I considered not posting this but my last braincell said "be free" so here we are. What if a nurse found Benjamin in a dumpster like Claire found Matt in season 1 haha what if! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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╰┈➤ 18+ none of these stories belong to me! this is a masterlist of all the fanfics i’ve read and reblogged! just thought it would be nice to have them all in one spot! (if your fic is on here and you wish not to be, please let me know!) some will have summaries if provided <3
ᡣ𐭩 how you can help palestine . fic recs m.list
@spideystevie
⭒ How To: Let Yourself Fall In Love Again
lovergirl at heart, you've decided love isn't anything you're willing to risk pursuing again after your last boyfriend. and then comes clark kent who's a little too perfect at breaking down those walls. and isn't that terrifying?
@myladybelle
⭒ 'Cause I Can See You
it’s been a couple months since you started working at the daily planet, and you’re beginning to suspect that your awkward, mild-mannered coworker might be hiding a much bigger secret than his crush on you
⭒ Front Page Crush
everyone at the daily planet knows about your hopeless crush on superman. what nobody expected was for him to save your life, agree to an interview, and maybe even flirt back. least of all clark, who’s had a crush on you for years.
⭒ The Trouble With Jimmy
when you move from smallville to metropolis, clark thinks he finally has his chance to confess. instead, he ends up with a front row seat to you gushing about jimmy olsen every day. what he doesn’t realise is that you’re trying to set jimmy up with your neighbour, and you’re starting to see clark as more than a friend.
@mcrdvcks
⭒ Jump Then Fall
Clark starts to panic when his Ma and Pa ask him to come back to Smallville for a wedding. Why? He may or may not have accidentally implied he had a girlfriend. So he asks you to come with him as his fake girlfriend.
@supershit-hits
⭒ Find Me Somebody To Love
clark has the perfect plan to get to know the love of his life. it consists of eight dates, eight carefully crafted steps, and if all goes well, a happily-ever-after. but when jimmy sets him up on a blind date with you, sticking to the plan turns out to be a lot harder than he thought.
@cursedheartsclub
⭒ Oral History
Clark Kent is sweet. Respectful. Barely swears. Which is why you cannot stop thinking about what his ex drunkenly told Jimmy Olsen at trivia night: that Clark, apparently, is an oral god.
@junleb
⭒ Soft And Only You
your childhood best friend is synonymous with ‘the guy you call when something (inevitably) goes sour.’ clark is dependable, steady, safe. and maybe—well, more than maybe—the grass is greener in his bed.
or: two times your love life needs a little clark kent tlc. third time’s gotta be the charm, you swear.
@carmenberzattosgf
⭒ Illicit Affairs
When Superman came to your rescue a few weeks ago, you thought that would be the only time you'd ever see him up close. That is until he crash lands on your balcony battered and bruised.
@thatfoxygrl
⭒ Silver Springs
you and clark had a unique relationship, one you've never doubted until one day the lies become too much and the secrets – including the reason he's so infatuated with his ex-girlfriend, lois lane – all come crashing down.
⭒ Landslide
after Clark breaks your trust, he knows it's a long road to forgiveness. He just hopes that it isn't too late, and that the road doesn't stretch on for longer than he can bear – but then again, you weren't a pushover, and he may have pushed his luck a bit too far this time. (silver springs part 2)
@stargazsblog
⭒ Tears
you and clark have been dating for a little while. he’s kind, thoughtful, the only guy who’s ever treated you this well… and little does he know, that’s exactly what turns you on.
@mcumorningstar
⭒ Superdick
the girls learn about your situationship with clark after snooping through your phone, and a domestic morning forces you to face the truth.
@barnesdreamcatcher
⭒ I’m Just Happy Getting You Stuck In Between My Teeth
It all started with a pair of panties.
@meowabunga
⭒ I Don't Want A City Boy Whose Scared of the Bush
Clark asks you to help cover for him after he accidentally told his Ma and Pa he had a girlfriend.
@belongstomel
⭒ My Man On A Willpower
clark suddenly begins to distance himself—afraid he’s being too clingy, and it’s your job to remind him that he should be obsessed with you.
@thekentfiles
⭒ For Real This Time
When Clark Kent starts to babysit your son on a near-daily basis, you don't expect to fall for him—or for your son's wild theory how “Mr Clark is Superman” to finally make sense.
@sceletaflores
⭒ Your Lipstick Stain
clark takes you to a club, you take him to the bathroom.
@corensweti
⭒ Early Mornings with Clark Kent
@angelickks
⭒ Inside, Tell Me, Is It Inside?
you can't get enough of your kryptonian boyfriend's cum
@hangmanwrites
⭒ Pretend Until Forever
you have a problem, and it involves showing up to your sister’s wedding with a fake fiancé to keep your family off your back. the plan is simple enough, except clark kent agrees to play the part, calm and infuriatingly perfect, and suddenly nothing feels fake at all. how long can you survive the day without your carefully built lie unraveling completely?
@lunexiax
⭒ Growing Pains
You had spent a large proportion of your life in love with Clark Kent. He had spent a large proportion of his life avoiding you, honouring the boundary that Jimmy had always set. When you can no longer deny the draw you have to each other, it's Clark's insistence on keeping your relationship a secret that threatens to break you apart.
@pellucid-constellations
⭒ Can't Lose You
Clark always made you promise to run at the sight of danger. You listen to him—usually.
@runa-falls
⭒ Polite Boy
clark is a shy and polite boy so you have to teach him how to let loose.
Summary: When you meet Bob, that deadly power inside of you stirs, recognizing something just as equally dark and powerful in him. After all, like calls to like.
Warnings/Tags: Thunderbolts movie spoilers, swearing, angst, soft Void/protective Bob, guns, mentions of blood
Author’s Note: How many times can I make reader pass out/faint? Not enough times, I say. (But really though, I just love the dream sequences with Void, ok?)
Word Count: 5K
Masterlist
Part Three • Part Five
————
The In-Between…
Fog slithers across the moss covered ground. The dark, leaf-less trees stretch high into the grey sky. Their limbs cracked and torn, like shredded pieces of bone.
I walk slowly through the forest, cautious with every step I take. Everything about this place feels oddly… familiar. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’ve been here before. But every time I try to reach for the memory, it slips through my fingers like water.
A low, guttural growl sounds from behind me. I still, panic coursing through my veins, beating in my blood.
RUN.
The instinct has me sprinting through the trees, diving under branches, jumping over protruding roots. Something behind me beats the earth with its paws, shaking the ground beneath my feet. I can feel it close behind me, it’s breath on my neck—
I slam face-first into a wall of shadow. Like a blanket, it wraps me in its embrace. It’s cooling to the touch, caressing my skin as I’m enveloped in the dark.
“It’s alright,” something purrs against my ear with a deep, familiar voice. “You’re safe now.”
When I turn my head, there’s nothing there. No strange beast, no person. Only darkness.
But this darkness, it’s sentient. I can feel it as if it were a living, breathing thing.
I shiver as if the words were whispered upon my skin.
The dark shifts, thickening under my limbs to hold me, cradle me.
“I’ve waited for you, for centuries,” A hand cradles my hip, fingers whisper-soft on my skin. “You’ve been alone for too long. We both have.”
I close my eyes at the words. My skin prickles from the shadowy fingers caressing my hip, my arm, my collarbone.
“Never again,” the voice vows. “Never again will we be apart. I will keep you safe. I will protect you. I will be whatever you want me to be, just let me be yours.”
Those phantom fingers grip my jaw, turning my head. I open my eyes to look into a pair of twin golden flames. Eyes as familiar to me as my own.
“You are mine and I am yours.”
The words ring hauntingly true as they echo into the void. I can barely make out the silhouette of a face as they lean forward, flaming eyes holding me trapped in their gaze.
“I have seen your true face and I am not afraid. How could anyone be afraid of such terrible beauty?” That phantom hand still cradles my face, soft and gentle. “Your pain and ruin is a gift and I will cherish it for eternity.”
I melt into the touch, tears burning my eyes as the darkness holds me closer. “But I’m broken. I’m no one. I’m nothing.”
If the dark could smile, I feel it. “Not to me. You’re everything. I love how broken you are.”
I pause, staring into those haunting eyes. “Are you going to fix me?”
I sense the dark shaking its head, dipping to press cold lips to my forehead. The touch is burning and claiming. “What is there to fix? I prefer you ruined, just like me.”
————
Outside The Vault…
Strong arms shift beneath my limbs, cradling me to something warm and firm. I stir, eyelids fluttering. Whoever is holding me tenses, squeezing tighter before I hear the faint call of my name.
“We’re almost there, hold on.” A familiar voice whispers to me.
Bob.
I groan as my body is shifted to lay on something hard and cold. It’s not as comfortable as being carried in Bob’s arms.
“Stay here.” A familiar feminine voice says. Yelena?
“But—“ A door slams closed.
When my eyes open, I’m staring up at the ceiling of some sort of vehicle. Its engine is loud and roaring as it moves, jostling my sore body. I blink a few times, trying to rise out of the fog I’m still trapped in.
“You’re awake.”
I turn to find Bob sitting across from me on a bench. He’s wearing tactical gear, similar to the soldiers who cornered us in the hallway earlier. I furrow my brows. Why is he wearing that?
When I try to move, I notice the same strange clothes are also on me.
“How—“
Bob is suddenly kneeling down on the floor in front of me. His face is lined with concern as he stares up at me. “Are you alright?”
I stare at him, taking note of any injuries or anything strange with my current state. My head is pounding with a headache and I feel incredibly exhausted. But I don’t feel any pain. Should I? I don’t remember getting hurt or why I even passed out…
The last thing I remember…
Bob hovering over me, his eyes wild and terrified as I collapse in his arms. We were in a dark hallway. Weren’t we waiting for Yelena?
It’s all so fuzzy in my memory now. I can’t quite grasp it.
Once I know I’m okay, I nod.
Bob sighs in relief, reaching out to lay a hand on my knee. Even through the material of my clothes, I can feel the spark of warmth his body sends into mine. It’s electric.
“Yelena said it would be more believable if you blended in with us,” he gestures to the clothes. “We made it seem like we were taking you to a medic.”
I raise a brow. “Who dressed me?”
His cheeks and neck redden. “Oh, yeah it was Yelena and Ava. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t ever undress you while you’re unconscious.” His eyes widen. “I mean, not that I would want to. Only if you were conscious, though. No wait, I mean—“ his face resembles the shade of a tomato and I can’t stop the laughter bubbling up out of me.
“Bob, it’s okay,” I smile across the space between us, reaching out to lay a hand on his. His hand immediately turns over as if on instinct, holding mine.
He stares down at the contact, breathing deep, before meeting my gaze. In the low lighting of the vehicle, his eyes are dark and wide, hopeful and nervous.
“You’ve been alone for too long. We both have.”
The voice from my dream, Bob’s voice, burrows deep in my chest. Burning like a brand. It fills my veins at his touch, pulsing with the need to lean forward. To give in.
As if the car were supporting this, we go over a bump big enough to jostle me forward, sliding my knees around Bob’s waist while he still kneels in front of me. His free hand comes up to my hip, steadying me on instinct.
This close, I can smell the leather and plastic of the tac gear he’s stolen, the undertones of something warm and earthy beneath it. Familiar and calming.
With startling clarity, I realize it smells like home.
We’re close, sharing the same breath as the jostling moves me closer, his hand gripping my waist tighter.
Warmth spreads through my limbs as we both lean forward, two magnets drawn to the other. I bite my lip. His eyes track the movement.
Right. This is right.
The voice in my bones echoes through me as I relax in his grip.
He breathes my name and it almost sounds forbidden and cautious, full of want and curiosity. Our noses touch, slotting perfectly together as we—
Someone slams on the breaks. We’re both thrown sideways, colliding with the floor. I moan, head pounding with a new pain, limbs tangled with Bob’s.
He groans, head falling back. “What now?”
Through the wall separating us from the front seats of the car, we can hear guards speaking with Walker, Yelena, and Ava.
Bob untangles us before helping me back into my seat. Through the wall, I overhear the aggression in one of the guard’s voices. Bob tenses, hearing it as well.
“I have to help them,” he mutters, eyes wild and searching as he looks around the back of the vehicle.
“What?” I whisper-gasp. “The second you go out there, they’ll know something is up. You’ll be killed.”
His eyes lock on the door handles. The moment he reaches for them, my hand shoots out, stopping him.
“Bob—“
His eyes flash gold for a split second. “You don’t think I can do it.”
I startle. “What are you talking about? You’re about to rush out there to god-knows-what is waiting for us. There could be hundreds of guards wanting to kill you.” I squeeze my hand over his with tenderness and concern, even as panic grips my throat. “We need to make a plan if this goes sideways—“
He shakes his head. “This is the plan. I want to help. I don’t want to sit around, waiting for them to figure it out when I don’t have much to offer this team anyway!”
My heart aches at the words. “You offer so much. You’re more than enough.”
He scoffs, looking away. “I didn’t even help you when those guards came for us. You saved us. Not me, you. You’re more than capable, just like them.”
I furrow my brows. I saved him? “I-I don’t remember any of that.“
Bob closes his eyes. “I can protect you, too.”
Goosebumps spread up my limbs. Something inside of me purrs at the words, as if they’ve heard them before. Maybe even expected them.
“We can protect each other,” I insist. ”We just need a back-up plan.”
There’s shouts behind us, outside of the car.
Bob sighs, meeting my eyes again. Without hesitation, he reaches up and cups the back of my head, bringing my forehead to connect with his. He breathes deeply for a moment, and the contact of his skin settles my rattling nerves.
“I will keep you safe,” he whispers. “I will protect you. I will be whatever you want me to be.”
My breath hitches.
A vow. A promise. Something whispered and forgotten by time, but remembered in the bones. Something spoken in dreams.
But there’s one line he doesn’t say. One that my mind conjures for him, from memory and dreams.
Just let me be yours.
Warmth spreads from every bit of skin that touches his. My hand grasped in his. Our foreheads touching. It’s soothing. Reassuring.
Bob shifts and his lips are near my ear as he whispers. “Please, forgive me.”
And Bob is gone.
Along with the car and the guards and the distant shouting and rumbling of engines. Instead, I now sit in a cold, dimly lit room smelling of harsh chemicals, iron, and decaying flesh.
Two men in long lab coats with gangly limbs stare with open concern at the man and woman, sobbing uncontrollably over something on a table. A small lump beneath a white sheet. The more I look at the lump, the more it looks like it resembles…
I jolt back a step, heart pulsing rapidly in my ears like a pounding drum. I know this place. I know these people, these doctors. I’ve been here before.
“Mom,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes, cracking my voice. “Dad.”
I haven’t seen them in years. Not since…
Mom turns to me, her eyes bloodshot. Her mouth curls into a snarl. “Get that thing out of here!”
I stumble back, but its the quiet sob behind me that has me pausing. I whirl around and find a little girl with swollen eyes and tears streaming down her face. It’s me. Nine year old me.
Pain pulses through my chest at the sight as she flinches at her mother’s words. That little girl is in desperate need of a hug, some comfort, even kind words. But none were given to her, not this day, or in the many afterwards.
The little girl stares and stares at the white sheet, at the body beneath, as sobs escape her lips. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
“Get it out of here! MONSTER!” Mom screams.
Something that was once broken and lost inside of me, now burns with a cold fire that shatters through my nervous system. It aches and cracks and festers as it chills my blood at the sight of such cruelty.
This was the day I lost my parents.
The same day I killed my sister.
“Mommy,” younger me cries out.
Mom turns her head away, wailing as she crumples over the covered body on the table. The sheet lifts slightly to reveal black veins running through the pale skin of the corpse. My sister’s corpse.
Dad shakes his head. “You’ve done enough. Get out.”
Get out.
Monster.
Get out.
Monster.
GET OUT!
The words scream in my head before the room begins to tilt and the fluorescent lights above start to flicker. The light blurs before it sparks out, darkness covering the room. I blink a few times to clear it away.
In the stillness, a strange echo resounds through the dark. I can’t make sense of it. But it feels familiar.
I turn this way and that, trying to find it. When two hands touch my shoulders, I blink and find myself staring up at Yelena.
She yells my name, shaking me by my shoulders.
Tears burn the edge of my eyes as I whip my head around, finding I’m still sitting in the back of the car, but now, the doors are wide open. We’re facing towards a building that must be the Vault we escaped in the distance. Guards march around with guns strapped to their fronts, ready and alert. The sight clears my head.
“Where’s Bob?!” I ask, frantic.
Walker stares at me as if I’ve grown three heads. “We thought you knew where he was.”
Bullets pierce the air, startling everyone as we all turn towards the sound.
“Oh no,” Yelena’s eyes widen at the sight. “Bob helped.”
In front of the Vault, Bob stands in his hospital clothes, barefoot and armed with a machine gun pointed at the sky. He continues firing into the night while every head turns towards him. Including every loaded gun.
“NO!” I scream, bolting out of the car.
Walker stops me with an arm around my middle, holding me firmly as I kick and struggle in his grip.
“BOB STOP!” I scream, but the noise is lost in the chaos.
Men shout in a rush, forming a wall before Bob as he stops shooting. He has a small lopsided smile on his face as he looks out over the sea of armed men.
A new cacophony of bullets ring through the night as every man in that wall aims their guns at Bob. And Bob…
“NO!!” A sob catches in my throat at the sight.
The bullets shred his clothing, ringing off the metal wall behind him. He falls to the ground from the impact.
He’s still. Too still.
And the firing finally stops, leaving heavy silence in its wake.
“We’ve gotta go,” Walker says, dropping his arm from around me. I stagger forward in a daze.
“We can’t just leave him,” Yelena protests.
John scoffs. “He gave us a distraction. We need to use that. Before it’s too late.”
But I’m not listening to them. I barely register their presence as my entire being focuses on Bob. The stillness of his chest. His crumpled limbs. His shredded clothes. The bullets lining the concrete around him.
Something rears its ugly, vengeful head inside of me. It snarls and wakes, shaking my limbs as I stride forward on instinct.
I hear my name being called from behind me, but I’m lost. I’m lost to the rising rage, like a tide in a hurricane. I’m boundless and free-falling to the feeling.
There’s a strange stillness that’s settled over the camp. Everyone holds their breath, watching, waiting. But all they see is a dead man.
That thing inside of me claws its way to the surface, raising my hand out to the men still facing Bob with their guns.
You took what is mine. Now, I will take what is yours.
With a guttural scream, that primal part of me, raging and roaring, unleashes itself.
That power of death and decay shoots from my blackening fingertips, gripping every man in sight by the throat. They stagger, dropping their guns, holding their necks, before falling to the ground. They cough and choke. I feel the congealing of their blood. The veins flowing beneath their skin filling with poison and hate. Blood seeping from their noses and eyes as they fight for oxygen in their lungs.
“Holy shit.” John mutters behind me, but I don’t relent.
My focus is only on Bob. On what they did to him. On what they took from me.
Mine, that voice echoes in my head, only this time, it sounds more like mine than it did before.
The knowledge should scare me, but it only spurs me on. The men not choking on their blood on their knees turn to face me, their guns aimed at my head as they all shout orders at one another in a panic.
“Don’t shoot!” A feminine voice in the crowd yells. “Do not fire!”
But the men are scared and armed, their fear is palpable. They see the monster I’ve become. And they take aim.
Bullets shoot through the night at their new target as that feminine voice screams and shouts to try and stop them.
A rush of wind soars past me and I’m suddenly cradled by a massive body, arms wrapped around my torso. Their grip and smell is startlingly familiar as I’m held to a firm chest. Bullets ring through the air as the person holds me close, shielding me from their onslaught.
When I peer up into their face inches from mine, Bob is staring down at me wide eyed and terrified. His eyes are glowing with that golden fire. And the bullets…they ricochet off of him. Never once piercing his skin. They only shred his clothing, revealing more of his skin and torso.
“CEASE FIRING!” That female voice shouts through a megaphone. “THATS AN ORDER!”
The firing stops immediately.
But Bob doesn’t let go. He tenses around me, arms still encircling me in his warmth. My fingers are still black and my veins pulse with power, but the contact he has with my skin only soothes that frost-bitten cold that has taken over my limbs. Normally I’m trapped in the never-ending cold of my power, in the death and rot. But with his touch, his presence, it recedes. It calms.
And that power seeps back into the marrow of my bones as he holds me close.
My fingers trail over his now naked torso, smoothing over the bumps and ridges of his abdomen. He shivers at my touch.
“You’re alive,” I whisper.
He breathes heavily, staring down at me as if we’re the only two people in the world and not surrounded by guns and soldiers.
“I-“ he swallows, staring at his torn clothing before smiling. “I guess I am.”
I smile back tentatively.
But the moment is shattered when Bob’s eyes glimmer with sudden cold fury, his smile dropping. “They tried to kill you.”
His voice is not his own and it sends a chill through my body.
Without a second thought, he turns around, shielding me behind him. I feel his body trembling, but it’s no longer from fear and panic. It’s pure rage.
There’s a collective gasp at the sight of Bob unharmed. It’s obvious there isn’t a single wound or scratch on him.
The guns are aimed once more. They, too, must see the reflective gold shimmering in his eyes. They must see the tightening of his jaw, the clenching of his fists. The straightening of his shoulders as he glares at them.
Something inside of me purrs at the sight of him holding me, protecting me. Another part of me fights to prove that I can protect myself. But the feeling of Bob’s warmth, his body inches from mine, has me basking in the knowledge that he’s alive.
If only we can find a way out of here, he can stay that way.
“Stand down!” That feminine voice is back.
I scan the crowd for her and find a woman near the back, next to a van. The second our eyes connect, that thing inside of me stirs violently. The hair on the back of my neck rises.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Her name is whispered in my mind and that thing inside of me growls like a wild animal.
Remembering her name being spoken earlier in the Vault, I know this woman is the reason for all of our problems. Why Yelena, Walker, and Ava were down there. Why Bob and I were down there.
Whoever she is, that woman wanted us all dead. And it sets my teeth on edge. With her watching, I step closer to Bob on instinct, just in case.
Bob must sense my unease as he reaches back to grip my hand in his. His touch steadies my breathing.
“We don’t want to hurt you!” Valentina shouts into the megaphone.
I almost roll my eyes. If they didn’t want to hurt us, they wouldn’t have shot first. And she wouldn’t have left us to be incinerated in the first place.
Bob’s head cocks to the side, as if he’s assessing the situation. As if he, too, doubts Valentina’s reassurance. The guns move with his subtle movement, following him. It makes me anxious seeing that many guns pointed at us.
“Put down your weapons!” Valentina calls to her soldiers, but they hesitate.
That hesitation rings through the silence like a heavy toll of a bell. It’s deafening and damning. It raises the hair on the back of my neck, just as Bob rolls back his shoulders. He stands tall, staring them down, anger and protectiveness rolling off of him in waves.
Something shifts in those seconds of brief hesitation. Something with heavy, gravitational pull as the air pulses with energy. Power seeps from Bob like a living flame, feeding heat into my limbs with him so close. His grip is unyielding and pulls on my hand as he stands tall, rising above me.
A gasp echoes through the stillness. Guns are raised anew as every eye is trained on Bob. And when I look, my eyes widen.
Holy shit, can he fly?
Bob is hovering above the ground, enough for everyone in sight to see.
When Bob looks down, his face is a mirror of my own with complete shock written across it. He looks behind, towards me, golden-blue eyes full of wonder and fear. Of what he can do. Of what he’s become.
What did they do to him?
The thought is fleeting just as the guns are raised and orders are shouted and fear is thick in the air enough to bring Bob startling back to the present. In the blink of an eye, Bob turns, bending to pick me up in his arms just as a ring of gunshots echoes behind us.
“Don’t move,” his lips move against the side of my cheek near my ear as his body blocks the bullets from hitting me, ricocheting off his back. The gold is blazing in his eyes now, taking over the blue in a way that sparks a flicker of dread in my gut, as well as a simmering of excitement through my blood.
“Hold on,” his voice echoes through my mind just as he shoots into the sky.
The breath in my lungs leaves me as I cling to Bob in sheer terror. Wind whips against my hair and skin as he soars through the air. I squirm in his hold, shaking as I try to take deep breaths. Bob holds me tighter in response.
“I won’t let you fall,” he assures me through whatever mind connection we share. “I swear.”
I almost laugh. “Says the guy who didn’t even know he could fly seconds ago.”
Bob’s chest rumbles with laughter as we soar through the clouds. A fine mist of water covers my face, coating my eyelashes as I blink through the moisture. When the roaring wind and the rapid beat of Bob’s heart is all I can hear, I close my eyes.
The chant is all I can focus on as the wind suddenly dies down and the air is almost… still. As though we’ve stopped.
“Wow,” Bob whispers. “You need to see this.”
I shift, peeking through my eyes to see a sky of unending stars above us. They’re so close I can practically reach out and touch them.
When I lift my head more, my jaw drops. The moon hangs heavy and pure before us, high above the clouds. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
All at once, everything in me, that thing— that living breathing power of death and rot— stills. Everything inside of me is quiet. Peaceful. Empty.
It’s the most normal I’ve felt in… a very long time.
For once, I can breathe.
When I turn to look at Bob, to share in this relief, or even to say thank you for saving my life (again), I stop. My breath catches in my throat.
“Bob?”
His eyes keep closing and opening as if he’s fighting to stay awake, his grip loosening around my body.
“BOB!” I scream as he falls backwards, plunging us in a deep dive through the clouds.
I cling to him, desperate and scared as we hurtle through the sky like a comet to earth. I scream and scream, holding him, not knowing what else to do. Fear pumps through my blood like an omen as the clouds part and I can see the distant, dim lights of the Vault thousands of feet below.
I’m going to die. The thought is loud and final as panic courses through me. If Bob doesn’t wake up…
I close my eyes, reaching deep inside of myself to find whatever it is inside of me that calls to him. That makes me dream of him and feel as if I know him better than I know myself. I reach and reach before finding that thin silver thread, the one that pulses in my minds eye from my ribcage to his. The thing that scares me most of all for what it could possibly mean.
When I reach for it, it’s blinding like starlight. I pull at it, roughly. It jolts and heats beneath my skin, right above my heart, but I continue through the burn.
When it pulls taught in my minds grip, I gasp. Something has answered my desperate call and when I open my eyes, I see who it is. It’s Bob, but I can see it’s also…not. I can feel it in the way his his eyes are open and depthless. Black and all-encompassing. A void.
And suddenly it hits me. As he pulls me close, his arms strong and steady as he turns us, crushing me to his chest, a deep, unending truth sinks inside of me.
Him and I, we are the same. The eyes, the uncontrollable power, the overwhelming need to protect, the endless dread of what we’re capable of. Even the silver tether tying us together, telling me we were always meant to be here. Together.
Like calls to like.
We are the same.
That truth echoes in my head, in my bones, as he wraps his arms protectively over my head, curling my body into him. Protecting me.
“I’m here,” he says, grounding and possessive. “I told you I will never let you go.”
If we weren’t still hurtling towards the ground, I would’ve shivered in his arms.
“Do you trust me?” He asks, his voice deep and gruff in my ear.
I nod without hesitation.
His grip is painful as he nods against me, swift and calculating. “My power is greatly weakened. I can— I can only soften the blow of our impact. But you will live. Know this, you will always be safe. No matter what.”
I cling to him harder, letting his words wash over me with their reassurance. I don’t have time to say anything back. Instead, I press my face into his shirt, kissing the center of his chest before bracing for impact.
His hand cups the back of my head and suddenly, a strange sense of peace washes over me at his touch. It’s warm and familiar, like coming home. I fall into it, my breath catching as my consciousness begins to fade in and out.
“Trust me,” I hear him whisper.
And that touch, it warms and warms until his fingers are the only thing I can feel and I’m falling back into a familiar, waiting darkness that consumes me just as we plunge back to earth.
————
The explosion of dirt and rocks echoes through the ground, up through Valentina’s legs. The crew and soldiers all stare in wide-eyed, slack jawed amazement as debris flies through the air.
Seconds ago, both Bob and Y/N were hurtling through the sky like a star before falling and crashing into the desert.
They have to be dead, Valentina’s logic says.
But her skewed optimism gives her a sliver of hope, remembering what those Project Sentry files contained. How the tests and trials proved that the skin of the surviving subjects was impenetrable. They could withstand anything.
That thought alone, from research and science, has her striding towards Mel with a smile on her face. Even as chaos erupts around her.
Mel stares at her boss as if she’s finally lost it. “Aren’t you the least bit concerned? They could be dead!”
Valentina only rolls her eyes. “Most likely they’re only unconscious with a few bruises. I doubt they’re that easy to kill. Remember what he did? What she did?” She shakes her head, a sense of giddiness rising inside of her. “I love it when everything works out for me.”
Mel doesn’t watch her boss head off to order people to retrieve the two subjects. No, she stares at the crater in the distance, the one created from their impact. What she can’t see, as the dust clears and the rocks fall away, is the body of a man, curled and protective around the body of a woman. Both completely and totally unharmed.
Later, when crews and teams climb inside the hole to gather the two subjects, they’ll find their limbs tangled and their hands intertwined.
When the crew try to pull them apart, the man’s fingers twitch and his eyelids shift. But he remains unconscious. Lost in the safe oblivion he’s created to keep her safe. To keep her within reach. To keep her entirely and only his.
Part Five (coming soon)
————
🪻quick note: I realized I never wrote this, but let’s just act like Yelena, Walker, and Ava left as soon as reader went all “vengeful woman” on everyone when Bob got shot. ok? ok.
So I've got a question for any other True Blood fans. We know vampires cry blood and they can't ingest anything but blood, so does that mean that guy vampires cum is blood? Or that lady vampires just get all bloody when they're ready to get it on? Like how does that work?
A Pragmatic and surprisingly comforting perspective about the Trump 2nd Presidency from the ACLU
***Apologies if this is how you found out the 2024 election results***
Blacked out part is my name.
I’m not going to let this make me give up. It’s disheartening, and today I will wallow, probably tomorrow too
AND
I will continue to do my part in my community to spread the activism and promote change for the world I want to live in. I want to change the world AND help with the dishes.
And I won’t let an orange pit stain be what stops me from trying to be better.
A link to donate to the ACLU if able and inclined. I know I am
As the Trump administration moves toward the White House, the stakes could never be higher. But the ACLU is ready to fight back!
As Presi
I have to believe we're just in our prequel arc. The rebellion was still able to take out the empire after they handed Palpatine control on a silver platter
Hope always wins, and I have to believe in that. I have to believe that there's enough people that care that we can take care of each other. That we can try to protect each other as best we can. If I can do anything to help you, reach out.
gracieabrams
stormborns
vaporwave
jimmyeatworldofficial
tangentwithtanner
origamiaround
