#McKay run

[luxshine]

I'm really enjoying McKay run (and yes I am also still working on the Moon Knight Primer), but I really, REALLY wish he remembered that just as Moon Knight is not "White Batman" or "Marvel's Batman", the Fist of Khonshu are not "Marvel's Green Lanterns".

Please, for the love of the Moon god, let Marc, Steven and Jake be special in their own way, not just one more cog in the machine. (AND STOP writing Khonshu as cruel and manipulative! He's a god of healing and justice, for the Ennead's sake!)

[cheapbourbon]

A little hard lesson for Jake, and a little comic practice for me.

[sga-owns-my-soul]

I made this for you :)

first of all thank you second of all i LOVE this third of all literally so true

[sga-mcshep-4ever]

"I think we may have found an Ancient viral lab. Wagner and Johnson must have been exposed here. Now, it'd take weeks to sift through all this data, and there's no way of knowing whether the Ancients were just studying the viruses or actively creating them. Either way, the storm has done quite a number on this place, and I've got— Dumais. Dumais? Dumais!" "It's all over you!" "Dumais! Dumais." "They're all over you. They're all over you!" "Dumais! Get her off. Dumais! Tell Beckett to pick up the pace. I've just lost another member of my team." "Where's Peterson?" "What?" "Yes, okay, I think we have him. He's trying to make his way back. It should be okay. Grodin is locking all the doors in the hallway and killing power to the entire section." "You need to send someone to stop him." "No, Elizabeth, it's not under control. He knows almost as much about Ancient technology as I do. At the very most, what you're doing will just slow him down."

[ace-malarky]

Snippet Sunday 22/9

I'm takin' a break from the chores of it all to share you a thing :3

from birthday present #2, I present; name games with the Fair Folk!

~~~

Calico tilts his head, thinking. "I don't know. It might not take."

"I'll give it a shot." Briar swivels on their heel to face Calico amongst the graves. "How do we do this?"

Calico hesitates. "Are you sure?" The hunger of it all makes him hesitate, makes him slip and if he had been any younger - if he had known them any less-

"Yes."

He pushes his aviators onto his head and blinks as his eyes kaleidoscope with unbidden glamour.

briar lets out a quiet gasp, their face softening.

"Make your deal, Mortal." The compulsion lies thick on Calico's tongue. A strain to call it up, a strain to keep it in check.

"A name for a name, Faye," Briar says, offering their hand. "I'll give you mine in exchange for the use-name of your cousin." They sound a little dazed, and Calico hopes they aren't about to give him their actual name. "I accept, Mortal. Give me the name your parents gave you." He takes Briar's hand.

Clouds scud across the sky and the sun lights them up in sudden warmth.

Briar tells him their deadname like they're dreaming. It doesn't suit them, but then - it's not theirs. Never ha been. Never will be again.

"My cousin's use-name," Calico says, and stutters over the unknown of it all, "my cousin's use-name is-"

Pink hair and seaweed eyes, a flowing skirt over bare feet, waistcoat whirling about keir as ke spins and darts back, beckoning for Calico to follow.

He feels proud of keir, to have come with him, to have joined his family, despite everything. Despite him and Robyn and what they'd done.

What he'd done.

He adored keir. He'd set the worlds alight for keir.

(He gave up his name when ke asked, gave up his memories when told, gave up - gave up - gave up-)

"Tayse," Calico says, the name sharp on his tongue like a broken key.

He'd drop to his knees under the weight of the memories (the guilt) but Briar has hold of him.

They've stepped closer, hand still clasped in his, and have him against their side, arm looped around their waist.

"Are you alright?" they ask. "Did that - work?"

"Briar suits you far better," Calico says. "I think it did."

"Your cousin is Tayse. Do you... know what happened to keir?"

"Not entirely." Calico pushes himself upright. "But I'm going to find out." He feels more - settled than he has in a long time. More power at his fingers (on his tongue) but more control, too.

[age-of-moonknight]

“What If Venom Bonded to Moon Knight?” What If…? Venom (Vol. 1/2024), #5.

Writer: Jeremy Holt; Pencilers and Inkers: Jesús Hervás and Geraldo Borges; Colorist: Ceci de la Cruz; Letterer: Ariana Maher

[xycuro-illuminati]

See with Zdarsky's run it was so unbearable and awful and sucked ass but there were other dd runs going on like Daredevil & Echo. Not only that, Ahmed is trying his best to work with this shit with the fault legit being having to continue off of zdarsky, boring, and the cane depiction. I was v close to just dropping dd but I'm willing to give the new run a chance. I have a stronger attachment to dd and it's characters other than matt so maybe that's why but I was close to going full dc and dmc. Plus Zdarsky's run (at least on tumblr) had a majority poor reception anyway. I'm down to ignore it and move on.

Mckay with Moon Knight?? Absolutely not. The mk system is DEAD (as far as we know) and now it's just continuing off while also grabbing niche hero characters and writing them in xenophobic and ableist ways. Reading a few panels alone has me so uninterested esp when I mostly enjoyed the original mk comics. MK was a second fav but now I'm just dropping it completely and not looking forward to read another run again nor engage in any mk media. It's just a headache to think about at this point.

[dandyghest]

Millie somehow gets her hands on a sphinx cat and dresses it up in a sweater and hat to keep it warm, and Bramwell (having never seen a sphinx cat before) just assumes it's a very quiet and odd new lodger when he meets it for the first time in the house. Millie decides to see how long she can run the con for.

[admireforever]

Wolf

[stars-in-a-jam-jar]

(So I feel the desire to chime in because I forced myself through this run for YouTube Video Reasons and have what I believe to be a not insignificant amount of tools to break down what's up with Sun King in the Moon Knight comics. But just so my mutuals who are not Deeply Invested In Moon Knight can follow: these panels are from the Max Bemis run of Moon Knight comics which I hate. The character with burn scars on his hands is called Sun King and was made for this run by Bemis himself. The doctor speaking to him was created by Jeff Lemire in the run directly preceeding commonly regarded as one of the best Moon Knight runs in the character's history. Bemis has decided to Add Things to her character in this run. This was a bad decision.)

The characters who engage with any form of the psychiatric in the Max Bemis run speak as if someone who was deeply antipsych and a little bad at writing was trying to write a cautionary tale of why the system gets people fucking killed, EXCEPT YOU THE AUDIENCE ARE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THE SYSTEM IS NOT THE PROBLEM??????? It's repeatedly presented in this run as a constant and a generally neutral entity, but Sun King's character and his arc and relationship to Moon Knight DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS this idea with the way they and everything around the both of them is written in both this run AND the run directly preceeding.

The entirety of Sun King's arc is about him learning how to negotiate and cooperate with that system in order to not be a danger to society. But if you want me to believe this man being in psychiatric care is a good thing For Anyone, maybe don't have the inciting incident of his entry into the plot be him burning down the mental institution he's being kept in a few pages after this exchange, killing 99% of people inside. If you want me to believe this man being in psychiatric care is a good thing For Anyone, maybe don't have the things other doctors say at him and his companion later in the run (another new character don't worry about it) be so patently a one-sided lecture that makes him visibly more and more frustrated as time goes on and doesn't seem to make him any more stable and happy than Moon Knight punching some clarity into him did. If you want me to believe this man being in psychiatric care is a good thing For Anyone, Maybe Give Him A Goddamn Name??????

He starts his arc depersonalized at the hands of the psychiatric institutions that incorrectly label his latent pyrokinesis and connection to an extradimensional implied-despot god as hallucinations and symbols he's using as tools to hide from The Real Reality that he's too damaged and unwell to acheive a worthwhile place in the world and society. He must make himself More Like A Real Person, and the way to do that is to regain access to the memories he's lost to amnesiac blackouts and admit he's a bad person who's done bad and should be normal. He's called Patient 86.

He calls himself Sun King in reference to Ra, a name he didn't even come up with and which identifies him as an extension of a god he later openly calls a bitch. Marc and company also do this with Khonshu whilst calling themselves Moon Knight, but importantly all of the system members also have their own names! By the end of his arc, Sun King re-admits himself into yet another mental hospital, saying he still has some healing and growing to do (implying he'll get a name when he's Earned One) and I'm like 'All of your healing and growing happened OUTSIDE of these institutions, my guy!! With your buddy you're going in there without!!!'

Him shutting himself away in the same place he started the narrative without a name is framed as a happy ending where he's realized so much more of himself than he ever could without his encounters with everyone up to this point, and that's partially correct but in what way is he done justice and given closure by going back into his little box for crazy people?

Why should we believe this will make him happy? Fulfilled? Better as a person and member of society? His narrative starts with a doctor who's obsessing over a different patient that isn't even under her anymore and waxing philosophical about how it's enriching to truly dig into and talk to the insane— her telling him 'You can redeem yourself for being bad in these moments you have no memory of if you stop being crazy, and the way to do that is to use these things you're associating yourself with as an avenue to achieve redemption and get those memories.'

Get the fuck out of here, shut the FUCK up, who greenlit this fucking comic run? They should be fired.

Ok all things considered it's not super bad so far, there are iffy things and... I don't like they're going this hard with the med talk because I don't have the tools to be able to know whether they're saying something legit or utter bullshit.

[fixitwithwhat]

Credit to sga-mcshep-4ever's beautiful gifset I love all you gif creators so much thank you for providing <3

I think about this scene a lot.

Like, a LOT.

It's the first episode after the pilot, they're not even a team yet and we get this. We get John and Rodney being like this. They had almost no interactions up to this point and then suddenly we get this scene and everytime on rewatch it hits me like a truck.

Up to this point, we have never seen Rodney like this. We have SG-1 McKay in 48 hours being unable to have even one decent conversation with a human being. We have a slightly less terrible Rodney in the recurring instances after.

Even Rodney's opening interaction with Carson in this very episode doesn't go without him insulting his medical degree and then, out of the blue, we get this.

And I always have to think about how did it come to this? How did it pan out? Why did he go to John of all people instead of heading back to Carson going "hey, btw, your gene therapy worked, check this out!" What did it look like? Did he just run up to this flyboy like kids do on the playground when they show off their toy and randomly decide to be friends? Just "MajOR, look what I fOunD" and John going "omg that's so C O oL"? And then they pause and John just goes "hey do you think it can handle it if I swung this metal rod at your face real hard", like. I THINK ABOUT THIS SCENE A LOT.

What prompts Rodney to have an instant connection with this man and trust him to shoot at him? "Oh, believe me, that's not the first thing we've tried." What else have you tried before John shot at you? How long have you two been at this?

It's messing me up how they're instantly on the same wavelength. It's messing me up how happy they both look. How we've NEVER seen Rodney so genuinely, boyishly excited before. How we've never seen him interacting with a person in such a genuine, positive way. How this is the first time we see him having fun with anyone.

Same for John, there's nothing of that sardonic attitude from the pilot, he just looks like a kid and his "Did you SEE that?"-voice when he storms down the stairs is just so heartfelt and giddy. Both of them look like they're having fun with a good friend and it's messing me up.

I think about this scene a lot.

[theambitiouswoman]

Book Recommendations 📚📒

Business and Leadership:

"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

"The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

"Zero to One" by Peter Thiel

"Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek

"Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell

Success and Personal Development:

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey

"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear

"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth

"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg

Mental Health and Well-being:

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

"Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns

"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown

"The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" by Edmund J. Bourne

"The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook" by Matthew McKay, Jeffrey C. Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley

Goal Setting and Achievement:

"Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracy

"The 12 Week Year" by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

"Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel H. Pink

"The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

"Smarter Faster Better" by Charles Duhigg

Relationships and Communication:

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie

"The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman

"Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan

"Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" by Marshall B. Rosenberg

"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" by John Gray

Self-Help and Personal Growth:

"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson

"Daring Greatly" by Brené Brown

"Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins

"The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod

"You Are a Badass" by Jen Sincero

Science and Popular Science:

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

"Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins

Health and Nutrition:

"The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II

"In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan

"Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker

"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

"The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Fiction and Literature:

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

"1984" by George Orwell

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

[sga-owns-my-soul]

okay i'm curious

[cow-on-a-skateboard]

In the episode about McKay's "second childhood", after John and Rodney sat on the pier with beer and had a heart-to-heart talk, I want to believe that then they returned and John offered to spend the night with him so as not to run around the cabins. After all, he suggested it at the very beginning, when his terrified friend came running to him.

(I tried to depict a relaxed light from those panels that are located in each room, but it turned out to be too bright)

It seems to me that the moment I depicted is a bit mawkish, but due to the situation, this is the best that John could offer him. McKay is scared, confused, and very outraged that his brain is degrading, and he's still aware of it. He curled up and pressed his arms to his body, falling asleep more or less normally, feeling calm and protected. But John didn't even close his eyes all this time, replaying Rodney's last words in his head and sometimes glancing at him with concern.

It seems that his arm has already gone numb, and unpleasant tingling has begun. Sheppard decided to try to change his position a little, but it would be a real success to free his hand. John inhaled and held his breath, carefully starting to remove his hand from under McKay. Because of John's movement, Rodney shifted his head and put it closer to his friend's chest, pressed his hands tighter to his body and shifted slightly, finally languidly and deeply sighing, continuing to sleep. John exhaled in frustration and abruptly relaxed, sprawling on the bed, realizing that he was trapped. At least he was glad that there was less pressure on his arm now, and he gently stretched it, getting rid of the tingling.

It was a little unusual to feel Rodney's breath so close. It's too dark, too quiet, too drunk to ignore his calm monotonous breathing. John finally gave up trying to get out, which caused a quiet chuckle to escape from him. Either from hopelessness, or from the way McKay sighed softly again.

But what will happen in the morning? What if McKay wakes up later and finds no one around, gets confused about where he is, or tries to figure out what kind of place this is by shouting someone's name? Or vice versa, will he wake up earlier, and how about shaking John (or screaming) to wake him up and find out why he's in the same bed with him?

I like to imagine the chemistry between the characters, which can be off-screen. What could be the consequences or what consequences would actually happen.

[wholesome-holland]

Cassie x male reader

She is really attached to him and is by his side 24/7 and she thinks he is getting tired of her and being clingy so he reassures her and it’s just fluff

Clingy

request for: anon!

paring: cassie howard x male!reader

warnings: fluff, hurt/comfort, overthinking, negative self talk

     Cassie Howard was a lover girl. She loved love, she loved being loved and she loved loving others. She had been in a few relationships here and there, and she fell hard for every guy she was with. Many of those guys had just been with her for the sexual benefits that came with being in a relationship, some of them because they really liked her. Regardless of the reason, every one of those relationships ended the same way; her being broken up with.

"I'm not looking for anything serious."

"I'm not into you like that."

"I'm interested in someone else one."

"I just want to work on myself."

She'd heard every reason in the book, and they all hurt. Breakups always were painful, but having a bullshit excuse come with it made it even worse. Out of all of the excuses she'd heard, there was one that stood out the most. One that hurt more than all the rest, one that was more common for her to hear.

"You're just too clingy, it's too much."

She would rather hear anything but that. The word clingy cut her deep, it was a continuous wound that never healed regardless of who she was with. She couldn't help it, she wanted the person she was with to know she loved them and she wanted to feel that love was reciprocated. She often seeked out reassurance, none of them ever gave it. Her love ran so deep, all she wanted was that same type of love in return. Granted, she had also never been in a healthy relationship, until she met Y/n Y/l/n.

Cassie met him during her senior year a little while after her split from Chris McKay. She knew of Y/n, even if she didn't know him personally. He was a hockey player at East Highland, one of their best players. He was a senior just like her, and was relatively popular. The party— that was being hosted by someone whose name she couldn't remember— was being held at a large house with hundreds of people from their school. She and her sister Lexi arrived with their group of friends after spending hours getting ready together. She hadn't been single for this long until a while, but for once, she didn't mind. She was okay, she felt alright. She enjoyed spending the time getting ready and looking pretty for herself and not for someone else, it felt so good. Even knowing she would possibly run into McKay at the party didn't bother her or make her feel pressured to look perfect. She wanted to look perfect for herself. She was proud of herself for that.

     It had been a while since her and her friends went to a party together, they were making the most out of it and living it up. Maddy and Nate just so happened to also be split up, so they weren't spending the evening clinging to their man's arms. They were dancing with their girls, laughing, and having fun.

     At some point during the night, Cassie decided she wanted a drink, as anyone attending a party would. There was a bar area she had been told was set up in the middle of house, and as she made her way to said bar area, some people who were mindlessly dancing bumped into her rather aggressively. Which then sent her flying into another person, sending them to the floor. That person just so happened to Y/n Y/l/n.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! Are you okay? I'm so sorry," she frantically told him, helping him up from the ground.

"No worries, I'm okay," Y/n said, rubbing the back of his head as he accepted her help up.

"I feel horrible. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to knock you over. I was trying to get through and there were people dancing and—"

"Hey, seriously, it's alright. No need to apologize," He gave her a small smile, "I'm used to it from Hockey." He joked.

Of course, that didn't stop her from feeling bad for knocking into him. Every time she tried to apologize, he was wave her off, assuring her that it truly was alright and it was no big deal. She offered to make him a drink as a final apology, claiming she knew a special recipe she could make with the liquor that was present. He took that opportunity to make an agreement; if he accepted the drink, she would stop apologizing.

      "Okay, fine. I can agree to that," Cassie chuckled, grabbing two cups and a couple of the bottles. Before she could start pouring, Y/n put a hand on her arm.

     "We have to pinky swear," He grinned, holding his pinky out to her. She playfully rolled her eyes before locking her pinky with his, squeezing it slightly.

     "Pinky swear." That lead to the two spending the whole night talking to one another, getting to know each other. He was such a gentleman and so kind right off the bat in a way none of the other guy's at their school were. He was also strikingly handsome, which was just an added bonus. They spent quite a lot of the night chit chatting, not realizing how long it had been until Maddy came looking for Cassie.

"There you are, come dance with me!" Maddy exclaimed, taking Cassie's hand and trying to drag her away.

"Hold on, one sec Maddy," The blonde said, motioning to the boy next to her. Maddy made an o"o" shape with her mouth before smirking at her, giving her a thumbs up and walking away.

Y/n chuckled the interaction, "Well, I better let you get back to your friends. I've kept you held up long enough," he stated.

"Yeah, I guess. It was really nice talking to you, Y/n. We'll have to talk more soon," Cassie responded, a large grin on her face.

"Yes, definitely," Y/n said before quickly grabbing his phone from his back pocket. "Would you... maybe want to give me your number? So we can keep talking more? Only if you want to, only if you're comfortable with that." His cheek flushed a light shade of pink as he waited for her response.

"Of course, I'd love that." They exchanged phone numbers before bidding their goodbyes, both smiling equally as wide.

That was just the start of their story. They quickly began texting all the time, every day. They would meet up every now and then at school, hang out after school, and before long Cassie began to develop feelings for the boy. This time, it was different. Y/n was unlike any other boy she had ever met; He was funny, kind, respectful, and cared about more than just her pretty face or body. He cared about all the little things, just as much as the big things. He knew all her favorite things, all her little habits and ticks, and he knew how to make her smile.

About two months later, Y/n decided he was going to ask the girl he had fallen so hard for to be his girlfriend. It started with him asking her in a date, to which she said yes. He had arranged a surprise dinner at her favorite restaurant and got her a big, beautiful bouquet of her favorite flowers. After dinner, he took her to his house where he decorated the finished basement with lights, flower petals, and candles. He set up a cozy movie station for them to watch her favorite movies.

During the movie, they went from sitting next to each other to Cassie snuggling into his chest. As the credits rolled, he shifted upwards causing her to look up.

"Y/n? You okay?" Cassie asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

He took a deep breath in, preparing himself in his head. "Cass?" He said.

"Yes?"

"I need to ask you something," he kept his sentences short in order to not word vomit due to his intense nerves. Cassie sat up straight, looking him in the face as she felt her heart start to beat faster. Could this be it? Is he gonna ask what I think? She thought to herself.

"So, I'm sure you can probably tell based on me asking you on a date, but I really, really like you," he began, feeling himself blush.

"I really like you too, Y/n." She beamed, unable to hide the pure joy on her face.

"Yeah?" He asked, grinning like he'd just won an award. The girl nodded, and he inched his hand towards hers. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"I would love to be your girlfriend, Y/n."

Just like that, they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Y/n swore he'd never been happier in his whole life, and he made it his mission to show her every single day. He brought her flowers on a daily basis, took her on all kinds of dates every week, made sure she knew how beautiful she was every day, and made sure make his devotion known.

In every relationship she had been in at this point, she had been spoiled, but not to this extent. Nobody had ever shown her this kind of affection, let alone kept it consistent no matter how much time passed. She had never felt so loved, and it made her fall in love with him even harder than she already was. She couldn't believe how lucky she had been to find him.

     Months passed, the two were more attached at the hip than ever. At school, Y/n walked Cassie to all her classes, sat with her at lunch, and drove her to and from school. After school, she would attend all his practices and games for both sports depending on the season. He would go to all her ice skating practices, and anything she found important. They spent all their free time together, it was hard to get one away from the other. Y/n's friends made fun of him, but he always shut them down and made sure they knew not to make any comments that were anything but nice about his girl. He didn't care what they had to say, all he cared about was Cassie. He pushed her to make time for her friends as well as him, but he didn't mind not hanging out with his friends that often. None of them were as close as Cassie was to her friends.

Eventually, they met each other's parents and families. Casie invited him over for dinner and it was safe to say Suze absolutely adored Y/n. She made sure to point out the drastic change she'd seen in her daughter since he came along, she hadn't seen her that happy in a long time. Not even with McKay. When meeting Y/n's family, Cassie was invited to their annual bowling night. It was the family's thing, it was very rare for them to invite newcomers. But, Cassie was different. They gladly made the exception, and ended up all loving the girl just as much as Suze loved Y/n.

Their relationship was relatively flawless, though they definitely had their struggles every now and then. Cassie had never been in a relationship that was healthy, and had plenty of work to do to make this relationship stay that way. She had insecurities and fears she needed to stay mindful of, and Y/n was there to help her every step of the way. He reassured her, comforted her, and was very patient and supportive of her. For the most part, she learned to feel secure.

One thing Cassie hadn't learned to handle though, was her clinginess. Sometimes, she wouldn't even catch herself being clingy. Other times, her ex's voices rang in her mind telling her she was "too clingy" and "too much" nonstop. When that happened, she would begin to pull away a little bit in fear he would think the same thing as the other's did. Y/n only ever noticed a difference when she would pull away from him, which left him confused. He would try to pry and talk to her about it, and every time she would just brush it off like it was nothing. He could clearly tell it was something, but she wouldn't budge.

That was until she began acting that way in the middle of date night. It was their date night in for the month, where they typically would cook together and watch whatever show they were currently binging together. One date a month they would do this, the rest of their dates they went out and about. Cassie was usually rather cuddly and touchy with her boyfriend, she never found herself overthinking during their dates. This particular day was a Friday, and at school she heard other cheerleaders talking very loudly about her boyfriend in the locker rooms after practice.

"I can't believe Cassie and Y/n are still together," one girl said. Cassie, who was in a bathroom stall, tried her hardest to ignore them. At first, she brushed it off, until they kept going and would not shut the fuck up.

"I know right! How is he not sick of her?"

"She literally throws herself at him 24/7, it's insane."

"She is so fucking desperate, he must get so tired of it. I swear I saw him move away from her when she tried to hug him today."

"It's about time, maybe he's realizing he can someone less pathetic."

The blonde couldn't get their words out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. If other people thought that way, surely he did too, right? People she barely even talked to could sense how clingy she was, and apparently how annoyed he appeared. That right there was enough to send her into an overthinking episode, one much worse than she'd had in a while. As Y/n dished up their places, she was leaned against the counter, staring off into space as she thought it all over. She was pulled from her thoughts when her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her, telling her the food was ready. She quickly shied away from him, bidding him a thank you as she took her plate and headed towards the stairs.

"Hey, babe?" Y/n called out, his tone laced with concern. She turned around to look at him as he grabbed his own plate and began walking towards her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she whispered, staring at the ground and going down the stairs. The boy furrowed his eyebrows, following close behind her. They sat on the couch together with their plates in their laps, Y/n taking a seat close to his girlfriend. She scooted over the slightest bit, but wanting to appear like she was all over him. Many red flags were going off in Y/n's head, she wasn't being her usual, lovey, talkative self. Something was definitely wrong. The boy kept making advances in attempt to be close to her, just to be rejected each and every time.

After a half hour of them going back and forth, him silently trying to fix the problem, he decided to speak up. "Baby?"

"Hm?"

"What's going on with you today?" He finally asked, staring at her with a look of concern. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze as she tried not to make eye contact.

     "Nothings going on," she lied, looking everywhere but at him.

     "Yes there is," he stated. "I know you like the back of my hand and you've been acting super off since after practice. Talk to me, love."

     "I don't know what you're talking about," Y/n knew what she was doing; she was bullshitting him to avoid talking about the problem. If it was over something small, he would wait until she was ready to talk about it. This was different, and he wanted— no, needed to know what was wrong so he could fix it.

     "You've been really quiet, which isn't like you. You haven't really let me touch you, and you haven't been touchy with me either—"

     "What's so bad about that?" she cut him off, her voice just barely above a whisper.

      "What? What do you mean?" Y/n asked, feeling even more confused and concerned.

      "I mean I'm too clingy, anyways. And I'm too much, what's so bad about me not acting like that?" As she spoke, her eyes filled with tears. The moment Y/n noticed, he was taking her face in his hands and moving her head to face him. She still avoided his gaze as she tried to keep her tears at bay.

     "Baby, look at me," she shook her head no, but that didn't stop him. "Cassie, please. I need you to look at me,"

     After what felt like forever, she finally met his gaze and he swore he felt himself melt in her eyes.

“Cassie, you are not too clingy or too much.“ he told her firmly.

“But, I’m all over you all the time. It’s pathetic,” the girl scoffed as her boyfriend wiped her tears with his thumbs.

“Why would you say that, love? You’re not pathetic,” he whispered with a sad frown.

“Because it’s true, and you know it too.” She moved backwards away from his grasp before wiping at her own face with her hand.

“What?! No! I don’t think you’re pathetic baby, not at all. I would never, ever think that of you.”

“Maybe not now, but you will! They always do! I’m— I’m always too much, or I’m too clingy or desperate and everyone thinks so! Everyone always gets sick of me, just like you will because they’re all right!” Cassie cried out, letting her head fall into her hands as soft sobs escaped her lips. Y/n couldn’t believe his ears, it broke his heart right in half to hear that his girl thought so low of herself— and even more so that she thought he believed it, too.

“Woah, woah, woah. Who said that?” He was quickly moving to wrap his arms around her shoulders, being weakly shoved off. He didn’t let that stop him, and he pulled her into his chest and held her tightly as she cried. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, rocking her back and forth. They sat like that for who knows how long before Cassie calmed down, feeling embarassed about her outburst.

“Are you ready to talk, baby?” Y/n asked as he reached for a nearby box of tissues. Cassie nodded before blowing her nose. After that, she told him everything from all of the things her exes had said to her to what she overheard the girls saying in the locker room. He felt his heart shatter even more, all he wanted was to scoop her in his arms and love her forever. “My love, I need you to know they are all wrong. So wrong! I could never get sick of you, and I will never get sick of you or annoyed with you. Sure, maybe you can be clingy, but I love it. I love your clingy, because I am just as clingy to you if not more. I love how attached and touchy you are with me, I love all of it… I love you, Cassie.”

Cassie’s head perked up, fearing she misheard him. “You what?”

“I love you, Cassie. I am so in love with you,” he whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear and cupping her cheek. “You don’t have to say it back if you’re not ready, but I just wanted you to know.”

“I love you too, Y/n.” She grinned, cutting him off.

Y/n chuckled as his own smile grew. He pulled her in and gave her a soft, passionate kiss. He knew he wasn’t going to just skip over what she was worried about, and was going to continue to reassure her, but right now he was so ecstatic to know that she loved him just like he loved her.

okay this turned out WAAAYYYY longer than this was meant to, and didn’t necessarily follow canon… but i’m not mad at it!! i hope you all liked it, and i hope the anon who requested it loves it!! i’m so glad to be getting back into writing. i have so much more planned to come out and i hope you’re all as excited as i am!!

[age-of-moonknight]

“An Unquiet Grave,” Moon Knight: City of the Dead (Vol. 1/2023), #4.

Writer: David Pepose; Penciler: Marcelo Ferreira; Inker: Jay Leisten; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Letterer: Cory Petit