#OF COURSE THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP SAVES THE DAY!!!!!!!!! SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scarlettcryptid]

i know there’s some issues but i feel like the people who complain specifically about the villain trio and redemption are lacking reading comprehension since these topics/themes of corruption and hero society’s failings have been a part of the story since the beginning. they’re completely missing the point. what does it mean to be a hero? sure as heck not mercilessly killing villains, even if they are guilty of murder. 

i always found uraraka’s “who saves the heroes?” thing interesting because this series has shown the ugly and the good sides of heroes and villains, right? and then the togachako events of the 290s was frustrating to see because of uraraka’s response, but it still felt like there was still more that needed to happen for her to truly understand. the things toga was saying before she hopped off of gigantomachia made it feel like it would also swing in the other direction, a direction where villains could be seen in a human way.

ALSO do the people complaining not realize that the villain trio were literally affected by the quirk singularity. lmao?

[basimdasasonst]

snw spock rant

i've been watching strange new worlds recently, and the prevailing feeling i always leave with, no matter the episode, is that i would like it if not for spock.

don't get me wrong; i'm a tos fan to my core. star trek launched me into a love of sci-fi and space fiction and is the whole reason i'm in university studying astrophysics, why i'm writing a book using said inner astrophysics nerd, why i have any sense of purpose to me, cliche as it is to say. star trek was an integral, important part of my upbringing, and continues to be one of my main interests to this day. i love jim (and i love snw jim! especially after aos kirk (shudders)) and i love bones (i really hope he joins snw soon....leonard mccoy save us....save us leonard mccoy...) and i love scotty and i love spock. but not snw spock.

here's the thing about spock: his internal character conflicts have always had some sort of root in him being not enough/not vulcan enough/not human enough/etc. his struggles with relationships as a result – because, lets face it, both humans and vulcans are social creatures and need friends otherwise society as a whole wouldn't be a thing on either world – make up a core part of his character. in tos, his relationship struggles were nearly purely platonic, with a few offhand remarks about stray crew members having crushes on him (uhura in early first season, chapel in amok time). 

s1e4 "the naked time". spock, right before losing his figurative Marbles, sees "love mankind" written on a wall. later, he goes on to say to jim: "when i feel friendship for you, i'm ashamed." other posts have done and will do better jobs of explaining it, but in conjunction with "sinner" written on the turbolift near jim (about not being able to form lasting relationships with other crewmates because its too much of a power imbalance), the writing on the wall (literally) is that spock is inherently ashamed of his humanity. he has been raised on vulcan to be a vulcan.

his internal conflict is always about him struggling with his human side. he struggles with friendship, he struggles with his humanity, he struggles to be something that people don't immediately deem wrong. as a gay man, and certainly as a young queer child first watching tos, i felt closest to spock not just because of feeling ashamed of part of my cultural heritage, but also because of repression. spock represses these feelings of insecurity, of friendship, of the need for connection in others in a certain way, so much that it causes him pain. growing up gay, his pain was very real to me. writing on the wall. he’s silly and a cool character of course, but he resonated with me in a way that, at the time, i didn’t have anything to resonate with. 

what does this all have to do with me hating snw spock so much? i want to preface this by saying i went into snw really wanting to love it. i saw the intro and the planets and the nebulae and the black hole and the music and was like "damn, this is fucking cool." star trek, to some part of me, was also about the space exploration aspect as much as the characters. the whims of wacky crewmembers and sentient rocks. the impossibly infinite things nature can form on its own. snw looked fun. i really wanted to like it. and you know what? i almost like it.

except for spock. quite literally the only character i have any quarrels with is spock. dehydrated, glistening, oiled up spock. wtf. why is he in a relationship with t'pring? why does he (almost) cheat on her with chapel? and why chapel??????????? chapel has a one-sided (VERY CLEARLY ONE SIDED) crush on him in tos. why is it two sided now. 

what, and i can't stress this enough, the fuck? 

and don't come into my house and tell me "oh you know, it makes sense, because, because then spock gets all hard and Logical and shuts himself off and obviously the reason for that is a breakup–" No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no no no no. i don't care if it makes “sense” it feels so intrinsically wrong to his character. i’ve had much more character development from losing life-long friends than ending barely a year long relationships. spock wouldn’t immediately shut down because he kissed a girl once and then she said “acshually sowwy my work is more important” when that’s the exact sentiment he echoed to t’pring when they broke up.

more importantly, snw spock barely has friends. he calls pike a friend once or twice, but i hardly believe that they're friends. he barely interacts with la'an or erica, he has a few passing conversations with uhura in season 1 on episodes about her that don't really carry into season 2, and otherwise he's just There. he doesn't have friends in snw. the writers are prioritising him having a romantic relationship over a friendship. snw spock needs a friend way more than he needs a bone buddy. and it really rubs me the wrong way the way the relationship with chapel was portrayed to be first friendly and then romantic. i never believed for a second that he and chapel were friends – despite the screenwriters trying. every time they talked prior to s2e5 there was this odd undercurrent of sexuality that seemed to follow them. lingering looks, touching fingertips, long pauses – it was so unbelievably awkward and obvious that they were setting up a relationship between the two. i mean, for fucks sake, s1e1 uhura calls chapel "spock's girlfriend." boy did my blood boil when i figured out that was where the show was going. s1e5 was actually painful for me to get through (chapel sits down, gives spock relationship advice, giggles, smacks him upside the head, and calls him an idiot. 2017 wattpad is calling, they want their material back) and i had to take two full days to get through s2e5 because i was in anguish the whole time. it was a constant mental barrage of "spock wouldn't say that," and "spock wouldn't do that," and "this is not spock."

for the most part, i couldn't figure out why spock and chapel's relationship specifically bothered me so much. i mean i have my quarrels with la'an and jim, and i really don't give much of a care about pike and batel so why was spock and chapel grating on me so badly? was it because it was being shoved in my face? was the writing that much more atrocious than the others? was it the decimation of spock's character?

it was, i found, a product of all of those and the issue of queerness. 

look; i've survived sherlock bbc, i’ve survived the golden age of quotev fandom in 2016, i've bared witness to so much queerbaiting in my life that i don't even bother trying to hope for any sort of main character queer representation anymore. we’re going to be a footnote until someone does something about it. unfortunately, that’s not going to be me because i’m not a film director. so i look the other way and steam about it on twitter or tumblr or whatever hoping that i, like many other frustrated queer people, get noticed one day in the far future when it’s ok to have a queer romance in mainstream, it’s ok to have a queer main character, and it’s ok to let it simmer slowly and burn instead of jumping into it to say “look guys we’re woke!!!!!” (star trek literally was the pioneer for most of these things back in the day. but that’s another discussion on the heterosexualisation of progressive media that i wont get into. it just feels bitterly funny that this is happening to star trek of all things.) these days i just pretend the relationships dont exist and skip over them when they happen. i've developed a sixth sense for when weird, forced heterosexuality is about to be shoved down my oesophagus. i've just gotten used to it. 

but sphapel (or whatever it's called) burned through me. i've never felt quite this angry at an on screen relationship. and, trust me, i saw AOS. i didn't like spuhura then and i don't like it now but i wasn't angry so much as i was just tired and annoyed. but spock was – and always is to me, confused, queer 10 year old me – a queer character. his struggle with humanity, with friendship, with fitting in, with just being as a perceived "other" was what made him an interesting character to me to begin with. he was a certain outlet to vent that frustration for being "wrong" in society no matter how hard you try to conform one way or another. the knowledge that even if you are different, you still have people backing you up. his fucking friendships, guys. jim and bones. yes i know his friendship with jim is also inherently romantic dont worry im spirk #1 shipper but that’s not relevant here because, and forgive me for being pessimistic, i don’t believe for a second that these writers are going to lean into spirk anytime soon. their relationship went beyond friendship or romance or any of that stuff. coughs in the roddenberry footnote.

what i’m trying to say here, in layman’s terms, is that giving a friendless character a romantic relationship is exactly how you alienate a character. name one person you know in real life that can survive healthily with one single relation, that being their romantic partner that they have no friendly base of. you can’t. that’s a toxic relationship. that’s not romance, that’s alienation. that’s isolation. that’s loneliness. and that’s the OPPOSITE OF WHAT EXPLORING SPOCK’S HUMAN SIDE IS SUPPOSED TO DO TO HIM .

by stripping spock of his friends, and forcing his arc to be purely romantic, you have essentially stripped the character of all he is. i'd be mad if chapel was a dude, too, honestly speaking. but beyond that, corralling spock of all people into a heterosexual romantic relationship is – well. it's a choice i don't think i can ever agree with. the best way i can describe such a choice is like a dissonant chord – you can pluck the notes and they'll sound fine on their own, but when you put them together they will clash. there is nothing you can do with your fingers to play the same notes and not cause the clash. they will always clash. it is dissonance ringing through you, an inherent wrongness coupled with writing that is lazy and clearly meant for a very specific audience. snw spock is bad writing, fanservice, and extraordinarily out of character. notes i can tolerate on their own, but strung together – dissonant.

i really want to like snw. fuck, i love la'an, i love erica, i love jim (!!! thank you paul wesley for making him a nerd, and kind (glares at AOS), and generally a jim kirk that i can look at and say, "yeah, that's jim alright"), i love uhura, i love una, i love m'benga and i love pike but i hate spock. i really, truly, cannot like snw when i have to pause the show and take an irritated deep breath in every time i see chapel approach spock. it's – frustrating, and alienating, and wrong. so, so wrong. 

[dilemmaontwolegs]

The Aftermath || LN4 {11}

Pairing: Lando Norris x widow!reader Summary: Lando just can't help himself, he's drawn to you even when he's supposed to leave you alone like the bachelorette party and before the wedding. Warnings: 18+ only, sexual themes, alcohol WC: 2.3k

F1 Masterlist || One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten || Eleven || Twelve || Thirteen || Epilogue

The day could not have been more perfect for sailing along the Côte d’Azur as a warm breeze tousled your hair and the bottomless mimosas kept coming. You couldn’t think of a better way to spend summer break, and it was only going to get better.

You were surrounded by friends, both old and new. You had been afraid of reconnecting with the people you had ignored in your grief but the fear of rejection had been created in your mind and they had welcomed you back, grateful to have your friendship once again. As were you.

“Thank you for organising this,” you said to Maria as she refilled your glass and her own.

“You’re welcome, chérie.”

The captain had anchored the boat in a quaint inlet so some of the girls could swim but you had opted to catch the sun on the deck with Pietra. You had grown quite close to Max’s girlfriend when she came to the races with him and it was nice to have another female in the garage with you. As good as Max’s company was, it wasn’t the same as a female companion.

“It’s not too late to hire a male stripper,” Pietra suggested as she toyed with the rainbow umbrella spinning around her glass.

“No offence, but have you seen my soon-to-be husband?” you laughed with a shake of your head. “No man can compete with him.”

“It’s a bachelorette party, it’s tradition.”

You rolled onto your stomach and sighed as the sun warmed your back. “Nothing about our relationship has been traditional, why start now.”

Your eyes drifted shut as you listened to your friends laughing and splashing, music playing from the speakers and the smile on your face never faded until the sound of an engine grew louder.

“Sorry, boys, this bay is taken, find your own,” Maria called out and you peeked up to see a speedboat pull up, Lando’s smile growing when he spotted you.

“Oops, power failure,” he replied as the engine shut off and Carlos tossed an anchor into the water so they didn’t drift away. “Law of the sea, you have to save us!”

Lando’s best man was the first to dive overboard and make his way to the boat while Pietra went to meet him.

“He just can’t help himself,” Maria chuckled as she settled into Pietra’s empty sun-lounger and took your glass. “Go on, he’s not here to see any of us.”

You dove into the tepid waters as Lando bombed off the front of the sleek speedboat before resurfacing closer and shaking his hair out, sprinkling you with water drops as he swam closer. 

“Do you come here often?” he flirted as he pulled you against him and wrapped your legs around his waist. 

You shrugged coyly. “Just with my boyfriend.”

“Ugh,” he complained, dropping his head into the crook of your neck. “A gorgeous babe like you, of course you are taken. Is it serious?”

“Only enough to spend the rest of my life with him.”

You giggled as he nipped at your neck and pulled back with a smile. “Well, that’s a relief. I was totally prepared to dunk you if you said no.”

“Do you really want to start your honeymoon sleeping on the couch?”

His lips kissed down the line of your jaw before tracing his way back to your ear and admitting, “I don’t plan to be doing any sleeping, love.”

Your legs tightened around his waist in response and he chuckled knowingly as you asked, “Think anyone will notice if we disappear?”

“Yes. Do I care? No.” He was already paddling deeper into the water where the speedboat was anchored but a sharp whistle had you looking back to the yacht. 

“Don’t even think about it, mate!” Max shouted with a finger pointed your way.

Carlos joined him at the edge of the yacht and reached into the pocket of his swim trunks with a laugh. “I got the keys, cabron!”

“Bastards,” Lando muttered under his breath. “I can’t get out of the water now.”

“It’s a shame the water isn’t a little colder.” You kissed him softly before pushing away with a smile you couldn’t suppress. “I’ll see you on deck when you…calm down.”

“You could help me,” he countered as he started swimming to catch up.

“The water is crystal clear, you perv,” you said as you looked back with a laugh. “I’m not getting arrested today because you got horny.”

“It’s your fault,” he pointed out, grabbing you to stop your retreat to the yacht and wrapping his arms around your waist. “I take one look at you and lose my mind.”

“You don’t make it any easier by doing this.” You wriggled in his arms to prove your point as he groaned as it rubbed your ass over the prominent bulge in his swim trunks. “In fact, you make it hard.”

“Good thing I have a human shield,” he chuckled as he continued to the yacht with you held firmly in front of him. “I can still sunbathe with you on top of me.”

“Are you sure you don’t want the big white wedding?” You had asked Lando plenty of times but it was the last opportunity for him to change his mind. 

“I would’ve been happy to go to the courthouse last year, love,” he said with a laugh. “Plus, I’ve already stood with you in a church for all that before. I mean René was standing between us but…same diff.”

“Good,” you sighed in relief, “because it’s a little bit late.” 

“Can you open the door now?” 

You put your foot in front of it as the handle turned and you pressed your back to the cold wood so your hands were free to text Max to collect the wayward groom. “No, it’s bad luck!”

“Come on, mate, stop slipping your damn leash,” Max’s voice trickled through. “Leave the girl to get ready.”

“I just want to talk to my bride real quick. Would’ve seen more of her last night if it wasn’t for you.”

“Be lucky you got to gate crash the bachelorette party.” 

“I would have got lucky, if it wasn’t for you.”

You tipped your ear to the crack of the door as you heard Lando complain about tripping over Max in the hallway and they both heard your laugh. 

“Did you really sleep outside the bedroom door?” you asked.

“I take tradition seriously, thank you very much,” Max stated proudly. “And I knew this muppet wouldn’t be able to stop himself from finding his way to your bed.”

“I don’t sleep well without Y/N,” Lando murmured and he nearly fell into you as you suddenly opened the door.

Max threw his hands up with an exasperated groan as he saw you wrapping your arms around Lando but when you heard the longing in his voice you hadn’t been able to fight the urge to keep the door closed. He needed your comforting touch and you needed him.

“I got a crick in my neck for nothing now. I hope you’re happy.” Max took one look at Lando and he couldn’t help smiling at how awestruck his best friend was as he saw you in your wedding dress for the first time. With a clap on Lando’s back and a kiss to your cheek he retreated down the hall and gave you a moment alone with your husband-to-be.

“You look…whew,” Lando exhaled loudly. “Wow, I…”

“You clean up pretty well yourself,” you praised as you ran your fingers over the lapel of his suit and admired how perfect the tailoring was on him.

“Don’t look at me like that, baby,” he begged as he caught your hands slipping down his chest. “If I’m going to have you now, it’s going to be as your husband.”

You gently pushed back before you were too tempted to close the door and make the guests in the backyard wait. “Then what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

When Lando said Daniel could be the celebrant you had thought he was joking. You couldn’t imagine the goofball, who never took anything seriously, being the one to lead you through your vows but he had taken the role seriously. 

“How did you get your celebrants licence?” you had asked him when you found him the next day. “Why?”

He had grinned and sat back in the chair as he stared at the clouds overhead. “I love love. It’s beautiful to see and be a part of, so I thought why not. I can be more than just the class clown.”

You nodded at his sincere answer and leaned in. “Okay, good, ‘cause I could do with some help with my vows.”

The guests were spread across the back lawn admiring the petals and tea light candles that floated in the pool. Their light would only grow as the sunset later and the fairy lights would come on soon after when the party really began, but first you needed to gather the guests.

“Danny,” Lando called out the kitchen window and waved him inside, catching the attention of some of the curious guests. “A change of plans.”

“Okaaaay..?” he asked dubiously before you stepped into the kitchen too and he smiled brightly. “You look beautiful!”

“What about me?” Lando propped a hand on his hip and tossed his hair back. “I look good too.”

“Very dashing,” Danny laughed. “So what’s changed?”

“We want to start now. Everyone’s already here so just round ‘em up and skip to the good part.”

“The good part?”

“I do, she does too, you know, the good part.” Lando was growing more animated by the second, the excitement filling him from head to toe to the point he couldn’t keep from bouncing on them. “Can we?”

“It’s your wedding, bro,” Danny laughed, clapping him on the back. “You can do it however you want, or more accurately, as much as your girl lets you get away with.”

“I’m happy with whatever Lan wants,” you confirmed as the same excited energy began to flow into you and you knew it was time. “The sooner the better.”

“Alrighty then, follow me.” Daniel stepped out onto the back patio and stuck his fingers into his mouth to let out a piercing whistle that had everyone turning his way. “Ladies and gentlemen, come on, come on, gather round. I could do with a sheepdog to get the stragglers at the back.”

There was no separation between the groom’s guests or the bride’s, you considered them all family and it was only the closest people to you and Lando that had been invited to the intimate ceremony. The other F1 drivers and crew, the Quadrant members, Lando’s family and Maria, they all gathered closely at the bottom of the stairs waiting to hear what Danny had called them together for. The ceremony wasn’t meant to start for another half an hour.

“Since everyone’s here on time, which is a miracle in itself, these two want to crack on and sign their lives away,” Danny said, earning a round of laughs. 

“Ready, love?” Lando asked as he slipped his hand into yours and lifted it to his lips.

With your free hand you reached for the necklace you had clasped around your neck that morning and ran your fingers over the metal band that hung upon it. Your finger felt naked without the wedding ring but when you woke up there had been a sense of clarity wash over you and you had slipped it off for the first time since it went on.

Removing the ring didn’t change your past and it didn’t erase the memories. Those would always be yours to keep no matter what the future held. But today was about making new memories and that would start with a blank space for the ring Lando was itching to slip on. 

You let the necklace go and felt the ring settle over your racing heart. “I’m ready, are you?”

His smile grew but he didn’t answer with words as he stepped out onto the sundrenched patio and turned to watch you follow. You could see the future in his shimmering blue eyes, the promise of a life full of love and happiness. You could see it all as he waited for you to take the final step towards him. 

“I love you,” he whispered, his eyes darting down to see your shoe peek out from the floor length dress as you took a step forward.

“I love you too.”

The air stilled as if the world took a breath and only you and Lando existed in the moment. It hung suspended like the fairy lights around the yard and you could have stared into his eyes for eternity but eternity would have to wait just a few more minutes. 

Lando could sense the need and urgency to make your vows, to make him your and you his, as he pointed to Max. “Rings, rings, tell me you’ve got them.”

“Of course I’ve got them. What kind of best man do you think I am?” he said as he pulled the matching set from his breast pocket and placed them in your palms.

“The best,” Lando grinned before nodding to Danny. “The good part, yeah?”

“Someone’s a little eager,” Danny teased as he flipped through his folder to the last page.

“More than a little. I have been waiting for this moment all my life.” Lando turned to face you and shook his head like he still couldn’t believe he wasn’t dreaming. “Now would you please hurry up so I can call this angel my wife?”

Click here for chapter twelve.

Tagging: @yunnie-f1 @neiich @zendayabelova @stillbreathin @dr3lover @writerscurse @christianpulisic10 @alwaysclassyeagle @alexisquinnlee-bc @purplephantomwolf @lightsoutletsgo @pleasantducktimetravel @pierre-gasllllllyyyyyy @holy-macncheese-balls @belennasif @ophcelia @love4lando @ryiamarie @mickslover @tyna-19

[pocket-watcher]

Maybe an isekai where the transported FeMC knows one of the characters has hypnosis powers (love rival? twist villain? Just The Villain?) and does everything she can to avoid him. That makes him suspicious, so he corners her and uses his powers & learns a lot more than he was expecting...

Anon you have reached into my soul with this prompt. I am SO excited to write this I can’t even EXPLAIN.

What’s worse than being hit by a truck and magically waking up inside of your favourite show?

Knowing all of the plot twists ahead of time.

She could never feel comfortable around her new magical friends! Whenever she looked at them all she saw was the plot:

Casey would lose the love of her life.

Danell would turn to the dark side to try and save her family.

Trevor would permanently lose all of his memories of their time together.

And Ryan?

“Something the matter?” Ryan said, clocking in on her checked-out look.

Ryan was the villain.

“Oh. Sorry, I totally spaced. What did you say?” she replied.

Who was she, you ask? The main character, of course.

The fact that she knew she was a main character was awful. I mean, the first thing she did was dye her naturally bright pink hair a nice earthy brown. And get blue contacts for her purple eyes.

It didn’t counteract the curse of a main character, though.

Love interests of every gender threw themselves at her feet. Mysteries and prophecies popped up every two days. She couldn’t even walk three steps without stumbling across a mystical artefact to help her and her friends save the world through the ✨power of friendship✨.

Yay.

So, as they sat around chatting she tried to pretend this group was as normal as possible.

But she couldn’t do that with Ryan.

Ryan had these powers, ways of controlling and manipulating the main cast. He rarely used them this early on in the series.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t.

She started out by avoiding him as much as possible. Putting her earbuds in as soon as he spoke. Switching classes (which she always sat in the back of, by the window).

He clocked on pretty quickly - which was annoying.

Then, when cornered about why she was acting so weirdly around him she claimed it was because she had some crush on him which only made him more suspicious and led to three episodes of her friends trying to force them together.

And now?

He was watching her. He knew something was up. He knew that she knew something she shouldn’t.

And she had run out of excuses to avoid him.

One by one her friends left to deal with some side plot that had cropped up, and before she could react she was sitting alone with him.

“So, penny for your thoughts?” He started, pushing the emo black hair out of his eyes.

Total villain stereotype.

“Oh, nothing!”

Being the main character, her smooth, easy lie, came out jumbled and awkward. Just a by-product of being in the presence of a villain. Or maybe he was activating the part of his powers that made them slip up.

Either way he could read her like a book.

“Come on, I don’t bite.” He let some of his deep tone sink into the words and she felt her head go slightly fuzzy.

She jumped to attention at once to snap out of it.

“Oh! Wow! I uh, I forgot about the - thing! Gotta go do the thing, yep. See you later, Ryan!” She tripped over air, steadying herself. She was still affected by whatever he had done to her.

“…did I do something?” He asked, voice surprisingly small.

“What? No! I told you. I have to go get the thing!” She said, eyes darting away from his gaze.

“Really?” He said, something shifting in his facial expression. He began to raise his hand, and she instinctively shut her eyes to block them out.

He stopped. Looking between her and the glow of his fingertips.

“Oh.”

She’d played her card, hearing the curiosity and amusement in his voice.

“How long have you known?” He asked, calmly. She stood firm, unyielding, eyes squeezed tight.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Is that so?” He laughed. “Then why don’t you open your eyes?”

She felt the temptation, his magic at work, tugging at her. She wanted to open her eyes. No, he wanted her to feel that way.

Stay strong.

“Come on… just a little peek?” His hands glowed more, her face relaxing as his power sank into her. She’d feared this day for a while, but now she was living it her mind couldn’t find the will to fight back.

Her eyes opened low, and that was enough.

The glow filled her vision, her eyes wide and jaw slack.

“There you go. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He said, and if she could think she’d have realised that was the exact quote he said during the grand reveal…

But she couldn’t think. She couldn’t begin to imagine resisting.

“Now, why don’t you tell me how you knew about my powers hmmm?” His glowing finger beconning her closer.

Her legs moved on their own.

“Well?”

She froze, what little part of her was aware tried to fight it. But it was no use.

She spilled it all. How she ended up here. The plot of the show. Everyone’s hidden subplots and character arcs.

By the end of it he simply sat and contemplated what she had told him for a moment.

He stared at the broken woman before him.

“Well, I guess now is when things get interesting…”

[jenyifer]

So bad news I may started writing a fic for SVSSS. Now will it be poly like my only friends fic? Ehhh??? Probably not *squints* maybe. 🤔 anyways thought I’d share incase there is already a fic like it or if people won’t enjoy it. Came up with the idea as I thought about how LBH is SQH’s self insert as an author it’s easier to put a lot of yourself into the main character. Yeah it’s an idealized sexy man meat mountain of a man but I think the chaotic clingy curly hair comes from Airplane. So I thought welll what if SQQ is an idealized version of an older student bully who was cold collected things Airplane had a big fat gay crush on which is why he wanted his self insert to be changed by SQQ and kill him.

So just a simple not so simple reversal. MBJ and LBH are friends irl. LBH unknowingly reads and simps for the universe MBJ writes in his free time. The plot of (yet to be named web novel) is more about demon emperor SQQ solving mystery’s and crisis by being intelligent and alluring he’s also overly powerful with his ally Northern King SQH who is chaotic and resourceful. Most people ship SQQ and SQH together even though the romance elements in the webnovel are few and far between and usually some unobtainable one night stands with the villain or tragic woman who will be killed the next day. LBH loves SQQ has all the merch. LBH finds out MBJ is the writer after he reads the latest chapter where SQH is cursed with demise under his skin making him weaken to be a shell of his demonic self. The dialogue between SQQ and SQH is creepily reminiscent of the conversation LBH had with MBJ when LBH had revealed he is dying because of late stage cancer. Of course SQQ is prepared to do anything to save his best friend sacrificing who he was because their friendship means more than the demon empire or SQQ’s morals. SQQ sacrifices his demonic energy to save his friend. Accompanying this chapter was an extra of a clumsy drawing saying this is what the ice king’s original drafts of the characters for the artists. LBH couldn’t help but notice how similar his characteristics are to SQH curly hair terribly thin and short while radiating power through his crazy expression and SQQ was tall and stoic and LBH is horrified to realize his best friend MBJ sees himself this way tall with straight hair with an aura of superiority. When LBH confronts MBJ about the webnovel MBJ who is normally silent and a shut in exclaims that of course it’s his novel. MBJ wanted to dream about a world where they could go out and have adventures together was that such an evil thing? LBH shouts that in this reality he’s going to die and what will MBJ do then. Everything shifts into a portal and they are brought into the webnovel. LBH a half Demon hiding his identity on one of the peaks a student under MBJ who is a peak lord. They decided if they are there they might as well find SQH and SQQ for plot reasons. Haha anyways idk if I can write something like that since… I have to work…. Also the cancer thing might be too real for me (I think it’s been 15 years since I lost a close friend to cancer) But I want to write it 😭

[robobrainrot]

What’s Past is Prologue

An Earthspark Post-S1, Pre-S2 summary fic

If you were left unsatisfied by the jarring time gap and tone shift between S1 and S2, here's a mini fic to help fill the void. I'm going to write out the full version on Ao3. But this is the short and sweet summary~

It had been a month since The Battle of Witwicky. The Maltos are still picking up the pieces, both literally and figuratively. While they succeeded in their goal of defeating Mandroid, saving all Transformers on Earth, and quite possibly, the world as a whole, some things were left shattered. Most notably, Quintus Prime’s Emberstone. The pieces were scattered across the globe and, for a moment, Team Prime feared they would be lost forever.

However, Quintus Prime would never leave his chosen stranded. Prime Power or not, the kids did not give up hope. The shards of the Emberstone dispersed, but they were not lost forever. Starting right in their backyard, The Maltos found their first shard in the cow pasture… With the help of Fluffy-Ears, of course. Less than a week later, another was found by Breakdown while racing across the countryside with Bumblebee.

At first, the alliance between Autobots and Decepticons had been tense. Both sides were anxious that the other might sell them out or deceive them. But with the help of the newly declared “Malto-bots,” tensions eased. It was hard not to enjoy their company. It had been centuries since any of them had interacted with bots so young. It was refreshing to have such young and enthusiastic faces around.

Every day, the Maltos searched for more ways to find the missing shards. Some they stumbled across accidentally. Some ended up in museums- dazzling archeologists. Schloder and Optimus Prime had to be the ones to get those. Nightshade created a way of scanning for the shards, but their device’s range was limited so the scouting parties had to travel the world to identify possible locations. Did someone say road trip? The Trine were quick to point out that they were much better suited for the job thanks to the help of Skywarp’s powers.

Starscream had to admit, he was fascinated by these ancient Cybertronian artifacts. His volunteering to help the Maltos was not entirely altruistic. It was an opportunity to show off the superiority of himself and his fellow Seekers and gain knowledge about these strange crystal shards. That’s what he told himself at least. The fact that he often hoovered around the Malto residents when Hashtag was around, and Megatron was not, was purely so he could gather intel.

As for the Malto-bots, they enjoyed the month of relative peace. While not all the Decepticons were eager to become ‘friends’, the ones that stuck around would do their best to teach the kids something while they were there.

Breakdown was the first. Never one to turn down a chance to show off, he was happy to oblige Thrash when he asked for racing tips. He showed the young bot a few flashy new moves, including one that Robby insisted was called “The Akira Slide.” Breakdown maintained that it was a Stunticon specialty, and certainly not inspired by a cartoon.

Swindle tried to teach the kids how to override security locks at the junkyard, but was quickly shut down by Elita-One. He complained to Hardtop about what a wasted opportunity it was for three days straight.

Skullcrusher, Grimlock, and Jawbreaker formed a special alliance that Jawbreaker dubbed “The Beastie Boys.” They spent their down time sparing and seeing who could leave the biggest dent in scrap metal pieces.

Soundwave and his casseticons taught Hashtag how to utilize her radio to scramble comm frequencies. In return, she taught them about the wonders of the internet. This was a terrible decision, as Frenzy quickly became engrossed by internet subcultures. Soundwave had to step in with what Mo would call his “Mad Dad Voice.” On the bright side, the discovery of Kandi culture led to a group friendship bracelet making party.

Even Shockwave took some time to mentor the bots. Well. Realistically it was just Nightshade in the lab, but The Great Shockwave was cool enough that the other Maltos pretended to pay attention for half of his science monolouge.

The Decepticons started creating their own home base in between Emberstone shard scouting missions. Led by Starscream, with Shockwave as his Second, they found a suitable location far enough away from the former-GHOST base, but not so far away that it would be impossible to reach the Terrans if needed.

This was one area that walked the line of the treaty. The Decepticons were entitled to make a home on Earth. Optimus Prime respected their wishes on this matter. He instructed the other Autobots and Maltos to stay out as well. If there was going to be a chance at lasting peace, they needed to build trust. Many of the Decepticons had been imprisoned by GHOST for years. They deserved a safe space without surveillance as much as anyone. Freedom was the right of all sentient beings, and Prime would sooner go offline than go back on that principle.

There was still much they didn’t know. With every new answer about the emberstones came more questions. Between chaos and confusion, there was also stillness and affection. For these precious moments, both Autobots, Decepticons and Maltobots could enjoy the time of respite.

However, nothing really lasts forever.

[hauntingmiser]

MERMAY DAY XXX

( ayyy today's the last day of this lore it's going to come into a close here so let's get it!!!! Also I tried to make her face look decrepit cuz idk)

And as our heroes swim many miles into the fog they found the main core

the entrance to the underworld.....

the door was locked in near right in front of it was a torii gate was made with sacred wood with a crimson red, while being covered in seaweed & barnacles due to a long time of abandonment

The rocks feel like they're watching the crystals grow as one

The fog is mixing with the rocks as it flows and flows

And then standing at the middle of it all it's the culprit themselves

The almighty goddess of the dead

Izanami

"ah." Izanami looks in awe "so you finally came here to seal my doom by eradicating me-" "OF COURSE WE ARE!"

"that's we came here for."

izanami gets interrupted by yosuke and yu by yelling at her

"of course that we came here to prevent you!"

"from killing innocent lives to pretending to be mother nature and cursing this sea of radioactive crystals, you izanami. are a phony to poseidon"

Naoto said after yukiko and Chile both said first

"you fools! trolling poseidon as mother nature was only just the beginning! so I'm not pho-" "SHUT UP" izanami gets her mouth shut by kanji but also him yelling "TROLLING AS MOTHER NATURE WILL NOT HELP YOU WITH YOUR DAMN SITUATIONS!"

"you make me sick! what's wrong with you! you almost contaminated the water we breathe, you let several shadows kidnap us, transformed a mermaid into a merzombie and made the bottom of the sea lethal and killed dojima's wife!"

Rise said aggressively, as she feels like she needs to throw hands with izanami really bad

"....and that's why we need to seal your ignorant self, it's the reason why we came here in the first place. with the power of friendship, I shall beat you to silicon so freshwater Inaba can thrive again"

Yu says, determined to save his not so forever home

"and not rise up again?"

Yu nods

"very well....prove to me your strength is more than me..."

The fog moves closer and grows deeper into the sky and transform into a spiral-like tornado

"because I will not be holding back"

{ THERE IS NO FUN FACT ONLY LORE }

teddie however did not say a word... He however is waiting for the time they attack and he can do the final strike

[whatsthisascianbullshit]

"Sometimes we just need to make ourselves happy." for prompt meme!

Thank you @sasslett !! This grew legs immediately because I'm on my semi-regular "being normal about Muireann and Estinien's friendship" kick. Set in Muireann's WoLparty canon in EW at some point before the level 89 dungeon.

Muireann frowned, keeping her eyes squeezed shut as if she could convince herself she was still asleep. Thrice damned Duskwight hearing coupled with her own nerves had made a light sleeper out of her. Admitting defeat she delicately extracted herself from Y’shtola’s arms, planting a quick and gentle kiss on her forehead as she stirred.

“’m just going to kill Estinien for grumbling more ‘en Grumble.”

“We have need of his lance.”

“Just a little then.”

Her healing sensibilities appeased, Y’shtola quickly claimed Muireann’s share of the blankets settling back to sleep. Muireann threw on a large robe – a gift from Hien, for the cold Sharlayan weather – and tucked her hands into the wool-stuffed sleeves.

The culprit had stopped dead in his grumpy tracks, looking at a handwritten sign pinned to the wall.

Please keep noise down on this corridor out of respect for colleagues with heightened hearing.

Estinien turned slowly at the quiet click of the door closing.

“Muir-”

“Drink.” Muireann glowered at him from behind several layers of thick fabric. If her eyes did not have the dull red glow of Bahamut threatening behind them he would have laughed at the sight of her wrapped up like you would a babe for their first winter.

They walked in silence to the Last Stand. Which was both better and worse than using the aethernet, the cold night air was more settling for his restless mind than the warm blankets of the annex but Muireann did not walk where she could teleport. Especially not in the cold.

The Last Stand was, of course, still open. Though at this hour you were only likely to get archon loaf and coffee. Though he would not want to be the one to break that news to Muireann. Taking a que from another glower and a sharp elbow to his ribs, he went to save them a table.

Muireann returned with two steaming mugs and a Titan carrying a tray of biscuits and the like.

“Now then,” she sat and pushed his drink towards him, “talk.”

“Was that not what woke the princess from her slumber?” He couldn’t admit to her of all people about his worries. She’d have a field day. It was already plain how little she thought of him not even bothering to ask whether he even wanted a drink.

She just glared at him, warming her own hands on her cup. Estinien sighed, picking up his own to properly scold her on her assumptions when a familiar scent that had been long absent from his life wafted heat back into his face.

How long had it been since he had hot chocolate?

Muireann’s scowl turned smug at the dawning realisation on Estinien’s face. “You would not believe the hoops I had to jump through to get proper cocoa. Turns out that princess is a very powerful word when you know how to use it.”

“This is – ”

“His recipe, aye. Had to get it from Dragonhead.”

They slowly sipped at their hot chocolates together in silence. Warmth and a true sense of calm slowly spreading through Estinien’s chest.

“I’m ill-suited for this. Aymeric was always the better speaker. Raer the better people pleaser. Keeping people happy and hopeful…it’s not something that comes easily.” His voice was quiet. He knew she would hear and he dared not give the words any more power over him.

Muireann looked back up towards the annex as she mulled over his words, letting them hang in the air as the reality of what he was doing slowly dawned on him. They never sought advice from each other. It was always delivered with a forced smile and a hidden knife.

“Sometimes,” she broke the silence, still warming her hands on the mug, “we just need to make ourselves happy.”

“What do you even mean by that?”

“You just have to make yourself happy. You may not see it but our little lordling is in much better form having you in our adventuring party now you have had some distance from the war. Entirely more tolerable.”

Estinien snorted, he had not noticed much of a difference, but then again it had been a few years since they first met.

“Raer has also benefitted from being reunited with a happier Estinien. And I dare say you’ve started to grow on me.”

“So my grievous sin of upsetting Raer once has been forgiven?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself – I said started.” Exactly when verbal sparring had grown from conflict to comfort neither could really say, but both relaxed into their chairs for ending the moment of vulnerability. They would get each other through this.

“Just make myself happy…”

“You cannot pour from an empty cup.”

Estinien stifled a laugh, “I shall have to note down that ground-breaking discovery.”

“This is the last time I decide to be nice to you.”

“No it’s not.”

She sighed, hiding her own grin behind her mug, “No, not likely is it?”

Self-Care Dialogue

[saibug1022]

Val's Resurrection (Part Three)

Word Count: 4426

Lucas Thomas x M!MC (Valen)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

A/N: Part three! This one is the end of like, "plot" stuff but I do have a part four coming that contains...mature content. Once again, thanks to the @itlivesproject for your amazing game and the inspiration I get from playing it

Val cursed as their phone died because of course the ritual had to give him his old phone that seemed to die whenever he needed the damn thing instead of a new one that actually fucking worked! He tucked his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, a smile fighting its way back onto his face. He was just so damn excited to be alive he couldn’t bring himself to care about anything else. Not when his friends were on their way. He was gonna get his fucking life back. He just had to hope he didn’t have to repeat senior year because he might rather be a ghost. 

No sooner did Val hear a car engine than he heard a car door slam open. He looked up, trying to pull himself to his feet but it was no use so he just stayed on his knees in the grass, grinning like a madman. Multiple people were screaming his name and running but Noah was the first to reach him. He slammed into Val so hard they not only fell into the grass but rolled a few times. Val laughed the whole time, clinging to his friend as tears streamed down his face. He left his anger behind years ago when he chose to take Jane’s place, and Noah had been there for him since day one as a shadow. Without him Val had no idea if there would have been any humanity left for the ritual to restore. 

“You’re back,” Noah muttered into his shoulder. “Holy fuck you’re back. God, Val, Val I’m so so sorry, I can’t say it enough, I-”

“Noah, shut up,” Val told him, still smiling. Noah chuckled and nodded, finally pulling back. 

Val barely managed to sit up before he was tackled again by Andy, Connor, and Stacy, then Lily, Dan, and Ava jumped onto the pile (Lily even pulled Noah back into the hug), everyone just trying to reach a piece of him as they all laughed and Val reciprocated the affection. He tried to reach all of them, wanting to feel them just as much as they wanted to feel him. It had been so long, so goddamn long since he felt a human touch, really felt it. Felt the warmth, the reassurance, the life in it.

“I missed you guys so fucking much,” Val muttered into someone’s chest, he wasn’t even sure who’s. It was all a tangle of limbs and warmth and clothes and Val wouldn’t have it any other damn way

“We missed you too,” Lily replied.

“Every day,” Dan added and he felt his hand get squeezed by who he assumed was Dan.

“I can’t believe it worked,” Ava appeared above Val with a grin. “We literally made a ritual to bring you back and it fucking worked.”

Val beamed up at her. “And you all casted it together?”

“Yeah?” Ava raised an eyebrow.

“So you guys literally saved me with the power of friendship?” Val pointed out and Ava groaned, disappearing back into the pile. 

“We definitely didn’t miss the bad jokes,” Andy claimed and Val kicked him.

“Ow!” Stacy said.

“Sorry Stace, was going for Andy,” Val apologized. He then heard Andy grunt in pain as Stacy laughed. “Why thank you.”

“But of course,” Stacy giggled.

“Wait a minute,” Val frowned a little. “Where’s Lucas?”

“Here.”

Everyone slowly untangled themselves from him and Val sat up just as Lucas knelt in front of him. Lucas’s hands shook as they came up to cup Val’s face and as soon as he did it was like every ache and bit of tension Val held just faded and his eyes fluttered closed, leaning into the warmth of Lucas’s palms. He felt Lucas shift and then felt him press his forehead to Val’s and for a moment they both just sat there, enjoying each other’s presence and touch.

“You’re warm,” Lucas muttered.

“I’ve been laying in the sun,” Val explained with a small smile. “It’s nice. It’s been so long since I felt…anything. Much less warm.”

“I’m glad you’re warm again,” Lucas told him and Val couldn’t help but laugh a little. “What?”

“Nothing,” Val pulled back as he shook his head, opening his eyes to meet Lucas’s. “I just…I missed you. It feels like yesterday and forever all at once. Thank you. All of you guys.”

Val pulled back fully to give everyone a smile. 

“Thank you guys, for not giving up on me,” Val told them all, making sure to meet every person’s eyes. “It didn’t really feel like it to me, all those memories are still messed up, but I know it’s been years. You all have your own lives now, friends, but you still helped me. Thank you.”

“Val you will always be our friend,” Dan assured him and he reached over to put his hand on Val’s knee. 

“Yeah, we’re always gonna be here for you,” Connor agreed.

“But also please don’t die again,” Lily requested and they all laughed.

“I’ll try my best,” Val promised. Their hands fidgeted in their lap and they looked down at them.

“Valen?” Lucas prompted gently and Val looked up with a hum. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Val shook his head. Lucas gave him a look and Val rolled his eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“I know,” Lucas gave him a small smile. “Now what is it?”

“How long, exactly, has it been?” Val asked quietly.

“About five years,” Lucas answered and Val sucked in a breath. They’d all definitely moved on then. Val knew they all had to visit him so they didn’t live around really. They probably all went to college. Made friends. Hell Ava built a coven, that much Val knew. It was a stupid, selfish thought that shouldn’t be nagging him so much but…did Lucas? Did he move on? Not just from Westchester and ghosts and monsters but from, from Val? Val bit their lip and hissed in pain. Right. Everything hurt. Ow. “Are you alright?”

“Again, I’m alive, so huge improvement there,” Val snickered. “From what I can tell I was restored right to the moment I…changed.”

Val saw Noah look down at the ground out of the corner of his eye.

“So yeah. All the aches and pains from everything that happened that night are as if they happened just a few hours ago,” Val winced as they shifted. “And the bruises. Got a lot of those. I’m also thirsty and starving. Last thing I ate was spaghetti five years ago, so.”

“Let’s get you back to the cabin,” Connor decided and climbed to his feet. “We can get you some food and water, some pain meds, and you can shower.”

“And change?” Val requested hopefully and Connor laughed.

“Yes, and change,” Connor agreed.

“Great,” Val nodded. “One problem. Walking is a struggle.”

“I don’t remember you hurting your leg that night,” Stacy frowned at Noah who shook his head.

“I didn’t,” Val confirmed. “I didn’t have legs for five years. Theoretically I know how to walk but in practice…”

“I’ve got you,” Dan said and next thing Val knew he’d been swept up off the ground and into Dan’s arms.

“Aren’t you a therapist?” Val raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Dan smiled.

“How are you so strong then?”

“You’re tiny and frail,” Ava interjected and Val squawked in offense.

“I am not!” Val replied.

“You are kinda small,” Andy snickered.

“You’re shorter than me!”

“Not anymore, I’ve been on T for four years, I had a growth spurt.”

“Oh shit you did,” Val realized as Andy stood. “Wait, no, that means I’m the shortest now!”

“Come on, tiny,” Stacy laughed and ruffled his hair and Val let out a hiss that made Stacy’s eyes widen. Meanwhile Noah and Connor started cackling.

“Oh my god get me out of here,” Val pleaded and Dan laughed at him as he carried Val to Connor’s Camaro.

“Since when do you hiss?” Ava asked. “That’s my thing.”

“He didn’t when he was alive but as the shadow he did it whenever something pissed him off,” Connor laughed and Val flipped him off. “Just don’t start doing happy flips.”

“I think I’d break my entire body,” Val commented as Dan set him in the backseat of Connor’s Camaro. Lucas and Noah climbed in the back with him while Ava took the front seat, and the others headed for Amalia’s Highlander. Val felt Lucas’s hand take his and he bit back a smile. He fought the urge to lay his head on Lucas’s shoulder and instead focused on Noah speaking.

“So what exactly do you remember?” Noah asked.

“Everything before changing I remember perfectly fine,” Val answered with a shrug. “And I’m making new memories okay, I remember everything since I woke up. But as the shadow it was different, like, like everything was muted. Or blurry. I remember some basics. But details or stuff I didn’t care about it hard or just straight up not there. Like I have no idea who or what we were fighting but I remember Karter and Amalia and Abel and Lincoln and I remember Jocelyn redeemed herself.”

“That’s an improvement at least,” Connor pointed out and Val nodded as a yawn bubbled up in his throat. Lucas switched which hand was holding Val’s so he could wrap his arm around Val’s waist and this time Val leaned into him without even thinking about it. 

“I’m gonna sleep for like three weeks,” Val warned him and Lucas chuckled. 

“I’d be more concerned if you didn’t,” Lucas admitted and Val just kinda hummed in response. His limbs were slowly getting heavy as the adrenaline from finding himself alive began to fade but he was determined not to sleep yet. 

They made it back to the cabin and this time Lucas carried him inside, setting him very gently on the couch in a way that was just so Lucas. He was always so precise and careful, especially with Val. God he hoped he hadn’t lost that.

“I’m making you actual food,” Noah announced and Karter barely even opened his mouth before Noah rolled his eyes. “Yes I’m making enough for everyone, sit down, Fallon.”

“What are you making?” Amalia wondered.

“I seem to remember being promised all the spaghetti I want once I was better,” Val smirked and Noah rolled his eyes again but he still shot Val this smile with an emotion behind it Val couldn’t quite understand.

“Yeah yeah spaghetti it is,” Noah sighed.

“And in the meantime I’m going to shower, if that’s okay?” Val asked Connor and Connor raised his eyebrows at him. 

“This is as much your house as it is mine,” Connor assured him. “Go.”

Andy came over and offered his hand to Val, pulling him to his feet. He then went to pick him up again but Val held out a hand to stop him. 

“No, I need to get used to walking again,” Val shook his head. “Just help me.”

“You got it.” Andy wrapped an arm around Val’s waist to help hold him up and Val wrapped an arm around Andy’s shoulders for balance. His legs completely gave out from under him the first step but Andy caught him and helped him back to his feet. 

“I swear, you and me are gonna have a talk,” Val glared at his legs and Andy broke out laughing. “Oh shut it, Kang.”

“You’re definitely Val,” Andy shook his head with a grin. “Talking to inanimate objects and everything.”

“I’m gonna turn you into an inanimate object,” Val threatened as he managed a few more steps.

“How exactly are you planning to shower?” Andy wondered as he got Val into the bathroom and Val immediately collapsed onto the side of the tub. Since when was walking so exhausting?! Stupid shadow. He couldn’t have been a ghost with legs? Val paused.

“I had not thought that far ahead,” Val admitted, trying and failing to hide the disappointment in his voice. He definitely couldn’t stand that long and it wasn’t like he could, what, ask someone to help him? The only person he’d been comfortable asking was Lucas and he doubted Lucas would still be comfortable with that after so long. “I guess I can sit?”

“That’ll be a pain but you do you, dude,” Andy shrugged and headed down the hall again as another person appeared in the doorway.

“If you want, I could help you,” Lucas offered and Val’s eyes widened. 

“Wait, really?” Val blinked and Lucas nodded as he came in and shut the door behind him. “Uh, thanks.”

Lucas just flashed him a smile as he moved over to the shower and turned on the water. Val watched him, looking for any sign of hesitation or discomfort on his face or in his body language. Yet he found nothing. It was just…Lucas.

“You don’t have to do this,” Val found himself saying anyway and Lucas paused to look at him in confusion.

“What?” Lucas asked and Val’s eyes dropped to his hands, picking at one of the scabs on his knuckles. 

“You don’t have to help me if it’d be, I dunno, weird,” Val shrugged. “It’s been five years, things probably changed for you which would suck for me but I get it, I won’t be mad or anything. Or if you, you have someone I’d be happy for you.”

“Val,” Lucas kneeled in front of him and held his hands in his so he’d stop picking at his skin. “What about what I’ve done since you woke up makes you think anything has changed for me?”

Val paused and actually went back and thought about what Lucas had done. Calling him sweetheart, holding his hand on multiple occasions, having Val lean against him in the car, holding his face in the field, the forehead touch…

“....okay you may have a point,” Val muttered and Lucas laughed as he kissed Val’s forehead. “Okay cut me some slack, I’ve literally only been alive for like, an hour.”

“You’re adorable,” Lucas said as he turned the water on and Val decided to pointedly ignore the way that made his face heat.

Val moved to sit on the toilet lid instead of the bathtub so Lucas could mess with the temperature.

“Oh, Stacy said to tell you she and Dan are going to get you clothes from their apartments,” Lucas told him and Val frowned in confusion.

“Okay Dan’s clothes I get but why Stacy?” Val asked.

“They aren’t their clothes, they're yours,” Lucas explained. “After you…”

Lucas took a deep breath and Val noticed how it shook. He put a hand on Lucas’s back and felt him relax under his touch.

“After homecoming your parents gave each of us some of your things,” Lucas continued. “They let us look through and choose anything we wanted to keep. Stacy kept some of your jewelry and those black jeans you liked, Dan has a few shirts of yours and I think a jacket. They went to just get those instead of get clothes from your parents’ house since we figured you’d want to be the one to talk to your parents.”

“I think I’d rather let them think I’m dead,” Val grumbled.

“Speaking of your things though,” Lucas closed the curtain and wiped his hands off on one of the towels before he pulled something out of his back pocket. A notebook, a very familiar notebook bound in black leather and engraved with a bundle of Aster in the front and stars all around it, even a small moon in the corner. A strip of leather held the journal closed and it looked well taken care of, even if worn.

“My song book!” Val gasped as he snatched it from Lucas’s hands. “You kept it?”

“I was the only one that knew about it,” Lucas said. “So when I saw it while we were looking through…I figured you wouldn’t want anyone else to read it.” 

“You were right,” Val chuckled as they flipped through it. He looked up to give Lucas a grateful smile. “Thank you, Lucas.” 

“Anything for you,” Lucas replied easily. “The songs are beautiful, by the way. All of them.”

It took Val a second to realize what that meant and he immediately slammed the book shut, face bright red. 

“Oh God,” Val muttered. “Did you…?”

“Mhmm,” Lucas hummed, a stupid grin on his face and Val groaned.

“I can’t believe you read my songs about you,” Val whined. “This is literally the worst thing to ever happen to me.”

“You just came back to life an hour ago after being dead for five years.”

“I said what I said, Lucas.”

“Oh come on, they were sweet,” Lucas rolled his eyes. “I liked Snow on the Beach, especially.”

“Yeah?” Val couldn’t help the way that made the corners of his mouth twitch upward. 

“Yeah,” Lucas confirmed. He reached up to brush a strand of lavender hair from Val’s eyes. “Ready to get out of this suit?”

“I’ve been waiting to hear you say that for five years,” Val snickered and it was Lucas’s turn to be embarrassed, forcefully clearing his throat as Val took off his tie. “Oh you were thinking about it the entire dance.”

“Shut up Val,” Lucas laughed and Val just grinned as he managed to shrug off his blazer. His hands struggled a little with the buttons as the adrenaline surge had left them shaking, but Lucas helped him only for his breath to catch once they got the shirt off. For a second Val thought it was flusteredness but then Lucas reached forward and gently ran his fingers down the long scar making a straight line down Val’s chest.

“Oh. That.” Val muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas immediately pulled away. “I just, I don’t understand, how did you get that? Was that from…?”

“Dying?” Val finished and Lucas nodded. “No, no it wasn’t from then. Junior year do you remember me missing school for a few weeks?”

Val waited for Lucas’s hum of confirmation before continuing. 

“And you know that thing Cody did to me and Lily before the crows attacked, with his car,” Val sighed. “It wasn’t the first time. This time though, he got a little too risky. The car slid on some black ice and actually ran me over. Broke pretty much all my ribs. They had to do a surgery for like, thirteen hours to make sure none of my rubs punctured any of my organs.”

“My God,” Lucas shook his head. 

“Yup, that pretty much sums it up,” Val nodded, eyes now on the pale scar. 

“Let’s just, let’s just get you cleaned up, okay?” Lucas offered and Val nodded readily. 

Lucas helped him get off the rest of his clothes and then Lucas’s came off. Val valiantly managed to keep his hands mostly to himself (he still had to hold on to Lucas for balance). The feeling of hot water on his skin felt amazing. He would’ve needed a warm shower after the shit that happened after Homecoming anyway but now? It was just incredible. They ended up just standing there under the water for a while, letting Val just stand and feel it. It was barely too hot but Val literally could not care less. He hadn’t felt heat in so long he wouldn’t be surprised if he accidentally burned himself in his search for it. 

“You okay?” Lucas murmured and Val nodded as he laid his head on Lucas’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Val assured him. “Just enjoying being alive again.”

Lucas helped him stand long enough to get his hair washed out (which thankfully didn’t further wash out the dye in his hair or Val would have been pissed) then helped him scrub off all the blood, dirt, and grime from homecoming and a bunch of spots of this weird black goo. Lucas told him it was something his shadow self gave off which was, in fact, disgusting. They’d only been finished a few minutes when there was a knock at the door.

“Yeah?” Val called over the sound of the water.

“We’ve got your clothes,” Dan called back. “I ended up grabbing you a pair of my sweatpants if you don’t want to wear jeans.”

“Thanks Dan, we’ll be out in a minute.”

“We?”

Lucas laughed as Val groaned into his chest.

“Oh, hey Lucas,” Dan chuckled.

“Thank you Dan, we’ll finish up,” Lucas replied, laughter still in his voice while Val tried to crawl under his skin and hide forever. They heard retreating footsteps and Lucas kissed Val’s hair. “Come on you, let’s get you in some clean clothes.”

“Please,” Val groaned.

Lucas turned off the water and grabbed the towels and clothes Dan had left on the floor. When he got back he immediately wrapped Val in the fluffy towel and Val swore they would’ve started purring if he could. He nuzzled his face into the towel, just to feel it against his skin in all honesty, and Lucas chuckled as he rubbed the towel up and down Val’s arms to help dry him off. Getting into the clothes was interesting and involved a lot of embarrassment on Val’s end and laughing on Lucas’s, but eventually they managed to emerge.

Things had definitely changed. His friends had changed. He could tell in the way they held themselves, how they talked about themselves when they filled Val in on their lives and he shoveled spaghetti in his mouth, and the looks they kept giving Noah. But somehow everything also felt exactly the same in how they laughed and ate and teased each other. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t a carbon copy of their lives before, it would take some getting used to. Even with the changes though it felt…normal. A new version of normal, but a normal all the same. 

After a while though everyone had to start going home. Val got a long hug goodbye from all his friends and congratulations from Karter’s friends. Soon it was only Val and Lucas, Connor and Noah, and Karter and Amalia. The latter two said good night and headed to their room as soon as everyone was gone and Val was ready to get comfy on the couch when Connor cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Actually, uh, we have a room for you," Connor told him and ignored the offended noise Karter made from the stairs.

"Me and Amalia have been sharing a room and you've had an extra one this whole time?" Karter huffed as they walked away. "Typical." 

Connor just rolled his eyes and gestured for Val to follow. Lucas did too (to help Val not fall down the stairs and get further bruises) until they ended up in a not particularly large bedroom but a comfortable one, decorated in blues and purples with a big comfy looking bed and already with some pictures on the walls.

"You've had all this ready for me?" Val looked at Connor with wide eyes and Connor scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"Well we figured that when we got you back you wouldn't want to go back to your parents'," Connor explained. "And Noah knew what kind of stuff you liked. There's no clothes or any of your stuff from your house but-"

"Connor," Val cut him off with a laugh. "Thank you." 

Connor grinned and pulled Val into a tight hug that he really should not be receiving considering the state of his everything but it was a good hug and Val went five years without hugs, so. 

"It's good to have you back," Connor muttered Val held onto him just that much tighter. Connor clung to him for one further moment before pulling away. "See you guys in the morning. Yes, Lucas, you can stay the night."

Lucas grumbled something under his breath and Val laughed.

"Good night," Connor gave them one last wave before he headed downstairs to his own room.

The moment he was gone Val stumbled into the room and fell face first onto the bed with a satisfied groan and he felt the mattress dip as Lucas laughed and sat next to him. Lucas's fingers stroked his temple, brushing back his hair and Val made a very happy hum noise almost like trill.

"That's new," Lucas chuckled. 

"Yeah I guess the shadow stuck with me a little more than expected," Val snickered. He lifted his head enough to fold his arms under it. He looked up at Lucas who was smiling until his eyes landed on something and he froze. "What? What is it?"

"Your head," Lucas answered and trailed his fingers along Val's forehead. "The cut is gone. There's not even a scar." 

"What?!" Val sat up and pulled out his phone, using his reflection in the black screen to examine his forehead while his other hand held his hair out of the way. Sure enough his forehead was completely unblemished, like the wound had never been there in the first place. "What the fuck? That's, how is that possible? I-it's probably just the ritual right? It's still mending my body or something?"

Lucas didn't reply, instead rubbed his thumb at what looked like dried blood along Val's hairline. At first he thought they must have not gotten all of the blood off in the shower but then he saw the substance on Lucas’s fingers and it was not blood. Not at all. It was the same black goo Lucas had gotten off him in the shower, the shit he'd given off as a ghost.

"Oh god," Val whispered, his voice shaking as panic threatened to crawl it's way out of his throat. The room seemed to darken as of course a cloud covered the sun right when Val was fearing the shadows.

"Hey I'm sure it'll be fine," Lucas assured him and took his hands. He squeezed Val's shaking hands and kissed the back of one. His eyes darted around the room and he swallowed. "Right now I need you to take a deep breath and calm down, love."

"Right, right, okay," Val nodded. Couldn't figure anything out if he was panicking. His grip tightened on Lucas's hands as he took a deep breath, then another, until his breathing had evened itself out. The room brightened again, which was nice. 

Then Val realized that the curtains were closed and the lights were on. 

"Wait, I did that?" Val gasped and Lucas nodded hesitantly. 

“I think so,” Lucas replied.

“....well shit.”

[sugiwa]

“Hack at it with a sword until all the was wrong was so thoroughly wounded that it would never recover.” this sentence is really neat to me i just thought i would tell you that.

“…Back home—we were supposed to go back home together.” this is when the tears started coming. question: would home to penny be the red force?

“There was no twinkling clang of the bells, not even a hum of response. Nothing but silence.” I’m telling my therapist about you. Also this sentence reminds me of Caliban’s monologue from the Tempest when he talks about his island and it makes me even more sad.

“Amid the ruin, it was the only thing untouched.” THE SOUL OF HER SHIP, their friendship and the love and the story that brought her ship to life is the only thing untouched- i’m not okay

“I missed you a lot when you were gone.” SHUT UP-

[If people never got their wishes answered, then they’d lose hope in the world/ a wish was only as powerful as the will behind it.] sugiwa everyday i get closer and closer to the truth of her devil fruit, mark my words i will figure it out😩

“Do you remember when we sailed all the way to Elbaf, only to have the fish blow us back?” I chuckled at this lol, Penny would be Odysseus hitting her crewmates over the head and calling them idiots if she had them

(“Oh, of course,” laughed her ship.) no because i thought the exact same thing when penny said that. it’s such a simple solution but of course she would resort back to it because the same love for writing and stories is the love that created the looking glass and binds them together. writing created the looking glass, why wouldn’t it be the same way penny keeps her alive.

i genuinely felt such relief when she said that and all the sorrow that i felt over what seemed like their farewell was soothed because nothing disappears or goes away forever as long as there is someone telling the story.

This is so lovely, so thank you for all the wonderful details in here. Home to Penny very much is the Red Force these days and I think it kinda fits within this theme of each of the Straw Hats having that one person to return to, only Penny's is somewhere ahead of them rather than behind them. We'll get into more details as to what Penny said to Shanks after that argument they had, but essentially, she was always going to go back (And as Beckmen told her, bring the World's Greatest Story with her).

It's not so much that Shanks replaced her parents or anything--she doesn't really view him as a father. Even when she didn't have all her memories, Penny knew that she was Lucy and Belle's daughter--she just didn't remember them (their voices, the things they did together, what they were like, etc.) What she did know about the Stage Pirates was only what she could bear to remember: that they had all died at the Navy's hand and because the World Government did such a wonderful job of making even saying Lucy's name a huge taboo (we will explore this further in Thriller Bark).

Hehehehe, her Devil Fruit....if Penny had been on Skypeia, she might have learned a bit more about it but, we'll wait for Robin to reveal something later on 👀

The Looking Glass's death was something I had written a while back. At first, I was going to keep her around as a shikigami (a paper spirit like in Spirted Away), but then I thought about the logistics of that and decided it was a bit messy and thought of what else I could do which is where we happened upon the ink. Using the ashes of her dream ship as the ink of her future story is so Penny, so I went with that angle. I also think that Penny needed some closure after losing so many of her friends without being able to save any of them--she's talked about it a bit, but we'll see later on that this build up of loss will prepare her for what happens at Marineford later on.

Also, if we think about the ink that is used on the Thousand Sunny--Nami's maps, Robin's studies, the Poneglyph etchings, and one day, Penny's stories--Penny's sharing a lot more of herself with the Straw Hats than she has with anyone else so far.

[lividria]

Funny Story: Sonic the Hedgehog

I'm going to preface this post with the fact that i am 9 times out of 10 bad at video games unless i have grinded them for days (as in like the game will say i've put 100+ hours in it of nothing but playtime) and even then i'm usually still pretty bad at them, and the fact that i really like sonic games in theory, i like the characters, love most of the music, i like going fast in platformers, i've taken some ideas from the games as inspiration for my own projects, you get the idea

i have tried, multiple times over the course of my life, to play sonic games and enjoy them, and every time i have either failed or been personally singled out by the universe and had my experience ruined, here's the list

Sonic CD: Mobile port has ads that play when you unpause, I got an ad for a mobile Friday Night Funkin' rip-off reusing shit from the fucking Sonic.EXE mod and the ad BROKE AND FROZE THE ENTIRE APP AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING AND I LOST SO MUCH PROGRESS so I deleted the app

Sonic 1: Do people actually enjoy Sonic 1 nowadays

Sonic Rush: Had to use some cheats to beat the game but I beat both campaigns and got all the emeralds... but i tried to pause the game during the true final boss, accidentally hit my emulator's Reset button and that somehow fucking deleted my save data and i couldn't get the true final boss unlocked again even with cheats to get as much progress back as possible, also I hate the power of friendship trope and I hated the way it was used in the ending too

Sonic Generations DS: I couldn't beat Time Eater as a kid and it's the only time a video game has ever made me cry because I got so frustrated (The closest I've gotten since was hearing Reunited in Undertale having finally played it years after first getting into it but I made it without a single tear haha I'm only kinda cringe), I never went back and beat the game and I honestly don't think I want to

Sonic Mania Plus: Rage quit at Chemical Plant I forgot why lol, may give it another go but

Sonic Forces: One of the worst games I've ever played (I'd say the worst is DangerZone from the Minecraft OreSpawn guy)

Sonic Frontiers: I have no clue who designed that stupid "herd the rock chao in the time limit also some can blow up" minigame and made it required to progress but I hope they got fired and then thrown out of a high-up window because that is bar none the worst minigame in any game I've ever played, no I did not beat it but it wouldn't matter because I wasn't really enjoying the main gameplay anyways

Sonic Dash: I hate grinding

Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (I know it was a joke, shut up): I already mentioned I hate the power of friendship trope and I hated the ending as a result

The only Sonic game I've had no negative experiences with is Sonic Robo Blast 2. The fucking fangame made with a modified Doom engine. I never finished it, I don't know how close I got, but I have no bad memories with it.

Why does this happen to me.

[jeeperso]

D&D Quotes Without Context

Ravenloft edition, Fundertainment Land arc, part 5

“So… any of you robits ladies?” "There is only one goal of Gunder and Danzi Fundertainment land. To make money. Who has more money than anyone?” “Dunno. Eddie, who’s the money god?” “Please. We ain’t found shit for money since we saved those cheerleaders a year ago.” "Heed our warning, Gunder and Danzi will not play fair with you, even if you win, they will not let you destroy the park.” “The word ‘let’ is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that sentence.” Gorbash: “How metaphorical is this heart? The less so the easier ripping it out will be.” “I’m pretty content with Marsh gets to free the children and I toss some fireballs while I giant mechanical yeti fucks everything up.” Marshal: ”Brothers... and sister, once, long ago, I received a vision of this day, and what I would say to you. I speak those words now.” *Hiveguard comes on camera, puts down and starts the boombox before going offscreen* Jonni: “Everyone else saw that right? Are we being dosed?” Nyx: ”A Stillborn Godling, this isn't going to be easy. Anyone got a tactical nuke spell?” Jonni:

Gorbash: “Yes Jonni, you can obliterate the thing.” "We are all Marshal, black knight of Fundertainment. I will happily induct you all as Paladins in which oath you all choose, and together will be at the fore of the Union exodus that is long overdue, and I will find us all, forged and cast member alike, a new home out upon the domains!” Jonni mouths to Crushinator *You, me, my wife, later big girl*. "Of course. Go in peace, my brethren, and show them all the power of friendship and united labor!” “I am Jonthana, she who makes torches of men, and I am here to ruin your fucking day! Also Marshall is here by appointed prophecy to lead the employees to more dignified employment.” villain (Danzi): "Welcome Marshal, its time for you to take your place with the others. I already have the next model of you ready to go.” A voice comes from inside the mechanical sea serpent. Marshal: "Still can't get Gunder to sign off on that asinine spider, I see.” Danzi: “DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT THE SPIDER. THE SPIDER IS AWESOME.” And suddenly… Poom. The leviathan reads back, and fires a massive blast of steam at all of you. Jonni: “Motherfucker! This is dry clean only!” Danzi: ”Soon it will be DIE clean only.” Azathoth: "Wow, villain made a good pun. Poom's doomed.” OOC: Gorbash and Jonni, Fire Resistance buddies! OOC: *imagines him grappling in combat* 🎶 Hold me close now Tiny Danzi 🎶 OOC: Shut up and Danzi. "Hey.... hands off my brain.... I need that to..... brain.... oof. Head spinny…." Gorbash: “Damn what did they plate this bastard with?” Marshal: "Die cast construction.” Gorbash: “Ah, the lost art.” Edmund: “I’m in paiiiiin….” Jonni: “Walk it off, lightweight.” GM: Edmund is currently beet red and pruning. So much pruning. Danzi: ”HA! PATHETIC TALKING WAFFLE IRON! MY CHEESE CURDS ARE SUPERIOR.... Oof, can we take a five minute time out? I need some orange slices and water to recharge.” OOC: No biting a shiny metal ass this turn. Edmund rises into the air, screaming as he is engulfed with light, and when it passes, he's a puppet. Again. Edmund: ”Huh. This is...new. Why do I have little wires attached to my arms?” Gorbash: “Eddie! You're a wee little puppetman.” Jonni: “Dammit, Eddie, stop turning into a puppet. It doesn’t help!” OOC: Killing crabs! In the ocean! Gorbash: “Observation...He's the perfect size for punting.” Danzi: “WAIT!” He holds up the ticket. "You want this right?” Edmund: "We do. But we can take it THEN punt you.” Danzi: ”OH YEAH? PUNT THIS.” He rips the ticket in half. ”HA! YOU LOSE.” Edmund: "Okay who has mending?” Danzi: ”NO MY EVIL PLAN IS FALLING APART.” Marshal grabs the halves before Danzi can shred them with two chairs, a dummy, and a toboggan. Danzi: "Wait! Before you kill me.... Please go kill Gunder first. We have a bet going.” Gorbash: “If I beat one of you to death with the other do you both lose?” Danzi: ”Weren't you trying to seduce a broken animatronic knight five minutes ago?” Jonni: *create campfire* “She has a name!” "Like that is an insult to Jonni: she has hit on zombies and every female creature we have come across with a few exceptions.” "This is duly deserved. And Im a puppet. I support violence now.” “I got a rule. Don’t fuck with anything that has ‘elder’ in its creature description.” Danzi: "Indeed. Marshal XTREEEEEME! The radical badass version of Marshal. Merciless, ruthless, and pro-authoritarian.” The Marshal X lights up "You know what would be radical? Obeying all the rules? And buying more Ruminating drink!” Yog-sothoth: "FUCK THAT! Ruminating should only be taken in powder form! And then only if you have magical invention capabilities!” Edmund stands up from where he has been kneeling, Edmund Muppet on his arm. "Good. That was tough on the knees.” Poom opens an umbrella. “It's down there. Everything dark and evil in Fundertainment land originated from this hole.” Nyarlathotep: "So it's an ass-hole.” Gorbash is gonna shove Danzi down the hole. Danzi falls down the hole out of sight.... then rises up with a propeller sticking out of his top hat. "HA! DIDN'T KNOW I HAD ONE OF THESE DID YA SMART GUY!” Jonni: Eldritch Blast on the propeller. The propeller explodes. "FUCKYOUGENIEFUCKER!" he yells as he falls back into the hole. Azathoth: "When did this become Loony Tunes?” Nyx: "About 3 adventures ago, Az.” OOC: Funny enough, I had a one shot Champions character who had been Dr. Strange’s pool guy and got his powers of beating down from the Wondrous Wand of Whupass.

[madraleen]

Attack on Titan - Hajime Isayama Vol.34: The "It's Done, It's Finally Done" Commentary

(*final verdict: i currently consider this one of my favorite stories of all time)

-oh. oh i don't like that cover. i mean it’s a great cover, but it feels like a eulogy for someone is what i'm saying

-me to me, trying to get through the final volume without getting unhinged again: DEDICATE YOUR HEART!

-no body no crime, armin's fiiine, he's hanging out with ymir i'm sure. that wasn’t a painful enough way to die, just pointless, and we’re not doing ‘pointless’ in this manga.

-heh, jean saved reiner :)

-'but they dragged him off toward eren's ass.' never change, levi, never change.

-OH! THE NINE TITANS FROM THROUGHOUT THE AGES! SPLENDID! THAT ISN'T HELL ON EARTH AT ALL! THAT'S JUST GREAT! THAT'S- that's not a titan, that's the Thing from Fantastic 4.

-the visual of titan eren looking like he's in chains and hanging down his head is deliberate i assume

-oh so you're saying eren isn't attacking you, it's ymir

-jean and reiner bonding moment as they hang on for dear life

-mikasa 'bring it on' <3

-help from the skies. literally. thank you falco et al

-i am very afraid that i won't like the ending and i'm bracing myself for disappointment but i'm still holding on to hope and i want to work with what i'm given, and if that's not a parallel to the fight we're having with eren and the gang's feelings on it, i don't know what it is

-so few of the core cast have died that i honestly wouldn't be shocked at a rocks-fall-everyone-dies ending.

-gabi babe, WE can't fight at this point, let alone you. THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP DIDN'T WORK!

-yeah no, i see the parallels - gabi a child born to hate turning to kindness, eren a child born to (sort of) kindness turning to hate, it's nice.

-lmao annie, 'so how's armin' <3

-the fact that levi uses the word 'worrying' when he says 'we don't have the luxury of worrying about eren.’ awfully sentimental, for levi. 

-marleyans: LET'S ALL VOW FOR WORLD PEACE AND ELIMINATION OF HATE IF WE SURVIVE! marleyans two minutes later, seeing the eldians: I'LL SHOOT YOU, SCUM!

-i don't know why, but seeing jean and reiner work together makes me happy

-'your turn, jean!!' 'hold on, reiner!!' ASFSFHS

-oH INTERESTING, levi not having regrets about not choosing erwin. 'because i entrusted the future to that kid who had the same look in his eyes as all of you.' yes levi why don't you twist the knife in a little deeper, why don't you stomp my heart to the ground while you're at it

-'useless' that's what eren called armin too, coincidence?

-oh! zeke! hi! thoughts? 'hello. mr zeke.' oh armin.

-LOOK AT ZEKE'S SAND CASTLE

-BERTOLT SAVED ANNIE?!?! LESSSGOOOO! OOOH OUR TITANS ARE FIGHTING FOR US YESSS

-i'm very glad to see that all in all levi isn't stupid and isn't randomly trying to fight even though he can't

-oh man these fights are so messy (in a good way) that the panels just can't do them justice compared to what it'll be like in the anime i think

-the times connie has saved armin's ass. armin's specifically

-TITAN GRISHA! ! !

-please stop torturing levi, his eyes have never been so wide

-I WAS JUST SAYING THAT LEVI ISN'T STUPID AND HE JUST FLEW OFF AND DECAPITATED ZEKE, WHAT! FALCO, CATCH HIM! DON'T LET LEVI DIE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! (iconic moment tho)

-oh eren DID need zeke to use the founding titan? despite being given the founding titan’s power, he still needed the royal blood? interesting.

-some of jean's action panels with his hair all swept back are so cool

-'goodbye, you suicidal blockhead' shut up shut up shut upppp

-imagine having to wait monthly for the next chapter? torture

-OH THAT ONE BABY WAS SAVED! YAY!

-enough death for now, yeah? if eren's dead, let him be the last.

-oh of course. eren version 5.1 or something. because if his titans can't march, he'll march himself. now i assume it's mikasa's time to use the power of love

-some day i'll be able to make jokes on the progression of eren's hair. this is not that day. this chapter is called ‘a long dream,’ but i'd call it a nightmare. respectfully.

-oh. oh i see. we gathered everyone here just to see them turn into titans for maximum pain, i see.  you didn't have TO DO THIS, SENSEI, YOU DID NOT

-jean and connie holding each other before the end help me.

-don't show me young eren. please don't show me young eren, you know it makes this harder

-er. mikasa is kissing eren's decapitated head... (thrice decapitated). at least ymir is enjoying the sight...?

-is he really...? is eren really...? was that really...? did we really never get to talk to him...?

-i won't pretend to understand what's going on. i'm just sad at seeing little eren and little armin talk at the moment

-so time works all at once? so baby eren is blissfully ignorant while older eren sends dina to inadvertently attack his mother?

-HA ARMIN PUNCHED EREN

-i am like... i am close to tears, then i'm laughing at eren's breakdown over not wanting mikasa to love anyone else, what the hell is happening

-eren I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE EITHER

-well, you CAN'T be forgiven. that doesn't change.

-'i swear i won't let this terrible mistake you're making be in vain' jesus, armin

-EREN CRADLING ARMIN'S HEAD WHEN THEY HUG

-the gang are humans again,  i'm happy i promise. i’m just. it’s a lot. eren visited them all. on paths!zoom. which we didn’t see. which why.

-i'm surprised so many of the core cast had plot armor, but i'm not complaining

-the way they're just holding eren's head

-i can't believe eren's dead

-can we wrap this up, eren is dead and i'm exhausted

-three years time skip and please let this be the end, it's been enough, i can't take anymore

-i'm tired. i'm done. it's done. i get it. eren had to bring it all to pass in order for mikasa to kill him and get rid of the titans. he had to push them away to get them to that point, but he explained it all to us through the paths. he couldn't possibly survive. but. eren. god. there’s so much to wrap my head around, imma need a minute.

[scarlettriot]

Stood Up

You (Y/N) get stood up from a date and Kaminari decides to do something about it.

Pairing: Kaminari/F!Reader

Contains: Fluff, Flirty Denki, Established BakuSquad Friendship

Warnings: 18+ Below the cut, Minors DNI! Swearing, Electro-Stim, Overstimulation, use of pet names (cuddle bug & cutie), oral (F receiving), consensual recording

A/N: Well, here we are with the third in my Stood Up series. There is also Bakugo & Kirishima if you're interested. This one took me way too long and it's also my first time writing Kaminari at length. I hope you all like it :)

Word Count Starting Below: 2,461

You slipped your foot into the silver heels you had picked out. Something a little fancier since this was a first date after all and you wanted to make a lasting impression. Not only that but this was your first first date in a while. Being a Pro Hero made life busy and dating difficult.

Practically the entire day leading up to this very moment revolved around you either getting ready or babbling with excitement to your closest friends.

An alert chimed on your phone with a text from your date, a smile sliding onto your face expecting to read some message about how they were on their way and that they'd see you soon, but that wasn't what you were met with.

Instead, it was a screenshot of your Instagram page, multiple of them actually, all of you and the ridiculous photos you took with your friends but mostly with one Denki Kaminari. The most recent of which was from a tea shop he met you at just earlier that day so you could show him the shoes for your date.

The message below was simple and more than enough to leave a sour taste in your mouth, this isn't what I want to see when I'm supposed to be taking you out tonight. What, one date a day isn't enough? Why are you even dating? Does your blonde boyfriend know?

You giggled at what they were implying, quick to explain how these were all your friends, they had been since high school! They are people you spent what little free time you had with. Especially Denki, your best friend since you were 15!

That joy you felt started dissipating within the next few messages. You hadn't even had a first date and they were already jealous, and that was something you didn't have room for in your life. So, you slipped the heels off your feet and put them directly back in the box to return when you had the time. Tight black jeans and fitted top were exchanged with a hoodie and sweats although your makeup and hair stayed done, you didn't have the energy to undo your hard work.

Instead, you slid back into your computer chair, your headset snuggly back on your ears and before you notified everyone you were back online, you took a moment listening to the chatter of your friends.

"Shitty Hair! Fuckin' pay attention!"

"Yeah, man! We're getting slaughtered over here!"

"Less yelling at Kiri! More shooty shooty!"

"All of you are hopeless..."

Eijiro chuckled out an apology that was accompanied by a lighter giggle also coming from his mic. "Think this is gonna be my last round for a bit, guys."

"You're so fuckin' whipped." Bakugo scoffed, before screaming profanities.

"Is it whipped if I'm the one who's wanting to get her into bed though?"

You clicked your mic back on then. "Hey, remember last week when Kats forgot his push to talk so we all heard him getting head and we party whipped because someone couldn't focus?"

"You better shut the hell up right fucking now!"

Everyone else roared with laughter. "Yeah! At least I have the decency to mute myself!"

"Hey, wait a sec, why are you online, Y/N!" Denki noted, "You should have already left!"

You screenshot your messages to the group chat because it was far easier than just explaining the ordeal.

"Cute shoes." Eijiro and Kyoka commented at the same time.

There was a lull as their game ended and the messages were read.

"Ya don't need 'em if they're gonna have their head so far up their ass like this."

"I agree." Hanta chimed in. "They're not worth your time."

"Still, sorry they turned out to be a shit." You could hear the frown on Kyoka's face, "I know how excited you were."

"Right, you doin' okay, Y/N? I can stick around and we can all shoot some things!"

"Thanks, Kiri but I'll be just fine! Go spend time with your girl!"

One by one, everyone signed off. You pulled up Spotify and Stardew Valley, something of a comfort for you to get lost in for the rest of the night.

Less than an hour later, you noticed your phone lighting up with your best friend's familiar smiling face. "What's up, Denki?"

"Open your door! I have my hands full and don't wanna put everything down to get my key!"

You sprang from your desk and rushed to your door. Sure enough, on the other side was Denki with bags in both hands and his phone tucked between his ear and shoulder. You grabbed it and a bag before he had a chance to drop anything like the klutz he was. "What's with all this?"

"I feel bad."

"Why? You didn't stand me up?"

He fiddled with the edge of a paper bag. "Yeah, but, we both read those messages and no one said anything but they didn't just call our group out, they called us out.

"Denks, it doesn't matter to me-"

"But, it does to me! You were so excited about this and I got in the way, unknowingly but, still! So, I gotta make it up to you now!"

He pulled out take-out boxes from your favorite restaurant. Two bottles of your favorite wine. Your top three favorite movies and video games, and a board game you both had been meaning to try. "I mean, if they think I'm your boyfriend I kinda gotta live up to the hype, right?"

You really wanted to insist that none of this was necessary. That just because some person that neither of you really knew that well, assumed something about your relationship that didn't mean he had to blame himself for it.

But, you had to admit, this was really sweet. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to you that he knew everything you liked but it was nice. Instead of sitting across from a stranger, making awkward small talk, and trying to learn about one another, you were barefoot in your kitchen, laughing with your best friend while he plated dinner and you poured the wine.

Formalities were out the window. Both you and Denki were eating dinner in your living room, laughing and drinking just as you'd done a million times before. You snapped a photo of the delicious food on paper plates, toasting good times with your cheap wine, ready to post them to your Instagram.

"Gonna make them more jealous..."

"I think they made it pretty clear they don't want to see me so why should I care?"

He shrugged. "I just thought they might, you know, come to their senses that they obviously lost."

"I don't really care either way." You wandered back into your kitchen, putting away the leftovers, "They can forget I exist or they can stalk my page like a creep. If someones' gonna try and tell me I can't be friends with my friends or just not listen to me, then I don't want them in my life. No matter how good-looking they are."

Denki watched you from the sofa, a bit of a lopsided grin on his face that had butterflies taking flight in your stomach. "What?" Laughing to hide the bit of a crush you always had on the man. It was unavoidable you told yourself. His personality was infectious and had 15 year old you head over heels.

He pushed back bright blonde hair back off his forehead and just shook his head. "Nothin'. Uh, what's next? Video game, board game, or movie?"

You peaked on the counter at the options. "Well, we probably should have checked this but the board game needs at least four people to play... guess we'll have to save that for our next game night. Is a movie okay?"

Of course, it was.

You brought over the DVD with a refill of wine and he pulled a blanket down off the back of your sofa.

It really didn't take long, just fifteen minutes or so, and you were curled up into Denki's side. You'd make grabby hands for your wine glass and he'd pass it over with that damn grin again.

And not long after that, he'd pulled out his phone, angling it to take a picture of the two of you. "What are you doing?" You could see him on his own Instagram, tagging you, with the caption, Check out my cute cuddle bug.

"I thought you didn't want to make them more jealous."

"I decided I don't care either. You're mine tonight, their loss. And since you're mine tonight, I get bragging rights." He snapped another quick picture of you rolling your eyes at him, and then he kept snapping them.

"Denki! Why!"

"Because you're cute, cuddle bug! I like having all the pictures of you that I can!"

Even as you tackled him back down on the sofa, pinning him below you, he still managed a photo. "Bet if I post this one, they'll really get the wrong idea."

You could have moved. You were the one on top of him and you had his arms above his head. You had the power here and yet you just lingered above him.

"Y/N? Not that I'm one to complain about having a beautiful person such as yourself pinning me down, like, it's kinda hot, but..." Looking down into half-lidded golden eyes, you wondered why you had to become best friends with such a damn flirt! "Are you gonna take advantage of this situation we're in or are we just gonna keep dancing around this for another decade or so?"

You couldn't have heard him right? No... no this was your brain playing tricks on you because he certainly hadn't had that much wine tonight. You sat upright on his lap. "Another decade then, Y/N?"

"You- ha- you should stop that, Denki."

He leaned up, moving his arms around you, "Gimme a good reason to and I will."

You didn't have one. And not just because you've been in love with him for ten years but also because he was your best friend. The only reason to not go through with it was the possibility of losing your friendship if something bad were to happen but, you really didn't think anything would.

Denki might have been a serial flirt but he was surprisingly loyal in all the relationships he'd been in, not that there had been all that many serious ones.

"I'm not hearing anything." He teased, his face getting closer to yours. You could count each and every one of the faint freckles that littered the balls of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. "But, I promise, if you tell me no, I'll stop, won't push this any further."

This whole thing seemed like a frickin' whirlwind, happening faster than your brain could really process the situation but you didn't want it to stop either. You wanted to take it further, didn't want to say no.

Which was why you coiled your arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. There was that small little buzz of electricity that tickled your lips when he'd kiss your nose or cheeks that was now playing on his lips, on his tongue when you welcomed him in.

He leaned back again, pulling you with him until you were both a pile of needy hands and breathy pleas. Everywhere his hands roamed you felt that faint trail of shock against your skin, making the little hairs on your body stand on end.

Clothes were shed, tossed haphazardly around your living room, both of you pausing to laugh when Denki managed to land your hoodie over a lamp. His attention was drawn back to you quickly though, still perched on top of him but now he had your chest on full display since you'd forgone a bra when your date canceled.

Electrifying tongue twirled around your nipples, sensitive normally, now it felt like you knew what it was like when he fried his damn brain. He was eager, relentless even, pulling and sucking, another hand giving your other breast a similar treatment. He had you so focused that you let out a broken moan when slender fingers found their way into your panties.

"Fuckin' hell, Denki."

The bastard winked up at you, nipple still between his lips and before you could retort, he sent another small jolt through you.

You were blatantly grinding down on his hand, reaching behind you, you found him completely solid, barely being contained in the tight black boxers he wore. You had enough sense to tug them down and wrap your hand around him making his teeth sink into your soft flesh, whining when you stroked him.

"Y/N..." He whimpered, his hand momentarily distracted from his ministrations gave you enough time to shift in his lap to scoot forward putting his cock in front of you. In one swift motion, you had his length between your slick. "Oh fuck, cutie!" Golden eyes were squeezed shut while you moved along him, feeling that pleasant curve he had, you could only imagine what it was gonna be like to have him inside you.

"You're being a little tease, ma-makes me wanna do all sorts of things to y-you."

He was kissing your neck, your chest, shoulders, and arms, anywhere on you that he could reach. His hips bucking up into you, just trying to hit that perfect angle.

Strength and agility were something most overlooked when it came to Denki Kaminari but when the man wanted something bad enough, he found a way to get it.

He had your ass rising up in the air with a harsh thrust of his hips and a small squeak from you, giving him exactly enough time to scoot down on the sofa so you were sat atop his face. If you complained, he didn't hear you. Denki already had your thighs around his head and his tongue devouring you completely.

Little shockwaves rocked you while you cried out his name, hands fisting blonde locks just trying to stay upright.

One orgasm from you apparently wasn't enough, neither was two but on the third, Denki finally relented, allowing your heartrate to come back down and your gasping breaths to come in more steadily.

You slid back down his body, his erection now smack against your ass. His hair was recked, face completely flush but he had the biggest grin on his face that you'd ever seen.

Denki kissed both your cheeks, "You are so amazing, cutie!" Kissed your lips, "You taste better than anything I've ever had!" And one more on the tip of your nose. "Doin' okay?"

You nodded, starting to really gather yourself again, and by this point, you really just wanted one thing.

"I wanna... Denks... can I take care of you now?"

"Sure, cutie! How do you want me?" The wiggling eyebrows had you rolling your eyes and pushing him on his back again.

It took little effort for you to position yourself above his cock, and with how slick you were, his bright pink head slipped right inside. He held your hands while you scrunched up your face, sliding all the way down him until he was completely sheathed within.

The curve was immaculate. Hitting in just the right way that had you moaning with just a couple thrusts from him. Before long, you were eagerly bouncing on his cock. Riding him hard so he filled you up each and every time.

You barely registered him reaching for the coffee table, his phone now in his hands. "What're you doin'?" You practically slurred, slowing only slightly. He tapped the camera lens with a wicked grin. "Seriously?"

"We could make 'em really jealous now..."

Somewhere in your brain, you knew your date wouldn't give two shits, in fact, this probably would have only validated their thoughts about your's and Denki's relationship but with his cock stuffed so deeply into you, kissing your cervix in the most beautiful way, you really didn't give a damn.

You and Denki put on the best possible show you could think of. You were overstimulated, sore, and completely elated! He balanced the phone against the wine bottle so neither of you had to try to hold it.

This way he could play with your breasts or squeeze your thighs while you dug half-moons into his chest. Shocked with the playful zaps he sent right to your core.

Your makeup you'd didn't feel like taking off now ran down your cheeks with tears. Your hair was a mess thanks to him pulling at it.

Denki had you howling through another two orgasms, telling you how perfect you were, how nice you felt squeezing him so tightly, your nails felt so good against his skin.

It was only when you collapsed against his chest did he hoist your hips up so he could ram into you, pulling out just at the last second with a strangled cry of your name.

He wiggled himself free, grabbing a towel from your bathroom and cleaning you both up before stopping the recording.

"You're, hey you're gonna send that to me right?" You asked when he handed back your hoodie off the lamp.

He dropped a kiss on your lips, plopping down beside you on the sofa again and you noticed your email already up and the video uploading. "Obviously, we share all our videos and photos. Why would this be different?"

[luminnara]

Just went through the Lost boys x stranger things tag and I'm IN LOOOOVEEEE!!! I LOVE IT SO FREAKING MUCH!!! THE AMOUNT OF POSSIBILITIES OMG. My mind is reeling with the boys thoughts on the party back in Hawkins. Who would is their favorite kid? Who talks to Will about his (cough gay thoughts cough)? Who would have a sass battle and nice comebacks with Max? Who spoils Dustin rotten or becomes a bad influence? Who is trying to not wrangle Mike? WHO TALKS AND GIVE SPORT ADVICE TO MY LUCAS??? WHO IS ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOON OR FREAKED OUT ABOUT JANE/011'S POWERS??? *I need answers*

This crossover is literally THE perfect thing to me right now so I’m very glad other people like it so I don’t have to shut up about it 😂

Dwayne chills and listens to Will talk, but David is the one who’s actually helpful. He’s good at tough love because he’s an asshole, so it’s what he does for ALL of them. Like, it isn’t necessarily the best approach, but he’d sit there, take a drag, and go “so next time Mike wheeler is ignoring you, you hafta just threaten his life. It’s the only way you’ll get his attention. It’s 1986 who gives a shit anyways”

Dustin and Paul hang out. Dustin hates it at first because he’s like “this guy is a fucking idiot” but Paul has saved Dustin’s ass from surf Nazis like three times now and keeps following him around asking science questions. If the kids didn’t already know that the boys were vampires before, they’re gonna suspect that something weird is going on, because Dustin will be talking about radios or something and Paul will just go “oh lmao back in my day the gramophone was the big new thing. Progress sure is wild huh” and walk away

Of course, this also means that Paul is a terrible influence on Dustin, and when Steve rolls into town he’s SO mad about it lol

Marko and Max. Absolute pals. At first they can’t STAND each other, but after fifteen minutes of slinging insults back and forth, they realize that they’re totally on the same wavelength. Marko is like the fun older brother that Billy can’t bring himself to be, and they hang out and skate around the boardwalk and run from the cops every night.

Dwayne gives Lucas sports (and girl) advice. They play football on the beach at night and he uses the carnival games on the boardwalk as basketball practice. Even though Dwayne isn’t particularly good at either sport, he’s still a vampire, so he does pretty well lol

They are ALL trying not to throttle Mike like it’s an episode of the simpsons. They’re a group of dudes who are all sort of dating each other and don’t let anybody get in the way of that, so it’s like a very gay bros before hoes thing, except they’re both the bros AND the hoes in their situation. The point is, they would see how Mike’s relationship with El has been shoving his friendships to the side, and they wouldn’t like that. I also don’t really think they would get along with him at first, because he would make some comments that they absolutely HATE and all be asking Steve if he REALLY needs all of these kids or if he would be okay with them chomping on one

David would think el’s powers are neat. They wouldn’t freak the vampires out too much, since they can play mind tricks on humans already, and they would want to test things out and see if they can pull their usual pranks on her or not.

The frog brothers are spying the entire time and they’re SO freaked out about El. They’re calling Sam up to tell him that the government has come to Santa Carla and it’s only a matter of days before they’re all turned into lizard people

[fruitcoops]

Night Changes

This isn't based on an ask, but I've had some early-Cap ideas brewing and think about the first time the team heard him laugh a lot. His and James' friendship is so sweet in SW--the beginning of it must have been such a shock to them both. SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

So maybe James had bitten off more than he could chew. It wasn’t the first time, to be sure, but coaxing (read: drag kicking and screaming) his new teammate out of the carefully-constructed mosaic of scowls that made up his entire personality was proving to be a little more challenging than he previously expected. With most rookies, all it took was some elbow grease and overenthusiastic inclusion in group events to get them to open up—with his brand-new soon-to-be best friend, he had to handle things a little more delicately.

Sirius Black was a puzzle wrapped up in one of those freaky code-breaking machines from World War Two Lily liked to talk about. He was one of the best hockey players James had ever seen, but off the ice he seemed to shut down. The intense focus on his face smoothed out into almost perfect neutrality, and in the four months since he joined the Lions, he had never once smiled for real in front of the team. He sat in his stall and padded up in silence, then went out and kicked ass before following Pascal home like a living shadow.

Naturally, James took it as a personal mission to pry Sirius Black’s closed-off persona open like a stubborn oyster. He tried including Sirius in group events—the rookie went along with a quiet “yeah, sure”, but sat at the table and nursed a single drink for the entire night. He tried getting into friendly banter with him on the ice, but it was like Sirius had never joked with anyone in his life. Hell, he even tried finding him a girlfriend, which tanked harder than the goddamn Titanic.

“Rookie!” James shouted down the hallway.

Sirius jumped and turned around, obviously confused. “Me?”

“Yes, you,” James laughed, jogging over to toss an arm over his shoulders. “What’s up?”

“Not much.”

He waited for Sirius to continue, then rolled his eyes and gave him a friendly shake. “C’mon, man, how was your weekend? Has Dumo coerced you into being a stay-at-home babysitter yet?”

Sirius’ frown deepened. “What? I come with him to practice every day.”

Change tactics, change tactics— “Got any plans for Friday?”

James knew the answer, of course; it was always no or not yet or a simple shake of the head. If he was a less observant man, he would have assumed Sirius didn’t actually want to hang out with the team. But the longing looks toward their easy rhythm and the way he always tilted himself toward locker room conversations told a different story. “None yet,” Sirius said with a shrug.

James gave him a friendly slap on the back. “Good, ‘cause I’m having a party at my place and you’re not allowed to miss it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want you to be there, duh.” The bewilderment didn’t fade from Sirius’ face, but beneath it—well, maybe James was just seeing things, but he looked almost hopeful. He ruffled Sirius’ hair and headed for the locker room. “Friday at five, rookie! I’ll be waiting!”

--

The week passed in a slog of practices and cold weather. Sirius clammed up more and more as the party drew closer, but James didn’t miss the way his eyes flickered between the rest of them like he was analyzing a play. He would make one hell of a captain someday, if he could just relax a little.

“Hey, rookie, want a ride?” he asked when the big day finally arrived.

“Don’t you want to go home and set up first?” Sirius’ brow furrowed. For an eighteen-year-old kid, he was awfully thoughtful. James couldn’t wait to see him let loose a little. “I wouldn’t want to get in your way.”

“It’s a yes or no question,” he teased, poking the bit of exposed shoulder through the widening hole in Sirius’ under armor.

“I…” He faltered, then the corner of his mouth twitched up. It was the closest thing James had seen to a smile from him yet. One point for Potter. “Sure, Pots. Thanks.”

“No problem. Meet me at my car in five or so, yeah?”

“D’accord.”

“Oho, fancy French,” James laughed, turning back to unlace his skates.

It wasn’t until thirty seconds after Sirius left the room that he remembered he never told the rookie what his car looked like. Horrible, terrible visions of the poor guy wandering around the parking lot—or, god forbid, thinking James had left without him—flashed through his mind. It would undo everything he had been working so hard to build.

“Shit,” he hissed under his breath as he shoved his gear into his duffel with reckless abandon and hurried out of the locker room. His legs would be stiff from trying to run so soon after a grueling drill practice, but it was worth it to save his friend. “Rookie? Hey, Sirius, you still here?”

There was no response. James cursed again and made a beeline for the door to the parking lot. Please, God, don’t let him get lost. I need him to trust me.

“Oh, thank fuck,” he panted as he burst out onto the half-frozen concrete.

Sirius looked up from his phone with a strange expression. “Are you okay?”

“Thought I lost you for a sec.”

“You said to meet at your car, yes?” He glanced between James and the car in sudden worry.

“Yeah, yes, absolutely, I just—” He made an aborted gesture and dug his keys out of his pocket. “I realized I forgot to tell you which one is mine.”

Sirius blinked at him. “I know what your car looks like.”

“How?”

“Because you drive it here every single day and you gave me a ride three weeks ago.”

‘Dumbass’ went unsaid, but James could feel it hanging in the air. He coughed lightly. “Right. Anyway, you can toss your bag wherever and hop in the passenger seat. My place isn’t far from here.”

Sirius took his duffel as he unlocked the car and settled both in the trunk with more care than James’ poor, battered bag had ever seen in its life. That was another thing that confused him about Sirius Black—he was so careful. He walked quietly for someone so tall, and each movement seemed pre-planned.

Each movement, that is, until he tried to get in the car. “Uh, Pots?”

“That’s m—oh.” James covered his mouth to stifle his laughter as Sirius tried to fold himself into the passenger seat and failed miserably. “I’m sorry, my girlfriend was sitting there last. Uh, there’s a lever on your right—yeah, there, just give it a pull and—”

With a harsh ka-chunk, the seat slid all the way back. Both men froze. It took everything in James’ power not to burst out laughing at the deer-in-headlights shock on Sirius’ face.

“Yep, that one,” he managed. “Nice job.”

They drove in relative quiet—James chattered on about weekend plans and hummed to the radio while Sirius watched out the window with the occasional monosyllable response. It took James a bit by surprise how comfortable he was, even without a steady stream of banter. Sirius might have been stubborn and silent and determined to foil all James’ plans at getting him to socialize, but he was calming to be near, like an anchor on unsteady water. Despite his overall quiet air, he was obviously paying attention to every word that left James’ mouth.

“You’re a good guy, y’know that?” he said as they turned onto his street. Sirius glanced over in surprise. “Most people tune me out within, like, five minutes.”

“I’m a good listener.”

James opened his mouth to respond, then paused. “Was that—Sirius Black, was that a joke?”

Something akin to mischief—mischief!—crossed his face. “Maybe.”

“Were you roasting me?” James gaped at him. “Oh my god. The guys are never gonna believe this.”

“Probably not.”

“You sick bastard. They won’t believe me.”

“You can give it a shot,” Sirius said with a shrug as the engine turned off. Pieces began to connect in James’ head as he stared, incredulous, at the rookie he thought would never even crack a smile. Four months of work had not been wasted, as he had feared; every joke, every one-sided conversation, and every attempt to get Sirius involved had been seen and heard and taken to heart. When he thought about it, he wasn’t sure he had ever seen Sirius actively agree to something unless James asked personally.

“We’re friends,” he said aloud, too surprised and too happy to hold it in. Not friends in the way James was with the rest of their loud, over-the-top teammates, but friends all the same.

“Well, yeah,” Sirius said as if it was obvious.

James unbuckled his seatbelt and socked him lightly on the shoulder, barely suppressing a shriek of excitement. “Love you, man. Grab your shit, we’ve got a party to set up.”

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

As much as it pained James to say it, having someone around who was six-foot-three was a huge help. There was no blow to his pride as he dragged Lily’s stepstool out; no grudging acceptance that he simply couldn’t reach those last two inches on the wall. Instead, he could foist any and all responsibility on his brand-new best friend in the whole wide world and focus on the things that mattered, like putting anything breakable or important far away from the grubby hands of his inebriated teammates.

His success was still ringing in his ears when the guests finally arrived—throughout the evening, James rode the high of accomplishing his mission to pull Sirius Black into his tight-knit circle. Every minute of those four months was worth it.

Midnight came and went, and by one-thirty in the morning James’ cramped living room was packed with tipsy hockey players in a vague imitation of a circle. “Non, non, I’ve gotta good one,” Dumo said, hiccupping. The room fell quiet as he leaned forward. “What do you call a body of water with a chicken in it?”

“What?” Kasey whispered, starry-eyed like a kid at Christmas.

“A swimming pool.”

The room stayed quiet, and then someone started to laugh. Slowly, they all turned to the source of the noise, and James felt a ripple of shock roll through the team as Sirius snorted. “It’s a swimming pool,” he said around a smile, his accent thick from three drinks. He had a nice laugh; James could get used to hearing it. “Like—poule, like chicken?”

His whole face was alight with happiness. James wasn’t sure whether to cry or cheer. That’s what I’ve been waiting for, he thought. That look, right there. Sirius fit in among the group like a missing piece of their puzzle, snickering away as if he hadn’t been stoically silent a day in his life. His laugh was downright bubbly.

“I don’t think they get it,” Dumo said into the rim of his cup.

Sirius shook his head, trying to catch his breath. “D’accord, so—so ‘chicken’ in French is poule, yeah? So a chicken in a body of water is a swimming poule. Do you get it now?”

A few oh’s of understanding washed over them, but several people continued to stare. “Too drink for this,” Sergei grumbled, though James could see the smile pulling at his mouth as Sirius turned to him with bright eyes.

“But it’s funny!” Sirius protested, so earnest it made James’ heart hurt.

“I think it’s funny, rookie,” he assured him with a clumsy pat on the arm. “And it’s my house, so I say Dumo gets a point this round.”

Kasey hiccupped. “Hey, anyone who makes the rookie laugh gets points in my book. No offense, dude.”

“None taken,” Sirius said, though his cheeks were pink.

James nudged him with his shoulder as Talker started a knock-knock joke. “It’s okay,” he said under his breath.

Sirius picked at the label on his cup. “I know I haven’t been very social,” he muttered.

“It’s okay,” James insisted. “It always takes rookies a while to warm up, so we’re just glad you’re happy. I’m glad my best friend is having a good time at my party.”

A heavy silence fell between them as Sirius looked over, eyebrows raised. “Best friend?”

“What, like you didn’t see this coming?” James slung an arm over his shoulder. “Yes, you French-Canadian nerd, you’re my best friend. And that means I’m your best friend, and there’s no take-backsies.”

“What the hell is a take-backsie?” Sirius laughed. “Did you make that up?”

James grinned. He had the feeling this was the beginning of an excellent friendship.