#this is just a big long rambly train of thought post sorry

[guiltyasdave]

sweet nothing

pairing: Javier Peña x f!reader

word count: exactly 700 words hehe

summary: An interesting man keeps coming back to the museum you work at.

tags/warnings: able-bodied reader, no use of y/n, angst all over the place babeeeeeyyyyy

a/n: my entry for @iamasaddie's zodiac sign au writing challenge. i got javi and a museum au and this is what i came up with. thank you for always hosting these challenges aly <3

once again thank you @sizzlingcloudmentality for pushing me to even participate and for letting me ramble about this <3 you’re an amazing friend!

dividers by @saradika-graphics <3

find my full masterlist here and follow @guiltyasdavenotifs to get notified when i post a new fic :)

You had noticed him the first time he came in. A little lost, a little out of place, not the kind of visitor that usually frequented your workplace in the middle of a weekday. 

It was a time that was usually reserved for the odd tourist couple, sometimes families, wandering the mostly empty halls, occasionally halting their steps to take a closer look at one of the historic paintings or sculptures. You preferred it to the weekend rush, liked to breathe in the cool air and relish in the quiet, peaceful atmosphere. 

He had wandered for a bit too, before seating himself on one of the benches in the middle of the room, eyes trained on the large painting on the wall in front of him. Your gaze had followed him, as was your job. Not a sign of your interest in this visitor in particular, you told yourself. 

When he came back two days later, it wasn’t a big deal. You hadn’t thought about him, hadn’t imagined running into him on the street, hadn’t wished to get a closer look at his face, weirdly intrigued, an almost magnetic pull to that man that you had seen for all of thirty minutes. 

Then he kept coming back. Always in the middle of the day, never sitting in the same spot, never staying longer than an hour.

Eventually, after weeks of your eyes trailing his movements, you decided to take the leap. 

“You must really like this type of art,” you say quietly, sitting down next to him, hoping that he’ll catch the joking undertone in your voice. 

His responding chuckle, a rich, deep sound from his throat, has a pleasant shiver running through you. 

“You want to know the truth?” 

You hum, not wanting to appear overly eager, but the entirety of your attention focused on him. 

“I just— It’s not really about the art. I just like coming here during my lunch break. My type of work is very… demanding.” He clears his throat, his voice stumbling over the word. “Coming here makes me feel further away from it. It’s—” He hesitates for a second, searching for the right expression.

“Quiet,” you finish for him. 

He nods, a small smile playing on his lips. You’re mesmerized, so close to him now, finally able to take in his deep brown eyes, to let your gaze linger on his plush lips for just a second. Just long enough that you’ll be able to remember. 

He heaves a sigh, standing up. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. Sorry.” One hand rubs over his face.

“No, don’t be. It was nice meeting you—?” 

“Javier,” he says. 

You provide your own name in return, smiling, trying to not think about how warm his hand is, how it’s dwarfing yours as he shakes it. 

You don’t always talk to him after that, not wanting to disturb the quiet and peacefulness that he’s seeking here. But you keep looking at him, keep thinking about him. Keep wishing for more, but are too shy to pursue it. 

He nods and smiles at you every time though, and it’s the highlight of your day every time. Sometimes he comes to you, chats with you. You start to notice the subtle differences in his demeanor, how when his shoulders seem particularly tense, he likes to keep to himself, how the smile he gives you then doesn’t reach his eyes. 

When two weeks pass by without a sign of him, you try your hardest not to worry. Maybe he had to travel somewhere for his work. Maybe he’s on vacation. Surely he’s fine. 

However, you promise yourself, that if— when he comes back, you’re gonna have to be braver. Ask for what you want. Ask to meet him, outside of these halls. 

He does come back. Looking tired, circles under his eyes and shoulders slumped like he’s carrying an enormous weight on them. Still, you ask him. Certain that if you don’t do it now, you never will.

His lips curl up in a weak smile, remorse painting his gaze. You know at this moment that you’re not gonna see him again.

“You don’t want that, sweetheart.”

thank you for reading! please consider leaving a comment or reblogging if you enjoyed this :)

[emssturniolo]

hey, uh... can i tell you something ?

pairing: christopher sturniolo x reader

summary: after coming out to the triplets as bisexual, chris worries he has no chance of being with you, and you worry you have no chance of being with him

warnings: reader is bisexual with a preference to women ! aka me

a/n: i hate this, but i want to start posting again :) sorry if it disappoints and happy reading

you had been friends with the triplets for a while, but there was something none of them knew about you. your sexuality. something you had come to terms with when you were around seventeen, but now that you were twenty, you were yet to build up the courage to tell your year-long friends. nick had come out to you early on in your friendship, but you didn't want to make his moment yours, so at that moment you said nothing about you being bisexual

now you had a preference for women. a much bigger preference, actually. however that still didn't stop you from developing a crush on chris the moment you met the triplets - and now that you had been hanging out with them everyday for the past seven months, and having even met their parents, you were downbad to a point of no return

you knew though, that if you ever wanted to get with chris, you'd have to let him know about your sexuality beforehand, just in case he wasn't comfortable - which was highly unlikely since he was the most loving an d accepting person you knew, but just to make sure

so here you were, on the couch playing mario kart with the triplets on the couch in their house in la, when you had been not focused on the game at all the entire night, trying to figure out when the right time would be to tell them you're bisexual. you had no idea why your head had made it this big of a deal, but there was no changing it. it was just up to you to build the courage to say it. you were cut out of your train of thought when the doorbell rang, jumping slightly. chris was quick to put his hand on you back and pat his hand up and down to comfort you. you turned cherry red at the sudden contact, thanking fuck that your back was facing him

“food !” nick jumped from his spot on the couch and ran down towards the front door to grab the mcdonalds you guys had ordered earlier. you told yourself it would be calmer if you said what you needed to say while you guys ate, so when you had open packages of chicken nuggets and big macs and fries on the sofa you swallowed the food in your mouth and spoke up: “hey, uh... can i tell you something ?” this rose all three heads up from their places, all with looks of concern or curiosity, leading to a ‘yeah’ ‘sure’ and ‘obviously’ simultaneously. you had gotten yourself into a position you couldn't run away from, so you took a deep breath in and rambled a quick “i know this is hella random and i should have told you guys this a long time ago but i never found the time, but yeah, uh, i'm bisexual-” you exhaled, out of breath from the amount of words that came out of your mouth in those three seconds

matt shrugged and said “that's all you had to say ? don't worry about that shit when you're with us, we don't mind” - nick was giving you a look that said girl, we all knew and chris was looking at you with a caring smile, but something in his eyes made him look worried, but you didn't want to overthink it so you said nothing and happily accepted the hug he leaned in for. then when you pulled apart he gave a sweet reassuring “doesn't make a difference to us”, the sweet smile on his face never dissappearing, yet that questioning look in his eyes remained

★

after more games of mario kart, nick and matt went to bed, which left you and chris to clear up the living room and kitchen. while doing so, chris cleared his throat and looked up at you, which you caught onto having been worrying that you lost any chances of being with him after coming out. he spoke up and in a cute but sleepy tone asked “can i ask you something, about what you like,,, told us earlier ?” and nodded and hummed an ‘mhmm’, and he continued - “i don't know if this is too much to ask, but do you have preferences ? like would you rather date a man than a woman or woman than a man ?” you smiled as he asked the question, your heart warm from thinking that he was just showing you he cared for you, and answered his question, “no, that's okay to ask ! i uh, yeah, i have a preference to women. i don't know why, it's just i find it easier for some reason, ya know ?” you said, trying to make him understand that you weren't completely opposed to dating a man, or you were unless it was him, but you weren't going to tell him that

and he hummed and asked another question

“would you date a man ?- sorry this is weird, i'm sorry”

“no, i don't mind chris, don't worry” though you were questioning his curiosity, you continued to answer his questions

“i mean it depends, it just would have to be like, a really really really nice guy, i kinda find it hard to like them as more than a friend, i don't know it's weird-” he cut you off

“no i get it, yeah, i understand. last question, sorry i'm just genuinely like- i don't know”

“don't worry chris, go ahead, i really don't mind ! i promise”

“have you ever had a- no you know what i'm doing too much. sorry” he apologized, but you knew what he was going to ask, so you answered his question

“i have a crush on a man, chris. don't be scared to ask i promise you i genuinely don't mind-”

“wait have, as in,,, right now ?” he seemed hurt, but sureley he didn't care if you did, no ?

“yeah, i uh. i don't know how he feels though, so i might just try to lose it, really” you confessed

you looked up at him and smiled with a tint of pink on your cheeks, which he caught onto

“wait, is it- matt?” he asked, to which you giggled and said “wrong brother”

chris paused his movements and turned to you, leaning against the counter, not regretting a word you said due to the expression on his face - a big, wide, happy smile. the happiest smile you'd ever seen on him

“you like me ?” he said through a laugh. and you copied his laugh-like sentence and replied, “yeah”

“so am i meant to like, kiss you now?- can you tell i've never done this before” he said, giggling

“listen, i've done this as many time as you have. i don't know, but if ya want to then, yeah sure. you can kiss me (?)”

he ran up to you in a little cute walk and kissed you slowly, passionately, with nothing but pure love

:)

[phopollo]

I would absolutely love to hear more of your thoughts about a Starlight Express cartoon

And also your designs are so cool. I love how you drew Rusty especially 😁

SHAKING SO HARD

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING, AND I REALLY LIKE HOW MY RUSTY CAME OUT TOO

HOO OKAY, S o (I'm so sorry, I'm about to get RAMBLY and this is probably going to be a long post, I'll try to do something so it's not all just a chunk of text but I'm on mobile, there's only so much I can do)

There's roughly 2 main ways a StEx cartoon could be tackled

We follow the general plot of the musical (there's races going on to determine who the fastest train in the world is)

We completely toss the plot of the musical out

Before I jump too far into things, I'll put it out there that I am thinking of this not like they are toy trains being played with by a child, things are just happening, this is their own little world and trains are just people for whatever reason

Now let me explain myself on that second one real quick, because there's a couple different ways you could go about that too

It could be like an "post musical events" kind of thing-- or-- it could pull a bit of a cuphead show, take these characters and one piece of the plot and make something new (I'd say probably Rusty wanting to race would make the most sense)

I feel like both could be really fun and playful honestly, and they'd both have their pros and cons (pre established relationships vs having to get through introductions, having certain interactions set in stone vs being able to give them a new little twist or have something new happen/affect it, etc etc)

But then, of course, there's also the option that it would roughly follow the plot of the musical

I feel like easily, if we didn't change any of the plot and we kept roughly the same timeline of everything happening in a day or two, Starlight Express could make a modern day 8-12 episode season

However, because the modern day 8-12 episode season system SUCKS, and I feel like there's so much more that could be explored;

I think Stex as a cartoon could also do really well if it were a cartoon that started a little more episodically but became more serialized, leading to the world championship of the musical being like more of a season finale kind of thing

Honestly, I haven't really decided which one I'd want to go with-- I'm very drawn to there being a plot, which sways me towards the idea of following what we already have plot wise in some way-- but the opportunity to explore and have more character, maybe even something more slice of life, that would come with it being post race or more cuphead show-like is also really endearing to me

Because I haven't decided what's going on with that though, I haven't really been able to come up with actual solid ideas for any of the options too far in one direction, because I keep coming up with them and then going "Oh but what if it's not that kind"

Other than some fun little world building-- I was actually working on a post for one of my little world building ideas when I got this ask haha

Here's some of the visuals for it, as an apology for such a big long wordy post akdnskd

[arkngth]

Antonio doodle/info dump since he was around last month :3

left is the most recent doodles before i knew he'd be coming back

right is the first drawings of him (coincidentally exactly a year ago from June 1st)

more uncolored doodles n sketches. i kinda draw Antonio the most, but i rarely post about him (been gatekeepmaxxing)

last drawings that i actually still kinda like.. i have much more, i just don't like how they look anymore lmao

rambling wall of text infodump below the cut cuz i am just so autistic about this character LMAO sorry i'm a yapper-

anyway, contrary to popular belief, Antonio is actually my favorite RP character. just in general. and i've never actually seen him live until the other day. unbeknownst to me, i was waiting for a whole year to be able to actually see him live, i think i was more excited about it than cc!anthony was 💀

which might contribute to my love for him bc i had to piece him together like a puzzle from everyone else's POVs and clips n stuff. so at first i didn't want him to come back bc i was afraid he'd be different from the Antonio i made up in my head... but then. i haven't sat n watched, at mostly full attention, a whole stream for 7 hours in a while LOL

when i watched cc!buddha's rdrp vods a year ago n saw Antonio, i thought to myself "oh no... Tony isn't actually my new muse is he...?". and for a while i didn't draw him bc i didn't have any ideas + i didn't really know how to draw him. but i did know that when i did learn how to draw him, it'd be over for me (i wouldn't want to draw anyone else, and i was right oops 😭)

my idea of Antonio is he's just a dumb, impulsive, silly little theatre kid that got wrapped up in being an outlaw bc of Wu n Dot after his house burned down. they woulda been moving around in old box cars wherever the trains took them. Dot dies before the events of WildRP(headcanon), and Wu to me, is the autistic kid that follows Antonio around bc he talks a lot n has charisma lolol. also, to me, Wu is not as evil as he was intended to be, he just follows in Sonny's footsteps who's calculated n violent. While Antonio chooses Cesare's path to be more diplomatic and focuses more on his reputation. Antonio can't win a fight to save his life, and i love him for it. he thinks he's scary n dangerous, but to me, he couldn't hurt a fly hehe. i mean, one of the first things he did in the crossing was host a talent show at the local theatre. i'm a big fan of pathetic men, what can i say.

speaking of, i love how pathetically in love he is with Renni. and i love how, despite how much they like each other, they never actually get together n still respect each other as friends. they are the embodiment of the saying "if you love something let it go, if it comes back its yours" but without the last part.. they are so tragic to me.

in the last 3.5 years of watching rp, i've never had any character or character dynamic make me cry. like, as much as i love how doomed n toxic Donnie/Lang is, i've teared up a bit, but they've never made me cry just thinking about them. but Antonio, n by extension, his relationship with Renni, has made me cry multiple times just thinking about them 😭 and yeah, i cried the other day when Antonio was thinking about Renni LOL

idk why he's the character that changes my brain chemistry, but uh. he is. i've literally never rambled about a character so much online, sorry for the great wall of text bc of it.. i'm usually masking so hard a lot of the time, but i've been wanting to talk about Antonio for so long with no one to yap to so, yknow.. he gets me to unmask and i also love him for that :']

[sapphickocho]

hihi bestie heehee i am here to drop shit abt ur au now cuz u did to mine so YES. (it's abt the tokito traitor au btw <3)

1. yui would take so many habits from koku just because (ex. like talking so slow, staring off to the distance, death stare, etc.) he would most prob remind lower rank demon slayers to respect the heirarchy

2. mui would ramble so much shit to koku that sometimes koku can't keep up (ex. what happened during his missions, what he did today like what he ate, etc.)

3. mui is known to sleep heavily even to loud noises, so who knows yui would do the same, before they were demon slayers koku has to protect their asses from other demons attacking them.

4. there would be one game they would play with koku is try to guess which tokito twin is which, they have to look exactly like eachother and koku has to guess (for mui's left arm he would hide it in a long baggy sleeve), but koku would always guess correctly cuz of the see through world lmao

5. yui would mostly remind him of himself cause of how similar they are in some ways, thanks to that koku is much more harsher on yui when training (he doesn't know why but he guesses cause he only has one arm hehe)

6. koku is more softer w mui at times cuz of how he reminds him of yoriichi he would do things that would make him seem out of character with mui, like... a protective older brother 👀, koku doesn't really like how similar mui is to yoriichi but he keeps it to himself, also there might be times were koku freezes up over something mui said that really reminded of yoriichi 🥺

also sorry ramble hehe, it was my turn HEHEHHEEHE enjoy these, hcs/ideas? eh- anyways love ya! can't wait to see for whats to come!!! ❤️❤️❤️

YES YES YES THIS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME !!

I have so many thoughts about this !!

First of all for context, this is a refence to this post here.

So for the first one, yuichiro would TOTALLY do that. All of the lowermoons are absolutely terrified of him because he is like a mini version of koku and if any of them act up he doesn't need all six eyes to death stare them. It shuts them up easily. I feel like he would also talk in fancy traditional words that confuse tf out of the hashiras + the kamaboko squad since koku talks like the sengoku period and well, yuichiro idolizes him.

2. This reminds me of the fact that muichiro would totally talk shit about people behind there back. And you know who hes telling it too? Our one and only number 1 dad! Kokushibo is just tired of hearing demonslayer corps gossip because he cant follow along.

3. Oh for sure. I bet he was also especially nervous when they went through final selection and he couldnt protect them. especially since they had to sleep during those seven days.

4. He would totally play along tho, so he would be like "hmmmm this is so difficult.....Yuichiro is on the left."

5. poor yuichiro but YES this exactly!! Koku would often be like "Your not strong enough to protect your bother" and "Your worthless if you let him die" to motivate him but also because it feels like he is talking to the child version of himself, and all the stuff he wants to say so things can turn out diffrently.

6.🥺 stoppp thats so cute. and its so true. muichiro would look at him with his big eyes that have the same look as yoriichri's and kokushibo would have to look away. Its just. too cute.

what if kokushibo gives him a gift and muichiro says "I'll cherish it, like it was you" and suddenly koku is getting whiplash to how similar the words were to when his brother said it all those years ago.

Thank you so much!! Feel free to drop your ideas in my inbox anytime ♥♥♥♥

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

Is it me or do other people find it jarring how Taika's haters try and distort reality and act like everyone loves him and they are the only one? Or that everyone acts like he's perfect and heaps him with praise for doing the bare minimum when from what I've seen no one who actually likes him does that.

I've seen people like 'if you're cancelling the last of us cancel ofmd cos Taika is zionist scum who supports genocide'.

Hi Anon! Oh interesting question. I don't know if I've personally seen a lot of that specific situation where they think everyone is blindly supporting him (I do tend to block after a certain point so maybe that's why?). If I'm understanding you correctly it sounds a lot like they're seeing any support of Taika as "HE IS PERFECT AND NO ONE SHALL CHALLENGE HIM" when most people who support him know he's not perfect (as no one is) and we accept him anyway.

Which is one of the things OFMD really drives home-- you're not perfect, that's okay! You can do better if you mess up! You are deserving of being forgiven!

Which I mean, in general I think that really points to your first point, that folks who are mad at him are kind of living in this distorted reality. But also too... I've seen this a lot in my personal life with ... various folks that some people see the world in a very black and white state. They see things as "if it's not this, it MUST mean THIS" -- in this case "If people support Taika, it MUST BE BECAUSE THEY THINK HES PERFECT", same with "If he asked for hostages to be released, HE MUST BE SUPPORTIVE OF GENOCIDE".

--- sorry long post is long, I'm in a rambling mood today sorry!---

Which.. to be fair there's a lot of cultural training for that.. as some folks have put in tags of other posts, it's lack of critical thinking and questioning skills. I know where I grew up they were super big into us questioning everything, but when I talk to some friends who grew up in other states here in the US, they didn't get the same focus on critical thinking in public school, and got more of it in college (and not everyone can afford to go to college). I had a really cool 11th grade English teacher who showed us a video in class one day. It was a parody of a documentary and was explaining how the earth was flat (which we didn't know at the time, they didn't tell us this wasn't real). It was weird because it didn't come out and say "the earth was flat" though, it came out with kind of vaguely reasonable sounding arguments from people with "Dr" in front of their name.

I remember looking at my friend who was really confused too and saying something like "wait is this for real?" and them shrugging at me. It wasn't until this part of the video where there's literally cows running around Antarctica that a lot of us were like, "wait this is totally not real". That English teacher.. after we got done with the movie started asking us when it was that we started questioning the validity of the video, and then went into this whole lecture about how especially when we're young, we're so used to just being FED information that sometimes we get fed completely false information and we just DONT know it. The whole exercise was all about questioning and critical thinking skills and how not every "teacher" or "doctor" is going to be as qualified as they try to tell you they are.

I found that whole exercise really eye opening because I had never really thought of people purposely trying to bias my education like that before. I'm sure there's thousands of ways that people learn these kinds of skills (and I know mine aren't perfect) but I found that one to really hit home-- so imagine never being taught that. Never being taught that if you start feeling like the thing being said doesn't sound quite right to question it.

Now of course, some folks are purposefully ignorant and that's a whole other issue, but I do think we need better critical thinking education all over the world (but especially in America what with the vastly different education depending on which region you're in).

ANYWAY omg im sorry -- I dont know if I even really addressed your point, so I apologize if I didn't (the ADHD is strong today I tell you)-- so if I didn't please let me know and I'll try again!

I hope the trolls aren't getting to you too much today, sending love anon <3

[leennaan]

A/N this is not my art I got it from pinterest all cred to the artist

A/N also posted on my Wattpad: @ leennaan

I am sorry but this is not proofread

@curiousgalacticsoul here is your request. Sorry that it took me so long but some stuff happend. But anyways here it is:

Endgame's battle of Earth is done, Nat's alive. Now romanogers can finally retire from superhero life and life a peaceful life, maybe near pepperony's home

Endgame's battle of Earth is done, Nat's alive. Now romanogers can finally retire from superhero life and life a peaceful life, maybe near pepperony's home

Today was the 15th of June 2024.

Almost one year after the war against Thanos.

It was one of the most scary days in Steve’s life and at the same time one of the best.

If somebody had told him a year ago that they would win and get everybody back he wouldn’t have believed it.

But here he was, standing in front of a big window looking over the big garden they shared with Tony and Pepper. A long table was standing in front of the Stark house. He could see Pepper decorating the table. Tony was running around with little Morgan, his arm better but still not fully functional. He smiled while watching the small family outside, preparing for Morgan’s Birthday-Party.

A knock on the bedroom door interrupted his train of thoughts.

“Steve?! Are you ready? Pepper is probably already waiting for us.”

He smiled as soon as he heard the voice. Natasha was standing in the door, arms crossed and a small smile on her lips.

Every time he looked at her, he couldn’t believe that she was really there.

The few hours he believed she was dead, were the worst of his life.

The moment she walked out of one of Stranges portals, with her signature smirk, would be forever burned into his brain. The relief he felt when she hugged him, after they won, when he could feel that she was truly there and not just an imagination of his brain.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

Natasha was now standing directly in front of him, her arms wrapped around his shoulder.

“Just how lucky I am to be standing here today, with you by my side. All our friends joining us today to celebrate Morgan’s sixth birthday. I love you, Nat.”

He bent down and connected their lips in a sweet kiss.

“I love you too. Now common, we really need to get going.”

Together they walked outside and then the short path over to Peppers and Tony’s house. They greeted the small family and congratulated the little girl.

“Auntie Nat, Uncle Steve!

Look what Daddy got me! “ Morgan was running up to them with full speed, a little robot similar to Dum-E following her.

Steve and Natasha kneeled down to greet Morgan and to look at her new friend.

“Daddy says he had one just like me now. I named him Griffin, after Harry Potters House! Mommy let me watch the first one together with Peter last time he visited and I want to be in Gryffindor just like Harry.” Rambled Morgan.

She looked cute like that.

“He looks really nice! Griffin is such a good name for your little friend!” Sayed Natasha while she hugged the girl. Griffin standing next to them watching their interaction.

“Uhh I really enjoyed watching Harry Potter when I watched it with Nat. Next time you visited we should watch the second Movie if your Mother allows.”

“Oh yay! Can we? I am going to ask Mummy right away!”

And before either of the two adults could say anything else, Morgan was running away on her search for her Mother.

Steve stood up from his crouching position and held out his hand to help Nat up.

“Come on, let’s great the others.”

While the couple chatted with the birthday girl, some of the others arrived.

Wanda and Vision where standing with Pepper, a big wrapped box in Wandas hands. Morgan was running up to them happy, to see another aunt and kind of uncle of hers.

Clint, Laura and the kids had just arrived and where now walking the path down to them. “Auntie Nat! Uncle Steve! I missed you sooo sooo much!” Nathaniel was the first who spotted them and flung himself into Steve’s arms, who catched him and hoisted him up on his hip.

“We missed you too buddy! How is school? You have to tell me everything!”

While they talked almost everyone else arrived and the birthday party was in full swing.

Around noon it was time for the cake. Everyone was seated around the table, talking and having fun.

Steve had his arm slung around Natasha’s shoulders, while she was talking to Wanda.

He was so happy, that everything turned out like this. That they could be sitting here together as one big family, celebrating Morgan’s Birthday and just enjoying life. But his thoughts were interrupted by a long whistle and Natasha’s head snapped around, whistling back almost immediately. When he looked up to Natasha’s and his house he could make out a small person, who he knew was Yelena, Natasha’s sister.

Natasha had told him about her in the five years of the blip and after they brought everyone back Natasha had tried to contact her for ages, but no luck. Turned out, someone had told Yelena that Natasha had died while fighting against Thanos and she had gone rought. Trying to find the one she thought was responsible for her death. Long story short around the Easter holidays Clint was visiting New York with his kids and Yelena found him, they fought and Clint told her what really happened and afterwards Yelena and Natasha reconnected again.

Natasha had stood up and was now walking towards Yelena, who he now saw wasn’t standing alone. Another woman was standing next to her, taller than Yelena but he couldn’t say who it was.

When they arrived at the table everyone was joyful to see Yelena again. And while everyone greeted the her the other woman was standing next to Clint and his family greeting them and talking to them. “Everyone, may I Introduce you to the new Hawkeye! This is Kate we met while I was in New York, I helped her with some problems and she helped me with Yelena over here!”

“Hey! She did not help you! She was trying to fight me with Hot sauce!”

“Come one Yel. We said we wouldn’t talk about it. Anyways. Hey everyone I am Kate. Kate Bishop. Big fan of you guys. Nice to meet you all.”

It was good to see, that eventho the original Avengers we’re slowly retiring, someone else was brave enough to stand up and do the work.

Steve and Natasha had agreed to stop with the avenging and while he had given Sam the Shield, Natasha had a long talk with Yelena and she agreed to step into her sisters shoes, at least for know.

So now they were sitting all together, new and old generation and just talking about the good things in life.

He jumped a bit when ge heard Nat whispering in his ear. “You are thinking really loud.”

He had to chuckle before he answers her. “ Just thinking about how lucky we are. How lucky I am to have this family. That I have you by my side. I Love you Nat.” The smile that she gave him was a real one. One he saw more and more since they retired. “I love you too, Steve. I am so happy to be here with all of you, and especially you.”

When he leaned in to kiss her. He heard none other than Tony wolf whistle. “Get a room you too.”

Yeah. They were lucky to have this. Family.

All was Well.

[cannedbabs]

Hi hi hi! So I'm kinda in love with your Jack x reader fic, I'm especially impressed with how in-character you keep him. I know you find soft!Jack to be a little difficult to write for, but your headcanons on that are just 👌*chefs kiss*, tbh. More on that, I've been playing around with the idea of a childhood friend s/o. Just somebody who's completely used to him being how he is and doesn't shy away from it. Do you think he would feel more comfortable to be soft around them or what? Or just any thoughts you have on the dynamic tbh! Thanks!

So sorry for not posting in.. so long!! Been in a slump!! BUT!! I wanted to give my take on this!! (Not necessarily headcanon formatted but!!)

Tbh yeah, he would be a little soft on them? But you also have to take into consideration his metaphorical growth as a person. I am big and heavy on the idea that Jack believes “Little Jack” is dead, as he says, and basically all from that horrible part of his childhood is gone. The traveling wagon shows, his family owned brand is now HIS brand, etc. he may associate you/the friend with bad memories due to it (or may have bad association if the friend is magical in some aspect). A general jealousy thing!

But it would he a case of “well I sort of knew you so now your basically a mutual. Due to what we were through we are strangers with memories, and i don’t Automatically hate you” but it would just be general respect. If any of his childhood is brought up he tries to shut that train of thought down real quick unless its to gloat. If your mentioning any of the parts he deemed to have cut out he is quick to remind you that he isnt like that anymore. Even talk about his personal life is dismissed (but he exaggerates it to fuck with you. He’s a gloating bastard, but hes not an idiot. all this “Useless crap like that” lines is basically fishing for a reaction, he LIKES taunting and being an arrogant asshole, it makes him feel powerful)

Though the biggest thing with Jack, and it is apparent by the s/o being completely used to this, is to not give him that power. No reaction? Not giving what he wants? Hes quick to deflate. In the movie Puss is talking him up like he’s the scariest monster in the movie (“this is why you dont cross Jack Horner!” “Robbing from big Jack Horner? Tsk tsk, very risky.”) but thats what makes him ‘scary’ is this persona he is built. He isnt magic. He is just a guy who owns a PIE FACTORY. Deflating makes him prone to being a little more vulnerable and open by proxy, and its not something he does on purpose by any means. Though it’s a case of you need to sort of make him falter before you can see genuine feeling come from him, and with most shipping situations that wall is hard to break but due to the closeness the s/o and Jack shared… it would break easier.

It would definitely lead to more personal talks, especially if the s/o experienced it first hand way back when. Jack doesnt need to inflate his backstory, they already know it, and especially if he tried but they corrected him? He wouldnt really try lying about it again unless it was minute details. Maybe in this he would let them be more touchy, too. The opportunity to play with Jack’s hair? Sign me up 😳

Sorry this was formatted so weird I just sorta rambled!! And like stated sorry I completely disappeared im going through some busy life stuff atm and kinda not on a lot of social media <3 but I’ll be back, and hopefully with an updated chapter!!!

[swampythesweetsketch]

Sorry I got Pink Ninja AU on the brain this evening and :]

Stuff under cut cause I am going to ramble

SO ACRONIX

I Have not said this officially in any post yet and since this au is gonna be retired sometime in the future I think it's only fair to give the full backstory to what the hell has been going on with the timeline.

So hear we go! The OG timeline.

Warning for mentions of abuse, murder, and essentially skybound 2.0(?)

In the timeline, the EMs had to deal with not just the Serpentine spurred by Chen, but with the royal ninjagen empire.

The Emperor wanted EMs to become private soldiers for their armies, but some of the EMs are from neighboring kingdoms so- no???

Anyways, Acronix wanted nothing more than to start figuring out what the hell to do with his life. With him and Krux the youngest EMs of the group, they were tasked with protecting the kin of the current EMs. Cue Lilly.

Lilly was old enough to inherent Earth but her dad sucks and is kind of sexist, but jokes on him. Lilly is his only child and he's too old by the time he tries looking for a successor.

Lilly and Aceonix train and hang out during their time waiting out the worst of the Serpentine War and fall in love.

Krux wasn't happy that his only family was starting to go off on their own, so Krux started causing issues and pushing for him and Acronix to have more power in the group.

Siding with Chen, Acronix finds his brother intentionally being evil and tries to talk him out of it. It doesn't work, Acronix then goes along with it to hopefully get his brother back.

Well you know how that goes. He can't convince Krux, suspects that the council will take away their powers somehow, and he'll have to be imprisoned.

HE WAS NOT EXPECTING A TIME VORTEX TO TRAP HIM FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

Before the vortex, he met with Lilly one night to talk things over. She knows what he's been up to and wants him to stop. But he can't, he has to convince Krux to stop. But if he keeps siding with Krux...

How will he ever be there for his child?

And there we have it folks. The big twist.

Acronix is Cole's father.

Lilly thought she had to raise Cole alone, but Lou was always there. Even if he was only Lilly's best friend, he loved her.

Cole never knew his bio dad, but he did know the man that actually raised him before his mother passed.

And as years passed, Cole grew up in a small town and eventually moved closer to the city when his mom became sick.

There he met Candyce. The two were set in the same class and became instant friends.

But Candyce's family were known to be low-level royals. A connection to one of the royal cousins through her father. But his dream was to bake, and that infuriated the wife he married. Who only married him for his status.

What Candyce didn't know was that on her mother's side, their family were the few of EMs to join the empire. Her family were known to hold the power of Fauna, to turn into animals.

Her oldest brother, Lillard, got the power. And her mom encouraged him to use it in the worst way possible. And he did.

Candyce and Cole ran away a bit after Lilly died, and things progressed further.

Lillard was caught doing horrific things, but falsely promising change from him- his mother sent him off to a school deeper in the city to keep him from serving any time in juvie and eventually prison.

At the school, his main goal was to party around, ruin more lives, and live long enough to get his mothers's spot back in the royal family.

Along his massive list of ruined lives, Jay was sadly in it. He got a scholarship to go, and as a freshman, barely 14- he met Lillard, 19, and turned 20 only a month in dating.

Lillard did unspeakable things to Jay, and Jay ran for it when worst came to shove. Lillard ran after him, tried to kill Jay, but several witnesses were starting to catch onto the scene and Lillard bolted, leaving Jay to die and Wu to discover them barely alive at the side of a sewer canal.

Jay lived, and terrified of Lillard getting ahold of him, agreed to join Wu.

Zane was a bit after, thankfully unharmed by anything, and the four (Candyce, Cole, Jay, and Zane) all lived in the Monastery with Wu training them.

Lillard eventually got what he wanted. But for him to secure a place back in the Emperor's rank, he was tasked to investigate rumors of a old enemy (Wu) recruiting new members for the Elemental Council.

Lillard tracks down the four, and finds Jay there. With Cole. He's not happy to know he had a EM in his grasp a year ago, but he figured capturing Jay and killing the rest would be enough.

He tries following them back to the Monastery, but found that he couldn't find the stair leading up the mountain. Like a mental fog over took him while he searched.

He then plotted to stake out the base of the mountain for some of the group to come back down.

And one day, he got them.

Cole and Candyce were lazing about when Wu chastised them, and for an idea- why not go hiking? The two were used to moving through thick forest terrain. And the two did kinda miss being free spirits.

They head down, they play and bicker, and eventually they get to a point where they feel they can sit down for water and snacks.

They hear rustling from the bushes.

They freeze up unsure of what's near them.

Something rushes from the bushes.

Candyce tries to shield herself.

Cole jumps in the way.

Lillard kills Cole. And Candyce watches in horror.

She pulls a blade she took in the case of cutting down blocking debris, but it was used to slash at Lillard's face. Cutting at his eyes and nose.

She didn't know it was him, as he was in the form of a beast.

As Lillard retreated, Candyce grabbed Cole and hurried back to the Monastery screaming for help. But it was far too late.

Wu blamed himself for the next few years, thinking if he hadn't sent the two down, then Cole would still be alive. That the odd beast that attacked them may of hunted for anything other than them.

Candyce shut herself off from the others, blaming herself for not reacting fast enough. If she did, then Cole wouldn't of jumped in front of her.

Jay and Zane mourned their friends and tried keeping spirits up, but they were broken. Jl

Jay loved Cole, but he never moved past the pain of his last relationship to confess. Zane loved Candyce, but she pushed him away and refused his comfort.

Two years later, and Kai joined. He wanted to rescue his sister and Nya was back in record time.

Jay tried moving on and took interest in Nya, but something felt off about her. He can't put his finger on it.

Lloyd joins, and Candyce is quick to take him in against the others' complaints. But Lloyd reminds her of when Cole was young and bratty, acting like he was the defacto leader of their adventures, and that helped cheer her up a bit.

The great battle happens. Without Cole, Lloyd's powers are not dulled enough to keep the golden power from consuming him and Garmadon. Both son and father die.

Then the Overlord returns, Zane sacrifices himself. And a year later, the lure to rescue him from Chen's Island is a total lie.

Wu goes to the Cursed Realm to stop Chen's Faux-Anacondrai war. Leaving Misako to soon abandon the rest of the surviving Ninja.

Nya and Kai decide to leave, and they take Jay with them. Jay, with no Cole to quarrel with, never broke up with Nya. And the three leave Candyce alone up on the mountain.

Candyce tries to pull help from previous allies, even the new EMs that have chosen to use their powers to help the public. But something is stirring, and the Empire once again are trying to hunt after the new EMs for their private armies.

Back with the three, Kai notices that Nya's anger has made her more and more unhinged. Spotting her destroying (Jay's) things, messing up (Jay's) things, blaming others for her problems. He catches on that Jay is terrified of Nya, and he already covers his face or covers when his sister is raging.

He pulls Jay aside when Nya goes off on her own mission as Samurai X, and Jay confesses that Nya is heavily reminding him of his abusive ex. And while she's only screamed and broken his things, at least she hasn't beaten him.

Kai is sickened, guilty that he's seen his sister effectively become a abuser in their own home. And he decides right there that it was for the best if Jay was removed from the house.

The two pack up and quickly leave in the night before Nya can wake, and they go back to the one spot they know they can safely rest. The Monastery.

Candyce is surprised to see them, but it happy they're back at all. She told what Nya has been doing and she agrees to let Jay stay. Kai wants to go back and talk to Nya.

But as he returns to Ignacia- the rice farmers and neighbors are telling him that his family home has burned to the ground, and Nya was nowhere to be found.

He goes back to Jay and Candyce to tell them what's up, but hears frightening news. Nya, in her worst rage yet, went and about destroyed the Junkyard to scare Ed and Edna into telling her where Jay and her brother were.

The three decide that they should rally the EMs and look to vacate asap. If Nya didn't find Jay and Kai at the Junkyard, then her next stop was most likely the Monastery.

Skylor agrees to let them hide on her father's old island, freed to the Kabuki Girls, who now run the place with Skylor's financial assistance. The EMs meet back to hear about Nya's rampage and the Empire's revived plan to capture them.

Meanwhile, Acronix has been released from the vortex and is tracked down by Krux. It's not long for him to realize his brother has not changed. At all. In fact, he's gotten worse.

Krux has taken pay from the Emperor to create and raise the Vermillion Army to strengthen the numbers against the new Elemental Alliance. And since he hasn't been around for about 20 years now, it's best if Acronix got the run down of what Krux has done in the short amount of time given.

He's tracked down and killed Arthur (the previous Ice EM), kidnapped and gifted Libby to King Vangelis to bear his only child, he's trapped Ray and Maya on the threat of killing their children! Oh- and the best part-

Krux had successfully worked with Vangelis alongside the Emperor to poison and slowly kill Lilly.

Acronix is... he's...

He asks where Ray and Maya are being kept. Krux says the small shed in the middle of the Vermillion Swamp.

Are they alive. Yes.

Was it worth it? Krux says it will be when they're the ones ruling Ninjago in the end.

Acronix waits for his brother to turn away. He cannot believe that he's been so foolish. All this time he was trying to steer away a fate he thought Krux was blind to.

But Krux knew all along what he wad doing.

So Acronix chews on his decision, asking Krux more questions. And Krux is happy that he has his dumb little twin listening to him like old times...

And time ran out for Krux. The second he had his back exposed, Acronix used a sharp metal strip he took earlier from Krux's workbench- and stabbed him dead.

He didn't know what to do with the body, but looking at it- all Acronix could see was a younger version of his brother bleeding out, gasping for air as the life seeped out of them. Like back in the war, before Krux went down this path.

Acronix somehow wishes he could've left his brother for dead back then, if he knew of the future. But now it's... it's too late. He can't save his love, his son is dead. God knows what was or is the fate to the remaining kids involved.

He frees Ray and Maya, and with the Vermillion under his control (as told by Krux), he chooses to use the snakes to seek out any EMs to make contact with.

But Ray and Maya are distraught, showing their powers are again working for them.

Which means-

Cut back to a month.

The EMs have been dealing with the Emperor sending waves of soldiers after them, and having to battle their own in some capacity. EMs that've long since deemed lost or missing due to them joining the royal ranks.

Nya is among them, as Lillard has tracked her down. Spilling lies to her angry heart that Wu was a villain, using her and her brother to usurp the Emperor as per his and Garmadon's ultimate plan made way long ago.

A final fight was pushed to the Emperor's palace where most EMs were captured, but the trio had evaded the royal army. As Candyce went to break them free, Kai and Jay confronted Nya.

Jay went down first, then Kai-

Then Candyce snuck up from behind and chopped Nya's head off.

The place was in flames, falling apart. And Candyce only raced back to her friends' side only to arrive too late. Even with Nya dead, she felt like no one was really saved in the end.

The palace was consumed by flames, she was trapped with nowhere to go. So she sat there, waiting for the flames to eat her.

Acronix, Ray and Maya, and the escaped EMs watched on with pain as the last of the Palace remains were picked though, bodies of royal and EMs were found.

The surviving retreated back to the island to talk about what to do. Even with Ray back, the other Elements of Creation were gone to the wind.

Machia, the commander at that point, spoke to Acronix of Krux's true plan. To go back to the past and change fate to where the Time Twins were the victors.

Acronix didn't doubt for a second that Krux never let their defeat leave his head. Hell- it what motivated the monster behind the scenes.

The time blades are brought back to focus, and the EMs agree to track them down. If not a full reset, then at least to a point where a majority of the Ninja could be saved.

Acronix pushes for him to be the only one to go back. As it was his failure to intervene that caused this massive domino effect. Maya and Ray are suspicious, yet quickly change their tune when reminded of Krux's body left rotting in the museum's hidden dungeon.

They get to Borg, pleading with him to make a machine to help Acronix go back. Pixal urges her father since Zane would then have a chance to live in the new timeline.

With the machine completed, Acronix goes back. A single memory in his head as time warps around him.

... It's a nice calm night, he's standing along a long stream. Stones tiny and circular are stacked in odd towers, and small stagnant pools are full of frogs. The crickets are chirping against the dead silence. Fireflies hug the wet grass and glow in uneven spurses. And not too far from him, a woman approaches.

She's crying, saying something that he can't hear. He tries to recall why his hearing is so bad. And then it comes back. The hours earlier, they had to fight the EM of sound. Their screaming rung his ears and he was uncertain if he was going deaf.

His eyes stay on her lips, reading her words as she tries to beg him. He knows but doesn't know what she's saying. She stops and stares at him, and turns to leave-

"Lilly. Lilly, please stop. Please." He hangs his head down. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Lilly."

He didn't look up to see if she stopped.

"I know. I know what I am doing is wrong. I never should have listened to him. I never should have believed I could change his mind."

Tear bleared his vision, the rocks under his feet meshed into one thick gray haze.

"Please. I don't want to do this. I don't."

His chin was lifted, and in the moonlight was her. Her own tears have dropped.

"Then stop," he barely heard her past the ringing in his ears. "Stop and come back home. Lou is worried about you. I'm worried about you."

He carefully reached out, placing a hand over hers. Squeezing it to make sure it was her and really her.

"I- I have to stop this. I can't let him destroy everything."

"We can stop him, togeth-"

"No. Krux has... I- I know. I know. He has to be stopped. He won't let anyone close to him besides me."

"... Nix..."

"... Go home, Lilly. By the end of this week, Krux will be taken care of. Until then, I want you... I want you to go home, be with him. Stay put, stay safe."

The end of the week came. Krux was ready to storm the Monastery with Acronix by his side.

He was at the doors when he felt a sharp sensation in his chest.

The doors swung open, and the alliance were ready to fight-

Krux staggered in, barely able to get a word out before he dropped to the ground. A sharp dagger lodged right in his back.

There Acronix stood, at the doorway, taking off the ridiculous helmet his brother made them wear to match.

He felt memories ebb away as he watched his brother bleeding out, gasping for air as the life seeped out of them.

He looked to the alliance and stood there as everyone inspected Krux's body and detained him for safety.

But Acronix sighed an air of relief as he saw his brother's body be covered by a sheet.

The timeline was fixed.

[ilsanslut]

hello mx. vampiie! i love your works a lot, tysm for always feeding us with good content ♡ and i hope you're having a good day today! hydration check and meal check ✨

i just wanted to drop by and say this and leave it up to your decision on how to proceed. i myself used to use and create c.ai bots but i have since stopped for now. i respect your dedication making the character bots, and maybe you're not aware of this, but there is a huge possibility that their dataset foundation is curated by scraping a lot of people's writing without permission and credit.

src // youtu.be/b843dkGnGVk

afaik, character.ai themselves have not made any clarifications or publications, but i doubt they would say anything if they did use the same dataset, because it wouldn't reflect good on themselves.

anyway, i really hate to be that person but i just wanted to let you know. i chose not to support or promote them in any way because i myself am a writer and the thought that me and my friends' work are posssibly being scraped without my permission to be used to train ais makes me uncomfortable. sorry for rambling and thanks for listening! congrats on graduating nursing school and i hope you'll have a relaxing personal time this holiday season!! ♡ 

hello, anon. thank you for bringing this to my attention and thank you for the well wishes, i hope the same for you! enjoy the holidays, lovely! this post is kind of long, so i put it beneath a cut.

i think it's crazy how developed ai has become in recent years. it's literally been like a year and a few months and we've seen how advanced it's become with both photo ai generators and sites like chatgpt for writing. to be honest, it's alarming and it's disheartening to see how fast it's developing while being built, nearly entirely, on stolen works.

since i am a writer and an artist, i feel a certain type of way about ai, but to be honest, i'm in a very grey area. as far as artwork goes, i REFUSE to acknowledge artists who use it and denounce its use entirely since, in my opinion, it's appalling to take someone's passion projects and extort it for your own gain. i'm also a little biased towards the artwork side of ai since a few of my friends are well-known/popular artists on twitter and other socials and have had instances where their own artwork was stolen and fed to ai generators.

when it comes to writing, on the other hand, i feel i'm a little looser on my bias. now, i'm not talking about using ai to write the ENTIRETY of your fic, chapters, book, whatever—but if you use it in a resourceful sense, there are some benefits. when you find yourself in a tough situation as to how to progress a story, seeking a blurb from a generator could aid greatly in that. also, if you're not too confident in the way your sentence sounds, maybe use a paraphrasing site to rewrite your sentence until you're satisfied. with those benefits said, that's as far as i go with leniency on ai in writing. any further usage beyond a last resort resource is denounced by me.

truthfully, i believe that on both ends of the spectrum, ai will NEVER be able to replicate the passion, hard work, sweat, and tears that go into some of these works, and it's deplorable that it's come as far as it has. unfortunately, as things progress, i only see ai becoming more of an issue.

as far as creating bots on c.ai though, i had an *idea* that these bots were being used to train ai, but only on the c.ai website itself. though, in hindsight, it was very naive of me to believe that they were ONLY being used to train the bots on the c.ai website alone. truthfully, i want to wait for more information on the c.ai involvement to come up before making any decisions, but if i'm honest, when it comes to c.ai, i don't really care. a lot of my bots are used to feed my own delusions and be horny with fictional characters, (i go outside i swear) and if c.ai wants to steal my messages of big daddy true form sukuna blowing my little twink's back out to feed a silly little generator, then i guess they can go right on ahead. 💀

to bring this response to a close, at the end of the day, i know myself and the passion i have for both artwork and writing, and i'll be damned if let a series of 1's and 0's ruin that for me. as unfortunate as it is, ai usage is a reality that a lot of us will have to come to terms with soon if a change isn't made in the near future. as far as myself is concerned, i'll continue to write on both tumblr and c.ai and ride my little delulu wave until shit hits the fan.

however, i would love to thank you one last time anon for bringing this to my attention, and i hope you enjoy your holidays and have a merry christmas, and many blessings in the new year to come. ♡

[reinabeestudio]

Compliments to the Chef #1?

I decided to share the first(?) chapter now that my dash is dead👍

Might write more and post it. Might keep it to my website. Who knows!! Also probably OOC but it was written before I went to bed  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

By the way, the title comes from the credits song because I like it :]

Bob Velseb woke up feeling like shit.

He got up with a pained groan. His back hurted from laying in the stretcher for too long, and the bullet holes in his chest ached like hell. He was no stranger to death, nor how the body reacted after it. And he had faced a fair amount of feisty victims during his hunts, so he had dealed with pain after those before. But ultimately, he was usually the one that did the killing! Being shot at fucking sucked, but at least he still had all of his limbs.

However, that didn't matter now. He could tend to his injuries later. Now he had to get out of there fast, while he was still alone. If someone came back now, who knows how long he'd have to play dead.

Ignoring the pain the best he could, Bob got to his feet and rummaged through the box labelled as ‘evidence’ in search of his trusty tools. Dammit, they were not here. Not even his boning knife! The amulet was nowhere to be seen either... That stupid, moustached old guy probably took them for some kinda analysis. Or maybe that trigger-happy idiot did something with them.

The sound of a door opening was heard somewhere in the building.

He snapped his head up to look at where the sound had come from. Fuck. Okay, fine. No matter, he will try to get those back another time. He had to leave right now. The window was too small for him, so his only option was to go out the main entrance. Now, this would have been a difficult plan to execute in any other place. Luckily, this town was filled with incompetent people, thus it was rather easy.

“Piece of cake,” Bob thought as he effortlessly left the building (this is lazy writing and you can launch the author into the Sun for this).

Finally out and free! Bob hid in the shadows and made his way back to his old house. Except his place was crawling with police. Well, that explains why his breakout had been so easy (the author cannot be launched anymore). He swore he could see every single damn officer ever there.

On one hand, he was flattered. He had made such an impact on the town that he had half police force investigating him!

On the other, god fucking dammit. This was one goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation. The rest of his plan was ruined. He needed to change from his holey and bloodied sweater. And also deal with his injuries. Those were still relatively fresh, and doing something as simple as walking hurted like hell.

Bob groaned again, this time in annoyance. Not a single break for the Red Devil! The big guy turned back, and started thinking a new plan as he wandered the dimly lit street. He just came back from the dead, and he had no tools nor home. He couldn't go back to the morgue (duh), and he didn't feel like going back to the Cult. Who knew what they would do to him after finding out that he failed to kill that dead member's wife and irritating kid... again. As well as losing his amulet. Maybe they'd find out a way to keep him dead. No, it was too risky. He needed somewhere to hide. Somewhere inconspicuous.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by something bumping into his large back. He turned around, ready to break someone's neck if necessary. He was in no shape to run away, his body still sore after that stupid police officer ran over him a gazillion times. Only option was to fight and quickly get out of there

Expecting to see a law inforcer, Bob instead found a woman dressed in a magenta dress on the floor. She was picking up some of the groceries that dropped from her bag as she kept rambling on.

“Oh man, so sorry. Had to buy dinner before the store closed, but I'm not familiar with the town so I kept wandering around 'till I found one and now I'm wandering again like a fool because I forgot how to get back home and—”

Holy shit, talk about timing. Just as he was running out of ideas, the solution to his problem literally bumps into him in the form of the shortest lady he has ever seen. Okay Bob, play it cool. You need her to trust you enough to get you to her house. Remember your days at Boys & Grills. Customer service, fool them into easiness.

“Don't cha worry. Say, I could help ya get there!”

The lady waved a hand dismissevely as she got up. “Ah well, I mean— Thanks, but I'm sure you got other things to do than being bothered by a stranger.”

“Oh no, it's alright. Say, a favor for a favor. I help you, and ya let me use your telephone to call someone? Forgot my own phone at home.” Wow, he was the master of lies. “C'mon, where is it?”

“.... Alright.” The lady rummaged in the grocery bag and pulled out a wrinkled paper. Bob's eyebrows raised when he read the text. First, that was some pretty cursive. Second, she lived surprisingly far away. It'd take a while to get there. He almost started cackling right there. This was too good to be true.

“Yeah, reckon I know where that is,” he said. “Gonna be walking for a bit, but nothing too bad. Could walk you there, if that's alright with you.”

“If... uh, if you don't mind. Thanks.”

He smiled. “Don't mention it.”

Bob had to fight back the big grin that threatened to take over his friendly façade as they made their way to the lady's house. A house tucked away in a quiet street. The owner was new in town, thus she would not be missed. And it'd take time for the police to check around that zone, if they ever did. In less than a moment, his problem was solved—until he could go back to his own house. He briefly turned around to the woman behind him, who was checking the contents of the grocery bag. Some drool started to pool around his chin.

He just came back from the dead, and he'd soon have tools and a home. As well as dinner dressed in magenta to celebrate.

[fightingmywayoutofthedarkness]

I wish I knew how to get past self conflicting thoughts.

I think my work colleagues are discriminating against me at work, but they have no idea they're doing it.

This is going to be a long story.. I tend to ramble.. so please don't read on unless you don't mind babbling.

Long story short, if you don't want to read on. I should be enough. I shouldn't have to change myself for others to see me.

I used to think that work was everything. I thought of my work as my family. I never fit in anywhere. I've never had that school friendship group or even friends growing up. I taught dance. Every night after school. When I wasn't teaching, I was doing school work or dance competitions. I had strict bedtimes. If I overslept, I wasn't allowed wash. Growing up was rough. Life is still rough at times. I've never really processed the trauma, but that's not the point of this post. Sorry, I told you I ramble! Not a lot of help for us adults with mental health problems unless you act on those thoughts anyway, but if i did, it would be too late for help then. Oops, I should have put a trigger warning there, but why, it is the truth for most of us?

Anyway, right work, family blah blah. I never fit into work groups. I usually take lunch on my own, sit in the corner keep myself to myself. Noone at work tends to know me. Then I got into corporate law. Now they're drinkers, lunch times at the pub are a big thing.

One day, I got invited.. to the pub! Me? The person who's usually forgotten got an invite? Being the awkward person I am, obviously said yes, then yes, every time since. Because they invited me? I'm being included. This is new. I may sit there struggling to keep up with the conversation with no words coming out and my simple lemonade. I'm present, though. This was great for me. I was being included, I was appreciated for my work, I'm a bit of a control freak so I always know what's going on which works in law apparently.

Then Covid hit. I lost all of the social skills I taught myself growing up. I had to remind myself to say thank you whilst getting off the bus for christs sake. I found out how much easier it was not having to have a panic attack to get on the train or the physical pain from a fibro flair up walking to the office that day. I got diagnosed with autism. It took the practitioner 10 minutes to decide that I was autistic.

I was filled with self-doubt and anger. If it took them 10 minutes to know, how did everyone else in my life miss it?

Anyway, moving on, I told work as my college advised that at the time. Work told me to tell my team, everyone in my team. I thought well this must be the normal thing to do, so I did it. I emailed around explaining everything.

And i regret it ever since.

That day changed my whole career path. I was on to something good. Now, now I see that things have changed.

Roll on to the start of this year I threw myself out there for me. I started singing lessons to build my confidence, I jumped into a musical theatre group (I could spend 24/7 there and still not be bored). I joined the sister company for choir as I already knew some people. I've now restarted my dance putting the boundaries in place that I won't teach again unless it's on my terms. I've found my second home. I've found my family, outside of my 4 wall family (I love my partner and son, but God its nice to escape at times).

Now I know that this is how friendship should feel.

The theatre group were at the pub and they invited me. I said no a few times, then show week came, and I gave in. I went. No one judged my lemonade or asked why I wasn't drinking alcohol. I had ACTUAL conversations. It just flows, and omg, it's so easy. They never look at me as though I'm a freak, or I should just keep my mouth shut. I'm just. Me.

Anyway, roll on to this week. We were casually at the pub this Sunday, just a small group this week. We had some deep conversations about tricky work exits and racism, sexism, harassment bullying, you name it that we have experienced. It's hard to believe so much still happens, they were shocked I was told to hide my lesbian relationship in my first job to not hurt the male workers feelings or that I shouldn't give work to a male due to my age and sex. That guy actually put a complaint in against me!

I've digressed again.. anyway, I started talking about my current job and how I'm trying to work out why I'm having itchy feet at the moment when I felt I finally found my place. Their faces dropped when i mentioned I don't really go to client meetings or business development events. Not because I dont choose to, but because I'm never invited.

I didn't take it personally before, I always though it must be because the senior team filled the seats. That's ok.

Then they FINALLY hire someone to cover the secretary work so I could move on to my role without working two jobs.

GREAT, I thought. I've been swamped, working more hours than ever. My home life's got busier. I need a break.

Then the new secretary comes along. Within a month she's invited to join the netball team for the workplace. Why haven't I ever been asked? She's the invited to business events, why not me? I only get asked if someone dropped out at the last minute. I can't do last minute as I need time to process the event.

I started doubting myself, what am I doing wrong? I'm slowly not getting much work, I notice that they're giving paralegal work to her, and I'm getting the other stuff. I raised it and got told they will tell the team again. But why am I always fighting so damn hard for myself to be heard? I've had to fight for my role that I wasn't recognised for. I had to fight for equal pay, then when I was promoted I didn't even get a raise until I proved myself! I finally get a raise that's wiped straight out by a rent increase. But God, why do I have to fight for myself and my rights? Ive worked in employment law. I know my rights. But i thought of these people as my family.

If they saw this they would probably be shocked, but within a few weeks it will go back to as it was.

I feel like people see me as a robot at work, not a human. Yes, I have scripts and copy how others say things occasionally to try fit in. But how will I learn my socialising again unless I'm invited along? Things take time. But I'll get there, I did before.

I get work sent to me because they need it doing right first time round. I know they appreciate my work. And I'm damn good at my job if I do say so myself. The helpful thing of paying great attention to detail. They always said the team wouldn't function without *insert my name here*. I know they appreciate my work. But what about me as a person?

We spend most of our lives working. Shouldn't I be appreciated for that and for being me?

I can have conversations if people choose to listen and learn about my interests for once. I'm not a typical drinker and sports person. I can't sit and watch sports for hours and report back. But I'd happily play something. I like to be on the going and moving.

I like being me.

I'm finally finding myself again. It's taken almost 29 years, but I dont want to turn back now.

Should I be enough just being me, myself, and I?

Thank you if you got this far. I struggle getting to the point.

[uwooyoungs]

yall 11 days til i see ateez at kcon i-

[onlyhereforthestories]

Chica Medica - Part 1 (Alexia Putellas x Reader)

Sorry this took so long to get out! Here’s the first part of my long fic. I will probably post a request between each part. I have no idea how long it will eventually be but this is definitely only the beginning! Enjoy 😁

You had never been so nervous in your life. You had decided at the end of last season with Manchester United that you needed a change and were going to apply to move to a different club. For some reason you decided that club was not going to be one of the English clubs and when the opportunity to be Barca Women’s head physiotherapist and recovery specialist you didn’t even think twice before accepting the offer. That was three weeks ago, and today you finally are setting foot in the facilities you will now call your working home.

Being best friends with the one and only Ona Batlle means that you knew a bit of Spanish, this made you feel a little less nervous for meeting everyone. You were going to miss your favourite Spaniard but she knew you needed some space and a change after your recent breakup. She was extremely excited when she found out you were going to Barca as it meant you’d meet her national teammates. People who she loved almost as much as she loved you, not that she’d ever tell you that, your head was already big enough as it was.

Stepping out of your rental car, you really did need to get that sorted this was an expensive way of getting round, you stood face to face with your new place of work. You couldn’t pinpoint which emotion was stronger, the excitement to be apart of one of the best teams in the women’s game right now or nervous of the role you now play in keeping those players in the peak physical condition they need to be in to prevent injuries and enhance their performances.

Taking a deep breath you locked the car and headed inside, you were met by one of the other members of the medical staff, the team doctor. You had a meeting with him right away to get up to speed with all of the players and their current conditions, there goals this season, and the players who were in recovery so needed extra treatment. As you were finishing up your notes on all the doc had just told you, two women in training kit walked through your door laughing.

“Hola! What can I do for the two of you?” You greeted them cheerfully hoping to make a good first impression on the women you knew to be María León and Leila Ouahabi. They looked at each other before they looked you up and down, you tried to keep your shoulders high and square, you couldn’t show them their actions were sending your nerves through the roof. You needed them to trust you with their physical health, something that was vital to their way of life, so you needed to show them you were confident in your abilities.

Mapi was the first to speak. “I might have to be injured a lot this season.” The smirk on her face and the giggle Leila let out next to her flooded you with a relief you didn’t think it would. They were joking around with you within a minute of meeting you. “Joking aside, its nice to meet you I’m María but people call me Mapi and this is Leila, I’m assuming you’re the new physiotherapist we were told would be coming in this season?”

Holding your hand out to the women you greeted them properly. “I’m y/n and I know who you both are I am a big fan. I am indeed the new physio, I’m very excited to get to work with all the amazing women on this team, it’s a bit of a dream of mine that I never thought would happen. I was at Manchester United for 4 years and for a long portion of that time I thought I would be there forever but things happen and a change was really needed. This is the best change I could have wished for.” You didn’t realise you were rambling until Leila laughed again. You felt the blush creeping up your cheeks and just hoped it wasn’t visible to the girls in front of you.

“You are so cute! We are going to get on very well I can tell. That will have to wait though we have training but me and Maps need our ankles tapped por favor.” You smiled at the thought of making friends quickly it was the part of moving so far away from what you knew that scared you the most. You always struggled on your own, your mind sometimes not the best place to be in and so these two women seemingly taking you under their wing was a big comfort.

You set to work on Leila first making sure you spoke to her about what technique she preferred, only for her to leave it in your capable hands, her words not yours. It was when you were doing Mapi’s right ankle that the blonde woman asked you the question. “Would you like to come over and have dinner with me and Leila tonight, we had plans already but would love to get to know you more? Plus I want to know why you left the place you’ve been at for so long because there’s a story there and we all know it.”

God damn your rambling, these women weren’t people that would forget that conversation either. Surprisingly though you felt like you could comfortably tell them and they’d be supportive, plus you needed to talk about it with more than just Ona, the poor woman got enough of your drama as it was. “Really? I’d love that, I haven’t sorted the kitchen in my apartment out yet and there only so many takeaways or ready meals a girl can eat!”

“That’s settled them, Leila will jump in with you after training and direct you! Wait you did drive si?” With a laugh you confirmed you had indeed driven here and with that the two women were off with a see you later and a quick nice to meet you.

You made a mental note to call Ona when you had a second she’d love to know about the people you were hoping to be able to call friends very soon.

Alexia was exhausted, she knew the amount of work she’d put in last season and in the off season was catching up with her. More often than not these days she found herself calling Alba to get the woman to walk Nala for her, she was just so tired whenever she got in. This wasn’t something she was proud of, walking Nala will always be one of her favourite activities so that fact that she feels like she cant do it hurts her more that she could put into words.

She’d been training so hard in the off season that she had barely managed to spend time with her family and friends, and now she felt like her body was physically drained from the moment she wakes up every morning to the moment she lays her head down again. She was proud of herself though, all the time she’d put into the game was going to pay off this year, she felt it.

Walking into the training ground Alexia felt the overwhelming happiness sink into her bones, this was one of her favourite places to be and she was surrounded by the best people here too. She had definitely missed most of her Barca family over the last couple of months, she barely even saw Jenni which was a shock being as the best friends were normally joined at the hip.

She knew the first thing she had to do was get all her medical checks done before they could start the physicality checks that the whole squad would be participating in at the beginning of training. Walking through to the treatment rooms she bumped into Jenni, both women greeted each other with a long hug and a kiss to the cheek. “Hola, are you heading for your checks too?” Alexia hoped she was so they could use the time to catch up.

“No mi amiga, I’ve just had mine. It was quite the experience! The new girl is very thorough and wants to make sure we are in peak health before we put our bodies through anymore physical pressure. You’re going to love her.” Jenni seemed genuinely excited about the time she just spent with this woman, Alexia knows how much Jenni priorities her health in all senses of the word and so does she. So to see and hear Jenni speaking so highly of someone she’d just met got Alexia excited to make her introductions too.

After a quick chat with the older woman, where she found out you were English, Alexia found herself walking into your open room, she couldn’t explain the nerves she felt in her stomach, she just brushed them off as pre-test nerves. “Hola I’m here to get my medical check in before training. I’m Alexia Putellas.” When you looked up and made eye contact Alexia couldn’t help but notice how bright your eyes were.

“Hola Alexia it’s a pleasure to meet one of the best players in the women’s game. I have been given a few extra checks to run with you than normal if that’s okay. Jonatan has informed me that you have been pushing yourself quite hard so we want to check you out thoroughly.” Alexia knew this might happen and if she was honest she thinks she needs it, the tiredness and physical exhaustion has been a lot to handle recently.

Sitting down opposite y/n at the desk after the weight, height and heart tests were done, Alexia prepared herself to answer all the questions she knew you needed to ask. The basic ones were easy, how many hours a day did she put in this off season, what recovery process has she been doing and how well she was fuelling her body with the food she was eating. The question that caught her off guard was your last one. “How do you feel mentally? And I’m not talking football related I think we both know how happy you are playing I’m talking about you’re your everyday mental health. I ask for two reasons, one because you mentioned the exhaustion you’ve been feeling even with a good night’s sleep and two as a person who has struggled themselves I can see it in your eyes you are tired and not just in the physical sense. Now I know we don’t know each other and I’m not expecting you to spill all to me today I just want to know so I can maybe help when you are ready? Or I can put the ball in motion to get help if you feel like you need it.”

To say Alexia was shocked would be an understatement, she knew she had been starting to struggle a lot more with the work load and she knew it was affecting her mental health a lot more than it ever had but she didn’t expect someone to notice. In fact no one had really, Jenni mentioned once or twice in the few times she’d seen the older woman, that she looked tired but that was it. Now a complete stranger who knew nothing but her footballing background was reading her like she’d known her for their whole lives.

“I umm I’m not ready to speak about it with anyone, I’m still coming to terms with what’s going on and I think once I’m back with the team and back playing regularly again I will be okay.” Alexia didn’t truly believe what she was saying herself so she didn’t expect you too, she was once again shocked when you told her that was okay and you moved on to the final part before she could join the team. You had her sit up on the exam table and you were testing out the flexibility in her ankle joints to make sure there wasn’t any lingering injuries or hyperextension that would cause further injuries.

You were satisfied with her physical health so once you’d strapped her left ankle upon request she was free to go. Just as she reached the door you called her name. “Alexia, my door is always open.” The rest of the words went unsaid and you would never know how much Alexia appreciated that, with a small nod and a smile she headed out onto the field for what she was hoping would be the start of the best season yet.

This was the part about the job you never liked, report writing. You could hear all the girls running around playing from the open window next to your desk. You had evaluated pretty much every woman on the team and that meant you had a lot to write up about. Luckily for you the majority of it was repetitive as they had all kept up most of their normal routines during the off season. You were typing out Leila’s report when Jonatan entered your office.

“Y/n I want you to spend some time focusing on Alexia, we are only on the first session of the season, which is a light one and she already looks exhausted. She’s been working well in the off season but I think she needs to focus more on her physical recovery. I’m going to get her to come to you after every session for a proper work down and recovery session. She might not like it but I need my players in the best shape possible not just for the team but for their own health.” You nodded along to everything the coach had said, making sure to jot down his request and set up a file for your time with the Spanish midfielder.

“If I’m honest Jonatan, Alexia was the only one I had flagged as needing more help other than the girls we already know have injuries or problems. She just seemed physically drained when I saw her this morning so I would love to work closely with her and get her back into the healthy, happy player we all love to watch.” With a nod of his head and the promise to send the woman straight to you after they had finished their free kick practice, he was added to the long list of people to leave your office today.

Turning back to your computer you finished up writing the information for the left back before moving on to creating the work sheets you would progressively fill out after your session with Alexia.

You were doing some stock take when you heard your door open. “I will be with you in one moment, take a seat.” You counted the last box of tape and made a note to order some more, there was quite a few of the girls that liked to tape their ankles for games and training.

“Ah Alexia nice to see you, has Jonatan explained what we are going to be doing?” You couldn’t help but admire the woman for a moment, her hair was wet from her post training shower and was dripping down the back of her t-shirt, her eyes held that tiredness that you hoped you could get to the bottom of, you could really see why so many people admired her.

“He didn’t really say much if I’m honest, he told me that I would be seeing you after sessions and possibly games for a while to help with my recovery.” Her voice was soft and quiet giving away just how tired the woman was.

“Okay great, that’s the basics of it yes. I’m just here to help you feel more physically recovered after each session and hopefully help get this exhaustion sorted out.” You sent a smile her way before heading over the get what you needed. “If you could come take a seat on the bench again I’m going to do some stretches and plyometric movements to cool down your muscles before we massage them.”

You could tell the girl was nervous, she wasn’t making eye contact with you and her movements were slow so you tried a bit of humour. “I don’t bite you know” She let out a breathy chuckle before hopping up and laying back.

“Lo siento, I just am not used to this. I have had recovery session in the past but not one on one and definitely not because I’m visibly in need of them. Plus our last physio he didn’t treat us as people we were more objects he needed to keep running, you’ve already asked me more about myself in the day you’ve been here than he did in the 4 years he was.” You noted the edge to her voice when she spoke about the man who was previously in your position.

“Well you might be an amazing footballer but first of all you are an amazing woman, that’s what I like to focus on. I have found in my few years of doing this job that the if the person is happy and healthy in themselves their physical health follows a very similar path. For example I once worked closely with a woman in England who had a recurring strain injury. We tried all the normal treatments but she kept picking up the same injury. Because of the injury she got in her head a lot more and was overthinking things, not committing to challenges not gearing her body up correctly when playing and that was why she kept injuring herself over and over. We worked together for a few months on how to mentally deal with injuries and how to build recovery up. Touch wood since then she hasn’t had that same injury again and when she has picked up a knock she’s recovered correctly both mentally and physically.”

You could see the women processing all you had said, so you gave her the time to do that while you carried on with your plyometric recovery stretches. When Alexia didn’t say anything you almost went to push the subject but thought twice about it. The woman barely knew you, she had no reason to trust you in any way at the moment, professionally or personally.

“Okay Alexia everything there feels pretty good, I want to keep an eye on that left knee there’s some slight discomfort I can see when we contort the ligaments. Two more things and then you are free to get out of here, first electrolyte drink let’s get those replenished. Orange or lemon and lime?” After you handed her the green bottle you always keep stocked up in the fridge you set about getting the oils out and the bench ready for her sports massage. “Hop up here please lie on your back first, I’m going to work on your quadriceps and you hamstrings today so could you scrunch your shorts up as high as you can.”

If you looked up when your hands first touched the skin of her thighs you would have seen the pink rising on the older woman’s face, but you were a professional and you gave all your attention to the work you were doing. Alexia was having an internal debate with herself, you were by far the most attentive medical professional she had ever met and you were also the most attractive. She’s been so focused on football that its shocked her that she is even having these thoughts. Your hands were working wonders on her sore muscles and once you told her to flip over she found herself dozing off.

“That’s you done for the day. Thank you for being patient and I hope you felt like this might help.” When Alexia didn’t move or make any indication that she had heard you, you placed a hand on her back hoping not to scare her. You could feel the even rise and fall of her body but to confirm your suspicion you bent down to look under the table where her face was resting in the cut out in the bed. Sure enough her eyes were softly shut and she was puffing even breaths out of slightly parted, delicate lips.

It was days like today that made you grateful for working in big club cultures, the small room where the massage bed was situated was in the furthest part of your space which meant you could close the door and let the woman rest for a while, she must really need it. After sticking a note on the inside of the door so the woman didn’t panic when she woke up you softly shut the door and went to write up yet another report, this one though you didn’t find as tedious. This one brought a smile to your face as you remember your time with the sleeping woman just a closed door away from you.

After that first day, you and Alexia spent a lot of time together. After every session she would come to you to have some recovery done, whether that be after weight training or active ball session she always came to you. She was looking sharper when playing and her muscles felt looser every time you gave her a sports massage as well as her physical tiredness seeming to be a lot less. Since that first session she had only fallen asleep on the table one other time and that was because she had a cold so was all together run down. The one thing you still weren’t too happy with was the stubborn tiredness lingering in her eyes. When she spoke to you it was a lot more cheerful than when you started together 2 weeks ago, and the times you have been out to watch training or work with some of the other girls you’ve seen her laughing and joking again with her teammates, but it was still there. It was there when the room was quiet, when no one was saying a word and she got lost in her head. It was there and you could see it, but you didn’t know how to fix it, not when she wouldn’t talk to you about it.

You were setting up for the woman that had been plaguing your mind for the last 2 weeks when Mapi walked in. “Hola chica, any chance you could have a look at my hamstring? It has felt tight all day and I want to make sure that I don’t pull it before game day.” You could see from the slight limp that she was having some major issues walking.

“Of course go hop up on the bench in the massage room, I have everything out anyway because I was expecting Ale very soon.” You didn’t even register the shortened name come out of your mouth until Mapi laughed. “What? Do I have something on my butt?” That’s all you could think that was funny, especially as she laughed as soon as you turned around.

“No, no. Just La Reina working her charm already I see, I’ll make sure I’m out of the way when Ale does get here.” The added emphasis on the woman’s name let you know what she was in fact laughing about. Rolling your eyes at your friend you gave her a little shove towards the back room.

“Idiota, do you want my help or not?” With her hands raised in the air she made a motion like she was waving a tiny flag.

“I surrender, help my dying muscle por favor” Laughing freely you followed the woman into the room and had her lay down on her stomach.

You were almost finished with the blonde when Alexia entered the main room. “Y/n? Are you here?”

“I’ll be with you in two seconds Ale. Mapi’s decided to mess up her hamstring so I’m just trying to work it out a bit in the massage room.” You laughed at the disgruntled noise Mapi let out. What you both didn’t realise was the woman in the other room wasn’t laughing, in fact Alexia was frowning. The green eyed monster was stirring within her and she didn’t know why, Mapi and you were friends everyone knew that. The two of you and Leila had been pretty much inseparable outside of the training ground. Alexia thinks maybe it’s the situation, she’s the one that gets to hide away in that room with you, she the one that normally gets you rubbing the muscles in her legs. Okay that wasn’t what she should be thinking about at all, you obviously used that room for more than just her she just hadn’t thought about it until now.

“Hola hermana, chica medica es toda tuya. Ella si tiene manos magicas.” You didn’t understand all of what Mapi said only picking up on a couple of words but the look she got from Alexia wasn’t a good one. With her legs strapped she quickened her steps out of your door with a thank you thrown over her shoulder.

“Ignore whatever that idiota said Alexia, she’s been trying to rustle up everyone today. She hid Leila’s keys this morning so we were almost late. Right what do you want to focus on today?”

“I think I’m ready to talk about the one thing we haven’t yet. I think it’s something that I need to talk about no matter how scared I am.” You could see from the way she was fiddling with her fingers that the woman was incredibly nervous.

“Okay Ale lets pass on physical side today. Would you like to do this here? There’s a lock on the door and a occupied sign so no one will come in. We could also go somewhere you would feel more comfortable? This is all up to you.” You tried to be as reassuring as you could, this was the final major part of the woman’s recovery and you knew it.

“I want to do it here, this is where we have done the other parts and where we’ve built our relationship. This is where I need to end this.” She was determined you could see the glint in her eye.

“Okay go get yourself an electrolyte drink and a banana and I will sort out the door.”

After a few minutes of you both sorting out where you wanted to sit and Alexia finishing her banana you could tell she was ready.

“Take your time Ale there is no rush.” You placed what you hoped was a comforting hand on the visible nervous women’s leg.

“When we won the Champions league last year I was so happy, we had finally done the thing we had been working towards for that last few years. Then we celebrated and I had time to see my family and he wasn’t there. My dad is the reason I am here today, he showed me the sport because my family was more into basketball. He took me to training every day and took me to Barca games whenever we could go. This is the first major achievement that I’ve not wanted to celebrate without him. My mum and sister have been great but they don’t understand some of it, my dad was and always will be my hero. So after that happened I throw myself into perfecting my art because he deserves that from me. He deserves to look down and see how much I’m thriving because of what he did, but it never felt like enough so I kept working and working. I missed a lot this summer, I didn’t see my family as much. I didn’t see my teammates. I spent so much time just with myself and now I can’t get out of my head. I feel so disconnected with myself y/n. I don’t know how to get back to me and still make him proud.” The sobs that wracked through her body made your heart clench. You pulled the distraught beauty into your arms, you couldn’t let her feel alone anymore.

With one hand rubbing up and down her back and the other holding her head where she had snuggled it into your neck you started to whisper what came to your head. “He is so proud of you, I never knew him but I now know you and I’m so proud of you so he must be so incredibly proud. He will be watching everything you do with that proud dad look, he’ll be telling all his buddies up there that he has the best daughters in the world. He’ll show them what you’re doing, watch your games and shout the loudest when you score. He will know you are doing your best always because that’s what you’ve always done and your best will always be enough for him. He will always be here because you will always think about him. Someone that loved can never be gone completely because you keep him alive. You haven’t lost yourself, you have just strayed away from what you know and that’s scared you. I’ve got you. It’s okay to not be okay all the time. I’ve got you Ale.”

You sat there together for what felt like an hour but was probably no more than 10 minutes, Alexia cried and held on to you as tightly as she could. This had been sat on her chest for the last few months and she finally could breathe properly. How had you a complete stranger to her just over 2 weeks ago, come in and made her feel almost as safe as her dad used too. She couldn’t think about that, she couldn’t worry about something else right now, she just wanted to soak up this comfort. She just wanted to feel safe in your arms for a little while longer before she had to go and see where her head takes her when you are no longer there.

That’s just what you did, you held her until she pulled back. You wiped away the tears still trickling down her cheeks, you took a second to admire how beautiful she still looked even with blotchy cheeks, a red nose and puffy eyes. You caught her eyes, you could feel the pull, you knew you could get lost in those eyes. She glanced down and you knew you couldn’t not at work for one but mostly she was vulnerable right now. You rubbed your thumb along her cheekbone once, twice and then you stood up to get her a tissue.

By the time the teams first game of the season came around you and Alexia had grown even closer. Your apartment became a place you literally went to sleep with splitting your free time between time with Mapi and Leila, and Alexia. Friday nights became friends night, you spent the evening with any of the girls that wanted to be there playing games or going to the bar. Games nights were competitive, when people paired up it was carnage. You and Alexia won a lot of the time, so much so that the girls started banning you from being partners much to both of your frustrations.

Sitting on the side-lines watching the girls you had become to think of as family for the first time was the best feeling you had in ages. They played with a freedom you had not been able to witness before. You were reminded of why you loved the sport so much watching them.

It was a few weeks after that first game that Alexia entered your office after training. “Hola, I have a proposition for you.” The smirk on her face worried you.

“Hit me with it.” You gave her your full attention putting down Jenni’s file, the woman had picked up a knock in training so was not playing.

“Tomorrow’s game I want to make a bet with you. If I score more than one goal I will take you out for dinner, if I don’t you have to take me out.” You’re favourite pair of brown eyes were staring hopefully at you, and even if you didn’t want to take the bet you had too, you didn’t know if you could ever say no when she looked at you like that.

“You are on.” The pair of you shook on it, neither of you wanted to let go of each other. You were looking down at your joint hands when you felt a small tug which made you step forward slightly. You were standing with very little space between you and Alexia, you looked up at the taller woman who was already looking down at you with a soft smile on her face. Just as she was about to bring her other hand up to your face the door to the room banged against wall as you idiot best friends barged in.

“Let’s go chica we’ve got dinner plans.” You jumped away from the woman and hoped the girls hadn’t seen the close proximity of you.

“Coming, adios Alexia” You didn’t glance back, you just followed to two out.

Barcelona were playing Valencia. You were nervous. You hadn’t sent your normal goodnight text to Alexia last night, you were too scared too after what you thought almost happened in your office. The bet Alexia placed with you was on today’s game and you didn’t know how to feel, you were going to be going out to eat with her either way, something you found adorable. She could have made a bet about dinner or no dinner, but no she obviously wanted to go for dinner with you. You also realised how cocky her bet was last night when you thought about it, she would be paying if she scored multiple goals, her confidence was impressive you did have to admit to yourself.

20 minutes in and the score was still 0-0 although Barca were pushing. Oshoala scored first just after the 23rd minute when she dispossessed the keeper. 3 minutes later Alexia broke into the box and nestled her shot into the bottom corner. That was one, as she ran back to reset for kick off she caught your eye and held up one finger, causing you to laugh of course she’d let you know.

You were just sitting back down when they kicked off, the ball was won back straight away and played to Alexia who was just on the edge of the centre circle. You saw her set to shoot and she did just that. The ball sailed over the keeper who was off her line and into the back of the net. She’d won the bet in 2 minutes, of course she had. After the girls had dog pilled her she turned to you with a smirk and held up her two fingers. This girl you thought with a shake of your head.

Just to top it off 4 minutes later Caro sent in a perfect cross that Alexia got her head on and sent it into the bottom corner. A hattrick, of course she scores a hattrick. You might have to think of an extra part to the bet now. The massive grin on her face when she looked towards you was something you wish you could be on the receiving end of for a long time. Happy Alexia will always be your favourite.

The girls ended up winning the game 8-0, something that they all decided need to be celebrated. So once they had all showed, changed and got some food, you all met at your favourite bar. You were so grateful that you got on so well with all the girls, you were away invited out and it made being here so much nicer. You walked in with your two favourite idiotas, laughing at the fact Mapi had just tripped up the curb and almost taken the two of you out. Alexia was at the bar talking to Lieke when the three of you turned up.

She took a moment to appreciate the jeans and black button up you were sporting. “Alexia are you even listening” Leike laughed when she followed the womens line of sight. “Right im chopped liver now. go talk to her then” With a shove Alexia was heading in your direction.

“Hola, you look good. Do you want a drink?” The smile she sent you made your knees a little weak.

Mapi leaned into your ear “La Reina buying you a drink, someone is getting some tonight.” You elbowed her in the stomach which caused the woman to hunch over and Leila to burst out laughing.

“I would love one Ale. Get me away from the idiotas por favor” With a quick poke of your tounge at the women behind you, you were off.

You spent a couple drinks at the bar with the brunette talking to some of the other girls, you danced for a little bit with Lieke and Caro before heading back to Alexia at the bar and ordering another drink.

With a beer in your hand, you and Alexia slid into a booth in the corner of the bar facing your friends all dancing together on the dancefloor. “You won the bet” You spoke but didn’t look away from the girls in front of you.

“I did. I knew I would” You felt her shuffle closer to you, you assumed so that you could hear each other better over the noise in the bar.

“Only you could win a bet in 2 minutes and then one up yourself by doing it with a hattrick as well. I feel like I need to add something to it for that but I don’t know what.” You turned to her as you finished and were shocked at how close she was. She smelt really good, that was the first thought that registered.

“I had an important reason to score some goals. Didn’t want to leave it late. Also I could think of a thing or two I would like for my hattrick” You could feel her breath across your face, the smell of her rum and coke drifting past your senses. You felt the alcohol in your system, your eyes were slightly unfocused and all you could think about was kissing Alexia.

“Not here.” She stood up and grabbed your hand pulling you out of the booth and towards the toilets.

When you got into the hallway your back was pressed up against the wall and your senses were invaded by the most perfect woman. You looked into her eyes, the wordless question passed between you and without another second Alexia lent forward. You lips pressed together tentatively at first. Alexia’s hand ran up the side of your body into your hair tugging gently to tilt your head back which caused you to gasp into the kiss, inviting Alexia to deepen the kiss. Your hands were gripping the back of her shirt trying to pull her closer even if it was impossible. When air became a problem she pulled back only slightly, head still touching yours. The hand in your hair was now rubbing over your bottom lip so you pressed a gentle kiss too it. You looked up into the brown eye you knew you were falling for and were met with blown pupils. She leant back in and pecked your lips a few times before putting some space between you.

“We need to head back before they notice we aren’t there okay” She reached out for your hand again, which you took and she gave you a gentle squeeze before she let go and walked back towards the bar without you.

You stood there for a couple minutes, what just happened.

When you walked back into the bar Alexia was with Jenni and a couple of the others dancing and laughing. You felt wrong being there now, was that all she wanted from you this whole time.

You walked up to Mapi. “I’m going to head off, I’ve drunk too much I really don’t feel well” You tried not to let the tears building in your eyes fall, you couldn’t yet not in front of everyone.

“Okay cariño, let me grab Leila and we will go okay.” You went to protest but she was off in the direction of your other best friend before you had the chance to tell them to stay and enjoy themselves. You went and grabbed your coat from the booth while you were waiting.

“Come on then, sleepover time for us.” Leila linked her arm with one of yours and Mapi flanked the other side. You really loved these women. As you were about to walk out you caught Alexia’s eye, she had her eyebrows furrowed but didn’t make any move to come over so you just bowed your head and left. How did that end so badly.

[rainydayathogwarts]

𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 >> 𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒

Second person p.o.v Warnings: well the title says some stuff Characters: Tony, Steve, Bucky, Thor, Clint, Peter(s), Pietro, Stephen, Sam A/N: This had to go under some editing before I have the courage to post it on here because honestly, it's either that I've read my works so much and feel nothing anymore or that it's genuinely trash. Also can someone please explain why people don't like peter quill/chris pratt please

-Tony Stark: "341... 342... 343..." You counted your pushups under your breath. You and Tony had made a bet: he thought Steve could do more pushups than you could, but in the heat of the moment, you bet otherwise. Now, you were obviously regretting your choice.

There you were with Steve in the living room, the rest of the Avengers watching you guys in amazement. The only thing that stopped you from winning against the super soldier was that you didn't have superhuman strength. At least you trained with one everyday. Right?

You felt your body stiffening and tiring as you continued with your pushups. You lowered your body one last time, chest hovering above the ground, but you couldn't find the energy to lift yourself up again. Steve glanced at you with a small smile on his face, watching as you struggled.

You groaned, falling to the cold floor, listening to Tony cheer, helping Steve up in joy. "You good there (Y/N)?" Asked Steve, walking over to you, giving you a hand. You glared at him, getting up on your own, making him laugh.

"You know you did better than any of us could have. That's 352 pushups in a row." Natasha praised, making you roll your eyes. "Yes, but it doesn't mean I couldn't have done better. Anyway, let's be real. Bucky is also a supersoldier, so me beating me is out of the question. He's just as strong as Steve-if not stronger."

You sauntered over to you and Tony's shared room with him right on your tail. You didn't bother closing the door behind you before taking off your shirt.

You gasped when you were pushed against the wall roughly, your sweaty body making contact with another one. " Good gods, what could you possibly want Tony?" You questioned, looking up. "You." He breathed out, leaning down to kiss your neck, sucking softly on the skin. Shivers ran down your spine at the sultry tone, and just as you were about to speak up again, he kissed your lips with hunger and need.

As if on instinct, your hands travelled to the nape of his neck, playing with the short hairs. He deepened the kiss, but it was abruptly cut short when the door burst open. "I-uh, sorry-I-um, water?" "You can put that right over there. Yeah, thanks Steve."

-Steve Rogers: You and Steve were huddled up on a couch in his apartment, watching Jurassic Park. He took a quick look at you, so focused on the movie, your lip tightly tucked between your teeth. You cuddled closer to your loving boyfriend who held you tighter, the cold getting to your bones.

"Honey, do you want me to close the window?" He asked you, already getting up. You got hold of his hand, tugging him down, your eyes never leaving the bright screen. "No, stay." He smiled and kissed your soft lips, getting your shiny lip gloss on himself.

"Um, you got something right there. Let me get it for you." You muttered, getting on your knees to kiss him once more. He chuckled against your lips, flipping you over so you were laying down on the couch. You threw your shirt off, Steve doing the same.

Just as Steve reached down to slide his shorts off, yours already long gone, the door burst open, two loud voices interrupting your moment. Two wolf-whistles caught your attention, your heads snapping in their direction. At the sight of Sam and Bucky, you pushed Steve off of you with such force he fell to the ground.

You rushed to put your shorts and shirt back on but they were at Sam's feet, so you stayed hidden behind the couch. "Nice gloss Steve. Where'd you get it from?" Started Bucky. "Oh right, never mind, where'd you get it from (Y/N)?" Sam slammed his hand on Bucky's back as they both broke down laughing. "Remind me why we gave them a key?"

-Bucky Barnes: Bucky wasn't exactly having the best day. The both of you had gone to one of your favourite coffee shops when your ex just happened to bump into you. "(Y/N)? Oh wow." And with that he started rambling off about his life, flirting with you, even with Bucky standing beside you.

You politely told him you had to go, feeling awfully sorry that Bucky had to deal with that. When you got back to the Avengers Compound, Natasha had immediately called you in for some work, leaving your boyfriend to sit in your shared bedroom all alone on his day off.

He wanted to kill your ex. Quite literally. So much that he even found his address. So when you entered your room, you didn't have the time to kick your shoes off before you were pressed up against the wall, with Bucky's lips hungrily attacking yours. You obviously kissed him back, hands pulling him closer to you by the shoulders.

When the door opened, Natasha dropped the file she was holding and her jaw slacked. Bucky closed the door shut with a growl, holding it there with his metal arm, his lips never leaving yours.

-Thor Odinson: It was a nice, calm morning for you and Thor. You were laying in bed, sunlight coming from the windows giving a nice gold tint to the room. Thor looked down, playing with your silky hair, and you smiled when your eyes connected.

He leaned down to give your lips a short peck, but you pulled him back in, finding his arms suddenly wrapped around your torso tightly. Your hands cupped his jaw and you felt Thor smile as he slid his tongue into your mouth, exploring it like it was the first time.

"Hey-oh!" Thor grunted and pulled away, looking at Tony who had barged into your room "Didn't know the Odinsons had it in them to go for a round so early." Thor held his hand out for Mjölnir which flew from the other side of the room right into his hand, making Tony run out of the room faster than thunder.

-Clint Barton: It was one of those days in the facility where no one had anything to do. No paperwork to fill out, no missions to go on and nothing fun to do. So logically, you and Clint decided it'd be a great idea to go training.

As you were sparring, he swung his leg under yours and in the blink of an eye, you had him straddling your hips on the ground.

He smirked and leaned down, his face close enough to yours for you to be kissing. He pinned your arms above your head and you whispered "Not here Clint." However you didn't protest when he started kissing your neck.

He only stopped when you both heard a loud voice booming. "Brother Clint and Lady (Y/N) seem to be busy, turn around." Clint rolled off you, the only thing heard in the room was your now heavy breathing. You saw Thor pushing Steve out of the training room making you chuckle slightly before getting up.

-Pietro Maximoff: It was a lazy day for you and Pietro. You both had some fun last night, though you were quiet and slow, not wanting to wake the others up from their light slumber.

You walked into the kitchen in one of Pietro's oversized training shirts to make yourself a coffee and a peanut butter and jam sandwich. You shut your eyes for a moment, opening them to take your first bite.

You felt arms wrap around your waist and you leaned into the familiarity of Pietro's chest. You both sighed in content; everything was perfect. Nothing could possibly ruin the weekend you were having. Pietro went ahead to place a kiss on your cheek and you turned around to get a proper one on the lips. He chuckled, his laugh throaty and raspy.

He reconnected your lips only to hear a yell "Oh get a room you two!" You bit the inside of your cheek, grabbing your sandwich in one hand and Pietro's shirt in the other, dodging a disgusted Clint as you escaped to your bedroom, coffee mug forgotten on the counter.

-Peter Parker: You and Peter went over to his house immediately after class, eager to cool off with your weekly movie night. It was easy to say that the both of you had a fairly tough week. You changed into some comfortable clothes, settling down on Peter's bed with a bunch of snacks.

"You know," you started, taking a sip of your soda. "More people should watch Star Wars. Like they immediately judge, but they haven't even watched it. At least know what you're talking about if you're going to say it's bad." Peter smiled, pulling your body closer to his and kissing your forehead. You hummed in delight, snuggling into his chest. "If this is what I get for being smart, I should really start studying more."

You trailed butterfly kisses on his soft skin, from his jaw down to his collar bone until his sweater was restricting any further access. You tugged at it and Peter untangled himself from you to take it off.

Just as you straddled him, connecting your lips to his skin once more, the door squeaked, signaling it had been open. "Hey Peter-oh! Use protection!" Aunt May stepped out of the doorway, shutting the door behind her, leaving you and Peter mouth agape as you stared at the same spot she stood at mere seconds ago.

-Peter Quill: It was a crucially boring day for the lot of you. You all just sat in the Milano trying to find something to do. "Babe. Baby." Peter poked you in the shoulder repetitively, head leaning on your arm, puppy eyes ready. "What is it Peter, Baby?" "I miss you." He whined.

You looked down at his pouty face, leaning down to give his soft plump lips a nice short kiss. "I want you," he whispered in such a low voice, you almost didn't hear him. You looked around the room.

Gamora was reading a magazine, Rocket was fixing some sort of machine, probably another bomb, Drax was sitting on a one seater couch eating from a bag of chips and Mantis was doing whatever Mantis does, looking outside the ship from the big glass window.

"Come on." You told him quietly. As soon as you entered your room, Peter was planting kisses all over your jaw and down your neck. He picked you up, walking you over to your bed. He immediately crawled above you and you moaned, throwing your head on your pillows and arching your back when he found your sweet spot.

"What a show, you're disgusting." Peter didn't stop, and neither did you, only encouraging his actions when you wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him closer. You only pulled away when Gamora took her shoe off, throwing it at the both of you and hitting Peter, making him jump and yelp.

-Stephen Strange: "Hello Love." You jumped slightly at your boyfriend's sudden presence behind you and heard him chuckle deeply. He had just returned from the hospital after a long day of work, leaving to your bedroom for some rest.

You sat in the living room, eyes on your book but your mind kept on drifting off to Stephen. He was a great man. He always greeted you with small kisses after long days of work, cooked dinner when he could, and went out of his way to buy you flowers and small gifts.

You don't know how long you sat there but you eventually got up to strut over to you and Stephen's bedroom. "Hey Ste-oh." There he stood, towel wrapped around his waist, hand running through his wet, greying hair.

His smirk grew wide as he approached you, hands gripping your hips. He leaned down and your arms went to his chest as your lips connected. His tongue easily slipped past your lips and into your mouth. Your fingers played with the loose towel hanging around Stephen's torso and soon enough, it hit the ground, exposing your fiancé's body to you.

Stephen groaned and your arms wrapped themselves around his neck. He lifted you up and your legs found their spot around his waist, hooking your ankles together, never breaking the kiss. "Oh my god!" Stephen suddenly dropped you on the floor only to pull you back into him to cover himself. "Oh my god! Why you guys!? At least shut the fucking door!" "Get out Christine!" Yelled Stephen, his face flushed, embarrassment written all over his features.

-Loki Laufeyson: You sat in the library, nose in a book. That's how it was, and that's how you planned it would be for the rest of the day. That was, until someone snatched your precious book from your hands and started running into the depths of the library, the only sign of who it is being the jet black hair disappearing behind a bookshelf.

"Loki! Come back!" You yelled, already on the chase. "Loki!" You dragged out the last syllable you looked through the aisles. All of a sudden, you were pulled into someone's arms and then pushed back into a bookcase, a pair of lips smashing onto yours.

You couldn't help but moan out Loki's name as he pressed himself closer to you, starting to grind his crotch into yours. He smiled softly, murmuring an "I've missed you incredibly, my love." You moaned again, managing to utter "I've missed you too."

"Would you look at that! What have you done to (Y/N)'s innocence, my dear brother?" Loki pulled away with a sigh, giving Thor an 'Are you serious?" look.

-Sam Wilson: "Never again." You groaned, slumping down onto the couch, clutching your now broken wrist. "You okay baby?" Asked Sam, pulling you into a hug. You dug your head into his chest, shaking it slightly. "I think Steve likes seeing me suffer. He always sends me after the tougher guys." You whined.

He chuckled as you spoke up again, muttering about the pain. "At least you got your cast to be your favourite colour, no?" You laughed at his poor attempt to cheer you up but nodded nonetheless.

He got up, leaving the room before joining you again, a sweatshirt in hand. Your eyes lit up as he handed it to you and you pulled it on, nearly ripping it with your speed. "Careful there." He muttered as you launched yourself on him to hug him.

"Mhmm." "Don't fall asleep on me again, please." He told you, kissing your soft, pink lips. You hummed, your uninjured arm fisting his shirt to pull him on top of you. He chuckled at your eagerness before pulling you in again.

You both had been so busy these past few weeks that you barely got a morning kiss, but now that you were alone, you intended to make the most of it, showing your boyfriend of two years how much you really loved him.

Your unharmed hand held him closer to you by the neck, your broken one on the couch beside your head. You moaned when Sam bit your lip but immediately stopped, eyes widening when Natasha walked in with Tony, her eyes on her phone, muttering "Somewhere else please."

[husbandomail-archive]

i saw ur new post and !! i think thats such a good idea ! i dont often get crushes on niche characters , but i get super fixated on them when i do because i cant just binge their content ;(( one of those characters is so niche the only thing i found about her written online was when she was mentioned in her show ' s wiki page , , which is only about 6 sentences long </3 sorry for the ramble though ! if i can request a character , i would love to have something written for shaiapouf from hxh :,) a big part of his character is that he hates humans / are disgusted by them but , , what if he just had a really soft spot for the reader and the reader had a soft spot for him :,))

I hope this one is okay!! I barely know who this man is but he's insane I love him

“Your wings are—” you pause for a moment, trying to find a word that encompasses all your thoughts. In the end, you have to settle on “—gorgeous.”

He almost flinches back— although you’re gentle about it, he’s not sure anyone else has ever touched his wings before. He’s not even completely sure why he’s letting you do it.

You shift your weight to get more comfortable on the rough shingles of the rooftop; the strange man had spirited you off into the night and set you down on the tallest building he could find. You’d expected him to vanish on those stained-glass wings, leave you trapped up here as some kind of cruel joke— but instead, he’d collapsed next to you, folding his long legs under himself and staring intently at the people down below.

Shaiapouf blinks, realizing that he hasn’t responded to you, and that you’re watching him carefully for signs of discomfort. And then he realizes that the weight of your hand on his wings isn’t uncomfortable at all; if anything, it’s the opposite.

He bristles and a scowl climbs its way to his sharp face. “You should be honored you’ve even gotten this close.” There’s no real bite to his voice, though; he doesn’t even move back, despite the fact that your thighs are touching. He ruffles his wings in the breeze, and underneath the black, you catch the smallest glimpse of those iridescent scales.

Ever so gently, you take the edge of his wing between your fingers, keeping your eyes on his face; his own eyes are trained on your hand, but he doesn’t move as you lift his wing higher, unfolding it until his scales catch the moonlight.

Gorgeous isn’t even the right word— you don’t know the right word. Breathtaking. Exquisite. Sublime.

“Would you let me see them more sometime?” You know full well what his answer will be, but you ask anyways.

Shaiapouf tilts his head, his eyes sliding shut as he pretends to think. Without saying anything, he draws himself to his feet in one smooth motion, completely unafraid of the slope of the roof— anyone who can fly ceases to fear a fall.

He extends his hand down to you. You blink up at him, but he won’t meet your eyes.

“Come on, then— I don’t have all evening.” 

That’s another lie. You both know it.

When you accept his open hand, he’s quick to swing you up into his arms; as thin as he is, he’s not human, and you can feel a strength that far surpasses your own rippling through him. He’s surprisingly warm; now that you’ve gotten up close and personal, your gaze traces the lines of his jaw, the slender curves of his neck, the broadness of his shoulders as you try to get comfortable— and then, in a rush of air and light, his wings unfold behind him.

They glow. You knew that, but still, getting to see it like this, the shimmering colors that threaten to outshine the moon— you’re so caught up in your daze that you don’t notice the way he’s looking at you, his smile soft and his hold gentle.

You also don’t notice when he asks, “Ready?”

All at once, his powerful wings have caught the wind and lifted you both off into the night.