#I think none of this even appeared in my wrapped 2024

[exielimon]

This is hilarious to me because I never listen to the same song twice in three days because I have one huge playlist for everything (except when there's something specific I want to hear but anyway)

So there's

Love in paradise - Jorge Rivera-Herrans

No Longer you - Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Panic Room - Au/Ra

Boyfriend - Dove Cameron

BABY SAID - Måneskin

Ready for this - too much people, it's from Hazbin Hotel

My Goodbye - Jorge Rivera-Herrans

What else can I do? (Isabelas villain song) - Lydia the Bard

We don't talk about Bruno (Mirabel's Villain Song) - Lydia the Bard

House of Memories - Panic! At The Disco

So yeah, I don't think I would answer the same twice in a tag game about music like this

Anyway! No pressure @nightyraven-art @mushroomwoods @the-au-collector and I'd tag you, Dragkbluire, but I'm literally answering you so you're safe (for now)

Music Tag Game!

Got tagged in this by a bunch of people, latest one was @ragnarockz Thank you luv!

Shuffle your On Repeat Playlist and list the first 10 songs that come up!

Goth - Sidewalks and Skeletons

Cleopatra - The Lumineers

Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

Ribs - Lorde

JOYRIDE - Ke$ha

Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

Maroon - Taylor Swift

Von Dutch - Charli xcx

Light of Love - Florence + the machine

Femininomenon - Chapell Roan

Tagging @fuckyeah-dragrace @thecollectionsof @sweetlikesunflowersandhoney @stayevildarling @isle-of-earle @rialitysworld @ladyqueerfoot <3

[essenceofelegance]

A Year || LN4

summary: A year can really change someone in a lot of ways.

genre: fluff

warnings: none

notes: THIS IS MY FIRST SMAU SO LMK WHAT YOU THINK! also english is literally my third language and this isn't proof read/ grammar checked so mistakes are bound to appear :(

SMAU/ Written

Summer 2023

Max Fewtrell added a video to their story.

tagged: @/yourusername @/LandoNorris

yourusername posted!

yourusername Ibiza!!

liked by landonorris, lilymhe, maxfewtrell and 94,879 other

tagged: @/LandoNorris @/MaxFewtrell

user1 DJ LANDO!!

user2 y/n feeding us dj land content. she's the real queen here

user3 I thought y/n said she didn't like to go clubbing

➥ user4 maybe she's just there to be with lando

user5 bro did anyone see that video on TikTok? y/n looked so uncomfortable I feel so bad for her

➥ user6 RIGHT?

➥ user7 she's such a good girlfriend, if I were her, I would've just left lando at the club by himself lolol

user8 salivating bc Dj landooo

user9 BARK BARK BARK

➥ user10 y/n looking at this be like...

user11 does anyone know what club theyre at?!! I'm in ibiza I wanna meet them!!

➥ user12 bro leave them alone

➥ user13 @/user12 I don't see a problem 🤷

-

You never liked clubbing.

After all, you were only here because of Lando.

The music was too loud, people were pushing up against you, you never really liked to drink because you had a really low alcohol tolerance, you could make an entire list of why a club was not your go-to hang out.

"Lan," you yelled, trying to speak over the music, "Yeah?" He said, taking one side of his DJ headphones off so he could speak to you.

"Can we go back?" You asked. There was nothing you wanted more than to go back to the comfort of your hotel room with your boyfriend.

"It's only midnight." Lando said, "Why would you wanna go back? Are you not having fun?" Land asks you, but you could tell he wasn't really focused on you. You could see it in his eyes.

"I don't wanna stay any longer, clubbing isn't really my thing." You said, a hint of pleading in your tone.

"Soon, baby, okay?" Lando said, not even giving you a chance to protest before turning back to his DJ set.

You sighed in defeat, before retreating to a quieter corner of the club.

It was going to be a long night, like any other you've spent in a club, with Lando.

Summer 2024

Max Fewtrell added a photo to their story.

tagged: @/LandoNorris

yourusername added a photo to their story.

tagged: @/LandoNorris

Lando Norris added a photo to their story.

caption: taking pictures of my pretty girl

tagged: @/lando.jpg @/yourusername

yourusername ibizaaaa im backk

liked by landonorris, yourbestfriend, alexandrasaintmleux and 107,897 others

tagged: @/LandoNorris @/yourbestfriend @/MaxFewtrell

alexandrasaintmleux miss you! ♥ by author

lilymhe ditch him for me!!! ♥ by author

➥ yourusername say less 💍

➥ landonorris ???????? @/AlexAlbon

➥ alexalbon atp im used to it

user1 both of them are so pretty its not fair

user2 no DJ Lando content?!

user3 Not even following y/n because she's lando's girlfriend, im following her bc she's Y/N

user4 that jawline

user5 why do they keep going back to Ibiza

➥ user6 litt, like, why can't they go literally ANYWHERE ELSE

user7 OMGOMGMG I WAS tHERE AND I SAW LANDO GO UP TO Y/N FROM BEHIND AND LITERALLY PULLED HER INTO HIM BY THE WAIST AHHHHHHHHHH

➥ user8 WHATTTTT

➥ user9 picture or it didn't happen

user10 dj lando...?

-

You were about to head to the bar to get another drink, seeing as Lando wouldn't want to leave anytime soon, and your best friend was probably hooking up with some hot Spanish guy, when you felt a pair of familiar arms wrap themselves around your waist, the familiar scent of Lando's cologne surrounding you, along with the smell of alcohol.

Lando nuzzled his head into your neck, mumbling something quietly, so quiet you couldn't hear him over the club music.

"What is it?" You said, raising your voice slightly, so he could hear you over the loud buzzing of the club music.

"Nothing." He mumbled, "Missed you, is all."

A small smile unwittingly showed up on your face, "Im gonna go get a drink. Go party."

But, Lando shook his head, "Can we go back to the hotel? I wanna cuddle." He said into your neck, instinctively pulling you closer.

You were shocked, to say the least. A year ago, he wouldn't leave the club no matter how hard you tried to convince him. He was a party animal, but now, he was asking if you wanted to leave.

You checked the time on your phone, it was barely midnight, Lando never left anything before midnight, let alone a club.

"Why, are you feeling sick?" You asked him, turning around to face him.

His arms wrapped themselves back around your waist, "What?" He asked, a hint of amusement in his tone. "No." He said, "just wanna cuddle with you."

"That's new." You commented as you brought your arms up to wrap around his neck.

"I always wanna cuddle." Lando said.

"Yeah, but not at the extent of leaving the club early." You said.

"Can we please go?" He mumbled again, looking at you like a puppy.

You nodded after a few seconds, "Never liked clubbing that much anyway, I only come to be with you."

As Lando and you and Lando were heading towards the exit of the club, you bumped into Max (Fewtrell). "Leaving so soon?" He asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah," Lando nodded, "Going back to the hotel to cuddle with my girl." He said, raising you hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it.

"You've really changed him," Max joked, "Lando being the first to leave? Never in a billion years."

You laughed, "Believe me, I don't believe it either."

"Can we go?" Lando all but whined.

You laughed again, "Okay, okay, lets go."

You waved goodbye to Max and led Lando out the club, and when Max saw his best friend look at you like you were the one who hung the stars in the sky, he knew you'd changed him for the better. And that his best mate was well and truly, in love.

-

yourusername sleepy boy chronicles ����

liked by landonorris, carlossainz55, yourbestfriend and 108,950 others

tagged: @/LandoNorris

landonorris at least I look cute ♥ by author

➥ yourusername can't disagree with that

user1 how does one fall asleep in the middle of packing?

user2 hes jus like us  🥺

➥ user3 relatable king

landonorris I was only that tired because you kept me up all night doing cardio..

user4 lando and y/n are so cute tgt I cannot

user5 Im convinced Lando only made it to 24 because of Y/n

➥ yourusername I mean..

➥ landonorris hey!

user6 Lando has no bad angles

user7 I SAW THAT LANDO

➥ user8 y/n is just a girl and lando is just a boy.. they need their cardio ;) ♥ by author

➥ user8 Y/N PLS MARRY ME

landonorris ❤️

liked by yourusername, maxfewtrell, carlossainz55 and 709,897 others

yourusername is this what you do in your free time? take pictures of pretty girls?

➥ landonorris only of the ones that I love more than anything

➥ yourusername so you're saying there's more than one? 🤨

maxfewtrell Happy for you, mate ♥ by author

comments are limited

[tangerinesgirl]

Forbidden Fruit

Mr Reed x Fem!Reader

Rating: 18+, explicit

Word count: 1.4k

Summary: Mr Reed invites you into his house to discuss polygamy and the flaws of virginity.

Warnings: smut, virgin/inexperienced reader, age gap (reader is of consensual age), creampie (reader on birth control), dirty talk, blasphemy, possible spoilers for Heretic (2024)

"My question is how do you feel about polygamy?"

The snowfall gently beats against the tiny windows as you nurse the cup of tea Mr Reed has prepared for you. Using it as warmth rather than to quench your thirst. Even if he did seem like a pleasant man, you didn't entirely trust a drink a stranger has made for you in another room. You fear your instincts may be right when he asks you this question.

You place the cup down and clear your throat as you process his personal inquiry.

"Well, it's forbidden in the b-"

"Yes, but what do you think?"

He emphasises that word, pointing his index finger at you, before resting it on his lips, waiting for your answer.

A beat. Your eyes widen as you try to think of a tactful response.

"I um, I can't really say, it's none of my business what other people decide to do with their lives."

Mr Reed narrows his eyes slightly, not the answer he was looking for apparently.

"Hmmm", he takes a moment to have a swig of his tea from his inscribed 'hubby' mug. You look over your shoulder as if his wife would magically appear behind you.

"And I thought it was just because you've never felt the touch of a man."

You snap your head back around to face him, your cheeks instantly turning red.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, I may have overstepped", he places his mug down and makes eye contact with you, emphasising his apology.

"I think I should leave", you start to get up, your legs shaking slightly from his statement.

"I understand my dear, let me just get your coat."

The couch creaks as Mr Reed also stands up, promptly leaving the room. Walking over to the door you watch the snow hail down. Not ideal biking weather but it's still better than being in here with him.

"Here we go, one coat", he holds up your woolen jacket passing it to you.

As you take it, he starts to wrap your scarf around your neck. You can feel his breath tickling your hair.

"You know", his deep voice echoes in your ears, "many religions don't believe in virginity. The Virgin Mary simply a mistranslation with the meaning changing over the years."

He takes your coat and starts to help you put it on over your arms, patting down the collar, hands lingering on your neckline a little too long.

"I think waiting for marriage is simply outdated, people should just seize the day. Life is too short for their lives to be dictated by an invisible omnipotent force with historic rules."

You cringe internally hearing him blaspheme your religion, you're just about to interject when he continues.

"It's simply too good to miss that closeness of two people becoming one", he walks in front of you as he starts to button up your coat. He looks down at you, still maintaining eye contact every so often while he fastens the clasps.

"The warmth of each other as you melt into one another's skin. The ache in your bones of needing them inside you."

You break the eye contact as you watch the veins in his hands clench with each turn. Your imagination in overdrive, you wipe your palms on your coat, nervously. Mr Reed notices and tilts your chin up to face him.

"The taste of them on your tongue, as you swallow each other's moans..."

His eyes drift towards your lips. Your body is screaming at you to leave, but part of you wants that sin, that forbidden fruit. You wrestle with your demons, but you find him oddly hypnotic and attractive. You guessed he was in his 50s or 60s, definitely older than you in your 20s, but that only adds to the temptation.

"... as everything builds and builds into one big explosion of ecstasy. That white heat of entering Heaven."

Your thoughts start to drown out as your lips crash into his. Head empty as your tongue starts to swirl around his, gripping the back of his head as the kiss grows deeper.

Mr Reed yanks off your coat, buttons popping off onto the carpet, but neither of you care. He breaks the kiss briefly, only to remove his glasses, before resuming with just as much vigor as before.

You can feel that heat starting from deep inside of you, just as Mr Reed was explaining, as you start to remove your blouse and skirt. His hands start to wander around your bra before unclasping the back.

Mr Reed starts to guide you back towards the sitting room as you continue to undress, removing your tights and underwear. You notice he doesn't remove his clothes as you feel the weave of his jumper, rough against your bare skin. You don't mind, you're too busy thinking of other things right now.

He quickly sits down on the sofa, holding your wrist, motioning for you to sit on top of him. Slightly apprehensive about riding him for your first time, you trust him and place yourself onto his lap, and resume the kiss.

Your hands start to pull down his trousers as his cock bounces free. Your eyes widen when you realise how girthy he is, his dick already rock hard and twitching with anticipation. He can't help but smile when he sees your reaction, as gently guides himself through your folds. The veins of his cock drag along your clit as wetness seeps out of you, preparing yourself for him. You hum at the feeling while he contently sighs at your warmth coating him.

After a moment, Mr Reed positions himself at your entrance and gently pushes you by the hips, guiding you onto him. His eyes roll into the back of his head as your cunt engulfs him, fitting around him tightly yet perfectly. You wince at first, but the further you sink down onto him, the better it feels.

You pause when he is fully seated inside of you, feeling his cock teasing at your cervix, before slowly starting to grind on his lap. You place your hands on his forearms for stability, as he starts to kneed at your ass with his fingertips, bruises threatening to surface under his grip.

The sofa creaks with every thrust as you ride his cock, your breasts bouncing with the effort. You let go of him to grip onto the back of the couch instead, his tongue licking at your nipples as you lean over him. His hands start to trail up your back, pushing you slightly closer towards him.

Your lips meet once again, but feels like you've never been apart. Your mind starts to wander again, thinking about what God would think seeing you give away your virginity to the first man to look at you with lust in his eyes. Then you think maybe God shouldn't even be looking in the first place as it's none of his business. You both wanted this, what could be more natural?

As your mind wanders, your body starts to tense up. Your orgasm creeps up on you, before you realise what's happening as your pace starts to stutter. Your walls clamp down around him, arching your back as you let out a guttural moan from deep inside you. You shake and pant as your cunt pulses out your release, soaking Mr Reed's cock.

He isn't far behind you as he leans back and moans in return, releasing warm ropes of his cum inside you. You don't mind as you have the implant, feeling his seed drip out of you and onto his trousers, as you start to come down from your high.

You straighten yourself up, tucking your distressed hair behind your ears, watching him finish inside you. He lightly groans at the effort of filling you, it's almost enough to make you aroused again.

He slowly exhales and opens his eyes. They crinkle as he smiles at you, laughter lines standing out, you begin to memorise each wrinkle. Tracing your fingers along them, almost like reading a palm. Neither of you care that he's still seated inside of you, growing soft. Or that the snow has eased off and your bike was just outside the metal lined walls. Mr Reed grins at the fact he has you wrapped around his little finger, knowing now that you could never leave. Proving that control really is the one true religion.

[vettelsvee]

YOU'RE JALEOUS | Charles Leclerc

f1 masterlist | wattpad | ao3 | instagram

charles leclerc x reader

summary: charles gets jaleous of lando when he sees him talking with his girlfriend 

wordcount: 1529

a/n: it's been a long time coming but i'm finally here! i've actually had this saved on my drafts for quite a long time BUT never posted it. however, since we got charles pole today, i thought you might like this even tough is a crap (i'm so sorry, you absolutely deserve better works) :)

you can send your one shots requests here or via anon! feedback, as well as comments and reblogs, are truly appreciated!

Charles and you decided to attend a party they had been invited by someone the driver didn’t even know, that took place at one of the most famous venues in Monaco. Although you initially felt intimidated because none of Leclerc's colleagues had appeared yet, as you drank a few drinks, the music seemed interesting enough for you to dance along with the twinkling lights.

To say that Leclerc was happy with his performance on the track that afternoon would be a li. His pride was immense because he had finally achieved the victory: winning not only for the first time in 2024 season, but also winning his very own home race for the first time ever. This had led to great acclaim not only from his fans but also from specialists, the press, the team, and even his colleagues, who were eagerly awaiting il predestinato's return to the victories.

In those moments, with his shiny black suit highlighting his appearance and, especially, his trained body, he felt unique, and even more so with you by his side. You were matching your partner perfectly with the dazzling dress you were wearing and that fit you perfectly.

As you enjoyed a drink in a quiet corner after a long time on the dance floor, Leclerc wrapped his arm around your waist, intending to bring you closer to his side. Your eyes met, somewhat mischievous, leading to a playful smile forming on your lips.

"Charles, you’ve been incredible in today's race," you exclaimed with excitement, proudly praising your boyfriend's talent. "I'm so proud of you."

Charles returned your smile, feeling filled with joy by your unconditional support.

"Thank you, darling. But what I'm proud of, and also lucky for, is having you in my life," he responded tenderly.

You continued chatting animatedly without an apparent topic of conversation, ranging from what would be your next holiday destination to the upcoming race, which would take place in Canada. However, when you started talking about a charity event that Charles would have the opportunity to lead, your gazes turned to a familiar figure approaching you: Lando Norris.

"Hey, Charles! Congratulations on that first place!" Norris exclaimed, excited to see his friend.

"Thanks, Lando!" the mentioned replied enthusiastically, patting the McLaren driver on the back. "You did great too. A sixth place is not what I expected from those cars, but it was truly impressive taking into account the strategy they had for you."

"Stop talking about McLaren when you know we can talk about Ferrari," Norris joked.

You observed the interaction between the two drivers with a mix of pride and curiosity. At first, you decide to give space to both guys, letting them freely discuss the day's events without the attentive gaze of a girl. However, when you finished checking your social media and posted a few Instagram stories with photos you took that morning, you decided to join the conversation.

"Lando, have you forgotten about me?" you teased. "I'm still in shock from today's race. It was a real spectacle."

"Thanks, Y/N!" He stopped looking at you and instead turned to his friend. "What do you think if we celebrate our incredible, but true, achievements together now? No one else is coming, and I talked to Carlos earlier!"

You looked at Charles, seeking his approval. He, a bit tipsy, nodded with a smile.

"I had other plans in mind but I think we can actually postpone them. Right, Y/N?"

With such a declaration, you three headed to the dance floor, not without first ordering something to drink to accompany you in your enjoyment full of laughter, excitement and dance moves that were surely the ones from someone who’s had enough drinks for a day.

As you moved to the rhythm of the music, Charles noticed you stepping away from his side to join some members of the Ferrari team. He decided to follow you, ready to talk to his coworkers. To his surprise, you were chatting animatedly, in the midst of the crowd, with Lando, who had excused himself to go to the bathroom minutes before.

Jealousy and anger coursed through his body in a shiver. The Monegasque felt an urgent need to intervene and mark his territory. As much as he knew you didn't depend on him, and you were both completely independent individuals sometimes, moments like this were the ones where he felt a hint of insecurity about those who, apparently, dared, even minimally, to intrude on your relationship.

Forgetting his discretion and good judgment, Charles rushed towards you and the Brit, his eyes filled with determination and a threatening look on his face, ignoring the insults he had received from those drunkards he had punched.

"What's going on here?" he demanded to know in an authoritative and tense tone.

You and Lando turned, surprised, at Charles's intrusion. You looked at him, confused by the jealousy in your boyfriend's face. You were simply discussing with Norris the idea for a special party in Monaco the following week, just before the next Gran Prix, in honor of Charles’ recent victory.

"Love, you're misinterpreting things," you said, trying to stay calm. "We were just talking as friends," you emphasized the last word.

Leclerc clenched his fists in an attempt to control his anger.

"I don't want you to keep talking to him," he communicated harshly, surprising you greatly.

Lando intervened, trying to alleviate the tension and, especially, to calm his friend's apparent sadness:

"Dude, you have no reason to make a scene in front of everyone over an insignificant bout of jealousy. We're just having a friendly conversation about something for next week, okay?"

Leclerc's expression became even tenser, and his eyes narrowed as he noticed the symbiosis that you, his girlfriend, and Lando, his friend and opponent, seemed to have in hiding something.

"I wouldn't want to ask you again, so... What were you talking about?" Charles inquired in an even sharper tone.

Feeling you boyfriend's murderous gaze, you tried your best not to burst into tears over something as stupid as Charles's insecurity.

"Seriously, believe us," Lando spoke, trying to calm the brunette down. "You have to trust us, we were just talking about something we came up for next week just before Canada!"

The Ferrari driver tried to control his anger, if it was still possible. Meanwhile, he took his time to look at you with, once again, a mix of anger and disappointment, mainly for not answering him.

"And you, why don't you answer me? Are you only interested in him now?"

You looked at him surprised by such a comment, and tried to explain quickly:

"I'll repeat it again, honey: we were just having a friendly conversation! Lando is my friend and your rival, friend, or whatever you want to say it, but there's nothing more to it!"

Out of nowhere, Charles gently took you by the wrist and led you to a place where you could talk quietly. The green-eyed, despite having a bit more alcohol in his system than he should, knew he messed up and needed to fix it somehow.

"Y/N, please be honest: what were you talking about?" Leclerc asked with a concerned expression on his face for the scene he had caused.

"About what we could do in Monaco, here, next week, alright?" you responded, trying to reassure him. "You don't have to worry about anything"

"But why are you talking to him about racing?" the Monegasque insisted again, trying to calm his tone of jealousy. "I don't understand why you have to make plans with other drivers when you're my girlfriend."

"Charles, come on, don't be jealous!" you scolded with a playful smile. "Besides, what we were planning was a surprise party in your honor because, in case you don't remember, you just won your first home race ever. I don't think that's anything bad."

Charles felt really stupid at that moment.

"Are you jealous, my dearest friend?" Lando decided to intervene, who had been attentive the whole time to the intimate scene between the couple.

"What? No!" Leclerc replied as calmly as possible, his attempt in vain.

"Well, it seems quite the opposite to me," Norris said. "You should relax a bit. There's nothing wrong with your girlfriend talking to other drivers, even more so when she's preparing a party for you."

Il predestinato realized Norris was right and decided to calm down.You really didn't deserve the jerk behavior he was displaying at you at the moment.

"I guess you're right, Lando," he turned to you, timidly reaching for her hands. "I'm really sorry, Y/N, I shouldn't have behaved like that."

"It's okay, Charles. I understand that sometimes jealousy can be hard to control, I feel the same way sometimes about your fans, but I manage, not like you just showed me tonight!" you answer with a smile, hitting him in his arm.

Charles felt relieved to see that you had no interest in Lando beyond friendship and planning a failed surprise party in the process. Therefore, he just enjoyed the rest of the night with you, with his friend, and without having to worry about anything else.

[thecapricunt1616]

Balessan - (c.b. oneshot)

𝓢𝓷𝓲𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓽 (𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓑𝓣𝓒):“The Cub takes down The Bear at the 20 yard lineee!!” Mikey shouts ferociously, jumping up and pouncing on Carmys chest in a bodyslam. Carm groans, “Ohhh you little cheater- when did we start wrestling?! They don’t do bodyslams in football, kid” he wraps his arms around Mikey, caging him in and tickling his sides, causing him to squeal and laugh wildly.

♡ O.S Inspo: Balessan ; Also known as: Poplar Buds, Balsam Poplar, Balm of Gilead, Mecca, Mecca Balsam, & Bechan - This Magickal herb can be used to bring forth; Love, manifestations, protection, healing, de-stressing, and assisting in healing from the loss of a loved one. Use in love sachets; carry for healing, protection, and mending a broken heart. ♡ Summary: This amazing, big brained, fabulous & wonderful request is inspired from this ask from my beautiful flower @daysofyellowroses - Thank you my love. -- In this O/S You & Carmy spend a day with his nephew at the park!

♡ W/C: 4,200

♡ Posted Date: 03/19/2024

♡ A/N: Aaaa! look at me pumpin' these one shots out like hot cakes!!! Get your requests in folks I have a long weekend ahead hahaha!! This was BEYOND fun to write, thank you so much again Rose for such an amazing request. I hope it's everything you imagined!! I lovee love love writing mushy happy Carmy, he deserves all the love in his life!! I totally see him being the pushover uncle just like this, Happy Meals & Ice Cream for daysss!!! <3

♡ Warnings for BTC: NONE!!! Well... carmy smokes a cigarette at the end? That's all hahah - ***NO USE OF Y/N - AS LITTLE PHYSICAL DESCRIP. AS POSSIBLE - READER IS CALLED 'BLOSSOM' IN THIS O/S :)***

➵ 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 ♡

Carmen had never felt true love before. He didn’t think he’d ever know what that felt like. He’d heard stories of parents meeting their newborn babies for the first time, saying that ‘it was an indescribable feeling of holding the entire world in the palm of your hands.’ And that to him, sounded like bullshit. 

It was sweet and all, but considering the way his mother and father treated he and his siblings growing up- that moment was fleeting at the very least. 

That was what he’d thought, until that is- he got the call that would change his life, forever. 

Sugar and Pete had kept the gender of their baby a secret, Carmy was very excited for them, and though Pete wasn’t his favorite person- he knew in his heart he’d be a great dad. Better then he could ever do at least, so that had eased his mind for the new blood of his family. 

Pete had called to inform him that Sugar had given birth, finally, he thought to himself. He didn’t realize that the labor process could take days. Sugar had went into the hospital on Tuesday, in the early afternoon when her water had broken- it was now 4 pm Thursday evening. It was about time for the kid to make an appearance. 

He’d made his way down to the hospital right away, no questions asked. It was Sugar after all, and after Pete had told him she wasn’t having any visitors, but had requested that he specifically come see her- he wasn’t gonna let her down. 

He’d even stopped at the 24-hour deli convenience store on the way, getting her a club sandwich that she’d been moaning about not being able to have for months - something about pregnant people not being allowed to have lunch meat? He wasn’t sure what that was about. 

When he got in the room, it was so quiet, he could hear his heart thumping in his ears. He wasn’t sure why he was nervous- it’s not like the kid was gonna have an opinion on him…yet. But still, he knew first impressions were important. He also didn’t want to fuck anything up, he wasn’t very sure how to hold a baby- he’d never held Eva when she was young, and he heard babies necks were super floppy, so he was really nervous he’d hurt them by mistake.

“Hey..” he said softly, and Sugar sits up. She looked utterly exhausted, she was pale, her hair was knotted and sweaty all stuck to her forehead, and her eyes were bloodshot from either pain or being so tired, he wasn’t sure which. 

“Bear! You came!” She said quietly, opening her arms for a hug. He walks over to her, carefully wrapping his arms around her as he wasn’t sure if her stomach would be hurting or not, and kissing her cheek lovingly. 

“Y’re amazing Sugar, you did so good, thats fuckin’ crazy- you had a baby, Sug” he tells her, rubbing her arm gently. Carmen didn’t know much about pregnancy and birth, other than what he’d learned from Sugar over the past year or so. The only thing he really knew about the birthing process was what he’d seen on TV, and the fact that birth hurt like an absolute bitch, and that there was no way around it. 

“Thank you…is that-“ she asked, picking up the bag he’d placed next to her on the bed. He smiled a bit, pulling the sandwich out. 

“Club sandwich. Don’t say I never listen to you” he teased and she pouted, tears filling her eyes and she pulled him into another hug. 

“Y’re the best Bear.” She said. “Sorry…I’m gonna be hormonal for like..another year” she laughed a bit. 

He chuckled softly, rubbing her back. “I’m used to it by now.” He teased. 

The door opened, and a nurse wheeled in a bundle of white striped blankets in to the room, lying in a bassinet. 

“Oh! Uncle is here! Okay so baby did great, they’re all set. We got all the bloodwork we needed, took their k shot, everything is looking wonderful. I’ll let you get acquainted” she said, being sure not to give away the baby’s name or gender before they were ready, leaving the little bundle next to Sugars bedside before heading out and closing the door quietly behind her. 

The baby coos, making sweet adorable little noises. Carmen took the bag of food for Sugar, placing it on her bedside table as she carefully picked up her baby, cradling them in her arms. 

Carmen was in awe. Everything about them was so…tiny. So pure, so untouched by the world. He carefully nudged the blanket down so he could get a better view of their face, the babies teeny little hand peeking out. He couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped his lips as the babe curled their whole hand around his forefinger. 

“Sug” he whispered, tears pooling in his eyes and falling to his cheeks before he could try and hold them back. “Oh god…” he said softly, stroking the baby's tiny fingers with his thumb. 

“Michael Anthony Lombardi” she said softly. He looks up at her, jaw dropped. 

It was totally something sugar would do, so sentimental. Naming her first son after her 2 brothers. But now, Carmen felt even more attached to the little guy. He was carrying his name- he had to take care of him, protect him, the same way Michael had done for him. 

Carmen sniffles, kissing her head and resting his cheek on top of it as he looks down at the beautiful little baby. Well- maybe not beautiful physically- yet. Carmen always thought brand new babies looked fairly weird, of course he’d never tell Sugar that, though. 

But, beautiful in the sense that he knew what this baby meant for them, for their family. It was a brand new beginning, and maybe- just maybe…this would be enough to get his mother to clean up her act enough to be the grandmother for this baby how she couldn’t be a mother to he and his siblings.  “Nice to meet you, Mikey” he said with the kind of smile that made his eyes crinkle, vision blurry with tears.

It had been about 6 months since you and Carm had met, and one of the things you loved about him was what an active, engaged uncle he was with his little nephew, Michael. 

He’d grown plenty now since the first time he and the little cub met, being ‘a whole hand and a thumb’ as Mikey proudly told you the time you’d met the little firecracker at the first family dinner you’d attended. 

That little boy was Carmy’s sun, moon, and all of his stars. He was constantly spoiling him with new toys, clothes, taking him out for “Mikey and Bear” days, the kid was the lockscreen on his phone for crying out loud. If you weren’t dating him, with the way he talks about that boy- you’d think he was a single dad. 

Sugar very much appreciated it though, she never wanted to stop working when she’d gotten pregnant, so being able to balance four different days off with 3 adults, rather than just split the duties between her and Pete- it helped their lives as a couple run a lot smoother overall. 

It took a while for Carmy to even introduce you to Mikey. He’d been nervous, reverting to his old ways of ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’ and nothing would crush him more, then introducing his favorite little guy to someone, getting him used to them, and then them leaving him.

He could handle that rejection- but he damn sure wasn’t gonna subject Mikey to that same pain. If there was one thing Carmen swore, it was to protect the child with everything he had. 

This was the third time you’d be meeting Mikey. Carmy had asked if you wanted to take him to the park together for a picnic after he’d picked him up from school, and of course you agreed. There was no better way to spend the afternoon than sharing snacks with your Bear under the shade of oak trees from the late spring sun, and chasing around Sugars mini-me until he clonked out on the blanket for a nap. 

When you’d arrived to the park to meet them, you spotted Carm’s large black blanket with his backpack and 2 matching big and small Nalgene water bottles, adorned with stickers from different water parks and amusement parks they’d been to together, but he nor Mikey were nowhere to be seen. But you couldn’t miss them with how loud Mikey was being. 

“No! No! I call foul!!” Carm laughed boisterously. You continue on, seeing them come in to view past the blockade of a large tree- to find Carmy rolling in the grass as Mikey tackled him for the football he was holding. 

“The Cub takes down The Bear at the 20 yard lineee!!” Mikey shouts ferociously, jumping up and pouncing on Carmys chest in a bodyslam. 

Carm groans, “Ohhh you little cheater- when did we start wrestling?! They don’t do bodyslams in football, kid” he wraps his arms around Mikey, caging him in and tickling his sides, causing him to squeal and laugh wildly.

“Wow! Uncle Bear has been lacking at the gym, thanks for takin’ care of my light stuff Mikey” you said teasingly with a big smile. 

Mikey quickly got up, running over to you “Blossom!!!” he squealed, crashing into your waist, nearly knocking you over in the process. Blossom had become your nickname in the family, since the first time they’d met you, Carm insisted you’d smelt like cherry blossoms, to which Sugar and Richie agreed, so from then on- you were Blossom. 

“Woah! Kid you’re getting strong huh? Peewee football training been gettin intense?” You give him a big hug. 

Carm chuckled, getting up and dusting the grass and leaves from his hair and shirt, coming over and greeting you with a peck on the lips. “Tell me ‘bout it- Thanks for meeting me, kids got crazy energy today.” He said, ruffling the boys curly soft brown hair lovingly. 

“Nowww can we eat our lunch?” Mikey looked up at him, his pretty blue eyes sparkling in the afternoon light. He really did look like Mikey, and Carmy mixed together in the best way. The Berzatto family genes were mighty strong, at least on the men’s side. 

“Yes Cub. Y’know…you scammed me into a happy meal before we got here, how can you be so starved?” He teased, causing you to giggle. 

“Again? Wow Carm, you’re going softer and softer as the days go by” you teased, sitting down with he and Mikey on the comfortable blanket under the shade of the trees.

“Well it’s hard to tell him no. Did you know he got a 100% on his spelling test t’day? Mikey, tell Blossom how to spell ‘water’ ” he told him with a grin. 

Mikey looks over proudly “w-a-t…” he stops for a moment, looking at Carmy nervously. 

“You got it bud, keep goin’- sound it out, what’s next?” Carmy encourages gently. 

“E! It's E! w-a-t-e-r!” Mikey finishes proudly and you both clap for him excitedly. 

“Oh my goodness! You are such a smart boy. Good job Mikey!” You gush, giving him a high five. 

“That’s right the smartest. First spelling test of the year, and you nailed it bud!!” Carmy praised, hugging him and kissing his head sweetly. 

“Mommy’s gonna be so excited!” He said, sitting crisscross as he opened up his pb&j Carm packed for him. 

“She’s gonna be stoked, Cub. Absolutely stoked” you told him, taking the sandwich Carm had offered you. 

“Oh! Blossom I learned a new joke- listen, so you say who’s there when I say ‘knock knock’ got it?” Mikey asks and you nod with a smile. 

“Alright, thank you for my lines ahead of time, Cub” you joked, earning a chuckle out of Carmen who had surely heard this joke one million times since he’d learned it, considering he saw the kid no less then 5 days a week. 

“Knock knock!” Mikey said, looking at you expectantly. 

“I’m doing the dishes” you said, causing Mikey to burst into adorable giggles and Carm to follow suit since he couldn’t help himself when Mikey got started. 

“Nooo! Blossom!” He giggled “you say ‘who’s there’ this time, ok?” He said and you nod. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll make sure to be not so busy this time.” You teased with a giggle. 

“Knock knooock!” He said again. 

“Hold on just a second! I need to feed mister mittens- my cat!” You said and he laughs again, shaking his head. 

“You promised! Blossom! It’s ‘who’s there!’ “ he giggled. 

“Okayyy! Okay! Whoooos there?” You oblige. 

“Harry!!!” He said happily, popping a grape in his mouth. 

“I don’t know a Harry- so scram!” You teased and he laughed so hard he snorted, causing you and Carmy to crack up in a fit of laughs together. 

“You’re bad at jokes Blossom, here watch, Bear will do it right f’me. Bear, knock knock” he looks over at Carm. 

“Who’s there, Cub?” He said, taking a bite of his own sandwich. 

“Harry” he smiled big, “listen blossom” Mikey urges, causing you to giggle. 

“Harry who” Carm said with a large grin.  “Harry up and open the door it’s raining out here!!!” Mikey said, bursting in to a fit of giggles which of course caused you and Carm to join.

“Ready or not here I come!” You hear Carmy say. You hold your finger to your lips, holding Mikey tightly in your lap in the tube slide so you both won’t fall and give up your ingenious hiding spot the two of you had come up with.

“Shhh! We gotta be quiet Cub or he’s gonna find us- the bear will eat you!” you joked and he covered his mouth quickly to contain his giggles.

“Where are youuuu!” Carmy called from the other side of the playground, you giggled quietly to yourself. 

“We picked a good spot bud!” you whisper proudly and he nods, hugging your arm sweetly. Leg suddenly cramps up from being in such an awkward position in a tube meant for children much shorter then you, and you gasp quietly, moving your foot to relieve it but in the struggle- your flip-flop slips off, sliding down the tube slide and you hear it thump on the ground below, blowing up your hiding spot. 

You and Mikey look at eachother as you hear Carm laugh, “Ohhhh! Dead!! You’re both dead!” he said and you quickly lift Mikey behind you. 

“Go Mikey! Save yourself he’s gonna eat you!!!” you laugh and he scrambles out of the tube as Carm climbs up from the bottom, grabbing your bare foot.

You squeal in laughter as he pulls you down the slide by your feet, catching you at the bottom and kissing all over your face and neck, nibbling as he goes. “You’ve been caught” he growls playfully, pinning your arms above your head and kissing where your shirt rode up over your stomach leaving playful lovebites on your hips.

“Hey!” Mikey yells, running up and hugging Carms leg, hanging on it like a little monkey. “Thats my best friend! Leave her alone you big grizzly bear!” he yells through his giggles, playfully hitting Carmys leg.

“Ohhhh you’re dead Cub, dead meat buddy” he pulled away from you, scooping Mikey up and swinging him around. “Y’think y’can just beat up y’re best uncle mm little man?” he holds him upside down by his legs holding him carefully and dangling him in front of your face causing him to laugh wildly. “I present your savior Blossom, he’s been defeated” he sways him teasingly causing him to laugh more.

  “Oh noooo! Cub! The Bear got you! I forgot to tell you….he and I were working together in secret- mwahaha!!” you laugh evilly, tickling his exposed belly and he wiggles screeching in laughter.

“Not fair- Not fair!!!” he said between giggles. Carm carefully laid him on your lap so he wouldn’t get sick from being upside down and checks his watch for the time.

“Alright- we got 15 minutes, do we want swings, slide, or playing a game?” Carmy asked, causing Mikey to whine. 

“Noooo! Bear! It’s not time yet!!! It’s not even dark” he pouted, pointing at the sun, causing Carm to smile. 

“Y’re right, its not dark, but bein’ a big man in kindergarten means you got big man responsibilities now, like goin’ home and doin’ homework w’Dad yeah? He’s gonna be waitin’ on you, Dad’s not a man I can reason with m’friend, Higher rank on the totem” he ruffled his hair. 

“Fiiiine” Mikey grumbled. “I wanna do swings, race me-” he jumps up from your lap, sprinting towards the swingset.

“Wha- hey! You’re supposed to say 1,2,3, go! Those are the rules cheater!” Carmy laughs as he jogs after him. You slipped on your flipflop, going after the two boys.

“I beat you! See Blossom my new shoes make me so fast!” Mikey called to you proudly, hopping up and sitting in the swing as Carmy finally caught up.

“I did! Super fast Mikey!” you agreed with a giggle making your way up to the swingset. 

“Oh! Oh! Blossom, let’s see who can get higher!” Mikey said happily and you oblige, sitting on the swing next to him.

“Alright, Bear- you’re the judge I guess” you smiled, starting to pump your legs.

“I’m a tough critic, I expect perfect form outta you” he teased, sitting down on the picnic table in front of the swingset as he watched. 

“I’m gonna win” Mikey said confidently, already getting a few feet higher then you had. 

You giggled, “Yeah- cause you had a head start” you counter, pumping your legs harder trying to gain more momentum.

“It’s lookin’ good for Mikey babe, keep it up kid y’re doin’ great” Carm encouraged, resting his hands behind his head and stretching his legs out as he watched. 

“Bear can I jump off and you catch me?” Mikey asked hopefully to which Carmen laughs.

“Noooo way kiddo, I’m not takin’ a trip to the ER t’night, I got work in the morning and either i’ll end up hurt, or y’mother will kill me” he said, causing you to laugh as well.

“You’re gonna break your neck kid, don’t do that at school, did that once as a kid and I broke my ankle” you giggled, gasping as your flipflop flew off once again and hit Carmen right over the top of the head, causing you and Mikey to burst out in a fit of giggles.

“Hey!” Carm said, rubbing his head jokingly with a chuckle.”Those things are proving to be a horrible choice of park footwear, baby” he snorts, setting the shoe next to him on the bench for when you got off.

“I’m sorry! My work shoes were a worse choice and these are all I had in my locker” you giggled, the wind whipping your hair as you get higher and higher in the air.

“Bear! Bear! Look how high I am!!!” Mikey said proudly to which Carm nods with a big grin.

“That’s right bud! Y’re so high right now, bet you could touch an airplane if it was flyin’ over huh?” he said, digging his phone out of his pocket to take a video. “Say hi to Mommy!” he said and Mikey laughed happily, waving at Carm.

“Hiiii Mommy! I love you!” he said sweetly with a giggle. “Am I beating Blossom? Huh Bear? Am I higher?” he said and Carm chuckled.

“Mhmm- sorry baby, I think Mikey has ya beat this time around,” he said, ending the video and slipping his phone back in his pocket.

“Well how could I beat the best huh?” you mused, stopping pumping your legs so your swing would slow. 

“I told you!” Mikey giggled, digging his heels into the woodchips to come to a hard stop and running up to Carmy, giving him a big hug. “Can we get ice cream bear?” he asked and Carm laughed, shaking his head.

“You don’t stop, huh kiddo? No ice cream, It’ll spoil y’r dinner. How ‘bout, if y’really good at school this week- When I get you on Friday, we’ll go you ‘n me yeah?” he pats his back and Mikey nods with a pout.

“Pinky promise” He holds up his pinky and Carmy hooks his own around it, kissing Mikeys hand, and Mikey kisses his. 

“See? Deal” he ruffled his brunette curls and got up, grabbing the flip flop and coming up to you, crouching down grabbing your leg and kissing down your calf causing you to giggle before he carefully put the flip flop on your foot.

“I want a piggyback!” Mikey said, jumping on Carmys back to which he caught his balance with his forearm.

“Woah! Okay! Alright piggyback it is bud but y’gotta tell me yeah? We don’t want anyone gettin’ hurt” he told him, hiking him up on his waist as he stood up, Mikey wrapping his arms around his neck securely.

“Ok I’ll tell you next time” he replied. You hopped off the swing, taking Carmy’s hand and interlacing your fingers as you walked, swinging your hands together happily. The weather was absolutely perfect today. Not a cloud in the sky, perfect humidity, 72 degrees, you were surprised there weren’t more people here at the park other than the fact it was a Wednesday afternoon.

The three of you made your way back over to the blanket, and Carmy gently sets Mikey down to fold it up and pack up his backpack with the remainder of the food we couldn’t finish. “Blossom look! Look! I can jump so high in my new shoes!” Mikey said, tugging your pants to look at him and you obliged, keeping him busy as Carm tried to get everything situated to pack into the car. 

“Alright little jumping bean, time to go home d’you wanna race to the car, or I’ll carry you?” He asked, putting on his backpack and carrying Mikeys for him.

“Race- 123go!” Mikey said quickly before taking off and you laughed. Carm shakes his head with a smile, holding your hand as you both walked after him to the car. 

The ride back was full of laughter and singing Bluey songs, of course. That was Mikey’s favorite show at the moment, and you couldn’t help but smile at the way Carmy sang with Mikey along to every word. Carmy had even gotten a little Bluey air freshener that hung on his rearview mirror, just another little piece of Mikey that hung around, alongside his carseat that permanently lived in the back, the polaroid of him, sugar, and Mikey on his dash, the many toys scattered along the backseat. It was more than clear that the little guy held his entire heart in the palms of his hands. 

“Alright buckaroo” Carmy said as he pulls into sugars driveway. Mikey unbuckles himself, flinging forward and wrapping you into a hug. 

“Bye awesome blossom, thanks for playing with me” he said sweetly. You smiled, ruffling his hair and wrapping your arms around him.

“We’ll do it again soon, bud. Be good yeah? Listen t’your momma” You told him, patting his back. Carmy got out, grabbing his bluey backpack for him, helping him out of the car and carrying him up the steps, opening up the door and heading in to drop him off.

You opened up the center console, digging out Carm’s cigarettes and a lighter, knowing he was gonna be craving one bad when he got back in the car. Sugar didn’t even have to ask, as soon as the baby was born- if he was gonna be around the baby he wasn’t smoking until after he’d left, so there was absolutely no chance of any secondhand smoke being passed on to him.

Cracking the window, you lit it, taking a drag as he shuts the door behind him and comes back to the car. You offered the cigarette between your fingers and he smiled, taking it after he buckled his seatbelt. “Have I reminded you today, how much I love you my perfect angel” He leaned in, giving you a sweet lingering kiss on the lips. 

You smiled, humming softly at the sweet gesture. “Yes- well- not in person today, but, you did text me - good morning, I love you when you went to work, so that counts” he smiled as he took a drag, backing out of the driveway carefully. 

“Well, I love you baby, What are we doin’ f’r dinner? Am I cookin’ er we goin out?” he cracks his window, ashing his cigarette before having another drag, resting his tattooed hand on your thigh, stroking gently as he drove.

“I’m in the mood for some Berzatto Family Pasta” you hum, resting your hand out the window to feel the cool kiss of the spring evening breeze.  “Family pasta it is, Blossom”

[madamefluffnstuff]

TES Summerfest 2024, Day 1: Forbidden

Day 1 of TES Summerfest 2024! Hosted by @tes-summer-fest.

Fandom: Elder Scrolls Online Pairing: None Rating: E on the teetering edge of T Warning(s): Assassins, Thoughts of Assassinating someone (doesn't actually happen though, she's just tempted), Mentions of assault/physical violence (a nobleperson slaps a commoner for "slighting" them). Words: 624 AN: Fam I had the actual hardest time thinking of a unwilling subject for this one and finally decided on Naryu. She deserves more love <3

Naryu struggles with staying her blade from someone who really, truly deserves it. However, they don't have a Morag Tong Writ. They're untouchable.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Naryu's grip tightened on the blade still attached to her hip, knuckles paling as her fingers worked into the hilt. A shaky breath left her nose, anger boiling up in her belly. The shouting from the market street below was more muffled now but still somewhat audible.

She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. As she bit the inside of her cheek, the scene replayed in her head:

Varon had sent her on a basic mission with a new recruit. He was a tiny scrap of a Dunmer, appearing to be just barely into his sixteenth winter. As they were creeping along the rooftops and balconies, the recruit spotted something and tapped her shoulder. A nobleperson, clearly not of this little town, was walking around like they owned the place. It irked her, but Naryu ignored it. It wasn't the first arrogant arse of a noble she had to deal with. Plus, she had a contract to fulfill.

Until a local baker made the mistake of stepping out from behind her stall and bumped into them. She apologized profusely, whereas the Noble screamed in her face asking how dare she get their new robes dirty? The baker attempted to defend herself but was promptly cut off when the Noble drew their hand to the side and struck it across her face. The poor Dunmer baker woman crumpled to the ground. In mere moments the entire market street area was in an outrage, coming to the defense of the beloved community member.

"Naryu?" the new recruit whispered to her. Naryu's eyes opened. His own eyes were wide with worry. He nodded toward her hand, still wrapped around her sheathed blade. It had begun to slowly make its way out of the hilt, the metal glinting in the high sun.

"Naryu, wait-" he hissed, grabbing her wrist. She blinked. What had gotten into her just now? She never let her emotions get a hold of her like that, what-

"We can't! They don't have a Writ on them! They're forbidden!" The recruit's voice was becoming more panicked.

"I..." Naryu was quiet a moment. Then her blade fully returned to its sheath. "I know."

He leaned back and blinked a few times. "Are you alright? What happened?"

The more experienced assassin sighed. "It won't happen again, novice. But... thank you for that." That near slip-up was so unlike her, and it bothered her a little.

She continued, "Nobles like that just get under my skin. Abusing their station and power like that. Quite frankly I'm not sure this one is even legitimate nobility."

"Does that happen often? Faking their status, I mean."

"Oh, all the time. But this one doesn't bear the mark of any of the Five Houses. And they're too pompous... The Houses are rather stuffy and full of themselves already. However, that was out of character for any of them."

The recruit nodded as he took her words into consideration. "I don't like it much, either. And believe me, I want to teach them a lesson, after seeing that little display. But there's no Writ. We can't touch them." He almost sounded disappointed.

Naryu smiled. If he kept that attitude, this newbie would make for a good assassin one day.

"Chin up, recruit," she patted his shoulder. "Perhaps one day."

She stood up and offered a hand to help him up, which he gratefully accepted. As the Morag Tong members continued to slink their way across the rooftops, the commotion in the market grew more and more quiet. Naryu never got the noble's name, but that "untouchable" status wouldn't stay that way for long. All she needed was a quick disguise and a few subtle words to the right people. And a little patience.

[hepatosaurus]

2024 AO3 Wrapped!

I meant to post this earlier (like last weekend) but then I finally started playing Baldur's Gate 3 and uhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh OOPS where did the time go. So before it gets even more egregious (and because I am eyeing my Steam Deck as I write this): here's my 2024 AO3 Wrapped! Already posted on twitter and bluesky, but now with more rambling. Here we go.

Word Count

So: in 2024 I read 64 fics and 546,908 words across 15 fandoms. That's a good 13 fewer fics compared to last year and 400k fewer words somehow, holy shit? I knew I was gravitating towards short fic this year (which tracks with my book reading too) but damn. My attention span really wasn't great. I had some definite dips through the year but my fic reading basically ground to a halt this fall. too stressed, too tired, too sad. December did bring a revival in both reading and general mood/ability to engage with fandom stuff, so an enormous thank you to sylvix week for being such a big part of that. Hopefully things continue to improve in the new year because woof. (also my Marked for Later is soooooooooo loooong lol.)

(continued under the cut.)

Top Fandoms

Surprise surprise. What can I say, no other fandom had that je ne sais quoi that makes me want to seek out fic seriously! Did some dabbling in other fandoms throughout the year, plus a little fic book club with friends that made me finally read some classics like astolat's Transformers But Make It Omelas fic (believe it or not, my first and only astolat, though not my first Naomi Novik), but otherwise I'm still very monofandom. I'm wondering if the Witch Hat Atelier anime later this year will inspire me to finally read all those fics in my MfL... it might! or maybe not! really depends. Like, I fully expected to read more Dungeon Meshi fic this year, but I think the fact that I am still sloooowly reading the manga (according to what my library system has, not scanlations), and have no desire to be spoiled more than I already am (grumble) was a big deterrent. And IWTV, which I LOVE, is already so satisfying that I personally don't need or want to fill in any blanks in a fannish way.

Top Authors

47 individual authors with a few repeats - thank you again mikey desmodus for your service and dedication to putting sylvain into so many situations. 🫡 I DID finally read fic by a few authors whose names I've seen around for years but never tried out, which was fun! And led to reading a bunch of stuff I might not normally read, which is also fun/illuminating.

Top Pairings

I'm still sylvix trash after all these years, water is wet, etc. What can I say, those two have an iron grip on my brain. But I'm pleasantly surprised to see more F/F 3H pairings creeping up in the rankings! Well, "more" is a relative term when you look at the numbers but there's a lot of great stuff out there. Good job None for holding on to the no. 2 spot, and as always I'm delighted to see my Rakugo darlings make an appearance thanks to my Annual SGRS Jess Fic.

Top Characters

Sylvain at 50% (down from 57% lol) - how the mighty have fallen...😔 Kidding aside, this is about what I expected especially given my top ships. It's always kind of fun to see who shows up in the 1s though, outside of 3H; we got Transformers, we got History Boys, we got half-foot adventurers! And below the arbitrary top 20 cut off, there are hockey players, kpop idols, one charming young man capable of being terrible™, a crotchety journalist-turned-vampire, and your average Napoleonic War-era naturalist/physician/spy. Variety! yahoo.

Ratings, Categories, Etc.

I told myself I'd sort out that Multi category this year, which did NOT happen, but oh well. Maybe in 2025. Explicit still reigns supreme, because this is fandom, but it's definitely dropped, and NSFW is down 15% as well (below 50% now!). Make of that what you will. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tags & Tropes

PWP, Character Study, Established Relationship, Post-Canon? Check. But it was VERY interesting to see Humor break into the top six for the first time, with a not entirely insignificant lead over ye olde standbys Pining and Angst. not sure if this was due to my gravitating towards lighter fic this year (which would definitely make sense considering...how this year has gone) OR because I apparently made an effort to add the Humor tag even if the authors didn't? Probably a bit of both tbh; I definitely wasn't actively seeking out dark content (example: Major Character Death is an extremely mood-dependent tag for me in a normal year and even less appealing recently, and there are a few fics with that tag - by authors I like! - that have been sitting in my MfL for going on two years now). But also, there's a lot of genuinely funny fic out there! I want to keep track of those gems.

Etc: Commenting, Rereading, Reccing, and Bookmarks

I managed to comment on over 50% of fics I read in 2023, and continued doing so in 2024 (despite everything). From 51.9% to 54.69%, hooray. I definitely want to see if I can increase that number this year. Looks like I enjoyed/would rec a comfortable majority of the fic I read too, which is always nice, and got a little less wishy washy on the fic I didn't like (more Nos than Maybes in 2024, while Maybe had a solid lead in 2023). I didn't outright hate anything either. I'm still not much of a rereader, and bookmarks remain low like they generally have since I started tracking my fic (which is probably a combo of being mostly in a five-year-old fandom and well, tracking my fic in a separate spreadsheet). About half of the fic I DID bookmark were for non-3H fandoms too.

Looking Ahead

So that's it! I haven't actually read any new fic in 2025 yet since almost literally all my downtime has been spent playing Baldur's Gate 3 lol. but I am hopeful for this year! At least in terms of my reading (no comment on the rest). Despite my current BG3 fixation I will be EXTREMELY surprised if that translates into my reading any fic - tbh even though I've loved this series for over 20 years (it's one of THE defining video games of my youth, and the new game is fucking incredible), I've never been interested in the transformative fandom side of things. We'll see if that changes this year, but I'm kind of doubtful. Witch Hat is another story, but again, you never know. There's a ton of 3H fic I want to get to soon so I've definitely got enough reading material on that side of things (WIPs! new fic posted during sylvix week! old fic I've been meaning to read for a year now! pairings I'm curious about but have never really checked out!). Let's see where the fandom winds take me I guess. :)

As always, thank you all fic authors past and present! I appreciate you more than you can ever know. xoxo

[imhereforscm]

"Hold this"

Genre: fluff

Pairing: Krioff × reader

Warnings: none

For the fluffbruary event (@fluffbruary )

A/N: I hope you enjoy, babeeeees!!!!! LOVE YA!!!✨✨💖💖💖 I was talking to my mother about Frozen (the Disney movie) the other day and I accidently said "Krioff" instead of "Kristoff" lmaoo

Prompts: potatoes | blue | glass (Day 7/2024)

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

Krioff pushed the cart and stole a glance to your direction, your gaze casted downwards and your head hanging low. "What's next?" He asked, voice deep and when you stared up at him, his eyes were shinning like diamonds.

"Potatoes." You said, your mind putting together the letters of the next thing on your list. "They should be in the next aisle."

He hummed, seeming to understand. "I think I remember what those are... Aren't they those blue orbs-"

You snorted suddenly, your eyes squinting and wrinkles forming at the corners.

Krioff's eyes widened a little and his face shifted away from yours. "Aren't they those fruits...?"

You laughed lightheartedly. "Kri...!" You placed your hand upon his own, that wrapped around the handle of the shopping cart. His hand warmed up and you smiled. "You're mixing them up with blueberries. Potatoes are completely different." You gave his hand a squeeze and felt his temperature rising even more, from the embarrassment. "Come on, let me show you."

Krioff followed you silently through the aisles, his face still reddish, contrasting the snowy white of his hair, as the blood reached his ears.

The two of you wandered around the aisles, collecting stuff and filling the cart with them.

"Want me to push?" You asked, seeing as you were only holding a small paper and walking in the front, as Krioff followed, the small wheels of the cart moving along with his footsteps.

He shook his hand. "No. It's fine."

You pursed your lips, staring at him with guilt flowing in your veins and into your stomach. "But I'm not holding anything... This feels unfair."

One of Krioff's hands left the handle of the cart and reached out for yours, its warmth enveloping your hand as he took it within his big one. "Then hold this."

Your eyebrows rose at first, as a smile spread slowly across your lips. Your hand squeezed his tightly and you inched closer to him, placing your free hand on the handle. "Let's push together."

A small smile formed on his lips, yet his entire face seemed to light up. "Fine. So?" He asked, peering over at the list you had gripped and wrinkled in your fingers. "What's next?"

"Ketchup."

"Ketchup..." You watched him hesitate for a few moments, before his lips parted slowly. "It's... It's in a glass."

You nodded. "Yes." You stared at him expectantly, anticipating his next guess. "And? What else?"

Krioff stared deeply within your eyes, his diamond irises appearing breathtaking even beneath the yellow light of the market's aisles. "It's..."

"It's...?"

He swallowed thickly, looking off to the side. "It's pink?"

You tried to suppress your laugh, but a snort slipped out, sending the blood rushing back to his face.

"Not again...!" He sighed, groaning as he pursed his lips and his fingers twitched around your gentle hand.

[bookofkatherine]

Distracted by an Angel: Chris Hemsworth Kicks Silver Surfer to the Curb

Thursday August 22, 2024 5:55 p.m.

Dear Journal,

Fucking Chris Hemsworth, man. It's like he knew - he KNEW - I had just logged onto Tumblr and was about to write a post about Chris Evans and maybe even John Krasinski.

And he couldn't have that now, could he? Oh no. Ohhh NO! (He's one of the more competitive angels among my Knights.) So! He sent me this photo instead. He knew what it would do. He knew I hadn't seen it before. He knew I'd be totally and utterly distracted. That was the goal.

And it worked.

Now what am I supposed to do!?!?!

Gone are my plans to write about killing the Silver Surfer this morning... down the drain. Whoosh!

Gone are my plans to write about another angel among us, Ryan Gosling, and how Denzel Washington's role in the Equalizer movies are all based on real-life adventures Ryan has actually lived.

Gone are all the poems I planned to write, share and read. Gone are all the news stories, the love stories and the ideas I had in my head to share here, there and everywhere - gone, gone, gone!!!

Even poor Tom Hiddleston, trapped on the Otherside, who was finally allowed to reconnect with me today, taking me past the brink of ecstasy for the first time in what feels like eternity - no posts about him. No thoughts about him. No laying back in bed to remember where he put his fingers and lips...

No. Not even Tom's recommendations for our next rendevous helped.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

As much as I should be thinking about wrapping a black silk tie around my wrist and wearing nothing but lingerie with the black-bow heels Tom sent me... Nope!

I'm just thinking about Thor's hands.

Or should I say... hand.

Because - Mr. Thor knows exactly what he can do with his right hand. And he knows that I know how talented he is with that hand too.

Dammit.

And I know, I know.

Why isn't Chris Hemsworth sending me photos from the hotel room he's in right now?

Well.... that would break protocol. I don't even send him original photos. None of us in The Order do. It's too risky.

Instead we have various handles, accounts and pseudonyms all over the internet to share our lives with each other without compromising our locations or our safety. We are in the most dangerous battle, after all, the Final War. It's much easier to send each other media from before, when the Last Battle hadn't begun yet.

For example, Tom Hiddleston is on the Otherside. The dead don't have smart phones. Cameras are most definitely not allowed.

The best he can do is make me small Loki's in the clouds when I go out for a drive. Before he was sent to the Otherside, when he was here, he'd make giant Loki clouds with enormous horns, horns that were bigger than my house.

But now he has to settle for itty bitty horns atop a tiny Loki cloud. I don't mind. I'd rather see him in the clouds than lose him altogether.

Cap (Chris Evans) is on my lawn helping to train the Knights for war. No one thinks to take a photo while training in the arena. If they did, Merlin the Wizard would probably appear out of thin air and confiscate the phone.

And Chris Hemsworth? Thor himself!?

Well... he's in a hotel room with the final prophet who just arrived a couple of weeks ago. Oh, they aren't alone. The prophet's son is there, and Chris, Merlin, Dumbledore, Kyle, Jordan and even my husband Nick aare all there to save the son's life.

Why is the prophet's son in danger of dying? Well, you can thank Chris Hemworth for that - and Tom Hiddleston. Those two tinker with fucking magic like they really are gods instead of fucking angels.

You know what? Don't get me started. I'm pretty upset about the whole thing. I was supposed to marry that prophet over a decade ago, before Nick. And those two angels - Tom/Loki and Chris/Thos - got so jealous that they cast spells on us to break us up.

And not once... those two did it TWICE!!!

Aaaaarrrrggghhh!!!

"I love ya, babe," Chris Hemsworth just said. Yeah. Yeah. He knows I'm in love with him. I can't help it. So he's just giving me a wink and a smile.

You know why?

Because he sent me THESE!!!

I didn't even know he could ride!!!! Did you!?!? Holy fucking Christ!!!! This is totally unfair!!!

And he knows I go weak in the knees for this smile, especially when he's with adorable animals.

I still remember why, though:

Alexander Skarsgard and the lamb. Remember that photo??? And all the others like it? (Oh. Right. You might be new. Alex was the first angel I ever fell in love with. That was back in 2014. I didn't meet Chris Hemsworth until December 2023 - but he had been guarding me since I was born. So he got pretty jealous of Alex when the Lord allowed him into my life long, long, long before Chris Hemsworth.)

Anyhow - a bunch of the angels began taking photos like this after Alex took these for me while away.

Yeah. Adorable right?

How no one figured out that Alexander Skarsgard was a literal angel walking among us before now, I'll never know. The signs were all that. That man... well. I guess that's another post.

*happy sigh*

Anyhow!!!

Chris Hemsworth sent me this too. And goddammit - I just can't resist. My brain is full of him now, and the result?

The result is as folllows:

-I didn't spend time with anyone in the Dreamworld

-I didn't write the poem Original Sin for Cap (Chris Evans) like I planned too

-I didn't stretch my new muscles out after a vigorous lovemaking session with John, Tom and the Knights, when my muscles were nice and warm

-I didn't get healing (many of the Knights can heal me through the Dreamworld)

-I didn't write about anyone else except for Chris Hemsworth/Thor again, when I haven't written about anyone else on here yet!!!

Oh, dear journal.

I fucking killed the Silver Surfer at 6:00 a.m. in the morning today. And it's not even on my mind.

My boy had got me all caught up.

I suppose, in the end, it's a good problem to have.

I mean.... would you LOOK at him??? He just sent this at lunch. It's as if he was saying, "I'm gonna drive you nuts later today - and you know what? You're going to love me anyway, babe."

And you know what?

He was right.

Note: I call Chris Hemsworth by both of his names: Thor and Chris. I call him Thor at times because he does indeed have most of the powers attributed to Thor Odinson.

I'll write about this more in the future, but the angels of Earth were often called gods by various cultures. Angels are immortal. They don't die. They are sent to either heaven or the Pit, a prison for the Fallen.

Anyhow, Chris Hemsworth is an angel. He can walk among us, just like the angels did when they visited Enoch, Daniel, Mary, Joseph and John the Apostle. Angels even visited Sodom and Gemorrah. And at all times, these angels are described as tall, bronze, buff and hot as hell.

Sounds like Chris Hemsworth to me.

I mean, he can fly.

The man has wings. Hell, I have wings! A lot of people in The Order do.

But my point is, Chris Hemsworth is not just an angel, he is one of the most powerful angels ever created. Around the world he was called various names, including Thor and even Alexander the Great.

But the majority of his adventures have been told in the movies under the name Thor. I mean, he is Tom Hiddleston's brother. (And yes, Tom Hiddleston is also pretty fucking powerful. He has Loki's powers, as one of the twelve Olympians - though in Rome he was called Hephaestus.)

Thank you for reading!!! I love you guys!!! I post @ prophetsjournal on Twitter the most often. It's just easier. But I'm glad I joined the Tumblr community. There's so much freedom here, and the readers are just fantastic.

Love you!!! Have an AMAZING day!

(And, by the way, you should really read my stuff while you're on your way to the New Earth. Like Noah Ark, the Lord's provided a way out of this apocalypse/climate change. Take it! I'm only here to fight Satan back so you can go ahead to safety without interruption. Please do!!! Before the pearly gate portals close. xoxo, K)

[become-potatoes]

my 2024 ao3 author wrapped!!

ur girl (gender neutral) wrote 18 fics this year, and with how busy my 2024 was, i’m satisfied with that amount! i definitely think i’ve improved as a writer in general this year, and that has carried over into my fic writing. soo - now it’s time to yap about them!

how many words did you write this year?

40,175

how many works did you publish this year?

18

what work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

definitely still just different. it’s extremely stupid and self indulgent, but i feel like i’m doing ten year old me a solid by writing the season 2 that we never got. i’m glad i have effectively killed the part of me that cringes and have just decided to not gaf.

what work of yours has the most hits?

yaelokre: if i crawl out, it leaves you hollow (1,364)

which work of yours got more feedback then you expected?

weirdly enough, ponytail (project sekai). so many people commented and were like “if you write more flustered tsukasa i’ll jump off a bridge /pos”

favorite title you used?

prince of my heart, bastard of none. it just kind of popped into my head. truthfully, in context, it makes no sense. but it sounds fire.

if you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did u pull from the most?

i used a bunch of song lyrics as titles this year, and they were all from different artists - so let’s just run through all of them!

“if i crawl out, it leaves you hollow” - cole’s response by yaelokre

“and it felt great to be a liar” - molly by mindless self indulgence

“oh, everything will be alright” - a day in falsettoland from falsettos

“appearing unsightly with devils inside me” - christmas kids by roar

“i loved you then, i love you still” - merry sinsmas from helluva boss

“you and me, we’re not the same: i am a sinner, you are a saint” - problems by mother mother

pairing you wrote for most this year?

ruikasa and lautski equally….i am nothing but predictable

favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

KAIMON they’re so fun to write. i cant wait to write them more

what work was the quickest to write?

oh, everything will be alright. i wrote it during a road trip.

what work took you the longest to write?

still just different, as it’s still…not…done…

how many wips do you have for the upcoming year?

too many.

what’s your longest work of the year?

still just different and shes still being written hell yeahhhhhhh. she’s currently at 10,285.

what’s your shortest work of the year?

fuck, spankoffski, who taught you how to drive? at 578.

what wip are you taking into next year with you?

unnamed kaimon bookshop employee x flower shop employee au

what’s your most common “additional tags” tag?

fluff. sorry i know what i like

your favorite character to write this year?

tie between stephanie lauter and tsukasa tenma.

the character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

damon maitsu. tf does his brain work

what’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

KAIMON. and also getting around to writing a saiteru fic

which work of yours have you reread the most?

none. i dont reread my works. once i put them into the abyss i dont look at them again out of secondhand embarrassment

how many kudos did you get this year?

1,075

which work has the most comments?

ponytail!!

did u do any collaborative works this year?

no but id be down so like hit me up 👍

did u write any gifts this year?

yes! two, but one was for an irl friend and technically isnt a gift by ao3 standards, but i count it

did u receive any gifts this year?

no bc i have no friends

whats ur most common category?

m/m, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort

what do you listen to while writing?

this

favorite work u wrote this year?

prince of my heart, bastard of none. i was COOKING and idk how to bring that back

favorite line/passage u wrote this year?

i have two ~:

The two young men were quiet once again, the sound of the evening breeze echoing in their ears, before both spoke once more.

“Your magic, if I’m being completely honest, is absolutely incredible -“

“I daresay, I’ve heard that no one’s as handy as a sword as you and if the rumors are true I’d love to see you in action -“

The two broke off, both exhaling small laughs at their awkwardness.

“Well, I do pride myself in my swordsmanship!” The loud, crazy booming factor of the prince’s voice was beginning to return. Rui hoped that meant he was growing more comfortable with him. “You watching me would certainly be splendid for all parties involved! But, ah, I don’t quite know how we should go about that…”

“…you think my magic is incredible?” Rui whispered.

Tsukasa didn’t say anything for a moment, just returned to fidgeting with his hands. Eventually, he sighed.

“Well, I…yes. Ever since I was…really young, I’ve dreamed about…doing incredible feats like what you’re rumored to be able to accomplish. B-But I…had to hide. So…I think sorcerers are actually…kind of fascinating.”

“Then why are you trying to kill us.”

Rui phrased it as a statement, and not a question. Tsukasa flinched.

“I-I…”

Tsukasa didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Because it’s my purpose. It’s what I’ve been told to do.”

“Even though you are one of us?” Rui replied, voice not cold but not warm either.

“…I’m not like this because I want to be.”

“I see.” Rui nodded. “Not an excuse, but an unfortunately understandable backstory. I cannot wait to see where your character arc goes from here, Your Highness.”

“I - hey! Somebody reads too much.” Tsukasa huffed, and Rui laughed. He couldn’t help but feel…a little fond towards the prince. Perhaps, in another timeline, in a different situation…they could be friends.

“Magic,” Rui said slowly. “Gets stronger the more you believe in the fact that you can do it.”

- from prince of my heart, bastard of none.

-

“No, I don’t.” And suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. “I don’t know - I don’t know if Lee even likes girls, if she even likes anyone at all - she’s not interested in dating or boys and she’s said that a million times and I feel like I need to respect that but I…I like her so much. I like her so much that it consumes me. You…you wouldn't know or care, but no one…no one ever said I was smart. No one believed in my brain - until her. She took the time to understand me. Do you understand how - how wonderful that is? Because she’s wonderful, god, she’s so wonderful. One day she’s gonna run this whole place, I know it - and I want more than anything to be by her side, for even just a moment. And it’s so fucking scary, because I’ve never felt like this before. Ever. And I’m happy to even just be her friend but I want more and I hate that I want more. I don’t deserve someone like her I really don’t - I talk a lot of shit but I’m just me , I have nothing to my name and she - Lee - she’s got so much going on and if she wants to date she. Deserves someone who can be her equal.”

- from still just different

biggest surprise while writing this year?

that i’m slowly learning to be less hard on myself, and to not immediately critique every single word i write. that even when u think ur writing something obscure and niche - someone out there will care. there will always be someone who matches ur freak.

-

any moots feel free to do this!

[existentialmagazine]

Review: Hotel Mira’s bold new alternative-rock and indie blend ‘Waste Away’ carefully explores the harsh emotions that come with domestic abuse

The Canadian band Hotel Mira have been on the music scene since 2013, meeting as teenagers and focusing on storytelling above all else in a way that has always set their music apart from the masses. Comprised of charismatic frontman and songwriter Charlie Kerr, guitarist Clark Grieve, Mike Noble on bass and drummer Cole George, this quartet is known best for their excellent stage presence and always hard-hitting tunes. Their bold performances have also seen them opening for acts like Billy Talent, Fizzy Blood, The Beaches and Frank Lero (My Chemical Romance), alongside multiple headline shows of their own. Now through 2024, the band have never felt more solid in both their sound and their stage appearances, soon set to take over the UK for a handful of shows too.

With a new single ‘Waste Away’ that’ll surely become a fan-favourite for live gigs, there’s never been a better time to start listening either. It’s bold and daring, but familiar in its indie tones, sweeping you up in a sound that’s always moving and unafraid to stand out. That’s all evident just in the introduction too, with groovy bass twangs, backing vocal ooh’s, steadily tumbling drums and scattered electronic beats, all weaving together for a short but memorable expression of their sonic palette that feels a little retro and modern all in one. With a slow pacing, everything about it feels laid-back and easy, transporting you to under the rays of the summer’s beaming sun while the more sombre tones seep in like clouds in the sky. It’s all carefully considered, a mix of sound that intends to deliver their narrative even without words.

That’s not to say that what they’ve written isn’t excellent in itself though, tackling difficult themes with precision and care. As Hotel Mira look to explore the unfortunately common experience of domestic abuse, ‘Waste Away’ heart-wrenchingly plays from start to finish that slow burn from brushing things off to realising the true seriousness of the situation. The opening line hauntingly says it best, wrapped up in thoughts as they sing ‘I don’t wanna think about where it all went wrong, give me time I’ll figure out how this is my fault’, an acknowledgement that often victims will blame themselves and become conditioned to justify abusive behaviour. Continuing ‘I hate the player, I love the game, so help me God if I stay I’ll waste away’, the recognition of the situation seems to arise, trapped in a toxic cycle of perhaps adoring the highs too much to truly realise the unfairness of the lows. Other lines feel blurred and unsure, looping ‘none of this is adding up, none of this feels real’, never considering they could experience something like this. With the catchy chorus hook beaming ‘let me know, let me go’ against the otherwise heartbreaking horrors of this track, Hotel Mira seem to force a light in the dark, a moment of breakthrough that looks to gather the courage to leave amidst fears of violence if acted upon. All of it is very, very real, and very often left unspoken too, but ‘Waste Away’ is undoubtably going to stick with you for a long time to come just for that reason - it speaks up for those who can’t.

The chorus is a stunning shift from what we know, lightly lifting in advance as the pre-chorus fades out the beats and incorporates more hand-shaken percussion, gorgeously dreamy guitar plucks and lingering vocals. Picking up for a moment of multiple voices chanting the staple hook, along with a flurry of energy and instruments, ‘Waste Away’ really knows how to evolve perfectly to keep you mesmerised by every second of it. It doesn’t stop there though, continuing into the second verse with newfound momentum, perhaps an ode to the building emotions through the track’s painful lyrical tale too.

Described by their frontman as a ‘love letter to the courage and resilience of survivors’, we hope that ‘Waste Away’ finds the audience that need to hear it, whether it be from out the other side or as a comforting reminder as you get through it. Keep listening here, and don’t forget to check out the group’s upcoming shows across the UK:

GREAT ESCAPE SHOW Thurs 16th May – The Impressive/Planetary Showcase @ The Secret Comedy Club 2pm / East Street Tap 8.20pm Friday 17th May Grand Central 11.30am LONDON SHOWS Mon 13th May – Moth Club Sunday 19th May – The Victoria, Dalston

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: Unknown

// This coverage was supported and created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.

[the-gordianknot117]

“Fubuki Delenda Est”: Part 2.

I was waiting for the Monster Association arc to end before finally examining a couple of topics related to Fubuki that I didn’t cover in my previous post (like how a connection between Fubuki and another character was handled in the remake and more), so I think now it’s the perfect time to delve into them. Additionally, I will include my conclusive thoughts about Fubuki’s involvement in the remake MA arc and the treatment the manga reserved in general for the character. For anyone interested, the previous post (Part 1) covers the rest. Webcomic spoilers, I guess.

Before starting, I want to clarify once again that with my posts, I don’t want to prevent anyone from enjoying the character or the series in general, nor change their opinion.

Obviously, future updates can always disprove what is written in this post.

EDIT (01/08/2023): added a title and an image.

EDIT (02/08/2024): I moved here the conclusions from Part 1.

First, let’s start with the elephant in the room, Psykos and her connection to Fubuki. The following are all the instances where their connection is brought up in the remake: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 - in reality, I’m counting basically any off-hand mention of Fubuki from Psykos (plus a Tatsumaki panel). The first four are inherited from the webcomic while the others are new: 5 and 6 are from the same Chapter (132) while the last resembles the similar Evil Eye scene from the beginning of the arc, when the psychic monster threatened Fubuki in front of Tatsumaki*. After that there is none and the ones above (unless I missed something) are the only allusions to it in more than 100 chapters of the manga [EDIT: 04/12/2023] Thinking about it, the only foreshadowing of Fubuki vs Psykos comes exclusively from scenes original to the webcomic: no new content was added in anticipation of that in the manga [End EDIT]. Obviously, not everything needs to be wrapped up/resolved within the same arc (the webcomic didn’t do it either) nor restarting every time from a blank slate with no ongoing, background sideplots would make for an engaging story. Still, the entire side plot between Fubuki and Psykos seems like a vestigial tail that doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the remake Monster Association story. Instead of a hanging sideplot meant to be picked up later it feels more like a plot-thread chopped out entirely from where it originally belonged. Reinforcing this feel it’s the fact that most of the hints mentioned above are concentrated around chapters 110/130, apparently building up to something only for the whole thing to never take off and disappear abruptly for the remaining time. This reveal exists almost in a vacuum and doesn’t affect in any shape or form anyone: Fubuki’s backstory with Psykos could be removed entirely from the latter characterization and nothing of value would change at the moment; Tatsumaki, outside of a single webcomic shared panel (linked above) placed at the very start of the fight (before the scuffle with “normal” Psykos), is utterly unfazed by it and her mind is firmly set on the kid and the other heroes without being distracted by what she just discovered; Fubuki, the connective tissue between these characters and the character that should be affected the most by this development, is the furthest removed from the whole thing, completely alien to this subplot for the entire arc. To make things worse, after the last mention of this subplot in Chapter 133, Psykos completely disregards Fubuki while the latter is helping (?) TankTop Master against the MA leader during the Jet sequence (Chapter 138): actually, both espers are “crossing paths” without that being acknowledged by anyone, not even by some kind of storytelling device, as if ONE/Murata didn’t think this might appear bizarre or as if it didn’t deserve to be highlighted at all. Maybe a redraw will fix it [EDIT 04/12/2023: they didn’t fix it in the volume], but it wouldn’t be the first time Fubuki’s storyline ended up being an afterthought (the “rematch” with Do-s is another example of this). Moreover, but this could be a translation-related issue (it probably is), Fubuki refers to JetPsykorochi as “she”, making the whole thing even more confusing. In the wc, after reaching the surface, Fubuki noticed right away Psykos’s presence (I always found hilarious how surprised Fubuki sounded when she recognized the weirdo kid from high school with the obsession with world domination amid that chaos in Chapter 72) and manga Fubuki herself has proven to be capable of sensing other espers (like Tatsumaki and Gear Spear), so this is a strange oversight. Like, let’s even pretend Fubuki was somehow unable to sense Psykos reenacting Top Gun, at the very least she should have caught a glimpse of Psykos (or her esper aura) leaving Orochi - but apparently nobody noticed (or sensed) the woman fleeing from the blob targetted by everyone. Neither the last appearance of Psykos resumed this side plot, being used instead for fanservice, Saitama vs Garou “hype” and as a reminder of the release of Volume 26, featuring Psykos on the cover. Schrödinger’s storyline is how I would describe this sideplot and how it relates to the overall story right now. For obvious reasons this wasn’t a problem in the wc, where the relation between the leader of the Monster Association to the B-Class Rank 1 had massive consequences for the setting, the story and the characters: after learning about it Tatsumaki went apeshit and lifted the MA’s headquarter (with catastrophic results, leading also to her defeat), sensing Psykos pushed Fubuki to step in and fight her old acquaintance (right when the MA leader and the Cadres were about to attack King), allowing the rest of the arc to happen and laying the foundations for the next one etc. Here? It’s a backdrop detail that has no relevance and importance at all on the ongoing events, as absurd as it may sound.

As a result of this and Psykorochi vs. Tatsumaki replacing their fight in the MA arc, Psykos and Fubuki were reduced to be, respectively, Tatsumaki’s personal punching bag and Tatsumaki’s number one cheerleader/nurse. In the manga, Psykos is, for all intents and purposes, a Tatsumaki-related character but, since there is barely any actual personal connection between the two outside of Fubuki (the irony!), most of Psykos dialogues are bog standard “evil speeches”,  the always present threat to Fubuki and exposition dumps. And while Psykos receives a crazy amount of power-ups during her boss battle, that serves only as a way to hype up Tatsumaki and raise the scope of their battle even further: outside of that, Psykos keeps failing every single time before finally getting defeated by Tatsumaki and spending the rest of the arc off-screen (she doesn’t even lead the Cadres anymore!). This might be only me, but employing Psykos, the actual main villain of the first part of the arc, solely as a device for Tatsumaki to show off how powerful and heroic she is while at the same time the “characterization” of Psykos herself amounts to being a puppet for God (à la Cosmic Garou or worse) and tasteless fanservice is a little disappointing and a waste of what Psykos was supposed to be: a different kind of threat, as stated in the webcomic (1, 2); funnily enough, the manga also features this narrator box (1, 2, 3), before contradicting it by turning Psykos into the exact opposite of that, which is to say a giant naked fusion-kaiju spamming beams for shit and giggles, straight out seeking an open battle and wasting multiple opportunities to end her opponent. What originally made Psykos a serious thorn in the side for the heroes was less a matter of impressive feats and power levels (although Psykos was a powerful and formidable Dragon Level Esper and a dangerous adversary for the majority of the S-Class) and more her ability to organize and lead a group of Demons and Dragons Level Threats. Even the more remarkable is the fact the MA was not fully ready to fight the HA by the time its headquarters were raided by the heroes (contrary to the manga) and nonetheless wc Psykos was capable of turning the tides and almost winning the battle if wasn’t for the intervention of the Saitama Group. For this reason we can also justify in the webcomic her lack of an immediate counter strategy against the HA and the decisions she made during the Demon/Dragon match-ups - for example, the “sacrifice” of the Demon Level Threats in the initial stage of the hero raid makes sense here since she was caught almost off-guard, instead of being a waste of potentially useful assets she is sending to their death just because. I think these elements alone without mentioning her backstory, made Psykos stand out among the OPM villains, especially considering her accomplishments and her role as a leader of a group of powerful mysterious beings (Homeless Emperor aside) while being a human esper herself. Moreover, if it’s true that we spent more time with her in the remake (though this additional time is hardly character focused at all), Psykos’s past is still undisclosed. The manga has completely avoided bringing up the reason Psykos turned against humanity and trying to fill this saturday morning cartoon villain silhouette with the basic and fundamental beats of her character long after her moment of major spotlight is something I’m not particularly fond of, to be honest. About Fubuki, the aforementioned post expresses my opinions about her manga version in general, so here I won’t indulge myself on this topic beyond stating that turning her into Tatsumaki’s Tareo is a baffling and ludicrous choice that takes cues from the Garou-Tareo dynamic solely for the benefit of the older sister with no regard for Fubuki’s character itself, who now needs to be babysitted and rescued every time she leaves the healing corner.

Speaking of that: Fubuki went from being one of the majors contributors to the MA’s downfall and the one defeating the Dragon Level Esper Leader of the Monster Association to losing to someone like Do-s in a lighthearted and fanservice fight (more than once, actually). I know I already said this plenty of times in the past, but Fubuki distinguishing herself during this crisis was truly crucial for her journey leading to the Esper Sisters arc, and for the Monster Association arc itself, serving as a contrast to the powerful and mighty S-Class, sent by the HA who failed at dealing with the Cadres and required outside help in order to survive and win the battle - and that without portraying Fubuki herself (or any member of the Saitama’s Group or Amai Mask) as some sort of perfect or flawless being, quite the opposite actually (and thankfully). This isn’t a mere matter of win-to-defeat ratio but a massive shift to the narrative surrounding this character and her purpose within the story. To underline what critical importance Fubuki vs. Psykos held for the B-Class Rank 1 story, I want to remind one thing I never see mentioned anywhere: in the webcomic, Fubuki starts fighting Psykos (Chapter 74) 27 chapters after her first appearance (Chapter 47). The battle (and the subsequent encounter with Garou), far from being a mere clash of powers and a power-level contest, is a turning point for Fubuki and paves the way for the Esper Sisters arc. In the “Murata” version, Fubuki and Psykos have not exchanged a single word in the entirety of the manga (up until now, that is): to put it in perspective, Fubuki appeared for the first time in a numbered chapter back in Chapter 42, Psykos as Gyoro Gyoro in Chapter 68 and as herself (cameo not withstanding) in Chapter 123, and we are currently at Chapter 170 (which doesn’t take in account the multiple extra-long chapters). As we have seen, in this unholy amount of pages, the snippets to their connection have been nothing but throwaway lines and a tiny panel: this confined Fubuki into a limbo of stagnation, where her character couldn’t move forward simply because the manga kept delaying one pivotal plot point that happens rather early in the source material - and, as I already mentioned elsewhere, another important development that comes from that fight, the realization of what Saitama predicted to her, has been fulfilled by Do-s instead of Garou and the very serious “fear” moment has been reduced to the recurring gag of Fubuki looking like a pathetical shaking mess doing “funny” exaggerated expressions (abysmal comedy and downright awful writing). Tatsumaki’s flashback, Blast’s appearance, a fourth Centipede, Garou vs. Saitama, all occurred before Fubuki got to one of her storyline’s most important and defining moments. It’s as if, in 100+ chapters, Garou never met Tareo and his character was stalled at the time of the TankTop Master's brawl. Now, Psykos and Tareo aren’t strictly comparable characters, obviously, but they represent an important turning point for Fubuki and Garou’s characters, on top of being one of the main motivational factors for their development.

At least, does the new content offer anything comparable to what Fubuki vs. Psykos represented in the source material? What is Fubuki’s big moment in the remake Monster Association arc?

Well, if Chapter 142 (Fubuki stabilizing Genos's core) was supposed to be the replacement for Fubuki against Psykos, it’s a really poor substitute that doesn’t hold a candle to what it replaced**: the chapter doesn’t break any new grounds for Fubuki’s character but its the usual good leader + healing stuff (which apparently go hand to hand), fulfilling an almost identical purpose of the Rover battle of a few chapters before. Fubuki here doesn’t experience any growth nor showcases anything truly new, she is not confronted by some kind of circumstances shaking her status quo or representing a real turning point for her story, but it’s a “more of the same” kind of situation - in my previous post I wrote how contradictory the whole thing is, how the manga pays lip-service to this leader “predisposition” in a couple of scenes only to portray Fubuki as a pathetic, deluded and arrogant clown who falls on the ground every other panel, hindering her colleagues and being a deadweight the rest of the time (if she has the stuff of a leader than basically anyone else does)***. On the other hand, the confrontantion with Psykos truly opened new directions and expanded the horizons of Fubuki’s characterization by revealing substantial new information about her, showing us glimpses of her life back in high school, her connection to a new important and mysterious character, her views on human relationships as power structures, and presented an interesting application of psychic powers that displayed her abilities and skills as an esper as well as her wits and intelligence in battle, plus setupping the next arc and the conflict at the center of it. Furthermore, the concrete and tangible threat represented by Psykos made for an arc-changing confrontation with significant consequences for the following events. In contrast, Chapter 142 lacks any of that and Fubuki simply puts a stop to the Genos overheating core subplot that stayed on hold during the JetPsykorochi chapters up until Murata and ONE decided to throw a bone to Fubuki as a way to finally wrap it up and move on - she was the closest and most convenient plot device nearby for the authors to use in this circumstance after all. The whole thing is resolved in less than 15 pages, a misery considering the standard amount of pages devoted to battles/character-focused sequences, but that’s the number of pages reserved to Fubuki, and for this reason there is no time to breath or to underline the importance of this accomplishment because the chapter suddenly ends and the story moves forward - the same story that lingers obsessively even on the most trivial matter, like the Support Team, the Jet sequences or anything involving Tatsumaki (but there are so many other examples that could be listed here). There is also the fact Pri Pri Prisoner completely forgets to mention the whole thing to Child Emperor, despite that being the reason he was searching for the kid hero in the first place (Chapter 149)! [Edit 23/08/2023] This is such a pivotal moment that the characters themselves don’t pay any thought to its “urgency” or “consequences”, but forget about it as soon as the chapter ends, as if it never happened! Another sad example of the manga copy-pasting webcomic scenes onto manga original events without thinking about how the new, different context would affect them; the main takeaway from this change is that Pri-pri Prisoner is either forgetful or wants Genos dead, which are 100% unintended consequences of a poorly planned scene. The series is full issues and incosistencies like this. Oversight like the one above inevitably end up affecting the story and the characters for the worse - and Fubuki is, once again, one of the main victims of this, and that when the authors aren’t trying to shit on her on purpose [End of the Edit]. Lastly, Fubuki’s actions here are unrelated to the monsters themselves (she is dealing with Genos’s overheated core after all) and, thinking more carefully about it, Fubuki in the remake has barely done anything directly against them (the closest being letting Do-s fall into a pit), while wc Fubuki actually struck a heavy blow to the MA - she was one of the few to have defeated a Dragon Level Threat up to that point in the series and one of the fewer to have beaten a Cadre (none of the S-Class sent by the HA accomplished this). Moving on: one thing is Fubuki mastering Psychic Whirlwind, a telekinesis technique meant to counter other espers and reflective of Fubuki’s goals, story, personality and fighting style, another is a deus ex machina power outside of her “field” like being able to regenerate Genos’s organic parts and cool down his synthetic components (or the healing esper thing in general, introduced out of nowhere in the middle of this arc and becoming more bullshit as the chapters go). One is well within the area of expertise of the character and represents a demonstration of her achievements as an esper, providing the layout the actual content of the confrontation between Fubuki and Psykos, the drama and the clash of personalities, lies upon, the other is a solution thrown in for the sake of progressing the plot/put a patch over a narrative problem. The fact Fubuki’s usefulness is limited to healing and treating some injuries (and only with other characters’ support, at times) instead of taking part in the fights and being useful in them without turning into a background clown is straight out insulting to this character and an example of OPM falling into the battle shounen cliches pit. Additionally, this chapter mainly serves to resolve Genos’ issue after his uber-epic upgrade finally showed some kind of drawback for the abuse of its “full power” mode and bring back the cyborg into the action without that pesky problem affecting him anymore. And so, Genos gains a few other chapters to go while Fubuki soon expires her “relevancy” (aka, being a plot-device and Tatsumaki’s shiller number one), relegated once again to the sidelines. But having said that, I won’t pretend the whole thing was a pointless waste of time and I recognize that Fubuki, Genos and Fang (and Bomb, I guess?) being “closer” has narrative potential (though the execution could have been a lot better and the lead-up way more organic and natural). I would rather get more chapters involving the members of the main cast interacting and bouncing off each other instead of endless and drawn-out fights, but only as long these interactions don’t come at the expense of their specific storylines, replacing moments with overall greater purpose and significance. Like, a chapter devoted to progress the dynamics between the members of the Saitama’s Group would be more than welcomed by me if Fubuki had screentime to spare, but she barely does and the few time she shows up she has to share (be it with Fang, Genos or whoever else) the crumbles of it. [EDIT: 30/07/2023] I don’t think I have to spend more than a few words about the last page of this chapter and in particular the last panel, since its issues are self-explanatory: it reveals how the authors themselves don’t believe in what they are putting in the chapter and also how blatantly aware they are that no one will pay attention to Fubuki’s leadership skill or care about this predisposition the story has never highlighted (actually, only undermined); Murata and ONE clearly do not expect the readers to care at all about Fubuki or the scenes featuring her, but only to stare at the character’s sexualized body. It’s pathetic and sad, a textbook example of fanservice completely detracting from the scene and character, undermining her accomplishments with a misplaced gratuitous panel (quite tasteless, too) drawn solely for male gaze. This framing says nothing about what just happened nor highlights her supposed leadership skill, let alone Fubuki’s actual character; it doesn’t enhance the scene in any way, but its sole accomplishment is to reduce Fubuki to a sexual object. This is what I would have expected from a lesser series, not from One-Punch Man, but I have learned my lesson at this point. Also, this surely isn’t the only time the authors resorted to cheap tricks as a way to distract the audience from how bad and lazy Fubuki’s treatment has been in the manga, unfortunately. [End of the EDIT] So in the end, if this was meant to be the main dish of Fubuki’s participations in the Monster Association arc, it was an insipid and minuscule appetizer served to a starving customer.

(By the way, in the webcomic Fubuki saved Genos as well, Chapter 69)

If instead the convo with Tatsumaki was intended to be Fubuki’s big moment of spotlight, the same applies to it as well, plus being not only insipid and shared, but an undercooked dessert served ahead of its time (my thoughts about it here and here, among other things). Fubuki’s supposed “development”, coming to terms with Tatsumaki’s protective behavior and understanding her sister’s problems, never happened on screen. It’s the result of a (rushed) journey of personal maturation never shown to us, unlike, I don’t know, basically every moment of progression of webcomic Fubuki thus far. How Saitama influenced Fubuki and allowed her to change her perspective on Tatsumaki is also not supported by anything shown prior (zero, nada, nothing) and if Fubuki didn’t state it outright no one could have ever guessed this or could haved noticed at any point any change in her opinion of her sister, in fact no one (or at least, I didn’t find anything on this subject) in the fandom picked up this massive character progression occurring at all before it was stated in this chapter (to be fair, this is the same adaptation where the two sisters go shopping together, something that completely lessens the magnitude of the development in question, let alone how it butchers the source material and future scenes, but that is another can of worms); and in general, after encountering Saitama, Fubuki only got progressively more flanderized, incompetent and childish, which as much as I dislike, could provide an “interesting” character arc if it was within the intention of the authors, but it clearly isn’t the case considering how the handful of relevant scenes involving her (like this dialogue here) pretend the opposite (again, paying lip-service to the character); it is an unintended byproduct resulting from the real priorities the authors have, which involve other characters with Fubuki being an afterthought or an obstacle, hence why she gets the short hand of the stick (if she gets it at all). For this, "You have become stronger, Fubuki” is one of the most unearned, undeserved and unsatisfying exchanges I have ever read in fiction, lacking the tragic irony of the same line in the wc (I wrote a post about this). The conversation glosses over Fubuki’s childhood and how her sister affected and impacted her life but, to be fair, the whole point of the sequence is to portray Tatsumaki as a tragic hero suffering from a poorly worded advice given to her when she was still a child, before anything else. Fubuki’s fundamental wc flashback, whose point and actual significance is one of the pillars of the entire esper sisters arc, was reduced to less than an halfassed and offhand mention because the angle we are observing the scene is so outwardly sympathetic toward Tatsumaki that there is no time nor desire to “waste” panels on Fubuki’s character and story, especially if this doesn’t serve to highlight her sister and her suffering (poor Wobbie). Fubuki here is only the mouthpiece of the author who celebrates Tatsumaki’s tragedy and heroism while twisting and destroying the character he is employing for this purpose. What a horrendous moment this conversation was: another instance of Tatsumaki being put on a pedestal at the expense of her sister.

[EDIT: 01/08/2023] Prior to the sudden change in Fubuki’s attitude toward Tatsumaki and the sisters conversation, we only got two instances of Fubuki thinking about Tatsumaki, 1 and 2; in these two pages, Fubuki shows only frustration and resentment instead of a change of heart or whatever the manga later tries to suggest - by the way, Tatsumaki needlessly beating up the Fubuki group is conveniently forgotten and never brought up ever again, as is her decision to exclude Fubuki from the operation (“this is totally buildup for the Esper Sisters arc and the sisters’ conflict!” Yeah, sure, absolutely ahah). Admittedly, there is another scene where Fubuki senses Tatsumaki fighting Psykos, but that is slightly unrelated to the current topic and even if I included it, the page would still show Fubuki being afraid and wary of her sister like she was in the source material - after all, the scene is a 1:1 adaptation of the webcomic for the most part - so that doesn’t help much the manga’s cause either. Honestly, all these pages seem to setup a completely different storyline from the one we got in the end, as if someone changed their mind during the arc and clumsily tried to course-correct at the last minute. It’s like they wanted to reach the rooftop of a skyscraper but were blocked at the level of the sewers and realized that there was no way to get up there in time considering the path they previously chose, so they decided to skip all the steps in the way and instantly teleport to their destination. Who would notice, right? Well, the readers who actually pay attention to the story will, of course. Murata and ONE wanted so badly to reach the point where the sisters mend their relationship (which would avoid the “horrid scenario” of Tatsumaki being herself a very flawed human being), but they thought it was pointless and boring to actually make it fit in Fubuki and Tatsumaki’s character arcs at that point of the story. What makes this worse if possible is how Murata and ONE still had the occasion to insert a new “chapter” in manga Fubuki’s nonexistent character arc and legitimize this moment between the sisters with a missing “link” filling the gaps, but they decided to waste it on that radioactive dumpster fire that is the “rematch” between Fubuki and Do-s - how something like that made into the manga while Fubuki’s webcomic scenes, fundamental character beats, story and her original characterization didn’t will never cease to haunt my mind. Beside, at no point prior to the sisters conversation did Fubuki ever think of saving her sister by gathering strong people nor was meeting Saitama ever shown to have affected Fubuki’s opinion of Tatsumaki in the slightest (and surely not to the degree the manga is trying to paint!). Nothing in the story has ever suggested this, not Fubuki’s words, not her actions, not even the slightest subtext implied that “saving her sister” was Fubuki’s grand goal, something the manga suggests she has pondered (off-screen) and then fully embraced as her true desire at some point (when exactly, ONE?). In reality she was always shown being resentful of Tatsumaki: the few times Fubuki mentions Tatsumaki (the ones I linked above) reveal how this change of heart is entirely made up, basically a clumsy retcon. Also, I personally hate how Fubuki’s monologue boils down to a Tatsumaki-did-nothing-wrong by having Fubuki condone Tatsumaki’s misdeeds and role in her life, to the point of outright shilling Tatsumaki and even crying for her auto-desctructive heroism without Fubuki herself ever having the chance to reveal her past and what she suffered. Imagine wasting all the narrative potential that comes with this relationship (and Fubuki as a character) by resolving its conflict in a biased and rushed-out out of nowhere dialogue that takes place in an arc not even centered on their relationship (or, originally, Tatsumaki herself, since it was Fubuki who actually got quite the narrative focus in the wc MA arc out of the two) and without having addressed Fubuki’s side at all. Fubuki and Tatsumaki’s conversation is like a roof for a nonexistent building and for this reason, it miserably falls flat on the ground: because it has no support holding it in place and nothing the story has done before has built up to this. And yeah, I’m calling it wasting because now that I’ve got the full, godawful picture, there is no other way to put it; to be fair, it didn’t take a genius or a prophet to figure out where this manga original direction was leading to and how this conversation would have fundamentally compromised the next arc. With that being said, only someone gifted with prescience could have guessed what a colossal pile of fecal matter the next arc was going to be in the remake.

[EDIT: 03/12/2023] Sorry for the multiple edits, but the more I think about this conversation, the more I realize I only grazed the surface of its problems. In addition to all the nefarious consequences this chapter had on the younger esper, the conversation also implies another, fundamental detail that is in contrast with what has been established in the webcomic (at least so far): that Fubuki was aware of Blast and his role in her sister’s life all along. And nonetheless, Fubuki still resented Tatsumaki, despite knowing what she went through and Blast’s role in her life. 

Keep in mind that while the manga initially (clumsily) portrayed her relationship with Tatsumaki as being similar to the webcomic, but, from a certain point on - a few chapters before this conversation, around Psykorochi’s fight - it ceased to be treated as such, and Tatsumaki’s mistreatments and oppressive role in Fubuki’s life, things that legitimized Fubuki’s attitude toward her sibling, never ended up getting addressed at all, to the point that we have to question if in the manga they actually happened. 

As a result, Fubuki retroactively comes off as a ungrateful and petty sister who holds a grudge against someone she has no reason to dislike at all (or surely not to the extent the manga previously showed). This could be an angle to rewrite their story, I guess, with a petty and one-sided rivalry posoning the sisters’ relationship, but the story never framed this sideplot as such, and there is no canon evidence that could support this headcanon claim. Actually, I would argue that there was a halfassed attempt at portraying it in the same vein of the webcomic conflict, at least on a surface level, for example, in the Do-s fight and in particular its conclusion. But then again, only on the surface because, despite the author pretending to acknowledge Fubuki’s “suffering” in this chapter, she was just rescued by Tatsumaki and the older sister was proven 100% right about Fubuki and the group (for the second time too, see the Demonic Fan scene; and, again later, with that abomination of an arc); or in the chapter we are discussing here, where Fubuki reveals how she “feared Tatsumaki”, despite the manga having gone out of its way to contradict this statement, and said fear having only been hinted and implied in the manga but never to the point of gaining actual substance like the webcomic, because we never saw why Fubuki would fear Tatsumaki and what threat she represented to her (there is no further addo or elaboration on Fubuki’s statement, because while the manga can pretend this was a thing for the character in a throwaway line, it can’t ouright make Tatsumaki dislikable and frightening for us; it’s another case of wanting a cake and eating it too), etc.; so, overall, the whole thing is the result of the authors’ absolute lack of care and direction. 

But let’s go back to the notion Fubuki knew that all along about Tatsumaki’s past: the series never provided a single hint of that before this scene. Now, I’m not saying that Fubuki should be randomly talking about Tatsumaki’s personal history, but that the authors could have indirectly alluded to that in multiple ways. For example, if this was always the plan (it wasn’t), then the ending Chapter 66 (the Do-s’ fight) could have provided the perfect occasion for this: Fubuki could have muttered some cryptic line that would have acquired sense only in the light of the chapter we are currently discussing. In general, any storytelling device of the sort would have definitely benefited the sisters conversation, providing the groundwork necessary for the resolution of what is allegedly an important sideplot; it would also have properly introduced, or, at least, underlined, the mystery of Tatsumaki’s past and her personal conflict, instead of dropping these on us at the last minute. 

In regard to Fubuki, the manga could have at least outlined a character arc that, starting with her introduction, received in this chapter its pay-off. Her story could have been all centered on learning to understand and comprehend her sister - obviously, I’m not speaking out of my preferences here, but how the manga should have played its cards given its real priorities (=shilling Tatsumaki). Let’s say that Fubuki was aware of Tatsumaki’s past but still resented her. This could have been presented back then, when she first appeared, as a defining character trait, with Fubuki refusing to accept Tatsumaki’s attitude and not understanding why Tatsumaki behaves the way she does. Over the course of the following chapters, Fubuki could have been put in Tatsumaki’s shoes and started to understand her sister’s concerns, allowing her to comprehend Tatsumaki’s reasons; this would have led Fubuki to realize how Tasumaki’s past is affecting her in the present and in what ways Blast’s advice left a scar on her soul. And then this chapter would have been the culmination of that journey, as Fubuki finally steps in the direction of her sister and crosses the gaps separating them, telling her sister she understands her and, at the same time, expressing the desire to save her. A similar rewrite would have had a semblance of what a character arc should be, instead of the bunch of nothing and meandering mess Fubuki got in the manga. Obviously, I’m not a fan of this direction either since it would be a flatout terrible use of Fubuki’s character (especially compared to her webcomic counterpart), but at least I could see the “vision” and recognize the effort, despite not agreeing with it one bit. 

The manga doesn’t even have that: Fubuki’s process of growth in regard to her sister and how she processed this information is nonexistent (once again, I discussed this previously), left entirely to the readers’ imagination. Consequently, the conversation holds no weight because it comes out of nowhere, and Fubuki has never been hinted at knowing anything about her sister’s past, and so Fubuki coming into terms with something that was not even a thing up to that point is the very definition of lazy writing. What the manga is suggesting here is beyond far-fetched and rushed, as I already covered in the previous paragraph. You can’t resolve a character arc or an interpersonal relationship if you haven’t bothered addressing it in the first place or without a proper narrative structure to back it up. 

It’s similar to how the manga handled Tatsumaki’s unwillingness to receive help from others as a result of Blast’s life advice: all this heavy and personal stuff for the character is resolved basically over the course of a single fight (actually, even before the end of it, basically the moment Genos showed up). The “development” she is experienced is comparable to pressing a switch from on to off. The sequence focus isn’t even on Tatsumaki’s inability/unwillingness to overcome these flaws - after all she accepts Geno’s help right away (aside from an obligatory single, tsundere line), and then they become best friends forever. This is the first time the character has accepted outside help since Blast, which should make for a massive turning point for the character, and yet it’s barely treated as something unusual, because there is nothing in the writing remarking this (if anything, I would argue that the reader’s outside knowledge of the character, coming from the wc and fandom discourse, is what sells this scene, more than the actual scene itself, an absolute desert of character writing). The Blast flashback (now inserted in this arc), where the roots of Tatsumaki’s distrust for others and her self-reliancy are revealed, is shown only after the fact, when the character has already cooperated with Genos. Over the course of the battle, there is no attention paid to the psychological and personal consequences this lifechanging event should have resulted on the mindframe of the character, even though it should be the centerpiece of this section of the arc. As a result, Tatsumaki’s “development” comes off as completely underooked and impersonal, because we never get an idea of the degree to which her major flaws were affecting her; and said flaws weren’t properly defined at all. 

This highlights another problem: how pampered Tatsumaki is in the remake. Tatsumaki never suffers as a result of her flaws. Instead of confronting her misdoings, the story always bends back ward to her and avoids the worst outcome for the character, who gets away with everything - if she suffers, it is to show off her rentless heroism, not as a punishment or a reality check. Case in point, the sisters conversation: instead of taking steps toward Fubuki, admitting her mistakes and earning her forgiveness for all her abuses, the manga goes the other way around, making Fubuki the one who has to bridge the void separating them because, obviously, Tatsumaki can’t be the one who should make the first move or try to make amends for her errors (after all, she never made one), but the poor victim who should be understood and apologized toward. The content of the conversation basically boils down to Fubuki essentially launching into a sentimental monologue about what a heroic and self-sacrificing hero Tatsumaki was all along, someone she didn’t understand and (undeservingly) loathed in the past. Fubuki’s 180-degree turn goes to the extent that now her life goal is to save Tatsumaki, her hero. Leaving aside how unearned, shoddy, and lame this is (the psychic sisters arc was shelved for this crap), Fubuki is implicitly blamed for their “conflict” (the manga can’t settle on whether or not this is a thing, for reasons I already stated previously). 

It’s Fubuki who has to revitalize their relationship, because she is the one who damaged it in the first place with a misplaced resentiment, not recognizing what treasure of a sister she had and how lucky she was to be Tatsumaki’s little sister. It’s almost as if the issues in the relationship didn’t come from Tatsumaki’s absolutely toxic and oppressive personality but from Fubuki never praising her sister and refusing to show empathy towards her; if Fubuki did, she would have gotten acknowledged by Tatsumaki and the relationship would have been restored long before the start of the series. 

After the insult to mankind represented by that manga arc, I’m now convinced that was what they aimed to, without having the courage to flatout express it while still portraying the whole thing as ambiguously “fair”: among the worst writing one could ever experience as a divine punishment for choosing to read that dogshit hentai shlock, there is a mind-breaking flashback where it’s shown that a toddler Fubuki attacked her poor Woobie sister, after the latter protected her. It’s frankly horrid. It reeks of amateur work, where the author has a bias he can’t hide no matter what and this ends up reducing his character pet into a shallow and unbearable snowflake. In the webcomic, Tatsumaki was constantly put in front of her less favorable traits, and she paid the consequences for all her mistakes, without the narrative making special rules specifically for her: Tatsumaki’s reckless and irresponsible actions in the MA arc gained her a humiliating defeat, resulting in an underwhelming performance during the MA arc; in the Esper Sisters arc, she endured a moral and factual defeat that forced her to leave her sister in peace, preventing Tatsumaki from further interfering in Fubuki’s life and molding her sister as she intended; Tatsumaki also saw her bias and mistrust for others crumble thanks to Saitama and the Fubuki’s group, which pushed her into meditating on these events; etc. Stuff like this is unthinkable for her manga character, basically the moral compass of the story, who never does anything wrong, and if she does, it’s hand-waved and never treated as such. 

In regard to Fubuki’s having to bridge the gap in her relationship with her sister and how Tatsumaki’s “development” is written in the manga, I want to bring up something I already mentioned in Part 1. For all the claims that Tatsumaki grew and surface level attempt at giving her a character arc, when we look at it, nearly every scene where Tatsumaki “develops” actually featured another character actively maturing, overcoming a flaw or change in general instead of her. Regardless of the quality of writing and how this process is handled, Genos and Fubuki are the ones who actively experience growth and take a step forward, whereas Tatsumaki is disconcertingly passive in comparison. She is there to simply give her acknowledgment and recognition to them. Everything is handed to her without making her face hardship and personal struggle, which is the backbone of what a character arc is supposed to be. Tatsumaki only meets physical challenges, but nothing on a deeper spiritual/psychological level for reasons I explained in Part 1. Everything bends backward toward her and the narrative is shifted in a way that whitewashes or justifies the character, while Tatsumaki is never challenged or allowed to make a mistake. It’s the result of a biased author who didn’t realize that, by making her a perfect and flawless hero, she has little character and no room for real, substantial growth. But besides the author playing favorite with what effectively feels like his OC blatantly pushed at the expense of Fubuki, the way the relationship between the sisters was handled in the remake makes no sense, especially in hindsight. 

I frankly can’t comprehend why there was a conflict to begin with and why the manga pretended the two sisters were estranged when any single addition to their story/characters completely undermined this idea. Why even put emphasis on this resolution and depict it as a big deal (though with no narrative support, as I already evidenced earlier), when you have effectively muddled this development with all stupid additions that lessen what this (horrible) moment should represent? In the manga we have seen: Fubuki and Tatsumaki shopping together just fine (meaning that Fubuki was okay spending time with her sister long before this supposed turning point), Tatsumaki rescuing Fubuki multiple times because the latter is apparently a failure and an incompetent (remember how wc Tatsumaki decided to entirely focus on re-taking total control over Fubuki’s life and kill/brutally beat up anyone close to her for way less?), Tatsumaki being correct about Fubuki and being proven right at protecting her (for the aforementioned reasons), Tatsumaki doing nothing against Fubuki’s freedom nor representing a threat to her sister (she is her savior, after all), Fubuki failing at every turn (because in the manga she is a joke and a weakling, “so funny”!) and needing to be constantly monitored like a baby, Fubuki assuring us her sister would never harm her, etc.. So, exactly, why was there any tension between the two? 

The only answer is that the manga started out following the webcomic, but by introducing elements that directly contradicted it, be it the relationship in general or the characterization of the two, the whole reason they were still depicted as distant and cold to one another ended up ceasing to make any sort of sense. In hindsight, there was no reason for the sister feud to be a thing at all in the remake. No wonder Fubuki is now considered by the vast majority of the readers nothing but a worthless fanservice/comic relief with no redeeming qualities: after all, the manga obliterated her character, treating her as a punching box while erasing basically everything that defined the original character, replacing it with whatever the hell she is in the manga. Is this how the remake did justice to webcomic Fubuki? By degrading and humiliating her into what effectively is a disgusting representation of everything wrong with female characters in manga? What an improvement, then! Frankly, it’s baffling how this hansn’t been teared apart as much as it deserves. Godawful doesn’t even start to cover this biased, dumpster fire of an adaptation. [End of the EDIT]

[EDIT: 01/07/2023/Updated: 13/07/2023] The rest of Fubuki’s “active” role in the plot (a few panels, basically) has been covered in my previous post (like in the case of the Rover fight and the Tank Top Master stuff) and the remaining moments, not examined there, are so minor that I’m ashamed to have to take these into account: they aren’t even character-related beats or plot-changing achievements, but, at best, background duties where Fubuki is employed as a glorified plot device (and most of the time even that isn’t the case). It’s incredible hard to even discuss these scenes panels, especially because most of this stuff happen off-screen and aren’t even properly shown. But let’s try this. 

First, many readers claim that Fubuki’s main contribution is to have healed the S-Class heroes: it’s not true. Fubuki only healed TankTop Master (with the help of Bomb and Pig God, by the way). Before that, TankTop Master somehow got better all by himself, going from being reduced to a minced meat corpse to looking slightly wounded (Zombieman who?). Fubuki “saved” (and with help too) someone who actually saved himself due to plot armor: incredible achievement.

Then there is the case of Nichirin (the fact I have to mention this ink-waster says plenty about the quality and quantity of Fubuki’s content): we only see Fubuki actually assisting him on a single page (a couple of panels at most that are even difficult to notice at all, such a good job Murata and ONE did at highlighting Fubuki’s actions!), the rest of the time he is basically by himself. Before Fubuki’s arrival, in fact, the samurai survived without assistence for an unholy amount of time, after being hit by a spray of corrosive acid that liquified his internal organs and half of his body, having the strength to talk to Atomic Samurai and give him his asspull sword. Later, when Fubuki is seen taking care (/doing nothing in reality, but I will get to it) of Tatsumaki, Nichirin is nowhere to be seen (Chapter 163): if Fubuki keeping Nichirin in life support was essential to his survival, he should have been there, otherwise he would have died the instant Fubuki stopped taking care of him; and yet he was nowhere to be seen and still survived. So, while the manga wants to imply that Fubuki kept him in life support and was the reason he managed to live despite his injuries, this is not true, considering how both before and after he kept going by himself. Nichirin lived out of sheer willpower and plot armor, not because Fubuki’s aid was decisive in any noticeable way. 

Lastly, for what regards Tatsumaki, the injuries she sustained in the battles didn’t pose any danger to her life (seriously, not only because of the examples mentioned above, where way more gruesome and apparently fatal wounds were brushed off as easily as mere scratches, but also given how at no point the narrative treats Tatsumaki’s conditions as an urgent matter that her life depended on immediate assistence), and Fubuki’s whatever amounted to absolutely nothing in the end, not affecting either the overall plot, the two sisters or their relationship in any way. 

This sad parade goes to show how meaningless and inconsequential Fubuki’s actions actually were: these characters all survived regardless of her and would have been fine if she wasn’t present - by the way, the page linked above in reference to Nichirin is set before the timeline split, so there is no mental gymnastics we can resort to. Fubuki didn’t accomplish anything narrative-wise here, zero at all. For any other character trivialities like these wouldn’t even be mentioned out of embarrassment of having to scratch the bottom of the barrel in order to come up with something to bring to the table, even if it turns out to be so pathetic and shallow. Their real moments of spotlight were so highlighted by the story and impactful for the overall plot that no one would dare bring up similar trifles in their cases (and in the case of these “epic Fubuki’s exploits”, it requires an unhealthy dose wishful thinking to even consider them something). The actual purpose of these moments is to push the plot forwad with the authors basically saying to the readers “Don’t worry about them, Esper Senzu Bean will take care of them offscreen. Now, watch another Centipede fight and your favorite hero, Spring Moustache, fight a Dragon Level Threat for dozens of pages!”.

The fact that “feats” and contributes like these have to be mentioned reveals how unremarkable and insignificant Fubuki’s role in the manga turned out to be, despite the fantastic precedent set by the webcomic, something that was already perfectly laid out for them - apparently by the same person who is writing both versions! 

Furthermore, the presence of a support hero in the cast gets completely undermined when we have witnessed a bunch of heroes being beaten to death only for them to bounce back to life due to pure, unbashed plot armor. After the umpteenth example of this, the reader has stopped paying attention to the conditions of the heroes and the fake-out deaths because all of them will survive/return to the action soon, so there is no need to be worried about them; consequently, what value is left to a healer if the healing is unneeded and the rest of the cast recovers basically by themselves? Besides, how can we look forward to seeing Fubuki and find her story engaging if her moments occur mostly offscreen and consist solely of healing/support instead of fighting (which, in an action series, it is 95% of the content, especially in a fighting-heavy arc like the Moster Association), and the healing-support is rendered useless by the fact every other character survives solely thanks to plot armor and without help? And this without getting into the matter that Fubuki never needed these bullshit sterotypical powers in the first place - but this was addressed in the previous post. 

Moreover, and this is the coup de grace to her relevancy and portrayal in the manga, Fubuki’s support is only and always brought up (save for one instance, the Genos chapter) as the punchline to a terrible gag - see the TankTop Master examples or the wc Garou reference - if it’s brought up at all. “Fubuki has been treated better in the manga than in the source material”, yeah, sure, totally. [END of the EDIT]

Miscellanea.

The Fubuki Group appeared in Chapter 131 among the heroes leaving the hospital and joining the fights/rescue operations, only for them to completely disappear from the manga. The B-Class only reappeared in Chapter 164  when they reunited with Fubuki, proceeded to get spooked by the world-shattering battle/sudden entrance of Garou (1, 2) and were last seen among the heroes who were kicking his ass after the Zero-Punch. They are the only heroes that never showed up during the surface battles out of all the ones leaving the hospital: the members of Tank Top Army, for example, who departed from the hospital at the same time, were helping civilians in more than one occasion, just like Sneck and Lightning Max where seen multiple times. Maybe the following chapters (or redraws) will pretend they had some sort of utility (from a storytelling perspective, I mean), but as of now, their scene in Chapter 131 was a waste of ink and the reunion with Fubuki happened in one panel as minusucle background scribbles. Sidenote, if there was any doubt left about the manga not allowing (most of) the S-Class to commit anything slightly questionable, take a look at Chapter 169 and how it portrays the S-Class: instead of them advocating for Garou’s execution, it’s a bunch of non-S-Class heroes led by Amai Mask who are willing to kill on the spot the Hero Hunter while the heroic and noble S-Class bring them back to their senses - in the original they agreed with Mask, Child Emperor included; I’m rather curious to see whether or not Murata and ONE will backtrack on this for the Esper Sisters arc.

[EDIT 26/03/2024] And since I mentioned the group, I want to talk about them as well; after all, they are an extension of Fubuki’s character.

Save for the bonus “the Struggles of the Blizzard Group”, which is an innocuous and silly chapter, and the Special “Numbers”, where they had a limited role, pretty much every single addition that featured the group has effectively turned them into the most pathetic bunch of heroes of the HA.

Even though they are presented as a gathering of elite B-Class heroes, this is made never apparent from their performances, considering how the group spend the vast majority of its screen time losing, trembling and fleeing away. In the webcomic it is mentioned that taking down a Demon Level Threat represents the upper limit of their strength; by the way, the group actually did, albeit offscreen, defeat multiple high Tiger Level Threats (perhaps even Demons, Chapter 134), and they accomplished this without feat without Fubuki’s aid. Nothing shown in the manga suggests any of that, however. In none of their battles, the members of the group ever show good teamwork, effective battle tactics and fighting prowess: they simply charge head-on at an enemy without any strategy at all, proceed to get beaten and lie powerless waiting for help. Discipline, experience and high morale? Nowhere to be found. I would say that their track record in the manga puts a big question mark on whether or not they can even handle a weak Tiger Level Threat, since they underperformed against a mere C-Class criminal.  Actual monster are out of their weight class, and any time they fought one, the B-Class got destroyed. Furthermore, in the manga, their brightest hour consists in doing chores and side-jobs, instead of hero activities.

Keep in mind that this is the same manga that wastes pages and pages on very minor characters just because the authors think it would be cool for them to have a moment of spotlight or a fight, even though none of them will have much of an impact on the overall narrative and only contribute to bloat the story. Meanwhile, side characters like the Fubuki group, who are tied to a major member of the cast, are neglected and undermined. I know it’s subjective, but I would rather have more scenes dedicated to this faction, which would give us insight on Fubuki’s leadership style and organization skills, than add a new batch of barely characterized low-ranked heroes or spend time with the Tank Top Army, a collection of gimmick overreacting cardboard cutouts out of a battle shounen.

At first, I attributed this less than favourable portrayal to the authors' criticism for factions and their tendency to represent an easier (and opportunistic) path than solo work for individual heroes, but this was proven false. The Tank Top Group, which in the webcomic is shown in a way worse light than the Fubuki Group and has underperformed pretty much every single time they were shown on a chapter, have played a major role in the events of the MA arc despite being related to a character way less important than Fubuki and having no relevant role in future events. Even the Support Team, a manga original addition, demonstrated far better coordination against the monsters despite having no prior joint training, facing well against a Dragon Level Threat. Death Gatling Team was given much more space and more time to shine than the Fubuki group, as well: the rag tag team of heroes with different backgrounds demonstrated remarkable strategy and group work against Garou. The Fubuki Group never received even half of this amount of care or thought put in the pages dedicated to them.

Funny how the group said to have excellent teamwork, discipline and commitment to their leader shows worse coordination and morale than characters who have never fought together and never trained for joint combat.   

Adding salt to the wound, manga original characters like Glasses and Needle Star, who are ex-members of the Fubuki Group, have only gotten better since they left the group, proving how Fubuki’s leadership in the manga is actually detrimental and harmful to her subordinates. They both received more screentime and focus than the all members of the group combined, and the authors are clearly using them as a counterpoint to Fubuki’s group, illustrating how better they have become since they stopped following Fubuki. As a proof of this, in a bonus chapter Eyelashes witnesses Glasses’ progress and envies his freedom and strength, lamenting his own afflilation to a group. The criticism for Fubuki couldn’t be more explicit than this. Fascinating how, out of the bunch, the only two depicted positively and sympathetically are the ones who left the group.

The manga pays lip service to Fubuki’s leader talent, but, as you can see, it’s actually disparaging her inclination on every occasion and celebrating those who choose to leave her and find their way. If Fubuki was actually a good leader or had the “makings” of one, tangible proof of this would have been shown in more than one scene and would have been substatinal, demonstrating how she has a talent to organize, inspire and lead people - instead of a coupe of generic acts of heroism drown and undermined by endless instances of Fubuki acting incompetently and being humiliated. By the way, the webcomc sells this idea and explains eloquently why people would gather under her banner; I will talk about this later.

The lack of camaraderie, unity or loyalty shouldn’t surprise, given that, in the manga, the majority of the group consists of low ranked heroes coerced into joining the faction. This doesn’t make for a motivated bunch, much less a competent fighting force. Going by Glasses experiences, new members don’t benefit from the group and their progress gets stalled, resulting in demotivated and unfulfilled new recruits. And those who don’t follow the group policy are kicked out, like Needle Star.

As for Fubuki, she doesn’t seem particularly concerned, given how her idea to improve the group is spending their funds on a new auto, and other triviliaties. The fundamental flaws of the organization are never acknowledged by her nor the repeated failures have led Fubuki to reconsider her strategies, but to seemingly persevere in her shortcomings.

In the webcomic, the picture is quite different.

First of all, the group is not held together by fear. The members follow Fubuki out of their own volition, willingly staying due to loyalty and gratitude toward their beloved leader. Their commitment and dedication to the cause is such that they would risk their lives for Fubuki without hesitation, as the Esper Sisters arc demonstrates. Against someone like Tatsumaki, the group decided to fight despite having no chance to win and with the likely outcome to die, all in the name of Fubuki; worth noting is that previously Fubuki disbanded the group and told them to leave, and so nothing prevented them to ditch her and go for their way. This wouldn’t make any sense if these people were forced into the group or stayed solely because they were afraid of personal repercussions. If anything, the occasion represented the perfect opportunity to show how frail and unstaible a group whose foundations lie on prevarications and violence ultimately is, but ONE went into the opposite direction and revealed how the group, instead of bullies and opportunists, is formed by loyal and devoted underlings who believe in Fubuki and fight for for her against all odds, tied to her by a real and profound bond.

Too bad the manga decided to ignore this, and so we get the Team Rocket.

So, considering all of the above, the narrative the manga presents to us is the following: Fubuki is a bad leader who puts at risk the lives of her underlings all the time and meets failures on daily basis; she seems be holding back her subordinates and preventing them to grow, as the examples of Glasses and Needle Star confirm; she is mismanaging the organization and has done nothing concreto to fix its issues, but keeps repeating them time and time again. Is this same character the manga later pretends to paint as a potentially great leader in her only moment of spotlight? 

Thinking about it, Tank Top Master is leaps and bounds a better and more inspiring leader than Fubuki has ever been portrayed in the manga, and so are many other “non-leader” characters. [End of the EDIT]

Always in Chapter 169 Saitama states he is grateful to Garou for having saved both Genos and King: in the webcomic, it was Fubuki the one showing up there and basically saving anyone (Chapter 74).

Nitpick: In her last appearance in the webcomic MA arc, Fubuki rescued Fang from the boulders trapping him; manga Fubuki’s last appearance has her collapsing over her sister while King, who in the wc asked Fubuki to lend him a hand at helping Fang (because he couldn’t do it), heroically protects them both from the radioactive rain. 

Conclusions (for now).

With all that being said, I don’t want to change anybody’s opinion on the character or “taint” their enjoyment of the series. With these posts, I simply hope to dispel some misconceptions regarding Fubuki and also reflect on the state of the character in the manga.

Now that the arc has concluded, I can safely say that Fubuki's treatment in the remake has been an all-around disappointment and that she is one of the characters that lost the most going from webcomic to manga.

Fubuki has been degraded from being a major player to a comic relief mostly ornamental to the scenes she takes part in. What makes this even more frustrating is Fubuki’s original involvement in the MA arc. She was one of the heroes who did the most during the battles, and she was intrinsically tied to the narrative of the arc and its themes. Now? Something that can’t be said anymore. Characters that barely did anything or that weren’t even present in the original got more screen time and flashy battle scenes/heroic moments than her (really anyone, from Tanktop Master to the Support Team, Spring Moustache, the Samurais, Metal Bat, Drive Knight, etc.), which is absurd in itself, even without taking into account how badly Fubuki has been written and used in the manga compared to the webcomic. 

Her character clearly fulfills a completely different narrative purpose and, consequently, the manga reserves her a completely different treatment, from a member of the main cast with an active and important role to play (and one of the few developed characters with an ongoing character arc) to a background entity who shows up every now and then mostly for lighthearted moments - that, or on the front page of a chapter. The personality of the character, her personal storyline, her struggles were all erased because the authors clearly didn’t want her to get in the way of her sister’s popularity, reducing Fubuki to this husk of a character. It’s as if Murata and ONE went all “Carthago delenda est” on the character.

At this point, if somehow the manga started adapting the webcomic 1:1 again, following Fubuki’s original webcomic characterization and masterfully enhancing her original scenes to further heights (like a perfect adaptation of Fubuki vs. Psykos) or if it came up with new memorable and interesting developments, that wouldn’t still erase what came before, nor would it repair the damage already done. Now, even if Fubuki fights Psykos it will either be an unsatisfying adaptation that won’t do any justice to the original battle or an unbelievable and jarring confrontation with no build-up. The only way to effectively “fix” this mess would be to rewrite the vast majority of the scenes involving Fubuki and to remove entire portions of the remake, which obviously can’t be done. The problem isn’t that the remake is not following the original, but the fact that manga Fubuki has a nonsensical and contradictory character arc (if this unintelligible mess can even be qualified as a “character arc”) that occurs largely off-screen; it’s a mess regardless of whether or not you take into account the webcomic. Remake Fubuki is, at best, a collection of female battle shounen tropes badly put together and, at worst, something out of a fanfiction (written by someone with a clear bias and favorites) or a dōjinshi even before having anything to do with the original character.

Adding flaws to a character is not an issue per se; if anything, this is what often makes them tridimensional. In the case of Fubuki, though, the manga has retooled the character with an endless catalog of flaws, to the point of changing moments or elements to disparage her, whereas the rest of the cast, save a few, got their flaws erased for a more positive portrayal. If any other character virtues get conflated and overblown, bordering on absurd, Fubuki has any of her merits and redeeming qualities robbed from her or turned against her in the most humiliating and vilifying ways.

As for the chance of Fubuki vs. Psykos still happening: if somehow Psykos escapes and plays the role of the villain (again), Fubuki will have to deal with what actually is Tatsumaki’s defeated leftover and not the Dragon Level Esper at the top of her game, leader of an organization of powerful monsters capable of posing a threat to the HA and its heroes - if not, then it will be the Monster Association arc all over again sans Garou. And considering how much Psykos has contributed to drag the MA arc with a multitude of new forms and power-ups in her interminable battle against Tatsumaki, re-using Psykos in the future for another esper duel could be quite exhausting and repetitive at this point. Moreover, with Fubuki and Psykos disregarding each other for the entirety of the arc, any chance at a good build-up has been squandered. This sideplot is so far in the “blink and do you miss it” territory that by the time it gets reasumed, it will be quite past its hour, especially because the few allusions to it were suffocated and overshadowed by the myriad of other storylines the authors clearly gave priority to. How Murata and ONE intend to progress this sideplot and write Fubuki in the future, given the treatment she has received so far, only time will tell. I’m also quite perplexed at the choice of “moving” (?) the battle into the aftermath of the Monster Association arc, considering what follows it. Hopefully, this time they planned something better for Fubuki, though that will still have to stand over the extremely wonky and frail foundations of 100+ chapters of a poorly handled character (and that’s being generous).

Similarly, with Tatsumaki and Fubuki getting along and Tatsumaki being depicted as the perfect sister, the Esper Sisters arc lost its central conflict and its raison d’être. To be honest, this arc could have never worked in the manga after additions like Demonic Fan and Do-s, chapters where Fubuki had to be saved by Tatsumaki because she was totally overwhelmed by her opponents. But with the Monster Association arc, Tatsumaki getting whitewashed and the conversation between the sisters, any lingering chance for this arc was utterly shattered.

With the manga following a different route (both in relation to Fubuki and the series in general), I truly don’t know what ONE wants to do with the character and the prolonged absence of Fubuki in the wc (save three pages last year) doesn’t help either, making her future in the series unclear. And, obviously, there is always the possibility that manga original stuff could leak into the webcomic, as unfortunate as that may sound. With the manga having effectively destroyed anything that made Fubuki unique, compelling and interesting (even esthetic-wise, she is basically a moe-blob ecchi escapee nowadays), perhaps as a way to not take away the limelight from certain characters, I wonder if this is indicative of Fubuki’s future in the webcomic: maybe, despite all the seemingly hanging plotlines involving her and the importance and focus she got in the past, Fubuki will not play any role or won’t have an active part in ongoing and future arcs; if that’s true, it would be a shame and a total waste of this character. With that being said, if instead wc Fubuki gets a well-written and satisfying progression and conclusion to her story, that will be enough to make me forget the massive disappointment the manga turned out to be.

*I’m adding this page purely because Psykos is mentioning Fubuki, but to tell the truth, it’s generic threat to Fubuki #184 prompting a Tatsumaki cool sister moment down the line.

**I maintain that if the manga committed to the leadership thing for real and wanted to convince us of the believability of it, then Fubuki should have come up with a plan and organized the S-Class in order to protect her sister/defeat JetPsykorochi. That was the perfect “testing ground” for her “vocation”, I think.

***At the time, I liked that chapter for what it was, albeit with reserves, but if I knew that was basically it for Fubuki in the arc, then my opinion would have been entirely different.

[darthkruge]

Kai Parker Imagine ~ Ignored

Summary: You’re Elena’s sister and are feeling pretty alone and ignored in Mystic Falls. One day, you meet a stranger who happens to understand.

Warnings: language, like one small innuendo, fluff :)

Words: 2024

She promised. She promised today she’d finally spend some time with me. It’s not that you need your sister’s attention everyday. Truly, you’re fine being on your own. You’ve gotten used to it over the years. But she cancelled the last three times to spend time with her boyfriend, Damon, instead. Again, you get it. You know she loves him. You know she’d probably prefer to spend her time with him and not you. But she promised and broke it again, blowing me off last minute.

That’s how you ended up here. Alone, in your house, on a Saturday night, staring at your refrigerator trying to pick out which leftover to reheat. You know what? Fuck it, I’m not just going to sit here alone. 

You pull out your cell phone, dialing Caroline’s number. 

“Hello!” The chipper blonde’s voice answers after the first ring

“Hey, Care! I was wondering if you wanted to grab some dinner at the Grill. Elena’s out with Damon again and I’m bored”. 

“Oh shit, y/n, I’m sorry but Stefan is like two blocks away and I was going to introduce him to The Notebook. Maybe another time? And Bonnie might be free, you should call her”

You sigh, “Yeah, alright. Thanks anyway. Send pics if he ends up crying”

She laughs “Of course, babe. Goodnight”

“Goodnight!” You say, hanging up the phone. 

You lean back against the counter, sighing. You know it’s not that deep, all your friends are in relationships and you aren’t, it’s a given that they’ll be busy on Saturdays. But you had a really fucking stressful week and you just didn’t want to spend another night alone. 

You decide it’s worth a shot, try Bonnie

“Hey! How are you”

You smile, relieved she answered. “I’m okay, kinda bored, though. You wanna meet at the Grill and get food? I haven’t eaten yet and wasn’t sure if you had plans…” 

“Sorry Y/N, I’ve actually been trying to perfect this spell from the grimoire all day and I’m exhausted. I swear, if I wasn’t so drained I would” 

Shit, she was trying to learn that tracking spell today!! I should have remembered! “Oh, of course, Bon! Don’t worry about it. Get some rest and take care of yourself!” 

“Thanks, you too!”

“Goodnight! Make sure to drink water”

Bonnie laughs, “You’ve always been the mom of the group. Goodnight” 

You hang up the phone and put it down, placing your head in your hands. Another night in, it is. You go back to trying to pick out dinner and realize that you might as well go to the Grill and pick up some food, anyway. You still have to eat and, to be honest, talking about the restaurant has given you a serious craving for their fries. You decide to order on your phone to make the trip as quick as possible. 

You get in the car, driving there, and see lots of people talking and eating together. Dejected, you try and keep your emotions in check as you get out of the car. You did not want to lose it at the Mystic Grill. The stress was just getting to you. You had exams this week and were studying non-stop, and after not being able to hang out and your sister ignoring and choosing her boyfriend over you, you were pretty fucking frustrated. Just a little bit more, then you can have the food and just go home.

Walking inside, you see Elena and Damon in the corner booth, smiling and laughing. You smile, happy for them. They really worked well together and after everything your family has gone through, you wanted your sister to be happy. She truly deserved it. You just sometimes wished the universe saved some happiness for you. You’d never been in a relationship, never had someone like you back. Sure, you didn’t need a relationship and you weren’t desperate by any means, but it would be nice on nights like this. 

“Order for Y/N,” You say, walking up the bar

“Yup, it’ll be ready in just a few minutes” the server replies

You smile and nod, pulling out your phone to check if you have any messages. None. Your heart drops a bit. You didn’t expect any, but it just feels like the day is compiling onto itself. Tears start to well up again and you lean your head against the wall, trying to force them back. 

“Hey, you okay?” You hear

You turn to look at the man who spoke to you and holy shit, he’s pretty cute. You wipe the tears from your eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” You add a strained laugh at the end, hoping it helps him realize you aren’t completely insane. 

He doesn’t look impressed, rather amused by your poor attempt to hide your emotions. “You sure, gorgeous? Because, not to be rude, but you don’t look it”

“I am, I swear. It’s stupid, just a bad day. Just, everything on top of everything else,” You say, gesturing with your hands

“Yeah. I know what you mean. I’m Kai, by the way”

“Y/N” You say, shaking his hand. 

You’re broken from your thoughts by the server returning with your food. “Here you go, Ms. l/n” 

“Thank you!” You take the bag and smile

“Mr. Parker, yours will be out in just a second”

“Alright, thanks” Kai says, turning back to you

“So,” He starts, “I would ask you how your day has been, but I think I got a pretty good idea”

You laugh. “Yeah, I think this,” You say, gesturing to your face and appearance, “pretty much sums it up. But what about you? You had a better experience in this world today?”

“Well, good days, bad days. It’s all relative. But I guess you could say this one is looking up. I met someone recently. Beautiful, (h/l) (h/c) hair, about this tall” He says, holding his arm to just above your eye level.

“She seems lovely. You should introduce me”

Kai laughs and takes his food that’s now ready.

“So, you wanna get out of here?”

You take a step back, wondering who the hell could be so goddamn forward

“Sorry! Poor wording. I wasn’t talking about that. But I mean… if you’re game…?” 

You look at him, glaring but still clearly having a joking look in your eyes

He laughs and holds his hands up in mock-surrender. “Sorry, again, sweetheart. I just meant there’s a nice little lookout area nearby. I know the sun has already set, but it’s where I like to go to look at the stars.”

You notice that he gets a bit of a faraway look in his eyes that you know all too well. Perhaps he’s the perfect person for you to spend this evening with. 

“Sure, lead the way” You say. I mean, cute guy, possibly safe, why the hell not?

He quickly takes your hand and leads you out of the Grill. You try to catch Elena’s eye on your way out, but she doesn’t notice you. Kai, however, does. You see him look at your fallen expression and frown, following your gaze to your sister, then back to you. You shake it off, though, and smile back at him, continuing to walk to the exit. 

You walk a few blocks, talking about everything and, yet, nothing of immense importance. You missed just spending time with someone. Someone who wasn’t preoccupied or just hanging out with you because their first choice was busy. You missed the banter and the fun and feeling of freedom. You hated being in that house. You always felt so trapped there. Because even though, yeah, you could technically leave, you couldn’t do anything. You were still alone. 

He lets go of your hand to climb up onto this rock, then holds out his hand to help you do the same. Smiling, you open your food and begin to eat, him doing the same. You look into his eyes, smiling even more. Something about this boy just makes you happy. You don’t know why, I mean, you’ve just met him. But there’s just something about him.

He clears his throat, smiling right back at you, “So, do you wanna talk about it?”

“Um, I- I don’t know” 

“It’s okay if you don’t,” Kai says, stealing one of your fries, “But if you do, you can. I’ve been told I’m a good listener”

“Yeah, okay, yeah. That might be nice”

You start retelling the story of your sister and friends, all in relationships. He nods, knowingly. “I just, I’m glad they’re happy. I really am. Please, I need to make sure you know that. I want them to be happy. But I just wish they’d sometimes check in on me. I’m tired. I don’t want to be the only one alone,” Your voice breaks and you pause, a few tears running down your cheeks, “I don’t want to feel like without me doing all the work, I wouldn’t have a relationship with them. I just wish, at least once, they’d ditch their boyfriends and just get dinner with me”

You look at him, realizing he’s frowning and you start to back-track. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I know it’s not a big deal. Like, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that important. I was just having a bad day, I didn’t mean to like unload my trauma and abandonment issues on you, I’m sorry-”

He cuts you off, gently. “Breathe, sweetheart. It’s okay. I’m not mad at or upset with you. I just know the feeling all too well. Loneliness sucks, huh?”

You laugh, relieved you didn’t scare him away. “You can say that again”

“I am sorry about your friends. And you sister. I assume that was the one you were staring at back there?”

“Yeah, that’s her”

“Hm. I get it.” He says and you just know he does. There’s something about being abandoned and feeling alone in your own family that people may sympathize with, but they never really get it unless they felt it first-hand. 

You lean in, kissing him. He kisses you back and, shit, it feels good. You haven’t been close to a person in so long that when he puts his hand against your cheek, you involuntarily start crying. 

“Oh, I’m sorry! I thought-” He starts, pulling away

“No, no, no, Kai, it’s not you. I just wasn’t used to someone being there with me. It was just a bit overwhelming. But it’s not you at all. It felt incredible” Great, now not only does he know you’re lonely and sad, but also that you’re touch starved. Awesome.

Kai gently pulls you back to him, kissing you again. He wraps his arms around you, deeping the embrace and you do the same. You kiss him, only breaking apart when your head is swimming with the need for air. 

After a while, you both pull back and he rests his forehead against yours. You gently move your head and put it on his shoulder, his arm coming around you. You wrap yours around him as well, looking up at the stars, a goofy smile on your face. 

“Well, I defer to you, gorgeous. But if you ever need a break from the loneliness, I’m here. I know I can’t make it all better or anything. That hole from your family and friends is impossible to make go away forever. But I like to think I can possibly shrink it a bit. Or at least take away a bit of your pain” He says, looking at you deeply.

“Yeah, I think that could work,” You say, leaning in and kissing once more. You then gesture toward the stars and he follows your gaze. You spend the night staring at the galaxy, as if it’s just the two of you, and you know that you finally have someone in your corner. Someone who would pick you first. It’s a terrifying feeling that you’re not used to and, frankly, neither is he. But if he’s willing to try, so am I.

[twelveseyebrows]

Hormones 12th Doctor x Reader

You sat outside a small French cafe, basking in the warm afternoon sun. Despite it being midday, you had just woken up in the T.A.R.D.I.S and were still in your sleepwear. Unfortunately The Doctor refused to let you bring your coffee machine aboard the T.A.R.D.I.S, he keep mumbling something about fake adrenaline rushes and being replaced by a machine. You couldn’t function without caffeine in your system so you made a deal, The Doctor had tontake you somewhere different every morning for you to get your fix. Today, The Doctor had taken you to Paris, 2024.

The barista had just delivered you your coffee and a banana muffin for the two of you to share. You thanked her politely before grabbing your coffee and taking a sip, the liquid was quite hot and burned your throat a little but it was extremely delicious. Your eyes fluttered shut as a moan escaped your lips, this was perfect. You opened your eyes to see The Doctor hadn’t touched the muffin, opting instead to fiddle with his sleeves as he avoided eye contact.

“Something wrong?” You asked, leaning back in your chair and taking another sip, another satisfied noise coming from your throat. The Doctors face burned as he stumbled over his words, a very rare occasion for the Timelord. He ended up just wildly geasturing towards you before turning his face towards the muffin and feigning interest in that.

Confused and mildly curious, okay, very curious, you looked down at yourself wondering what was making The Doctor act so odd. At that moment you remembered that you were still in your sleepwear, a pair of light blue plaid bottoms and a black singlet, was he embarrassed to be seen with you in public dressed like this? You looked around to see that you were indeed getting many stares and judgmental looks. You put your head down in shame, a little embarrassed at your lack of manners in front of The Doctor. You saw the barista from earlier at a nearby table, you got her attention and beckoned her over.

“Hello, could we please get these to go?” You asked politely, gesturing to your coffee and the untouched muffin. The barista smiled sweetly at you as she picked up the items, nodding.

“Finals?” She laughed as she made a pointed look towards you clothes. You felt a blush rise to your cheek.

“Something like that.” You mumbled sheepishly as you avoided eye contact with her. She laughed a little before disappearing into the cafe. You turn you view back in front of you to see The Doctor staring at you quizzically. “What?” You mumbled defensively, crossing your arms. He didn’t say anything, just threw his arms up in a mock surrender. You cracked a small smile, he was an idiot.

“There you go.” The barista annouced as she placed your coffee, now in a foam travel mug, and your bagged muffin on the table. You thanked her “Now, before you leave would you or your Granfather like anything else?” She smiled, looking between The Doctor and Yourself.

“Grandfather!” You and The Doctor both exclaimed in shock.

Before you could stop yourself, you felt a small bubble of laughter escape your throat, as soon as he heard it The Doctor sent you an absolutely murderous expression. You quickly sealed your lips but it didn’t stop tiny giggles slipping.

“I’m not her grandfather.” The Doctor snapped, picking up the muffin bag and stomping off towards were he had parked the T.A.R.D.I.S.

“Sorry about him, he’s, Uh, sensitive?” You stuttered out before grabbing your foam mug and chasing after The Doctor.

By the time you had gotten back to the T.A.R.D.I.S The Doctor was sitting on the second level of the console room, angrily biting into the muffin.

“You know, we were supposed to share that right?” You called out to him, he ignored you and made a point of biting into whilst making eye contact. “Okay, damn, it’s yours.” You frowned as you realised your coffee had gone warm, almost cold. Sighing, you removed the plastic lid and downed the rest of the drink.

It was beautifully creamy and warm, it seemed the nice barista had added a little bit of chocolate topping powder when she transferred it over. Removing the cup from your mouth you let out a loud moan, best coffee ever. The Doctor suddenly sat straight up in his seat and stared at you with wide eyes, it was that look again.

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?” You groaned out, you knew you were whining but you had only woken up less than an hour ago, you were still in your PJs! The Doctor just once again geastured to you wildly. “Okay, I’m getting dressed, sheesh.” You stomped your way down the hallway towards roughly where you remember the closet being. You walked into the massive closest and started to look around before halting to a stop, you had no idea when or where you were going today.

“Doctor!” You called out as loud as you could. You waited a few minutes and couldn’t hear anything, you yelled out once more but nothing. “Damnit.” You grumbled before just opting for a nice pair of black jeans and hoodie, you’d change again later if you had too. You looked around for a changing room before literally smacking yourself on the forehead. “It’s a closet not a mall.”

Throwing the clothes over the railing you stripped down into your under wear, ready to change. Just as you bent over to place you foot in the leg hole, you heard the door open.

“Sorry, [Y/N], The T.A.R.D.I.S was being stubborn, I couldn’t find the wardrobe.” The Doctor laughed as he walked into the room. You froze on the spot, a small voice in the back of your mind screaming at you to cover up but you couldn’t seem to move your muscles. The Doctor finally looked up, his reaction similiar to yours, shock. None of you dared to move or speak, it wasn’t until you notice The Doctor’s eyes slowly drop down from your face and take in your body, that you seemed to come to your sense.

“Get out!” You screamed, using you jeans in a vain attempt to cover your body. The Doctor jumped at your loud command and quickly scurried out the room, a blush on his face. After you had gotten dressed you wait in the wardrobe for as long as possible, before finally sucking it up and walking back towards the console room.

You walked out of the console room to find The Doctor at the controls, his eyes glaring holes into the keypad. “Doctor?” You awkwardly called, but he ignored you. Frustrated you storm up to the taller man and grip his shoulder tightly. “Stop ignoring me.” You yelled as you roughly turned him around. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” He finally snapped, still refusing to look at you. You growled in frustration, leaning closer to his face, trying your hardest to appear threatening.

“Stop lying.”

The Doctor started to try and get out of your grip, he managed to shake your hand of his shoulder and started to side step away from you. Thinking fast you pressed your whole body against his, pushing him back against the console, successfully trapping him.

“Please.” You begged, starting to get upset, you feel like you’ve been bugging him all day.

The Doctors breath hitched as his face started to go red, suddenly that expression from earlier was back on his face.

“[Y/N] move.” The Doctor warned as he tried to push you back, “personal space, you know I don’t like physical contact.” Deciding to be a brat and annoying him, you wrapped your arms around him and pressed your bodies together more.

“You mean like this?” You laughed into his chest, your smile instantly dropping when you heard The Doctor let out a hiss followed my a low moan. You body froze suddenly becoming super aware of your two bodies flushed together, expecially when you felt THAT between you. “Holy shit.” You cursed as you jumped back from the Timelord. He quickly turned himself around so you couldn’t see his front, he leaned over the console and banged his head against the column in the centre.

“All day.”

“What?” You stuttered out.

“You’ve been taughting me all day, first with the SOUNDS you made drinking your coffee, to the wardole incident, t-to..” he stuttered, “that!” He gulped out, half turning around to gesture to the spot they just were.

“I didn’t think you’d..” You trailed off, weakly trying to defend yourself.

“I know I’m not human, [Y/N], but male hormones are pretty universal.” With that The Doctor walked straight out the console room and down the corridor, to do god knows what. Your face heating up even thinking of the possibilities.

[shownuslaugh]

Birthday: Donghae

Series: Super Junior 14th Member AU

Pairing: Minnie/Donghae

2024

             Donghae loves Heechul.

             Donghae loves Minnie.

             Donghae loves his son.

             What he doesn’t love is the pit in his stomach that appears every single time he sees the three of them standing together. Because when they’re together, Donghae sees what could’ve been. He sees the family and life Minnie could’ve had if even the slightest thing had been different. He sees what Heechul is trying so desperately to have. He sees every single thing he could lose in the blink of an eye and it makes him sick to his very core. Imagining his life without Minnie, without Jonghyun, sends the darkest, most primal fear through him he’s ever felt.

             “Fishy!” The sound of Minnie’s voice, light and happy, brings him back to reality. “Everyone’s gone now. Heechul just left.”

             “Mmm.”

             She tilts her head to the side, sliding her hands up his chest. “What’s the matter?”

             “Where’s Jonghyun?”

             “With Sungmin and Naeun, remember? They asked if they could take him for the night so he and Hoseok could play more together.” Minnie gives him a concerned look. “Did you really forget?”

             Donghae’s head falls forward to look at Minnie’s small, delicate hands on his chest. He wraps his fingers around her wrists, brows furrowing. “There for a second… I thought he might’ve gone home with Heechul.”

             Minnie laughs. “Don’t be an idiot. I would never send our son home alone with Heechul.”

             “Our son.” He repeats the words, growing angrier by the second. He can’t explain it, can’t really figure it out, but something in him keeps telling him to lash out at Minnie. Something keeps telling him to accuse her of the worst things. Things like: “You mean Heechul’s son.”

             The smile drops from Minnie’s face in the blink of an eye. She tries to pull her hands away from Donghae, but he doesn’t let her. “What the actual hell is that supposed to mean, Lee Donghae? Are you actually letting Heechul’s bullshit go to your head?”

             “Why shouldn’t I?”

             “Because you know better!” This time Minnie succeeds in breaking free of her husband’s grasp. “You know I would never-”

             “But you have!”

             “What?”

             Donghae feels his eyes welling with tears. “2020. Four years ago.”

             “What are you talking about?” Minnie honestly can’t remember.

             “You kissed him. You kissed him and told him you would cheat on me with him. You’d stay with me during the day and go to him at night, remember? Lots of things happen at night, Jimin. How do I know Jonghyun wasn’t one of those things?”

             Minnie takes a few steps back. Her eyes are wide and her mouth hangs open in disbelief. “Donghae… I thought we were past that. I came to you the second it happened and told you everything! Heechul and I didn’t talk for years after that! I did every single thing I could to prove to you I regretted it and did every single thing I could to make it up to you!”

             Donghae wipes at his eyes. “Maybe none of it worked! Maybe in the back of my mind I’ve been waiting for the day you say fuck it and go back to him!”

             “Have you?”

             He can’t look her in the eyes as he says, “yes.”

             The sound Minnie makes has Donghae crying even more. “If that’s how you really feel then why marry me? Why did you have a son with me, Donghae? Both of those things are lifetime commitments and you should never agree if you’re uncertain!”

             “Because I’m an idiot who doesn’t care! I don’t care that you’re fucking Heechul or that Jonghyun could be his! All I care about is the fact I have you and he doesn’t.” He knows the second it comes out that he phrased it wrong. He doesn’t mean it the way it sounded, but Minnie gives him no time to correct himself. She storms off to their bedroom and Donghae follows after her. “Jimin, what are you doing.”

             She doesn’t answer. Instead, she drags a suitcase out of the closet and puts it on the bed. She slowly packs a bag, folding each piece of clothing with care, stopping every so often to wipe away the tears. Donghae repeats her name over and over, desperate for any kind of response.

             “Minnie… what are you doing?” Donghae grabs her wrist and pulls her flush against his chest. She refuses to look him in the eyes.

             “What does it look like?”

             “You’re leaving me.”

             She looks up slowly and there’s nothing but fire in her eyes. “No. I’m not leaving you.”

             “Then why are you packing?”

             “Because you’re leaving.”

             Donghae looks down. The suitcase is filled with his shirts and pants. “What? You’re kicking me out?”

             “If you don’t want to be here, you shouldn’t be.” Minnie closes it and zips it up in one smooth movement. “I would rather raise Jonghyun on my own than with a father who has some crazy notion he isn’t actually the father.”

             “I’m not leaving.” Donghae pushes the suitcase away when she shoves it toward him.

             “Then what do we do, Donghae? Do you want a paternity test? Huh? Do you want to put your son through something like that just so your ego-”

             Donghae holds up a hand. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m not leaving because you are. And you can take Heechul’s son with you.”

             Minnie’s lower lip quivers and Donghae feels awful. He thought voicing all this would lift a weight off his chest. Instead, he just feels like a bastard. He isn’t even thinking anything he says through. He’s just saying it.

             “Do you really want us to leave?” Minnie’s voice is soft when she asks him.

             “I want…” To take back every single word. To drop to his knees and apologize because Minnie is the love of his life and he knows he’s being ridiculous and unfair. “I want time to figure all of this out.”

             “To figure what out?”

             “All of this.”

             “You mean us. Our life. You have to figure out if you want the life we’ve built together.” Minnie pulls her hand away from Donghae.

             No. “Yes.”

             “Well I really hope you figure it out soon.”

             She packs quickly and efficiently. In less than twenty minutes, Donghae is standing at the front door watching his wife get in an Uber with two suitcases. One filled with her own things. The other filled with their son’s things. The anger he felt when he started the fight comes rushing back as one thought enters his mind: she’s most likely off to Heechul’s.

             Why can’t Heechul just fuck off and leave them alone? Why can’t Donghae stop being jealous? Why did he start that god damn fight in the first place? Why doesn’t he run after his wife and beg her for forgiveness?

             But…

             The way Minnie left so easily and without much of a fight makes him wonder.

             Maybe they weren’t meant to be after all.