#At first it was going to be just Genos telling Sai's story but later on it morphed into this

[genosunmi]

SG 『Ghost/Villain AU』 Songfic part 1/?

Lyrics by: IU

Song: Red Queen

What if Saitama couldn't go back in time? 《read tags》

This is a birthday gift!

[starlighttsv]

I’m not fine - p.b

Sum: R is struggling bad and Paige comes to the rescue

Warnings: bad mental health, depression, grief, talks of cancer

Notes: this is my first time writing like angst/sad stuff please tell me how it is and what to change 🙏 requested by @melpthatsme

Pair: paige x bsf!reader

Wc: 1.9k

It’s now been 9 days since your mom died, although it feels like it’s been a lifetime. Your mom was diagnosed with breast cancer about 2 years ago and 2 years ago she said she would fight to the end…and she did.

When you got the call that she wasn’t doing to great you immediately booked a plane ticket to Minnesota and left, forgetting to mention anything to your professors, Geno and CD, or any of your teammates including Paige.

You received calls and texts wondering where you were and what happened for days the only one that didn’t message for days was Paige - and that’s because she has your location.

When you didn’t respond to her 10 messages and 20 missed calls she knew something was up and checked your location to see you heading towards Minnesota, immediately knowing something was going on with your mom.

Paige thinking responsibly in this situation went and talked to Geno, telling him what she thinks is wrong and where she knows you went. Geno ended up giving you and her a week off telling her to find you, make sure you’re ok, and then to get you back home safely.

When Paige got to Minnesota that night she went to check your location while at the airport to see your step dad had texted Paige - basically telling her that your mom has an hour maybe two left and that she needs to get here as soon as she can because he’s worried about you.

That confirmed what Paige was thinking was happening and made her rush to the hospital getting there in around 35 minutes from Uber. When she walked in she went to the front desk telling them your moms name with them giving her directions to the room.

Walking into room 305 she saw your step dad leant against the wall with one of his arms crossed over his chest and the other covering his mouth, looking around she saw your older brother trying to comfort your guy’s kid siblings, and you laying on your moms hospital bed with your head on her chest holding onto her tightly, sleeping.

Your step dad noticed her first getting off the wall and walking towards her - bringing her into a hug “thank you for coming, im just- I know this is gonna hit her hard and that she’s gonna push us away. I feel like you’re the one she won’t be able to push away and if she does you’ll still be able to get to her.” he whispers to her while they both watch you sleep on your moms chest while she slowly plays with your hair

“How long has she been like this?” Paige asks him “I called her at around 11am she got here around 6:35pm so since then.” He replies sadly “she’s been just hanging out in the corner watching all of us but the doctor told us to start saying goodbyes a little bit ago. She decided to go last and she hasn’t moved since.”

Paige nods setting her suitcase that she filled for both of you knowing you weren’t thinking when you just up and left, by the door and carefully walked over to you and your mom

“Hey, mom” paige says to your mom as you guys grew up with each other so you call each other’s mothers mom. “hey Paige, how are you?” She replies weakly while still slowly playing with your hair “Been better, what about you?”

“Ohh you know, been better” she replies a little sarcastically chuckling a little bit, making Paige fake laugh a little with her eyes welling up with tears

“Oh Paige don’t cry, it’s ok! I promise!” Your mom try’s to backtrack “Its not ok. You don’t deserve this. This shouldn’t be how your story ends.” Paige says wiping the tears that escaped

Your mom didn’t say anything just opened her other arm for Paige, letting p hug her.

Your mom sadly passed about 25 minutes later with you waking up because you didn’t hear her heartbeat in your ear anymore.

Ever since you got home from the hospital you locked yourself in your room. You stayed laying sideways on your bed facing the wall for days without moving. The day of your mom’s funeral was probably the hardest day to get through, getting up from bed was painful because of you not moving around, standing made you dizzy because of the not eating, you also had a headache and stomach ache from not eating.

During the funeral it was like ‘the lights are all on but nobody’s home’ you were smiling and greeting everyone, having multiple conversations through out the day with different people, you also spoke at her funeral, you didn’t cry once. You stayed smiling through the whole day.

Until you weren’t.

Getting home from all of the funeral duties you guys did at around 8pm, everyone was tired and everyone was upset - but they all still noticed your behavior at the funeral and now.

“Hey why don’t we all watch a movie in the living room? I’ll make popcorn?” Your step dad say’s trying to keep you from going to your room without you noticing that’s what he’s doing.

Your siblings and Paige all agree but you don’t “I’m tired. I’m just gonna take a shower and head to bed.” You say starting to walk upstairs “hey wait up, I’ll go with you” paige says starting to walk closer to you “no it’s fine P, just watch the movie like you wanted. Im just going to sleep.” Paige looked like she was going to argue “P seriously, I’m fine. Im tired and I want to go to bed.” You say trying to convince her and yourself

Paige looked hesitant but ended up letting you walk upstairs with her sighing and turning around to go to the living room where all of your family went during that conversation

Your step dad looked at Paige in a way of asking if you were joining making her shake her head sadly and him sigh.

Since coming back home from the funeral, you went back to hiding. You locked yourself in your room laying bundled up in your blankets, you ignored everything and everyone. Your family and Paige knocked on your door multiple times a day either to try and get you out or to try and get you to eat something, but you just ignored them everyday.

It’s also now been more than a week meaning you and Paige were supposed to be back in Connecticut 3 days ago. Luckily Paige is your knight in shining armor right now and called Geno, telling him everything. He gave both of you another two weeks excusing both of you from any games that would take place in that time frame.

Paige has been talking through your door for the last 25 minutes trying to get you to open the door, no luck so far.

“Your dad went back to work today, said they couldn’t figure out how to do somethin. Your siblings also went back to school today, the school knows what happened so they’re offering counseling to them.” Paige says sitting against your door listening for any movement but sighing when she didn’t hear any “please open the door. Im worried about you.” She starts “remember when you first found out about her diagnosis? You came to me crying saying you didn’t want to lose her and that you were scared. Do you remember what I said?”

“I said that I would always be by your side, that I would never let you be alone. No matter what, and I’m gonna stick by that even if you’re trying to push me away. Your moms not in pain anymore I promise.” She continues before starting again “your mom wouldn’t want you to be locked up in your room over her. You and I both know that. please just open the door, you don’t even have to leave your room just let me come in there.” She says and try’s listening for movement again but gets disappointed all over again

Right when she was standing up from sitting against your door to go back to the living room, your door opens making her immediately turn around and look at you

You look disheveled. Your hairs messy, you have dark circles over your eyes with tear streaks still on your face, your eyes are red and puffy, your favorite hoodie is now a little baggy on you, and you look like your about pass out

Paige immediately walks closer to you and brings you into her chest, letting you lean all of your weight onto her. She has one hand holding your head to her chest and the other wrapped around the middle of your back while you have your arms wrapped around her waist

“You don’t have to go through this alone, You know that right? Paige mumbles into your hair with you staying quiet.

After a few moments of silence Paige feels something wet on her shirt already knowing that you’re crying, making her hug you tighter. That triggered the waterfall making you start sobbing into Paige’s shirt

“It’s ok, it’s ok. Let it out, it’s ok” paige says staring to rub your back and hold you tighter. “I can’t do this” you sob out “i can’t live without her”

“Shhh shh it’s gonna be ok. You’re never gonna be living without her, she’s always gonna be right next to you watching you and being your guardian angel I promise.” Paige say’s keeping up with her movements on rubbing your back and scratching your head

You don’t answer just cry a little bit louder. Your knees buckle under you but since Paige was holding you still she was able to catch you and decided to just help you sit on the ground so in case you do pass out you would be able to lay down.

She sits against the wall and has you sitting in between her legs still holding onto her waist, with her hands still in the same spots they were in before.

“Please stop trying to push me away. I wanna be here for you.” Paige mumbles into your hair, you just nod into her chest gripping the back of her shirt in your fists

Paige kept her promise and stuck by your side, helping you with everything. You needed groceries? She’s already driving to the store. You don’t have the energy to cook? She’s making it or she’s door dashing, depends really. You can’t get out of bed? She’s getting in your bed beside you and you guys are having a movie night sleepover. You don’t feel the best because of your depression? She’s drawing you a warm bath with a bath bomb, candles, and scents and making your favorite food while you’re in the bath. And so much more - paige has been your rock during this whole nightmare making it feel not as dark and difficult as it actually is.

You both have gone back to Connecticut, and you talked with Geno and CD when you got back with them requesting that you also see some type of councilor or therapist. After that the team decided to have a team night where you do anything and everything - wanting to show that they are in fact there for you and you don’t have to go through the grief process alone.

And eventually after some time you realized that on your own.

[prettygirl-gabi]

Chapter 5: In the Spotlight

Rating: General Audiences

Warning: none

Paring: Paige Bueckers x !photographer fem reader

Fandom: Women's basketball

Summary: being the "babysitter"= fun...right?

Welcome to the chapter 5 of Through The Lens. I hope you all enjoy and there is more to come...stay tuned my loveies!! 🏀💕📸

The whispers started as soon as I entered the gym for practice the day after the Villanova game. People were staring, their eyes darting between their phones and me. A couple of players from the men’s team even snickered when I walked past.

I didn’t understand what was going on until KK intercepted me by the bleachers, her expression somewhere between amused and concerned.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

She sighed and held up her phone. On the screen was a blurry video of me walking into the locker room at Villanova. The caption read: “Paige Bueckers’ mystery girl? 👀”

I groaned, my face heating up. “Are you kidding me? This is so out of context!”

“Yeah, but people love a good rumor,” KK said, scrolling through the comments. “Most of them are just shipping you and Paige.”

“Shipping us?” I echoed, incredulous. “We’re not even—”

“Relax,” she cut in, her tone gentle. “It’s just noise. Don’t let it get to you.”

But it did get to me. All day, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone was watching me, judging me. By the time practice ended, I was ready to throw in the towel on my entire final project.

I went straight to Coach Geno’s office, my camera bag slung over my shoulder. He looked up from his desk, his brow furrowing when he saw me.

“Y/N, what’s going on?”

“I can’t do this anymore,” I said, placing my project proposal on his desk. “The rumors, the stares—it’s too much. I didn’t sign up for this.”

He leaned back in his chair, studying me. “Let me ask you something. Why did you choose this project?”

I hesitated. “Because I wanted to challenge myself. To tell a story that mattered.”

“And do you think you’ve done that so far?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.

He stood, walking around his desk to stand in front of me. “I see potential in you, Y/N. You have an eye for this—an instinct. Don’t let a bunch of gossip derail what could be an incredible project. Push through. Finish what you started.”

I nodded, his words sinking in. “Okay. I’ll try.”

Later that evening, I found myself in the gym. The empty court was a welcome reprieve from the noise of the day. I was adjusting my camera settings when the sound of sneakers on hardwood made me look up.

Paige.

“Hey,” she said, her smile soft. “Mind if I join you?”

I shook my head, and she dropped her bag on the sidelines before walking over. “Rough day?”

“You could say that,” I replied, letting out a bitter laugh.

“Let me guess,” she said, crossing her arms. “The video?”

I nodded, surprised she even knew about it.

“People are ridiculous,” she said. “But you can’t let them win. Come on.”

She grabbed a ball and motioned for me to follow her to the three-point line. “Let’s work off some of that pressure. I mean granted im kinda banned drom practice though.”

“I’m terrible at basketball, and yeah you are banned.” I warned.

“Then it’s a good thing you’ve got me as your coach, speaking of coah i asked fo sit with you..so like you're my babysitter” she said with a evil grin.

The first few shots were laughably bad, but Paige was patient, adjusting my form and giving me tips. By the time I finally sank a three, I was laughing so hard I almost dropped the ball.

“There you go!” she cheered, throwing her arms in the air.

“Beginner’s luck,” I said, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

She pulled out her phone, recording me as I took another shot. “For posterity,” she said when I gave her a questioning look.

“Hang on,” I said, running out to my car to grab my personal camera. When I came back, she was dribbling the ball lazily at half-court.

“Let’s use this instead,” I said, setting up the tripod.

We spent the next hour goofing off, filming everything from trick shots to ridiculous commentary. Paige even tried to reenact her infamous Villanova assist, but it ended with her tripping over her own feet.

As it was getting late we headed back at my dorm, we poured Shirley Temples into a giant pitcher, the fizz of the soda filling the room.

“To surviving rumors and bad basketball shots,” Paige said, holding up her glass.

I clinked mine against hers. “And to you, for teaching me how to shoot a three.”

She laughed, leaning back against the couch. “You’re a natural.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled. For the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe again.

As the night wore on, we sat there talking, the camera still sitting on the coffee table. Part of me wanted to grab it, to capture this moment. But another part of me knew that some things were better left undocumented, kept just between us.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

-Thank You For Reading!🩵🩶

-prettygirl-gabi🎀✨️

Tag list: @sayurireidotcom , @astroeliza , @paxaz535 .... (more to be added)

[babydollmarauders]

COUSIN — MEDIA MANAGEMENT: BONUS EDITION

au masterlist

y/ndevils00

liked by jackhughes, lhughes_06, and 579,824 others

y/ndevils00 hi, people are more than a little confused and beginning to get suspicious and i’ve even seen a few baseless rumors about me floating around, so i’d like to clear the air;

to most people, this is ✨Sidney Crosby✨, the 1st overall pick of the 2005 draft, and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

to me, this is my older cousin, Sid (or Father Sid, as i like to call him, but he says that makes him feel old… as it should, because he is.)

i haven’t been extremely open about my relation to Sid, particularly because: do you know how many embarrassing stories this man has to tell about me? but also because i’ve never wanted people to look at me any differently. i’m just y/n, and to me, this is just Sid.

but i’m about to get a little mushy. for as long as i can remember, Sidney has been my rock, my best friend, and my protector. a little fun fact for you guys, i moved in with Sidney when i was 14. sick of life in Cole Harbour, and missing my Sid, i attended high school in Pittsburgh. i did homework at Pens practices, i played high stakes games of old maid with Geno, and i got grounded by Sid for sneaking out (and usually got ungrounded by the next day because… who can stay mad at THIS face?). Sid was the first person i told about thinking of going into social media management in the NHL, and he was also the one who told me to go after my dreams and never let anyone tell me i couldn’t.

when i was born, Sidney, at 14, immediately took his role as big cousin a step further. in his eyes, i wasn’t just his little cousin, but a second sister. and 22 years later, he says i’m the reason for his gray hairs (you’re welcome!). i couldn’t have asked for a better cousin, big brother, and father figure all wrapped up in one.

Load more comments

user66 JACK HUGHES IS DATING SIDNEY CROSBY’S COUSIN?!

jackhughes you were the cutest child, and i’m so glad you love Sidney. but it’s still a bit weird walking through our apartment and having his grad picture hanging up in the hallway

y/ndevils00 that sounds like a you problem <3

jackhughes i’m taking it down

y/ndevils00 YOU WILL NOT!

jackhughes you’re not here! you can’t stop me!

user27 AWWW LITTLE Y/N WITH COUSIN SID 🥹

user83 i thought she couldn’t skate?

y/ndevils00 i can’t, that’s why Sid is picking me up 🥲 that was the first, last, and only ‘skating with sid’ i ever did— he gave up on me pretty quickly

jackhughes i can’t say i blame him

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes aren’t you supposed to love me unconditionally?

jackhughes not yet, we aren’t married

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes and who’s fault is that?

trevorzegras i’m never forgiving you

y/ndevils00 oh god, what did i do?

trevorzegras YOU TOLD HIM TO PUSH ME

y/ndevils00 i did not! you’re spreading lies on my name 🤧

trevorzegras HE LITERALLY PUSHED ME AND SAID “Y/N SAID TO DO THAT”

y/ndevils00 well he’s old and senile and didn’t know what he was talking about

john.marino97 i’m telling him you said that

y/ndevils00 @/john.marino97 tell him. i’m not scared of him!

y/ndevils00 @/john.marino97 YOU ACTUALLY TOLD HIM?! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS?! I’M PRETTY SURE HE JUST GROUNDED ME?? AND IDK HOW BUT I KNOW HE’LL FIND A WAY TO SEE IT THROUGH

user15 y/n getting getting grounded by Sid even at 22 and no longer living with him is so… 😭😭

jackhughes i’ve been recruited. give John your phone for the next 24 hours

y/ndevils00 NO!

jackhughes okay, then iceberg goes in the microwave

y/ndevils00 NO! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! HE’S A PENGUIN, HE HAS TO BE COLD! DON’T MAKE HIM GO THROUGH GLOBAL WARMING

jackhughes he’s a stuffed penguin…

y/ndevils00 can you just give me 20 more minutes? 🥺

jackhughes 20 minutes and then you hand it over

user07 “my sid” oh look i’m crying 🥹

ryangraves27 Crosby told me to tell you to give John your phone?

y/ndevils00 RYAN!! MY SWEET VAMPIRE BABY!! I’VE MISSED YOU!!

ryangraves27 1) i’m older than you. 2) i’m still not a vampire. 3) we text every week and you saw me tonight after the game.

y/ndevils00 aww you’re still just as stoic and bland as a piece of white bread 🫶🥹

ryangraves27 just give John your phone, please. i’m begging now.

y/ndevils00 aww even your begging is boring!

user64 but… does that mean her last name is Crosby?

y/ndevils00 indeed! y/n Crosby! can you believe Jack never caught onto the fact that i’m related to Sid until i TOLD him AFTER we started dating?

jackhughes HEY! i wasn’t gonna assume! Crosby isn’t a super uncommon last name! and i’m not the only one because nobody else on the team has just assumed you’re related to him either!

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 ah, yes, Dawson fainted when he found out!

dawson1417 I DIDN’T FAINT! I TOOK A NAP!

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 whatever you have to tell yourself in order to keep your dignity <3

dawson1417 YOU TEXTED AND TOLD ME RIGHT BEFORE MY PRE-GAME NAP BEFORE MY FIRST GAME AGAINST THE PENS??

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 and then in your 8th game against them, you got your first hatty!! and i was so proud!!

user90 HUGHES X CROSBY COUPLE— WE ALL KNEW JACK AND Y/N WERE A HOT AND POWERFUL COUPLE BUT OH MY GOD

e.malkin71geno Miss you little one always

y/ndevils00 i’m always missing you, uncle G!! and missing Nikita even more!!

e.malkin71geno Crosby say give your phone to Marino

y/ndevils00 well you can tell Sid i said he’s not the boss of me anymore!

e.malkin71geno try me, kid - Sidney

y/ndevils00 shit, no, nevermind

user39 NOT Y/N GETTING CROSBY TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA ON GENO’S PHONE IN ORDER TO THREATEN HER

lhughes_06 still kinda bizarre tbh. how did Sidney Crosby have a hand in raising your wild ass

y/ndevils00 his routines are what made me this way!

_quinnhughes how?

y/ndevils00 @/_quinnhughes they’re how i learned that i prefer chaos and fun <3

edwards.73 YOU’RE A CROSBY?!

y/ndevils00 yes??

edwards.73 SO A CROSBY IS SCARED OF ADAM FANTILLI?!

y/ndevils00 DON’T SAY HIS NAME, YOU’LL SUMMON HIM

adamfantilli i promise i’m nice! you met me this summer, you know i am!

y/ndevils00 LUCA SAID YOU BITE

jackhughes so do you? constantly.

john.marino97 Sid introducing me to you 4 years ago is both a blessing and a curse ♥️

y/ndevils00 AWWWW THAT’S SO SWEET

john.marino97 now give me your phone

y/ndevils00 see you guys on saturday 😪 guess i’m going on a 24hour phone detox

user74 BYE! I’LL MISS YOU TOMORROW!!

john.marino97 and i won’t! finally, silence on my instagram!

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - The Council

Hey @spotaus !! Get in here :D We going!

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

Also. Did you guys know? We are nearing the end? wild right? We are very close... And then the drabble series is over.

And then it is a matter of time before i take the time to edit everything and make it into an actual series to upload to my AO3.

But that is for later.

For now?

Story time.

*---------------------*

Dream checks the room again. He had been setting things up for this meeting and it is all perfect!

He hears a groan behind him as Red huffs “Dude is more charged than normal.”

Core mutters much softer “I think he is fine? I don’t know why he is… like this.”

Red snorts “He didn’t tell you?”

Core is silent for a bit before speaking even softer “No… he doesn’t really… talk to me anymore.”

Red laughs and says something but Dream can’t quite hear what he says to the child.

Not that it matters. Today is going to be the day!

They just had one more meeting planned!

Ink rushes to his side “Everything is ready!” he grins as he looks around “So… is Blue here yet?”

Dream raises a brow at him “No he is helping some of others get here. Get the news for this meeting around even more…” Dream shoots Ink a look as Ink looks a bit too casual for his taste. Dream may need to start and try wingmanning again but that is for later. After he had time to talk with Ink about this. But most importantly! After this meeting!

This… This is too important.

Dream needs them to be nice to him. Dream promised him he would make sure to do what he can to make sure this went well.

Dream honestly doesn’t even care of the others are comfortable. They just need to be nice to Nightmare. After everything.

He needs it.

So he needs this to be perfect.

He hums as he checks the snacks and the chairs. Enough for everyone. Okay!

Dream smiles and looks around. There are still a few guests missing before he can message the others that everything is ready-

A portal opens and Blue walks out with a happy wave. Classic joins him with a yawn “Why am I here again?”

Blue grins “It is a very important meeting!”

Classic shoots him a glance “I thought I already said I had no interest in like… god decisions and stuff?”

Blue laughs and grins cheeky “oh don’t worry. This is just an announcement! But it is important everyone learns!” and Blue leads him to one of the open chairs. Classic and Red greet each other and talk a bit about hanging out soon.

Dream nods and glances around. Error is already in his spot and seems to make sure people aren’t sitting in some of the seats. All according to plan.

More people show up and everyone gets comfortable. It takes a while longer but then Reaper also shows up with the true hermit out of all of them. Geno looks unamused as he unhappily sits in his own seat. He however does do a two fingered salute towards Error who does one back. Fresh sits down near the other and Geno just shoots him an annoyed look.

Dream does a quick headcount before sending Dust the message before he gets up and smiles “Hey everyone! Thank you all so much for showing up today. I know it was a short notice and appreciate everyone making time.”

Red yawns as he looks bored “Not like much changes for most of us. Timeloops.”

Razz glares at him “Stop being rude!” he huffs and looks expecting at Dream.

Dream smiles as he puts his hands behind him “I have great news! My brother has been found and is well! He and his gang are on their way to speak to all of you.”

Chaos.

And Dream just keeps smiling. He can see Blue snicker and Classic shoot him curious looks. Geno however just looks expecting at Reaper and Reaper grins back at him.

Dream holds up a hand and smiles “I understand some of you are nervous. For this I would like everyone to settle down and listen. Before anything else… I need to tell you a story. One that is from long ago. I need you to remember. Nightmare had been helping the multiverse. We both had duties. Ones we never choice and just tried our best to follow.”

Now… His part.

Dream takes a deep breath as he starts speaking “A long time ago… There was a tree and a guardian. The tree was not just any tree. The tree bore very special fruit. The fruit of legends were told to hold the emotions and magic of the multiverse. The tree had a loyal guardian. Her name had been Nim. She stood guard by the tree every day of her existence. Guarding it as the tree filtered in and out emotions.”

“As time went by. She grew lonely and wished to not be alone. She pulled her magic and used a tiny bit of magic of the tree. With effort she created a small tree spirit, then the tree spirit split of part of itself. Which formed a second spirit. Nim held both beings of magic and emotions and named them. The eldest she named Dream. The younger she named Nightmare.”

Dream had decided against sharing the obvious favouritism of Nim. Not when it would be obvious in subtext. Speaking too directly may just cause them to search for even more hidden meanings. This way they will make their own conclusions.

“She tried to make forms for them but nothing seemed to work. The energies of the two spirits too strong to be contained in any simple form. So she let them exist as they were for now. “

“Then one day… a human came to the tree. Making demands for a fruit to gain its powers. After  along drawn out fight Nim managed to slay the human, but had been mortally wounded herself.”

Dream frowns as he continues the story “In her last moments. She searched the multiverse. And found a form which would fit well enough. A body of a lot of positivity. Strong of will and wants. Motivated. She gave the body to both of us before becoming one with the tree.” as Dream tells the story he can see a few of them frown. Connecting the dots there. The fact that both of them had been giving positive bodies. Bodies that clearly only would fit one of the twin.

Dream takes a deep breath as he continues “The two of us. Were now the new guardians. We would stay with the tree and keep watch. We had a connection to the emotions of the tree and could still feel Nim within.” A moment of silence and then he says the next part “We had been watching and learning for four years after all.”

Clearer frowns. Some clear distress.

Dream continues “And for a while. It was fine. We watched the tree. The tree sheltered us and we slept between the roots. Then one day…” his hands form fists “People settled near the tree. They made a town. A village.”

The hardest part.

“At first they seemed interested and understanding. Being willing to let our tree be and respectful. But… as I spend day after day in the village. helping them as I could. I did not realise that they had a wrong idea of how we were. Who we were. They saw me as the one responsible for the emotions of positivity. They saw Nightmare as the being responsible for negativity.” He makes sure to stare them down. Make them see how similar they had all been to that. How he himself had been similar to those creatures. It is hard to talk about the trauma. To put it into words. But it needs to happen. And he is not going to make them all read the book.

“Over time. They held me responsible for all things positive. Expecting me to do everything. Expecting me to work day after day. Moving things. Planting things. Cleaning things. Because I was supposed to be positivity. I was supposed to help them.” he stares Core down “I was supposed to do just whatever they wanted because that made them happy.” They flinch. Good.

He stares back at the others “My brother? They held him responsible for everything negative. If someone got sick. If the harvest wasn’t good. If someone got a failing grade… if someone died.” He glares “He was never responsible for it. But no one would believe him. And I was unaware.”

He looks to the side for a moment “Then one day. As I was drugged to make sure I slept. They attacked the tree. The very tree my brother was still defending. They ended up mortally wounding him. and in a moment of desperation. He ate an apple.” One second before “We were six.”

Dream sighs as he continues “The apple gave Nightmare powers he was never supposed to have. And he defeated those threatening the tree. I found him after. Still unaware and unknowing. Not having any of the information. I just could not understand why my brother would harm those nice people in the village.” he grins “After all. Why would I see people who make a child work see as evil? If our very mother also decided to give us jobs much larger than we should have ever had?”

He sighs “Our mother was gone. Most of the villagers dead. Nightmare having at this point eaten most of the apples. One remained. I picked it up.” he places a hand on his sternum “My being absorbed it.” He only has one apple. “And with it… that was it. The tree and apples were gone.”

He continues on. Now a lot calmer “Most of what happened after is generally known. I got turned into stone and years went by. My brother, having gotten the powers of a god, took up his role and job as guardian of stability seriously. As that is what the tree had been about. The tree was about keeping balance. And Nightmare, immediately figured out he would have to keep balance now. And he did. He travelled the universe to manually balance everything instead of the apples just doing the work passively.”

And he lets the story end.

Geno frowns at him “And when you broke out. You misunderstood. You didn’t have all the facts yourself and made the very same assumptions those people made in the past. And tried to fix it. only to unbalance things further.”

Dream nods “correct.”

Classic frowns at him as well “So… why share now.”

Dream grins a tiny bit “Because there is one last very important detail that is different between us. My brother, transformed thanks to the apples into who he was and was known as. He gained the powers and form he needed to do his work as god of balance. I myself. First broke out of stone and spend time in our old AU to grow into who I am today before I joined my twin in the multiverse.”

It is Fresh who figures it out first. His glasses change to ‘wait?!’ as he shoots upright “Yo dog you mean?” the others seem to connect the dots themselves.

Dream grins and looks at the door “They are up to date.”

And the door opens.

Killer walks in with a large grin. His arms holding a very tiny skeleton. Nightmare seems to be wearing an oversized hoody. Seems like the gang decided to go for emotional manipulation after all. Oh well. That is their choice.

Silence as Killer walks over to the table and pulls a chair out. Cross joins his side and puts down a bit of a booster seat. Nightmare pulls a face and looks unhappy. Killer chuckles and grins at him “Sorry tiny boss. It is either the booster or lap.” Nightmare stares at the chair and sighs but nods.

Killer puts him in his seat and Nightmare is still clearly a bit too short for the table but it works. Killer sits next to him and Cross joins Killer’s other side. Dust sits on Nightmare’s other side and checks him. Nightmare pulls a face again but Dust just makes sure that Nightmare is comfortable.

Dream smiles brightly as the others all stare “Nightmare. Never grew past the age of six. The age he had been mortally wounded. Meaning. That when the apples disappeared. He returned to that age.”

Dream honestly thinks this is going very well.

--

The meeting eventually got started and Dust only watches bored. Everyone had asked the normal questions and Dream had kept the conversation going. Reinforcing that yes. The gang are now Nightmare’s guardians and will remain his guardians. Nightmare had picked a new domain for his godhood and what it had included.

Meanwhile Dust just kept busy with Nightmare. Nightmare had very quickly looked bored and muttered that he was happy they never wasted their time with this stupid meeting. Dust had snorted because he could see that some of the others had visibly melted at Nightmare’s soft spoken voice.

Lavander specifically had seemed ready to launch himself across the table. Especially as Killer had just smirked at him and nodded as if he confirmed something.

Dust however just checks Nightmare as Nightmare works on some of his assignments. Nightmare has a tiny adorable thinking frown on his face and he is slowly but surely starting to stick his tongue slightly out in concentration.

Honestly some of the noises and coos are a bit much in Dust’s opinion but he won’t mention it. Nightmare hadn’t noticed and still seemed comfortable and that is what mattered.

Dream smiles brightly “and I believe that concludes the meeting. Any other notes?”

Lavander grins widely and his hand shoots up. waiting.

Dream blinks but smiles “Yes Lavender?”

Lavander grins “Now that this is in the open I can share a bit of knowledge I have had for a while.” One of the others mutters about the whore not knowing anything and Lavander grins wider “A while ago. Killer came by my universe.”

Killer blinks and looks shocked while Dust grins. Oh. This whole thing. Nightmare also looks up a bit more curious. Knowing where this is going.

Lavander continues “Something about bringing a special thank you for someone in my universe. After taking care of a child for a bit before his parents were able to get him back.”

The shocked silence amuses Dust as people shoots Nightmare, Killer and Lavander looks.

Lavander looks smug “I assume. That as god of restoration.” He looks at Nightmare “did… did you make it? the flower?”

Nightmare nods and shrugs as he plays with his pencil with tiny bat motive “Your Grillby was nice and helped me with getting me food. I figured it would be a good payment.” He huffs and looks determined “I don’t do debts.”

Dust thinks someone holds a hand on their sternum and Dust gets it. Nightmare is cute.

Lavander smiles brightly “Thank you. It worked perfectly.”

Blue looks at him curiously “What did it do?”

Lavander grins and looks happy “My universe is no longer in heat. The heat cycles are back to normal and we are rebuilding most things as we speak.” And he grins smugly.

Shocked silence as Outer jumps up “But I thought it was like… part of your AU’s code?” he shoots them a look.

Nightmare shakes his skull and speaks softly “Not exactly. The AU says it had to happen. But the way that actually effected them as chemically and stuff. So. It was able to be fixed because it was already unnatural.” He shrugs and mutters softer “Just needed a cure.”

Killer grins as he nuzzles Nightmare before looking at the other with a dangerous glint in his sockets “Of course Nighty. No worries.”

Dust can see Dream call back the attention to him as he continues for a bit about how they are both still settling in their domains and that they are both still learning. That they aren’t responsible for it but just support the very concept. That everyone still has the responsibility to move on or progress or recover themselves.

Dust watches the rest of the meeting and end go and they all stretch and get up. A few people look at them curiously but only Lavander actually walks over.

Lavander and Killer make some small talk before Lavander looks at Nightmare and coos “man. And here I thought I was jealous of him before. But now? It is unfair that Grillby got to meet you and I didn’t.”

Nightmare shrugs as he leans further against Cross “Tried to not be noticed.”

Lavander nods “Fair enough. Probably stressful enough to suddenly lose power. Much less try to navigate multiverse politics. Either way… Thank you. For fixing things. I know it was a thank you but still. Thank you so much.” He smiles

Nightmare blinks and looks to the side before muttering it was just a thank you and not to worry about it. Lavander laughs softly but nods as he walks away with a wave. Off to talk to some of the others.

Dream ends up walking up to them and asking if he and Nightmare can relax for a bit. After a few looks Cross hands Nightmare over to Dream. Who hugs his brother and takes him outside to relax under one of the many trees to just enjoy the environment and sights.

Dust will remain near of course. Just in case.

But Dream and Nightmare eventually both fall asleep. Dream holding Nightmare close and Dsut knows Nightmare is happy and comfortable.

And well.. That was the goal.

To make sure that Nightmare is safe. So he can be happy and comfortable.

*---------------------*

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

[wormsin]

new shapes AND dvd bonus for twice gold, wolf heart!!

✰ NEW SHAPES: send me a fic and I’ll give you an alternate direction the fic could have gone!

this is easy! the first draft of the fic was pretty different. Russia gave Sid a wolf as a gift for winning gold in Sochi, which he was not prepared for and basically could not refuse. a handler brought Geno over from Russia and they met in Sid's foyer. Sid was like "I'll try my best but this is really inconvenient for my routine" and left Geno alone at home a lot. Geno gets under-stimulated, depressed. then there's a whumpy plot that I won't spill because I might use it later :)))

this version was kind of dragging its feet and I also realized that Sid would be SO into wolves, he would know everything he could about him, he would be PREPARED (as much as he could be). the arc ended up being pretty similar. they learn to trust each other in a tough situation :)

✄ DVD BONUS: pick a fic and I’ll describe or write a deleted scene!

bonus scene I had to cut:

Last year during bye week, Sid took a trip on his own to Yellowstone to see the wolves. He saw plenty of other incredible animals too—a bear, moose and bison—but the wolves had a special appeal for him. There was one feral werewolf pack in the Nova Scotia area and Sid grew up hearing stories about them. Even though he knew now that the stories were mostly local folklore, they were still part of his childhood and home, as much as the sounds of boats in the harbor.

In Yellowstone he met with one of the wolf naturalists, a soft spoken old man with the most pronounced jowls of anyone he'd ever met. Sid learned all about the wolf reintroduction program, and every morning Richard would bring him to a new spot to watch the wolves as they wandered around the park. Fewer tourists came to this side, so it was often just the two of them on a road or trail, traveling through the snowy quiet.

Each wolf was known by a number, and Richard had stories to tell about each of them—their personalities, histories, and the drama that unfolded within and without the pack. They never got close, of course, but Sid saw plenty through his binoculars. 

Most of the wolves were just that, but there was one werewolf pack, and Sid caught a glimpse of an older female in human form, pelt over her shoulders and spear in her hand.

Wolves and werewolves alike were majestic creatures, and it was so wonderful to listen to an expert talk about them. He honestly felt changed after that trip, and more appreciative of the natural world. It was the perfect vacation.

"Wow, buddy," Sid says. "Really?"

When he gets back home from the game, he find Geno sprawled in wolf form on the couch with his muzzle practically inside a bag of corn puff chips. Most of the chips made it inside his belly but there are plenty of crumbs on the couch and carpet. 

Geno wakes up with a start, lets out a big sneeze, and then stares at Sid with huge gold eyes. He doesn't look guilty, more betrayed, though Sid isn't sure how well he can read wolf expressions. "You made a mess," Sid says sternly, pointing at the bag. "And it's not good to eat all of those at once, that's a sometimes snack."

He isn't sure if Geno understands any of it, but Sid points to the bag, frowning, and then very pointedly cleans up the mess with the hand vacuum. Geno watches, head ducked.

"We're you hungry? I thought I left you enough food." He goes to the kitchen to check and—yup, Geno's bowl still has food in it, and the premade, high protein wolf lunch is untouched in the fridge. 

Sid sighs. "I don't want you just eating junk food, Geno."

Geno bumps his head against Sid's hip, which might be an apology. Maybe. Sid rubs his ears and Geno wags his tail, nuzzling Sid more. "You're going to get all pudgy, huh?"

[hawkinasock]

Hello, it's me, Geno.

I thought for a long time, but unfortunately I did not find information related to the theory of Yanqing Abundance.

But I found one detail that might just be of interest.

Like...have you noticed that Yanqing is great at pretending? for example, from a recent event, when he first met Luka, he said his fake name: Lenfen (I don’t remember what exactly the name was, sorry); or from the plot, where he perfectly played the role of a “silly child”, calling March 7 his little sister.

that is, when he needs to, he can completely hide his identity and pretend to be a completely different person..

this is just a detail that I noticed and am sharing with you.

(sorry if there are mistakes. I'm using a translator.)

Hi again, Geno :) Don't worry at all, I can understand you just fine. I'm sorry for how long this took, I got really caught up.

I did notice, but I didn't initially think too much of it. It's probably because the examples are currently pretty limited that It's hard for me to find any deeper meaning to it. Idk if I'd go as far as to say he's capable of being that deceptive, to be honest.

Looking at both examples, the common comparison between the two is Yanqing trying to avoid or get out of a certain situation. With Luka, Yanqing knew about his role in the Wardance and lied to keep that information from his potential opponent (probably because he didn't want to make things awkward, and he seemed to just be enjoying interacting with someone unaware of his status), while with the "big sis" example, Yanqing recognized a dangerous confrontation and was getting himself, Yunli and March out of that situation. Notably, these are small white lies, and he wasn't looking to gain anything significant from them.

Because of the small sample size, the conclusion I've come to is that Jing Yuan just raised Yanqing way too well, and that's why we hardly see him deceive.

Till next time, Geno o7

Edit: i actually just remembered another example of Yanqing being a little deceptive that I wanna add. During his story quest, he runs into two cloud knights and lies to them about his pursuit of Blade, saying he's part of an nonexistent "covert operation", and later expresses frustration in being seen as "incapable". He wasn't really pretending to be someone else, as you put it, but it was definitely a lie someone of his authority shouldn't have been telling.

So that's three examples so far, this one, imo, being the most blatant in terms of him being in the wrong, as he was going behind Jing Yuan's back for the entire quest. All these examples do have explanations behind them, but there is def a pattern here. Dare I say, you might be cooking...

[butterflyintochains]

Long Distance No Longer

Or, the Tangerkarlsson ficlet I've been ruminating over for three days, but haven't felt well enough to write. Anyway, here's what happens when Erik finally arrives in the Steel City. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kris can barely believe that this has finally happened when he opens the NHL app for the first time since he arrived back in Pittsburgh. Stuff like this doesn't happen to him, right? He's never been so lucky in his life. Surely this is some fake news headline to grab attention, right? But, this is the NHL site, the site dedicated purely to the sport and nothing else. All these painful years apart could be over literally today, permanently if the story is any hint at the contract. No one's in the group chat, why would they be? No one else knows about them yet. Just Flower, but he's not a Penguin anymore, not in the playing sense anyway. Flower, accordingly, does text him right then.

Flower: Go, go get him, mon ami. He'll be there. Go get him.

PPG Paints, his home from home, his kingdom, not too far away. But, it's all too much. Aware of his heart, he does the breathing exercises his doctor taught him after the first stroke, downs the last of his coffee, and grabs his keys. He drives down to the arena, cursing under his breath at some slow drivers he gets stuck behind. Don't they get it? Erik fucking Karlsson is here! Here for him! Finally, he gets shot of the slow people, and turns down the road to the arena. He parks in his normal spot, seeing another car a few spots down, he gets to the door. Security buzz him in, the air feels different once he's inside: lighter, happier, less... lonely. He prays Kyle and the rest have cleared off, he wants Sid and Geno to know before management do. The gym is empty, so is the dressing room, the rink is being set up. God fucking dammit, he knew he was getting his hopes up. Last place, the dining area. Finally, he finds him.

Erik is finally here, they're finally together. ''Well, hello, hjartat mitt.'' He says, and that's all he needs. They finally embrace each other. It's dizzying, all these years apart, finally over. ''I can't believe you're here, amour, after all this time.''

Erik runs his fingers through Kris' long hair, he's always preferred it like this, for more than one reason. ''I'm here, alskad, and not going anywhere.''

Kris kisses his other half softly. ''I'm glad to hear that, tresor.'' They sit down together, hands still locked together over the table, Erik relays the breakdown in his relationship with San Jose. ''That team is just a lost cause, Kris, too far away as well. I should've never signed there.'' Kris says, rubbing circles onto the back of Erik's hand. ''Don't beat yourself up, Erik, we made it work, didn't we?''

Erik changes the subject a bit. ''Do Sid and Geno know about us yet? Have you told them?''

Kris says. ''No, they don't know anything yet. Now you're here, we can tell them in our own time, I guess.'' He takes a deep breath. ''So, you ready to get home?'' He asks Erik, hopefully.

Erik beams, and nods, brown eyes glassy. ''Yeah, I'd like that.'' They head out together, and get back in their cars. Kris leads them home. Once they arrive, Erik gets his bags unpacked. Kris is thanking God that PO is moving in with Drew once everyone is back, that makes everything a bit easier. ''Well, ready to be a Penguin, amour?'' Kris asks.

Erik slumps down next to him on the sofa. ''I've been ready for that since we got back together, hjartat.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of mornings later, they wake up slowly, the moving truck with the last of Erik's stuff arrives in three days. Kris rolls over in bed, blinking sleep from his eyes. Erik is still out cold, the travel must have caught up with him. San Jose to Pittsburgh is just over six hours, after all. Kris can barely believe this is real, this is their home now, this is their life now. Things like this don't happen to him, right? Except when they do. Gently, he sweeps a lock of hair back behind Erik's ear, and kisses his cheek. He goes to get ready for the day, and make breakfast. Sid gave him a good banana pancakes recipe ages ago, so he makes that. Movement upstairs piques his ear, Erik comes down wearing his Tre Kronor shorts and shirt. ''Bon matin, amour.'' Kris says.

Erik kisses his cheek. ''God morgon, hjartat.'' He gets some coffee going, Kris finishes making their breakfast, and they eat together. Erik says. ''These pancakes are amazing, Kris, your recipe?'' Kris chuckles, baking isn't his thing. ''No, Sid's.''

Erik looks surprised. ''Sid bakes? Since when?''

Kris laughs, drinking some of his coffee. ''Yeah, he's really good at it, too. His banana bread is really good. Started during lockdown, must've been bored while locked up with Geno in Halifax.'' Erik nods, finishing his breakfast. ''I get that, remember how bored we got in Montreal? You actually got me into F1 somehow.'' Kris laughs, finishing his own meal. ''Well, that was payback for getting me into Arsenal against my will.''

Their day is lazy, relaxing together watching stuff on Netflix and catching up on some F1 and Arsenal highlights over dinner. They may be having a lazy day, but they're still athletes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They go down to the team's gym the next day for a workout session. The team's top defencemen cannot be caught slipping once preseason rolls around. It's nice, Erik muses to himself, finally having someone to do this with. He'd always stick to himself in San Jose, too many people who obviously wanted to get him away from Kris. Some tried, they all failed. Erik times Kris doing some balance exercises, then they switch places. Halfway into the day, they grab some lunch, and lace up for a simple skate. The first blades on the fresh ice. ''Wow.'' Erik says, looking up at the rafters.

Kris takes his hand. ''It's a lot, huh?'' Erik says, opening a bottle of gatorade. ''Yeah, I mean, I've seen these banners so many times. But, now it's hitting me, I'm a Penguin now.''

Kris beams, he's wanted to hear that for years. ''Yeah, we're teammates now. And, y'know, partners on top of it.'' Erik's eyes crinkle as he smiles. ''Yeah, we are.''

After showering and changing, they get going home. Talking about game plans already as they get inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next couple of days are slow, mostly continuing to get settled into living together at last. One morning, Kris wakes up alone in bed, he grumbles to himself, and gets up to go find Erik. He's in the kitchen, working on breakfast. ''Bon matin, mon coeur.'' Erik says, in the french Kris taught him all those years ago. It could still do with a bit of work, but he'll not complain. Kris plants a kiss on Erik's shoulder. ''God morgon, alskad.'' He says. His swedish is an eternal work in progress, but he's had two fantastic teachers. Horny found it weird at first, until Kris told him it was for a good cause. ''I was planning on bringing this upstairs so we could eat in bed.''

Kris yawns, and takes his blood thinners. ''The bed was cold without you.'' Erik notices the pills, he fucking hates that Kris has had to go through what he has, but also fiercely proud of his partner for coming out of it all like he has. That beautiful Masterton sitting on the bookcase being his reward. ''I was so happy for you that night, you know? When you won that.'' Erik says.

Kris smiles, looking lovingly at the trophy. ''It was a pretty good night, wasn't it? For both of us, you winning the Norris and all. You looked fucking incredible in that lilac suit too.''

Erik forks some of his egg. ''Says Mr James Bond.'' Kris smirks, he must admit, they are the best dressed dmen in the league. ''How do we want to tell Sid and Geno about us?'' Kris asks. Erik smirks, always a signal that he's plotting something. ''Maybe we don't? Maybe we just... let them put it together?''

Kris' jaw drops, he puts his mug of coffee down. ''Oh, you are evil!'' Erik jokingly asks. ''Are you in? Be obvious, but not too obvious?'' Kris nods, running a hand through his hair. ''Oh, hell yeah, I'm in!'' They've always been each other's biggest enablers. They finish breakfast, and get ready for a run together. Pushing each other to go further, racing each other around the park. ''Three laps of the pond before we head home, amour?''

Erik nods, loving the light competition between them. ''You're on, hjartat.'' They go their three laps, and run home together. After a shower, they crash on the couch. They could get used to this, this domestic calmness they've both been craving for years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erik's team casual gear arrives with the moving truck. And, they spend the entire day at home getting Erik properly moved in, making this house a home for both of them. Shifting things around, sifting through things they can get rid of, doing a deep clean of the house in the process. Kris' phone rings on the breakfast bar, he goes to pick it up, it's Sid. ''Bonjour, captain, how's life?''

Sid says. ''Good, excited to finally get going, especially with our new teammate. How are you doing?''

Kris says, beaming over at Erik. ''Great, looking forward to seeing you and Geno again anyway. When do you two get back north from Florida?''

Sid answers, after a moment of silence. ''We fly in tomorrow, how about you come over for dinner? With Erik too, if he's in the city already.'' Kris purses his lips, thinking of how to say this, it would be so easy to just admit everything, but that would ruin the game. ''Yeah, sure, I'll fill him in.''

Sid's voice is bright as he says. ''Cool, see you tomorrow, then!'' Kris nods, throat suddenly very dry. ''See you tomorrow, give Geno a hug for me.'' They hang up. Kris returns to the living room, where Erik is trying to figure out where some of his milestone pucks should go. ''Sid wants us to go over for dinner tomorrow night, he and Geno get back tomorrow morning.''

Erik says, arranging the pucks how he wants them. ''Let the game begin.'' Kris laughs, and presses a kiss to Erik's temple. He gets back to setting the house up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner arrives, and they pull up at Sid and Geno's house. They share a devious look, time to begin their little game. Sid welcomes them inside with hugs. They go through to the dining room, and get seated. Erik places an apple pie on the table, Kris hands Geno a bottle of wine. ''So, you enjoying the city so far, Erik?'' Sid asks, ever a diligent captain. Erik nods, forking some of his steak. ''Yeah, I never quite knew how interesting Pittsburgh was until now.''

Kris jokes, nudging his partner's knee with his own. ''Guess you can't get to know a place when you're constantly in and out, eh?'' Erik nods, ever aware that his partner has never known anything else but this city for eighteen years. ''Yeah, now I'm in, I'm seeing things better.''

Geno asks Erik. ''You still wearing 65?''

Erik nods, he'd never willingly give up his number, it means too much to him. ''Yeah, I was so glad it was free.'' Sid adds, sipping his beer. ''Yeah, it's been a while since Hainsey.''

Kris braves some light flirting. ''It'll look so much better on you, Erik, trust me.'' Erik narrows his eyes, Kris is so much better at playing this game already. ''It'll look good with us too. 65, 58, 87, 71.'' Geno observes. ''Yeah, I hadn't noticed that, our numbers all make a chain.'' Sid says.

As dessert is dished out, Erik says. ''I hope you three don't feel as if I'm replacing Flower, y'know? Like, new core, yeah. But, Flower is irreplaceable.''

Kris shrugs, Flower leaving hit all three of them, not least that being the first summer he and Erik spent apart after their breakup. He had no one to help him through that grief. ''Times change, Erik. Flower is part of our family, and always will be. And now, so are you.'' Geno nods, and adds. ''Yeah, Legenda, Jarry still talks to Flower every week. Our family has grown.''

Erik asks, furrowing his brows. ''Legenda, Geno?'' Geno sits down at the table with his coffee. ''It's what I call Kris - Legend. It's on his gear and everything, my idea.'' Erik smirks to himself, storing that for later, for no reason at all. ''Oh, okay.''

After dinner, they get driving home. They'll need to start getting to sleep earlier, training camp is right around the corner. They get ready for bed, Kris says. ''Well, I think that went well, wouldn't you say?'' Erik joins him in bed. ''Yeah, I'd say so.'' Kris lets Erik curl into his side, and asks him. ''You ready to be a Penguin, amour?'' Erik leans up to kiss him. ''I've been ready to be a Penguin for years, hjartat.'' Kris kisses him back. Eventually, they get to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day one of camp dawns at last, Kris is up and ready first, packing his backpack for the long and hard day ahead. Erik comes down with his team jacket on, dress code for today was casual. He drops his backpack on the sofa, and ties his shoes. Kris grabs his keys, and they get out to the car. They arrive at Cranberry, and head inside to gear up together. All of the others head out to take to the rink, Kris nudges his partner. ''Ready?''

Erik nods, and says. ''For everything.'' They fist bump, and head out together. Some of the longer tenured Penguins flock over to talk to Erik, even Sully is drawn into the circle. Kris, for his part, could not be happier. Erik looks over to him from his conversation with Marcus. They share a look and a nod, they'll be okay now, there's no more distance to negotiate. Things like this don't happen to them, right? But, it finally has happened for them. Now, it's time to get serious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, this took a bit to figure out! I think it turned out okay. I've had this idea in my head for days now, so I'm happy to finally have it manifest like this!

[scary-senpai]

Would love to hear more about you & me & a high balcony!

Gahh! Thank you so much for the ask. (Original link is here, if anyone wants to join or reblog.)

So, “you & me & a high balcony” is one of the fics I drafted when I was teaching myself to write again. So it's awkward and striving (mostly in the right direction), and still pretty rough--I started writing it in 2020, I haven't really touched it since 2021, and I have learned a whole lot since then. At the same time, it is a fic that is near to my heart and I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk about it! <3

“you & me & a high balcony” is about Genos taking Garou home for the first time--why? tbd! I wrote probably about 100k words of various interconnected fics without fully committing to the unifying concept or plot and I will never, ever do that again. Probably.

Anyway, Genos takes Garou home and neglects to fully inform Saitama. You are getting my draft in its fully unedited glory.

Saitama’s cactus is on the balcony and it is a very, very painful experience for him. In keeping with running canon gags, Saitama is absolutely powerless against this ickle, stationary cactus and he finds himself in an ongoing fight with it, almost immediately. He also gets totally entangled in Genos' camping gear, but put a pin in that, we'll come back to it.

What follows is a series of interspersed scenes between Genos and Garou inside the apartment, Saitama making strange noises outside, Genos fabricating excuses and lying (poorly), and Genos occasionally stepping out on the balcony pretending to be Genos (because, again, Saitama is wrapped up like a sad sandwich in an unpitched camping tent.) In retrospect, it's very clear how much I miss writing for stage, because it feels a bit like an homage to Noises Off (but, you know, prose).

In the spirit of adventure, I am sending an unedited screenshot. With comments boxes! I haven't re-read it in years because I'm too nervous, but you can!

“CW” doesn’t necessarily stand for content warning but I guess it certainly could? CW is an abbreviation of my name so it’s how I highlight “shit I need to go back and figure out.” Being older and wiser, most of my drafts are now just bullet points for me to come back to later, when I have a coherent, unifying thought for the story/fic/series. It has saved me a lot of screaming and tears.

Anyway, Saitama keeps moving the cactus into the apartment. Garou keeps moving it back. Genos has no idea what the fuck is happening, but it’s the least of his problems. Eventually it leads to Saitama and Garou having a heart-to-heart (and agreeing not to tell Genos they met) and, idk, man, I love writing Genos x Garou a lot, but (Platonic) Garou + Saitama scenes are my absolute favorite. I just give them my ideal relationship, which is All of the Hijinks and None of the Sex with someone who finishes your sentences, but all the sentences are puns.

I started drafting the story in 2020, and anything I wrote in 2020 chronicles my descent into madness— inadvertently & indirectly. Suffice to say, quarantine was hitting me very hard and a lot of my behavior was centered around making myself laugh. My serotonin starved brain had a tendency to overload scenes with jokes. Even if they didn’t fit, even if they threw off the pacing. But stories and scenes need to have cohesive plots and it’s silly, to the point of being out of character. Sometimes that's part of the process, though. There's always a lot of love in the first draft of a story, I think, because it's a leap of faith.

I had written a litany of things that embarrassed me about this draft, I deleted it. So I'll share one of the things that I am proud of coming up with--I don't play a lot of video games. I needed a fighting game for King and Saitama to play during a stint of dialogue (the outcome of which involves King lending Saitama Hatoful Boyfriend so that Genos can practice dating (and also he does not trust Saitama with any of his beloved Doki Doki sims). So I thought of the one game I played a lot as a kid (Super Smash Bros) and combined it with something I do know really well (literature) and came up, um, this:

The Body Electric is near to my heart because it was a major part of my writing journey. It was also a major part of my writing journey where I learned a lot, mostly by making mistakes. Granted, it remains largely unpublished so I failed in gracefully private but it is really important to me to finish it one day.

Thank you so much for the ask!

[connectwired]

Since I have no other place to go for this, I want to start out by saying that Nintendo needs a refresh. By doing a refresh with games and hardware, expectations can be thrown in a new direction, and speculation can be all the more fun. That said, what we want and need differs from how Nintendo views, so what I say should be taken lightly unless stated otherwise. I'm VERY open-minded, so I may go on and on, and I'm also open to criticism on the things I think about.

First off, the next console. I believe it'll stay relatively the same as the Switch but with the best internals they can get their hands on. They'll probably update the Joycons a bit and reintroduce the standard D-pad, or they may take the Steam Deck approach and glue them on. The standard will have a higher quality OLED screen to compete with others and possibly better sound. Not much more I could think of but it's enough to compete for next gen and try to bleed into the future gen. It opens up the possibility for more open first party games as well as more intricacy and design, increasing the odds for success (most of the time). Third party games will run better too.

Next, let's talk games. 2D Mario has been refreshed with Wonder, Zelda with TotK and BotW, Pikmin is still going, and Metroid... we don't know what's happening there, but it did have Dread. Mario Kart is still going strong, but there's only so much left they could do until they run out of options for one game. Smash is dead for now, but that's a topic for later with Mario Kart. Animal Crossing is iffy, as the player base has likely been halved since release; I know I don't play it anymore, and I've heard that it's got several issues that I agree with.

I want to go in depth about the state of Mario. Mario fans will be feasting soon with Wonder and RPG, and I'm one of them. Super Mario RPG is, if you couldn't tell, my favorite RPG, and I'm incredibly ecstatic for the remake. I have faith it'll sell well and be given the recognition it deserves. The music and graphics seem phenomenal in the remake, and everything seems like how we viewed it in the original; our minds were brought to life with this game.

Next is Wonder, which is an interesting beast I would love to tackle. The art style is amazing and a big step from New, just as much as the soundtrack is. It's all soft and colorful while remaining fast and enjoyable; such an appealing game hasn't happened for 2D Mario in over a decade. I love the new voice lines - despite Martinet possibly being replaced - and the new sound effects are great too. It's so experimental yet seems to be promising.

3D Mario games are pretty much due for a new game at this point. We haven't seen one since Bowser's Fury, which was only about half a game, if that. The last full game was Odyssey all the way back in 2017. It's understandable why it would take so long, but at least throw us a hint once the new system is revealed. It would be cool for it to be inspired by Wonder, but I could see it branching off of Odyssey or Galaxy too.

Super Smash Bros. should be getting a new game within the next 5 years. Whether it be a reboot, Ultimate Deluxe, or a continuation, I'm certain it'll be good. If they reboot the series, I imagine they'll keep a handful of characters and add a lot of new ones while also making completely new movesets for most fighters. Ones without new movesets would obviously have some changes though. The stages have a chance to be completely new. A continuation would likely cut some of the roster while adding new ones and do the same with stages. A continuation could be Deluxe but with different features and a new story. There are lots of debates about what characters would get in no matter what way they take, but I think the few that are locked in are Geno, Shantae, Sans, and possibly Cuphead. Personally, I wish Springtrap and Reimu would be in too, but sadly I don't believe they would. Same for Goku who will never be in.

Mario Kart is the only thing left on my mind, as it hasn't had a new game in about 10 years, less if you count Tour (but who would; it's a live service mobile game based on Mario Kart 7). It needs a new game very soon after the DLC is done, but there's one question that everyone has: where do they go next? I think they could take the Sonic R route and have it be more open world. Mix that up with all of the items in Tour and maybe some new stuff inspired by 2D and 3D Mario, and you've got something magical. Doing something like Double Dash and having two drivers per kart would be cool too. The roster needs an update as well, but Tour has added plenty of characters over time. They could bring back all characters, and if possible, add a separate menu for costumes and alternate colors. Tracks could be more based on games and even the recent movie. I would love to race around in something like Beach Bowl Galaxy or a fire flower field.

[goaliekisses]

Some Sid and Geno stories from Colby Armstrong on Spittin Chiclets.

Army: He was good for me. He was good for all of us. He was just a young kid. Loved hockey, loved hanging out at the rink. We all liked hockey but he made us love hockey more. He was pretty straight and narrow. Did I ever tell you guys to the story of going to the Steelers game with him?

Buggsy got us a limo and we’d stop and get some beers and go down to the game and Sid was in there, and we’re going down there and we’re going in like regular folks. We’re not going into the suite level. I remember we got out of the limo and he was concerned because he’s such a big star and here it’s not a big city and they’re crazy about sports here. So he’s getting out and I’m like a loose cannon. I’m like trying to work him like “Relax, bud. Fuckin’ relax. It’s going to be fine.” And we get out of the limo and he’s like “Guys guys guys, make a bubble in case fans, you know…” And then we got in the game and I kept standing up and going: “Sidney Crosby’s here! Sidney Crosby’s here!”. And he’s like “What the hell man?” And I’m like relax. You know, trying to break him down a little.

-Crosby never had one day where he wasn’t on the ice as focused as a human should be. He was never on the ice ever fuckin’ around. After practice he’d fuck around, but never when he was going on. I remember him being so intense ever single day.

Army: My son Cruz is eleven. When we first came back, he invited us over to his place where he’s pitching whiffleball to my kids and Kunitz’s kids were there and Cruz was down in his basement. He has like a little shooting area. And he was shooting with Sid and Sid was showing him all this stuff. I thought it was so cool, I thought like he’s remember this. But he didn’t think anything of it though. He thought it was just like Sid my buddy.

He’d go to the game and go “Crosby’s sick” and I’d be like Oh yeah you were hanging out with him the other day. Like he couldn’t compute it was the same guy. That guy with the huge ass? That’s not him.

I love Geno. I love his interviews. Because when we played with him he couldn’t speak English. He was still funny and fun. He’d come out to the club and he couldn’t speak a lick of English but he was still hanging out with the boys. It must have been hard. But now he’s probably the best interviewee in the NHL. He’s the greatest interview.

-(about Therrien trying to get Geno to follow his dumb system) Geno was like fuck this, I’m not dumping it in. So Therrien called them in and Gonch had to translate and Therrien was like Hey tell Malkin that if he doesn’t dump it in, I’m gonna sit him. So Malkin says something back to Gonch and finally Gonch says “He says if you sit him, he’s going back to Russia”. And then sure enough a few weeks later Therrien was fucking gone.

Army: Yeah Geno’s a freak though. Remember we used to talk about how much he weighs because he’s like a toothpick skinny guy but he weighs 225. Remember we used to be like Your bones are made of cement. Trucks though everybody like he’s a machine.

[inkesmind]

life as saitama’s housewife!

reader: female + black

featuring: saitama & genos (platonic)

requested: yes by anonymous

warnings: just fluff

a/n: school finally ended last week, i’m finally free! hope this was good enough!

saitama + genos

saitama nonchalantly told you about meeting a cyborg who wanted to be his disciple after you questioned him about coming home naked

he honestly didn’t think genos would show up to your guys door a week later

you were preparing lunch in the kitchen with your sweet baby boy on your back when you heard a “sensei” from the front door of your shared apartment

saitama offered to get the door and found the lone cyborg standing in the doorway

he definitely did not think the cyborg would show up to your shared apartment

you listened in on their conversation for a short while before peaking from the kitchen and telling saitama to invite him inside

saitama couldn’t say no to you so he brought genos inside without question

genos introduced himself to you before stiffly waving at the baby peaking from behind your back

you helped make some tea for the both of them before heading back to the kitchen to continue making lunch

genos began telling his quite depressing life story, and you couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the boy

before you knew it, your baby, who you guys nicknamed junior, was making grabby hands towards the direction of genos

you paused what you were doing before taking junior into your arms and walked over to the table your husband and genos were sitting at

you saved genos just before saitama yelled at him for talking too much

junior looked up at genos with big wide eyes and was reaching his arms out towards genos

genos was genuinely confused and looked back at you for help

you smiled gently before placing junior in his lap and genos became as still as a statue, not wanting to disturb your baby’s comfort

it was his first day as saitama unofficial disciple and he was not about to mess it up

saitama was still unsure of letting genos become his disciple until you interrupted their conversation

“why not, sweetheart? it wouldn’t hurt to teach him a thing or two.”

anytime you used nicknames on saitama, he melts. he’s so in love with you

just by looking at genos, you could tell that he had a kind soul and you’d love to help him grow. letting him go now wouldn’t sit right with you

and so saitama finally agrees to let genos be his disciple and even junior shows his content with his sweet giggles

genos was extremely awkward holding your child, but he was as gentle as he could be

junior smiling and giggling in genos lap was the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen

even saitama had slight smile on his face

[rinkrats]

🥺 that mike lange story. But also those tags #sid loooves christmas #he loves giving presents #looks good in red #piles on the pounds fast #post hockey career as santa 😂😂👌🏽👌🏽

he loves his mementos and presents and is COMMITTED to them. scrapbooking. matching jackets. little pills with hidden motivational messages~*~ his love language is gifts and neck smooches and stalking geno. relevant right now are some anecdotes i sent a friend earlier this year for dorky sid gifts fic fodder:

1. Crosby's constant thoughtfulness would be impressive from anyone, much less someone of his stature.

"Sid always texts me happy birthday, he's always asking me like, how's Russia?" Evgeni Malkin said. "We talk and message all summer. He asks me how my skates are. He knows, like, everything. He follows my Instagram, I think (laughs)."

In addition to having a handle on those little details, Crosby is constantly providing those around him with memories and mementos. If the team is on the road and goes, say, sightseeing or to a sporting event and takes a group photo, Crosby will later send a framed copy to everyone.

When Ron Hextall and Brian Burke watched their first Penguins game in person, Crosby is the one who approached head equipment manager Dana Heinze and asked for two used game pucks to give to the new GM and president of hockey ops. 

After the Penguins won in 2009, Crosby had jackets made for the three players on the team who had scored a Cup-clinching goal in Game 7: Talbot (Pittsburgh), Ruslan Fedotenko (Tampa Bay) and Mike Rupp (New Jersey).

"They were blue jackets with gold buttons, and each one had a patch on it that said 'GWG Game 7,'" Talbot said. "At one of our first team meals the next season, he presented us with the jackets and did a big ceremony with the music and stuff. We had a private room in the restaurant. I still have the jacket."

-The Consummate Teammate, Captain and Ambassador, Feb 2021

2. Merz: My first interaction with Sid was when we were on the bench, guys were talking about a teammate, and the first thing this 15-year-old says is, “Hey, guys. Let’s keep everything positive. Don’t talk about your teammates that way.”

Salcido: When we were getting ready for nationals, he found these little pills that you could put a hidden message inside. They unscrewed, and inside was a tiny scroll. He gave one to every teammate. … He had everyone fill one out. He didn’t tell anyone what to write, but he made it known that we all knew what the goal was: winning nationals. So we wrote on our scrolls, rolled them up and put them in the pill thing. We kept them with us everywhere we went.

-‘Is this real?’: Stories of Sidney Crosby’s year at a Minnesota prep school, May 2020

3. On “Butterfly Boy” Jonathan Pitre:

Though the Senators are his team, Sidney Crosby has always been Jonny’s favourite player. After the TSN documentary airs, Tina gets a call from the Penguins. Sid needs Jonny’s measurements. He wants to have a suit made for him by his personal tailor, Domenico Vacca.

“It’s the kindest, sweetest gesture,” Tina says. “Sid heard that Jonny went to a lot of games, so he wants him to look like he’s one of the guys.”

“I want him to feel like a pro,” Crosby says. “Here’s a guy who is going through something so painful, and his first thought is always, ‘How can I help others?’ When I was young, I’d watch on TV the players coming to the rink in their suits. That was a cool part of being an NHL player. I want him to feel that, to make it as real as possible for him.”

Tina tries to discreetly measure Jonny while she’s changing his dressings. But he’s way too smart for that.

“Um, Mom, why are you measuring me? Am I going for surgery again?” he asks.

“No, no!” Tina replies, trying to reassure him and come up with a good lie, all in the same breath. “The doctor needs them just to make sure they have proper dressings next time you are in.”

A few weeks later, the sharp navy blue suit shows up at their front door, along with a couple of ties, an autographed stick and a handwritten letter from Sid. 

“His eyes just light up,” Tina says. “Jonny always liked to be well-dressed, and he just loves having his own suit. It fits perfectly. He looks so good in it.”

-Beauties by James Duthie (2020)

4. Pascal Dupuis inspired his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates on their run to the Stanley Cup, and Sidney Crosby found a special way of driving that message home.

Dupuis retired in December with lingering health concerns because of blood clots. Despite his NHL playing days coming to an end, the veteran forward remained an integral part of the Penguins and was in uniform to hoist the Cup after Pittsburgh's six-game win against the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Final.

On Sunday, Dupuis brought the Cup home one last time as a player to share a special day with his family, friends and hometown fans.

"Yes, it does feel bittersweet a little bit," Dupuis said. "You get the Cup, you want to celebrate. But at the same time I got a gift by the mail [Saturday]. Basically, it's a book of all the pictures of all the good stuff we went through. It came from Nova Scotia, so you guys can figure out who it came from (Crosby), but he couldn't give it to me during the season, he saw me skating a little bit.

"And he sent it [Saturday], before my day with the Cup, so he knew what he was doing to get me right here," Dupuis said, putting his fist over his heart.

-Pascal Dupuis shares Stanley Cup with family, friends, Aug 2016

5. In 2011, Crosby was out of the lineup with a concussion, and the Penguins made their annual visit to Children’s Hospital.

Crosby got along so well with one boy there and was so touched that he later asked Bullano to go back... just the two of them, no cameras, no attention.

When Bullano and Crosby met for the follow-up visit, Crosby appeared clutching a pair of Toys “R” Us bags, filled with a Transformer toy the two had discussed.

“He literally bought every type of this toy they make,” Bullano said. “[Crosby] had never seen it before and thought it was so cool.

“There are no pictures of this. There’s no video. He was laying in the bed with the kid. They were just playing. We were there for over two hours. I got to know the mom really well because we were just sitting there.

“The kid had no idea. Didn’t expect it. They had no idea he was coming. We got there and he said, ‘Hey buddy. hope you don’t mind that I came back.’ The kid couldn’t believe it.

“[Crosby’s] crazy cool about stuff like that.”

What’s crazy is trying to recount the many times stuff like this has happened with Crosby:

• The Little Penguins Learn to Play program has been around for nine seasons, outfitting now 1,200 kids with free head-to-toe hockey equipment. Not only does Crosby serve as the face of the program — which the NHL has now adopted — but he helps fund it, too.

“There’s an awareness of what a person in his position can bring,” Penguins vice president of communications Tom McMillan said. “I think he activates that as much as anybody I’ve seen during his playing career.”

• After a recent practice, Crosby noticed a local family in the Penguins dressing room, approached them, introduced himself, learned their story and wound up giving them a signed stick.

Nobody asked Crosby to do that, and he wanted zero credit when discussing it a couple days later.

“For people who have the opportunity to come in here, people dealing with certain things, if you can brighten their day a bit or spend some time with them, it’s something that’s special for all of us,” Crosby said.

• A few years ago, through a team charity event, Crosby befriended a 4-year-old Amish boy with cancer. Crosby remarked to Bullano how much he loved talking to the boy because of how engaging the boy was and how he wasn’t consumed with technology. Crosby even tried to visit the boy but learned he had passed away.

• He learns the first and last names of the kids who attend his hockey school in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.

“Two kids came from Japan its first year,” Bullano recalled. “He was so blown away by that. He couldn’t wait to meet them.”

• Earlier this season, the Penguins welcomed Grant Chupinka, 24-year-old cancer patient, into the dressing room. Crosby chatted up Grant and his parents, Steve and Kim.

He spent his usual time — about two or three times the requirement. Gave the tour. Then found out the Chupinkas didn’t have tickets for that night’s game and decided he would pay for them to go.

“I’m sure he could just give them an autographed puck or something, but he takes his time to go out and see them and talk to them and get to know them,” Brian Dumoulin said. “It speaks volumes for him and who he is as a person.”

Spend any length of time with Crosby during his visits with those less fortunate, and a few things become obvious.

One, Crosby is really good at these. Smooth but not in a slimy way. Sweet. You know how when you’re around someone talking and they go out of their way to make eye contact with everyone around? That’s Crosby.

He’s also humble, always introducing himself like those he’s meeting don’t already know. Holding a hand is no issue. And Crosby is the rare 20-something pro athlete without kids who acts every bit like he does.

“It is not an easy situation to talk to someone with terminal cancer,” McMillan said. “A lot of people couldn’t do that. He has an amazing ability to do that and make that person feel good.”

Crosby has welcomed several Make-a-Wish kids and tries, if at all possible, to schedule such events for practice days — to maximize the time he’s able to spend.

He’s developed a special friendship with Patrick McIlvain, a soldier who nearly died when he took a bullet to the head in Afghanistan. McIlvain actually does physical therapy with one of Crosby’s sticks.

A former club hockey player at Cal U, McIlvain comes by every year, and the Penguins don’t even bother to tell Crosby. Either he already knows or immediately stops what he’s doing to come say hello.

“He’s not doing it to leave a legacy,” said Terry Kalna, Penguins vice president of sales and broadcasting. “His numbers leave the legacy. He’s just a down-to-Earth, good guy.”

Before a visit, Crosby has Bullano email him what is essentially a scouting report on who he’s going to meet. He likes to learn about them, their situation and what they’ve been through. As much information as he can ingest. Crosby never just swoops in, shake a hand and leave.

“As much as anyone has ever seen, he accepts the responsibilities of being not just a professional athlete but a star professional athlete,” McMillan said. “He views it as part of the job. Like coming to the morning skate. That’s just what you do.”

Put another way, “he owns those moments,” says Kalna.

Said Bullano, “He’s just a good human being.”

-When it comes to giving, Sidney Crosby does as much as he can, Feb 2017

6. When Crosby received a generous signing bonus on his Reebok deal, he wanted to share it with everyone.

“He gave everyone on the bus gifts,”  says Oceanic radio commentator Michel Germain. “Him sharing his bonus with all the people he’d been travelling with for two years, that impresses me greatly. I think the most important thing about Sidney Crosby is his personality and the kind of human being he is. What he exuded. The inner richness he’d already developed.” 

-Superstitious and generous, Dec 2006

7. also this simply because it makes me ;w;

Even in defeat — no, especially in defeat — Sidney Crosby proved why he wears the "C" for the Penguins.

After the game, with his heart sinking and his season over, the Penguins’ captain bent over, sank to the ice to pick up the puck, took it to linesman Tony Sericolo and then skated to his team’s handshake line.

I immediately thought of a View from Ice Level I’d written on Crosby making sure a retiring official was sent away from PPG Paints Arena properly. I knew picking up the puck wasn’t for the same reason that was, but I also knew, in some way, it was connected to Crosby’s awareness and respect of the game.

“It was for the Islanders,” Crosby told me after the game, his eyes swollen from a first round exit – by way of a sweep to make it worse. He told me how the winning team always wanted the puck, and it was his way of providing it for the Islanders.

Crosby looked me right in the eye as he told me this, just as he did with every other member of the media to come to him after the loss.

I could tell from those swollen eyes and the way he sat at his stall, by himself with his hands folded as he stared blankly, that Sidney Crosby is much more used to being on the receiving end of a puck when a series ends than he is at retrieving it for the winning team.

That scene. His swollen eyes. Staying in the locker room until most had left – talking to anyone who needed him. Most of all, though, picking up the puck that prompted my question in the first place and making sure the right people got their piece of their own history.

It all adds up to one thing: In victory and in defeat, Crosby respects the game above all else – just as he’s always done.

-Even in defeat, Crosby shines, April 2019

[kittemfang]

OMG pls tell us more about molly and mckenna. from what i can tell they died to naked nest andqueen bee and one turned into abnormality?

hi geno thank you for enabling me. LETS START!! WIHT THE HUGE LORE!

THIS WILL BE LONG!!!!!! AND IMAGES!

mckenna and their younger half sister river have a mostly pleasant life. they live with their mom and stepdad. the only unpleasant come from mckennas father, who they hate very very much.

please ignore the lor outfits and stuff i do not have any good drawings of them together, they are old and ugly.

mckennas father is kind of a guy who is involved in a lot of stuff like syndicates. oh yeah and then one day during the years of later teenagerhood decides to fucking kill his kids parents. so thats fucking awesome. and it did it in front of them too!

so river and mckenna are on their own far earlier than any of them would have thought. river is really just completely in shock but she is the type who like. when there is an emergency to still try and get things wrangled out of desire for them not to be worse

but mckenna just...breaks down. and becomes a checklist of those elementary school mental health things about warning signs towards suicide. overall, everything is rpetty bad right now. very bad...

so river is like. can we do something, as a family though, at least...? even if its the last time (though doesnt say that part). so, they look out during the Night to see the sweepers. it isnt a very pretty thing by any means but they have done it before when they were younger, so it was kind of a nostalgia thing. watching people get sweeped is a childhood memory, backstreets are gonna backstreet...

but wait, who is that!?!? there is something outside during the Night, who is killing a whole bunch of sweepers>??? effortlessly. this is really enthralling to mckenna...watches with huge interest. who was that in indigo? who?

well now mckenna wants to know all about this mysterious person, and does countless research. they learn this is molly, who is a color fixer named the indigo void. she has a small fixer office, that is run with her friend noah. mckenna wants to be just like that. isnt able to actually get in contact with those two, but thats fine....

river and mckenna are now fixers! actually they arent. they are not, but they lie about it to their clients. in reality, they are more of a syndicate, of course. mckenna's "office" only takes highly specific requests, requests that always end in bloody murder, requests that always have some grain of connection to their father, regardless of if the offending person knows.

but then news comes that apparently, the indigo void and noah have moved elsewhere, to some wing. so mckenna and river apply to L corp. i should mention that river was...on board with the whole fixer thing at first, but was becoming disillusioned very quickly. now it seemed like instead of having nothing, revenge was the only thing mckenna had.

so what about L corp?

they find noah. noah does not like them. noah does not like mckennas behavior about her and molly. also, she and molly are 'its complicated' exes now, so she doesnt want to hear someone go on and on and on about her anyway. mckenna takes noahs dismissal of them to mean molly has died.

molly is not dead! maybe a little bit, it comes with the whole ego corruption thing. but thats a story for another day! this aint about you!

so mckenna is pissed off and then river dies which makes everything worse. it is a horrible thing to kill off the very bee that was inside your sister!

but how does mckenna die? picking fights with everything, of course. now there is truly nothing, you cannot escape from this place or even have the one person by your side, or anyone you looked up to...

when judgement bird hits you with the 2.0 pale damage its kind of sucks!

BUT WAIT THERES FUCKING MOOOORE BECAUSE IN LIBRARY OF RUINA EMPLOYEES WHO DIED CAME BACK! because this is the excuse i use to stop focusing on my "current times" L Corp ocs. so we focus on people from the past.

river and mckenna are back together again, but its still not all happiness after all, that seems impossible. also, sometimes it looks like mckenna is growing some feathers the more time goes on

after the ending of LOR, with all of the district in exile, youll never guess which person just so happened to be still in the district!! thats right, their bitch ass dad!!!!!

finally, finally, finally, finally, mckenna gets to kill him!

but it doesnt make them happy, or cure them, or make them start to enjoy life again, and it doesnt change their feelings or their life or what they have done this far....

so mckenna distorts. into the owl of void...

the whole thing about mckenna is they were trying to imitate molly. their outfit they wore as a "fixer" was meant to be similar, and even now their feathers are indigo, and they take on a part of that former title.

this sequence of drawing i did it meant to be like, the shadow molly cast on mckennas life, from when they first saw her, to them wanting (and failing) to meet them in L corp (with the bee and judgement birds noose of course), to finally changing into that imitation, casting their own shadow, but on their very life...

but maybe one day river can commission moses to undistort mckenna.

AAAAAAAAAAND DONE!

[laurenairay]

What Love Feels Like - S. Crosby

Summary: your boyfriend Sidney, the surprise romantic?

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: established relationship fluff, cheesy romance, essentially a 4+1

A/N: I’ve been in an absolute writing rut since before Christmas, so I just want to thank @danglesnipecelly​ for reminding me how much I love soft sexy sid 😘 also, how have I never written for him before?!

~

No-one ever said dating Sidney Crosby was going to be easy.

They also didn’t say how much of a romantic he was either.

It was like at every turn, he had a new way to make your heart beat a little faster, to make you face heat up warm, to make your stomach fill with butterflies. Whether it was buying your favourite sweet treats as a pick me up, or the kisses that would leave you breathless in passing, or even the way his tongue flicked at your bare body just right, Sidney always kept you on your toes.

But it was his words that affected you the most.

You hadn’t expected much verbal affection from him at the beginning of your relationship, the rumours of his hockey robot status the main thing you knew about him – but you were quickly proved wrong. Maybe it was the media training that kept him so hockey-bland in interviews, because the minute he wasn’t in hockey mode, he immediately turned sweet, suave and so sexy. And it wasn’t just flirting talk, to prelude to sex (although the first time he murmured all the things he wanted to do with you after the team event you were at, you almost lost your mind then and there) – it was the sweet loving statements that sent your heart pounding.

How could you ever have known about his way with words?

*

Today had been a stressful one. Work had been full-on without any warning, and you were just about done with people. You’d even hesitated when Sidney offered to cook you dinner at his house – but eventually the temptation of being pampered by your boyfriend had been too good to resist. Maybe he’d be able to turn your day around. It couldn’t hurt to try, right?

And as you suspected, Sidney had taken one look at the exhaustion on your face and ushered you to the sofa, only disappearing to come back with a large glass of wine for you.

“You are an absolute gem,” you groaned, tilting your head back to look up at him.

He just grinned, taking the silent cue for what it was and leaning down to kiss you gently. Yes, this was just what you needed.

And the evening had only gotten better from there. Sidney had made the two of you a simple but delicious coq au vin dinner (the recipe definitely came from Vero Fleury, and you knew that you would definitely need to text her your thanks later), followed by a chocolate tart that you swore was the best thing you’d ever tasted (that one was from a local bakery, and you knew it wouldn’t be the last time you’d get something from there now!). And all throughout the evening, Sidney had kept the conversation flowing, telling you hilarious stories of grumpy Geno and naïve rookies from the recent road trip he’d had, as well as about the cute dog that his neighbour had recently adopted, and you felt yourself relaxing more with each passing moment.

Sidney had indeed turned your day around just like you’d hoped.

After eating, Sidney had insisted on clearing the plates by himself, making you roll your eyes fondly but accept a gentle kiss as he walked past. You could at least get the two of you a fresh glass of wine each. You were tired, not incapable. So with that in mind, you picked up the two empty wine glasses and followed your boyfriend into the kitchen, opening the fridge to pick out the open bottle of white wine he’d opened earlier.

But just as you finished filling the glasses, you felt a pair of arms slide around you from behind, making you jump slightly, earning a soft laugh.

“Menace,” you complained fondly, putting the wine bottle down on the side.

“Couldn’t help myself, I needed you in my arms,” Sidney said simply, squeezing you in a little hug.

You leant back into his chest, smiling to yourself. How could you say no to that? The two of you stayed silent for a few more moments, just enjoying the comfort of this embrace, until Sidney sighed softly.

“You make me want things I didn’t think I could have,” Sidney murmured, pressing a kiss to your shoulder.

What the hell?

You spun around in his arms straight away, the frown on your face making Sidney laugh softly.

“What things? And who says you can’t have them?” you demanded.

“Always so protective,” he mused.

You batted at his chest, rolling your eyes. “I’m serious Sid! What do you mean, things you can’t have?”

He bit his bottom lip, making your frustration soften a little. This was something he’d really thought about, wasn’t it?

“I just…I never expected to find someone while I was still playing hockey,” Sidney started.

What the hell? He was just going to wait, until he eventually retired? What?! But as you opened your mouth to protest, Sidney pressed a finger to your lips, a fond smile on his.

“No, I know what I’m like. My routines are so set in stone, I’m away so often, I have so many more responsibilities as Captain and well, just because I’m me. I was told from a young age that anything other than hockey was a distraction. So I just…shelved the idea. Didn’t even let myself hope,” Sidney explained.

“Sid…that’s so sad,” you said softly, clutching at his sweater with both hands, “to just resign yourself to being lonely, I can’t…”

“Hey, it’s okay. I can’t say it hasn’t paid off with hockey,” he mused, “and besides…I met you, didn’t I?”

You bit your lip, your face heating up warm, Sidney’s hand rising to run a knowing thumb over your cheek.

“So I wasn’t a distraction?” you asked hopefully.

“Oh, you absolutely were,” Sidney said, laughing softly, making your heart sink a little. He saw your hesitant expression, and shook his head. “It was a distraction that I didn’t know I needed. You help me break out of my intensity, to separate the rink from home. Without you, I would just eat, breathe, sleep hockey, and meeting you made me realise that I can have hockey and love. You give me a reason to live, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that,”

You couldn’t stop the tears that sprung to your eyes, nor the smile that spread across your lips. “Sidney…” you murmured helplessly.

“Thank you. For making me whole. For making me a better person,” he said seriously, hand still cupping your face so you couldn’t do anything but look into his eyes.

Your heart clenched at his words, and there was nothing you could think of to say that needed to be added. So you just lifted your head and pressed your lips to his in a kiss that said everything.

*

A good run of games, with far more wins than losses, always put your boyfriend in a good mood. So good, that after the latest game, which was another win where he’d gotten 2 goals and 1 assist, he’d even suggested going out for drinks. You were more than happy to agree – not that you didn’t love your evenings in with him, but sometimes it was nice to go out and try something new, y’know? These plans quickly turned into a couples’ drinks with Kris and Catherine, and Geno and Anna, and the six of you ended up in a private booth in a fancy cocktail bar.

You’d immediately ordered some lethal manhattan cocktails with Anna and Cath, leaving the guys to their own devices as the three of you toasted to the success of the men in your lives. As you surveyed the bar around you, you felt yourself relax a little. This was exactly you needed, with exactly these people. These two women had welcomed you so quickly into the Better Halves group, and you couldn’t be more excited to spend time with just them. Well, them and your rapidly tipsy partners. 

It had only taken the three men a couple of hours to be giggling messes. 

Kris, the troublemaker that he was, had indulged Sidney’s sweet tooth with so many sugary cocktails, that he was already pretty far gone, eyes glassy and skin flushed. Sure, he was going to feel it tomorrow morning, but the fact that he actually got the chance to let go, to just relax with his just closest friends? That was the most important thing.

How often did Sidney get the chance to do that?

The six of you were still in the booth, Geno having just come back with a fresh round of cocktails, and Sidney was started to lean against you a little heavier, making you frown slightly.

“Hey, are you good?” you asked softly.

Sidney leaned back to look at you properly, hair a little ruffled and his top two buttons undone, distracting you slightly.

“You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen…and I’ve held the Stanley Cup three times,” Sidney slurred, his lips stretched in that beautiful crooked grin.

Kris, Cath, Geno and Anna all just burst into laughter, making you laugh too.

“I’m serious! The cup is so beautiful…but you, you are the most,” Sidney said firmly.

“He’s serious,” Kris snickered, “crisse Sid, what a romantic,”

The sarcasm just made Sidney pout. Bless him.

“Okay I think it’s time for some water,” you giggled.

“Oh no please, let him carry on. It’s been so long since drunk Sid made an appearance,” Kris grinned.

“Drunk Sid is most fun!” Geno added, nodding enthusiastically.

You looked back at your boyfriend to see him still smiling at you like the sun, and you couldn’t stop the butterflies erupting in your stomach. How were you supposed to react, when he looked at you so brilliantly? You didn’t have to look at Cath or Anna to know that they were smiling fondly at you – you’d had enough wine nights with them to know how sweet they thought Sidney was with you.

“He may be fun now, but he’s going to be an absolute grump tomorrow and you know it,” you mused, shaking your head.

“Won’t be grumpy,” Sidney insisted.

Oh jeez. “Yes you will,” you teased, “But you’re cute, so I’ll let it slide,”

“You think I’m cute?” Sidney said happily, before looking at his teammates, “she think I’m cute!”

That just sent Kris and Geno into fits of laughter again, making you sigh fondly. Oh he was definitely going to feel this tomorrow.

Worth it though.

*

The summer brought you back to Nova Scotia with Sidney. Well, you’d taken two weeks off work in August to be able to spend Sidney’s birthday with him, but you were so glad you did. Spending some proper time with his parents and with Taylor was so worth it, and you didn’t miss the little smiles he sent your way when he thought you weren’t looking – Sidney loved you being home with him just as much as you loved it.

The best part though, was definitely waking up to that sleepy morning sunlight, the lake only a stone’s throw away, Sidney warm and content and at peace. 

“Mm happy birthday Sid,” you murmured sleepily, curling further into his body.

“Shh, if my body doesn’t know that I’m getting older then I won’t get any more grey hairs,” Sidney groaned, not opening his eyes.

You just giggled, running a hand over his bare chest. What a drama queen.

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that, baby,” you teased, “you know I like your grey hair, the little grey of it that there is,”

What? You did!

Sidney lifted his head to look down at you incredulously. Of course that was what made him wake up properly.

“You like it?” he frowned.

“It makes you look…distinguished. It’s…sexy,” you shrugged. There was no reason to lie to him after all.

“Sexy?” he laughed, rolling his eyes.

Oh now that wouldn’t do. You slotted your leg between his thighs, moving to hover him slightly where he was lying on his back, waiting until he was looking at you properly. He swallowed heavily at the seriousness in your expression. Good.

“Yeah, Sid. It’s sexy,” you said softly, “you’re sexy. Clearly I need to tell you that more often,”

Sidney’s tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip, his eyes never leaving yours as he processed your words.

“If I’m so sexy, then why haven’t you kissed me yet?”

The desire in his voice sent a shiver down your spine, and you couldn’t help but to grin. You leant your head down to kiss him softly, leaning up on your elbow for a better angle. Sidney groaned softly at the sweet kiss, one hand sliding into your hair with the other resting on your waist. You kept the kiss slow, gentle, intense, with only light brushes of your tongue, taking your time to enjoy yourself. You loved early mornings like this, when it was just the two of you with nothing to do for hours, and today you had nowhere to be until well into the afternoon, so you were going to indulge yourself with these kisses while you could.

Eventually you broke away, lips feeling as swollen as Sidney’s looked. Wow.

“Is that better?” you mused, stroking the hair at his template.

“Hmm, I don’t know. That’s all I get?” he murmured, “on my birthday?”

Tease. You licked your bottom lip, Sidney’s eyes flashing darker, and you rolled off of him, tugging your sleep-top over your head and lying down sultrily on your back. Sidney’s eyes immediately fell to your bare chest, yours flicking down to the hard line of his cock in his boxers, before you grinned.

“Get over here birthday boy…” you purred.

Sidney didn’t waste another second.

*

Sometimes things weren’t perfect. Sometimes Sidney had a string of bad games where he got too much into his own head. Sometimes he wouldn’t communicate in any more than a couple of words or grunts. Sometimes you had to prioritise a work deadline over time with him. Sometimes things between the two of you were extremely tense until one (or most often, both) of you cracked and talked it out.

But that’s what made your relationship work – the talking. Being with Sidney meant being in such a mature adult relationship, and it was refreshing to be able to work through things with a guy that wasn’t just going to fly off the handle or sulk around. Sure, Sidney had his faults, but he always tried not to take his frustrations out on you. You knew that the highs of dating a hockey superstar came with the lows too – you knew that when you agreed to go on that very first date way back when, but he’d proved time and time again that he was worth it. He was always worth it.

Right now, Sidney…no, the Penguins had been on a bad luck streak, and you could see the pressure piling up on your boyfriend, from management, from the press, from the fans, from himself. But not from you. There was no way you were going to add to his stress, not when he needed your support more than anything.

And you knew he appreciated more than anything else.

Like today, for example.

Sidney had turned up at your apartment a couple of hours earlier than you thought, having come straight from the airport rather than going to his house first, just looking bone-tired. So you’d immediately drawn him a bath with your favourite lavender-vanilla bath bubbles, Sidney insisting that you join him too.

Well, you weren’t going to deny him that.

So that’s where the two of you were now, you lying between Sidney’s legs, your back leaning against his chest, your hands clutching at his forearms where his arms were wrapped around you.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

You just smiled softly, tilting your head back to press a kiss to his jaw before leaning into him again.

“I’m just sorry we’re doing this in my shitty apartment rather than your lovely bathroom,” you shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter whether we’re at your place or mine. You’ve always felt like home,” Sidney murmured.

Oh god, if your heart could be any more full it would be. Wow.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” you said softly, not wanting to break the moment, “I’ll always be here for you,”

Sidney smiled into your neck, pressing the lightest of kisses into your skin, making you shiver despite the temperate of the water.

“I mean it, you are my home and I couldn’t be more grateful. You’ve shown me what love feels like, sweetheart,” Sidney murmured, “I love you,”

You tried desperately to blink away the tears that sprung to your eyes, squeezing his hands. “I love you too Sid. So much,” you whispered.

As his arms held you a little tighter and he buried his face in your neck a little more, you knew there was nowhere else you would rather be.

*

Another morning, another day waking up in Sidney’s arms. No matter how many roadtrips he went on, countless by the point, it still felt weird sleeping in your own bed without him. Your apartment felt cold, felt empty, despite it holding all your possessions, but you knew that was just because it didn’t have him in it. When he was home in Pittsburgh, whether it was in your apartment or at his house, you had never slept better than when you were with him. You could only hope he felt the same.

“Good morning,” Sidney said softly, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Good morning,” you replied, smiling up at him.

He smiled back, leaning over to press a few gentle kisses to your lips before leaning back.

“That was a real serious face you had a moment ago,” Sidney said, lying on his side with his head propped up with his hand.

Busted. “I was just thinking,” you shrugged.

“What are you thinking about?” he mused.

“Nothing much. Just…”

You trailed off, biting your bottom lip. Sidney’s hand slid to cup your face, his thumb brushing over your trapped lip until you let it free.

“Just…” he prompted.

“I could get used to waking up beside you,” you blurted,

Sidney’s face looked a little stunned. Damn it. Was that too much?

But then his face shifted into the biggest smile you’d ever seen, making your hopeful heart beat a little faster.

“Why don’t we make that a reality?”

W-What?

Sidney saw the confusion in your expression and hesitated, before turning and reaching into the bedside drawer beside him. He paused slightly, as he grabbed whatever it was, making your heart beat a little faster. What was going on? But after a couple of beats, he rolled back over to face you, hand clenched in a fist.

“Move in with me?” he murmured.

He opened his fist, revealing a shiny key, making your jaw drop a little. Oh wow.

“For real?” you whispered, eyes not moving from the key.

“Yeah, for real,” Sidney mused, although you could hear the strain of nerves in his voice, “I would really love for this to be your home too. You already have a ton of your clothes here as well as make-up and your shower stuff…so why don’t we make this full time?”

You choked out a laugh – he did have a point there.

But was it too soon?

No.

“If it makes a difference, I’ve wanted to ask you for months,” Sidney admitted.

“You have?” you asked, surprised.

“Yeah, sweetheart. You’re it for me,” he said simply.

He really did have such a way with words.

“I would love to, Sid,” you said softly.

“Yeah?” he grinned,

“Yeah. I want to build this life with you. So let’s do this,” you nodded.

Sidney whooped, making you giggle, and he dropped the key into the bedsheets in favour of pressing a deep kiss to your lips. Yeah, you could get used to this.

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM Manga Chapter 143 Review: How to Behave

The day after April Fools’ Day, Murata has graced us with another chapter.  A short one, but a spicy one to be sure!

Story

We start exactly where we left off.  Genos comes crashing down to earth, in a very not badass way this time.  He doesn’t look well at all with energy sparking uncontrolled from every joint.  Bang, Bomb, Fubuki and Puri Puri Prisoner approach him with concern, asking if there’s anything to be done for him.  To Puri Puri’s suggestion that Drive Knight might be able to help, Genos says that the latter has already left.

Drive Knight has never represented himself as anything as a person focussed on achieving his goals and exploiting whatever can be exploited.  So it’s no surprise that he drops Genos unceremoniously once the barrier is down and he can escape, just a bit disappointing.  It’s however more than a little disturbing that he dropped Genos into the midst of the other heroes like a primed grenade.  Not nice.  Not nice at all.

Puri Puri gets a distress call from underground. It’s coming from Child Emperor (yaaay, he lives!  We knew he would).  He dives into the ground to go retrieve the boy, both for his own sake and to try getting Genos some help.  Just how not nice Drive Knight’s little gift was comes when Genos tells the others to stop wasting time and get at least five kilometers away if they wanted to live.   Given that it was futile, he’d be taking the monsters out when his core exploded.    Pause to think about that for a moment -- that’s a radius of total destruction that’s five kilometers wide, leaving aside the more widespread destruction and blinding is totally terrifying.  He’d do a lot more than take out the monsters, but pretty much everyone we’ve seen on scene above ground.

It is in this context that Fubuki steps up to him.   Genos starts to try to run her off saying that even if she isn’t the strongest, she shouldn’t go to waste.

“Be quiet,” she says in a tone that brooks no dissent. 

And to his astonishment, Genos is quiet. 

I CLAPPED.  That was excellent indeed.  Fubuki has most emphatically taken charge of the situation.

Even more excellent, she starts to tell him off as she lays hands on him, mirroring his harsh words to himself (good!).  Despite the strain, she sees her role as a leader and as a leader, she’s determined not to abandon anyone.   Because psychics are a bit magic in this world, she’s able to cool the reactor to the point where its cooling functions are able to kick back in and put the core back under control.  She also extends her healing touch to the organic side of him, which we’ve seen her do for others already. 

Whew... crisis averted.

And then she starts to cough up blood and collapses right before the horrified gazes of the others.

Would now be a good time to mention that the cadre are still closing in?

Meta

I think I’m going to start with just one image and go outwards from there.  The sight of Genos reaching out for Fubuki as she collapses is touching, but then I thought about it a lot more and then I realised there’s more to it than the surprise, concern and regret that Genos is undoubtedly feeling.

To be around Genos is to be drafted into his guardian angel squad. This isn’t the first time someone has saved him.  But this *is* the first time that anyone has sacrificed themselves for him.  He’s the one who is always looking to take the worst of the blow, who this chapter was ready to leverage his death to get rid of the monsters and now, someone has been willing to suffer for him. Someone has literally shed their blood for him.  (and I wonder if Murata had a sneaky little look at the calendar when deciding to release this little chapter).

The astonishment in his eyes tells me that this hits deep with Genos.  We’ll have to see where it takes him, but this is opening up another paragraph or three in his character’s story.

Not that Fubuki is dead.  As they cradle her,  Bang remarks with wonder ‘she has the makings of a great leader.’   I have been following Fubuki, as I’ve been following other characters around.  Notwithstanding her strong arm techniques with Saitama, it’s been clear for a long time that she had genuine rapport with and attracted the loyalty of her group.  They bought into her vision, they cared about her and they’ve been proud to wear the trademark black blazers of the Blizzard Group.  The big thing for her was being whipped by Do-S and finding that Saitama’s words about her using her group as a front to feel good about herself... then coming back two days later with the determination to change things. 

She still sees herself as the leader of her unwitting new group, but this arc has demanded that she show decisiveness and act on behalf of them rather than using them as her shield.  She’s come far already.  I’m keen to see how much further she can go!

Let me add that I am glad ONE is continuing to build on his policy of having female characters be effective ones in their own right who continue to have their own story to develop.   Even if Murata does have a fatal attraction to boobs...

Btw, Dr Kuseno, don’t give Genos that kind of juice again. Not anytime soon. His determination to kill monsters at any cost is indication that he’s still not mature enough to handle great power.