the HQ that looked like a very fancy business building, but instead of going back to her office, they headed to Raul’s instead. There they sat down on his couch since it was bigger as they casually had lunch, and right after, he convinced Y/N to get comfortable on the couch as he relaxed right next to her. Y/N curled into a little ball on the further corner of the couch, but he was quick to tut his tongue at her.

“Here, sweetheart, you can lay your head on my lap and stretch your legs on the couch, yeah? And you can grab that little fluffy blanket if you want” He was quick to offer and Y/N sighed.

“Are you sure?” she asked eyeing him suspiciously “I don’t want to bother you” he chuckled softly and nodded

“Of course, we still have 50 minutes of lunch break, nap a bit, baby, come here” Raul said in such a gentle tone, almost cooing at her and how could she possibly say no to that?

She removed her boots before laying her head on his lap and pulling her legs to stretch across the rest of the couch, while she got comfy, she felt the gentle weight of the thick fluffy blanket being laid on top of her. Y/N sighed in relief as she slowly closed her eyes, allowing herself to fully relax, and feeling the soft caress of Raul’s fingers gently combing through her hair was only making it easier to fall asleep. And so she did.

She dreamed of something random, she was stuck in a boat and it didn’t really make much sense, but it was better than the sleepless nights or the scary things her mind came up with. So waking up was not the best sensation, but Raul managed to make the experience less unpleasant. He was very softly coaxing her to wake up, by gently shaking her shoulder and caressing her cheek, slowly calling her name. Y/N could get used to it.

Raul truly didn’t want to do it, he, himself, didn’t want to get up. He ended up falling asleep a few minutes in, but the timer on his phone vibrating on his hand woke him when he promised he’d wake her up. He almost didn’t have the heart to do it. Y/N looked so peaceful, the frown that’s been on her brows for the whole week was finally gone, but he knew if he didn’t wake her, she’d spend her day blaming herself and wouldn’t be able to sleep properly at night. So he cleared his throat and started calling her gently not to startle her.

Y/N started coming slowly back to her senses, slowly sitting up from Raul’s lap, rubbing at her eyes and checking her phone quickly for important notifications. A low chuckle brought her attention away from her phone and to her best friend beside her, to which she just truly looked at, being able to notice the throw pillow creases on his cheek, the soft curls of his hair a bit messier than usual.

“Hi” he mumbled softly.

Y/N smiled at him before mumbling a “hi” in response.

“Sleep well?” Raul asked as he stretched his arms above his head and she nodded “yeah? I ended up joining you in your nap”

“Don’t blame you, this is a really nice couch”

“Right? Unfortunately this was the first time I took full advantage of it” he chuckled as he got up from the couch, moving to turn on his computer.

Y/N just chuckled before nearly folding his blanket back in its place “well thank you for everything, you truly are a great friend, but I should probably leave and stop bothering you”

“You never bother me, and I know, I’m the best friend anyone could ever wish for” he said sitting on his chair as she leaned down to put her shoes back on.

She just rolled her eyes at him, grabbing her stuff before getting up “there you go, ruining a perfectly sweet moment”

Raul laughed “that’s my biggest ability, doll, thought you knew that already”

“Should’ve guessed it” Y/N said as she opened his door “see you later, thanks again”

Raul just winked at her “anytime” before she closed his door and moved to her office shaking her head, but unable to hold back the smile from blossoming on her lips.

Maybe Peter was wrong and just messing things up, how could he not notice the way Raul affected her? But saw the way he was different with her? It made no sense. And there was no time to go into the rabbit hole, she had better things to do, like spend countless hours uselessly trying to crack a code.

-*-

In the middle of Y/N’s afternoon shift, she was able to spot Geonoff himself on one of the surveillance cameras she’s been watching incessantly for the past weeks. She basically tripped on her on shoes as she scrambled up to her computer to register the appearance, quickly sending it to her boss. They finally were sure where he was and maybe that was enough to set up a plan or something to get him.

Geonoff Reyes was one of the most wanted man right now by intelligences from multiple countries. The man himself had a long list of crimes, that if there was an opportunity would be enough to sentence him for thousands of years. Most of Geonoff’s crimes were related to the mafia, he was one of the biggest and most dangerous bosses there was. He started fairly young, around 15 years old, but that was the extent of information everyone had on his childhood. Some liked to guess it was what kind of household he was raised to blame the way he had become what he became.

He’s been chased for years now, and that’s why Y/N was quick to let her boss, Mrs. Benson, know she found him, compiling all the information she was able to gather this past week in files. So she did what she could and it took her around an hour to have everything printed and organized in a folder, letting Janet she was coming and basically running to the elevator to get to her office.

The heavy metal doors opened on the waiting room outside of her office, being met with Luca, Janet’s personal assistant, who winked at her and pointed at the door. Y/N smiled at him and knocked on the dark wooden doors, opening it silently as she heard people talking inside. Her office was decorated very minimalistic and was usually a very pristine place, but today, there were papers everywhere as Janet, Helen (Janet’s right hand), Dimitri (head of security department) and Raul Mendes stood there apparently discussing the same case.

“Thank God you’re here, darling, please come out this madness to an end” Janet said with a gentle smile as she pointed towards the mess in her table.

Helen chuckled as Dimitri was quick to push their papers to a corner on the table.

“Thank you” Y/N mumbled as she placed her folder down.

Raul silently move to stand right next to her, a careful hand laying on the small of her back in a comforting touch as she looked up at Janet to check if she could start. With a nod from the boss, she started pulling all the evidence she could. All the pictures, the surveillance images, the documents Seth was able to bring back and information he was able to remember as well.

With everything laid out on the table and presented to all of them, Janet ended up telling what she’d been discussing with Helen for the past two days. They both figured the best thing to do at the moment, since they didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest for this crime and maybe this was a great opportunity to catch another people involved, not only Geonoff. The plan was basically getting new identities and keep a close eye on all of his activities, track down his moves and if possible get even more evidence.

Raul was called because he was the best for this kind of jobs and would be a great leader to the team, Y/N was offered to join the team as well, being his partner and leading the strategic part of the plan. They were also told to pick other agents that they knew would be great for this specific operation, Janet only asking to keep it at a maximum of 5 people including them, the less people knowing, the better.

Of course both agreed and were also instructed to inform Peter so he could separate the gadgets necessary, and obviously intensify their physical training. Despite this being mostly and observant kind of mission, Geonoff was unpredictable and highly dangerous, so being well prepared and extra careful wouldn’t be a bad idea. They were both dismissed for the day and the early shift next morning, so they could rest and plan it as best as they could.

So Y/N was quick to bid her goodbyes as she placed everything neatly back on the folder and moved out of the room. As soon as she pressed the button to call the elevator, she heard the office door opening and closing again, rushed steps moving closer to her. She didn’t even need to look to know Raul was the one approaching her since his scent clouded every room he ever stepped into, she only shook her head and looked up at her right as he stood right beside her. He smirked at her with a little wink.

“My house or yours, doll?” he asked as they climbed into the elevator.

“Tonight?” she eyed him suspiciously as she pressed the button to her floor to grab her stuff and he leaned in to press the one to Peter’s. Y/N glanced at him and noticed he had all of his personal belongings with him.

“Of course, I’ll even order from that Thai place you like”

Y/N giggled shaking her head “of course you will, am I supposed to spend the night?”

“Oh yeah, definitely, I’ll invite Peter too” he said with a smile.

Y/N folded her arms across her chest “I thought we were supposed to rest?”

“Oh but we will, I’ll make sure you’ll fall sleep at reasonable hours, eat properly and all that stuff, of course we’re gonna take a look at work, but just a little” he said with a knowing look.

“Fine, daddy” she added with annoyance, rolling her eyes, Raul just laughed and shook his head.

“You can’t just say stuff like that, sweetheart”

“What? Does it do something for you?” She asked looking up at him and he just shrugged as the doors opened at her floor.

“There’s only one way to find out, doll” he added with a smirk, a teasing tone evident on his voice as he leaned the weight of his body on the elevator doors to hold it for her, shoulders crossed over his broad chest, biceps flexing against the material of his shirt.

Y/N rolled her eyes stepping out of the elevator, ignoring the heat creeping up her face and the stupid flutter on her lower stomach, turning to face him as she said “see you later, Mendes”

“See you, and oh, don’t forget your gym attire, we’re going running at 5:30 sharp tomorrow, bye bye now” he blew her a kiss as he stepped inside and the doors closed before she could add anything.

He was definitely trying to kill her in all the ways possible, she just didn’t know which way would be the fatal blow.

-*-

*Please reblog or like this post if you liked it so I’ll know.

*I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.

*Please do not repost this without giving me the credit, this is a completely original piece and I do not give permission to copy this!

*Hope you guys enjoyed it!

*xoxo

-🌙

@mariamuses

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book-o-scams · 3 years

Text

'Sorry Wrong Ed' Alternate Ending Storyboard Sequence

Check out Al Kang's Ed, Edd n Eddy portfolio!

Al Kang worked on the show during seasons 3-4 and had roles on the storyboard and prop teams apparently. (IMDb says he was credited as Al Choi at the time, but it also says he worked on season 1 episodes, which doesn't line up with the timeline he mentioned.. anyway.)

I discovered his portfolio a few months ago after seeing fandom discussion of the alternate 'Sorry Wrong Ed' ending. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few other treats as well! But yes, I even sorta liked what I learned about 'Sorry Wrong Ed' in the process... (I threw in a little analysis comparing the two endings at the bottom)

I noticed Al seemed to mix up the order on these, so I thought I'd try my best to figure out the right order. This was the most confusing one for me to try and figure out the order of since almost all 8 pages were out of order. I think I finally figured out what's going on in the original ending.

So this alternate ending starts at an unknown point with Eddy flat on the ground, presumably injured, picking himself back up. At this point in the final cut of the episode, Eddy has just been squashed by a tree, but this seems more like a different injury, and he's not even retaining his injuries from the truck scene... The scenes with Jonny and Plank from the final cut of the episode seem to not exist at all here, Jonny and Plank don't appear in this sequence.

Anyway, Eddy picks himself up in the middle of an on-going scene, sees Jimmy drop a coin in a jar for Ed, who has inexplicably turned the cursed phone into a scam on his own. Edd is glaring at the off-screen kids, who have somehow learned about this phone and are excited to kill Eddy with it.

Eddy: "Jimmy! No!"

Jimmy answers the phone: "Hello?"

Ed: "HA HA HA"

Edd: "You people don't seriously believe--"

Then we sync up with gags that did happen in the ending of Sorry Wrong Ed, with context that makes its tone a little more sadistic than random. Jimmy's paid phonecall drops the sandbox on Eddy.

This page has the most skeletal dialogue...

Kev: "Yes." (I think he's meant to be fist pumping because Eddy got hurt, more of a "Yes!")

Jimmy: "BAD LUCK EDDY PHONE." (this dialogue must have been a placeholder)

Edd: "HA HA" (sarcastic ha-ha or did Al mean to write "Ed" for this?)

Jimmy seems to offer the phone to Edd.

We sync up again with Edd's denial from the final cut of this episode, except now it actually makes sense that he's so one-track-minded, because there are people actively arguing with him and keeping him disengaged from the victim.

Edd: "There must be a cargo plane overfilled with playground supplies..."

Sarah interrupts him.

RING RING

Sarah: "Oh, that's for me."

Eddy at this point holds Ed responsible, as he should, and starts running to stop Ed or Sarah. Ed offers no explanation for his betrayal.

Eddy: "Ed! What are you doing!?"

Sarah: "Hello?"

Sarah's paid phonecall summons the hippos, the most random moment in the final cut of the episode. Note how both of these slapstick gags were storyboarded on the same generic background, seems like the lane or an empty lot, but clearly a different location than Eddy's front yard from the aired ending.

And that's all we have to go off of!

I'll put my updated opinions below the cut, but suffice it to say, I like the episode a little better now! Knowing what the ending was going to be and trying to figure out the choices that led to the ending we got, I feel more appreciative that it didn't end up a lost episode or something and less annoyed that it was 11 minutes of one joke.

I know I have a reputation for not finding slapstick funny and disliking this episode, but violence was never my only issue. Lots of episodes have lackluster slapstick that I just let wash over me. My point that never gets as much focus is that this episode never felt FINISHED to begin with. It's just a slapstick vacuum with no ending and no point, and it used to be frustrating to me not knowing for sure if my hunch was right or not that it felt like the episode just wasn't working and they had to cobble it together from the scenes that almost worked.

I am surprised to say I like the episode more now that I know that is pretty close to the truth. Judging from this peek into the episode's development, this episode seems to have reached Danny Antonucci's and/or Wootie's (the episode's lead board artist) limit for being mean-spirited with the characters without a reason. I'll still probably avoid rewatching it, but knowing the episode has no ending specifically because it's been trimmed to bare bones is somehow reassuring.

The most obvious flaw to this original ending is the lack of motivation for Ed's or the kids' actions. The kids presumably still weren't in the rest of the episode, so there's really no reason for them to be here other than reiterating the same idea from 'Your Ed Here' and 'The Good Ole Ed' that the neighborhood kids are always looking for a reason to gang up on Eddy, something that isn't really true of those characters in earlier seasons.

I think I can imagine how, on paper (in the writers' outline), this episode sounded funnier. Trying to imagine this ending as part of the whole episode, I think the script's idea of the final joke is that Ed is not satisfied with ending the tests at the point where they tried to return the phone to Rolf. I think Ed converts the curse-testing process to a scam at that point, building off of how Ed already wasn't processing Eddy's safety in anything so far, and is probably more focused on proving to Edd that curses are real (as Ed was previously in league with Evil Tim). The addition of Ed running his own tests and the kids arguing Eddy's point against Edd's while Eddy's busy, does sound more like a complete manic cartoon boiling point than the way the finished episode just petered out with Edd as the sole antagonist. But unfortunately, in visual execution, suddenly piling in so many aggressive characters and so much random violence at once, would only really result in it petering out at a higher volume.

Meanwhile Edd's characterization is made much more structurally sound in the original ending. He's annoyed FOR Eddy's sake, and the only reason he's not actively helping Eddy is because like 3 other characters were supposed to be arguing with him while this was happening. It seems extremely apparent to me that the cuts made to this ending were for the sake of mitigating Ed's reputation in the fandom, as well as the kids', and I think it's really unfortunate that Edd's characterization was the cost for salvaging everyone else's. I'm glad I already considered his behavior in 'Sorry Wrong Ed' non-canon, because now it feels like the reason the aired ending is so out-of-character is just because Edd is basically arguing with the ghost of the original scene. I formally forgive 'Sorry Wrong Ed'. Production turnarounds are tough and AKA did their best to not turn this into another forgotten 'Special Ed' episode that simply wasn't working.

I think ditching the original ending was ultimately the right call. It was not an exemplary episode, but I can admit it's less out of place to have a pure "vacuum of violence" story than it would've been to essentially give the kids a supernatural revenge plot like this. That would've been really weird to have to accept-- Eddy definitely wouldn't want to be friends with anyone at the end of the movie if THIS was their past. Changing it to an unaware Jonny and a questionably aware Plank being responsible, indeed, was a vibe that landed much more like standard EEnE fare. It was weird enough that the kids all saw Santa in JJJ, can you imagine if they all knew curses were real AND participated in attacking a neighbor with one??

If there was a silver lining for me the first time I saw this episode, it was that none of the kids were directly involved in Eddy's suffering. It made the questionable reality of the cursed device slightly more acceptable that only the Eds and Rolf know about the curse. If this ending had happened, I would've reacted the same, but I would've rejected its continuity even more than I do now, because it would just feel like they animated one of the DC Comics (where the kids can blow the Eds up with fireworks at the end or the Eds can randomly be crushed under an avalanche of anvils)-- the art could end up gorgeous but the characterizations don't exactly land as real human beings, the balance this show strives for typically.

And I think that's all I wanted to say! In the end, I found myself liking 'Sorry Wrong Ed' slightly more than I used to, all thanks to this glimpse into how the animation production system morphs the outcome of a cartoon. Thanks so much to Al Kang, for sharing your art and this insight into the industry! I don't know whether he did both the gesture drawings and the revised art, but judging from his other boards I think the cleaned up art is his, and I liked seeing the poses that almost were!

#ed edd n eddy #sorry wrong ed #al kang #storyboard #concept art #alternate ending #deleted ending #alternate sequence #analysis

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