#<- i'll make another post gushing about how insane i am about how (i) different sebastian acts depending on the ship <33

[detective4blog]

I made them a playlist and listened to it while writing this, accidentally made it angsty. Time frame wise I'd say it's post season 4.

Tw for unhealthy coping mechanisms, mention of alcoholism and smoking, feel free to ask for more.

Sebastian laid his head on Mycroft's shoulder. He said nothing, looking tired. Mycroft knew why but talking about it seemed wrong. Talking bad about the dead and his own kin didn't appear to be an option that would help the retired assassin's mood.

"How do you cope?" Sebastian suddenly spoke. His voice was unnaturally quiet, just above a whisper. Mycroft furrowed his brow at the question, but thought of how to answer.

"I put more time into work. I suppose I don't give myself any time to think about what's bothering me." He answered quietly, staring at his clasped hands for a moment.

Sebastian laughed next to him; a bitter and angry laugh that was soaked with years of cynicism. "Somehow more healthy than me."

That wasn't reassuring.

"What about you?" Mycroft didn't mean to ask the question. It blurt out in a moment of concern. The silence that followed his question was painful. He swore he couldn't hear Sebastian's breathing during it.

"Drinking, I suppose. Whiskey's been my liver's nightmare for some years now. Sometimes just a cigarette while freezing my ass off outside. Or multiple, depending on how bad." Now the other man was whispering. Ashamed of what he was admitting or not used to saying these things aloud? Likely the latter. Mycroft doubted Jim cared much about these things as long as he got results.

He placed a hand on Sebastian's knee, leaving it there. The man's jeans were damp and uncomfortable to touch. "You're going to catch a cold in those clothes."

Another laugh, less bitter and angry. More of actual amusement. "I bloody tell you I drink like a sailor and you're worried about a cold?"

"Yes."

Another moment of silence. The disbelief from Sebastian came off in waves, but Mycroft tried to ignore it and not analyze it. It was hard not to think of not many people showing such care to him though.

Sebastian stood, running a hand over his face. "You got any clothes you're willing to pass along to me, then? I didn't quite bring a spare." He put his hands in his pockets, which dripped more violently now.

"Take whatever you need. I'll get a towel." Mycroft stood as well, giving a weak smile to the other man.

His friend? Lover? Whatever. This was confusing. His head still hurt from recent events and stomach still sick from the sight of- A violent shake of his head stopped that thought.

He grabbed a spare towel and returned to the same sitting room, waiting for Sebastian to return. Eventually he did, dressed in a mismatched pajama set with his old clothes bundled awkwardly in his arms. At least he put the less soaked clothes between himself and the rest.

Mycroft took the clothes and replaced them with the towel. He didn't say anything, though Sebastian seemed to want to protest. There wasn't a chance, the man leaving to toss the clothes in the washer.

He came back to see the towel wrapped around Sebastian's neck, his gaze fixated on his hands. Mycroft watched him for a moment. The man made no movement besides breathing, seeming to be thinking.

Whatever Sebastian was thinking of didn't need sharing or he didn't want to. He looked up, attempting to give a classic crooked smile but just ended up giving a wobbly one.

"I can leave if you want to be alone. I have a basic idea of the shit you saw and heard in there."

"I'd rather have you here, actually. If you don't mind."

Sebastian blinked, now able to give a more stable smile. A sympathetic one. "'Course. I'm a good listener too. Dunno how much work can repress all that."

Mycroft thought about the offer. There were things he wanted to tell someone about. The obvious solution would be to go to Sherlock or John since they saw and heard the same things. But they were too used to things like this. Sebastian was too; he likely never batted an eye at a corpse. But he didn't view him with distaste, so talking to him wouldn't be horrible.

"Maybe later. You look like you need sleep." He gave a small smile of his own, offering a hand to Sebastian. It was taken; those warm large hands were unnaturally cold. He didn't let it show how unnerving that was.

Sebastian was warm. He always was. His touch, his smile, his voice, his eyes. But now he was cold, the fire that fueled him dwindling out. Mycroft hoped he could help refuel it somehow.

He opened the door to his room, letting Sebastian claim whichever side of the bed he wanted while he changed. But the bed was untouched, the blonde seeming to be waiting.

Mycroft raised a brow, choosing the left side of the bed for himself. He expected Sebastian to take the right side of it, but was pleasantly surprised when the man just...laid on top of him.

He was still so cold. There was a hurry to wrap blankets around him, pulling forward the heavier ones just for him. Sebastian seemed half asleep already, his breath warming Mycroft's neck.

"I forget you enjoy physical contact when sleeping."

"It's called cuddling, Myc. And yeah, you're comfy and warm."

"Obviously I'd be warm, you're cold. As for being comfortable, it's likely sentiment held towards me that makes you think that. I doubt laying on top of someone can be comfortable."

He expected a sleepy interruption to his ramble but Sebastian was silent. Not asleep, seeming to be thinking.

Then he rolled over, making a mess of the blankets just to have Mycroft now laying on him. It was disorienting to be moved like that, his mind still processing the situation.

His head rested on half Sebastian's shoulder, half on the pillows. He could feel the rise and fall of his breathing underneath him. Gentle enough not to be a disruption but just notable enough to bring comfort. He could even feel the man's heartbeat if he pressed his hand down harder.

"...I stand corrected."

There was that crooked grin. It made Mycroft feel warmer underneath the layers of blankets and the arms around him.

[thefinalboss387]

Roderick Kingsley Appreciation Post!

It's time for me to gush over yet another of my favorite characters ever: Roderick Kingsley, AKA the Hobgoblin! He is a Spider-Man villain that was introduced in 1983 to replace the Green Goblin, who at the time was dead. (And as we all know, everyone stays dead in comic books. Cough.)

As much as I do love Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin actually managed to quickly climb the ranks into being my favorite Marvel villain, and one of my favorite characters of all time. He is the ONLY comic book character that I've gone out of my way to collect every individual issue that he appears in, and it's the piece of my physical comic collection that I am the most proud of to be honest.

The character has a bit of a messy history behind the scenes, but I truly believe he came out all the better for it. Beneath the read-more, I'll talk a bit about that complicated history, how I think it benefited the character, the direction that more recent stories have been taking him in, and just why I think he's so great!

The Hobgoblin was created by writer Roger Stern in 1983's The Amazing Spider-Man #238. A thug stumbles across one of Norman Osborn's Green Goblin lairs accidentally as he is running away from Spider-Man. Norman Osborn was thought dead at the time - later comics would reveal he was actually alive (GASP!) and hiding away in Europe - so the thug turned to a man obscured in shadows and sold him the Green Goblin equipment. The shadowy man made his own modifications to the Green Goblin costume, altered the formula that gave the Green Goblin his powers so that it wouldn't have the unfortunate side effect of insanity, and set out to make a name for himself as New York's new supervillain, the Hobgoblin. Oh - probably worth noting that he also coldly kills the thug that sold him the equipment by blowing up his truck. Good ol' Hobby.

The Hobgoblin quickly established himself as an exciting, formidable new A-list Spider-Man villain. Very early on, he was established as a behind-the-scenes manipulator that brainwashed people to wear his costume and stand in as patsies to protect himself from prosecution or harm. In one of his earliest appearances, he brainwashes small-time crook Lefty Donovan to stand in as the Hobgoblin as a way to test and monitor his modified Goblin formula and avoid giving himself any negative side effects -- he has Lefty killed by remote-controlling his glider to smash into a building when the conditioning begins to lift. He sought to become the next Kingpin of Crime, blackmailing anyone he could and seeking out any and all of Norman Osborn's equipment and journals in his various secret lairs.

All the while, the intrigue of the Hobgoblin's true identity continued to build. Just like the Green Goblin in his early days, the Hobgoblin's identity was a juicy mystery. He was frequently shown scheming by himself in his lair, concealed by shadows. A bunch of different comic covers teased that this just might be the issue where he's finally unmasked. A TON of characters were being painted as red herrings with motive and means to be the Hobgoblin. He brainwashed and framed Flash Thompson so that the public and the authorities would believe he was the Hobgoblin -- and of course, the readers knew that Flash was being set up. The Hobgoblin's shadowy secret identity is even shown talking familiarly with Mary Jane Watson in one scene to raise the anticipation even more.

I don't want to say too much more about the Hobgoblin's big identity mystery days, because truthfully that is not why I love the character. I feel like it's hard to discuss the Hobgoblin as a character without also taking about all the behind-the-scenes drama at Marvel. So, long story short, Roger Stern left the book before he was able to reveal the Hobgoblin's identity, the character was written by a few other people that all had their own idea of who the Hobgoblin should be under the mask, tensions were high and writers were openly trying to upset each other.... which led to the Hobgoblin being revealed as Ned Leeds, an investigative reporter and close friend of Peter Parker. Worse still, the Hobgoblin was unmasked as Ned Leeds after Leeds' death in another comic. No big, personal final confrontation with the unmasked Hobgoblin. No hearing from Ned Leeds himself why he was doing this. Hobgoblin was revealed to be a man that was already dead.

Ned Leeds was killed by assassins. It turned out that the assassins were hired by Jason Macendale, AKA Jack O'Lantern, a fellow Halloween-themed Spidey villain that participated in the gang war to be the next Kingpin. Jason was quick to adopt the Hobgoblin identity for himself and stayed in that role for 10 years. He was.... fine? I guess? He took on a much more scary and demonic appearance in the costume than Ned Leeds ever did. He even gets literally possessed by a demon for a bit. At one point he gets cybernetic enhancements and gets this cool robot eye thing. Problem is, he never really got taken seriously, and fell quickly down through the ranks of villain tiers. It didn't help matters that Norman Osborn returned from the dead and took his spot as #1 Goblin villain, rendering the Hobgoblin pretty unnecessary.

But then, in 1997, 10 years after Ned Leeds' reveal as the Hobgoblin, a mini-series called "Hobgoblin Lives" came out, written by original Hobgoblin creator Roger Stern. Now, I was born in 1987 - the same year Ned was killed and revealed. I grew up with the Jason Macendale Hobgoblin. So this miniseries was THE first exposure I ever got to a Hobgoblin that wasn't Jason. Jason is arrested, he reveals to the public that Ned Leeds was the Hobgoblin before he killed him and took his costume (a fact that only a few characters were aware of before), and then a man claiming to be the REAL original Hobgoblin visits him in prison and murders him for being an embarrassment and tarnishing his brand.

Uh, I'm sorry..... what?????

I get that the Hobgoblin mystery was a messy one. I get that the different writers all laid breadcrumbs to different solutions and things got extremely tangled up. I get that the Ned Leeds reveal was disappointing and anticlimactic. But as far as first impressions go, Hobgoblin Lives is damn near PERFECT.

So, basically Roger Stern jumped in to solve the Hobgoblin mystery once and for all -- by revealing him as the character he originally intended him to be way back in 1983, Roderick Kingsley. A shady fashion designer also created by Roger Stern that first appeared in 1980's Spectacular Spider-Man #43, who was known for stealing his competitor's designs and taking credit for their work. Ned Leeds, it turns out, was just another brainwashed patsy that took the fall for Roderick Kingsley, the REAL Hobgoblin. Back in the "Ned Leeds" era of comics, there were scenes where the Hobgoblin and Kingsley were in the same room together, which was explained as Daniel Kingsley, Roderick's meek and submissive brother, posing as him for corporate meetings and whatnot that Roderick didn't want to attend.

So like..... I understand the opinion that Daniel posing as Roderick is kind of cheating the audience that was invested in the mystery and keeping track of all the different clues and red herrings. I understand that the "evil twin" angle is a bit tacky. But speaking as someone whose first glimpse into this identity mystery storyline was its long-overdue conclusion, I honestly kind of LOVE the Daniel twist. Everything given to us in Hobgoblin Lives serves to cement things we already knew about the character. Roderick Kingsley was already known for stealing fashion ideas and performing shady corporate takeovers, so it's kind of perfect that he also stole and made cosmetic changes to the Green Goblin brand? We'd seen the Hobgoblin brainwash patsies multiple times already, so it makes sense that Ned Leeds was just another name on that list. We'd seen the Hobgoblin dress those brainwashed patsies in his costume and use them as stand-ins to protect himself, which is probably an escalation of what he did to Daniel their entire lives - that was where that "man behind the curtain" stuff started for him.

So, ultimately, we were given a much more satisfactory conclusion to the mystery of the Hobgoblin's identity. He wasn't a dead guy anymore - he was a charismatic, manipulative, scheming criminal mastermind (my favorite type of villain!) with a line of mind-controlled fall guys in his wake.

I mentioned earlier that I have all of Roderick Kingsley's individual issues that he appeared in - I did NOT bother to collect Macendale's appearances. I have Ned Leeds' Hobgoblin issues, because he is acting on Kingsley's behalf and it's up in the air when it is Leeds behind the mask and when it is Kingsley. I may eventually start hunting Macendale's issues down just to say I HAVE EVERY HOBGOBLIN APPEARANCE EVER, but my love for the Hobgoblin is NOT love for Jason Macendale. Even as a kid, I found him very underwhelming and lame despite LOOKING really really cool. So the fact that Hobgoblin Lives immediately starts with his death, and the original Hobgoblin saying that Jason disgraced his legacy, was a pretty cool way for 10-year-old me to be introduced to this character.

In his next appearance after Hobgoblin Lives, Roderick Kingsley goes up against Norman Osborn. As I said, Osborn's return kind of rendered the Hobgoblin obsolete. I found this story fun because it starts to show us the difference between the two supervillains as they try to outwit and outmaneuver each other, and it starts a very long-running feud between the two. Kingsley manipulates Osborn into breaking him out of prison and attempting revenge on Daniel, falsely claiming to still have an Osborn journal that reveals he is the Green Goblin. Ultimately, it's clear that Osborn is the superior villain, as he already knows Spider-Man's secret identity, and he manages to steal control of Kingsley's businesses and holdings away from him. Kingsley is shaken by these reveals but decides to retire in the Caribbean with the money he still has left. (I also want to say, in one of his most recent appearances, HE GOT HIS BUSINESSES BACK FROM OSBORN WOOOO)

Since then, Roderick Kingsley has started taking a drastically different approach, which I do believe was needed for his character to help differentiate him from Norman Osborn. Kingsley now travels the world, creating different supervillain aliases (which are all, of course, stolen and repurposed) and rents those brands out to the highest bidder. He is arming and suiting up a small army of D-list supervillains in exchange for a cut of their profits. Again, I feel that this change is perfect, and cements things we already knew about his character. Kingsley was a fashion designer that stole ideas and made them his own brand -- even his Hobgoblin persona is stolen Green Goblin gear. Now, he is taking that to the next level with his stolen supervillain fashions. Mysterion is a blatant copy of Mysterio, Devil-Spider is extremely similar to Tarantula, etc.

When Phil Urich killed Daniel, Roderick's brother in the Hobgoblin costume (because of course it was another patsy), and stole the Hobgoblin identity for himself as Macendale had done before, Kingsley is at first furious that his brand is getting stolen again and fights Urich, but eventually sees the potential in him and allows him to continue being the Hobgoblin for a cut of his profits - until Urich switches sides and starts working for Norman Osborn and kills the Hobgoblin, which is Kingsley's mind-controlled butler as yet another patsy.

Kingsley, both in and out of costume, has always been a very shady-corporate-takeover type of villain, focusing a lot on wealth and power no matter who he inconveniences or kills along the way. This becomes especially apparent in the Axis event, where Hobgoblin is given his own miniseries. Good guys are now evil, bad guys are now good, moralities are switched..... annnnnnnd Kingsley is still an awful person despite being a "good guy". He takes on a motivational speaker type of role, selling superhero franchises and Hobgoblin merchandise to make as much money as he can. (Is it bad that I WANT the Hobgoblin merchandise he was selling??) His Axis miniseries is a VERY fun time, poking a lot of fun at his history and highlighting that the man is still very much a sociopath despite his changed morality. How GREAT is this clip??

Although he's always #2 to Norman Osborn - and that is a constant source of frustration to him - Kingsley is a GREAT villain. He is always scheming, always hiding behind yet another mind-controlled patsy, always ready to profit off of his next stolen idea, and I think the convoluted mess that was his initial mystery arc only helped to cement his legacy as a behind-the-scenes mastermind who is always one step ahead, and always willing to throw other people into harm's way to save his own butt. The Hobgoblin Lives miniseries, and everything that's come since with the character, has only built on what we already knew and loved about him, and pushed him out of Norman Osborn's shadow despite having literally stolen his franchise.

The chaos and drama behind the scenes at Marvel will always be an unfortunate part of this character's history, but I still love him SO MUCH. I think everything in the story that came from it has helped form a formidable, manipulative, cold-hearted villain that will always be one of my favorite characters of all time. More than once now, he has retired to some tropical, beautiful corner of the world, comfortably sipping drinks as some poor fool dies in his place. No matter what happens, no matter how dead he seems to be, you CANNOT convince me that his canon ending will be anything less than that.