#this is why i've been hesitant to watch any shows on marvel

[murdcck]

me watching she-hulk just for matt.  i’m sorry. i can’t take the cgi seriously.

BUT ALSO??? DID THEY LITERALLY HAVE MATT SNIFF THE AIR AND PUT IN A PRONOUNCED SNIFFING SOUND? LIKE DUDE RIDICULOUS.. YES, I am biased. I’m sorry. Netflix showed Matt’s abilities way more subtly than this SNIFF!! sdjkfsd.

[doevademe]

Oh no pleeeaaase you can't possibly let us on a cliffhanger! What happened next?! Did he get back his memories?

[1 2]

The second kiss didn't change anything.

Nico had been "dating" his forgotten husband for about four days when it happened.

He had felt... fond, of the man after they had gone grocery shopping, and decided to try a quick peck on the lips.

He didn't feel any different, and Percy had been down for the rest of the day.

Now Nico was just thinking. What did it mean to be in love? Or to have a love returned? Did he need to feel things as intensely as Percy did for the seal to be broken? If so, it would take months if not years to reach that point.

He would reach it eventually, because Nico found out that Percy Jackson was stupidly easy to love.

But it would still be a bummer for both of them that i would take so long.

"Good night, Nico," Percy said after they had finished the show they were watching that night.

"Wait," he said suddenly. "Why don't you take the big bed today? You have to work an extra shift tomorrow, right?"

Percy smiled and shook his head.

"We bought it so you could sleep better," he reasoned. "The guest room bed is fine for me, but you would be tossing and turning all night."

"Right..." Nico said. He hesitated for a second before deciding to bite the bullet. "But what if... we both slept in the main bedroom?"

Percy's eyes widened. Nico felt his face grow hotter.

"I-it's a King Size bed, you know? I don't take that much space and... you can't fool me." Nico touched the bags under his eyes, barely noticeable. "You aren't sleeping that well either."

"That has nothing to do with the bed," Percy said in a low voice, his eyes still as sad as the first day.

Nico felt his chest hurt. He took Percy's hand and started pulling him towards the bedroom.

"I like you, Percy... and I trust you," he said honestly. "It may not be love yet, but... I don't mind sharing a bed with you. I'd actually prefer it if you were there tonight."

Percy raised an eyebrow and smirked, the sadness in his eyes dimming.

"Oh, do you?" He said in a suggestive voice, wiggling his eyebrows and everything. Nico laughed.

"Yeah, you're cute enough," he said nonchalantly. "I wouldn't kick you out of bed, literally."

Percy chuckled.

"I feel so loved right now," he said. Nico smiled.

So did he.

----

Nico woke up early to find that, somehow through the night, he had ended up cuddling with Percy.

He looked closely at his husband's sleeping face and marveled at how peaceful he looked.

If only that sadness didn't come back once he awoke.

He untangled himself carrefully (not that he needed to, the Son of Poseidon slept like a log) and went to the kitchen, wanting to have breakfast ready before Percy had to go to work.

He decided on some eggs in purgatory. He had been looking up how to make them a few months back, after all.

(Why had he done so? The reason escaped him at that moment.)

Just as he was ready to plate up, he felt a pair of arms snaking around him.

"Smells good," Percy mumbled. Nico turned back and smiled.

"Let me go before I burn it, then, you dork," he said affectionaltely.

"Oh, the food smells fantastic," Percy said. "But I was talking about you, Ni."

Nico rolled his eyes and moved a bit, managing to cut up the eggs and plate them. Percy cheered. He moved with his arms still around him until he forcefully sat him down at the table.

Percy responded by kissing him before he managed to get away.

"Real mature, Percy!" Nico said as he sat down. Percy shrugged and started eating. "You know, I've been thinking..."

"Yeah?" Percy asked, mouth full of egg and tomatos.

"What if I don't get better?" Nico asked. "What if I never come to love you like you love me? And what even is 'Love Returned'? How do you define that, really?"

Percy winced.

"Ugh, it's too early for you to show off your Philosophy Minor, Love," he said. "Things will be fine."

Nico huffed.

"Well, at least I use it, when was the last time you used anything from that ceramics class you took in community college, huh?" Percy's eyes widened as he stared at him. Nico smirked in victory. "That's what I thought!"

"Nico, I never told you I took a ceramics class... or that I went to community college," he said in wonder.

"Why would you need to tell me? I was... there..." Nico's eyes widened too. He stayed quiet, thinking of what to say, but he was so shocked he just said what came to mind first. "Do you like your breakfast? I learned it for you."

Well, to be fair, when he took on the seal, he hadn't realized he had forgotten Percy. Just as he hadn't realized he now remembered everything from Westover to now.

Percy grinned. Finally there was no more sadness in his eyes.

"It's delicious," Percy said.

The curse would break from a kiss of a 'Love Returned', and Nico hadn't really 'returned' anything until last night. He had just been enjoying Percy's affections, but not giving anything back.

Until he offered him a bed, and made breakfast for him that morning.

He had never stopped loving Percy, not really, he just wasn't returning that love properly.

"Do you... remember everything?" He asked hesitantly. Nico pretended to think it over.

"You know, I'm not sure," he said teasingly. "I may need a deeper kiss to make sure everything's in order."

Percy grinned and moved his chair to its proper place, right beside Nico's.

Their kiss was needy and long, leaving them both out of breath.

"I can call in sick," Percy murmured, brushing their lips together with every word. "You know, just to make sure."

Nico pulled away and raised his eyebrow.

"You already skipped work all week," Nico said. "You love your job, and you'll keep it even if I had to drag you there myself."

Percy sighed, but the smile didn't leave his face.

"Welcome back, Nico."

"What are you talking about?" He asked. "I never really left."

[sassygaykuja]

im not even the biggest flash fan but ive watched the jlu episode flash and substance like a million times because it just so perfectly conveys what makes his character and honestly the show as a whole great and im going to ramble about it for a while

i know in some movies/comics what he can do with his powers gets pretty wild but i actually really like that in justice league, he's limited to doing things that a regular person can do but faster. what makes him great is that he's a very sweet, caring person. he can do everything super fast so he takes the time to get to know and help as many people as he can.

in an average episode, he jokes around, he's a bit of a goober and doesn't always make the smartest decisions, but he's the de facto peacemaker and consistently openly show that he cares. a lot of characters initially have poor opinions of him but his open friendliness makes him much more approachable than pretty much any of the original 7 league members, which is incredibly important, because more than anyone else he shows why the team is, you know, a team. others, like superman, might be great at rallying the group behind a noble cause, but flash is the first to invite you to hang out with him.

i like how consistent this trait is, too. he's the one who puts a blanket on hawkgirl when she falls asleep. he invites green lantern to hang out with him. he spends christmas scouring the world for a toy to give to an orphanage, and is legitimately upset when the toy is damaged. all of this is just nice, you know? in 2024 i've been so poisoned by marvel irony that i forgot you can make a snarky jokester character also the heart of the team. i think the core of this is that flash doesn't make jokes and goof around because he thinks hes better than everyone, though he certainly can be arrogant and thoughtless at times, he jokes around because of a genuine desire to make people happy.

back to flash and substance, i really like the way that batman and orion interact with him. batman's glare at orion after he insults flash makes me laugh every time. we all know bats is emotionally constipated, and i like how this shows that he cares very deeply for flash. it would have been so easy for batman to say, 'he's an idiot, but he's our teammate', or something like that, but no, that and in the scene where they're staking out the museum say all that needs to be said. batman understands that flash's friendliness is an important counterweight to serious types like himself and orion. orion wants to group himself with batman as if to say, 'we're the ones who take this seriously, we're the adults in the room', but batman rejects this. 'no, you're wrong, you just aren't putting in the effort to understand why he's like that and why that's important'

at the end of the episode, it's just a few moments of hesitation, but you can tell that flash is legitimately kind of sad that the museum was ruined, but cheers up for everyone else's sake. it's subtle, but orion catches it. justice league doesn't often touch on how a heroic attitude is sometimes just as important as heroic action, but i like that it does here. heroes exist to help people, and flash is one of the best at that.

i don't really have a conclusion here, i just really like that episode and the portrayal of flash overall and you should all watch the justice league cartoon

[starks-hero]

Right a Wrong

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Summary: You, Sam and Bucky get to work repairing Sam’s family boat. Turns out the boat isn’t the only thing in need of fixing. But with help from you and Sam, Bucky figures some stuff out.

Word Count: 3,745

Warnings: a bit of a make-out session but not enough to be classed as smut, tfatws spoilers! 1x05

a/n: This is a direct result of watching episode 5 too many times. Spoilers below!

|| Part Two ||

Small waves lapped gently against the dock and the afternoon sun warmed your back as you worked on the old boat.

You were standing side by side with Bucky, crowbar in hand as you attempted to pry off the old metal cleats from the boats side, whilst he expertly pulled rusted pipes apart and threw them into a pile. As if on queue, one of the pipes on the opposite side of the ship burst, hissing and spurting out white clouds of steam. You marvelled at how quickly Bucky reacted, quickly crossing the deck and sealing the leak with an abrupt upward turn of the pipe with his metal arm.

"Where did you learn so much about fixing boats?" You teased, motioning to the now fixed pipe with your crowbar. Bucky dusted off his hands.

"I used to work on the docks in Brooklyn before the war." He shrugged, rolling up his sleeves to the elbow and taking a seat on a crate next to you. "I picked up a few things."

He furthered his point by leaning over and pulling at the cleat you'd been grappling with. It came away from where it was attached to the boat's side with ease in Buckys iron grip. He smirked as he tossed the scrap aside and you rolled your eyes.

"Show off."

Bucky chuckled, sitting back as Sam stepped onto the boat. He was carrying a crate in one hand and shook his head when he noticed Bucky's smirk and your dismissive smile.

"Alright, you two." He placed the crate down and pulled out two green bottles, throwing one to Bucky and handing you the other. "Beer break."

Sam took a seat across from you both and you sighed as you opened your beer, raising it up to Bucky.

His annoyance was discredited by the fond smile that broke through his expression as he begrudgingly clinked his bottle with yours. You reached over and did the same with Sam as the three of you relaxed under the heat of the Louisiana sun.

"It's starting to look good," you noted as you glanced around the boat and Sam smiled.

"Yeah, it's coming together." He took a swig of his beer. "You know, Sarah and I were talking." He started and both you and Bucky glanced up at him. "And we could use the help. Don't suppose you two would consider staying around a while? Just till we get a lead on Karli."

The offer caused a noticeable smile to pull at your lips whilst Bucky shifted beside you at Sam's words. His agitation grew and he stood.

"I've got my plane to catch tomorrow, a hotel room for the night," he said, raising his bottle to his lips to hide his doubt. He really didn't have that much of a plan beyond that.

"You're just gonna set me up like that, huh?" Sam asked and Bucky shrugged.

"Well, I don't want to make it weird for your family."

"Just stay here," Sam said and you couldn't help but nod subconsciously. The truth was you really didn't really want to leave. There was something about staying with the Wilson's and spending the day fixing up an old run-down family boat that made everything seem so normal. It gave you a sense of home, a sense of normality that you hadn't had in a long time. For a while, it even made you forget about the flag smashers, Walker, all of it. It was a much-needed break.

"The people in this town are the most welcoming in the world. They don't care if you wear small t-shirts or if you've got six toes or if your mom is your aunt-"

You laughed and Bucky barely hid a chuckle behind a huff of breath and a bright smile.

"Okay, I get it. The people are nice."

You placed your bottle aside and turned to Sam.

"You're sure Sarah doesn't mind?" you asked and Sam's smile only widened.

"She's the one that offered."

Grinning, you sat back and nodded. "Then I don't see why not."

"See?" Sam pointed to you and then Bucky. "Just stay, man."

Bucky shuffled his feet for a moment before finally answering with a begrudging, "Okay. Alright." He didn't say anything else as he turned and walked down the boat.

"He'll come around. He probably just wants his space." You said, picking up your beer. Sam nodded, taking a swig of his own drink.

"I hope you're right."

You woke up feeling more refreshed than you had in a while. Your hands and back hurt slightly from the tiring work on the boat, but it was a dull ache compared to the constant throbbing that came after a mission. Your cheeks were warm, surely as a result of the hours spent out in the sun the day before.

Both you and Bucky stayed the night. Sarah had offered you the spare room and after a solid fifteen minutes of bickering, you finally conceded to Bucky and agreed to sleep in the guest bed. He took the couch.

The sun was just beginning to rise up over the water when you and Bucky both headed back out to the boat. Sam joined you not long after. You worked until mid-afternoon, reluctantly taking short breaks. You fell into a quick rhythm as you worked around the boat. Surprisingly, the three of you seemed to make a pretty decent team off of the battlefield.

"Hey, can you pass me a 12-300?" Sam asked from under the boat's control panel. Bucky reached into the toolbox and placed the wrench in Sam's outstretched hand. A few seconds later Sam was rolling out from under the controls and glaring disapprovingly at Bucky.

"What?"

"I asked for a 12-300," Sam stated plainly. "This is a 10-250."

"No, it's not." Bucky bit back.

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not!"

"Hey, geniuses." You cut their bickering short as both men turned to look at you. You held up the grease-slick wrench that had been misplaced and tossed it to Sam. "You left it below deck when you were working on the engine."

Sam muttered a quiet 'thanks' as he got back to work. Silence settled over the three of you for a few minutes until Sam decided it was getting awkward.

"So, are you still planning on leaving tonight?" He asked from under the station and Bucky nodded, before realising Sam couldn't see him.

"Yeah," he said loud enough for Sam to hear. "I'll be out of your way soon."

You could hear Sam's sigh from beneath you as he clambered back to his feet and stood between you and the super-soldier leaning against the wall of the cabin.

"Well, there's no hurry."

Sam didn't say anything else as he cleaned the oil and grease from his hands with a cloth and stepped off the boat. Bucky sighed and let his head fall back behind him.

"Go," you ordered plainly and he looked up at you.

"What?"

"Go," you said again, nodding your head towards where Sam was walking away. "You both need to talk. Bucky, whatever you're not saying, it's getting to you. So go talk to him."

Bucky hesitated, chewing on the inside of his cheek. He glared at nothing in particular but his gaze softened when it found you and he muttered a quiet, 'fine.' You stepped aside as he made his way past you and stepped up onto the dock, heading after Sam.

"And don't be a smart ass!" You called after him. He didn't reply, but you could only hope that Sam and Bucky's conversation would be somewhat constructive.

"Nice shot!" You retrieved the football from the back of the goal as Cass, Sam's eldest nephew, celebrated his score.

Once Sam and Bucky had left the boat, you had headed back to the house, helping Sarah with any errands or chores, doing anything you could to help out. Sam and Bucky had been gone a little over an hour and you didn't know if that meant their talk was going very well or very not. You'd been sitting rather uselessly on the couch, waiting in anticipation, when Sam's nephews had invited you to play a game of football. And how could you refuse?

You tossed the ball back to the boys who eagerly pounced at it. You were stood in the small goal, allowing both boys to take as many shots as they wanted. AJ stepped forward and kicked the ball, groaning when it flew off to the left, a few meters away from where you were standing and missed the net entirely. He glanced down at the ground, disheartened.

“Hey, it's alright, AJ.” You smiled as you ran to grab the ball and passed it back to him. “Come on, try again.”

With encouragement from his brother, he took the shot and this time the ball planted itself in the top corner of the goal. Both boys cheered as they celebrated and you smiled. You dusted yourself off, your knees and hands covered in dust from the football game as you turned to head back inside the house. Both boys protested as you left but you promised them you'd be back. The more time you spent with AJ, Cass, Sam and Sarah, the more you didn't want to leave. There was something about staying with the Wilson's that made you feel content. It was homely and offered a sense of normality that the last few weeks had caused you to miss.

You entered the kitchen and poured yourself a glass of water. Sarah had told you over and over again to help yourself to anything in the kitchen. You leaned against the counter, glass in hand and just basked in the feeling of not having to worry about donning a suit and risking your life at a moments notice. It was something you could get used to.

“That was adorable.”

Your head snapped up at the sound of a voice and you found Bucky joining you in the kitchen. He was smirking fondly.

“You and the boys.”

You chuckled softly and shrugged. “They're sweet kids.”

Bucky nodded, pulling a glass of his own from the shelf and filling it with water from the tap. It furthered the sense of domesticity that you were really starting to love. He took a seat at the table across from you.

“So,” you started as you placed your own glass aside. “How did it go? You and Sam.”

Bucky chuckled and you couldn't tell if it was sarcastic or genuine, but something about the grin that lingered on his lips had you banking on the latter.

‘‘Not bad,” he admitted eventually with a shrug. He hesitated for a moment before continuing. “We talked. He said if I'm going to fix anything, if I'm going to get what's left of him out of my mind.” Bucky subconsciously ran his hand across his temple. “I'm going to have to put in the work. Help the people I wronged instead of just saying sorry.”

You nodded, silently making a note to thank Sam later on. He always had a way with words, he could always get through to people. That's why he was given the shield.

“He's got a point.”

Bucky scoffed and hung his head at your words. “I should have known you'd be on his side.” There was no hostility in his words. He just sounded amused, and maybe a little tired.

“I don't think this comes down to whose side I'm on, Bucky. We both want what's best for you.” You answered honestly and Bucky glimpsed up at you. He anxiously toyed with his hands as you spoke, looking vulnerable, and slightly lost despite how hard he tried to hide it. You knew Sam had already spoken to him, but it couldn't hurt for you to say something as well.

“Look Bucky, telling yourself that you're okay and that everything that happened doesn't matter anymore because you've made 'amends' isn't going to help.”

He sighed, shuffling his feet against the tiles of the kitchen floor. “I know,” he admitted quietly.

“And I know you're probably tired of hearing this but, you're not him anymore, Bucky. You're not the winter soldier. Everything you did whilst you were him wasn't your choice. Just because you remember it doesn't mean that it was your fault. It's not your responsibility to fix it.”

Bucky sighed but didn't interrupt. He was listening. This wasn't like the therapist that he was forced to sit in front of and lie to every other week. This was someone he trusted, someone whose words he valued. Someone he honestly believed could help. He sighed but nodded to show that he was still listening.

“I think Sam’s right,” you said. “It might not be your responsibility to fix everything that went wrong but trying could help. It could give you that closure that you keep chasing after. You need to let go, Bucky. You need to forgive yourself. Maybe you just need the people who are hurting to forgive you first. Then you can learn how to do the same.”

Bucky's expression was unreadable. So many emotions flashed across his eyes you found it difficult to pinpoint just one.

“How do I start?” he asked quietly. It just seemed impossible. There were so many people he'd hurt, so many people he'd wronged. He'd left children as orphans, wives as widows and parents childless. How could he possibly start trying to fix or make all those people feel in any way better?

You smiled softly at his question. “Small. One at a time,” you said simply. “Then just keep putting one in front of the other.”

Bucky considered your words, glancing down at his hands as he thought. Before long, a small smirk pulled at his lips.

“I can't decide who'd make a better therapist. You or Sam,” he joked and you laughed, shaking your head dismissively.

“Well, Sam did council veterans so I think he takes that title.”

“I'd say it's pretty tied,” Bucky said, walking across the kitchen and standing next to you as he washed his glass, drying it off and placing it back on the shelf. The room fell into a comfortable silence.

“Thank you, Y/N.” He said after a moment, his tone sincere and his expression genuine as he looked at you. You nodded, gently placing your hand against his shoulder.

“Don't mention it. You know I'm always here if you need to talk.”

The sound of a football colliding with the wall dangerously close to the window followed by two voice's loudly shouting, 'sorry!' in unison drew a quaint laugh from you both.

“Duty calls.” You grinned, patting Bucky on the back as you passed him. “Team Wilson is missing its goalkeeper.”

Bucky chuckled, watching you go. You crossed the kitchen but his voice stopped you just as your hand reached the doors handle.

“Y/N?”

You turned back around to face him and couldn't help but notice that he seemed a little more apprehensive than he had before.

“Yeah?”

He exhaled slowly, willing himself to tell you what was on his mind.

“I was just thinking things over and you know, I’m leaving today,” he hesitated slightly before glancing up at you. “And I guess I was wondering if you’d come with me?”

Your hand slipped from where it was still holding the brass handle of the door. You tilted your head as your mind fully processed his question. The shock must have been evident in your expression as Bucky rushed to continue.

“I know you're planning on staying here and I get why.” He pulled a tattered red book from his pocket which you immediately recognized as Steve’s. He began absentmindedly turning the pages, running his fingers over the paper. “I want to try and start fixing things, making things right. But truth is I have no idea where to start. I thought that maybe you could help me with that?”

“I thought you wanted your space," you admitted after a moment.

“No.” He shook his head. “That's the last thing I want.”

You thought it over, resting your back against the door. Bucky trusted you, evidently a lot more than you thought he did. Not only was he comfortable enough telling you how he felt and admitting he didn't know what to do next. But he also wanted you with him. It was clear he was holding back, not wanting to overwhelm you by admitting just how badly he wanted you to go with him. But the way he eagerly watched you as he waited patiently for your answer was a dead give away.

You wanted to help Bucky, you wanted to be there for him. If that meant helping him right his wrongs and staying with him during that trying time, at least until Sam got a lead on Karli and the Flag Smashers, then you were more than happy to comply.

“You're sure about this?” you asked and Bucky pushed off the counter and crossed the room, stopping just in front of you.

“Absolutely.” His voice dropped down to a hushed whisper. “Come with me.” His hand gently caught your wrist, his fingers running up your arm. His face was inches from yours now, your breaths mingling. “Please?”

His lips pressed to yours before you could answer and you immediately kissed back. Your hand fell against his shoulder, the other laying gently against the nape of his neck. He groaned quietly against you, his arms finding your waist as he gently guided you backwards till your back met the wall. He pressed into you, his hands roaming up your body and you moaned as he deepened the kiss.

“Yes.” You answered when he pulled away slightly and he smiled against you, relieved. Neither of you said anything else as Bucky sighed and pulled you closer, his thigh slipping between your legs as he pinned you to the wall.

God, he'd wanted to do this for so long. Wanted to kiss you, to feel you against him. He wanted you. Your hand slipped into his hair and you pulled him closer, smirking against him. You'd wanted this just as bad. And you both only had your own stubbornness to blame for taking so damn long. It didn't matter now though. Not as he gently bit down on your lower lip and you slipped your hand under his shirt and felt up his chest. It all felt so natural, so right.

“Ten minutes.”

Both your eyes flew open at the all too familiar voice, Bucky pulling away from you so quickly he only barely avoided falling over a nearby chair.

“I left you two alone to talk for ten minutes,” Sam repeated from where he was standing on the other side of the room, his arms crossed. You tried to subtly smoothen out your clothes whilst Bucky ran his hand through his tangled hair.

“We were,” Bucky said, clearing his throat. “We were talking. We...talked.”

Sam nodded, entirely unconvinced, and smirked. He reclined against the counter, showing no sign of leaving anytime soon. A painfully awkward silence settled over the kitchen as Sam continued to shift his knowing stare from you to Bucky.

The humiliation of the entire situation seemed to get to Bucky first as he clasped his hands together after less than a minute.

“You know, what? I'm leaving in a few hours and I've got to pack so I better just go-” Bucky rambled as he shot you a subtle apologetic look before turning to Sam, who was nodding along in faux agreement to his pathetic attempt of an excuse.

Bucky quickly crossed the kitchen, Sam harshly patting him on the back as he passed him and left the room. Leaving just you and Sam alone. You turned to your friend and found that he was still grinning at you with that same mischievous look in his eyes. You felt like a deer in headlights. In an attempt to act as though Sam hadn't just walked in on you and Bucky making out, you tried making normal conversation.

“Sam, there was actually something I wanted to tell you. I know I said I was going to stay for a while but I guess there's been a change of plan. I-”

“I know.” He cut you off and his smile only widened when you looked at him in utter confusion. “You honestly think he would have asked you to go with him if I didn't tell him to get his shit together first?”

Your confusion slowly melted away and was replaced with a look of disbelief. You laughed despite yourself. You should have known Sam had something to do with it. ‘‘How long have you been playing cupid?” you asked jokingly and Sam chuckled.

“He needs you, Y/N. More than he wants to admit,” Sam said, tone now more serious than before. “Things will be fine here, I'll call you as soon as Torres finds us something to work with. But right now, he needs your help before that hole he's stuck in gets too deep for him to climb out of.”

You sighed as the weight of Sam's words set in. He was right, Bucky really did need you. That wasn't a responsibility you could afford to take lightly. Not that you planned to.

“Thanks, Sam,” you said genuinely and Sam smirked as he crossed the room and pulled you into a hug. He could tell you needed it.

“Anytime.” He pulled away and offered you a warning glare. “But I swear, if you two making out the minute I turn my back becomes a regular thing I'm going to kick both your asses.”

“Got it,” you nodded, barely stifling a laugh.

Sam's scowl melted into a smile and he motioned towards the stairs. “Go on, get your things together. You've got a plane to catch in a few hours.”

You smiled and headed upstairs after Bucky. Sam leaned against the counter with his arms crossed and a satisfied smile. Getting you two together had taken more work than he'd thought. But he knew it would be worth it, you both needed each other. Whether you were willing to admit it or not. And Sam was confident that if there was anyone that could help Bucky and offer him that sense of home and peace that he was so desperately craving, it was you.

tag list: @bakerstreethound​ @miraclesoflove​ @doozywoozy​ @kealohilani-tepise

[skiller0dani]

With Love Comes Daggers | Loki Laufeyson

M A S T E R L I S T Marvel Masterlist

eventual smut | slow burn requests info w.c | 4.8k summary | Loki watches his file, and he sees a few future memories of you.

Hey, it's been a while. This feels like the beginning of a 'we broke up and haven't seen each other in 5 years' letter doesn't it? I've been working on my book, and I'm hoping to have it published by the end of 2022. Tumblr has always been a fun hobby of mine, but it was never something I was going to dedicate all of my time and energy to. There's over 2,000 of you now and that blows my mind! Thank you guys so much, and don't worry. I'm not setting up any sort of subscription price (that was offered to me and I don't want to lmao). I'm writing on here for fun, not for profit.

Ever since the Loki show came out, I've had this little idea sitting in my mind. I don't know if I'll finish it or if I'll ever write another part to this ever again, but enjoy it. Whatever the hell it is lmao.

001 | Glorious Purpose

Loki is hesitant to press play on his file. According to Mobius, Loki is destined to always fail. But the desperate curiosity clawing at the inside of his mind is too hard to ignore. His fingers hover over the keyboard, before finally resuming the tape. Watching with both nervous and excited eyes, Loki sees the first time he had ever met you. This was an event he already remembers, and it's currently the most recent memory he has of you. He was trapped in the cell that was built for the Hulk, and you had come to talk to him for reasons he has yet to understand. Loki scrolls the tape forward until he's met by another scene, the two of you face to face before Loki is taken to Asgard.

There are tears in your eyes, although you're not sure why you're crying over him. Loki hurt thousands of people, and killed hundreds of them. So why does your heart feel as though it's being ripped from your chest? You share a teary look with Loki, but his expression is unreadable. You can feel his eyes on you, and you know that he's studying you. You wished you knew what he was thinking, you wished you knew if he cared that he would never see you again. Does it hurt him the way it hurts you? Does he care?

How odd is it, to watch something that hasn't happened yet. Loki pauses it on your face, so he can properly see you. The pain in your eyes is unmistakable, did you truly care he was leaving? The connection he felt when he first met you was something he could hardly deny, he felt the way your proximity sent a chill down his spine. He remembers wanting to understand your complicated mind, wanting to understand the complexity behind each syllable you spoke to him. Loki studied the way your eyes hardly left him, how you shifted from foot to foot.

You wanted to go to him, to convince Thor to take you with them. You knew what the others would say if you did, you knew how they would look at you. You didn't care, you know how to listen to the desperate pleas of your heart. You could feel it pulling you towards him, you could feel it burning underneath your skin. You wouldn't take your eyes off him, not when the Bifrost came and swept him away, not when it disappeared into the sky and he was gone. You didn't wipe the stray tear as it trickled down your cheek, and nobody mentioned it. Which you were grateful for.

Loki watches the tear roll down your cheek before the tape shifts into the next scene. His eyebrows are furrowed together, his chest feeling tight and warm. A feeling he doesn't have a name for crawls to the front of his mind, begging to be felt and indulged. It makes tears burn at the back of his eyes and an emotion similar to joy make roots in his chest, before flowering into a garden. His trembling palm hits the button to play the next moment to happen with you. It starts with Loki sitting in a cell in the Asgard dungeons.

Imprisonment isn't as bad as Loki was anticipating, although he only feels that way because he is a Prince. He has been granted a nice beg, along with enough books to entertain him for the remainder of his days, courtesy of his mother. If Loki were much older, and didn't long so desperately to feel the wind on his face, or to feel your hands dragging their way along bare skin- then perhaps the books would have been enough. Loki turns his head when he hears the soft sound of footsteps behind him, watching as two guards approach his cell.

"The King requests your presence." They robotically inform him, preparing to remove Loki from his cell. They do so politely, acting as though Loki has a choice even though all three of them know that he doesn't. They walk him to the throne room and present him to Odin, who is sat upon his prestigious throne as if blood wasn't spilled to get him there. The worst part is that he acts as though he stands on moral ground, when in reality the two of them have spilled enough blood to drown nations in it. Loki however doesn't hide who he is, or pretends he's holier than he is truly. Odin views himself in a way that is warped by the shame of what he's done.

"I thank thee, for allowing me to be blessed by your mighty presence." Loki says sarcastically, offering a mocking bow. Odin ignores the teasing glint in Loki's eyes, and merely waves for Thor to be brought in along with the 'gift' prepared for Loki. Loki's eyes turn to Thor when he enters the room, but they're only on Thor for a moment before he notices who is standing beside him. Your eyes shine as they land on Loki, your flushed skin beautifully complimented by the soft lavender of the Asgardian dress you're wearing.

Loki pauses the tape on you wearing that dress, his chest warming at the sight. Even he can't deny how beautiful you look, but what's even more beautiful is the look in your eyes. The happiness behind the excitement, and all of that unbridled joy is for Loki. He is the reason your eyes are shining like that, he is the reason that smile is stretched across your face even though you bite down on your bottom lip to try and hide it. What could he have possibly done to warrant a smile like that from you? What could you have possibly seen upon looking at him that would ever make you smile that brightly?

Loki watches with confused eyes and a lump in his throat as the love builds behind your eyes. He watches as the emotions he's never experienced happen in front of him, and a part of him feels bitter. How could this have been robbed from him? It only feels right that witnessing such beautiful woman fall in love with him should only happen to him through a screen. Not something he'll ever be able to experience up close. He hits play, because his troubled heart can't help but yearn for more of the emotion that he's been starved of.

"Miss Y/L/N, couldn't stay away could you?" Loki smirks, attempting to hide the happiness he's feeling behind teasing remarks. Your feet itch to run across these beautiful golden floors right to Loki, but the disapproving gaze of Odin roots you in place.

"This is the mortal then?" Odin says, and the way he says 'mortal' instantly makes you feel inferior to him. Odin believes that mortals are inferior to them, but Loki could never see you that way. He would never believe himself superior over you, that's not how he viewed mortals, although that's what he's led you to believe. Thor hums, his eyes landing on his little brother. For once Thor can see joy safely hidden beneath the depth of Loki's eyes.

"You be allowed to see her given the understanding that you will behave. Should you fail to comply, I will have her executed." Odin's orders are clear and they make your heart stop in your chest. You glance back at Thor, who has a look of confusion across his face. His eyes meet yours and you know instantly that he would never let any harm come to you. You brave a glance at Loki, who has nothing but hatred pooling in the blue of his eyes.

Loki can feel the anger prickling at his skin, even now. It doesn't surprise Loki that Odin would ever allow anybody to visit him without threatening their wellbeing. He watches the fear bloom in your eyes before glancing over at him. Upon seeing him Loki can see the calm wash over you, the comfort you find in him renders him speechless. The safety you feel around him is obvious in your eyes, and Loki has never had anybody look at him like that before. Loki has the urge to protect you, even now, knowing he will never see you again. The sudden realization has tears threatening to spill over pale porcelain cheeks for the second time, Loki will probably never see you again. None of this has even happened to him yet so it shouldn't hurt as much as it does but Loki can't help but feel as though the two of you have been robbed.

When Loki scrolls forward, the two of you are sitting alone in his cell.

You spend the next few weeks spending every waking moment with Loki, or as much time as Odin would allow. Your cheeks heat as you lean away from Loki, his hand brushing against your neck as his lips chase yours. You can't help but laugh when he pulls you to him again, his lips landing on yours firmly. Your heart feels so full when you're near him that you fear it'll burst. You pull back from him once more, your hands holding him at a distance.

"My dear, do not deprive me." Loki says, whining playfully in protest. But the look in your eyes has him silenced as he sits up in the bed you're both laying on to look at you clearer. Your heart hardens to stone and crumbles in your chest when you meet his eyes again.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to leave." You say softly, and Loki's throat tightens at the thought of you leaving.

"Nor do I, but I know our separation won't be forever." Loki tries his best to reassure her, but he doesn't know if what he says is true. The tears glisten in your eyes although you try to hide them. Loki spots them instantly, sitting up to pull you more firmly against his chest.

"Everything will be alright my love, you'll see." He whispers, and he tries as hard as he can to make himself believe those words are true. Even if you can't, he'll believe enough for the both of you.

Loki can see the genuine pain in your eyes, will you ever look at him and not be breaking a little? Is that the curse he had brought to your life? An eternity of missing him, and mourning a love that can never be? Perhaps that's how he's feeling now, watching a love bloom into fruition in front of him, knowing he'll never be able to feel it. That he'll never be able to love you like this, knowing that watching it happen is as close as he'll ever get. Loki wants you here in front of him, he wants to steal you away and disappear into the great big universe so you can live the life you deserve. He knows that he'll outlive you by a few thousand years, but Loki would happily suffer the heartbreak of watching you age and die if it means he gets to love you all those years before you go.

Your bare skin is pressed against his, flush and warm and it makes him feel at home. His hands are splayed over your back, his cloaking spell keeping the prying eyes in the dark. You're asleep next to him, your hands reaching for him even in your unconscious state. You trust him so completely, that Loki almost doesn't know what to do with it. It's only a matter of time before he lets you down, as he has let everyone down. It's still a complete mystery how he got you to be here with him. His fingers lightly drag up and down your spine, you look content laying there next to him. Loki leans over to press a kiss to your forehead, watching with fearful eyes as he begins to realize the depth in which he cares for you. He's never truly loved anybody besides his mother, but now he think he might.

Loki feels a heaviness in his chest that he can't explain. How is it that one foolish, hasty decision could have robbed him from all of this? He can see how relaxed you look, sleeping next to him. You trust him, wholly and completely. You somehow know that he won't hurt you, that instead he'll be a protector. Nobody has had such blind faith in him before, always treating him as a trickster. You apparently saw something others didn't see when you looked at him, and Loki wants to know what that feels like. To be looked at and to truly be seen.

Loki scrolls forward, and he isn't prepared for what he sees.

You're knelt next to Loki in Svartalfheim, tears streaking your cheeks. The blood pools around the wound on his chest, and his eyes are open but they look hollow. Everything in your mind screams at you to get up, to keep moving but you can't will yourself to do so. Your hands are cupping his cheeks, your entire body feels frozen in time. Frozen right here in this moment. You feel Thor's hands around your torso lifting you to your feet, you fight him. You struggle against his grasp as he pulls you away from Loki.

"N-No! We can't just leave him here. Thor, stop! Please! I love him!" You're crying, you're reaching for Loki. But he's gone, and you know that. You know he's gone but that doesn't make it hurt any less, leaving him here doesn't make any of it hurt less. Thor continues to guide you away until you can't see Loki anymore, but the image of him being stabbed through the chest will always be burned into your memory. Playing on repeat every time you close your eyes.

There are tears in Loki's eyes as he pauses the tape once more. There's more to watch so he obviously didn't die, how could he let you believe he was killed right in front of you? He knew he would let you down, because that's what he does best. You said to Thor that you loved Loki, was that real? The look in your eyes looked genuine, but Loki has never had somebody love him like that before. They always picked Thor, and it surprised Loki that you seemed to have no interest in Thor at all. How could Loki have finally found somebody who loved him, only to betray her by faking his own death? He can see the hope leaving your eyes, how dull in color they are now. They no longer sparkle when the light hits them right, they only shimmer when the light catches tears still building behind a broken gaze. Loki hits play, knowing in his gut that you probably won't forgive him for that.

Slap! Your hand makes contact with Loki's cheek as all three of you are stood in Doctor Strange's house. You'd been learning some self defense from him, and you needed something else to focus on. After Loki died, it felt like what was left of your life fell apart, and you needed something to get you out of bed again. But now he's stood here in front of you, after these long years he's made you think he was dead.

"How could you?" Your voice is broken, there is anger in your eyes but also pain. The look on Loki's face is hard to read, but there is one emotion you can detect easily. Guilt.

"My love-" You choose to ignore him as Stephen sends the three of you through the gate. You requested to join them, and Thor was all to happy to bring you along. He needed somebody else to interact with besides Loki, whom he was also still angry at. Loki catches your arm before you notice Odin sitting before you.

"Y/N, please just let me explain-" You rip your arm from his grasp as tears trickle down your cheeks. You turn to face Odin with Thor, and Loki begrudgingly follows behind. He wants to explain that he needed to fake his death to escape the confines of prison, now that he's free the two of you can be together in a way you couldn't before. But looking at you now, Loki underestimated how badly his death would hurt you. He didn't expect you to care as deeply for him as you do. Now watching your tense shoulders and the tears you're desperately trying to keep at bay he can see that it will take a lot of work for you to forgive him, if you ever will.

The anger doesn't surprise him, nor does the silent treatment. If he truly did fake his death and make you watch, then he's surprised you're standing anywhere near him. Loki wants to say that he can be a better man than that, that he can make the right choice but deep down he knows that he can't. He's a selfish man, he always has been. None of this has even happened to him yet, and still he wants to make it up to you, to tell you how sorry he is. That he never meant to hurt you, but all of this footage is what was supposed to happen, what has yet to come. But none of it is going to happen to this Loki, the variant. Loki scrolls forward again, and hesitantly hits play.

Overlooking Sakaar, you and Loki share a lush bedroom gifted by the Grandmaster. You lean against the balcony, you still haven't spoken to him, you're not sure what you're meant to say. You're angry, your heart is broken, you can't believe he would allow you to go through all those months of heartbreak just so he could escape the dungeons. You feel his presence behind you but you don't bother turning around. You have no idea how long the two of you will stay here, waiting for Thor. Apparently time works differently here, and it could even be years before Thor turns up.

"Still angry?" He asks, his voice nervous.

"Yeah." Your voice doesn't sound angry anymore, but Loki knows that you are still very angry with him.

"Would 'I'm sorry' change anything?" He asks, leaning against the balcony next to you. The sun is down, and the stars are shining brightly overhead.

"No." All your answers are short, but you don't want him to stop talking to you, you missed him so much. Loki looks over at you, he can see the tension ebbing away from your shoulders. If he wanted to make a play for your forgiveness, now would be the time to do it.

"I never wanted to hurt you, and being away from you all this time has felt like... torture." Loki's voice is soft, but you can here the emotion in it. You finally turn to look at him, your eyes studying his face.

"I know it wont change anything, but I am sorry. And I heard you, what you said to Thor on Svartalfheim." He said, the corner of his mouth pulling into a tiny smile. Your heart stills in your chest, did he hear you say you love him? Loki turns to look at you, and the two of you are barely an inch apart.

"I love you too." His voice is barely above a whisper but you hear him with perfect clarity. Your heart jumps in your chest as you reach forward to pull him against you. Your lips meet his and his hands circle around your waist to pull you more flush against him.

Watching himself experience a love he was supposed to have, but won't get to experience truly is torturous. You do love him, he can see that. It's love in it's truest and purest form, and Loki wishes with everything he has that he could feel that warm light of yours shine on him just once. When he met you on Fury's ship, there was anxiety, you were afraid of him but still curious. He saw the flame of your desire peaking through, begging to be felt but you didn't allow Loki to bask in it. You kept it from him, because you still saw him as everyone else did. A villain, a lunatic. But seeing you on the tape in front of him, he knows you quickly abandoned that thought. Loki feels tears wetting his cheeks, and he presses play.

"I'm proud of you, you know." You smile, reaching down to grab Loki's hand. You're both stood on the ship that was stolen from the Grandmaster, and you had just watched Asgard explode. You knew that hurt Loki to watch, but now all of you can start over somewhere else. Maybe Earth, if they'll allow Loki back on the planet. Who knows, but now you have a future in front of you, with the man you love. There is a smile on your face as you turn to look at him, and there is a smile on his face as well.

"This is starting to feel a little too mushy for my liking." Loki says with a grimace. You laugh, leaning up on your toes to press a kiss to his lips, your body warming at his touch when his hand lands on your lower back.

"Well if you're going to be with me, you'll have to get used to the mushy." You tease, pressing kisses to his cheeks until you hear a soft chuckle escape his lips. You smile triumphantly, turning when Thor comes in. You excuse yourself to give them some space, watching as Loki smiles at Thor. It's nice to watch them be brothers again, and what's even better is watching Loki let go of all that anger he's held onto for all these years. When you turn into the main room, the room where all of Asgard's people are gathered you freeze in place. Everyone is facing the largest window, their eyes open and fearful. Before you is the largest ship you've ever seen, and something tells you they didn't come to say hi.

Loki stands now, watching the large ship over before the now smaller ship Asgard was on. There's a pit in his stomach, and a bitter taste in his mouth. If this is who he fears it is, then he knows that this isn't going to have a happy ending. Mobius did tell him that it is his destiny to lose, so why would Loki allow himself to believe that he had a bright future with you? Fear turns in his gut, as he watches Thanos board your little ship with horror in his eyes. Loki watches, silently begging for you to run, to hide.

"Please, please hide." Loki whispers aloud, if he has to watch you die then that will break him in a way he's afraid he can't come back from. It's funny that he feels that way, he's only met you once but watching all of this makes him feel like he's known you his whole life.

Thor tells Heimdall to send you and Hulk back to Earth. You frantically look around for Loki, your eyes tearing at the sight of all those dead bodies.

"You and Loki are coming too, right?" You ask Thor, but he doesn't meet your gaze. You turn and lock eyes with Loki, who is hiding in the shadows for the opportune moment to emerge. He mouths three words that make tears fall over your cheeks. "I'm not leaving without you, both of you." You insist, tears steadily marring your beautiful cheeks.

'I love you.'

"Thor you're both coming, right?" You frantically ask Thor again, but by now Heimdall has summoned the Bifrost, and you were pulled into it. Your eyes are on Loki and everything feels like it's going in slow motion, you're reaching out for him. Tears are streaking down your cheeks, if he doesn't come with you, you're not sure you'll ever see him again. You land on Earth with Hulk, but by now he's turned back into Bruce. You stand on wobbly legs, ignoring when Tony comes into view. Your eyes are on the sky, watching with foolish hopefulness that the Bifrost will appear again and deliver Thor and Loki safe. Please let him be safe.

Loki takes slow steps towards the screen as he watches Thor being tortured, and the sounds of his screams makes tears push at the backs of his eyes. His heart is heavy in his chest when he watches Thanos wrap a hand around his neck, lifting him from the ground. He can see the pain in Thor's eyes, he can see the fear, the desperation. When Loki hears the sickening crunch, he turns his head, his eyes squeezing shut. His entire body is trembling as tears roll down his cheeks, and soon END OF FILE is what plays on the screen. He died, he was murdered by Thanos and it wasn't a trick. It was real, that's how his life ends, how his story ends. What draws Loki's attention back to the screen is one final moment, of you and Thor on the fields of Wakanda.

"Thor!" Your hands loop around his neck, relief flooding through you, but only for a moment. You pull away from him and see the look in his eyes, the hollowed look of a man who has lost everything.

"Where is he?" You ask softly, your voice trembling. Thor reaches behind him and pulls Loki's green cape free. He hands it to you, his eyes refocusing at the battle ahead.

"What- what does this mean? Where is he?" Your voice is frantic as tears choke you. Thor looks at you with sad eyes, he feels guilty that it's him stood before you and not Loki. Loki should be here, his brother should be here. Thanos murdered him. Rage like Thor has never felt before takes hold of him then, and he looks away from you.

"I'm sorry, he's dead. This time it's not a trick." With that Thor is gone, off presumably to kill Thanos. You clutch Loki's cape, tears rolling heavily down your cheeks. He's gone, and this time it's real. No surprise resurrections, he's gone and he isn't coming back. Everything feels numb, and your legs give out. Wakandans race past you to the battle ensuing ahead but you can't move. You clutch that cape to your chest like your life depends on it, and sobs wrack through your body. This isn't real, it can't be real. Your forehead presses against the grass as you crush that cape to your chest, it's all you have left of him.

Loki's eyes are red as the screen goes dark, and he knows exactly how his life is going to end. How he's going to leave behind everybody who needs him. Where are you now? Do you still miss him? Does it still hurt? Watching you cry in that field broke something inside him, watching you mourn for him changed him. Loki sits against the step in the viewing theatre, he can't move, he can't think about anything other than you. Is that really how his life is going to end? Is that all he gets?

"Where are we going?" Loki's voice is impatient, as he follows behind Mobius.

"We'll there's a nexus event in 1985 that we need to investigate but before we leave I wanted to introduce you to another Loki 'expert' that we've recruited to help us. Normally we don't bring people in from the outside, but this Variant has been especially tricky so an exception was made." Mobius explains and Loki's eyebrows pinch together. Another Loki expert? Who on Earth could that be? When they turn the corner Loki's eyes land on this expert, and his heart stops in his chest.

"Y/N, thank you for agreeing to help us." Mobius says, a smile on his face as he shakes your hand. Your eyes are hollow, and it's odd having you stood here in front of him after all he's seen you two go through together. You don't meet his gaze, you don't even look in his direction until he's stood directly in front of you.

"Y/N..." Loki trails off, he feels as if he should say something but he knows there isn't anything to say.

"Please don't." You beg, and it catches Loki off guard.

"Don't pretend this is anything other than what it is. We're just two people who barely know each other working together to find this Loki Variant. So don't pretend you care, the love of my life is gone. You just look like him. If you have a heart somewhere in that chest, please don't pretend." You beg, tears falling down over your cheeks before you can stop them. Loki stands, stunned, and he doesn't know what else to say so he merely nods. You follow Mobius around the corner, and Loki slowly trails behind you.

[bccky]

I Like You

Part 2 - But Maybe Only As A Friend

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader (College!AU)

Summary: they say that there are five stages of having a crush. This is the story of how Y/N goes through each of them while harboring a crush on the popular nerd-slash-jock at her college, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes

Words: 2.4K+

Warnings: pining, fluff, little bit of angst, pride and prejudice mentions

A/N: I've tried to write it like a romcom movie lol // hope you like it Xx

Repost of my own // beta'd by the very awesome @firefly-in-darkness but my mistakes are my own // dividers by @firefly-graphics // song lyrics in bold and italics that Bucky sings at the beginning: Leave The Door Open by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak

Marvel Masterlist • Main Masterlist

I Like You Series Masterlist

Part 1

“If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve made sure that I didn’t take Bucky’s pencil.” You said, glaring pointedly at her as you put stuff in your bag.

Natasha gave you an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, babes. I promise I’ll return the favor when you finally get a boyfriend.” She had the audacity to wink at the end of her sentence.

“I’m sure you are.” You sighed, zipping your bag and putting it over your shoulder before you started walking out of the door. “Wait, shouldn’t it be an ‘if’? As in if I get a boyfrie-?” You asked with confusion, turning around to ask, just in time to see Natasha roll her eyes at you and shut the door in your face.

“Thank you, Y/N!” came Steve’s muffled yell from the other side.

“Whatever,” You grumbled to yourself.

The days before you had chanced upon the knowledge of their love life were much better. At least you didn’t have to leave every time Steve came up to your dorm.

Your phone started ringing just as you took your shoes out of the shoe stand, the screen displaying Bucky’s name.

You cleared your throat before answering, “Hello?”

“What you doin’?” Bucky’s deep voice asked through the speaker.

You adjusted the bag on your shoulder before bending down to tie your laces. “Nothing much. I’m just wearing my shoes and-”

“Where you at?” Bucky interrupted, and if you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought he was holding back laughter. You didn’t think much about it and replied anyway. “In front of my dorm. I’m about to-"

Not that it mattered much, because he cut you off again.

"Oh, you got plans?” Bucky said in a sing-song voice and you groaned when you finally understood where it was about to go.

“Bucky, I swear if you complete it-”

“Don’t say that.” You groaned loudly, earning a laugh from Bucky which, against your will, made you smile.

“Do you wanna sing the whole song?” You asked irritatedly.

“Nah, I’m good.” You rolled your eyes at his nonchalant tone.

“Is there a point to this or were you just in the mood to annoy me today?” You said with exasperation, totally done with social interaction for now.

“Hey, wait, don’t cut the call - I’m sorry,” he said, sounding like he was keeping his laughter in.

“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.” You chided. “Why did you call me again?”

“Well, like I asked earlier, do you have any plans today?” Bucky inquired.

It was a Sunday evening, so you had naturally decided to binge shows while completing your assignments and chilling in your room.

Or it had been your plan till your roommate had kicked you out to, essentially, 'get some’.

“I was just about to grab coffee from The Brew and then chill in the study hall for the day.” because your best friend is screwing my best friend, you thought to yourself with a scowl. “Why do you ask?”

“Ah. You see, Sam has this seminar he left to attend and Steve is gonna be out for a couple of hours.” There was a pause of a couple of seconds as if he was hesitant about speaking next, but decided to continue anyway. “I was gonna watch that film you were nagging me about and then I thought - if I’m going through hell, why not drag you with me.”

“Was this supposed to convince me?” You asked him with a shake of your head, which you stopped when you realized that he couldn’t see.

He dramatically sighed. “Alright, let me try again. You, me, pizza and the Pride and Prejudice movie, my dorm? Please?”

This time, you couldn’t control your chuckle at the faux desperation in his voice as you mulled over his question.

Was he seriously asking you to come over when neither of his roommates were in?

To be honest, if it had been either Sam or Steve who had put forward the idea, you wouldn’t have thought twice. But it wasn’t either of them, it was Bucky.

There was no denying that your heart was already leaping at the small chance of your very-detailed imaginations coming true. Yet, you had never been alone with Bucky with no other purpose than doing your book report together and even just hanging out was making you nervous.

You had only suggested that he watch the movie to understand it from a different point of view, to see the characters as characters and not just scrutinize them just for the sake of the report, and it was coming back to bite you in the ass.

On top of that, you were worried you would end up spilling the beans about your best friend’s relationship, because, what if he didn’t know yet?

Gosh, poor soul would be crushed if he did like Natasha and came to know that Steve had already swept her off her feet.

“Y/N, you there?” Bucky’s voice brought you out of your reverie.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’ll be there.” You blurted out.

Shit. You facepalmed when you realized that you had accidentally accepted.

What was the logical step to do next? Call him back and politely decline, right?

You couldn’t explain why, but you didn’t wanna do that.

Spending some time with Bucky wouldn’t hurt your otherwise non-eventful schedule anyway, would it?

You brushed the lint on your sweater and removed your hair from a lazy bun and combed it with your fingers, trying to hopefully look as if you didn't put any effort in.

Checking how you looked in the rear-camera of your phone for the last time, you held your breath before knocking on his door.

There was some shuffling before Bucky opened the door, beaming at you. “Come in.”

You wondered how someone handsome and built like him could look like an adorable teddy bear while in loose sweats.

He stepped back, allowing you to enter. “I was worried that I annoyed you too much and you wouldn’t come.”

“I had half a mind not to. TikTok has already made me hate that song so I’m not sure if I can forgive you easily.” You teasingly said, bringing a light tone between you two.

The aroma of freshly popped popcorn reached your nose and you saw that Bucky had arranged the couch to be directly in front of the TV, instead of against the wall, with a bowl of popcorn set in the middle of the couch.

Bucky motioned for you to take a seat. “I hope I’ll be able to earn your forgiveness, your majesty.” He said with a grin. You put your bag down and settled comfortably.

“It’s a good start, but I believe I was promised a pizza.” You replied with just as much cockiness.

“Here,” Bucky said as he handed you the different menus from the pizzerias nearby, before sitting down beside you and putting the movie on. “I didn’t want to assume what you like. Order whatever you want, it’s on me.”

“Why? Is this a date?” You joked as the movie started with Keira Knightley reading a book as she walked in an open ground.

“Do you want it to be?” Bucky countered with a grin.

You were glad you had your hair open because it perfectly curtained your blushing cheeks from his vision as you directed your eyes back to the screen.

What were you supposed to say anyway? Answer him with a sincere yes?

You obviously couldn’t do that!

Bucky had a certain way with words, you reminded yourself, it probably didn’t mean anything more than a jest to him.

“Did you know the book she’s reading is titled 'First Impressions’? It was the name of Austen’s first draft of Pride and Prejudice.” You said in an attempt to change the topic.

“Woah, really?” You smiled in relief when your attempt was successful and nodded. “Have you decided what you want?"

Your eyes widened in disbelief when Bucky gave his order on the phone, trying real hard to not judge him as he ordered a Hawaiian pizza and mustered up a smile to match the one he gave you when your eyes met.

Opting not to comment on his choice of having pineapples on pizza, you focused on the dancing sequence of the movie, the anticipation of Mr Darcy’s entrance turning your forced smile into a real one.

The dim-lit scene as Mr Darcy kissed Elizabeth briefly on her face, chanting Mrs Darcy with each peck before his lips finally touched hers. The ending still managed to fill you with just as much warmth as it always did.

As the credits started to roll, there were a few things that you noticed in this specific order -

a) A few stray tears had rolled down your cheeks, which you immediately rubbed off your face, and

b) You had very comfortably snuggled into Bucky’s side sometime during the movie without noticing it

The empty popcorn bowl was in your lap with Bucky’s hand over your shoulder. You could feel his chest moving with each breath.

"You good?” Bucky whispered.

“Yeah,” you whispered back, not wanting to burst the small bubble you were in. “What did you think about the movie?”

Bucky chuckled lowly, “I think I understand why you like it so much now.” The deepness of his voice made you feel things you didn’t know you could.

You moved a bit away, stretching your spine get rid of the discomfort from sitting in the same position for too long. Bucky had pursed his lips when you glanced at him, looking like he was deep in thought.

The air around you started feeling a bit awkward, so you broke the silence.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but I still can’t believe that you voluntarily ordered and ate a pizza with pineapple on it.” You grimaced.

“I do like it” Bucky uttered in confusion, his eyebrows stitched together as you shook your head at him for the second time today - the difference was that he could see this one.

“Why, what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, I’m not sure if I can like you anymore.” You said seriously.

It was a lie, of course. If anyone knew the secret to being able to control how you felt around him, you would pay them handsomely. What you had just announced wasn’t completely fruitless though, because it was almost funny how it was riling Bucky up.

The creases on his temples deepened, and you were just about to lose it when Bucky sat up straight and stared directly in your eyes. His upper lip curled back in contemplation before his tongue swiped the bottom one as you tried to hide your blushsmile.

How was this guy making you fall harder and harder every time you looked at him?

“That’s particularly prejudiced of you, Miss Y/L/N.” The British accent he added was the last straw as you burst out laughing, Bucky joining in.

“That was a great imitation,” you praised after your laughter died down, “I have to say, I’m quite impressed.”

“Was it enough to make you like me again?” Bucky asked with a cheeky smile, thankfully with a well-intended tone of joking added so you knew to take it as just that - a joke.

“I like you, but maybe only as a friend,” You replied with a smirk to distract yourself from slipping, diverting both your mind and the topic to a clear boundary. “You need to work harder to become my bestie. Natasha drives a hard bargain with her face masks and skin care stuff.”

“Oh, come on.” Bucky grouched as he started picking up the empty pizza boxes and the water bottles. “I thought she would’ve docked a few points in your book after how much she kicks you out for Steve nowadays.”

Your blood froze, making a chill creep up your spine as your knuckles turned white with how tightly you had gripped the arm of the sofa.

“You know?” were the two words your tongue allowed you to stutter out.

“Yeah, I mean,” he shrugged, “they started as friends with benefits. Where do you think they hooked up most of the time?”

The gears in your head started turning, interpreting his words as you felt yourself relax as if a burden was lifted from your shoulders. You had found them in Steve's apartment where Bucky lived too, so it should've been obvious that he knew.

You blinked as you calmed down, he was heading to the kitchen so he didn’t witness your mess up. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You should invest in good headphones.” Bucky hollered, making you chuckle to yourself.

You moved the sofa back to its original place, picked up the bowl and whatever he hadn’t been able to carry and took them to the kitchen where Bucky was putting stuff in the garbage bag.

“Please don’t take it as an offense, but I thought you liked Natasha for the longest time and that you might be upset that Steve’s dating her.” You admitted, not being able to keep your thoughts to yourself anymore. “It’s why I didn’t say anything about it sooner.”

Bucky gave you a bashful smile. “She’s a good friend, but I don’t see her that way. There’s someone else I got my eyes on, though.”

“Oh.” was the only thing you could say, doing all you could to not show your myriads of feelings you currently felt, too incomprehensible to dissect them right now. Of course he liked someone else, it would probably be someone like Natasha he’d be interested in.

“What do you wanna do now?” He asked, crashing through the train of your thoughts and giving you a much needed distraction till you could have time for yourself to think everything through.

“I don’t know.” You muttered.

“Can I propose that we watch another movie then?"

You cursed yourself for not being able to say no to Bucky’s puppy-dog eyes and his stupid little fake British accent.

You yawned, stretching your body as it slowly awakened.

You were on a bed, not your own, that was for sure. You turned away from the window, grumbling at whoever had left the curtains open when something next to you moved.

Stilling your movements, you forced your eyes open to see a face that made your heart stop beating. His long dark eyelashes rested against his cheeks as his brown hair, though messy, looked as if a professional had styled them.

Why were you in bed with Bucky?

I’d love to hear what you think of it! Please like, reblog and comment to let me know Xx

I am hosting @buckybingo so if you wanna participate, check this out

Wanna read more of my works? Check out the masterlist linked at the top!

If you wanna be added to my taglist, click here!

Taglist in reblog

[ray-ray-writings]

i don't really know how this thought came to me but consider a reader who's a pillager hybrid of their whole family are pillagers but the reader doesn't really... agree with their lifestyle so they run away and move to the Dream SMP and no one knows they're pillager origins until their family comes looking for them?? also i've been binging ur stuff, i love ur blog, this is my first time asking :)

I really really love this idea, I’m such a sucker for things like this hahahaha.

But yeah. So you’re born and raised in a Pillager tower, your mother was a human that your father fell in love with once he saw her being cruel to villagers. Growing up you were always taken on the raids when your parents would go on and you would watch as Villagers were slaughtered left and right with no mercy. It always made you feel sick to your stomach while many others were having the time of their lives. When the raid was over and won, you would go back to the tower and people would marvel in their victories, and you would pretend you were also excited, but those nights were always plagued with nightmares of the villagers’ screams and fire that destroyed the towns. As you grew up, you were able to make your own decisions. So you went on less raids, still going on some to please your parents, but the guilt grew more and more with each town destroyed. So when you finally turned 18, you decided to leave for good. You packed up everything that you could carry in your inventory and wrote a small note to your parents explaining that you had to leave, you couldn’t raid and pillage any longer. You left the note on your mother’s nightstand, pressing a small kiss to both of their foreheads before leaving the only place you’ve ever called home. 

You wander for the whole night, the mobs leaving you alone (after all, like kind recognizes like) and then for half the day once the sun comes up before you stumble into the SMP. From far off in the distance you can see multiple beacons of light coming from inside a really really big stone building. So like a moth, you’re drawn to the light and wander inside this castle. You stumble onto a wooden plank path that seems to go everywhere are the new town you have found. As you’re walking through the castle just looking around, you aren’t paying attention and you stumble, literally stumble, into someone. You catch yourself before you fall and you look to who you just ran into. You see a man with a green hoodie, a white smiley face mask with blonde tufts of hair poking out of the top. “Woah there… Who are you, I’ve never seen you before” he questions, his tone kind of harsh. You don’t blame him though, a complete stranger wandering into this new place uninvited, you’re honestly surprised you didn’t get an axe to the head. “Hi. Sorry, I’m Y/N. I’ve just… I’ve just left home and I saw this place. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ll leave now!” You rush out, attempting to turn around and run out of the castle, but a hand catches your wrist. “Hey wait a minute,” he commands softly, turning you back around. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I was just surprised… You said you just left home?” You give the man a shy nod, “Yeah, my people were… doing some things I didn’t approve of and so I left as soon as I was able to… I can leave now if you want” The man doesn’t let go of your wrist, “You said you just left home?” You nod in confirmation, “Well, if you want, you could live here. Well not here in the castle, but here in the SMP. I’m Dream and this is my SMP. There are a lot of people here that are actually very nice. You can build your house in the SMP and live here. But if you want to keep wandering, that’s okay too” the man called Dream offers. You think about it for a moment, “Do you think you could show me around before I make my decision?” Dream gives you a quick nod before letting go of your wrist, “Of course. Do you want to go now?” “Sure!” So Dream shows you around the SMP and introduces you to a few new people who all give you waves and friendly smiles and welcome you to the new land. All throughout the tour, Dream subtly asks you about where you're from, but you brush off his questions and for once in his life he doesn’t push it. “So what do you think? You want to stay here?” You give a quick look around and think about everyone you met, “Yeah, I would thank you!” 

And so you stay. You build your house, something with light wood that doesn’t resemble a tower at all. You also make friends with everyone else on the SMP. Somehow you reveal that you’re really good at combat with an axe and a crossbow, probably while sparring with someone, maybe Tommy because we all know he would definitely challenge a new person to duel him and then call you a coward so you would duel him and win and claim you cheated, but it makes everyone stare at you in wonder for a little bit and become just a little more afraid of you. You never tell anyone where you’re from or that you’re part pillager and that your family is made up of pillagers. You don’t think it’s important. That’s in your past and the SMP is your family now so now your family is made up of even more hybrids and more diverse people. Your past remains in your past… Until it comes knocking at your front door… 

You wake one morning to a pounding on your front door. You of course are very confused because you weren’t expecting anyone. But you get out of bed and answer the door and you find  a panicked Tommy and Tubbo standing there. “Boys, what can I-” “There are a bunch of pillagers here. They’re asking about you. They’re threatening to burn everything down if we don’t bring you.” Tubbo rambles. “We won’t let them take you and we were told to keep you here, but we just thought we should let you know.” Tommy chimes in. Your blood runs cold. Why? Why is this happening? You don’t answer the boys and you ignore their ‘keep you here bs’ before you reach over and grab your axe and crossbow and run out of the house. Tubbo and Tommy yell after you, share a look before, and run after you. You run up and find a few people, Dream, Techno, Wilbur, Philza, Sapnap, Punz, (Ya know, the best fighters… foreshadowing lol) and standing opposite of them your parents with a few other pillagers behind them. The sound of your footsteps caused all heads to snap to you. Everyone from the SMP seemed shocked to see you and stared past you and glared at the two boys. “You were supposed to keep them home” Dream hisses to the children. “They took off before we could stop them” Tubbo pants, trying to catch his breath. “Y/N go home” Techno demands, but you don’t listen. All of your attention is focused on those you used to call your family. “What are you doing?” You ask exasperated. Your father smirks at you, “Oh my dear child we’re here to bring you home of course.” And you can feel all eyes snap to you. A wave of disappointment flooded you, they all knew now. “They know” you’d think to yourself, “They know what a horrible person you are and what terrible past you come from.” You take a deep breath before speaking again, “I’m not coming home. This is my home now. Go away, leave us alone.” Laughter bubbles from the group in front of you, “Oh silly silly child. You are not home, home is back at the tower. Come now.” Your mother says, beckoning you forward. “No. I’m not going.” The smirks and smiles turn into angry stares, “No? Oh, I see how it is” your mother speaks up. “Too bad you are coming with us.” Your father barks before lunging forward for you and attempts to grab you. Before you can even react, you’re being pulled back and you’re now being protected. The two most powerful people on the server, Dream and Techno, have formed a wall in front of you with their weapons pointed at the pillagars. “Now,” Techno begins, his monotone voice two octaves deeper and threatening, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Your father lunges forward once more, throwing his fist out, trying to punch Techno in the face. Techno simply caught your father’s wrist and smirked, “Alright, hard way it is” 

A full on brawl begins. 

Techno quickly takes your father while Dream takes your mother. Everyone else charges and begins fighting the rest of them. Fists are flying before arrows join the ranks in that as well. You begin fighting someone you barely recognize. Your whole energy and focus is on winning because you know if you lose it’s back to raiding and pillaging villages and you really don’t want to. You manage to down the person you’re fighting and you turn and see that all the other pillagers are either also downed or being fought by one of your friends. Your eyes catch Techno and Dream who were still fighting your father and mother respectively. You’re just about to approach when Techno gets your father in a chokehold and manages to completely debilitate him. “Call them off” Techno demands. Your father doesn’t say anything at first, his fingers desperately clawing at the arm around his throat. Techno squeezes tighter, “Did I hesitate? I said call them off” Finally your father comes to his senses, “Retreat!” He gasps out. Immediately all of the pillagers stop their fight and run back to where they were first gathered up. Techno lets go of your father and gives him a hard shove in the direction. Your father moves to stand next to your mother and all eyes fall on you again. “Leave. And never come back, or I won’t hesitate to let them kill you” your speak, your voice stone cold. You can tell your mother wants to protest, but your father catches her wrist and shakes his head no. Without another word, your father turns around and walks through the crowd and toward the direction of their tower. Confused and a little irritated all other pillagers turn too and follow your father back to where they came from. 

You and the rest stand there and watch them retreat until they are out of sight. And once again all eyes fall on you. You can’t help but look to the ground as tears form in your eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would come for me… I understand if you want me to leave forever… Now that you know what I truly am… A monster” you spit out the words as if their poison. It is quiet for a moment and you figure that they’re all silently agreeing. You’re about to speak again when a pair of arms wrap tightly around you, and then another, and another, and another, until you’re pretty sure everyone there, even Techno, is in the group hug. The tears that had welled up in your eyes were now freely falling down your cheeks. “Y/N,” Dream begins, “We never want you to leave. Why would you think that?” A pathetic sob escapes your lips, “Because I’m part pillager because I raided and destroyed villages. I’m a monster, Dream. I don’t deserve you guys.” Everyone seems about to jump in, but through blurry eyes you see Philza give them all a look. All of the arms let you go, except for one pair that holds you even tighter, “Y/N, you’re not a monster. What you did today and what you have done in the past proves it. Today you refused to go with them, you ran away from them, you didn’t want to be a part of their lifestyle. You’re not a monster hun, you never were and you never will be” Philza comforts. His words hit your heart. You’re not a monster, no one thinks you’re a monster. More sobs escape your lips, this time they’re sobs of relief. They don’t want you to leave. You’re safe here. Philza lets you cry in his arms, he holds you for as long as you need. After a few moments you compose yourself and slowly pull out of the blonde man’s arms. “Sorry about that” you apologize, clearing your throat. “Didn’t mean to lose my cool there” Everyone around you laughs. “It’s okay Y/N. You’ve just had a big emotional thing happen, and you were pulled right of bed to experience it. It’s okay that you’re a little emotional.” Wilbur comforts, taking a step forward and resting a warm hand on your back. You completely pull away from Phil and give the tall boy a quick hug. “Hey are we doing individual hugs, because I want a hug too!” Sapnap chimes, marching forward and flinging his arms open. You can’t help but giggle and pull away from Wilbur, “We can do individual hugs if you want too” You claim, falling into his open arms. He lets out a triumphant lap and swings you around in joy. “Alright hog, let them go we want hugs too” Sapnap, still holding on to you, looks over his shoulder before picking you up and running away with you. “Hey selfish! Get back here!” And soon everyone is chasing you and Sapnap around demanding hugs. This wasn’t how you planned to tell everyone about your past, you’re not sure if you ever were going to, but you wouldn’t change it for the world.

[andiinaraethtash]

Chapter 18: The Way It Used to Be Is So Far Gone

Notes:

Hiiii, everybody. Yeah. It's been a month. In my defense, real life has been busy, I went on vacation, and I got a really bad case of Moon Knight brainrot. Seriously, I've got three more wips just from watching that show. Why me. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I don't know how many people actually care about this fic, but I do, and I want to finish it for me. So there. TW: Allusions to Xornoth driving people insane and making them kill each other. That's it, that's the worst it gets.

Shrub would like to say that this day has been full of surprises, and not necessarily in a good way. She’s awakened by her woodpecker, who for no apparent reason is trilling loudly in an alarmed way. When she looks around, trying to determine why it’s creating such a racket, she finds something out of place, but it’s not a dangerous thing. Instead, it’s a series of small mushrooms, spread out from her nether portal.

Naturally, she has to investigate.

Her vision clears from the purple of the portal and her breath is taken away, because she recognizes this landscape. This landscape is home. The giant mushrooms, the small streams and gurgling waterfalls, it’s all home.

As soon as she stumbles away from the portal, she looks around, desperate for any hint of corruption, or, on a brighter hope, her people. Aside from the wind in the leaves and the flow of water, there’s no movement, but there’s none of the blood red that has haunted her dreams since she fled to the land of the empires, no pulsating corruption or crazed screams from her people driven to the brink of sanity.

Feeling like it’s going to disappear if she blinks, she holds her breath, not daring to take more than a few hesitant steps forward until her vision starts greying out and she feels like she’s going to pass out. Then, and only then, does she take a deep breath, and is pleasantly surprised when the scene in front of her doesn’t change.

The portal had led her out onto a covered bridge, and she rests her hand against one of the posts, marvelling at the familiar texture. She’s pretty sure she even knows where she is, and, without thinking about it, she starts running to the top of the hill ahead of her. Sure enough, in the distance, nestled in the valley below her, she can see the little mushroom farmhouse that had been home for so long.

She wants to run to it, wants to throw open the door and fall into her mother’s embrace, wants to be gathered up in her father’s arms and hear him promise that they’ll never leave her alone. She even stumbles a step in that direction, before realising what is so wrong about the landscape around her.

It’s quiet, still. Abandoned. There’s no birds in the trees, no calls of wildlife, no footsteps from the livestock wandering around in their pens.

No people.

As soon as she realises that, the landscape becomes almost alien, foreign to her despite the familiarity aching in her bones. Shrub has to take several deep, slow breaths to stave off a panic attack. Without her people, her home is dead (like her people, her friends and family, might be), and that is so wrong, so terribly wrong that it is triggering something deep within her to want to scream and cry and fall apart.

She falls to her knees, fingers splayed out onto the moss and burrowing into it. It’s cool, spongy almost, and it helps ground her, because home or not, it’s familiar, something both her old world and her new one have in common.

After a few more deep, steadying breaths, she pushes herself to her feet. Her people might not be here, but they have to be somewhere. There’s no bodies, or traces of bodies either, so they must have run somewhere. They had to have, right?

A treacherous part of her whispers, unless Xornoth managed to corrupt them all, and she struggles to shut that part of herself down. They can’t all have fallen. There’s no way.

But then she remembers the haze of fear that had swamped her as she ran, and red eyes and gasping for breath, and friends who had become enemies, and she has to admit, there is every possibility there’s no one left to track down.

But she won’t know until she tries. First, though, she needs some gear, and so she reluctantly turns back to her portal. She has to blink back tears as the purple haze clouds her vision, then stumbles as she steps back out into the Undergrove.

She’s not alone. Pix and Jimmy are right outside her house, arguing heatedly about something, but as soon as she stumbles, their heads turn and their gazes snap to her.

“Oh, thank Cod,” Jimmy breathes, and rushes forward.

Shrub grins at him. “Jimmy! You’re not going to believe this—I found my home! It’s right through there, I can find my people—!”

“You were in the Nether?” Jimmy asks—demands, really—sounding very put-out. “Shrub, we’ve been scouring your kingdom for you, we thought you were dead—or worse!”

“No, I’m fine,” she says brightly. “Guys, my home—it’s still standing! My people might still be alive!”

Jimmy opens his mouth, still looking very annoyed, but Pix cuts him off. “Shrub, as happy as I am for you, you can’t just wander off with Xornoth still on the loose. We don’t know where he is, and he might try to capture you, too.”

Shrub goes to try to explain, then stops, because something about that doesn’t make sense. “Too? What do you mean, too?”

The two men share a look, and she instantly decides she doesn't like that look. “It’d be easier to show you,” Jimmy says, gesturing for her to follow.

Hesitating, Shrub glances back at the portal, debating. On the one hand… her people. They could be out there somewhere, and she can save them if she can find them. On the other hand, her friends here are depending on her. They need her help, and while she wants nothing more than to set off to find her people, so that she’s not alone anymore.

Then she feels Pix squeeze her shoulder, and she realises that whether or not she finds her people, she isn’t alone. She has her friends, her little mismatched and broken family, and she has to help put it back together again.

So she turns to the two men, nods, and readies her wings for a flight.

________

Jimmy is low-key surprised when Shrub’s first, immediate reaction to seeing Gem and Pearl cuddling together with Sausage on the floor in front of the small staircase is just to gasp, her hands flying to cover her mouth. He’s about to explain to her what they know, but she flies forward, and while Sausage stiffens, ready to defend his friends, she just flings herself into Gem’s and Pearl’s laps, clinging to them like she’s afraid they will disappear if she lets go.

Beside him, Pix relaxes, smiling, and ambles toward them at a much more sedate pace. “How are you feeling, Gem?”

Gem shivers, but manages a weak grin. “Never better,” she says, her voice wavering and raspy like she needs a drink, and Jimmy immediately moves, grabbing a clean phial from Scott’s stash and filling it in the cauldron in the kitchen area.

He presses it into her hands, wincing at the freezing touch, and gives her as stern a look as he can manage. “Drink that. You must be very dehydrated.”

As Gem takes a long sip, Pearl nods. “They had her in the Nether. I don’t think she was given much if any water.”

“Only a few drops here and there, to keep me alive,” Gem admits, her voice still weak but with less of a rasp. She nods her thanks, and Sausage takes the bottle from her hands before her grip on it can slip.

“Thanks, Jimmy,” he says. There’s something about his voice… It's simultaneously solemn and relieved, sounding lighter than it has in at least a week (but Cod, what a week it has been, and a few days longer than that as well).

Scott shuffles forward from the base of the stairs up to the loft, opposite from where the three remaining members of the Wither Rose Alliance are huddled. “Pearl… earlier, you said something. You said Exor had her.”

Jimmy stiffens. The implications of that alone… he’s aware of his hands shaking and he has to consciously take a deep breath to avoid hyperventilating or puking or anything. If Exor is loose, if Xornoth has already done the ritual—but surely they would know about it, they would have felt something, there would have been some indication—

Pearl hesitates, then sighs. “I’ll explain more when Joel and Lizzie get here. I only want to explain this once.”

Jimmy narrows his eyes. There’s too little concern in her stance and voice for it to be that pressing, but still, she wouldn’t idly say something like ‘Exor had her’ without meaning it. There’s no way she would mistakenly say something like that.

It takes a few more minutes—at this point, they’ve been gone for nearly two and a half hours—but eventually Lizzie and Joel turn up. Lizzie looks relieved to see Shrub here, and Gem still upright, and Jimmy goes to help her and Joel lay out the items they’d acquired, which for some reason includes a cauldron, despite the fact there’s already one here, and a brewing stand, again, despite the fact that there is already one here.

Katherine doesn’t seem that disgruntled by the extraneous equipment and instead starts throwing ingredients into her cauldron almost at random, though he knows there must be some method to the madness. She’s never haphazard about things this important.

As she works, Jimmy wraps an arm around his sister, hugging her close. He’d been worried about her, out there with only Joel to protect her, and though he knows she’s a big girl and can take care of herself, it’s hard to watch her leave. That was part of the reason he’d been so quick to comply with Katherine’s request that they go to find Shrub; it had taken his mind off his worry.

Surprisingly, it only takes a few more minutes for Katherine to prepare whatever it is she’s got brewing, and she soon is filling another phial with something clear blue. She approaches Gem cautiously, and Gem follows her with her eyes, looking wary, but when Katherine presses the phial into her hands, she drinks it willingly enough, shuddering as it goes down.

Almost immediately, she groans, and clutches at her chest. Sausage shoots upright, glaring at Katherine, as Pearl pulls Gem closer, and rocks her back and forth, trying to soothe her pain. There’s a tense second where nothing happens, Gem is just folded over, pain evident on her face, then her expression slowly clears as her complexion slowly warms, the white shrinking back into the roots of her hair before disappearing entirely.

Slowly, she straightens, setting the phial to the side as she grimaces. “That was officially the worst heartburn I’ve ever had.”

Sausage and Pearl both let out relieved laughs, and Shrub, who hadn’t really moved from where she’d burrowed between Pearl and Gem, giggles before latching onto Gem’s arm and squeezing hard.

Jimmy catches Scott’s eye from across the room, and he notices that he looks a little teary-eyed. Which is strange, because usually he’s the epitome of I-couldn’t-care-less-about-your-problems, but then, lately, that hasn’t really been the case. He’s been getting involved emotionally, and Jimmy has to admit, he likes seeing this side of Scott.

Gem manages to wriggle out of the impromptu cuddle pile, laughing, and gives Katherine a big hug. “Thank you,” she murmurs softly, and even from here, with her back turned to him, Jimmy can tell that Katherine is starting to tear up.

He knows losing Gem had hit Katherine hard—he still isn’t exactly sure why—but it’s more than obvious that she is beyond relieved that this time, this time she was able to save her friend.

Jimmy moves forward, wraps Gem in a hug as soon as she’s disengaged from Katherine, and pats her on the back. “Good to see you, Gem.”

Surprisingly, he even means it. He won’t say he’s always held a fondness for Gem, but she has always been the most tolerable of the main three of the Wither Rose Alliance. But since they lost fWhip the first time, he’s started empathising with her, and even grew to respect her as she pressed on without her sibling. He can’t imagine he’d have soldiered on as well as she did if he’d lost his sibling.

Then they’d lost her, and he’d realised that quite without meaning to, he’d grown fond of her, and losing her had been a blow. Now she’s back, and he can quite honestly say he’s more than relieved.

Pix is next, gently folding Gem into his arms and whispering, “Welcome back,” in such a soft voice Jimmy knows he’s not the only one who tears up.

Gem then makes her way over to Scott, who backs away, hands spread and a panicked look on his face as she stops right in front of him. Jimmy can’t see her face from the angle she’s at, but her posture is relaxed, and she doesn’t seem afraid or angry.

“Scott,” she says softly. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you, I knew what I was getting myself into, you are in no way to blame.”

Scott slumps slightly, his hands dropping to his sides. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Whether or not you blame me, it was my fault, I hurt you, I ran—”

“You didn’t mean to, and you were just trying to keep from making it worse. Scott,” she reaches out and grabs his hand. Jimmy has to give her credit. Despite how cold he knows Scott’s skin to be, she doesn’t shudder or let go. “You don’t have to blame yourself. Exor was the one to blame. He gave me some sort of potion,” she adds, a bit louder so the whole room can hear. “I don’t remember what happened after that, but I woke up in a cell in the Nether. He came by a few times, mostly to taunt me, but he got my blood as well. Tell me he hasn’t gotten yours.”

Joey scoffs slightly. “I wish we could, but he used Pearl as leverage to make us give it to him. You know, before she stabbed Scott in the back and killed Joel.”

Gem whirls around, staring in disbelief at Pearl, who squirms uncomfortably. “After the funeral, after he poisoned us all—” Gem lets out a gasp, but Pearl presses on “—Exor dropped by the Gilded Helenthia, and told me he’d rigged two kingdoms to blow if I didn’t do what he wanted. I meant it when I said I didn’t have a choice.”

Sausage nods. “He’d rigged Mythland and the Crystal Cliffs, hadn’t he?”

Pearl nods, and Jimmy exchanges looks with the others. Pix seems to have accepted that easily enough, but there are a few things bugging the rest of them about that story.

“If you knew where the bombs were, why didn’t you disarm them sooner?” Lizzie asks, and Jimmy can’t help but nod.

Pearl sighs. “I didn’t know which kingdoms he’d rigged. If I went poking around, he might have set one of them off just to punish me. I couldn’t risk it.”

“Then how did you know which ones were rigged?” Joey demands, and this time it’s Shrub who nods.

“And why didn’t you just tell us when you found out?” she asks.

Pearl shares a look with Gem, like she’s debating how much to tell them, and Jimmy frowns. “The whole truth, please and thank you.”

She sighs again, and closes her eyes. “Honestly? I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure you’d believe me, and… I messed up. I obeyed him, I did what he wanted without question, I made you think I betrayed you. I… guess I felt like it was my responsibility, and my penance. I am sorry, Joey, about you getting hurt. I didn’t know you were there, or I’d have been more careful. As it was, I was rushing, because I didn’t know how much time I had before Exor realised I was gone.”

Jimmy nods. He can see where she’s coming from. Hell, he probably would have done the same, down to the screw-up that resulted in the explosion, but that still didn’t answer the original question.

Before he can ask her to actually explain how she found out, Scott scowls slightly and asks, “You still haven’t explained why you keep calling him Exor. I thought it was Xornoth.”

“So did we,” Gem admits, pain evident on her face, and Jimmy wonders what exactly happened to her in the days she was gone. “But right as we were escaping, he told us. He laughed, and he… he made fWhip tell us.”

Electricity runs through Jimmy's spine, making him straighten as literal shock courses through him. “fWhip?” He hears himself ask distantly, and to his continued shock, Pearl and Gem both nod.

“He was still holding on,” Pearl explains. “When Scott managed to hurt him in Mythland, fWhip was able to break free long enough to tell me both where the end crystals were, and where Gem was.”

Gem visibly blinks back tears, and forces out, “He told us to run.”

Jimmy’s heart aches. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told fWhip all those weeks ago (was it really only two? That seems too hard to believe), that he’d come to consider fWhip a friend, despite their negative history. To hear Gem talk about him with such pain… he knows deep in his gut that something happened to fWhip, and knowing Xornoth—or Exor, whichever—it can’t have been anything good.

Sausage is the one to break the brief silence that follows Gem’s statement. “He’s gone, isn’t he,” he asks softly, sounding devastated, and Pearl and Gem both hesitate, then nod.

“We think so,” Pearl says, her voice surprisingly steady. “He screamed—then he just… It was awful.”

Jimmy can only imagine. Having your mind snuffed out while knowing that your body was going to be paraded around like some sort of puppet by a cruel and capricious god… that sounds terrifying, and probably painful as well.

But worse, he knows Gem and Pearl witnessed it. That scream has to be imbedded in their minds, and probably will be for the rest of their lives. Cod, that must have been terrifying for them as well. No wonder they can barely bring themselves to speak about it.

It takes a long moment before anyone can bring themselves to break the silence, during which Gem wanders back over to the cuddle pile, where Pearl, Sausage, and Shrub still haven’t moved, and joins back in.

Finally Scott tentatively asks, “Are… are we sure the demon wasn’t just lying to fWhip and you both? I mean, surely we’d know it if Exor was walking around. We’d have felt it when he did the ritual.”

Gem shakes her head, leaning against Sausage’s shoulder. “He said he’s using fWhip the way he used Xornoth, I think it’s just that he had less time to try to corrupt fWhip then he did Xornoth, so instead of turning him into his minion, he just… ended him. The ritual… I don’t know why he needs it, but I think it’ll boost his power. Think, he’s only on par with Xornoth, not with what I’d expect of a god.”

“Either way, we can’t let him complete it. We have to end this, before anyone else gets hurt.” Pearl juts her chin out in a stubborn way, looking for anyone to challenge her. No one does.

Scott sighs heavily. “Then we have no choice. We’re going to have to kill him somehow. I’m sorry, Gem, I know he was your brother, but—”

“No, it’s okay.” Gem’s face says it’s anything but. “He’d hate what he’s been turned into.”

“There’s just one problem with that,'' Lizzie puts in. “In killing Exor, we may end up killing Scott.” Jimmy gives her a confused look, and she must notice because she pulls out an old, leatherbound book and flips to a certain page. “‘Twin souls trapped in an endless battle since the beginning of time, chaos and order, light and dark, hot and cold. One can not exist without the other, for if one soul dies, the other is sure to follow.’ If this doesn’t refer to you and Xornoth, I don’t know what does. But if we get rid of Exor, we get rid of Xornoth, and, well…”

Jimmy gapes at her for a moment, then shakes his head. “Right. That’s not an option then.”

“Jimmy…” Scott says, and Jimmy shakes his head again.

“No, Scott, we’ve lost too much already, we can’t lose you, too— I can’t lose you.” He feels nervous saying that aloud, especially in front of everyone, and he spots Joel slip some diamonds over to Pix, looking disgruntled about it, but his eyes stay focused on Scott, whose face falls as he comes closer.

“Jimmy,” he says softly, reaching up to caress Jimmy’s face. “You won’t be losing me. I’ll be right here with you. But you have duties to this world, while I… I will be waiting for you in the next one.”

[foxybananaaaz]

I WANNA POINT OUT BEFORE POSTING I HAVENT HAD READ THE COMICS……. SORRY BUT I HAVE NOT HAD THE ABILITY TO ACTUALLY READ THEM.

I've just watched the new Hawkeye episode, and my friends haven't yet. I need to talk about it with someone but have no one to talk to.

This post contains SPOILERS for Episode Four of Hawkeye. This is your Only Warning.

ALSO DO NOT CLICK THE NOTES UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS.... I had to reblog to continue. So spoilers will be in the notes.

So below the Keep Reading button, is where you wanna be if you wanna see me nerd out.

You're here? In the spoiler area? Cool! Means you watched the episode, or don't care about getting spoiled.

Either way, I'm not taking blame for spoiling you.

JOKES JOKES!

I wouldn't give you the finger!

But now this is your final warning.

Okay okay. Anyway, I usually mainly only talk about ACOTAR and Elucien, and rarely stray away from it, but I need to talk about Hawkeye.

Okay, so like Kate Bishop, Hawkeye has always been my favourite of the six Avengers. Obviously not for the same reasons, because, well, I didn't have a giant metal looking alien coming towards me, and watch as Hawkeye himself stopped it and saved my life directly. Kate Bishop did.

No, I have always favoured Hawkeye because he's always been the underdog. He may not be superpowered, but he has a damn good and accurate shot.

He brought Natasha into Shield. He calmed Wanda down when she was panicking, and told her that he would understand if she was to scared to fight, but also told her he knew she was strong enough to fight if she chose to. He was the one who stayed back and found the young boy still on floating Sakovia, and was ready to risk his life before Pietro did, to get him to safety. Clint Barton felt so guilty that he tried his hardest to sacrifice himself on Vormir.

So many cant stand him. I love him. He's my favourite.

Me at Clint:

NOT Clint cause he does't know how to accept appreciation from fans:

More than likely Clint's reaction:

Now, that I'm done with the gushing of Hawkeye, it's onto the episode four from today.

HERE IS YOUR REALTIME FINAL LAST NO JOKING AROUND SPOILER WARNING

So, we start sketchy. Jack's got sword at Clint's neck. There's no way he doesn't know it's Clint. Clint is easily recognizable as an Avenger. Without hesitation. How Kate's own mum walked in, and within half a second, she asked why there was an Avenger in her house.

And this isn't just any Avenger. You would think the guy who is going to marry into a formed family, would learn that this is a guy that is soon-to-be step-daughter has idolized since 2012, when this guy directly saved her life.

As soon as Clint leaves, Kate's mum talks about it. So why would Jack hold the sword at Clint's neck. And why wouldn't Kate's mum find it at all suspicious, when she came in the room AFTER Kate came in?

Acting real suspicious Jack. Real suspicious there.

But he isn't the only one acting suspicious. Kate's mum does, when she leads Clint to the elevator out, she acts cincerned and motherly, and Clint gets it. But then she fucks up like "so you'll drop this case?" Instead of the normal thing a concerned parent might say like "so you'll keep Kate away?" This, Miss Kate's mum(I'm a fan of Marvel I swear. I just forgot her name, and I don't really wanna go find it?), was a fuck up. Cause Clint is a parent, and he knows the proper way to go about it.

He answers like "I can't do that. But I will make sure Kate isn't hurt or harmed, and stays completely safe." And then leaves. And then Kate's mum knows Clint's onto something and she's fucked up, and calls someone and then calls someone like "help, we're screwed I think."

Anyway, Kate doesn't wanna do Christmas with her mum and Jack and goes to do Christmas with Clint(honestly, Same), and goes to the hideout with Clint. They have fun, and cute Christmas planning time, and honestly, I love it. I love their dynamic.

And Jeremy Renner, you can step down as Hawkeye, but you better make some appearances in the MCU still, because the dynamic between Clint and Kate? The chemistry?

I believe the familial, bind between Clint and Kate more than Kate and her mum. More than Clint and his children. They're building this up so much, they need to have more between these two beyond this show. Please.

They have such a nice bonding moment. After seeing Clint try and keep his distance, it's nice to see him embrace the bonding moments in this episode. Really heartwarming.

He better fucking NOT is all I gotta say.

Now, Clint is telling Kate about when he met Natasha, and it's sad. It's sad and it's just, my heart okay. My heart hurts. And Kate learns the truth that Clint lost his family during the blip, and how he's actually Ronin, and just, all the pain. So much pain.

Before Kate goes to he'd, Clint tells her that he's thankful for what she did that night and it means a lot to him. And then he goes to sleep, and just pain. We see Ronin flashbacks. We see Natasha on Vormir. We see Clint and his daughter from before the blip. (The blip is a stupid name. Who decided on the Blip?)

I can't add more gifs so I need to continue in a reblog

Blahhh

Stupid

[luna-rainbow]

hi! this may be a pretty long ask so I'm sorry in advance and pls ignore me if you want lol, but I saw your recent bucky posts and I just agree so much with what you said, and this "the way bucky's story was mistreated is emotionally draining" i feel that on a spiritual level 😓 I've been trying to talk about bucky's story in tfatws with a friend and she has had to stop me in the middle of ranting to ask if I was ok/suggest we change the subject for a bit because it gets me so upset sometimes and i just feel wrung out trying to make sense of it. when I first watched the show, after it ended i felt so so sad and i didn't understand why. i was sitting there like, it's a happy ending mostly, bucky and sam look happy, so why do i feel heartbroken?? and i really think it's bucky's entire story, and the big gaping hole that is steve and how they try to handle that by not handling it at all and just having people tell bucky to move on or that steve doesn't matter, when it doesn't make sense. even if you only see friendship between them, they were the most important people in each other's lives and steve's part in bucky's life informed who bucky is as a character, as a person. having them just try to basically sweep that under a rug and tell bucky to just move on feels so wrong to me. also, I kind of feel like it's almost framed as a breakup? which is funny bc marvel was so desperate to downplay stucky lol. idk. sorry that's off topic with your posts and I'm just ranting in your ask box now ugh. i just hadn't really seen anyone else on tumblr talking about the problems with bucky's story until i followed you so it's really nice to see other people have some of the same thought processes/feelings about it. so i just wanted to say that I love seeing your perspective, and your metas are amazing and so interesting, I spent all day thinking about the (bio)mechanics of bucky's arm after your arm meta! anyways, I hope you have a good day/night and I'm sorry for the rambling, like I said feel free to ignore this or only respond to the parts you want lol I understand not wanting to go to deep into tfatws stuff and drain yourself 💞

Thanks lovely for the ask. This turned out to be a long answer so I'll also apologise in advance LOL

I have many things I’m unhappy about with Bucky’s depiction in TFATWS, but you’re absolutely right that one of the major gaping holes is the avoidance of mentioning Steve. The series and the MCU is afraid to talk about the particulars of Steve’s absence, because:

a) they will have to acknowledge that what EG!Steve did was actually really shitty because not only did he leave Bucky completely stranded out of time (when he himself spent like 4 movies bemoaning this very sense of alienation), he dumped his burden on Sam without discussing with him, and he also left the Avengers completely leaderless. He is the only unifying force left in the Avengers, yet he just high key bails on all his friends to dance with a girl who he knew would have moved on.

b) they will also have to acknowledge that Bucky and Sam are entitled to feel upset and maybe even annoyed at his decision. I know we get told that Steve and Bucky “already had that talk off screen” but just because Bucky didn’t blast Steve on screen doesn’t mean he’s happy with Steve’s decision. We also never see Sam deal with the aftermath of what Steve chose to do. Sure, the story covers his hesitancy about being "Captain America", but it avoids addressing how Steve's selfish decision, which had massive personal ramifications for Sam, affected what Sam feels about Steve.

c) they will also have to address how his decision was completely OOC, because even if you take Bucky out of the equation, Steve has moved on. He’s had time to move on, he has a found family now, and he has a mission and Steve never walks away from a mission. Other people have written amazing metas on why EG!Steve is not Steve, so I won't rehash it here.

I’m not surprised that MCU put its head between its legs and refused to even touch on that subject because to actually lay it out in the open will not only ruin the image of their golden boy for non-Steve fans (most Steve fans already hate EG!Steve), but it will also have to address the hot pile of crap that EG created.

In a way, because of the way they’ve bungled EG!Steve, I’m actually kind of vindictively glad that Sam told Bucky to stop letting Steve dictate what he believes in. EG!Steve is not worth Bucky’s (or Sam’s) grief or respect. EG!Steve is certainly not the same Steve who broke through 70 years of mental conditioning on 3 separate occasions (okay fine the 3rd time was the helicopter breaking Bucky out but the biceps flex definitely helped).

But had Steve disappeared from their lives in any other manner, both Sam and Bucky deserved to have screen time dedicated to their grief, and not just them trying to manage the traumas of side characters. Steve was everything Bucky had to anchor him to the identity that isn’t the Winter Soldier. Sam gave up everything, including his livelihood and home and family, to support Steve. Legit I’m more upset about how Sam has been left out of this emotional journey than Bucky but I digress.

So yeah, I think my beef(s) with the series isn't that it didn't address the grief, because I think if I had to watch Bucky (or Sam) really mourn Steve's loss I would have HATED EG!Steve just that much more; but the way they've simplified both Bucky's and Sam's complex past experiences into something so...conveniently fixable.

[roguerogerss]

A Long Day of Saving Your Ass

(gif isn’t mine, creds to the owner!)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader

Plot: “Hi darlin! If you’re still taking requests could you do a Bucky x reader where she gets her ass saved from literal death by Bucky during a mission and she refuses to leave his side on the way back or at the tower? And he gives her a back/foot massage to make her nerves calm down aaand they may or may not share a kiss bc they like each other? I hope that makes sense, tysm! 💞” - requested by anon

W/C: 2.3k

Warnings: mentions of fights/blood/kinda ptsd but not really? she’s pretty much just really shaken up and Bucky’s cute and protective as hell about it. also kinda sexual themes towards the end, no smut or anything though it’s all fluff!

(A/N: first of all, thank you so much for all of the love on my last fic, it really really does mean the world and that was just totally insane. okay, so, this request only came in yesterday, but I was so in love with the concept and had this wave of ideas for what I could write, and so here it is! thank you so much for this one, bby! as always, requests are open for any marvel boy you want, plus any of the stranger things boys. i do smut too hehe. any feedback is so welcome and appreciated, it really helps! please like and reblog!)

————

The quinjet was ready to take off, engine on, Steve behind the wheel. But Y/N wasn't there yet. They'd been holding off on leaving, giving her time to get out and the opportunity to do it without help, but Bucky had been antsy since he'd gotten on the vehicle and realised that she wasn't there.

It wasn't exactly a secret that he liked her, in a way that he hadn't really liked anyone in over seventy years. He'd never admitted it to anyone, not even to himself out loud, but you have to have a certain level of intelligence and basic sight to join the Avengers in the first place, and it wasn't hard to figure out.

Y/N was oblivious to it, rolling her eyes whenever Natasha teased her about 'Bucky's little crush', never taking it seriously. If she'd known that they were really serious about it, she wouldn't have hesitated to make a move. She was inherently forward, had no sense of shame whatsoever, it was common knowledge that she would've said something, at the very least.

"Hey, Y/N, where are you right now?" Bucky spoke into the intercoms, earning wide eyed glances from the rest of the team. They knew that she hated being rushed, hated being babied even more, and the fact that Bucky was doing both was probably about to blow up in all of their faces.

There were obvious sounds of struggle on her end as she answered back with a grunt, "South side, got ten guys on my case. Think I can handle it, though."

"We're ready to leave, Y/N." Bucky grunted, leaning forward in his seat and chewing at his lip. He was met back with a crash and a strangled groan from the assassin, making him shoot up and towards the exit of the ship.

"Bucky, where are you going? She'll kill you if you try to help her-" Tony was standing now, too, worried about his teammate, but figuring that she'd find some way out. Bucky shook his head and pressed the button to open the escape hatch.

"She's going to die if I don't help her, Stark. Keep the engine running, we'll be back in a second." And he was gone with that. Steve closed the hatch, radioing to Bucky to 'keep in touch' as he did so.

Bucky pulled his machine gun from the holster on his back, shooting two guards that were stationed at the front entrance of the Hydra base that they'd sneakily infiltrated, managing to only cause a few minor scenes. He was inside and backed against a wall, scoping out his route to the south side of the building, without wasting a second.

His feet pounded on the metal stairs as he made his way down to where they'd been earlier, where he knew that Y/N still was, and he looked around himself cautiously, gears in his arm turning.

He could hear the fight before he could see it, and he could tell from the noises that Y/N wasn't doing so well. A lot of crashing, thuds, groans mostly from her. The sight wasn't exactly easy to look at either, she was covered in blood, slumped against a wall and kicking her legs wildly while one of the agents held a gun to her temple.

Bucky knew that he had to act fast, and so he shot the agent with the gun without giving away his position, and then proceeded to open fire on the rest of them, trusting in the fact that Y/N knew how to dodge a bullet.

When he was sure that the agents were dead, each one of them crumpled in heaps on the floor, he slung his gun back over his shoulder and ran for Y/N, who let out a relieved sigh upon seeing Bucky. "Oh my God, Buck." She whispered. She wasn't sure what she meant by the words, what she wanted to convey in them, but he seemed to pick up just fine as he wrapped his arms around her shaking and compacted body.

"You're okay, I've got you." He rested his head on top of hers for a second, breathing heavy, just allowing himself to enjoy how it felt to have his body draped over hers. "We've gotta go, okay?"

"I can't run." She said assertively, knowing that there was no way that she'd be able to get up and run like hell, like Bucky seemingly wanted her to. He nodded once, gave her an apologetic smile, and then scooped her up into his arms without another word.

She scrambled to grip onto his black jacket, a gasp leaving her mouth as he picked her up from the floor, flesh arm supporting the backs of her knees and the metal one around her shoulders. He chuckled at her reaction, the way that she white-knuckled the leather of his combat jacket. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna drop you."

"How do you expect me to believe that?" She croaked, trying her hardest to be her usual, sardonic self, but failing miserably as she realised just how fast and hard her heart was beating.

"Because I just saved you from at least ten guys who wanted to kill you within a minute, I'm not dropping you." Bucky replied as he ascended the stairs and she buried her face in his chest, the smell of his cologne relaxing her. He allowed a soft smile to cross his face, bringing his metal hand to her head and almost rocking her like an infant or a small child who had a nightmare.

For Tony saying that she hated being 'babied', she seemed to enjoy it when it was coming from Bucky.

They were back at the ship within a few minutes. Steve had taken off, and Bucky had gone to sit in the back of the ship on his own. Or at least, he'd wanted to sit in the back of the ship on his own, but Y/N was so shaken up and had looked at him like she was a lost puppy when he'd tried to leave her alone, and so he smiled and told her to come with him.

Everyone else had looked between themselves, grinning like mad. "He really likes her." Steve commented and Natasha nodded.

"She really likes him, I'm well aware of that fact." She said.

"I've never seen The Winter Soldier so caring. And, was that - sorry if this seems outlandish - a smile? On Bucky Barnes' face? Surely not." Tony pitched in, leaning back in his chair while his friends laughed.

Meanwhile, Y/N was curled up in a chair, chewing at her fingernails and dabbing at her bloody face with a wet cloth that Bruce had given her the second that she'd gotten on the ship. Bucky watched her, his heart breaking at the way that her hands shook as she brought them to her face, at the way that her entire body shook.

"Hey." He placed a tender and soothing hand on her back, rubbing gentle circles there. "It's okay, you're safe now."

She gave him a wobbly smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and placed her hand over his, allowing him to interlock their fingers. "Yeah. Safe now."

————

She still hadn't left his side, apart from briefly so that she could take a shower. He'd offered to come back to her room with her when she'd hovered around the lounge while everyone else had already dispersed, reminding her that no one was going to hurt her.

She was laying on her bed, hair wet and wearing nothing but a big shirt, while Bucky sat awkwardly on the edge of it, twisting the sheets between his fingers. "You don't have to sit there, you know. I have a sofa, or you can sit back."

Bucky shook his head and looked round at her, she was still visibly shaking, eyes darting around to show just how on edge she was. "It's fine, darlin'. M'fine." His voice was more ragged than he'd expected it to be. "I'm just here to make sure that you're okay."

"Well," She held her arms out, "Come here, that'd make me feel okay." It was a bold move, one that told of her feelings towards Bucky, but she didn't mind much, figuring that he probably wouldn't decline her.

He chuckled, shaking his head at her, but still, kicked his boots off and lay down next to her, allowing her to wrap her arms tightly around his torso and press her cheek over his heart. "Hey, you're okay, sweetheart." He stroked her hair. "There's nothing to be on edge about, yeah? I've got you."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Sorry, I don't know why I'm so freaked out." Her breathing was picking back up again, so Bucky shushed her and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, something that drove the butterflies in her stomach wild.

"It's okay, baby." The nickname just added to the way that her stomach fluttered, and she swallowed hard to try to forget about it. "Hey, how about I do something that'll relax you, yeah?"

"And what would that be, Barnes?" She smirked mischievously and he laughed at her.

"Lay on your stomach." He removed his arm from around her shoulders, and she looked at him with one eyebrow raised, obviously thinking that he was implying something way more forward than what he was actually implying. "Woah, no, no, no. I give good back massages, metal arm and all."

She laughed, throwing her head back into the pillows at the headboard of her bed. "Oh my God, Bucky. I hate you so much." She breathed out, flipping over so that she was laying on her stomach, back exposed to him.

"Can I pull your shirt up, or?" Bucky whispered, running his hands up and down the back of her t-shirt, and she nodded.

His breath hitched in his throat and he found himself struggling to think straight when he lifted the hem of her large shirt, to show that she was only wearing a pair of black panties underneath. She didn't seem to mind, so he didn't mention it, even though his breathing was hindered as he trailed his hands from the small of her back to her shoulders, thumbs rubbing circles as he did so.

She sighed and could've sworn that her eyes rolled back into her head as she relaxed into his touch, one hand cold and the other warm. She understood what he meant when he said that he was good at giving back massages.

"Feel okay?" He asked softly, swallowing hard. She nodded again.

"My God, Bucky, feels fucking amazing." She moaned, and he hated himself when his stomach flipped upon hearing her. "You're so good at that."

He had to stop when she said that, hands still on her shoulders but unmoving, just sitting still. He couldn't think about anything else other than sex when she was moaning like that, something that he wanted to punch himself for. It was such a tender moment, she was scared and so vulnerable, and all that was going through his brain were those thoughts.

"You okay?" She asked, and when he didn't answer she flipped back over, sitting in front of him. He looked like he'd seen a ghost as his tongue darted out to lick over his bottom lip. She reached a hand out, caressing his cheek gently to bring him back to reality. "Bucky?"

"Can I kiss you?" The words were leaving his mouth before he even knew what to do with them, what they meant and how she'd react. As soon as he realised what he'd said, he had his face in his hands, shaking his head. "Shit, sorry."

"No. No, Bucky, don't apologise. Look at me." She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, prying his hands away from his face. "Yes. Of course you can kiss me."

He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if what she'd just said was real. She was looking into his eyes so intently, staring at the light blue rings around his pupils, realising how pretty they really were now that she was this close. "Kiss me." She whispered, and Bucky took no hesitation in complying to what she was asking of him.

His lips were on hers, and they were so gentle and soft, gliding against hers effortlessly. He pulled her closer to him with a hand on her back, the other cupping her cheek lovingly. His tongue had soon slipped between her lips, earning a soft little whine from her, as his tongue met hers and they worked out how to move them together in harmony.

She eventually pulled back, breathless, and simply grinned at him before laying back and pulling him with her. They resumed their earlier position, her arms wrapped firmly around his waist, his arm around her shoulders, her head on his chest while his hand stroked her hair. "Relaxed?" He laughed and she smiled and nodded.

"I'll get goin', it's late and you look tired, princess." Another nickname, another flourish from the butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Just as Bucky was getting up to leave, she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him back to her, snuggling back up to his chest.

"Stay. Please."

[prxttypxrker]

our endgame [T.S]

fandom: Marvel

pairing: Tony Stark x OC (father-daughter)

word count: 1,203

summary: an introduction to a series occurring between the after effects of infinity war and the events of endgame, later on including the actual events of the latter film. a high schooler with unique abilities approaches Tony Stark after “the Snap” and wants to offer her help, as well as ask for his help in return

—

post infinity war

one

“What did you say his name was?”

“Thanos.”

She nodded her head, walking around the hologram that was displayed in the middle of the high tech lab. She surveyed the files and went over everything that happened within the last week. Of course she saw what happened—saw all those people disappear into thin air—but she couldn’t comprehend just what was going on until she decided to visit the famous philanthropist. The information absorbed so far was a combination of somber and curious news. Friends and nearly lifelong heroes were gone, and even repeating a brief version of the events that unfolded seemed hard for the man to reveal to her. The conversation itself ran short at the start of her unexpected company, though ever since the end of it the adult of the two would keep on giving the young girl weird looks as she scanned her surroundings. At the familiar feeling her head turned toward her left, and she raised an eyebrow. “I know you might be suspicious of me, Mr. Stark, but I’m sure staring is a bit much.”

The genius billionaire stayed silent. The girl who showed up on his doorstep just a couple of hours ago couldn't have been any older than his own former intern. She seemed younger due to her physical appearance, but the way she held herself was anything but youthful. There was nothing adolescent or amateur about how she presented herself before him, and the amount of information she was able to gain on the situation prior to coming to him proved that she wanted to know all she could. He wasn't sure if letting her help like she wanted was the best idea, especially without any knowledge on what she could bring to the team. The team that broke up and—for the most part—lost contact with one another only for them to band back together for a threat to the entire universe, not just Earth. Not like before.

She was a teenager—a kid. Was it really wise of him to take her on after what happened to the last person he took under his wing? He finally spoke after more thought than he wanted, and crossed his arms as he looked upon the young girl. “How are you here?

Leaning back against the table where everything was displayed, she glanced back over at him and crossed her own arms with a shrug. “Just like anyone else who survived the snap I don't know how or why I'm here, but Peter was my friend—one of my only ones. I want to do what I can to get him and the others back.”

“And you're aware of the fact they all just-” He stopped himself from continuing, waving a hand around to get his point across.

“Turned into dust without a trace as to where they could be since they are alive?” She finished, not batting an eyelash as she tried to keep her voice from breaking and any remaining hope from leaving. She cleared her throat, “Yeah, I'm aware.”

Anthony Stark stared at the high schooler intensely, her gaze still and leveling his own. She didn't move or glance away, just holding her own against any possible judgement she might receive. She knew the dangers, or else she wouldn't have allowed her path to carry on this way. There was something about this one that caught his attention, and the mystery intrigued him enough. She couldn't have been more than sixteen, yet here she was willing to do whatever she could to possibly defeat a threat that wiped out half of the universe's living creatures. She was determined, but the Avengers already tried. He was still recovering himself from the three weeks trapped in space in a broken ship, barely being able to work on any projects let alone wanting to attempt at this again. “Look, kid.” He sighed. “We already tried beating that guy, and look what happened. They found him and the stones were gone. Destroyed. I was stuck in space for twenty-two days and I've had to have this stupid thing-” he gestured to the IV stand next to a desk, “pricked into my arm for over a week now. I love the enthusiasm, really, but it's just not going to happen. Sorry to disappoint you, but you should just go home.” Tony began to make way back to the elevator, grabbing the fluids that have been assisting his health since being rescued.

“Mr. Stark.” The girl called out, but he didn't turn around. “Mr. Stark, please!” As he turned inside the elevator shaft, he looked at her. He saw someone who was hurt and grieving, someone who lost a friend and no doubt other people important to her. He was lucky Pepper was still here, but most others weren't so lucky. Despite still having his fiance, he saw himself in the young girl now a fair distance away from him.

“I know you lost people, and you want them back, but I'm sorry.. I can't give that to you.” Without another word, Friday shut the silver doors.

She watched as her one chance faded away, going down to what she assumed was the lab he still had standing. She could have insisted she at least stay with him in the mansion. Make a deal or convince him she would be of help. The truth was that while she knew she was able to do something, she didn't know how much. She gathered as much intel as possible before heading his way, and while she retained what he gave, it wasn't enough. There was no way she was going to have the strength or energy to do this herself. He gave his condolences, and she was still disappointed, but he made a point. The Avengers—Earth’s mightiest heroes and defenders—and others with supernatural skills or powers located and killed the tyrant, and yet were too late in retrieving the stones. There was no way she could do a solo mission.

A ring blared into the new silence, snapping her out of her train of thought. She glanced down the pocket of her jacket, taking out the cellphone. She blinked at the name on the screen, not hesitating in picking up the call from her non-blood sister. “Tala?”

“Hey. So you're still alive and kicking too, huh?” The other girl on the end asked, almost verbally scolding herself for doing so when the obvious was there. “Nevermind that—can I come over to your place? Or wherever you are? I want to talk about... all this.” There was some rustling on Tala's end, and then she spoke again. “I want to understand what happened, and I was hoping you'd know more than I do.”

“Well, you called at the right time. I'm about to leave the Stark Mansion. It shouldn't be too long before I'm home, so I'll let you know when I'm close.”

“Alright, sis. See you soon.”

“Yeah, see you.” Her friend hung up and the phone was set back in its place. She sighed and made her way to the front door of the large home, only stopping at the doorway to look back at the in-home transportation the man left through.

[cammys-imagines24]

• U n c o v e r Y o u •

Title: Uncover You.

Connor x Reader.

Warning's: None.

Word Count: 2K+

Synopsis: You had always wondered what Connor looked like without his skin, and one night you finally gain up the courage to ask him about it. (Fluff, Insecure Connor)

••••••°••••••

You had always wondered what he looked like, I mean really looked like. Past the layer of liquid skin which bared such an uncanny likeness to that of a real human that you sometimes even forgot that it was indeed synthetic.

But, synthetic it was. It wasn't real. The outer layer was just a veil to conceal what was truly underneath; a machine.

Inside there were biocomponent's, circuits, Thirium, wires, processors, units, and metal. Inside, laid an Android. And, you had always been curious to see Connor for who he really was, not the appearance he cloaked himself in.

Even though you had been with the Negotiator for a long time now you had never seen him for who he truly was, and you wanted to. To you it felt like he was always evading showing himself, and you understood why.

Connor had always been one of the most advanced Prototypes to ever stem from CyberLife, and he was created to look the way he did. As a handsome, charming man. And, it was in his basic Programming to remain as human like as possible in order to build up trust in others, and formulate a harmonious environment.

He was built to look the part of a welcoming, benevolent, and affable male who could be anything he needed to be at any precise moment. From domineering and aggressive to friendly and trustworthy when the situation demanded it.

Like a chameleon shifting it's colors to suit it's habitat Connor was designed to be adaptable at any given moment. That was his speciality, but after he became a Deviant you were the first person who got to see him. Really see him for who he truly was, and it was a beautiful sight.

Watching a once indifferent, ever processing, never real Android become something more, and form a personality for himself was so nice to look at. Like a baby experiencing everything for the first time; that's how Connor acted for a while until he eventually grew into the being you fell in love with.

Watching him blossom, his opinions flourish, and his own individuality sprout up like flowers in Springtime was something spectacular, and you marveled in every new day that he expanded more, and more of his identity.

An identity he could actually claim for himself, and not just a built in module in his System.

Connor came to be a sympathetic man with a true heart of gold, and unyielding morals. Slightly awkward, socially inept, even humorous when it came to sassing Hank... He was sensitive, blunt, emotional, afraid of death, and undoubtedly loyal.

And, you loved him dearly... But, you still were curious as to what he truly looked like.

Though you had obviously seen what Androids looked like beneath their layer of synthetic skin; everyone nowadays had, you still wanted to see him.

You wanted to see the man you loved without him being shrouded in a facade that was manufactered to mimic humans. Because that's what it was; a facade. At least to you.

Androids were made to be a perfect carbon copy of humans as that was what was deemed most "appealing" to the public.

People thought that the porcelain white plastic bodies were too disturbing in an everyday scenario, and you hated that. That Androids couldn't just be themselves, how they were built, because it was too appalling apparently.

And, more than anything you didn't want Connor to feel like he had to cover up around you. More than anything you wanted him to be himself, and to see him for who he truly was.

So, that night you waited around in your shared apartment for him to come home. Which usually took a while since Detective work ran late, and most times Connor would wind up shuffling on inside once you were already fast asleep.

But, tonight was different. Tonight you were determined to uncover him.

So, as the evenings sky drifted in, the pale moonshine flooding into the windows of your living room, you stayed up seated on the couch.

Your body coccooned in a fleece blanket, a box of Chinese take-out near you; the bamboo chopsticks stuck into the remains of your Lo Mein.

You were flipping through the channels of your TV, the Detroit news sprawled out across the screen, and in the blue effulgence you cracked a smile, seeing some footage of a crime scene that Connor and Hank had been called out to investigate earlier.

The News Anchor was talking about the gruesome crime involving Red Ice, but you didn't concern yourself with her words. Instead you focused on the footage from the scene, the sight of Connor making your heartbeat flip even though it was just a previously aired recording.

You slunked down more into the cushions of your couch, and continued to impatiently wait around for your boyfriends arrival; Detroit's skyline prevalent in your line of sight as you stared longingly outside, silently wishing for him to be home soon.

As the hours of nightfall drew thin, the moon continuing to rise, your exhaustion was beginning to show itself as your head bobbed, and as your eyes began to slink shut on their own.

But, soon enough before your sleepiness could win out, you heard the door clicking open; the security code having been typed in.

There in the shadows of the entry was Connor, his Android jacket casting a blueish glow all around him.

As he himself never tired it was sometimes hard to believe, by human standards anyway, that he had just came from a gruelling 12 hour shift at the Station. He never looked the part of someone who had the unfortuante job of laboriously solving the incessant crimes that went on in the city of Detroit.

He looked the same as always, ever clean and composed. Not a single thread out of place in his uniform, his tie perfectly straight. The only quirk being the little tuft of brunette hair that fell over his forehead. An individual feature that you happened to enjoy.

With ease the Negotiator made his way over to you, his own face now brightly-lit from the TV screen.

"You shouldn't stay awake for me." He spoke, his smooth voice laced with concern. Your well-being his top priority.

"I know, but I wanted to." You answered, repositioning yourself on the couch in order to swipe the last egg roll.

"You shouldn't eat that." You heard Connor lecture as he took a seat beside you, and you could plainly see his LED blinking. He was calculating the amount of calories, cholesterol, and saturated fats that were inside of it. All the facts he had at his constant disposal sometimes like rain on your parade.

"Please, no details," You halted, raising up your hand in protest. "If you could eat you would understand why people take risks in order to eat truly delicious food."

Connor did as you wished, and fell silent. He meant well, but he knew that he didn't have the right to tell you how to live. He merely wanted you to be healthy, and happy.

So, he just took to settling back into the cozy cushions of the couch while you curled up beside him. Your body snuggling against his as you munched on your last egg roll.

After a lull of calm where you just watched TV like usual, and he made a report to CyberLife it then came time to go to bed. (Well, for you to go to bed anyway)

So, while in the bathroom brushing your teeth you thought about your desire yet again. The distant thought nagging at your brain, and had been for the past few hours.

You were gonna do it, you were going to ask him.

Stepping out into the bedroom you saw Connor waiting for you, his coffee hued eyes so sincere, and you worried that what you were about to ask would make him upset.

But, curiosity killed the cat, they say.

"Connor?"

"Yes?"

"Is it alright if I ask you something personal?"

"Sure, if you'd like." He replied, unaware of the bomb you felt you were about to drop.

"Is it alright if I... See you without your skin?"

To be honest your query had surprised the Android. As that part of him was something he wanted to keep hidden from you.

Connor never wanted you to see him as a machine, as a model that could be mass produced. Forever he could be rebooted into another form, and another, and another... There had been so many Connor's before he met you, and that is why ever since you stepped into his life he had grown to actually be afraid of dying.

Never again did he want to die and come back, never again did he want to be rebooted into another Connor model because to him, it was so different now...

He wanted to keep the form that he first met you in, the one you had touched, and kissed... The body he felt belonged to you, and that is why he wanted to seem as human as possible.

If he revealed himself to you as you wanted would you then start seeing him as simply RK800, and no longer your boyfriend?

Would his body then no longer be like a human males, and instead be like a mannequin to you?

You could see the hesitancy blaze across Connor's expression as his brows knit together. He looked so doubtful, and in a way insecure? You hadn't seen that side of him before, but you knew immediately that it was like looking at a sad puppy.

"I know it's alot to ask, and I won't force you to if you're too uncomfortable to do it," You began to reassure. "It's just that you've seen me when i've been at my most vulnerable. Without makeup, severely sick, having a bad day..."

"I don't want you to think of me as a machine." Connor disclosed, looking so unsure, and you merely smiled.

"I could never think of you as a machine, Connor. To me you'll always be the man I fell in love with." You assured, your words honeyed, dripping with sincerity.

With that Connor's expression softened as you strolled over.

You took his black tie in your hands, and carefully loosened it. Letting the strand of silky fabric cascade to the floor before you continued.

You unbuttoned his crisp white shirt, your eyes interlocked with his all the while, and he let you slip off his Android jacket.

Once fully unclothed Connor brought his fingers up to his LED, and gently tapped the blinking yellow indicator, allowing for his liquid skin to be stripped away.

His humanness peeled off slowly, revealing the pristine white underneath, and you watched as even his synthetic brown hair vanished. The one remaining thing his deep mocha hued eyes, the eyes you fell in love with.

You weren't frightened in the least, instead in awe. He looked beautiful, and his eyes retained the same liveliness to them.

He was now bathed in pure white, the color of snow. His form basic, and plastic. Completely bare to you.

His face was outlined by a few sections of gray, and you could see his Serial Number printed above his brow bone.

Gently with the tips of your fingers you traced over the number, his number "313 248 317- 51" and then you kissed the spot where his Model was stamped.

Your lips pressing sweetly against the "RK800"

You could feel his Thirium pump beating rapidly, and it made your mouth tug upwards into a grin. To you, it was his heartbeat, and you could tell that he was nervous.

"You know being vulnerable is one of the most human things you can feel, Connor." You told him, noticing that he was fixated on you. Analyzing the intimacy that was occuring between you two, and how you were being so affectionate with him.

Connor had probably never showed any other human his entire Android form before, and you were grateful to be the first.

"Aren't you scared?" You heard Connor utter, his LED blinking a warning shade of red for a split second, and you knew why.

He was feeling afraid, the fear of you seeing him differently washing over him, invading his Processors.

"Of course not." You spoke up, your hands timidly roaming over his smooth plastic chest, your gaze locking with his once more.

In the pallid gleam of moonlight you continued to touch him, your fingers ghosting over each piece of his Android frame.

"You are alive, Connor, and this form of yours won't ever change that." You consoled, and you saw the outline of his white lips etch into a smile before he let himself touch you back.

His porcelain hand caressing your cheek, his other finding it's way to the small of your back, pulling you closer to him.

"Thank you for letting me see you." You said before you were pulled into a tender, passionate kiss.

His outer human skin reappearing, along with his locks of brown hair which you were quick to run your fingers through again.

To Connor that was what he loved most about you.

Your acceptance...

That even in his Android form, all plastic and bare, you saw him as himself. Nothing more, nothing less.

To you he wasn't the Negotiator, the Android sent by CyberLife, a machine designed to accomplish a mission...

In your eyes nothing could deteriorate him from being anything other than the man you loved... A living being that loved you back, more than you could even know.

[infinite-beginnings]

Hello! I've been following your bughead AO3 stories, and I love them! Could I request a Jughead fic? In the show he seems constantly exhausted, like he doesn't sleep well, he spends all his time at Pop's, and he's totally shameless about asking for/straight up taking other people's food. He also seems like he has little regard for his own personal safety. Could you write a fic where he has a difficult home life that reaches a breaking point, and Betty sneaks him into her house to look after him?

Man how right you were. Since we now know that Juggie is homeless, I wrote this one as if it were after the last episode.

“Jughead?” Betty was half asleep when she answered the phone, but even then she was concerned as to why he was calling. Jughead barely ever used his phone even to text, so what reason could he have to be calling now?

“Hey Betts…”Jughead sounded reserved, sheepish even.

“What’s wrong?” Betty sat up straight in her bed, not liking how off he sounded.

“Don’t worry…It’s nothing really.”

“Juggie, there is something going on. Tell me” Betty was on her feet now and the only thing that kept her from shouting the words was the thought of her parents asleep down the hall.

“Can I…” Jughead sighed on the other end of the phone. “Can I crash at your place tonight?”

“Absolutely” Betty said without hesitation. She would find out the details later, if Jughead needed someplace to sleep, she was going to give him one, no matter the reason. “There’s a garden trellis that you can use to climb into my room. Polly used to use it to sneak out at night, mom never figured it out because she never imagined Polly would come through my room.”

“Okay” came the small reply. Betty hung up the phone and turned on the light by her window. Then she opened the window and leaned out. She could just make up Jughead down below, illuminated by the street lamp. A sense of dread filled Betty as she saw the huge pack that was on his back. Jughead smiled and waved up at her when he saw her, Betty waved back but was unable to return the smile. Jughead nimbly started climbing the trellis. When he reached the top he handed his backpack up to Betty who marveled at the heaviness of it. Jughead pulled himself through the window and shut it behind him.

“Here” Betty handed him back his pack, which looked like it had most of his belongings inside.

“Thanks Betty.” Jughead regarded her seriously, probably wary of her questions. But Betty simply looked back, inviting him to share as much information as he wanted. She knew how tight lipped Jughead could be, she would never be able to force information out of him.

“You can sleep in Polly’s bed if you want.” Betty said after a few minutes of silence. Jughead dropped his backpack and sat on her bed, still not saying anything. Betty sat on her bed and scooted so her back was against the headboard. Jughead sat with his head bent low, picking at his fingers. After a little while he looked up and met her gaze.

“Can I just stay with you? I’ll sleep on the floor” His tone was soft but his eyes pleaded with her.

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor Juggie.” Betty said with an eye roll, patting the bed next to her. Jughead gave her a small, kicked off his boots, and sat back next to her. He took a deep breath and finally started to tell her what happened.

“Remember when my parents split, and I chose to stay with my dad instead of my mom and Jellybean because they were leaving Riverdale?”

“Of course I remember.” It had been the only time she had seen Jughead cry. First finding out that his parents were getting a divorce, then finding out that his mom was leaving town and that Jellybean had chosen to go with her. “I remember how impossible that decision was for you” Betty put her hand on his arm.

“It was hard, but Riverdale had you and Archie, plus I worshipped my dad, and Riverdale was my home.” Jughead turned to look at her and Betty was shocked to see a tear slip down his face. She immediately reached up and brushed it away.

“Juggie, you don’t have to tell me anything that you don’t want to.”

“I know” Jughead leaned slightly into her hand, which was still resting on his cheek. “I want to tell you. I’ve…I’ve been keeping something from you…from everyone for a long time. I think I was just too stubborn and proud and ashamed to tell the truth. But I can’t keep running from it.”

“Juggie, whatever it is, you can tell me.” Betty sat up straighter and turned to face him, sitting crisscross. Jughead was scaring her, but she was determined not to let it show.

“Okay…So, I lived with my dad happily for three and a half years. Then I found out the main reason my mom had left both my dad and Riverdale. Betts…my dad is a part of the South Side Serpents.” Jughead bite his lip as he looked at her intently. Betty couldn’t help but give a little gasp of surprise.

“You’re dad’s a part of that biker gang?” She asked incredulously.

“Yeah, when Archie’s dad fired him, he claimed to have gotten a new job, but he was being really vague about the whole thing. So one day I followed him and watched him spend the entire day drinking with the gang. When he came home that night I confronted him about it, he told me everything. He said that he had been part of the gang since high school, but back then it was more for fun and less violent. As the years passed the gang grew increasingly more volatile. Apparently my mom wanted him to leave but he felt too much commitment to his old buddies. My dad chose his gang over our family.” Jughead scoffed in disgust. Betty reached out and took his hand, needing to comfort him in some way. She knew that no words would be enough. Jughead gave her a small smile and gripped her hand back tightly. “I tried to live with it, I tried to pretend that I didn’t care, but knowing where he went each day and knowing that he cared more about the gang than me was driving me crazy…so…about a year ago I moved out.” Jughead said the last part quickly as if that would take away some of the shock. It didn’t. Betty probably would’ve fallen off the bed if Jughead didn’t have her hand in a death grip. He was holding her hand like he thought this information would make her want to run away.

“A year?” Betty said slowly, attempting to process the information. “You moved out a year ago…where have you been living?

“Well at first I slept in my tree house, but eventually the weather got too cold for that. Then, I realized that I was the only person who really ever went into the film booth at my job at the drive in. So I moved in there. I told my boss that the cot was for times when we had double features until the early hours in the morning, so I could just sleep there instead of going all the way home at 3am.”

“Jughead…” Betty shook her head.

“No, no, no” Jughead released her hand and launched himself off the bed. He stood over her with an angry expression. “Don’t you feel sorry for me. It was my choice and actually the drive in was a nice little home. But that look of pity you are giving me right now, that is exactly why I didn’t want to tell any of you!”

“Shhhh Juggie, my parents” Betty whispered in alarm when his voice raised in volume. “I’m sorry, come back and sit down.” Jughead sighed, but returned to his spot next to her. Betty cupped his face in her hands, wanting to make sure that he understood what she was going to say next. “The look I was giving you wasn’t pity, it was empathy. It was me feeling pain knowing that my best friend is going through something awful, and had been going through it and I never knew. I’m upset you didn’t tell me, or anyone and I hate that you went through it alone, but I don’t pity you. You are too strong of a person for me to ever pity you.” Betty said her piece and went to move her hands away, but Jughead reached his hands up and lay them over hers.

“I’m sorry, that was an overreaction…it’s a touchy subject.”

“I can see that” Betty teased with a small laugh, earning a smile from Jughead

“Thank you Betts, thank you for being here for me.” Jughead grew serious again

“We’ll figure this out Juggie. I know Mr. Andrews and Archie would not want you to be homeless. Or maybe Ronnie could get her mom to hook you up with a room. We’re your friends, we are here to help.” Betty stroked his cheek with her thumb.

“Betty, I don’t know…”

“You can stay here for as many nights as you need, but you need to tell them Jughead. This isn’t a permanent solution and my mom will kill both of us if she ever finds out. I will help you tell them and we can wait until you are ready, but we do need to tell them. You know that right?” Betty said gently but firmly. Jughead sighed and closed his eyes, still holding her hands against his cheeks.

“Yes, I know. I didn’t even think about the situation I was putting you in by coming here. I just knew that you were the one I wanted to go to. I feel safe with you Betty, but maybe I shouldn’t stay. I don’t want to be the reason you get into trouble with your mom.” Jughead moved to release her hands and stand up, but Betty grabbed his hands and held fast.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to be really sneaky.” She whispered with a wink. Jughead looked down at their joined hands and then up into her eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, now change into your pjs and let’s go to sleep.” Betty said, pointing to the closet. Jughead dug around in his backpack, pulling out sweatpants and a tshirt and headed into the closet to change. Betty switched off the light and climbed into bed. Shortly after she heard Jughead exit and get into bed next to her. There was a slightly awkward moment where they both lay on their backs, not touching, and barely breathing. Betty knew that Jughead had absolutely no idea how to act in a situation like this. She decided that it would be a whole less awkward if they were cuddling. She hated the weird trying not to touch each other thing that was going on. So Betty rolled over on her side and threw her arm over Jughead’s stomach, cuddling up to his side. Jughead made a surprised noise, but she felt both of his arms go around her.

“Night Juggie” Betty whispered, settling her head on his chest.

“Goodnight Betty Cooper” Jughead’s body rumbled at the words.

With a contented sigh, both closed their eyes and pushed away all of their troubles. Those were problems for the morning, but for right now, they both were going to enjoy the present.

[lunaneko14]

Dude I've been following you for your opinions and stuff but that bnha post why are you defending the mangaka who gave the first girl sucha provacative design with two strips covering her boobs? The artist has a point some mangakas do sexualize young girls and deserve to be called out for it it's not gross to do that no ones claiming authority on the story. Especially the last girl if she is supposed to rip her clothes out for powers she would never do it on her chest so that can be covered rigt

Dude....she photoshopped over his art and literally called it "better" than his. Idc how you put it thats disrespectful. If you don't like it then don't watch/read it.I complained a lot about Sarada's outfit in the Boruto manga and you know what I did?I never read a single chapterNever bought a single volumeNever paid any attention to itI didn't fucking steal the art and photoshop over it and call my version better.I just love how certain practices are "bad" until there's a feminist/SJW reason behind it. Then its fine. Then its no longer stealing or tresspassing on the artist's rights because its for the "greater good" that you put him in his place. No honey that's not the way it works. You don't get to pick and choose the rules when it benefits you. And yes I mean when it benefits you because like I said, I bet these people have never picked up a manga in their life but they sure as hell show up to be offended over something they happen to come across and act like they know better than people who actually consume whatever they bitch about. And oddly enough they will not hesitate to use slurs against all that oppose them but will whine if someone called them a bitch. Thing is they bitch about equality and representation but they never show up or buy shit. Wanna know why Ghostbusters 2016 and Wrinkle in Time flopped? Because SJWs don't care to buy tickets or even leave their house but they want to control what people like and don't like through shear forced guilt. Wanna know why Marvel Comics is damn near bankrupt? Again, these people never leave their fucking house to buy anything so when they get their way it ends up losing money and hurting more people but they can care less because they cashed in their woke points at the end of the day. Notice I never said anything the artist does is right or perfect. But damn it I'm going to respect his right to draw what he wants. They're fictional, get over it. She said people can die mad about what she did but she's a small ass Tumblr blog. She means nothing to an artist selling millions of copies per month. And SHE can die mad about THAT.

[kaleid-tay-scope]

Hey

Hi there! 😘✨🍪

I’m glad you like my blog. That really means a lot to me. Thank you for taking the time to write and tell me.

It bums me out knowing what you are going through! (((Gentle hugs and love)))) It sounds like you are going through a lot of stress right now but I’m very, very happy that you are in this world! You are valuable and important! 😘❤️❤️❤️

I hope you find it in yourself to be kind and gentle with your mind and body no matter how many times your mind and body betray you. Being kind to my mind and body is something that I continuously have to work on (sometimes multiple times a day.) It’s super easy to let my frustration and disappointment turn into raw anger which ultimately just hurts me more… Ugh. It’s a big challenge.

I’m glad that the reblog of the schizophrenia facts post brought a smile to your face. Schizophrenia is such a misunderstood illness and I wish people took the time to educate themselves on it. I have a tbi (traumatic brain injury) and I experienced a few years ago a new neurologist trying to tell me I had schizophrenia at my consultation. Right afterwards I looked up medical journals and watched videos about the subject…. and even tho I already knew a fair amount of information about schizophrenia and known people who have it, it was A LOT - just so damn much.

I didn’t get the diagnosis in the end as my current doctors immediately shut down his diagnosis and any justification he had. He saw from my records that I had musical hallucinations right after the tbi but I had been experiencing since I was 5 years old visual hallucinations of spiders right before or after sleep. After many tests and finally a sleep specialist who knew what he was doing discovered that the spider hallucinations were due to a sleep disorder that was not completely activated until the brain injury. Turns out that narcolepsy and other sleep disorders can be stagnant until something triggers it to be a chronic condition… And the musical hallucinations are a part of the sleep disorder but also the tbi. Freaking brains!

The point tho is that schizophrenia is MORE than hallucinations of the five senses and that doctor should have known. It’s doctors like him who continue to spread ignorance in the world and it’s unfair. He didn’t ask me if I had the other symptoms. So I really don’t understand why he would be so casual with his consults… Some doctors are not the best critical thinkers.

And then we have ignorant celebrities who use the word to mean something superficial; and movies or TV shows that are extremely false with their images and characterizations of people with schizophrenia. I hope one day enough people will complain about this shit and a stop will happen.

I also hope that one day scientists will find better medications or treatments to hibernate the symptoms that you and others with schizophrenia go through.

Please don’t hesitate to message me if you need to vent because I’m here for you. I’ll listen if you need or if you need dialog or supportive words I can do that as well. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing your identity, you can write me an anonymous message and just tell me not to post it. I’m here on Tumblr a lot and I have a lot of friends on here who listen to me so I really know what that feels like and how marvelous it is. :) I’m fortunate to know what it feels like to go from being super sad and feeling desperate one moment and then smiling the next because someone FINALLY UNDERSTANDS! Or sent a puppy gif. 😝🐶🐾

Anywho. I hope you have a great night or day wherever you are. 😘 Thank you again for this kind and sweet anonymous message.

Xoxoxo