#Both of these guys made the main team and so they are on my brain
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seafoam-taide · 6 months ago
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recent drawings bc I love them
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translatemunson · 6 months ago
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you've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks • ttfd
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a blurb from the universe of the tortured firefighters department
| check the masterlist |
cw: fem!reader, afab!reader, no descriptions of reader, banter (because i love it), some divergency from canon (it’s fanfic guys, so chill), proofread by my bye-lingual ass (let me know if i forgot anything)
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For the first time in fifteen minutes, you could finally reach for your coffee mug.
“Dispatch, this is 118 requesting more RAs for the scene,” and there it goes nothing. It was Evan Buckley on the other side of the comms. What happened with Chim or Hen asking for backup?
“Copy, 118. Units 126 and 163 are closer to the storage,” you replied, already jumping on channels to send the ambulances their way. “Will more units be necessary?”
“I believe those will be enough, Brains.” The nickname drop. Yeah, no way you were escaping that. “It’s nice to finally hear you on a call.”
“Can’t say the same, firefighter Buckley. Mind you, we are being recorded,” you brought your mug to your mouth, the steam long gone after a late night fire emergency on a delivery storage.
“Oh, don’t be a nerd now. Everyone is safe, I bet you can chat for a few minutes.”
“Should I remind you we both are paid to save lives, and not chit chat while the 9-1-1 line is packed?”
“Oh, is it? Then why are you still on this channel?”
Ok, he got you, he got you good. Back to drinking and finding some peace to face eight more hours on your shift.
“Still there, Brains?” You could definitely hear his smirk through the call.
“Mm-mmm,” you made a funny face for the cold coffee. “Just taking a break.”
“Right. Graveyard shift again?”
“Always, because it’s from my desk straight to class tomorrow morning.” You started typing again, checking all the information from the rescue. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“No, not exactly. Already packed the equipment and now I'm just waiting for the guys. Is Maddie working tonight?”
“No, she only takes the graveyard shift when Chim is off duty. But you should know that. Cut the small talk and go piss Eddie off, Buckley.”
“Only if you give me your number.”
And he goes for it, for the hundredth time that week.
“So you can piss me off on and off duty? I’ll pass,” your screen lit up with updates from the incident. “Guess I’m closing this channel now.”
“See you soon, Brains.”
“Don’t wait up, Buckley.”
You disconnected from the channel once you had confirmation both RAs were on scene and now it was only a matter of taking the patients to the closest hospital — information you already cleared with the drivers, and gave that usual Brains heads up to the hospital teams — and getting them patched up.
Graveyard shifts, most of the time, were easy to sail through. Another few more hours, instructions you had memorized in the back of your mind, weak coffee someone brewed because you were out of decaf, class notes to review and you would call it a night — or maybe a day, you were never sure.
The only thing different this time around was the fact that you had Buckley on the other side of the line. And when you checked your phone, closer to 2 AM, there was a message, from an unknown number, saying “Eddie told me to piss you off because he wants to sleep :)”. Also “It’s Buck.”
Of course you knew it already.
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author's note: hi, hello! i know i promised this blurb to come out yesterday, but got caught up with work stuff… BUT IT’S HERE NOW. it doesn’t spoil anything from the main timeline of the fic, it was more of a “i need to write something” moment and this is the result. don’t forget to check out the fic! see ya soon!!
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sykoangels · 3 months ago
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being relationship with deadclaws 💋
a blurb / headcannons
author notes: this is afab!reader this is also a polyamorous relationship post as well!! also this is NSFW AND SFW!
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safe for work 💋
dates between both men are polar opposites. Usually, when you are on a solo date with Wade it’s something fun and silly like watching terrible movies and critiquing them or rewatching the whole adventure time series in one sitting and discussing the lore. Dates with Logan realistically are very laid back probably alcohol tasting or him teaching you about his favorite cigars and how to smoke one correctly
Mandatory movie nights every week! Each week yall get takeout from the shitty Chinese takeout down the street and watch movies from an iceberg tear-list y’all made way back before you guys dated.
Wade is a horrible chef his food is actually inedible. So Logan usually does all the cooking even though he doesn't like too.
when cuddling or sleeping the arrangement is Wade on the left Logan in the middle and you on the right. So you and Wade can sleep on Logan’s pecks and used them as pillows.
Holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving are always done up to the 10th degree. You and Wade love cliché ugly and itchy sweaters and a good homecooked Thanksgiving meal. Logan isn’t the biggest fan because he finds it obnoxious but he does it to make you happy especially (to stop Wade’s complaints)
For a birthday present, you got Logan alcohol you and Wade to drink since you all are younger than him (obviously above the age of 18!!). You brought him stuff like Pink Whitney and White Claws. He hated it but pretended to enjoy it because you were so happy to get it for him.
Wade’s love language is physical touch! he loves cuddling and kissing! he’s very into PDA to the point it could be compared to kids you see in high school mouth harassing each other in the hall. Honestly, you don’t mind because you can always tell him to cool down and he will.
Logan's love language is acts of service!! Even though Logan is very fierce and rugged on the outside. He always had a soft spot for you and Wade. He would do small things like give you his jacket when you’re cold or go out of his way to cut up fruit slices for you as a snack when you aren’t feeling well, sometimes he would go out of his way to buy your favorite drink from a coffee place you liked. He always constantly remembered the little things that you just say in passing and don’t think about it’s locked in his brain somewhere.
“do you know how beautiful you are bub?” Logan says just randomly (just admiring your beauty)
“If i was a Pokémon trainer you would be the main Pokémon i would use. You know like how team rocket has meowth? You would be my meowth!!” Wade says randomly (he has a weird way of complementing people)
not safe for work 💋
both men are insanely horny for you and sometimes they need you to fix it. In some instances they would both try to fight for your pleasure like a two mangy animals.
double penetration! especially after a fight
they have eiffel towered you before (iykyk)
Wade prefers late night and semi-public sex
Logan prefers sleepy morning sex or angry rough sex
Logan and Wade are both into insane levels of pain. It’s sadomasochism heaven when them.
they both have pictures of you in their wallets of in their favorite lingerie or skimpy outfit. Especially when they are away on missions.
face sitting especially with Logan while Wade is deep inside him. Logan can’t help but to nip at you as he struggles to keep it together due to Wade’s erratic thrusts
breeding 👏🏼 breeding 👏🏼 breeding (especially when Logan is in some form of heat usually around the spring / summer) He would wanna breed you and Wade simultaneously, and sometimes it happens.
“that’s it. Let’s stretch that hole out.”
“we'll make it fit”
as Wade said “pegging isn’t new for him.” It’s not new for Logan either. You pegged him on your birthday and everything changed. You had never seen him so needy and whiny before.
Wade is sometimes a cuck! He genuinely likes seeing Logan pound into you while tears of pleasure spill out your pretty eyes.
y’all have sex tapes! three of them. Wade jokes about if this mercenary / superhero? / x-men bullshit doesn’t work out they would leak them on purpose to become the next Kardashians.
“fuck~ baby your hole is pretty it’s almost like you made it for me.”
“that’s it bub.. finally using that bratty mouth to use.”
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germesthegenie · 22 days ago
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Brief Respite At The End Of The World
Little doodle that I imagine takes place some time either during Arc 29 or after Arc 30. Wanted to do a quick drawing of this ship that for some reason lives rent free in my brain (Does it even have, like, a ship name? If there isn’t I think either Gauntlet or Handcuff could work for if I ever need to tag it but idk)
Way Too Much Yapping about a relationship between two tertiary characters below:
Part of the reason I like this ship is because these two were surprise favorites in the latter half of Worm, and I thought the mentions of them getting together in Arc 26 and 29 were cute. Though thinking a lot on the two characters (and probably a good bit of headcanon tbh), I started to appreciate it a lot more.
For Theo’s end of things, he’s always been burdened by expectations. His father tried to mold him into the next leader of the E88 from a young age, but Theo pushed back against that, instead wanting to be a hero. And then he got that, and a lot more than he asked for, accidentally becoming essentially a hero of prophecy thanks to Jack’s promise. Suddenly he wasn’t just a hero, he had to be *the* hero, live up to impossible expectations and save the world. And he was treated based on those expectations. His friendship with Weaver was pretty much based on the fact Taylor had to train him, try to make him the guy who could defeat Jack Slash. And then he failed, just barely missing the mark, and those expectations came crashing down around him. He distances himself from his team, and is mostly sulking in the background for the opening acts of Gold Morning, though one person does make an effort to reach out to him.
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Aside from maybe Purity (who has her own set of issues), Ava is one of the few people in Theo’s life who likes and cares about who he is, not who he could be. And at his lowest point, where he feels he failed everyone, she’s trying to do what she can to help him recover and see he’s not a failure. And she does succeed eventually, as we see him up to fight a couple chapters later in the arc.
(Also it’s really funny and sweet that the meek girl from Arc 24 was able to almost convince Taylor “You can’t tell me what to do” Hebert to drop everything and talk to Golem, made a doodle of it a while back)
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On Ava’s side of things, there’s admittedly not nearly as much to glean from just her characterization in the text alone. Like I said, she’s one of the few who appreciates Theo for who he is, regardless of expectations put on him by others. Their stories aren’t so different, only that her nemesis of sorts (Behemoth) was killed just as she was starting out. And after that fight she’s terrified, choosing not to attend the Khonsu fight. But Theo keeps pushing himself, trains knowing he’ll have to fight things that are arguably worse than the Endbringers when it comes to pain and fates worse than death. I like to think his inspiration is what led to the much more confident Cuff we see after the timeskip (though the Taylor Hebert Bootcamp probably also helped there). The main other thing we know is she had a previous boyfriend who she broke up with due to the pressures Weaver put the Chicago Wards under (which is probably a whole separate post to get into). So maybe their relationship is something that lets them both have a sense of normalcy in the insanity that is late Worm.
Or, you know, maybe I’m reading way too much into my two blorbos whose relationship gets like 5 lines of canon mention and 1 fanfic that I know of (shoutout again to Chartic, Off the Cuff is like a third of the reason I like this ship so much) and this is the best way I could put together why short of writing a fanfic myself (I might ngl but I do not have time atm)
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pseudoartistpostsstuff · 1 year ago
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Yandere time and hyrule headcannons
I'm not sure if you've seen the hype around sky being in his undershirt and being ✨pretty✨ in the recent update, but could I please request reader fawning over Yan!sky in his undershirt or some general hc's for him?
Thank you both for requesting!
Notes: I wasn't that online on tumblr around that time, so I only saw it now lmao.
Anyway, I did both headcannons and a oneshot, hope you'll like it!
Also, yes, I merged those two requests since headcannons can be piled into the same post.
I'll probably sound redundant in a lot of these, simply because I didn't write this at one go and when I got to it again I may have forgotten that I wrote it before. My memory is not the best, forgive me.
There are more headcannons for Time because he's my favorite, sorry.
I need a master list, seriously.
Edited before sleeping, I'm sleepy and probably messed up one or two paragraphs of this.
The oneshot in question.
TWs: Yanderism, Mentions of food and bad eating habits and a little of my fairy/fae brain rot.
Don't mind grammatical errors, please!
Headcannons for yandere Sky, Time and Hyrule.
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Yandere! Lu! Sky x Reader
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For starters, Sky is sweet, but he is very manipulative.
Therefore, don't be surprised if you notice you stopped doing many of the things you used to do when you first got through the portal.
Most of the time it's not even bad things!
He might team up with Hyrule and Wild to take care of your main health, like eating habits. If you're a picky eater then expect Sky to slowly transition you into eating a little bit of everything, in no time you'll be eating like Wild does.
Then again, he'll also make sure to get the ingredients to the foods you do eat without struggling, also getting Wild to make a separate meal for you, should you not eat that one specific recipe Wild made for dinner.
You'll probably be getting help from him when it comes to self-care habits as well, like, the max of skin care and hair care you can get at Hyrule. He will make the effort to talk to people who know more about your skin and hair type, those who have it and take care of it well.
But, we can't ignore the genuinely bad things he will try to influence you into doing...
Privacy? Gone.
Not only will he be around you most if not all of the time, but he will also always be paying close attention to you and what you're doing.
So if you believed keeping a journal in your language would help you keep some things to yourself, then think again. The privacy of using your language instead of hyrulean to write in your jornal will soon turn into a mere illusion. Despite being more quiet and seemingly the less imposing of the Links, Sky has already gone, and will keep going through lengths for you, which includes learning the language you use.
Of course he noticed you kept a private journal, and despite you trying to lie about the contents of it, it's only a matter of time until he is skillfully scanning through the pages with his eyes like he's reading his favorite book. Memorizing any and all information he can find about you.
As manipulative as he is, he is also delusional, he doesn't have any idea of what he is doing, he simply doesn't know that what he is doing is wrong on so many levels.
He's not doing anything on purpose, he's just trying to protect you and get you to like him, like a normal guy!! At least, Zelda liked it when he did this with her back then, just how different are you two?
Genuinely, Sky would have a hard time figuring you and your emotions out. You're a human being after all, and he respects that those things are not supposed to be easy to figure out. In fact, he highly respects and appreciates that you're complex.
Not that he'll respect boundaries, nope, no way.
You're a puzzle he's very much looking forward to figuring out. Honestly, the only puzzle he'd ever want to figure out.
So, I'll probably elaborate this later, but the chain as Gods. Sky would be very much a Thor. That means silly blonde lightening man.
Imagine hylians from Sky's era used matching earrings alike engagement rings, like, Sky just randomly inviting you to an overly nice picnic, just to hand you blue earings just like his.
And if you don't have your ears pierced anywhere it'd be even better in his eyes, since he'd just adjust it to be a "normal" ring.
It was actually an engagement ring, but you didn't know that, or any of the other Links, really, since this tradicional custom got lost in time.
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Yandere! Lu! Time x Reader
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I think pretty much everyone knows Time is a teasing bastard.
Don't get me wrong, he can be pretty mature, but trust me, it's not really common for him to act like that.
Time is used to pretending, he used many different masks to become different races in his journey, that was needed from him at the time, the same way that being the mature one is being needed from him right now.
Just because he is deeply traumatized emotionally and physically from his job as a hero doesn't mean his personality is lost as well.
It didn't change that much since he was a child, not really.
He is addicted to making you flustered, so if you get flustered easily I'm sorry for you.
If making you blush is a challenge then I'm just as sorry for you, because Time isn't quite known for giving up easily.
And he's good at making people embarrassed, too.
The amount of women who were in love with him is everything I need as proof.
But the worst part? He doesn't have bad pick up lines.
Look, Time is a toucher, so yes, his love language is physical touch, that makes sense to me.
That doesn't mean only cuddling, of course, it can mean cuddling and hugging when you're alone, but do expect a few more things.
I was gonna say hand holding in public, especially in crowded places, but you know what? Guiding you by holding the back of your neck is simply easier to him, and a lot more obvious "back off!" to strangers who look at you for far too long.
Also, randomly leaning against you, the two of you may be just walking and suddenly you feel a large mass lightly leaning against your own body, almost making you stumble. you might just be standing in front of the dinner table, reading a recipe book and once again you just feel that familiar presence right behind you, but instead of hugging you from behind he's just there, like he is reading the book along with you.
Remember how you were reading that one recipe book? Well he might give it a try and help you make something in the kitchen just to spend time with you. Like, you're just pouring ingredients in a bowl and he's there "helping" you by wrapping his arm around your waist to give you "emotional support", as he calls it.
He is, in reality, just standing there watching you cook, trying his best to resist the urge to distract you and simply annoy you, because he is still trying to make it seem like he is a mature, grown man, and definitely not one who is eyeing the flour in his reach and thinking about launching a handful of it at you.
You did see his hand slowly reaching for the flour in the corner of your vision. He only stopped once you threatened to scoop out his remaining eye should even a speck of flour hit your face.
Yet, Time is a creative man, flour was only one of his plans.
He's got wandering hands and wandering lips. And he can and will make use of those just to distract you.
And that's how Time became banned from the kitchen when you were the one cooking, only being able to join you for cleaning later.
So yeah, his love language is physical touch, but it is also disturbance.
In that matter, he's not very different from Wind when you two are alone. If you ignore his flirtatious moves, that is. But he's quite different when you two are with the others, especially if you've done, or is doing something to annoy him, then he has to keep up that mature facade of his.
He believes the others won't take him seriously should he reveal his actual personality, so really, when you're around others you'll only get glimpses of it from time to time.
It is mandatory from the Links to be stubborn, but Time takes the cake.
Maybe it is his age, but he will never change his mind, ever. No point in arguing.
So when he is silly, he is silly, but when he is serious he is terrifying, no exaggeration.
The worst part is that older people have a lot of respect in Hyrule, so no matter what he says, his word is law.
Now, don't get me wrong, by now, pet names are just a thing Time always does with you, in a way you barely hear your own name coming from his lips unless he's being really serious about something.
But actual words of affirmation? Not his thing.
He'd much rather be as clingy as glue to you when you're alone.
But, not like Sky's soft, light cuddles. Time Will basically smother you.
Seriously, it may be his sheer muscle mass, but he'll drap himself over you in a way you'll feel yourself surrounded by him.
In fact, the first time he did it you probably almost suffocated.
You'll get used to it eventually, though. Hopefully.
He's pontual and very strict as well, he and Hyrule are probably gonna be bickering in most matters involving you, like, for example, "five more minutes" naps.
Don't even try to trick him, you'll hear stuff like "I was your age once" and shit, the man will act like he's a hundred years old or something.
Then again, he might be, after all, he is older in mind than he is in body.
He was forced to mature quicker and went through a lot of trauma, that, and he also had to go back in time a lot of times.
Now that I think about it, he probably lived for longer than your grandparents. Just saying.
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Yandere! Lu! Hyrule x Reader
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Don't get him wrong, Hyrule is very much full of love, really. He cares about everyone equally.
Yet, as corny as that is, your name isn't "everyone", you're not anyone, you're you, how could he even think about possibly treating you the same way as he treats everyone else?
You're put on a pedestal, everyone else is treated equally by him, except you, you are treated like you are divine and not mortal like he is.
So you'll feel like a toddler 24/7 around Hyrule, he is not as stubborn as Time, he's just… Persistent.
The other Links will find themselves teasing him for it a lot, even if deep inside they are just the same.
Play nice, walk on the line and you'll have a Hyrule at your beck and call. If you know how to do it right, you will be able to use his babying to your own benefit, because trust me, his persistence can work on the Links much more than yours, after all, they trust him for being another Link.
I feel like he'd also help you keep pets, it may be his fairy nature, but he is just good with animals, especially with forest animals. Be them small or big.
Although he definitely has a soft spot for smaller pets, even more if you're the one asking him to bring along a pet you found.
Surprisingly or not, Hyrule is probably one of the most protective Links if you happen to lean more towards the naive/vulnerable side of the spectrum.
It's a general fairy headcannon of mine, but since fairies take care of forest and the animals there, specially the smaller or more vulnerable types of animals, then it's not new for them to be also quite protective towards humans close to them.
Bonus points if they have those traits.
But then again, you're Hyrule's darling, you may be as strong and independent as a Link yourself, but he'll still see you as in need of his care and attention at all times.
That also may or may not be another reason why Hyrule treats you like a toddler.
So yeah, coddling. Lots of it.
Hyrule is also a fan of small things, trinkets. Natural or shiny... Precious or useless... In his eyes all are treasures.
Treasures you'll find your bags and pockets full of.
He is absolutely a rock, cristal guy.
Imagine, you're just walking to another village, and suddenly Hyrule stops walking for a few moments, just to speed walk towards you again just a bit later, cleaning something he is holding in his hands with the help of his sleeve.
Then he hands you a small, clear rock, grinning.
Better get used to this, it's probably gonna happen at least once every day.
So yeah, love language is gift giving and acts of service.
I feel like he's very awkward with words of affirmation, he didn't spend a lot of time saying or hearing those, after all. Like most of the Links.
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selencgraphy · 3 months ago
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— 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒
PAIRING: platonic!loki laufeyson x f!reader x platonic!bucky barnes
TAGS: fluff, prank war, mutant!reader, canon divergent, he/him pronouns for loki
A/N: one more lost selencgraphy fic that i came back and edited a bit :) just a little silly goofy fic with favs! happy reading <3
WORD COUNT: ~2k
masterlist || request box <3
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You were growing tired of the repetitiveness of how the tower looked. Of course you were grateful for Tony providing you a place to live, but the interior design could use some touch-ups. However, when you ran the idea by the man himself you didn’t expect him to start on it immediately. “I know I told you I wanted to make some changes but maybe a little heads up next time?”
“If I remember the conversation correctly, I remember you said you wanted—no, needed this to happen, so I’m just doing what you asked me to,” he shrugged.
“I- Ugh, can you at least tell these guys to clear out for just a couple minutes, so I can grab some of my stuff,” you groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose in annoyance.
Tony quickly waved for the crew he hired to clear out for you. Entering your room, you grabbed some clothes, your laptop, a pillow and blanket and stuffed them into a small backpack. After making sure you had everything that you needed to get through the day while they worked, you headed out back past Tony into the main area of the floor. As you walked out, Loki was stepping out of the elevator. “What is this?”
“I talked to Tony about some things that I wanted to change about my side of the floor, and he decided to not procrastinate for the first time in his life,” you retorted, raising your voice slightly at the end of your sentence for Tony to hear. “Meaning that I gotta crash out here for the week, or until they’re done.”
He hummed in response and suddenly waved his hands. To your right, green light flashed over the couches as Loki conjured some of his stuff, some more pillows and blankets, and a movie projector. “Sleepover?!” you gasped.
“Sleepover,” Loki confirmed, a grin growing on both of your faces.
“I gotta invite, Bucky,” you say as you go to grab your phone, but he stops you.
“Already done, darling.”
Unfortunately, the sleepover couldn’t start until later that evening because it was still Friday meaning everyone still had work to do.
You, Loki, Bucky, and Wanda all were given second chances with your places on the team. Like Bucky, HYDRA had controlled you for decades, using your abilities to further push their agenda. They’d managed to get their hands on other mutants, but you were the only one with your kind of powers that HYDRA was able to get their hands on. A pyrokinetic.
To them, you were their purifier. The one who would “bring their goals to light.” Despite your differing abilities, the two of you were partners. Then you and the Winter Soldier were sent on a mission to take down Captain America and his associates.
Everything was going smoothly until your masks fell off mid-fight. Steve had recognized the both of you. Old friends from a time you were all taken from. Despite the brainwashing, Steve had triggered something in your brains that caused you both to become disoriented. When you regrouped with HYDRA, vague memories of your old life filled your mind. Despite their efforts to keep you under their control, you and the Soldier- Bucky were able to break free. Eventually you and Bucky found yourselves back with Steve and worked with the Avengers to try and atone for all the suffering HYDRA had made you cause. After months of work with the Dora Milaje, the Russian trigger words could no longer bring forth the Winter Soldier and Pyro.
A few years later, Thor returned to Earth along with his brother, Bruce, and a few thousand Asgardians in search of a new home. Thor had ensured the rest of the team that Loki was no longer the man they had met initially and that Thanos had compelled him to do all those things.
Like the ones before him, he was given a chance to atone for his previous actions with a place on the team. Eventually, you all were able to become comfortable amongst the rest of the Avengers. Steve had been one of your closest friends before HYDRA had taken you and Bucky so you tried to reconnect. Rebuilding that friendship after all these years was hard, but you all made it work. It took the rest of them a while before they warmed up to the new additions but soon enough, everyone came around. Living in one place helped with that a lot. Routines were built and stuck to. The Avengers had become a true family.
Of course, some were closer than others. You, Bucky, and Loki were the closest. The three of you became inseparable at some point. Tony was willing to let you and Loki live on the same floor in the tower, but called for at least a little separation. Bucky took the floor beneath yours and shared it with Steve. With the renovations to your part of the floor, the chaos that erupted when the three of you were together was about to get much worse.
A secluded sleepover with only the three of you was the least of the rest of the team’s worries. Most of the time, the separation between the three of you kept things pretty calm in the tower. Putting the God of Mischief, pyrokinetic, and super soldier together sounded like an amazing idea for missions, but in a normal setting? Utter mayhem.
At first, the pranks were contained between the three of you but later you learned that you all worked better together. 
Growing up with you both, Steve already had a taste of what you were capable of in terms of pranks. He also was very familiar with that look on your face when you were about to prank someone.
Finishing up your tasks for the week, you walked into the kitchen to grab a quick snack before brewing your devious plans. Walking in, Steve was busy at work making dinner. Looking up he noticed you enter and greeted you. As he looked at you, something worried him but decided to pay no mind to it at first. His first mistake.
“So what’s cooking, Stevie?’
Turning away from the stove, he turned to answer you as you took a seat across the counter island. “I,” he started, “am making spaghetti. Do not eat too much before dinner.”
You both let out a chuckle as he returned back to his pot. “So any plans for the weekend, Mr. America?”
“Hmm, nothing much. Probably gonna do the usual, you know. Hit the gym, maybe sketch a little.”
Finishing up the noodles and sauce, he placed them on the counter to let them sit before he called for dinner. You still hadn’t moved from your spot surprisingly. But instead of snacking on some fruit, you were now leaning back in your seat, eyes closed. Studying your face once again, a subtle look on your face caused worry to fill him once again, he just couldn’t pinpoint why. Unfortunately for him, you had been planning some pranks for the weekend. Noticing the lack of noise from the cook, you opened your eyes and were met with the blonde man staring at you. “What?”
“Nothing, it’s just been a while since we’ve just been like this. Just us two hanging out.”
“Yeah…”
“You remember when Bucky had to go stay with his sisters for the day, leaving us stuck at my house.”
You hummed. “You cooked us spaghetti that day too.”
A silence fell between you two as you felt the nostalgia.
“Alrighty, we don’t want the food to get cold, why don’t you let the team know dinner’s ready?”
Not long after you left the kitchen to alert the team, you realized that going through the tower and letting everyone know one by one was going to take forever. “F.R.I.D.A.Y?” you called out.
“Yes, Y/N”
“Could you let everyone know that Steve is done cooking?”
“Of course.”
Before returning to the dining room, you decided to go back to your floor. As you exited the elevator Loki was exiting his room to meet with the rest of the team. “Darling,” he greeted.
A smile grew on your face. “Good, you’re still here. I got some ideas that I want to run by you.”
The two of you finally joined the rest of the team in the dining room a few minutes later. Unfortunately for you, Bucky had already begun eating. You tried to catch Bucky’s attention, but he was too busy trying to stuff his mouth. Luckily for you, your trio consisted of a god who could read minds and communicate telepathically. Turning to Loki, you subtly pointed to your head to signal him to read your mind. He quickly caught on and his voice appeared in your head.
What is it, darling?
I wanted to tell Buck the plan, but he’s already eating... Could you do it for me?
Loki’s abilities always came in handy whenever you wanted to do something like this. Unbeknownst to everyone else, you could have full blown scheming sessions or just conversations. He lightly nodded as you both continued to grab your food. The three of you have done this so many times that Loki randomly popping into your heads didn’t startle you anymore. After a minute, you noticed a faint smile on Bucky’s face. Suddenly Loki’s voice popped into your head again.
He told me to tell you, and I quote, “You are a fucking genius, doll.”
You slightly smirked as you ate. The rest of the team has no idea what’s about to hit them in the next few days.
“WHAT IN THE FUCK?”
The weekend had already begun and everyone was doing their own thing. Steve, of course, was doing his normal routines as usual. Luckily for you, you knew that schedule by heart and so did Bucky. You both snuck into the gym just before he got in and set everything up. Hearing Steve’s shout signaled that your plans were more than successful. Everyone who was still in the tower ran over to the gym to see what was going on, Tony arriving first. “Woahhh Cap, what’s with the lang- HOLY SHIT-”
As everyone piled into the gym, they were all met with Steve drenched in water and covered in flour. No one could keep themselves from laughing. Tony looked up to the ceiling where two buckets were placed, both tilted over after releasing their contents. “Looks like someone set you up, Cap,” he said through broken chuckles.
Steve thought for a moment before slowly turning his gaze to two people in the room. You and Bucky. “You two-”
“What?” you asked, raising your hands to emphasize your innocence.
“Don’t ‘What?’ me, Y/L/N. I knew you were up to something.”
You turned to Bucky, a face of guilt and slight fear on both of your faces to Steve’s rage. “Run?” he whispered.
“Run,” you confirmed. As the two of you bolted out of the gym, Steve chased quickly behind you. “I fucking hate you two!”
As you both rounded the corner to the kitchen, you passed Loki who hid behind the wall of the open door. Once you two cleared the doorway he quickly poured oil onto the floor. Suddenly, Steve came flying into the room. Literally. As the rest of the Avengers caught up with you all at the sound of Steve crashing, Tony couldn’t help but double over and die of laughter. “Oh my god!! F.R.I.D.A.Y?”
“Yes, sir?”
“The security cameras got that, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“PERFECT!”
As Steve gathered himself, he let out a groan. “Why do I always have to end up at the other end of your pranks?”
“Because that’s how it’s always been, Stevie,” you remarked as you patted his shoulder and left the room.
Before Bucky left the room behind you, he whispered to Tony, “Please send me that footage.”
Steve, with his super hearing, still caught it though. “DO NOT SEND HIM THAT FOOTAGE!”
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buckychristwrites · 1 year ago
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Could This Be | Chap. Five | j.t.
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Pairing: Jamie Tartt x F!Reader
Summary: One minute, you're single and working for AFC Richmond as the team's medic. The next minute, you're in a fake relationship with the team's handsome striker who you know next to nothing about.
Word Count: 3.4k
Warnings: Discussions of Previous Emotional & Physical Domestic Violence. Cussing. Fake Dating
A/N: I hope you guys enjoy :)
Masterlist | Could This Be Masterlist | Main Blog
“Should we go in, then?” 
“Probably.”
Despite this, the both of you continued to sit in Jamie’s idling car. A slow trickle of rain fell on the windshield. From what you could tell, Keeley and Roy had not arrived yet. 
“Unless you want to wait for them?” You asked him. All he did was shrug. It was clear that he was anxious too. He kept pulling at the end of his jacket, you noticed, and tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. Raising your hand slowly, hesitantly, you reached over and placed it on his forearm lightly. He jumped at the contact before whirling his head to face you.
“It’s gonna be okay,” You said softly. He looked between you and your hand, taking a deep breath before nodding. Just as he was about to speak, you looked over his shoulder to find Roy and Keeley on the other side of the street, approaching the door to the restaurant. You nodded in their direction. “They’re here. You ready?” He nodded before turning the car off and climbing out. You did the same, walking to the other side of the car where he stood. He held his hand out for you, raising his eyebrows in question. Your heart rate picked up from the anxiety the gesture brought, but even still, you reached out and pressed your palm into his. He adjusted his hand to entwine your fingers into his own before leading you across the road.
Your breath caught in your throat.
It was so simple. Yet, you had forgotten what it was like to have your hand held so delicately. His hand was warm against yours, but in a comforting way. His fingers were wrapped tightly around your hand, but not too tight to where you felt like you were in trouble, yet not so loose that you felt like he was doing it out of obligation. Both of those feelings, you were all too familiar with. There was something about the way his fingertips felt against the top of your hand that was so… consoling.
It made you want to cry on the spot. But, this time, not from sadness, or fear.
You wanted to cry out of euphoria.
Keeley caught sight of the two of you first, her face instantly breaking out into a wide smile.
“I can’t fuckin’ stand how cute the two of you are,” She said, shaking her head as she opened her arms for a hug. You walked into them, Jamie hugging Roy at the same time. When Keeley pulled away so she could hug Jamie, you turned to Roy.
“How’s my favourite grumpy old troll?” You asked him as he kissed your cheek and hugged you. 
“I feel like I see enough of you pricks without having to spend a whole dinner with you,” He grumbled, although you could just make out the playful tone in his voice. You rolled your eyes at him. Jamie opened the door to the restaurant and allowed Roy, Keeley and then yourself to enter before following behind. His hand brushed against yours as the group approached the hostess, and, instinctively, you slipped your hand in his, entwining your fingers for him this time.
The fact that the feeling of your hand being held left you with butterflies in your stomach made you feel so stupid. It shouldn’t be this groundbreaking to your stupid brain that you were holding someone’s hand without being afraid. But you continued with it anyway.
The hostess led the four of you to your table right away, allowing you to sit at the window table. Jamie pulled your chair out for you, a deep heat filling your cheeks as you sat down under the suspicious stare of Roy Kent, who had already sat down. When Jamie’s hand left yours, your skin was left with a cold void. The waitress was already swooping over with glasses of water before your chair was even scooted in.
“Jamie, when did you become such a gentleman?” Keeley asked, her hand over her chest. He looked between the three of you as he took his own seat. Clearly, he hadn’t done something he felt was worth commenting on.
“Oh erm…” 
“Isn’t he such a gentleman though?” You interjected, saving him from answering. “He even brought me flowers when he picked me up. Beautiful bouquet of roses.” You put a hand on his upper arm and gave it a squeeze. “Part of the reason I like him so much, I think.” Roy, who had been taking a drink of his water, snorted, blowing bubbles into his glass and subsequently getting water all over himself. Everyone else at the table wordlessly decided to collectively ignore this.
“So,” Keeley said, resting her chin over the tops of her hands. “Tell me everything.”
You and Jamie exchanged a look. It was too much to expect the subject to not be brought up so early in the dinner. Though, you were hoping to at least have some bread before it was mentioned. 
“Well, obviously, we met at work,” Jamie said, throwing his napkin on his lap. You had to resist the urge to run your hands down your face.
Sweet fucking Jesus.
“Well, I’ve been enlightened,” Roy said, having just finished cleaning the water off his black button up shirt. 
“It wasn’t because of work that we started talking though,” You explained, smiling sweetly at Keeley, who was still eagerly listening to the two of you.
“Oh yeah, we ran into each other outside of work one day,” Jamie added. You looked at him before looking back at them. Now he was giving you something to work with.
“Oh? Where did you run into each other?” Keeley asked. You glanced at Jamie again right as he was shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
“The Zoo.” It slipped out so fast that you weren’t sure who had said it until everyone turned to stare at you. You nodded, standing by your answer. “The London Zoo. We ran into each other there.” Roy turned to Jamie.
“Why the fuck were you at the Zoo?” He asked. Jamie looked positively offended by the question.
“I love animals.”
“Enough to go to the Zoo by yourself?” 
“Who said I was by meself?”
“Who were you with then?”
Jamie stammered for a moment too long before finally saying, “...Meself.”
“I personally love going to the zoo by myself,” You chimed in casually just as the waitress came by with a basket of bread and to take drink orders. 
“We all are aware of your passion about zoos and animals,” Roy said as he ignored the new presence looming over the table. “I’m talkin’ about ‘im.”
“I’d love some wine,” Keeley said happily to the waitress, entirely unfazed by whatever it was that was happening at this table.
“Just keep the whiskeys comin’, love,” Jamie added, giving the waitress a tense smile. 
“Same for me,” Roy said, glaring at Jamie. 
“I’ll just stick with water,” You whispered before taking a long sip. This was clearly going to be the longest night of your life, and while you would rather be drunk for it, someone needed to be sober. And you weren’t sure that someone was going to be Jamie, who had also been your ride.
“What were you doing at the zoo, Jamie?” Keeley asked. He raised his shoulders in a shrug.
“Just felt like walkin’ amongst the animals.” He took a long drink from his water glass, and you did the same.
“And you two just ran into each other?” She followed up. You looked over at him, imagining this fake meeting in your mind.
“Yeah,” You said quietly. “We got to talking, and then the next thing we knew, hours had passed and we had just been walking around in circles!” Keeley smiled as if she was watching a romantic comedy in real time. You felt like you were an actor in one. Playing out the scenes but none of them actually being your own.
“What’s your favourite animal at the zoo then, Tartt?” Roy asked as he took another drink from his water glass.
“Pandas. Easy,” Jamie said confidently, folding his arms in front of him. It took everything in you to not slide out from your chair and under the table. You reached over and put a hand over his.
“...Would be your favourite if they had pandas, like we talked about when we ran into each other!” You said through your teeth. Jamie smiled.
“Right. Fuckin’ love pandas. They should be at every zoo.”
“You had mentioned the African wild dogs were really good, if I’m remembering correctly,” You said as you scratched your forehead. Jamie snapped his fingers before pointing at you. 
“That’s what I meant. African wild dogs.”
“Yeah, because African wild dogs are so similar to fuckin’ pandas,” Roy retorted. You grabbed a piece of bread and stressfully took a very large bite. 
“It’s the fur pa’ern,” Jamie tried to defend himself, gesturing around his eyes. “They got the dark fur around their eyes, yeah? Similar to pandas.”
“Isn’t the bread here just amazin’!?” Keeley asked as she took a piece for herself. It was unclear if she was trying to alleviate the tension or if she just really thought the bread was good, but you were thankful for her input regardless. Both Roy and Jamie took that opportunity to take a piece of bread for themselves. The waitress came back with the drinks, setting them down and pulling out her pad for orders.
“We need a minute,” Roy told her before she could even get a word out. She nodded before wandering off again. You took the menu and opened it for the first time. Jamie, instead of reading his own, was looking over your shoulder.
“I recommend the fettuccine,” He said quietly, pointing to where it was on the menu. “Although their shrimp is pretty good too.” You glanced over the menu to see if Keeley and Roy were paying attention before turning your head slightly towards Jamie.
“I’m allergic to shellfish,” You whispered, desperate for the other two not to hear. 
“You’re allergic to shellfish?” He whispered back in a shock filled voice. You nodded.
“My throat will close right up.” You closed your fist quickly to demonstrate, causing Jamie’s eyes to widen. Roy dropped his menu loudly onto the table, making the both of you jump.
“You didn’t know she’s allergic to shellfish?” He demanded, sounding displeased, almost disgusted. You set the menu down lightly.
“It just hasn’t come up, Roy,” You said, trying and failing to not sound tired. “We’ve only just started dating. We’re still getting to know each other.” Keeley turned to Roy, putting her hand on his thigh. 
“Babe,” She said gently. “You need to calm down.” His eyes rolled upward, staring at the ceiling as she chastised him. “They’re our friends, yeah? There’s no need to quiz them, or interrogate them! They’re happy, and we’re happy.” His eyes fell on Jamie once again.
“Yeah,” He grumbled. “Happy.” 
Keeley turned around to face forward again, giving you another bright smile. You were so thankful for her at this moment. Though you knew that Roy meant well, you weren’t sure he always realised how incredibly intimidating he is. Or maybe he did, and he just didn’t care. The waitress returned to take orders, and you did take Jamie’s suggestion to get the chicken fettuccine alfredo (no shrimp for you though). When she walked off again, you saw that Roy and Jamie both started and finished their whiskeys in the same gulp at the same time.
“What sort of things do you do together?” Keeley asked, sipping on her wine.
“Ride bikes!” Jamie was quick to answer on his own. This time, Roy turned to you.
“You fuckin’ hate cycling.” 
You shrugged, trying to remain casual. “I’m getting into it.” You tilted your head, trying to look thoughtful. “Jamie’s helped me… see the fun in it. Like he did with you!” He looked so homicidal that you had to look away while drinking your water to avoid laughing. 
“Sometimes we just run errands together, just so we don’t have to do them alone,” You added. “But also, obviously, to spend more time together.” Keeley looked lovestruck.
“Awww, you always talk about how much you hate doing errands alone!”
Which you did. It always felt so… sad to go to the grocery store or to the bank alone. Something about the fact that this was a lie made your chest hurt. 
The waitress swept in again, this time to deliver the plates of food. The serving size was smaller than you had thought it would be, especially due to the amount it was going to cost. You weren’t used to fancy restaurants, mostly going to the local takeout spots near your house that gave you enough food to last a few days. Picking up your fork, you dug into your plate, as everyone else already had. 
You looked over at Jamie, who you just now noticed had gotten the fettuccine as well. When he noticed your gaze on him, he raised his eyebrows in question.
“No shrimp?” You asked curiously. He shook his head, looking at you with knitted eyebrows.
“Didn’t want to risk it.”
“Risk what?” You asked. He pointed to you.
“You.” He looked confused. “Being near it makes your throat go-” He closed his fist tightly, just as you had done before. “-yeah?” You shook your head, biting back a smile.
“It’s only if I ingest it, or if it touches my food,” You explained. 
He let out a quiet, “Oh,” looking down at his plate before his eyes were on you once more. 
“Oh well.”
It was touching how he considered you when ordering his own food. There were specific memories in your head of parties (yes, multiple) thrown by your ex significant other where you couldn’t eat any of the food provided due to shellfish being involved. The sadness you had felt during those times was so vivid in your mind.
“Do you even know where the zoo is?” Roy asked, reeling the conversation back. You wanted to throw your fork at him.
“Camden,” Jamie answered without a second thought. You were surprised at the speed, but tried not to let that show in your expression. Roy didn’t say anything in response, just growling, as he always does, before turning back to his plate. 
Soon enough, your plate was empty. The food wasn’t anything to phone home about, and certainly not worth the price tag, but it was decent enough. Jamie hummed, making you look at him in time to see him gesturing towards his mouth.
“You got somethin’…” He said. You went to grab your napkin, but he was already reaching over with his own. “May I?” You caught his eye before nodding. It was delicate, the way he wiped the alfredo sauce from your mouth. It was also incredibly intimate, and you could feel the embarrassment filling your chest. He didn’t appear to notice as he pulled away. “There ya go, love.” 
The nickname caught you off guard. Of course, you had heard him refer to the waitress earlier in the same way, but you weren’t expecting the same treatment. Though, maybe that was on you for not. You tried to continue as normal, and not allow yourself to feel whatever it was that was boiling up in your chest. Was it anxiety? Was it delight? It was hard to say. 
The waitress came back with the check, which Jamie snatched as Roy began to reach for it.
“I got it,” Roy said with his hand held out. Jamie shook his head, raising his hand so his palm was facing Roy.
“Please.” 
“Give me the fuckin’ check, Tartt.”
Jamie didn’t say another word, instead just taking his credit card out of his wallet. When the waitress came by again, he all but threw them at her without breaking eye contact with Roy. 
The way Jamie and Roy naturally butt heads on their own without your intervention had always been funny, but it being worse now that you were involved made it all the more hilarious.
Before long, the four of you were standing to leave. Just as you turn to walk away from the table, you find Jamie standing there waiting with his hand extended out towards you. It was hard to pretend you weren’t excited to have your hand back in his. When your fingers curled through his again, it felt like cuddling up under a blanket after a long day at work. Like your hand was just meant to be held by his. In a fake romantic sort of way, of course.
The rain was still softly falling. Your eyes drifted upwards towards the sky once you crossed the threshold into the cool night air. As you and Jamie walked, your intertwined hands naturally swung back and forth. Roy and Keeley turned before getting too far. 
“Thank you for the lovely evening,” Keeley said, giving you a hug. Despite yourself, your hug back was only one armed, as you still had a grip on Jamie’s hand. He didn’t make any moves to break it either, as he said his goodbyes. When you turned to Roy, you gave him a small smile.
“Are you gonna start being nice now?” You asked him. He rolled his eyes.
“I’ll be the nicest fuckin’ angel on the planet.” 
You gave him your most radiant smile.
“Thank you.” 
When you hugged him, he didn’t say another word, but he gave you a tight squeeze. And that was enough. You knew exactly what he meant.
One more set of waves were exchanged as Jamie and you turned to head towards his car. He opened the door to the passengers side for you, and when you flopped in, your hand fell from his, leaving the void once again. He ended up only having one drink, the other one abandoned on the table once the food arrived. You were grateful, as you didn’t want to drive his car. 
Jamie climbed into the driver’s side and shut the door. Staring at the steering wheel, a moment passed before he spoke. “I think that went alright.” 
You wrinkled your nose in thought.
“I think it went as well as one could expect it to.” 
As he pulled the car from the curb, you curled into your seat, the anxiety melting away now that it was just you and him.
“Glad I didn’t get the shrimp,” He mumbled. “Coulda killed ya.”
“It would’ve gotten us out of the dinner though,” You pointed out. “Wouldn’t have had to listen to you say there’s pandas at the London zoo.” He let out a loud laugh.
“I didn’t know!” He was laughing as he said this.
“That’s obvious,” You said, shaking your head. He shot you a pouty look, and you shook your head even more.
“We hadn’t even ordered at that point,” He pointed out. “So I woulda said it either way. Just couldn’t escape it.” You stared out the windshield, fighting the urge to laugh anymore.
“A shame.”
You watched the buildings go by as the car drove down the surprisingly sparse road. It was slightly dark, the only light being from the headlights and the post lamps.
“D’you know what though, I think we convinced Roy,” Jamie said happily. You rolled your head across the headrest to look at him.
“Maybe,” You said. “But he’ll probably still be mean to you.” He shrugged. 
“I’m not worried.” He made a nonchalant face. “He’s already mean to me.” You fought a smile.
“That’s true,” You said. “Although, you deserve it sometimes.” 
“Oi, when the fuck do I deserve it?” He demanded, staring at you as if you had betrayed him. 
“When you’re being a fucking prick?” You shouted back at him in a questioning tone. He fell back in his seat. 
“Yeah, alright.” A beat passed. “But most of the time, I don’t deserve it, right?”
You stared down at your hand, curling and straightening your fingers over and over to try and fight the tingling feeling creeping through them. It didn’t work, but you already knew why. If you imagined hard enough, you could pretend like a warm hand was still fit inside it. Maybe that was all you could do to fill the void. Just pretend.
“No, Jamie,” You said. “Most of the time, you don’t.”
~
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349 notes · View notes
inchidentally · 4 months ago
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replying to asks abt the Drama today so pls skip if you're fully over that salfgjlagf (and bl 'tricky asks' to not see me respond to stuff like this - but I always put under a cut as well!)
oh my god this is a whole epic jfc and I'm p sure I repeat myself a lot I'm sorry <3
and for anyone who sees the walls of text below and is like pls tl;dr it for me bitch: today is one of multiple examples proving that Lando and Oscar are exceptionally able to maintain perspective and genuine consideration of each other given their situations and their ages. and that while they, like all teammates, will have ups and downs that they are FAR from the kinds of teammates to ever let the bad times linger or fester. I'm not going to be participating in flipping out or overreacting to it when it does inevitably happen but that it hasn’t even happened today! so I just don’t see a point in projecting the rare examples of melodramatic teammates onto Lando and Oscar as teammates. esp today when they both could quite easily have sniped at each other a bit even indirectly and yet they didn't! Lando at the team? absolutely! but like for anyone feeling sad or upset in terms of the landoscar of it all, I'm genuinely baffled ?? bc I'm personally out here impressed yet again at how well they've handled this ?? so yea <3
just to say, if you're someone who truly loves the Epic Highs and Lows of Formula One then good on you and continue having fun! some people live for The Drama and obv I'm not addressing or criticizing that at all!
but since I'm out here being regularly openly insane about landoscar and I've gotten these asks and seen people feeling upset, I def feel like it’s fair that I bring reality and reason into my posts as well being stupid akfgsalfg
so I've grown up with F1 passively in the background of my life (as in on the main TV in my house) and I'm still mostly a fake, but I've picked up some things over the years and one of them is that the average set of teammates aren't the melodrama ones. most teammates who enjoy genuine competitive closeness on the track just tick each other off sometimes but mostly like each other and hang out a bit - overall the average dynamic ranges from mildly indifferent to good buddies. 
(brocedes and sebmark are outliers for a reason. and they did NOT just turn bad overnight. that toxic soup was brewing from the very start. but more about that later in this gigantic ass essay)
so once I realized last season that Lando and Oscar genuinely like each other and weren't gonna pop off over everything, my assumption has always been that they would have their tiffs and snipe to the press or avoid each other for periods but then get over it and go back to liking each other again - rinse and repeat! from a driver’s pov it's way more enjoyable and preferable to NOT be fighting w the guy you spend so much time and share a car with.
but !! that didn't happen and hasn't happened! with Lando and Oscar it very quickly went beyond just passively okay w each other - they've made active choices to show respect and fairness and consideration that for me has truly been exceptional.
and while I'm insane about them for narratives and rpf, the not insane part is how these two fit together so beautifully? like, Lando knows and says how his feelings and his brain can just take over sometimes and he struggles - that includes his feelings of anger and resentment. Oscar's primary trait is being calm and being able to be circumspect even under stress. Lando's actually said that he's learned from Oscar remaining calm. then you've got Oscar's 'hearteyes' and genuine admiration of Lando that shows up not in loud PR ways* but in quiet respect and standing back for Lando to shine and giving Lando his full dues. over time, Lando's come to 'hearteyes' right back bc of the respect and ngl genuine affection he feels for Oscar's fairness and respectfulness and his persistence in showing up and being happy for Lando no matter what. like, none of that requires embellishment and it's said by pretty much everyone including each other!
so to me, that means that when they do inevitably have 'moments' at the front of the pack together in future they'll ofc be grumpy w each other or resentful but it'll all be okay once they've cooled off. 
but !! that was not today !! my entire day of reblogging is just a nonstop bam bam bam of them looking out for each other in the face of this drama and taking care to not feed the media who have been dying for them to hate each other since day one. Oscar apologizing and if anything being less celebratory today than he was in Monaco for his second place. keeping the post race short and simple** and not going over the top celebrating after the team photo. Lando repeating in his post races that Oscar deserved the win and that he didn't want the issues with team orders to overshadow that and literally reaching out to Oscar to say 'we're okay' right out of the car <3
so yea in the years they are teammates they will definitely have their off days and probably that'll happen at certain points this season - but genuinely ! it should not be taken for granted how mature and considerate and kind they've remained w each other since basically Austria last year ! that counts for a hell of a lot in terms of not assuming they're "over" every time team strategy screws one or both of them, or that they will become different people and suddenly cultivate melodrama.
and sure, anything can happen etc etc but I don’t see a point in just aimlessly waiting for the absolute worst to happen unless you actively want them to hate each other which seems like a huge waste of time but to each their own ldgfjlagfljsfg
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guys… things like "why didn't he spray Oscar with champagne first" and "they had a moment where they weren't smiling" or "the cool down room was awkward" "Oscar didn't thank Lando like Lando did in Miami" “Oscar hasn’t liked such and such on instagram” is not only pointless self-torturing it's also all pretty easy to debunk by someone like me who follows a lot of teams and drivers and sees a ton of different sides to these things every weekend:
- as for the comment likes, Oscar hasn't liked everyone's comments that he should have - I did a quick pass and the standouts are he still hasn’t liked the comment from opeightyone (his own brand company!), still hadn't liked the Australian GP comment last time I checked, or Kym Ilman, literally a fellow Aussie who he talks to at every single race and who left a heartfelt comment. we need to give this poor guy a break and not ignore how much he was laughing and smiling with Lando just bc he’s struggling with the alerts on his phone !! (and as always, we have absolutely no way of knowing anymore when we can say how much the driver is doing vs what their sm team is doing. I saw in a story the other day that Lily had stopped doing her usual emoji replies to his posts for a while (she started up again after quali this weekend) and clearly there's been no issues between them so it's safe to say Oscar's sm officially isn't the true measure of his current relationships!)
- Lando and Oscar were already joking and smiling together before the champagne! so why would Lando then get mad and show it by not spraying him first? (EDIT: as an anon pointed out, when Lando runs over to the McLaren team member Oscar is laughing and follows him! so the plan was to drown the poor guy all along lol.) Lando and Lewis have a special bond from long before Oscar and Lewis and McLaren have had a bond even longer. if I hadn't seen ppl be upset about this I wouldn't have thought twice about Lando running to Lewis after having spend the first half the podium chatting to Oscar!
and just a quick side note, Lando had NO problem showing how mad he was before Oscar came into the cool down room when he threw down that hat and got huffy with Lewis when all Lewis did was say how fast the McLaren is! but every time Lando interacted with Oscar, he made sure to keep it together and be happy for him bc as he strenuously made clear in his interviews, his upset was at the team's directions but he didn't want it overshadowing Oscar's well-earned win. so if anything, view Lando rushing over to Lewis as an apology for somewhat biting his head off over a compliment lfgjflgsalf
- the drivers are exhausted and their default mode after a race is to be not smiling, like not even Lando smiled the entire time following his win. add to today that Lando hasn't been happy with second place for a long time and Oscar isn't an effusive guy and it's weird to think they'd be laughing and smiling nonstop.
- cool down rooms are literally always awkward ?? the drivers hate that there are cameras and conversation is always stilted. it’s where they go to … y'know, cool down, not get hyped lol
- Lando thanked Oscar in Miami bc Oscar showed what the car could do w his overtakes, guys. it was VERY sweet but it wasn't like 'thank you for my life Oscar' or even 'thank you for my win'. but even apart from that, Lando has fully taken on the rightful 'I'm the more established F1 star and the face of McLaren and it's my job to let the new guy know when he's done well' even back before he and Oscar had much of a relationship. but… and I’m about to spin off on this topic now… Lando does very well with this sometimes yes, but remember that the majority of his own feeds are also solely focused on himself like Oscar's and like most driver's are! and that he and Oscar both forget to like McLaren's content most of the time!
but also like……….
please let us please remember Oscar has the same rights to putting himself first as every other driver !! he may be remarkably mature and respectful to Lando and McLaren and exceptionally able to get over being set aside or even screwed over, but he's not a worm!
as far as questioning if him not 'thanking' Lando somehow negates his literally non-stop hearteyes-so-blatant-that-casuals-comment-on-it that he has for Lando every single week... guys.. Lily. like I'm positive he'll make a special post or story with her soon but he only said a quick "hi" to Lily after Ted brought her up and then did a generic thank you to everyone LIKE ?? the guy isn't even effusive about his beloved long time gf !! his love language is not in words* !!
but I also feel the need to bring smth up here bc there is a definite lean happening in some quarters of fandom into fully expecting and taking for granted Oscar's patience and maturity and ability to be happy for Lando no matter how much he's hurting or upset for himself. and I've got to raise everyone who says that the fact that Oscar is allowed to be like every other driver including Lando! he is allowed to feel frustrated or not be a perfect saint! in the earlier part of last year, Lando openly said he was uncomfortable being 'the older guy' and he frequently left Oscar in the lurch not knowing where to go or ignored Oscar to talk to or about his previous teammates. when Oscar hadn't been told the correct time for that major meeting shown in DTS, Lando was not hiding feeling fairly smug after Oscar said "is Lando already here?" and in Australia this year, Lando fully forgot to have anything to do with Oscar in what was literally Oscar’s home town and home country race to the point ! that in the podium drivers conference when a reporter brought up if Oscar was bummed about missing out on a podium, Lando stiffly said that he guessed anyone would want a podium on their home race - but he was far from sympathetic!
now before anyone thinks this is me having a go at Lando, I am not. I'm literally reminding the people who are reading too much into Oscar not saying thank you specifically to Lando in what was a much shorter and less exuberant overall race win celebration and post race video than Lando’s win was: it is not a big deal !! it is not some huge thing that Lando would even notice and that Lando has frequently chosen to not include or show gratitude to Oscar at times when we expected him to and !! it's fine because it really is fine !! 
but when Oscar is seen to not cover every single base of gratitude and inclusion for Lando, for some fans it's A Problem or A Worry. and for some people, a broader thank you to the team and not specifically to Lando** is reason why Lando should despise Oscar forever and even consider leaving McLaren like the comments sections are insaaaane bro
these are two Normal Guys who are each living their Own Careers and while it's wonderful to enjoy the things that bond them and are special about them, they are still going to be Normal! and they will not view these tiny insignificant moments where they didn’t fully acknowledge the other with any magnitude at all! they are not expecting a level of devotion to each other that certain fans are! Oscar didn’t notice or care that Lando didn’t make anything special out of his home race and their pre-race fan stage was funny and sweet! Lando didn’t notice or even assume that Oscar should thank him specifically for team orders when Lando himself didn’t thank Oscar for team orders!
like I just cannot emphasize enough the importance of separating fun rpf narratives from reality. Lando tried to mess up Carlos’ parking job before the race as a joke to get back at him over the sign the day before - and then Carlos very firmly said that Lando absolutely should have given Oscar his place back and he even commented on one of Oscar’s posts despite not following him. this does not mean Carlos and Lando are beefing or that Carlos is being mean by going out of his way for Oscar! will I run with that single comment for carcar fodder absolutely - but that is fiction! nobody's mad at anybody!
and then there's the things that don't exist in Formula 1: "Oscar shouldn't have accepted the orders" "McLaren are out to get Lando" "Lando already gets too much hate"
- Oscar apologized for his pace and complications and he gave a very subdued little speech over the radio which was very big of him (and very wrong of McLaren to put him in that position) but if someone thinks any driver including Lando would even slightly imply "nah give the win to my teammate not me" then they’re categorically living on another plane of stan-ism that I can't comprehend. Lando literally said multiple times after this race how he has been the one to benefit from strategy working in his favor - both by McLaren and other teams. he's many many times made a cheeky face or made a joke when he's gotten away with something that fans of a rival driver or team were rightfully furious about. and if a person thinks it was mean when some ppl criticized the role that serendipity played in Miami then maybe that same person shouldn't start biting chunks out of Oscar about the same thing idk !!
Lando repeatedly said how much Oscar has done for him and if his Oscar-hating stans choose to think he's wrong or lying then idk !! he's being mature and fair so like, live n learn from your idol !
and can I just echo everyone saying 'please stop comparing this to brocedes or sebmark' or honestly even charlos? I'm doing bullet lists apparently so I'll do another one lafgljsafgsa
- brocedes is entirely due to their complicated and abnormally intimate lifelong history together leading up to F1. they were already Not Normal Friends and that made for the tinderbox that was their F1 careers together. literally they were destined to have to rupture that level of intimacy if they weren't going to just like get married to each other. they always needed to turn that relationship into something milder and less intense and it would always have exploded no matter what adult lives they had. F1 just made the explosion more violent and public. there’s truly no comparing them with anyone else.
- Oscar bears no resemblance to Mark and Lando bears no resemblance to Seb. Seb as he was in his heyday was... not shy or bashful about being a madman. sebmark never once looked like landoscar and it wasn't this huge revelation that that relationship would end up where it did !!
- Charles and Carlos have a negligible career/experience gap compared to Lando and Oscar and their temperaments are as much primed for friction as Lando and Oscar's are complimentary to each other. not to like 'they're so continental!' charlos but like, their already passionate natures got thrown into a rolling boil of Italian heritage racing and it's why the whole love/hate being sides of the same coin thing always happens with them. their families are even houses alike in dignity etc etc. it's Pure Drama and Intensity and always has been, both good and bad. they’re as terrible at using PR to smooth things over as landoscar are at not even bothering with PR. when Charles and Carlos are good together they’re passionately all over each other and when they’re mad at each other it’s messy and all over the press like a warring celebrity couple. Lando and Oscar are still delicately pawing at their relationship to know what it is and they still shyly touch as if seeking permission. Lando and Oscar are so not PR friendly that even Netflix gave up on them as a narrative entirely. Charles and Carlos are Shakespeare. Lando and Oscar are Jane Austen. Ferrari is the Capulet/Montague pride before the fall. McLaren is Mrs. Bennett trying to social climb using her daughters as bait.
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as someone who follows blogs for multiple diff teams and drivers, trust me I see a lot of "my opinion of him is gone forever after this!!!" about something their own fave driver did even just a few races ago and absolutely will do again. same with "the team is destroying him and favoring his teammate!" like I straight up will see that said by each teammate's fanbase of the same team about the same race. this happens at different times throughout the season in every single team I follow - it even happened w Williams of all teams (tho so far that's just the once).
I'm a fake so obv I'm not going to weigh in myself but my cousins and their friends who watch F1 on the app at my house - and who aren't represented ethnically by any driver or team so they don't have bias - always have a much more calm and nuanced take. they assume every driver is out for themselves and by that very fact alone, teams have to take sides when the gap closes. and !! that millionaires doing an elite sport aren't experiencing mental distress over this sport the way common people experience distress over real life !! they go and bury their "woes" in extravagant luxury and an entire army of hugely biased family, supporters and fanbases all of whom think said driver deserves everything.
and that it takes truly heinous betrayal or outright evil to make these guys hate each other with any serious level of depth bc they all know they're The Selfish Asshole just as easily as the other guy. 
so I personally trust their takes on things and it's probably why I've always assumed Lando and Oscar would be Normal and have their little tiffs like everyone else does. bc it's rule one of making it to this level of the sport that you have to think selfishly. straight up I'm astounded at how quickly they've both been able to shake that 'visors down' mentality that Andrea referenced in the post race video and see the bigger picture and not be The Asshole to each other. 
and overall I don’t mind my dash being a warzone of wild accusations immediately after a race bc everyone usually calms down.
but there are certain things I just do not want on my dash and it's actually not related to what driver a person hates or not....
because while it's silly to see any of these privileged little princes as A Victim and Would Never Do That To Their Teammate (which would honestly get you laughed at by said driver) it's pretty common biased fan behavior. even tho Lando literally kept reminding people that Oscar's swallowed his own pride over things for Lando's benefit many times and that he (Lando) has been on the receiving end of podiums that came from strategies working in his favor (McLaren’s and that of other teams).
and like the idea that Oscar is now some heinous human being bc he's behaving like every other driver including Lando by Lando's own admission is hysterical. the idea that F1 teams are ever in any way benevolent kindly forces or that F1 drivers have anything akin to 'selflessness' over race wins is hysterical.
but where I draw a line is stanning for men in this sport so hard to the point of insane amounts of agonized doomposting and biased venomous rage. sorry but most of us don't want our precious time wasted agonizing over which self-confessed selfish millionaire in a sport founded on and maintained by pure elitism is feeling So Bad and So Sad! that he runs off to be comforted by a beautiful woman/women and adoring family and coddling hangers-on and legions of worshiping, wholly biased fans and millions of dollars on gigantic yachts because the absurdly unnecessary sport he gets to do isn't "looking after him well enough" or "prioritizing his happiness" !!!!?????? 
like fuck I'm a callous bitch ig but I'm not feeling an ounce of genuine upset whenever one of these men experiences a level of "my sport makes me sad". "oh but it's all they've known !! it's all relative !! money and privilege don’t equal happiness and privileged men suffer too !!" oh stfu no it doesn't and no they're not like stockholm syndrom victims and if they're so unhappy then they can put on their big boy boots and take their money and go fucking do something else holy SHITTTTT 
am I not here for allowing any portion of my human empathy to go to a fuuucCKING F1 driver jeeeeeeesusss. all of these men fully have the potential to get metoo’d or exposed about smth bc they're all capable of doing awful things by the time they're in F2 -male pro athletes are NOT objectively safe spaces to hang human morality or to assign automatic grace and good intent - let alone bleed pain or feel sadness for their race results or issues with their teams.
there is no acceptable moral relativity for me and these men and this sport are only of interest to me as a hyperfixation that gives me enjoyment in the form of narratives and a very specific, surface degree of enjoyment.
it’s fine if Lando or Oscar feel their feelings of frustration or anger etc but no way in hell am I going to feel remotely sad for them ??? they’re fine ?? there are genuinely sad things in my life and in the world and millionaires wanting trophies and points isn’t among them !! I’m not entwining my day-to-day happiness in any way with what they get up to and I’ll take what I can enjoy from them and ignore everything else.
and to wrap up this epic which I’m only indulging in bc I do feel like my blog sometimes seems like I’m pushing my own silly narratives on others and genuinely I’m not intending to - most of the reason I actually got drawn to landoscar and wanted to engage in fandom about them is precisely because their real life non-rpf dynamic is so unusually mature and considerate and not toxic or like, at all even overtly masculine. yea I originally got drawn into f1blr for the usual bromance rpf types like carland0 and dand0 etc but I didn’t rly care enough to engage in any way. 
but I think this is why I know that the ppl wanting Lando and Oscar to become this insane toxic mess are going to keep raging with disappointment - kind of like how I knew Lando and Max would be perfect again after just a few days while so many ppl hoped it was the start of some battle royale to last years that would end their close friendship. and why I knew Logan and Alex would end up with a genuine, heartfelt friendship when so many ppl assumed Alex would see Logan as one foot out the door and just wait to bond with a more worthy teammate. now we’ve got Alex saying how he and Lily casually talk about Logan for no reason at all and their friendship surviving Alex being given Logan’s car <3
I genuinely don’t bullshit myself into enjoying dynamics unless they feel real - so whatever friction I ever sense between Lando and Oscar as a result of them pushing each other to be the best they can be and helping to bring McLaren from the back of the field to WCC contender, isn’t at odds with them being gentle and unusually private and earnestly aware of each other. bromances were always Lando’s PR insurance with his other two teammates - a nice bandaid to cover moments where cracks showed or Lando didn’t hide his emotions enough. it’s something a lot of teammates use for the same purpose. but Lando and Oscar deciding to forgo that and have their little privacy door to shut out everyone else but each other from their drivers rooms, and how they will be doing interviews and then get distracted talking to each other over things that only interest them, and traveling and hanging out together without giving McLaren PR any material to use… like that’s a lovely, tender little unpretentious narrative to enjoy. watching them tiptoe so cautiously around an almighty cockup on McLaren’s pitwall side and Lando trying to pull himself up out of murky defeat for Oscar and Oscar deciding to celebrate so modestly because what a mess that ending was for them both. 
like I just don’t see a need for trying to invent ways to be unhappy or miserable or fabricate a doomed anything when they’re both still so sweet <3 <3 (and honestly it’s the same old tune of McLaren’s strategy needing a swift smack around the head)
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tysm babe and I hope this one helped as well <3<3
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arthropod-concoctions · 4 months ago
Text
Has my luck turned?
Day eight at the mall, and Tango had to say, he was getting pretty comfortable. The fourth floor contained an electronics store, a furniture boutique, and a big supermarket with fridges that were miraculously both still functioning, and still stuffed with food and drinks. Most of it wasn't healthy, of course, but victims of the apocalypse couldn't be choosers, and with the amount of running from monsters and crazy people he'd done in the past year, Tango felt he'd earned the right to have instant burgers and soda for dinner for a week. He sat down on a soft chair with his freshly microwaved cheap meal, reached into his backpack, and grabbed the radio that he'd taken from the electronics store. He turned it on and twiddled with the frequencies until he found the only channel that still worked: the one where someone who'd broken into the radio station had been rambling whatever came to his mind into the microphone for at least the last week. Tango listened to today's story, seemingly an anecdote from the guy's high school life, as he ate.
“...so, yeah, that's how we got crowned 'cutest couple' in the yearbook despite being literally one week from a breakup.” the man laughed. “God. I'm getting loopy, I need to find something to eat. Signing off, i have been Martyn Littlewood as usual, and if... if you're an actual person hearing this, please come look for me at the radio station in Midcanyon. Please. I need to know I'm not losing my mind here. Alright, bye by-”
A crack, and then Tango was alone with the static and his lukewarm meal again.
Briefly, he considered going out to find the radio station, but he quickly discarded the idea. That sounded like something a competent and heroic person would do, and if there was one thing he'd learnt the past year, it was that he was neither of those things. Well, that wasn't entirely fair. He'd been pretty heroic when he joined team BEST. And he'd done some good things in the-- what was it, a month?-- where they were actually helping people. And it was hardly his fault that brain demons had started to show up, and one got to Bdubs, and then to everyone but Tango, and then- Tango exhaled through gritted teeth. Replaying it all in his head wouldn't help now any more than it had the past hundred times. That chapter's over now, for better or worse. He finished eating, stuffed the radio back into his pack, then got up to put his plate into a garbage bin that hadn't overflown yet. Maybe he should try emptying the bins at some point. Then, at least he could say he was still some kind of positive influence on-
The ground rumbled.
“Oh, god, not again!” Tango dropped his plate on the ground, and looked around frantically. He didn't see anything breaking just yet, but the rumble wasn't getting any softer, and earthquakes were not common occurrences in the area. Whatever was happening now was almost certainly another Disaster. After probably a few seconds too many just standing there, Tango made a decision: he had to get out of here. He began running to the exit of the store. As soon as he crossed the doorway into the main hallway of the mall, the entire building shuddered, and Tango distantly heard windows shattering. Tango yelped, but didn't stop running. Stairs, stairs, he had to get to the stairs- He reached the stairs and ran down to the third floor. He continued on to the second floor, but then slipped and fell down the last three steps like an idiot. He hissed, partly because his knee hurt, partly from frustration. Alright, no time to feel sorry! Keep moving! He got to his feet again, heaving heavy breaths, and stepped down the next stair- A flow of honest-to-god lava sloshed at the bottom of the staircase, seemingly coming up from a crack in the ground. Tango skidded to a halt. Oh. Well, nevermind then, Tango thought. Guess I'll just die in here. He felt a wave of heat from the lava and instinctively stepped back up the stairs. He turned, around, stepped back into the hallway, and- Something feathery crashed into him from the side. Oh, great. There were monsters as well. Tango fell down, wisely used all his breath to scream at the top of his lungs, and reached for the pistol that he'd pilfered from somewhere months ago and had just been hanging uselessly on his belt since then. A gun wouldn't do much against lava, or the other nonsense he'd dealt with, but it'd probably deal well with a feathery monster. Although, looking up again, the figure that crashed into him didn't look too monstrous. Actually, that just looked like a person who'd also been knocked to the ground. A blond man, with yellow feathers growing out of his face and arms, with wide eyes and his hands raised.
A canary. Right. Some people were having an even worse time with the apocalypse than Tango.
“Oh, you're a person!” Tango said, though not much sound came out of his throat. He immediately took his hand off the gun again. “Sorry.” He hadn't seen anyone else in this area for a while.
The canary mouthed something in response, and got up. Tango watched him approach the staircase, go down one step, and freeze, exactly as he'd done.
“Yeah, no. That's not the way to happiness. We're sort of screwed here,” Tango said, as he got to his feet as well.
The canary turned to Tango and said something, pointing his thumb backwards.
“What?” Tango said, like a fool. Canaries couldn't speak during Disasters. That was pretty much their whole thing. “Sorry, I don't know any sign language.”
The canary repeated the gesture, pointing and mouthing more exaggeratedly this time. After a second, he just turned around and began jogging down the hallway. Tango decided to wager that he was probably saying 'follow me', and followed. That proved to be harder than expected; the floors shook irregularly, making it hard to keep his balance, and his knee still hurt. Tango was panting again by the time he caught up to the canary; the man had been waiting at an emergency exit.
He opened the door when Tango reached him, and the two left the building onto a metal staircase. Tango looked at the scenery outside. The mall looked out over a massive parking lot leading out onto what used to be the road network, but was now just a slab of asphalt intermittently cracked by dandelions-- having broken through slowly but steadily for the past year-- and lava, which was doing the same thing in the span of minutes. It seemed to be seeping out of the ground from cracks which were expanding in length, but not in width. In fact, one of the cracks was snaking dangerously close to the foundations of the mall...
A horrendous metallic screeching snapped Tango out of his stupor. Right. He was supposed to be escaping. He followed the canary down the staircase- Ah. The cause of the horrible noise had been the bottom stairs curling upwards, getting bent out of shape by the heat and the pressure of the lava coming up at the exact place where the staircase touched the ground. Or in other words, right in the middle of the only route of escape the two of them had.
Tango laughed. What else was he supposed to do? He'd gone from having a lovely life in a giant mall ahead of him to almost certainly dying in the very same mall in, what, five minutes? The building shook again. Tango looked over at the canary, who was gripping the handrails of the stairs with both hands, leaning over.
Tango walked over to him and slapped him on the shoulder. “Well, it was nice knowing you, friend. Sorry about the-”
The canary suddenly reached over and grabbed Tango's hand, clearly wanting to get his attention. Tango looked at him, and he mouthed something; again, Tango didn't know what, but it seemed like the last word was 'back'. His eyes were wide.
“We can't go back, dude,” Tango replied, hazarding a guess at what the man was trying to say. “There's just more fire and sadness back there.”
The canary shook his head, frustration visible on his face. He brought a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes, still muttering something. Tango shrugged apologetically.
Then the canary took a deep breath in and out, grabbed both of Tango's arms, and... wrapped them around himself?
“Oh. Uh... okay,” Tango stammered, now hugging the man. “Look, I know this is a heated moment and all, but-”
The canary spread out his arms and jumped backwards, pulling Tango with him; then they were falling.
“HEY!” Tango yelled, now holding on to the canary for dear life. He'd seen how far above the ground they were; too far to survive a fall like this unscathed. He really hoped the other man had a plan- The man waved his arms, and their descent slowed considerably. Surprised, Tango turned his head to the side; the yellow feathers which had been laying flat on the man's arms earlier were now standing straight up, and apparently catching a good amount of air. He continued flapping, and they were definitely still falling, not flying, but it seemed like they might...
Tango heard the canary's legs hitting the ground a moment before he felt his own landing; bolts of pain shot through both of his legs this time. They buckled, and he fell forwards, his fall being unfortunately cushioned by the canary's body.
He rolled to the side until his backpack stopped him, then let out another scream for good measure. “What is wrong with you!?” he yelled in the canary's direction.
He didn't respond; his eyes were squeezed shut, and his face contorted with pain. Tango immediately regretted saying that. “Nevermind. Sorry. Thanks for saving my life. uh...” he stood up and swiveled his head around to look at the lava, which was still coming up from the ground all around them. The heat was already making Tango sweat. He held out his hand to the canary. “Can you walk? We should probably get out of here.”
the canary nodded and took his hand, and Tango pulled him up. Then they hobbled their way out of the molten labyrinth, as fast as their aching legs could take them.
* * * * *
The disaster ended almost as abruptly as it started; pretty soon after Tango and his new buddy had made it out of the parking lot, the lava seeping from the ground slowed, then stopped. When the ground had properly stopped rumbling, the canary slowed his pace, then all but collapsed onto the soil. Tango decided to follow his example.
“Whew,” Tango exclaimed as he sat down. “Guess that's my exercise for the day done.” He looked over at the canary, who was panting just as he was. He held out his hand. “I'm Tango, by the way. Hi.”
The canary looked at him, grinned, then took his hand and shook it. His lips moved, but sound still wasn't coming out.
While most of the disasters that kicked off the end of the world had been unique and highly localised, the emergence of canaries seemed to have been a worldwide phenomenon. Tango hadn't actually met any in person up until now, but he'd heard enough accounts of it to know how it happened. On the 17th of June, 2022, for no apparent reason, about one percent of Earth's population lost their voices and suddenly had yellow feathers burst out of their arms and faces. A few minutes later, hell broke loose. It turned out their mutism wasn't permanent, but rather only happened when in proximity of the Disasters that would plague the world constantly starting the very same day. The 'canaries', as people began to call them, were blamed for the Disasters at first, even as they swore to have nothing to do with it all. People thought they were aliens, or demons, or even experimental super-soldiers created by the government; whatever would fit into their desperate attempts to explain the end of the world. Tango never really bought any of those explanations. Life's a bitch, is what he'd say, and it seemed to him like the canaries were just exceptionally unlucky people on an even unluckier planet. And having met the man sitting next to him only solidified that perception.
Tango's mouth was dry. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a plastic bottle full of water. “Lugging this thing around for a week is finaly paying off,” he said, took a few sips of water, then offered the bottle to the canary. He took it eagerly and immediately drained almost all the water that was inside.
“Wow, thanks for leaving some for later,” Tango said flatly. Then he saw the canary's face drop and quickly backpedaled: “Oh, don't worry about it! There were plenty of bottles in the mall, I can go back and get some more...”
He looked back towards the oversized building. It was now standing slightly crooked, one half of the top few floors had collapsed, and there seemed to be flames flickering in the busted windows. “Yeah... I can totally just go do that. Won't be a problem.”
And indeed, Tango went to do that. It wasn't as bad as he imagined; a good amount of the mall was still accessible, and right at the entrance there was a shop who's aisles-- and floors, thanks to the earthquakes-- still held anything you might need on a 24-hour drive, or a few weeks in anarchy if you camped out here. It was kind of eerie, how untouched everything was. Like the world had been just fine until yesterday. But whatever blessing or curse had kept everything that way had been broken today, along with every fridge in the building. Tango wouldn't be able to survive here much longer. So he ventured as far into the mall as he could, trying to decide what necessities to take with him. The canary quietly followed him along. At first Tango tried to make some conversational comments as he went, but it was hard to stay quippy with an audience that couldn't respond and an imminent relocation hanging over your head, so eventually they just continued in silence.
While they were making their way across a particularly messy corridor, the canary tripped over something and exclaimed in pain. “Watch your step, dude,” Tango commented. Then he registered what had actually just happened and spun around. “Hey, your voice is back!”
A smile appeared on the canary's face. “I can talk!” he exclaimed; and his voice caught Tango off guard.
“You're British?” he asked, before he could stop himself.
“I-” the canary paused for a moment, a baffled expression on his face. Then he tilted his head backwards and began laughing.
“'You're British',” the man repeated between wheezes, leaning against an aisle. “We can finally properly talk, and that's the first thing you say to me. Oh my gosh.”
“I... I wasn't expecting that, is all,” Tango replied weakly, pressing a hand against his neck. “Sorry, that was rude.”
The canary raised a hand to stop him. “No, dude, don't worry about it. It was funny.” When he'd recovered from his laughing fit, he opened his eyes and looked at Tango. “My name's Jimmy, by the way.”
Tango nodded. “Jimmy. Alright, cool,” he said. “Uh...”
Okay, the excuse of his conversation partner being mute didn't work anymore. Maybe Tango was just socially incompetent.
“Right,” Jimmy said. “Well, I guess we'd better continue packing. Anything else you need?”
“Hmmm...” Tango glanced into his now bulging backpack. “I dunno. I guess just as many cans and bottles as will fit in here.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Looks pretty full to me, not gonna lie.”
“Yeah, i guess, but-” Tango sighed. “I dunno. I have no idea when my next chance to restock like this is gonna be, so I don't wanna waste anything, you know?”
“Plenty of people have set up farms and ranches and stuff around the countryside. You could probably stop by one of those and get more stuff in exchange for chores or something,” Jimmy said.
Tango nodded along. “Yeah, you're probably right. And it's probably better not to travel too heavy...”
“Hey, on the other hand,” Jimmy interjected, making a finger gun motion with his hand, “If you bring a couple extra cans you can throw them at raiders.”
Tango barked out a laugh at that. He appreciated the joke-- and the advice. It was nice having somebody to talk to, even if only for a little while.
“Well, that's a plan then. Alright, how about one more meal in here before we... go on our ways?” Tango asked.
“Uh... yeah, that sound good, yeah,” Jimmy replied. Tango thought he sounded a bit disappointed, but he decided not to read into it. The canary seemed to know what he was doing, and Tango wasn't about to just... insert himself into the guy's plans.
The two of them made their way over to a soft sitting spot in the mall's hallway, bringing two more cans of food from the shop to eat right now. As Jimmy cracked them open using a shard of glass, Tango pulled his radio out of his backpack. “You listened to the radio lately?” he asked Jimmy.
“No. Is it still working?”
“There's just one guy who broke into a radio station, I guess, and he just rambles into the mic now,” Tango explained, and again he turned the knobs on the radio until he heard some barely-on-key singing:
“You gotta knoow, you have to fiight, learn to play, there's monsters day and night~”
Tango chuckled, but when he looked at Jimmy to see his reaction, he wasn't laughing. His face had gone pale.
“That's- I know him!” he exclaimed, pointing at the radio.
“Wait, really?” Tango replied.
“Yeah, he- he's a friend of mine. I lost track of him after the apocalypse happened, I thought he- oh gosh,” Jimmy continued, then clamped his hand over his mouth.
“Jeez,” Tango said. “You know, he keeps saying- he keeps asking people to come and find him at the radio tower in Midcanyon. I wasn't gonna do it, but maybe-”
“I have to go find him,” Jimmy finished the sentence, while turning off the radio. “I have to. W-” Jimmy stopped himself, and looked Tango in the eyes.
And Tango-- look, he just said he wasn't gonna insert himself into Jimmy's plans, but that was a decision made mostly out of self-preservation. He doubted Jimmy would want to continue dealing with him, and if he was gonna have to spend the rest of his probably short life wandering around alone, he'd rather do it with pride than thinking back to an embarrassing misunderstanding the whole time. But looking at Jimmy now, he was starting to think that was a stupid decision.
So he made the gamble: “Do... you want me to go with you?”
Jimmy's shoulders visibly sagged with relief. “Yeah, I- I'd love that, actually. Thanks.”
“Not a problem, dude!” Tango replied quickly, cheering internally. “You saved my life, I've gotta repay that somehow, and if- honestly, this seems like a better deal for me than it is for you.”
“Are you kidding!?” Jimmy exclaimed. “You're the one with food and a radio- and a gun! You've got it all figured out!”
Tango laughed. “If that's what you think, you might regret this arrangement real soon, just a warning.”
Jimmy chuckled at the joke-- and it suddenly hit Tango how long, before meeting Jimmy, it'd been since he had seen a genuine human smile. Team BEST had been a joyless group, in its last couple days, and then he'd been alone for god knows how long. But now he was hanging out with Jimmy, and hopefully, with Martyn soon.
Look at me, making friends and having goals in my future! Tango thought as he scooped dry vegetables out of the can Jimmy had handed him. Maybe my life won't be as futile as I thought.
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victimsofyaoipoll · 1 year ago
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Round 3
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Propaganda Under Cut
Uraraka Ochaco
she is absolutely a victim of yaoi. let her have her crush and let her be a person BEYOND HER FEELINGS FOR ONE MAN!!!!!!!!!! SHE IS A WONDERFUL HERO! AND HAS AN INTRICATE PERSONALITY BEYOND IZUKU! 
One of Midoriya “Deku” Izuku’s first friends (the first real one, to be exact), training to be a hero alongside the rest of her class. Despite her character arc and evolution of goals, which tie in strongly with the themes of the series, fans view her as an “obstacle” because of her canonical crush on Izuku. As a result, fan works pairing Izuku with a guy minimize the positive impact she’s had on his life and diminish her role, with some even demonizing her and turning her into a jealous bitch to justify Izuku not dating her. The simple possession of a crush has lead to her being overlooked and mistreated by the fandom, such as the common take she’s had no growth since the obtainment of her crush (feelings she actively pushes to the side as to not possibly create a distraction from her goals). These takes are accompanied by claims her character solely revolves around Izuku, ignoring the fact that many other guy characters have their characters revolve around him, some even more than her. 
Shes literally so fucking cool and passionate and she has a genuinely interesting place in the setting and YET she is constantly sidelined by both the show and the fandom in favor of her canonical love interest/main character and i'm going to be mad about it forever. 90% of the time is should she date the MC, or just that shes "a queen" or "a girlboss". Bc who cares about her growing up in poverty or her relationship with her parents or interest in rescue work? All that matters is that shes not a threat to YOUR favorite MLM ship but dw! Its still feminist because she can punch people <3
Sakura Haruno
Her husband is gay and her author doesn't know how to write women. So many people say she's the worst but she. DESERVES. BETTER!!! Save her from this franchise.
My baby girl my bestie my best friend. She committed the crime of um being written by kishimoto who both doesn’t know how to write women and somehow writes men in the gayest way possible specifically naruto and sasuke. Like the thing is naruto and sasuke ARE gay and also she gets so much hate for the crime of kishimoto writing her one dimensionally in love with sasuke. I know her personally she is a butch lesbian to me just trust me she’s in love with Ino and has a lesbian thing going on with Karin okay just trust me. My everything. She needs to divorce the loveless lavender marriage she’s in 
What is there to say, even? The OG Threat to my 90s anime brain, the only woman I've ever hated with such a passion she made me turn away from the color pink. I used to write fics with my friend where she got left behind on purpose so our OCs could join the Naruto and Sasuke team instead. I loathed this bitch until I was 16 and realized the author simply couldnt write women and decided it was time to make peace with Sakura. It is not her fault she's vaguely written and obsessive over Sasuke. She deserves better. Sasuke and Naruto still should be together and Sakura shouldnt be with Sasuke but I no longer believe this because I hate Sakura, it is because I love her. She deserves a spouse who will actually put in the time to treat her like the hero she is.
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me-elo1111 · 10 months ago
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Unfortunate Circumstances (Keith x GN reader)
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A/N: judging by how well this post does I’ll try and write more, if you have requests send them in I’ll write for all characters 🤍 and ships (klance nation I see you dw please give me something to write with those two) my friend asked for an x reader so this is what we’re doing first. reader is gender neutral in this one because everyone should feel included ofc!
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Needless to say… you were stuck. Not even just stuck you were trapped with someone you could never in a million years be compatible with.
Keith Kogane, paladin of the red lion.
And a deranged smartass who ALWAYS had to be right about something… no matter what situation, if you were with Keith, it was his word against yours. And being the leader of Voltron it was almost always his word. Funny thing about it though he’d never act so rude and stand off ish to anybody else in the group… it was just you…
On a normal day you could definitely conquer this man’s attitude but this was in fact not a normal day. You were supposed to be relaxing after weeks of fighting and working against the galra but the universe had different plans. Very different plans..
“It’s just a small mission, just gather some samples for Coran and then you’ll be out in a few moments.” You remember Allura reassured you, patting your shoulder.
You gave a very hesitant smile, and continued to stride forward to the red lions hanger. Better to get this done and over with.
How silly you were to have hope for once…
“It was one simple task! How did you mess up THAT bad!?” You yelled into Keith’s ear.
You were both sitting in the red lions cockpit, Keith in the main seat and you leaning against the inner console next to him.
“In my defense I didn’t SEE that ship there!” He groaned, head in his hands.
He felt embarrassed. Not about the fact that he messed up on a mission, but about the fact that he messed up on a mission in front of you. And looking at your tense figure with your arms crossed and a sour look on your face just made it so much worse.
You wouldn’t ever know in advance, but he held you in way high regards. So much so that he found himself not being able to even have a normal conversation with you. Not like communication was his strong suit anyways. But it was a lot more worse with someone like yourself. He never could key in on the moment he started having romantic feelings for you. Sure the thought would creep up into his brain but he would just shove it away to be unheard of again. Because why would someone like you like someone like him? It never made sense in his brain. So he made it his mission to drive you away so you wouldn’t notice how much of a mess he is… But in doing so it wounded you guys here. Red was down trying to charge itself, and here you were yelling at him while he wallowed in his own pity.
“Well Keith where do we go from here?” You asked the pilot, who looked at you with something similar to… shame? Embarrassment? Yeah, something like that…
“the team knows where we are, it’s only a matter of time before they come for us. But until then, I guess we just sit tight and wait..” he trailed off, trying his best to avoid unnecessary eye contact with you.
“Whatever. At least it was you messing up this time instead of me.” You shrugged.
“Now I won’t have to get yelled at more than I have to.”
He straightened in his seat. And looked over.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re excused.” You muttered.
“No what did you mean by that? Who yells at you?” You sat in disbelief before giving him a slight look.
He seemed to get the message pretty fast and quickly looked away from you.
“Look- I’m sorry.”
You looked at him… “go on.”
“I don’t mean to take it out on you I just uh.. I just worry about you… is all.” You could see his face turn slightly red as he shielded it from your vision while you stared at him.
KEITH worries about YOU.
Well this surely was not on your bingo card this year. In a way it makes you feel sort of light inside, since now you can push all those intrusive thoughts about him hating you away… but also- KEITH WORRIES ABOUT YOU- and you’re being a dick by yelling at him for getting you two into this mess. You sighed as you started to walk out of the cockpit to exit the lion. Seeing this Keith scrambled out of his chair, running after you with a slight bit of worry.
“Wait where are you going?” He asked as he caught up to you.
The hanger door opened and you both exited the lion, you paused for a moment as your nose inhaled a new scent. One that you were definitely not used to.
You looked at him as you both stepped out, the coolness in the wind hitting you like ice as it blows through your hair.
“We need to talk Keith…”
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A/N: I got mixed feelings about this. But I just wanted to Drabble before I got serious about writing this into a whole parted story💀 anyways let me know babes JEN JEN OUT 🫡
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tomsdonutdealer · 1 month ago
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Jaiden kinda sucks.
I’m making a post about this from the pure fact nobody seems to be talking about it, and while I’ll try to take an open standpoint this is entirely my opinion.
The categories:
Aiden (S2 overview)
James (S2 overview)
Jaiden in AS and S2
Let’s begin
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SEASON 2: AIDEN
Where do I even begin on how dirty Aiden was done this season. He’s seen to be a kindhearted, slightly stubborn, twinkish guy who’s quick to form a grudge against James, but he’s compassionate enough to suddenly hop into Lake’s storyline to tell her that her parents are fucked (I don’t know why they had Aiden do this frankly, any character could’ve).
This post isn’t about how awful his writing is, but for a character that’s supposed to be kind and friendly, he’s around James way too much. All of his most memorable scenes are him being pissy at James, and out of context that victimises James WAY too much. James is way too glorified in the overall Jaiden plot.
SEASON 2: JAMES
I’ve already said it, but I’ll happily say it again. James is way too victimised in Season 2. He’s in general just an awful person, who’s development was rushed and purely for the sake of yaoi. Way to go, DC writing team, you made another ship into fetish content.
I’ll properly go through my main and infamous problem with him in the Jaiden section, but holy shit this man is insufferable, they were way too desperate to give him himbo energy.
I think the fandom can be blatantly misogynistic with who they call murderer on this season. Riya attempted murder, so did Yul, and James was the closest one to succeeding! If you call Yul an attempted murderer, James is just as, if not even more guilty. He took part in the plan against Aiden, mind you. He only seems like a hero because in the end he attempts to murder someone else. I hate Yul as much as the next Gabby or Grett fan, but yikes, the fandom got over that much too fast.
Season 2: Jaiden
Holy shit, there’s so much to cover. I think we may as well start with the most infamous scene that fuels both my James and Jaiden hate, and if it wasn’t obvious by now…
If the video doesn’t speak paragraphs for itself, this is blatant sexual assault. Sexual assault James gets no reprimanding for. It was another scene where they’re trying to present Aiden as an innocent twink who gets mad at James over small things, but frankly that was an underreaction, Aiden has balls to not drag his ass..
The first kiss wasn’t sexual assault, Aiden consented to the bare minimum. James pulling Aiden back in when he physically resisted IS sexual assault. I see a LOT of James fans (a certain youtuber who had controversy on X before proceeding to apologise then not change the slightest bit) try and excuse this with ‘Oh, the person who wrote it is weird!!’ or ‘Ah, let’s just pretend it doesn’t exist because it’s weird!’ While they’re not wrong, since presumably Carazar Zone wrote the kiss challenge in, the scene exists. The scene is canon, and you’re ignoring and defending sexual assault. You’re the Melaine fans of the DC fandom I fear..
The rest of the season goes relatively the same, James gets Aiden to forgive him, James fucks up, Aiden gets mad, and the cycle repeats. This is the most stupid trope to ever exist, no wonder Season 2 gets so much shit. With this cycle, really they shouldn’t of gotten together by the end of Season 2. That’s a setup for a disgustingly unhealthy relationship. Fuck this season, fuck Jaiden, fuck that bitchass motherfucker James🔥😭
ALL STARS: JAIDEN
In all honesty, this season would’ve been way more interesting if Aiden still had his brain from early S2 so he didn’t get with James and was still fucking mad at him, meanwhile TomJake was the side yaoi relationship that’s going impossibly well for how repeated the dynamic was.
Not only would Aiden have a justified reason to be mad at James (sexual assault, joining an attempted murder plan, using him for followers multiple times, etc), but it would make sense for James to be a first boot if no one there fucking liked him. Even then, if you move around the placements in all the seasons so James has Tom’s AS elimination spot and Aiden has Jake’s, it’d still be much more watchable, since they have reason to hold a grudge.
I love Tom, I love his autism coded, I fucking hate his child design but I forgive him, but it was never actually explained on why he didn’t at least send a dry ‘ok’ to Jake. Jake however, I will defend until I’m buried in the fucking pits of hell, that man has BPD, and that man had completely justified reactions because of that. I fucking love and hate both of them, they didn’t need that much focus.
Obviously the writing team didn’t do this, so we’re stuck with the reality of them being a happy and presumably healthy couple. I love All Stars Jaiden, a lot. I hate Jaiden in the context that Season 2 is canon and not just a bad dream. If Jaiden was just an out of the pocket ship they introduced in the first episode of All Stars, similar to YulGrett, I’d be all for it, because holy shit their colour palettes compliment each other, but they weren’t, we digress I suppose.
hope you enjoyed my little rant
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hanamiyama-basketball-club · 8 months ago
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So I was skimming the first episode of Bravern looking for something else entirely and ended up massively overthinking this scene in the bar instead, and I made a Tumblr to massively overthink things so here we are.
Now, I feel like there's a lot of stuff in Bravern left unsaid or up to (multiple possible) interpretations, which I guess is sort of how all of media works but somehow Bravern has turned on some kind of 101 lit brain that my mathematician ass does not usually have so bear with me here. And so the narrative I'm going to present here isn't an argument really. It's just a "wouldn't it be nice". This is the story I like to imagine in this scene. I call it A Tale of Two Wingmen.
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We start out with Isami and Hibiki at the bar chatting about the war games exercise. (They seem to be the only ones at the bar rather than at a table, and don't have food; I like that Hibiki at least has a flower on her drink.) It seems clear that they're friends, probably a somewhat mismatched pair since Isami is in his dress uniform and Hibiki is out of uniform.
Isami has just started talking about the other TS that charged ahead with him when who should walk in the bar but the pilot in question with his friend Ryoma (soon to be RIP):
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(I can't hear the dialogue for them tbh so I'm a little confused by the subtitles - it looks in the animation like it's Smith saying he didn't drink enough, but the phrasing makes it sound like it's Ryoma saying that. Whatever. Minor point.)
And then he sees Isami and stops suddenly, dramatically enough to get Ryoma's attention.
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And heads straight for Isami (seemingly without saying anything to Ryoma, lol)
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Hibiki actually spots him first, or at least reacts to him first.
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Smith invites himself into the conversation:
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Hibiki watches him a little warily at first and seems annoyed when he starts thumping Isami on the shoulder.
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(I have a fondness for this whole interaction tbh because like Smith I am an American that reckons I can get through any social situation just by being really talkative, friendly, and complaining about authority figures. And like Smith I have often totally misjudged how to befriend people now that I'm in another country. "Mildly annoying American" is apparently louder and more negative than any Brit judging by the reactions I get, and I can only imagine the American-Japanese culture clash is worse.)
But once Smith starts praising Isami (and agreeing with the argument Hibiki was making), Hibiki seems to warm up to him:
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By the time Smith starts challenging Isami to a duel, she's leaning in and grinning over her cocktail.
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Ryoma also seems to be watching this conversation from across the room:
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Isami needles Smith in a line that definitely isn't foreshadowing at all, and Hibiki whistles which is also very cute
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Smith heads out once he has the agreement to the duel, Hibiki grinning after him
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Hibiki seems deeply amused by this whole situation and entertained by Smith's laser focus on Isami (and maybe a little surprised that Isami hasn't seemed to retain as much about Smith as Smith has about him)
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On the way out Smith bumps fists with Ryoma, who's also left the conversation he was in.
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(Yes, they did introduce themselves; no, Isami does not seem to remember this, which is very funny considering what's going to happen tomorrow.)
So what's the narrative I'm enjoying from this scene? Basically, if you imagine that both of these friends know that their main character buddy is gay, it becomes kind of adorable. (Well, it's kind of adorable anyway, but an added layer of adorable.)
Ryoma is the guy who's been hearing all evening about this cool Japanese pilot and the way he maneuvered his TS even though they say they're not as good as the M2s, and he seems kinda shy but do you think he'd maybe go for a duel? You know, first you fight, then you team up? So he's maybe a little surprised when Smith wanders off mid-conversation, but he knows what's up. Once he hears that his bro has successfully secured the not-a-date he was hoping for, he's got to give him a celebratory fistbump.
Hibiki clearly knows Isami well, and I'm guessing that she has never known him to actually date anyone. Possibly he's never explicitly come out to her; I doubt he'd be generally out (even if that was a good idea in any military, which I imagine is rare), or that he'd talk about his personal life to most people even if he was straight. But I imagine that Hibiki teases him in a friendly way about it and, as someone who's familiar with Isami's impenetrable shell, is kind of interested to see what kind of romantic partner could possibly get through that. Kind of obnoxious but well meaning hunk shows up out of nowhere clearly hung up on Isami? This is either a love story in the making or something to tease Isami about at the bar for years, and either way she is in.
Or maybe she just thinks it's funny that he has a loud American obsessed with him now. That was my read at first, and is probably the most likely.
But if you imagine an Isami who is gay, then it's nice to think that he has somebody that he can, if not talk to about it directly, at least knows. (Obviously bisexuality exists and the above still more or less applies if he's bi rather than gay, but I personally imagine Isami as the type who has gone well I'm only interested in men so conveniently I can just put all of romance in the box of Sounds Hard, Not Doing That.)
Also considering how she reacts to Honoka I think Hibiki just thinks it's funny if anyone has a crush on Isami which is a fun relationship for a male and female best friend to have.
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insertdisc5 · 2 years ago
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Devlog #11: Localization and Organizing Notes
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Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!
If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, a timeloop RPG, which is the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!).  You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!! 
LET’S GET TO IT. This month's devlog is about localizations and how I organize my notes!
The month of January has, once again, been all about bug fixing. My producer once told me QA and bug fixing would take forever and I didn’t believe her, but it is true. You kill one bug and three take its place.
Bugs aside, the first pass of the localization of the game into Japanese has been completed (thanks Kakehashi Games!) ! Wait did we even mention officially that the game will be in English and Japanese at release. Well there you go! In Stars and Time will be released in both English and Japanese!!!
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Now that the first pass is over, it’s time for the very time intensive work of adding all that translated text into the game, as well as translating any illustrations. And after that, the localization team will take over QA, and will play the game from beginning to end in Japanese, making sure everything works well in context!
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I can’t wait for Japanese speakers to try out the game as well!!!
Oh! Also, speaking of words, I wrote a post on how I approach worldbuilding, more specifically expressions and swear words and about how Jesus Christ is not canonical to the ISAT universe. Mayhaps it could tickle your fancy?
Uuuuuh this devlog is so short. I feel bad. Well uh (thinks very hard) how about you come with me on a journey, and look at how I organize my notes? Yeah? YEAH!!! (This section will feature: blocked out text) (Also: I realized after writing all this that I did talk about my writing process a bit in my #2 devlog. Well uh you get writing process: 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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I use OneNote for all my ISAT notes! I use it because quite frankly this was the first software I tried and it works. I like how it has tabs within tabs within tabs, so I can easily (ISH?) find any notes I’m looking for!
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If you look at the colored tabs, the first one is “demo”, which is everything related to START AGAIN: a prologue (aka: has not been looked at for a year). It contains all the text in the game, as well as general gameplay notes and musings like “hey wouldnt it be fun if I used rock/paper/scissors.” You might notice the text here isn’t in the correct order. That’s a feature not a bug, thats just how my brain works OK!!!!!
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The second tab is “Game”, which is the big In Stars And Time tab. It’s divided into a lot of sections, including: 
General Dev Notes, which contains general reminders (“ADD MORE PUNS”).
Random Dialogue Corner, which, as the name implies, contains a lot of random dialogues between the characters. They’re also divided into different sections, depending on what kind of dialogue it is- is it a funny scene, or a more serious one? Is it between characters, or just Siffrin going on a big monologue? Etc. This dialogue may or may not be in the game, its main reason for existing is “hee hee I like when my little guys talk in my head”.
Gameplay and Stuff, which is all about the rpg part of the game. What are the skills? How does each enemy behave? What quests are available? How does the game over screen work? Etc
And finally, a big section filled with The Story, which is divided into acts. From the very start, I knew ISAT would have very delimited story beats, which made it easy to just go “ok, this scene goes into Act 3”, etc. For the text, I make sure to keep all the different drafts I had of a specific scene, partly because I sometimes lose a nugget of Fun Stuff by rewriting a scene, and partly because it’s fun to see how a scene has evolved. I tend to write important story scenes 3 times, each time without looking at earlier drafts to see what comes out, and then frankenstein the scene from what I have.
In general I try to keep as many of my notes as possible, because I deleted a lot of my notes for START AGAIN: a prologue and it makes me sad I can’t look at my thought process on a lot of things anymore. KEEP YOUR NOTES KIDS
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Going back to the big tabs, next we have “World”, which is everything related to worldbuilding, relationships between characters, the general timeline, more detailed notes on the culture, etc. I used this tab a lot less as time went on, but at the start it was very useful to be able to refer to it, especially for all the city names and their spelling…
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After that, we have the “Devlog” tab, which is my own private devlog! I find it very useful to keep a private devlog for myself, because it helps me see clearly that YES, the game is coming along. Every week, I try to write down where I’m at, any problems that I have, as well as screenshots of what the game looks like. 
I also give myself space to write how I feel about the game! How is it going? Is it fun to work on this? What do I think about the story, about this character, about this development? I think it’s important to write those things down in the moment- I always keep in mind this post by Wreden, the creator of the Stanley Parable- in it, he talks about the reaction to the Stanley Parable, and how getting so many Thoughts thrown his way about what his game means meant that he lost sight of what his game meant to him. In Stars and Time means a lot to me, and I want to make sure future me remembers why!
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Next is “meta”, which is mostly coding references. The way rpgmaker (and, I guess, most video game software???) works is by using variables to keep track of quests and whatnot, and so I used this tab to write down “if this variable equals 5, it means we’re at that point in this quest”! I also used it for code I always use but can’t be bothered to remember, like the conditional code that checks if a switch is ON or not. Aka the simplest most basic code. LISTEN I DON’T WANNA REMEMBER CODE OK
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After that is the “To Do” tab, which is pretty self explanatory. I try to divide it into chunks like “To do (localization)”, so I don’t have a massive to-do list, but instead lots of small ones, teehee. This is also where I keep my changelog, to write down any changes I make between builds.
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And last, but definitely not least, is my “Messy File” tab! This is where I put ALL MY NOTES. It needs different parts because I made a new part every time opening a tab made my computer chug like crazy. Because it has so many words.
I get an idea for a scene in the middle of the night? GOES INTO THE MESSY SCENE. Oh, I realized when I was grocery shopping that I should fix this small bug by doing this! MESSY FILE. Hehe what if I drew Siffrin baldMESSY FILE. Everything goes there, and then every couple weeks I go through it and put all those little nuggets of ideas into their actual tab. I find it useful to have a file that is allowed to be messy as hell, so the other tabs can be clean and neat!
The Messy File tab also contains the “Entire Story”, which is something I wrote in August 2021 when I started thinking I had no idea where I was going. I took like 4 hours to write down the entire story, from beginning to end, and if I had no idea what would happen, I would just make it up on the spot even if I thought it was bad. And guess what. After that, I knew where I was going. CRAZY!!! I did that a couple more times when I felt stuck at a specific point in the story, and it helped me every time. Would recommend.
And, that’s it! That’s how I organize my notes! I hope! This was! Insightful! Somehow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!
AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!
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ben-talks-art · 2 years ago
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Trapped and Dreaming Freedom
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So I've been reading these two webtoons lately about female leads stuck in very toxic and unhealthy relationships (while being aware of it), and I'm loving every second of it!
If you know me, you know I just love a badass cool female lead and I also love seeing characters stuck in very difficult situations and watching how they use their brains and/or skills to get out of it, and both comics excel at these aspects!
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First series is "Trapped", a comic about this taxi driver who got tangled by accident with a vampire who develops an obsession with both her and her blood after she manages to outsmart him a couple of times, something that hasn't happened to him in years.
It feels very "Tom and Jerry" with both characters trying to get the upper hand on their relationship, and you would think it would be super one-sided but vampires actually have quite a bit of annoying rules on how they work that severely limit their freedom and our female lead exploits as many of them as she can to make him eat sh*t! It's just glorious!
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"Dreaming Freedom" is... somehow less dark, and at the same time way darker of a series.
It's not as violent or gory but it deals with more realistic problems that hit closer to home for some like school bullying, abandonment, harassment, family abuse, and so on.
The premise is that our female lead teams up with a guy that has the power to use dreams to affect people in the real world, and they use this ability to get revenge on all the girl's classmates that harassed her, but the more our female lead does that, more the male lead gets obsessed with her and we later find out that he has some serious anger issues making him extremely dangerous.
Our lead basically goes from "I can use him to get payback!" to "Oh my God, I'm the only thing that's keeping this dude under control and away from people!"
It feels like you're being handed a living knife that you just pray won't run out of control or turn itself against you. It's so uncomfortable but at the same time so thrilling!
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While I really don't like when unhealthy relationships are glamorized and used to send some kind of "Oh, he's kinda dangerous... But at least he loves you, so it's okay, right?" message, I do like it when the unhealthiness of the relationship is the focus AND is painted as a problem that needs to be fixed.
I like how both female leads always call the male leads on their bs and keep them in check whenever they start going too far, and it's fun to see how they use them whenever they're backed into a corner by the antagonists of the stories.
Also like the themes these series explore, about how when you keep dealing with people that act like monsters you see yourself slowly turning into a monster yourself and start to attract other monsters as well, eventually making you question how far can you go? How far should you go? Can you get back from it? And so on.
But most of all, I like that both series make sure to show that these "bad boys" were their last freaking options. Not the first, not the second, but the very bottom of the barrel. They went to them only after they felt they had no other choices and were sure that nobody else would take their side.
This isn't just "Oh, I went to him because he's a hot bad boy", this is "The world turned its back on me so I'm gonna use the only cards that I have left."
They basically made a deal with their devils and now the fun is watching to see how/if they're gonna get out of it.
This is how I like to see problematic relationships. You don't paint them as something normal or something good, you paint them as a hardship that needs to be dealt with and use it to do clever commentary on the worst aspects of humanity so we can learn how to be better and as a source for good and intense drama to make us worried for the main characters and invested in seeing them get out okay.
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seobstarr · 10 months ago
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ON THE COURT— 015: WOAH.
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His body struggles to move through the crowd of bodies as he makes his way to her, constantly trying to squeeze between people. “Found you!” He chuckles, taking a deep breath from all of the pushing and shoving.
“And you wanted me to dance…” She scoffs playful as the red cup lifts to her lips, Theo’s body leans swiftly over the countertop they both rested against, his forearm grazing against hers.
After a couple of minutes of painful silence his eyes dart to the ping pong table, where their classmates were. “Do you wanna go play?” He nudges her slightly to catch her attention and her head whips to focus on the activity he pointed at.
“Beer pong?” Her voice questioned
“Yeah, it could be fun!” He hoped to god she didn’t reject him, considering how all she’s been doing was sitting and observing everyone at the party
“Hmm, sure why not” Theo sighs in relief when she agrees to the offer with a light shrug and smiles, his hand interlocking with hers (making sure he didn’t touch the still wrapped one from the coffee incident) and leading her through the crowd.
Her body tensed as he gently guides her through the crowded living space, his hand tightening when it was too hard to push through the bodies. The blood rushes to her cheeks and her smile starts to become more prominent.
“Hey, Theo! Was wondering where you were” Keeho, who had just got done missing his turn, swung his arm around Theo in a childish gesture.
“Had to do something first, my bad.”His eyes dart down to the locked fingers between the both of you then goes back up to link with Theo’s nervous eyes “Hm, I see now…:
“Manager” Keeho smiles
“Hey, Kyo!” Y/n fastly waves back with her free hand
“Are you guys here to play?”
“Yeah, thought we could give it a try” Y/n says again and Theo nods.
“Cool, we just finished this round so you guys get next. Y/n, you’re on Sumin’s team. Theo, you’re on mine,” Keeho explains and Y/n quickly unlocks her hand from Theo’s grasp to walk over to the right side of the table.
“Y/n, right?” Sumin points.
“Yeah! You must be Sumin?” She nods from the introduction.
“Yup, glad to meet you! I think we have a class together, no?”
Y/n’s brain racks at the thought of her, at any familiar feeling “Introduction to Philosophy?” She questions back, the lightbulb in her head brimming with inquiry
“Yes! You sit in front of me most of the time!”
“Right, it’s good to see you!” Y/n says back, giggling a little. “These are my friends! They’ll be on our team.” she nods in solidarity as Sumin hands her a ping pong ball.
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tags🍰: @inthesunnn @captivq @nini-04 @hopeless-romantic-mentality @222brainrot @therealbobbyshloby @miyukisv @jilxe
(pink couldn’t be tagged)
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keb notes!: BYE IM SORRY FOR SLOW UPDATES LOLLL IM SORRY YOU GUYS HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG FOR CHAPTERS
:( but senior year is NO joke (i’ve been watching one piece instead of working, i made it to timeskip :p) but i promise things will pick up from here 🫡 alsoooo after this i think i wanna make a sequel with riize, smth ab sungchan since i made him bitchless in this smau😭 AND AND AND proud to say that riize and stayc WILL be main characters in this story starting from here on out !!!
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