bakerstreet | Sooner or later, every man reveals himself

Sooner or later, every man reveals himself

"you're my weakness" meme
A SHIPPING MEME

You're a strong person, perhaps physically, perhaps mentally, perhaps both. You're brave. A steel rod of a backbone means you face your enemies with little hesitation, doing the job no one else wants to do. That kind of intestinal fortitude is commendable. You have a purpose. You have a mission. There is something about you that people want.

And you have a weakness.

Maybe nobody knows it or maybe everyone knows it, but your weakness is the person you're in love with. Yes, in love. Someone like you can be in love, whether you've admitted it to yourself or not...or to them. More than anything, you want to be with them and keep them safe from harm. Sometimes, you just can't. It's more dangerous around you than with you.

Whether you're together or not, you should hope that no one with an axe to grind with you knows that this person is your blind spot...

HOW TO PLAY

Comment with your character, preferences, whether you're open to smut or no, etc.
Be sure to mention if you'd prefer to play the one with the weakness or the "weak spot."
Reply to others.
Use the RNG or not.

PROMPTS
ship

First Meeting: You've never met a person who's caught your interest quite like this; you may not know how to respond to these unique feelings.
With Them Before It Happened: They came first. The situation that drove you to your "destiny" occurred later. You can't just throw away that old life.
Unexpected Savior: You were down and out. They found you and nursed them back to health. You feel indebted to them..and more.
Normalcy is Abnormal: You would never take things like dinner, picnics, dancing, or the movies for granted. Some people can't have that, after all.
Missed Date: Of course, you have to bail out on dates occasionally. Duty calls.
Shown Love: Who could ever care for someone like you? They can. They show you selfless affection
Bad Apple: You’re rotten through and through - except for your genuine love for them.
Light of My Life: Everything in this world seems terrible except for them, you’re beautiful, shining light. For them, you can live.
Something There: Before, you were cruel to them, or they to you, yet now both of you see past that blustery beast (even if one of you was, say, a prisoner);
Keepings Tabs: You have to know that your most important person is safe, or else you just can’t think straight.
Stay Away: For their own protection, they have to keep away from a dangerous person like you. So no matter if you love them of they love you, you have to break up with them for their safety.
Happened Before: The person you loved before got hurt because of you and you swore you would never love again. Still, you’re feeling that way once more, letting those walls down, and the old patterns are repeating themselves over and over.
Important: You’re a king, a lord, a president, a top assassin. People would love to get close to you - or take you out - if they could find the right path in.
Bodyguard: Your mission is the one you love (though you didn’t start out loving them), and the one thing keeping you from keeping them perfectly safe is also them.
Berserk Button: From minor slight to major injury, no one hurts your lover without retribution.
Left in the Dark: They don’t know what kind of life you truly lead. How long can you keep that double life a secret?
Became This for Them: What you are now is all out of your adoration for them. You’ll do anything to keep them safe, even if it means becoming a monster.
Not Accepted: You’ve finally revealed what you are in all actuality to them and the reaction was not positive. They’re repulsed by you or by what you’ve done.
Dynamic Duo: They’ve accepted everything about you, including your mission. In fact, they want to help you fulfill your purpose.
Family: You two have started a family together, so there's even more to lose.
Blackmail: Some sinister somebody is holding the happiness, safety, or wellbeing of your loved one above your head to make you serve them.
Hate Me: It’s not enough to leave them. You have to ensure their safety by making them despise you and never search you out.
Destroy: You know that they could be your undoing, so you'll take them out yourself. You refuse to be weak.
Kidnapped: Your weakness has been spotted and picked at, quite literally. Now, the person you care for is in the clutches of someone who wants nothing more than to see you destroyed.
Bad End: ~~Is it in bad taste to want to name this prompt after a certain comic book character?~~ The worst of your fears has come to past. Your beloved is dying in your arms because of their relationship with you and you weren't able to save them in time.
Placed in Your Life: The one you thought you loved and trusted was only a mole all along. They were placed in order to get you to make certain decisions and never really cared for you.
Happy Ending: You've made it to a safe enough place in your life for you and your love to be stable and settle down.

smut

Reluctant: You don't want to hurt your partner during intimacy, which is a distinct possibility.
Solace: There's only one place where you find comfort about what your true nature is, and that's in their arms.
Manipulation: There's one way to worm into your heart and onto your good side; they know it, and they can make you squirm. That's not always a good thing.

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[The way she saw it, he came here for a reason. It wasn't to get her to tell him to fuck off, to stay away. He needed something from her, maybe a pass so that he could stop thinking about her, like she couldn't stop thinking about him. Even if she tried. And try she did.

She could put him out of her mind, but he always snuck back in.]

I can't do that. [She looks away.] I really wish I could tell you that you were dead to me, and mean it, but so help me...

I just fucking can't.

[Frank exhales slowly and wanders over to claim that other beer. He leans against the kitchen counter and drinks a few gulps of it. There isn't enough beer in the world for this.]

Then we try harder. Maybe you and Murdock will...

[She loved Matt. Probably still does. Given some time, she'll be with someone and Frank Castle will just be that psychotic killer she tried to defend to the rest of the world. That or someone will actually put a bullet in him that'll stop him once and for all, so she won't have a choice but to let him go.]

[Karen feels a stab, her eyes tracking him, keen and shadowed. She's trying not to let him hurt her, but he's trying to talk them out of this, and it's already done. It's been done.

It's just not over.]

Matt and I are done. [The truth. Probably the only truth she'd gotten out of him.] He has nothing to do with this...

And I don't think you'd be here if you believed that.

I was hoping you weren't done.

[That she and Matt had something. Then it would be easy for him to get out of her life. Maybe it's an asshole thing to say, but it's the truth.]

Actually, I hoped it'd be someone less complicated. Who was giving you the things you deserve. Things I can't give you. Shit, I can't even come here. This whole thing is batshit crazy.

[She wants to ask if that was really the truth. If he really did hope for that. She has to give a rueful laugh, though.]

I'm complicated. Hardly be fair to someone who wasn't. [Her eyes narrow then. This time, she's less amused.] Jesus Christ, Frank. What is it that you think I need? Don't I get to decide that? [Here he is, trying to be noble, to do the right thing, and she's the one arguing against it. Interesting how the tables turned.]

Our lives are batshit crazy. New York City almost didn't exist a few years ago because of aliens. Not "The Incident," or whatever it is they want to dress it up as. The world has gone batshit crazy.

If you want to go, I won't stop you, but I'm not going to lie to you.

Edited 2016-08-04 10:43 (UTC)

[He hangs his head as he thinks it through. What have they gotten themselves in to? Whatever this is, it's not something he can just forget about, as much as he wants to.

Frank doesn't want to wonder what she's doing when he's in between missions. It reminds him a little too much of his old life; how he'd sit in a tent in Afghanistan prepping his gear and wondering how life was back home. If they were thinking about him. Missing him. Did Karen miss him? Maybe she did.]

Then... shit, just whatever. Maybe I'll come by now and again.

[That could be another eight weeks from now. Who knows. She has to be crazy to live with a schedule like that.]

[Karen waits, waits through the thinking, the silence. She's thought about it a lot on her own. She was an over-thinker, most of the time.

When Frank gives, what little he gives, she nods slowly. Crazy? Maybe. But life was bat-shit crazy.]

Okay.

[That little was a lot more than he's given anyone in a long time.

Unsure of what to say, he goes back to drinking his beer. It might be alright for him to come here now and again to see her or when he needs her, but he doesn't feel like he belongs here. It's like he's an intruder.]

You wanna go up to the roof? Get some air?

[Maybe it would help clear his head a bit.]

Edited 2016-08-05 04:09 (UTC)

C'mon. [She nods, walking towards her door and grabbing her keys. She waits for him, then makes her way up the steps towards the roof. It's a nice night, has been for a few days.

As soon as she's outside, she takes a deep breath.]

Well, it was either this, watch movies, or pick a fight... [She smirks back at him and takes a drink.]

[Frank follows her up and when the cool night air hits his face it's sobering. The tension in him eases away and he looks like he's more in his element. A scout sniper is accustomed to high places, looking at the world through a scope. Far away, out of reach, but she wasn't so out of reach right now. She was right there next to him.

He smiled at the last part.]

I bet you throw a mean punch.

[The cool night air is bracing, almost grabbing her by the nape of her neck and shaking her back to reality. She watches Frank from the corner of her eye, then laughs.]

Not as mean as you might think. Whole lot of other things I'm better at.

Yeah? Like what?

[Frank walks with her to the edge of the roof so they can get a view of the city. It's a hell of a town with a lot of problems, but there were a lot of good people living in Hell's Kitchen. People who deserved to have a good life, like Karen, even if she was attracted to the danger that bettering the city came with.

Noticing a shiver, he reached for her, and if she allowed it, he'd wrap both strong arms around her and draw her in close for warmth.]

[Karen would argue that she's not a danger junkie, but...she might be wrong. She feels more like danger is attracted to her. It's a moot point, since it doesn't change how often people try to kill her.

As Frank wraps his arms around her, she leaned into him with a soft sigh of comfort. When else would it happen? She could give up all of this, move away, find some quiet little place to live. She wouldn't be happy, though, hiding her head in the sand.]

Do you ever think about how small we are? Not to get existential, but look at how many people there are out there.

It's a big city. The world is always full of people. If you have someone in it that doesn't make you feel small; that isn't small to you, it changes things.

[Frank would've been fine with putting his head in the sand and ignoring all the shit going on in the city as long as his family was safe. They were the only ones that mattered to him. And the one time he turned away, that's when he lost them.]

[Karen knew all about taking things for granted. She ran her hands over Frank's arms, staring out at the city in front of them. How many times had she walked these streets, not even thinking about being lucky? Not thinking at all? How many people did?

She understood Frank. She, to some extent, very much understood Matt. If you could change something, you did. If you couldn't, you could try.]

Do me a favor? Try not to get yourself killed. [She chuckles softly.] I know this is never going to turn into some happily ever after Cinderella story, but...I sort of like having you around.

[Perhaps her thinking lined up more with Matt's in many ways. Frank wouldn't be putting himself out there with his life on the line as the Punisher if his life hadn't gone to hell, first. Then again, he did become a soldier in order to try and change something for the better. His priorities just shifted after his kids were born.]

I'll do my best.

[It's not like he's trying to get himself killed, but he does take risks to get the job done.]

Good. [As she's staring out, she can't help but feel like he and Matt both had competing ideologies. Somehow, she got caught in the middle. She understood the need to kill to defend your life, and the lives of others, but Matt was against it completely. Frank, well. Frank was enthusiastically blood-thirsty.

It was a hell of a combination, and she had to say she appreciated Frank's candor more than Matt's judgement, even if she didn't agree with all of Frank's methods.]

New York needs all the help it can get.

Then you better stay safe, too.

[He looks down at her, serious in his remark, but also smiling a bit. She said she's not going to back off. Karen wants to keep this city safe just like he and Matt does. She does it a different way, but it's still fighting.

Frank lets his fingers play through her soft hair a little. The warmth of her body in his arms and the soft strands of hair sliding against his fingers are some of the reasons why he couldn't stay away from her, even if he knew it would be safer for both of them if he did.]

[Karen's never had this, but she remembers what Frabk said to her in the diner. He pushed her towards Maft, wanting her to have something safe, but she wants to have something real.

She looks up, meeting his eyes. His perpetually bruised eyes. She doesn't think she's seen him without bruises on his face, well. Except for the first time they somewhat met...]

I'll try. [She wants to say that it's up to the world, but God, he knows that. She turns her lips towards his, giving him a soft kiss as sirens blare off in the distance.]

[Back then, Frank was just doing what he thought Karen really wanted. It was clear she had feelings for Matt, and at the time, Matt was a safe option. Now that Frank knows who Matt is, perhaps he isn't such a safe bet after all.

Frank told Karen to hold on to the those feelings and not let go. Guess he can't tell her differently now; even if those feelings might be directed at him. And shouldn't he take his own advice? Sometimes advice is easier dishing out than taking it. Frank doesn't want to see someone he cares about get hurt again.

When she moved to kiss him, he tipped his chin down and met her lips with his, kissing her softly.]

[He had tried pretty valiantly to warn her away. Using her as bait for those thugs... That had almost worked, but not as well as he might have hoped. She couldn't do the extreme things he did, but she couldn't also stomach letting people like Fisk still breathe and wreak havoc on the world.

But...

It was complicated. Everything was complicated. Karen finished the kiss, pulling back slightly.]

Stay. Stay the night.

[Frank did what he had to do to lure the Blacksmith's men out of hiding. Using her was the most effective way of doing that. Despite it, he still said he'd protect her and he did. He wasn't going to let her or any other innocent person get hurt during his quest for revenge. Now that it's done, though, things hadn't really changed much for him. He couldn't stop. This was just Frank now. It amazed him that she wanted him anyway.]

I was gonna ask if I could crash on your couch.

[That was a joke? Kind of. He was going to ask that, but maybe she's offering him something better.]

You jackass. [She laughed it into his lips, kissing him again. He might have been serious, but so was she. They didn't have to do anything. She just wanted him to stay.]

You can have the bed. I'll take the couch. [Now she's teasing, winding away from him with another laugh. It's quiet up here, the kind of quiet that makes you feel like the world is just for you and you alone.]

[That got a smile out of him. She's not wrong, so he's not about to argue.]

I can't put a lady out of her own bed, ma'am.

[So they can share the bed. They had no problem with room in it last time.]

Share the bed? [She steps back, still holding onto one of his hands.]

What kind of a girl do you think I am? [She tries hard to keep a straight face. Laughing, though, feels nice.]

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Ugh html why do you hate me

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