#IM TRYING BRIDGE WOULD BE CHARLES

[thosesillylittlegayghosts]

RIP Alastair Carstairs you would’ve loved Masie Peters

[cheriladycl01]

Better than me - Charles Leclerc x Reader P10

Plot: You are a rookie in your first f1 season, adding to the ever-growing amount of Brits performing in the grid

As things went, the dinner Charles promised to take you out on went really well. You guys spent the whole night out talking in a small local restaurant in Saint-Tropez that he’d privately rented for the night before walking along the harbour wall.

The conversation never actually stopped, and despite knowing of Charles for a while and having met him a few times before you got into F1 yourself you guys found out more about each other in those 4 hours at dinner than you’d known about any of the drivers in the time you’d been driving with some of them.

“Come on then, tell me something you’ve never told anyone else” he asks and you think for a second.

“When I was younger, in karting and moving up into F4, I nearly said yes to two teams wanting to take me on because I thought the other was a dream” you chuckle amused at the memory.

“No way! That would have been funny, I remember actually seeing you in the awards ceremony I must have been in F2 at that point” he sighs thinking back to when there wasn’t as much pressure on him and he had a lot more freedom.

“Tell me about your family, I bet you love having them at race weekends” you asked after taking a bite of the delicious food that was on your plate.

“Well, there’s Arthur, obviously you know him coz you’ve raced with him. Then there’s my older brother Lorenzo but we all just call him Enzo and of course my maman” he smiles and you think for a second looking up at the ceiling.

“Nicknames are bizarre right? Like you shortener that to Enzo, but why did nobody start calling him Lore?” The random questions spills from your mouth easily.

“I’ve never thought about that” he laughs.

Your connection was undeniable and you guys just fit together. It was so sweet, nothing could ruin this moment apart from one conversation.

Which of course had to be had.

“So where do we go from here?” Charles had asked you.

“What do you mean?” You ask with a slight tilt of you head in confusion.

“You know we can’t be together right? The media would tear us to shreds” he offers and you look down sadly.

Tonight showed you what a life with Charles alongside you could be like, his attentive side and how his words made you feel like the only girl in the world.

“We don’t have to tell anyone it could be just between the two of us” you smile.

“We’re in different teams … it would never work” he reasons and your eyes are starting to glass over in frustration.

“Then why bring me here!” You raise your voice.

“W-what do you mean, you asked me to bring you here?” He says looking over your disgruntled facial expression.

“No, no I didn’t! Don’t try spin this. I said you had to take me out to dinner, that didn’t mean, taking me out and renting out a whole intimate restaurant before taking me on a walk through the south of France. That’s mean” you say stepping back as he tries to reach out for you.

“I didn’t mean for you to get upset” he says, there were undertones of him genuinely feeling a little bad, but it was more blunt than usual. Like he didn’t really care how you felt but he was obliged to.

“Charles why do you keep doing this to me, I thought we just got past the rough patch!” You say, remembering everything he had put you through since the start of the season.

You thought maybe today was the day you were building a bridge with him that would be better for both of you in the future.

“Y/N im sorry but please let’s not let this stop us being … friends” Charles interjects stepping closer to you so he’s practically against you.

“I’m too embarrassed to do this right now Charles. I’m going home” you say crossing your arms wrapping the cardigan you were wearing tighter around you.

“Y/N no please don’t we can…” he starts but your ready to interrupt him.

“There’s nothing you can say right now. I’ll see you at the next race” you say before walking through the streets of Saint-Tropez on your own. You manage to get back to the hotel you’d originally had and begged the receptionist for your old room.

The next races went by and you didn’t attend any of them. However this time you did keep in contact with the select few people you knew had your back. You didn’t tell them why you weren’t coming to anymore races, just that you needed more time to heal.

Not exactly a lie.

You spent your time with your personal trainer getting your muscles and bones to slowly recover from the race. You really were having a speedy recovery and Silverstone was looking like a definite for you to be back in the car now which made everyone happy.

You traveled back and forth between, Monaco, Germany and the UK while you weren’t at the races, getting data from Audi and how the car been performing with a different driver now that your out for the last few races. And spending time with your family, in the UK.

By the time Silverstone came around you were deemed ready to be back in the car.

On the Thursday you walked through the car park, fans lining up either side screaming for you. You walked over to where they were fenced off and started signing as much as you could.

“Y/N are you all better now?”

“Y/N are you excited to drive again”

“Y/N are you scared to drive after your crash?”

“Y/N do you feel like you might be a bit rusty today?”

Floods of questions came your way, but with a smile on your face you answered whatever was thrown your way. You stayed there for around 20 minutes before crowds became too big and security politely asked you to move on and into the paddock.

You scanned in, loads off people coming up to you for pictures who had VIP and Paddock passes. You stayed walking with your PR manager who’d met you at the entrance.

“How are you feeling about the weekend?” They ask you and you turn your head in a cocked manner.

“Fine?” You admit.

“Okay, great! Well you are on the Drivers Press conference with Liam, Lando, Carlos and Pierre. Please try and keep up team moral yeah? We don’t want any undue attention” she admit, knowing Audi haven’t had the best time in public relations recently thanks to the crash and the scandal before that.

The rumours around your crash were kind of insane. Some people were saying you did it on purpose to prove a point, some people think your team were sabotaging you. Some people thought the grid were out to get you, some even went as far as to think you’d faked your drug test and were doping.

“I know, racing only. How excited I am for this weekend” you nod towards her as you guys get to the motorhome of Audi.

“Well I need to brief the team, but I’ll be sure to come grab you before the press conference” she smiles running of with her clipboard pressed tightly to her chest.

“Oh my gosh! Y/N! Alex and I have been waiting on you forever” Lily exclaims as she sees you step through the glass doors.

She grabs you into a tight squeeze that you immediately sink into. If Alex wasn’t careful you’d steal Lily from him in a heartbeat, she gave the best hugs.

“Hey, how are you guys! It feels good to actually be back here with you guys knowing I’ll be driving tomorrow” you smile softly.

“Yeah i can imagine it’s been far too long” Alex says rubbing your shoulder before offering you to take a seat with them in the booth they’d currently reserved.

“How are you feeling about the race, you definitely feel like your ready to get back in the car?” Lily fusses, like always.

“Yeah, i mean the physio said I was good to go”

“Okay, but are YOU good to go?” She pushes and you can’t help but think for a little. Physically you’d been cleared but with everything that’s happened your mind, we’re your reflexes going to be up to standard, would you be too emotional in the car and not think straight?

We’re you ready?

Taglist:

@littlebitchsposts @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[sainzfilm]

Heyyy, can I request an angst drabble where you work as Charles' communication manager but you're leaving Ferrari and there's always like a spark between the both of you but the both of you don't really act on it because Charles has a girlfriend (kind of like unrequited love with right person, wrong time?) I'm so sorry if it's really long, thank you <33

pairing: charles leclerc x manager!reader

a/n: SURPRISE i honestly couldn’t resist not posting hehehe :( so let’s try and see if im still shadowbanned, but at the same time you know what fuck it <3 definitely sucks to not get the attention for something you worked hard for buuuut that’s ok

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

It was obvious to everyone that Charles was your person and that you were his. The longing stares, the lingering touches, and even the way your eyes would light up upon hearing or seeing the other.

“You know you’re staring,” Carlos nudged you as the two of you sat on the couches of the Ferrari hospitality, “Have you told him?”

“I’m not staring, idiot,” You mumbled, averting your eyes and looking back at your clipboard, “I’ll tell him when I want to.”

“When you want to?” He chuckled, sipping from his water as he took a quick glance at Charles and his girlfriend, “You’re leaving in two weeks.”

Sighing as you set your clipboard down and pinched the bridge of your nose, “It’ll come easy. It’s not even hard to leave at this point.”

“If you say so, Y/N. You know, I’ll miss annoying you and your little crush,” Carlos chuckled, standing up from seeing Charles approaching, “I’ll see you later.”

As you waved him goodbye, you forced a smile from seeing the man that held your heart in his hands. Charles sat across you and crossed his arms, “Looks like you were in a pretty serious talk with Carlos.”

“He was just being annoying as usual,” You snickered, handing him your clipboard, “This is your schedule for the week, let me know if you want any changes.”

“I think most of it is pretty good,” Charles hummed, scanning the document quickly, “Just don’t take anything in the evenings though, boyfriend duties.”

“Oh okay, I see,” You nodded, taking back your clipboard from him, “Great to see her here, though. She seems nice.”

“She really is. I don’t know how I got so lucky,” He sighed dreamily, putting his hands behind his head, “It’s like all the stars aligned for me this time.”

If it were physically possible to see your heartstrings break one by one at that very moment, then Charles would’ve stopped talking about her.

“Happy for you,” You replied, your heart hurting from the lies that came out of your mouth, “I’ll just go and arrange a few things. Good luck with the race, Charles.”

Charles frowned upon hearing his full name, you never called him that. Not unless it was for formality purposes in front of the media and the rest of the team. It was always Cha when it was just the two of you. What had changed?

The race turned over quickly – a great result for both Ferrari drivers, claiming P1 and P2 respectively. You admired Charles up there on the podium with the biggest smile on his face as his national anthem played in the background.

As the celebrations ended, Charles immediately ran down and welcomed the cheers of the Ferrari team, as well as his girlfriend. You smiled sadly from afar, seeing him happy would be your utmost priority at all times. That’s what matters, his happiness. If it’s not you, then you’ll have to grow around the thorns piercing through your heart.

“Congratulations on P1, Charles,” You said, patting his shoulder, “Well deserved, it was a tough race.”

“Definitely tough,” He chuckled softly, putting the towel around his neck and looking at you momentarily, “Is everything okay?”

“It’s perfect. Nothing to worry about,” You forced a smile on your face, “C’mon, let’s get to the media pen.”

Charles frowned for the nth time today, he definitely knew something was up between the two of you. Walking to the media pen would consist of banter, nudges, or even racing each other to it. How come you were walking in front of him, but you felt so far away?

“Y/N, I know you like the back of my hand,” Charles mumbled, grabbing your arm and turning you to face him, “What’s wrong?”

Pulling back your arm, you shook your head with a smile you’d usually reserve for formalities, “Everything’s fine, Charles.”

“See, you say everything is fine,” Charles scoffed, “But, you call me Charles. You never call me that in the 2 years that you’ve been with me.”

You exhaled before turning back and walking towards the media pen, “Well then, I guess things have changed.”

It was safe to say that Charles was left dumbfounded, thoughts racing around his mind that went from ‘Had I done something wrong?’ to ‘Why is she being like this?’. Media interviews felt like torture to him, the agony was prolonged when you were by his side, but then it felt like you weren’t really there at all.

Charles caught up to you as the two of you walked out of the media pen, “Can we talk?”

“I was about to say the same thing,” You smiled sadly, clutching the clipboard to your chest, “Somewhere a little more private.”

You let Charles walk ahead back to his driver’s room. It was supposed to be two weeks from now, but then you decided to inform the higher ups that you’re leaving after this race. You figured it was better to rip the band-aid off completely rather than doing it bit by bit.

As Charles closed the door behind the two of you, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, “You go first.”

“I’ve decided that I’m…” You took a deep breath and further carried the heavy weight on your shoulders, “Fuck it. I won’t be here after this race anymore.”

“Oh, you’re taking a vacation?” Charles looked at you, raising an eyebrow, “That’s why you’re acting weird? Thinking that I wouldn’t let you?”

Sighing and shaking your head, you fought back the tears that were threatening to spill, “No. I’m leaving.”

Charles felt the immediate pang to his chest, feeling as if the world around him had stopped and it’s as if he suddenly couldn’t comprehend what you had just said.

“What do you mean you’re leaving? Wha- why? Have I done something wrong?”

Averting your gaze, you mumbled, “I’m just not happy here anymore.”

“Not happy? Y/N, I know you’re lying,” Charles ran a hand through his hair, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and frustration, “What about the promises we’ve made to each other? You seeing me be a world champion and me seeing you go to medical school?”

“I’m not lying, Charles!” You exclaimed, throwing your hands up in the air and pacing around the room, “I just…I feel like staying here is torture.”

“Then fine, leave. I’m not stopping you,” He scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked at you with a few tears falling out, “It’s your choice.”

“You can have this back and give it to her instead,” You sniffled, taking off the charm bracelet and shoving it in his hand, “Thanks for everything, Charles.”

Charles didn’t reply to you, clutching the charm bracelet in his hand tightly and putting it inside his pocket. He wished you hadn’t given it back to him – so that at the very least, you’d have a piece of him with you, just like you to him. But, he thought that it isn’t what you wanted.

He hoped that you’d turn around to look at him one last time as you exited the room, leaving the door open. for him to watch you walk out. But you didn’t, and that was all that Charles needed to know that you were not only leaving Ferrari but also his life.

[ilovefandoms]

Alastember - day 22

my thomastair playlist (2023 update)

yes, I took this week as an excuse to update the 3 playlists I posted last year

updating this post

yes, again, most of these are taylor swift songs, im sorry

Paris - Taylor Swift

I've said it a million times, this one is so obvious for thomastair

No, I didn't see the news cause we were somewhere else

first of all, we know they’re going to travel all around the world, that’s practically canon. second of all, this line comes after the verse where a third person is telling Taylor the gossip of one of her exes, so I imagine someone trying to tell Alastair something that happened to Charles, and Alastair being like “I didn’t know, I don’t care, I didn’t ask”

Levitate above all the messes made

they both hurt each other, but they can apologize and forgive each other and move past that

Haven’t You Ever Been In Love Before? - Lewis Capaldi

This entire song just almost perfectly describes thomastair during chot, when Alastair kept pulling away from Thomas, also, I feel like the chorus is probably a conversation that happened post-chot, pre-epilogue

And she said this "Haven't you ever been in love before? You heard 'em say, it takes the pain away And it's a feelin' that you can't ignore" But it's more like a knife to mе than a high to me And my heart can't fall apart anymore If you knеw what I knew, you'd be terrified Haven't you ever been in love before?

Labyrinth - Taylor Swift

Alastair being scared to fall in love again after ch*rles

Oh no, I'm fallin' in love again Oh, I'm fallin' in love I thought the plane was goin' down How'd you turn it right around?

Daylight - Taylor Swift

this song and the next one I can’t believe I didn’t add them to the playlist the first time???? specially since the first fic I posted on ao3 was a thomastair fic titled after this song??

My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in Everyone looked worse in the light There are so many lines that I've crossed unforgiven I'll tell you the truth but never goodbye I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you

I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked Clearin' the air, I breathed in the smoke

I once believed love would be black and white But it's golden golden

I once believed love would be burnin' red But it's golden Like daylight

I wanna be defined by the things that I love Not the things I hate

Dress - Taylor Swift

I can’t believe I didn’t realize how perfectly this bridge fit thomastair until I saw a tiktok about it??? (the person deleted the tiktok, otherwise I’d put a link to it here)

Flashback when you met me, your buzzcut and my hair bleached Even in my worst times, you could see the best in me Flashback to my mistakes, my rebounds, my earthquakes Even in my worst lies, you saw the truth in me And I woke up just in time, now I wake up by your side My one and only, my lifeline I woke up just in time, now I wake up by your side

Electric Touch - Taylor Swift

Got a history of stories ending sadly Still hoping that the fire won't burn me Just one time, just one time All I know is this could either break my heart or bring it back to life Got a feelin' your electric touch could fill this ghost town up with life And I want you now, wanna need you forever In the heat of your electric touch I've been left in the rain lost and pining I'm tryin' hard not to look like I'm trying 'Cause every time I tried hard for love, it fell apart

@alastair-appreciation-month

[florenceisfalling]

waiting for the sky to fall

the yeehaw egos au is basically a self-indulgent little scramble of ideas based off of the thought: what if the egos were modern rural texans? seeing as that is where im from :) this first little bit exists without context, there shall be more but im not sure if i'll add chapters or write separate works. but this one is 4500 or so words. the pacing is kinda weird, since i started writing it back in june and got lost somewhere between then and now.

warnings for brief mentions of drug use and alcohol, and somewhat more direct talk abt homophobia - including mentions of a shitty father who is neglectful and intolerant at best.

marvin meets chase's daughter on a sunny day.

➳➵➸➼➽

The sun is just at the point in the sky where its light encroaches on the porch’s shadow, and Marvin has to pull his toes back a little closer to the wooden rocking chair in order to avoid the heat. He hums and turns back to squint through the window screen, catching 4:33 PM on the clock in the kitchen. Eventually, the sun will dip far enough below the shingled awning for the light to hit his eyes directly, lighting up the flakes of gold that rest in his irises, and he’ll have to go inside; for now, his red sunglasses are enough to block it out. He uses one finger to prop them up a little higher til they sit on the scar across the bridge of his nose, then goes back to letting his red-painted nails dry, holding them out on the armrests of the chair and rocking softly back and forth to the sound of cicadas, barking dogs, and the lawn sprinklers.

Soon, another sound joins the chorus, though it’s one less familiar to him. Something bouncing on the concrete, a giggle as the sprinklers turn left across the yard. He opens one eye to see a little girl, quite the ragamuffin in a denim skirt and faded old pink-camo shirt, both stained with grass and dirt and other things unknown. She’s dropped a red kickball on the sidewalk. She lets it roll into the grass so she can spin in dizzy circles as the sprinkler sprays over her, drenching a mess of choppy caramel hair as she finally cools off in the Texas heat.

“Does your mama know you’re wandering by yourself?” Marvin questions from the porch, putting one sandaled foot down to stop his chair from rocking anymore.

The girl hides her startled eyes with a bright smile, a gap-toothed grin of feigned innocence. “Mama’s out of town.”

“And your dad?”

At that, the girl just starts spinning in circles once again, and chases down the sprinkler as it tries to sway rightward. Marvin sighs, takes a sip from an ice-cold glass of lemonade, then speaks again. “Well, do you have a name?”

She spins, and spins, and nearly topples over to the ground when she turns back to face him, eyes not quite focused after making herself into a clumsy little centrifuge. “Darcy Brody. What’s your name?”

“Marvin. Are you a Brody like Charles Brody?” 

Charles is not a kind man, nor a fun man, entirely unlike Darcy. Most of his interaction with Marvin consists of loathing glares and on more than one occasion a drunken exchange of joking insults - or, perhaps more accurately, insulting jokes. Other than that, the two try tirelessly to avoid each other, a hard feat for a duo three blocks away from each other in a tiny, isolating town. The task would be much more difficult if Darcy had any relation to him.

And unfortunately, Darcy nods. “Grandpa Charles was supposed to watch me, but he’s taking a nap. The house was boring by myself…”

“Well, you ought to go back inside. You’re too young to run around so close to the road,” Marvin chides, ready to close his eyes and go back to relaxing in his rocking chair.

Darcy’s gaze falls to her feet, kicking a bit at the wet grass with her clogs. “I can’t open the door.”

He hardly stifles a groan, “You locked yourself out?”

She nods. “But Dad said I go home at five.”

“Will he pick you up?”

One more nod, and Marvin mirrors the movement. “D’you know your daddy’s phone number, then?”

“I know there’s a number five in it… and that’s it.”

He hums in response, sitting up out of his rocking chair and tapping his nails to make sure they’re dried. “Alright, I’m not gonna be the one to wake your grandpa up. He hates me already… Tell you what, you wait right there, honey, don’t get any closer to the road. I’ll be right back.”

She nods, then plops down on the grass, as a promise not to stray too close to the cars. Most of her hair falls into her face over her now-closed eyes, the water sprays over her again, and she seems perfectly content to cool off right there. The pink in her shirt is starting to turn green with grass stains, but she doesn’t mind one bit.

Marvin smiles and leaves the chair to rock all alone, then slams the back of his heel against the door with his elbow holding down the handle. The warped frame sticks, but finally gives way with a quiet crack. The front room is all dramatic business, decorated with tapestries and sun-faded sheer print curtains, crystals and stained glass hanging in every window. Hints of the ugly plastic bug screens still show through, but only a little. A stacked deck of tarot cards, two empty teacups, a covered crystal ball, and an unlit candelabrum lay still on the center table, waiting for an anxious adulterer, superstitious traveler, or daring teenager to ask their advice. Marvin leaves his dusty shoes by the door. Lazily he shuffles through the beads and curtains guarding the hallway, revealing the more honest half of the building - all his personal rooms, including the hall closet he currently approaches. 

Behind the broom and dustpan, and a bundle of woven grocery bags shoved ungracefully inside each other, sits a hefty cardboard box neatly labeled “YARD SHIT” in purple permanent marker. Marvin shoves everything else out of the way and rips open the most busted flap at the top of the box, happy to see his bag of sidewalk chalk is exactly where he left it: tossed right on top of a broken pink plastic flamingo and a particularly grumpy looking garden gnome.

He grabs the bag and pumps it into the air like an athlete raising a new trophy gripped with white knuckles, then stands fully back up and swings the closet door shut. He puts his shoes back on once he reaches the front doorway. After a moment to appreciate the air conditioner, far preferable to the heat outside, he finally makes it back out to the blistering sunset. Relieved to see Darcy still splayed under the sprinkler, he grabs his glass of lemonade from beside the rocking chair and leaves the creaky porch for the cement driveway. 

Darcy leans up when she sees a tall shadow cast across her grassy resting spot, turning to curiously raise her eyebrows at Marvin.

“Here you go, Miss Brody! Brought you something to keep you busy.”

He drops the bag of chalk from the crook of his elbow, letting the contents roll out all over the concrete. As soon as the sight registers in Darcy’s eyes, she darts over to the shady side of the driveway, scooping up an orange piece of chalk and testing out the color. Marvin slowly sits criss-cross next to her, careful not to spill his drink, then picks up a green chalk. “I take it your grandpa doesn’t have much of this sort of thing?”

Darcy shakes her head, starting to sketch out the shape of a goldfish. “Nope. And the only board games he owns are about math and stuff.”

“Oh, my, not math and stuff!” Marvin exaggeratedly gasps, starting his own drawing with a looping figure eight. He briefly glances up from his handiwork to stare over at Charles’ house, making sure Darcy can be seen from the eldest Brody’s porch as well as the road. “That doesn’t sound very fun at all! But you can have this chalk when you go home, so you won’t get bored if you stay at his house again.”

“Really?” Darcy asks, scribbling some fins on her fishy drawing. 

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll make sure your dad takes ‘em when he picks you up. I never really use these anyway.”

Despite his words, he starts to doodle more details on his picture. Another parallel line curving with the first, ending in a set of fangs, a shiny eye drawn in black. Darcy takes the black piece from beside Marvin, and uses it to draw a round bowl around her goldfish. Once satisfied, she starts to fill it with bright blue water and tiny white bubbles. “Are you drawing a snake?”

Marvin hums out a quiet, distracted “mhm.” The snake bites at its own tail, so he picks up a thin sliver of a broken red chalk to start drawing a forked tongue.

“What’s its name?”

“Ouroboros, from an Egyptian story.” It’s a simple explanation, but small children most often don’t need to understand ancient metaphors for endless cycles of creation and destruction.

Darcy’s face lights up with recognition just enough, though. “Teacher said Egypt has lots of sand, and big pyramids, too. Have you ever been there?”

The man smiles. “No, it’s a little too far away… how about your goldfish, does it have a name?”

“Oh, it’s just called Goldfish,” she solemnly states, as the topic is quite serious to her. She adds some waves to the top of the blue water. “Fish don’t need names, because they don’t talk very much.”

Marvin nods quite sagely, agreeing with her thoughts. He can’t argue with that logic.

➳➵➸➼➽

It took about twenty more minutes for Darcy’s dad to arrive, pulling in front of Charles’ house in a dented-up car with three rows of seats and far too many bumper stickers. Marvin quickly waved him over and explained the situation, while Darcy kept on coloring her fish. By 5:00 PM, she had completed many more aquatic creatures, with creative names like “Shark,” “Crab,” and “Dolphin,” and had just begun to draw a new kind of animal she invented. She titled it “Sillyfish.”

With no desire to interrupt her masterpiece, her father and Marvin struck up a conversation instead of parting ways. The newcomer to town awkwardly introduced himself as Chase, a name his mother picked as a compromise so that his father wouldn’t insist on calling him Charles Junior. Chase looks like he was from an entirely different world than the boring Charles, decked out in a colorful tie-dye shirt and yellow sneakers, a row of about 9 tangled-up friendship bracelets stacked on his wrist, a patchy baseball hat, and a smiley face pin hanging lopsided from his pocket. The only thing he has in common with his father is a pair of matching eyebags, dark and heavy under his long blonde lashes. 

“Thank you for taking care of Darcy,” he awkwardly says, glaring in the direction of the home she was supposed to be in. “I swear I’m gonna chew my dad out for at least an hour - I hope he doesn’t drive you too crazy, as your neighbor.”

Marvin waves him off, “He’s quite alright, what’s got you worried about him?”

“Oh, come on,” Chase grins. “He’s a total hardass on everybody.”

That only earns a stiff laugh, and Chase tries to coax more out of Marvin. “He used to half-jokingly say he should’ve beat me senseless because I wore… what was it… ‘too much lavender.’ Sorry for doubting his politeness towards you.”

He makes a little waving gesture with his hands, drawing attention to Marvin’s now-sparkly fingertips. 

Ah. A bit of a frown pulls at Marvin’s face, but he shrugs. “Oh, it’s not as if I’m unaccustomed to it. On the bright side, most the Puritans in town are too worried about my evil witchcraft to be primarily concerned about the…glamor.”

Chase’s gaze leaves Marvin’s sharp features to drift over the house instead - getting a proper look at the neon sign shaped like an eye in the window, the Christmas lights hung around the patio, the sprawling word PSYCHIC in bold, tacked to the roof and painted with stars. Darcy pulls his sight away by tugging on the ankle hem of his jeans, trying to show off her next drawing, but a moment and a compliment later he’s already back to staring at the charming decor. “All that magic and mojo, that’s s’pposedly real?” 

Marvin gives him a mischievous grin back. “Sure thing.”

“Oh, bull.” Chase says. “You’re shittin’ me.”

“Dad! Language!” Darcy scolds, slamming down her chalk with a scowl.

Marvin fake pouts, crossing his arms in a mockery of offense. “I would never lie to such a good man as yourself, Mr. Brody.”

That itself is a terrible lie, but it isn’t like Chase would believe him even if he was telling the truth. He scoffs, shakes his head, a playful smile still lighting up his face. Darcy is now staring between the both of them, curious as ever.

“I’ll prove it to you,” Marvin offers, one eyebrow raised. “I’ll even give you a discount.”

Chase finally breaks into full laughter, sighing in relent and shifting to pull his wallet from his back pocket. “How much I owe you, then?”

“Five bucks sound good?”

Stubby fingers rifle through the worn bills, before producing a ten. “Extra’s for the babysitting fee,” he teases, ruffling Darcy’s hair.

➳➵➸➼➽

Inside the house is much cooler in temperature, a welcome change to the sweat rolling like a river down Chase’s back. Darcy sits enraptured with the books on the shelf, flipping through fairytale illustrations and charts of the stars, while Chase has a couple of thoughts tumbling through his brain regarding Marvin’s choice of interior design.

“Ain’t that a fire hazard?” 

Marvin furrows his brows. “Which part?”

Gaze trailing from the layers upon layers of fabric draped about, the candles scattered around every surface, the crystals hanging near the sunlit window… Chase shrugs. “All of it?”

The magician pulls out a chair for Chase, with an awful scraping noise against the thin and creaking wood floorboards. He drums his nails against the back of it and waits for his guest to sit, though Chase does so with a bit of hesitation. “Well, I’m sure the place won’t burn down in the next couple minutes. You should be perfectly safe.”

However unsure he may be, Chase still laughs, and tries to relax in the chair, arms wrapping around himself despite how warm he was before he came inside.

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous,” Marvin teases. He’s now across the table from Chase, and the latter of the two is becoming increasingly aware of just how much he has to crane his neck upward to meet Marv’s eyes.

“I- I’ve just never done this sorta thing before. Well, aside from a Ouija board in seventh grade.”

Marvin pouts, only a little. “It’s a fortune, Chase, not an interrogation. All you have to do is sit there and relax.”

“Alright, alright,” he capitulates, releasing the tension in his shoulders and shaking out his arms a moment. Once he’s settled, he leans forward, intertwining his fingers to rest his scruffy chin on his knuckles, and rest his elbows on the table.

With a gentle sigh, the magician lets a smile drift back onto his own face. “Good. Now…” he turns his attention to Darcy for just another moment, “My dear, could you promise to stay quiet down there for a little while?”

She nods solemnly, content now to flip through an old Cicely Mary Barker book of flower fairies, and mind a bit of her own magic.

“Thank you kindly.”

And with that, Marvin leans his head back on the chair. His sunglasses are now pulled up over his forehead, keeping his reddish hair from falling into his face. For a moment, he lets his eyelids stay shut. The breath he exhales seems to leave the room shuddering along with it, settling into its comfortable place. With it, he stretches his legs and relaxes. As if to open the gates to his heart, or unfurling some unseen map, his arms spread wide on the tabletop.

When he opens his eyes, the candles flicker with life between the two men, though they weren’t before. Chase looks startled, as if he was going to ask how - but is soon caught on another sight, stumbling over his astonishment - “Y- your eyes…”

Usually, guests come at night, when the shadows play more tricks. Sometimes, though, they see what Chase sees now: Marvin’s pupils blown inhumanly wide, like a cat trying to take in as much light as possible in a dim room.

Marvin presses a single slender finger to his own lips, shhh. Then, he trails his hand slowly across some invisible thread to the velvet cover on the crystal ball, pulling it away with a flick of his wrist. “Just parlor tricks, Mr. Brody. Try to focus.”

The look on Chase’s face tells Marvin that it will be a much harder task for him than anticipated, but Marv doesn’t mind. He finds the awestruck expression to be rather endearing. He almost giggles, though he feels a bit guilty, when he reaches across to take Chase’s right hand by the wrist and the poor guest practically flinches.

Still, Marvin guides him along, and Chase soon rests his calloused palm smoothly against the clear surface. Marvin places his own hands on the other side. When the magician takes a deep breath, sitting up straighter to stare into the globe, his guest naturally follows suit. Half a minute passes in near silence. The only sound remaining in the room is the papers moving while Darcy continues her quiet reading.

Marvin interrupts the tranquil, drags his hands away.

“Let me see his strings of fate.”

And with that, the magic obeys.

In the distorted light, a mirage comes to life. Two figures dancing across from what looks like kitchen cabinets, hand in hand dipping back and forth like a boat rocking on the sea. A child, maybe Darcy, scrambling after a cottontail rabbit. Sparklers leaving glimmering trails to red dirt, and the tiny snap of tweezers pinching closed. There’s the grit of soil, and the haze of grill smoke, and the crispness of cobbler baking in the oven. 

“It’s lovely,” Marvin sighs, offering Chase just a hint of what he sees through his words. “Though you’re clumsy, Chase, you need to practice your two-step.”

Before the subject can further draw his attention away, Marvin searches deeper. This time, he speaks aloud.

“Charles is awake now. You’ve got a six pack of Shiner in the back of your car right now, and you’ll almost forget it when you go into the house. Darcy, very excited, will tell you she saw something in the woods-” he tries to read the shape of her mouth, though the image is hazy - “something I believe she’s calling a fairy. I don’t know when. And the next time you argue, your wife won’t yell back.”

He doesn’t question the last thing, only pressing forward into the thick of the magic. He swears the room grows brighter with every breath.

“You’ll find new friends here - your path is very intertwined with this place. Meeting someone at the motel, finding someone at the church… someone very…very shaky…? Wait a moment, that…”

The room doesn’t grow brighter this time. Marvin forgets how to breathe.

Chase nearly pulls away, but stops himself. “Is everything okay? You look lost.”

Something is not right about the man in the church pews. The images start flickering faster in the crystal, and Marvin’s hands begin to twitch.

There’s blood spilling over a stair, a shadow looming over it before a steel-toed boot comes crashing down into the red. Bony fingers with dirt-tipped nails pluck at fiddle strings. A silver pistol barrel first rests pressed against Chase’s temple, but traces down his jaw instead. Chains rattle and then tug tight in a steel hook. Tiny, dirty mud boots, decorated with pastel hearts, trample over the garden flowers, and leave behind prints that trail into the dark woods. Black ink seems to drip from the top of the scrying tool. It spills over its curved surface and pools inside.

“Marvin?”

The visions vanish, and are replaced by the image of a single, glowing green eye in the surface of the crystal ball, watching back at Marvin, whose heart is slamming against his ribcage in ecstatic terror.

“Marvin!”

Finally, he breaks away from his stupor, and stares Chase down. He remembers at last to inhale, exhale, stretch his fingers taut from his palms and force them to stop trembling. Chase looks equally disturbed, hand no longer anywhere near the crystal ball - which was clear quartz just a moment ago, but now looks more like something made from obsidian.

“What the fuck kinda parlor trick was that, Marvin?”

The candelabrum flames die of their own accord. Darcy turns to her father in a scandalized state, slamming down the worn copy of Flower Fairies of the Summer to put her tiny hands over her ears. Once more, she berates him - “Watch your language!”

Neither man even looks at her, but Marvin collects himself enough to respond, face devoid of any perceived emotion. “Darcy, your grandpa’s up. Go knock on his door, please, get your stuff to go home with your dad.”

“But I wasn’t done reading-”

“Please, Darcy,” Marvin tries again. There's just a twinge of force in his voice.

She doesn’t move, not until her father nods in agreement. Once she has set the book back on the cluttered shelf, she dusts off her skirt and heads out, eager to pick up her new pile of chalk from outside. Her skipping steps have only faded off the porch for a moment before Chase is already back to his interrogation. At least he’s quieter, now, leaning over to half-whisper it in disbelief, “Are you high off your ass?”

Marvin shakes his head. “You need to leave.”

Chase leans away, pale eyelashes drawing closer as his brow furrows. “No. No, what are you on? Your eyes look like -”

“No, not ‘leave my house’. Leave town. And fast.”

Marvin is now up out of his chair, searching around the room for something he was hoping he wouldn’t have to use again. He remembers in his pacing where he tucked it months ago, and leans down to a low wooden cabinet on the opposite side of the room; when opened on its squeaking hinges, dust and cobwebs frame the entrance. He reaches inside and pulls out a thick black tarp, wrapped around something heavy. With none of his usual grace, he turns and drops it into the chair he was sitting in before.

“Leave t- why?” 

Marvin raps his knuckles against the edge of the crystal ball, now too dark to be transparent. “Whatever brought you back to this place is something very nasty. I can see that now.” Then, he begins to unwrap the plastic tarp, revealing the weight inside - a hardwood-handled sledgehammer with a rusted ten-pound head.

Chase finally stands, shoving the chair back into its place beneath the table. It clatters against the uneven floor, warped wood threatening to splinter. “Yes, sure! Fine! We moved here because my brother-in-law died - dark, I know! Still, that doesn’t explain why I need to leave - or why you’re acting so batshit!”

“Your brother-in-law was a García, wasn’t he?” Marvin asks in a casual monotone, though it’s more of a certain statement than a real question. He sets the hammer on the table, and yanks the tarp open, shaking out the dust and splaying it wrinkled across the floor. 

That stops Chase in his tracks, and he drops the defensive tone for just a moment. “Yeah, h- why?”

“Because-” interrupting himself with a groan, Marvin hefts the crystal ball off of its stand and leaves it in the center of the tarp - “It wasn’t an accident. I know who killed him, and I saw him again in your own future.”

Back to the accusatory tone, Chase’s mouth falls open in shock. “Bullshit! I didn’t see any of that!” 

“Chase.” With a good bit of effort, Marvin swings the sledgehammer over his own shoulder, fierce and now-slitted eyes piercing into Chase’s heart. It’d be nice to imagine that the magician’s gaze was enough to intimidate him into taking a few steps back, but the large metal tool probably did most of the work there. “Nobody sees their own future. Now stand back.”

And once Chase listens, Marvin flips his sunglasses back over his eyes, like a last resort for protection. Then, he lifts the hammer and swings it down on the crystal ball hard.

It doesn’t shatter in a messy spray across the room, instead splitting in fractals with an awful crunch and dropping to the ground in a couple of pieces. Whatever has happened to it, it isn’t quartz anymore. There isn’t any light or clarity left in it, just shadow and jagged edges.

Once the job is done, Marvin drops the sledgehammer to the ground by the remnants of destruction, though it seems to shake the walls. He sighs, and turns to Chase, looking pale and a moment away from crumbling himself. “If you won’t leave town, at least take some of my advice. Don’t leave your kids with someone as absentminded as your father. Keep your eyes open, and talk to Henrik at the vet’s office when you need help.”

“The vet?” Chase laughs for just a single breath, discomfort and shock still clear. Despite the fact that the hammer is no longer being wielded, his body still trembles in alarm.

Marvin’s face doesn’t change, set in stone with a practiced determination. “Yes, the vet. He’s good at stitches.”

They stare at each other for another few moments. Chase looks like he’s seen a ghost, though Marvin’s the only one in the room who’s really seen several. 

“I still don’t believe you,” Chase mumbles, his voice missing any of the frustration and volume it had before. He sounds more like he’s reassuring himself than speaking the truth.

Marvin shrugs, slumping against the table and turning to face the wreckage of the crystal ball. It’s not the only one he’s had to break so far in these past few years. 

“Fine. But no refunds.”

Once the silence has continued long enough for Chase to feel safe leaving, he stumbles past the psychic and back out the door.

➳➵➸➼➽

The ride back to the late Javier García’s old ranch is quiet, and uncomfortable, the trees seeming to loom in their headlight silhouettes as if reaching out for the Brody family car. Darcy starts the drive restless, shaking around her bag of chalk, but is asleep with her face pressed against the window by the time they pull past the fence and down the bumpy road.

Chase replays the evening over a million times in his head, trying to imagine how he’ll tell Stacy. If he’ll tell Stacy. He doesn’t understand what happened enough to repeat it for her, so he decides to tell her an abridged version. One that lends itself to more believable ideas - just some clever little actor trying to scare Chase into falling for magic.

He’s so busy thinking over it, in fact, that as he walks a drowsy Darcy across the stone path to the front porch, he almost forgets that he left the Shiner six-pack sitting in the back of his car. Waiting, just as promised by that clever little actor. 

Just a coincidence, surely.

[safetycar-restart]

k im in bed rn ab to fall asleep but i had this thought and i'm afraid that if i go to sleep I'll forget

a lil thought ab my twitch quartet boys

being on Charles' yacht with Charles and Lando and at first sending like super cute pics in the group chat like of them swimming and getting drinks and stuff, super PG. and then just out of nowhere. boom. a pic or video of Charles and Lando making out and Alex and George are not with you guys for some reason, and they just go crazy.

at some point i probably think one of them will FaceTime you and ask you to just help them out over the phone bc they're so needy <3

sorry if this made no sense i am so tired but had to get this out of my system

ANOTHER THOUGHT THO

the thing ab small dick Charles and boypussy Mick? loving it, need more on that subject

just... them... together... makes my brain go brrrr

they would just be the sweetest little boys and be so good for you. would truly do anything you'd ask them to, ask em to jump off a bridge and they will.

i'm also really imagining you having Charles fuck Mick and you just watching and that making them even more needy, because who wouldn't get needy when their mommy is right there but she's not helping them? they would just be so desperate for your attention whenever you make them do that.

okay these were my thoughts <3 i'm gonna go sleep now

-🕯️

🕯 anon you are quickly becoming one of my favourite people ever I love this so much. I'm gonna talk a bit about each of these thoughts and then hopefully others will come in with more thoughts. Also I'm tagging small dick Charles as SD!Charles because I'm worried about tagging something with the word 'dick'.

TWITCH QUARTET THOUGHT:

Maybe Alex and George both have work with their teams in their factories? So they're both in the UK. You have no where that you need to be and since Charles and Lando are planning to spend a day on Charles's yacht... there's no way you're missing out.

Of course Alex and George both demand pictures!! They want to know everything. So you send them pictures of Charles and Lando swimming, Charles driving the boat, Lando sunbathing, some selfies of the three of you, etc. All very cute and safe for work and Alex and George love them.

But then Charles and Lando start making out, because of course they do. Lando was sunbathing and Charles saw and just... horny. he just horny.

So Charles pounces on him, straddling him and kissing him. And well... Alex and George did ask to be updated. So you simply have to take a few pictures and send them.

Alex and George lose their minds, they want to be making out on a yacht too!! This is not fair!!!

Alex goes over to George's place, and as expected George is a horny mess. They're both very happy that you, Lando and Charles are having a nice day together, but that video made them horny messes and it's all your fault!!

You aren’t at all surprised when you get a FaceTime call from Alex, and you also aren’t surprised to see George with him.

Maybe you make Charles and Lando put on a show for them?? You instruct Charles and Lando on what to do, while Alex and George get to watch it all.

(Also Alex and George both insist on getting to try yacht sex as well, which is only fair)

POLY!MICK/CHARLES:

They’re truly the best boys ever!! They just want to be good for their mommy and be subby babies together.

They both have such big insecurities, but I think they help each other so much? They genuinely love each other so much and are always praising each other. They’re just your good boys who love their mommy and each other.

Having them fuck each other is so good?? That’s definitely something that you have to very slowly work up to, because they both have such large insecurities around it. Mick is terrified of being fucked, terrified of letting someone do that to him. And fucking someone is Charles’s biggest insecurity.

Charles has fucked you before, but you’re his mommy so that’s different. And you’ve stretched Mick out before, even used a small dildo, but again you’re his mommy. It’s so much scarier when it’s just them.

But also, they really really want it? They love making each other feel good, and they desperately want to try fucking each other.

They need you to be there of course, because they’re very good boys and they’d never fuck each other without their mommy’s permission. You guide them, giving them detailed instructions and praise them the entire time.

You start out sitting on a chair facing the bed, telling Charles how to prep Mick. But when it gets time for Charles to enter Mick, he whines and look back to you, “mommy…” he mumbles, holding out his hand.

You join them on the bed instantly, rubbing Charles’s back and praising him. You stay there the rest of the time, comforting and praising them both. They’re so soft and sweet with each other! Charles goes slow, and Mick loves it so much, wrapping his legs around Charles’s waist and letting out the cutest little whines.

They do so well!!

From there, they love fucking each other. But their mommy must always be there to watch and look after them. They get so subby together, feeding on each other’s energy until they’re both whining messes, rutting against each other until they come.

(I’m obsessed with this)

[newsie-collective]

Elmer <3

Quickfire Favorites:

Food: “Pierogis”

Color: “I like a lotta col’as. Think green might be my fav’rit if I hadta pick one.”

Season: “Wint’a. ‘Cos Medda would take us in from sellin’ and would pay us to help with buildin’ and paintin’ to keep us out the cold.”

Weather: “Snow. Snow’s always real pretty.”

Hobby: “Playin’ dice with the fellas. Hustlin’ ‘em.”

Animal: “Dragons. An’ yeah, I know they ain’t really real, but they’d be real neat if they was.”

Memory: “Meetin’ the Manhattan fellas for the first time. Thought Racer was gonna faint when I told ‘im I’s from Brooklyn.”

Comfort Item: “My dice. I know they ain’ much, but it feels nice to always have ‘em close, y’know?”

Totally gives off They/He vibes

The youngest of nine. His parents had immigrated to the US when he was just a baby. He grew up knowing both Polish and English. His eldest sibling, Margo, had just turned 19 when their parents passed, and he had turned 13 not long after. There were still seven of the kids in school, but they couldn’t afford all the supplies they needed, so the eldest three finished out their last few years so they could get better jobs, and hopefully put the others through the rest of school.

Well, as first gen immigrants, they faced a whole lot of discrimination and couldn’t get very good jobs. They took what they could get, but it was barely enough to survive, much less go to school or thrive on.

So, the younger ones started looking for work. Richard and Florence found work in a factory, and Ethel became an assistant to the seamstress downstairs.

Elmer, as we all know, became a newsie. He worked his ass off to try and make sure his family would have enough to live.

Well, just trying wasn’t good enough in Brooklyn. Everyone knew that he was an immigrant, and nobody wanted to get anything from someone from another country. He couldn’t understand why everyone hated him so much.

His family lived just across the bridge, so Elmer started crossing it to sell, and got close with the newsies there. When he realized it’d be far easier to stay in the Lodge™, he did. He visited his family all the time, as often as he could, but he mostly stayed in Manhattan so he could earn more.

The birth order of Elmer and his siblings, their ages when their parents passed away (they lost count afterward), and Elmer’s nicknames for them (bc he couldn’t pronounce their full names when he was younger, and by the time he could, the nicknames had stuck):

Margaret (Margo) 19 Elizabeth (Beth) 18 James (Jam) 16 Charles (Char) 16 Mary (E) 16 Richard (Rick) 14 Florence (Flo) 14 Ethel (Ef) 13 Elmer 12

No one heard from him for a scary long time after the strike fight. Rumors flew around that he’d been arrested… or worse. Those few nights were some of the worst for Albert, thinking someone he’d grown so close to had been taken from him. Again.

Elmer showed back up, three days after he’d disappeared, being led by one of the Sisters with a rosary around his neck and a Bible in his hands.

He’d gone to see his family, to just make sure they were okay, and couldn’t bring himself to return to the Lodge right away. The Sisters let him stay at the church for a night or two, and returned him soon after.

Elmer is smart. Smarter than some of his elder siblings. He was always trying to learn new things, and his parents and siblings never hesitated to teach him anything. He’s good at math-really good, can do addition in his head well into triple digits (though the bigger numbers take a little longer)- and he can read and write. He’s smart enough to have run a dice game for the newsies, for his own small profit.

With the exception of Davey and Les, Elmer was the newest newsie. He’d been selling only a few months when they showed up. He doesn’t like lying to people (or “improving the truth” as Jack calls it), so he depends heavily on good headlines to sell.

Elmer's very good at getting gifts for people. He knows most everyone's favorite things, and can usually get something they'll love.

Mom friend. He carries so much stuff in his bag that he doesn't have any room left for, idk, PAPES

Things in his bag at this current moment: Beef jerky Water Dice Cards His selling money Several rumpled handkerchiefs (never know when you'll need them) A few pierogis wrapped in a washcloth to keep them safe that he will fight for if someone tries to take them (albert) Bandages Alcohol Needle and floss, just in case

Elmer has definitely totally not ever snuck animals into The Lodge ever.

Especially not two dogs, six cats, three turtles, eight pigeons, five rats, and somehow a bat

He's just a little skrunkly guy, and he absolutely deserves everything because he's soft boy supreme

👻

[lotus-flowerz]

deadweight

TW!! INSECURITY, FEELINGS OF DEPRESSION AND NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH, ENDED RELATIONSHIPS (NOT WITH DILUC), SUCIDAL THOUGHTS, GETTING DRUNK

diluc x reader hurt/comfort

F/n- Friend's name

a/n- sorry for the amount of self indulgent fics, i don't feel comfy talking ab it with most of my irls because i dont want to worry them or push them away- im writing this because a (now ex) friend of mine just cut me off to focus more on their partner and because i was more of a deadweight (hence the fic name) than a friend

sorry for the dump ty if you actually read it LMAO

You were walking back towards Mondstat. Another lonely day, doing commissions and helping other people with their problems. All you could even feel nowadays was jealousy and hair-ripping stress.

The sun was setting, the colors of the sky mixing together to form a light purple. It was truly gorgeous. You stood on the bridge to Mondstat looking at the sky with a sullen expression, not like your normally happy one. You found thoughts flitting through your mind- thoughts you weren't supposed to be thinking:

"What color sunset would I make?"

You shook your head to rid yourself of the thought. You had been having these suicidal urges and tendencies for a while- just no one had exactly picked up on them.

You took a deep breath and walked through the gates of the city of freedom. It didn't feel like freedom to you, though. It felt like endless lonesomeness and work.

"Oh, F/n! Hey!" you called. You hadn't seen them in a while since they had started to recover from their own mental illness. You heard that recently they had a new partner!

"Y/n, hey."

"How have you been?" you asked, smiling at them.

"Good. I've been meaning to come talk to you actually- I think it's best if we go our separate ways- you know, you're a bit of a downer sometimes, no offense."

You felt your heart shatter- again, it happened again. A deadweight.

"Right. That's okay, if I'm not needed anymore then by all means, we should go our separate ways." you smiled again, trying to show that there was no harm done.

"Thank you for understanding. You're a good friend, and I'm thankful that you helped me recover."

"Yeah, anytime!"

You both waved and you hurriedly walked towards Angel's Share. You needed a drink. You and your boyfriend, Diluc, had been strained for a bit- only because you were both never home. Both of you were busy, and you weren't really a drinker. You didn't know he was supposed to be bartending tonight.

You took a seat at the bar and ordered a death after noon. One turned into two- and you nursed the second drink for about an hour before finishing it.

You were certainly an unusual patron at the tavern- and seeing you holding a particularly strong drink, sitting in silence and staring at the table was definitely not what Diluc expected to see when he came to help out Charles that night.

You laid your head down on the bar and just held your drink, not wanting to look at or talk to anyone. It was easier to look drunk than to explain why you were there.

But what you didn't expect was that the death after noon took a bit to kick in- you WERE drunk- and you knew you had to get out of that tavern.

Diluc knew you hadn't noticed him. His heart dropped when he had first seen you in the tavern and he was still worried about you as you shoved yourself up from the position you were in and left a tip on your tab. He looked at it out of curiosity and- 3 DEATH AFTER NOONS???

"Charles-"

"Go, you don't have to explain, just go"

"Thank you."

He tore off his apron and threw it behind the bar. He came up behind you and scooped you up bridal style with ease. You made a tiny struggle but he held you tighter.

"It's Diluc. Calm down."

He felt you relax in his arms and he began the trek to the dawn winery.

"Hey Diluc." you slurred out

"Hm?"

"Why do you have me?"

"You're drunk."

"No. Why are you with me?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I weigh you down. Both of us are depressed, but I slow down your recovery. Helping me isn't an easy task and I don't need anyone else leaving because I made them. So if you want to leave just put me down and let me find my own way home. Go live your life without a deadweight pulling you down all the time."

Good god- the alcohol had really loosened your tongue

"Excuse me? Oh Barbatos- darling, I love you. Nothing is going to change that. I love every part of you, mental, physical, personality, you're YOU and I wouldn't change that. You've helped me in my recovery process. You found me at my worst and lifted me up. Why wouldn't I do the same for you? I will never let you go unless it is something that you truly want- and this? This is coming from a different problem. I don't know how long exactly this has been brewing in your pretty little head, but whatever has happened will pass, and whatever will happen, we will be together. I promise."

He kissed your forehead, and looked down at you to admire you. You had wet, tearstained cheeks, your head was leaned against his chest, and you looked as perfect as ever.

"It's okay. I've got you." he whispered.

After arriving at the winery, he cleaned you up and slipped you into your pjs. He put you down in your shared bed. You were only partially awake and aware of what was happening, but you knew you felt something you hadn't felt in a while. A warm fuzzy feeling that welled up from your stomach. You found new tears slipping down your cheeks but you didn't know why.

After telling the maids to prepare a hangover remedy for you to drink in the morning, Diluc joined you in bed. He noticed your starstruck expression and tears, and used his thumb to wipe them away.

"I've got you now. You're alright. Just rest. We can talk about this in the morning, when you're coherent."

He pulled you into him, the smokey scent from his vision mixed with the vanilla shampoo he used filled your senses. His warmth enveloped you, and you felt your eyes begin to close as he combed his fingers through your hair.

"Goodnight, dove. I love you."

[basthr0hmnse]

A snippet of chap 3 of my fanfic that has yet to be posted

I really liked the boys talking to Charles outnof context and.... Im really proud of how i wrote the boys. Its a little long so i put it under a readmore

“I jus don’t get it, man. How did dey get so many?”

As Toki walked into the kitchen where the rest of his bandmates were eating, it being some time in the afternoon already so probably lunch, Pickles was looking at his laptop.

Skwisgaar was leaning over to peer at the screen, pointing a slender finger at something. “Whats about dats videos?”

“No, dat one’s a different kind of claw.”

“What ams yous talkings about?” Toki asked curiously, sitting down at the table and plopping some waffles onto his plate, reaching for the bottle of sugar-free syrup.

“Woah, Toki, yer eyech got schome baghs, you look like shicht.” Murderface said, pointing to him with his fork.

While Toki mumbled for Murderface to shut up, Nathan spoke up to answer him “That, uh… person at the bar last night… Pickles’ trying to figure out how they got all those toys.”

“Yeah! Dose things er usually rigged as heck, I wanna fuckin’ be able to do dat. Oh hey dis one here looks like a similar one.” Pickles voice trailed off into a mumble as he clicked a link.

“The persons…” Toki trailed off, the memory of them coming back, causing his chest to tighten. He attempted to ignore the feeling and just start eating.

“Ugh, all these stoopid articles say it’s practice. Maybe we should get some of our own claw machines, weren’t we just sayin’ we should replace the games Murderface fucked up yesterday?” Pickles looked up to the group again.

“Hey! I already schaid those weren’t my fault.” Murderface piped up, mouth full.

Nathan opened his mouth to interject but was cut off by someone behind him clearing his throat.

The band turned to see their manager, Charles, standing there with a clipboard. “Boys.”

“Oh! Charles, just da man I needed to see. We need some new arcade games.” Pickles smirked.

“Ar…cade games. What’s wrong with the ones you already have?”

“It doesn’t matter! We need 15,000 claw machines.” Nathan growled.

“Yeah! We needs fifteens thouskands claws maskeens.”

“Guys, you don’t need-”

“Yes we do!” Nathan argued.

“Nathan, I… think 15,000 claw machines might be a bit excessive, don’t you agree? There’s only five of you.”

“Okay, den can we get five of ‘em?” Pickles spoke up.

Charles sighed, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, you don't need five claw machines, the best I can do is two.”

“But you just schaid there’s five of usch.” Murderface piped up.

“Yes, but you can take turns, can’t y- why do you even need claw machines.”

Nathan grumbled. “We want to get good at them.”

“Okay… Well, putting that aside, I came-”

“No!” Nathan growled. “Are you getting us claw machines or not?!”

Charles sighted and adjusted his glasses and grabbed his pen, clicking it. He scribbled on his clipboard while he spoke. “Purchase… two… claw… machines… for… boys’… arcade.”

“Oh! And a new schooting one.” Murderface chimed in.

“Guitars Hero.” Skwisgaar added.

“Alright, shooting and- Wait, Skwisgaar, why on earth would you, of all people want Guitar Hero?” Charles asked, looking over his glasses.

“Whats? Cants a guy takes a breaks from guitars and plays a play imaginary toys guitars? Maybes I justs wants to plays a littles bits of fantasies, ever thinks of that?” Skwisgaar asked, voice dripping with attitude, the silence after he finished was soon replaced with the noises of Skwisgaar playing his unplugged guitar.

Charles sighed and began scribbling in his notebook. “Okay, so two claw machines, one shooting game, Guitar Hero… Anything else? Toki, what about- uh, boys, where did Toki go? Wasn’t he right there?”

The group looked to the space where Toki once was, the chair empty and the plate clear except for some smudges of syrup left behind.

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

Hey, i didnt forget about my BJ Deetz au! i wrote two new chapters of it, even! im really hype to finally finish this mug off, i hope all the build up has been worth it.

He falls for a long, long time. Maybe days. Maybe forever. Time doesn’t really hold much sway here, after all. A minute in the land of the dead is a month, an hour, a year passed from the real world, or sometimes, if you’re really unlucky, the entire thing will flow backwards, and you’ll end up coming out of the Netherworld and back to your house ten years before you even died. He heard of a case like that, once, a girl who died and haunted herself by accident, becoming the ghost that had tormented her for years- He lands, hard, and it knocks the thought out of him. Knocks every thought out of him, actually, because he lays there for who knows how long, just groaning and disoriented.

He takes his time sitting up, because it’s not like he’s got anything better to do. Everything hurts, and he cradles his head in his hands for a long moment, drained and dead tired. Finally, he looks up. He hadn’t expected to see the door still open, not really. Still, it not being there anymore.. It hurts, and carries a note of finality. They pushed him through, and then probably slammed it, and smudged the chalk off the wall, for good measure. He can’t even be angry over it. He would have done the same thing.

He sits there, staring up at the nothing, and he realizes he’s blown his last chance.

They’ll never remember him. All he is to them is a demon, and he can’t even pretend to be anything else, anymore. Not after that stunt. There’s a deep, burning feeling in his gut… He recognizes it as shame. He attacked his family. He tried to kill Charles, and he would have tried to kill Lydia, given the chance. His final, most damaging tantrum, and he turned it on the only people who matter. He stays there, folded in a ball, sitting by himself in the gloom, for hours, going over it again and again in his mind, every detail memorized. The way they cowered, the way they begged, the way he snarled and gnashed his teeth and pounced. The guilt he feels gnawing at him fades away into nothing. Nothing matters, anymore. He’s got no goal, nothing to get back up and try again for, because it’s all gone. Robotically, he stands, and turns. In the distance he can see that building he’d run from with Emily, before. Juno’s office is there, and maybe she’ll be in a good mood, after seeing the state of him, bloody and beaten down. He starts the long walk back to where he belongs.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

The air in the room is tense, and awkward. Lydia takes a deep, shaking breath, and tries to calm herself, squeezes at her arm, hard, aggravating the cuts. The pain is grounding. Charles�� eyes are boring into her as she does so, though, and she sees when something behind them clicks- the way she’s been carrying herself, lately. Her quiet, withdrawn behavior. What BJ had said about the roof. Suddenly he looks ten years older. She sees the way his shoulders slump. “Lydia,” his voice is soft, but she can’t bring herself to maintain eye contact with him. It hurts too much. She tries to focus on the floor, instead, but she catches sight of the blood on her hands again, and bile rises in her throat. There’s no safe place to look- Cold hands wrap her in a hug that makes her shiver. Adam’s got his arms around her. “You’re alright,” he says softly, and she’s able to accept the comfort from him, but not the platitude. “No, I’m not,” she rubs at her eyes again, smearing makeup, trying not to cry. Her tears are pointless right now, anyway. “Adam, you remember him now, don’t you?” Adam sighs, removes his glasses, and pinches at the bridge of his nose. “I.. I do. But I don’t remember him being like.. This.” BJ’s biggest secret has been spilled, and he’s not here to try and clean up the mess of it. So it falls on her. That’s alright. She can fix this. She’s going to fix this. “Has he always been,” Barbara searches for the kindest possible descriptor. “Different?” she tries. “The entire time we’ve known him?” There’s a very real fear in her tone. Lydia can almost picture the panicked face of her brother. He never wanted either of them to know. “He’s always been a monster,” Kevin says, unhelpfully, and both Lydia and Charles react to that. “Why don’t you shut up, jackass?” “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Otho, Kevin.. Whatever your name is!” Things are on the cusp of devolving into argument, and it’s Delia that breaks through the bickering. Specifically, the frantic ringing of her triangle, as she holds it over her head. The entire group stops, and stares at her, and she huffs a long tuft of red hair out of her face. “This is not the time to argue! Now. Why don’t we lay things out, as plainly as possible?” She suggests, and looks to Charles. “Please, for all of us confused, who exactly was that stranger, and how do you know him, and what is he?” “His name is BJ,” Charles straightens up, address Delia. “He’s my son. He’s a demon.” “His name is Betelgeuse,” Kevin says, looking now vaguely bored. “He’s been in the care of the Deetz family for many years. He’s the reason my father was murdered.” “I recognize you!” Adam snaps his fingers, and Kevin looks pleased. “You’ve seen me on TV, no doubt,” he says, in time for Barbara to point at him. “You and BJ used to date! Back in high school!”

The guru’s expression darkens. “We did not.”

“You’re the reason your father was murdered,” Lydia jabs an accusatory finger at Kevin, unbothered by the sputtering noise he makes, or the glare he shoots her. “You tried to trap him and use him. What happened after wasn’t his fault.” “Oh lord, I thought that whole fiasco was tied to BJ,” Charles puts his head in his hands. “We were too nervous to ever ask him, though…” “Please,” Delia wrings her hands. “Back to the central point? What do you mean, he’s your son? You told me Lydia was an only child. Where’s he been, all this time? Why did you never mention him?” “He was cursed,” Lydia says, running out of patience. This is taking too long, it isn’t getting them anywhere, and BJ’s back in the Netherworld, alone and hurting and needing his family. It’s not the time for this confusing, circular talk. “BJ’s a demon, but he’s my big brother!” she tells them. “He’s always been one, he’s just been hiding it from everyone outside the family because he didn’t want to be treated differently. He’s not a bad person, and he’s not evil and he’s not a monster- He was alone, and scared, and no one could remember him, no one could save him, and then I let him down, I stabbed him when he needed me, and fought with him, and called him a monster, and now I’m done talking about this!” She reaches forward, grabs at Barbara’s arm, and drags her to the wall, where the chalk door to the otherside is closed. “Knock! Open it!” Barbara’s brow is knit together with worry. “Lydia, we should talk this through-” “Stop! Enough talking!” Lydia feels her temper flare, out of control, and the fat, angry tears that finally spill down her cheeks are a sign of failure. “Enough standing still, doing nothing! Enough leaving each other behind! You open that door, or I’m jumping off the roof, coming back, and opening it myself!”

Barbara looks ready to cry herself, over that. “You think I don’t want him back?” she sniffles. “I’m confused, and scared, but that doesn’t change that I love him, Lydia. But if you go in there alone, you might never come out. We shouldn’t just rush in, we need a plan, we need to know what we’re doing, not throw ourselves into danger just because we’re upset with ourselves! If you go and get hurt, or god forbid, die, who does that help? What does that solve?” “If I die, I’ll be with mom and BJ,” Lydia says. “It’s not like there’s anything else here worth hanging around for!” “Lydia.” Delia’s hand is heavy on her shoulder, and focusing past the tears, past the life coach, she can see her father, watching her, mouth slightly parted in a wordless expression of pain. Adam’s at his side, a hand to Charles’ back, softly speaking to him, though the words he’s saying seem lost on both Deetzes. There’s a long, unbroken moment where her father is staring at her, from across the living room. Two pairs of dark eyes, watching the other, considering, deciding. “Barbara,” her father says. “Please open the door.”

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

By the time he arrives at the office, another few hours have passed. Maybe he could have teleported, but he’s a bit too tired to go pulling any tricks, honestly. He pushes through the rotating doors, and finds himself in the waiting room. The dead around him react, moving out of his way, or cowering in their seats, but he ignores them, moves past them, and to the door to the left of Maria’s window, to wander the back offices until he can find Juno’s door. He doesn’t register someone calling him until he feels a hand on his arm, and he’s spun around. Maria is grasping at his face. “What happened to you?” she frets, gentle hands touching at his hair and at the big, ugly bloodstain on his front. He’s not sure if the hole Lydia and Charles stabbed into him has even healed yet. Not like it matters. “I dunno,” he tells her, emotionless, not really processing her question. Maria says something else, but it’s hard to focus on her, so he just doesn’t. He pulls himself out of her arms, turns, and goes through the door. Juno’s door appears for him faster than he would have thought. Usually it would be hours of wandering.. Maybe it has been. He’s so out of it, he’s not really sure how long he’s been walking. The smell of cigarettes hits his nose, and he follows it to her door, and pushes it open. Juno’s sitting at her desk, and she looks up at him when he comes in, her amber eyes showing the barest hint of confusion. “Lawrence.” “Mom.” It’s the first time he’s called her that since Emily became his mother. She seems to notice, and tilts her head, if only slightly, eyes taking in his disheveled appearance. He moves to stand in front of her desk. “I’m ready to work,” he says. She blinks. “I know how to file, so. Give me somethin’ to do, an’ I’ll do it,” he tells her. “I’ll sit here quietly, an’ I’ll be good. I’ll work really hard, an’ I won’t screw it up. Gimme a job to do, mom, an’ I’ll make you proud of me.” She rises, looking, for the first time in his memory, amused. “You look like shit.” “I know. Sorry.” It’s not the response she expects, but she seems to enjoy it. Juno comes around to the front of her desk, and peers up at him. At some point he grew enough to be taller than her.. It doesn’t make her less terrifying. “Things didn’t work out with your breathers?” she cooes, voice dripping honey and deceit. He knows that tone. Of course he does. It’s just that there’s not anything she can do to him, anymore. He’s numb. And he doesn’t even try to lie to her. “Yeah. I didn’t really belong with them, anyway.” “No,” she agrees, patting his face. “Your hair looks like it’s finally behaving itself. Though the white ages you, a bit.” He’s never had white hair before, but he can’t muster the energy to care. “I can shave it, if it bothers you.” Juno grabs him by the hair, suddenly, yanks him down, and he moves with the motion, offering her no resistance. She used to grab him like this when he was little- it used to hurt, and scare him purple, and he’d cry and beg for her to let go. Now he just stares up at her. She scowls down at him. “A calm, complacent Lawrence. Never thought I’d see the day.” She releases her grip on him, and he straightens, slowly, as she moves back to her desk. The room elongates, suddenly, to accommodate for a second desk and chair. A stack of boxes, bursting with paperwork, appear, and fall heavily onto the surface of it. “Sit down. Be quiet. Get to work,” her tone is a warning. “Yes, mom.” He sits down. He’s quiet. He gets to work. Read the rest of this chapter, and the next one, over on AO3

[themadauthorshatter]

I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time we check on Charles.

If you haven't read the previous parts, you can find them here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 and revision

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Recap time: the symptoms of withdrawl are beginning to kick in and leave Charles in less than favorable conditions, which Henry shows to the government in order to get the sapphire back.

Got that? My episode synopsis-ing is getting better😃. Anyway, ONWARD!!!

We begin with Charles sitting against the wall with his head in his arms and his knees to his chest. It's been a few days, withdrawal's in full blast, and he can't even pick up his head when he hears Henry walk in and kneel in front of him.

"Go away."

Henry simply holds out the pills again. "It must be hard without these, just sitting and counting the stars. Assuming you can do that," he adds with a shrug.

He reaches forward and practically picks up Charles's jaw, lifting it up so they meet eyes, which Charles doesn't do because the chain on his hat is shiny, there's a red hair on his coat, a papercut on his thumb, the scar on the bridge of his nose, and tons of small things that keep getting his attention.

"My offer still stands, Charles. All I need is you to tell me where it is, and you can have these back. Every last one."

Charles only stares off as his face contorts with sorrow and frustration, even when Henry snaps his fingers to get him to focus.

"Come on, Charles. We've been at this for a while, and I'm having a hard time seeing you like this now, so tell me. Where did you hide the sapphire?"

Tears fill Charles's eyes and his shoulders drop. "I don't know," he sobs. "I... I don't know."

Henry sighs and scowls, pocketing the pills. "Well, damn it for the both of us, then."

As he opens the door, Charles rushes at him, hard enough to knock them both to the ground and dent the cuffs.

Charles, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, books it, running down the hall and around every corner he can.

Henry, chuckling, stands up. "Alright. Let's do this, Charles."

Charles keeps running(really getting his cardio and steps in here), ducking behind and diving wherever he can to avoid being seen and found, eventually finding his way to a weapon vault.

In a rush and a panic, he bashes the cuffs off and repeatedly slams his hand against the panel to slip inside; don't worry, his ribs are better enough to be Bold Action Man again.

Inside, Charles catches his breath and tries to get his bearings, even when Sven announces over the intercom to keep an eye out for a runaway pilot.

Now knowing people are looking for him, Charles lets out a sob-groan and throws his hands over his eyes, losing it before taking a few deep breaths.

"Just breathe," he mutters to himself. "Just breathe, Charlie. You've managed before once. You can do it again." Charles takes another breath and arms himself with a handgun as someone begins to open the door.

He quickly draws and aims at Henry(are you surprised?), who raises an eyebrow and gives Charles a look of, 'bitch, really?' and leaning against the doorway, propped up on his arm.

Charles only stands his ground, taking deep breaths as he shakily speaks. "Take me home."

Henry only responds by snapping his fingers on one side and tapping his nails against the doorway, two sounds that heavily distract Charles.

It gets worse when, in between snaps and taps, Henry cracks and pops his knuckles, even clicking and clucking his tongue and tsking.

It doesn't help that Charles keeps noticing the weapons on the walls, especially the damage some have on them.

Henry snaps his fingers in front of Charles and removes his top hat, so Charles has a clear shot to his head.

Charles clenches his eyes shut and pulls the trigger, damning the consequences and the fact that he still has no idea how to get home.

Click!

Charles pales as his stomach drops with his hands and the gun, sliding to the ground as Henry kneels back in front of him.

"Do you REALLY think we'd keep our weapons loaded when we don't use them?"

Charles goes to hit Henry with the gun, as it's now a blunt weapon, but Henry grabs his wrist and pulls him close, so his back is against Henry's chest and Henry can slip an elbown around Charles's neck.

"By the way," Henry says before leaning into Charles's ear and growling, "You should've taken that shot, when you had the chance."

CUT TO EARTH(BECAUSE I'M A TROLL😈😈😈)

Rupert and Calvin are driving on that off road from Part 4 and looking for Charles's car, he's gonna need for when he gets back.

"I hope Charles is okay."

"You said that yesterday," Rupert replies sharply.

Calvin shrugs. "I'm just worried, that's all. He's been gone for a while, and Henry's got him."

"And he wants to know where we put the sapphire."

Rupert stops when they find Charles's car, but Calvin's not done.

"Where's the sapphire, anyway?"

"Shipped it off," Rupert explains as he leaves the car. "The General's having some friends of his make a replica, though, out of glass."

Calvin follows and they find a very relaxed Terrence, who's lying on Charles's car.

Calvin steps up and demands to know what Terrence is doing here.

"Nice to see you, too," Terrence sighs as he gets up. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"We're bringing Charles home, and he's gonna need that," Rupert snarls.

"Not where he is, but knock yourselves out," Terrence dismisses as he tosses the keys to Calvin. "Told anyone that it needed gas. Kept it company."

Calvin eyes Terrence, but loads in and starts Charles's car.

"I'll follow you," Rupert calls as he hops back into his car; the plan is that they're going to rtyrn the car to Charles's house, grab the twins', and return to the base. Rupert's following Calvin, for safety reasons.

Calvin gives a thumbs up and they head out toward Charles's house, Terrence riding with a tense Rupert.

"So the pilot's up in the stars now? Shame."

"You left him that note," Rupert replies sharply. "Why?"

Terrence raises an eyebrow. "When people can't solve a problem, you either give them a hint or solve it for them, which won't help them at all."

Rupert's eyes go wide as he stares at Terrence. "'Help?' You call getting Charles kidnapped 'HELP?'"

"Help is like art; it can mean anything."

"That son of a bitch is forcing him into withdrawl!" Rupert snaps. "He's keeping him from taking his medicine and you're just going to sit back and say you 'helped!?'"

Terrence stares down at his boots as Rupert locks his eyes on the road.

"I swear, if Charles dies, it's on you."

Terrence only stares out the window and remains silent for a while until they drop off Charles's car and head back to the base.

"He won't die. Henry won't let him."

"How do you know?" Rupert asks.

"Because he's selfish and childish, and he hates sharing his toys."

"But he LEADS the Toppat Clan."

"Which used to belong to Reginald," Terrence explains. "Charles is the General's son, adopted or otherwise, and the General calls MOST of the shots."

Rupert tightens his grip on the steering wheel. "And with Charles on that station, we can't attack."

Terrence nods. "The General's already lost a lot of people. What d'you think he'll do if he accidentally gets Charles incinerated in space?"

They're silent for the rest of the drive, after that.

Now that I bring up Galeforce, we cut to him watching the live feed of Charles escaping before being dragged back to his cell, kicking, screaming, and crying. Right, who's pulling him, grabs his hands and re-restrains him, so Charles is back to hanging.

WITH CHARLES!

He's struggling against his cuffs again as Henry, Right, Reginald and Ellie watch, unimpressed, fed up, and just sick of his BS.

"You know, this would've been A LOT easier, if he'd just stayed like this the entire time," Ellie rematks with her arms folded.

Henry nods, but signs, 'We can't have him atrophied or with his arms stick like that, but at least it keeps him in one place.'

They watch him keep trying to break free, Charles not noticing them.

"We could tell 'im 'ow to get to an escape pod, and 'e wouldn't listen," Right says.

"We could literally say ANYTHING, and he wouldn't listen," Ellie adds.

Reginald only sighs/groans as he leans his head against Right's shoulder. "How long is he going to do that until he realizes it won't help?"

They watch Charles for a little bit longer before, Ellie, who gets the 'okay' nod from Henry, steps up and slams her fist into Charles's stomach.

Charles stops instantly and has a coughing fit.

Cut to Galeforce seeing this and clenching a fist before cutting back to Charles as he keeps coughing.

"You're not doing yourself any favors, so just tell us what we want to know and we'll send you on your merry way."

Charles weakly glares at them, though he looks eyes with Henry.

"What part of 'I don't know where the sapphire is,' do you not understand?" He snaps. "I fell unconscious, when I gave it to them, so HOW could I be able to tell where they hid it?"

Henry furrows his brow before Reginald speaks up, "If you didn't hide it, someone else must have, and you're the top pilot, if you don't know where it is, who would?"

Charles immediately thinks of the twins, but shakes his head, eyes on the floor to avoid looking at everyone. "I don't know."

"Careful, kid," Right says. "If y' keep lying, you'll get yourself killed."

Charles shakes his head again. "I really don't know."

Right, knowing Charles is lying, punches him in the cheek with his non-cybernetic hand.

It makes Charles's ear ring and makes him taste blood(because he bit his cheek), before Henry approaches him and signs to him.

'Don't think I forgot about those twins you care about. If they know, we'll drop you off and pick them up, easy. Unless you want to tell us yourself where ths sapphire is?'

Charles's face drops with horror before he glares and spits a mix of blood and saliva at Henry, hitting him on the cheek.

"Fuck you."

Henry, ever the gentleman, scowls and wipes himself off, nodding at Right and Ellie; 'He's yours.'

He and Reginald turn to leave, but Henry lightly holds Ellie's arm and leans into her ear.

"Don't break him."

"Why would I break your new favorite toy? Give me some credit."

The two smile at each other and Henry leaves, Reginald behind him; he did not want to be in that room when Right and Ellie were there.

The door closes and the two turn to Charles, Right letting Ellie go forst because she's a lady👸

Cut back to Galeforce, who cringes as Ellie punches Charles sone more, the pilot groaning and crying out with each strike.

Victoria and Konrad enter the room carefully, Konrad holding a rolled up piece of paper and Victoria there as his escort and emotional support.

"General, you asked for us?"

Galeforce turns away from the monitor as he it shows Ellie letting Right take a turn and Charles pick up his feet to kick him away.

"I did. How's the design coming along?"

Konrad passes the rolled up paper to Galeforce, who opens and insects it.

"We've already got a few prototypes being built, so we should be ready for testing soon."

Galeforce nods at them. "Good. When they're done, have them tested ASAP, got it?"

Both nod and Galeforce dismisses them, though. Victoria stays to long enough to see him set down the paper and maks himself keep watching the feed, on which Right throws a kick HARD into Charles's stomach and makes him cough worse than when Ellie punched him.

It makes Victoria flunch becofe she turns to the General.

"I don't know who's getting it worse, him or you."

Galeforce ignores her, only watching as Right lets Ellie have a turn again.

Victoria puts a hand on his shoulder, and she can FEEL how much he's shaking.

"We're going to bring him home soon, General. I promise."

Galeforce, without looking, rests his hand on Victoria's.

"Thank you."

CUT BACK TO CHARLES!!!

Right and Ellie are gone, and he's beat to all hell, his face and body bloodied and bruised, though his ribs aren't as significantly bruised as his face, because of obvious reasons.

Charles is breathing heavily and spitting out blood, because it taste makes him sick. He rests his head against his arm and gives his restraints another pull before sighing and letting out a sob.

He doesn't know if the others know he's on the station, but hopes that they're both alright and planning on getting him out, because he's trapped.

Then he thinks about how Henry knew Charles was protecting the twins, and breaks down.

Henry knows about the twins.

"I'm sorry," Charles says to no one in particular. "I'm so sorry."

[horrorstreet]

Chucky and Brahms in a fight with their s/o?

Brahms

You had a family reunion and hadn’t told Brahms about it because you could already see his reaction. Big messes and negative emotions are the only thing that could result from telling him you had to leave but you knew that it had to be done at some point. You had quietly packed your things and quickly too so Brahms wouldn't catch you but it was too late as you had realised that the door was already half way open with Brahms large figure standing in the opening, about to catch you in the act of packing your things to leave. Your heart rate sped up as you tried to push the bag off the bed and kick it under but it was too late. You weren't afraid of Brahms, not in the slightest, but you were afraid of the tantrum he would pull.

“Brahms! Uhm, do you need something?” You asked him, trying your best to hide the case with your body. The man pointed at your bag and looked from you to the bag and then back to you. "Brahms, listen-” Before you could explain yourself, he charged over to your bed and pulled the open case up causing its contents to fall and spread out on the floor. He held it above your head and you rubbed your temples in annoyance now that all that time packing was now wasted by your angry lovers outburst. “BRAHMS.” You shouted at him. “I am not cleaning up this mess.” You hissed, pointing at the clothes and other objects that had fallen to the floor. He kept his angered gaze locked on you as he threw your bag as hard as he could across the room and against the wall, his chest rising and falling rapidly. You gave a harsh huff through your nose and went to retrieve your bag but was stopped by a strong grip being held on your wrist. He pulled you into his chest and squeezed you into his form, not letting you move from his embrace.

“Brahms, I'm sorry that I didn’t tell you but I have to go.” You told him, putting both hands on his chest. “No.” He responded, his voice low and aggressive. It was rare that he used his normal voice and it did have an effect on you and your decision making but this was something you had your mind set on. “Yes.” You countered, trying to pull yourself out of his grip. You had wiggled enough to break free and had almost got away but Brahms lunged forwards and grabbed you arm to drag you into the walls. “Let go!” You yelled, trying to get his hand off of your arm. "Brahms, please. This happens every time I have to go somewhere!” You pleaded. He slowed down as he opened another door to where he stayed and walked you down into the makeshift room. “Sit.” He demanded. You remained stood still and he grabbed your shoulders and made you sit down, not hurting you at all. He was becoming more gentle as he realized he was losing this fight, becoming desperate and sad. “Please.” He said to you, his voice now high and child-like. You put your head in your hands for a short second before getting up and walking over to him rummaging through his things, Brahms trying to find something that might lure you to stay with him. You softly put a hand on his waist, turning him to face you, and gently snaked your arms around his waist as he turned to you. You snuggle your head into his chest as he wrapped his own arms around your figure and felt his body shake. “Im sorry, baby. I'm so sorry that I have to go but it will only be 4 days. I promise. No longer.” You said, looking up into his eyes. Tears dripped from his eyes and landed on the inside of his mask, dripping into your hair.

You reached up to grab his face which made him flinch away. You waited for him to be comfortable with your touch and he leaned down to your face, allowing you to remove his mask and lay it down on the table beside the two of you and you looked into his eyes. “I will come back, ok? I would never leave you.” You brushed your thumb against his scarred face and leaned up to kiss his lips. He caught your lips in an aggressive and passionate kiss. You were taken aback by his strong force but matched his pace and ran your fingers through his hair. You tried to pull away causing him to lean down to follow your lips but leaned too far out of reach for him to kiss you and pecked his cheek. “I promise, Brahms.” He didn't respond as you backed out of his reach and walked back out of his room and the walls to pick your things up. As you bend down to start cleaning up, you felt strong arms pick you and carry you over to the bed and lay down. Brahms buried his face in your neck and let out a shaky breath as you two held one another. “I'm sorry.” He apologized, something that he rarely ever did because your arguments were usually over pointless things he or yourself did. “Its ok. I love you.” To this he didn’t respond but hugged you closer and the both of you fell asleep making you miss your flight and the chance to go to the reunion. He did it again.

Chucky

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU-”

“WOULD YOU SHUT UP FOR ONCE!” You yelled back. “YOU ARE ALWAYS BITCHING ABOUT THIS AND THAT. IT ISN’T MY FAULT YOU MAKE BAD CHOICES!” You shouted, throwing the book you were holding at him. He quickly dodged it and you stormed off, walking past him. “MAYBE I WOULDN’T COMPLAIN IF YOU WOULD STOP ACTING LIKE SUCH A BITCH YOURSELF!! MY LIFE WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER WITHOUT YOU IN IT!” He argued back. You stopped in your tracks, your shoulders visibly bouncing as the sobs began to escape your throat. “Oh really? Is that how you feel?” You asked him, turning around with a pained look in your eyes. “YES… No, no (y/n), baby. No.” He said, bringing his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose. Your mouth lifted into a snarl and your body shook with the adrenaline running through your body from the heat of the moment and the cries desperate to escape. "Listen,” You began, slowly walking over to him. “I usually put up with your attitude and anger but IM DONE.” Your voice shook. He looked off to the side in embarrassment and you walked off.

“(Y/n) … (Y/n)! C’mon babe! We both said things we didn’t mean.” Chucky called out to you walking to grab your things. You didn’t reply, your feet crunching over the broken glass of photos and drinking glasses as you walked throughout the house to gather a few things. “What the hell are ya doing?” He asked, watching you race about the house. “I'm gettin’ my things and getting out of here” You sniffed, aggressively throwing things into your bag. “No, don’t do that.” Chucky said, trying his best to climb up and get on top of the bed. “Well then what do you want me to do? Stay here and continue to endure your tournament?” You asked. He stayed silent while you just looked at him. You put your hands on your hips and continued to stare at him with sad and angry eyes. “I don’t know.” Charles responded. “How about you work on controlling that fiery temper of yours for my sake? Or maybe at least think before you speak!” You explained tohim. “It would make our lives so much better.” You told him, closing the lid of your bag and zipping it up. Charles put his hand on the bed to prevent you from picking it up and looked up at you with glare. “You saying you don’t like living with me? Do I make your life hell?” He sneered. "That’s just it charles, what you’re doing right now is what makes it so easy to walk away for a few days. You think I enjoy getting yelled at by the person I love for things I didn’t do? How about going through it for 3 years?” You poked his chest and pushed him back. “You are the one making bad decisions, not me. Don’t yell at me because you messed up.” Chucky just stood there and finally let out a long sigh. “Babe, I'm sorry. My anger just gets the best of me and I burst. I don’t mean to hurt you so bad like this. Please don’t go.” You sat down on the bed and let out a chuckle, shaking your head. “Well, would you look at that. The almighty charles lee ray saying he’s sorry and begging me to stay with him.” You wiped the tears off of your face and looked over at him. “Yeah, I am. And I mean it.” He responded, sitting next to you. There was a long silence before either of you said anything but you were the one who broke the silence. "You promise, promise me you won't lash out at me again?” You asked, looking over him. “I promise. Cross my heart, babe.” He said, looking over at you. You smiled and let out a shaky breath. “I'm sorry I threatened to leave. That was stupid.” You said laying back. “No, its ok.” He said, opening your bag. “Now, you gotta unpack this stuff. You ain’t going nowhere, doll.” He told you in a soft voice. You let out a few laughs and looked over at him with loving eyes. “I love you, charles.” You told him, sitting up. “Yeah, Yeah and I love you too.”

[books-and-glitter]

You literally asked for this directly

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Should be 69 of those 😚

I hate you so much. You monster. I only expressed that I was surprised and you did this to me. I didn't ask for this.

Nonetheless....

🌻 - there is a bug in the kitchen and I am now too scared to go in there.

🌻 - Harper is trying to protect me but she is frankly useless.

🌻 - it's not like a big bug but it is definitely not small.

🌻 - I saw moth put a flower before each of these and thought it was neat. So I am now doing it.

🌻 - the person who sent me this sends a "Daily dose of disappointment" in a group chat we are in. Except it is not daily. It's whenever she has one.

🌻 - Kool Aid originated in Nebraska.

🌻 - The Omaha zoo has both the largest indoor desert as well as the largest indoor rainforest. The rainforest is my favorite.

🌻 - there is a rope bridge in there though that used to scare me a lot.

🌻 - nebraska also apparently originated the reuben sandwich which is gross.

🌻 - the Ogalala aquifer is the largest underground water supply in the US.

🌻 - the 911 system originated in Lincoln so that's kinda cool.

🌻 - the largest Woolly Mammath fossil is from Nebraska. If I remember correctly it's the one in Morrill Hall. His name is Archie and I will die for him.

🌻 - speaking of Archie, he was found on a farm by chickens. The farmer got confused at why the chickens were pecking at something, went to look, found big bones and called an archeologist.

🌻 - okay the bug is still a problem but I now have you to save me when it shows it's little fucking face again.

🌻 - the word Nebraska comes from the Oto word meaning flat water.

🌻 - hell yeah we going back to nebraska facts. Next is that the goldrod is the state flower. Flower is kinda pretty but the paper color by the same name is stupid.

🌻 - blue agate is the state gem and I vibe with that. Agate is cool as fuck.

🌻 - UNL's weight room is supposedly the largest in the country at 3/4ths of an acre (32.6k sqft)

🌻 - the Nebraska capitol had a 9.8 million budget, came in under budget, was paid for by the time it finished construction.

🌻 - I think the capitol looks weird but I am also desensitized to it but objectively it is really cool.

🌻 - cliff notes was founded in Nebraska.

🌻 - unfortunately when the UNL stadium is seated to capacity it technically becomes the 3rd most populated place in the state..... It's also really loud.... And I hate it.

🌻 - Arbor day comes from Nebraska. Which is cool because trees.

🌻 - the Scotts Bluff National Museum has a section of the oregon trail wagon roadbed that you can hike. The museum itself is also kinda cool so I suggest it if you ever are in the area.

🌻 - I wish to kill you, kathryn.

🌻 - more Nebraska facts I hear you cry! No problem! Nebraska has Car Henge! So if you ever want to get the vibe of Stonehenge except stupid and made of antique cars in a field in the middle of fucking nowhere you're in luck.

🌻 - Runzas are the official state food and I hate it. Runza makes decent chicken strips but Runzas are gross. Yes handover that cabbage meat bread 🤢

🌻 - Nebraska has a navy apparently. I know this but I cant tell you what the fuck they do since we are like the most landlocked state in the country.

🌻 - That one president, Gerald Ford, born in Nebraska. That's kinda neat. (I know nothing else about this man or his presidency except he is the only one not nationally elected.)

🌻 - Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, and Johnny Carson (I think, or he just went to UNL, the media arts building is named after him) are all from Nebraska.

🌻 - getting sick of nebraska facts? Suffer. Nebraska has more miles of river than any other state, which is weird because we were called the great American desert.

🌻 - apparently the Nebraska state insect is the honeybee!!! 🐝

🌻 - the Niobrara river is apparently really good for canoeing and has like 90 waterfalls.

🌻 - I am running low on nebraska facts.

🌻 - there is a park/reserve just outside Lincoln that has some bison in it. Do not fuck with bison. They will wreck your shit.

🌻 - I don't know if he is still alive but there used to be a bald eagle in the same park that only had one wing. (Actually I think he was missing half of one but still)

🌻 - the cottonwood tree is awful and on a bad year can look like a light snow if too many trees are nearby.

🌻 - the ashfall fossil beds are where you can go to see an active archeology site with the fossils of tons of animals killed by a volcano 12 million years ago.

🌻 - Nebraska has a unicameral. Which is basically instead of a state house and state senate we have one legislative body that is elected on a non-partisan ticket.

🌻 - it is illegal to fish whales in Nebraska. Once again we are completely land locked and there are no whales but.. its still illegal.

🌻 - I am dying here. Kathryn I will punch you.

🌻 - Morrill Hall also has elephant hall which is the main hall right when you pass the entry desk. It has like 15 (?) fossils in it and apparently it's the largest collection of elephant fossils on display.

🌻 - speaking of Morrill Hall, it only displays about 1% of it's collection. The rest is stored at Nebraska Hall nearby.

🌻 - I think the cranes in North Platte are lame.

🌻 - nebraska furniture mart in Omaha is apparently the largest in the country. Which I can believe. I went to the discount part and it was a giant warehouse. I don't know what the actual sale floor is like.

🌻 - cherry county is bigger than Connecticut.

🌻 - O street (highway 6) is the longest straight main street

🌻 - Nebraska has a testicle festival. It's probably exactly what you think it is. Too many fried cow balls is what it is.

🌻 - there is a really cool church between Lincoln and omaha called the Holy Family Shrine. Its got massive arches and is mostly glass. Im not catholic so it's not really a religious thing but a bitch can appreciate some cool architecture.

🌻 - the Hall brothers who made Hallmark (card company) are from Nebraska.

🌻 - UNL's Love library has a Shakespeare Folio. Its in the Special Collections and Archives' vault. I want to see it so bad and one of the archivists told me she would show me it next time they opened the vault but then corona... :(

🌻 - UNL's library also has like 5 million+ physical items in it's collections.

🌻 - the serial killer Charles Starkweather is buried in Wyuka in Lincoln.

🌻 - Kearney, NE is dead center geographically between Boston and San Francisco.

🌻 - 92% of the state is farmland/ranches.

🌻 - if you have made it this far I am sorry.

🌻 - Nearly every fun facts about nebraska page has mentioned that the food stuffs Spam is manufactured in Fremont. So I'll mention out of peer pressure.

🌻 - the bug is still in the kitchen. Kathryn has foresaken me. I may perish in the night.

🌻 - 10 more. There is a roller skating museum in Lincoln. It's at 48th and South streets. Has largest collection of historical roller skates.

🌻 - Larry the Cable Guy I'd from Nebraska and he has recorded narrations for some exhibits in the Lincoln children's zoo. Or he used to it's been awhile.

🌻 - going back to UNL stuffs. Morrill Hall is a pretty cool museum and you should definitely go there. If only to say hi to Archie.

🌻 - the bronze Archie that is outside the museum is currently sporting a fashionable face mask set both over his trunk and his actual mouth.

🌻 - there are a couple dino fossils in that museum and if you step over the barrier and onto the decorative rocks an alarm will go off. And staff will be pissed because now they have to tell at you.

🌻 - said museum also has a lot of cool rocks on the third floor.

🌻 - and the bottom floor has like a hall of nebraska animals where you can hit buttons to listen to animal sounds.

🌻 - aaand a room with a plesiosaur embedded in the floor which is really cool.

🌻 - there is also a cool museum in Nebraska called the SAC. Which is the museum for Strategic Air Command. It has a lot of planes and some stuff from moon missions and air force stuff. When I was little some oil from the big plane in the entrance leaked onto a pillow I had when I was sleeping under it on a trip.

🌻 - nebraska is better than iowa but nebraska kinda sucks too so it's not like it matters truthfully.

🌻 - Nebraska has a lot of weather like giant hailstones and tornadoes but Lincoln doesn't get much because it is in a geographic dent so weather tends to weaken over the city. Which is lame. I want lots of snow.

And there we are folks. 69 fucking facts. 58 of which are about Nebraska purely out of spite. I counted.

I am now off to murder my roommate.

(jk but you should expect to be quizzed)

[the-toppat-king]

Chapter Two: Small Steps

Right groaned as he came out of unconsciousness.

He flexed his fingers a moment before opening his eye.

Wait. Where was his other eye?

Suddenly the Toppat sat up, realizing he was not longer fully human. At least half his face was now covered in metal, and throwing off his blanket, he saw that his right arm and both his legs were gone, replaced with metal augmentations. Flexing his new hand a bit, he took a breath to calm himself down.

First things first, where was he?

Glancing around, Right saw that he was in the medical wing, and that Reginald was sleeping not far away in a chair. At first he was relieved seeing the leader unharmed, but he quickly realized that wasn't entirely the case. His throat was bruised, his hair was messy and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

Right knew the moment he looked at him that he'd been defeated.

"...Reg?"

Reginald jolted awake at the sound of his voice, face immediately morphing into one of relief. He got to his feet, apparently trying to seem dignified as he walked over.

"W'at 'appened?" Right frowned as Reginald sat down in a closer chair.

"Henry caught me." Reginald sighed. "It was either give up leadership to him or be given to the government. Thankfully it seems at least some things haven't changed."

"Once a Toppat, always a Toppat." Right forced a laugh, but immediately knew that this was a bad situation. The last time they saw Henry was twenty years ago, when they killed Terrence. Henry had run away almost immediately after, and while they had searched for him there was no finding Henry when he decided to go missing.

Not to mention he and Right had actually fought. It was only Henry thinking to fight dirty and pulling a knife on him that he wasn't hurt.

"'E didn't...'urt you...did 'e?" Right asked, grabbed Reginald's hand. Reginald shook his head.

"He had me by my necklace. The bruise is from the pressure. I don't think he was trying to hurt me, or it would have been easy from that position." The former leader explained. He took a deep breath, rubbing it before meeting Right's gaze. "That...that Henry. That's not our Henry anymore. I can barely recognize him anymore."

"Reg, it'll be fine." Right replied. "I'm sure 'e's just a bit s'aken up from everything- like those government scum sending 'im in to do t'eir dirty work."

"Right, Reginald?" Sven's voice interrupted before Reginald could reply. "Henry is in his office. You should probably go show him the ropes. He's...acting skittish, for lack of better words."

Right groaned. So much for soothing Reginald's fears.

_________________________________________

In hindsight, Right wasn't sure what he expected.

At first when he saw Henry bent over a desk, muttering to himself with Terrence's old Top hat on his head, he thought he was seeing a ghost. Terrence could have never denied that Henry was his son.

"With Charles and the General this might be difficult." He was muttering in a hoarse, weak voice. Henry didn't use his voice much, but Right didn't think speaking should sound so painful. "I could probably drop them someone rural and lay low a few weeks, but that might piss off the Clan. But if I keep them with us the Government might come for them. Or at least for the General. Either way the Clan has to lay low and they're pissed that I saved two government officials instead of just letting-"

"Sir?" Sven spoke up.

Henry jolted, turning around, back to silence. Right rolled his eye, stepping forward. "'Enry, we ain't strangers, don't act lik-"

Suddenly the leader was on his feet, body tense. Both Right and Reginald froze, taking in his body language.

He looked like a cornered animal, every muscle tense and ready to either fight or flee. He glanced around for a possible exit before his eyes settled back on Right, Reginald and Sven, clearly untrusting. First Right felt nearly uncontrollable rage. What the fuck did those assholes tell him to make him act like this?

Henry must have noticed, because he took a few steps back, eyes narrow.

Second, Right doubted his earlier statement of "Once a Toppat, always a Toppat."

Toppats didn't act like this. They were typically dignified, cool under pressure. If they needed an escape they looked for one without giving themselves away. They didn't stand tense, waiting for the enemy to make a move before they reacted. They either shot or they got the hell out of that situation.

Their Henry acted like a Toppat.

This Henry didn't.

Of course Right recognized this body language. It was pretty common, especially with criminals on the street. Typically it was criminals and thieves who ran into fights a lot and so needed to be ready for a scrap.

He saw it in desperate, afraid people. The Henry he knew was neither.

Right took a step back, seeing Henry relax a little. Reginald is right. That's not our Henry anymore.

"Settle down." Reginald stepped forward this time, and Right noticed that Henry wasn't as tense. He's reacting based on threat level. He knows if it comes to a fight, he couldn't do anything against me, but Reginald isn't going to be as physical if it comes to a confrontation. He wasn't sure if he should be impressed that Henry was already taking mental notes or concerned because Henry obviously didn't trust his own high ranking crew. "Right isn't going to do anything."

"Do you see what I mean?" Sven sighed. "He can't seem to talk unless he's alone, he freaks if anyone approaches without a warning, he's acting like he doesn't know us."

Movement caught Right's attention, and he noticed that Henry was signing.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here."

"Then don't stare at us like a deer caught in headlights!" Sven shot back. "Henry, stop acting like we're strangers! Do you really think Reginald, Right or anyone else would hurt you?"

Henry's expression went from being annoyed to being...unsure for a complete lack of better words. Sven's shoulder's slumped.

"You...you don't trust us?"

"The last time I saw any of you," Henry signed slowly, seeming unsure of his word choice. "Was twenty years ago. I was six and had just witnessed my father being overthrown as leader of the Toppat Clan and shot in the head." He took a breath before adding: "I know now that Terrence was a terrible leader. But I didn't understand at the time and I didn't know what would happen to me. I still don't."

"You're not Terrence." Right spoke up. "W'y would we 'arm you for his terrible decisions? Especially twenty years later."

"I just burst in through the window in a giant hamsterball, tried to run you over, proceeded to stab you and push you off a bridge when I got the opportunity and took Reginald hostage. That's all just from one day. Why would you all not want to kill me?" Henry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Not to mention I was working with the government? Okay I was kinda taken hostage-"

Right glanced at Reginald, mouthing a "why did you not fucking tell me this?". Reginald shrugged in response, looking a little helpless.

"-but a Toppat would never betray the Clan in the first place. I betrayed the Clan the second I deserted it, and I did it again when I tried following through with the Government's plan. The only thing stopping me was the fact that even if they kept up their end and pardoned my crimes I don't have anything to go back to." Henry seemed to deflate a bit. "No one would be stupid enough to hire a thief infamous enough for the Government to track down. The only jobs I could find were all as test subjects."

Right could tell the gears were turning in Reginald's head, and Right was figuring it out too.

Henry wasn't wrong.

His goals here were completely centered on self-preservation. Fleeing as a child when he thought his life may be in danger(which could be excused, Right supposed, still didn't look good), likely defaulting on theft to survive, the only thing he would have known how to do(and likely continuing to do so into teenage and adult years when people saw a bratty little thief rather than a kid who didn't know how else to get by), taking the deal the Government offered him for a chance at a life even slightly more sustainable than what he had now. Even accepting Reginald's last-minute bargaining, leader of the Toppat Clan was a safer, more stable life than anything else he could do with his reputation.

Toppats didn't act like that. They were actively disgusted by people who held their own lives as more important the the Clan's safety. It was one of many reasons why Terrence was overthrown- not caring about the Clan and prioritizing his own thrill over their safety.

The Clan already had every right to overthrow Henry. They had helped raise him, yes, but that meant his betrayal left a deeper wound than a stranger's.

Trust on both ends needed to be rebuilt, and it wasn't working with the way things were currently going.

"'Old on." Right suddenly spoke up. "I need a time frame. 'Ow long was I out?"

Henry sheepishly held up five fingers.

"Five 'ours?" That didn't seem right.

"Days." Henry signed.

Ah, that makes more sense.

"'Ave you interacted at all with the crew outside w'at was necessary?" Right crossed his arms.

Henry looked even more sheepish.

"'ave you even ate?"

"I managed to make him eat when Reginald handed over leadership since he was skin and bones." Sven spoke up. "Otherwise he hasn't touched anything."

Right sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I swear to God- Sven, go get something small for 'Enry, please. Just a sandwic' or something, because somet'ing tells me this c'aotic dumbass 'asn't been eating nearly enough and 'e needs to start slow.

Reginald sighed, swinging an arm over Henry's shoulder and sitting him back down as Sven left. "Henry, you need to trust Right, Sven and I. The Clan is willing to give you a shot as long as one of us higher members doesn't decide you're not fit to lead. But that means you need to work with us and stop being self-destructive." He looked up at Right. "Hey do we have anyone with a psychology degree or something? Henry's definitely going to need a therapist."

"Excuse me, I am not a child-" Henry signed, face red.

"T'en I don't suppose you're ready to open up about w'at the 'ell 'appened before you got 'ere?" Right asked.

Henry didn't have a response for that.

"T'at's w'at I t'ought." Right sighed. "I don't t'ink we 'ave a therapist, t'ough. Could you at least try opening up to Reg first? You don't need to tell 'im anyt'ing major if you aren't comfortable yet. But we've got to start somew'ere."

Henry sighed, nodding.

Something told Right that this would not be the last conversation they had of this nature, but he supposed it was good enough for now.

[ultraklll]

Tony Miller as a Gun For Hire! Tagged by the lovely @envyfelled ! Ty! This was super fun! Also, I'm on mobile, so sorry for the garbo formatting! (Fun fact, tonys voice claim is laura bailey as fiona/fem!boss)

Paired With Fangs For Hire:

Boomer - "Heya buddy!" followed by excessive scratching behind the ears | "Fuckin' love this dog, can sniff out a peggie like shark sniffing out blood. Good trait to have! Awfully convenient too…" | [patpatapatptpataptap] | "Atta fuckin' boy Boomer!" When she sees him get a kill | "Who's a good boy! Who wants to kill some cultists!" | "Wanna play fetch? Rip out their necks?"

Peaches - "Good girl…" | stealth gang stealth gang | peaches: mows down peggies/tony: a baby!" | "I jus' think it's funny that when we went to the Henbane, we picked up a cougar, Addie, an actual cougar, Peaches, and joined a crew called the Cougars… Just'a thought," 

Cheeseburger - "This reminds me'a Vegas pride, saw plenty'a bears there too" | "Kinda ironic to find you in Jacob's region, all things considered," [snickers to herself] | [PATPATPATPATPATPAT] | "Get outta my pockets! These snacks are mine, not yours!" | "You remind me of those like, beware of dog signs, but the dog is always a sweetheart who'd rather play with a home invader rather than attack them," 

Paired With Other Guns For Hire:

Jess - stealth gang stealth gang stealth gang | Jess has a MASSIVE crush on Tony. Everyone can tell. Tony knows | jess: guns are fucking lame and the sniper rifle is the cowards weapon/ tony: uses a sniper rifle/ jess: actually sniper rifles are cool as fuck | "Good shot Jess!" "S-shit, um, thanks, Tony," 

Grace - sniper gang sniper gang!! | [steals a headshot Grace was lining up] "Cmon Gracie, thought you were meant to be Olympic level!" | highly competitive, do a shot whenever they get a perfect headshot to die instantly | smug top solidarity | also heavily depressed solidarity 

Adelaide - [acts like she's not sleeping with her nephew even tho Addie knows she definitely knows] | Tony is either constantly laughing or constantly face palming over the shit addie says | have gotten into an argument once bc addie said john was a top 

Nick - "What's up eye in the sky?" | [flirts over radio] [flirts over radio] [flirts over radio] [fli | Nick: speaks/Tony: god I just love the way you fucking talk | often talk about kim together | "Can we have a barbecue at your place once these fuckers are dealt with?" | [pretends not to be bitter the Deputy got to help deliver Carmina and not her]

Sharky - "Heya baby!" | [constant back and forth flirting. It's embarrassing] | any second they're both not talking is a second they're making out | Can and Will go john wick on some peggy ass if he gets hurt badly | "Do you wanna have a sleepover?" "Lemme ask my momma," | she calls him Charlie :> | loves him so so much they're just constantly talking about anything and everything | literally like A Comedic Duo. Have together for certified funnies

Hurk jr. - "Junior! This'll be just like Kyrat!" | competitions about who can shotgun a beer faster every 4 seconds | WILL tell you stories about their time in Kyrat together | Tony has punched Drubman sr in the nose before and she'll do it again | "Hey Tony? You still in contact with Ajay?" "He sends me a royal postcard every now n' then. Apparently it's boring being king, and his only solace is that his new bodyguard is cute," 

In Combat: 

Seeing an enemy - "Fucker in my sights," | "I got a bullet with your name on it… actually I don't, who the fuck has time to carve names in bullets, but you get the idea- im just gonna shoot you now" | "You're dead on arrival, shithead," 

Sneaking - "You'd think me sneaking is counter productive because I'm 6'4 and have a very loud gun, but you're the boss Dep," | "Shhhh… we're huntin' shitheads… Heard it in a game," | [shoots alarm boxes] "You ain't allowed to call your friends, you're all grounded," | *peggy triggers alarm* "Fuckin snitch!" 

Killing an enemy - "SKULLCRACKER!" | "I just don't miss!" | just fucking headshot after headshot after headshot | [sucks in breath through teeth] "God damn I'm good," | when shes not using her Wifle (wife rifle, a 45/70) she's being FUCKING EFFICIENT with her ak-ms or just blasting ribcages open with her shotgun

Reviving - "Up you get, baby," | "You ain't dying on me that easy, Dep" | "Not today Satan!" | "You gonna let some unwashed asshole kill you?" 

Hurt - "Motherfucker!" | "That's another scar I'll tattoo over," | "Thank god people find scars sexy," | "God fuck that's smarts!" 

Downed - "Dep! Give me a hand?" | "Clean up on Aisle 4 needed!" | "Don't worry about me, just bleeding out over here, no rush," 

Revived - "Drinks on me when this is over Dep," | "Thanks babe!" | "I'll kiss you when we get outta this mess," | "I owe ya!"

Driving: 

Entering a vehicle - "Lemme take over I'm a way better driver than you," | "Floor it!" | "Hang on I've got a mixtape, just hope I havent fuckin' crushed it," | [takes the opportunity to roll cigs] | *peggies roll up* "Keep her steady!" [leans out the window and headshots the peggie on their ass, causing them to crash the car, like that isnt the coolest shit you've ever seen] "Aight cool,"

Reckless Driving - "Watch the fuckin' road asshole!" | [desperately tryna grip the wheel so she can take over driving] | "STOP THE CAR! I'LL JUST FUCKING WALK!" | "Are you tryna kill us?! Fuckin' swap seats now!" | tony is the designated driver bc one she's fucking good at it and two shes also a really bad backseat driver. Just let her drive 

Changing Radio Stations - "Now don't tell Charlie I said this but some of the peggies music is actually good,"| "John's a prick but his music taste is fuckin' good," | [punches radio in when Only You comes on] "...Sorry… Force'a habit…" | "Bold and brave my ass, John looks like he needs help getting spiders out of rooms and wears fuzzy pink bathrobes," 

Idle: 

"Man, John's a freak, and yeah I mean that in the sexy way. Someone who demands so much outward control whilst being a shithead little brat likes to get trussed up like a thanksgiving turkey and stuffed like one too. Don't give me that look Dep, I'm right and we both know it," 

"That dude Jacob ate was called Miller?? God, that could've been me if I was much older and way uglier!" 

"Faith just makes me fuckin sad man. She's been manipulated and groomed into this life by fuckin Joseph- she's so goddamn young too. I'm not gonna tell you what to do Dep, but that's just my two cents,"

"Joseph's the worst kind of man- a manipulator. He tells you what you wanna hear, targets the misfortunate who have nothing left to lose, builds a fucking army out of em. The other heralds I'm ok with arresting, but Joseph's got to go,"

[Lights cig with either her fancy lighter or by striking a match on the bottom of her shoe] "Don't start smoking, Dep,  bad for your health," 

Location Specific: 

Testy Festy Aftermath - [pinches bridge of nose] "Not again…" | "Anyone got a water and like, 3 aspirin?" | "Ain't the first time I've woke up passed out in a field, won't be the last," | "Did we at least get a photo from the night? I've won the competitions here for the last 3 years in a row now, I'm not fuckin missing one cuz of these peggies," 

Falls End - "Fuckin shame to see Falls End like this, but Mary May and Jerome will take good care of her now weve got it back, they always do," | "Think we'll get free drinks for life at the Spread Eagle when this is all over? Actually, we probably won't even get free drinks for week, so for life is wishful thinking," | she enjoys playing with the singing fish on the front of the speed eagle and keeps tryna convince Mary May to let her take it for herself bc tony goddamn miller has the biggest singing fish collection in the entire county 

Seed Ranch - *loud whistle* "this place is swanky as fuuuuck… Not that big a fan of all the dead animals though…" | "IS THAT WEED ON THE TABLE? Johnny boy you fuckin' hypocrite!" | "Oh he's definitely got a secret room behind one of these bookshelves, like a home torture room? Oh my God, what if he has more than one...?" [starts frantically pulling books off shelves] | regarding his shelves with peggie memorabilia [takes baseball bat to it] | [pretends she's never been here as she frantically stuffs any of her own belongings she might've forgotten here into her bag]

Entering the Henbane - "Don't trust a goddamn thing you see here. You think you see something you're not supposed to, hit it," | [swinging at bliss induced angel/animal/faith visions] | "Can we try savin' Faith? Don't feel right killin' her, she's so young…" | "Can we go to Sharky's place? I left some stuff there that could be worth picking up,"

Hope County Jail - "Sheriff Whitehorse has always been a good man to me, Dep. Would appreciate it if he lived through this," | "I always feel like a giant whenever I come here, everyones like 5'3. Virgil, Tracey, Charles, all shortasses," | "I think it's cute they gave you a little pin! You're part of their Pride now! Or whatever the cougar equivalent is to a lions pride… do Cougars even travel in packs? Aside from when Addie used take the girls out for drinks,"

Entering the Whitetails - "Always feels like something's watchin' you in these woods. Keep your eyes peeled," | "Always felt like there's something in these woods that there ain't supposed to be…" | [Shifting from foot to foot] "Can we get a move on? Aint'a big fan of standing around waitin' to get shot by some fuckin' sniper with a bow," | [watching Jacob's video punishing Pratt] "I'll fuckin' get you outta here, Stace… you just gotta hold out a second longer," | [about all the dead bodies and 'you are meat' graffiti] "Love what Jacob's done with the place," 

The Wolfs Den - "Eli Palmer is a good fuckin man. Kind, smart, careful and ruthless against peggies. We've made a good friend here, Dep," | "Heya Wheaty! Got a few more vinyls for your collection! They're all my own though, so be careful with em," | "I don't think Tammy likes you that much Dep. I don't think she likes much of anything anymore, other than attaching jumper cables to Peggy's nipples… Oh god, my piercings hurt thinking about it," 

Joseph's Island - [hand firmly on rifle grip] | "Creepy, evil motherfucker, had him pegged right from the start. Well, not pegged. I'm not pegging Joseph. I'd rather stick my dick in a ceiling fan then go anywhere near him- I'm just gonna stop talking," | "You know what? No one else has asked it so I'm gonna- where the fuck does Joseph sleep.  In the church? In one of these houses? In the dirt somewhere? What if he hangs upside down from trees like a bat?" 

[spideychelleee]

MJ FFH Analysis

I LOVE that they stayed true to MJ’s character in FFH but still allowed her to have a bit more depth. Get comfy, this is long. It gets really deep towards the end oof. Welcome to my part rant part analysis of Peter and MJ in FFH:

First of all, can I just say that MJ is represented so well. I’m so glad that she is still wearing casual clothing and little makeup and lets her curls run wild. I have naturally curly hair but always straighten it cuz i feel like i look crazy with it curly but after seeing MJ, Im starting to realize that I should just rock what I got. And I feel like her portrayal has this effect on every teen and adult that watches her on the big screen. She inspires everyone to just BE YOURSELF. Ugh yessssssss

Ok now onto the scenes. Almost immediately, we hear our very own Spider-Parker has got a 6 STEP PLAN to impress MJ. This man is crushing. Hard. Many people were disappointed that this sudden liking for MJ came “out of nowhere” but, as countless other blogs have mentioned, relationships CAN develop off screen. Especially friendships. Wow who knew. Peter and Ned were friends right when Hoco began and no one had a problem with buying their friendship. The period after Hoco when MJ becomes team captain to Infinity War is long enough for these two to become actual friends and for Peter to realize how awesome she is. And let’s not forget that it’s been 8 months since the Blip (ew) happened. The Blip 100% brought everybody closer, whether they liked it or not. And the fact that Peter knows MJ’s favorite flower and the reasoning behind said favorite flower hints that they have been getting closer.

The airplane scene yesss: Our girl MJ is not afraid to stand up for Peter when Flash makes fun of him. And omg the way his face lights up after she does that. I think that interaction with Flash was a great way to show the antis that MJ is not mean spirited like Flash can be. Yes, she is sarcastic, blunt, and a little morbid (she clearly likes crime investigation guys), but she is not rude. She isn’t afraid to stand up for the “little guy” (in this case Peter hahaha irony). Also in this scene we get one of our first peaks at awkward Peter and MJ when he slams the bathroom door in her face HA. Their wide eyed expressions say it all. And the fact that MJ puts her ear to the door to hear wtf he is doing is just a continuation of how observant she likes to be. Oof I love this whole scene. and if a boy ever cleaned the bathroom for me i would marry him

THE BO (boh?) SCENE. This is our first glimpse of excited MJ and I love it. She is more than just rbf and sarcastic MJ. She has normal human emotions that she seems comfortable to let show only around...drum roll...Peter!!! I’m not sure if she went looking for him or just saw him outside of the store she was in but either way she excitedly ran over just to tell him about a new word she learned and what she had been doing. Let’s note that both of these characters are clearly fine doing something alone, yes including Peter. The rest of the class went their separate ways in groups while Peter went to buy the necklace by himself and MJ went to learn about Italy by herself. But, if they were to hang around anyone, they would rather it be each other. So now they are alone together (wow look at that beautiful oxymoron). MJ comes out of literally nowhere with a skip in her step. You can clearly see how excited she is to just talk to Peter about her new favorite word. She’s finally opening up around him. But MJ is still is her normal sarcastic self when she shuts down that guy with the roses implying that they looked like a couple (cuz they do). AND this woman has the NERVE to say “bo” is her new superpower to someone with actual superpowers. She knew what she was saying and it was purely intentional cuz she loves messing with Peter. And of course MJ noticed Peter was holding a bag and asked about it. Observant, remember? His response was perfect. MJ appreciated Peter’s smarta** response because it meant he was paying attention to her and it was exactly what she would have said. These two enjoy being around each other and can bounce off the other easily when their feelings don’t make things awkward.

That small scene in the hotel where Peter mentions going to Paris tomorrow is *chef’s kiss*. He is testing the waters just like she was in Hoco when she was trying to make friends. But this time, Peter is trying to see if his plan is going to hold up and if she is remotely interested in Paris at all. Her response is pure MJ. And naturally, Peter is a little taken aback by her random, dark fact about the Eiffel Tower but she follows with it being her favorite destination on the whole trip. She would normally stop at the morbid fact with anyone else, but with Peter she offers a little more insight to how she’s feeling. 

Brace yourselves #1: THE OPERA SCENE. Let’s establish that MJ really gives zero effs about Brad. This dude really trying to tell her he’ll save her a seat HA. Good one Brad. You can feel how uncomfortable she was the minute he said that. And that’s when our hero Peter Parker swoops in cuz he can’t let this happen. This boy summons all the courage in the entire world to tell MJ she looks “really pretty”. And once again, her response is pure MJ. I feel like she has trouble interacting with people she likes because she just doesn’t know how to. But she saves Peter from wanting the ground to swallow him whole when she summons the courage to say “you look pretty too”. AHHHHH. This is the first time we have heard MJ compliment anyone. Like I said before, with anyone else *cough* Brad *cough*, MJ would have stopped at the “therefore I have value” line. HOWEVER, with Peter, she is continuously opening up little by little. And she takes matters into her own hands by cleverly asking Peter if he wants to sit next to her. And yet again the audience sees another first timer for MJ. She is nervous. We NEVER have seen her nervous. She is usually calm, cool, and collected. But not with Peter. I can’t reiterate this enough. She’s finally breaking down her walls and for no one else but Pete. AND she finally decides to run after him when she catches him leaving. She knows he wouldn’t ditch her for no reason. She’s got a hunch that he’s hiding something or that something is wrong and she wants to find out and maybe help.

Brace yourselves #2: we are going into the bridge date walk thing these two dorks managed to accomplish. At the hotel, MJ immediately asks Peter where he was. No one else asked him that. Not even Mr. Harrington, which would be his job lol. She also says “we missed you” and “glad you’re back” and gives a weak smile. We all know really she meant “I missed you”. You ain’t that slick girl. And Peter’s excuses are just getting worse and worse. “I got lost” jeez come on man what was that. She 100% (or 67%) knows he’s lying to her. ANYWHO, Peter and MJ clearly both want to hang out because she opens the door the minute he was about to knock. She spares his rambling with a definitive “yes” cuz she is eager to go on a date walk with this dork. And Peter is freaking out cuz omg she wants to meet in 5 minutes instead of 10. That line alone shows MJ’s eagerness and how she will take matters into her own hands if need be. And the entire walk out of the hotel these two COULD NOT STOP SMILING. This is just another example of how giddy MJ gets around Peter.

Ok actual bridge scene: Once more, we see MJ in a particularly vulnerable state. She’s trying to find something to talk about and nervously tells Peter yet another morbid fact about the Charles Bridge. AND AGAIN, SHE DOES SOMETHING SHE HAS NEVER DONE BEFORE. She apologizes. MJ is so nervous that she said the completely wrong thing and made things weird that she says “sorry”. She is so goddamn vulnerable around Peter it’s not even funny. And she was so excited to tell Peter that she knows he’s Spiderman that she cuts him off from his feelings confession HA. And of course Peter is shooketh. Because all this girl does to Peter is make him shooketh and catch him off guard, and visa versa. But MJ won’t hear his lame excuses anymore cuz she’s got the receipts. Our girl has actual evidence that ended up cracking the whole omg Mysterio is a fraud situation. AND UGH, when Peter asks if she was only watching him because she thought he was Spidey. And she LIES. MJ is “obsessed with telling the truth” and yet she goes against her character and lies to cover up the fact that she likes Peter because she is afraid of telling him how she really feels because what if he doesn’t like her back. Which is normal. MJ is not used to what she’s feeling around Peter and the minute she has the opportunity to confess she panics (like we all would).

I needed to start a new bullet point cuz that was getting long. Continuing with that scene: I love how Peter finally just admits that YES he is Spiderman (shocker) and he really messed up lol. Their little back and forth banter “are joking with me cuz it’s not funny” “I was only like 67% sure” “what are you doing on a school trip?!” is MJ both extremely excited and freaking the eff out at what is going on. In truth it’s a lot to process. The guy she likes is Spiderman and he just admitted it, she’s been carrying evidence to a major crime, they both just figured out together that Mysterio is gonna kill half of Europe, etc...MJ is showing her true human emotions to Peter and only Peter.

We continue to see MJ breaking down her walls in Peter’s hotel room. She’s actively trying to help him figure out what he is going to do about everything they just found out. She has emotional facial expressions. AND WOO MJ is revealed to be a hormonal teenaged girl who wants to look at Peter’s abs (don’t we all). But THE MINUTE Ned comes in, it’s like a light switch turned off. She goes back to being blunt “he didn’t tell me, I figured it out” and has no expression on her face. It really just goes to show how Peter brings out the best in her and ughhhh yesss

Ok this isn’t really analysis but Peter diving after MJ in that illusion (even after recognizing that it wasn’t real) goes to show how much he cares about her ok continue...

MJ is now a FOS (friend of Spiderman). She knows the danger that comes with being a FOS. She reminds Ned of this and urges that they should break off from the rest of the class. She doesn’t want others to get hurt on her account. It was a very brave thing for her to do. And she continues to be brave when she whacked the shit out of that drone with A MACE. And I love that MJ doesn’t have unrealistic levels of strength. Because she shouldn’t. She is a teenaged girl. She doesn’t have superpowers. The fact that she nearly dropped the mace on the floor is really realistic. it’s heavy. But she doesn’t need powers to have courage or to help save herself and her friends.

I love how in the vault MJ’s confession is that she is “obsessed with the truth and will always say it even if it hurts someone’s feelings”. Or something like that. And yes she is. Like I said before, MJ is not mean. Is she awkward? Yes. Does she sometimes not know how to continue a conversation? Yes. Are her interests dark and morbid? Yes. But she’s not a bully. She’s honest. Her personality is brutally honest and her appearance is brutally honest. She doesn’t try to look like someone she’s not to impress Peter. She doesn’t try to change her personality to please others. But she does indeed call you out on your bullshit when you are acting up. We need more people like MJ.

Brace yourselves #3: We are transferring into THE SCENE. Let’s all take a deep breath before we begin. Ok. MJ obviously cares about Peter. And obviously MJ is not a physical contact type of person. The minute the drones stop attacking, she runs to find Peter without a second thought. And what does she do? She hugs him. This isn’t a half ass hug either. She runs and launches herself into his arms. Which is an appropriate response because she didn’t even know if he was still alive. That’s when she pulls out The Necklace. I can only imagine how MJ must have felt when Happy gave that to her. I feel like in that moment she realized that hey, Peter might actually have feelings for her. And the fact that it was her favorite flower really sent her. She is so overcome with emotion that she interrupts Peter’s rambling yet again but this time with A PECK ON THE LIPS. And although she has an idea that Peter likes her now, you can still see all over her face that she’s waiting to see his reaction. SHES TESTING THE WATERS YET AGAIN PEOPLE. Just like she was doing in Hoco. I’m gonna make that my senior quote I swear I feel like I’ve said that so many times. AND THEN she admits that she has trouble getting close to people and that she lied about watching him just because he was Spiderman. (Btw Zendaya’s delivery was amazing and you could just see the emotion on her face and hear it in her voice.) That is a big step for MJ. Once again for the twentieth time in this rant/analysis, MJ is allowing herself to open up around Peter. And it’s a little scary for her but she does it anyway. 

BUT WAIT THERES MORE. “I actually like it better broken”. Of course she does. Tattoo this quote on my forehead. I changed my mind, this will be my senior quote. The amount of depth in that line is insane. Broken. The necklace. It’s broken. The boy standing in front of her has just had his ass handed to him, his face is bloodied and he’s limping. He is physically broken. He’s also witnessed the death of his uncle and Ironman, both important father figures in his life. Not to mention the trauma he’s been through fighting Thanos and being manipulated by Mysterio. He is mentally broken. MJ probably comes from a troubled household. Her family is broken (probably). The fact that MJ and Peter and half the universe were dusted and lost 5 years of their lives with zero say. The world is broken. But MJ doesn’t mind. She straight up tells Peter that she doesn’t care that times are tough or that it’s dangerous to be close to him. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger am I right? AND THEN she really admits, I’m talking blatantly, flat out, no sugar, clear as day, states “I really like you too”. WEVE GONE FULL CIRCLE YET AGAIN. She has officially opened up to Peter ladies and gents. Like really opened up this time. Full on. And then he nervously wiggles in to peck her lips and she gives him a shy smile. And then we get a full on K I S S and she’s got the courage to put her hand on his neck. Wow. The amount of shy smiles she gives Peter in this entire scene is just too much to count. And she MAKES A JOKE. And it’s not a sarcastic one. She awkwardly grabs that mace and pretends to beat someone’s ass “just in case” ahhhhh.

When Peter and MJ nervously hold hands in New Jersey. Yeah. And she’s wearing the broken necklace. And one final time we see MJ saying something blunt “nobody really pays attention to you” cuz that’s who she is but then adding how she really feels immediately after “except for me” all because she is with Peter. And only Peter makes her do that.

Oh and MJ freaking out and screaming at the top of her lungs was yet another relatable aspect that makes her so lovable. For the ten millionth time, she tries to play it cool around Peter, but he ends up breaking down her walls.

That was so long. I’m so sorry. If you made it this far you’re the real MVP and I appreciate it.