#I’ve seen enough footage to be certain of that

[ladysophiebeckett]

need awards season to be over soon so i don’t have to see posts like this anymore.

[goblinhoursinsomniaramblings]

I Know Those Eyes, Part 1

one dramatic in-universe reveal per chapter, let's go!

writing based purely on vibes, but i do have an actual plot brewing.

@grimdarling69 made more feel free to dm things you might want different

Prologue here

Tim had been the first to see the shape of his family’s future collective stress nightmares.

He’d been right there, after all. He had been asleep in the Batcave when Damian had decided to… he’d been right there, waking up to a single chance, loud noise Damian normally would have never made, with a chance to stop him, bring him to the others, talk it out, find a solution to whatever Luthor had been planning with concentrated Lazarus water. But he hadn’t woken up fast enough.

He had nightmares about that night for years. Sometimes, he knows exactly what’s going to happen and lets it happen anyway. Sometimes, he gets Damian to promise he’ll talk it out, only for him to run when Tim’s back is turned. The worst are the ones where he stops him, and everything works out for the best, and Tim wakes up and remembers what actually happened. Sometimes, he wakes up after getting to see Damian grow up, take on a new mantle, and haze a new Robin.

He always dismissed those dreams as filtering a fresh wave of grief through his knowledge of forensic analysis. He’d seen both Talia and Bruce, therefore he could map rough predictions of what he would grow up to look like, once he hit various milestones. It was all academic, since he would never get the chance to prove what he would have… been.

At least up until Oracle called him to verify something.

(“Red Robin, I need a judgment call.”

“A judgment call? Seriously? What exactly is stopping you from sending this to–”

“Luthor might be alive again. Check the footage I’ve sent you.”)

And… sure enough… here Tim was, three cups of coffee into an all-nighter, manually highlighting every shot in the security camera footage he’d been sent of a visiting CEO of a new tech startup that showed the man’s features. Which, actually, weren’t a lot, but once he started going through them all–yeah, that was Luthor alright. Same build, same face, the only thing that son of a bitch did was grow hair.

Like that wouldn’t have been the first disguise anyone who saw Lex Luthor would have suggested. Hair! Long, practically a lion’s mane of the stuff, tied into a low ponytail, with one of those chin beard things to hide the shape of his face more! All of it silvered by age and possible Lazarus contamination, and he hated that Luthor might purposely be affecting a ‘silver fox’ look.

And the worst part is it would have worked if anyone had removed him from the high priority list for being flagged for recognition. Tim almost had, but… Lazarus water. A mysterious death around concentrated Lazarus water. And apparently he had been, once again, completely right!

Tim had been furious by the time he’d combed through enough angles of his face getting out of a sleek black car to confirm, without a doubt, who he was. But then, the passenger side door had opened. All his anger had become shock. His hands shook as he opened a different, far more heavily encrypted profile.

Damian Wayne, priority 0.

Almost nothing came back an exact match, of course. The growth between 14 and 18 would have affected every feature, and the footage wasn’t nearly good enough to lift a retinal pattern or fingerprint from a distance (he noted the black gloves and mirrored shades blocking both), not to mention forensic prediction wasn’t an exact science, and beyond all of that, he could be totally wrong and Luthor was hauling out a clone, or a doppelgänger-

But as each feature lined up in his predictive model, as he watched the young man get out, brusquely close his door, and fall in at Luthor’s side without a word, a (surprisingly slight, far closer to Talia than Bruce) shadow falling into his wake like it was old habit, Tim felt certain he was right. He was certain he had dreamed of a world where Damian lived long enough to have that exact face. He called Oracle back.

“Hey, Oracle? I need a judgment call.”

***

It had taken minutes for Vlad and Danny to begin calling each other by their original names again. It had taken far longer, however, to get back to a familiar dynamic.

Oh, in the short term, it hadn’t been a problem at all. However, it was simply a matter of fact they had both led very different lives before remembering who they were meant to be. Vlad’s disgust at who he had been had colored much of his early days reclaiming his ghost half, and Daniel…

A childhood as a trained assassin had not been kind on the boy. Parts of Damian Al Ghul had needed to be chipped away over these last few years, most especially the fear of the League of Assassins that still hummed through him. Thankfully, Vlad had some help on that front and oh flaky pastry he was smiling again-

Though on second thought he supposed a warm and fatherly smile would help distance himself from ‘Lex’ Luthor. Yes, Lionel Vladimir Luthor, CEO and founder of VladCo, would be a man of warmth and fatherly compassion, and absolutely no one would suspect how thoroughly he could destroy them until they had dared to cross the line.

“You know we passed a dozen security cameras, right?” came a quiet voice to his left, the young man’s eyes flashing an even brighter green on occasion behind the shaded glasses he used to mask as Vlad’s bodyguard.

Oh, Daniel. So paranoid these days.

“Really? I only counted eight,” he replied, as the two of them were waved in by the desk clerk of their hotel.

“You’re not being creative enough with the word ‘security’. We’re meeting investors with ties to organized crime.”

Ah. So they were connected to weapons instead of larger networks of cameras. Classic Gotham City logic. Why only be corrupt, when you could be corrupt and violent? Though, it wasn’t as if he and his companion had to be careful anymore.

It had taken years to get to this point. Reclaiming their ghost halves, their powers, their lairs, their titles–their many, many titles, in Daniel’s case. Not to mention dear Daniela and Dante had taken years to recover, were still recovering, really, but at least now they could be comfortable staying with a substitute caregiver-

“Oh, any word from Frostbite?” he asked absently as he plugged the number code into the elevator to bypass the purposefully broken button for their intended floor. He had never encountered these kinds of silly little spy games after regaining his memories, it was almost endearingly pointless now.

“Nothing critical,” Daniel said with a small smile as they found their way to their specific unmarked door.

That meant there were pictures. Well. Good reason to get this nonsense done quickly. He raised a hand to knock.

“Game face, badger. We have a foundation to lay here.”

“Right back at you, frootloop,” said Daniel, slipping back into the resting scowl of his new childhood.

Honestly. Spy games. Next to what he and Daniel had planned?

Minor leagues.

***

-dramatic reveal in this chapter: the lazarus tech event brought back its victims.

-i don’t want to spoil their whole plan here but they’ve got obsessions to feed that are aligning super well right now and vlad wants to take the opportunity to show he cares and ruthlessly fuck over people who have personally wronged daniel/damian along the way.

-yes i am referencing the name used by luthor's father in the tv show, but in practice i'm referring to the time superman died and luthor pretended to be his own son, replete with luxurious hair.

[dearweirdme]

From one of your replies: this "I look straight to the camera and give information no-one asked about and its always about jk" has become very very regular and it is not a coincidence anymore

Taehyung does the same thing. Stop trying to set them up. Just say you don't like jimin and eveything he does just irks you. Trying to justify that with bs reasoning is tiring.

Hi anon!

Yes, they all do this and I agree that it’s unfair to put this on one member alone. Taking your ask to go on a rant.

I think in light of Ays, we can conclude a certain creative aspect when it comes to what we see and what the members talk about. I still think there’s a lot of realness present as well, but conversational topics are definitely brought up.. and by Jm’s ‘I’m just trying to say some lines for the show’ in response to Tae’s denial of something being the first time.. we can conclude that some things are said because of a reason. Wether that’s to get across a certain narrative or just because they think army likes to hear it probably depends on which moment we talk about. It’s naive to have seen Ays and the behind the scenes and still think we see Jm, Jk and Tae be natural and organic.

It’s probably a hard truth to come to terms with, though I think Tkkrs have long since accepted this. For us the ITS talk was a clear giveaway.. and yes, we noticed because we do have reason to look beyond. If anything Tkkrs are standing on an island in fandom because we do not accept everything we hear and see to be truth. Most of fandom wants to believe they see members be themselves and honest, another subset of fandom has a vested interest in thinking the company actually feeds them proof of their ship. If people were to set aside their wishes though, and look at how the entertainment business (of which BTS are a definite part of) works, they would find good reason to believe that BTS is not the exception to the rule and that they too have content in mind and create, practice, and do-over content they find is not interesting enough.

BTS are entertainers first. And secondly they protect their privacy. Do we really think all Jk and Jm and Tae had to talk about is food? Do we really think their lives so bland that they had to insert minute on minute of footage of them eating… not once or twice, but basically three times per episode? Ofcourse not, these men have plenty to do and talk about when they’re together, they just don’t want to share it with us.. and neither should they.

Some of you act as if we’re the crazy ones, or the disrespectful ones for saying members aren’t always truthful or if something isn’t organic. But in truth, outside of fandom spaces.. it isn’t actually an insult to say that entertainers are creating content. They are doing their jobs.

Having said all that, the thing that actually drew me into fandom deeper is that I felt so much realness and genuineness in BTS. I don’t feel it’s that hard to separate the fake from the real at all. They do show us so much of themselves just by interacting and reacting. Their care for each other is real, the way they banter, argue, discuss, etc is real. I suspect for some the feeling of having to question if what they see is real is leaving them in uncharted territory. I can definitely see how for some parts of fandom this is more of an issue (I mean, if you’re hellbent on Jk and Jm being together than obviously you’re going to be confused a lot). Personally though, I’ve always been able to understand BTS as a group inside the context of them being entertainers while still seeing them as genuine people.

[numberonebidoofenjoyer]

‘Mon of the Day (Video #2)

[Begin Video. See Lochland in his usual labcoat. He clears his throat with a smile.]

‘Ello and Yello, Rotumblr! I’m Lochland-

-and I’m Roto-

-and welcome to another episode of ‘Mon of The Day! Today, we’ll be looking at a shockingly adorable little creature called Pawmi!

[Lochland pops up on the screen, holding a pointer stick in the bottom corner.]

Now, you may notice some similarities between Pawmi and a certain popular rodent from the Kanjoh regions! Sure enough, the eletrical sac on it’s cheeks, the thunderbolt shaped tail, and it’s obvious Electric-type shares very obvious similarities to Pikachu!

Bzzt! It also shares the same categorization, as it’s Paldea's Mouse Pokemon!

However, it actually shares more in common with the Tiny Mouse Pokemon, Pichu! For example, both Pokemon are unskilled at storing electrical energy, and tend to accidentally jolt their trainers! But instead of inexperience like Pichu, Pawmi suffers from under-devolped cheek sacs. This leads to a lack of control of energy, scattering in all directions.

Bzzt! But that’s not necessarily a bad thing! The move Discharge would be an good option for the line!

[Lochland grimaces a little.]

True, true…though i think that might cause more harm to Trainers than good…ahem! Now, we can talk only so much about a Pokemon, but there’s nothing quite like seeing them! So let’s check out some places you can spot a wild Pawmi!

[Video briefly cuts to black before emerging on a windy day in the wild. The wind seems to be messing with some of the feedback. The scene is set in the tall grass, with Lochland crouching down and looking around. Spotting the viewer, he waves them over.]

Psst! Over here, but keep it down!

[Lochland points off-screen, and the camera turns and zooms in a pack of Pawmi, seemingly foraging for berries.]

This is by the West Province, right near Cascarrafa! This pack of Pawmi seem to be hunting for food right now! See, Pawmi hunt in packs to scare off predator Pokemon! But, I’ve also heard that there’s always a leader in the pack. Though, i don’t notice anything that really stands-

[The sound of crackling electricity makes Lochland freeze. The camera turns to see a larger Pokemon similar to Pawmi, but with lighter fur and standing on it’s legs. It glares at the camera. ]

Paw….Pawmo!

….Uh-oh.

[It lunges at the camera, as Lochland and Roto both scream, the camera shaking round. Shots of lighting and electricity dance across the screen. The only notable piece of audio that isn’t screaming or the Pokemon’s cries is Lochland’s command to “RUN! GO GO GO-”. The audio and the footage cut out. It tunes back in to a dishevled Lochland, his labcoat torn. There’s an obvious electric burn on his face, and his eyes seem to have a shade of blue in them.]

….So! It seems the leader of a pack of Pawmi is in fact, it’s evolution, Pawmo!

You just electrocuted, bzzt. How are you not worried about that?!

Oh, c’mon, Roto. You’ve seen me get hit by a Thunder and a Discharge before and came out fine!

…With brain damgae maybe, bzzt…

Anyways! Pawmo is the evolution of Pawmi, and is what I believe to be the closest to Pikachu! How there are still major differences, such as it gaining the Fighting type! When Pawmo’ s group is endangered, it leaps into the battle first, using a fighting techquine that uses electric energy! I can confirm! I got punched in the face!!!!!

[Roto’s face fills the screen, sighing exasperatedly.]

..You need a nurse. I think we’ll be calling it off today. I’m Roto-

I’m Lochland! And we’ve been Mon of the Day! See ya later!

[He waves frantically as the camera cuts out. End Video.]

[ontoheartache]

the one you reached for (all throughout the great war) ao3

Eddie can't be blamed for things that are out of his control. He’ll stand by this when his family discovers that he only got his shit together because of a YouTube video.

He didn’t even want to be at this parent-teacher meeting. There were far better things he could’ve been doing, like spending time with his kid and best friend. Buck had plans to make a lasagna for Chris, and Eddie wanted to reap those benefits, okay? Instead, he finds himself sitting in front of Chris’ teacher on a Friday afternoon, for reasons that don’t even concern his kid. Given that they’ve been arguing for thirty minutes now, this teacher knows he doesn’t want to be there, so Eddie will stand firm that he did absolutely nothing that could indicate he’s at fault for the way his world gets turned upside down. By a child.

“Mr. Diaz, I understand you’re frustrated, but I assure you this matter does concern Christopher as well – ” Mrs. Jensen says, voice strained as she glances between Eddie’s unimpressed face and where another parent sits with one of Chris’ classmates, bouncing their leg as the child stares off into the distance.

“Then why isn’t Chris here?” Eddie demands, not for the first time. The minute he’d seen Chris’ classmate, a tall kid named Will that he knew Chris didn’t like because – and he quotes – ‘he told me that having a Buck was weird’, he’d went on the defensive. If this meeting was about Chris and this Will kid, then Eddie thought his son had every right to be there. They’d specifically requested that he not bring Christopher. Eddie is not endeared to anyone in this room.

Mrs. Jensen sighs, also not for the first time. “Mr. Diaz, that’s the point of this meeting, actually. I’ve spoken with Will’s mom, Jenny, and we both agree that this matter is incredibly sensitive. If Will didn't bring this to our attention, then we wouldn’t have him present either.”

Eddie opens his mouth to retort – he’s tired of talking around the issue – but Jenny suddenly decides now is a good time to interject, and it shocks him into silence. All she’d done so far was bounce her leg and whisper to Will, and Eddie believes he’s been very polite about it considering he’s certain this kid has wronged his son in some way. He’s particularly interested in finding out how, so he gives her his full attention, which seems to make her sink further into her chair. “Mr. Diaz, there’s a video going around, and I’m afraid it might be,” she hesitates, twisting her mouth up and diverting her eyes, “I’m afraid that it would upset Chris. That it’s a deeply private matter, shared to the public without consideration for the pain it could cause. Will showed it to me and Mrs. Jensen, and I want to apologize to you for ever having watched it. I can’t imagine Chris having to see it, especially without you and your husband knowing.”

And that – that’s a lot to process.

The idea that there’s a video going around that would somehow involve him does not surprise Eddie. The LAFD is a regular on the news. No matter what kind of call they’re on, someone is always watching. This stopped being on Eddie’s radar a long time ago, especially after Buck and Taylor ended things. He tends to avoid any and all footage that could possibly contain him and the 118. He knows that it exists, Buck’s Instagram following is more than enough proof of that, but his interest ends there.

However, the idea that there is a video out there that has breached the walls of Christopher’s school is a bit concerning. The fact that he’s sitting in a room with Chris’ teacher, his least favorite classmate, and said classmate’s mother makes it doubly concerning. Then, to have Jenny apologizing to him for seeing it at all? Yeah, you could definitely color Eddie curious now. Concerned, curious, and a little agitated that they’ve been sitting here for thirty minutes and no one has shown him whatever they think is enough to harm his child just by seeing it.

Despite this, Eddie decides that he will be mature about this. He recognizes that up to this point, he has been less than friendly with these people that seem to just have Chris’ best interest at heart. Perhaps he was a bit too harsh about his son being left out, and maybe that had more to do with Chris sitting at home eating Buck’s lasagna without him than it did actual indignation at his son’s requested absence.

Eddie is being very brave about all of this, he thinks.

“I want to see the video,” he says, then thinks that maybe that sounds too demanding, so he tacks on a ‘please’ for good measure. If Buck were here, he’d be laughing.

The teacher slides her phone over to him without a word, and Eddie pretends not to see the way Jenny pointedly refuses to look in his direction. He doesn’t recognize the still image on the screen. It’s dark and kind of grainy. He hits play.

Instantly, there’s rain and thunder crashing. There’s a reporter quickly approaching an active scene, and the camera slips from his face to the 118 gathered in the background. As the picture comes into focus, words start appearing at the bottom, subtitles of what the team appear to be saying since the audio is almost smothered by the storm.

Eddie recognizes this as the scene where he was buried in the well, and wonders to himself how he ever managed to not see this before.

A lot of things happen all at once. Eddie notices the line go slack, knows that was when he cut it. He watches Buck argue, the subtitles reading “So we can end up with two cut lines?”. Faintly, Eddie hears Bobby’s voice saying it in time with the words appearing on screen. Chimney brings the boy back to the surface.

Lightning strikes, Eddie is buried alive.

Buck rouses, then promptly loses his damn mind.

He claws and claws and claws at the mud, screaming and crying all the while. The subtitles are a mess of Eddie’s name and “No!” Bobby drags him away, and he collapses into a fit of sobs.

The video flashes forward to Buck, looking so very angry, saying “So we dig by hand!” and “You all think he’s dead.”

Eddie’s drenched body appears on screen, and Buck latches onto him.

The screen briefly flashes black, and Eddie sees his reflection. It’s only then that he realizes he’s shaking.

“You don’t have to keep going – ” Mrs. Jensen starts. Eddie shakes his head so hard it makes his vision spin.

“No.”

The video plays on.

Eddie shouldn’t be surprised when he sees that they’ve gone back in time to another dark night. He shouldn’t be surprised when he sees the fire truck on its side, Buck pinned underneath it.

All the same, he’s shocked into a small noise when it pans to Eddie holding his hand. He pretends not to see the look of sympathy flash across the teacher’s face, pretends he doesn’t hear Jenny crying, pretends he doesn’t notice that Will doesn’t ever look at any of them once.

He pretends reliving this isn’t going to haunt him long after the video ends.

It plays through the crowd lifting the fire truck, through Buck being transferred to the ambulance. Eddie thinks maybe that’s it, but then suddenly the video is bright and shining, and Eddie can’t breathe.

There shouldn’t be a video this clear. It certainly should not be possible that there’s a video this close. Yet, right there it is, playing out in front of him like a scene from a movie. Buck and Eddie, parallel to each other while a bullet rips through Eddie’s shoulder.

The camera is at an angle that focuses primarily on Buck, and Eddie sees the moment that Buck’s face is painted with his blood. Eddie remembers the moments before he fell feeling like hours. In reality, he’s down in seconds, and then Buck is, too. A bullet pings through the air and Eddie feels it like a gut punch. He remembers hearing another shot, remembers looking across the asphalt at Buck and feeling like the world was ending. He remembers meeting Buck’s eyes, or at least trying to, from underneath the truck. He’d wanted to reach for him, wanted to wipe the blood off of his face and ask if he was okay. He’d wanted to reach for him, wanted to crawl under the truck and beg Buck to hold his hand. He’d wanted to reach for him, to be with him, to die with him. If that was the last moment of Eddie’s life, he had wanted to reach for him.

The moment the Eddie on screen reaches out for Buck, Eddie’s vision swims, only coming back into focus as Buck rolls under the firetruck.

He rolled under the firetruck.

When Eddie had lied to Buck about all the things he claimed to not remember, he hadn’t purposely left this part out. No one had ever told him about this. He wonders if he only has himself to blame for that.

Eddie considers all of the ways he has successfully avoided talking about the day of the shooting. He wonders if Buck would’ve told him, if he had asked. He wonders why he ever thought for a second that this hadn’t been how it had all gone down. Eddie thinks about Buck, and how he’d been struck by literal fucking lightning, and every atom of his body had screamed at him to climb that ladder and pull Buck’s limp body to him. To save him. To reach for him.

It had been Buck, and Eddie had done the same. For some reason, it doesn’t make the rush of anger that shoots through him any less sharp. Buck could’ve been killed, could’ve been laid up in a hospital bed right beside Eddie’s, and he knows without even taking a second to think about it that Buck would’ve thought it justified.

Eddie had run up a ladder that had just been struck by lightning. Anything could’ve happened to him, but all that had mattered was getting to Buck, to never let him go somewhere that Eddie couldn’t follow right behind him. He had done it out of instinct, his body drawn to where Buck’s hung from the ladder like a magnet. He had done it because he loved him, because to live without Buck was to live without air, and in the seconds between seeing Buck’s limp form hanging from that rope and his body carrying him up the ladder towards him, Eddie had seen a future where Buck didn’t exist, and he couldn’t – wouldn’t – let that happen. Not on Eddie’s life.

Oh.

Maybe the universe does scream, after all.

The video plays on, another sharp sound of bullet hitting metal causing Eddie’s attention to snap back to the screen, and suddenly Buck has dragged Eddie to the other side and is hauling him into the fire truck. It cuts to black and stays that way, only brightening when there’s a sudden burst of light. Lightning strikes, Eddie watches Buck’s body fall. When he starts screaming Buck’s name, Eddie taps the screen. His hand is shaking, it takes him a few tries, but eventually the video pauses. It reveals it’s near the end, only seconds left. Eddie can’t bring himself to click play again.

Instead, he drops the phone onto the desk. For a minute, he considers getting up and leaving. This is the highlight reel of trauma between Buck and Eddie, and the only reason he knows it exists is because a kid – someone Christopher knows – saw it first. The only reason Eddie knows how loudly Buck loves him is because a video, an honest to god YouTube video, showed that love to him. He wants to scream until his lungs give out.

“Eddie,” Mrs. Jensen says, and it startles him into meeting her eyes when he hears his first name. “I’m so sorry. I can’t even begin to imagine how it must feel to know that video is out there, but I hope you understand now why we asked you here.”

Eddie nods, thinks to himself that he really wishes this had been an email, and stands. “I understand. Thank you for bringing this up. I’ll talk to Chris.”

He turns, goes to leave. He hears the screech of a chair, then feels a hand grip his arm. He had forgotten about Jenny and Will being there, about the fact that they had seen the video too. Maybe he can form a schedule with Buck and Carla that means he never sees any of the people in this room again? Even better, maybe he and Buck can both avoid them —

“Mr. Diaz, please,” Jenny interrupts his thought process, voice frantic, “I’m sorry, for everything you and your husband have been through. My son had no right to make that video – ”

Huh. Eddie turns around, fast and pointed. Jenny’s eyes are wide. Her son’s are wider, finally meeting his from across the room.

“What an interesting thing you’ve just said,” Eddie says calmly, using his best Frank impression. “Let's unpack that.”

The meeting does not end for a while after that.

-

“I got a kid expelled from Chris’ school,” Eddie tells Buck later that night, having just walked in from hanging his coat up. Buck raises his eyebrows, hand faltering from where he’s holding out a plate of lasagna.

“Okay,” Buck sits the plate on the kitchen table, pulls out a seat and gestures Eddie over. When Eddie sits, he says, “Maybe we should talk about that.”

Buck wanders over to sit in the chair opposite Eddie. He slides a beer in Eddie’s direction as he goes, and twists his own open as he slides into his chair. When his eyes meet Eddie’s, he tilts his head, expectant.

“Name was Will, remember him?” Eddie asks. Buck nods. “Well, turns out Will still doesn’t like you very much. After a very enlightening meeting this afternoon, I made it very clear that it was Will or Christopher. They chose correctly.”

Buck’s mouth is ajar, his eyebrows scrunched up. Eddie thinks he’s adorable, so much so that he briefly considers not saying anything at all about the video. He shovels lasagna into his mouth and feels that his earlier mood was deserved. Chris got this fresh out of the oven, and Eddie was stuck reliving his worst nightmares. How is that fair?

“So, Will doesn’t like me, and that’s why he got expelled?” Buck asks, incredulous. Mentally, Eddie winces. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best explanation in the world.

He sets down his fork, mourns the lasagna still on his plate, takes one last gulp of beer, and hopes he’s been through enough therapy to get this right.

“You tried to dig through 40 feet of mud with your bare hands,” Eddie says, the words coming out sharp. Buck startles, going still in his seat as the blood drains from his face. Maybe Eddie should’ve started from the beginning, should’ve been softer in his approach, but he’s in it now, so he barrels on. “You argued with Bobby, argued with all of them, that I was alive and they should dig by hand to get to me. You – Buck, you rolled under a firetruck to get to me. You reached for me.”

“Eddie,” Buck starts. There’s a lost look in his eyes, a frantic undertone in his voice.

Something has broken between them and the shards are littered across the table, coated in blood and mud. Eddie has spent so long keeping that glass wall between them, mending the cracks almost as soon as they appeared. Buck, for all his desperate need for Eddie to talk to him, had even helped a few times. The closest it has ever come to falling like this had been when Buck asked about the shooting shortly after the lightning strike, and Eddie had lied through his teeth as he picked up a shard of glass and slotted it back into place. Buck had pushed back, only slightly because his heart wasn’t in it, and the wall had held.

It’s in fragments now, and Buck looks like he wants to pick up every little piece and glue them all back together, but Eddie is so tired of looking at Buck and not being able to reach him. Buck had shattered all of that glass before to get to him, and Eddie had never once known about it. He’d picked up all the pieces and slotted them back together, just out of Eddie’s sight, so that it seemed like it had never happened at all. Not this time. This time Eddie’s eyes are wide open, and he’s taking a sledgehammer to all that remains of that wall, and they’re never building another. Damn all of the consequences.

“No. Buck, I saw it. I heard it. You tried to move the Earth for me. I reached for you, and you reached back. I was bleeding out, and I couldn’t reach you, but it didn’t matter because you had me. And then you died, and I couldn’t pull you to me, but you came back to life under my hands. Fuck. A 12 year old had to make a damn highlight reel of the two of us reaching out for each other for me to understand, for the universe to finally get the point across.” Eddie stands from his chair and starts pacing. He can’t bring himself to look at Buck, doesn’t know how to avoid shaking apart right here in their kitchen if he does.

“I love you, Evan,” he says. He comes to a stop behind his abandoned chair and grips the back of it, gaze toward the ground. “So much that Will’s mom thought you were my husband. So much that I didn’t correct her, because how could I? When she’d already watched us all but look death in the eye and tell him that he couldn’t part us? How could I correct her when I would marry you tomorrow, tonight, right now if you said the word?”

There’s a thick silence for what feels like minutes, but is probably only a few seconds. When Eddie looks up, Buck is looking at him like the moon has drifted down to Earth and handed him a star. His eyes are so very wide, gaze soft and vulnerable, and there are tear tracks on his cheeks. Buck has looked at Eddie like this before, and the sight never fails to steal his breath.

Without a word, Buck stands and rounds the table. Eddie turns toward him like a compass needle to true north.

“You’re going to explain all of this to me,” Buck tells him, voice gentle. “And whatever highlight reel you’re talking about? You’re going to show it to me.” Eddie starts to protest, only to be met with Buck’s hand over his mouth. “No arguments. Got it, Eds?”

Eddie nods, frowning into Buck’s palm.

“Good,” Buck grins, wide and beautiful, like sunshine, “I love you, too. I’m going to kiss you in about ten seconds, and then I expect a direct proposal. With tears.”

The second Buck’s hand drops from his mouth, Eddie leans forward and kisses him.

It starts slow, everything so soft and floaty that Eddie’s chest aches with it. The longer it lasts, the deeper they seem to fall into the moment, until Eddie isn’t sure where he ends and Buck begins. They break apart and fall back together so many times that Eddie’s a little bit dizzy when Buck pulls back completely.

The air is still, silent except for their huffs of breath, until Buck says, “Couldn’t wait ten seconds, huh?” and Eddie bursts into a fit of laughter so giddy it’s edging more towards giggles.

“No,” he agrees, and then, “Marry me?”

Buck shoves him, laughing. Says, “Absolutely not,” but he’s smiling, and he doesn’t protest when Eddie reaches out for him and drags him back towards him.

Eddie kisses him. Once, twice, three times.

“Please?”

Buck grins and shakes his head. Eddie places his hands on the sides of Buck’s head and kisses his forehead. “Please?”

Another shake. Eddie kisses his birthmark. “Please?”

Buck’s grin only widens. Eddie kisses the dried tear tracks on his cheeks. “Pretty please?”

Buck blinks at him. Eddie sees the whole world in his eyes. He kisses his nose, then ever so slowly edges towards his mouth. “Please, Evan,” he whispers, barely a breath away from kissing him. “Marry me?”

The only response Buck has is to lean forward and press their lips together. He manages to distract Eddie so thoroughly that he gasps into the kiss when Buck pinches his side, and he can only pant in disbelief as Buck practically twirls out of his reach. Buck holds a hand out between them, flutters his fingers in the air as he says, “Dance with me first.”

And who is Eddie to deny him?

They dance, and it’s more like gentle swaying from left to right than it is dancing, but Eddie would rewrite the definition of the word to match if it meant they never had to stop. Eddie’s head is tucked into Buck’s neck, their arms draped around each other’s waists, and Buck smells like rainwater and lasagna and home. Eddie isn’t even surprised when tears sting at his eyes and soak into Buck’s neck. He’s so full of love that he could burst with it.

Buck brings them to a stop, his head ducking until his lips are pressed into Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie can feel him smiling, can feel the gentle jerks of his body as he starts to laugh. Before he can say anything, Buck draws backwards and he’s blinded by the smile on his face. Eddie thinks that if he could bottle that smile, it would be like bottling liquid sunshine. He doesn’t know if he’s ever seen Buck so happy, so filled with joy that it seems to pour out of him and right into Eddie, until he’s smiling back like some kind of fool, tears still making their way down his face.

“Ask me again,” Buck prods, expression softening into something gentle, something fragile.

“Will you marry me, Evan?” Eddie obliges. Buck could ask anything of him, ask for the whole world if he wanted, and Eddie would find a way to make it happen. He’s only ever loved his son this much, in a vastly different way, and it terrifies him as much as it settles him on solid ground. It’s like freefalling, knowing there’s someone there to catch you at the end, knowing that no matter what, you’re safe and you’re going home.

“Yes,” Buck moves his hands from where they’re still settled at Eddie’s waist, up up up, until they reach his neck and he can swipe his thumb along Eddie’s jaw to smooth away the tear clinging to his skin. “Yes, Eddie. I’ll marry you. Tomorrow, tonight, right now. Whenever you want.”

Eddie could live a million lifetimes and never believe himself deserving of Buck, of this moment, of all the moments to come.

It doesn’t hit him until he’s leaning in to kiss Buck breathless. Buck laughs when he pauses just short of his lips and instead screws his eyes shut, resting his forehead against Buck’s with a dull thud.

“With tears, huh?”

Buck keeps laughing as he leans away, then smacks a kiss on Eddie’s forehead. He peppers them all over his face until Eddie opens his eyes, smiling despite himself.

“With tears, Diaz,” he nods, then kisses Eddie’s forehead again.

“Fair game, fiancé."

“Oooh, breaking out the big guns, are we, fiancé?”

“All's fair in love and war, cariño.”

Buck smiles. “I like that one.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They fall together, lips meeting in a dance as gentle as the one they just shared. As far as Eddie’s concerned, there could be literal hearts floating in the air around them, and he wouldn’t notice.

He knows that soon, this bubble that they’re existing in has to pop. They’ll have to leave this moment, settle back down at the kitchen table or migrate to the couch, and he’ll have to show Buck their worst moments from the perspective of strangers who could never possibly understand the moment they’ve captured on film. He knows they’ll have to talk about it, have to discuss all of the not so soft feelings they’ve felt in the moments between horrors, and for once this doesn’t make the breath catch in his lungs. He feels safe, settled, here in his fiancé’s arms.

What a wonderful word. Fiancé.

Husband.

Eddie can't be blamed for things that are out of his control. This, however, he’ll gladly shoulder the blame for. When their family finds out, Eddie will accept full responsibility for their outrage.

Buck said he would marry Eddie tomorrow, and Eddie would pull the stars from the sky for him if he asked. Marrying him is small, in the grand scheme of things that Eddie would do for him. He’s sure their family will forgive him.

If not, well. That’s out of Eddie’s control, isn’t it?

[rubykgrant]

(I'm still try to gather my thoughts and write everything together in a way that works, but I'm hoping to continue my RVB Interviews again soon! For now, I'm sharing the beginning of Sarge's segment again; after all, it's called RED vs Blue, we gotta start with RED, and that means the REDDEST RED TO EVER RED~)

He was already in his chair, more than eager to share his thoughts and what was certain to be a “colorful history” regarding himself.

Andrews rolled her eyes, but also smiled; considering Sarge’s reputation, it would be more concerning if he was acting “timid”.

“I see you’ve decided not to wait,” she commented, taking her own seat.

“A-course! Save the BEST for FIRST!” he answered proudly. “Besides, listening to everybody else babble for too long might put ‘ya to sleep, and we can’t have that. They’re so easily distracted. Going off on tangents of unrelated topics and what-not,”

“Well, I’m not sure where you want to start-”

“I WAS BORN 29 YEARS AGO! I’VE BEEN THE PROUD LEADER OF RED TEAM FOR 20 YEARS! I CAME INTO THIS WORLD WEARING RED ARMOR, AND I’LL GO OUT OF THIS WORLD WEARING RED ARMOR!”

“Now, now…” Andrews said, her voice both amused and patient. “I won’t be exposing any secrets you want to keep, you’ll have the final word on what information I share publicly, but between the two of us? Let’s try to keep things simple, and honest. After all, we ARE on a first-name basis!”

The old soldier was quiet for a moment. A short moment, but for Sarge, being silent was about as rare as hen’s teeth.

“Fair enough, Dylan…” he answered at last. “But the name is one of the things we keep quiet about, understand?”

“Absolutely… can I ask one question, though? Just for my own curiosity,” her curiosity often got the best of her, and certainly created problems occasionally… but that was why she was a reporter. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but satisfaction is what kept bringing her back.

“Hmph. Fine. Shoot,”

“I’ve never heard a name like yours before. Just what was the inspiration when it was chosen for you?”

Another quiet moment. Andrews was beginning to think he was simply going to ignore the question, and if that was the case, she would move on rather than press the subject. However-

“When I was born, which was MORE than 29 years ago, I ADMIT IT… m’family didn’t name me right away. Not too many infants survived their first few weeks at the time… it was a different world back then, see- you’re too young, you never lived in a war-zone, but that’s what it was like. So, they waited to see if… well, you know how you’re not supposed to name anything, or else you’ll get attached? ‘Folks were worried about getting attached to ME, because maybe I wasn’t even gonna live too long… but a few weeks went by, then a couple months, and I was still breathin’!” he chuckled a bit to himself before continuing.

“I guess I was the only baby that made it, and the group of survivors my family stayed with- they all supported each other. A whole bunch of people took turns watching over this little bundle of joy! Everybody had a different name they liked to call me, and when it was time to give me a REAL name… it all got combined together. One big name, from more than a dozen different people, who all came from different places, and spoke different languages… I was the only baby any of them had, so I suppose they gave me all the names of… their own kids who couldn’t be with them…”

“That’s… oh, Sarge, I don’t know what to say, that’s INCREDIBLE. It might be the sweetest thing’ I’ve ever heard-” it was true, Andrews didn’t know what it was like to be born directly into a war-zone; and at the time the man sitting in front of her was a child, the Earth had been under attack by enemies from outer space… not to mention all the never-ending fights between humans who decided they hated other humans enough to kill each other. No, she hadn’t lived through that, but she had seen documents and footage.

Many towns and cities were destroyed, and groups of people would try to band together; they formed new little communities, some traveling like nomads, others attempting to stay in one place, but all generally learning to rely on one another for safety and survival. Generations of children were lost during this time… from injury, illness, or lack of food. To think that she was now speaking to somebody who had grown up in that world, protected and nurtured by an extended-family of people who had been brought together by necessity, but stayed together by choice. That choice had, in fact, been to make sure a child could LIVE.

“I know, I know! Tragic and heart-warming… it’s practically Oscar-bait! But remember what we agreed on, not a word to anybody else! Bad enough that whipper-snapper apple-Jax knows…” he grumbled.

“Yes, I understand…” she couldn’t help but get a little choked-up, though.

“And, for the record- I mean, this is OFF the record, make sure to keep it that way! But just so YOU know, I’m not a bit embarrassed about my name! That’s not why I don’t wanna share it… it’s just…” Sarge seemed to struggle to find the words. “The people who named me are gone. All of them. And this wasn’t just my name, it was the name I shared with the all the children they lost… someday, I’m probably going to die on a battlefield, being taken out by an enemy, and God-willing, I’ll be wearing my RED ARMOR, going out with my boots on- but when that happens, whoever kills me… I don’t wanna hear them saying that name. It was good name that good people gave me, so…”

“So, you don’t want somebody who hates you to use the name that was made by people who loved you,” Andrews finished.

“Hurrrgh- if you WANT to read into it like that and add lots of mushy, emotional subtext, sure!” Sarge made several grunts and groans, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his helmet away to avoid looking at her.

“You are a surprisingly deep and sensitive individual, Sarge…” Andrews marveled.

“NO I AIN’T! YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! I AM A ONE-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTER, A FLAT STEREO-TYPE OF ALL GRUFF MILITARY MEN, AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT!” The man now stood up, striking a heroic pose, raising one knee to place a foot upon his now empty chair, both hands clenched into fists and resting against his hips, the visor of his helmet pointed upward.

“I’VE NEVER HAD AN OUNCE OF PERSONAL GROWTH, AND I NEVER WILL! OTHER SOLDIERS WEAR THEIR ARMOR, BUT I AM THE ARMOR! I AM THE BACK-BONE OF RED TEAM! AND THE BRAINS! AND THE FISTS! ALSO, THE WEAPONS IN THE FISTS! IF YOU SAY MY NAME THREE TIMES AFTER SUMMONING BLOODY MARY, I SHOW UP AND SCARE HER OFF! FREDDY KRUEGER HAS NIGHTMARES ABOUT ME! I AM-”

“You are the Reddest Red to ever Red, yes, I know. I’ll be sure to keep that for the interview. That way, everybody will know the REAL you!” Andrews promised. Sarge gave a single nod of his approval, and quickly sat back down, as if nothing had happened.. “But, just in case…”

Sarge made a cartoonishly over-the-top growling noise at this. Andrews ignored that, and pushed on.

“If there is possibly some hidden layers, maybe some insight or… the method to your madness? I do still have a few more questions. As I said before, you’re free to skip anything you don’t want to answer. What do you say, Sarge?”

“Alright. Fine. Hurry up ‘n ask, before I change my mind!” that was settled, it seemed.

[minsungchronology]

hey! i just wanted to tell you that i’ve been into kpop for so long and i’ve always been very averse when it came to shipping real people especially because of how fans can easily cross boundaries and over-analyze even the littlest interaction to fit their shipping narratives BUT like. i’ve been a stay for over a year now and i’ve always thought there was something sus about minsung yk??? at first i told myself that minsungers were reading too much into it but Now that i’ve seen your videos and read your posts i think they Might Be Real …. For Real ….. especially with everything that happened this year ????? the pool date ????? WANT SO BAD (i think it’s really interesting how the first happy love song han releases is a song with lee know btw) (also cant wait for the 2 kids show) ?????? anyways whatever they are they’re THE CUTEST boddaramji forever (sorry for the long post lol)

Ahh I'm glad you're enjoying my videos!

They really are the cutest. They're even cuter in 2023, if that's possible. 😭😭😭

For me, they're also the first kpop ship (over 10 years of kpop lmao) that makes me raise my eyebrows. (almost all of shipping analysis videos I've seen consist of over editing moments to make them seem more intimate than they actually are or doing some crazy mental gymnastics from words that the members of the ship in question say and then you go back and watch the original content and then you're like "tf there's nothing really going on here???")

But that year was actually insane and what really sparked my 🤨 about them. Ironically it's not the moments that the majority fans know of (even the song, though it cements a lot of things); it was actually a series of moments throughout the Maniac Tour that completely went under most peoples' radars when put together.

You don't have to do things like slow-mo all of the skinship moments they have/force certain narratives of them and the other members. To me, the footage over the years as is (especially the less curated ones where they interact more spontaneously like concerts, vlives, and even a couple of the early fansigns) says enough.

[whitehotharlots]

Free Kareem

Kareem Hunt was probably the shittiest MeToo incident of the sports world. It happened over 4 years ago, which is an eternity by the standards of the today’s discourse, so let me recap what happened:

In February of 2018, two of Hunt’s friends went to a club while he stayed behind with his girlfriend in their hotel suite. The friends returned around 3 AM, and they had two very drunk and underage girls with them. Hunt did the correct thing: he told the girls to leave and had them escorted out of his suite.

The girls refused to leave. They stood outside Hunt’s suite for a half hour, screaming, failing, and pounding on the door. We know for certain this happened, because it was all captured on a security camera (full footage of this does exist, I’ve seen it, but Google has a way of burying primary evidence that contradicts popular narratives).

After approximately 20 minutes of screaming, Hunt’s girlfriend comes out of the suite to tell the girls to leave. This only intensifies the screaming and flailing. After a minute or so, one of the girls can be seen shoving Hunt’s girlfriend, who maintains her composure and goes back into the suite.

A few more minutes pass. The girls continue to pound and scream. Hunt himself comes out of the suite. He gestures toward the exit. The girls keep screaming. The same one who shoved his girlfriend now shoves Hunt. Again, he points toward the exit. The girl shoves him again, and he shoves her back, knocking her to the ground.

At this point, all but the most brain-damaged of feminists would agree that Hunt has done nothing wrong. But then he crosses a line: he raises his leg, hesitates, and gives the girl a kick, as if to accentuate that she needed to get her ass up and out of his hallway.

Now, yes, he should not have done the kick. Fine. But if you watch full video, it’s clear that he did not kick with anywhere near full force. It was more of a gesture than anything else. And, well, if an NFL running back were to kick a small woman with anything close full strength, that woman would not be able to get up and walk away.

I hold the retrograde opinions that men should be afforded some degree of dignity, and that random white women are not legally or morally entitled to enter the dwellings of black celebrities without permission. If I were the one to adjudicate this incident, I would have told the girl to go fuck herself. There’s really nothing Hunt could have done in this situation that would have escaped scrutiny. It was clear that the girl was unhinged and fully aware that she could manipulate MeToo discourse to force the black man to bend to her will: “Kareem Hunt Caught With Underage Girls Drunk in His Hotel Room” is also a bad headline, after all.

But, no, the headlines that were printed did not mention the girls’ intrusion, their initiation of physical contact with both Hunt and his girlfriend, or their statements to hotel staff about planning to exaggerate their claims so as to ruin Hunt’s career. 

9 months later, when TMZ released a very selectively edited expert of the footage, the headline read KC CHIEFS RUNNING BACK KAREEM HUNT BRUTALIZES AND KICKS WOMAN IN HOTEL VIDEO. At this point, his goose was cooked. The Chiefs threw him under the bus with alacrity, saying they weren’t going to bother digging into the specifics of the incident because they had already been contacted and Hunt (very, very understandably and justifiably) lied and said he never left the hotel room. This technicality was enough to end his tenure on the team. He was consigned to the living hell of the Cleveland Browns organization, and suspended for the first half of the following season. 

The average career in the NFL lasts just over three seasons. Running backs play the most physically taxing position in all of professional sports. The loss of a half season of pay is a massive, massive fine. But, still, that wasn’t good enough. The Root (a black-focused, Gawker-affiliated website that would have the exact same editorial content if it were owned by the KKK) ran the following headline “Cleveland Browns Sign Kareem Hunt Despite Video of Him Assaulting Woman. Kaepernick Still Banned for Kneeling.” From Vice we got “Kareem Hunt and a Sports World that Ignores Domestic Violence Victims:” a headline confirming the girls’ entitlement to a space in Hunt’s living area, regardless of not being invited and also being repeatedly told to leave. From Yahoo Sports “NFL should leave you feeling sick after recent revelations involving Kareem Hunt, Reuben Foster,” comparing Hunt to a man who appears to have actually committed domestic violence on multiple occasions. When Hunt was eventually signed by the Browns--which, again, is a punishment in and of itself--the President of the National Organization of Women used the occasion to claim that “women do not matter to the NFL,” and once more repeated the bizarre claim that he had committed “intimate partner violence” by shoving and kicking a stranger who had shoved him first. 

This, dear reader, is Intersectionality as it actually exists. It is not liberation. It is not leftist. It does not even provide protection to the groups who supposedly fall under its purview. The only goal of this wretched political movement is to divorce a person’s actions from the judgments of outsiders, to establish a hierarchy of NGO-defined victimhood statuses and provide hack journalists with a simple and unchallenagable means of sorting out the good guys from the bad guys. 

It’s not justice. It’s not an improvement over old systems. It’s a new way of being broken. It is, in short, the entirety of the modern American left.

[viktoriakomova]

I’m a lame cringe loser, yes I know, but like. I’m just reminiscing on LSU’s beam rotation in the final. (Just a week ago!!!!) and their mentality is something to admire, truly.

Nepeaux obviously has sealed the deal on her status as an Icon for hitting as a leadoff when LSU was going into the last rotation trailing by 0.10… but like….. the way she was confident enough to watch the other gymnasts totally unfazed, let alone LAUGH and feel certain that it was theirs for the taking before they even started when Utah fell ??? fucking incredible

It’s one thing to hear all this smoke and coach-speak about “stay confident” “remember your training” “do your normal and it will happen” etc. but it’s a totally different thing to have fully internalized it the way they clearly did. The tenacity and the fight…. wow

You can see more clearly on the footage the LSU media team has included in their own content that they’ve shared from the last rotation that there were many times when someone was just a little off, but they all fought so hard for it. So hard that it was scarcely visible to the broadcast cameras. What could have been a wobble, probably would have been mid-season, they just did not allow that to happen.

Even Sav who fell, if you ignore the low beam choreo Sloth Fall 🦥 (which I can laugh about now but in the moment the stress I experienced in the next 4 routines was thoroughly traumatizing lmaoooo), all the actual skills she competed were so fucking solid and just dead-on.

(People were saying her score (9.3875) with a fall was ridiculous but….. relative to the other beam scores in the whole final, not really…? She fell on choreo lol that’s of course a very stupid mistake but she didn’t fall on a series or anything.)

They all knew in their heart of hearts that they were going to do it. Not just that they could, but that they would. I really don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. Just the confidence to reach out and snatch it when it was within their grasp and not be frightened by the gravity of it all. They did it.

[regal-bones]

Ultimately I agree you don’t post about it enough. I’m in love with everything I’ve seen so far but it's hard to piece together an image in my mind of what I’m supposed to be looking forward to. Maybe it’s easier for long-time followers, but for people only finding out about this game recently it’s kinda difficult to find anything. I’m not even certain on which genre of game it IS.

That being said though, what small amount I have seen is enough to make this one of my most anticipated games, and I look forward to seeing what's next!

thats very fair !! to be honest weve been in the early concept stage for a long time, but were very nearly ready to be sharing actual stuff like gameplay footage and aaaa ! theres some info here on tumblr if you follow my "🌱" tag (which ill add to this post so you can follow!)

but i appreciate the feedback - ill work on getting more info out there!

[crissiebaby]

DiapOut: Chapter 18

DISCLAIMER: This series contains diaper usage, public humiliation, masturbation, hypermessing, sissification, WAM, mental regression, and other ABDL themes. If you haven’t read the first chapter and want to catch up, be sure to check out the link in the description. I hope you enjoy!

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“Hello, Mia! Let’s get you properly fed,” said the first Nanny Iris bot as she reached down and scooped Mia up into its arms.  It then moved to the trolley lined with baby bottles and keenly selected the bottle with Mia’s name on it.

Mia didn’t question how the nanny bot already knew what her name was and decided to just roll with whatever happened next. With all the chaos going on, it really was so much easier to avoid fighting back in moments like this. Besides, she wanted every drop of the CrissBaby Bowel Busting Formula that she could stomach if she was going to win. Opening her mouth before Iris even prompted her to do so, she graciously accepted the rubber nipple into her mouth and began slurping down the sweet liquid as fast as she could.

To Mia’s pleasant surprise, the formula tasted like a lukewarm milkshake and was certainly thick enough to resemble one. While it was certainly nice that the flavor was yummy, this made the task of sucking on a baby bottle slightly challenging as the syrupy beverage came through at a snail's pace. Her cheeks went concave from how much pressure she was putting toward sucking on the bottle. 

Not wanting to fall behind, Kyoko and the other Messers followed Mia’s lead and individually approached a different Iris, ready to ingest as much as their bellies could hold. While Kyoko wasn’t exactly elated by the fact that she was going to be ruining her bowel control for the foreseeable future, they needed to pack in every pound that they could into their diapers, especially with the unfathomable hypermessing that Ayaya managed to pull off.

“Hehe, this is definitely one of my top five fantas-mmmf!” said Cade seconds before his mouth was filled by the teet of his baby bottle. In the midst of such a pressing competition, there were never enough chances to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Being cradled by a real Iris nanny bot was a luxury that only the wealthiest of ABs and DLs were able to afford. To a broke college student like Cade, this may as well have been heaven.

After a few minutes of cooing from the audience, a stunning silence filled the studio. For the next thirty minutes, there was nothing left for these five to do beyond drinking and diaper filling. Beyond them, Misa had seemingly given up, Ayaya's brain was somewhere inside her diaper, and no one was quite certain what Lelaya was up to. While not the most entertaining thing to watch build up live, the payoff was certain to be quite the spectacle. Plus, the editors were going to have a field day with the footage they got. All that was left to do now was wait for the first of the bottle drinkers to blow up their diapers even further while nuzzled safely in the arms of their robotic caregivers.

While what was happening on stage was a bit of a slowdown, backstage was practically buzzing with excitement. And at the center of all the mayhem was CassiRole, who was having her make-up redone after her dramatic exit in the arms of one of the Iris bots. “Did you see how much they were eating it up?! Such a fun idea! I’m so glad I came up with it,” she said, taking all the credit for her expensive stunt while paying no mind to Jackson, who was the actual person to come up with having an Iris bot carry Cassi off.

Rolling his eyes in silent protest, Jackson's ego began to get the better of him. “It was indeed a fun idea, Cassi, though I fear this entire round will be overshadowed by one of the largest hypermesses I’ve ever seen,” he said, doing his best not to sound too direct, “Seriously, have you ever seen someone use a diaper that much in one sitting? And to think, we got it all on camera!”

Glancing over at the monitors and narrowing her focus on the screen that featured a full-body shot of Ayaya and her outrageously messy diaper, Cassi’s blood began to boil. She’d certainly had some big messes in her time as a streamer but even she’d never pulled off such a feat in a single use. Worst of all, none of this made any Goddess damn sense whatsoever!

Prior to selecting the official teams for the first episode of DiapOut, CassiRole and her team did extensive research on all contestants. And while some had far less info to dig through than others, Ayaya-Girl was not one of those people. The girl’s entire life was on the internet and yet, not a single bit of research showed that she was interested in diapers herself, much less using them. If anything, she should’ve been the most squeamish of all. So how did she pull off such a monumental messing?!

“I mean, it wasn’t really THAT impressive. Plus, she’s been sitting there in the corner for what, twenty minutes now? Talk about a snoozefest,” said Cassi, blurting out whatever put-downs first came to mind to make herself feel better. She wasn’t certain how she was going to do it but she was determined to expose Ayaya for the poser that she was. 

Allowing a subtle smirk to creep across his face, Jackson couldn’t get enough of Cassi’s petty attitude. It was obvious that Ayaya was getting to her. All that was left to do now was sit patiently and wait for Cassi’s uncontrollable temper to get the better of her. “Well, I guess that’ll be for the audience to decide,” he said, trying not to make his jabs sound too pointed, “Speaking of which, we’re down about twenty minutes left in the round, so we’ll need you on stage in ten.”

*BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRT!!!*

Suddenly, both Jackson and Cassi jumped as a loud fart ripped through the studio. Rushing back to the monitors, Jackson was pleased to see that Rupert was in the process of expanding his diaper for the second time this round. “Better make that five, Cassi,” he said as he grabbed a headset and began instructing camera operators on what shots to get.

Back on stage, Rupert was having a glorious time filling his pampers to the brim. After attempting to hold in the Lightning Laxative for as long as he could, his bowel muscles were shot, essentially sending anything he ingested directly into his diapers. Try as he might, he was unable to stop himself from becoming aroused as a small but noticeable lump soon formed on his diaper front.

Spotting his friend's bulge, Cade snorted formula out of his nose, unable to contain his laughter. Mercifully, the Iris bot quickly pulled back his bottle to allow him to breathe. However, this act of clemency only provided him with an opportunity to vocalize his amusement! “Hahaha! Looks like someone should’ve jerked off ahead of time! Nothing quite like popping a stiffy on live televis-MMM!” he taunted, his words cut off by the bottle being reinserted into his mouth. 

“Shuddup!” shouted Rupert, his mouth still filled with the nipple of his bottle. As the audience joined Cade in laughing at Rupert’s predicament, he couldn’t help but become even more turned on by the humiliation being heaped onto him. His face turned bright red as he involuntarily let out another big blort, causing the mush in his pampers to swirl around his genitals even more.

While Rupert was the only one showing off how horny he was, he was far from the only person experiencing arousal. Breathing a heavy sigh through her nose, Kyoko was dealing with similar feelings of messy diaper stimulation. It was like everything, from the mud in her diapers to the way that her nanny bot’s arm was pressed into her padding, was conspiring against her to turn her on. If anything, Rupert’s reaction made complete sense to her. She was far more surprised by the fact that Cade and Zeke were both seemingly unbothered by the fantasy that was unfolding.

*SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRT!!!*

Speaking of Zeke, it wasn’t long after Rupert’s second explosion that Zeke lost his own bowel battle. Gritting his teeth against his bottle’s rubber nipple, he suppressed the desire to let out a pleasurable moan. While his face was as stoney as a poker player, he was right there with Kyoko and Rupert in terms of arousal. However, unlike his teammates, his history of diapered public humiliation played a big role in why he refused to give up control of his body to his carnal desires. As much as he wanted to indulge in such a dream-like scenario, his past weighed too heavily on his mind to allow himself for careless enjoyment.

“Wahoho! What did I ‘mess’?” said CassiRole, who’d managed to sneak back on stage undetected by her audience thanks to Zeke’s mushy tushy. Stepping off of her platform with a microphone in hand, she eagerly approached Zeke, who was still in the process of filling his diaper, “Good thing you’ve got those plastic pants to prevent a blowout! Tell me, Zekey-baby, do you have any thoughts on the current state of your diaper?” Without waiting for Zeke to answer, she shoved the microphone up against his diaper and amplified his wet bowel noises for all to hear.

The sudden pressure on his diaper mixed with the fact that he was still messing himself proved too much for Zeke, who gasped as Cassi’s microphone stirred up the contents of his diaper. In no time at all, he was rocking a boner bump comparable to Ruperts. He squirmed to try to hide his shame but there was just no fighting Nanny Iris, leaving his indignity exposed for all to see. As an added bonus, the external pressure of Cassi’s mic was the final straw for his plastic pants, which burst into shreds on impact. 

Yanking the mic away from Zeke’s diaper, Cassi turned to face the crowd. “Whoops! Spoke too soon on that blowout. He has such a way with words, doesn’t he?” she said, causing more laughter to be squeezed out of her audience at Zeke’s expense. She wasn’t even upset with him anymore for turning her down in the dressing room. She was just milking his obvious embarrassment for everything she could get. So long as it kept eyes off Ayaya, there was nothing she wouldn’t do. “Time is running out! Which team will stand victorious? Find out when DiapOut returns after the break!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

« PREVIOUS l FIRST l NEXT »

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Edited by AllySmolShork

[secretwhumplair]

No one will find you

306 words | Sequel to Friendly visit

Prompt | No. 10: "Can't you see you're lost without me?" & No.11 All the lights going dark and my hope's destroyed | "No one will find you" - @whumptober

Content | Possession, hopelessness, police

Notes | Aaand they're off!

They ran until they were dizzy, which didn’t take very long in the state they were in.

If their friend didn’t believe them, there was no chance whatsoever they’d have with the police, or in court. I’ve seen the footage. They could barely imagine.

They’d have to hide. They’d… but then, what was the point? What were they supposed to do, run away for the rest of their life? They already heard the police sirens - their friend must have made good on her threat. Blue lights were flashing into the alley they founf themself in.

Maybe they should just give up. It was hopeless. All they’d do was prolong their suffering.

They took one step towards the street before their body froze on them.

Get out!

»We will not be captured again,« their mouth hissed, and it turned and walked deeper into the shadows.

Stop! It’s enough! Stop it!

They didn’t know whether it could hear their thoughts, but it must have felt them struggling, because it hissed through their teeth, »Can’t you see that you’re lost without me? I will protect us.«

Lights flashed on the other side of the alley, and in the distance, the sound of a helicopter cut through the night. They were almost relieved - or was it petty? - that it would not have its way: they would be caught for certain.

It cowered down on the ground, and in the flashing lights, they only now saw the manhole cover in front of them. It dug their fingers through the openings, tearing the skin as it lifted it up, their shoulders and every injury protesting in anguish. They almost hoped something would break, or at least dislocate. Something that would stop it.

But still, a small, insane spark of hope leapt at them from the darkness below.

»No one will find you.«

[watching-pictures-move]

Viddying the Nasties | Eaten Alive! (Lenzi, 1980)

This review contains mild spoilers.

I watched this years ago at around the same time as I first saw Cannibal Ferox and remember hating both. As I’ve been watching a bunch of cannibal movies recently and also apparently hate myself, I decided to give this another shot, having revisited the other movie not too long ago. To paraphrase the slogan of a popular potato chip, when it comes to Umberto Lenzi cannibal movies, you can’t watch just one. With rewatches, my opinion of the other movie hasn’t improved by much, but with this, maybe it has. Through some combination of desensitization and greater exposure to lower budget cinema where technical prowess is beside the point, I didn’t actively hate the experience this time around.

Like the other movie, which will serve as a useful point of comparison, it contains all the things we expect from cannibal movies, namely horrific violence and animal cruelty and insulting portrayals of other cultures. Unlike that other movie, a lot of this is repurposed footage from Jungle Holocaust, Slave of the Cannibal God and Lenzi’s own The Man From Deep River. And I think it goes to prove what I’ve been saying about the animal cruelty in these movies, that if you could replace it with stock footage instead of staging it specifically for the movie and it would still work in the same way. The first time I watched the movie, I didn’t realize this was recycled footage, and only caught it this time around as I’d seen Slave of the Cannibal God less than a week earlier. Now, I think the ultimate test would be if you replace the animal cruelty with something less noxious, like, I dunno, a guy in a gorilla suit. Maybe the gorilla suit scenes from Carlos Tobalina’s Jungle Blue, which were shot in the jungle and probably would blend in well enough, and also horrify for completely different reasons.

This movie’s big hook is that it’s a cannibal movie with a Jonestown-like cult, although if anything it plays like a Jonestown-like cult movie with cannibals added in. But really neither element is fleshed out that intelligently. The cult is led by Ivan Rassimov, who does a lot of ranting and raving that leads me to believe that the cult fell under his spell before the movie started, and all the other characters who fall under his influence during the proceedings do so offscreen. Halfway into the movie he’s demanding that everybody drink the Kool-Aid, which seems a bit premature. He also has an interesting way of settling disputes in his cult. One of his enforcers accuses the hero played by Robert Kerman of hiding a bottle of whisky. Kerman calls the guy a liar and punches him out. Rassimov considers the case closed. I guess might makes right in this cult. One will also note that the clothing worn by the cult is far from gender neutral, with the men wearing togas and the women wearing a lot less, but as this means that Me Me Lai spends all her scenes in a loincloth or less and Janet Agren can be seen nude in gold bodypaint, I found it in my heart to overlook this one flaw. One will also note that the commune seems a bit too small to house all the members of the cult, unless they’re using bunk beds. The movie halfassedly introduces the possibility of cannibalism early on, showing us documentary footage in a gesture that likely evokes the lineage of this genre with mondo movies, and later awkwardly rushes out the cannibals to wrap things up. It’s as if it wanted to be its own thing but couldn’t help succumb to genre demands.

Anyway, the cast is the best thing about this movie. Rassimov, while not particularly effective in this movie, I still like seeing because I’ve seen him in enough of these Italian horror movies and after a certain point it’s like hanging out with a friend. Lai and Agren bring obvious aforementioned charms. And Kerman is a lot of fun, doing a low rent adventurer shtick, having some nice chemistry with Agren (“Curiosity killed the cat, lady”) and bringing a nice physicality as he throws himself into the stunts. (It looks like that’s really him dangling from the helicopter towards the end.) He’s joined by fellow porn character actor Jake Teague, who describes a recent spate of crimes as “very, very spooky”. We also get Mel Ferrer show up to pick up a paycheque ("Americans will believe anything that's tax-deductible”), although neither him nor Teague get anywhere near the jungle. We do get a scene at the end where Kerman, Ferrer and Teague share the screen and spar verbally, which might be the only time in cinema history that the guy who did Debbie in Debbie Does Dallas, Audrey Hepburn’s ex-husband and the dipshit psychiatrist from A Woman’s Torment shared the screen. A real clash of the titans.

Despite the animal cruelty (and I admit I still frequently look away from the screen during these movies), this one holds together better than its obviously cobbled together nature might suggest. There are enough narrative happenings to hold one’s interest, Kerman especially gives a fun performance, and the jungle has great presence. It certainly feels more like a “real movie” than Cannibal Ferox, even if the latter’s flimsiness adds to its pungency and effectiveness as pure exploitation, pieces of film barely stitched together to present the ugliest imagery one can conjure. That being said, there is one particular noxious sequence here, where a woman is at first captured and raped by cult members, and then killed and eaten by cannibals, and the way her body is laid out like a pinup during the latter occurrence left me a little queasy. This character has been totally objectified, completely reduced to a piece of meat.

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! #13: “Forest” | December 17, 2007 - 12:15AM | S02E05

In this episode: Tim is out in the woods taking very bad photographs of nature. He has a disastrous run-in with chippy, resulting in a big burly mama Chippy (Eric in terrifying monster-man make-up) showing up and mauling Tim. It’s very dramatic and approximately cinematic, but it ends with Eric breaking character and smiling and striking a pose at the camera. It was probably a bit of footage that was not intended to be used. I feel like sometimes Tim & Eric went to that well maybe a little too often. The fourth-wall breaking “this doesn’t actually matter” thing happens pretty often on this show, and I can see how that would give certain people a bad first impression of the show who aren’t on their wavelength. I didn’t always love it, either.

The Married News Team are back! And Steve Brule is in tow! It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen the Married News; Brule showed up doing his own thing in a self-defense VHS tape earlier in the season. This bit is okay but not terribly strong; they are playing a mysterious video game (later in an interstitial we find out it’s “The Snuggler” video game) as a way to introduce Brule’s segment on video games. The joke here is Brule can’t think of the video game. Conceptually this is funny, but most of the sketch is Brule sitting in silence trying to remember the game.

You can’t help but feel a little robbed. Brule is a font of hilarious lines and turns of phrase, so it’s a shame to waste that. I do like little details in this sketch, like Wayne using a Game Gear as a controller for his video game. This almost seems like an intentional joke for how poorly video game hardware is accurately portrayed in television shows. There’s also the little take Wayne does the camera when Brule is mentioned, playing up the jealously he feels when he’s around. This dynamic would eventually take a really dark turn, but that’s a bit off from now. 

Back to Tim in the forest. He’s been left for dead by Mama Chippy, but he has no reason to fear, for the Snuggler is nearby. The Snuggler is played by Tairy Greene, who is played by Zach Galifianakis. He has a fox companion named Michael J. The joke is a reference to Micheal J. Fox, and for some reason this joke alluded me for years because I just thought the name “Michael J.” was funny, and don’t normally associate intentional cultural references with this show. There’s not a ton to this bit either, but it’s fun. Most of the humor comes from the incessant use of title cards and on-screen bugs for the fictional “The Snuggler” television program. His superpower is that he just snuggles people back to health. Sure enough, he immediately begins spooning the bloodied Tim, soothing him almost immediately. 

There’s an Uncle Muscles “classic” clip from 1993 starring Casey and his Brother. This is what I’ve talked about before; Casey is dead, so every time they do a new Casey and his Brother sketch they make sure to announce that it’s from the archives. Here they perform “Horse and Buggy Ride”. I like these bits fine. I may be repeating myself here, but I honestly think they perfected the formula with the “Right Way to Rock” promo, where Casey is at his least ill-seeming. They brought Weird Al in just to record an intro for this; unless they banked a few during the season one shooting session. I don’t remember how much Uncle Muscles shows up in this season. 

Video Match, A Dating Service is next. The joke here is mostly the absurd visual of the video subject appearing to have no nose. This is all through digital trickery. It’s funny enough! I wonder if the intent was to have this effect appear to be the result of a video tracking error sort of mad-fold-inning the image. For some reason it took me a couple viewings to realize that this is the same guy from the upcoming song “Petite Feet” even though he basically hits all the same bullet points. 

The true classic bit from this episode is “Petite Feet”. With the lyrics “petite feet, feminine step / sounds like a lady when he’s walking in the room”. It’s very catchy, and the characters Tim & Eric play are hilarious, a couple of lameoids who live for billiards and aggressively pursuing sexual encounters. They champ at the bit to fuck this piece of trim just based on the sound of the footsteps. The song continues “this is what a man sounds like when he walks” (a masculine-sounding instrument) “but this is what that dude sounded like when he walked” (a feminine-sounding instrument).

I remember my friend Andrew telling me about an awkward family gathering where he tried to show a family member this sketch, thinking he MIGHT appreciate it. They feigned interest, but they were just waiting to show Andrew his own viral-style internet video, which was just a bullshit Jesus PSA about how people who believe in evolution are heretics who are going to hell. Literally could not be further from Tim & Eric.

I also remember this bit being performed live. I don’t remember if it was because I saw it or if this was one of a few Tim & Eric live things I saw on video. In the live bit, they perform the song and the trading of masculine and feminine instruments goes on longer, with Tim & Eric becoming more and more frustrated by the failure of the instruments being handed to them by Jon Mugar. Eventually they become so angry with him that they slap him silly and storm off the stage. Mugar is holding a horn in his hand. He turns to the audience and seamlessly begins performing the hundred holiday honks: which is to say he just turns around and squeezes the horn 100 times without saying anything. It must’ve been extra baffling to those who were unaware of Tim & Eric’s Super Deluxe output. 

This one ends with Tim showing Eric a slideshow of his forest excursion. We get to deeper on his rescue by The Snuggler. Zach gets testy when Tim laughs at his pine cone puppet show because Zach feels it’s not meant to be funny. They casually devour Michael J. Tim owes his life to The Snuggler. Unfortunately Eric doesn’t care about this “at all” and the show ends with Tim & Eric pathetically waving goodbye to the camera. Their ad-libs during the credits are funny enough, but I have a pet peeve about this. VH1 had a lot of bad talking head shows where comedians would say lame jokes over repurposed footage of various things, and I feel like all too often a lot of these bits ended with a grinning Doug Benson sarcastically smiling and waving goodbye after delivering his stupid punchline. I can’t help but think of that when Tim & Eric do it here.

Honestly, this one is sorta weak, which seems like it’s always the way when Adult Swim takes it upon themselves to promote an episode of Tim & Eric heavily. Whatever I find annoying in a Tim & Eric show probably reads as “easily digestible” by the network. Detached irony is easier to take when it’s more obvious, maybe. I like detached irony, but I like it without the filthy tude. Oh yeah, I didn’t mention it yet, but Adult Swim promoted this one pretty heavily. Read on!

EPHEMERA CORNER

The Snuggler Stunt (December 16, 2007)

On the evening of the above episode’s premiere, Adult Swim went all-out promoting it by adding promotional on-screen bugs that were intentionally obnoxious, advertising “The Snuggler”. These bits included little video footage of Zach saying “I am the Snuggler” and stuff like that. It was meant to mimic a more typical network’s advertising methods, by covering the lower-third with garish advertising for upcoming programming during the show you were currently watching. They only did this during the repeats, if memory served. Xavier was spared of this. 

Unfortunately these bits aren’t on Youtube; I was hoping to find somebody had compiled the on-screen bugs. This stunt seems largely forgotten. I think I might have a recording somewhere. I’m a broken record, but I really need to find all that stuff and save it. Fuck.

MAIL BAG:

Vernon Chatman is a  nihilistic POC while you're just a  nihilistic POS. And we'll be right black.

Hey, you are right and I respect you!

[themculibrary]

Enemies To Friends To Lovers Masterlist

A Higher Form of War (ao3) - sabrecmc steve/tony M, 292k

Summary: Tony is a King with a surprising number of people out to kill him. Steve and the rest of the Avengers are fighting for Pierce's rebellion and end up with Tony as their prisoner. Oops.

all the magic i have known (ao3) - gsparkle clint/natasha T, 3k

Summary: “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” - Maya Angelou

Don't Freak Out (ao3) - Sarah_Sandwich harley/peter, pepper/tony T, 136k

Summary: Getting kidnapped isn’t usually the best way to start your summer (especially your last summer before college) but honestly? It kinda worked out.

(Or the one where Spidey saves the day in the first chapter and they spend the rest of the fic falling in love)

Don't Look Down (ao3) - NamelesslyNightlock loki/tony M, 256k

Summary: When forced to decide between the lives of Tony Stark and Iron Man, Steve Rogers chose wrong.

Tony is left to deal with the consequences, but it’s not like he’s helpless, and he certainly isn’t alone.

His new past (ao3) - LilSisBarton34 clint/pietro M, 20k

Summary: Tony's been working on a similar serum to Steve's, which should help patients regain youthful health. If he pulls this off thousands of people's lives would be saved but that's not what this story's about. Clint injests some of the serum by accident and the serum doesn't act how it should, Clint's turned into a four year old. As Tony and Bruce work on an antidote a certain sonic starts to bond with the boy he despised as an adult. Will the bond they grew be enough to save their relationship when Clint's turned back to normal?

Joke's On You (ao3) - atothej bucky/clint T, 2k

Summary: Clint's got a date. Except, it turns out, not really.

maybe love is the reason why (we're seeing it eye to eye) (ao3) - parkrstark steve/tony, peter/harry T, 134k

Summary: "I'm sorry. Repeat that again." Tony leaned forward in his seat from across the table. He even stuck a finger in his ear as if he was cleaning it out. "I don't think I heard you right."

Fury rolled his eyes-- or well, eye. "You and Rogers need to go undercover as a married couple in a community out on Long Island."

--

After Civil War, Tony and Steve are sent on an undercover mission as a couple to try and find Hydra informants. Somehow, they end up with Peter as their undercover son who decides to play matchmaker even if the two of them are doing their best to ignore their feelings after Siberia.

Paved With Good Intentions (I'm on the road to hell) (ao3) - itsallAvengers steve/tony T, 194k

Summary: When the mysterious group of vigilante assassins known only as 'The Avengers' are tipped off about the dirty secrets that lie within Stark Industries, Steve Rogers has his heart set on taking out Tony Stark for good in order to protect the rest of the world from his evil. He's seen the footage, after all- Stark is a man who fights only for himself. And of course, when a job arises as chief bodyguard for Stark, to protect him from the growing threat of an ominously infatuated stalker, the opportunity is way too good for him to miss out on. It's the perfect placement, and the perfect way to find out whether or not their tipoff is genuine.

But as Steve falls into rank as the new bodyguard for Mr. Stark and he spends time getting to know and protect him, his initial hatred begins to falter and merge into something different, something far more terrifying than the prospect of killing the face of Stark Industries.

Steve Rogers may just be falling in love with him instead.

Sharpen Your Teeth (ao3) - STARSdidathing loki/tony M, 369k

Summary: A betrayed Tony Stark leaves the Avengers. He's angry and bitter but he's not about to stop being a hero. The problem is that not everyone is happy with his decision.

Stupid Mistakes (ao3) - Skyshadow3246 loki/tony, steve/bucky E, 200k

Summary: Tony has had a pretty shitty last few months. First Pepper finally realized he was never going to be what she needed and dumped him. Now the UN panel is working on the pardon of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, the last two people in the world he would ever want to see. The sudden arrival of Thor and Bruce, crashing a spaceship into the forest around the Avengers Compound would not be an unwelcome surprise if not for the fact Loki was with them. Both Bruce and Thor insist Loki has changed and is no longer a threat to Earth or anyone on it. What happened out in space to make them believe Loki has changed? And has he really?

Such Sweet Revenge (ao3) - ali_aliska bucky/tony M, 167k

Summary: When the Rogues are back in the States after being pardoned, the New Avengers want nothing to do with them and as far as Tony is concerned, if he never speaks to them again, it'll be too soon. After all, he didn't spend the last year putting himself (and his family) back together only for his former co-workers to ruin all of his hard work.

But then he gets a hand-written letter from the Winter Soldier himself, apologizing for the events that transpired and an off-handed comment from Rhodey about Rogers failing to take care of an obviously miserable Bucky Barnes sets in motion Tony's new, oh-so-evil plan to get some payback.

After all, what better revenge than to steal the Winter Soldier away from his best friend?

The only problem: Tony sucks at being vengeful, but apparently he's an expert at inadvertently falling in love.

The Devil's Keeper (ao3) - TheTruthAboutLove maria/natasha E, 161k

Summary: Maria stopped as soon as she entered the room and raised her eyes towards the woman in the cage, the reason they were called and ordered there. The alleged Black Widow. The red hair, the green eyes, even the curious tilt of her chin were familiar to her. She knew that woman.

“Natasha?”

“Who told you that name?" [...] "I've never seen you before. But whatever I did to you,” she paused and faked a smirk, she felt her fingers begin to tingle, her jump was about to end, her time was almost up, “I'm going to enjoy every second of it.”

The Song Without Words (ao3) - Lelantus steve/tony M, 57k

Summary: Everyone knew what happened when soulmates touched each other. Whether it was hands clasping together, fingers brushing across a jaw, or lips meeting in a kiss - it didn’t matter. Any skin-to-skin contact and chests started glowing with soft, white-blue light. Soul-light, it was called.

Tony woke up in a cave in Afghanistan with a hole in his chest and wires coming out of it and felt his blood run cold. He knew instinctively what it meant. He’d lost his ability to produce a soul-light. And so no matter how much he yearned for it in the secret, hidden corners of his heart, Tony would never find his soulmate.

The Winter Tabby (ao3) - LagLemon bucky/tony, pepper/natasha, pre steve/bucky/tony M, 233k

Summary: When Tony is handed a cat carrier by a bloody and battered Steve, he thinks Steve wants him to simply take the cat to the vet and babysit it. That should be a simple task, after all - this is Steve's cat, and Tony loves cats - he'd do anything to keep one safe and sound. He hadn't thought he would have another cat living with him after his old cat, Peggs, died of old age. Tony knows cats. This should be a piece of cake. Unfortunately for Tony, the cat isn't exactly a cat - it's Bucky Barnes.

Through The Lens (ao3) - scarlct_vvitch peter/wade, steve/tony, clint/natasha, bucky/sam M, 61k

Summary: Peter was having a strange streak of good luck. He moved to a new school and he didn't get punched on the first day. His new town was warm and sunny and the new house was perfect. He had finally made some friends and even had good teachers. Aunt May loved her new job. Things were going almost too well.

Luckily, Wade Wilson is more than happy to step in and ruin all of it with four stupid words.

"You're in my seat."

Time for Home (ao3) - GoodbyeBlues steve/bucky, past bucky/brock M, 63k

Summary: When Steve rescues Bucky from a car wreck in the middle of a snow storm, he isn't looking for a reward, but he certainly isn't expecting to be berated about his lack of wifi and his “unjustifiable” use of emergency scissors either. He also isn't expecting to find his infuriating new housemate so goddamn attractive.

Saving Bucky Barnes’ life was easy. Living with him? Not so much.

Who Needs Peter Parker Anyway? (ao3) - mauvera harley/peter T, 15k

Summary: When Harley finally gets to come to New York to hang out with Tony he's excited to build some robots and blow stuff up. Instead Tony is insisting that he meets that damn intern that he's been bragging about for months. Harley doesn't even have to meet the guy to know he's already sick of Peter Parker.

In other news that cute guy that hangs around the tower keeps running away before Harley can find out his name. Damn it.

[golbrocklovely]

You’d figure if he really had the answer to great editing that they would be winning editing and cinematography awards but they’re not. They’re always nominated for simply being a duo. They have single camera usage with low quality sound because you can never hear when they type “listen”, weird unfinished cuts, grainy imagery at times, no drone footage, reused stock footage, loud score music, over the top jump scares, rushed scenes that seem misplaced. Nowhere in that will he get nominates for any award at any film festival. And for someone who claims to love editing because he has many times on snap, xplrclub, twitter, he sure struggles with it a lot almost as if he DOESNT know what hes doing. I like their content but his insistence in micromanaging aggravates me and reminds me of Shmelton Shmastee.

If he wants it to be an apprenticeship like you said, make that into a xplrclub contest win, get an exclusive one on one class on editing with Sam Golbach. Doing this to already professionals is such a slap in the face. And we thought the notes he showed on his snap story last time were bad but 20pgs!!! The apprentice caption worried me because usually apprenticeships aren’t paid or paid after a certain amount of hours. They’ve never said how much it pays, if its remote, if they provide benefits, if this is entry level or advanced yet he’s already dictating their work? Other creators do list everything out there, i’ve seen postings for some streamers and even youtubers on industry websites.

He better not try to sale this as another money grab because i see people in the fandom always convincing them to film and sale everything they touch and i can very easily see his ego get inflated by this.

something that i have always noticed, especially when snc are in a time crunch, is that's when they try to pull out all the stops and do something new with their editing. and it now makes so much more sense to me when i realize that all of the weird edits usually boil down to sam and his…. ideas lol

that's not to say that colby is some fantastic editor. god knows he has his fuck ups too.

either way, i think the thing that pisses me off most about all of this is just that both of their parts are crucial to the editing process, but sam is the one that bitches about it the most and makes it seem as if he is doing all of it at once. like his part is complicated, i have no doubt it is, but clearly if he is constantly running into the issue that a) he can't train someone to do what he does or b) it is taking so long to find an editor…. maybe the issue is him, and not the crazy genius work he is doing lol

and hilariously that you mention mr. L10 bc me and @xplrvibes were saying the same thing sksksk

and while i do keep saying that at this point they should just hire a fan to edit their content, i'm only really saying that out of convenience and not bc i think it would be the best idea out there. turning it into a contest might end up badly, and also using a fan could actually become a shit show bc you would have to make sure they are trustworthy enough to not leak anything or freak out at the mere amount of interactions they would have to have with snc. also god knows this fandom would throw some form of a hissy fit about a fan winning a chance to be their editor…. it would just be messy.

however, if there was a "fan" out there that had at least some background knowledge of after effects, then that might be their best bet. it would make more sense to hire someone that knows the program but isn't really an editor since clearly sam doesn't want someone that has their own style of editing and will just copy what he does.

and they probably hide all of the details away just so they can weed out the fans that probably applied for the sake of wanting to talk to snc or whatever weird bs. realistically, it would probably be remote, possibly entry level or a bit above (depending on how much prior experience they are looking for) and little to no benefits. maybe i'm wrong tho, so don't take my word for it lol

as for his 20 pages, i would pay a solid dollar to read whatever shit he wrote out. but highkey i don't think anyone in the fandom will ever see those 20 pages unless snc plan to hire them. but please, sage samuel, tell me of the ways to edit your finest spooky videos. i must know how you do it lmaooo