#EVERYONE at my high school was talking about it so many kids were wearing merch teachers would talk about it it was such a huge deal

[hobbitsnapes]

YOU GUYS ARE DATING

Corpse x MGK!sister reader

(Found this image on Pinterest so all credit goes to artist, if you know who it is please comment below so I can credit them)

A/N: this was requested by @heyitssab

Tree is tall of sex in this, but it’s more in a joking matter, plus corpse has stated he doesn’t mind as long as you are not a minor or send or tag him. I’m literally 2 years younger than him, and have no intentions of ever tagging him or sending him any of my work XD

Summary: how many idiots does it take to tell the brother and friend they’re dating? Apparently takes 2 very forgetful people, who kept their relationship secret without knowing it.

It had just been by chance, a small chance that he had been scrolling through his tags. liking and reposting art, when he saw a tag from someone he followed. He wrecked his brain for when he had followed her, coming up empty. She was cute, no denying the beauty she had as she laughed in the video. It was a clip from a stream that he didn’t know she had, as he couldn’t even remember her name, wearing his merch as it fit her snug. It fit her perfectly in fact, the large hood covering her face, hiding the flush to her face from her rather large chuckles that left her body. He couldn’t help but like the photo, and he couldn’t help but to press message either.

It was first only small likes to posts, an Occasional message, and a view on their livestreams, but that all changed when he spoke of the song he was working on with her older brother.

It all started that night, when both lay in their beds as they talked, laughed, and felt their hearts flutter each time they heard one another speak.

Her phone rang violently in her bag, nearly making her drop the to go bag all over the ground as she walked. “Hello?” She asked, as she held both bags with her hands as her shoulder gripped the phone as if it’d fall down a cliff. “Hey bug!” He exclaimed, making her chuckle as she heard the booming sound of his voice. She had always detested the nickname, as he gave it to her as kids due to her horrendous fear of the creatures. But, it brought more joy to her, as it reminded her of their youth. Having been adults for years, it was fun to hear such a childish name that’s stuck.

“Hey mopey.” She chuckled, as that was the name she gave him when he was in his emo phase that he never outgrew.

Both talked as she walked towards the elevator, mainly about how his day had gone as she silently listened.

She had always been this way, always the shyer of the two, the one to listen to others first before she said a word. He had teased her for it most of their childhood and teen life, but he had grown to love it, as he could let loose or rant to her about anything, and he knew she’d be there just to listen to him.

“So what’re you doing right now?” He asked, as she got into the elevator. “Just grabbed some dinner a few minutes before you called and nearly made me shit.” A smile painted on her face at his boisterous laughter.

“Are you at home?” He asked, as he heard the sound of the elevator beeping in the background. “No, I’m spending the night with my boyfriend.”

She had mentioned about a month prior that she was seeing someone, the joy it brought him to hear the excitement and joy in her tone as she gushed about their first date.

If this was 7 or 8 years prior, he would be bombarding her with questions about the man, who he was, where he lived, where he could meet him to find his intentions with his baby sister. But, in the last few years, he found himself feeling calmer whenever she’d mentioned her love life. He knew she was smart, and would never date a man who treated her poorly. The few breakups she had, they always ended amicably, her head still high as she told him. So, he never asked her any questions about the man, as he could tell from the few times she mentioned him, he could feel the love this man had for her, and Vice versa.

The strong barreling of her phone alerted them awake, both groaning out as she reached for her phone without lifting her head from his shoulder. “Hello?” She mumbled, voice slurred as the saliva was thick in her mouth, barely awake as she fought to listen in on who dares to wake them up.

“Hey!” He exclaimed, making her equally exhausted lover groan. She shifted off of him, laying on her back as he turned away from her, as to hopefully shut his eyes and fall back asleep. She was used to her brother's large voice, as it hardly phased her after growing up with him. “Colson, why are you calling me this ungodly hour?” “Oh come on, it’s not that early.” “Col its-“ She pulled her phone from her ear, eyes shutting violently as the bright light blinded her “5 o’clock in the morning. So again, I’m going to ask you, why did you call me at the asscrack of dawn?” “You don’t remember?” He asked, making her irritation grow. “No, that’s why I’m asking.” She says, as she rubbed her sleep crusted eyes. “You were coming up today to hang out with casie, remember?” Her hand stopped rubbing her face, as she felt her heart stop momentarily. “Wait, you mean today? I thought I was coming Friday?” “No, both of you settled on today, remember I told you that’s perfect because I have a day off?” She felt her heart pain as she heard the sadness in his tone, knowing he’s expecting her to bail. “Yeah sorry, I thought you meant Friday so I mixed it up, let me get ready and I’ll be out the door okay? Love you” she said, as she hung up the line.

Before she could even move, she felt his arm wrap around her body. A tired groan leaving his lips. “Nooo stayyyy.” He groaned, pulling her body to his. She smiled as she looked down at him, wrapping her arm on his chest and the other behind his neck. “I wish I could live, but I can’t.” Planting a soft kiss against his lips. “Stay in bed for a few more hours, please?” Her heart pulled at his tone, hearing just how tired he was. “I can’t, casies wanted me to come up for weeks now. And it takes a good 3 hours to get there. I wanna spend as much time as I can with them before it gets dark so I can get back safely.” He groaned at this, wrapping his arms around her. “Yeah but it’s only 5, it wouldn’t be safe to drive since we went to bed like, 2 hours ago.” “Yeah, and whos fault was that mister?” She teased, “hmm, sorry but I just couldn’t keep my hands to myself after not seeing you for a few days.” He mused, pulling her body closer to his, planting his lips against hers. A small hum left her lips as he pulled her thigh over his, grabbing the flesh harshly as their lips cascaded together. “Mm, no no no, you’re not gonna convince me to stay here just to go another round.” She said, as she got off from his warm body, throwing his large hoodie over her bare body. “Oh come on babe, are you sure about that?” He said, making her turn around to him. A small gasp left her lips as her eyes took in his milky white complexion. His honey brown eyes looking back at her with a small smile etched onto his face. His hair a tousled mess that resembled a bird's nest, some pieces falling onto his face. “Honey, I’ve been wanting to see my family for weeks now, I see you almost everyday and practically live here. I’ll be back tomorrow so I can grab more clothes from my place okay?” She placed a kiss to his lips, both holding one another in their arms. “I don’t know why you don’t just say fuck that place and just move in.” He mumbled, making her chuckle and heart warm. “Don't you think it’s a little soon though? I mean we’ve only been together a few months love.” “Yeah, but you’ve practically lived here since we got together, you literally just go there to get more clothes that you end up leaving here.” She looked into his eyes as she thought about his words. “Hm, I’ll think about it today okay?” She mused, planting a kiss to his lips. A soft okay leaving him as she got up.

“And babe, remember if you live here, we can have all the sex we want and not have to worry about driving to get one another.” He exclaimed, laughing at the loud honey she screamed from the bathroom.

She couldn’t help but laugh out as she watched, as her niece tried her hardest to braid her fathers grown out hair. It was near impossible not to, as pieces would fall out, resulting in her pulling them harsher, nearly pulling his eyelids back due to the tension from his temples. “Okay okay you’re gonna fuckin scalp me.” He chuckled , as all three bursted out in large laughter.

“So how’s school going this year?” She asked her, as she delicately painted her nails. Both of the girls had found themselves on the floor in front of the nice coffee table, as colson sat and chatted with them. “It’s going really well.” “Oh yeah? Make any new friends?” She teased. “I mean, kinda.” She couldn’t help but hear the wavering in her tone, spotting the faint blush dusting her skin. “Ohh, so there’s a someone eh?” She teased to her, making the preteen hide her face as to conceal the flush. “His names Garrett, and we both take social studies together. He always sits next to me at lunch, and we’ll draw on my notebook.” She gushed, making her smile. “Soo, do you think he likes you?” “I mean, that’s what everyone keeps saying.” “Yeah well don’t worry about it to much cas, you’re not dating anyone for many more years. You’re still a kid.” Her das said, making the young girls face fall.

Y/N knew he was only saying this to protect her, as he said the same thing to her growing up. “Hey, don’t be bummed out about it. He is right, you both are only 12 and should focus on school. But don’t worry, he’ll come around. He was just like that with me up until my current boyfriend.” She whispered, making the young girl chuckle.

“Speaking of which, how are you guys doing?” He asked, as she hadn’t mentioned hun to her in a while. He didn’t think it’d hurt to ask. “Great actually, we’re thinking of moving in together actually.” “That’s great! I’m really happy that y’all met.” “Yeah, I am too.” She hummed, a flush dusting her cheeks.

Both men laughed as they chatted on the phone, talking about anything that would come to mind. What was once only a collaboration for a song, turned into an amazing friendship that caused both of them to call at late hours just to shoot the shit.

A yawn left his lips, as he listened to colson ramble on about another song he was making. “Woah, you tired man?” Colson asked, shocked to hear the sound. “Yeah sorry, was up most of the night last night.” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Were you feeling alright?” He asked, worry laced in his tone. He knew all about his friends illnesses, even once being on the other end of the phone during a bad spell one day.” “Oh yeah yeah yeah, was just, up with the misses last night.” He chuckled, a flush blooming on his cheeks. “Ohhh yeah? And how was it?” This shocked him, nearly feeling his heart stop. Like, does he usually know about his sisters sex life? He didn’t think much of it, as he knew just how close both were. “It was absolutely fucking amazing. Like I thought we’d be done for the night, fully tapped out but after like 5 minutes she’d be right back on me for another round.” He chuckled, his flush even worse than before. “Ayyyeee good for you corpse, glad to hear that puss is bussin.” He laughed at this, throwing his head back. “Yeah, it’s bussin bussin.”

Both men talk as they read from their phones, eyes wide in absolute awe of the love they received from the song. They had just dropped it a few days prior, not expecting the cry of joy from both fan bases.

He didn’t even look up from it when she walked in, until she bent down to plant a kiss to his forehead. “Sorry I had completely forgot about the tea I made you an hour ago, but I put it back on the stove to heat it up so if it’s twisting funky just tell me okay?” Before he could even thank her, both their heads whipped towards the loudness from the other line. “Y/N? Is that you? What in the hell are you doing there with corpse!” He didn’t sound angry, more shocked than anything, both of them looking at the phone in confusion. “I, I love here? Remember I told you like a month ago I was moving in with him?” “WHAT!” Both jumped at the loud scream. “Wait so you guys are dating!?” Both we’re even more perplexed, until it dawned on both of them. Their eyes wide as they turned their heads to one another slowly. “Wait you didn’t tell him?” “No? He’s one of your best friends so I thought you did!” “He’s your brother! So I thought you did!” Both whisper, until all three lay silent. That was until, the large cry of laughter that leaves the two, leaving colson even more confused. He wasn’t mad, not at all actually. More shocked and confused than anything. Until he started thinking, it does make sense, all the times they spoke about one another without him knowing, all the times they mentioned-“OH GOD!” He yelled, gagging violently, making them stop their laughing fit. “What's wrong? Why are you yelling?” She asks “like a month ago corpse was talking about how he was tired cause he was up all night having sex AND I HAD NO IDEA HE WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU! OH GOD WAS THAT WHY YOU WERE LIMPING THAT DAY WITH CAS AND I!” Both laugh even harder, as they listen to his ever growing gags.

“So yeah,. That’s literally how we had no idea we were keeping the relationship secret from her brother.” He laughed, as he red the comments and listened to his friends' laughter. She sat beside him, head laying on his shoulder as he told the story. She couldn’t help but to look back up into his eyes, as he glanced down at her, planting a soft kiss to her lips. “Keep it pg guys.” Colson said from the other line, making them chuckle.

[farfromsugafanfic]

Caramel Macchiato

Genre: Coffeeshop AU, Former Friends to Lovers, Fluff

Pairing: Jungkook/Reader

Warnings: cringe and awkward moments lol

Synopsis: Your first kiss happened during the pocky game in high school. The boy you kissed, Jeon Jungkook, was a trainee. You planned to forget it and shove down any leftover feelings. Although, it’s a bit hard to do that when his face is on the billboard outside the coffee shop you work at. It becomes even harder when the man himself walks in with the sound of the bells on the door.

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

It was a busy day at the cafe. You acted as if you didn't know why, but you'd seen multiple fans come in wearing BTS merch. There was a BTS concert at the nearby arena that night. 

You didn't think about Jungkook much anymore. But occasionally, on days like that one, it seemed unavoidable. You kept seeing his face everywhere. On customer's T-shirts, on magazine covers, on billboards. He was unavoidable. 

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

You knew he was doing exactly what he wanted. Back in school, everyone knew he was trainee. Girls fawned over him, even if he himself was shy and tried to avoid them. Sometimes one of the members would come to pick him up, and everyone stared at the older boy. 

After he debuted, it'd been even worse. People pretending to be his friend, playing the video to embarrass him at lunch; but he never let it phase him.

He'd approached you one day. The two of you had never really paid each other much mind before. You shared a few classes, but had never interacted outside of them before. 

"You're one of the top students, right?" he asked, as you stood at your locker and placed the books from your last class inside. 

You nodded. 

"I was wondering if you had time if you could help me with my math? I want to do well on the next test and all the hyungs besides Namjoon hyung are bad at math. And he told me that I should try to make friends, and you seemed nice." 

You smiled at his obvious nervous rambling. You figured he was probably just embarrassed to be asking for help.

"Sure," you said. "Do you have time after school?" 

"No," he said. "We get a day off on Sunday though. We can meet sometime then." 

You nodded and exchanged numbers.

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

You met up at a cafe that Sunday. You both had brought along your math textbooks and a notebook and you were currently showing him how to solve a complicated equation. 

"Make sure you solve this part first or else you'll end up with the wrong answer. You can tell which part you have to solve first because of the parenthesis." 

He took notes diligently and listened intently as he explained each problem to him and corrected his mistakes. 

After the study session, he offered to buy you a coffee for helping him. You smiled and accepted. 

"Caramel Macchiato," you told the waitress.

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

"You have Jungkook's number?" one of your friends asked. 

You shrugged and took another bite of your lunch. 

"Yeah, I helped him in math once. What's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal?" you friend asked, a look of shock crossing her face. "You have an idol's phone number!I'm going to call him!" 

"No!" you said, reaching for your phone, but it was too late. 

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

"You called me earlier?" Jungkook asked after you answered the phone. 

"Oh no, sorry, that was my friend. She thought it would be funny to call you. I'm really sorry about that, I can delete it so it doesn't happen again." 

"No, no, it's okay. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." 

"Oh, uh, yeah, thanks."

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

You're not exactly sure how you both ended up at the same party. You knew Jungkook wasn't really the partying type as he was too busy and focused on his career. You were too focused on school to go to parties. But somehow you both ended up at the same one. 

"Y/N!" he called. "I never expected to see you here." 

"Nor I you," you said. "I'm sure it's not much compared to the big idol parties you go to." 

"I don't go to many idol parties. But I much prefer smaller ones like this." 

"Come on, let's go play a game. We can't spend the whole time just talking to each other." 

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Something you discovered about Jungkook is he was competitive and determined, just like yourself. He rarely ever gave up. When the idea of the pocky game came up, you were nervous knowing that if you refused to lose, you'd end up kissing someone. You'd never kissed anyone before, but decided to go along with the game, figuring you probably could just sit and watch the whole time. 

"Y/N!" the MC of the game called. "And..." She stuck her hand back into the hat and pulled out the next name. "Jungkook!" 

A series of ooohs and aaahs rang out. A few girls eyed you jealously, but all you could focus on was the nervous rumbling in your stomach. 

You and Jungkook each took hold of either end of the pocky stick with your mouths. 

"Go!" the MC said. 

You and Jungkook both bit through the candy, neither one of you turning away. Within a few seconds, your lips touched. You knew the first to pull away lost and you had too much pride to pull away immediately. Eventually, Jungkook pulled away, allowing you to win. 

You smiled, but couldn't help the blush on your cheeks. Jungkook, too, looked slightly flushed. 

"Loser," you smirked, feeling an odd wave of confidence wash over you.

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

"Hey, let me know when you get home," Jungkook said, as the party ended. "It's late." 

"I will," you said. You wanted to talk about the kiss, but you were too awkward to bring it up. Instead you let the conversation sit between you. 

"Bye, Y/N." 

"Bye, Jungkook."

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Other than graduation, that was the last time you'd talked to Jungkook. You still had his number, but with BTS now much more popular, you figured he'd probably changed it. 

You finished up the drink you were working on and went to hand it out. 

"A caramel macchiato for..." you glanced down at the name. "Jungkook." 

You were surprised to see his name and you figured it couldn't be him, but when you looked up you were met with his familiar eyes. 

"Jungkook!" you exclaimed, spilling the drink in the process. 

The caramel macchiato spilled all over Jungkook's white T-shirt and you chastised yourself for your careless behavior. 

"I'm so sorry!" 

Your co-workers looked at you pitifully and allowed you to excuse yourself to help him clean up. It was your fault after all. 

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

You stood in the small single bathroom in the cafe. You wet paper towels and proceeded to help Jungkook clean the coffee and milk off his shirt. 

"I'm sorry," you said again. "I was just surprised to see you." 

"It's okay," he said. "This is just the Gucci shirt V hyung got me for my birthday." 

Your face immediately fell into shock and you felt terrible for probably ruining a gift. 

"I'm kidding," he said, chuckling at your reaction. "It's nice to see you again. Going to university like you planned?" 

You nodded. 

"I work here mainly on the weekends." 

"I'm glad I caught you on a day you worked. You know, it's actually kind of funny, I just thought about you today." 

"Me?"

"Yes," he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly squished box of pocky. "I bought it for the hyungs as a good luck present before the show." 

You smiled as you eyed the box. 

"We were so young. I can't believe you still remember that." 

"Most people don't forget their first kiss."

You were surprised. You had assumed that it hadn't been Jungkook's first kiss based on the way the girls at school used to fawn over him. 

"It was your first kiss, too?" 

Jungkook nodded and smiled down at you. 

"I'm glad it was you," he said. 

You hadn't noticed that you'd stopped wiping of his shirt. You went back to it, but Jungkook interrupted you. 

He held a pocky stick in his mouth. 

"What do you say? For old time's sake?" 

You giggled and placed your lips on the other end. It didn't take long for your lips to touch, but neither of you pulled away for longer this time. But eventually, you pulled away, remembering that you were still at work. 

"Loser," he smirked, looking down at you.

[astralflower-writes]

hey there!

♡ pairing: timeskip!sugawara koushi x female! reader

♡ genre: fluff

♡ warnings: none

♡ check out the haikyuu!! masterlist here

a/n: this got kinda long. but i hope you'll enjoy reading it! ♡

it's the day of the match between the adlers and the black jackals. and boy you expected the crowd to be less than this.

as you entered the arena you see countless of people walking past by each other. you tried to get through the people and look for the line for the onigiri you're co-teacher was telling you which was a 'must-try when you watch a jackals match.'

but as you were looking for the onigiri stand, you bump into the last person you expected.

"hey there y/n–sensei!"

"sugawara–sensei?"

the both of you were elementary school teachers. you first met suga when you got transferred back to miyagi a year ago. you didn't really had the chance to talk to him but that did not stop for you to not have a crush on him.

he was great at handling kids. and the kids love him too. he was so gentle and caring to everyone, and to you too.

"what are you doing here y/n–sensei?" he suddenly asked you. "to watch the match?" you replied.

he guided you to a less crowded part of the lobby. "never thought you'd be a volleyball fan though."

"oh... i don't really watch games. my mom gave me tickets so why not, right?" you replied, trying to look for the stand.

"are you looking for someone?" he asked you. "uh no. im actually looking for the onigiri stand yumeko–sensei told me."

"you mean onigiri miya?" he asked again, you not really remembering what your co-worker said, you just nodded thinking maybe it was the same. "my friends are actually lining up for those. i'll text them to order more for you." he added as he fished out his phone from his pocket.

"oh! thank you, sugawara–sensei." you said as you waited for him to finish.

"you can just call me suga." he said while scratching the back of his and letting out the small laugh which made you have a little crush on him.

"you can just call me y/n too, suga-san." you replied.

he motioned for the two of you to walk, "we actually know the owner of the stand."

"really?" you answered. the two of you were now walking in the lobby, you're not really sure where the both of you are headed but you know that he's guiding you through the crowd.

"we actually played volleyball with his team during nationals, when we were in high school."

"wait. you played volleyball? and the nationals?" you asked him in disbelief. "is it too good to be true?" he asked while sporting that warm smile.

"oh! no! i mean, that is so cool!" you replied happily.

the both of you stopped in front two men. one holding a plate of onigiri and the other is happily looking at the filling.

"y/n–san. these are my friends. daichi and asahi." he introduced you to both of the men, which he told you were his teammates in volleyball during high school.

the four of you started to talk about what were you guys doing in your daily lives. and you learned that sugawara was also the vice-captain.

"your a fan of kageyma, y/n–san?" asahi asked as he pointed out the little milk carton merch with kageyama's number on it. "oh this? kageyama's actually my—" you were interrupted by, you assumed as more of their friends.

suga being him, introduced you to them but you decided to find your seat and let them all catch up. so you bid farewell and thanks to them.

"woah! that's y/n?!" tanaka asked suga. "the one he likes?" kiyoko added.

"but i think she likes kageyama." suga sighed.

"maybe she's a fan of kageyama." asahi suggests trying to cheer up suga. "it's alright! there shall be no negative energy present!" suga said as he smacked asahi on his stomach.

the group made way to the stands, which to their surprise, you were there to.

you were on the phone talking to someone. "yeah mom. i'll meet him after the match. bye."

you were getting a little hot so you removed your first layer of many sweaters when you noticed suga and his group walking in the same row as you were sitting.

"hey. i can switch sits with you." daichi whispered.

the group seated themselves, with suga seating beside you.

"fancy seeing you again, y/n-san." he said as he made himself comfortable, eyeing your sweater before speaking again "i guess your really a fan of kageyama huh."

confused, looking at what your wearing, you see the little character of kageyama. "oh! no! i mean i kind am. but he's my—."

then suddenly the announcer started to speak. "kagyema's holding hands with a child! you don't see that often huh." one of suga's friends commented.

"who are you cheering for suga-san?" you asked trying to make small talk. "oh. none. two of our team mates are actually on, so it might be hard just cheering for one of them." he said while looking intently on the court.

as the game went on, you were surprised that he and his friends were cheering for kageyama and hinata, which you were familiar because you've seen the orange haired boy multiple times over at your place.

so you put two and two together, the two boys were their teamates.

"kageyama was on your team during high school suga-san?"

"yeah..."

"what a small world huh. kageyama, my cousin was my co-worker's team mate during high school." you said as you gazed down again at the court.

"cousin?" he asked. "yeah. our mom's are actually sisters and we grew up together too." you explained.

as the game went on, you talked to suga and asked him questions about volleyball stuff you don't know.

the match comes to an end, and you mentioned you're coming down to say hi to kageyama.

well, much to your satisfaction, suga came with you cause he said he'll ask kageyama for an autograph.

when both of you were done, suga got his autograph. both of you were walking out of the venue. "so...i'll see you at school?" you started.

"uh actually...would you like to go on a date with me?" he spoke, both of you were blushing. "y-yeah. i'd love that."

[mel-at-dusk]

SEX, LIES AND CHEAP COLOGNE: AN ORAL HISTORY OF ABERCROMBIE & FITCH’S SOFTCORE PORN MAG

The story of how an oversexed, strangely intellectual magazine by a polo shirt brand completed the improbable task of changing the course of sexuality in America’s malls, homes and moose-print boxers

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries was a shrewd businessman, but he didn’t always make the best decisions. Between the blatantly racist T-shirts he signed off on, the child thongs he called “cute” and the series of public statements he made admitting that his brand intentionally excluded anyone who wasn’t “cool” and “good-looking” with “great attitudes and a lot of friends,” it’s no wonder that he spent the majority of his reign at Abercrombie in hot water. (For the uninitiated, Abercrombie made what fashion writer Natasha Stagg calls “sexy versions of the clothes kids already wore to school: T-shirts and jeans, stuff you could toss a football in or throw on the grass if everyone decided to go skinny-dipping.” More importantly, as she writes in her book Sleeveless, it was “for those who were casually peaking in high school.” It, meanwhile, peaked in the 1990s.)

An exception to Jeffries’ questionable CEO-ing would be A&F Quarterly, the glorious, controversial and questionably pornographic “magalog” he created at the height of the brand’s popularity in 1997 in order to connect “youth and sex” to its image. Woven in amongst surprisingly thoughtful interviews with A-list humans like Spike Lee, Bret Easton Ellis, Rudy Guiliani and Lil’ Kim was a cascade of naked photos from photographer Bruce Weber which showed nubile youngs in various states of undress. They were frolicking, they were caressing and they were deep in the throes of experimenting with types of sex that — at the time — had never been portrayed by mainstream brands.

With issue titles such as “XXX,” “The Pleasure Principle” and “Naughty and Nice,” the Quarterly dove headfirst into the risque. During its 25-issue run between 1997 and 2003, it printed interviews with porn star Jenna Jameson, offered sex advice on how to “go down” in public and suggested — on multiple occasions — that its readers dabble in group sex. One issue published an article on how to be a “Web exhibitionist,” another featured a Slovenian philosopher barking orders to “learn sex” at school and big-dick Ron Jeremy even stopped by to talk about performing oral sex on himself and using a cast made from his own penis.

The actual Abercrombie clothing being modeled in the magalog was an afterthought, appearing in Weber’s photos as more of an impediment to nudity than an actual, purchasable item. The whole thing was, as journalist Harris Sockel put it in an Human Parts essay, “20 percent merch, 20 percent talk and 100 percent soft-core aspirational porn.”

None of this would have been vexing had a more adult-oriented brand been the ones hawking it, but Abercrombie & Fitch was — and still is — marketed toward suspiciously toned teenage field hockey players named Brett. Though he might have looked like a man in his big salmon-pink polo, Brett was but a child. Abercrombie was fond of saying its clothing was for college-aged clientele, but we all knew where its real haute runway took place — inside the crowded halls of every middle school in Ohio.

The Quarterly, too, was intended for college kids, and to prove it, Abercrombie shrink-wrapped it in plastic and sold only to those over 18 for $6 a pop. You could buy it as a subscription, of course, but it was more commonly found in-store, nestled alongside A&F’s cargo shorts and “thongs for 10-year-olds,” a questionable placement that prompted concerned parents, conservatives and Christians to accuse Abercrombie of sullying their children’s minds with impure thoughts.

As such, the Quarterly became the subject of a mounting number of boycotts, protests and controversies that some believe were responsible for its eventual demise. By the time circulation peaked at 1.2 million in 2003, it had been denounced by organizations like the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the American Decency Association, Focus on the Family, the National Organization for Women and, of course, the Catholic League.

Yet the outrage against the Quarterly was matched — if not exceeded — by its cult following, who found its frank portrayal of sexuality to be transcendent. Journalists, artists and the teens whose hands it fell into adored the magazine, and its rarity — plus its utter absurdity — makes it a sought-after collector’s item to this day.

At the same time, few people know about the Quarterly and even fewer realize what it meant to the generations of young people discovering themselves and their sexualities through the unlikely lens of branded content. As journalist Emily Lever puts it, “There’s no weirder way to learn about sex than to pick up a magazine by Abercrombie & Fitch — a brand for hot, mean mostly white kids who shoved you into lockers — but, I guess I’ll take it?”

This is the story of how an oversexed and strangely intellectual magazine by a polo shirt brand completed the improbable task of changing the course of sexuality in America’s malls, homes and moose-print boxers.

AND IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS ASS

The first issue A&F Quarterly debuted in June 1997. With 70-ish pages of full-color hard bodies, it was relatively tame compared to later editions, but it quickly became popular when Abercrombie’s nubile clientele realized it was a paper-backed portal into an adult world of sex, nudity and the kind of unbridled sensory hedonism their parents warned them about. As rumors of its legend began to spread, people began to wonder: What the hell is A&F Quarterly, and why is it printing ass for teens?

Emily Lever, journalist and chronicler of the Quarterly’s absurdist philosophical leanings: A&F Quarterly was an in-house magazine put together by Abercrombie & Fitch that published a who’s who of literati to accompany their images of young adult and teen bodies in order to hawk expensive distressed jeans and polo shirts to kids who would shove you inside a locker.

Alissa Quart, author of Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers and director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project: From what I recall, it had a Bruce Weber-y vibe — gorgeous young men and teens unapologetically objectified, a leering retro pin-up element, also sort of like the highly stylized, sexed-up, nostalgic 1980s and 1990s black-and-white Guess ads. Men — boys, really — were photographed without their shirts, elaborately muscled abs, sometimes naked.

Harris Sockel, in his Human Parts essay: [It was] Playboy crossed with Fratmen.com and a bit of Field & Stream. The Quarterly made my hormones do a kick line across my frontal lobe. I wanted to nibble the soy ink for snack until sunrise. To absorb it so deeply I sweat grey drops onto my pillow. To rip a page from that issue and fold it into a paper flower and stick it all the way up my ass until it came out my mouth.

Lever: Yeah, it was hot. But it was also extraordinarily literary. It featured big-time thinkers, writers and philosophers — stuff that was supposedly intended to expand your mind. It was way too high-brow for the average Abercrombie teen, and its existence made almost no sense given what the brand represented.

Savas Abadsidis, editor-in-chief, 1997-2003: There was nothing else like it. We were the first mainstream brand to combine playful, irreverent, intellectual content with sex and youth in this beautiful, high-art magazine format. Was it controversial? Sure. But it made the entire country take notice.

What they didn’t necessarily see, however, was what was going on behind the scenes. Not only were we the first brand to do this kind of advertising, we were also the first big brand to normalize gay culture for a mainstream audience, expose America’s youth to some of the era’s most progressive thinkers and use our platform to address sexuality in a useful, hands-on way. And you wouldn’t necessarily expect that from Abercrombie. That’s what made it so cool.

It all began in 1996. I was 22 and working at a temp job for a prominent New York architect who happened to be friends with Sam Shahid, a big-time creative director for Calvin Klein, Banana Republic and later, Abercrombie & Fitch. He was looking for an assistant. I had taken a deferment to go to law school and was looking for a job for that interim year, so I applied. I got in.

It was a horrible gig at first. Just awful, Devil Wears Prada-type stuff. I left crying many nights. But I had two things going for me. The first was that Abercrombie had a really small office in the West Village. Mike Jeffries, the president and CEO of Abercrombie, used to come in. He wore flip flops, had a desk made out of a surfboard and began each sentence with the word “Dude.”

Mike Jeffries, ex-CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, speaking to Salon in 2006: Dude, I’m not an old fart who wears his jeans up at his shoulders.

Abadsidis: I didn’t know it at the time, but Mike was gay (I wouldn’t find out until much later). I think that was part of the reason why he and Sam — who was also gay — took me under their wing. They actually didn’t realize that I was, too — it’s not like we all sat around a bonfire at Fire Island and talked about how us gay guys were infiltrating Abercrombie — but that dynamic dovetailed nicely with Bruce’s photography for both the brand and the Quarterly, and it certainly set the tone for what was to come. I was grateful to get what amounted to an unofficial apprenticeship from both Mike and Sam, and eventually, they had me doing much more involved tasks than I was hired to do.

One of them was sitting in on important meetings. At the time, Mike was inviting all these different editors from magazines like Interview, Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone to come in and brainstorm ideas for what the Quarterly could be, but their ideas were flat. They felt like ideas coming from 45-year-olds writing for college kids, and I could tell Mike was getting frustrated by how little they seemed to grasp what he wanted.

One day in a meeting, one of the magazine editors threw out an idea. Without even acknowledging him, Mike turned to me. “Savas,” he asked. “What do you think about that?”

My mind raced — I could tell he was testing me. If I flubbed the answer, I’d be done. I briefly considered censoring myself, but then I thought better. What did I have to lose? I was young. Surely, I’d find another summer job. “I don’t think it’s a great idea,” I told him.

Apparently, that was the right answer. Mike practically threw the guy out of the room.

After that, I started to think more about what I’d want to see out of a magazine. I was just out of college as a French comparative literature major at Vassar, and I was super into that sort of 1950s-style Esquire journalism with the dapper closing essay. I was deep into The New Yorker, Interview Magazine, 1990s-era Details, MAD Magazine and 1980s pop star mags like Tiger Beat, too — those were all an influence. I also loved philosophy, social theory and comics. And graphic novels. You know — college stuff. Then it hit me: If the magazine was for people like me, why not get actual college kids — not 50-year-olds — to create our content?

I suspected my ideas were what they were looking for and knew they’d look fresh compared to what other editors were throwing out, so I decided to take a risk. I got up at 2 a.m. and typed out a 20-page proposal for what I thought the Quarterly should be. The next morning, I faxed a copy to Mike. I left another on Sam’s desk.

About a (very anxious) week later, Sam called me into his office and told me to pick up his phone. Mike was on the other line. As I reached for the receiver, he leaned over to me and said, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

I didn’t even have time to comprehend what that meant before Mike’s voice was in my ear. “Congratulations, kid,” he told me. “You get one shot.”

Shortly thereafter, I was promoted from Sam’s assistant to the completely green, 23-year-old editor-in-chief of the Quarterly. It was a Jerry Maguire moment. I was thrilled and terrified at the same time.

They gave me a month to put together a staff and get the first issue out. Bruce Weber was named as its exclusive photographer — he’d already been shooting ads and campaigns for Abercrombie — and Sam was the creative director. As for me, I knew I’d need an editorial staff, and stat.

HOLY SHIT, THERE ARE NO LIMITS

Abadsidis quickly throws together a team composed of two college buddies, Patrick Carone and Gary Kon, who he describes as “pretty funny and stuff.” Carone became the only straight guy on the editorial side. Kon is Jewish and gay. The three of them vow to stay as true to the idealized college experience as possible with their content — even if it means chasing white whales.

Abadsidis: I can’t remember the exact starting budget, but it was upwards of a few million, probably much larger than most magazines get for their first issue! But our budget was also Bruce’s budget. He was getting advertising money, so we were well taken care of in that regard.

We weren’t really expected to turn a profit, though. That was never the point. Come to think of it, I don’t even think we tracked how much the magazine impacted clothing sales, although from what I can remember, clothing sales bumped up double digits every quarter after we launched (for a while, at least). [This statement is unverified.] But that didn’t matter: Our mission was just to set the brand image and make people aware of us. That was our version of success. We were also our only advertiser for a while, so we could get away with a lot of stuff that other publications couldn’t.

Gary Kon, managing editor, 1997-2003: When Savas offered me the job, I jumped at the opportunity. I’d already interned for Sam, and I’d have to scan hundreds of Bruce Weber images that he shot for Abercrombie as part of the job. And I fell in love with his work. It was the visual connection that seduced me. Weber’s photos were like a new Greek mythology; the men and women depicted in the photos were both idealized and sexualized. As a gay kid, who was pretty comfortable by that time in my own skin, I had no problem recognizing the eroticism in his work.

Abadsidis: Me, Gary and Patrick was definitely something special. I don’t think I’ll ever have an opportunity to create anything like that again. I was a huge comic book fan. If I had to describe it, it’s the closest thing I’ll ever come to Stan Lee’s Marvel comics bullpen. Pretty much everyone I hired was super unique. We weren’t all gay (maybe half of us were) but few of us really adhered to the Abercrombie image.

I think Sean came on in 2001.

Sean T. Collins, managing editor, 2001-2003: I was a little skittish about it at first because Abercrombie & Fitch represented everything I was not. They marketed, almost exclusively, to the lacrosse players that called me names I cannot repeat. It was very preppy, and that was not me at all.

I was alternative, maaan. I was a big fan of Nine Inch Nails. I wore a lot of black. A&F was everything I wasn’t, and in a way, everything that had tormented me as a kid. The irony of me working for them was palpable, but what I learned very quickly was that at the Quarterly, you could do anything that you wanted.

One of my first articles was an interview with Clive Barker, the writer and director of Hellraiser (he also wrote Candyman). Now, if you’ve seen Hellraiser, you can imagine just how far of a departure a sadomasochistic horror film was from Abercrombie & Fitch, but getting him to sign on was easy. He’s gay, and at the time, he was super ripped. I think he appreciated the extravagant gayness of the Weber stuff in particular. He was also a photographer, and his husband was, too. I think he recognized what was going on with the photography.

We had an unlimited expense budget, so I took him out for drinks at the Four Seasons. I talked to him for hours, and then he invited me to go back to his house and hang out and see his art studio. He had three mansions in a row on Sunset in Los Angeles, up in the hills. One for his office, one for his actual domicile and one that was a painting studio. I got to see that. I was just a 23-year-old kid. This was my first job out of college, and I felt like Cameron Crowe from Almost Famous. After that, I was like, “Holy shit, there are no limits.”

Kon: I have to credit Savas with pushing us to work without limitations. We were very lucky. At some point during my tenure, I realized that as long as we worked within our (sizable) budget, we had almost full autonomy. We could plan trips to Hollywood to shoot our favorite actors. We could travel to Thailand to reenact our version of The Beach. We could tag along to London or Rome or wherever Bruce was shooting the catalog. We could stroll into the office at 11 a.m. and work until 11 p.m.

Collins: If I wanted to talk to Bettie Page, the pinup model from the 1950s, they’d be like, “Okay, sure.” If I wanted to feature Underworld, my favorite electronic music band, it was, “Sure, go ahead.” It was total editorial freedom, which was so strange knowing how specific of a person the “Abercrombie type was.” I’ve been writing for two decades now, and I’ve never experienced anything like it since.

Abadsidis: Everyone wanted to be in it, too. At first, it was just indie musicians. But then, in the second issue, we snagged Lil’ Kim. That’s when I knew we’d made it big. She was into it — she loved everything about the Quarterly. A lot of people did. The whole high-brow/low-brow thing was really appealing, and the idea of going to college, reading good books, getting drunk and having sex felt uniquely nostalgic and fresh in the context of America back then. Clinton was getting impeached for getting a blow job. It was just a weird, puritanical time, and the Quarterly gave people a national platform to let their freak flag fly.

We had Rudy Guiliani, early Britney Spears, Paula Abdul. There was the New York issue where we talked about the Harlem Renaissance. Spike Lee — one of my idols — asked me if he could be in it. He’d done advertising, you know? I remember him being like, “Yo, this is the deal. I’ve got to give you mad props. This is the dopest thing out right now, advertising-wise.”

We had big-time philosophers and literary figures, too. They were great. We wanted to mimic the experience of being in college and having your mind expanded, so we got writers like Bret Easton Ellis and Michael Cunningham on board. There was a whole Sex Ed issue plastered with musings from Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, a friend of a professor’s from college. I believe Jonathan Franzen was in there, too.

Jonathan Franzen, award-winning novelist and essayist: I gave hundreds of interviews between 1997 and 2003, almost all of them at the request of various publishers. One of them must have thought it was a good idea to talk to A&F. The fact that I apparently did (I don’t remember it) signifies nothing except that I felt grateful to my publishers.

Collins: We got a lot of weirdos, too. John Edward, the guy who talked to dead people. Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote Fight Club. At the time, it didn’t have the meathead reputation that it does now. It was legitimately looked at as this piece of anti-corporate, anti-capitalist art, the irony of which was just delightful given that we were a capitalist brand trying to sell polo shirts and $90 ripped jeans.

Abadsidis: The only guy who refused an interview was Donald Trump! I have a feeling his 90-year-old secretary had something to do with it. Though we were technically a magalog and did belong to the brand, our stuff was just really visionary. David Keeps, who was the editor of Details at the time, always defended the Quarterly as a real magazine and publicly said that we were doing more innovative stories than most “real” magazines at a time.

ASPIRATIONAL HOMOEROTICS

It’s no secret that the photography and creative direction of Weber and Shahid contained homoerotic undertones. Irreverent, minimal and moody, it was suggestive without being literal, spinning entire storylines into a single frame. At the same time, it was too idealized to be “real.” The queerness that their photos showed was, as Collins puts it, “aspirational,” meaning that like the mostly white, ab-riddled models instructed to sell cargo shorts by taking them off, they didn’t necessarily represent the full reality of what queerness actually was.

Still, the photos that the Quarterly published during its seven-year run did more to normalize and represent queerness and non-monogamy than any other mainstream brand at the time — weird, considering that Abercrombie’s target market was hegemonic suburbanites whose parents bred genetically pure golden retrievers and had cabins in Vail. Without these photos, the Quarterly might have read more as a minor-league Esquire or Ivy League MAD Magazine, but with them, it became one of the least-discussed, most under-appreciated items queer history.

Collins: Our editorial content — which almost functioned as a parody of so-called “Abercrombie people” — was always accompanied by this extremely beautiful photography that was also extremely queer. But it was never explicitly so. It was all this nudge, nudge, wink, wink stuff. I don’t know how you could miss it, though. The homoeroticism was so overt.

Abadsidis: You’d have had to have been blind not to consider the imagery homoerotic (though, it was really in the eye of the beholder). We had the Carlson twins posing on the cover and riding a motorcycle. We had a drag queen named Candis Cayne. There was a lesbian couple kissing at a wedding.

Kon: David Sedaris, Gus Van Sant, Gregg Araki, Avenue Q, Stan Lee, Peaches, Fischerspooner… you could teach a queer theory class with everyone we featured.

Abadsidis: At the same time, we never labeled anything as “gay” or “lesbian” or “queer.” We never came out and said, “Welcome to our gay magazine!” and we never had a meeting where we were like, “Okay, guys, let’s figure out how to make this thing gay.” It was more nonchalant. The imagery implied it without saying it.

Hampton Carney, A&F Quarterly spokesperson, 1999-2003: The message we were sending was clear: “You do you, whatever that is. Have fun!”

Abadsidis: That was a very 1990s thing.

Collins: There was a specific brand of Abercrombie gayness that got shown, though. The word that they always used to describe Abercrombie as a brand was “aspirational.” They didn’t want to make it like an everyday, normal-people brand. They wanted it to be associated with money, glamour and that WASP-y aesthetic. So all the gay raunch of it was presented within the context of what appeared to be a very square, nuclear family: white, wealthy and secure.

At the same time, that was really when same-sex marriage was kicking off as a political issue. I think you can see a commonality in how Abercrombie was essentially making an argument that you could be a normie and also be gay. That was a newish thing at the time (though I’m barely an expert as I’m not gay myself). Still, I can’t help but see a resonance between coming up with this clandestine content that normalized being gay at the same time this big political fight that was brewing.

Maybe being more forward about it would have come across as “too political.”

Abadsidis: Part of me wishes we’d gone a little further with being more outwardly queer, but I don’t think the time was right. Maybe with a braver CEO — no one at the time was brave enough to take on queerness or gay rights as a mainstream brand, including us — and that’s why few people remember the Quarterly as the sort of transcendent queer thing that it was.

Kon: It’s never been credited as such, but the Quarterly is really an item of gay history. I don’t think we were pushing a “gay” or “metrosexual” lifestyle on people as much as we were showing that it already existed, even out in Middle America. Perhaps that’s what made people uncomfortable. We took that thread of counterculture and taboo that ran through the imagery and continued it into the editorial content. We dealt with topics like drinking, drugs, religion, politics and sex. Again, these are issues young people dealt with daily, but were rarely editorialized.

At Vassar, there was a yearly party called The Homo Hop. It was one of the biggest parties of the year and leaned on Vassar’s history as a women’s college. I bring this up because, on the night of my freshman Homo Hop, I was instructed that each student had to do something sexually that they had never done, and one drug that they had never done. It wasn’t that you had to be gay, but you had to experience something that was new and different. I think that translated well into the Quarterly. Yes, there were a bunch of gay guys writing and shooting and drawing images. But we were simply trying to expose Cargo Short Brett to ideas, images, artists, books, writers and directors that he may have never heard of before. Our shared experiences would become his.

Collins: It was culture jamming, really.

Abadsidis: It was also very “college” to be fluid or experimental without labeling it. I think it’s safe to say that college is one of the gayest places there is in life, maybe not sexually, but definitely in terms of having your mind expanded about different types of people.

Carney: I was in a frat. I’d see fraternity brothers streaking across campus together. It was never a big deal. There are a lot more people in the middle of either extreme of sexuality than people talk about. We’re not one and 10 — we’re one through 10, if you will. That kind of stuff has always happened on college campuses, and that’s the kind of mentality we had around sex. We just happened to editorialize it really beautifully.

Collins: There’s a Barbara Kruger print that reminds me of the mood we were trying to capture: It reads: “You construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men.” That’s basically what Abercrombie & Fitch was. It was an intricate ritual that allowed sunkissed lacrosse players to metaphorically touch the skin of other men.

Carney: You know what’s funny, though? It was never the gay stuff people had a problem with. It was everything else.

LET THE CONTROVERSIES BEGIN

For almost every moment of its seven-year life, The Quarterly was a controversial publication. Parents, politicians and conservative-types didn’t appreciate its no-holds-barred approach to rampant fucking, and they could not, for the life of them, understand how such an adult magazine was making its way into the hands of their precious teens (who were probably jacking off to dad’s Playboys long before the Quarterly came along, but I digress). There was approximately one year — 1997 — where the amount of people it pissed off stayed below a critical mass, but after a certain somebody published a story that vaguely suggested underage kids drink, it was off to the races.

Abadsidis: We got in our fair share of trouble with Christian groups and concerned parents right off the bat. Let’s take one of the earlier issues — I believe it was Summer of 1998. It was my story. Basically, I suggested that people could do better than beer and that they should “indulge in some creative drinking.” There was one drink I made up called the “Brain Hemorrhage” and a few others you could play a drinking game with. We also included a spinner insert people could cut out.

None of it had anything to do with driving, of course, but the issue was called “On the Road.” It was a sort of beat-focused, Jack Kerouac thing, so some people interpreted that as us promoting drunk driving (though we did nothing of the sort). Also, the kid on the cover was underage. He was 16, if I remember correctly. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) didn’t like that.

Karolyn Nunnallee, vice president of public policy for MADD: We had been really focused on underage drinking and had been instrumental in getting the country’s legal drinking age raised to 21. Then Abercrombie & Fitch comes out with this weird magazine that basically said, “Don’t go back to college drinking the usual beer. We’re going to show you a new way to drink.”

Not only did they have this drinking game, but they had recipes for these mixed drinks for young people to partake in. I was like, “Abercrombie & Fitch? Aren’t they in the clothing business?” What in the world were they doing? I mean, they were a high-end brand, not Walmart. Why would they take their focus off of clothing and put it toward alcohol? Were their clothes not good enough that year or something?

Needless to say, we weren’t happy with them. Curse words were handed out. We sent a letter to them and started a whole media campaign about it. We went on as many news media outlets as we possibly could with the story of how incensed we were.

Abadsidis: I was sure I was going to get fired over that. We had to remove the page with the spinner out of every single issue across the country. We apologized, of course, but it ended up backfiring against the protesters — that incident gave us so much publicity. It put us on the map. It also made us a target for conservative types. They hated us. After MADD, boycotts of Abercrombie started flaring up all over the place. That’s around the time we hired Hampton to do PR.

Carney: It was my job, at the time, to defend the brand. I’d go on talk shows like Entertainment Tonight or Today Show and explain away our latest controversy (there were a lot). It wasn’t hard, actually; each time, I’d give them what was more or less my go-to response: “It’s a beautiful publication intended for college-aged kids.” And that was the truth! It was way ahead of its time and was absolutely meant for people 18 and up.

Though not everyone saw it that way. The sex and nudity really got to people. A lot of them definitely thought we were making porn. That was the constant complaint: We were deliberately putting porn in the hands of young kids.

Lever: The Quarterly featured about the same level of nudity as a European yogurt commercial. Which is to say, a lot. It was a “clothing catalog” with almost no clothing. Of course [American] people thought it was pornographic!

Carney: Okay, sure — there were photos of like, six girls in bed with one guy and more than a few spreads that enthusiastically suggested naked non-monogamy — but it wasn’t porn. It was tasteful. And let me tell you — nothing we had in there was surprising to kids.

Abadsidis: The models ranged from 16 to 20. It was erotic. It was art. I don’t think there’s anything pornographic about the Quarterly unless you think that nudity, in and of itself, is pornographic.

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood did, apparently. In 1999, she called for a boycott of Abercrombie & Fitch because its “Naughty or Nice” holiday issue “contained nudity” and “even an interview with a porn star.” That porn star was none other than Jenna Jameson, who at the time was well on her way to becoming a household name. A so-called “child prodigy” occupied the neighboring page, sparking accusations that the Quarterly somehow intended to connect children to porn.

A cartoon of Mr. and Mrs. Claus experimenting with S&M across from the statement “Sometimes it’s good to be bad” didn’t help, nor did the “sexpert” who offered advice on “sex for three” and told readers that going down on each other in a movie theater was acceptable “just so long as you do not disturb those around you.”

The Illinois Coalition of Sexual Assault joined Wood’s boycott. Later that year, Michigan attorney general (and eventual governor) Jennifer Granholm sent a letter to Abercrombie complaining that the “Naughty or Nice” issue contained sexual material that couldn’t be distributed to minors under state law.

Carney: There were four states that tried to ban us after that. I remember Granholm. She was my arch-nemesis at the time — we really got into it. I respected where she was coming from, of course, but our whole thing was that we weren’t showing anything that wasn’t actually happening on college campuses. And I’d already made it pretty clear to the press that the magazine wasn’t for minors.

Also, it’s not like we were the only magazine talking about or showing sex. You could find all the exact same stuff in Cosmo or Playboy — it’s just that we were a clothing brand, and one whose major customer base just so happened to be teens and young adults. No one expected that from us. Brands weren’t “supposed” to be talking about sex period, let alone to teens and young adults. But we took it upon ourselves to pioneer a more open, honest view of it. That’s the wrinkle that made it so interesting.

We did come to an agreement with Granholm. We decided to wrap the magazine in plastic and make it available for purchase only to those over 18, that way, it’d be even more clear that we weren’t “selling porn to the underage.”

Kon: I believe it was one of the few times the company acquiesced.

Collins: Other than that, don’t remember getting any instruction from Savas, Mike or Sam to tone it down. It was kind of mutually assumed that we weren’t going to apologize for the sexual nature of our content. We knew we had to keep things sexy, as it were — that was our whole thing.

We weren’t deliberately trying to piss off people, but we were trying to push the envelope, and there was definitely an element of deliberate trolling of conservatives and Christian groups. It was a good thing if we pissed them off. It created the controversy that made the brand seem edgy and dangerous, which is what you want if you’re trying to appeal to young people.

Carney: We were also just showing real things that happened at college. And as anyone who’s been to college knows, it’s not just about reading and writing papers. It’s also about sex. Not only that, of course, but we’re sexual beings. We respond to images that are sexual. We were trying to take the stigma away from that and acknowledge that it’s not a bad thing to do.

But no matter how clear we made it, our stance on sex polarized people more and more. I could tell, because almost as soon as I started speaking on behalf of the magazine, strange things started to happen to me. I got stalkers. People left me messages saying I was going to hell and I’d have no afterlife. I got hate mail to my house. One person left a package containing their dirty, stained underwear at the front door of my apartment with a note saying they’d be “coming by later” to “talk to me about it.” I had to call the police on that one.

I was the face of the publication, so I got the vast majority of the harassment. But I didn’t mind. It was my job to take the fall, and I heard and respected every single person’s complaint and talked to them about it. Plus, for every message I got banishing me to hell, I got another from a journalist or a fan begging me to save a copy for them. People collected them. They really loved it, precisely because it was so sexual.

Abadsidis: Mike didn’t flinch about any of this stuff. He wanted to defend it because he could see it was working. We weren’t about to tone anything down (at the time).

Flash-forward to June 2001. The Twin Towers are still standing tall, tips are being frosted and Apple has just unleashed iTunes onto an unsuspecting populace. A&F Quarterly, now in its fourth year, is in hot water once again. Having survived a number of boycotts, lawsuits and controversies since its inception, it’s now in the midst of weathering another minor national conniption over its use of nudity.

Jeannine Stein, describing the Summer 2001 issue in an excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article called “Nudity? A&F Quarterly Has It Covered”: [It’s] explicit in ways that most catalogs and fashion magazines are not, and its use of male nudity is uncommon among general-interest publications. It features 280 pages of young, attractive men and women alone and together, in serious, romantic, sexual and party modes, wearing lots of A&F clothes, some A&F clothes and sometimes no clothes at all. Among the coffee-table book-ish photos by Bruce Weber is a man, covered only by a towel, surrounded by five women; a woman at the beach reclining body-to-body with three men; a back view of a naked man getting into a helicopter (we haven’t quite figured that one out yet); and a few topless females.

There are many naked butts and breasts.

Abadsidis: We also had photos of nude women in a fountain — which were inspired by Katharine Hepburn skinny-dipping at Bryn Mawr College — and a whole set dedicated to the Berkeley student that spent a day naked in class. It was par for the course for us, but even though we’d done the whole shrink-wrap and over-18 thing, people still felt it was too sexual for branded content.

In response, an unexpected alliance formed between cultural conservatives and anti-porn feminists to boycott Abercrombie & Fitch over the Summer 2001 issue of A&F Quarterly. According to Wikipedia, the offending issue included “photographs of naked or near-naked young people frolicking on the beach,” “top-naked young women and rear-naked young men on top of each other” and an “interview with porn star Ron Jeremy, who discussed performing oral sex on himself and using a dildo cast from his own penis.” Once again, Wood was at the helm.

David Crary, journalist, excerpt from a 2001 Associated Press article: Illinois Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood — a Republican who has been sparring with A&F since 1999 — announced the boycott campaign last week in Chicago. She has recruited a diverse mix of supporters more familiar with facing off against each other than with working together.

Wood, writing on her website in 2001: A&F is glamorizing indiscriminate sexual behavior that unsophisticated teenagers are not possibly equipped to weigh against the dangers of date rape, unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease.

Michelle Dewlen, president of the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women, speaking at one of Woods’ press conferences in 2001: It’s not a catalog. It’s a soft porn magazine.

Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch, head of Concerned Christian Americans, as quoted by the AP: It’s very important for people to get involved. The exploitation of sex and young people in A&F’s catalog isn’t only atrocious but also a psychological molestation of their teenage customers.

Quart: It was predatory in a few ways, really. One was that it confused the corporate identity of Abercrombie and the advertising with the editorial. It preyed on young consumers not understanding the difference between editorial content and sales content. Back then it led, I saw, to a way that girls were objectifying themselves and commodifying themselves. It ultimately led to boys also objectifying themselves and commodifying themselves — not to the same extent, but far more than they were when I started reporting Branded a little more than two decades ago.

I have the stats on the male body image dysmorphia at the time in Branded (which has only worsened). Then, male body shaming and “manorexia” was on the rise, for the first time on a mass scale. It couldn’t help for the most popular brand at the time to have a dedicated giant glossy magazine filled with pictures of male teenagers with zero body fat half undressed.

Abadsidis: I mean, sure, as much as any advertising does. It wasn’t like we were leading that charge. Any effect on self-image was certainly unintentional, but I do think it did make people want to be athletic. You definitely saw a lot of guys trying to look like that during that period, especially as time went on. If you look at the first few issues, the guys aren’t that built. Ashton Kutcher was actually in the second one — that was his first big break — and they get increasingly more cut from there. That whole era is when men’s body issues started to come out.

Lever: I’d also submit that all this was controversial because it was pre-internet. The internet mainstreamed sexual content in a way that makes A&F or other “scandalous” ad campaigns (like the 2003 Gucci ad with the model’s pubes shaved into the shape of a G) seem quaint, even obsolete. Like, do you remember that Eckhaus Latta ad a few years ago that scandalized people for five minutes because it showed people having real (albeit pixelated) sex? Neither does anyone else.

SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK TEACHES SEX ED

Always filled with philosophy, social theory and intellectually minded topics that likely soared over the heads of most Abercrombie consumers, the Quarterly outdid itself in the Fall of 2003 with its penultimate issue. A gorgeous romp of summer-spirited abandon accompanied by some delightfully incoherent, Dada-like musings from Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, it connected a “back-to-school” theme with a pretty clear directive to fuck. Yet, the information it presented was actually rather safe and tame, a reality which confused and irritated Quarterly staff. Their content was legit, so why was everyone up in arms?

Abadsidis: The “Sex Ed” issue was the second to last one that we did. It got some of the most criticism, and was supposedly the reason everything was finished. I literally had stuff in there cited straight from the University of Michigan’s freshman student handbook on sexual conduct, and it still pissed people off! Then, of course, there was Žižek.

Lever: Žižek identifies as a radical leftist. He’s very famous for his work on cultural theory and critical theory. He analyzes all kinds of topics in his signature, impenetrable — but also approachable — style. And when I think of him, I think of his very distinctive manner of speaking, that some people have described as being on cocaine constantly. But he’s definitely kind of a cult figure, a favorite of people who consider themselves highbrow, but also fun.

He’s really touted as the greatest anti-capitalist of our time, and yet, here he was, “sexually educating” the mean girls and boys of your high school, in a brand catalog whose entire goal was to ensnare young people for the purpose of selling them distressed jeans.

According to the magazine’s foreword, the editor wrote to Žižek and said this: “Dear Slavoj, enclosed please find the images for our back to school issue. We’ve never had a philosopher write the text for our images before, so write what you like. We’re looking for that Karl Marx meets Groucho Marx thing you do so well. Thanks, Savas.”

Abadsidis: I love Slavoj. He was friends with one of my professors from school. He only had 24 hours to write this, so we actually sent someone to London where he was to drop off the images we wanted him to write text for. They hung out for a day and then flew back with what he’d written.

Lever: It was basically a series of insane, absurdist ramblings pasted over really hot naked people.

Žižek, excerpt from A&F Quarterly’s 2003 Sex Ed issue: Back to school thus means forget the stupid spontaneous pleasures of summer sports, of reading books, watching movies and listening to music. Pull yourself together and learn sex.

Lever: I mean, that’s like the first episode of every teen TV show, where these three nerdy boys start high school and they’re like, “Okay, we’re going to be cool this year guys. We’re going to lose our virginities.” It’s very formulaic. But there’s more.

Žižek: The only successful sexual relationship occurs when the fantasies of the two partners overlap. If the man fantasizes that making love is like riding a bike and the woman wants to be penetrated by a stud, then what truly goes on while they make love is that a horse is riding a bike… with a fantasy like that, who needs a personality?

Lever: The “go learn sex at school” part really struck a nerve with conservatives. But I don’t think it was that transgressive. Fourteen-year-olds are receiving messages to have sex all the time — what did it matter if some Eastern European anti-capitalist was hitting them over the head with it through the pages of a polo shirt advert?

Abadsidis: Fox News got involved, if I remember correctly. That was one of the few times I actually got pissed off about how an issue was being covered. I mean, the information in there was handed out to students by an actual university. Half the issue was quotes from this really influential philosopher. But for some reason, people really took offense to the language of it. That whole year [2003] was just a bad one for us.

THE LAST HORNY CHRISTMAS

For its final trick, the Quarterly released a holiday issue featuring 280 pages of “moose, ice hockey, chivalry, group sex and more.” It had oral sex, group sex, sex in a river, Christmas sex and pretty much every other type of sex you could think of, all which followed an earnest letter from Abadsidis which read: “We don’t want much this year, but in keeping with the spirit, we’d like to ask forgiveness from some of the people we’ve offended over the years. If you’d be so kind, please offer our apologies to the following: the Catholic League, former Lt. Governor Corrine Wood of Illinois, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Stanford University Asian American Association, N.O.W.”

But the issue didn’t really hit. By fall 2003, Abercrombie was involved in a number of lawsuits and protests related to exclusion and discrimination, which left people cold despite the inviting warmth of a crackling, fireside circle jerk (a Weber offering which, I’m told, can be found on page 88 of the final issue).

Cole Kazdin, journalist, writing in a 2003 Slate article called “Have Yourself a Horny Little Christmas”: The challenge for me, when masturbating with my friends to the nubile nudies in the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, is trying not to think about serious things like racial diversity; it tends to kill the mood. But because most of the models in the catalog are white and because a lawsuit has been filed against the clothing retailer for allegedly discriminating against a Black woman who applied for a job at the store, it’s hard for the issue not to rear its nonsexy head. [In 2004, Abercrombie also agreed to pay $40 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of promoting whites over Latino, Black, Asian-American and female applicants.]

Collins: As a brand, Abercrombie did a lot of things that were quite gross. I’m sure you remember when they came out with these T-shirts with these racist stereotype characters on them. You would just see it in the catalog and just be like, “Jesus Christ.” It was awful and stupid and self-defeating, just tone deaf. And we just couldn’t figure out how no one at the company saw the problem with it.

Stagg, excerpt from Sleeveless: Kids in my high school wore shirts that read, “Wok-n-Bowl” and “Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White,” accompanied by cross-eyed propaganda-style cartoons. If you weren’t part of the in-crowd (and white), A&F was oppressive. Non-jocks made their own anti-A&F T-shirts, using the brand as a catchall for exclusionary, competitive behavior and old-fashioned bullying.

Carney: That stuff was indefensible, really. Those were the darkest days of my job — listening to calls and reading letters about how offensive those shirts were. Even though the Quarterly was quite separate from the brand and we had no influence over what they did or what clothes they designed, we did still have to print their stuff at the back of the magazine. It was pretty uncomfortable.

Stagg: By 2006, Mike Jeffries’ most controversial public statement on sex appeal was really just saying what we were all thinking: “Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” Those remarks were followed by lawsuit after lawsuit, mostly involving staffing discrimination. An announcement about the store refusing to carry anything over a size 10 reportedly marked a noticeable decrease in sales.

Abadsidis: There were a lot of underlying problems at the company. The amount of negative press Abercrombie was getting was getting silly. No matter what we did, we’d end up in the news, especially if it was related to the Quarterly. After so many bad news incidents, it just felt done, like its moment had passed. It was bound to crash at some point.

Gina Piccalo, excerpt from the Los Angeles Times: Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has pulled its controversial in-store catalogs after outraged parents, conservative Christian groups and child advocates threatened a boycott over material they said was pornographic. However, a company spokesman said the move had nothing to do with the public outcry. The catalogs were pulled to make room near cash registers for a new Abercrombie & Fitch fragrance.

Abadsidis: People like to think that the boycotts and Christian protests had something to do with it, but that wasn’t the case at all. By 2003, Abercrombie’s stock was low — something to do with ordering too much denim. The store was having negative sales for the first time. There was the line in the New York Times, who covered our demise, that Mike was “bored” with it.

Collins: We had no warning. We were all there one day, and the next, we were gone.

Lever: The Quarterly was a relic of a different time. I feel like it could never have been made after 2008 for so many reasons — economic, and cultural and political. It would just never fly. It was made before feminism pervaded everything, at a time where you could be completely flagrant about gross patriarchal shit and still get away with it.

It was kind of like this last gasp of a certain conception of what’s desirable — a very hegemonic coolness exemplified by white Ivy League frat kids who got fucked up the night before their philosophy class. That doesn’t have much currency anymore. Abercrombie kept that image on life support until its last gasp.

Now, 20 years later, what’s cool is not that. What’s cool is to have depression and ADD. The ideal is out. The real is in. And the Quarterly, having always existed in the liminal space between, is neither here nor there.

EPILOGUE

In 2008, Abercrombie resurrected the Quarterly in the U.K. for a limited-run special edition to celebrate the success of its European stores. The original team was reunited — Abadsidis, Shahid and Weber — with the hopes that Britain’s more “open-minded approach to culture and creativity” would provide a welcoming substrate on which to re-grow their original ideas of sexual liberation. The issue, “Return to Paradise,” was “more mature” than its American cousin. It was well-received — aside from the usual protests about sex and nudity — but it wasn’t continued.

Two years later, in 2010, the Quarterly was revived again, this time as a promotional element for Abercrombie’s Back-to-School 2010 marketing campaign, which bore the unfortunate title of “Screen Test.” The lead story Abercrombie put out on its website sounded like a cross between American Idol and a gay porn shot: “The staff of A&F Studios opens up to editorial to explain the steps the division takes to find new, young, hot boys. The cattle-call approach to herd young talent ends with the best of the beefcake earning a screen test that ‘could be the flint to spark the trip to the star.’”

Bruce Weber would be shooting, of course. This would become especially ominous after he was accused of a series of casting-couch style sexual assaults by 15 male models beginning in 2017. According to the accusations, he subjected them to sexually manipulative “breathing exercises” and inappropriate touching, insinuating that he could help their careers if they complied.

Arick Fudali, a lawyer at the Bloom Firm, which represents five of Weber’s alleged victims, declined to confirm or deny whether any of the alleged assaults happened on a Quarterly shoot. If they did, they’re not prosecutable as sexual assaults in New York. Because the states’s statute of limitations on reporting rape is only three years, anything that happened during the Quarterly’s run wouldn’t count toward a sexual assault charge (unless a minor was involved, which Fudali also declined to confirm).

No one I spoke with for this story remembers seeing, hearing or experiencing anything like what the allegations against Weber describe, but some expressed concern over how they might affect the legacy the Quarterly leaves behind. “The accusations are pretty grim,” Collins told me. “You feel for the people who are put in that position. People had power over them. It just makes you think, ‘Was any of this worth it?’ Not really, if people were getting hurt.”

As such, it’s difficult to conclude with definitive sign-off about the Quarterly’s legacy. Either it was a bastion of progressive and transversive sexuality that simultaneously trolled and nourished the very audience it sought to mine, or it was the product of darkness and pain. Either way, Sockel sums it up just right: “The Quarterly was discontinued in 2003, after the American Decency Association boycotted photos of doe-eyed bare-assed jocks in prairies and glens,” he wrote in his recollection. “It was nice while it lasted.”

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #368

“whatever doesn’t kill you, is gonna leave a scar”

Have you ever bought a YouTuber’s merch? My favorite shirt is the Day of the Dead design by Cloak, which is Markiplier's and jacksepticeye's clothing brand. Mom's friend/former co-worker also got me a Ninja Sex Party shirt because she knew I liked them. There are SO MANY YouTubers I wanna support by buying shirts. Do you think oatmeal tastes better when made with water or milk? Milk, 110%. Have you ever left a note in a library book? No. What time of day do you prefer to wash your hair? Morning. Has anyone ever spread lies about you? Yes. Have you ever taken a photograph with a celebrity? If so, did it turn out the way you wanted, or do you wish you could retake it? No. If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you? If so, where would you go? If it didn't mean being so very far from my family, I would love to move to Canada. Is there a celebrity that everyone else seems to love, but you find totally overrated? Why is it that you don’t like them? I legit don't know who's considered currently popular, and I especially don't know who they are as people. If you could volunteer for any charity, which one would you choose? Do you think it’s more important to help humans, or are animal and environmental charities equally important? Something relating to animals, and I think they're both equally important. Do you prefer holidays where you relax, or actually do things? I like a mix. Something chill, but you still do some stuff as a family. Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive? Yes. Has anybody ever told you that you could be a model? Someone has mistaken me for a model in a picture I once took. It was one of the most flattering things I've ever heard, haha. Do you use different kinds of moisturizer for different body parts? ie. hand lotion for your hands, face cream for your face. Or do you just use one moisturizer for all body parts? Yes. Have you ever felt like you were someone’s rebound? No. Has anybody ever broken up with you over something really pathetic? What was it? Have you ever been dumped in a disrespectful way? (eg. through text, through a friend..) I have 100% been dumped in a very cowardly and disrespectful way; after dating Jason for nearly four years and being very serious, he broke up with me very abruptly over Facebook Messenger. His reason was valid, but at the same time, he NEVER talked to me about it. Apparently my depression was dragging him down. If he'd fucking communicated it, I would have explored new treatment options so goddamn fast. But no, he decided to snap his fingers and disappear. That's exactly WHY it was so traumatic, I think: it was so unexpected and sudden. Did you have a lot of role models as a kid? Animal enthusiasts like Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin for sure. Do you feel like anyone looks up to you? Why or why not? God no. I'm just... not someone to aspire to be like. What was the last thing you found offensive? I'm not sure. Who is the nicest person you know? My mom. Do you feel safe in your country? I feel safe in NC, rather. Like I don't expect an atom bomb or terrorist attack or something in this obscure area. In the U.S.A. itself, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. America is definitely not loved by every other country. Do you feel safe where you live? Not in this city, no. Have you been falsely diagnosed with something by a bad doctor? Yup. Did y'all know I apparently have ADHD? I know, shocking. Have you ever had a doctor refuse to treat you? No. Name the strangest game you’ve ever played (video game or real game): The first Silent Hill, probably. It took a lot of reading to get it. Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning before? No. Which cartoon character would you want to keep as a pet? Does Stitch count? Or a Pokemon. Do you like marshmallows? Yes. What is your favorite flavor of candy cane? I really like the Jolly Rancher candy canes, I think they are? Have you ever fostered an animal? No. Do you still take hot showers when it’s hot out? Not as hot, but not cold except on very extreme occasions. When writing $ sign, do you draw one line through the S or two? Two. What animal have you always wanted as a pet but couldn’t have? I'm thankful that my parents were pretty open-minded to what pets I really wanted, but one I was never allowed to have was a ferret because of how messy and smelly they are. List three people you’ve had crushes on: Jason, Sara, and Sebastian were probably my biggest crushes. Have you ever thrown up from cramps? No, but god have I felt close. List three people you had a hard time forgiving. Jason, Colleen, and my dad. Who is the most spiritual person you know? Probably my sister's mother-in-law. Would you ever start a vlog? God no, I'd bore people to tears. Are your dreams coming true yet? I mean, I guess in some ways with my mental health. In my deepest depression, what I have now was a dream, even though current me is very discontent with it. Most of my dreams, though? No. Do you struggle with depression? I've been diagnosed with severe depression since 7th grade. Are you haunted by your past? A few things won't leave me alone. What medical conditions do you have? Just a lot. There are even more that are up for debate. I've talked about my diagnosed conditions enough. Do you use a Magic Bullet? No. What does your apron look like? I don’t have one. What are your favorite spicy foods? Hot Cheetos, Takis, hot wings, jalapeno pizza... Man, I love spicy food. Which do you like better: being an adult or being a kid? Being a kid. Were you excited to be a teenager on your thirteenth birthday? I had very mixed feelings. Did you feel insecure in high school? Shit, I still do. Would you ever be friends with someone who was suicidal? What the FUCK is this question? No fucking shit I would be. Someone being suicidal in no way affects who they are as a person. Who was the biggest bully in high school? I don't think there really was one. What was your favorite class in high school? Art. Would you rather have a daughter or a son? If I wanted kids, a daughter. Have you ever written to an advice columnist? No. Have you ever had a doctor not believe what you told him? Maybe? I did however have an employee at the ER the first time I went try to pry out of me that my self-mutilation was for attention, and it wasn't until I insisted about a dozen times that it wasn't that he believed me. It's odd looking back that I got REALLY attached to him during that stay, knowing now that it was absolutely horrible and extremely unhelpful for him to do that. If you’re female, would you feel uncomfortable having a male gynecologist? I would absolutely refuse to have a male one. Do you like Lisa Frank? Yeah, like can you talk about aesthetic. What gives you nightmares? Boy, I wish I could tell you, given how much I have them. Were you ever hospitalized as a child? No. Did you get senior pictures taken? No. What color is your bicycle? I don’t have one. Did you ever have to take home a fake baby in health class? No, thank fuck. Would you rather wear ivory or white on your wedding day? What color will your bridesmaids wear? I'd rather wear black. I think red will be the bridesmaids' color. Would you rather have a swimming pool or trampoline? I want a swimming pool so damn badly so I could exercise my legs without worrying about sweating, and I can stop and rest whenever I want, unlike going walking or something. I don't think my knees could handle a trampoline. Do you think babies are cute? Some, sure. But a lot, not really. Do you dream about the future a lot? Yeah. Do you think about your past a lot? Way too frequently. How good are you at living in the moment? I'm trying to get better at it. Have you ever questioned God’s existence? Yeah. Vanilla frosting or chocolate? Chocolate. What’s your favorite foreign cuisine? I've actually been exploring Italian pasta lately. I'm not a big fan of foreign food that I've tried, though. Have you ever moved to another state? No. Did you do anything productive today? No. .-. Can you say the alphabet backwards? No, actually. Do you like flowers? Of course; does anyone not? Have you ever thought you were gonna die? I didn't care if I did or didn't. What kind of mood are you in today? I was honestly really depressed through most of it. Just health stuff was really getting to me. I just woke up from what was honestly like a four-hour nap and I feel all right, I guess. What are you craving right now? I REALLY want Domino's jalapeno pizza. Is there anyone you would seriously punch right now if you had the chance? No. What is worse, physical or emotional pain? Definitely emotional. Have you ever walked in on somebody doing something… questionable? When Dad still lived with us, I think he might have been watching... you know... on TV when I came into my parents' room for something. Idk for sure though. I didn't ask, and I don't want to know. If you were to make videos on YouTube, what would they be of? Oh god, idk. I don't want to make any. What I'd have most fun with would be reptile education, but I 1.) have literally one snake, 2.) am not extremely educated on a good number of them and don't want to be misleading, and 3.) I would run outta content fast. So, leave it to Snake Discovery, haha. Posting pictures of yourself in a bathing suit on the internet - ok or not? Yes, it's okay????? If you're talking about me personally though, you won't see me dead in a bathing suit picture. Do you typically laugh when somebody falls down? No, I gasp and see if they're okay. What is the most disturbing movie you’ve ever watched? Paranormal Entity. The ending is... a lot. Your opinion of Katy Perry, please? I like a couple of her songs. If you could say anything to your Mom right now… what would it be? "Thank you for absolutely everything."

[popculturebuffet]

Star Vs: Monster Bash Review or “Holy Shit Concentrated Into An Episode”

Hello everybody! I’m Jacob Mattingly and welcome back to my tom lucitor retrospective, where I go through every major apperance of everyone’s faviorite demon boy boy. In case you watch my schedule or reguarlly read this blog, and if so thank you.. especially you Kevin your a peach, you’ll know this one got pushed back two weeks because the day it was scheduled.. was the day AFTER the US Capitol Insurgency. So yeah an episode HEAVILY dealing with racisim, with a downer ending and a lot to dig into on the same day a bunch of racists stormed the captail to try and illegally keep another racist in office due to his bullshit claims the electoin was fraud, when it wasn’t he just can’t admit he lost, and their own idocy, violence and hatred was not something I could handle that day and I did some mickey mouse instead.  But while the effects of said riot are still being felt, and unlike many republicans are saying we shouldn’t just “move on” or “try to heal” because the wound needs to be properly examined so the people who carved our country open with a rusty knife can be prosecuted for it, enough time has passed that I can get back on the horse and eat that horse when it comes to this episode. Also expect new tomtrospective weekly with some exceptions till it’s done. So with the real world reasons for the delay out of the way, on with the show.  Previously on Star Vs: Star had a full subplot dealing with her super powered mewberity form, which was now golden and creating bunches of portals. While she wanted to just let it go loose on Eclipsa’s suggestoin, eventually it caused too much damage and Hekapoo was livid when Marco revealed he’d been covering for her and Star, realizing her friend was running himself ragged and ruined a friendship to help her, went to the source of all magic to fix things, metting the baby unicorns and with thier help gaining control over her form. While she does not use it given she JUST got it before this episode, it’s very relevant and makes her come off very stupid but we’ll get to that

In more directly relevant stuff, and our main event, we need to talk about Ms. Henious. Ms. Henious was introduced all the way back in Season 1 as head of St. Olga’s School for Wayward princsesses. She’s voiced by Jessica Walter, aka Malory Archer, Lucille Bluth and .. Fran Sinclair from dinosaurs?

I’ll process that later. Point is she’s a talented lady and voiced Henious perfectly. Henious ran the school as a nightmarish hellhole that stripped away princsesses indviduality when they became too much for their parents. Granted some did genuinely need to be reigned in, Pony went there and so did princess squishy a princess that tried to reinact the plot of face off despite her and star not even being the same species let alone looking remotely similar.. she also liked to say camera phone a lot despite all phones being camera phones for over a decade. 

But again like most reform schools it’s a hell hole dedicated more to beating and psyihholically tourturing the rebel or asshole out of you than actually helping so Star and Marco broke in to break out. It naturally was difficult and strenious but in the process our heroes freed the other girls and Marco became feminsest icon Princess Marco. And Marco’s possible gender fluidity, or being trans,  was well loved and while he was later said to hate the princess marco idntenity later.. I still dont’ quite buy it and feel Disney just wanted to nip any implications in the bud. Because their stupid and often non-inclusive to the queer community and have to be fought to get inclusivity in there half the time. Could’ve been clumsy writing and the writers not getting people really relating to marco possibly being gender fluid or trans, which given this season’s clumsy writing with marco in general I could buy, but i’m banking more on disney, where one executive can somehow stonewall gay representation because apparnetly one guy was the one who objected to enchanting grom fright.. and he can also go fuck himself with an old rhino’s horn. Which horn is up to you. Also we got two major hints at the future iwth her: a creepy mural star found of monsters and Henious being revealed to have cheek marks she supressed with her very own brainwashing machine. 

Our heroes revolution had uintetional side-effects as St.O’s became a party school, though it’s students actually still came back better for the moast part. Henious was thrown out, reduced to sleeping in her car with her manservant gemini and sending Rasticore, a septarian mercinary afer star.. and then carrying his arm around when he got reduced to that.. not because of star but because of a rogue gift card. We don’t have time to unpack that, so she later tried attacking one more time in season 2, in one of the single worst episodes of the series, as she attacked and Marco’s Parents, instead of being concerned about the strange woman and man and lizard man arm attacking thier children, were more concerned about.. tehir cool neighbors. which could’ve been funny but just got frustrating, especially because Marco defended himself well, pointing out while he trashed her school, and gets merchandising rights from princess marco merch, she you know, brainwashed innocent to semi innocent children and was in general horrible and his parents are only humoring her because they were both out of hte loop, which due to this being shortly before star and marco leaves amounts to nothing, and because of the stupid plot. 

So after that we got one more apperance in season 3 with her trying to expose marco as a boy to turn the princsses against him and get her school back.. but it was clearly a desperate and flimsy plan and they knew that already, and don’t care because their accepting. And again have done better without her so she gets thrown out and swore revenge on Marco, and here we are.  Finally, since returning Star’s been more active in monster rights, replacing their old batshit insane and patronizingly racist expert with Buff Frog and starting a position to get royal signatures. Obviously this dosen’t sound like the most effective way to do things but it’s both teenager accurate and not the worst plan i’ve heard from a teenager this week.. granted that’s also because I covered a teenager trying to win back her good for not a lot 23 year old boyfriend by stabbing his current girlfriend he left her for a bunch, so it’s not exactly a high bar to clear. So outside of the golden form thing, which i’ll get to in the review proper why I brought that up, that’s what’s all built up to this the mid season finale. While Stump Day DID come after this, I chose to cover it before it since it both takes place before that and feels out of place in the very story heavy episodes after it. So with that out of the way we’ll be taking a look at the full episode and Star’s horrible, no good, very bad night under the cut. 

We open at the Monster Temple, that place Ludo and Toffee were headquartered at for season 2 and the battle of mewni mini, where Star is holding a PARTY!

This.. this came up when I typed party. I don’t know why and I don’t WANT to know. I mean party is in the name.. is that a party line? Is this phone sex? No.. just no.. I don’t want dirty sweaty pigs in my phone sex.. I want Rocko like a gentlemen. 

Now THAT’S hot. And honestly with what i’ve admitted about myself at this point, can you genuinely tell if i’m joking or not?  Point is Marco and Rich Pidgeon are pitching in. Oh yeah those of you who didn’t get this far in the series, again hi kevin, might wonder wait whose that... well he’s a rich pidgeon, part of the pidgeon kingdom a kingdom of pidgeons that moved into another family’s castle, presumibly killed them, the book wasn’t specific on that and is now just a large bunch of pidgeons that don’t talk human except rich and get all creepy. They also have an excutioner which is as great a visual as you imagine. 

That and Marco tried faking singing rich singing it by shving a pien in his foot and making him sign it.. he didn’t know he was fully sapient but still. But it’s also season 3 marco. The fact he didn’t accidently burn the castle down trying to impress star and being mad when she wasn’t happy he comitted arson is an achievement. Rich apparently holds a grudge but says just kiddng.. maybe.. i’d be prepared for a pidgeon with a machete if I were Marco. Thankfully i’m not.. I mean I hate myself enough. 

Anyways the party is in full swing, as both monsters and mewmans are there. On the mewman sides are the royals we met at the Silver Bell Ball and on the monster side are a bunch of monster teens who look up to star we previously met during the Ludo arc in season 2. Pony arrives bringing a photo booth. And kelly! 

And also Johnny Blowhole...

That dolphin what showed up a few times, including in the comic and the show, like most of it’s supporting cast, just sorta forgot. Also was going to be my porn name, just in case till it ended up attached to a fictonal teenager. Did.. did not think naming a character “blowhole” through did they? 

Anyways the party is at “middle school dance” levels of awkward with the monsters and humans on other sides. Rock seems to be getting ready for a racist tyrade and singles out a yak like monster.. only to instead compliment the guy’s ripped jeans and the two compliment each other on horns... turns out the ones Rock always wear aren’t decorative but part of him due to a boating accident. Shame we never got more of this kid. that’s a good kid I tell you what.  But honestly and since the moment is right given their all in this episode.. we never get a lot of the other royals outside of tom and star PERIOD. While Penelope would show up one last time and Larry would make a cameo for the most part their just.. background filler. Even this pettitoin arc was two episodes long. Rich is BRAND new and he gets way more focus.. and even he only gets to show up again for the big “Gondor calls for aid moment” in season 4 where star summoned whoever she could get on short notice. And is the ONLY royal to besides Ponyhead. Larry has an intresting enough design but the underwater kingdom only got featured in the deep trouble tie in comic that got cut short, and he wasn’t created yet so he doesen’t even show up for it. Jagg’s is such a footnote to the creators she dosen’t ever show up after this, and finally Rock, despite being star’s COUSIN and despite his kingdom being specifically mentioned as the hardest to make sympathetic to eclipsa during her own entirely ignored arc trying to win over the other kingdoms, and despite it being where River comes from and thus possibly providing some more insight into that awesome, awesome man.. we get nothing. Hell the Cloud Kingdom of the Ponyeheads ONLY gets two visits despite being home of one of the main cast.. god I just realized Ponyhead was part of the main cast. 

So while I grapple with that, Star figures the punch is too warm and while Marco goes to get ice, she tries to remind him she can do magic and accidently puts it in your standard cartoon ice block.. and being star gets her tounge stuck. Thankfully her savior comes in the form of tom who being.. you know.. tom.. can simply melt it down and reminds her he’s been there the whole time. She’s just been a bit distracted with you know, trying to ease centuries of racial tension in a well meaning but ultimately pointless at best and risky at worst, partay. And dosen’t seem to get WHY she dosen’t want to dance.. even if they do have a REALY fucking cute moment where he leans in to kiss her, she catches him on it.. then blows a raspberry into his mouth when he does and smooches him on the cheek a bunch. 

But the whole thing leaves him as a grumpus venting to marco and boiling the punch.. though at least Marco gets to use that ice now so silver linings and all that. And when marco tries to explain he tells him he dosen’t “talk politics”

My baby boy.. i’m so disapointed in you. And Marco points out as he leaves “your a prince everything you do is political. “. Which is.. HALF true. I mean tom going to the bathroom or eating a taco or taking his grandpa fo ra walk on his leash so he dosen’t gouge anyones eyes out isn’t political.. but he’s also not wrong that being the half demon half mewman son of two royals, DOES mean tom can come off political and one previous episode which he made a cameo in even had Tom being profiled, with a shopkeep who shoed out another monster kid tried that on tom.. only to realize who he was dealing with and beg for mercy he probably only got because Tom’s trying to be a better person now. And I don’t think i’ts even malcious on tom’s part, tom isn’t the most empathetic guy. He’s nice, he’s sweet, and once he knows you he can be really thoughtful.. but as we’ve seen throughout this retrospective.. empathy is something he’s struggled with. He stalked star because he didn’t see HER side of him creeply and obessively persuing her until Marco got through to him. He missed the point of his therapy assignment, seeing it as a goal to get passed instead of hwat brian intended: for him to geninely make amends with someone he hurt. He didn’t get that while star didn’t, at the time, want to date him ignoring her would hurt her... though that on’es not on him. He’s not a bad guy at all but he’s not at all great at reading people or being selfless.

 He’s getting there, stump day showed him put stars needs before Marco’s and not out of any selfish dick measuring contest but because he knew what she wanted and what made her happy, but it’s hard to have empathy for a problem you don’t get how bad it is. To tom it’s just getting stopped once in a while and then having to glower or literally roast someone. To these monsters... it’s a life of being denied a decent standard of living, housing and being treated as a crminal and a beast just for existing. Tom has a fancy castle, loyal subjects, tons of money.. his privlage has insulated him from the real dangers of being the minority he is, of getting beaten up by the cops or arrested just for being a monster. And yes i’m using real world paralells.. but so does the end of this episode so shhh. It’s also a moral that hits home since as a white person, the last year has hit me HARD with just how much I didn’t know about the racial situation in america and how complacient i’d become. I wasn’t actively racist.. but like many americans I had the bad tendency to forget the horrible things that happpend on a daily basis to people of color in this country when it got out of the news. Privlage can blind you, and I cannot speak for if it does so for any real life minorties as i’m not touching a subject i’m not qulaified to talk on due to being super white with a ten foot pole, but I can speak for me that sometimes you just.. dont’ notice a problem unless i’ts happening to you. And while it has happened to tom it’s such a minor inconvience he probably just forgets about it and moves on. And these next two episodes with him, though we have some plot stuff to get too before we get back to Tom in feburary, are him getting his bubble popped and realizing just WHAT Star has been fighting against. And Star’s own privlage will be an issue later.. but we’llg et to that in it’s own time.  So while Tom skulks off Rich startles Marco to get him to do his kung fun hand pose “the sword hand dance” and everyone uses it to dance which Marco understandably objects to until kelly asks him to dance. Cue adorable ship tease.. again this is why i’m thrownig in the kelco episode in the next batch: because the trajectory of this relationship eeerily lines up with tom episodes. No sense avoiding the ONE other episode about the ship , especially if i’m going out of my way to cover the Meteora arc on top of it and my other 80 projects. And regular coverage. And comissions. And you get the idea it’s a lot but i’m happy to do it. 

Meanwhile we meet Slime, a friendly slime monster who introduces himself to penelope and her massive spider bite... and then drips a bit giving her the wrong impression. Thankfully.. this does not turn into the PG-Rated versoin of BLue from the heathers musical. 

No he just was offering to aloe up her spiderbite, and she’s all too happy to accept since her family never thought about it.. though as we see next season their not against it suprisingly. They are still dicks though. But not racist, though that’s a very low bar to clear and only gives them credit because mewni as a whole is pretty racist when it comes to Monsters. Point is I hate their parents but love these ship as the two share some ship tease and go downstairs.. only to get attacked.  Meanwhile, Marco’s getting a goblin dog while being watched by Henious.. who despite Gemini’s objections.. no longer cares about her cheeks as she grins sinesterly and has him play her music, some heavy metal. FORESHADOWING!

Back at the party, Star adreses her public and is all proud and blushy.. till Penelope stumbles in, covered in scars, telling the crowd something took Slime.. and both sides start blaming one another, especially since it turns out a LOT of the monsters have gone missing. So with everything she worked towards and had achieved crumbling, Star calms the crowd and says she’ll investigate. Outside Marco is getting a goblin dog with roy, and wondering why he has strawberry, who orders a strawberry.. who wants that? And then decides to get one out of curiosity which I would but i’m also fat and love strawberries so i’m not a beacon of good decisionmaking. 

So Star grabs him before he can roll that metaphorical dice and passes tom who tries to downplay her concerns and get her to go make out, thinking that’s what’s going on despite that.. making no sense, as a ton of them are missing and 6 is a bit much for polyamory.. I mean it works for some people 

But not everyone can be a majestic space grandma whose also a caterpillar. And their too young to orgy so that’s out too. Point is Tom is an idiot this time and Star RIGHTFULLY calls him out for belitting her cause, not really caring about it, or the other teens who are in danger right now from god knows what and tells him to either help or get out of the way. 

So while Tom licks his well earned wounds, Star and Marco journey into the depths and find a campsite with fresh dog eared pages indicating whoevers behind the abudictions is not only sapient, but still here... oh and it somehow gets worse as they find out WHOSE behind it. 

And a second question you might be having: Who dis. Well this is Mina Loveberry, solarian warrior, whose a legend in Mewni and was one of star’s childhood heroes who she found wondering around homeless and clearly not mentally well in the park on earth.. and then tried to conquer it, but the electoral process stopped her... I don’t know why but a half crazed maniac being defeated by due electoral process makes me feel all warm and fuzzy right now, on this specific day this is coming out late on. Hmmmm.. INTERESTING aint it? 

Point is Mina is a super powerful, super not in her right mind super warrior, who is naturlaly the kidnapper, as this episode also reveals she’s violently racist and assuemed something was up and whiel Star, who despite said cou still loves and respects her and gets she’s not well, tries to talk her down it increasingly becomes clear there’s no reasoning with her. And really with most racists.. there isn’t. Racisim isn’t something that’s rational and while some people are just indocrinated at a young age and CAN be turned around on it.. some are just so deeply up their own ass with hatred you can’t reason with them or save them. You just have to stop them. Via impeaching them, making sure they get called out and taken out of office.. or in this case using rainbows on them.  But we’ll have to wait a second as a bunch of debris falls on mina taking her out!

.. Only to reveal Henious and while Marco’s willing to fight her and her posse, Raasticore grabs star and henious hooks him up to the brainwash machine, probably planning to kill him with it while playing the music

But before she can kill or do worse to one of our heroes.. the door behind them opens up.. and reveals a child’s play room. 

And Henious.. gives up on the attack and enters, disturbing Gemini as she looks around in what’s easily one of the best scene sin the entire series: her slow walk, the way the animation follows her as it sinks in just what Metora might be.. and her picking up two dolls, the ones seen above.. her dolls to Gemini’s increasing discomfort. And while the animation is stellar and utterly moving as we slowly put the pieces together... it’s Walter’s delivery that REALLY STUNS.Gone is the harsh, unforgiving nightmarish woman we’ve known.. and instead is someone whose confused.. and remembering. Remembering WHY she has those cheek marks, remembering this was her room, her home.. and those were her parents. She remembers now.. and Mina rises to say of course she did “I knew you’d be back here one day meteora!” And as Gemini tries to refute this.. Meteora agrees with MIna, no longer henious at last freed form her deep and abusive brainwashing we’ll cover soon enough. And deeply confused. And as everyone else is deeply confused... Mina, not realizing this whole thing was covered up, again we’ll get to that soon too, spells it out for them and the audience in case you missed it. When Star asks how Eclipsa plays into any of this? “Don’t you ding dongs know anything? She’s her mamma!”  (Marco and Star stare in shock as it sinks in) Marco: “Wait HENIOUS is a princess?!”  Star: “she’s a butterfly”

Yeah quite obviously this is one of the biggest wham episodes in the entire series. In one moment we not only find out Henious is indeed a butterflfy as fans thought.. but Eclipsa’s daughter, half monster, and her entire existance raises questions of how much her family hid and if not WHO DID. I mean some of you alreayd know the answer but the rest of you can wait a week.. or a few mintues it’s hinted at soon enough. Point is Star has questions.. questions the violent racist whose pretty messed up in the head for a variety of the reasons and spent decades hunting her.. is not willing to hear out and instead prepares to smite her. While Star tries DESPERATLEY to talk her friend out of this it’s very clear Mina’s not going to listen... so Star rainbow fists her.. and prepares to face her former friend and inspiration for Meteora’s saftey and the answers she BADLY needs right now. Oh and just in case you thought “oh well the magical girl who sounds like amy sedaris can’t be that big a threat”... Yeah I didn’t mention broly for nothing. 

Mina bulked up. Meet Solarian Mina. And like the Legendary Super Sayian form from Dragon Ball.. i’ts a beserker of a form that turns the already obessive and insane Mina.. into an unstoppable rage fuled killing machine with horrifying levels of power who can beat down anyone nearbye. And unlike Broly, where he was just a one in a million fluke in both versions... Mina was PLANNED to be this. The solarian program was something Eclipsa’s mom came up with, a series of spells that slowly turn the target into a rampaging super soldier. It’s like if Nuke from marvel comics, a vietnam era version of captain america who dind’t turn out so good, was INTETIONAL; 

As you can see it removes fear.. but also the targets concisce, so Mina is incapable of empathy or being cure dof her racisim. Solaria turned her from a humble volunteer just hoping ot help and improve her station into the crazed monster star now faces.  And as the Broly comparision should make clear... yeah Star dosen’t do so good and neither does Marco. She shrugs off Star’s hits and while botht he kids and meteora escape, both just piss Mina off MORE, and put star in more danger as she’s thrown around like a ragdoll.  She then runs into tom who shows off his growht: While he was a dick up there.. unlike before where he assumed he was always the wronged party.. he realized he crossed a line and while he dosen’t know WHY he did, is still willing to apologize and presumibly talk about it. A bit clueless yes but it’s effort and his tone is sincre so it’s less “I’m apologizing for whatever I guess” bullshit and more “I genuinely don’t know wha ti did wrong please tell me so I can say sorry”.. which given how awkard tom is with people and how I pointed out his trouble relating to them over htis retrospective, is the more beliviable one.  Naturally while Star does appricate it she’s kinda busy.. and when Tom see’s what’s going on he leaps in with NO hesitation. And given how close the luictors once were and are again with the butterflies it’s doubtful he hadn’t heard of mina so he likely KNOWS what he’s going up against..a nd dosen’t care. His girlfriend needs his help and this person’s trying to hurt her. That’s all he needs to kick her ass. Or try.. unlike with the z warriors.. our heroes don’t win this one. Tom tries a really cool move i’m dubbing the onyx coffin, a black coffin with runes and chains.. that does nothing to her. She breaks out and our heroes flee and Mina causes a massive ruckuss above, and the only reasons our heros don’t die.. is that the knights and Rhombulus of the high comission arrive.  And since the high comission are going to be vastly important a refresher: The high comission were created by glossaryck, the little man who lives in stars book who used to be voiced by an asshole and next season is voiced by keith motherfucking david, to police the multiverse and it’s various issues. The four we know are Lekmet: a goat man who died last season and controlled entropy and could heal at the cost of his own life hence the death, Hekapoo, a close assiocate of marcos who controls the scissors beings use to cross dimensions and can do so herslef effortlessly, Omnitraxus Prime, a powerful and giant antler skulled being who watches space time and timelines and is voiced by Karl Weathers so...

And Rhombulus, a diamond headed he-man reject with snakes for hands becaue his dad is a well documented dickhead.. no really that’s the entire explination i the book of spells: Glossaryck turned his hands to snake to teach him the lesson i’ts hard to get through life with snake hands. He’s a gung ho guy who imprisons the wrost of the worst criminals thus his presence here as Mina clearly had a falling out with the comission and thus flees.  So while Star and Tom are given blankets afterwords and some cocoa, Tom comforts her and admits if nothing else.. he gets it now, having been finally faced with the type of horrible shit monsters have had to deal with in the past and sees why his girlfriend tried hard to help it. But Star.. realizes she can’t fix this that easy. That she dosen’t know enough and clearly ther’es even more than she ever could’ve thought possible she has ot know if she’s going to fix this.. and that it’s not an EASY problem to fix. You really CAN’T fix racisim you can just make society better, but you’ll never be rid of people like Mina. Though this arc will.. yeah in one of the more baffling decisions Mina is given this huge reindrocution, with Amy Sedaris showing that while a very funny lady and a very talented actress as bojack had previously shown off for both.. she can be FUCKING TERRIFYING. But nope, she’s just..g one outside of a cameo, gets beatne off screen and dosen’t become big bad for a season. And I get it, the metora arc needed room.. but you had a WHOLE EXTRA EPISODE to have her defeat mina. Inastead you used it for Marco Jr which amounted to almost nothing and could’ve been saved for season 4 wher eit probably woudln’t of been terrible. I”ll get to that one some day. Point is it’s bad storytelling. 

So yeah Star’s feeling lost, her family history is in flux, she got beaten badly, not horribly injrued but still lost handily, her party ruined and  she was hit with the realization her plans were overly idealistic. Well meaning sure but a party was never going to cure this. Oh and Rhombluus naturally isn’t coming clean about why the temple is off limits or what’s going on here so that dosen’t help.  And somehow.. IT STILL GETS WORSE. The Wizard Cops try to take the monsters in , profling them and not having done so and star thankfully talks them out of it but the monster kids turn down any afterparty or anything. They get she means well tbut hte moment’s over. And their not even excesivley sad.. their just.. used to the police treating them like this. Like less than human, like automatic suspects when THEY were the victims. IT’s nothing new... and god does this feel relevant as hell.

And this i where I meant Star’s privlage bites her: While not as bad as tom, it took some very harsh reality for her to see that solving racisim.. is not only nigh imposisble but not that easy. To her it was easy as a party and friendship and what’s worked before in her fairly shelted world. Advetnures or not she’s still a princess whose never experinced prejudice. In both worlds she’s in the majority. It’s probably why Marco conttoned on to monster racism in seconds during “Menipendence Day’ when Star hadn’t her whole life: to Marco, whose latix and thus dealing with all kinds of racist shit his whole life, it was easier to pick it up. He’s firmly part of his culture.. and thus probably firmly aware of the racism he faces. Star is so insulated she just dosen’t get it till it nearly beat her to death. So yeah Star’s at her lowest point, having failed to make things better, the answer to her questions being lost and not sure what’s real. Metora on the other hand as they dodge the cops.. has ascended. As Gemini calls her henious once last time.. she says that’s not her name. 

“My name is meteora”

SHe’s been dreaming the wrong dream.. and it’s long past time she woke up. 

Final Thoughts;  Monster Bash.. is one of the best episodes in the series. Unlike a lot of Seasons 3 and 4 it dosen’t suffer from lack of proper payoff, as the next few episodes deal with how the fuck any of this is happening and why the fuck any of it happened. Mina’s absence nonwithstanding.. this is one of the series best and most gripping arcs. And the swerve is great: you think i’ts Henious doing the kindappings, only for her not to be the threat again just yet. And for her to be something far more. It’s just masterful, starting iwth fun hyjinks and ending in one of the best nad most nightmarish fights in the series if not the best, watching as our heroes slowly but surely LOOSE.. and THEN it gets worse. Out and out a must watch for the series and a sad sign of what it COULD’VE been had it moved past it’s worst insitncts next season and become what i should’ve been.  Next week: We take a tom break as Eclipsa nad Mon investigate all of this and we get the SECOND biggest wham episode in the series. 

Until the next rainbow, be excellent to each other.

[purplesurveys]

1115

survey by vintagekid

Name:  Robyn.

Happy with it? I am now, but I certainly wasn’t as a kid. Other kids were cruel and would tease me solely for my name, which made it hard for me to socialize. I got the same bad Batman jokes too many times and I also got called a boy. These seem petty now, but as a kindergartener adjusting to life in school, it had been traumatizing and made me wonder if my classmates were going to remain the way they were for the long run which no 4-year-old should be mulling about, really.

Do you wear stilettos? When I get the chance, which isn’t very often at all. But I do love stilettos.

How important are looks to you? I find this question very vague, but generally looks matter to me to a certain extent, like how I’d want to look nice and proper for a job interview or for formal occasions such as weddings. Relationship-wise, I also think I have to feel a level of physical attraction towards someone for me to consider seeing them.

How often do you download music? I don’t anymore. I stream all my music.

Can you name a philosopher? Socrates.

What would you do if two unicorns tried to whisk you off to candy mountain? I just looked this up and this is apparently in reference to an ancient viral video, like it was around before viral videos were even a universally-acknowledged concept. That said, I don’t have a clue how to respond to this lmao.

You became the deciding vote in an election, which party would you go for? I don’t base my voting decisions on parties because the party system in my country is a tragically broken shitstorm in which every single party rallies the same values and principles, just executed in their own – and usually poor and unsustainable – ways. I do my research on each candidate, see how they answer in debates, look at laws they’ve authored, see which marginalized groups they proactively support (if they do), and decide from there.

Do you have a bzoink account? I don’t but I’ve been a semi-regular visitor since like 2009.

How many phone calls do you typically make in a day? Zero. People usually call me.

What song are you listening to? Tell Me It’s Okay by, surprise surprise, Paramore.

Do you understand things others your age do not? I don’t know. Maybe. Everyone’s bound to understand some things better than others.

Do you hate people that label themselves? Why would I hate that? And why would their chosen label be my business?

How many windows do you have open? None. There’s plenty of mosquitoes at night, so even though the cold evening air would been pleasant to have we have to keep the windows closed by nighttime.

How superstitious are you? Not at all.

If you were in Harry Potter, which house would you be in? I’ve been told either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.

Which comedian can always crack you up? It’s not a habit of mine to watch comedians.

Are you nagged about being on the computer too much? Not since I was a teenager. Since college I’ve been doing most of my work, if not all of it, through my laptop, and I think my parents understand that I have to use it all the time.

Do you feel bad about anything you've done lately? Nothing comes to mind, no.

What's your texting bill typically like? My SIM is prepaid, so it works the other way around. I put load credits in it only if I know I’ll have to call/text/surf regularly.

What song did you/do you want played at your wedding? Turning Page by Sleeping At Last.

Do you have a lot or hardly any lines on your palms? Idk, a decent amount I guess? I don’t think it hits either extreme.

What's your favourite word? Poignant.

Are you allowed to swear in front of your parents? Yeah. They’ll shoot me a glare sometimes, but I’m in my 20s and...they know they can’t really do anything about it anymore lol.

Do you eat apples? No.

What are your addictions? Coffee, I suppose.

What are some words you use in daily life? I use intensifiers often, like very, really, super, absolutely, etc. I’m also big on expressions hahaha like oh my god, seriously, for real, and ugh.

Do you look things up on Google constantly? Yes.

Where do you get your music from? Spotify. Sometimes YouTube if I wanna look for a leak.

What do you think of people with afros? That they are people with afros...? I don’t really know what you’re looking for me to say, lmfao.

--

survey by charey-chas

Do you like getting your picture taken? Not for the most part. My body instantly gets all frozen and awkward when a camera’s placed in front of me, which I hate because I do wish I could have more photos of myself around. Is your phone anywhere near you? It is not, actually. It feels great and I really should start making it a habit to keep it away from me entirely on weekends. Do you ever enjoy going to school? In my first school, I enjoyed going mainly (and probably only) for my friends; but Catholic school was predominantly a torturous experience. The rigidity isn’t something I look back fondly on, and it felt like being kept on a tight leash for 14 years. College was a lot more enjoyable in every way possible. I liked going to (most of) my classes and learning as much as I loved the vibrant org culture and the general freedom that comes with university life. Have you ever gone on a road trip? Lots. The Philippines is a relatively small country and unless you want to jump to a different island altogether, there are many provinces you can readily travel to by car.  Who do you get along with best in your family?  Nina, my sister. Then my dad. I clash a lot with my mom and I don’t talk to my brother. Based on your personality, what animal do you think you'd be? Cats and I don’t get along very well hahaha but I think I’m similar to them. Would you ever buy anything from an infomercial? Maybe once, just to be able to say that I have. Have you ever made a snow angel? No, because I’ve never seen snow before. Have you stayed in a hotel in the last month? No. We had a brief getaway in Tagaytay but we switched things up and went to rent a condo, instead of book a hotel room, for a weekend. What's your most comfortable outfit? If I want to go for comfortable, I usually go for my rompers or jumpsuits. Do you text or IM more? IM these days. Would you rather listen to music or play it? Listen. I have no music-playing skills whatsoever. Have you ever been in a hot tub? Sure. Do you like pizza? LOVE IT Are you sleeping in your own bed tonight? Yes. If not here, the couch. But most likely it will my bed tonight. Are any of your friends having a sleepover right now? I doubt it. Angela and Hans had an overnight stay in Batangas a few days ago for their Valentine’s shenanigans though, which I guess kinda counts as a sleepover. Have you ever been to a house party? I don’t think so. That’s something I missed out on in my college days, but I don’t mind. Do you listen to your iPod or the radio when you're in the car? I think I keep a good balance. If my phone’s battery is not very high I’ll rely on the radio; and sometimes I’ll sync my phone’s Spotify to the car as well.

--

survey by charey-chas

What song is stuck in your head at the moment? RAVI’s BUM. What's your fathers' middle name? He doesn’t have a second name, but I’m not sharing his legal middle name on here either. How many hours a day do you spend on the computer? On work days, I’d say 8-10 hours. On weekends, maybe a little slightly less than that since I do like getting off the laptop sometimes to rest my eyes. Could you live without the internet? People from the past managed to live without it, so I know I can. It would just be extremely inconvenient; and having been dependent on it for such a long time now, I would likely be clueless on how to navigate most activities. What's something you're really into? Learning about cultural differences!! That’s why reading survey answers has always been fascinating to me. I would love a website that dives into the various everyday behavior people observe in other countries, but the ones that do exist use like 20- or 30-year-old sources, so they aren’t even relevant at all anymore. What's the last movie you saw in theaters? Knives Out. Have you ever seen a movie in 3D or in an IMAX theater? Just once. It was Denise and Leigh’s 18th birthday treat and they brought us to watch Doctor Strange in 3D. Do you prefer skirts, shorts, or skorts? Shorts. Have you ever vandalized? Just a few school chairs in grade school, but otherwise I’m too paranoid for vandalism lol. What's the longest you've stayed up? Maybe a little longer than 24 hours. Who'd you have a sleepover with last? Gabie. When's the last time you baked something? Nearly a decade ago. Our oven was new at the time and I wanted to try baking cookies. Do you like to dance? When I’m alone. Do you scratch mosquito bites, even though you're not supposed to? Yup. Are you afaid of spiders or do you like them? I mean I’m not fond of them, but I also don’t scream and run away when I see them. I just don’t care for them for the most part. What's a pet you've always wanted? I’ve only ever wanted dogs, and now I’ve got two of them. Do you like mice? Not really. Would you ever get a tattoo? Sure. I’ve been considering it for a while now; it’s just a matter of being able to save up for one. Do you prefer to walk in the street or on the sidewalk? Street, if it’s bare and safe enough. Otherwise if I’m in a busy city with regulations and all I’d obviously rather be on the sidewalk. What's your favorite t-shirt? My CM Punk Best in the World merch. Who did you last think about? I remembered Deina when I was thinking about the tattoo question. She got a pawprint tattoo on her wrist shortly before her senior dog passed away and ever since learning about it I’ve also been thinking about getting the same tattoo. Do you like giving hugs? I love giving hugs and it’s an automatic response for me whenever I see someone I love, which is why Covid is such a torture for me. Do you prefer hardwood flooring or carpeting? Hardwood. Did you/will you get a car for your 16th birthday? No. I got a car when I was 17, around six months before I started college. Have you ever eaten a worm? No but I’d be willing to try.

[midnightmorales]

only a scrape - p.p.

prompt: "it's only a scrape," "only a-? you've been fucking stabbed!"

~

warnings: light blood mention, stab wound, swearing, just the slightest dash of angst, also i didn't proofread this so

word count: 2.1K

pairing (platonic): peter parker x (ex bestfriend!) reader

summary: peter gets stabbed, and doesn't know who to go to besides his old best friend. while reader is cleaning his wound, they realise that they miss being friends with him.

a/n: this is my birthday post for pete! she's a bit late, because i forgot to queue her before bed last night, but i did write her yesterday, so it still counts! i also tried to make this gender neutral! i may have slipped up somewhere... but i hope you enjoy it! another thing- there are some slight crush themes in there, but they don't quite develop.

--------------------

you sighed, drumming your pencil on your desk.

it was 3:43am, and all you still hadn't come up with a topic for your essay, which, unfortunately, was due in five hours.

you were supposed to write an analysis of a theory of your choice. the catch? it had to relate to current events.

your friend had jokingly suggested you write your essay on spider-man. you had to admit, it was a great idea.

just a week ago you were always talking about spider-man. you had his merch, and you'd even seen him in action once or twice (though, helping old ladies cross the street is much to call 'action'). everyone knew you were obsessed a fan.

that might've been the one question everyone in your class was dying to know the answer to, as well. as the masked hero grew in popularity, everyone was growing more and more curious: who was spider-man, really? whose face lay behind the mask?

and you could've done it too. you could've written a fifty-page analysis on spider-man, and in the process you probably could've figured out who he was. and you would've too!

if it hadn't been for the fact that you already knew who he was.

to be fair, you'd only just found out three days ago. you laughed to yourself thinking about it, but the circumstances under which you had found out were definitely nothing to giggle at- that is, at the time of the event.

you remembered it vividly, as if it had happened only a few seconds ago.

it was friday. you'd been in your unicorn footie pajamas, sitting on your bed eating oreos and listening to music, when you heard banging on your bedroom window.

you paused your song, listening for it again. it was almost midnight, you realised, shooting a quick glance at your clock. who would be at your window at 11:56pm?

"y/n!!" you heard. you froze. that was definitely not one of your parents. someone was at your window.

to be honest, you were kind of freaked out. out of everyone you knew, you didn't think any of them would just show up at your bedroom window at midnight- at least, not without texting you first.

you quickly searched your room for defense- in case this visitor was not a friend. unfortunately, there were no stray weapons in your room.

so you opted for the next best thing- perfume. if promoted, it could be sprayed into someone's eyes, which would at least allow you time to get your parents.

you crept toward the window, perfume in hand. "y/n, please be up! i don't know who else to go to."

the voice sounded scared. you looked at the perfume bottle in your hand before setting it down and dashing to your window.

"spider-man?!" you cried.

spider-man! he was at your bedroom window? begging for your help?

you opened the window, and he climbed in, almost immediately collapsing on the floor.

you noticed he was clutching the side of his torso. "are you hurt?" you asked urgently, trying to move his hands.

they let up easily, allowing you to see the bloody, dirt-covered stab wound.

before you could react, the superhero pulled of his mask, gasping for air.

you sat there, shocked. peter parker? spider-man was dorky peter parker?

you felt bad for thinking it, but you couldn't help it.

up until high school, you and peter had been best friends. then, as you got older, you gravitated more towards the popular crowd, and peter the opposite.

you rarely spoke to him now. your new friends had him grouped with the nerds, and you didn't object.

instantly, you felt mounds of regret wash over you. how could you have let this happen to him? you shouldn't've let your friends talk about him like that! you should've been there for him.

"hi," he said, offering a weak smile.

"peter...." you breathed. you wanted to tell him you were sorry. that you had made a mistake. that you wanted to be friends again.

but you were smart. you knew that right now, your feelings didn't matter. peter was wounded, and he needed your help.

you snapped yourself out of your trance, and instructed him to apply pressure to the wound.

after that, you didn't really know what to do.

years of watching tv and reading books had taught you that much, but what came after.

you pulled out your phone and hesitantly typed in the words "how to treat a stab wound".

you weren't quite sure if you could trust wikihow, but it was your best bet at the moment.

"okay, lay down," you told your former friend. he followed your instructions, laying on down on your floor. "oh, here,"

you handed him a pillow from your bed, and he put it under his head. "next we need too...." you trailed off as you read the page. how many times did they have to say 'deadly'?

"is that the only one you have?" you asked him, glancing up from your phone.

"yeah," you nodded, returning your gaze to your phone.

after a second, you looked up at him again. "peter?"

"yeah?"

"i'm gonna need you too uh... you have to.... you have to take off the suit." his eyes widened. "i know, i know... but i have to clean the wound,"

"y/n, you don't understand- i'm not wearing anything under this,"

at this, your eyes widened. "what do you mean you not-? you've got to be..."

"all i have on is underwear,"

"aw, you've gotta be shitting me, parker!"

"i'm sorry!" he said frantically.

"don't be, i'm not the one with the stab wound!"

"it's only a scrape," he said sheepishly.

"only a-? you've been fucking stabbed!"

he smiled faintly. "yeah...."

"look, how about this? i'll see if i can find you some of my brother's pants to wear? but you can't have a shirt,"

"that works, i guess,"

"don't move," you said, switching the light off in your room before opening the door, and slinking out of your room.

you snuck down to the laundry room, and searched the dryer. you rummaged until you saw some black sweatpants. you snatched the, praying they were your brothers, and dashed back up to your room.

"here," you handed them to peter in the dark. "while you put these on I'm going to get you some water and a snack,"

peter started to object, but you quickly cut in. "this is not about hospitality, parker, you're losing blood by the second!"

you went down to your kitchen and grabbed a couple bottles of water. before you got anything to eat, you realized the oreos you had been eating were still in your room.

you went back up to your room with the water. "you dressed in there, pete?" you whispered.

"yeah," he replied.

you went into your room, shutting the door and switching the light back on.

peter parker. the nerdiest of nerds. the most awkward boy you'd ever met. peter benjamin parker. had an eight pack.

woah.

you restrained yourself from saying this out loud. you hoped you hadn't been staring as you turned away from him, pretending to be dealing with something on you bed. "lay back down," you told him.

a million thoughts were running through your head. could he tell how flustered you were? why were you so flustered anyway? and why on earth were you pretending to be so interested in your comforter???

you took a deep breath, grabbing one of the waters. you spun around to face peter again, trying to only look at his face, and handed it to him. "i've got some oreos too, if you wanted any,"

you returned your attention to your phone. it told you to put hand sanitizer on. you quickly found some , and applied it. next step.

"okay, peter, it says i have to talk to you to keep you calm," you told him, string your phone down face up. he nodded. "and you can't look at the wound,"

"so what do we talk about?" he asked. you quickly read the next step. you grabbed a blanket from your bed and threw it over him. he gave you a look of bewilderment.

"it said to keep you warm," you explained, looking back at your phone. "and i don't exactly know..."

"you wanna talk about when we were friends?"

you looked up at him, and tears began to sting at you eyes.

"sure," you breathed, returning to reading your phone. it said to clean the wound. "one second,"

you quickly ran to the bathroom, grabbing some bandages and a hand towel, dampening the towel with some water. you came back and knealt down beside peter.

"they said this was gonna hurt," you warned him. "so just talk through it, okay?"

he nodded. as you pressed the cloth to his skin, he gave a light gasp. "talk to me, pete," you urged him.

"do you... do you remember when we met?" you continued cleaning his wound, not answering. you were afraid that if you did, you may start to cry.

he didn't mind you lack of an answer, though. "we were six. i'd just moved in with may." you nodded as he spoke. "somehow, everyone found out about my parents. one kid told everyone that i was bad luck. he said if you talked to me, your parents would die."

you were tearing up now. you moved your hand to wipe your eye as you continued to work on the wound.

"you were the first person to talk to me." he laughed. "you told me that i should tell on 'those meanie heads'."

you laughed with him, bringing one of your hands up to your cheek again to wipe away the tears.

wikihow said not to close the wound, so you placed a bandage over it as instructed in a way that was 'packing' the wound.

"why did we stop being friends, y/n?" he whispered. you refused to look at him. instead, you focused all of your attention on making sure you'd put the bandage on him properly. "what happened to us?"

you couldn't pretend you didn't hear him anymore. finally, you looked him in the eyes. "we grew up." you answered. "we drifted apart," you looked away again, checking the wikihow for more steps.

"can we drift back together?"

he said it so quietly that at any other time, you wouldn't've heard him. but it was 1:23am. no one was awake, and the traffic was especially light that night.

"you still want to be friends with me?" you asked him, your voice wavering.

"no," he said, smiling lightly. "i want to be best friends with you, y/n. like before!"

you sniffed, smiling at your lap. "can we?" he asked.

"of course pete," you laughed, wiping both your eyes.

he sat up, and you hugged him as tightly as you could without affecting the wound.

-

"you know you still need to get that wound professionally looked at," you grinned.

"yeah..." he said, staring at the bandage. "you did a good job, you know,"

"google did a good job you mean," he laughed.

you'd found him one of your brother's t-shirts to wear after the emotional rebirth of your friendship. since then, you'd been chatting and eating oreos on your bedroom floor.

"how are you gonna tell may?"

he laughed. "are you kidding? she'd freak out. i'm going to have to ask mr. stark for help, though he might have a couple of quest- why are you looking at me like that?"

"mr. stark? as in tony stark? as in you know the tony stark???"

peter shrugged. "yeah, i mean, i didn't think it was a big deal-"

"you didn't- peter, do you hear yourself? you just casually said you might ask iron man to help with your stab wound!" you had grown a substantial amount in volume as you said this

"shhh, you'll wake your family up!" peter whispered quickly.

you'd forgotten it was the middle of the night. you glanced at your clock, as the time of day set in.

"you've probably got to go now, right?"

peter looked at the time. "oh, shoot, you're right." he stood, grabbing his suit. "where's the bathroom?"

you realised he wanted to change back into the suit. "no- peter, your suit is all dirty and bloody... and there's a hole in it!"

"but-"

"keep the clothes, pete. my brother won't mind,"

he looked from you to the suit in his hands. you did have a point. "are you sure?" he asked.

you nodded. "see ya at school, pete." he waved goodbye, climbing back out of your window.

as you snapped out of your memory you laughed again. you couldn't believe that it took a stab wound to bring you and peter back together.

you looked back down at your empty paper, and the perfect idea hit you like a train.

you began to write furiously- you just hoped you'd be able to get everything down before your alarm clock rang.

[evietheninja]

So, you want to transfer to UA University?

This is fan-fic #4785  that my friends and I are writing. Follow our OCs as they find themselves, and their love interests hehe. 

Maiya Koi: Age; 23. 

Appearance: Deep purple curly hair, half of her hair is always in a bun, while the bottom half stays down. When shes relaxed or at home, she’ll put her hair in a messy bun. Her eyes are Gold. She is 5′4. She likes to wear tee-shirts, band merch, pleated skirts, ripped jeans, knee high socks, and converse. 

Quirk; Aura. She is constantly surrounded by an aura she is able to weaponize. The aura around her changes colors depending on mood. She is able to concentrate her aura into her hands, letting her create rays, orbs, and shields. Her quirk relies on her energy. Once overused, she will sleep for long periods at a time. 

Mitch Liu: Age; 23.

Appearance: She has a short, burnt orange hair. Her hair is usually messy (in a good way) Eyes are hazel. Her style is either lazy, (sweats, loose fitting t-shirts, and hightop vans) or sexy (fishnet everything, corsets, leather pants, platforms) no in between. She is 5′6, taller in her platforms. 

Quirk: Manipulation of the Eye. She can trick the eye her enemies, making herself completely nonexistent to a certain extent. Her quirk relies on concentration, the second she gets distracted, her quirk deactivates. She uses chains that she wears to restrain her enemies. 

Cal Torrance: Age; 23. 

Appearance: Cal has pastel green hair, that’s a puffy curly look to it. It’s about a little past shoulder length. On the top of her head, she has a little sprout. Depending on the season it will grow little plants. She wears really big circular glasses. Her style consists of overalls, usually plain t-shirt or a graphic shirt underneath the overalls and black converse. 

Quirk: Plant Manipulation. She can control any plant to do whatever it is she wants. Since manifestation, she’s studied every herb and has a vast knowledge of formulas ranging from poisons to healing remedies. She is able to grow plants in the palm of her hand as long as she has the seed handy almost instantaneously. Her quirk relies on sunlight and energy. If it is cloudy, or she hasn’t had enough rest, her plants will wilt. Due to her quirk, she has a small sprout at the top of her head that will change depending on the season. 

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

“Today’s the day, huh?” Mitch says, breaking her gaze from the window and shifting in her seat. “It is, we get to see how these guys compare to the way they preformed at the festival a few months back.” Cal says, turning her gaze to the girls in front of her. Maiya leans her head back, closing her eyes to relax. “I don’t think it’ll be that bad.” Cal laughs lightly, while Mitch bumped her shoulder. “You may SOUND uninterested, but your quirk says different.” Mitch says winking. “Whatever” Maiya says laughing lightly. 

The girls continue conversation, and soon feel the bus come to a stop. In the front of the bus, one of the RA’s stands, instructing the other students to make their way to check in, put their stuff in the dorms they are assigned to, and head to the auditorium to hear announcements, instructions and introductions. 

Everyone makes their way off the bus, and the trio looks around admiring the school. Beautiful buildings, green grass, tall trees, the campus was very well kept. Cal looked around, her sprout twitching in excitement. “It’s so...big” She says, smiling. Mitch and Maiya look at each other, laughing lightly.Cal turns from them, pouting. 

As they make it to the dorms, they notice Maiya has been separated, rooming with one of the random girls from their school. Mitch and Cal step in, asking the girl if she’s okay with staying by herself, which she agreed to. The girls make their way to the  dorm, put their things down and change. 

After about an hour and a half, Maiya looks down at her phone. “Hey girls, the RA just sent a text. Its time for intros.” She says, in an already bored tone. The girls groan, and get up to leave. Mitch throws on a baggy shirt and and some sweats. Cal stays in her overalls, shirt, and converse. Maiya stands at the door, fixing her purple skirt and her black and white shirt before opening the door to the dorm. The girl Maiya was supposed to room with stood on the other side, frozen in surprise. “Oh, hey! Uh. I was was just checking to see if you guys were still here. Ready to go?” “Oh, hey Kai. Yeah, we’re ready” 

The trio follows Kai, making conversation as they make their way to the auditorium. Once inside, the girls thank Kai as she makes her way to her group of friends and make their way to sit by their schoolmates. The place was PACKED with students from the surrounding schools, and students from UA. It was almost too much. Looking around, Maiya could see some UA students and staff posted around the area with bright colored shorts that read “volunteer”. Interesting. She could see a man with blue hair and glasses yelling at a group of other kids. Yeesh, is UA that strict? Maybe. OR maybe he was just one of THOSE students. 

An announcement broke her from her thoughts, a loud voice echoing throughout the room telling everyone to sit and quiet down as the ceremony was about to begin. As everyone settled, the trio looks up on the stage as UA staff members make their way to the row of seats placed there. Great, there were a lot of seats, meaning this would be a LONG intro. Mitch lets out a sigh. “This’ll be fun.” She says. Maiya and Cal scoff, hushing themselves as the RA and Class Representative glare their way. 

The introductions were long and boring, but the everyone was supersized to see a few former UA High teachers had transferred to the university. The college itself was pretty new still, and they were still bringing in staff members to help with the large amount of students who wanted to attend. The fact was, there were many kids who would go straight into agencies without much experience, They opened several colleges to help students who thought they could reach a better potential with more training. 

After 3 hours (yes, 3. Whole. Hours.) Maiya bumps Mitch who snorts and her head pops up. “I’m up, I.. oh. We’re done? Fuck FINALLY.” she says, getting up and stretching. Maiya looks at Cal, who surprisingly stayed awake through the whole thing by playing her switch. “Cal, come on.” Maiya says, getting up and stretching lightly and letting out a yawn. Cal looks up, nods, and puts her switch in her pocket. “So.. fill us in.” Mitch says as they walk out of the auditorium. 

“Basically, there’s spectators here who are going to be looking to recruit third years to finish out their college days here. They’ve said they have the best training courses, and most agencies will see UA on the resume and...” Maiya says, trailing off when she hears Cal giggling. She turns to Mitch, then behind her and notices Cal isn’t even behind them anymore. “What the fu-” Mitch says before whipping around looking for Cal. Maiya turns and points, a good ways behind them, at Cal smiling and giggling with a blonde boy with a black lightning bolt in his hair. “Oh shit.” The girls say in unison before making their way back. 

As they make their way to the two, Maiya notices a spiky redheaded boy another blonde spiky haired boy make their way over. The girls make it first, standing on either side of Cal almost protective. “Hey, dummy, don’t leave us without warning, We don’t go to school here you could’ve gotten lost.” Maiya says, chopping Cal’s head lightly. The man talking to Cal gives a huge grin. “No worries! I could’ve shown her the way. I am, afterall, a knight in shining armor to any beautiful girl I see!” Mitch lets out a sigh. “Oh god, you’re one of those.” Cal says, teasing lightly. 

“Cal, come on, we have to plan for the event.” Maiya says, looking over at the man. “Hey, no hard feelings! We’re just.. uh, we don’t know you. SHE doesn’t know you..” Maiya says as the two boys make their way to the group. “Hey dunce-face. Who are these extras?” The blonde spiky haired man says, looking over the girls. Maiya raises an eyebrow. “Extras? Bro PLEASE.” Maiya says, glaring at the man. “Bro? Do you know who the hell you’re talking to?” He says, taking a step towards Maiya. 

“I don’t give a fuck who I’m talking to. To ME, you’re no one. Calm yourself and get off your god damn high horse, hothead.” Maiya says, taking a step towards him. Mitch lets out a light laugh, and covers it up with a cough, making Maiya turn and give her a weird look before returning her attention to the group of guys in front  of them. A smirk crossed his face. Before he could say anything else, Mitch makes a grab for Maiya, and the redhead grabs the blonde before apologizing. “Sorry about Bakugo, He’s a little.. uh.. aggressive. I’m Kirishima, and this is Denki. We go to school here.” Mitch smiles lightly, “I’m Mitch, this is Maiya, and this one is-” “Cal, right?” Denki finishes, winking at her. Cal blushes, her sprout wilting lightly with embarrassment. 

Kiri nudges Denki. “Bro, it’s not very manly to cut off a lady.” He says quietly. Kiri returns his attention to Mitch, accidentally looking at her outfit a little longer than he intended. “Um, you got a problem with what I’m wearing or something?” Mitch says, raising an eyebrow. Kiri blushes lightly, embarrassed. Oh- uh... no. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare, I was just a little..” He says.. trailing off. Maiya looks over to Kiri. “What, she’s not allowed to dress comfortably?” “Huh? No.. I uh..” “Is he not allowed to have his own opinions?” Bakugo butts in, once again taking a step towards Maiya. Mitch tightens her grip on Maiya, knowing she’s going to try and get closer to this man and eventually fight him. Maiya scoffs. “Whatever, man. Girls.” She says, straightening her posture and walking back towards the dorm. Mitch apologizes again, before dragging Cal with her. Cal, on the other hand, is still laughing at Denki who’s been mimicking the guys behind their backs. 

As Mitch drags Cal away, Denki calls out “Text me! We can meet later.” Winking before turning to he guys. Maiya and Mitch turn to her. “You got his number already?” They ask in unison. Cal’s sprout twitches in embarrassment again. “I..uh.. yeah.” The girls glance at her then each other, then burst out laughing. 

Cal had always been the sweetheart  of the group. “Baby” if you will. She was easy to get along with, was the easiest to talk to and the bubbly one in the group. Mitch was more the leader of the group, she was smart, came up with tactics to improve the group as a whole and always made sure the girls were out of trouble. It usually takes a lot to make Mitch mad, but when she’s mad, well, not even Maiya can help. Maiya was kind of hot headed. She’s the tougher one out of the group, she will fight at one wrong look. She’s also the mother of the group, she’ll become super protective over her friends. Her quirk is a dead giveaway of how she feels. 

Once they returned to the dorm, they laid around, Cal sprawled out on a couch, Maiya on the floor and Mitch on a chair. The event announcements took SO LONG and for some reason, they were REAL tired. Within seconds, Mitch’s head shot up hearing Maiya snore lightly on the floor. “For real? MAIYA!” She yells, causing her to jump up. “What the fu- WHAT LET ME SLEEP WOMAN” Maiya complains from the floor. “No! Dummy we have to plan out a strategy. Besides you didn’t get to explain the rest of what went on in the auditorium.” Maiya groaned, sitting up grouchily. “Not fair, you guys got a damn nap i-” She starts before getting cut off by a pillow to the face. She lets it fall before glaring at Mitch. 

“Bro!” She yelled. “Huh? What happened? Who threw that? Wasn’t me.” Mitch teases, winking at her before moving her head slightly to doge the pillow being thrown back. Cal laughs from the couch and sits up, grabbing a notebook. “I’ve got the notes, you guys just start spewing ideas.” She says, clicking a pen and flipping to a blank page. 

After a few hours, Maiya waved down Mitch, but kept talking. Mitch cocked her head to the side, confused. Maiya gestured to Cal, who didn’t look like she was taking notes, but looked like she was.. doodling? “Hey, uh, Maiya. What do you say we just kill everyone off?” Mitch says, looking over to Cal. “Yeah, we can come up with a plan and make sure there are no witnesses, burn the bodies and maybe use them as fertilizer for Cal’s plants. Right, Cal?” Maiya asks, her attention going to Cal as well. “Mmhmm, yeah that’s fine.” Call mutters, continuing to scribble. The girls glance at each-other before both sanctimoniously yelling “CAL” She jumps, making a light “eep” sound. “Huh? What? What happened?” 

Mitch and Maiya laugh. “Dude, you just agreed to murder and using the bodies as fertilizer.” Cal’s face turns red. “I uh..” “How long have you not been paying attention?” Mitch asks, coming up behind her on the couch and snatching the notebook. “I can explain!” Cal scrambles, trying to regain her composure. Mitch shows Maiya and they giggle. “You really like that Denki guy, don’t you?” Maiya says, glancing over at Cal who’s covered her face with one of the pillows on the couch. She nods into the pillow. “Why don’t you text him then? We’ve been at this for a while, we can take a break. Right Mitch>” Maiya says, walking to Cal and slowly bringing the pillow off of her. “We can, I don’t mind. He seemed really nice.”

“His friend on the other hand,” Maiya starts, her quirk flaring a quick flash of red in annoyance. “He was just protecting Denki, I’m assuming.” Mitch says, taking a seat next to Cal. “Yeah, but still. He didn’t have to be so damn rude. I hope we get a chance to beat that ass. From what they said in the announcements, there’s going to be team battles, up to I think 4 in a group.” “Interesting. We’ve signed up for these right.” Mitch asks, turning the page and starting her own notes. “Yeah, we’re in those, and some smaller events. But the group competition is what the spectators will be watching over, so we have to try to look good out there.” Maiya says, taking a seat on the floor watching Cal as she pulls out her phone and types, deletes, types, deletes, types and deletes over and over. “Cal, honey you need help there?” Maiya says, raising an eyebrow. “I uh.. I just don’t know what to say is all.” Cal says, looking between the two as she leans back to think. 

“Why don’t you just say ‘Hey’?” Mitch says, laughing a bit. “I.. it’ll sound too.. simple.” Cal says, sighing harshly. “Cal, what? No, it wo-” Maiya says before getting cut off by the chime on Cal’s phone. They all exchange a look before watching Cal look at her screen. 

NEW MESSAGE: 

Denki: Hey there

“See! I told you it wouldn’t sound bad.” Maiya says, laughing lightly. Cal quickly types out a message, and soon a constant notification sound comes from her phone. From what Mitch and Maiya can tell, their conversation is going well. The way Cal’s smile wouldn’t leave her face was another dead give away. 

Throughout the rest of the night, the girls unpacked their hero costumes, got them ready and prepared a few plans for the start of the competition tomorrow. They decided it would be a good idea to go to bed a little earlier than usual because lets be honest, they were actually anxious about this. They’d been wanting to get into UA, it was their best shot at getting into a really good agency. this was their last chance with it being their final year in college. The girls continued to text their group chat, laughing at the memes and jokes they were making in order to calm each other’s nerves. Eventually, they ended up falling asleep. 

~~~~~~

Mitch’s alarm blared through the dorm room. Maiya groaned, covering her head with the blanket for a second before sitting up. Sleeping on the couch wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, but still. She stretches, getting off the couch and making her way to the rooms where the girls are sleeping. Mitch is first, her third out of probably 20 alarms blaring through her phone. Maiya swings the door open, throwing the first object she sees at Mitch. 

“Ow shit! I’m awake, jeez!” She yells, sitting up and rubbing her head. Maiya then makes her way to Cal’s room. As soon as the door swings open, Cal jumps up, getting in a defensive position still half asleep. “I’m up! I’m up don’t you dare!” She yells, grabbing a pillow to shield herself. Maiya laughs. “Good, I’m glad you made it up” She says before closing the door. The girls join in the living room, changing and getting dressed. At some point in the night, they decided they would shower to get that out of the way. Today was going to be a long day, and they knew they’d probably end up in some hot spring somewhere in town. 

They finish getting dressed and head out. Their first stop is the mess hall, which is super PACKED. They get in line, and wait to get something to eat. Once they finally get something, they go and find a place to sit. They take a seat at a random table, and eat quietly. After a few minutes of silence, the male Maiya saw the day before walks up to their table. Up closer in a better view, he’s tall with short navy hair. He’s wearing a navy shirt with the word “volunteer” on it. 

“Good morning, ladies! How are you guys doing this fine morning?” He says, pushing his glasses up and smiling. The girls glance at each other before answering. “We’re great, a little tired but ready for this competition to start.” Mitch says, faking her smile as best she could. “You all don’t go to school here, right?” He asks. The girls all shake their heads. “I’m assuming you’re here to try and secure a spot in the school?” He says, and the girls nod. “I see, I’m here just kind of checking in with students and making sure they know the fundamentals of our programs and what not! We’re a very prestigious school and we-” He begins to say, being cut off by a shorter, freckled green haired boy. “Uhh.. Iida, I don’t think they want to  be bothered this early in the morning. I-it’s really early a-and I think they’re still waking up. It’s r-rude.” He says, stammering as he notices the girls staring at him. 

“I- I’m sorry about my friend, Iida. He can be a little... u-uh... persistent with his speeches and uh.. d-doesn’t know when to stop.” He continues, blushing and avoiding eye contact with the trio. Maiya notices how Mitch moves and smirks lightly. ‘Here we go’ she thinks to herself as Mitch puts her head on her hand and leans towards the boy with the curly hair. “Cute..” She says. The one word itself made the green haired boy’s face even redder. “What’s your name? Mitch asks, her voice slightly lower. Cal and Maiya exchange a look and laugh lightly. 

“M-mine? Oh. Uh, my name is Midoriya, but most of my friends call me Deku.” He stammers, calming down lightly. Maiya looks over. “Deku... why does that.. OH aren’t you the one who’s been considered the next All Might? Why are you still in college?” She asks, genuinely shocked. “Oh, uh well, I still have a lot of training to do. My quirk still takes a huge toll on my body so I’m still in that stage.” He says with more confidence, scratching the back of his head. Mitch shoots a look at Maiya as though to say ‘bro, you brought him out of his fluster. I’m bored now.’ Maiya shrugs her shoulders apologetically. 

“Anyway, we should get going, we have to meet up with everyone who came with us and get ready to support our classmates. It was nice to meet you two.” Cal says, getting up suddenly. Mitch  and Maiya rise with her, gathering their things before turning and saying their goodbyes to the two. “Hope we see you guys later.” Mitch says, shooting a look at Deku. “Mitch, stop” Maiya says under a laugh as they walk off. Mitch watches as Deku once again looses his composure before being  dragged away with Iida. 

After a few minutes, the girls make it to the stadium, finding the rest of their classmates and taking a seat. They’d signed up for some of the more “show off your quirk” events later on in the day, but they sat and mentally prepared for the team battles. From what they were told, they would be facing off with the rest of the schools with the possibility of going against some of the UA students. Depending on teams, they’d be paired off with groups who could challenge their quirks. Based on research, the girls only had a few possibilities on who’d they’d end up going up against. 

They cheered on their classmates, and were even impressed by the other students at the other schools. They watched everyone carefully, attempting to see who would possibly face them. The girls developed certain strategies depending on who did what. Then, their names were called. They stood, and their classmates wished them luck. They make their way down and prepare themselves. They stood in a circle before walking onto the field. They each look at each other and let out a deep breath. “Time to show them why we’re top 3 in our school.” Mitch says with a smirk. Cal and Maiya smile. “Let’s do this.” 

They walk out onto the field. It’s a lot bigger than they thought from where they were sitting. They stand on their side of the field, waiting for their opponents. The announcement is made, and as their opponents are named, the girls freeze. “Katsuki Bakugo, Kirishima Eijirou, and Denki Kaminari!” Present mic screams over the crowd. Great. Of all people, those three. 

“We didn’t catch their quirks, did we.” Maiya says, staring the boys down as they walk out. “We didn’t.” Mitch says, stretching lightly as Cal’s sprout twitches in excitement. “We’ll let them attack first, then we can see how we can do this.” Cal says, smiling. “Right. We can do that.” Mitch says. They walk towards the middle of the field, watching as Bakugo sports a huge smirk, Kirishima looking almost nervous, and Denki of course staring right at Cal. They meet in the middle, where Pro Hero Gunhead stands. He explains that if it gets too dangerous, the staff will step in. They nod, and face each other. Gunhead backs off the field. 

“Well well well. If it isn’t the extras from yesterday.” Bakugo says through his smirk. “Again with the extras, huh? We’ll show you we’re more than that.” Maiya says, cracking her knuckles as she concentrates her quirk to her hands. The boys watch in surprise as her color fades and brightens around her fists. “I’m really sorry about this. This isn’t very manly.” Kirishima says, looking like he almost doesn't want to fight. “Oh, honey. We may be women, but that doesn’t mean you can take it easy on us.” Mitch says, smiling at him. Denki Looks over to Cal. “Hey cutie, how about after this I take you on a date? It wont take long. This’ll be over in a few minutes.” He says, winking at her. Cal’s sprout twitches. “Right. Sure, why not?” She says, completely throwing Denki off. “Huh? Really?” He asks, confused. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.” She says, glancing around at what all she can grow. “You bring your seeds?” Maiya asks. “Always.” Cal replies, smirking. 

The alarm sounds, signaling the beginning of the match. Immediately, Bakugo lets off explosions, sending him flying back to gain some distance. Kirishima hardens, protecting himself from Bakugo’s blast. Maiya creates a shield in front of the girls to protect them. “Alright, looks like Bakugo’s got some kind of fire or explosion. Cal, avoid him.” Maiya yells. “Right.” Cal says, grabbing her bag of seeds and taking a few. She tosses them on the ground around her and kneels on the ground. In an instant, her plants start to grow at a quick pace, flailing around and making a grab for Kirishima. Using his hands, he chops at her plants, making her wince in pain lightly. “Maiya, he’s got a strength quirk, be careful with your shields!” She yells as Kirishima makes a swing for it. He hits, and Maiya is thrown back lightly. Shit. “Mitch!” She screams. 

As she hears her name, Mitch goes invisible. She runs around the shield and makes a kick for an unsuspecting Kirishima, who’s thrown off by the strength of the kick. Denki places his hands on the floor. “Try escaping this!” He yells as he releases electricity into the ground. Immediately Mitch’s location is given away, and Bakugo sends an explosion to her. Maiya jumps off up to one of Cal’s plants, saving her from the electricity on the ground and pinpointing where Bakugo is, sending off a ray of her aura towards him. It hits him, throwing him off his balance before he regains his composure, blasting himself towards her. Mitch, being distracted by the electricity on the ground, reappears by Kirishima, throwing another punch at him. He blocks, but is still thrown off. 

Cal’s plants head to Denki, wrapping around him and holding him in place. Denki releases more electricity, staying aware of how much hes using to not get him into his dumb state. Cal then concentrates a second plant to Kirishima, knocking him back. Bakugo reaches Maiya, sending more explosions her way. On one hand, Maiya blocks with a smaller scale shield, then jumps towards him, using her quirk to ball around her fists to throw a punch. He blocks, pushing her downward then kicking her off, sending her a little ways down the field. She stands, again, shaking it off and heading towards him again. 

Bakugo changes his target to Cal, sending a few explosions her way. She uses her plants to block them off, watching as their destroyed within seconds. He makes his way past her plants, getting close enough to land a punch, when Maiya comes back and lands a kick to his side, basically drop kicking him. “Cal you good?” She asks, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “Yeah, be careful with him.” She warns, feeling the pain from her plants. Maiya nods as she returns to fighting him. 

Mitch and Kirishima are going back and fourth, landing hits on each other, blocking, doing, and landing again and again before Maiya and Bakugo make  their way to them. Maiya uses her quirk to create a shield, while Kirishima hits it over and over. Mitch reactivates her quirk, again running around but going after Bakugo. Denki decides to try and melt the plants around him by sending out a bigger bolt of electricity. The entire field lights up, and the rest of the groups had no idea the shock was coming. 

Maiya, Mitch and Bakugo get hit with the shock the hardest, Kirishima being in his hardened state didn’t get hit as hard, but he still felt it. Maiya kneels, but keeps her quirk up as Kirishima seems to be hitting... harder? The longer she looked at him, she realized he wasn't even in his regular hardened state. He was going unbreakable. Maiya brings back her shield, hitting him with orbs and rays, watching as he took the hits like nothing. Shit. SHIT. 

Noticing Maiya struggling, Cal tosses Denki, attempting to get him to stop his bolts going through the ground and slamming him against the wall of the stadium, knocking him out. She uses a combination of seeds next, tossing them on the ground and growing them, sending the new creation at Kiri, causing him to fly back. Bakugo and Mitch are going at it, Bakugo ended up losing site of Mitch once Denki was knocked out, and was randomly sending explosions everywhere. Mitch uses her chains to bind him, keeping him on the ground. Maiya uses her quirk to send an orb at Bakugo, hitting him hard. Mitch is out of breath, wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead to avoid it getting into her eyes. Maiya is starting to feel weak and tired, looking down at her hands noticing her quirk fading. They didn’t have much time left, and it looked like Kirishima was the last one to deal with. 

Kirishima is swiping at Cal’s plants, his unbreakable state slowly fading from exhaustion. Itd already been almost an hour and a half since the fight started, and they were all starting to feel it. Mitch would jump in landing a few punches and kicks, then back away for Maiya and Cal to use their quirks on him. Kirishima was starting to lose it when a tied up Bakugo figured out due to Mitch’s distraction, her chains weakened enough for him to move, He ran towards the group, attempting to help a gained up on Kirishima. 

“Maiya!” Mitch yells, realizing the situation. “Deal with him, we’ve got Kirishima.” Maiya smirks, glancing down once more to check on her quirk. Exhaustion was starting to take over, but they were NOT about to lose this fight. Maiya makes her way to Bakugo. punching him in the stomach, then the jaw with her quirk around her wrists. “Stay. DOWN” She yells between punches. Bakugo, exhausted and hands now straining from over usage of his quirk, falls over. Maiya turns to see Kirishima finally back down to his normal hardened state, being held down by Cal’s plants. The girls look at each other, and the announcement is made. 

Cal’s plants wither, Maiya falls to her knees from exhaustion, and Mitch jogs over. “You okay?” She asks. “Yeah, peachy. Just need a breather. We haven’t had to use our quirks this much in a long time. These guys were really strong.” She says between breaths. “Yeah, tell me about it.” Mitch says, reaching out to help Maiya up. She takes it, standing slowly. Cal makes her way to her friends, jumping on them. “We did it! Shit that was harder than I thought it would’ve been” She says, looking at Bakugo. “He’s the only person who’s ever gotten close enough to actually land a punch. Congrats, hothead.” She says before making her way to Denki. Mitch makes her way to Kirishima, and Maiya stays with Bakugo, unraveling Mitch’s chains with ease. 

“You alright?” She asks, holding out a hand to help Bakugo up. “Tch, yeah. I’m fine.” He says, taking her hand in an annoyed way as he gets up. He winces in pain lightly from where the chains had him. “Sorry about that, Mitch likes to be a little harsh when it comes to restraining her opponents. Come with me, Cal can make you an ointment for the burns if you’re okay with that.” She says, eyeing the open wounds on Bakugo. “No, we have recovery girl on the scene. We can go to her.” He says with a cold stare. Maiya shrugs. “Alright, whatever.” She says with slight attitude before turning to walk away. “T-thanks though.” Bakugo says quietly from behind her. She stops and turns. “What? What was that?” She says. “Nothing, shut the hell up.” He says as he walks past her to get to Kirishima and Mitch. 

Mitch helps Kirishima up, groaning as he gets up. “Damn, sorry we underestimated you guys. You all are so.. MANLY.” Kirishima says, his spiky tooth smile making the girls laugh. “What’d you think was gonna happen?” Mitch says, raising an eyebrow. “O-oh no it’s not like that. I just. I- uh..” Kirishima stammers for words. The girls laugh. “It’s fine Kirishima. You guys were good opponents for us. It was a great learning experience.” Mitch says, smiling. Kirishima feels his chest ping. 

Cal makes her way over to Denki, who is finally waking up. “Hey, sorry about tossing you like a rag doll. My girls were in trouble.” She says when she makes it to him. “It’s cool, it’s what friends are for, right?” He says, standing and stretching. “Um.. so.. about that date,” Cal says, smiling at him. Denki’s eyes widen. “Huh? Am i still knocked out?” He says, very confused. “No stupid.” Cal says, laughing. “Do.. you really still want to go on the date?” He asks, looking at her with a little spark in his eyes. “Yeah, I mean if you’re still up for it.” She says, her sprout twitching about in anticipation. Sparks go through Denki’s hair, as if he were really excited. “Yeah! Yeah of course! Um.. how’s tomorrow? After the events?” He says, smile beaming. “Sounds perfect” Cal says, smiling before joining the girls. 

As Cal is making her way to her friends, Bakugo, Kirishima, Maiya and Mitch all watch. “Well, looks like we may be seeing more of each other.” Maiya says. “Judging by the smile on her face, looks like they’re still going on that date.” 

Cal gets to the girls, and Kirishima, Bakugo and Denki make their way off the field. The girls are greeted by Gunhead, who tells them how good they did, and gave them a few pointers. Then, they’re let off the field, returning to their classmates who are of course celebrating and freaking out. The trio sits down, finally able to relax after the fight they just had. Honestly, they looked pretty roughed up. 

After a few hours of other teams going and facing others, the first day of the event was finally over. The next day would consist of smaller events aimed at showing off their quirk rather than fighting, and the trio didn’t really take that part all that seriously. All they really wanted to do was show the raw power of their quirks. 

The girls make their way to the dorm, being flooded by other students with congratulations, wows, and many compliments on the way they fought. Maiya and Mitch smiled and continued on, while Cal was glued to her phone.Someone had recorded the entire fight, and she was making note on what went down and how they could improve. 

Once they finally got into the dorm, the trio collapsed onto the ground. God DAMN, they were exhausted. In all honesty, they hadn’t had to use so much energy in so long. They figured the fight would be difficult, but man the staff knew what they were doing when they chose their opponents. 

“I need a nap, bad.” Maiya says, slowly getting up to make her way to one of the beds. “Hey wait, we should probably shower first. We fought hard today girls. Great job, honestly. I was actually scared for us.” Mitch says, sitting up. “Yeah, looking back on the video and skimming through it, you can see where we very easily made mistakes.” Cal says, biting her thumb deep in thought. “Either way, we made it. Barely, but we made it. Had the fight gone on any longer, we would’ve lost for sure.” Maiya says, making her way to one of the closets to change into after the shower. Cal rises from the ground, helping Mitch up before doing the same. 

The girls decide on visiting a hotspring a little ways from the University. They walk, getting a better view of the University and the surrounding areas. There’s many shops, cafes, little food stands, and other activites on the way. The girls decide later on, possibly after the competition or if they get accepted to UA, the’ll have to take a shopping trip here. They make it to the spring, paying and changing. They enter the shower before the spring, rinsing off the dried blood and sweat. They hiss at the feeling of the water on their raw skin, but after a while, it feels better. They exit and make their way to one of the springs. They sink in and relax, watching as Cal releases little lily pads and other little plants that release a soothing feeling throughout the spring. They giggle watching Cal have her fun with her plants. Then, a voice causes them to look up.

“Oh hey! You’re the group of girls that kicked Kirishima, Kaminari and Bakugo’s ass today right?” A pink skinned, black and yellow eyed bubbly girl asks enthusiastically. Maiya and Mitch laugh, while Cal smiles and replies. “I mean, I guess you could say that. It was a hard fight, that’s for sure.” She says, rubbing the back of her head. A frog-like girl smiles. “That’s impressive. They’re really strong. I’m surprised you even got Bakugo down.” She says. “Yeah, he was a tough one to keep down.” Maiya says, grumbling into the water. The last girl creates small towels. “Your quirks are quite amazing!” She says, her voice smooth and intellectual. “Where are our manners. My name is Momo Yaoyorozu, this is Mina Ashido, and this is Tsuyu Asui. We’re students here! 

“I’m Mitch Liu, this is Maiya Koi and this is Cal Torrance. We’re from a neighboring school hoping to get into here for our last year of college. We hear a lot of great things about this place and the strength of their students.” Mitch says, smiling up at the group. “What do your quirks do??” Mina asks. 

“Mine is Manipulation of the eye, I can basically make myself invisible to anyone  of my choosing. It takes a lot of concentration to stay in that state, especially when it comes to a lot of enemies. Once I lose concentration, my quirk will stop and I have to take a bit of a rest before I can activate it again. The only thing with that was the fact that Denki’s electricity gave me away due to the chains I wear to restrain my opponents.” Mitch says. 

“Mine is Plant Manipulation. I can basically make plants do whatever I can. I have seeds that I can combine and crossbreed to anything possible. I can make poisons and healing ointments pretty much on the spot just by looking at a wound and selecting the seeds of plants that’ll best suit the healing process. I can also grow seeds in the palm of my hands, but its easier for me to put them in the ground and grow them that way.” Cal says, blushing at the amazed look Mina was giving her. “Do you like... rely on the sun like plants?” She asks, tilting her head lightly. “Uh, in a sense yes. The sun and my energy are the main sources for my quirk. If I’m really tired and the sun is covered, my plants are more likely to whither away.” Cal answers. 

“Mine is Aura. The color that surrounds me is basically a huge giveaway to my moods. It’ll change depending on how I’m feeling, and will fade when I’m feeling tired, My quirk relies on emotional and mental stability. If i become to tired, or use too much of my quirk, it will fade and I’ll have to sleep for longer periods at a time.” Maiya says, looking over at the girls. “I can concentrate my quirk to make either orbs, rays, or shields depending on the situation. I can even ball it around my fists to diffuse the impact on my hands when throwing punches and sometimes kicks. It takes a lot of concentration and the moment I lose it my quirk returns to normal surrounding me.” She finishes. 

“That’s insane! You girls are really strong!” Mina says, her smile only bigger. “It’s kind of insane how well they paired you with the boys. It was like they knew you’d each have your own strengths and weaknesses to them” Tsuyu says, placing her finger to her chin in thought. “Yes, but it does make sense with most students doing this competition to try and get into our school. But, nonetheless, it was very impressive to see you three hold your own against them. They’ve been a trio of some sort since we were in high school They’ve developed a really great relationship and understanding of each other. It seems you three are the same.” Momo says. “We are, we’ve known each other since preschool. We’ve been inseparable ever since.” Maiya says, smiling at Cal and Mitch. 

“Makes sense, you girls are like a power trio!” Mina says, flexing playfully. “We are. I’m assuming that’s why we’re top three in our college.” Cal says nonchalantly. “Wha- TOP THREE” Mina says rather loudly, making a few other girls turn and stare. “Mina...” Momo warns quietly. “Sorry sorry.” She says, placing her hands in front of her and bowing apologetically. “Top three though? That’s awesome!” Mina says, a little quieter. “Thank you! We worked really hard to get to that position. Now we’re just waiting on getting into UA, which will help us get into better agencies in the near future.” Mitch says. “It was really nice meeting you girls, We hope to see you at the school.” Momo says, walking away to another part of the spring. Mina and Tsuyu follow suit, smiling and waving at the girls. 

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

After finishing their session, the girls get dressed and head out. As they’re walking and talking, Maiya walks backwards, talking to the girls about one of the restaurants they’d passed that she wanted to try. Then, she feels something hard run into her. She whips around, seeing a red head. Really? Again? 

“Kirishima?” Maiya says, looking up slightly. “Oh, hey! This keeps happening doesn’t it.” He says, laughing while scratching the back of his head. “How’re you healing up?” Mitch asks, looking over his arms and any other exposed part of his body briefly. “We’re healing great. Thankfully, Recovery Girl is a great healer. We feel brand new.” Kirishima says, flexing playfully. “Hey shitty hair, what are you- oh my god again? Are you three stalking us or something?” Bakugo says, making his way around the corner. 

“Well sounds like you’re feeling better.” Maiya says with hard sarcasm. “Shut the hell up.” Bakugo grumbles, looking away from her. Maiya raises an eyebrow, then shrugs it off. Denki joins the group, throwing an arm around Kirishima. “Ladies, again. How are you all doing?” Cal laughs. “Recovering, we really took a beating.” She says, eyeing him. Denki’s smile widens. Where are you headed?” He asks, removing his arm from around Kirishima. “We were thinking about going out to eat.” Maiya says, glancing at the girls. Cal gives her a look, to which Maiya rolls her eyes lightly. “You guys wanna come with?” She asks, smiling. 

The three exchange a look, Kirishima shrugs, Bakugo almost says no, but surprisingly agrees. “Sure, we don’t have any other plans.” Denki says before looking at Cal. “Gives us a chance to get to know each other a little bit before our date.” He says, winking at her. Cal blushes lightly and agrees. The six of them make their way to the restaurant Maiya suggested. Once they get to the place, they all take a seat. Denki and Cal sit next to each other, Maiya on the other side of cal. Across from Maiya, Bakugo sits, then Kirishima then Mitch. They order their drinks and look over the menu quietly. 

“So, uh. What exactly do your quirks do?” Kirishima asks, attempting to break the ice. “Oh, well..” Mitch starts, and each of the girls explains their quirk. “What do yours do?” Maiya asks, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. “Mine let’s my skin harden. It has two different stages, just regular harden and Unbreakable.” Kirishima says, using his arm to show the differences in his quirk. “Can I uh..” Mitch asks, reaching for his arm. “Huh? Oh yeah!” Kirishima says, using the arm closest to her to switch between the quirk. Maiya’s curiosity gets the best of her, and asks as well. Again, Kirishima agrees. “That explains why you were able to get through Cal’s plants and my shields with ease.” Maiya says, sitting back down. “Heh, yeah. I didn’t think I was going to have to use it today, but you guys were tough.” The girls grin. 

“You? What can you do?” Maiya says, raising an eyebrow at Bakugo. He glares at her for a second, then sighs. “My hands secrete nitroglycerin. I can use that to make explosions. Different elements in my hero costume can help me concentrate them making the explosions more precise on a target if needed.” He says, crossing his arms and leaning back a bit. “Its a good thing I avoided you then.” Cal says under her breath. Bakugo glances at her, realizing something. “Hey you. What was up with you earlier. We didn’t even touch you but you looked like you were in pain.” He says. “I can feel everything my plants feel, its a part of my quirk.” She says. Bakugo nods. “Sorry about that..” He says. Denki and Kirishima whip their heads towards him. “Huuuh?” Denki says, then jumps as Kirishima kicks him from under the table. Bakugo looks at them, then rolls his eyes. “I can be nice too, assholes.” He grumbles, adjusting himself. 

“What about you?” Mitch says, as everyone turns their attention to Denki. “Oh, I can control and create electricity. I can do up to a few million volts, but I can’t do it for long. I’ll go stupid.” He says, laughing at himself a bit. Before they can ask, the waiter comes back and takes their order. After he leaves, they continue their conversation. “What do you mean by ‘go stupid’?” Cal asks. Bakugo sits up and pulls out his phone with  a smirk on his face. After a couple seconds of tapping and scrolling, he first shows his phone to Cal and Mitch who are the closest to each other. They start laughing, and Maiya looks over at Denki, who looks embarrassed. Bakugo then hands his phone to Maiya, playing a video of Denki at his “stupid” state, walking around aimlessly and consistently saying “wheeeeeyyy.” Maiya giggled, covering her mouth and coughing to cover it. 

Maiya glances over to Denki, who’s beat red while Cal rubs his back apologizing for laughing. Bakugo smirks, letting out a little laugh before putting his phone on the table. Their food finally makes it to the table. “Thanks for the food!” They all say before eating. After a few moments of silence, Denki’s voice raises. “So uh.. how long have you three known each other?” He asks, glancing at the three girls. “Since we were in preschool.” Mitch says, giving a short answer to get back to eating. Cal laughs. “How about you three?” “We’ve been in the same classes since high school, we were a pretty interesting group.” Kirishima says, realizing that Mitch is no longer holding onto his arm and deactivating his quirk. 

“What kind of music do you listen to?” Bakugo asks before shoving his mouth with food. “I like relaxing music.” Cal says as Mitch and Maiya exchange a look. “Yeah, like elevator music.” Mitch says causing Maiya to choke on her food. Bakugo looks at her slightly concerned, patting her back as she coughs. “You good?” He asks, smirking. Maiya nods, laughing and coughing. “Mitch don’t be an asshole!” she manages to say between breaths. “She likes more than just that, but she prefers classic and or anything soothing.” Maiya says finally catching her breath. 

Mitch laughs, shaking her head. “I know I know but we love to pick on our little bean.” she says, giving a smile to Cal who’s glaring at her. “Maiya and I have pretty much the same taste in music. We’re into music we can dance to or head bang to.” Mitch says looking over to Maiya. “Hell yeah we do, I’m more into rock and metal than music to dance to.” Maiya says, smiling. Bakugo’s eyebrow raises as Kirishima continues to talk. “Oh? Can you play an instrument?” He asks. “I actually can’t, but I’ve always wanted to learn. I think playing the drums would be really cool.” She says, using the spare chopsticks as drumsticks banging on the table and laughing. Kirishima gets a scheming smile on his face, glancing at Denki who has the same look. “Well...” The boys say in unison, looking over to Bakugo. 

“Huuhh?” Bakugo says, looking at Kirishima and Denki. “You know how to play the drums , don’t you?” Denki says. “I do..?” Bakugo says, raising an eyebrow. Then, it hits him. “Oh, OH. No, no fucking way.” He says, sitting back in his chair. “What the hell Bakugo why not?” Maiya argues, glaring at him. Mitch raises an eyebrow. “What’s wrong Bakugo? Don’t think you can handle trying to teach her?” She says, Cal laughing lightly next to Denki. Bakugo’s eyebrow twitches, taking his phone off the table and handing it to Maiya. “Huh? What am I-” “ Put your number in it, dumbass. I’ll teach you.” He says, crossing his arms again glaring at Mitch and the Kirishima. Denki and Kiri exchange a look and laugh. Maiya puts in her number, texting herself before handing it back to Bakugo. What they didn’t know was Kirishima and Denki had a plan. 

After finishing their meal, the group decides to spend the rest of the day together, just hanging out and checking out different shops. The boys take them to their favorite places, mostly music stores, comic/manga shops, and the girls took them to shops they were curious about. The sun set, and Maiya recieves a text. 

New Message: 

Bakuhoe; Let me know when you’re free, dumbass. 

Maiya: Alrght, I’m gonna wait until after this event. We’re still trying to get into UA.

Bakuhoe: They didn’t tell you?

Maiya; Huh?

Bakuhoe: Nothing, nevermind. We’ll see you tomorrow. 

Maiya’s confused expression concerned Mitch and Cal. “What?” They ask, staring at her. “Nothing, I think. Just a little thrown is all.” Maiya says, locking her phone and putting it in her pocket. “Who was that?” Mitch asks, her smile worrying Maiya. “Bakugo..?” She says, hesitating. “Oooh, planning dates already?” Cal says, teasing. “Ha, please. It would never happen.” Maiya says, her quirk flashing lightly. “Right...” Mitch says, eyeing her quirk. “Anyway what’d he say?” “He said something about “they” telling us something?” Maiya says, pulling out her phone and showing the girls. “Hmm. I’m not sure to be honest, but hey, we’re done with what we needed to do for this event. What’s left is those show off events which we dont even have to try in. We can relax and wait till they give the announcement tomorrow on the results.” Cal says as she hands Maiya her phone. “Yeah. you’re right.” She says as they make their way to the dorm. 

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

The next day comes along, and the girls wake up sore all over. The night before, Cal made the girls tea to attempt at soothing their muscles. It wasn’t strong enough, as they got up totally stiff. Maiya’s quirk flashed like a flame as she shot up. She looked at her phone. SHIT.

She gets up and runs to the girls rooms, all with the same look on their faces. They’d slept in, and were late for the second half of the event. They quickly get dressed and head to the auditorium, sprinting quickly. Before getting inside, Mitch activates her quirk, making sure not to give themselves attention as they go through the door and find their school, huffing and puffing. “Fuck me I’ve never run so quick” Maiya says, out of breath. “Bitch we never run period the fuck.” Mitch says, practically falling over and deactivating her quirk. “You’re late, what happened? You guys are never late.” Kai says, looking over the three. “I know, I’m sorry, Kai, we overslept.” Maiya says, straightening out and getting serious. Mitch and Cal follow suit, standing behind her. “You guys took a beating yesterday, it’s fine. They’re about to tell us about the next event. Did you get a change to eat?” Kai asks. The girls shake their heads and she sighs. “Make sure and eat before you head to the event.” She says before returning to sit next to the class representative, leaning in to fill them in. 

The three let out a sigh of relief, then turn their attention to the speaker. They’ll first announce those who they see fit to transfer, and afterwords they are to go to the events and show the extent of their qurik, with the spectators, teachers and students watch. They name school after school, name after name, then the reach Brownstone University. 

“This school had many participants, but only three made it.” The announcer says. “Maiya Koi, Mitch Liu, and Cal Torrance.” and their school cheers. The three stand together, still half asleep and confused. “Wait, what?” Mitch says, looking at the girls. “You made it! There were about 20 participants from our school. We don’t expect anything less from our top three.” Kai says, with the class rep next to her. “Sucks we wont see you anymore.” The president says, eyeing Maiya. She rolls her eyes. “Sorry about it, “Obsidian”” Maiya says through her teeth. The president smirks. “That’s my hero name, Maiya, you know to call me by my first name.” He says. “Hero name? Tch. Whatever, Andrew.” She says as she turns to the girls. Cal and Mitch continue to glare at him from in front of Maiya as she smiles. “Looks like we’ll be settling here. Let’s grab a bite so we can get this event over with.” She says, throwing her arms around the girls. “We fucking did it guys.” 

[demadogs]

i’m curious how you would feel if will’s feelings are unrequited? would that ruin the show for you or would you be glad they acknowledge will is gay? i’m not sure how i feel about the whole thing or what i even actually believe. i am all over the place at this point.

first off, i dont think anything byler related could ruin this show for me. i would be extremely disappointed but i fell in love with this show for the scifi storyline and i wasnt even convinced that they were going through with byler until after the third season. i started watching stranger things just a couple weeks after the first season came out and i have so many nostalgic memories of everyone losing their minds when it did. i remember some of my high school teachers talking about it and so many kids were wearing merch and stuff it was just a fun time. the gays are honestly just a bonus i didnt expect at all in the beginning and now theres an added layer to my love for the show.

that being said! i dont think wills feelings are unrequited and i have a post that explains why if you wanna read that, but if they did i would hate it. i would rather they confirm that will is gay but never mention or further imply his feelings for mike than have him admit his feelings and be rejected, even if mike was very nice about it. not only is it an overused trope thats never satisfying and doesnt count as “queer representation” but for this show specifically theres just no reason to do that to a character whos already suffered so much trauma. i would be genuinely shocked if they did this for that reason alone. hes been trapped in the upside down, he was possessed by the mindflayer, his best friend ignored him for his girlfriend all summer, WHY would they make him also fall in love with someone who doesnt feel the same way like come on.

if byler doesnt happen i think it would be completely ignored, not just one sided, and i’d rather it be that way.

[obsidiancreates]

Old Writing Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

Yeah so uh here’s the “Fandom School” one.

This one has not been seen by even myself since like... October of 2016.

Oh jeez. That’s so long ago. Fuck time.

So this is... the whole story. Each Chapter was super short, the first three are under 400 words, so I just stuck ‘em all in here.

This one... is from 12 year old Sid. Yup. Little baby Sid. 

It is bad. I’m warning you now. But perhaps, entertaining. At the very least, a good example of being able to grow and improve with enough practice.

Chapter One: Fangirlish

Abby shouted as she hit the floor. Her brother came running in, a look of worry on his face.

"What was that thud?" he asked.

"I laughed to hard while watching Venturiantale and fell off the bed."

Her brother face-palmed.

"Come on, Jeremy. Don't face-palm. They're funny!" Abby said with a grin.

"They're all you think about! You really need to stop obsessing. "

Abby gasped and looked at him like he just asked her to eat a smelly boot. "How could you say such a thing! Plus, they're not all that I think about. I also think about Doctor Who, and Star Wars, and Tolkien stuff, and Percy Jackson, and My Little Pony, and Monster High, and Warriors. "

Jeremy sighed. "Those are all....what do you call them? Fandoms?"

"Indeed. However, I am obsessed with them because they are beautiful. They are fabulous in ways you do not understand, mortal. Be gone!" Abby cried. She grabbed the ballpoint pen she took with her everywhere and uncapped it. "Be gone, or else you shall face the wrath if Riptide! Wait, Riptide can't harm mortals."

Jeremy sighed again and left the room, muttering about Abby being weird.

Abby went back to her video, laughing her butt off. After she finished it she went and read some Percy Jackson fanfiction. She was deeply absorbed in a very interesting fanfic when her alarm went off. It was time. She got up off her bed and went over to her desk.

She sat down and took out her notebook. She put on some music, written by Venturian of course, and began writing. She was writing a fanfic about Doctor Who.

"Abby, there's someone here to see you!" her mom shouted. Abby sighed, but went downstairs anyway.

She entered the living room to find a girl around her age sitting on the couch. She had blond hair with blue streaks and green eyes. She was wearing a t-shirt that said 'Fandom U' on it.

"Hello Abby, "she said with a grin, "I hear you're quite the fangirl."

Chapter Two: A Fellow Fan

Abby was a little creeped out. Who wouldn't be if a girl you had never met before was sitting in your living room saying she had heard about you?

The girl seemed to notice that Abby was weirded out, and spoke again. "My name is Bell, by the way."

"Bell? Who names their kid Bell?"

Bell laughed. "My mom's favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast. Anyway, you're a fangirl, are you not?"

"Yeah, kinda. And by kinda, I mean totally." Abby said. She was still a bit creeped out, but Bell seemed friendly enough. "Why do you ask? More importantly, how the heck did you hear about me? That's kinda creepy, considering this is the first time I've ever seen you."

Bell smirked. "So you're asking to know my secret?" She said the last part in a creepy voice.

"Wait, you watch Venturiantale? Awesome! But, could you at least answer my first question?"

Instead of responding, Bell handed Abby a piece of paper. It looked like a letter you would get from school. "Here, read this. If you decide you want to attend, just call the number at the bottom of the page." With that Bell left, humming a tune Abby recognized as the theme of Rohan.

She went back up to her room with the paper and began reading it. At the top it said, in big, bolded letters, Fandom U.

That's what Bell's shirt said.

As she read the paper her eyes  widened.

Dear Whom It May Concern It has come to our attention that you are a massive fangirl. We are pleased to announce that you have been accepted into Fandom U. All supplies we be provided upon arrival, should you choose to attend. Please note that some fangirls can be dangerous if you speak negatively about their fandom, and the school is not responsible for any injuries should you be insensitive enough to do so.

Sincerely, The faculty of Fandom U

Excitement came over Abby. "I'm going to Fandom U!" she screamed happily.

Chapter 3: Belonging

A few weeks later, Abby was all packed and ready to go. She had called the school and arranged everything. She was sitting at the bus stop, waiting for her transportation. She bounced her leg up and down, a nervous habit of hers. Finally a bus labeled 'Fandom U' arrived. The doors to the bus opened, and Abby couldn't help but stare at the driver.

"Well, get in!" the driver said through his mask. He was dressed in a full on Stormtrooper cosplay. As Abby stepped onto the bus, she wondered how he wasn't being baked alive in the heat.

She discovered that each row represented a different fandom. She took a seat in the Doctor Who section because it, somehow, had more room then the other sections. The bus started up, making the same sounds the T.A.R.D.I.S makes. Abby stared out at her hometown, feeling excitement  at what lay before her. She leaned back in her seat, humming fandom songs. Normally people would look at her like she was crazy, but instead everyone joined in, humming with her.

She had found where she belonged, and she loved it. The whole bus ride was filled with fan theories, discussions about characters, and tons of references. It was the most fun Abby ever had!

After what seemed like only minutes, they had arrived. Abby looked up at the building in front of her in awe.

It was enormous, like a castle. Above the door there was a huge sign reading 'Welcome to Fandom U!'. The building was shaped in an unusual way. So unusual that Abby wasn't even sure what shape it was. The outer walls were painted with so many fandom symbols that Abby had a hard time seeing anything else.

"Abby!" a voice called. Abby turned around to see Bell running towards her. "Abby, great news! They made me your escort!"

"Escort?"

"Well, yeah. It's a huge school. Plus it's your first day. I'm here to show you around!" Bell said.

She looked at Abby's face, which was still a face of awe. Bell grinned and said "Abby, welcome to Fandom U!"

Chapter 4: Orientation

"This place is amazing!" Abby said. She looked over at Bell, who seemed just as excited as Abby felt.

"Wait until you see the inside," Bell said. She started walking and motioned for Abby to follow. Abby grinned and walked with her into the school.

The inside was more amazing than the outside. The entrance was decorated with hundreds of pieces of fandom merch from hundreds of different fandoms. Abby noticed a T.A.R.D.I.S replica, a statue of a cave troll from The Lord of the Rings, a replica of Luke Castilian's sword Backbiter, and what appeared to be a statue of Papa Achachalla.

As she and Bell continued to wherever they were headed, Abby took in everything she could. The halls were each themed around a different fandom. There was a Doctor Who hall styled like the inside of a Dalek spacecraft, a Narnia hall styled like the Pevensy's castle, a Lord of the Rings hall styled like the halls of Rivendell, and a Venturiantale hall decorated with the channel's colors and each of the siblings emblems, among many others.

The classroom doors were all shut, so Abby didn't get the chance to see inside. She followed Bell to a large room resembling a theater.

"Welcome to the auditorium! This is where all the assemblies are held, as well as the school plays!" Bell said. She led Abby over to the very middle row and took a seat. She motioned for Abby to sit next to her, which is just what Abby did.

"This room is huge! How many students are there?" Abby asked.

"I'm not sure. A few hundred, maybe. Possibly more," Bell answered. "Oh, orientation's starting! We better stop talking. "

All the other students had sat down while they were talking. They all went quiet as a lady walked up on stage. "Greetings, students! I am Miss Silnet, your headmistress," she announced. Abby was shocked. The lady definitely wasn't dressed like a headmistress. She wore a camp Half-blood t-shirt underneath a black sweatshirt, a pair of jeans with fandom references doodled all over them, and a pair of plain red sneakers. Her ginger hair was pulled into a loose braid with bits of silver weaved in. She couldn't have been older than thirty, yet was still clearly a fangirl.

"Welcome to Fandom U! I'm sure some of you new students are curious as to what the U stands for. Most people think it means university. However, a university is a collage, and here all ages of fans are welcome. The U in fact stands for United. We are all united under our love of our fandoms! Join me as I say the school's pledge," she said. She put her hand on her heart and began the pledge, with many returning students saying it with her.

To be obsessed For all our lives, To value the next part Over the next school test. To love those who do not love back, To stalk them on the Internet. To unite as one Under the fandom sun.

Abby looked around her, thinking about how all these people had similar interests, habits, preferences, possibly even crushes as her. She realized that they truly were united in their love of fandoms. She could tell this was going to be her best school year ever.

Chapter 5: Classes

After orientation Bell lead Abby to her dorm. The room had two beds, two dressers, two closets, two trashcans, two desks, two bookshelves, and, to Abby's surprise, two TVs. There was a dark blue couch in front of each TV, the bedding was purple on both beds, and at each desk there was a chair made of oak with dark green built-in cushions. There was a large window in the middle of the wall leading outside, with a view of the huge field behind the school. In front of the window was a kitchen, complete with all the cooking utensils you could ever need. On both sides of the room there was a private bathroom with a shower, sink, medicine cabinet, mirror, and, of course, toilet.

"This room is amazing!" Abby marveled.

"It gets better. Guess who your dorm mate is. Me!" Bell said. Abby  was very happy to hear that. Despite having only known Bell for a short time, the two seemed to be best friends. Plus, Bell was the only person Abby actually knew!

Abby then noticed the large boxes sitting by the desks. They were labeled School Supplies.

"So, which side do you want?" Abby asked Bell.

"Hm. The right side, I think."

"Okay!" Abby said. She set down her luggage, which she had been hauling around all day, on her bed. She walked over to her desk and opened the box.

Inside was everything a fangirl could need. There was a laptop, about a dozen brand new books, some notebooks, some pencils, some pens, a spare phone charger for both Apple and Android brands, a charger for the laptop, an extra pillow in case of a feels attack, a sketchbook for fanart, colored pencils, and many course books for class.

She closed the box, not feeling like unpacking it. Her eyes fell on some paper on her desk. She picked it up and asked Bell, "What's this?"

"It's a list of all the different classes you can take. In this school you get to choose all your own classes! What you do is pick your five main fandoms, then pick two classes per fandom. Later one of the teachers will come to collect it. They enter it into a computer, which then devises a schedule," Bell explained.

"Oh. Thanks!" Abby said. She turned her attention back to the paper. On the first page were five spots to write her fandoms. She thought for awhile, then chose Doctor Who, Percy Jackson, Venturiantale, Star Wars, and Warriors.

She turned to the next page, which had a list of the different classes for each fandom. She read over all the options, then chose the ones that interested her most.

Abby's choices:

Venturiantale: Tale Fighting, the class where you learn to fight like the Tale characters, and Lore 101, the study and attempt to make sense of VT lore.

Percy Jackson: Demigod Combat, the class where you learn how to fight like a Demigod, and Camp Cooking, the class of learning to cook the meals they eat at camp.

Doctor Who: A Study of Time, the class on understanding how time works, and Regeneration History, the study of the Doctor's personal history.

Warriors: Knowing Your Herbs, the class on healing methods the clans use, and Warriors Speak 101, the study of Warriors phrases and words.

Star Wars: Understanding the Force, the study of what the Force is as well as how it is used, and Dark vs Light, a debate class studying the pros and cons of each side in an attempt to find out which one is truly better.

Abby finished filling out the paper and looked over at Bell, who appeared to be doing the same.

Abby and Bell spent the rest of the night unpacking. Abby discovered that the closest was filled with fandom clothes, as well as the dresser. "How did they know my size?" she asked, a tad creeped out.

"Your mom had to put it on your admission papers."

"Oh."

Just before Abby went to bed there was a knock at the door. The teacher had come by to collect the class papers. After the girls had handed them over they got into bed. Bell seemed to fall asleep pretty quick, but Abby stayed up for hours,unable to sleep at the anticipation of the next day.

And then I never wrote Chapter Six. I guess she overslept, huh? Heh.

[polygarnstars]

part 1: 4, 12, 15, 18, and 19

If you think I’m going to have common sense and not answer all of these in a single post, I have Bad News lmao

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you? Smart, mostly. “Gifted”. This very much Did Not Last lmaoooo

12. name of your favorite playlist? I literally never make playlists I’m a stupid fuck who uses their spotify premium to skip freely through all my thousands of liked songs on shuffle until I find something I want to listen to lmaooooo (Having said that: Rey and I put together a playlist for some characters we were entering a contest to win last fall which I titled Story and Song after the TAZ arc and also because we wrote Way Too Much for it and I’m Very Proud Of That)

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? Okay upon reading this I initially genuinely couldn’t remember any of the books I read in school because for the last several years of my schooling I just fuckin Sparknotes and TV Tropes-ed everything lmao... having said that, I do remember enjoying Maus! It was neat having a graphic novel assigned amongst all the “literary classics” that I couldn’t sit through a sitting of without falling asleep, and it may be the furry in me but the depiction of the characters/people as animals was Good :0c See, if all history was depicted with methods like this, I’d maybe actually be able to remember it ghfdjhgjfkdl

18. ideal weather? Depends on the day, but generally: Between like 65-80°F, not humid, not a lot of wind, and either sunny, partly cloudy, or drizzly but not outright storming. Basically decent temperatures without feeling like I’m walking through soup because of the humidity and weather that’s not completely gray and boring. Aka what Maine basically never is lmaoooo

19. sleeping position? I change positions every five minutes I swear to god (don’t take that out of context gfhdjbhvjd). Usually with at least one arm draped over a pillow that is Definitely Not Being Mentally Portrayed As A Character I Like To Supplement The Fact That I Did Not Get Enough Affection To Be A Functional Adult As A Child ghfdjknbhgfjdk

21. obsession from childhood? bold of you to assume i don’t still obsess over nintendo games (and just video games in general tbh)

23. strange habits? OKAY I COULDN’T THINK OF ANYTHING FOR THIS AT FIRST BUT I HAVE ONE NOW: MIDNIGHT FRIES

28. five songs to describe you? Speeding - LightsDaydreaming - ParamoreMusic - Mystery SkullsNo Lullaby - SIAMÉSLonely Dance - Set If Off+Bonus because it came up on Spotify while I was shuffling for songs for this and it’s a Mood: Pineapples Do Not Belong on a Pizza - Vargskelethor

29. best way to bond with you? I don’t know I usually just scream about ocs or video games with people and suddenly it’s been a year??? @riskreyes how has it been a year since we started talking but also how has it only been a year??? Wild bvhfdjkbhvgfjdk

30. places that you find sacred? Lmao I’ve never had anywhere like that really. Need a goddamn lock on my door :p I guess... the woods by my house? As a little kid before things got shitty my neighbor’s cousin or niece or something would go out there wandering around catching frogs and stuff in the spring or almost falling into the frozen streams during winter. When things started to go to shit in my life as a teenager I would hide out there to get away and nobody would find me. I haven’t been recently but the last time I did my friend and I walked along the train tracks and dove off into the woods by the side to avoid the amtrak coming by, it was great lmao. Uhh, other than that... I dunno, Boston and New York and New London all make me feel good to visit. Probably mostly because during those trips I don’t feel trapped in a dying land like Maine feels like bgvhfdjkhvgfjd

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? ......my entire wardrobe is my work outfit, excessive graphic tees, and jeans. So uhh... I dunno. I guess my NWTB shirts are pretty rad, I’d kick a dude’s ass wearing Nate’s merch

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? if i have to see another ad for some fuckin branch of the us military while i’m just out here trying to watch people play video games i swear to god-

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? Oh boy I don’t know how weird these are but do you want a list??? I can give you a list hang on- In 4th grade we had a day of class where we all just had a party and ate chips and salsa and stuff because the pats won the super bowl and our teacher was Obsessed- In middle school my math class started working out of college textbooks, which is a bit much when you’re 11, advanced classes or no. Yet somehow none of the other students had any problems with this- Also in middle school, the school counselor really wasn’t very Good at his job so I usually just ended up playing Rock Band in his office instead of talking out any of my Many, Many Problems. I played the drums, for the record- Also in middle school, one time I straight up fell down a flight of stairs? Like, a full flight of stairs. Fuckin somersaulting down the stairs. The binder I was carrying broke open, papers went everywhere, my arm got cut open somewhere along the way and started bleeding. I get to the bottom, the other students are staring at me in horror, aforementioned counselor fuckin steps out of his office which is, of course, right at the bottom of the stairs, all concerned because what the fuck a kid just fell down the stairs, right? And so I, laying on the floor disoriented and laughing, declare, and I quote: “That was fun, let’s do it again!”- THE MOTHERFUCKING MAC AND CHEESE MUFFINS IN HIGH SCHOOL. Macaroni and cheese baked into the sweet batter of a muffin. I refused to touch the stuff but a friend of my did and it was bad enough he had to go to the trash can and fucking empty his stomach in it.- SAID FRIEND ALSO MANAGED TO GET A CARTON OF MILK THAT EXPIRED A MONTH BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED AT THE START OF ONE OF OUR YEARS IN HIGH SCHOOL and if I didn’t trust cafeteria food before that sealed the deal on me Never Trusting It Again- OH BUT SPEAKING OF CAFETERIA FOOD one time in the old school before the renovation, in like freshman year I think? I laughed so hard a piece of spicy chicken strip flew up my windpipe and got stuck in my nose and it was too big for me to snort out so I had to suck it back down and for the rest of the day all I could smell was burning- ON ANOTHER FOOD RELATED TOPIC down in the library I was on my iPad and 3DS because I had Long Since Given Up On School and some asshole dudes threw a rotting orange at me and it splattered all over the screens of both? So I picked up the remains and chucked it back at them and yelled “Do you wanna fucking NOT?” and they all ran off. The librarian heard me yell and saw me throw the orange back at them and she just didn’t give a fuck lmao- The librarians at my school were cool as shit really during one of our years we had to do x hours of volunteer work so I did some adjustments to the library catalogue for mine but the thing is I was fast enough at it that there really wasn’t enough to fill up my required hours so instead of giving me more to do they just sort of let me and my friends hang out playing Yu-Gi-Oh and called that good lmao. (For the record I only had one starter deck so I let my friend pick half of the cards and I would use the half she didn’t want. I managed to fuckin WRECK her with throwaways it was Iconicque)- OKAY ONE LAST LIBRARY STORY on the last day of finals I was hanging out in one of the smart tv rooms in the library right? My last finals weren’t for a few hours and lord knows I wasn’t gonna study, ADHD ass couldn’t do that and I’d already given up on school lmao. So I fucking... I brought my Wii U to school, hooked it up to the smart tv, and just started playing Splatoon there in the library. One of the librarians walked past to check on everyone, stopped at my room, watched me play for a minute (I noticed her and just sort of nodded and waved like ‘Sup’ so she Knew what was going on), and then just LEFT. Like, she didn’t give a fuck. Shoutout to the librarians, the Chillest- ALRIGHT LAST STORY LAST STORY I straight up never got all the credits I needed to graduate lmao. I was missing half a credit but they let me go anyway and to this day I cite the reason as being my high scores on the SAT/PSAT? I was the first student at the school in like, a decade, to have gotten an award from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for my performance on them, and I guess they must have thought that me failing to graduate on time would look bad on them because, uh, yeah, it would, if people found out their teachers couldn’t handle a ~smart kid~ to the point that they did poorly enough to not even graduate with the rest of their class nobody would be willing to send their kids there lmao. And that’s the story of how I graduated when I wasn’t technically supposed to!!!

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? That’s a good fuckin question hey shit memory what was that thing that made us laugh so hard we couldn’t breathe again?...Don’t remember? Yeah I thought so lmaoI dunno, probably a joke in some let’s play? Or... god. Now that I think about it was probably the Slicer of T’pire Weir Isles moment actually. Holy shit, that was good.

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? That I’ve ever tried? Jesus, I dunno, I have issues with texture more than flavor. I Refuse to eat my mother’s stuffing because it’s literally just soggy ass bread. In terms of pure flavor alone? Her shepherds pie. It’s just... there is no flavor. It’s like eating cardboard. I’m begging you, De, use seasoning. If I ever have to eat shepherds pie that just tastes like tin from canned peas and vague hints of unseasoned beef again I’m going to go on a murderous rampage.That said? F in the chat to Cameron for that mac and cheese muffin. Rest in pieces

73. favorite weird flavor combo? GVFHDJBVDN JUST GONNA MAKE ME SHARE THE DILL PICKLE/CHOCOLATE PUDDING PACK COMBO FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE HUH

93. nicknames? Gar, Garn, Lane, Bill, Master, Pants, Shortpants. The first three are self-explanatory, first two are shortenings of my name and then my masc/surname. The latter four come from usernames of mine - Bill from Bill Ciforce (If you stack a Bill Cipher on top of two other Bill Ciphers, you get the Ciforce), Master, Pants, and Shortpants from MasterShortpants in reference to one of Link’s nicknames in Skyward Sword

95. favorite app on your phone? Does the internet app count? No? Lmao. Spotify I guess :p Need me some Tunes

[nostalgiaispeace]

1849.

Have your parents ever tried to control your relationship? no

Have you ever had to give someone directions before? lol yeah.

Speaking of which, are you good at understanding driving directions? nope

How many people do you text daily? like 2 people

Do you have an iPod or an MP3 player? Which brand? i don’t

What was your favorite television show as a child? lizzie mcguire

Do you play any instruments? Which instruments do you play? nope

Is there anyone who you call by their last name? nope

What did you do on your last birthday? went to the movies

Which of the Seven Deadly Sins do you commit the most? sloth

Has anyone ever told you that you’re incapable of whispering? i don’t think so.

What is your least favorite subject in school? -

Have you ever been involved in a custody battle before? no

Do you know a couple who constantly sucks on each other’s face? umm no..

Who was the best kisser you’ve ever dated? my husband

When was the last time you watched a YouTube video? idk

Have you ever babysat a newborn baby before? no

How many times a week do you usually see the person you love? every day <3.

When was the last time you held someone’s hand? this morning

How many meals have you eaten today, so far? none

Do you think it’s stupid for people to call others “hot?” naw

Do you personally think Wikipedia is a reliable source? not really

Are you someone who listens to more girl or guy bands? male

Have you ever shopped at Wet Seal before? Did you like it? i think so

Do you care about spending money if it’s someone else’s money? i do

What is your favorite Disney movie of all time? lion king of course

When you were a child, did you ever want to become a wizard/witch? duh

What are the color of your walls? Do you want to repaint? white, yes

Would you rather have hardwood floors or carpet? hardwood

Do you have any siblings you neglect you? no

Who would you say is the most selfish person you know? idk

Who was the last person you yelled at? Why? idk

As a kid, did you ever go to camp? yes

What were the last three movies you watched in theaters? Knives Out...Joker....umm.....that’s all I can remember lol

Have you ever made out in a movie theater before? no

Are you currently trying to learn to play any instrument? nope

Do you believe in ghosts, spirits or demons? yeah

When was the last time you went somewhere you thought was haunted? idk

What is your favorite breakfast meal? pancakes

What does the lead singer of your favorite band look like? pretty

Who was the last person to compliment you? my husband

How old were you when you got to go on your first date? 18 i thikn

Would you call your parents over-protective or under-protective? over

Did your parents ever let you play in the pits of those multicolored balls? yeah

What is the best movie you’ve seen in the last five years? oh gosh...i legit can’t just pick one

Has anyone ever called you a good kisser before? idk

Have any of your siblings ever had a crush on your significant other? no

Are you the jealous type? yes

Does life ever seem overly ironic to you? no

When was the last time you felt like you were high on life? lol never

Do you know someone who cares about themselves more than their child? yes

Do you still watch cartoons on television? no

What do you usually order at Taco Bell, if you go there? crunch wrap

Is there anyone currently annoying you? naw

What’s your favorite hairstyle you’ve had so far? idk

Do you have freckles? a few

How many dogs do you have, if any at all? 0

Have you ever witnessed someone being beaten up? yeah

Do you think biting is weird or sexy? weird

Would you rather be called hot or beautiful? beautiful

Have you ever had a pet turtle before? yes

Do you still sleep with your parents when you’re scared sometimes? no

Have you ever met someone with two different color eyes? no

Have you ever felt like someone was following you? yes

How many surveys on average would you say you’ve done in your lifetime? idk

What color shirt are you wearing at the moment? mostly grey

Do you enjoy going school shopping? i did

Do you think Pug dogs are adorable or just plain ugly? ugly

Have you ever met someone who completely resembled their pet? no

Has anyone ever knitted you something before? sure

What was the worst substance you’ve spilled on yourself before? idk

Have you ever made out with more than one person in one night? no

What three words would describe the person you love? amazing, protective, ambitious

Do you think their is a soulmate out there for everyone? sure

Do you like short or long surveys the best? short

Do you think hairspray is more helpful or annoying? idk...i think it’s both

Have you ever bought fake money and tried to make it pass for real? no

Are your siblings nice the majority of the time? sure

How many uncles do you have? 3

What would you say is the worst movie you’ve ever seen? umm....not sure

Do you freak out when a thunderstorm comes along? yes

What is something you’d consider yourself obsessed with? harry potter

How often do you shower? i try to every day

Have you ever had to sell something for a school fundraiser? yeah

What is the absolute worst thing about high school? pretty much everything

How many sodas do you usually drink in one day? idk

What kind of cheese do you like the most? Pepper jack.

Have you ever met someone who was completely weird all-around? yeah

Have you ever met an annorexic pregnant woman? yes but wow....you shouldn’t ask this What is your favorite lyric of all time? i don’t really have one

Do you know someone who has made their Xbox their best friend basically? no

Do you ever watch any soap operas? naw

Have you ever met someone who was mean to everyone? yeah

If you had to get a tattoo, what would it be? harry potter sleeve

If you have any piercings, who did them? --

Do you usually have a low tolerance for pain or high tolerance? depends on the pain

Do you give into peer pressure easily? no

Have you ever simply looked at someone & could tell they were homosexual? naw. i’m really bad at that.

Do you have the ability to read someone without even knowing them? sometimes

Would you rather eat or sleep? sleep

Are you one of those die hard Twilight or Harry Potter fans? Harry Potter for sure

Have you ever cried while watching a movie trailor? yeah

When was the last time you changed your hairstyle? idk

Do your parents ever force you to talk to your grandparents? not that i recall

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? orange

Do you think long surveys are broing or entertaining? depends on my mood

Have you ever learned that someone had lied to you all along? yeah

When was the last time you had a physical injury? idk

Have you ever wanted to be a lawyer? when i was a kid

Have you ever had to bail someone out of jail before? no

Is there anyone in your imediate family who was adopted? no

Do you know anyone who doesn’t have any common sense? well yeah

When was the last time you bought something? yesterday

Do you think you look anything like your parents? a bit

Who is the skinniest person you know? Is it because of a disease? shut up wtf

Do you know someone who is discustingly obese who wears G-strings? wow

Do you know someone who insults themselves to get attention? no

Is this year the best one you’ve had so far? LOLOLOL no

What are your plans for this weekend? um nothing

What color is your significant other’s hair? brown

Have you ever applied for a job at Walmart before? um probably

Do you know anyone who does drugs currently? no

Would you ever become a foster parent? sure

Are you ashamed of anyone in your family? yes

What jobs do your parents have? i honestly don’t know what they do lol

Would rather talk to someone on a landline or a cell phone? cell

Have you ever had a Tumblr account? Are you devoted to it? lol obviously...and yes

Has anyone ever given you a psychiatric assessment? yes

If you got pregnant right now, would you abort the baby? no

Speaking of which, are you for or against abortion? i’m pro life

What is your favorite amusement park? universal

What was the best Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten? idk

Has anyone ever called you jealous of them before? probably

Did you ever have braces? yes

Who is your favorite actor or actress? Marilyn Monroe

What is the most important date in your life so far? my wedding

How many people your age do you know who are pregnant? i think one

What is cuter: kisses on the forehead of the cheek? both are cute

Do you believe in evolution or creation? i think you can believe in both fam

Would you rather take a bath or a shower? Why or why not? shower, i hate baths

What group would you say you’d normally fit into the most? idk..

As a child, what game did you want to play the most? life

Does it bother you when people touch your personal items? sometimes

When was the last time you did something sexual? that’s private

Where was the last place you went on vacation? idk

Do you collect anything? What? yeah, harry potter merch

What kind of Pringles do you like the most? original

Are you better at hand-drawing things or painting? neither

Have either of your parents ever called you a failure before? not that i know of

What do you think is the grossest taste in the world? i dunno

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.11.Arc-1-end.

Cloaked bodies huddle in the dark, in the time before sunrise. In the middle of an empty parking lot in a part of the city that no one goes to in any regularity, the meeting was clandestine and secure. From a corner covered in shadows, a man wearing a three piece suit and a tophat emerges, brandishing a cane. He looks quite pleased with himself, overlooking the group.

“I assume,” the man spoke with smug satisfaction, “all is ready for the big event?” 

“Yes, Lord Emesh.” A voice came from one of the taller cloaked people, a dry gravely tongue. One by one they all took off their hoods, revealing themselves. A teenaged boy with golden hair, three huge lizards, and a simple old man with spectacles. The old man spoke, in a southern drawl reminiscent of a slave owner, “Although we are very confused as to why you are not appearing in person. Is this not the perfect time to unveil yourself to the world, Lord Emesh?”

Emesh clicked his tongue and slowly tilted his head towards the old man, who quickly bowed his head. “ Phantom, now is in fact not the time for me to appear. My precious has not finished growing, and I fear that a premature opening would bring unwanted attention from abroad. I do not want both Omegaman and All-Might attacking me, do I? It's not a fight even I could win.”

The mention of Omegaman shuddered the three lizard people, and the old man now known as Phantom bowed his head deeper. “My deepest apologies, Lord.” Emesh gave a single hmph before turning to the boy with the golden hair. “Now, you are the lynchpin of this operation. The others will run interference along with the other nobodies I recruited to distract the other heroes. But you? You will carry out the job.”

The boy bowed his head. When he looked up, he wore a smile upon his face.

“I will not disappoint you, father.”

--------------------------------------------------------------

Jade was not expecting the venue for his tournament to be as large as it was.

“WELLLLLCOME EVERYBODY TO THE SOUTH-EAST HERO CONFERENCE!” A voice roared from loudspeakers placed all around the largest stadium Jade has ever set foot in and thousands of voices screamed from packed seats. There were people wearing jerseys, people wearing hero merch, music blaring from speakers all over the place. Confetti was being shot into the air as three heroes flew at sonic speeds over the stadium, creating a huge boom. The crowd only got larger.

And Jade stood there dumbfounded. Riley walked up to her, and put her hands up to her eyes to see better. “Damn, turnouts a bit big this year. Was only about 90% this last year. Must be a champ coming.” A marching band was on the field playing a tune that was loud and inspiring, and acrobats were jumping into flaming hoops made by pyromancers below. It was an experience completely foreign to Jade. “Why..Why are there so many?!” “You don’t know?”

The students were standing in a box room above the rest of the stadium with a huge glass window looking down at the rings and fields below. Ricardo had just walked in on RIley and Jade talking and had overheard Jade’s plea for help.“This is one of the three hero conferences before the championships. It's like a college football game, but bigger. Scouts from all over the country come here to recruit people they see from the games, and the games only get more intense when you get out of the highschool circuit and into the college. Some people even go professional and go onto the HCL and play the sport as a living.” Jade was gobsmacked; she did not know of this beforehand. “Most people don’t watch the Highschool circuit, except for one bit.” And just as he speaking-

“ATTENTION AUDIENCE! IT IS TIME FOR THE FIRST EVENT OF THE HIGHSCHOOL CIRCUIT!” A voice sounded off from the loudspeakers and the crowd roared, screaming and cheering. The band on the field started peeling out, the acrobats following suit. The crowds started to chant, “Coaches! Coaches! Coaches!” The loudspeaker rang out once more, “Can the coaches of the highschool circuit please take the field.” The crowd cheered, and from a distance Jade could see five people walk out of a corridor. The announcer started reading off the names, “Representing New Orleans High, it’s Bayou Queen! From Nashville Academy it is Bluegrass! From Chattanooga Academy its Lakeside! From..” as the names were read off, sections of the stadium would cheer accordingly. The biggest cheers thus far came for the Little Rock High coach, Jungle King. However everyone was starting to notice something. “Where is Reverse?” Jade started to ask, but was once again interrupted by the loudspeaker. “AND! Making their first appearance in the circuit it is the Atlanta Hero Academy with their coach,” and as he spoke a streak of blue and white whizzed into the stadium creating a huge boom. Dust clouds flew everywhere, and when cleared the crowd saw standing in the middle..”REVERRRRRRRRRRSE!” The stadium exploded. Cheers and chants carried throughout all sections of the crowd. Reverse was dressed in bright white, red, and gold. He looked like a titan carved of marble, and his posing did nothing to dissuade the notion.“That’s right ladies and Gentlemen, Reverse! Savior of the President’s Daughter, the Knight of Mt. St. Helens, the defender of Boston!” The crowd was chanting his name and only died down when Reverse did a motion towards them. “Folks, this coach fight is going to be a doozy! Now, for any newcomers out there, let me explain the rules.”

The coaches started to go into seperate corners of the stadium, each doing small stretches. Reverse was just leaning against the wall. “To decide which school goes first in choosing the brackets, the coaches must duke it out! In order of who goes down last to first is how it goes. Normally, the games are set before they even begin but this time it's anyone's bet. We only have one returning coach from last year in Lakeside, so we need to see how well he holds up!”

The coaches were all eyeing each other.  Ricardo continued explaining,”It is no secret that coaches for the school must be trained in hand to hand combat on a professional level before they can coach. It's so the school does not lose face in the ring. So they hire coaches more for punching other coaches than teaching the kids proper. However, the AHA decided that Reverse needed no supplementary coach for this part of the match.” Ricardo chuckles. “The coaches are now in place, and are waiting for the mark to go!” Jade and the rest of the AHA crew, even Emily, were pressing their face to the glass in anticipation. Then, a loud buzzer sounded and the coaches were off. Reverse did not move however. What’s his game plan? Jade thought.

Lakeside rushed in and summoned a large stream of water from the grates on the stadium floor and shot it at Bluegrass. Bluegrass ducked and weaved away from the blast and punched the earth, causing ripples of vines and plants to follow in a jagged pattern to the feet of Lakeside. The vines shot from the floor and lashed at Lakeside, who fell over. He sent another splash of water at Bluegrass who thought he could take it. But the water had small rocks in them and went at high speeds all around his face and neck, causing small but oozing cuts everywhere. Meanwhile, Bayou Queen and Jungle King had just finished their fight. Jungle King had jumped over a beam of darkness shot from the Queen’s hands and delivered a strong hook into her jaw, causing her to crumble to the ground like a wet paper bag. Jungle King’s gaze turned towards Reverse, who was still leaning against the wall. He shook his head at Jungle King, who made no advances towards him. The king was instead blindsided by the coach from Birmingham PowerSchool, Kintay. She grappled onto him like a child riding a bear, bolts of electricity jolting out of her and going into the King. He jumped in the air and fell on his back, nearly crushing the coach had she not jumped off at the last second. The King turned to fight her only to be hit in the face with a stream of water, temporarily blinding him. With the combined water and electricity now, King was being electrocuted. That is, he would have had Kintay not also shot a bolt of electricity at Lakeside and gotten him too, making him out for the count. His body fell to the side of Bluegrass, who he had taken care of earlier. King, now no longer being soaked, leveled his shoulder and charged Kintay, who was unfortunately not lucky enough to dodge him this time. She was thrown against the wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Which left only Jungle King and Reverse in the stadium. 

Reverse walked forward, and took off the helmet of his coach uniform, letting his face and short cut hair show to the whole crowd. Jungle King gave a low chuckle and readied himself against Reverse. “Never thought I’d get a chance to fight you again, after you put me away six years ago.” Reverse’s face was stone, making no reaction. “I’m surprised,'' he said as he tossed his helmet to the ground, “they hire convicts as teachers in the state of Arkansas. Especially convicts who’ve killed.” The crowd was so loud, not a soul could hear what they were talking about to each other. All they could see were the two men circling each other. Jungle King was a huge, 7 foot 3 inches 360 pound man of muscle in a wife beater. His skin was a golden bronze and his hair was in a mohawk. One could describe his face as a wild boar with no tusks’.

“Well, it was easy for me when it happened then, now there should be no different this time.” Jungle King charged Reverse and delivered a mighty left hook into his body which .. did nothing. Reverse stood there, unmoved. The crowd went silent. Even Jungle King took a step back, in surprise. 

“You just don’t learn.” Reverse simply walked forward and within a second delivered an uppercut to the behemoth’s body and he went flying into the air and outside the stadium walls. The crowd once again exploded.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! NOT SINCE THE DAYS OF OMEGAMAN HAD WE SEEN SUCH POWER IN THE SPORT!” The band was now in the stands and was now playing a tune to hype the crowd up as Reverse retrieved his helmet, turned around to face the cameras all along the stadium edge, and gave a little wink. And as the stadium was cheering he walked into the corridor he came out of. Jade stood still in their room, speechless as the rest of them. “He went so easy on us in practice…” John muttered under his breath. Not even two seconds later, the man himself appeared in the room.

“Man, that was some fight. I'm pooped yall. I ran here from the hotel after sleeping in jeeeeez.” Reverse sauntered over to a couch in the box room and crashed down on it, putting his feet on the armrest on the other side. Riley walked up to him, sat in a chair next to the couch and put her hands on her knees. “So, who’s gonna go first?” Reverse yawned and scratched his face. “Jade. She’s gonna fight this telekinetic kid. So uh, good luck kid. All of you go change into your gear.” In just a few seconds, Reverse had shaken Jade twice.

A few minutes later, Jade was down in a corridor leading out into the field, facing another corridor across the way from her. Standing with her was Reverse, who stood rather mightily. “All you have to do is throw fire at em, he can’t concentrate on more than one thing. Just don’t get caught in his grasp and you should be good.” Jade was shaking a small amount, the nervousness getting to her. She had already vomited in a nearby trash can, her nerves running rampant. “Don’t worry, you won’t get hurt too much. If anything, this is great practice for you. “ Jade gave a sideways look at Reverse. “That doesn't help my nerves.” “Well, don’t say I didn’t try.” A buzzer sounded from outside the corridor , and it called for the contestants to take the field. Jade gulped and Reverse pushed her out of the corridor, to the sound of screaming and cheering.

There would be three fights this round, so that they can get through the fights faster. Jade saw three giant concrete platforms on the field, with their contestants approaching them. Jade didn’t pay much attention to the other contestants, instead focusing on the boy approaching her. He was slim, smug faced, and jauntily walking teenager with a short dollop of golden hair on his head. He was dressed in the purple and green on black suit of the New Orleans School, with a popped collar. “CONTESTANTS! TAKE THE PLATFORM!” Jade stepped up to the platform, and was now mere yards away from her opponent. The boy is about her height, and his hands are in his pocket. His face is plain, spotless and essentially featureless aside from his golden yellow hair atop his head. His teeth were a shining pearly-white. Reverse was looking at the large screens around the stadium, and was hit with a hint of familiarity when looking at the boy. His hair, why does it look so familiar?

“CONTESTANTS! ON YOUR MARK!” The competitors took their fighting stances, except for Jade and the golden haired boy. Jade was far too taken aback by his non-chalantness to take form. What did Reverse say about his power? Her mind was racing, trying her hardest to remember his words. Only pulling up memories of the bus ride with Riley and coach fight.

“GET SET!” The golden haired boy spoke, in a voice that sounded like a love song.”Don’t worry, you won’t have to fight very long.” Jade’s blood ran cold. “GO!”

Then the stadium exploded. This time not with the cheers and screaming of joy, but with shrapnel and cries for help. The contestants run for cover, save for Jade, who just stands there in shock. Reverse sees this and starts to run towards her, him realizing what's going on. 

But he was too late. The golden boy raised his hand at him and, miles away he was still only a few yards away, was forced into the ground by an unseeable force. Jade started to run towards him, her arms glowing with the sun energy within her, but soon found herself wrapped in the same bands that held Reverse.

“Oh no, that's not going to happen. You’re going to stay for the show. And I'm leaving with the girl.” Reverse was livid, his body heaving with anger and the energy within him. Jade was dripping puddles of burning energy and could only watch in anger and desperation as all around her explosions happened. The box rooms were on fire, the stands were frantic with other explosions. The heroes who were on guard are seen being easily bested by huge lizard people. An old man is seen floating in the middle of everything, pointing at locations and explosions happening. Heroes would rush in only for another lizard man to appear out of  nowhere. The crowds were halted from leaving the stadium by the fallen rubble collapsing the exits.

Then, a voice echoed throughout the whole stadium. “IT'S BEEN FAR TOO LONG, REVERSE!”

The large sports casting screen at the end of the stadium lit up, baring the face of a man in a suit and tophat, smiling cruelly. He sported several scars across his face, with a notable dent in the right side of his head. His evil grin was accented by disgusting yellow teeth and his eyes with heavy bags under them shone with red evil fury. A strand of dirty blonde hair dangled down his crooked nose, between his eyes. The whole stadium was held still by an invisible force. “I would not try to escape civilians. You will find yourself cubed, No, no I do not come here today to kill. Although, I might make an exception.” While he was speaking, the boy in golden hair walked up to Jade, grabbed her arms , and started pulling her like a balloon at a state fair, away from Reverse. He was seething with hatred, a faint light coming off of him now. “Emesh…” Reverse muttered underneath his breath. The man on the TV gave a hearty laugh, as by driving the civilians who were in his clutch began to pull from their stopping points, now circling above in the air in varying poses of escape. “Reverse, I thought you finally bit it in Boston, after I let loose that plant beast. But no, you always had a penchant for survival. Did you run away again?” The faint light around Reverse was now growing brighter. “I am frankly surprised you are knowledgeable of my new name. You never were the smartest of the group.” Jade and the golden boy were out of his sight. He would have to deal with that later.. He has to save all these people now. “I think a punishment is in order. For daring to live after I tried to kill you, I will now drop all these people from the sky. A fitting exchange, isn't it?” He started to cackle, as the people began to slowly stop spinning and then.. Fall.

Then an earth shattering explosion was heard, causing a huge dust cloud to appear in the middle of the field. “Phantom! Did you kill him?! THAT WAS FOR ME!” The old man was whipped in front of the screen, and was babbling. “Nonono-no. I did not do that!” “I did it.”

The dust was split down the half as a cyclone of air shot from its origin, a bright light standing tall. Around the light were the thousands of people who were in the air, and the unconscious bodies of the lizard men. In the four seconds after the explosions, Reverse grabbed all the people out of the air and took out the lizard men. And was still raring to go, the bright white light still beaming out of him. “Where are you Emesh? Are you too afraid of being beaten twice? Of being broken and humiliated within the decade?” Emesh screamed into the screen, causing earthquakes.”hHOW?!” The beam of light that was Reverse stood there, stalwart against the man on the screen. The ground around Reverse was slowly decaying, turning grass into dust. 

“I could always break your chains, Emesh. When you were still Planeteer. You were never stronger than me.” Emesh laughed. “ Oh really? Care to wager?” Suddenly the stadium started to shake and the giant screen caved in, creating condensed points of iron and television screens. The old man floating nearby was also sucked in, screaming that he was suddenly silenced as he was crushed in the mess of mass until the ball exploded.

In its place was a floating man with a three piece suit, a tophat, and a cane.

“Would you wish to put your life on the line?”

Reverse leapt from the stadium at lightning speeds and delivered a punch into the face of Emesh, traveling hundreds of feet in the air doing so. Emesh flew backwards and slammed into a concrete wall of the stadium. Reverse landed on an exposed girder from the scoreboard, standing resolute still. “I have ten years of regret in me, ten years of what ifs. Because of you. I would put my life on the line if it meant you don’t get to have yours.” Emesh shot from the hole he was thrown into, and launched a part of the stadium with him. Entire rows of seats and concrete chunks slammed against Reverse, only causing him to glow brighter.

Emesh was floating still, a look of fear creeping across his face. He knew he could not win against Reverse.. Why had he let his ego bring him out here? A drive to wipe away those we wronged him? Whatever it was, he could not die now. He was so far away from his goal.

Emesh spread his hands wide and the ground shook, creating a great tear in the earth where pillars of molten rock started to pour out. “Look familiar?” The cries for help reached Reverse’s ears as he remembered the tons of civilians down at the stadium floor. He was torn. End Emesh and cause  thousands to be killed, or let him go and allow millions to die. Just as he was about to decide, a voice came from the field. “Don’t worry! We got this!” He turned to see Riley and his class carrying people to the corridors in the stadium side,along with other competitors and the coaches moving rubble to carry to injured and moving people out.

Emesh hated the community that he had to fight. While Reverse was distracted, he launched a pillar of lava at him from the crack in the ground, hitting him straight in the back. “Just like Victor! The same trick carries such great merit!” He began to cackle, but was stopped when a bright white glowing fist struck him in the chest. Emesh was thrown hundreds of feet into the air before righting himself. Standing atop the wall where Emesh was floating was Reverse, still glowing bright white. The space around his body was dark because of his presence,he illuminated so much light. “This ends today, Emesh.” The sky begins to turn red and dark clouds start to roll in from nowhere. “I would have no other way, you mistake!” 

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Jade ws being pulled down a series of hallways in the stadium, each one echoing with the sounds of explosions and shakes. The golden boy was holding her arm and moving through the labyrinth of tunnels. I need to get out of here, and fast! Jade had been struggling the entire time in their mental grasp of the golden boy. She had been unable to get out, but she noticed something. His brow was becoming more and more tense, and the sweat was pouring off of him.  His concentration is waning.. If I can surprise him I bet I can break his will! Jade began to concentrate on her right arm, the arm that the golden boy was holding, and tried to focus all her power on it. She steadied her hasty breathing , then -

“FUCK!” the golden boy yelled as his hand caught fire with solar energy and he let go of Jade, her hitting the floor. He turned to look at her with vitriol in his eyes. “You burnt my hand you BITCH!” He pointed at her and the pipes on the wall of the utility corridor he was pulling her down began to bend and pull from their place. Jade, however, tapped into something. In her concentration and desperation to escape, a latent power clicked. Her eyes glazed over in gold and she lashed her arms as if whipping someone, a beam of light shooting from her hand and creating a rope. The rope went around the golden boy and he screamed in pain as the rope began to burn his clothing. He jerked his head to the side and a pipe flew from the wall, steam pouring out. Jade let go of her rope in surprise, and had to dodge another pipe being thrown at her head. She raised her hand again and shot a bolt of light from it, its radiance illuminating the steam as it sailed down the hallway. And also giving away the position of the golden boy. The golden boy lunged at her, scratching her face. He punched Jade in the gut and she fell to the ground. Jade turned over and grabbed his head in both of her hands, and summoned her flaming arms. He began to cry out in pain as the sides of his head burned. He shoved her off and stumbled away. He turned to her.

“You’re not worth it… my face.. My hair! I don’t care if my dad wants you for his dumb plan! It’ll work anyways. Just you see!” Jade raised her hand to shoot another bolt of light but was halted when the boy raised his hand and collapsed the ceiling in front of her, separating them. He then turned tail and ran, his hands still clutching his face. Jade was about to pursue, but the shuddering corridor reminded her of Reverse and Jade started running the opposite way to try and find a way back to him. 

It took her a while, but she came back to the corridor that led into the stadium, and was shown a devastating picture. Competitors were guiding people out of the stadium which was now a huge tear in the ground with gushing lava pouring out of it. And in the air, a glowing ball of energy was fighting an increasingly erratic moving flying man. Jade was watching a fight for the ages.

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Reverse lunged at Emesh and finally made contact. He grappled onto his legs and started climbing up the three piece suit. Emesh raised his cane to smack him, but as it got close to Reverse’s body it disintegrated. Reverse raised his right fist and punched Emesh into the ground. His body went flying towards the Earth, Reverse not too far behind. As he was falling, Reverse raised his arm in the air. Emesh hit the ground, and was struggling to stand when he looked up. He saw the rapidly approaching Reverse and raised both his hands to stop him in the air. Reverse’s descent did not cease, only slow. Flames started to form around his forward fist, like a meteor entering the atmosphere. “Must...not….let.you..win!” Emesh shouted as blood started to pour out of his eyes and nose. 

“This is for Victor.” 

Reverse kicked his legs into the other and a force propelled him into Emesh, who screamed in fear as he approached.

Hikers along the Appalachian trail would report seeing a bright light appear on the distance. The people of Charleston would say they thought a nuke dropped. But what happened was that Reverse delivered one kiloton of energy into the body of Emesh. The explosion was immaculate, the stadium now gone entirely. A crater now stood where it once stood.

And at the center of the crater was Reverse, on his stomach, unmoving.

End Arc 1.

[uozlulu]

Going to stick these here for now in case I lose the file or need it to be easier to search or something.

Notes on the ES21 soulmate mark AU fic I was rambling about in this post. Just kind of organizing things so when it comes time to write it I can hopefully write it quickly. 

Some characters might not show up, others might get added to the list. Those missing so far are characters I either felt like I didn’t have confidence in writing or didn’t really remember since it’s been over 10 years since I finished the manga. Also trying to keep the cast of active characters on the small side even though a lot of characters will be there if only in general. All flashbacks/scenes/etc...will need proper fleshing out and so forth of course. These are all just my initial ideas, which are highly likely to evolve as I go as all my fics tend to do. 

Probably going to wait until I finish watching the anime before writing it. Kind of tried to be canon compliant but also didn’t want to spend oodles of time tracking down details, so just kind of setting the goal as having fun with the AU and letting it do what it wants to do

Headcanons: 

The World Bowl VI was Sunday, August 2, 2020. (It’s where the top football teams from around the world kick off the football season with a three week tournament started in 2015). The rehearsal is Friday, August 7, 2020. The wedding is Saturday August 8, 2020. Everyone goes home sometime Sunday, August 9, 2020. They have the ranch from Tuesday, August 4, 2020 – Monday, August 10, 2020.

High school football players form Japan, pro players from around the world, friends from school, friends from college are all invited along with their spouses, partners, significant others, and kids. Family members include Tetsuma’s mom who looks like him and their Seibu high school coach.

Sena –34 in December, played for Enma University from 2005 – 2009, been with the Seattle Superstars since 2009. Starting to contemplate retiring. The Seattle recruiter saw Sena’s tryout back in high school and tracked him down to beg him to sign with Seattle when Sena finally cashed in his NFL draft invitation from the Youth World Cup. Officially been in a long-distance relationship with Panther since 2010, but really they’ve kind of been a thing for longer than that.

Hiruma – 34 since February, plays for the San-Antonio Armadillos since 2006, likes to say he won’t retire until his age is his jersey number (55). Has been living with Mamori since 2006. They’re not married, but their daughter was born in 2017.

Kurita – 35 since July, played with the Tokyo Stallions, played from 2008 – 2016, works at the temple now.

Monta –34 on August 31, played for the San Antonio Armadillos from 2008 – 2013, having to retire after a career-ending injury at the start of the 2012 – 2013 season. Married Suzuna in 2008. They have a daughter born in 2010 and a son born in 2012. After retirement, he returned to Japan and he’s been coaching and teaching at Deimon ever since.

Juumonji –34 in October, Kuroki 34 on September 1, Togano 34 in October – all went on to have fairly normal jobs (banker, office worker, advertising). Kuroki is married with a kid or two, Juumonji is gay and has a partner who works the same bank and is his “roommate,” Togano is still single.

Yukimitsu – 34 since February, never played football again after high school, became a veterinarian.

Komusubi – 33 since January – never played football again after high school, became a personal trainer.

Ishimaru – 35 in October, never played football again after high school, went on to run in the Hakone Eikoden in university, has a normal job

Taki – 35 since April, played with the Orlando Divers 2004 – 2008 and then was traded to the Nashville Fighters where he’s been since 2008. Never married. Does he date anyone? Who knows. “My brother,” “my niece,” “my nephew.”

Musashi – 35 since Apirl, been playing the the Takekura Construction Babels since 2004, still working construction, personal life is pretty private, but does have a son who plays elementary school soccer.

Mamori 35 in November, ENL teacher to small children, still helps strategize football, been living with Hiruma since 2006 and had a daughter in 2017, living her best life

Suzuna 33 since March, married to Monta since 2008 with two kids, first of the group to get married, part-time matchmaker, has a decent success rate. Hiruma = You-nii, Juumonji = Monjii, Kuroki = Kurokki, Togano = Toga, Komusubi = Kamusubicchi, Yukimitsu = Yukki, Ishimaru = Tet-chan, Musashi = Musha-syan, Mamori = Mamo-nee, Kid = Kiddon,” Cereberus = Ceru, Sena has no nickname

Kid (Mushanokoji Shien) – 35 in November, comes from a noble line, at odds with parents over lifestyle choices and is now estranged, played with the Takekura Construction Babels from 2004 – 2005, played with the Tokyo Stallions from 2005 – 2010, played with the Houston Fishermen from 2010 – 2020. Started Sports Club with Tetsuma in 2012, which is a revitalization of the Boys and Girls Club concept. Hopes to keep working and growing the club in retirement. Been with Tetsuma since 2006. Wanted to enjoy being married so that’s why they waited until they were retired from pro ball.

Tetsuma – 35 since May, his mom looks just like him, played for the Tokyo Stallions from 2004 – 2008, played for the Dallas Titans from 2008 – 2020. Helps Kid run Sports Club, very good at organizing and budgeting.

Riku – turned 34 in April, played with Enma Fires from 2005 – 2009, played with the Yokohama Belugas from 2009 – 2015, still wears the team’s squid hat merch when it’s cold outside. Retired after a horrific injury which he still uses a cane for. Runs a pet bird store. Dated lots of people, still hasn’t settled for anyone.

Buffalo – 36 in October, got rid of the dreads soon after graduation in a bid to try and fit into Japanese society, now his hair is just long. Moved to the US in 2005 and ended up doing stuff like MMA, Ninja Warrior, and UFC. Has an American wife and three daughters (ages 12, 9, and 7).

Horide – no canon age, so let’s assume he’s roughly like late 50’s – early 60’s by 2020, still coaching football, but considering retirement, proud of all the kids who have ever been on his team. He’s pretty much in a parental position in the audience seating, and treated as one might treat a dad during such an event

Saba –mid-30’s, no real wiki info, became an office worker, has one child, didn’t play football after high school.

Aiuchi Hina – mid 30’s, not much wiki info, head cheerleader, Miss Seibu, probably married to an unnamed former teammate, and probably has at least one kid

Shin – 35 since July, played for Ojou Silver Knights 2004 – 2009, played for the New England Musketeers since 2009, has many Super Bowl wins, a true legend in both the US and Japan. Ignores tabloid rumors about him dating models and singers so he can enjoy some privacy with his partner, an indie rocker who preformed the half time show in 2013. They’ve been living together out in the middle of nowhere upstate New York since 2016 in a modest house that no one really would think celebrities owned. Has a condo near the Musketeers’ training facilities.

Sakuraba – 34 since March, played for the Ojou Silver Knights 2004 – 2009, played for the Seattle Superstars from 2009 – 2018, retired because he wanted to do something else with his life. Has gone on to play in a local band that’s had moderate success around the Pacific Northwest touring clubs, lounges, and bars. Keeps his private life very private.

Panther – probably 34 (no birthday given), likely graduated high school in 2005 like Sena, so probably met Sena the summer before sophomore year at high school, maybe has a summer birthday and was already 16 when they met. Nasa Aliens/Shuttles was a travel team he was in from 2001 – 2005, also played high school football with his local high school from 2001 – 2005, played with the San Antonio Armadillos since 2005, took business courses online and has a degree since he thought that might help him keep from falling into pitfalls other pro-athletes fall into with money and retirement. Didn’t have a cellphone when he met Sena, but they exchanged e-mail addresses. When Sena went to Notre Dame High School, they exchanged AIM handles and got to talk to each other more often since they were on the same time zone. Eventually exchanged numbers once Panther got a cellphone after graduating high school. Kind of were rocking the long distance relationship chic before it was an official relationship.

Jeremy – probably 34 or 35, the kid with the glasses, still close friends with Panther. Played at Stanford from 2004/2005 – 2006/2007, knows multiple languages for fun so he’s still not the best translator. Continued his degree while playing professionally because he promised. Played with the New England Musketeers since 2006/2007 and retired earlier in 2020. Has a son and daughter (ages 6 and 9). His wife is a teacher.

Homer – probably 34 or 35, the kid with the long hair, also still close friends with Panther and Jeremy, chose to go into the NFL draft upon graduating high school. Played for the Nashville Fighters from 2004/2005 – 2010/2011, and then got transferred to the Chicago Gangsters in 2010/2011 and retired in 2018 back to Houston where he helps run a charity that picks up the slack across Texas after disasters when FEMA can’t get its act together to help people. He’s currently trying to build the charity up so it can function in multiple states.

Big Brother Gonzales – probably 36 maybe about to turn 37, biggest guy from the travel team and probably the oldest member. Played with the University of Kentucky from 2002/2003 – 2006/2007, played for the Denver Pumas from 2006/2007 – 2010/2011 when he had a career ending injury. Had his kanji tattoo covered up and started collecting more tattoos. Has also gotten the correct kanji tattooed on him at some point.

Little Brother Gonzales – probably 32, never really got as big as his brother so he never played football after high school. Had a few tattoos including the dumb one from high school.

Vague Summary:

Sena/Panther soulmate fic in which Kid and Tetsuma’s wedding brings most the gang and more together. Kind of a choose to stick together thing? Idek. See where it goes. Think of it like a romcom movie maybe?

Soulmate Concept:

In this world, soulmates are considered near-extinct but they really aren’t. Lots of people have a wide variety of soulmates, it’s just that their soulmarks aren’t very obvious. For example, Mamori and Hiruma both have a splattering of freckles on their hands that are actually a continuation of each other’s pattern, but it’s too subtle and freckley to really realize what it truly means. Other people might have birthmarks that fit together or have moles placed in the exact same places or mirrored places, etc…However, there’s a subclass of soulmate marks for those who have a truly deep bond. Those marks have a more distinct look to them. Sena has what looks like roses cascading down his Soulmate marks tend to start developing upon meeting your soulmate and evolve as your relationship deepen, so Mamori and Hiruma upon meeting in first-year were probably like huh freckles, and by second year it’s like lots of freckles but who cares it’s just mysterious high school freckles.

Flashbacks:

Panther and Sena: 

2002 – Hanging out by the river bank after practice before Panther has to regroup with the others where they’re staying. Sena’s soulmate mark is on his right leg and  looks like cascading roses except more impressionist since the mark is still forming. Panther’s looks like chrysanthemums following a similar pattern on his right leg. At the time they think it’s kind of weird, but don’t over think it. Sena’s dad told him that most people develop one in high school and he has something like he and his best friend have stuff like that on their arms.

2002 – Sena asks Panther for his number after the cat incident, but Panther doesn’t have a cellphone yet. He does have e-mail and AIM, so they exchange e-mails because Sena doesn’t have AIM. By this point, their soulmate marks seem more like flowers than birthmarks, but they’re still underdeveloped.

2009/2010 – Panther and Sena meet up to celebrate New Years and Sena’s belated birthday since they’re finally both living in the states now (even if it’s an almost four hour plane ride apart), end up deciding that they’re dating. They have a good idea what they’re getting in though because they’ve been long distance friends with a fourteen hour time zone difference so at least now they can more feasibly see each other when they don’t have football commitments

Kid and Tetsuma

2006 – Kid, being the only son of a noble family was going through arranged marriage hell. Texted Tetsuma, “Save me,” both kind of half jokingly, half for serious. So Tetsuma shows up in nice clothing (because Kid’s always talking about how people get overly dressed up to come over to their estate) and kind of just showed up during a marriage prospect meeting, held Kid’s gaze a long moment, bowed on his knees to Kid’s parents like a good wedding prospect, and then promptly slung Kid over his shoulder, and rescued him. They’ve been together ever since. Honestly probably would have dated in high school but social pressure got in the way.

Venue:

It’s a large, sprawling ranch/inn in Wyoming. It’s large enough to accommodate everyone. There are horses to ride, a functioning farm, and a view of mountains in the distance. Everyone chipped in money to secure it not only because it was in a location the press wouldn’t bother all of them, but also because it sounded like a fun time no one could pass up. Kid and Tetsuma helped organize the whole thing so nobody would be priced out of coming especially if they had to fly from Japan or elsewhere to come.

Wedding:

The wedding is set up outdoors with everyone gathered around the altar so it’s les syour side and my side and more umbrella shaped. Kid and Tetsuma enter together, Tetsuma breaks off at a full run and Kid quick draws the bouquet, shoot it towards Tetsuma, who catches it and holds it through the whole ceremony. The ceremony is kind of a mix of typical American wedding stuff said by the ordained and then the vows are Shinto, though there is no sake. Kind of a mix of Kid and Tetsuma’s love of the wild west and their commitment to each other which follows more of a  love, respect, console, help, and protect than a love, honor, cherish, and obey.

Reception:

It’s in the great hall of the ranch/inn. Lots of wild west/ranch/cowboy chic happening. Variety of food, mix of American and Japanese traditions. Kid tells the flashback about Tetsuma rescuing him from an arranged marriage. Reception ends at sunset and they ride off into the sunset together, heading to a nearby campsite to kick off whatever their honeymoon will be.