#I love designing ponies I wish I had anything to really do with them??

[diurnalcritters]

Day 291

[prestonmonterey]

heheh it's that long or short anon message of what i think about you!!!!!!!!!!!

hmmmm okay so i do not know how close we are

i don't usually consider people my friend unless they consider me their friend first, out of like politeness, but i wanna be friends!!! we might already be friends and i don't know i think this is because of autism maybe or maybe anxiety idk idk

but anyways i think you are really interesting i do not want to overstep or be creepy or weird so its not at all like that but you are very interesting to me!!!! the version of you I my head is like there's two of them. theres.. preston.. adamandi and then the other version of you in my head you have black hair thats sort of like beatrix's if it was straight? and you're also tall to me

the way your brain works about certain things (ex: whenever we talk about the universe and whatnot :3) makes me stim, uuhm i think you're really cool and i like asking you questions and i like talking to you

we're literally vincent and preston from adamandi!!!! literally us!!!! therefore we don't like eachother /j /j

in my head it's like.. silly joking i don't actually dislike you not at all you're like the coolest ever and we barely really know eachother

I WANNA HEAR ABOUR YOUR TTS THOUGHTS TOO i love reading your posts about it heheh

if you were an animal i think you'd be some sort of horse or a pony. or maybe a bird or a lizard

if you were a planet in our solar system you'd be mercury, since it's the closest to the sun and the smallest planet (in our solar system, again)

aaand if you were a color you'd be blue.... if you were a star you'd be a red dwarf star... and you're like the random, decomposed animal bones you find in the woods on accident to me

i would love 2 know how your brain works but also im like that with everyone i wanna just crawl inside their minds and pull out the bad and the good i think i am autistic

if you were a pattern you'd be stripes. not zebra stripes or anything just plain block stripes! no specific colors. if you were a year you'd be 1835

i like associating people with things if you can't tell /silly (i ran out of explanations so I'm just telling you what you are to me)

if you were a rock you'd be limestone

if you were a household appliance you'd be that one fork in the kitchen that nobody uses to actually eat with, but the design on the handle is pretty !!!! not in a mean way that sounds rlly mean sorry

if you were a flower you'd be a daffodil; symbolizing forgiveness, unrequited love, rebirth, and eternal life. i think. i'm not headcanoning you to have unrequited love im just saying the meanings i remember off the top of my head. also it's yellow!

uummmmm yeah you reblogged this yesterday i think and i said i would so. here u go its not really that long but im also procrastinating sleep so. tired!

yayayay :D this is so sweet im actually giggling and kicking my feet rn /gen /p

i also wanna be friends!! youre v cool :3

i also totally get the like 2 versions thing i have the same thing for my online friends :D heehee im kinda tall for my age i think? like 5'5'' i really really wish i had curly hair :((( (my dad had kinda curly hair but asian genes prevailed so i have pretty thick, mostly straight hair) and i have an undercut :\ (not sure how i feel about my haircut rn. it looks kinda awful bc i have a scar on the back of my head where hair doesnt grow. bc scar tissue)

hmm for me rn you just look like vincent. but like. maybe a bit shorter idk

i also love hearing about your thoughts theyre so cool!!!

i think if you were an animal youd be maybe a mouse or raccoon?

if you were a planet i think saturn, not sure why

if you were a color i think youd be a warm, dark orange, like pumpkin pie or autumn leaves. idk you kinda remind me of fall i think

if you were an object youd be an old compass that someone found in their attic that was like passed down from their great grandparent or something

if you were a pattern you'd be honeycomb or tartan. colors would be sunflower yellow, brown and moss green

if you were a year youd be 2000 i think. last time all humans were on earth. not sure why but that fact reminds me of you

if you were a rock youd be jasper

if you were silverware youd be a teaspoon with a really long handle, if you were a general household thingy youd be those door handle/lever things with a spiraly end

idk anything about flower meanings TwT but i think youd be a black eyed susan or forget me not

:DDD

[slayerzach]

Sick Day

A/N:this drabble came from how I've felt today. I have no idea where any of this came from today, as I don't feel feverish or anything, just have a really bad stomach ache with no cause. Really wishing Hope would come and comfort me right about now, but alas, that cannot happen, so I wrote this to comfort me in the midst of my "sickness", and all the stress I've been under with school and such. Enjoy.

As James awoke from his bed, he noticed a very strange sensation coming over him. His head felt very wonky and his stomach felt like it had a burning pit inside of it.

He went downstairs and saw his tribrid girlfriend, Hope, cooking up breakfast for him.

"Morning sweetheart," she said looking up at him.

"I'm not feeling too great Hope," he grumbled back.

"Oh, Jimmy what's wrong?" she asked, looking concerned.

"My stomach's really bothering me, I think I'm gonna go use the bathroom and see where that takes me."

"Okay love, go do what you must," Hope said back with a soft, comforting voice.

James went downstairs to the bathroom, put his hair up in a ponytail, leaned over and attempted to throw up, and yet, nothing happened. After several minutes, finally he gagged, and yet, nothing came out.

He would much rather throw up and get it over with, than have nothing happen and have his burning stomach pain persist.

He closed the toilet, and went back upstairs to Hope in the kitchen.

"Anything happen?" she asked.

"Nope. I feel like shit though, pun intended," he replied.

"Well, I figure with your upset stomach, you probably can't eat any of this can you?" she questioned, referring to the food she made for him this morning.

"Hun, I would, but I'm afraid I'd just end up throwing it up," he said.

"I totally understand, I'll package it up and you can have it tomorrow, or whenever you end up feeling better."

"I'm sorry, Hope," James sadly looked down, feeling like he let his girlfriend down.

"Sorry? What for?" she answered.

"I disappointed you, and wasted your time, you made this breakfast for me, and I can't even eat it."

"Dude, you're sick. You can't control that, jesus, who raised you?"

And then James thought back to all the times as a kid he would get sick and his parents would yell at him about how he was "inconveniencing them". Now, for the first time in his life, he had someone who was understanding, and rather than screaming at him, wanted to take care of him, and be there for him.

He felt like he wanted to cry, because nobody had ever made him feel such emotions.

"C'mon love, let's get you back in bed, and make you feel most at home," Hope said, gently pushing James up the steps.

"But what am I gonna do about work tomorrow? You know I have that really important meeting to go to."

"Too bad. Your boss can debrief you when you get back. You're not going to work tomorrow, you're going to stay at home and rest. That's an order soilder," Hope replied, teasing him at the end.

She slipped him into comfortable pajamas, gave him his stuffed build-a-bear Fluttershy from My Little Pony, gave him several of his Pokemon plushies, and his Nintendo Switch, where he booted up Pokemon Scarlet.

Hope then turned on the TV, and found Impractical Jokers was on.

"There ya go, that should give you some entertainment," she said, tucking him in to bed.

"Thank you so much, Hope."

"You're very much welcome, my sweet boy. You've helped me in times of my darkness, it's time I give you back the favor. I'm gonna give you some crackers so you have something light to eat, and I'll grab some medicine for you."

*************************************

After several Pokemon captured, multiple episodes of the shenanigans of the Jokers, and a pack of crackers later, James had fallen asleep while at the Pokemon center in his game, while listening to the designated music made for the location he was in.

Hope came back up to the bedroom and saw him collapsed asleep, his switch dangling from the side of the bed.

She quietly approached him, and heard him snoring softly, which was a rarity since he usually was a loud snorer.

That was the thing about Hope and him, they were both rather loud snorers that somehow didn't wake each other up, but if they ever had company over, they would keep their guest up all night with their snoring.

Once, Clarke was spending the night, as he and Trudy were having issues in their relationship, so he decided to stay with some friends for some time. Despite the complicated relationship between he and Hope, she and James decided to let him sleep in the guest room, which was largely unused, as they didn't have any friends over often.

The guest room was fifteen feet from Hope and James' room, and Clarke couldn't sleep for shit because he had to listen to, as he described, "two bears with a chainsaw stuck in their throats".

Hope continued to approach James, took his switch from his hand, gently pushed a trash can over near the bed in case he threw up, and turned the TV off. She turned on the LED angel light they had above their dresser, which always helped James fall asleep, and turned off the main lights.

She hopped up on the bed, which woke James up slightly.

"Shhh," she said softly, covering his mouth with her finger. "Go back to sleep love, you need it."

James gently nodded in response, and turned over on his side again.

Hope wrapped herself in his heavy body, and felt his long blonde hair that reached down to his chest softly touch her hand.

"You know Jimmy, it's a good thing I can't get sick, because even if you are contagious, that isn't gonna stop me from doing this."

She leaned in to his face, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, feeling his beard hair scruff up against her lips.

"I love you, my big sweet man," she said.

James ever so slightly turned over, still having his eyes closed, and mumbled out, "I love you too, my love. Thank you for everything today."

"It's my pleasure, Jimmy."

And the two of them slept for several hours, undisturbed.

[keefwho]

May 21 - 2024 Tuesday

10:24pm

5.5/10

Today I deliberately tried not to think about things too much since I overthink, as discussed with my therapist. Journaling at the end of the day is my designated period to do my thinking and noticing. Also in the shower.

This morning I put away my clean laundry and tore up the boxes I had laying around so I could use them to start fires in the fire pit. I also dumped the last 2 cheerwine's I got my mom for her birthday about 2 years ago. I don't think they go "bad" but they are way past their shelf life. All because mom couldn't remember I had them safely stored over here for her. Over time I've noticed her becoming more forgetful so thats a thing that could be serious, but inevitable. I took a hot and steamy shower and made oatmeal, eggs, and spam for breakfast. I had to speedrun it since I took too long in the shower but that meant I didn't overcook my eggs like usual. They came out perfectly.

For warmups today I sketched cats because I want to make art of an alien cat in anguish due to this song we've heard on stream multiple times. It sounds like a wailing cat in space so we made up a whole scene for it. Then I worked on that comic commission for just about 2 hours on the dot and finished it, putting me ahead a couple of days. Now I can focus on SZ's commission and do it justice. Same with the monthly Venus idea from my special patron.

After stream I did my dishes and planned to workout since I just got my kneebrace in. So I did my situps and got my treadmill out. I was confident at first but after my first attempt at jogging, the pain was already kicking in strong. I had to stop. One side of the handlebar on my treadmill popped out at the base too, this thing is REALLY bad and it has inflated reviews on Amazon due to a special discount you can get if you rate it highly. I wish I had returned it awhile back. I looked up what my knee problem is like and it might be runner's knee which may or may not suck. It might just need more rest, it does feel like an injury but one that needs a long time to heal properly. Doesn't help that I already pushed through the pain so much. I took another hot steamy shower. I turned the lights off and let myself enjoyed physical sensations for awhile. At some point I was hunched over with my hands on the wall with extra hot water running down my arms and down my sides. I enjoyed that.

I made tuna spaghetti for lunch. I tried a slightly different method where I cook the spaghetti normally and then add the tuna and stuff afterwards. I might be onto something but I overcooked the spaghetti this time. I watched a trackmania stream while I cooked and ate which I was really into. I also splurged with a little chocolate pudding cup and snacked on cheetos while I worked.

I had to look up bound pregnant women for reference today. I historically am not a fan of pregnancy visually but today I felt a bit different. I found it appealing that I could knock up the love of my life and tie her up in bondage, consensually of course. It got me a little flustered. Anyways the art request came out okay and then I worked on a pic of DS's horse sona for an hour. I was on and off with how diligently I was working, I started to feel sluggish and unengaged. But I got it done. I only worked about 30 minutes on my pony avatar today, trying to experiment with a different kind of eyes. I sent it to DS for her opinion and she thought it looked too silly which it did. I'm gonna have to keep reaching out because I'm definitely losing my ability to judge it properly given how much Im working on it.

When work was over, I was at a loss for what to do. I spent some time watching more of that trackmania stream and then Elden Ring to wind my brain down. I curled up in my hoodie and just watched for awhile. I got stressed this evening because I wasn't engaged with anything and I also didn't want to default to mental problem solving. Part of me was also waiting for some social engagement despite not communicating my expectations or desires so I knew I couldn't be upset about it but I still sorta wasted my energy just waiting. I did a little bit of private journaling and eventually sort chilled out. DS called me in bed and we did our puzzles. I asked the usual questions I like to know like how her day was and how she's feeling but I didn't have much else to contribute at first. I hate being mentally stuck or burnt out because of how hard it makes it to just talk. The important thing I kept in mind was not to talk about anything too serious or heavy since I'm deliberately trying not to do that. While she passed out I played Minecraft for an hour and made furniture for my first snowman house. I also started the much needed mine.

The first part of today went pretty well but the evening deteriorated as my mental capacity diminished. I did a good job during lunch to actually relax though. I think it's going to take some practice reducing the amount I think about things but I think it'll pay off. I kept in mind what my therapist suggested, making sure I notice when I start to overthink so I can be aware of it. I also took a couple minutes at my worst to practice one of the self exercises. Today's topic was Self and my Costar app said "Be gentle" and and didn't really know what to do about that.

[monstermaster13]

TftW: A Most Malignant Microbe.

Corey Covid to Gabriel (Malignant) tf.

Everyone’s favorite duo was a duo that wasn’t afraid of anything, except for maybe the dark but that was just one thing they were terrified of, it wasn’t all that bad for them though they loved learning about monsters and cult cinema and the duo were definitely in for a fun adventure this week, they were in their house at Nile Road with their friend Ratty who was a talking rat, Ratty and Corey were playing out an old school horror movie with Ratty pretending to be Vincent Price and Corey acting as Peter Lorre. In this little roleplay session they were acting out a situation in which as the two horror actors they were trapped in a spooky carnival setting.

That was when Mel came over to them and told them she had a magic surprise for them in the bedroom, Corey and Oats smiled as they followed her to the bedroom, Ratty came along with them as they saw what appeared to be a special passageway which lead to a special effects studio. When they got inside the studio, the duo decided to make some monster designs of their own.

“Oh thank you mommy, this is a dream come true.”

“You’re most welcome, Oatsie.”

Oats made an anthro horse-monster that was a pretty feminine gothic pegasus in a black and pink gown, making it look like a mix of the bride of Frankenstein and Fluttershy, he brought the monster to life and called her…Franklynhooves. The new pony-monster whinnied as she hugged Oats. ‘Thank you for bringing me to life, mommy’, she exclaimed. Meanwhile Corey had found some cool movie monster masks to try on and he looked through all of them, he saw a dark and twisted looking Grinch mask…’Looks like these guys already started on making a mask of Blumhouse’s Grinch movie’, he saw a demon mask, a Freddy Krueger mask - which he tried on and he turned into Freddy Krueger but he remained as himself, he saw a reptilian-man mask resembling the Creeps from the Goosebump episode ‘Calling All Creeps’, he saw a mask that looked like Dr Marty with his face off from the mirror scene in Poltergeist, he even saw a Betelgeuse mask. But then he also saw a mask of Gabriel from Malignant and he decided to put it on, as he did he felt the spirit of Gabriel enter his body as his body slowly began to alter. He felt himself stretching and growing taller but it was not painful and there was no body horror, there was only a little but it wasn’t too bad, his skin turned a deeper shade of red and became bumpy in some places.

He felt himself stretching and growing taller but it was not painful and there was no body horror, there was only a little but it wasn’t too bad, his skin turned a deeper shade of red and became bumpy in some places. This didn't feel bad or painful to him because he was a microbe and he was also used to being tossed around and thrown up and down and treated like a doll, he had been turned into numerous different forms before, even into humanoid forms and he found the process of stretching and growing to be fascinating, and he really loved the idea and he was fascinated by his transformation, he watched as he took on a few demonic traits as he gained some demonic powers as well and his legs, arms, and all over stretched and contorted. He was worried he wasn't going to keep his spikes but luckily he did and he even kept his eye color, he was still the same Corey. 'Woah Corey, what is happening to you?' 'I think i'm turning into that guy from Malignant.' 'You mean Gabe?' 'Yes…' 'Okay, that is seriously awesome, I do love horror tfs.'

"Yeah, they're so underrated."

"Wish people would do more of them."

He examined his outfit as he did so, in the process he slowly sprouted long black hair as his facial features distorted, he looked like he had a bit of a tumor on his face but not much of one as his eyes glowed and his teeth sharpened, his voice shifted a little but he still sounded like himself as his transformation finished. Upon looking in the mirror he had found he had become Gabriel, but he was still the microbe he always was and didn’t inherit any of the real Gabriel’s traits. 'Okay this is awesome, can't wait to go and show this to you, Oatsie.'

[lovecolibri]

I don’t know what the main storyline is this season...Honestly, I don’t think the writers know what the main storyline is this season. Bigger than that, I don’t think they’re doing what they think they’re doing.

*

There’s a part of me that believes Maria has been keeping strands of Alex’s hair in a lockbox since middle school after she watched Twitches at a sleepover because she’s in love with him. Let’s call it canon. Also canon, the writers have never known what to do with Maria, so they keep shoving her into storylines...They should have made her the villain. The writers really missed that opportunity during the season she wore ostrich feathers and Abominable Snowman fur. She was like a Cruella in training. And if we’re being honest, in many ways, and to some people, she already is the villain in this story.

*

It’s a duet designed to feed #malex fans, but I question if it’s really enough...It takes more than a ghostly duet to quell justified frustration over a season that has sidelined Alex. And I'm not talking physically, actor availability is a reality many shows have faced. I'm talking about keeping Alex at the center of Michael's heart and arc. Let Michael sit down and have a conversation about missing Alex. Give the audience that onesided voicemail that Michael leaves for Alex; one that's about them and not centered on another character. Have Michael sit down at the end of a long day and let him ramble to Alex's voicemail, a smile on his face and a whispered I miss you, I love you at the end. And above all, let him be the one to realize that Alex is flipping missing. And I dare say, using Maria as the tunnel between Michael and Alex is a big do not want for many of those fans. Again, I’m not saying anything the writers and showrunner don’t know. The fact that they didn't give Michael those emotional beats and spread Maria throughout Michael and Alex's storyline is a choice. A deliberate dickish choice but a choice.

*

Alex is still in the hole. Viewers still haven’t seen him. And unless his cool jacket had secret pockets filled with water, he’ll be dead before next week’s episode because that’s how real science works.

*

Anger is a justified and acceptable feeling. Period. You are allowed to be angry. Don’t ever let someone tell you how you should feel about what happened to you or how they’ve treated you. Is it okay to punch people when you’re angry? The societal answer is typically no. Society says that violence is never the answer. However, if it is the alien Max Evans of Roswell, New Mexico then the answer is yes. Max should be punched in the face far more often than he has been. Feel free to disagree. I say all of this to say that Michael Guerin was justified in his anger. And so what if he let some truth bombs slap people in the face, letting truth bombs fly when you’re angry is one way to process your feelings. Also, Michael lives with and is in a committed loving relationship with Alex, so why would friends keep serious information about Alex from him. Did he scorch the earth the last time Alex went missing? Yes, he did. What were the rest of them doing? They were huddled together at The Pony hoping and wishing while Michael got his hands dirty. We’ll ignore the part where the writers had Michael leave Alex chained up so he could ride the Ferris Wheel with Maria. And why is Michael’s level of scorched earth unacceptable. This group of “friends” couldn’t cobble together a moral compass between them. Violate trust, bodies, and scientific ethics? They got you. Use violence to interrogate a suspect? They’re down. Lie, steal, gaslight? They consider that game night. And the worst part of all — Michael apologizing to the people who wronged him. Talk about a cycle of abuse. In addition to being occasionally stupid, this show is occasionally gross. I would say do better, but they won’t get a chance, so instead I’ll say go take a seat and think about what you’ve done.

*

Here’s my analysis: In the Roswell, New Mexico writers room, there is no bottom when it comes to stupid ideas or desperation over making Maria plot essential. She has been wasted as a character since the first episode and every attempt to correct that fact as been a terrible idea.

[hugins-eye]

Anyone want my rating of SSO?

No? Fuck you you're getting it anyways.

Graphics: I like the new graphics even if many people feel nostalgia towards the old. The new character designs look amazing. The trees in the Goldenleaf valley might be my favourite, especially the floating leaves. The transition from foggy areas such as the Mirror Marshes to a normal atmosphere is a bit... sharp. The detailed graphics always load in time but the mountains do look a bit wonky especially on taller cliffs. Rating is 8/10

Controls: Very basic controls of WASD. I wish there was horse breeds that had a faster speed up time though. I would like the camera to take a little bit longer to spin back when you move it while riding. I do also wish you could slow down a horses speed while in a jump so that you might start in a canter but land trotting. Rating is 7/10

Story: I LOVE the story okay? I know some people have a problem with the "Soul riders fix everything because sisterhood!" but as an avid MLP fan, that doesn't phase me. I like stories of old legends and magic horses (even if the wild herds didn't get that much story). The story of Jorvik is also very cool. The idea that we are the reincarnation of Aideen is ofc very basic but I like it. What I would want is some sort of influence on the story. Right now if you get an option to answer with different things they don't have that much of an affect on the story. It doesn't have to be anything major but just slight diversions. Rating is 9/10

Bugs/Glitches: I know that Star Stable is a very buggy game. But so far the only glitches I have encountered are: The time of day turning to night whenever I take a picture of Token, taking a big fall and not returning to Jarlaheim after going back in Catherine's memories, staying in Jorvik city even though I took the bus back to the normal area and the glitch with selling a big stack of items and getting logged out. So it's not as many as people who have played since the beginning might have encountered. Rating is 4/10

Horses: Gen 1 and 2 horses? Ew. Gen 3? AMAZING. The old horses are very... weird. The manes and tails look clumpy and plasticky and have very sharp models. The shading on the Shire's are horrendous. The new designs? Perfections. Actual detail in the fur. Good hair physics (especially Icelandic's), nice movement in the gates. The models are awesome and do really resemble the breeds. My favorites are definitely the bay Gotland pony, Irish Cobs and Andalusians. Rating is 10/10 (I do not rate the old models since they are not the active models used)

Characters: The soul riders are of course the most fleshed out characters and the staff did a great job with it. Each of them has a backstory that makes you like them. I especially like Anne and her status as an elite dressage rider. I feel like they took some inspiration from many Swedish showjumpers. James might be the most annoying character though, god I hate him. Rating is 8/10

Overall rating: 8/10

[miraculouscontent]

Asks I got about the “Marinette makes mistakes” tweet:

i-would-rather-be-a-fairy said:

I’m starting to think that the writers don’t particularly like Marinette.

Did Marinette spill coffee on the laps of the writers and they’ve been salty ever since? Because that’s all I can imagine.

Anonymous said:

Is there ANY episode where Marinette doesn't make a mistake and has to learn a lesson? There has to be right?

I feel like there must be? Like, “Silencer” at minimum, but I guess maybe they thought that her trying to combat Roth was her mistake and it got Luka akumatized? It wasn’t portrayed as a mistake though exactly?? (If anything, it just looked like her being awesome, and Luka being akumatized ultimately led to Roth being outed on some level, so it all worked out.)

Even episodes like “Stormy Weather” that really don’t need to be about her mistakes shoehorn in a line about “I should never have left Manon” (if she had, she would’ve been in the ice dome instead of Alya, but okay I guess; dialog choices in this show are so weird).

It really puts episodes into perspective knowing that they have to force Marinette screwing up/learning/apologizing in every episode.

Anonymous said:

Just curious about that Shanghai tweet: were you the one who sent it? I know there are other people who notice Marinette's unfair treatment, but I just wanted to know if you've ever reached out to Thomas Astruc personally.

Nah, that wasn’t me, I don’t use Twitter.

Plus, if that had been me calling Astruc out, I wouldn’t have blurred the name. I’d want full credit.

Anonymous said:

I am so irritated by Thomas Astruc's tweet. Do they even realize they're sacrificing Marinette's character and positive Chinese representation to make her chase after a boy and THEN get blamed for it? Yes, you read that right, a bunch of white men in a room decided that a Chinese heroine doesn't deserve to celebrate or learn more about her culture because she's in love with a white boy(who knows more about her own culture than her) and they need to use her as a punching bag. Ugh. At this point?

I am just completely done with the show. Yes, you heard me. DONE! Because the writers have admitted that their entire show is based around their main protagonist suffering, when it SHOULD be about "girl power". I'm not saying Marinette is NEVER allowed to make mistakes, be clumsy, or learn a lesson, but when the writers will literally REFUSE to let her develop and force her to always be in the wrong against ALL LOGIC, that's where I draw the line. As it stands, I can't recommend this show to any one.

I'm pretty much only watching because I don't like to leave shows unfinished(although there are shows I've simply stopped watching, this is the only one I've seriously been following to this extent since it started), and for the few Lukanette moments/other rare moments of Marinette being happy. Because the writers have NO RESPECT for their main character, have ADMITTED as much, and don't see a problem with it, or why everyone is upset. Oh, and they'll block you if you disagree with them.

I really wish I could’ve been in the writing room the day they said, “Hey, let’s make it so our biracial representation is always the one that screws up and has to learn a lesson/apologize for it!

Anonymous said:

I know comparison is not the best way to say why something is good or bad, but I think "Miraculous Ladybug" is as controversial as it is because "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" (a show I watched almost religiously for the first 4 Seasons) did the Lesson Of The Week so much better and came first.

I watched that show for a little over four seasons and I can confirm that the lessons were way more spaced out and balanced (though personally I feel like Dashie got the shaft on most of hers).

Keeping its rules like Miraculous would be like if Twilight was the only one allowed to screw up.

Anonymous said:

Disney's baby tv show "Sofia the First" genuinely deals with the "mc makes mistakes" so well. Initially, the main character is more prone to making mistakes (even if she’s generally well-meaning and kind), but she actually consistently applies her lessons and grows with them. At some point clearly the writers saw that this character’s development is complete; there is nothing more they can do with her because, due to applying her lessons, she is emotionally mature enough to handle anything they throw her way. Then they made a genuinely smart choice to commit latter seasons to having the mc become a literal guardian of the realm who travels to help other people solve their issues by applying the lessons she has already learned.

The show has a big cast of characters and distributes the lessons equally amongst all of them, as well as having many episodes, even in earlier seasons, where the main character actually /is/ in the right, and the lesson acknowledges that. TBH the show’s ability to consistently develop characters in an episodic format, as well as not disrespecting any of them and being written w/ heart, is impressive. Freaking Thomas Astruc wishes.

THAT WAS BASICALLY EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED; MARINETTE LEARNING LESSONS AND THEN BEING A “GUARDIAN” TO HER FRIENDS AND HELPING THEM LEARN TOO.

ugh, and instead it’s just--nope, she always screws up because it’s the rule

Anonymous said:

WAIT WHAT WAS MARINETTE'S MISTAKE IN NEW YORK?? WANTING ADRIEN TO GO??

APPARENTLY???

Or arguing with him mid-battle but can you honestly blame her after he betrayed her trust like that??

Anonymous said:

“It’s the rules of the show she makes a mistake and learns” SIR it’s season FOUR

I think we were meant to read it as, “a season 4 making Marinette screw up again even if she didn’t actually screw up.”

elflynns-horde-of-stuff said:

So the rule of 'Marinette must always make a mistake and learn something' inspired a little rant. I hope you're okay with this! Because it's usually a good thing for tv shows to have a rulebook for their stories, but they have to be GOOD rules. And this (awful) rule is easily fixed! Which makes it even more frustrating to me!

First. Replace 'Marinette' with 'A character' that way multiple characters get focus and development throughout the series. (At least the would if status quo wasn't God.)

Second. Why does all if Marinette's mistakes have to be huge? Why can't she use the wrong fabric for a design, research, and correct it? Or pronounce a Chinese word wrong and learn more about the language? Or use the wrong ingredient for Guardian related magic? If she has to be learning something every episode, why not allow her to develop skills and hobbies? Why make her miserable, anxious and guilty all the time? What purpose does it serve?

It is moments like this, where I am reminded how much potential this show has in better hands. Marinette deserves so much better it breaks my heart!

It breaks my heart too and I agree!

I dunno, the rule is so restrictive. It’s not that all restrictions are bad but this one specifically is crippling.

[goatpaste]

what do you think of the designs of the g5 ponies 👀

ah! uh yknow like! their cute!

i was defiantly like surprisingly pleased when i saw them first released, even on the blanket design i thought they had a cute look to them. and was happy like that they were going with the cheap look at pony life

plus i think the style is way cuter than g4, sorry but i sdjkgh personally find g4 to be one of the lowest generation designs. g1 had the best shape and toys while g3 had some of the best color pallets and designs

but this movie i like the shape of the horses its very cute! i think the pegasus are cute i like their wings WAY more than g4, i sdjkgh do question why the two pegasus we’ve seen have two different wing designs, but its fine. the white one with the colored tips i LOVE that because its close to how i draw my horses and its very cute. i like what they did with unicorn horse if izzy’s horn is an indicator to like how all unicorn designs are in their universe. i love the hooves! im glad their giving the horses hooves i think its sO cute. the big brother ponies from g1 had cloven hooves and i think their SO cute and i always wished there was more toys with the trait for g1, like not just for the boy ones.

but yeah the movie looks cute in design

i think the plot sounds jkdgshg dumb from what we’ve heard about it to be honest

and like not to always be a downer, but i already have like red flags about it. like i kNOW they cant do anything excplicitly bad

but the fact that a lot of the big name creators for this movie are self proclaimed bronies and one commenting on loving that one really nasty mlp artist makes me!! nervous! like again, i know they cannot do anything explicitly bad but like, g4 got really weird and fan servicing in and outside of their work and it was kinda  problem and i worry about the run of the this movie in a lot of different ways. because beside pony designs we havent seen ANYthing else beside that one tiny gif set. 

so idk!

also! i keep asking myself, is it actually g5. sdjkgh this is more like,  me being picky. but if its JUST a movie (which ofc we dont know atm if there will be more than this movie) and it seems to just be taking place in the same universe/timeline as g4. wouldnt think be more like a g4.5 gen? because if its just a movie with toys and not a generation of characters and toys, does it count as its own generation? 

anyways, i on and off think bout the movie i just got thoughtss on the matter ksdsdfgh 

[semisgroupie]

Haikyuu & the song they use to turn you on HCs

Warnings: has NSFW themes, there are some timeskip! spoilers

Characters this part contains: Karasuno Team (including: Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita. I plan on including Kiyoko, Yachi, Coach Ukai and Takeda in another part)

A/N: all pairings are X GN!Reader! This idea just popped randomly into my head when I was listening to music one night to help me go to sleep and I really enjoyed writing this so I hope you all enjoy it too! This is going to be a little series thing of headcannons!

Sawamura Daichi: Pony — Ginuwine

Have y’all seen magic Mike? Bc magic Mike is nothing compared to magic Daichi

I just imagine that one night y’all were sitting watching Magic Mike and you were drooling over the strippers in the movie and he catches your reaction and goes “well I’m gonna show them” in his head

So one night after work you open the door and find a note telling you to go to the bedroom so you go and sit on the bed and just hear Pony start playing

You’re really confused and then the door to your bedroom opens up again revealing a Daichi in a sexy cop uniform, wearing his police cap and twirling his work handcuffs around in his hand

He does a little strip show for you and let’s just say you’re glad you don’t have to go to work the next day because you spent all night riding his pony

Koushi Sugawara: LIKE I WANT YOU — Givēon

You two would be having a little makeout session and once it starts getting more heated Suga will grab his phone

Of course you’ll be confused bc you’re straddling him and this guy is on his phone

Before you question his actions Like I Want You starts playing

He chose this song bc one night when you two were out clubbing this song played and it just led to a really fun night (if you know what I mean)

Safe to say the song had the same effect on you as it did that night

Azumane Asahi: Love On the Brain — Rihanna

He remembers one day you were playing this song while you were cooking and the way you were swaying your hips just drove him wild

He added the song to his playlist IMMEDIATELY after seeing you dance to it

One day you’re helping him organize his designs and he has his playlist on shuffle

He grabs his phone and looks for the song, once he finds it he grabs you close and plays the song

He puts his hands on your waist and sways with you to the song whispering in your ear how much he enjoyed seeing you dance to it the other day

Yuu Nishinoya: Earned It — The Weeknd

He is beyond prepared for this moment

I mean he actually has a playlist named “Songs to Have Sex to w/ Y/N”

I wish I was joking

He always plays this song when he’s in the mood bc it just reminds him of you

And it reminds him of 50 Shades and he likes that movie

So whenever this song plays he’ll drag you to the bedroom and seduce you there

Ryūnosuke Tanaka: Can’t Get Enough of Your Love — Barry White

This man wanted to spice things up and change things up to turn you on

So he did what any guy in his position would do

He asked his sister

To fuck with him she told him to put on some Barry White or Lou Rawls or any singer with a deep voice

So what does he do? He finds “the perfect song” by Barry White and plans to play it when you come over

You come over and once you open the door to his room and he starts playing the song

You look at him while Barry White is speaking before actually singing in the song and Tanaka’s on the bed in his boxers laying like “paint me like one of your French girls”

You try so hard not to laugh because he really did try but a few giggles slip out

He quickly stops that by throwing you onto the bed and shows you not to laugh at his antics ever again

Afterwards he’s like “you don’t like deep voices like his?”

Chikara Ennoshita: Drunk In Love — Beyoncé

Hisashi Kinoshita: I’ll Make Love To You — Boys II Men

Kinoshita is a passionate lover

He’s used to being put on the back burner so every chance he gets with you he wants to make you feel like you’re the only person in the world

Especially intimately

He refuses to refer to sex as just sex with you it’s “making love”

Since he has this song in his playlist he plays this every time to get you in the mood

Kazuhito Narita: Slow Motion — Trey Songz

One day when you two were driving home you had the AUX and this song started playing

He saw your reaction and how you kept looking at him when this song was playing so he kept it in mind and added it to a special playlist

So every time you get stressed out over assignments or anything he plays this song and helps you destress

Or whenever you two come back from a little dinner date he plays this song and shows his appreciation for you

Tobio Kageyama: You’re The First, The Last, My Everything — Barry White

He has played volleyball highlights thinking it’ll get you in the mood

He texts his sister for help... yes he also tells his sister about your sex life

She sends him this song to mess with him and poor baby believes this will do the trick

When you are getting ready to lay down in your shared bed he plays the song on your speakers and just looks at you

You don’t know how to react so you two are just looking at each other

“Does this turn you on?” “Not really, I don’t want to hear another mans voice when I’m trying to have sex with you”

You two get past this moment and enjoy each other

You make a playlist for him with better music

Shoyo Hinata: Feeling Myself — Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj

Like Kageyama he has also played volleyball highlights thinking it’ll turn you on

He still keeps contact with everyone from Karasuno so he texts Noya for some help

Noya tells him this is the song to help out

When you get the chance you better thank Noya because it helped a lot

But during the middle of sex all you hear is “tired of the ads?”

Like you are a professional volleyball player and you can’t afford Spotify Premium?

Kei Tsukishima: Redbone — Childish Gambino

At first he was gonna let Jurassic Park play in the background

And you’re just like “no, you’re with dinosaurs all the time”

He goes through his playlist and after a while he finds this song

He remembers one day you blatantly said you’d have sex to this song

Once this song starts playing he throws his phone to the side and starts kissing your neck to get down to business

Tadashi Yamaguchi: Ride — SoMo

You two send playlists to each other every once in a while

One day you accidentally sent him your sex playlist

He kept it saved and couldn’t keep the first song on the playlist out of his mind

He texted you one day to meet him in the bedroom

Once you walked in you heard this song and he was laying on the bed in his boxers

Once you two made eye contact he winks at you and says “come on, let’s do what the song says”

A/N pt2: sorry this took forever to make, I had writers block (I blame my haircut for that). I hope you all enjoy the first installment of this series! Thank you for checking this out

— Dee <3

[sxveme-2]

blueberry pancakes // bucky barnes

MASTERLIST

Description: A single mother. Juggling being a mom, a full time pediatrician, and a difficult ex who believed now would be the best time to finally be a father. A soldier ripped out of time. Ex-assassin turned superhero. Learning how to balance a new domestic life with handling demons of his past, while facing the trials of the future. a love story began over something as simple as chocolate chip pancakes with hidden blueberries. 

Disclaimer: I do not own any original Marvel characters! All canon plots and canon characters belong to Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. This is an original work. You may not publish it anywhere else

Status: Edited

Note: Takes place after endgame. I have elected to ignore Tony's death and Steve's leaving. Did not happen. Quick Reminder! My works are only published here, AO3 and on Wattpad, thank you.

Chapter One: The One Where it Starts

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 1615

Being an adult in general is a wild roller coaster. Whether it be balancing bills, expenses, keeping a proper career, all together it was a stressful period. Going to the bank or answering phone calls was difficult enough. Seriously, what is with people and constantly calling? It’s so much easier to just text. Not to mention it keeps the incredibly anxiety ridden people at bay, and leaves them in a sane state of mind without worrying about anything. 

     That brings us to the protagonist of our story. Lily Briar Osborne. The 33 year old child of Abel and Alicia Osborne. She was the sister to two younger siblings, Rose and Cedar. Can you sense a theme with the children's names? Even Lily herself seemed to carry on that legacy with her own son. While balancing her busy work and just life in general, Lily mothered a young boy named Hunter. Hunter Osborne-Harvey. The eleven year old boy that was the result of a much too early marriage of two young kids who believed this was it, they had found the one. Well, that was not exactly the ending of their fairy tale. It instead involved a mistress, many trips to Grandma and Grandpa's, and a few too many shots in order to handle one another.

     Lily was more-so a quiet girl. Definitely more of the silent type in comparison to the majority of people in her profession. She was a pediatrician, and the only time you really see her talk or even crack a smile, is when she was with the kids. She was always found making sure they felt comfortable. When the young ones were gone, she seemed to shut down. Giving straight and to the point answers. Not elaborating unless asked, and strictly sticking to just the facts.

     Lily and Hunter had found home in a small colonial home in the suburbs of Manhattan, New York. There, they can be found in the company of a German Shepard named Joey, after the beloved sitcom, Friends. You could always find the small family laying in Lily's bed with the comedy illuminating the room around them. Every other Sunday and Saturday before Hunter's father came to pick him up for the weekend, they'd lay in bed before going out for brunch at Lily's best friends cafe further into the city.

     Which is where the story began. a sunny Saturday morning in September.

-----

     "If he doesn't like you, it's a moo point."

     The two Osborne's laughed softly at the comment made by their favourite sitcom character. Lily's fingers gently ran across the arm of her son, creating a soothing rhythm as they watched the sitcom, his head laid comfortably against the pillows. The large dog laid spread down at the edge of the duvet where his breathing radiated gently through the room.

     "Alright why don't you head in to get dressed and we'll go to Aunt Gen's cafe, hm? Sound like a plan kiddo?'' Lily's feather light voice cooed as her hazel eyes moved to glance over at her son.

     "But I wanna stay home all day and watch friends." Hunter whined as he nuzzled further into his mom's bed.

     "No love, I'm sure your dad has lots of things planned for the weekend. And we can watch more episodes when you're back tomorrow, okay? I promise." Lily sighed while lifting her pointer finger to her son.

     The pointer finger promise was Lily and Hunter’s signature thing. Instead of making a pinky promise, which was the weakest finger, they used one of the strongest. to make the strongest promises. That is exactly what they would do. And they'd know that if they broke it, trust would be something that had to be earned back. And luckily for Lily, she trusted her son with her whole being. He told her everything, as far as she knew. Seeing as she wasn't in his head, who knew? Though he was very vocal about his distaste for visiting his father, and it did hurt Lily to hear the pain he felt. The separation agreement allowed Scott Harvey, Hunter's father, to have the young boy every other weekend.

     Lily was lucky enough to have primary custody. Mostly because Scott was never a fully invested father before the divorce, so the court had no issue granting Lily the majority of the custody. But of course, Scott could come by whenever to see Hunter, as well as if he had something planned, he could pick up his son. But...Hunter wasn't the biggest fan of his father.

     Neither was Lily.

     Lily and Scott got divorced a few years ago when Hunter was a ripe 7 years old, and now he was 11, and still lacked the father figure he longed for. In those 7 years, Scott never really put an effort in. and hunter was a smart kid, and already harbored a distaste for the distant nature of his father. and it annoyed him, and Lily, that all of the sudden, after the divorce, Scott wished to be the great father he never was before. Despite his many attempts, it never worked out well for him.

     "Promise." Hunter smiled gently and wrapped his pointer finger around Lily's, before sliding out from underneath the white duvet that covered the two of them, startling the dog that laid at the end of the bed.

     As Hunter left the room, a small sigh escaped the blonde doctor's lips. She hated these days, when Hunter had to go visit his father. But she knew it was important for a child's psyche to have at least a relationship with their father. Picking herself up as well, Lily heaved herself into her closet. She picked out a white spring dress with blue baby's breath designs splayed across the entire piece of clothing. It was a tank top strap, and it was the end of summer and a small breeze danced through her window. She slid a blue jean jacket over her arms before stepping into her bathroom to complete her basic routine.

     After she pulled her hair into a pony, lily stepped out of her room after calling Joey out and down the wooden stairs to the main floor, where Hunter sat at the front door with his backpack and Converse on. Lily couldn't help but smile gently at her punctual son and felt proud of how she had raised him. And how he had grown to be a self-sufficient boy who was also able to ask for help when need be.

     "You gonna get the pancakes again today kiddo?" Lily wondered while stepping into her ballet flats and ruffling  the fur on Joey's back before opening the white door for her son.

     "Aunt Gen keeps putting secret blueberries in them and acting as though they're chocolate chips. I don't trust her anymore."

-----

     Lily and Hunter stepped out of the silver 2019 Honda passport, the two Osborne's took a deep breath of the muggy New York air. Hunter stood by Lily's side as she paid for the parking spot they were lucky enough to grab in the busy streets. She slid her arm around the boy's shoulders, before leading the two towards the fairly busy cafe her best friend owned.

     Genevive Fairchild. Lily's best friend for close to 20 years now. The two had met during their highschool orientation back in 2005. Gen was the extroverted hippy with conservative parents who disagreed with their child's decisions and mannerisms. She was always wearing what was to become her signature dreadlocks with golden decals littering her hair. Baggy shirts with fishnet cardigans and ripped jeans, the necessities to embody Gen. She entered the school loud and unbothered by others opinions or thoughts on how she acted or what she wore. But somehow, she was taken with the quiet blonde who kept her opinions to herself, hands tucked behind her back.

     Lily hadn't changed much in these twenty years, much to her parents dismay. Her parents were elated when their timid daughter brought home the boisterous and carefree Genevieve. Lily's parents were the same as Gen, unbothered and one with the Earth, no real care about people's opinions. Her father was a botanist and her mother a conversationalist. Plants and crystals littered the eco friendly home of Lily's childhood in the rural area of Long Island, New York. To see their studious, goody-good, daughter who wore knee length dresses everyday and cardigans, to bring home such a carefree spirit, was a breath of long needed fresh air for them.

     Ever since then, the two were inseparable. Lily even made her the godmother of Hunter. They both had keys to each others places, and nothing ever seemed to get in between the two of them. Other than those many years Scott wreaked havoc on their friendship. He kept Lily under some sort of spell, no matter how many times Gen attempted to convince her of the terrible manner of their relationship. Eventually, Gen gave up on the fight. until the young chocolate skin girl caught her best friend's husband getting it on with some girl at a party Gen was invited to.

     And that was the end of that marriage. Gen stayed with lily almost every night while everything was happening. And when her or Scott couldn't get Hunter up to Lily's parents, Gen would take him. Make sure he wasn't too focused on the broken state of his mother.

     As the two pushed open the door to the cafe, they were greeted with the fresh smell of coffee and pastries. That is, before they were practically being tackled by the woman earlier mentioned.

     "You two will NOT believe who is here right now."

[getreadytosmash]

💎🦄 OwO whats this?

@mistyflame1

"Oh!"

Rose Quartz covered her mouth with a hand, eyes practically sparkling as she watched the man transform from some sort of green gem (but without a gemstone! Wow!) To a small and pink man. Well, small by her standards, even if she looked a little different. He's grown more clothes along with it, having a shirt and boots alongside his clothing as the man jolted and looked up, his hand coming away from a small button in his ear. Could that have been his gemstone?

Ohhh, it's all too exciting! She doesn't remember ever seeing such humans in the early days, or when the zoo was first set up, but nonetheless, Rose is already enamoured. This human isn't anything she would have seen before and already Rose can feel a steady pulse of love for him, for the fact that he came from such a simple start and now? Now he could turn himself into a whole new form entirely.

Only on Earth could this exist.

The man's noticed her by now, but that's fine, Rose had already been making her way over, friendly smile along with a delighted thrum of her gem as she approaches.

"Oh goodness!" Rose breathes, happily grabbing the human's hands to squeeze, marveling at how big and small they were in her own hands. "I had no idea humans could make themselves turn so huge! This is so exciting! I'd always assumed that you all stayed a specific size forever, let alone colour!"

Could more humans do this? Was it because of gemkind or due to some other sort of ability in them that Gems had simply never taken the time to appreciate. But Tose would change that and she would stare at this man with now-brown eyes and sweet curls with a sense of delight.

"Oh, please forgive me!" She steps back, smoothing down her dress and beaming. "I haven't even introduced myself! I'm Rose Quartz, and just who might you be?"

------

She's not quite sure what's happned, how exactly she went from drawing up new designs in her Crafts Corner to being in an odd lab-thingy like Twilight uses, but gosh! What a surprise!

Even more of a surprise for Pinkie Pie to find herself staring at a odd....thingy. She's not all that sure what he is exactly, but in the past four minutes in which Pinkie fitted an introduction song, this odd stallion (? He had stubble like most stallions and unicorns did!) Had still stared at her, eyes wide and mouth gaping until Pinkie had stepped forward and shut his mouth for him.

Sitting down, she fluffs her tail and mane up, beaming and wiping away any remaining confetti that had been left behind from her song before Pinkie holds out a hoof, her grin stretching even wider so that maybe the stallion would feel more pleased and welcomed to talk to her.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm not really sure how I ended up here, but things seem to be fine so far so I guess I can relax? Say, you gotta lot of sciency stuff 'round here but maybe you were doin' a spell or experiment that got me here? Which is like, totally cool them 'cause accidents happen, which is something I'm trying to teach the twins - oh, the twins are my bosses' kids, real cute foals! They're soooo talented and I'm really proud of 'em but sometimes I just wish I didn't have to get flour all over my coat just to make them happy when they cry, y'know?"

Ah...she kinda info-dumped on him a little. Pinkie's ears fold back with a bashful smile before she's stepping forward to brush her side against his legs, eyes sparkling as her hooves reach to gently hold his weird hoofs with pencils stuck onto them.

"Say, you haven't told me anything about yourself! Can't really make new friends if you don't share stuff about yourself, right?" The pony grins but under that...she kinda does wanna know more about this world, more importantly, how to get home.

After all, if they didn't have Pinkie, who would plan the parties in Ponyville? Or worst, what of someone attacked Equestria and what would they do without the element of laughter?

Oh sugar sticks, Pinkie really needed a way back, huh?

[staygold-ponyboycurtis]

The Funeral

The Curtis parents’ funeral, from Darry’s perspective. Enjoy :)

- 

Frozen. That’s the word. That’s how I’ve felt for the past eight days, five hours, and fourteen minutes. 

In some ways, I don’t think my brain can access the place where it keeps sadness and grief. Growing up like I did, you just don’t let your mind go there. You have to be brave. No crying. No weakness. I have to be strong for my brothers. I can’t let them know I’m suffering and want to fall apart every second of every day since this nightmare began. I have to let them know we’ll be okay. Even if I don’t quite believe it myself.

We got the phone call less than forty-eight hours after we learned mom and dad were gone. As if things couldn’t get harder for us. An apathetic voice on the other end explained to me that they’d be sending over a representative from the state of Oklahoma to assess our familial situation now that there were two minors living parentless in the home. We had less than a week to gather our bearings, then our fate would be decided by an asshole who knew nothing about us.

Before I could even process that my mom and dad were gone, I had the weight of the world dropped on my shoulders. A bitter realization that life as we knew it was about to change forever. Sodapop and Ponyboy couldn’t even mention the subject without anxiety burning through my body. 

It seemed they had a million questions that I couldn’t answer. What would happen to them? What would I do to handle the situation? Could the courts really take them out of our home? They knew there was a chance that they’d be sent off to a boys’ home for orphaned kids and we’d never see each other again. I told them that was impossible. That there was no way in Hell I’d let that happen. I couldn’t lose my entire family in the span of a few weeks. I just didn’t know how I could stop it. 

“They can’t just take us, can they, Darry?” Sodapop had asked. “Don’t we have any say?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “They’re going to do what they think is best for you two.”

“Bullshit. They don’t know what’s best for us.”

But today isn’t about that. Like everything else, I’ve trained my brain to ignore the pressing issues before us. Store them in a place where the truth can’t hurt me too badly. Today is about saying goodbye to mom and dad. 

I stare at the two dark oak caskets sitting at the front of the altar. They’re closed. The harm caused by the accident was unfathomable. I had to identify their bodies at the city morgue. It was a task that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. When I saw the damage that was inflicted to my poor parents, I got sick all over the linoleum floors. That was the first and last time I’ve broken into tears this week. 

I forbade my brothers from seeing our parents in their final state. They begged, but I couldn’t let their last memories of our mom and dad be such a gruesome sight. One that has haunted me every second of every single day since. I want Sodapop and Ponyboy’s memories of our parents to be warm, loving, and happy. Something to mend the heartbreak.

At the funeral home, my brothers asked if they could leave a few things with our parents before burying them. Ponyboy wrote two long letters, both a few pages long. He mulled over what to write for hours, sitting at the desk in his room crumpling up papers and getting frustrated with himself when he couldn’t get his thoughts out. He folded them up tightly and handed them to a man named John, who was in charge of everything. He give him strict instructions on who to give each letter to, seeming resistant to trust a stranger with what I imagined were intimate, emotional messages to our mom and dad. Sodapop handed over a photo of the three of us on Christmas last year, arms slung over each other’s shoulders and smiling, giddy with holiday spirit. He wanted mom to have it. It was her favorite picture. 

I’m torn out of my daydream when Sodapop starts walking to the front of the church. The turnout is small, with just a few of my parents’ friends peppered throughout the pews. We’ve never had a big family, which is all too apparent at a time like this. Mom was an only child, and dad only had a younger brother who died in the Korean War over a decade ago. All we had was each other. Two-Bit, Johnny, and Steve sit together a few rows behind the three of us. Dallas sits by himself in the last row in the corner of the small church, his head down low. I nod at him when I catch his eye, letting him know how grateful my mother would be knowing that he came to say his final goodbyes. 

I see Sodapop’s hands shaking as he situates himself in front of the podium. Neither mom nor dad had any funeral plans designated for us to follow, so we had to choose how to honor them. Two whole lifetimes summed up a few hours. Mom was always religious and enjoyed going to church, so I decided that she would want a formal service. Sodapop insisted that he wanted to speak. I decided I would, too. Ponyboy said that he wouldn’t be able to. He didn’t think he’d be strong enough. Though I told him that mom and dad would have liked him to share a few words in their honor, he implored me to not bring it up again.

“I don’t even know what I’d say, Dar,” Ponyboy had said quietly. “And I don’t think I could get through it without blubbering like a baby.”

I knew that Ponyboy, like me, would grieve our parents silently. These past few days, he hadn’t mentioned them at all. I saw him lose it when he saw dad’s old flannel draped over the couch the other day and again when he opened the fridge a few days ago and found a chocolate cake that mom had baked the day she died. I acted like I hadn’t noticed him rush into his room and close the door quickly, but pressed my ear to the door to make sure he was alright. I could hear him crying heavily in his room, trying to catch his breath in between sobs. But I knew that this was natural and necessary, and that I’d be less than comforting if I barged in on him. 

“Hi, everyone,” Soda says in a small, defeated voice that is so unlike his usually charismatic demeanor. His voice quivers and I can see his eyes well up with tears before he’s even begun. I want to run up there and pull him into a tight hug, but I know that he needs to do this. He wipes his eyes with the sleeve of his dress shirt. “I’m sorry, I swore up and down that I wouldn’t cry.” 

He looks at me and Pony for reassurance and continues, pausing to gain composure. 

“My mom and dad were the best parents a kid could have. There’s nothing that my ma wouldn’t do for anyone. She always said that being our mom was her favorite thing to be. Well, being her son was my favorite thing to be. Mom and I were one and the same. It was like we had the same exact personality. We were the goofballs… the crazy ones in the crowd. She loved a good time and loved music, just like me. 

She was funny, but not in the way most moms are. She could joke with the best of us, even our friends. And she always knew how to make you feel like you were the most important person in the world. Because when you were with her, you were. She knew how to make everyone feel special and cared about. Gosh, am I going to miss that about her… She was the best. There will never be another person like my ma."

I look over at Ponyboy, whose eyes are inquisitive and burning holes in the side of my head as we listen to Soda speak. His face is swollen from crying so much, the tip of his nose red. He gives me a look that says, Why aren’t you upset? Don’t you care? But I’m petrified. Frozen. There’s that word again. My face is stoic but my heart is cracking with pain and each memory Soda recalls is deepening the weak spots. I want to be a pillar of strength for my brothers. I don’t want to fall apart in front of them.

"When I think of my dad, I think of someone who wanted the best for us. The day of the accident, he was celebrating a promotion at work, which he worked hard to get. But he loved to goof off like mom, too. He loved to play football in the front yard with all of us. Nobody could hike a football like him, no matter that he was twice our age. And he loved sweets, like me. I would always sneak into the kitchen at midnight to grab a piece of whatever mom had baked that day, and dad would have already beaten me there. And, usually, had a plate out for me already. I used to love talking with him in the middle of the night, just dad and me. 

Nobody worked harder than dad, either. He worked his whole life to make sure we never wanted for anything. He never wanted us to go without. I know now that that’s what makes a good man. I wish he could’ve lived to see it all pay off. And I wish I had gotten the chance to tell him that. I don’t know how we’re going to survive without them. I love them both. So much. And I hope they rest in peace. Thank you.”

He wipes his eyes again and makes his way back to our pew. When he sits, I squeeze his shoulder and wrap my arm around him. I feel his body tremble with tears and rub his back until he calms down. 

The priest ushers me to come up and speak, and I hesitantly stand, adjusting my suit jacket. Making my way up to the podium, I look out to the forlorn faces in the crowd. I look at Sodapop and Ponyboy, whose faces are contorted with sadness. I swallow the dry lump in my throat.

“Thank you all for coming,” I say bleakly. “My mother and father would appreciate you all being here to support us and remember them today.” 

I reach into my pocket and pull out a worn piece of paper that I’ve been hanging onto the past few days. I’ve been scribbling notes here and there about what I wanted to speak about. No matter what I would write, it never seemed sufficient to describe the enormity of what my parents meant to the three of us. I didn’t know where to begin. 

“As you all know, we lost my parents over a week ago unexpectedly. There was no time for my brothers and I to say goodbye or tell them how much we loved them. We never got the chance to thank them for everything they’ve ever done for us or tell them how hard it would be to live the rest of our lives without them…” I trail off, feeling the sadness creep in. 

I want to keep it formal. Just say the typical things everyone says when someone dies and get back to my seat as soon as possible. But I want Ponyboy and Sodapop to know that I’m hurting, too. And I want to honor my parents the best I can. So I continue.

“My mom always used to say to us, ‘If we always have each other, we having nothing to lose’… I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately,” I say. “Because now we’re separated. We’ve lost the two people we love most in the world. And I don’t really know how we’re going to go on. But then I’m reminded of so many things about our mom and dad and what they taught us. How to love each other and to stick together, no matter what. How to make a lot out of a little and to be grateful for what you do have rather than focus on what you don’t. And even if they’re gone now, I believe they’re looking down on us, right by our side like they’ve always been. So, really, we’re still all together. It just may look a little different now.” I look at my brothers again, who have small smiles on their faces.

“My mom was the nicest woman you would ever meet. She loved anybody who walked through our front door, no exceptions. She’s the reason why we have friends who became family,” I say, nodding to the gang in the pews. “And dad was the perfect example of a role model. He raised us to be strong, humble, and hard-working. He pushed us hard but loved us well. I’ll miss them both incredibly. We all will.”

I look at the two caskets below me and acknowledge that my parents are in them. A few feet away from me, but it feels like thousands of miles. I’m overcome with grief and I can’t stand it. I almost lose my composure when I feel the tears fill my eyes.

“That’s all I have...” I say. “Thank you all for coming.” I rush off the stage as the tears start coming. Ponyboy and Sodapop stand up from the pew and rush over to me as I make my way back to the pew, joining together for a hug. They push their faces into my chest and I put my face on the top of their heads, letting the tears fall. 

I wish more than anything that we weren’t here right now. That life had some other plan for us. But, then, I don’t want to be anywhere else.

Everyone shuffles out of their pews and out of the church at the announcement of the priest, congregating by the front door. I don’t know how long we stand there hugging, weeping quietly on each other. 

We pull away and look at each other, then chuckle a bit at how distraught we all look. 

“I love you guys,” I say to them, sniffling. “We’ll be okay.... we’ll be okay.”

-

I love you all and your support of my writing lifts me up so much, you couldn’t even imagine. Thank you for enjoying my writing the way you do 🥺

[0poole]

Soul

Breaking news, everyone: Pixar made another slapper.

I’m gonna get it out of the way first, but the only (and yes, only. Not like someone trying to say “only” even though they have many more nitpicks that they just don’t want to talk about) problem I had at all was that the super high realism of the settings of Earth kind of made the more cartoony faces of the people look a little more off. But, it’s kinda like the same thing people were talking about with that cat in Toy Story 4. It looks super real, which is impressive, but I feel like it was almost too real compared to the faces. Obviously it was too real compared to the supernatural settings because that was intentional, but yeah. It’s not even a big problem, it’s just the only one I can think of. I do think the realistic renderings of hair, light, water, etc at least work with cartoony stuff, but apart from that it looked almost like it could’ve been a photograph, with no exaggeration in the buildings or anything else.

I mean, I love the faces, so I definitely wish they went the extra mile showing extra personality and character in the buildings, as faces do with characters. Considering the faces matter like a bazillion times more, I still think they knocked it out of the park on the visuals. People with more investment and knowledge into the topic already said that the faces of any of the people of color felt cartoony and unique while also being true to life and respectful (My family recently stumbled onto some old animations from the 30s and lemme tell ya... We’ve come a long way), but seriously the characters that sold me on the visuals were the Picasso-esque beings who may or may not be the Gods of the universe maybe?

Spoiler boundary of course. It’s definitely worth a watch.

And that’s honestly what made the realistic world so much better. When the accountant guy went into the real world to set the count right, it was one of the most fun I’ve had just watching something. The sheer contrast between him and the world was so much fun, and it even solidified that those beings weren’t even acting in a different dimension or anything. They’re literally just beings that exist, meaning that all the other parts with the unborn souls and such are just as real as Earth. Or, even better, they’re the ones who can just casually rip a hole in dimensions. As far as depictions of Gods go, if they are even Gods at all, I think they’re one of the best I’ve ever seen. They feel like they could actually be how Gods actually exist, since all the commonalities of Gods involve supernatural power, which would suggest they’re supernatural themselves. I mean, I have a story with Gods in it too and they’re basically just that although admittedly a lot less imaginative.

With those guys being my favorite design, second place definitely goes to the lost souls, although obviously for more subjective reasons. 1) They’re purple, 2) They have one eye, 3) That eye is yellow which I always think is the best compliment to purple, 4) Tentacles, 5) Creepy in a kid’s movie. Franky, I would’ve made them a lot creepier, but even then they’re super creepy, if not visually then in their behavior. They’d just be kind of sad if they were just mumbling around, but since the first introduction to them starts charging at the main characters like a deranged monster. Considering how weird everything in that dimension is, finding something that isn’t nearly as innocent as everything else instantly invokes fear, since you have no idea what that thing can and wants to do to you. Sort of similar, I would’ve also made the “In the Zone” moments a bit more crazy and colorful, like when Joe fell through the void between the road to the Great Beyond and the You-seminar (is that how it’s spelled?), but these “I would do it differently”s might just be a fault of my design ideas or just subjective interests. I would’ve watched 2 hours of pure, nonsensical abstract worlds like the You-seminar with no explanation to how they work.

I definitely have a relief with the story, mostly entirely revolving around 22′s character. I was kind of worried she’d be too childish to really enjoy, but I feel like she was done really well. All the major historical figures’ remarks on how hopeless she were both funny and also really tied into her character “flaw” at the end as she was a lost soul. It might not be the most unique character archetype of all time, but it definitely makes sense, with all the people bringing her down implanting in her mind that she was an anomaly, and after a while was just sort of following it. Plus, she seemed genuinely interested in Joe’s weirdness, instead of being super mindlessly irreverent. And her being able to expand Joe’s understanding about his own world, like with the barber and his student, brings her up as more than a whiny, bratty child in the scope of the story. She didn’t JUST learn.

Even though I kind of expected it from the get-go, I’m also relieved that the movie didn’t shy away as much with the dark elements of death. It was kind of suggested that this wasn’t going to be a perfectly casual romp through a magical afterlife like Inside Out was with the mind because of the unborn souls unabashedly saying “Hell” in the TRAILER of the movie. I feel like that alone made the story super interesting, because it shows they’re actually going to be a bit more serious with things instead of just simplifying the unknowable complexities of the before & afterlife. Even with the dead souls going into the Great Beyond, it was a mix of being weirdly peaceful for some and super scary for others. My family thought it was peaceful for the most part, but my mom specifically though it was terrifying, and even though it’s a lot more peaceful than almost all other depictions of death, I can’t blame her. The souls were just kinda accepting it, like they’d been brainwashed or something, but still acknowledged that they were dead and were going into the afterlife. Plus, Joe, being the main character who we are supposed to sort of reflect in a way, was super freaked out by it, so that could easily suggest it’s to be afraid of and the other people are the weird ones.

I think the true message of the story being so strange was better too, because it would’ve been so boring if it fell into a super basic message we’ve heard millions of times. I feel like it has a similar sentiment to the basic messages, but is at least a more interesting way of saying it, if it is even like that in the first place, because it’s also somewhat vague in a good way. I think my brother/mother misinterpreted and simplified things a bit too much, where they thought it was sort of like a happier way of saying “accept your lot in life and don’t change it.” I could probably go on a full other rant about why I think this is wrong, but part of it is I don’t really know how they came to this conclusion in the first place, considering with that scene with that guy who threw the computers off his desk as his lost soul was cured (I guess you could call it that?), who obviously realized he wasn’t okay with his lot in life and was destined to change it. I think they sort of misinterpreted “the spark” and other things it as a 100% for-real, this-is-how-the-real-world-works sort of way, and not as much as a fictional way of saying things. Not necessarily symbolic, but I guess symbolic also? It has some of the same weird logical problems as the Cutie Marks from My Little Pony, except they’re obviously better since Cutie Marks determine your life down to your very job some of the time, while “sparks” are more vague and seemingly up to you. They’re more like when an unborn soul realizes there’s something on Earth they want to figure out, not necessarily their hobbies or jobs. For example, they kind of cited the barber character as the one who supported their point, but I think he does the complete opposite. He wanted to be a vet, but he ended up being a barber. But, they sort of assumed his “spark” was to be a barber, and that his personal interests didn’t matter because the “spark” forced him into a less favorable job. But, in reality, I feel like his “spark” is more his interest in love for the people around him, which is why he decided to get a more practical job to support his daughter (wife? one of the two) when he really needed to. Plus, he still enjoys being a barber because his devotion to love lets him connect to people as he cuts their hair. After all, he seems to be succeeding in his goal, since Joe was just like “Hey, let’s go see this guy he’s the exact guy we need!” People who don’t show love and interest for others don’t make that kind of impression in people’s minds. I feel like if we knew each story of everyone’s life down to the last detail we could fully determine what the mechanics of the world and its people are meant to say from a fictional context, but with such a limited selection I don’t think you can say something so sure. Sure, every choice in a movie is made specifically for a purpose, but I feel like if a movie tries to hard to be like “Oh but don’t worry here’s an exception” a million times it gets bogged down by its own attempt to make the message as obvious as possible.

Anyway...

There are also a lot of neat little details I loved, like how even though they did this for basically no other point in the movie, they made sure to include people from all around the world in that mess of dead souls, firmly sort of putting in the idea that the entire globe is in a sense one single entity that leads to the same place. They could’ve so easily just made everyone speak English for that throwaway scene, but I feel like including people from all around the world was very beneficial. Even the EXTRA little things, like the path to the Great Beyond looking like the neck portion of a guitar with the metal bits that separate the notes, or the facial features of the Gods blurring when they turned their heads in the other direction.

But yeah, who would’ve guessed Pixar made another good movie, right? Even then, Soul’s in the upper echelon of Pixar films. I really hope they (and Disney) realize they can go bonkers with a movie and still benefit/survive from it, since they’re so damn rich and inherently profitable. I think AAA animated movies like this that are the perfect amount of artsy are few and far between, and we need more of them. If anything, I hope they get more artsy, but I guess I’ll still never say no to a fun fantastical romp either. Basically, Pixar has looped me into watching any and everything they produce because it’s never “bad” I think. In the grand scheme of quality, even their worst work (Cars 2) is still not “terrible,” per se, even if it feels like it exists more as a cash grab than a genuine tale.

[kelelamentia]

Plant Charming

Plant Charming

 Because I want to add to Marinette’s growing list of admirers.

@ozmav

 On a street in Paris:

 A male figure stood.

“She’s here, I hope I don’t scare her.” He walked toward a very specific bakery.

  On Marinette’s balcony:

 Marinette was tending to her garden; watering and weeding, and just enjoying here flowers.  This was something Lila and her class couldn’t take from her; just like designing, it gave her some peace of mind.  Tikki was flying around the flowers like she was dancing, when she stopped.

“Marinette I’m going inside to eat some cookies, would you to come?” Tikki asked.

“No thanks Tikki, I want to stay out here a bit longer.”

“Okay Marinette have fun.” With that Tikki disappeared down the hatch.

Marinette was left alone with her garden.  As she went about her business Marinette was singing a soft tune, never noticing a large vine growing until a voice came.

“My, what a lovely voice.” Marinette turned around, almost throwing her watering can, and saw a boy about her age standing on a large vine. “Hello, are you Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

He had long red hair that just reached past his shoulders in a pony tail, green eyes and pale skin. He wore a white buttoned-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms, a pair of nice light blue jeans, and some brown loafers.

“Y-Yes, I am, who are you?” Was he an Akuma, Marinette wondered?

“I am Emmanuel ‘Mandrake’ Isley; but you can call me Manny, I am the son of Gotham’s Poison Ivy and I’m here to thank you.” Manny greeted giving a slight bow to Marinette.

Marinette was put high alert as soon as he said ‘Poison Ivy’; he was much more dangerous than an Akuma, but him wanting to say ‘thank you’ through her off.

“Thank me?” she asked.

“Yes, you remember your trip to Gotham?”

Marinette nodded yes.

“So, you remember how you organized the mass clean up of Gotham’s parks; when no one else would, after my Mother and a few others went on a rampage?”

“I didn’t plan it alone, I had friends helping me.” Marinette informed.

Manny just nodded his head.

“True, the Wayne family helped, but you were that driving force weren’t you; you even managed to set up a better recycling system for Gotham’s park’s, and that’s more than my Mother has ever done and for that I says thank you.”

“You don’t sound like you’re happy with your mother…” Marinette commented.

“She is my Mother and to some degree I do love her,” Manny sighed, “And I share her love of plants and her idea of eco friendly things, but with the way she handles her reaction to pollution and litter; it is a miracle that the people of Gotham aren’t terrified of going green.”

Manny stood up straight and Marinette in the eye; still standing on the vine and said.

“So please, Marinette don’t be afraid of me.  I am not my Mother; I plan to help the green movement the right way.”

He sounded so pure in his intentions, so Marinette was willing to give him a benefit of a doubt.

“It’s nice to meet you Manny.” Marinette smiled “I’m Marinette, but I guess you already knew that…”

“You just a lovely bloom, aren’t you?” Manny laughed softly. “I wish I could say my intentions here were completely unselfish, but I was hoping I could have your help as well Marinette.”

“With what?” Marinette asked, tilting her head to the side.

“May come on to your balcony first?  This might be a long talk and my vine will likely attract some attention.” Manny made a gesture with his hand, indicating to her balcony and his vine.

“Oh! Sure!” Marinette was so used to Chat just coming on to balcony; into her space, that she never thought about anyone asking for her permission.

Manny thanked her as he hopped down; the vine receding from once it came.

“Thank you, lovely Marigold.”

Marinette blushed at the nick-name but did her best to focus.

“What would you like me to help with Manny?”

“Many things really, but todays goal would be to create a logo.” Manny admitted.

“You want to start your own awareness group?” Marinette asked.

“Yes, I want to do this the right way and I’ll start from the bottom up.”

They sat down on a bench Marinette had set up there to discuss what Manny wanted his logo to look like.  It was not a quick talk as Marinette keep giving new ideas and a outside perspective for Manny.  Eventually they came up with a logo for Manny to use and he had to leave.

“Please forgive me my lovely Marigold, but I must leave.”

“It’s fine Manny.”

“At least let me pay you.”

“No Manny, you’re starting from the ground up; with who you’re related to acting as an obstacle. Let this be my good luck gift to you.”

Manny gave Marinette a charming smile.

“You really a bloom amongst the weeds Marinette, at least let me give you this.” Manny reached out his hand over her flowers, after a moment a vine curled up and around his hand; creating a circlet.  After the circlet was complete flowers began to bloom; marigolds more accurately.

Once the flower crown was finished Manny placed gently it on Marinette’s head.

“For the lovely queen Marigold, to repay her kind heart.”

Marinette was blushing hard at Manny’s words.

Manny smiled once more at Marinette before walking to the edge of her roof, he got up on the railing and turned to face her.  With her attention on him he gave Marinette a wink and salute just before flipping off the roof saying.

“Adieu”

Then he was gone.

Marinette just stood there, she couldn’t believe what had just happened to her.

“Marinette?” A small voice sounded from the roof hatch.

Turned and went to her room.

“I’m sorry Tikki, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Tikki flew up and cuddled Marinette’s cheek.

“Its fine Marinette but that was a risk.”

“I know,” Marinette sighed, “But he didn’t feel dangerous.”

“He’s from Gotham, right? Maybe call Damian and ask about him.”

“That’s a good idea Tikki, I’ll do that.”

"Granted, you were going to call him no matter what, you miss him."

"That's true." Marinette nodded her head.

"Now if only you could ask him out."

"TIKKI!"

  Later with Damian when Marinette called:

 Marinette was on speaker phone with Damian and his family.

“Emmanuel ‘Mandrake’ Isley?  Yeah that’s Poison Ivy’s kid, but he doesn’t seem to want to follow in her foot steps; he even left Gotham, no one knew where he went until you called Marinette.” Tim explained, looking at a computer, not giving out any more information than what a normal civilian would know.

*Is he going to hurt anyone? *

“No, you’re in the clear on that one Mari.  He really doesn’t want to be like his Mother, he’s even been cleared by Batman…mostly.” Tim confirmed.

*That’s good; I’d hate to think that his kindness was all an act. *

“Kindness?” Damian asked.

*He asked for permission to jump onto my balcony and he wants to start his own ‘Go green’ campaign from the ground up. He came to me to get help with a logo, he was very much a gentleman the entire time. *

“That’s good to hear he didn’t try anything Marinette, promise to let us know if that changes; okay?” Dick said, watch Damian’s eye twitch in irritation.

*I promise, you guys will be the first to know. *

“Good.” Damian stated bluntly.

“Hey Short-Stack?” Jason asked. “How did he pay you for the logo?”

*I didn’t accept payment from him; even though he said he wanted to. He’s starting from the ground up with nothing to really back him besides his mother’s reputation, which isn’t a good thing. *

“That’s very kind of you Mari.”

*Thank you, Dick, but since he could pay me; he gave me a flower crown he grew right in front of me, it was very sweet. *

Dick, Jason and Tim were watching Damian start to seethe.

*And he seems to like calling me Marigold; that is what the flower crown was made of, actually. *

“How the h*ll did I miss the obvious nick-name!” Jason groaned, “It literally has the word ‘Mari’ in it.”

*Sorry Jason, but you won’t be able to use it now. *

Damian was starting to look apocalyptic and Dick and Tim were trying to keep him from exploding which Marinette was on the phone.

*I should go now; I have some homework to do before bed. *

“That’s I good idea Mari, it was great talking with you!” Dick chirped, while having his hands firmly on Damian’s shoulders.

*Night guys! Night Damian! *

“Night Marinette!” Was the group farewell.

Once the phone call was disconnected Jason decided it would be fun to take a few shots at Damian.

“Looks like Demon Spawn had some competition for Pixie-dusts attention.”

“Jason!” Dick scolded.

“He’s right you know, and Mandrake is apparently better at talking to people as well, the Brat is at a disadvantage.”

“Die Drake!” Damian launched himself at his brother.

“I’ll go ask Bruce to book a trip to Paris.” Dick sighed, walking out of the room, leave Tim and Damian brawling and Jason laughing.

  Next Day in Paris with Manny:

 Manny was in the park exercising another one his powers; talking to plants, he asked them about the lovely Marigold.

‘She’s sweet.’ They said.

‘She’s kind.’ They praised.

‘She’s hurting.’ They grieved.

“Hurting?” Manny asked.

They spoke of a liar; one of stories that were far too good to be true, of classmates with no common sense, and of a boy with false promises.

“This cannot be allowed to continue.” Manny murmured.

The plants told Manny of the liar’s favorite lie, one he would very good at exploiting.

“Thank you, my friends; this gives me chance to help Marigold remove the weeds in her life.” Manny looked towards the sky, “I should also make my intentions towards her clear, I would hate for her to misunderstand me.”

  After school with Marinette:

 Marinette was happy to rush out of school, but unfortunately Lila and her herd of sheep were right behind her.

“Prince Ali said we should get together soon again; apparently he misses me.” Lila was boasting about her green program with Prince Ali again, and the class was eating it up.

“You’re so lucky Lila.” Rose sighed.

“Girl you are something else.” Alya cheered.

Marinette rolled her eyes, a quick web search would be all it would take to debunk that lie, but if she were the one doing it, they would never even listen.  Since Marinette wasn’t watching where she was going, she bumped into someone at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m so sorry!” Marinette apologized, not looking at the persons face.

“Its fine Marigold, my plan was to ‘Bump’ into you anyway.”

Marinette shot up at the voice.

“Manny!” Marinette blinked in surprise, “What brings you here?”

“Why? Can’t I visit you Marigold?” Manny questioned, delivering a kiss to the back of Marinette’s hand making her blush.

As Marinette tried to stammer a reply, the class; Lila mostly, saw the scene.  They were surprised to see a handsome young man giving a kiss to Marinettte’s hand.  Lila was not about to allow Marinette to have any happiness.

“Hello there, are you new?” Lila asked, in a very fake sweet voice.

Manny only gave her a passing glance.

“Don’t mind me; I’m just here to talk Marigold about a ‘Go Green’ program.”

Lila thought this was perfect.

“I could help you; you know. I helped Prince Ali with a GLOBAL green program a couple years ago.”

Lila was wrong.

“Really?  What the name of the program?” Manny asked, now looking directly at Lila.

“N-Name?” Lila stuttered; she never came up with one.

“Yeah, the name; how else am I to look up and join your ‘Global’ program if I don’t know its name?” Manny inquired.

“Umm…I don’t remember it?” Lila tried.

“What? You don’t remember the name of your OWN program?”

Marinette was staring in awe at Manny; did he some how plan this?

“Well, I can get very busy…” Lila began, Manny never her finish.

“I suppose that is understandable, but a quick web search should clear everything up.  I mean there can only be only so many green programs Prince Ali is a part of.” Manny offered.

“To bad my phone died earlier, so I can’t do that right now.”

Lila was getting nervous, this conversation with this guy was drawing a crowd; normally something she would like, but he is poking holes in her story she wasn’t prepared for.  No one had thought about ‘joining’ her ‘green program’.

Alya ended up being Manny’s ally and Lila’s enemy.

“Don’t worry girl! I got your back!” Alya yelled, whipping out her phone.

After a couple a minutes Alya started frowning.

“What’s wrong Alya?” Rose asked.

“I went to Prince Ali’s website,” Alya started “But, there’s nothing about a green program there; any green program…”

The class looked over at Lila.

“H-He hasn’t had anyone update the site in a while.” Lila excused.

“In years?” Manny’s question came out more as a statement.

Marinette was quiet, watching as one of Lila’s biggest lies crumbled; other members of the class were now pulling out their phones to double check.  Why didn’t they do that when Marinette said she was lying?

“Why would you lie about that Lila?” Rose was near tears.

“I-I’m sorry,” Lila faked sniffed. “But I promise; I did meet Jagged Stone and traveled the world. I’ve even met the Wayne family, the youngest; Damian, just loves me!”

The class; ever the sheep, began to close in on Lila in admiration when a hard voice growled.

“I’ve never met you before in my life, you lying harpy!”

Everyone to see a very angry Damian Wayne; dressed in a polo shirt and some slacks.

“Damian!” Marinette cheered. “I didn’t know you were coming to Paris!”

“I wanted to surprise you Angel.” Damian faced Marinette with a smile, the complete opposite of what he was giving Lila, before turning back to the class. “Don’t EVER use my name; or that of my families, for your gain.  If I find out that you have continued along ridiculous tales, you will be hearing from the Wayne family lawyers.”

Lila was turning white in the face, well as white as her tan would allow her to be.

“Two very massive tales you’ve told have turned out to be lies; one of them being a few years old apparently.” Manny tutted.

“She probably has more lies she’s told; anyone who’s willing to tell such big lies always have multiple stories, I know the type.” Damian sneered.

“When you first started talking, I thought you were just a weed growing in the garden, but it is clear to me now that you are nothing but a slug; gnawing at the roots of plants, destroying them for your own nourishment.” Manny stated, shaking his head.

Damian turned to face the class.

“Did ANY of you check anything?”

The class looks sheepish.

“Disgusting; next she’ll be saying she knows Jagged Stone.” Damian turned his nose up at the class.

"Ah, it seems you missed that part.  She said that just before you got here." Manny informed.

"Really?" Damian said sarcastically. "How did she meet him?"

"She rescued his kitten from an airport runway, he even wrote a song about her!" Alya argued, deep down praying this was true.

Damian and Manny looked at Alya in disbelief.

"Oh God," Damian choked out. "Aren't you the supposed 'journalist'?  The creator of the 'Ladyblog’?  A quick search would have told you Jagged Stone never had a cat, he doesn't like them."

"Not to mention that civilians aren't allowed on runways." Manny chipped in.

"And did you really not ask Marinette?" Damian continued. "Someone who knows him PERSONALLY; as in HAS HIS NUMBER!"

"W-We forgot?" Alya tried, though it came out as more of a question.

"Forgot or chose to ignore?" Manny asked.

The class couldn’t give an answer that didn't sound bad.

"Okay, maybe Lila lied about meeting people, but she saved Max from losing an eye!" Alya insisted.

Damian was intrigued.

"How did she 'save' him?"

Lila winced, know what was about to be said sounded out right dumb.

"She kept a napkin from hitting his eye and cutting it out."

Alya looked very proud when she said that, but the looks she got from Damian and Manny, Marinette was just shaking her head, dimmed the pride she felt.

"A napkin?  She 'saved' him from a napkin?" Manny heard about this from the plants, but to hear it out loud was a different thing.

Damian had a look of horror on his face and turned to Marinette.

"Angel, I can't in good conscience let you continue going to this school, it lowers your IQ and removes common sense.  You are brilliant and I would never be able to live with myself if you lost that because of something that I could have helped you avoid."

"HEY!" the class out raged.

"He's right, you know." Manny defended. "Which one of you is Max?"

"I am." Max stepped forward and Manny took a good look at him.

"How is it possible to lose an eye to a NAPKIN?! And even if it were possible; you're wearing glasses, so you would have had protection from it in the first place!"

Max could only squirm in place at Manny’s statement.

“Right then,” Damian nodded his head. “Marinette will ask Father to transfer you to Gotham Academy. You will have nothing but the best for you there.”

“Damian, that’s very sweet of you to offer, but I couldn’t leave Paris and my parents just yet.” Marinette gently objected.

“She also wouldn’t be safe in Gotham Wayne,” Manny cut in. “Not to mention that Gotham Academy would do nothing to help her with her dream of being a designer.”

“Then I would be happy to help her to get into an art school in Paris Isley” Damian said, looking up schools on his phone. “Here is an excellent one Angel and it’s not too far from your home.”

“Guys please!  It is very sweet of you to offer, but I want to get in on my own merit; not because of who I know.”

Damian and Manny gave a soft look to Marinette.

“Of course Angel, it was rude of us to assume what you want.” Damian apologized.

“Forgive us Marigold?” Manny asked.

“I forgive you, but please try not to do it again; okay?” Marinette asked at the end.

“Promise.” They said in synchronise.

“Thank you.”

With the promise made Damian and Manny looked back at the class; who were on their phones trying, and failing, to find SOMETHING to support Lila.

They found nothing.

Marinette’s classmate’s felt horrible, what have they done...

“Marinette...” Alya started, but was cut off by the girl herself.

“No Alya, you could have done all this when I first said she was a liar 2 years ago; all of you could have, but you CHOSE not to because you liked her words better than the truth. So the way you’re feeling now is not my fault, it’s yours.”

Alya and a few others started to tear up.  Adrien tried to come to their rescue.

“Come on Marinette they feel bad enough as it is.”

“Again, that is their fault, not mine. Marinette stood strong, having long gotten over Adrien.

“But...”

“No, no ‘buts’’.  This has been a long time coming and now they’re facing the results of their actions. Part of the reason it’s this bad is because of you Adrien.”

Adrien jerked back like he was slapped, the class gasped.

“You were the one to say we shouldn’t expose her lies remember; because ‘They’re not hurting anyone’. It hurt me when I was sent the back without being allowed to give any input, it hurt me when my ‘friends’ just dismissed me as jealous until they needed something from me, it hurt me when you promised to have my back only to go back on it not a moment later.”

Adrien gulped, he didn’t want to believe what Marinette was saying.

“Lila could have been Akumatized...”

“I WAS NEARLY AKUMATIZED 6 TIMES YOU JERK!!!!!” Marinette finally yelled “Do really not care about my safety?!”

The entire class recoiled, 6 near misses, they could have encountered an Akumatized Marinette. Someone who’s smart and creative, someone who could give Ladybug a run for her money; and they almost had to face her.

“I...” Adrien started.

“NO!  No more fake apologies, no more false promises.  I’m no longer going to be this class’ doormat and scape goat, if you want something from now on; you have to earn it like a normal person!” Marinette finalized.

Marinette was panting after her rant; Damian wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“We should get you away from these people Angel; they are clearly bad for your health.”

Manny gently grabbed one of the fists she made during her rant and began trying to rub the tension out of it.

“Wayne is right Marigold, this much stress will cause you to wilt.”

They began leading Marinette away; back to her family’s bakery, not before throwing a hard glare back at the class.

The class watch the trio walk away, some with tears running down their faces, knowing they blown it with their Everyday Ladybug; all for some girl with pretty words and no proof.

  At Marinette’s Famliy Bakery:

All three people were sitting on Marinette’s balcony; the girl tired from her emotional outburst, was leaning on Damian’s should to her left and to her right Manny was playing with her fingers.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Marinette finally breathed.

“Don’t be Angel, you needed to let that out.” Damian comforted.

“There is no shame in expressing yourself Marigold.” Manny assured.

“Thank you Damian, Manny.”

They sat quietly for awhile before Damian asked a question.

“Were you truly nearly turned into that monster’s minion 6 times Angel?”

“...Yes” Came the hesitant answer.

“Why didn’t tell me Angel? My family and I would have done something!”

“I didn’t want to worry you or your family Damian.  Besides what could you have done?”

“A transfer of schools would have happened.” Damian admitted.

“Yes, because Gotham is a safe place.” Manny said sarcastically.

Damian shot him a look.

“Guys please don’t fight; I really don’t have the energy to keep up with you right now.” Marinette interrupted.

“Fine.” The boys agreed.

“Thank you.” Marinette sighed.

They stayed like until Marinette fell asleep.  That’s when a discussion started between the two young men.

“It seems we both like this lovely bloom.”

“I suppose it is to be expected, Marinette is an Angel.”

There was a brief pause.

“You shouldn’t be near her; your life is dangerous.” Damian started.

“And you should?  Your family is one of the biggest targets in Gotham.” Manny quipped back.

They were at a stalemate.

“You know,” Manny began. “Neither one of us is really gets to decide this.”

Damian reluctantly nodded his head.

“True and in the end, it is her happiness that matters, but it doesn’t mean I won’t try for her affections.”

“Then we understand each other Wayne.”

  The next day:

Marinette was walking into her classroom, on time for once, greeted by stares and silence.  She expected that, but what she didn’t expect was the large bouquet of flowers sitting on her desk.  It was beautiful, roses, lilies, snap dragons, marigolds all combined together.

Marinette walked up the stairs, becoming more aware of the looks she was getting with each step. Once she reached her desk Marinette saw a note, opening it; it read:

To the lovely Marigold,

May these flowers brighten your day, like your smile brightens mine.

Sincerely,

Manny.

Marinette couldn’t help but turn slightly pink, why did Manny have to do this?

“Hey girl, who’s it from?” Alya asked.

“That’s none of your concern Alya.” Marinette huffed, she couldn’t believe she was going to try and act like nothing had ever happen between them.

Alya flinched, but backed down, the teacher came in and the lesson began.

Time flew by rather quickly and soon it was after lunch and everyone was returning to their classrooms, only when Marinette walked in there was a second surprise waiting for her.

There sitting on her desk, beside the flowers, were three bags.  Upon opening them Marinette learned the bags contained various pieces of high-quality fabric; again, there was a note.

To my beloved Angel,

I hope this helps bring your dreams into creation.

Yours truly,

Damian.

Marinette turned a bright red; she knew Damian was a sweet heart.

“Marinette, who is it from?” Adrien asked this time.

“Again, its not any of your concern.” Marinette stated.

Adrien didn’t seem ready to back down, but the teacher came and started class again.

 After class:

Marinette was making her way down the front steps, gifts in hand, with Adrien close behind her.

“Marinette, those things…”

She stopped him before he got any farther.

“These are gifts Adrien; you have no say in them, and I didn’t ask the people gifting them to do so during school.  That was their own decision.  And if you try to make it seem like this my plan to make the others feel bad you will be leaving with a limp.”

Adrien took a couple steps away from Marinette hearing that.

“None of this is my fault Adrien, it’s Lila’s.  All she had to do was not lie and be a decent person and none of this would have happened, but I suppose it’s a good thing she did lie.  She just proved to me how little I meant to you or the class outside what I can do for you and guess what?  I decided I deserve better friends and partners.”

Marinette’s rant was firm, not loud, but Adrien felt like it was shouted next to his ear.

A slow clap from behind Marinette reached them, they turned and saw Damian.

“Well put Angel, but I feel it was a little understated; you deserve the world in my opinion.”

“Damian!” Marinette greeted. “I wasn’t expecting you here!”

“I came to help get you home, I didn’t want my gift and you school items to drag you down.” Damian said, walking over to her, he glanced at the flowers she was holding as well. “Though it seems I’m not the only one who thought you deserved a gift.”

“Apparently…” Marinette trailed off, unsure how to answer Damian.

“They are lovely though,” Damian admitted, grabbing a lily and placing it in Marinette’s hair; causing her to blush. “and I adore seeing you happy above all.”

“Damian.” Marinette sighed.

“I best be getting you home now Angel, unless there was something else you wanted to do before that?” Damian asked.

“No Damian, home sounds wonderful.” Marinette smiled.

Damian nodded his head and started leading Marinette to a car nearby.  He helped her place her gifts in the back and held open the passenger door for her to get in.  But, before the door closed Adrien heard Marinette ask.

“Damian, I have a great idea for a suit I would like to make you, would you like to see it?”

“I would love to Angel.”

Damian then closed the car door, got in on the other side and drove away; leaving Adrien standing at the school alone, with the understanding that he was not going to get his way.

The next several days were very similar, Marinette would find flowers on her desk from Manny in the morning and a range of gifts from Damian, from sewing supplies to some small pieces of jewelry.  Marinette was flattered, but she didn’t want material objects.

One day she finally got to meet with them in the park.

“Guys, this very sweet of you, but I don’t need all this.”

“We know that Marigold,” Manny said. “We want to do all of that though.”

“Indeed Angel,” Damian agreed. “like I said before, you deserve the world.”

“What am I going to do with you guys?” Marinette moaned, turning a bright red.

“Well…” Manny started. “There is something.”

“What?” Marinette asked.

“You can answer a question Marigold?” The red-haired boy asked.

“Sure.”

“Are you attracted to either one of us?  And if so, would you like to go on a date with that person?”

Marinette was stunned at Manny’s question, Damian saw this and explained.

“Angel, we both have feels for you and we both want you to be happy.  If you say ‘No’ to one or both of us we will back off.”

Marinette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, held it, and then released it.

“First of all, both of you are wonderful people, you respected me and stood up for me when I needed it, any person would be lucky to have a relationship with you.”

She turned to Manny.

“Manny you are charming and sweet, you have a wonderful dream and are well under way to achieving it, but I’m sorry; I’m not attracted to you.”

Manny gave a sad smile.

“I understand Marigold, may I still call you that?”

“You can Manny.” Marinette confirmed, nodding her head.

Marinette then turned to Damian.

“Damian you are a strong, kind (in your own way) and a driven individual.  Since I’ve met you, you’ve listened to my ideas, you’ve mdke me smile and you’ve challenged me to do my best.  I am attracted to Damian and I very like you as well, I have for a while, but I never worked up the nerve to ask you out.”

Marinette was blushing as she finished.

Damian was wide eyed in awe, Marinette; his Angel, liked him.  He could have asked her out sooner and she would have said yes!  He wasted so much time!

“You honor me Angel.” Damian said, placing a kiss on the back of her hand. “I promise to be the partner you deserve.”

Manny was still smiling sadly, but, like Damian said earlier, Marinette’s happiness and consent was the important part in all of this.

“Just be aware Wayne, you break her heart; I’ll break you.”

Damian looked Manny in the eye.

“If I break her heart, I’ll come find you so you can.”

“I’m glad we understand each other Wayne.” Manny turned to Marinette. “I think its time I move on from Paris Marigold, I have many ventures to take and more people to talk to.”

“Good luck Manny.” Marinette smiled.

Manny gave one last salute to Marinette before leaving.

Once he was out of sighted Marinette sighed.

“Why do I feel like I just chased him out of Paris.”

“You didn’t do that Angel,” Damian assured, wrapping his arms around her. “His plans for a good ‘Go green’ program involved him traveling around and talking to all that he could.”

“True,” Marinette agreed. “I hope he finds happiness though.”

“I’m sure he will Angel.” Damian nodded his head. “Now, would the lovely Angel Marinette accompany me on a date?”

Marinette giggled.

“I’d like that Damian.”

Marinette began guiding Damian to her favorite café for their first, and proper, date.

 End.

That was Pant Charming.

 Also

 Extra 1:

 Why there was no Akumas:

Hawkmoth – Go my Akuma darken their heart.

Butterfly - *Gets eaten by a strange Venus fly trap*

Hawkmoth – Right…Let’s try this again, go my Akuma darken…

Butterfly #2 - *Gets eaten by a strange Venus fly trap*

Hawkmoth - *Eye twitching* R-Right, third times the charm, go my…

Butterfly #3 - *Gets eaten by a strange Venus fly trap*

Hawkmoth – You know what? I think I’ll just stop for today.

  Extra 2:

 Mari - *Looking up new schools*

Tikki - *Looking over her shoulder* This is a nice Marinette.

Mari - *Nodding her head* Yeah it is, this is the one Damian was talking about.

Tikki – A new school will be good for you and it’s an art school, so you’ll have more subjects focusing on fashion.

Mari – Yeah and it will be nice to get away from that toxic class.  Just because they know Lila’s lying now, it doesn’t change what they did to me.

Tikki - *Angry* - They got away with a slap on the wrist if ask me.

Mari – Maybe, but I don’t think they would survive anything designed by you…or Damian…or Manny…or Damian’s family…

[mychemicalficrecs]

do you have any longer frikey fics, preferably bottom frank if theres smut

I do have some longer Frank/Mikey stuff, but no guarantee on bottom Frank!

Longer Frank/Mikey

Emotional Brilliance by kopperblaze, 21k, Mature. Toro and Mikey are a good team, Mikey doesn’t get why Brian had to hire someone else. In particular he doesn’t get why Brian had to hire Frank, who knows nothing about Lush products and who's incapable of keeping his mouth shut. Lush!AU. The one where Ray is a skin care expert, Frank is obnoxious, Mikey is annoyed and Pete leaves glittery handprints all over everything.

Gross roomies by turps, 36k, Explicit. Frank loves living with Mikey. Sure, the apartment is a mess, the kitchen's a toxic wasteland, and there's something growing in the refrigerator that's just a day or two away from becoming sentient, but other than those minor inconveniences, it's all cool. Or it is until Mikey decides to embark on a journey of sexual discovery and adventure and Frank's left at home with nothing but the fridge monster for company. To make matters worse, Mikey insists on telling Frank everything he does with his new kinky friends, right down to the tiniest detail. And now suddenly Frank is best friends with his right hand and he can't stop thinking about Mikey in ways he never has before. The really big problem, other than suddenly being in lust with his best friend, is that Frank isn't sure why.

Won't Know 'til You Begin by knight_tracer, Sena, 24k, Explicit. In which Frank is an accidental pervert, Mikey sleeps with Fabio, Gerard is much too sincere when talking about pain sluts, Ray is terrible with women and great with guitars, and Otter's got really bad taste in music. Alternately, the one where Frank realizes he has a thing for Mikey, Mikey realizes he has a thing for guys, and they're both adorably stupid failboats.

On Air by ladyfoxxx, 15k, Teen And Up Audiences. Frank's a radio DJ at an alternative station, spinning punk tracks and talking shit. When he gets handed the most popular show at the station to host, his first guests are independent horror filmmakers Gerard and Mikey Way.

Standing on a Planet that's Evolving and Revolving by Green, 13k, Explicit. The evolution of Frank Iero, age 15.

Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room by Femme (femmequixotic), 15k, Explicit. Frank wants to touch Mikey, to slide his fingers across the sharp angle of his cheek just below his glasses, to drag his thumb along the curve of his bottom lip, to smooth his palm down Mikey's long throat.

What Dreams May Come by sperrywink, 15k, Explicit. His career in music derailed, Frank never met the other guys in My Chemical Romance. A silly tale of teleportation.

a scent and a sound by mwestbelle, 15k, Explicit. In an urban fantasy world where werewolves can't hold a decent job and no roommate wants them, werewolf Frank is looking for an apartment. He finds one with Mikey Way.

Heart Wrapped in Clover by Sena, 19k, Explicit. Everbody's got their not-so-secret secrets on tour. When you live out of a van, you just can't help but notice things that you shouldn't talk about if you don't want to embarrass your friends or start a fight. Frank wishes sometimes they talked about things, though, because he's dying to ask if anybody else has noticed that sometimes, Mikey wears panties.

Tints Verse by turps, 65k, Mature. A MCR AU where Ray has his own gardening firm, and one day he does a job for the Ways.

We Used To Be Friends by ladyfoxxx, 50k, Explicit. "You and me, right Mikes?" "Yeah, fuck everybody else." Best friends since high school, if Frank could've chosen a brother, he'd pick Mikey. Then Mikey became a rock star and Frank... didn't. After years of radio silence, Mikey steps onto a stage in Jersey and back into Frank's life. (Or, the one where Frank is a school teacher and Mikey plays rhythm in The Used.)

And the Painted Ponies by turps, 35k, Mature. After years of struggling to be taken seriously as a bodyguard, Frank Iero is finally well established. He loves his boss, Ray, he loves his job, and he prides himself on his professionalism. But then he's assigned to be the personal bodyguard of Mikey Way. Mikey Way, aka Roboboy, is a successful high fashion model. Loved by designers and the public alike for his trademark lack of emotion, but mocked by the tabloid press for the exact same reason. Mikey is someone that Frank's sure he'll hate. Except it doesn't work out that way. In fact, it doesn't take long before Frank discovers he really likes Mikey. Maybe too much.

Better Than A Paid Life by gala_apples, 15k, Explicit. Gerard and Mikey Way are the Killjoys, a motorbaby duo. That is, until their car gets wrecked in a battle and the dashboard accessory of their new Trans Am is an ex-Companion with a mission.

Crash by Gorgeous Nerd (gorgeousnerd), 26k, Explicit. In a future version of Seattle, Frank Iero's a lot of things: bike messenger, cage fighter, sometimes thief, Ray Toro's roommate. Mikey Way's also a lot of things: record label owner, co-heir to his grandmother's fortune, younger brother. Neither are normal. But they don't know just how far each other's abnormalities go until Frank's past and a secret of Mikey's unexpectedly shove together. (Dark Angel AU.)

Sound Tracking by turps, 46k, Mature. The beat is muted, almost non-existent, and the loss hits Bob hard. He's used to living his life in a constant thrum of sound, sensing those around him, the rhythm of the universe a constant companion, but here there's almost nothing. He can feel the sound that's been pulling him for weeks now, but little else. This place is dead, almost silent, and Bob aches with the feeling of being cast into nothingness. A MCR - Bob and Gerard centric space AU where Gerard's band has been taken from him and Bob helps find them. Also features FOB, especially Pete.

Drink Cider From a Lemon by turps, 20k, General Audiences. A story about friendship, love and building your own kind of home.

Mikey Way and the Quest for the Stone by Roxy_palace, 29k, Explicit. “I’m in Colombia!” Mikey said, raising his voice over the crackle of a poor connection. “No. no, no, no, no,” James wailed. Mikey could really relate to his disbelief. He couldn't believe he was in mother fucking Colombia either.

Below the Trees, Which Are Below the Stars by alpheratz, 38k, Explicit. In the mid-1920s, Gerard and Mikey moved to France - Gerard to pursue art, Mikey because he couldn't stay behind. Now, it's 1930, and Mikey's become an airmail pilot, flying the mail route to Dakar with his navigator Frank. For a long time, the only rough thing about Mikey's life was the strain on his and Gerard's soulbond when Mikey was away, but his growing feelings for Frank and the arrival of Frank's old friend Ray could change everything.

Food of Love by Lucifuge5, 12k, Teen And Up Audiences. Ever since it re-opened, Frank's been "Sweet Nothings"'s number one customer. That he harbors a gigantic crush on one of the owners is something that he's kept to himself for the most part (Ray will never tell a soul.) It's not until he strikes a friendship with the older brother of the object of his affection that he 'fesses up. Moved by Frank's pining, Gerard promises to help Frank woo Mikey. Complications arise when Gerard's "helpful advice" is anything but. Will Frank be successful in his courtship or are his chances to win Mikey's heart as ruined as a burnt cupcake?

You Only Hear The Music (When Your Heart Begins To Break) by Acadjonne, 28k, Mature. Mikey and Frank have known each other for years. They're roommates, and best friends. They're also friends with benefits. The arrangement is casual, and it suits them both. Somewhere along the way, Mikey develops feelings for Frank, but he pushes them aside. They aren't important, he'll be fine. Or, Mikey is fine, until he somehow ends up pregnant a year into this thing with Frank, and all of a sudden, he's got more to deal with than just how long he'll be able to hide his feelings for Frank or how the hell he's supposed to afford his transition.

Give Me A Reason To Believe (Failboats In Love) by Acadjonne, 14k, Teen And Up Audiences. On the night of October 31st, Linda and Frank Iero welcome a baby boy into their family. He weighs six pounds, four ounces, and is nineteen inches long. They give him a family name, and he becomes the third Iero man to bear the name of Frank. A year later, on All Hallow's Eve, a sleeping baby is taken from his crib and replaced with a fake. The babe will later be taken from the hands of the goblin that stole him, and he will be raised by two rowan treefolk, a house brownie, and some pixies. ----- When Ray walks down the stairs to the Way family basement, the last thing Mikey expects to see is a scrappy and long-haired form following behind him. But as he later finds out, Frank is almost always unexpected in the best of ways, the rest of the world be damned.

Death's Muse by TheFratelliEffect, 53k [WIP], Mature. Lonely and depressed, Mikey Way is battling through the drab years that immediately follow college. Struggling to make a living as an artist, Mikey has became a battered down, quiet introvert whom wants nothing to do with the abusive romance he is unwillingly involved in. On a cold winter morning, the starving artist is confronted with the opportunity to paint Frank Iero, the Midnight Falls' elusive, young doctor, which he takes up immediately. Love and lust ensure as the story opens on the painter as he meets his muse.

Gallons Of The Stuff by MCRmyGeneral, 20k, Explicit. Frank has been amused by blood for as long as he can remember. When he was a child, it was a simple fascination; the way it felt on his hands, the way it looked dripping to the floor, the way it smelled. But as he grew older, that simple fascination morphed into a daring lust. Blood no longer amused him, now it turned him on. Frank has never intentionally hurt someone just to see their blood. He just takes what he can get whenever an accident happens. But when Mikey is hurt bad, Frank discovers how hard it is to keep his hands, and thoughts, to himself. He loves Mikey, he has for a long time. But now, he finds his silence so much harder to keep. He has two choices: either tell Mikey how he feels, about him and his blood, and risk scaring him away, or keep quiet, and never let the man know how much he means to him. Whatever he chooses, he knows that someone will get hurt.