It was always something she kept closely guarded. Her throat, where her voice carried through, where air passed to enter her lungs, the pillar which held her head high or hung it low. But she never liked leaving it exposed. Her neck which was her weakness, her neck where her head felt heavy upon the spine. And yet somehow, when Vi's lips make contact with the sensitive flesh all rational thought is gone.
She's floating, her head lifting, lulling toward the ceiling as if she could get any taller. Fire in her veins, but not the likes of revenge as she had felt for months, but of a passion she had forgotten. Her fingers dug divots into Vi's shoulders, pressing her closer and silently begging for more. Kiss me, she says without speaking.
Take me, she says without breathing.
But words aren't needed, not when she has given all the trust in the world to this one woman. Vi, who is the only one she can drop her guard around, the only one she won't hide her neck from. Not anymore.
Hogwarts Eighth-Year, Post-War, Post-Hogwarts, Light Angst, ron weasley is an arse, apologies
Summary: Harry and Draco became friends during their Eighth Year at Hogwarts. Draco is clever, funny, and actually quite a good listener when he likes you. Harry feels so incredibly lucky to have a friend like him in his life.
Trouble is, he’s also been dying to kiss Draco ever since Eighth Year. A couple of problems, he's pretty sure Draco only wants to be friends. And the biggest one…he has no idea where to find Draco now that school is over.
Self prompt for the song: Ruin the Friendship by Taylor Swift (only no one dies)
Notes: Where do I even begin to express how much my team means to me. First of all to @lettersbyelise who has listened to me bitch and complain for months and yet continued to have faith in my ability to finish this. All while being the best alpha reader and plotter around, and consistently pushing me to be better. Next oldenuf2nb...what can I say? You make everything I do so much better and this would not be finished without your support and ability to understand what I'm trying to convey even before I do. Finally @timothysboxers, the absolute best beta in the world. You came in at the 11th hour (mostly due to my inability to write something short) and helped this become ready for posting. Your thoughts and insights always make me a better writer. ❤️❤️
Teen And Up Audiences
No Archive Warnings Apply
Gen
The Dark Urge, Enver Gortash
POV Second Person, Drabble, Pre-Canon
100 words
Your assassins don't even have to hold him down.
He looks so good on his knees, exuding charismatic power even from there. Chosen, he may be, but he is beneath you, You, unrivaled Son of Lord Bhaal Himself, His unholy purpose made flesh.
You lean back on your throne and lazily draw your tongue over your blade. His blood tastes as any other - disappointing. Still, his mischievous smile does not falter, nor is there any hint of fear in his eyes. Intriguing. You might be growing rather fond of the little lordling, after all.
With the toe of your boot, you tip his chin up and smile. "I'm listening."
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Relationship: Brian May/Freddie Mercury
Additional Tags: Angst and Feels, Pining, Depression, at some point smut, discussion of cheating (not between the main pairing), making music (lots of music), News of the World (Queen) Era, Flashbacks, Internalized Biphobia, Roger Taylor (Queen) Is a Good Friend, disordered eating mention (blink and you'll miss it), Depressed Brian May
Summary:
"I'm so sorry, dear." Freddie paused, and Brian waited on the line, even though he thought he could hear wheels on the driveway already. "Listen, I'm really tired now but I'm going to drop by yours tomorrow with a little pick-me-up, okay? Don't go anywhere?"
"Don't worry, I won't," Brian assured him. After all, he wasn’t leaving the house too often these days.
"Alright then. Try to get some sleep! I was already worried about you,” said Freddie, and the kindness and concern in his voice were a cold shower upon Brian’s sobering mind. Everyone cared for him, and there was no need, he was fine! He was fine and he’d just embarrassed himself by acting the way he did and accepting their good-natured consolations.
—
We spend a lot of time in the studio as the guys make News Of The World and flashbacks occur sometimes too. Brian gets a timely (for my fic, that is!) divorce and has a massive life crisis but things work out for him!
Inspired massively by "It's Late", and a little bit by "Feelings, Feelings", "All Dead, All Dead", the general thread of romantic desperation in Brian's work stretching all the way to Another World and "My Melancholy Blues", but lots of songs will be mentioned.
Author’s note: last time, Step created by the amazing @the-darklings, sorry for pinging you again love. gonna add two short young!elder fics too, aahhhhh. take care everyone <3
Gif credits (x)
Ava was sitting in her room, working on her laptop. She was tired of staying in the living room after last incident and people being loud. She preferred to work in silence without anyone interrupting her.
As she was tapping away she heard the voices in the hallway getting louder and louder. The others have been messing around the last couple of weeks and it drove Ava nuts. She couldn't focus on any simple task, as to why now she is in her room, away from the commotion.
She hears a faint a knocking on her door as the voices get a bit louder. A head peaks from the now slightly ajar door and she sees Step smiling at her.
"Hi… can I stay here for a while?" he asks, a laptop under his arm. "I can't focus because of them."
She looks him up and down, old t-shirt thrown on alongside some torn jeans. Ava draws her eyebrows together and sighs. He is the only person that doesn't make her want to break something as soon as they speak while she's working.
The woman nods his head at him. "If I accidentally fall asleep just try to work quietly if they're still going at it or try leaving quietly.", she informs him. The man walks into the room and sits on a chair in the corner.
Ava watches his movements before going back to her laptop. She hears a faint shuffling as Step turns on his laptop, his fingers already start to tap on the keyboard. Both of them work in silence, occasionally glancing at each other.
It's a comfortable silence, sometimes Step decides to engage a conversation and she lets him. She doesn't mind and most of all he doesn't annoy her. She quickly found out that he is the only person she tolerates completely.
It's almost 2am when Ava decides to end her work for today and gets ready to sleep. She turns off her laptop and places it on her desk, she feels her movements being followed by a pair of curious eyes. Step watches her as she turns to him.
"Going to sleep already?" he asks. His tattooed fingers stilled above the keyboard.
"Yeah. I feel that if I stay any longer I may regret it later in the day." she simply says as she gets under the covers.
"Buonanotte. Don't let the bed bugs bite you." he says with a mischievous smirk. Ava smiles and rolls her eyes at him, already turning to the side and closing her eyes. She quickly falls asleep.
It's a little over 3am when Step hears a gentle whimpers coming from Ava's side. He sees her toss lightly in her bed, her head shaking as if to make the things inside her head go away.
Step gets up from the chair and goes to her side. He kneels next to her bed examining her face. It's covered in a sheen coat of sweat, her pants getting more and more frantic. He puts his hand on her shoulder, shaking it.
"Ava, wake up." he whispers but can already see that it won't work. He starts to shake her a bit more roughly. "Wake up, svegliati."
Step continues to try and wake her up when she suddenly opens her eyes and grabs the nearest thing next to her. The lamp in her hand almost hits the man's head but he stops her movements as he catches her hand.
Both of them look at each other with wide eyes. Ava still breathes heavily, her eyes starting to get more wide as she takes in what she almost done.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I didn't- I-." she says quickly and averts her eyes from his. He looks at her, worry filling his eyes. He still holds her wrist and gently takes the lamp from her hand, placing it back on the nightstand. His gaze is not leaving her for even a moment.
Step sees her breathing not calming down and decides to pull her to him. She freezes momentarily but after a moment the woman wraps her arms around him, melting into the embrace. Instantly her breathing begins to even out and she herself starts to calm down.
They stay like that for a while, no words exchanged, just holding onto each other. Ava soon pulls away looking at the tattooed man in front of her. Her cheeks stained with tears, but she still manages to whisper Thank you.
Step only nods as Ava turns her back to him, trying to go back to sleep. He stands up and goes to the chair, but he doesn't start to work on his laptop. Instead he makes sure that Ava falls asleep first. After a few moments he sees her breathing evening out and a soft expression taking over her features.
He decides to leave the room quietly, taking one last look at her sleeping figure. The next time he witnesses her nightmares he only takes her hand in his, rubbing a soothing circles on it. Her breathing starts to instantly even out, as if Step's presence near her makes the nightmares go away.
The night that Step has nightmares, Ava stays in his room. She went there cause the others started occupying her room for some job, saying that her had the best signal in the whole hideout.
Step has already went to sleep or rather taken a nap. As the woman works on writing another program, she hears a soft whimpers coming from Step's side. She hears him speak quietly in Italian and in a language she doesn't understand.
She goes over to him as he shakes his head, his voice getting more louder and shaky.
"Step wake up, it's just a bad dream." she tries to make him wake up. His breathing getting more uneven, Ava looks at him with concern. She starts to shake his shoulders a bit more rougher, her voice a bit louder.
Step wakes up with a gasp, immediately moving away from Ava. His body is shaking, his tattooed fingers move frantically as if not able to stop them from moving.
Ava tries to move closer to him but he only takes out his hand to stop her. She looks at him, his eyes widened and… frightened.
The woman moves closer, slowly, her movements measured. Step's head is hung low but he lifts it up as he sees Ava stepping closer. She gently puts her hand on his shoulder and pulls him to her. He wraps his arms around her, a faint echo from the night he first witnessed her nightmare.
"I'm sorry." she whispers against his shoulder. "I didn't kn-"
"I know." he cuts her off. "It's not your fault."
They stay like that for a moment, until they decide to go to sleep. Steps arms are still wrapped around Ava's as she lays next him. The others are still occupying her room and Step refused for her to sleep in the floor. Both of them sleep peacefully for the first time.
The next time Ava witnesses his nightmares, she just puts her hand on his shoulder or cheek and whispers to him to wake up. Both of them fell into a routine of helping each other, whether it's with nightmares or some hacking. They help each other with everything, no matter how small it could be.
After a few years, long after Ava is not with Slifer, they still keep to those routines. Sometimes they feel like it's the universe's way of telling them that they need each other.
Pairing: Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer aka Darhkatom, Tori Palmer/Adam Hughes
Warnings: brief mention of alocholism
Summary/Notes:
Victoria Palmer grows up seeing her parents as love personified. They just work together. She wants nothing more than a love like that and as she grows up, she struggles to find it, to let herself have it, and once she does, she only just learns what a love like that could bring.
okay SO basically i wanted to write something for Valentine's Day. I was going to write Ray and Nora's first Valentine's Day together BUT this came to mind instead and suddenly my brain was like WRITE THIS NOW. So here we are. If you have not read The Things I've Learned from a Broken Mirror, the last like two scenes might confuse you but basically time travel and fix-its, that's why. Just keep that in mind. It ends with a happy ending anyways, so really, will you care? Probs not. xD I tried to work in as much actual darhkatom as much as I could but I ended up really being in my Tori feels and well here we are...
As per usual I blame these following hooligans: @princesstomaz, @timetravelingpalmer, and @superstitious19.
Here is an excerpt and the ao3 link:
Her mother was putting away groceries when it happened. The radio was on in the kitchen and a slow song came on. Tori, age five, looked up from her place drawing at dining room table to see her father gently taking the box of pancake mix from her mother’s hand and pulling her into his arms. She watched her mother roll her eyes and utter a soft Ray as they started to sway together.
A song about wise men and fools floated through the atmosphere as Tori watched her parents seemingly in their own world dance together. They were muttering quietly to one another and Tori watched her mother peek over at her and smiled happily. Something about this moment stayed with Victoria for the rest of her life.
She watched her father dip her mother at the end of the song, her mother letting out a wild gasp as her father righted her in his arms. They shared a kiss at an angle they thought Tori couldn’t see and she smiled brightly at them. Watching them was better than any Disney movie she had seen.
