#Since we know she's a spider we have a real life reference to go off of

[reksink]

hi I really love your spec bio hornet designs it’s amazing how much detail goes into this

:O!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Hornet's designs are some of my favorites to workshop and refine, and I'm really glad you like them! Like I said before, the possibilties for her are endless, both for her external and internal structures. Capturing details that are both logical from what we know about her and real life spider while then fitting that knowledge into her design is something I'll always love about the process A small collect of roughs for the eyes:

Again, thank you so much for send this, it's really sweet to hear :}

[bit-dodgy-innit]

We're Not Here to F*ck Spiders

Summary: You were the oldest Spider-Girl the society had ever encountered, therefore, Miguel took a special interest in you. He wanted to know if your life would correspond with his and the other Spiders’ canon, or whether you had a completely different canon you were forging on your own. After an offhanded comment about reviewing your canon with Miguel outside of headquarters, your relationship with Spider-Man 2099 is forever changed.

Set in between ITSV and ATSV.

Pairing: Marc x OC Female!Reader

For context, Reader is an alternate, grown-up version of Mayday due to personal reasons (personal reasons being I’ve been obsessed with Mayday Parker since I was baby child)! No real use of Y/N, though Miguel does refer to the reader as "May" twice and Peter Parker nicknamed her Mayhem. Peter B.'s daughter is Mayday.

Word Count: 10.2k words (see why this took me forever?!)

Rating: Explicit - Minors DNI!!

CW/TW: An obscene amount of world-building, parents and kids fighting, mentions of a loss of a child, everyone being hot for Miguel, rough-ish sex (both partners are superheroes, come on), our boy is HUNG, dirty talk, a bit of cocky dom!Miguel, oral f!receiving, a lil bit of both m and f!receiving nipple play, PIV sex, riding, a quick spank, creampie, felching, and perhaps most intense of all, Miguel’s fear of commitment.

A/N: hahahahahaha this movie is nearly a year old and I FINALLY got around to writing a fic for it! Trust that I've been working on this on and off for a while now, but life has been nuts and writing more and more for work (yay!) but wanted to get this out while I had a slow week for everyone to enjoy!

Also, due to more personal reasons, my HC for Reader's parents are Peter and Mary Jane from Sam Raimi's masterpiece in 2002. But no presh if that doesn't jibe with ya!

I MADE A PLAYLIST FOR THIS FIC AND I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE PROUD OF ANYTHING

“Careful, Mayday!” you fondly called after the child who was literally bouncing off the cavernous walls of HQ. Yeesh, were you this energetic when you were her age? Probably. It never ceased to be weird, hanging out with an alternate baby version of yourself, but you could manage if you pretended she was your little niece, or sister, or something like that. 

The alternate baby version of Mayday Parker in question didn’t heed your admonishment at all (which tracked), so you called again, “Oh noooo…I’m gonna have to come up there and get ya!”

Mayday squealed in delight at your “threat” and only zipped around quicker. However, you had a couple decades on her, so your reflexes were more attuned. It didn’t take long for you to capture her in your grasp and tickle her. However, little Mayday wasn’t going to give up that easily. She squirmed out of your hold and began scaling the nearby wall at a dizzying pace. 

“Okay, missy, let’s settle down,” you announced, shooting a web to meet the infant on the platform she’d crawled onto. You continued to speak as you swung, “you know how Miguel is, we can’t get too carried…away.”

You nearly threw yourself back off the platform when you were met with the sight of Miguel himself standing before you holding May. 

“Oh, hi,” you gestured to the squirming girl in his hands, “thanks. I was right behind her.” 

“What am I like?” He asked, an inquisitive arch in his brow. 

“You’re…you run a tight ship that’s all,” you wished a portal would swallow you whole. “And it’s great! We need it.”

“Are you supposed to be anywhere?” Miguel prodded further as he passed you May. 

“Me? No, it's my day off.”

“Then why are you here?” 

“Because you put Peter B. on a mission and it gives me anxiety when he takes her.” 

“You and me both,” he huffed. 

“That being said, anything I can help you with?”

“Yeah actually, I have new sequencing to go over with you.” 

Though the multiverse was ever-expanding, you were the oldest Spider-Girl the society had ever encountered, therefore, Miguel had taken a special interest in you. Since you were a second generation Spider, Miguel wanted to know if your life would correspond with his, your dad’s, and the other Spiders’ canon, or whether you had a completely different canon you were forging on your own. You initially found the whole concept fascinating, yet that interest waned pretty quickly when Miguel informed you that he was going to have Lyla analyze your entire life and have you expound on your experiences so he could compare you to the other Spiders. 

Not that there was anything you were particularly ashamed of, but some of this stuff was embarrassing. Unlike baby Mayday, whose powers had already emerged, yours didn’t make an appearance until puberty. Reviewing your awkward teen years wasn’t exactly your ideal way of spending time with an unfairly hot guy, let alone the head of Spider Society.  

“Oh okay, yeah,” you replied. “When Peter gets ba—“

“MAYDAY! WHERE’S MY PUMPKIN?” Peter’s voice echoed across the room. 

No sooner had Peter spoken did Mayday websling herself off of the platform and into her father’s arms. 

Shit, there went your excuse. A nervous chuckle escaped you, “Convenient.” 

“Sí. Follow me.”

You did as Miguel said and trailed behind him to his…office didn’t quite describe it. Work station? Lair? You lasted all of forty-five seconds before your gaze dropped to his sculpted backside, a new record for you. 

It really was unfair that the intense, ornery leader of the Spider Society had to be so damn fine. You were a superhero and a consummate professional, but at the end of the day, you were a mostly heterosexual human woman with eyes. Miguel was stupidly sexy. His shoulder-to-waist ratio, that chiseled face, and of course, perfectly round ass had been the topic of a few hushed, giggly conversations between you and the other Spiders that liked boys. 

It was only ever cheeky whispers however. All of you knew better than to catch any real feelings for Miguel. One, it was majorly inappropriate. And two, he’d built emotional walls higher than the tallest skyscrapers in Nueva York. 

Still, your mind couldn’t help but wander every now and then…you blamed it on your latest breakup. Spider-Girl duties had yet again claimed another potential partner. You suspected that was the reason it was more and more difficult not to fantasize about Miguel lately. Like sure, he was probably an animal in bed in the best way, but it was the prospect of not having to hide anything from him that appealed to you even more. 

“Lyla, bring up the latest sequencing,” Miguel ordered. 

If it weren’t for your spider-senses, you would’ve collided with his impossibly cut back, you were so deep into your thirsty thoughts. 

Suddenly, you were back on Earth-982A in your childhood bedroom. Or at least, that’s where you appeared to be. The virtual surroundings would’ve been comforting if it weren’t for the particular event that Miguel had wanted to revisit. 

Your father was forbidding you to use your powers. Again. You gazed at the rendering of your teenage self with compassion. Now, your father was fully supportive of you following in his footsteps, but the journey there had been rough. 

“You know, most parents would be happy if their kid wanted to do something to help the world!” 

Your dad scoffed. “That doesn’t matter - I’m not most parents and you’re not most kids!”

“Yeah and whose fault is that?!” Virtual you fired back. “I was born like this because of you! Dad, you’re always telling me that ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’ and now when I discover I inherited that great power, I can’t use it!?” 

“Pause,” Miguel’s voice spooked you back into the present. When you finally shook yourself from the memory that was playing before you, you found his eyes on yours. “Okay, there. Define ‘always’.”

“Quantitatively?” 

“Preferably.” 

“That’s impossible.” 

“Qualitatively, then.” 

“I mean, it's one of those things he said so much that I can’t remember the first time I heard it.” 

“When did your dad first hear it?” 

“His Uncle Ben told him during their last conversation together.” 

“Checks out. And how old was he?” 

“He was a senior in high school, so like seventeen, eighteen?” 

Miguel nodded. Even though x-ray vision nor telepathy weren’t in your powerset, you could practically see all the comparisons and calculations he was making in his head. 

“So using your powers to help people, that was your instinct when you inherited your abilities.”

“Yeah.” 

Miguel nodded again. 

“It’s different, isn’t it?” you asked him. He didn’t reply. “My dad told me he entered some god awful cage-match-wrestling-thing to get enough money to buy a car and impress my mom before he officially became Spider-Man.” 

Miguel was seemingly too busy with entering his latest data to respond. Instead, he barked at Lyla, “Resume sequence.” 

The holographic version of your dad lurched back to life to argue, “May, you are my great responsibility! So if I say no powers, no powers! I did this a lot longer than you! ” 

Tears streamed down your adolescent face. Thankfully, you’d lost some of the baby fat since.  “I hate you! I HATE YOU DAD!!” 

You shifted your weight from one foot to the other. This wasn’t easy to live, let alone re-live. So, as a Spider, naturally you made a jaunty, off-handed comment. “Wow, you really know how to show a girl a good time.” 

“Qué?” 

“Nothing.” He fixed you with his signature scowl so you elaborated, “Seriously, nothing. Though, maybe if we did this in an environment where I had access to alcohol and carbs, this would be less um…less unsettling for me.”

Miguel stared at you blankly. “But the simulator is here.”

“Right, of course.” Ughhhh, why was he so damn pretty?! “Forget I said anything, Miguel.” 

He dropped it, but before the simulation could start again, your gizmo beeped. Benji’s basketball game started in twenty. 

“Actually, sorry, I have to go.” 

“But we just got started.” 

“I know, but I haven’t been able to catch one of my little brother’s games yet this season, and it’s almost the playoffs.”

“Won’t he under–”

You interrupted Miguel. “You realize spider-stuff is not a viable excuse with my family, right? Besides, it’s my day off. I’m only here out of the goodness of my own heart and my commitment to the Spider-Society.” 

He rolled his eyes at your remark, but couldn’t help a little half - nay, quarter - smile from forming across the lips you had fantasized about kissing one too many times. “Things are quiet for once. We should knock this out now.” 

“We should,” you conceded as you created a portal, “but trying to have some semblance of work-life balance is Spider-Girl canon.”

And with that, you hopped back into your world, before you could change your mind or say anything else stupid and/or unintentionally flirty to Miguel. 

You re-appeared in your apartment with just enough time to throw on clothes and swing over to the middle school. Your mom was waiting as you hurried into the gym right as Benji and the other players were taking the court. 

“Look who made it,” MJ observed wryly. 

“Ha ha,” you fired back humorlessly, but pulled your mom into a hug all the same. “Where’s Dad?”

The ref’s whistle signaled tip off and the beginning of the game, momentarily distracting you two. You were thrilled to see Benji starting – he really wanted to make JV when he started high school next year, and this was a step in the right direction. 

“Go Benji!!” MJ cheered before answering your question, “He hit traffic coming from the station. He’ll be here soon.” 

Your collective attention was pulled to the game unfolding in front of you, then MJ asked, “What have you been up to today?” 

“Me? I was at the society for a bit, helping with the baby.”

You didn’t need to see your mother to know that she tensed at the mention of the Spider-Society and Peter B.’s Mayday. It, understandably, weirded her out. 

“How can it not be strange to care for–”

“It would be if we were closer in age,” you pointed out. “But it’s just like babysitting with Mayday right now. And trust me, after all the versions of Dad I’ve met, hanging out with little me is nothing.” 

Despite being weirded out, your mom always tried to empathize, so she switched gears. “Anything interesting happen?” 

“Ugh, just more sequencing with Miguel - today was a tough one.”

“Why?”

“Fights with Dad from years ago that I know we’ve moved past, but still suck to watch.” 

Your mom took your hand in hers, a much-needed grounding gesture. “Well, you’re back in the present, in your corner of the universe now, sweetie.” 

You gave her hand an appreciative squeeze and took her words to heart, focusing on the basketball game in front of you. It didn’t take too long to put the earlier events from headquarters behind you – Benji scored a couple baskets and you took it upon yourself to meticulously document the game on your phone for memories and possible future blackmail. 

When your Dad did join you and MJ, you couldn’t help but hug him tightly. You buried your face into his coat, which smelled like a mix of smoke from the streets and his aftershave. 

It was Peter’s mix of spider and paternal instincts that prompted him to ask, “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah,” you assured him, giving him some space. “I just–I love you, Dad.” 

“Love you too, Mayhem.” Where Mayday was Peter B’s moniker for his daughter, Mayhem was your dad’s nickname for you.

The game ended in victory for Benji’s team, the Midtown Mavericks, and you three waited for the youngest member of the Parker family to emerge from the locker room. 

Benji’s face when he saw you made any lingering discomfort you had leaving Miguel one thousand percent worth it. “You made it!” 

“Wouldn’t miss it!” you pulled Benji into a hug - however reluctant he was to it since he was a ~teenager~ now. “Dude, you put up points tonight!” 

But Benji had gotten distracted, so instead of responding to you, he murmured “Woah, that guy is swole.” 

You turned around to see who he was talking about and your jaw nearly hit the floor. 

It was Miguel. 

Even more incredibly, he was in civilian clothes. It wasn’t until you witnessed him in dark wash jeans, a henley, and a well-worn bomber jacket that you realized that you’d actually never seen Miguel in anything other than his spider suit. 

He called your name and you acknowledged him with a wave, flabbergasted. Even more astonished that you knew this very attractive hunk of man was your brother, “Wait, you know him?!”

“We work together,” you said quietly. 

“At the paper?” Benji was confused. 

“No, at my other job.” 

“Oh,” it clicked for him. “That makes sense. Man, I hope I get that jacked when I get my powers.” 

“Shhhh, be cool Benji,” you urged him. 

“Um, I’m not the one you have to worry about,” he harrumphed. “Oh shit, you like him.”

Though there was more than a decade between you and Benji, your little brother was still your little brother.  “No! He’s the head of the Spider-Society and he’s–you’ll see.” 

You took a step forward to greet Miguel before anyone else from your family could get to him. “Hey! What’re you doing here?” 

“I wanted to finish our work today, and since it’s your day off, I decided to come to you.” 

“Miguel O’Hara making a compromise? How not canon. Wonder how big of a hole that’s gonna tear in the multiverse.” 

“Shut up,” he ordered you playfully. 

“Miguel, good to see you!” Your dad strode over and pulled the younger spider-man into a handshake. 

“You too, Dr. Parker.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at how oddly deferential Miguel was with your dad. He’d met Peter first, when he was establishing the Arachnohumanoid Polymultiverse. Miguel was stunned to discover that this Peter was not only retired, but had a full-grown daughter who’d taken up his crime-fighting mantle. Apparently your dad’s canon was particularly important and central to the greater Spiderverse, which meant Miguel would pester you with questions about him constantly. 

“Is everything okay?” Peter asked, “You don’t usually make house calls.” 

Before Miguel could explain, an elbow nearly sent you into careening into his broad chest. Mom. 

“Miguel, this is my mom, Mary Jane.” 

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Parker,” Miguel dutifully offered his hand to her. 

“The pleasure is mine,” your mom gushed, “I’ve heard so much about you.” 

Benji was right. He was not the person you had to be worried about. A rip in the multiverse to swallow you whole would be rather convenient right about now. 

Miguel’s brow creased. “You have?”

“She hasn’t,” you intervened. “Like two or three things in passing, max. Promise I haven’t broken my NDA or you know, the superhero code of secrecy or anything.” 

Mercifully, Miguel let it slide for the time being. He turned to your brother. “And you must be Benji.” 

“Yeah,” Benji confirmed, doing a terrible job of pitching his voice lower. “‘Sup, bro.” 

Jesus Christ. At this point, you were ready to rip the fabric of reality yourself to end this. 

“Congrats on the win. Hate to do this, but I need to steal your sister for a bit.” 

“No problem, I know she’s fine with it.” Perhaps Benji needed a reminder regarding which sibling had the super powers. “Also, what’s your workout–”

“Well, as fun as this all is, we should probably get back to work.”

Your family didn’t put up much of a fight – thank God – as pleasantries were exchanged and you and Miguel took off. You hoped Miguel didn’t catch when your mother mouthed “So handsome!!” to you as everyone said their goodbyes. Finally, it was just the two of you walking down East 36th Street. 

“Sorry about them,” you began. 

He looked at you, puzzled. “Why?” 

“My family. Embarrassing.” 

“They’re not embarrassing. They’re…they’re nice,” there was pain behind Miguel’s eyes. “It’s interesting. Your brother hasn’t experienced any spider-abilities, has he?” 

“No,” you confirmed. “Not yet.”

You two slowed to stop on the corner. Miguel looked at you expectantly. “So, where to?”

“What do you mean?” 

“You said you wanted to do this in an environment where you ‘had access to alcohol and carbs’.” 

“Oh! Right. Hmmm, where are we?” you looked up at the cross streets above you. “36th and 3rd? I know a place.” 

You took Miguel to a little hole-in-the-wall Italian spot nearby. Since it was so close to Benji’s school and your old middle and high school, you had spent many a week night at their tables, either working on homework or chowing down after basketball practice. 

Therefore, the staff knew you – it was a family owned spot, you’d basically grown up with the owner’s children, Maria and Chris. Though you graduated from Midtown Charter a looong time ago, they still took care of you. Maria had even let you use their first aid kit once, no questions asked, after a nasty Spider-Girl skirmish nearby. You didn’t suspect she knew anything, but even if she did, you could trust Maria to be discreet. 

At least, you thought you could trust Maria, but when she showed you and Miguel to your table, and Miguel made a pit stop at the restroom, she very indiscreetly asked, “Daaaamn, girl. He your boyfriend? Because you–”

“No!”

“You getting dicked down by him?” 

“No!” 

“Can I get dicked down by him? He single? Does he like the ladies?” 

“Maria, he’s a colleague. Actually, he’s my superior. So no…unfortunately, no.” 

Maria cackled with delight. “That’s a pen worth sticking in your company ink. I’ll bring you some garlic bread.”

“And a glass of red wine,” you added. “no, a bottle.”

“That’s my girl!” 

In theory, you had thought that reviewing sequencing outside of headquarters would’ve been less awkward, but in reality, it was more so. You couldn’t stop drinking in the sight of Miguel in normal clothes, the intimacy of having a meal together when usually your interactions were so sterile and professional, plus there was a little voice in your head screaming that THIS WAS BASICALLY A DATE on repeat.

“So should we pick up where we left off?” Miguel asked. The question brought you back down to Earth. Despite that little persistent voice in your head oohing and ahhing at him, it was clear that Miguel didn’t think this was a date. This dinner was a means to end, nothing more. 

“Let me get a little wine drunk first,” you bargained. 

“Yeah, but you have sped-up metabolism, so that’ll take at least–” 

“That was a joke. Miguel, when was the last time you went out to dinner?” 

He seemed to truly consider the question, then, “I don’t know.” 

You’d never heard Miguel say those three words in that order before. 

“I promise you I will go over my cringe teen years with you, but can we eat some garlic bread and not get drunk off this very nice bottle of wine first?” 

“You’re worse than Lyla,” his eyes narrowed. 

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“She’s always trying to get me to take breaks.”

“You should! There’s only so much self-flagellation a human can take, even if they’re a superhero.” 

Miguel’s response was a very inarticulate grumble. Maria dropped off the wine, bread, and took your order. You didn’t know what was more insane – the amount of food Miguel ordered or how unabashedly Maria was ogling him. 

“Let me guess, Lyla’s the one who suggested the field trip to my home dimension?”

Another grumble, this one in the affirmative. 

“Classic,” you remarked with a snort before taking a gulp from your glass. “I love that your AI is smarter than you.” 

“Of course she is, she can access all of the multiverse’s knowledge in a nano-second.’

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean then?” 

“Can we not talk about me for a second?” 

“Why?” 

“Because…because, I don't know, I was hoping doing this in a more casual environment would–it’d make it feel more like a conversation.” 

“We are having a conversation.” 

“Jeez, Miguel,” you took another sip of wine. “It’s not easy digging through my past like this. A lot of the time it feels more like an interrogation.” 

“Ah.” 

“Yeah. And don’t get me wrong, I want to help you, help the Spider-Society, but the one-sidedness of this is exhausting.”

“Exhausting.” He sounded dubious. 

“You know what? Forget it. I’ll take care of the bill and see you tomorrow, and we can go back to reviewing the sequencing like we normally do. I should know better than to complain to you.” 

Miguel looked at you if your words had stung him. “You can complain to me.” 

“No, I can’t,” you disputed. “You’re the most self-sacrificing Spider out of any of us–which is really saying something, by the way–and I feel lame talking about my feelings with you.”

“And that’s why our reviews feel like interrogations,” he was putting it together. 

“Yeah. Sorry to drag you out of HQ.”

Miguel scrutinized you with a long, unreadable look before announcing, “I’m not leaving before I have my bolognese.”

You didn’t know whether to smile or scream. Miguel may have lacked the traditional spidey precognitive sense, and the signature spider sense of humor, but he definitely had the stubbornness you all seemed to possess. 

You shot him a sidelong glare. “Why did you come here?” 

“I told you - I wanted to finish sequencing and Lyla suggested coming to you.” 

“But you didn’t have to take her suggestion.”

Miguel’s large frame shifted in the chair that suddenly appeared too small for him. “Like you said, she’s smarter than me, so I did. And yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out to dinner.”

You didn’t know how to react to that. Right before the silence became intolerable, Miguel spoke again, “You still with that gu–’

“No.” The last thing you wanted to talk about with Miguel was your failed relationship with Gene, and you’d once discussed the correlation of getting your first period could’ve had with your powers emerging with him.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I mean, you get it.”

Miguel at last took a sip from his glass. “All too well.” 

“The price of being a hero, right?” you sent him a small, sympathetic smile across the table. “Or at least that’s what I tell myself.” 

“Your parents seemed to have figured it out,” he pointed out. 

“Well, that took like decades, and according to you, they’re canon, right? So it was meant to be. I guess that’s one of the comforts of having a canon-confirmed soulmate.” 

“Yeah, if you're Peter Parker.” 

Your heart sank at the implication. “So that means if a Spider isn’t Peter we’re meant to die alone?” 

“I don’t know,” Miguel’s eyes were averted. “Maybe only if you’re a Miguel O’Hara.” 

“Stop, you could get anyone in this restaurant to sleep with you,” you couldn’t help but roll your eyes, “Our waitress has to resist climbing on top of you whenever she passes the table.”

He swatted away the implication as if it were a pest. “That’s different.”

“You know, it might help with the stress.”

“What?”

“Letting someone climb on top of you.”

Miguel glared at you, “Don’t.”

“See? It’s not fun being on the other side of the questions,” you smirked. Your conversation was briefly suspended when Maria returned with your entrees. After thanking her, you refocused back on Miguel, “Can I ask you something else?”

“No.”

“DADA!” A child, who couldn’t have been more than three, screeched happily from a neighboring table. 

Miguel froze. For the first time in the several months that you’d known him, you saw his face soften. The warmth that filled his eyes at the sight of the toddler was undeniable. The fond expression hardened back into his stoic facade within an instant, yet Miguel couldn’t fully conceal the anguish that clearly still haunted him. He never could. 

“Sorry,” you said softly. 

He shook off your condolences. “What’d you want to ask me?” 

“Have you tried seeing anyone after…” it felt forbidden to say Gabriella’s name out loud. 

“What’s the point?” Miguel shrugged. “I don’t have the time, even if I wanted to.” 

“Right,” you hedged. 

Eventually, you and Miguel were able to find things to talk about outside of work and your respective traumas. You compared notes on the lamest villain you’d each encountered rounding up anomalies, discussed the idea of a nursery for spider-babies, or as Miguel insisted on calling them, “second-generation Spiders” – Peter couldn’t keep taking his kid on missions, plus Jessica Drew had just learned she was expecting – you even got Miguel to open up about his teenage days some. 

“Makes sense you were a rebel,” you chuckled, taking one last bite of the tiramisu Maria insisted was on the house.  

“Yeah? Why?” Miguel prodded.

“Because you-re so uptigh–upstanding now.” 

You were treated to another rare grin from Miguel, this time a half smile rather than a quarter. “Nice save.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you contended with put-on innocence. 

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t always like what I have to do, you know.” 

Your gaze locked directly with his for a breath-taking second, his eyes garnets in the low light of the dining room. “We should get going, I've taken you away from headquarters for long enough.” 

“You act like I’ve never left HQ before, and if anything, I took you away from your family,” Miguel parried, yet stood up nonetheless. You followed suit, only mildly disappointed he didn’t argue with you about leaving. As awkward as this dinner initially was, you’d actually ended up enjoying it. “I’ll take you home.”

Miguel’s words stopped you in your tracks, “You know I’m the protector of this city, right?” 

“Obviously, I—” he huffed as you waved goodbye to Maria and exited back onto the street. “Mierda May, I’m trying to be a gentleman here.”

Oh. Oh. Did Miguel think this was a date too? Date was too strong of a word – did Miguel think this was a not-entirely-work-related-hang too? 

You struggled to keep your face blasé. “Ah, okay. We taking the subway or are we swinging?” 

Miguel shot you a look as if the choice was obvious, which is how you found yourself traipsing across the city with Spider-Man 2099. You’d traveled by web plenty of times with Miguel before on missions, but there was something about it being the two of you, in your city, that made it feel just a little bit special. 

And to be honest, you’d never get enough of watching Miguel’s body hurtle through the air – despite his bulk and brawn, he was agile and lithe as he swung from building to building with you. You nearly plunged into traffic on Sixth Avenue after your thoughts had wandered to what those bulging muscles looked like unencumbered by that skin-tight suit of his. 

When you arrived at your apartment in Morningside Heights, you were suddenly self-conscious. You’d never brought a Spider to your residence, and Miguel was likely the hardest to impress of them all. 

He studied your modest one-bedroom with the same intensity as he did his screens at the Spider-Society. 

“It’s not much, I know,” you began, “and with Spider-Girl stuff, I don’t have the time to keep it as tidy as I'd like to.”

“It’s perfect,” he mumbled before catching himself. “I mean, it’s perfect for you.” 

“Yeah, I don’t need much, but it gets good light during the day and was the highest floor I could afford at my price point,” you removed your mask as you babbled on. 

“Makes sense,” Miguel nodded. 

You had no idea where to go from there – what on Earth was the man playing at? Should you offer him water, another drink, the best spot to portal back to HQ? He was lingering in your space, seemingly fascinated by the framed prints on your walls, the photos on the coffee table and credenza. 

“Um, do you need to use the restroom or something? Because it’s right through there,” you motioned to the appropriate door. 

“I’m good for now.”

THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? You hollered in your head. Externally, you kept playing hostess, “Let me get you a glass of water then–”

Yet Miguel caught your wrist before you could retreat into your tiny, galley kitchen. You weren’t proud of how your heart leapt and your breath hitched at the contact. 

“Shouldn’t you be getting back?” 

He shrugged, “I should, but–”

“But what?” 

“I’ve been thinking about what you said…about letting someone climb on top of me.” 

You gulped, “Sorry, that was so inappropriate of me–”

“It was. Inappropriate, that is, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea,” he tugged you closer to him. You could barely stand to meet his eyes, alight with desire, while your heart was pounding embarrassingly fast. 

“Um, judging by the–uh, do you want me to climb on top of you, Miguel?” you were always so much smoother in your daydreams about him. 

His lips hovered dangerously near yours. “Do you want to climb on top of me?” 

The closer you got to Miguel, the faster your brain turned to scrambled eggs. His large, sure hands had settled on your hips. 

“Uh huh,” was the best you could muster before he crashed your lips together. 

Miguel’s kiss was searing and all-consuming – it felt as if the longer your mouths moved against each other, the more your body melted into his. He was tall, so tall, and even for a superhero like yourself, it was difficult to keep yourself perched on the balls of your feet to reach his skilled, hungry mouth. 

He seemed to sense your struggle, and without breaking your liplock, he scooped you up into his arms. It was foreign but not unwelcome – you were so used to being the strongest, the person who held others, the hero. Therefore, being held so effortlessly in Miguel’s arms was nothing short of exhilarating. You weren’t the strongest person in the room anymore, you could surrender. You loved it.

Miguel pressed your back into the nearest wall, causing an emphatic moan to leave you when your hips became flush with his. You could already feel him – hot, hard, and big – between the flimsy fabric of your spider-suits. Instinctually, you canted your heat against his, delighting in the way he seemed to grow hotter, harder, not to mention unbelievably bigger, when you did. 

“Bedroom?” he gasped between harsh, ardent kisses. 

You managed to fling a hand in the correct direction, and next thing you knew, Miguel was depositing you onto your bed. You propped yourself up, leaning back on your palms to take in the man towering over you at the edge of your bed. In a flash of color and light, his suit disappeared from his strapping physique, and the sight of Miguel naked intoxicated you more than alcohol ever could. 

His shoulders seemed even broader without the unstable particles of his suit covering them. His pecs were massive, which made a delectable ratio when his chest tapered down to a chiseled abdomen and slim hips. Slim hips that framed the biggest cock you’d seen outside of porn – hell, maybe even including porn. He was long and thick – it made a dark thrill race down your spine when you contemplated how the hell that was going to fit inside of you. 

Miguel noticed you marveling at his package, misinterpreting the rapacious glint in your eye as unease, “I’ll prep you, I won’t hurt you.” 

“Oh, I’m not worried” you glanced back up at his face coquettishly. 

“No?” Miguel cocked an eyebrow and advanced toward you on the bed, a jaguar stalking its prey. He nudged you onto your back and pinned your wrists to your comforter, “maybe you should be.” 

You muscled out of Miguel’s grip and switched positions so you were straddling him. Only then did you lean closer and whisper into his ear, “I can take it.” 

Miguel growled, and within an instant, you were on your back once again as he pawed at your suit. Unlike his costume, your spider-suit was made of plain old fabric, so there was a bit of fumbling, cursing in Spanish, nervous giggling, and a mumbled comment about ‘making you a suit like mine’ from Miguel before you were nude as well. 

He splayed you out against your mattress as if you were a feast before him. Your first instinct was to try and cover yourself but Miguel’s dark gaze froze you. A pleased groan rumbled from his chest and then his large hands flew to your breasts. “Such full, perky tits.”

You moaned in response to his ministrations. How was this real? You and Miguel were touching each other – naked – and you hadn’t woken up yet. 

“It’s all for you,” you mewled, relishing his hot palms on your sensitive buds. 

Another growl ripped from his chest before he swooped down and sucked one of your nipples into his warm, wanting mouth. You keened, a pathetic, high-pitched sound, and you wove your fingers into his dark locks as he gorged himself on your tits. 

The pull of Miguel’s mouth on your peaks was made only better when he snaked a hand between your legs and ran a finger along the seam of your sex. You bucked at the touch, your reaction causing Miguel to lift his head from your bosom. 

“Mmmm, you like it when I play with your pussy, cariño?”

At this point words had all but left you so you nodded and whined in the affirmative. Miguel’s digit parted your folds, tracing up and down, then found your clit and rubbed slow, tortuous circles into the nub. 

“So wet for me, bebita,��� he observed, maddeningly casually, while he played you like an instrument. “This is all for me, huh?”

Your head thrashed back and forth on your comforter with a sob, both from pleasure and bashfulness. Now there was no downplaying how horny Miguel made you. 

“Shhh,” he cooed at you, taking one of your hands and bringing it to his groin, “feel what you do to me.”

This time your moan was unabashed as your hand circled around his girth. “Fuck, you’re so big.” 

“I know,” he grunted. Normally, such braggadocio from a man would be an immediate turn off to you. But Miguel wasn’t being arrogant, not when he was referring to the thick, pulsing hardness you were currently caressing. “Gotta get you ready for me.”  

He guided your hand away from his member, even despite your protests, to wrench your thighs wider and bury his head between them. The realization alone that Miguel O’Hara was about to eat you out almost made you come, yet actually feeling his tongue on your needy cunt was infinitely better. He licked a stripe from your perineum to your clit, tearing another ragged moan from you when his tongue focused in on the bundle of nerves. 

Miguel chuckled against your folds at your enthusiastic praise and redoubled his efforts. Your fingers reflexively tangled in his inky locks once again as he continued his delectable assault on your pussy. The way Miguel tasted you matched with how he seemed to approach everything – he was vehement and determined to bring you pleasure like how he was when he worked. He managed to just stay on the right side of rough as he slurped at you..though perhaps that was a bit different than how he fought.

He speared his tongue into your hole, affording you the opportunity to grind your clit against his prominent nose. In your pleasure-filled haze, you briefly fretted that you were suffocating Miguel, but when you tried to scooch away and give him some air, the man grunted and pulled your hips closer to him.

You keened again when one of his thick fingers joined the fray as he prepped you. After all the sexual tension, all the self-denial, and all the excitement the night had held, it felt so good to clench around something. He was again methodical with his preparation, allowing you to adjust to one digit before adding another, and another. It couldn’t have made a starker contrast with how he was devouring your sex. Even in the bedroom, Miguel O’Hara was full of contradictions. It didn’t take long for your breaths to become more shallow, for your cries to reach a higher pitch as you climaxed around his hefty fingers. The combination of the penetration and the stimulation of your clit with his mouth was too good to resist. 

You were slightly relieved that Miguel remained nestled between your legs while you rode out your peak. The orgasm he’d given you was much too good to be able to control your facial expressions. 

He at last came up for air once you’d begun floating down from your peak. A primal pride surged through you at the sight of your juices smeared all over his lips and chin. You couldn’t help but smash your mouths together, eager to sample the combination you two made. It was all too easy to get lost in a kiss with Miguel, yet as you plundered his mouth with your tongue, your hand crept back down his groin. 

This time it was Miguel who moaned into your mouth as you returned him to full mast with feather-light, teasing touches. 

“I need to fuck you,” he gasped between kisses. 

“Finally,” you bantered back. 

A growl from Miguel and then he tackled you back flat on the bed. You couldn’t help the giggle – partly from nerves, partly from anticipation – that escaped you at his actions, despite the visage of a hulking, intimidating man hovering over you could be frightening in another context. 

“Do you have protection?” 

You hesitated. You kept a box of condoms in your bedside drawer, but given Miguel’s size, they’d be inadequate. 

“None that would fit you,” you confessed, stealing another glance at his large erection. It was truly a sight to behold. Miguel deflated slightly, fearing penetration was off the table, and usually it would be. You were firmly a two methods of contraception girl, but there was no way you were going to pass up this chance to have sex with Miguel. “Don’t worry Spidey, I’m on the pill.” 

“Gracias a Dios,” he muttered, then wasted no time situating himself between your hips. He drew yet another mewl from you when he slapped the tip of his cock a few times on your clit before lining himself up with your entrance. 

He found you looking at him expectantly. And though Miguel mostly saw desire in your eyes, he could see the glimpse of unease too. He assured you, “I’ll go slow.” 

You nodded, you trusted him after all, but nothing could prepare you for the stretch of when Miguel finally pushed into you. Just the tip was already splitting you apart more than Gene, or any former lover for that matter, ever had. 

“Breathe,” Miguel rasped. You couldn’t tell if he was advising you or himself though. It struck you then that you’d perhaps achieved the damn-near impossible – disarming the notoriously closed-off Miguel O’Hara. He looked beautiful, biting his plush lower lip as he slowly rocked more and more of his huge cock inside of you. 

Your back arched off the mattress of the sensation of being progressively speared on the monster that Miguel called a dick. It was too much and not enough all at once, and your fingers dug into your comforter below you. He tried to distract you from any potential pain, Miguel’s index finger returning to your barely-recovered clit. 

“That’s it, open up for me,” he husked. Your head swam at the mix of his enormous manhood stretching you to your limit and his tender, in-control tone. The realization hit you harder than a punch from an anomaly. In that moment, fear skittered down your throat and pooled into your stomach, resting right above where you two were joined. He’s going to ruin me for other men, isn’t he? 

You couldn’t think any further since not only was Miguel fully seated within you, he had asked you a question. Your eyes glassy and pupils blown, found his, and he repeated himself. “You okay? Can-can I move?”

“Yes,” you gasped. In case your breath affirmation left any room for doubt, you added, “please.”

Another grunt from your lover and Miguel at last began to thrust into you. Your arms flew from the bed to his impossibly wide shoulders, your nails digging into the caramel, taut skin there. You couldn’t tell exactly when it’d happened, lost in the deliciously lewd sounds you were making between the slap of your bodies, your labored breaths, and his determined staccato grunts while Miguel railed you, but your hips had begun to meet his. 

“M-more Miguel,” you urged him as you dragged your fingertips down the expanse of his back. Each of your hands grabbed a fistful of that glorious ass and squeezed to drive home your point. 

“You sure?” 

You moaned. It was as if he couldn’t give it to you hard or faster enough. You used your grip on the globes of his perfect rear to try and force him to increase to the pace and force you needed him to fuck you at. 

Miguel laughed. A dark and stirring sound that made you involuntarily tighten around his girthy length. “Alright bebita, but remember…you asked for this.” 

His words ignited something defiant within you. You pulled Miguel’s head from where it had fallen into the crook of your neck so you could look him in the eyes when you said, “I’m not some pillow princess from Nueva. I’m just as strong as you are, I can go just as hard you can, and I want you to fuck me.” 

Your lover’s eyes darkened at your demand. The growl that ripped from his throat was your only warning before Miguel unleashed the full force of his strength on you. You keened in pleasure as he all but drove you through your bedframe and the wall behind it. Miguel captured your wrists once more and restrained you against the mattress as he absolutely pounded into your pussy. 

His drilling drew another ecstatic cry from your mouth. Miguel glared down at you, his eyes nearly crazed, his face barely lit in the ambient light from the street. It truly was infuriating to you how beautiful this man was. You watched his brow furrowed in concentration – not on his stupid screens for once – and his dark hair shift in time with his thrusts.  Your features contorted in pleasure when Miguel switched from drilling into you to swiveling his hips to stuff you with his cock. His movements were deliberate and slow, he was trying to get as deep inside of you as he could. You almost went cross-eyed at the feel of his bulbous cockhead punching against your cervix. 

The criminal undulations of his hips extracted a little yip from you each time he pistoned into you. He grinned down at you wolfishly. Equal parts indignation and arousal bloomed within you. Also, was the first time you'd ever seen Miguel smile? Not a little half-smirk or a humorless quirk of his lips, but an unabashed smile?

“Want me to back off?” 

Oh, there was no way you were going to take that lying down. Even if Miguel’s pubic bone was perfectly grinding into your clit. 

You let out a growl of your own and summoned all the power in your core muscles to wrestle Miguel back and claim the high ground. Out of breath when you found yourself seated on Miguel’s dick, his large, muscled body prone beneath you, you braced yourself on his rippled abdomen.

“Is the itsy-bitsy Spider-Girl gonna ride my cock?” he taunted you. If Miguel didn’t wear that arrogant, playful smirk so well, you would’ve wiped it from his lips. 

You slid your hands up the length of his chest and leaned over, your face hovering over his. “That depends. Can 2099 handle it?” 

Miguel answered you with an impatient buck of his hips up into your sex. You giggled as you straightened up again, tweaking one of Miguel's nipples as you went. You relished the little shudder it sent through him. “Alright, but remember baby, you asked for this.”

He snorted out a laugh, which you quickly silenced once you began riding Miguel like the stud he was. “Hnnn–shock, bebita.”

“Ah,” you sighed as you bounced on his prick. Before sleeping with Miguel, you had assumed the term “feeling him in your guts” was hyperbole. Not with him. “Fuck, you’re even bigger like this.” 

A large hand traced its way up one of your thighs, now lightly covered with a sheen of sweat, past your sex, split apart by his shaft, to where Miguel’s manhood made the slightest bulge in your lower belly. His smile became wider and even cockier. “It’s good, no?”

You gave him a nonverbal, but enthusiastic, reply. He smacked your ass in satisfaction, “Yeah c’mon, cariño, ride me. Wanna watch your tits bounce.” 

You officially hated Miguel and his big, thick, perfectly sized cock. Where as with other partners you’d smack them right back with a zinger, all you could do was moan again. His naughty, domineering words did nothing but excite you. There was something about him and the way he fucked that made you incapable of doing little else than enthusiastically submitting to him. You leaned back, your fingers clutching onto Miguel’s thick thighs to stability as you changed angles and gave him a better view of your breasts jiggling in time with your motions. 

“Ay, sí bebita,” Miguel’s hands flew to your hips to intensify the frantic mashing of your bodies together, “Ven aquí.”

He gathered your torso in his hulking arms and pulled you closer so that he could coax a breast into his mouth again as you rode him. 

“You gonna come for me Miguel?” you panted.  

“No,” he sounded as winded as you were. “Not yet.”

You clenched around him and snickered. “Are you sure?” 

“¡Coño!” Miguel snarled at the feel of your already blistering, tight pussy suffocating his dick further. “¡No más – basta de esto!”

The vision of your bedroom swam when Miguel lifted you off his pulsing member and dropped you back on your stomach onto the mattress facing the foot of the bed.. You could hear him shifting behind you, and you blindly groped for the lower metal railing of your bedframe’s footboard, only vaguely aware what was to come. 

A grunt from Miguel, and the next thing you knew one of your pillows was stuffed under your lower belly and his massive hands were back on either side of your hips. Your lover didn’t give you any notice before shoving his fat erection back inside of your already tender pussy. 

You shouted at the feeling of his cock stuffing you to the brim once again. Miguel’s hands appeared above your head where you held on for dear life as he impaled you on his prick.

“Ahhh!” you clamored, desperately trying to pull enough air in your lungs to function as Miguel squatted behind you. “I’ve never been so full! Oh God, Miguel, it’s so much…so much…”

Miguel responded with a pleased growl, and merely rammed into you harder. You were peripherally aware of the clanging of the pieces of your metal bed frame clanging together in protest at the vigor of your and Miguel’s coupling, but there were too many sensations overwhelming you at once to focus on one in particular. Not even when the metal groaned and the angle Miguel fucked you at changed did you pay attention to what was actually happening. You merely pushed back onto his cock as much as you could, your fingertips scrabbling into the folds of your comforter. 

Your eyes screwed shut at the barrage of stimuli - the unrelenting stretch of Miguel’s hardness,  his harsh but steadying grip on your hips, the light scratch of fabric beneath you on your skin, the little puff of warmth on the back of your neck from Miguel’s labored exhalations. You were sure this was better than any high any drug could provide. You hadn’t tried many, not even Rapture, and but nothing could top being thoroughly fucked into your mattress by Miguel O’Hara.

Miguel’s dogged grunts morphed into shouts when he at last found his release, spurting rope after rope of hot, creamy cum into your welcoming cunt. You found yourself crying out along with him as he emptied his load, your walls bearing down around his length as you both rode out his high. Miguel flooded your pussy with his seed and before you could even try to adjust to the feeling, he withdrew his cock from you, tearing a quite pathetic-sounding whimper from your mouth. 

Miguel pulled your ass cheeks apart to examine your stretched, puffy pussy leaking his cum. His chest rumbled with primal delight. “Hermosa.”

You’d barely had a chance to catch your breath when Miguel dove back in for more, this time his eager, demanding tongue again invading your channel. You whimpered again, your pitch jumping an octave at Miguel’s needy tongue not only collecting his spunk from your pussy, but flicking the muscle against your clit. He was a man possessed, he ate you out as if he needed you to orgasm one more time for his survival. 

You gave him what he wanted (how could you not?), and once the crest of your pleasure had subsided, you lightly pushed him away from your gaping, abused cunt. 

The first thing you noticed when your wits returned to you was how much closer the ground had become. 

“Oh my God,” you put it together and turned to face your partner, "we broke the bed.”

Miguel arched a brow from where he leant back into the pillows. “Are you surprised?”

You frowned at him.  

“I’ll fix it,” he promised. 

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m going to…” you trailed off your gaze floating to the bathroom.

“Do your thing.”

“Can…can I get you anything?” 

Miguel glanced down at his crotch. “A towel?” 

You nodded. “Say no more.” 

You ducked into your en-suite, and once you were sure the door was firmly closed behind you, you proceeded to have a freak out to yourself in the mirror. You scarcely believe your own appearance – lips kiss swollen, hair a veritable bird's nest, your mascara smudged into rings around your eyes. Miguel had destroyed you in the best of ways. 

The thought sent a little aftershock of pleasure through you. You didn’t dally any longer — you relieved yourself, washed your hands, ran a brush through your hair and splashed water on your face. After dampening a washcloth for Miguel, you returned to the bedroom, where your bed frame was properly vertical again. 

You glimpsed the glow of Miguel’s distinctive red webs holding the broken metal rods together. The other Spider was reclining on your mattress, a sheet haphazardly tossed over his groin to preserve his modesty. Even so, the sight of him made you go weak in the knees. He really did remind you of some sort of a large cat given the odd grace in which he lounged with, the evidence of his power and strength so poorly hidden under the surface of his skin. 

“Get a new frame and expense it to Spider-HQ,” Miguel's baritone snapped you out of your reverie. 

“Oh, okay. Thanks,” You tossed him the towel. 

His eyes raked over your naked form. But instead of the desire you’d found there earlier, his gaze was full of concern. “You okay?”

“Yes. Very okay. A little sore but good sore, ya know?” 

“Good,” Miguel busied himself with cleaning up. 

“I mean, what’s the point of having superpowers if you can’t enjoy extra rough sex?” you joked. 

“Yeah, about that,” Miguel refused to meet your eyes. “As um…great as all this was…I think we–it should be a one-time thing.” 

“Um, duh.” He looked up at you hastily and you continued, “Miguel, neither of us are anywhere close to ready or in the right place for a relationship.” 

Your heart disagreed with your words, but you uttered them anyway. Not because it was how you truly felt, but you knew it was what he wanted to hear. Miguel associated any sense of closeness or vulnerability with weakness and danger. Trying to get him to see otherwise was a fool's errand, and it was easier on your heart to convince yourself into concurring with him. 

Oddly, Miguel didn’t seem to relax at your assurances. He looked dubious. “Are you sure?” 

“Oh my God, you are so cocky!” you accused him with a playful slap to the broad, tan chest. “Spare me the fake worry 2099, you may be amazing at sex, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to be professional with you at HQ.” 

“Amazing at sex?” Mirguel parroted you with a smirk. 

You slapped him again. “Of course that’s the only part you heard.”

“Sorry but those are very distracting,” he claimed, his gaze focused on your exposed breasts. 

You scoffed and grabbed a pillow to temporarily cover yourself. “Hang on there, Spider-Man. Yes, you are…not terrible at showing a lady a good time, no, you don’t have to worry about me being clingy at work, and yes, I’m sure so stop looking at me like that!” 

You tossed the pillow away and straddled him. “Now I don’t know about you, but it’s only midnight. If this is indeed a one-time thing, I say we make the most of the night and the fact that no one has bothered us with some multiversal emergency yet.” 

Miguel finally let it go, choosing to focus on your very nude body on top of his. His hips moved on their own accord, grinding his cock, already stiffening back up to full mast, against where you were still so nice and stretched for him. 

“Vamos, bebita,” he whispered into your ear. His fingers dug into your sides possessively in a way that almost let you believe he was doing it because you were his. “Wanna fuck you on the ceiling.” 

***

You shouldn't have been surprised that Miguel didn’t stay the night. You were honestly shocked when he collapsed beside you after the hours you’d spent vehemently fucking. Your bed was now held together by a mix of both his and your webs, one of your framed photos on the wall lay shattered on the floor to be dealt with later, and the ceiling now sported a dent that was going to be very difficult to explain to your landlord. 

The memory of Miguel leaving was hazy at best. After so many rounds of deeply satisfying, intensely athletic sex, you felt like you could sleep for a week. Yet the shift and dip of Miguel’s large frame exiting the bed was enough to wake you. You could sort of recall a small flash of light and chirpy voice which must have been Lyla…and you also had a vague memory of him replying in a hushed rumble as if not to wake you up. Or was he telling you he was heading out? Everything jumbled together under the fog of sleep. 

Either way, you had to tell yourself that the sensation of a large hand caressing your face and then tenderly stroking down the sleep-warm skin of your back was a dream. Not for Miguel’s sake, but yours. 

Thanks to super-spider stamina, you only really needed a couple extra shots of espresso to function somewhat normally the following day at headquarters. You were angry at your instinct to avoid Miguel. You both were adults that had an adult, mature conversation that last night’s activities were merely a form of stress release that didn’t mean anything. It was hard to believe however, when you could still feel the phantom shape of him inside of you. 

Besides, it’s not even like you could avoid him if you wanted to. You were scheduled to go over more sequencing today with Miguel, and you were dead set on not blinking first in the post-sex-awkwardness stand-off. 

“Hey, Miguel!” your voice reverberated in the vast space. 

Several agonizing moments later, his platform lowered enough for you two to start conversing. If he was at all bashful about seeing you, the man didn’t show it. 

“Good. You’re here.”

“Yep.” 

Miguel was all business. “I want to go back to the fight you had with your father. Lyla, take us to timestamp 46:90:45.”

Damn, and here you thought you were good at compartmentalizing. You did your best to hide any disappointment from reaching your face, playing along as if he hadn’t seen every crevice of your body the night before. 

***

Days turned into weeks, and you eventually, reluctantly accepted that Miguel had told you the truth that night. What you two had shared was really just a one-time lapse of his frighteningly strong self-restraint. 

You were enjoying a rare night in, parked on the couch, takeout boxes strewn about the coffee table, your favorite trashy reality show playing on your TV. You’d gotten injured taking down a Doc Ock variant a few days ago, and Miguel benched you to recuperate. You were all too happy to take a break, from him and Spider-Girling. Despite your complicated feelings for the man, he assigned a recently displaced Spider, Spider-Woman 1357, to pinch hit for you in your dimension while you healed up. It was the first time since you became a hero you had a day off with peace of mind. 

Just as you started another episode, a tingle raced down your spine. Your spider-sense. Something was about to happen. Out of all the possibilities of what could have followed, a portal opening in your living room and Miguel walking through was the last thing you would’ve guessed. You leapt up from the sofa. 

You instantly regretted your appearance - messy bun, no makeup, and ratty sweatpants. Miguel, as usual, looked immaculate in his skintight spider-suit. 

“Hey.” 

“Is this a booty call?”

“No.” 

“Don’t bullshit me–”

“It’s not, I swear! Coño, I came to check on you.” 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“Why not?”

“Because you could have messaged me on my gizmo. It’s your preferred method of communication after all, ever since the last time you were in my apartment.” 

“May–”

Lyla appeared over his shoulder. “He missed you, that’s all.”

Miguel growled at his AI. “I’m going to sentence you to robot death via spreadsheets.” 

Lyla wasn’t threatened in the slightest. “Thank me later.” She disappeared before Miguel could try and make another retort. 

“You missed me?”

“No,” his denial was instant. “I just…I–”

“This is a booty call!” you crumpled up a napkin and chucked it at his large form. “Go home, Miguel!” 

He didn’t budge. “It’s not a booty call. I…what are you watching?”

“The Realest Housewives of Manhattan. What, don’t judge me!”

Miguel couldn't keep his face straight. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” 

Seeing his eyes crinkle with amusement was infectious. You threw another napkin ball at him and then composed yourself. He wasn’t getting off the hook this easily. “Why are you here? Be honest with me. It’s the very least I deserve.”

“I wanted to see the shocking expensive bed frame you expensed to HQ for myself.” 

“You said I could and you didn't set a spending limit.” A wicked little grin pulled at the corners of your mouth. The bed frame from Restoration Hardware had been your own private form of revenge. “And I’m supposed to believe you wanting to see my bed – my bed that you broke–”

“Hey! We broke the bed–”

“--is not your thinly veiled excuse for seeking another roll in the hay? Enough with goddamn mind games Miguel.” He tried to speak but you pushed on, “I’m tired and this is the last thing I need.”

Miguel sobered. He hung his head. His mouth seemed to fight the words as they left his lips.  “Alright, fine. I missed you.” 

You ignored your heartbeat’s sharp increase and schooled your features to maintain a neutral appearance. “I have some extra Pad Thai if you want.” 

“Sounds good.” 

“So this may not be a booty call, but does anyone other than Lyla know you’re here?”

“No.” 

You nodded. “Come. Sit. I just started the episode where Beverly throws her poodle a forty thousand dollar birthday party.” 

“Nothing you said just now made sense,” Miguel protested, but took a seat on your couch anyway. 

A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed!! Miguel has fully rotted my brain so I thought it only fair to share the horniness. Of course I have more imagined in this AU, fingers crossed I can find more time to write (comments and reblogs and likes help!)

Translations:

Mierda - Shit 

cariño - dear

bebita - baby

Gracias a Dios - Thank God

Ven aquí - Come here

¡Coño! - Damnit!

¡No más – basta de esto! -No more, enough of this!

Hermosa - beautiful

Vamos, bebita - Come on, baby

Taglist: @plethora-of-imagines, @itdobe-liza @absolutelybloodyhopeless @ninebluehearts, @oscarissac2099 @trinthealternate

[trulyinspiringmovies]

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

“Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” is a movie that was getting amazing reviews, and after watching it, I liked it but didn’t love it as everyone else did.

Puss In Boots has always lived a carefree life and enjoyed being a legend. When he dies for the eighth time, he’s informed that he only has one life left. After an intense run-in with someone he thinks is a bounty hunter, Puss runs off to find The Wishing Star to try and get his lives back. The only problem is that a few other people are looking for The Wishing Star too.

I was already going to watch this movie since I was looking for an excuse to review the “Shrek” franchise, but when I heard this movie was getting rave reviews, I knew I had to check it out. After watching the movie, I thought it was great! I loved a lot about it, but I don’t see why everyone is calling this the best DreamWorks movie of all time. So, right off the bat, when I first watched the trailers for this movie, I immediately noticed that the animation style and frame rate were similar to “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse”. I love this new style of animation, but I fear that if too many movies use it, it’s not going to be something special for “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” anymore. I mean, DreamWorks already did a similar style with their “The Bad Guys” movie. Still, I think it works well because of how dynamic the fight sequences were. Animating on twos really gives you that extra frame to soak in the cool action poses during each fight scene. I also like it thematically because it was stated that the decision was made for it to resemble storybook illustrations. One of my criticisms of the last “Puss In Boots” movie was how uninspired the storybook characters were. I’m happy to say that in this movie, all of the characters were utilized creatively. I love Florence Pugh in anything she’s in and she’s fantastic as Goldilocks. I wish there was a bit more time to dive into her character because her motivation seemed a little weak. Like, I get that she wants to find her real parents, but I think it would’ve been more powerful to see her want that throughout the whole movie rather than it being revealed near the very end. Maybe have her haunted by vague images of her parents throughout the movie so that we know she has this obsession that blinds her from seeing that her real family was the bears all along. Jack Horner was a nursery rhyme I didn’t know about. The only reference to it I knew was that one Graybles episode of “Adventure Time”. I thought the character was funny at times, but not all the time. I also think that John Mulaney’s voice didn’t match the character super well. I wish he had changed his voice up a little, but that’s a nitpick. The stand-out character had to be Death. He genuinely looks terrifying and I’m not saying “for a kids’ movie”. He is just terrifying. Plain and simple. He switches from teasing, yet calculated, to a feral monster on the drop of a dime. I love his aesthetic so much. His creepy whistling is such a great inclusion as well. I know that if I ever heard that whistling in the middle of a dark forest, I would crap my pants. His introduction was genuinely unnerving as well. The way he throws Puss off his game was masterfully done. It immediately made me understand why Puss ran away from a fight for the first time. I just wish he was in the movie more. It seemed like Death was just an afterthought. I get that he’s always supposed to be looming, but a character like that deserves more screen time. Instead of splitting screen time with a bunch of underdeveloped characters, I would’ve much preferred to have Death be the only antagonist and explore him much more. I had so many questions about him like: How does he work in the “Shrek” universe? We’ve seen a lot of characters die in the Shrek universe like King Harold. Was Death there to pick him up? A lot of interpretations of Death have it so that he can’t interfere with or kill the victim, only pick up the soul after death. Why is this Death allowed to fight Puss head-on? More exploration of this character would’ve satisfied these thoughts. The dog, Perrito, got on my nerves a bit. I know a lot of people said they thought the dog was going to annoy them, but was just the right amount. I disagree. He felt too one-note for me. I know he’s supposed to be relentlessly optimistic to combat everyone’s cynicism, but he’s still a one-note character at the end of the day. Also, I saw a lot of people write about how sad it was that he couldn’t grasp how sad his backstory was. Personally, I think if it’s not bothering him, then it’s not as tragic. Still, I enjoyed how this movie tastefully tied back to the other “Shrek” characters. I loved seeing Gingy, Pinocchio, and even Shrek and Donkey. I know people were complaining about the ending and how the Far Far Away tease makes it so that this movie doesn’t stand on its own. Personally, I think it was a great ending. Now that I know these filmmakers can make something of this caliber, it’s exciting to think about how they can apply it to “Shrek” himself. It’s also exciting to just get teased about new “Shrek” content after so many years. These “Puss In Boots” movies are, by nature, spin-off movies, which means they don’t stand on their own. They’re built off of the framework of another movie, which means they’re connected. I get wanting a movie this good to be its own thing, but that doesn’t mean any connective tissues are a bad thing. All in all, I had a ton of fun with this movie, but I didn’t think it was the masterpiece everyone says it was. It’s still definitely worth the watch.

★★★★

Watched on January 11th, 2023

[lovedaisy02]

Barbie review

TLDR: Ken centric, Ken Asks for a divorce and he really should. Good for Ken. He deserves more. Waste of time, just look up Ken clips and Ruth clips online and that's the movie.

Full Review:

I finally saw Barbie....

Um

So, about the worst movie I think I've wasted time on in a while. Not too surprising since the last decade hasn't brought anything memorable other than Spider verse.

It should be renamed "Ken Asks for a Divorce" and he should, I felt happy for him when he threw her clothes out and got some of that negative emotion out. Barbie is not a center point at all and doesn't add to the film at all. Any actress could've played here without changing anything or impacting the film. Margot Robbie does a good job in her roles but she didn't really even need to be there. She was more or less just collecting a pay check and coasted (good for her, don't we all sometimes?).

The film failed to comment on the 21st centuries social problems between genders and appears to be stuck in the past while simultaneously representing the exact disconnect between cis men and women: a lack of mutual respect and communication. Instead of coming to the conclusion that Ken and Barbie should give each other mutual respect for their thoughts, feelings, ideas and hobbies the film decides that the Barbies know better and the Kens should just be manipulated into a solution. They are not in a romantic relationship in the film but even a friendship would be impossible in their situation. In fact, in real life, I would tell Ken that Barbie is a bad friend and he should let her out of his life. The film skims the surface of women balancing societal demands but it lacks nuance and cultural insight. Some women might still be facing these issues and some areas of the US but I bet a lot, me included, don't, and the current sexism women experience wasn't represented at all. It also excluded more atypical women which is the realistic majority.

The mother-daughter relationship was also poorly written and poorly executed. Ruth, which I love the addition of, comments that Barbie helped heal the rift between mother and daughter. Barbie says she didn't help. I agree with Barbie. She didn't do anything, they went to another reality and suddenly were no longer fighting. The US tends to have a trend of "teenagers hate their parents" which is very tried and one dimensional. This feeds into another lack of insight since many cultures respect their parents and I'm sure many US teens don't hate their parents for no reason at all.

The rant Sasha gave upon meeting Barbie was nonsensical. That's all I can say about that without having to unpack it line by line. Not to mention the fascist throw away line doesn't make sense and it just comes off as a grab at trying to reference the current mainstream buzz words.

All in all the most entertaining and exciting part of the movie is when Ken took over and then went to war which, is a more realistic representation of what a lot of girls end up doing with their dolls...

The film also failed to stick to its rules of their world. Suddenly every Barbie and Ken understood taxes, cars, and stocks? I can see the Barbies knowing since they each have jobs but how would the Kens know? Their whole identity is that they don't know anything because they've never had jobs outside of a hobby or location (rolling blades, beach, guitar etc). How would a ken be able to be distracted into explaining stocks? How would Barbie and Ken know to explain they don't have genitals if they've never had genitals and no one in the Barbie world does either? It was too disjointed.

Do you want to watch an interesting commentary on men and women gender relations? Watch Barbara Streisand films. Specifically, "The Mirror has two Faces." We don't need anymore films going "hey men make sexual comments, don't promote women and women have to try really hard!" Films because it's pointless. The 80s to about 2000s and maybe some after already did it and did a wonderful job without making the women look stupid or the men stupid and did all by showing not telling. We need more films on the nuances of gender identity outside of men vs women and instead where the actual break down of communication is, when the gender roles are reversed or defied and what that might mean in a relationship (familial, work, romantic, or friendship).

Very firm 3/10 wouldn't recommend. Don't waste your time if you haven't watched it yet, just look at Ken clips on YouTube and the Ruth appearances and there, there is your movie.

[hard-core-super-star]

exactly!! It's not like I went to bed at that time precisely because - as mentioned here before - It takes almost 5 years to finish responding correctly, including deleting and writing everything again and any obstacles to sending the message. and thanks for not scolding me jfkskakjsk. In fact, this information is really important! well, with the test and this information I came to the conclusion that there is a difference of 5 hours or so between us. okay, admitting this where everyone can see was not very well thought out.... ANYWAY, It's not fair, I have to be right for once, It's impossible for someone to always be right 🤨 I-.... that- that makes sense..... 😶

I'm on the way to understanding all (or almost) of them! I'm watching this track record, when I'm finally right I'm going to have a party with the theme “I was finally right”...... since you're happy I think I'll be less of a brat about it. babe I'm already wanting my third star since you gave me the first one jshskak. hmmmm, I had an idea with this spider-man thing, If you know an app called rave then you probably know what I'm discreetly asking 😶 lmao we should. okay, we'll leave this topic open, end of case *🔨🔨🔨* I didn't find the gavel that is used in court. why are you like this???kshajwkskksk I won't answer. thank you, stand-up awaits us.

but I'm not leaving sentences unfinished anymore 🤨 oh kshskaks..... right. remember your goal to keep making me smile? well, this has been achieved again. but I think now this just instigated me to want to know what these so-called “stupid things” are lmao. I think I need an example just to be sure of what I should think 👀 yes, it actually counts as me agreeing. I mean, I'm not the best person to read between the lines so your non-discreetness helps me more than I'd like to admit.

well, I'm not going to say that being called out doesn't show that there are people reading this- jshsjakakk well, I don't know what I should do now, but I don't think I'll ask for your Instagram in this case and I won't send you a message on tktk just to make sure. and I'm not thinking that this math was low! I will test it.

It would be funny if you made a reference, I understood it but then you no longer remember it lmao.

just reading this is difficult... pronouncing it is where the real problem lies. It's not usual but I'm with you, liking writing is something, but now liking grammar is something else- especially if it's from another language. It's a strange but really cool tradition, we're not going to lie here, the parties are cool. that makes sense! It's so good to feel this when you travel, feel the whole place and even the smallest details, enjoy every second and make it count. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and your birthday. “the sounds” JSHAKAKAKNDKK It seems like you're having war memories with this 😭 yeah yeah I'm here for it! I don't know if you've ever watched strange things, but kate's personality seems a bit like robin's in terms of being an overthinker, talking nonstop, hyperactive and things like that. even the “reacts way faster than she thinks” thing. what am I seeing here, a big softie yelena???? the biggest plot twist that I created in my head right now is because yelena and kate were playing uno and she was sad because yelena made her take almost all the cards in the game. don’t you want to share how she would encourage that? 🥹

– 🌟

i've been trying to reply to you for like 4 hours but life just didn't let that happen 🫠 everything's fine i'm just dramatic and easily overwhelmed as i've mentioned like 50 times at this point. basically, please forgive me if i make less sense than usual, my brain has completely shut off by now. yeah, of course not, we are in fact very speedy and i didn't spend like 3 hours on my phone today because of these messages. in fact, that information just revealed how long it actually takes me to type these things out lmao. but yeah, i agree with those results which means it'll probably be 2am for you again when i post this and hopefully you'll be asleep, not because i don't want to talk to you but because i hope you're taking care of yourself and sleeping enough. yeah, but it's fun so :) i've given you the chance to be right and yet somehow, it never happens so...that must mean i'm very clearly always right. does it? you want to expand on that for me?

i know and that makes me very happy! that...sounds like a boring theme, tbh. do i get to be invited to this once-in-a-lifetime event, though? aw, that's cute but i find it hard to believe that you'll genuinely stop being a brat 👀 wow, let me try to act surprised about this knowledge 😲 was it convincing, darling? i certainly know about this app now that you've mentioned it but i think you should be less discrete about what you're asking, just so we're on the same page 😶 i was fighting the urge to say caso cerrado and failed lmao. why am i like what? incredibly witty? incredibly obvious? i'm going to need an answer. i agree, we're already closer to being comedians than most people.

true, you're just not even attempting to answer anymore which is technically an answer. YES! thank you for not keeping this information to yourself, it's exactly what i needed to hear. oh come on, practically every sentence i write to you is one of those "stupid things", i make it very easy. an example? don't get greedy on me again, little star. i find that very difficult to believe but then again, maybe i've just been very obvious lmao. i don't think you have to try super hard to read between these lines, tbh. i've basically been exposing myself in every message.

i'm so glad you're not reminding me that i've been called out because that moment isn't going to be ingrained in my brain forever now. well, i'm not going to admit that this actually confused me but that might be because i'm tired af. i'm also not going to say that i randomly got a new follower on tktk today but since i assumed they would be messaging me first, i didn't reach out yet. i'm also not going to say that if you're not interested i won't give you my Instagram. the only reason i'm not double-checking is because i don't want to appear annoying or clingy. and i'm certainly not excitedly waiting for said message so i can talk about alpha!kate, not at all.

it would be equal parts funny and sad, tbh. the worst part is, it will definitely happen lmao.

i KNOW, it doesn't matter how much time goes by, there are still words i get self-conscious saying (like strategy) i don't think anyone genuinely likes grammar. maybe sociopaths or masochists or something. oh god, i basically just pretend grammar doesn't exist when i practice writing and spelling in french 😶 that's...a good point. i honestly can't remember the last time i went to one of those parties, though so i'll have to take your word for it. there's no way that actually made sense to you, how tf do you do it??? but yeah, i love paying attention to those small details because it makes everything else easier to remember. asdskdlg technically yes, lmao. i'll just say it goes back to why i use rubixcube instead of my actual last name. i've never seen stranger things 😶 but i'll take your word for it. this does bring me to another point though, does kate have ADHD? i go back and forth on this one, tbh. oh yeah, yelena's the biggest softie ever. a cool softie but a softie nonetheless. dghashgahda that sounds accurate af. yelena would boast about how great she is at the game until she sees kate's sad little eyes and then she'd be forced to hide +4 cards in the stack so kate could get them and use them in revenge. honestly, yelena gives me like an encouraging nod type of vibe. she'd just look at kate while she goes off on her random rant and nod along the entire time, feigning shock when she has to and smiling the rest of the time.

[dreamescapeswriting]

Wish You Were Sober ~ HHJ [Request]

⤜WORD COUNT: 3.2 K

⤜PAIRING: Hyunjin  x Fem!Reader

⤜GENRE: fluffy, angst, friends to lovers, first kiss, drunken kisses,

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - February 2022

⤜MASTERLIST

There were few things in the world that you were scared of, heights, open water, spiders and Hyunjin. Though you weren't as terrified of Hyunjin as you were of the water. Okay, that may have been a lie. 

Ever since the party last week you had been terrified to even look at him or be in the same room as him. But you had your reasons! The two of you hadn't been alone together since the incident and you could barely bring yourself to look at Hyunjin since it was all you could remember.

It was going to be hard to be around one another when you worked together all of the time. The two of you were cleaners in one of the biggest hotel's in Busan and it sat on one of the biggest beaches which meant you were always cleaning. Every room, hallway, landing, stairwell everything. Usually, you and Hyunjin would be partners but you'd practically begged your other friend, Sana, to be the one to clean with you. 

She obviously knew the real reason you didn't want to work with Hyunjin but she kept her mouth shut. Going along with the fact that she "needed to talk to you" while you cleaned which meant Hyunjin would be with her partner instead.

"You should tell him!" Your friend explained as you stood outside one of the hotel room doors, staring over at the elevator as he the "Him" to which she was referring left the floor you were on.

"Tell who, what?" You mumbled pretending as if you hadn't just been watching Hyunjin like a cartoon character watching the love of their life leaving them behind. It was the same way you had always looked at Hyunjin it was only now that you were beginning to see it. 

"That you think he looks like a sculpture he made or maybe the fact that...Hmmm, I don't know..." She trailed off before hitting you around the back of the head with a newspaper, you groaned from the folded up pieces of paper. It may not have been hard but it hurt with the force she had hit you with,

"That he kissed you!" It all rushed back to you at that moment, it was all blurry memories from the drinks you'd ingested. But you could remember it all so vividly, the feel of Hyunjin's hands on your body, wrapping around your hips. The small kisses on your neck, jawline, then on your mouth as you continued to make out on the bed for a while.

"We were drunk," You mumbled pushing your cart toward another hotel room door trying to get on with your day. You hadn't expected Hyunjin to remember kissing you, you'd both been so wasted you couldn't believe you had remembered it.

"You can't just ignore that it happened, you've had the biggest crush on him for years. You're always talking about how hot he is." She was wrong of course. You never once called Hyunjin hot. You called him Beautiful because that was what he was but...

Best friends weren't supposed to look at their friends like that. Hyujjin was beautiful sure, everything about him was beautiful. Even the inside of him was incredibly beautiful. From his dark brown eyes that always managed to find their way to you even in a room of crowded people, to the sharp jawline and elegant cheekbones. Everything about Hyunjin made your stomach spin, right down to his fluffy brown hair that you wanted to ruffle all of the time. You could still remember the time he grew it out just because you wanted to style it for him. 

"It's not a crush, it's just me thinking about how kind and amazing my best friend is-"

"Methinks the lady doth protests too much," She sang out as you both headed into the next room you were supposed to be cleaning together. It wasn't as if you didn't want to tell Hyunjin your feelings but how could you?

You couldn't stand in the same room with him longer than two minutes at the moment, you couldn't look him in the eye anymore. He might not have remembered kissing you but you did and you couldn't get the feeling out of your head. 

"Yn," He whined as you both stood outside of the door to his hotel room door, swaying a little from side to side as he begged you to come inside with him. The two of you had had way too much to drink at the party and you could feel yourself slowly starting to lose the ability to walk. You'd taken Hyunjin back to his room since he was worth of than you were right now. 

"I can't, I have my own room down the hall." You giggled a little as Hyunjin wrapped his arm around your waist, refusing to let your move from the space you were standing in. 

"Hyunjin, we have work in the morning." You reminded him as you laid your head on his shoulder. Admitting to yourself that this did feel good but he was your best friend and had been since you were kids. 

The two of you had practically grown up at each other's houses, spending every second you had together. It was joked about that you and he would end up together eventually in the future but you and Hyunjin both brushed it off. 

"So stay here, I'll take the sofa." You knew why he was doing this, Hyunjin hated being alone most nights so it was no wonder he hated being alone more so when he was trashed. The amount of Soju the two of you ingested should have been illegal.

"Fine. But I get the bigger blankets." You giggled as he struggled to unlock his door, both of you falling inside and whining as you saw just how bright the lights were inside. 

"We need to talk to management about lowering the brightness." You hiccuped, sitting down on the bed and staring at Hyunjin who plopped himself down next to you. The room fell into a comfortable silence as you both stared at one another. 

"You're beautiful." You mumbled suddenly, staring at him without thinking about what you had just said. It was a simple compliment between friends but Hyunjin smiled at you.

His hands slowly raised to your face as he cupped your cheek in his hand. The feeling of his fingers rubbing over your cheekbone was enough to sober you up as you stared at him in shock. 

"Hyunjin-"

"You're the beautiful one," That was all he said before he slowly started to lean his head toward you. The whole room span for you as you weighed out the pros and cons of kissing him right now. 

Pro's - You would be kissing your best friend, the man you had been crushing on since before you could remember. 

Con's - You would be kissing your best friend, the man you had been crushing on since before you could remember.

Without even thinking about it you pressed your lips to his, moving your arms to wrap around the back of his neck as you crashed your lips together. It was messy and sloppy but neither of you seemed to care.

Hyunjin pressed himself against you, moving his hands to touch your waist and hips as he took in the feel of every curvature of your body. Your fingers made their way to his hair, tugging on the strands as you let his hands roam your body. 

This was the kiss you had always imagined sharing with him, the one you dreamed of every night since you were 17. The one kiss you were willing to do everything and anything for, a kiss worth dying for. 

"That concludes the meeting, I'll see you all tomorrow. Early." Your boss warned all of you in her office, the second she said it concluded what she had to say you had practically sprinted out of that office. Hyunjin had texted you telling you that you needed to talk but you weren't ready for that yet. You'd figured he had remembered the kiss and wanted to drill it back into your head that it wasn't anything more than a drunken action. So you planned to get out of the hotel and away from him as quickly as humanly possible for yourself but he was already one step ahead of you.

"Yn, we have to talk..." He trailed off slowly as he took your arm into his grasp, softly pulling you to the side of the hallway so you could speak. Your eyes shot over to Sana who gave you an apologetic glance but said nothing as she raced away with the other workers.

"Hyunjin if this is about the kiss-"

"We need to plan the party..." You spoke at the same time as one another but Hyunjin trailed off as he stared at you confused. Clearly, he hadn't remembered the kiss as you thought he had and your stomach dropped.

The look on Hyunjin's face was nothing you had ever experienced before. He looked at you with such disgust that you wanted the entire floor to swallow you whole on the spot.

"What kiss?" You stayed silent as he questioned you, you could easily lie. You could tell him you'd caught Sana making out with someone, you could tell him every lie under the sun. There was just one problem with that.

Hyunjin knew exactly when you were lying to him.

"What kiss, Yn?" He questioned again, sounding more stern with you than he had before and your stomach dropped. It was going to be now or never, 

"We kissed when we were drunk and I thought you remembered it and that was why-"

"Why didn't you tell me before?!" He snapped angrily at you, you had never seen this much anger in his face before. The truth was you didn't know why you didn't tell him before now. Maybe it would have made things easier on you, 

"I didn't think it was important, it was one kiss." You whispered as you looked down at the floor, not being able to stand the way he was looking at you anymore. It made you feel as though you were as small as an ant, you didn't need that right now. 

"You're right," You glanced back up, he sounded much calmer now as he shook his head at you. 

"It's not important, we're best friends." The words left his mouth and all you could feel inside of your chest was your heart clenching tightly. All this time you had been holding out a little hope that Hyunjin felt the same way you did but it was obvious now that you were wrong. 

"We're always going to be the best of friends," He smiled at you, not realising that he was breaking your heart right in front of him. But you held yourself together in front of him, plastering a fake smile across your face as you nodded. 

Had the feelings you'd gotten in the kiss purely been just for you? Did he not feel the same rush of emotions you got the second your lips had touched. 

"The party, we have to move it to the second dining room." He explained, going about his day as though nothing had happened. Though right now, for you, it felt as though the whole world had just come to a screeching halt. 

The party was in full swing, all of your co-workers letting their hair down to have some fun. Once again everybody seemed to be drinking but you stayed away from it all, wanting nothing more than to go back to your room but Sana had dragged you out. Telling you that you needed to get over Hyunjin rejecting you already.

"Seriously, you're not going to drink at all?" She slurred a little on her word and you rolled your eyes at her. The fact that you didn't want to drink tonight was her topic to attack you for. 

"I'm here as the sober friend to make sure you get back to your room,"

"You're here to sit and mope around about Hyunjin." She said in a matter-a-fact way making you roll your eyes. The last thing you wanted to do right now was to think about Hyunjin. The truth was you'd been looking for a new job in a different hotel, wanting to be far away from him as possible. 

"Hyunjin!" She screamed as he made his way over to you both, he was as drunk as he was at the last party you had all thrown and he smiled at you. Wrapping his arms around your waist as you sighed, 

"Hyunjin-"

"Are you still mad at me? I only said we should stay friends," He slurred, Sana was quick to leave you alone as you stared straight ahead. If this was what he was going to talk to you about you were going to make a dash for the exit, 

"Hyunjin, go and drink some water." You begged, trying to move away from him but he pulled you closer. You were face to face again with one another, images of you both making out flashed into your head. 

"You're so beautiful," He laughed as he spoke, this time the words didn't make you feel good as they had done the first time. It only hurt to hear him say them while he was drunk, 

"You're drunk-"

"You're beautiful." He countered as you moved away from him, walking toward the door but he rushed to grab you again, spinning you around to face him.

"Don't...Please don't." You begged over and over again, tears welling up in your eyes as your voice broke. You didn't want to hear this from him, not when he was drunk and clearly didn't remember what he was saying.

"But you are, you're so pretty and smart...Yn, you are-"

"Then why can't you say this bullshit when you're sober?!" You snapped at him, ripping your arm away from his grasp as he stared at you. Your whole body ached for him to kiss you but it was wrong, he shouldn't just want you because he was drunk. 

"Yn."

"No. Don't...Don't stand there and say all of these nice things to me when you wouldn't if you were sober!" You begged him, tears running down your cheeks as he stared at you confused. 

"I wish you were sober." You whimpered looking over at a few of your co-workers who had all turned to watch what was happening between you both. It was public news by now that the two of you had shared a kiss and they were all wanting to know what would happen next.

"Leave me alone." You pleaded as you finally stormed away from him, going to your room so you could cry in the comfort of your own bed. 

The next morning you expected Sana to be waiting outside of your door but she was nowhere to be seen. Probably far too hungover to bother trying to work for the day so you started going on your own. 

Heading up to the dining room where the party had been, you knew no one would have attempted to clean up last night and you could keep your mind busy with that instead of thinking about Hyunjin. It had taken you hours to fall asleep the night before because you couldn't get him out of your brain. That and the fact that he had shown up at 4 am and began banging on the door, screaming for you to come and speak to him. 

"Yn." You froze in place hearing Hyunjin's voice coming from behind you. This time you could hear how sober he was but you said nothing as you continued to spray down the bar with disinfectant as you tried to ignore him. 

"You can't-" He tried to tell you that you couldn’t ignore him forever,

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do." You snapped as you span around to look at him. He was a mess, his hair was all over the place, eyes were bloodshot and it looked as if he'd been throwing up for most of the night. 

"Sana told me what happened..." You scoffed at the thought of it, both of them sitting together and speaking about you.

"It's whatever-"

"No, it's not, it's not fair on you that I did that." You shrugged your shoulders, nothing he would say would make up for it but you weren't going sit here and listen to him speak about it. 

"We're friends-"

"I know, and you don't want anything more than a friendship with me. Okay. I get it." You grumbled not really wanting to sit and have this conversation with him. 

"No, you don't get it. Because-" He sighed as he thought back on it. When he first said he wanted to just be friends he hadn't meant it. Of course, you were his best friend but he had romantic feelings for you, feelings that always came out when he was drinking. 

"I'm trying to do this while I don't have the help of alcohol in me so you can know the truth..." You stared at him, your heart beginning to race as you stared at him. 

"I like you...As more than a friend and I have for a while but I didn't say anything because-"

"You were scared it would ruin the friendship." You finished for him, already knowing the sentence he was going to say since you had thought the exact same thing as him before.

"Exactly but Sana said you're looking for a new job so I need to act now. I need t tell you how deeply I care for you before you run away and I lose you forever." He moved closer to you, trapping your body between him and the bar behind you. Your facial expression softened as you looked up into his eyes, 

"Can I kiss you?" He questioned this time, your heart swelling ten times its usual size as you nodded your head. 

This kiss was nothing like the drunken one the two of you had shared in the hotel room, this one was different. It was rough, filled with desire and lust for one another. Your arms moved from your sides to wrap around the back of Hyunjin's neck, bringing him closer to him. The kiss felt as though it was a confession between the two of you, both giving yourselves over to one another.   

The two of you parted, staring back at one another as you attempted to catch your breath back. The kiss still made you feel as though you were floating up on cloud nine and you could still feel the tingles you had all over your body. 

"I'll take you out tonight, no drinking..." He promised as he looked around the dining room, deciding to help you even if it felt as though he had been hit by a truck.

"Let me help and then we can go and get breakfast?" He suggested as you nodded your head, leaning forward to give him yet another kiss. It was one thing you were never going to get bored of doing from now on. 

"Let's get food first, I don't want you to pass out on me." You laughed as you both began to head in the direction of the kitchens.

⤜MASTERLIST

Tagline: @minholuvs @taestannie @sw33tnight @acciocriativity @mwitsmejk @taeechwitaa @justbangtanthingz @stillwithlix​ @lolalee24​ @lenorelove​ @yubinism​ @etherealinowrites​ @aerastus​

[shotorozu]

encountering a ‘pick me’ girl

character(s) : kirishima eijirou, todoroki shouto, bakugou katsuki (bnha)

warning : PICK ME GIRL, misogyny (?) pick me girl makes an off handed comment about your body but it’s not detailed at all

PART TWO — PART THREE

legend : [Y/N = your name] afab! reader, but they/them pronouns used, quirk not mentioned

headcanon type : fluff, angst if you squint

note(s) : i made 2 versions of this post so,, if you’re reading this— then i probably decided that i liked this one more than the other one i made,, anyways, i used real life examples 💀

»»————-　♡　————-««

kirishima eijirou

i’d imagine that eijirou would have an idea of what a pick me girl is— i mean, there were probably 2 of those girls in middle school

but has he experienced it first hand? nahh.

though, eijirou didn’t think he’d encounter one when he was already in a healthy and committed relationship!

eijirou is practically friends with everyone— and yeah, even the most unexpected. so, he’s bound to accidentally befriend a pick me girl

him, being the nicest one out of all of the characters in this list, will still be nice to said pick me girl, despite wanting to snob them to the core

because really— you can’t really fight fire with fire in some cases

but, he can be everything but lenient when the pick me girl starts insulting you for doing certain things, and for absurd reasons too

like,, how you laugh, and how you take care of yourself (for example— if you wear makeup, or how you style your hair)

which is odd! everything about you is everything but the things the pick me girl has stated so.. he cannot stand by.

SCENARIO

the girl giggles to herself after that snide comment leaves her lip gloss coated lips. eijirou shifts uncomfortably— honestly taken aback by the anything but subtle insult that was thrown at you

“like.. seriously! it’s honestly quite superficial if you look at it like that. who the hell would put that much effort infront of your boyfriend? i’d assume they’d see everything AND everything but.. i guess not.”

you blink. superficial? now that’s a new one. the girl infront of you has been babbling insults sugarcoated in boasts the entire time, and you’re just wondering if it’s about time you guys leave but—

“well that’s unfair,” your boyfriend laughs, “i put the same amount of effort as this cutie right here,” eijirou pokes at your cheek, earning a quick laugh from you— which he can only thank the heavens for that

“but that’s different. it actually looks put together when you’re doing it, eiji.” the certain glint in her smile makes you want to wipe it right off with a dirty mop, “it’s impossible to look put together with expensive clothes, but being built like a—”

the sound of the sliding of a chair is quicker than your actions, and it easily cuts her off.

“i’m sorry, but we gotta go, it’s totally not cool of you to say those things about Y/N!”

“what? but i mean.. it’s true, right? i’m looking out for them! they’re literally out here l—”

“bye!” eijirou waves her goodbye with your hand, dismissing the sour expression on her face— as he dashes off with you

you’d question how he’s just so nice to people like that, but when he turns around, you could see the distaste in his eyes

“so that’s what a pick me girl’s like,” shaking his head, his expression lights up with such a quick manner “i’ll never make friends that are like that again!”

safe to say, eijirou’s friend list has been a a person shorter ever since that incident

bakugou katsuki

oh, so that girl’s bold bold.

if she thinks she could get away with being a not so subtle pick me girl infront of bakugou katsuki, then she couldn’t be more wrong.

it’s absolutely revolting— i mean, he hasn’t displayed any romantic feelings towards ANYONE that isn’t you.

also, they’re quite gutsy if you ask me. so congrats for having guts??

i don’t think he’d be friends with a pick me girl. he’s very selective of who he’s befriending, so it’s probably your friend that’s the pick me girl in this case

he wouldn’t know what a pick me girl would be, but he’d probably know the description of one.

over some time, he’d grow some resistance to insults directed at him, but when someone insults his s/o

oh boy. that’s not good. remember when i said that katsuki was almost like your scary and intimidating dog

this is what i mean

knows he can’t make a scene, so his first option is to be dismissive asf— but if said pick me girl literally can’t get it, he won’t be afraid of shoving some explosions into her face

because his hands are rated e for everyone

SCENARIO

“so you wanna be picked or something, is that it?” he hates how you literally have the resistance of a rock— which is something he always liked, but in this case hated. if it weren’t for you— he would’ve blasted explosions into her sorry excuse of a face until it’s beyond recognition (that wouldn’t be hero like, is what you’ve said in the past, but he disagrees.)

but seriously? ugh. he just wants to leave this horrid place, and make some dinner with you in the comfort of his home. why are you even friends with her anyway? she’s not even trying to be slick at this point.

“p-picked? i’m not understanding, katsu.”

“it’s bakugou.”

“right,” her laughter is like nails on chalkboard, “i’m just watching out for Y/N, y’know? there’s no point in wearing all of that.. on their face.” and she’s obviously referring to your obviously very well done makeup

“it’ll make your skin terrible in the long run! and really— i couldn’t really understand on why someone would wear that much, when you could survive with i dunno.. lip gloss at most?”

you would’ve actually said something as a rebuttal, but your boyfriend is quicker, and a lot more direct than anyone else in the area.

“just say you can’t do makeup and fucking scram,” katsuki’s ice cold glare finally breaks out of the act he’s been trying to hold together for you

“their makeup is fucking bomb as hell, compared to your ridiculous spider lashes, lady. come back when you’ve watched james charles’ entire fucking channel.” he harshly states in similar bakugou fashion, despite the lack of screaming.

and if you squinted hard enough, you could see tears welling up in her eyes. but katsuki tugs your hand before anything else could be said

“let’s fucking go, you need better friends.”

he makes you cut ties with all of them, and he practically scolds your terrible choice of friends— but he goes quiet when you tell him that you’ve been friends with her since middle school

“good fucking riddance. next time, i’ll punch them as soon as they say something outta line, got that?” and next time (hopefully, there won’t be a next time) you’ll actually lash out— or maybe,, you’ll let him loose for once.

todoroki shouto

now shouto might be,, socially unaware sometimes. but he can tell whenever someone’s trying to insult his s/o

like,, right away.

now— you both run into this person after a pleasant date, and she eagerly presented herself as your friend

so, her attitude catches him off guard because who’d have anything rude to say about you and towards shouto’s face? especially when it’s about something normal.

like,, wasn’t she your friend?? why is she even like this?

his hostility is very well known, so they should be scared.

he gets detached from the conversation, and he’ll immediately go cold— and shouto would probably go as far as walking away with your hand in his

doesn’t matter if he properly says goodbye or not— if a girl’s being rude to his s/o, they obviously don’t deserve his usually polite attitude. nope, that’s a luxury.

oh— and what more when they’re seeking for his validation. newsflash! said pick me girl won’t be get any from him.

SCENARIO

shouto couldn’t stop the bitterness bleeding into his mouth, when the girl in front of him continued to babble and take up the valuable time he had left with his s/o

initially, she presented herself as your friend from middle school— but as of now? she seems to be more interested in him more than you, despite knowing you first.

she’d ask him a string of obvious questions with very obvious answers, like ‘is she treating you well?’ ‘is she acting correctly?’ and questions of the sort

“oh, sorry! i’d hate to cut this conversation short, but—” you finally decide that it was about time to leave, while shouto looks pretty,, deadpanned right now, you could tell that he was gradually starting to get irritated by your friend’s words.

“wait. thats.. kind of controlling, don’t you think? do you ever let shou make decisions?”

“uh.. controlling? since when??” you question at the accusation. this girl knows nothing about your relationship dynamic, and she’s already jumping the gun and making conclusions.

your gaze snaps back to shouto, who looks just as surprised as he could possibly be.

“yeah! it clearly looks like he still wants to talk” which is an obvious lie, shouto just wants it out of here “i wonder how you managed to snag such a guy like him,” she comments with a smile that looked anything above suspicion (yet, it makes your stomach churn)

you could see the way her hand gets gradually closer to him— and frankly, you’re not sure about what she was planning to do next, “you wouldn’t need to dress all expensive and fancy, if you’re with a girl with an already classy appear—”

“i think this conversation is over,” shouto grip is firm on the wrist that was attempting to grab his shoulder, shouto makes no attempt to even look at the girl infront of him “i don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not humorous. at all.”

“what?” she stammers, drawing her hand back “i-it’s obvious they don’t know how to take a joke! this is why there are barely any good w—”

shouto’s next actions knocks her speechless, his hand rests at the small of your back, before gently guiding you forward— “love, what movie are we watching later?” he says, making an effort to press a quick, yet intense kiss on your lips

“oh,” you breathe out, surprised by this action. “don’t be so tense, love.” shouto comments on how tense your shoulders have looked, ever since she started running her mouth, “now.. what movie do you want to watch tonight? comedy? thriller?”

“you pick,” you laugh at the quick shift of topic. and when you look behind you, you could see shame and defeat welling up on her face. shouto finally feels like he could smile again, the bitterness dissipating from his mouth

after shouto questions you if that was what a pick me girl was, he makes sure that you guys won’t ever encounter such thing again

“you.. don’t have more friends like that, right? if you do— we could always do another friend list cleansing.” this statement makes you laugh but shouto is anything but joking

but being reminded of his reaction to that ‘pick me’ girl does puts a smile on your face.

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

[elkdiaries]

some thoughts about max and her potential possession, parallels, as well as vecna-related subjects in the upcoming season of stranger things.

this is going to be a long essay, but i hope you’ll give it a read anyhow.

i’m going to jump right in and begin by showing you all the s4 max and s2 will parallels, because there are far too many here to just mean nothing. if my theories are correct, this might just mean that max is possessed this season or at least suffers the most from things which are linked to the upside down.

firstly, we have a scene in which each person encounters something upside-down related in a hall at school (apologies for the shitty quality lol).

then there’s a scene in which they are both either possessed or at least are being affected by the upside down in an outdoor setting. both people look as though they have lost communication with the real world, and their companions are near them in fear and without a clue of what to do next.

and then there are scenes of them actually in the upside down— or so they think. in both scenes they are running and/or hiding from upside down monsters (there are some things i have circled which i will get back to in a little bit).

these comparisons are no mistake. in s4 max is connected to the upside down via billy, mainly because vecna, who now has been shown to think logically and strategically like a human, probably became aware that max was a very impactful person in billy’s life. he can use billy as a sort of bait to lure max into falling for his traps. after billy passes, perhaps max begins to “see” him and just passes it off as guilt-prompted hallucinations. i’m not sure if you all remember but hopper did say in s1 that after sarah died, he “saw” her too. so, max will probably accept her unfortunate situation as if it were just a regular side effect of grief, without a clue that the billy she is seeing is not only real but the mastermind behind the upside down.

max is also a person who is close to el, and as can be inferred from s3, vecna’s plan is to kill el and then take over the world. so it would make sense for him to want to flay max, just in order to get to el.

also, all this talk of vecna has gotten me thinking about how will always referred to the shadow monster he was hearing and feeling using “he” or “him”, compared to his friends that hadn’t encountered the monsters who called the monsters “it” or “the thing”. it makes me wonder— did will always know that vecna existed, even saw him in previous seasons? was the shadow monster just vecna all along? the pair do show some resemblance in structure, both having a spider-y collection of vines all around and propping them up as well as a spooky, overbearing demeanor. 

speaking of vines, i think i’ve figured out a key point in vecna’s conversion of people into upside down creatures. the answer has been in our face since the beginning of time— the way people are turned into monsters (at least mentally) is because of the upside down’s vines.

in s1, when joyce and hopper found will he was wrapped up against a wall with vines surrounding him, with one inside his mouth. the vines were consuming him entirely, and trying to kill him off as soon as possible. in s2, when hopper traveled underground to take a closer look at the new upside down things, he got trapped because the vines were wrapping him up and pushing him into the ground. again in s2, will was possessed when vine-like shadows entered him, similar to the vines from s1. 

in s3 when billy died, it was at the hands of a multitude of the mind flayer’s weird claws. they weren’t exactly vines, but acted like them in a sense that they finished him off by entering him, just like the vines from s1 and 2. once more in s3, to possess humans the mind flayer would inject some weird mind flayer stuff into the person with its vine-like claws. again, not exactly vines, but they acted ones from s1 that was attempting to kill will.

after the killing process, which the vines take care of, the person may decay in some way— but that doesn’t make their body useless to vecna. he can then use them as objects to possess, like a puppeteer. we can see in the trailer that even vecna himself is controlled or regenerated in some way by these vines.

he is connected to them. not permanently, per se, but maybe these vines are a way of providing him with the energy and thoughts of the people he’s possessed. this could be a physical representation of the hive mind that’s been a known part of the upside down for years now. the demogorgons may be the minions, but vecna is the brain— and this is how he communicates with his people.

i’m going to get back to discussing max and her possession before this essay comes to a close. 

when will was taken to the upside down he was present mentally and a physical representation of him resided there as well, however his body was still in the normal realm. bad things could be happening to him whilst in the upside down (possession and more), but there was still a part of him in the human world.

perhaps this new red upside down place is the place people go to in cases of possession now. whenever max is suddenly brought to the upside down just as will was, she now comes to in this red area that contains vecna, and by the looks of it, also holds the upside down version of the creel house. maybe when she’s floating in the trailer she is having one of those episodes and sees these new upside down things before she snaps out of it.

because there is a possibility of her seeing the creel house during one of these episodes whilst in the upside down, she could be able to tell her friends where it is, similar to how will could track people and monsters using the vines in s2. she could tell them that there is a new “source”, a new place that they need to look at asap, and so they go there to hopefully put an end to whatever bad things are going on.

lastly, there are people or some beings in that ball of light. my guess is they are people who are also currently flayed or were previously flayed and died that way (billy), and the floating being is vecna, waiting to permanently flay her too.

those are all my ideas on this topic! sorry if these have already been mentioned, i’m a bit late to the party. i’ll be making more of these essays as i rewatch the trailer a million times, so if anyone wants to send asks based on the new content or stranger things 4 in general, by all means go ahead. 

[yutafrita]

Through the Webs- CHAPTER EIGHT

"And through it all, I will fearlessly love you."

Sungchan x Reader (y/n pronouns are she/her)

Chapter Warnings: References to deceased parents, mild to graphic depictions of violence, mild psychological horror elements, spider(s), references to minor character death, slight references to homophobia, depictions of poor mental health institutions

Chapter Word Count: ~7.4K (oh my god)

Through the Webs Master List

Synopsis: Therapy. Medication. Wallow. Repeat. You have gotten the daily routine down pact. Your visions or “delusions” as the doc would say, haven’t helped you when it comes to recovering from your amnesia, though. What has helped are the times when Sungchan visits you in the hospital. He says he’s your best friend, and since no one else has visited, what else are you to believe? Certainly not your own delusions which keep telling you that the asylum is more than what it seems.

Tag List! @nini0620 @maleegayuh if you want to be added just send an ask or comment <3

Chapter Eight

It was strange to be outside and not on the run. The last time you were met with fresh air, you were on the run in the escape car and moved swiftly into the underground, until now. To be walking at a brisk pace outside felt wrong to you. A part of you (one that was terrifying) wanted to flee back down to the sewage with Sungchan, afraid of facing the monsters of the outside world. 

Sungchan and you laid quietly in each other arms on the broken cot, listening in agony to his watch tick the seconds away. You did your best to ignore the doubts in your mind and pressed forward through the forest, a silence still between you two. It was surreal that only an hour before you two were entangled and the closest you could possibly be, to only be walking in silence now as you followed the crude map Taeyong made for you.

“I wish we could use a flashlight,” you muttered. At this, you heard a helicopter flying overhead and sighed. This was why you couldn’t use flashlights. As Ten and Taeyong had mentioned beforehand, Capsik utilized the police forces helicopters to comb the city overhead, extending as far as the city limits would allow- which meant flying over there forest at night to look for any glimpse of life- especially while curfew was in effect.

“At least this means we’re close,” he was staying positive, and you appreciated that. The moonlight guided the first portion of your path. You walked in step with Sungchan, keeping your breathing hushed as you saw the occasional matching set of footprints in the forest floor. “These are certainly useful,” Sungchan noted. He had a look of guilt afterwards that you couldn’t quite piece together.

“Did I do something wrong?” You stopped in your tracks, your voice still low but full of irritation. You could hardly see as it was, but the moon light bounced off of his now wide eyes and he furiously shook his head.

“What do you mean? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then why won’t you talk to me?” it came out whinier than you had hoped for.

He was quiet again before answering. “I wanted to take you on a real date. A proper date before... I’m a gentleman.” He started walking again and you followed closely now as he continued, “but you’re right. Shit can go south. I hate that I can’t fix this. I should be able to fix it.”

There it was. You grabbed his arm to stop him, struggling now to keep your voice down. “You can’t blame yourself for this.”

“It’s all my fault,” he blurted out. 

Your heart dropped. “What did you say?”

He huffed, and you felt him tug his arm away. “I… I didn’t know he was one of Capsik’s men. I always spoke about you at work with the other teachers- I had a photo of you at my desk for fuck’s sake.”

Another pause as you heard his sniffle, his tears glistening in the moonlight as they started to stream down his cheeks.

“Capsik had figured out all of the secret identities of all the heroes by then except for yours. I guess he was between someone else and you… but hearing how I spoke about you…. He figured it out. It’s my fault.”

You were shocked. You had no idea Sungchan had this festering in his heart for so long. You balled your hand into a fist. Capsik had used Sungchan’s love for you against you and him. 

You struggled a bit with the lack of light, but eventually you maneuvered your hands to meet Sungchan’s face, swiping the tears under his eyes away.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!” His voice was louder now and you gently hushed him, hoping to not attract the attention of any potential wandering wildlife.

“I forgive you.”

“You shouldn’t,” his voice was low again, and he hung his head in your hands.

“But I do. This isn’t your fault. He would have figured it out one way or another.”

“I should have known better.”

“And how could you?” You asked, and Sungchan responded in silence, his eyes still looking away from you. “All we can do now is do our best to lock that motherfucker away.” Your teeth were gritted as you finished the sentence.

“I want to kill him.”

“No, you don’t,” you replied quickly. Sungchan was kind, his moral compass steadfast compared to your own occasional gray one.

“I wish I could,” he whispered this so low, that you doubted you could have heard him if you were not solely focused on him. His hands reached up and held yours against his face. “We need to go.”

You nodded, and started again down the forest, now hand in hand.

You had reached the parking lot after another twenty minutes, noticing the singular motorcycle left in a far off parking spot.

“Something probably happened to Kun’s or Taeyong’s ride,” Sungchan shrugged as you neared it, noting the two helmets left on top. “Do you wanna drive?”

You shook your head. “If I remember correctly, I only got my certification like, a month before I was locked up.”

Sungchan chuckled. “Barely. Okay, just hang on tight.”

He strapped his own backpack behind you, and after fidgeting with the helmet for a moment, you were off. 

You were in an odd state of bliss for the first few moments. It was something special for you to be able to walk in a forest, but it was an all new thrill to be going fast towards your home clinging to Sungchan’s back. There were several rounds of weird turns that Sungchan had to maneuver through, considering the one entrance point in the city without Capsik’s militia was in a small back alley, but he did so with the ease of an expert. You stared up at the sky above you. Being alive was one thing, but to be so close to freedom? This was a euphoric feeling.

The city skyline was noticeable within the first few moments of your departure from the forest parking lot, and the closer you got the brighter the city lights got and the thinner the forest to your sides got.

A few more winding roads, some of which weren’t on actual roads but rather dirt paths, and you slowed down into the alleyway. You noted the other similar bikes and smart car and nodded. The next instruction was to leave the vehicle in the alleyway- Renjun and Taeyong would manage getting rid of them as soon as you two arrived. Getting off the bike, you handed Sungchan his backpack. 

With your helmets still on, you started out of the alleyway and onto an empty street. Despite the dim streetlights and the darkness of the glass on the helmets, you were able to make out that you were in a warehouse district. Sungchan grabbed your hand, and you moved quickly down the street, moving towards the warehouse at the end of the block.

***

Sungchan was most against the ambush plan despite the hand he had in it. He was perched on an overlooking rooftop, mask covering the bottom half of his face as he utilized the binoculars to watch the entrance of the mayor’s house. He only agreed because he knew having a large number of people breaking curfew on the evening of the gala would offer a good veil of coverage.

Taking out his walkie talkie, he spoke, “Crowds are forming outside of the Mayoral Mansion with several guards outside. The guards don’t seem to be doing much despite the curfew being in effect for most citizens. Gala guest arrival seems to be staggering, over.”

“Ambush team is in place and ready for signal, over,” your voice was more clear than Sungchan’s was, coming from the earpiece Lisa had given you. Sungchan was gnawing on his bottom lip as he continued to fret over you and the plan- he knew boldness and the element of surprise was all you had on your side, and he swallowed the lump in his throat. Two rooftops away from him was Yangyang who was watching over the back of the mayoral mansion. Sungchan turned his binoculars over to check on his friend and sighed as he watched him eat an apple without a care in the world.

Meanwhile, you checked for the fifteenth time that your bullet proof vest was secure under your dark hoodie, your hands trembling after you answered your fiancé. Bouncing on your toes, you watched Ten pace the basement of the candy shop that sat across from the mayoral mansion. 

You all had hardly gotten any sleep the night before in the warehouse. There was no temperature regulation so you all huddled together for warmth in your sleeping bags on the concrete floors. When you headed to the candy shop, there were several times you all had to hide in garbage cans from Capsik’s men, or try to blend in with the crowds heading home for the evening. 

The candy shop was owned by a friend of Yangyang, Sungchan, Jaemin, and Renjun. “We used to play soccer with him,” Yangyang spoke happily of this old friend. 

“I also am the person who got you guys most of your food,” Jeno countered once he let you all in. Now, Jeno stood on the top of the stairs with his ears pressed to the basement door, watching the news on his phone as he did so.

“What’s taking them so long?” Jisoo huffed, climbing up and down the stairs with her arm braces fully tightened.

“Doyoung, Jennie, Lisa, Kun and Taeyong are probably going to give us the signal any second now,” Renjun tried to soothe her, his back against the basement wall as he typed quickly on a laptop screen. He was monitoring the few cameras you were able to access that gave some insight into the gala itself. The view wasn’t much, but the information was still valuable nonetheless.

“In five minutes… the ambush team makes their entrance, over,” Taeyong’s voice hissed into all of your ears in that moment as if Jisoo had managed to summon him. You all then crowded around Renjun, Jisoo and Jeno even moved off the stairs to watch the cameras over his shoulder. There was one camera that mattered most- the area behind the mayoral mansion where two armed guards stood watch with a sniper monitoring from the roof.

“Please work, please work, please work,” Ten muttered to himself, squeezing his hands tightly together as you all watched with bated breaths. Then, silently, the two guards collapsed to the floor in a daze, darts jutting out from their necks.

“Cut camera twelve, over,” Jennie’s voice came through as if she was gasping for air, but Renjun’s fingers quickly obliged as he typed away at the screen, watching as the camera cut to black.

“Rear ambush team is all clear to go, over,” Yangyang’s voice hummed into your earbuds along with a brief chewing sound before being cut. You all looked over to Renjun, Taeil, Rosé and Ten.

“Looks like it’s our time to shine,” despite the words themselves, you watched Ten’s bottom lip tremble nervously. While the dart guns he and his sisters worked on knocking out the guards, you knew he was anxious to conduct the next portion of the plan. Rosé and Renjun would be supporting Taeil and Ten enter the mansion from the back as the rest of you would enter from the front with the crowd. Having your main medic enter in a different path with two other powered beings would throw off Capsik and give you all easier access to her, you all hoped at least.

“See you on the other side,” you smiled, having spared everyone a small hug before they left the basement.

“It’s almost time,” Jaemin hooked an arm through yours and Jisoo, the three of you now hanging on to each other as Jeno still watched the news.

“You’re okay here alone Jeno? If things go south…” your voice trailed off, the air hanging on to your unspoken words. Jeno brushed them off.

“I have my own escape plan if anything, and hey, I always said I wanted to help. I just couldn’t abandon the store for so long,” he glanced upwards, seeming to mull over the thought of leaving a store he had been curating for years.

“Front ambush team- take your places, over,” Taeyong’s voice chimed into your ears again and you all nodded towards each other. Lifting the hoods of your jackets and securing your masks, Jeno waved you guys off as you headed up the stairs and into the store's main floor.

“Roger that,” you spoke as clearly as possible, staring at the back alley door as you waited for the rest of the team to enter. Really, you were waiting for Sungchan to descend safely from the rooftop and enter the store.

“Do you have a lot of web fluid stored?” Jaemin asked mindlessly, turning his head to stare at the alley door.

“I sure hope so, my spiders still can’t reach here,” you admitted, saddened by the fact that even Pauk wasn’t nearby to ease your anxieties.

Then, the door knob began to turn and you all held your breath as it slowly turned. In walked Yangyang with an apple core in his hand, his mask pulled all the way down.

“Does Jeno have a trashcan somewhere?” he asked mindlessly, moving behind the register to then toss the core into a trashcan there. You were nervous now, staring at the door. Then, it opened again to reveal Sungchan. Releasing the breath you were holding, you dentangled yourself from Jisoo and Jaemin, moving to quickly hug Sungchan.

“Why didn’t anyone greet me like that?” Yangyang huffed. Letting go of him, you studied his face to both make sure he was okay and also sear it into your memory. 

You watched Sungchan swallow a lump in his throat. He didn’t move his eyes from yours as he put on his earbuds, and pressed on the speak button, “front ambush team is moving in, over.”

***

The night before you were all kidnapped was very vivid now. You had received a letter from Capsik with seven simple words and an attached photograph: Come to me willingly, or he dies. The photo attached was taken of the window from yours and Sungchan’s balcony in your town home- one of you two kissing with the laser of a sniper pointed on his back. 

“You can’t go!” Sungchan had cried that night, his hand squeezing the letter as you piled any supplies or armor into your backpack.

“What choice do I have?” you shouted back, still rifling through your things.

“He’s going to kill you all,” Sungchan was crying now, and you remember looking away from him to dig through your things, too much of a coward to look him in the eyes. 

“It’s either me or…” you whimpered. “You have your parents, your brother. But Sungchan, you’re all I have. You can live without me, but I can’t live without you.”

***

Why were you remembering this all now? You chastised yourself as you walked out of the front door of the candy store, all with your hoodies up and moving through the small crowd. The last time you had all approached Capsik, it was at his own personal estate. You were still filled with the same feeling of dread, but this time you had Sungchan by your side, and this made all the difference for you.

Pressing the button of your earbuds, you said loud enough only for the mic to pick it up, “get the lights.”

“With pleasure,” you didn’t have to look over to know that Jaemin was smiling as he moved through the outskirts of the crowd and towards the nearest streetlamp.

“Let’s move,” Sungchan instructed, the four of you awkwardly pushing your way to the front of the crowd and where you remembered guards being stationed. Ramming into a gate stopped you, and you stared down at their shoes before you as you heard a sharp chuckle.

“Stay behind the gate, idiot,” the guard taunted. You stood still despite the shifting of the crowd, making sure to not respond. “Hey, I was talking to you,” there was a shove on your shoulder, but you held your ground, tightening your grip on the gate that stopped at your hip.

“We need ten seconds!” Lisa’s voice came in sharp in your ear, and you tighten your grip further. They had to have been taking care of the snipers on the roof that faced the front, and you gulped as the guard began shouting at you.

“Dumb bitch, look at me when I’m talking to you!” they grabbed at your hood then, shoving it off. “Oh, a dumb old bitch,” for a moment you forgot that you had laced webs into your hair. “Wait a minute…”

“Now!” your hands moved before you fully registered Lisa’s instructions, lifting your head up to surprise the guard and snagging the gun from the guards hand. Quickly, and with a height and a stealth you haven’t been able to properly use in months, you easily leapt over the barricade. As you did, you slammed the barrel of the gun over the head of the guard, knocking them out cold.

“Dihcara! She’s really here!” you heard your name coming through the crowd, attention changing quickly as the lights in the street shut off. You began to back up, in the dim light seeing the other four bodies of guards knocked out cold on the floor, your accomplices now on the same side of the gate as you.

“Get to the doors, I’ll open the gates,” you instructed into your mic, watching from the corners of your eyes as the other three shifted and started towards the door. You looked at the crowd, a small hush having formed amongst them. Despite the dim light offered thanks to Jaemin’s outage, you watched all eyes zero in on you.

“You’ll have your city back tonight. Count to 60, and follow behind us,” you instructed. Lifting your hands, your webs attached to several pieces of the gate, and you yanked them out of place to leave a wide gap for the crowd to move. They stood still, and a murmur started through the crowd- a murmur of counting.

You turned around, and rushed towards the door as Sungchan opened the front door to the grand entrance hall.

***

Having entered the grand hall of Capsik’s mansion on his estate, the five of you were forced onto your knees, each bound by unique handcuffs containing each of your weaknesses. You watched his shoes pace before you, your eyes blurry with tears.

“Since none of you are going to remember this, I have a right to say this,” his voice was gruff, and you felt the cold tip of a gun move under your chin. You whimpered slightly as you were forced to look into the eyes of the man who you believed was going to kill you.

***

You shook your head, trying to remove the memory from the forefront of your brain as you all rushed down the hallway. You didn’t have time to admire the insane decadence that lined the area, instead swiftly attaching guards to the walls to subsequently disarm them with your webs, your eyes having to move quickly to get your body to work.

You stood in front of the banquet hall doors. The four of you turned around, chuckling at the collection of knocked out guards lining the hall- several stuck to the wall, a few seemingly gut punched, and one or two being knocked out by Jaemin’s electricity. Then, the sound of a large crowd moving snapped you all back to the task at hand. You moved forward first and opened the door to the banquet hall, freezing as you all looked at the scene in front of you.

“What the fuck,” your mouth hung open as the banquet hall doors shut violently behind the three of you. You could hardly pay it much mind, and stared at the giant web created in the center of the room.

“Doyoung! Rosé!” Jisoo foolishly rushed forward towards the web that her siblings were sewn into.

“Jisoo sto-!” A web attached itself to the strong girl, snapping her hands together in thick webbing. You were trembling, and slowly you all turned your gaze upward to see Capsik at the center of the massive web, a smile on his face as he watched you stare at his web creation in fear.

“How adorable. You all thought tonight of all nights I wouldn’t enforce a curfew,” he chuckled, slinging a web out and snatching Jisoo up only to place her next to her thrashing siblings. Every part of the team who you thought had entered safely was wrapped up in Capsik’s web, and the three of you now standing were shaken, unable to move.

Cries sounded in the door behind you, but you couldn’t look back. You couldn’t look anywhere else but on the massive web.

***

“Your birth mother was one of my whores. I couldn’t have my wife knowing about my bastard, so once she gave birth I had her killed and a couple of lesbians adopted you. You are my kid.”

***

“Let them all go!” Sungchan shouted next to you, and you were snapped out from the memory that had been clawing its way into the forefront of your mind.

Capsik chuckled, looking away from the three of you to the struggling members of the crew in his web. “I thought that hacker you had would have been able to figure out the reused footage we were projecting from the inside of the mansion,” Capsik was speaking over the cries of agony coming from the hall. “Oh well. Now I can jail all of the city’s defectors, execute you all, and fully have this city under my thumb.”

You locked your knees as best as you could before you shouted, “and you’d kill your own child?”

With this, his laugh boomed, and you felt as if it shook the room. Slowly, he detached himself from his web, webbing himself gracefully so that he was on the floor of the ballroom and for everyone to gaze down at him. “You may be my child, but you had the same purpose as everyone else here-,” he glared around the room, making eye contact with Ten, Jisoo, Jaemin, and Taeil, “to serve the syndicate.”

With this, several muffled cries came from those trapped in the web, and you clenched your jaw. You needed this information, you needed it. 

“The doctors were easy to pay off, the kids were chosen at random and injected with serums. All were spread out in ages and births so that the doctors didn’t get caught- except you. When that whore had you, I knew that you would be vial number 67.”

“Vial 67?” you couldn’t stop yourself, this horrible revelation removing any veil of innocence you had regarding your powers.

Capsik chuckled, “what? You all thought the power you had just… worked? No, lots of lives were sacrificed,” he clicked his tongue, smiling at the horror that crossed your face, “and you all still had the nerve to not fulfill your duties. No matter. I just took your formulation and will create more powered beings of my own.”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to waste them?” Sungchan stepped forward boldly, and you anxiously grabbed at his wrist to hold him back.

“You… you absolute thorn in my side,” Capsik growled, and quickly you shoved Sungchan out of the way, your body being wrapped in a web that wasn’t your own. You gripped onto the the base of the web, hand shaking as you quickly turned to Jaemin, eyes wide.

“I’ll just kill him after I kill you… although that won’t be fun,” Capsik taunted as you moved your other hand to your chest, begging Jaemin with a silent expression. 

Understanding dawned on Jaemin's eyes, and in a fluid motion, he shot his hand forward. The room was filled with a violent blinding light, and you were knocked onto the ground.

You knew Jaemin didn’t use his electricity beforehand for two reasons- if he had gotten Capsik while he was still connected to his web, it would kill everyone connected to it, and if he had tried getting Capsik before, the chances of missing were high.

Using the web Capsik had connecting you to him was Jaemin’s safest bet in electrocuting Capsik.

Your vision was blurring, figures seeming to move all around you until the bright light went out and the darkness swallowed you whole.

***

You hated being inside the house for too long. The rubber on the brace stopped most of the electricity from getting to you, at worst leaving you with an occasional tremor in your hand. After properly locking Capsik’s cronies from their positions of power, and freeing all the prisoners he had locked up, the town was slowly returning to a proper state of normalcy. 

When Sungchan brought you home after your brief hospital stay, you were overwhelmed. You found yourself touching every bit of furniture, gracing your fingers over the spine of every book on your shelves, and feeling all the clothes that were yours. Everything was a bit of a mess. Furniture was in awkward positions, some books were thrown about and it looked like your closet threw up. Capsik had his men effectively dig through all of your items, and according to Sungchan, all that was taken was a few laptops, “We’ll just have to clean a bit, but it’s no bother.” 

He started to notice how each day you would linger in the backyard a little longer. He also noticed how you were afraid to leave your home at all. 

“Where are you going?” you asked him after a few weeks. You stood by the front door, holding his wrist anxiously.

“My love, we are out of food.”

“Taeyong can’t pick some up?”

“He said he hates getting groceries and we need to be normal adults again,” Sungchan sighed.

You and Sungchan were having dinner outside again another night. It had warmed up but it was still painfully cold at night. Sungchan had tightened the scarf you gave him at the asylum, and continued eating the ramen you had made.

“Are you mad at me?” you muttered, your shoulders so hunched over the bowl that your ring clanked against your bowl. You would make fun of yourself for simply not moving the ring from its chain onto your finger, but you were too exhausted to do so.

“Why would I be mad at you?”

“Because… because I said I don’t want to be a hero anymore. And because I never want to leave the house… and because I’m-.”

“Stop. I understand. I couldn’t be mad at you,” he lovingly pinched your cheek, and you halfheartedly smiled in return. 

“Can you believe Ten’s moving away?” This was your attempt at a normal conversation.

“I can’t. I mean, it makes sense in a way. He lived with Jennie and she’s moving in with Rosé, so if there was anytime for a big change, it was now,” Sungchan hummed, watching the steam rise from his bowl. You were quiet for a moment.

“I want to move too,” you choked out, tears racing down your cheeks.

“Hey, my love, why are you crying?” Sungchan placed the bowl of ramen on the rickety table he made for you a week ago, set his hands on the side of your face and swiped his thumb across your cheeks.

“I… I… know that your family is here. I can’t make you leave them,” you hung your head in his hands, and he furrowed his eyebrows. There was a pause, the only sound now being your sniffles and the wind. Your words hung between the two of you, and the ache you had been feeling in your chest since you came to this realization became an overwhelming pain as you cried in his hands.

“You’re not doing that,” Sungchan’s voice was stern. 

You blinked. “Huh?”

“You can break up with me because you don’t love me, or because I’m not what you need or even want. You can’t break up with me because you don’t want to separate me from… here. I refuse.”

“Sungchan, you love it here. You love your job-.”

“I love you. Do you know how many schools in the world would love to have a history teacher who also helps with extra curriculars?”

“I’m a burden,” you sobbed, your hands reaching up to cover your hands.

“You are a being with incredible powers, hell, you can carry me and two other people without struggling. If someone tries to rob us, you’ll be the one defending me. You are not a burden,” Sungchan ignored the stinging on his cheeks as he cradled your head.

“I… I love you,” you held his hands to your face, your eyes seeming to sparkle as they stared up at him.

“I love you too, always,” he pressed his lips to your forehead then, already mapping where in the world you both would go next.

You didn’t want to leave your home until a few things were finalized. You were petrified of this town. In your life before, with your memories, you knew you loved it at some point. You loved your job as Private Investigator, moonlighting as a hero, and being involved in the community. Now, every morning you woke up and every time Sungchan left the house you were always left in disarray. Not even speaking to your spiders was helpful anymore.

Let us help! Let us help! It would be a different group everyday, and each time in tears you would beg them to just leave you alone.

You took to knitting again. It was nice to do something with your hands when you found yourself on the phone with some people for hours. You loved Jisoo and Ten, but they loved to talk more than anything else. You could get pretty far in knitting projects in just one conversation with the pair. 

Conversations with Jaemin were pretty easy. He would simply go over his week, check in on you, say that you should come out of the house to see everyone, and end the conversation. Speaking with Taeil certainly depended on the mood you would catch him in. Sometimes he would not stop speaking for hours on end, but other days you could tell he was simply nodding along as you recounted videos you had seen about the redwood forest or whatever hike you were looking at that day.

One day you were on the phone with Ten, working on a sweater as you nodded along. “I found an apartment already, I’m so excited.”

“Have you decided where you’re moving to?”

“Seattle! It’s a little pricey but the job I have lined up should cover it.”

“Seattle… isn’t that by like, a bunch of National parks?”

“How would I know? I’m not into that nature shit,” he admitted, and you shrugged. “Hey, when are you going to plan your wedding?”

“Hm I should probably not cry when I step out of my front yard before I think about planning a wedding.”

“Fair point. How about this- everyday, sit in the front of the house for a minute or two. Just to start adjusting. Maybe have Sungchan drive you around for a few minutes,” he was oddly encouraging. “Push yourself, but don’t break yourself either. We’re all here for you.”

So, you started doing just that. Before Sungchan would leave for work, you anxiously started walking him to the car. You looked over your shoulder a little too much for your own liking, but Sungchan was so happy to see you somewhere that was not the backyard that he couldn’t help but beam at you.

Healing isn’t linear. Somedays would be easier for you than others. That first time you went to a cafe a few weeks after your call with Ten, you felt amazing- like a normal person again (despite the spiders in the walls cheering you on), but the following day the thought of stepping out the front of the house made you want to curl into a ball and not move. It wasn’t perfect, you were not perfect. You were certainly imperfect, but you had to just remind yourself that you are a whole person- warts and all. 

Your first time seeing everyone again was at Ten’s going away party several months after you started going outside again. Ten lived about a block away and after taking several shots of tequila and having Sungchan talk you up, you had managed to take the plunge and walk hand in hand outside to your friends house.

“Oh my god she’s here!” Ten cheered once you arrived at his apartment, and despite the deep anxiety budding in the pit of your stomach you let everyone wrap you in a tight, warm hug.

“For not wanting to leave the house you look great!” Jisoo charmed, smiling warmly as she looked you up and down. You knew it was because she was afraid you were going to hide away again, but you didn’t say anything.

“I’m happy you're here,” Jaemin’s simple worded greeting was enough to make small tears well in your eyes, but you batted them away as you greeted and spoke with the people you managed to get you out of the asylum in the first place. You loved them all in different ways, and some form of you felt like a weight was off your shoulders as you allowed yourself to leave your house and speak with your friends.

You knew what you needed to do above all else, though.

Both of your mothers ashes were perched by your TV in the living room. It took several rounds of emails with the principal, but you smiled in the school grounds as you watched Jisoo and Jaemin dig the hole while you and Taeil watched them affectionately. The schoolyard lacked much shade, something Sungchan always complained about, so you were able to get a tree donated to the school with the stipulation that the soil could contain the ashes of both your Moms.

The tree was a little thin, but with the proper care, you knew it would grow and be loved by the students seeking to cool down on the warmer days.

“This is going to be a nice tree,” Jaemin whistled, earning a nod from you and Jisoo. You continued to look over your shoulder, the anxiety of being trapped again still sending a chill down your spine, but you continued to push the fear down. The school bell rang and students began pouring out from the walls of the high school, and you watched as several stared at the four of you standing in the front lawn with shovels around a skinny tree.

“We should probably get going,” Jisoo noted the rise in your shoulders, but you shook your head.

“You guys can go, I’m gonna… go in and surprise Sungchan,” it was the part of your plan you were most nervous about. The halls of the school reminded you so much of the halls in the asylum with its white linoleum floors- but you knew it wasn’t the same. You could do this.

“Are you sure?” Taeil asked, eyebrows raised in concern. You nodded, thanking your friends for their help.

“We’re always here for you,” Jaemin reminded you.

“I’m here for you guys too, thank you again,” you meant it. You had a bond no one could break, and even though Ten wasn’t physically there anymore, you all still spoke with him constantly.

Walking through the emptying halls, you by memory wandered through the maze to where Sungchan’s class was, nodding at the students who waved at you. It was strange. Most of them referred to you as Dihncara, but that simply wasn’t you anymore.

Peeking through the classroom window, you watched Sungchan finish cleaning up his classroom for the school year, the sleeves of his button down rolled up as he took down posters from his wall. He was so enchanting. With a furrowed brow and a pencil tucked between his lips, he was checking between the posters he had taken down and whatever notes he had on his desk, taking the pen out to mark something. 

Clearing your throat, you entered the classroom and watched as he looked up. “Do you think I could earn some extra credit?”

“I’m not sure about that, you missed the whole school year,” he teased, moving from behind his desk to wrap you in his embrace. “What are you doing here?” he kissed the crown of your head and you smiled into his chest before looking up to meet his gaze.

“Well, I’m not sure how long it’ll take to grow, but I planted my Moms in the school yard.”

Sungchan raised a confused eyebrow. “You did what?”

“I know you’re always talking about the lack of trees around the school, and my Moms loved helping people… so… they’re helping the tree we donated to the front of the school grow.”

He smiled from ear to ear now, rushing out of the classroom with you in so that you could show him the tree in the schoolyard. Memories of the night of your escape flooded into your consciousness- the linoleum floors, the horrendous lighting, but also, Sungchan’s hand holding yours.

“I love it… it’s perfect,” he held you to his side, admiring the tree despite the small crowd of students staring at the two of you.

Sungchan began slowly prodding you over the next few weeks about planning your wedding. You two had been engaged for over a year and a half all together at that point, and while you began packing up your boxes and told people you were moving away, this was the one thing you had no idea how to handle.

“Do you want a big ceremony? It’s not something I ever pictured for myself, honestly. But if you want one Sungchan, we can have one.”

“I think I might have a better idea,” Sungchan told you one morning as you clumsily made your coffee. It was perfect. Well, anything Sungchan did was perfect to you- even the wobbly table in the backyard that saw less and less of you everyday.

Taeyong decided to help you with the last bits of your move, grumbling as he helped sell off the furniture you two longer wanted. 

“Oh, I found this,” you spoke casually as you dragged a rather heavy box out from your bedroom closet to where Taeyong sat in the living room. Sungchan was playing a game of soccer with Renjun, Yangyang, Jaemin and a few other old college friends, leaving the two of you to try and mend your friendship. 

“Hm?” Taeyong looked up from the box he was taping up, confused. Sungchan had begged both of you to speak normally again, but all Taeyong did was hold contempt for you, especially after the announcement that you and his brother would be moving away.

“I had some old files from our PI days. I figured you would need them. You’re doing a great job on your own,” you complimented, to which he shrugged. He flitted through some of the folders before you sat across from him.

“I’m sorry,” your voice was softer now. You had been racking your brain for months since your memories returned as to why Taeyong was still so angry with you. From your recollection, you and him were good friends- and then it hit you. “I didn’t say goodbye to you when I left for Capsik because I knew seeing both you and Sungchan would stop me.”

Taeyong stopped digging through the folder, his fingers frozen as he met your gaze. “You're damn right I would have stopped you… Sungchan…he…”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know. He was destroyed. I had to watch him everyday stare at that stupid livestream blaming himself for what happened. You and I were friends, and I had to find out you willingly went to get tortured by Capsik by my brother and his sobbing. He was destroyed,” Taeyong raised his voice.

“And I would never hurt him on purpose. I did what I thought was best, and it’s done now,” you stayed firm in your conviction. “I want you and I to be friends again… for him.”

Taeyong narrowed his eyes on you, still not convinced. Still crouched, you dug into your back pocket, and with shaking hands you handed Taeyong the ticket you were hanging onto to give to him.

“Is this…?”

“I want to guarantee that you’ll visit us at least once,” you studied his face, watching as his expression softened. He was quiet for a while, and you thought for a moment that he refused to speak again. “We made sure the apartment has a spare room just for when you visit.”

“Of course I would visit you guys. I… I forgive you. Just don’t break his heart again,” Taeyong smiled, and you knew that he meant every word.

***

The only person who knew beforehand was Jisoo as she was the only one amongst you all who could actually keep a secret. You had invited everyone else under the pretense of a costume going away party. Sungchan dressed up in a tuxedo mask costume, and you dressed up as an angel in an all white cocktail dress and silver wings to boot. If it was a different party, you would have likely dressed as Sailor Moon to match your fiancé, but you felt the least you could do was dress in all white.

“I can’t believe you’re moving to Seattle! Ten is so excited,” Jennie chirped, her bunny ears awkwardly sitting on her head. Rosé noted this too, and readjusted the ears on her girlfriend's head.

“He’s already planned our first few weekends there,” you chuckled, squeezing the soda in your hand a little tighter than normal. You were just so nervous, and the lack of food in your stomach was not making your nerves any better. What if Sungchan realizes how much better than you he is? What if he realizes he was making a mistake?

You heard the music stop, and watched as Jisoo pulled a chair out from the dining room to stand at the center of the living room. She awkwardly adjusted her Zelda costume. “Everyone! I have an announcement to make!”

You felt a hand loop through your arm, and you looked up to see Sungchan smiling at you, his eyes bright behind his silly mask. ‘I love you,’ he mouthed, making your heart race. ‘I love you too,’ you mouthed back, excited butterflies now fluttering in your stomach.

“What’s the announcement?” Kun called, sounding annoyed. He and Jaemin were dressed up as Mario and Luigi, so his irritation was certainly stifled by the silly fake mustache he had on.

“IIIIII will be ordaining a weddingggg,” Jisoo lingered on her words, an excited smile on her face.

“And you’re telling us because…?” Doyoung was dressed up as Shanks from One piece, his annoyance much heavier than Kun’s was.

“Because… the wedding is happening right now!” She looked your way then, and you hurriedly placed the soda on the counter as you and Sungchan moved to the center in front of Jisoo.

“Surprise,” Sungchan cheered, squeezing your hand once you faced the other.

“Holy shit,” Taeyong whistled, “Mom and Dad are going to be pissed.”

“Shush!” Jennie chastised, turning back to you two with a teary smile in her eyes, “I am so happy for you guys.”

To be honest, those few moments of the actual ceremony were a whirlwind. All you could remember was Sungchan- the look in his eyes as he smiled at you, the way he lovingly placed the wedding band on your finger, and how his hands felt as you slipped his wedding band on.

“With the power vested in me and GetOrdainedFastMinistries.org, I now pronounce you as married. Sungchan, kiss your bride!” Jisoo was crying at this point. Sungchan lifted his hands and gently caressed your face, staring at you as if to savor the moment.

“Come on,” you teased, moving forward and closing the distance between your lips and his, fully wrapped by his arms and laughing into the kiss as you heard everyone around you whoop and holler.

“I love you,” Sungchan repeated, leaning his forehead against yours.

“I love you, too, Sungchan.”

[spideymarvelws]

All writing is mine and is not allowed to be reposted on other sites thank you!

MAIN MASTERLIST

🤍 - Smut | 🖤 - Slight Smut | ⚪️ - Fluff | 🔳 - Angst | ◻️ - Slight Angst | ♣️ - Dark | ♧ - Dark-ish |  ♠️ - On Going | coming soonMAIN MASTERLIST

PETER PARKER X FEM!READER

Series

🤍⚪️ 🔳♠️ Nine Interns. One Island. Masterlist

Life tends to take unexpected turns. It takes you places that you never thought in a million years you would think you would end up. But never would you have thought it would have ended you up at an abandoned island with eight other people you just met, right after being accepted for an internship with the one and only Tony Stark…

⚪️◻️♠️ My Grandmother’s Ring (Royal!au) Masterlist

She hoped for a normal life for as long as she could remember but her fantasies and daydreams about this unreachable idea was nothing more than that. Well, until she snuck out only a few days before her official coronation for one shot at a life too far out of her reach. Little did she know the about the brown eyed boy that would catch her eye.

⚪️🔳♠️ The Dark Of Night (Stark!Reader) Masterlist

Your past seems to catch up with you but spider-man is there to help you out.

♡____⚔︎____♡____⚔︎____♡

One-Shots

🤍⚪️🔳♣️ Be Mine (Dark!Peter)

Peter Parker has been desperate for a connection ever since his break up with MJ, and with everyone in his life leaving one by one, he has turned to the only person that he knows in his heart will never leave him, you. With valentines day right around the corner, Peter goes to great lengths to make sure that you stay his one and only valentine.

🤍⚪️Here We Go Again (Stark!Reader)

Peter gets in trouble and Bucky just wants breakfast

🔳The Things We Do For Love

Sacrifices sometimes bring more pain that recovery

🤍⚪️Deal With It

Peter pulls you aside during Stark’s annual ball for a little bit of fun

🔳Trust Issues (Villain!Reader)

Peter has a set mindset when it comes to the people he spends his day to day life with, both in his real life and his superhero life. But feelings change all the time, especially when those feelings come from the one’s closest to you.

🤍🔳♧ Obeying Orders (Dom!Peter)

Request : Hii !! I want more Dom! Peter please 😸

🔳I Will Fight For You (Knight!Peter)

Request : (stark!reader) can i have some angstyyyyy peter? like peter and the reader get in a huge fight over something it can end happy i just need some angst lol

🤍The Movie Night (Dom!Peter) ⚪️🤍The Long Night (Dom!Peter)

You and peter have a fun time in the compound while the other Avengers are out. Well, mostly all of them.

🤍My Little Bunny (Dom!Peter)

Request : reader’s old childhood nickname is bunny, so when Peter figures it out he can’t help but to refer her as that. and like....if you wanted to turn this into a smut—-😳—- it could be something along the lines of “bunny‘s like to bounce, right?” “Bounce for me” JSKSK excuse me as I do the walk of shame 😞

🖤⚪️🔳It’s The Law [one] [two] (Alpha!Peter)

Being an omega was hard enough in the kingdom but being an omega maid was even worse. You were constantly told that you were nothing by everyone around you, constantly put down because of your status and class. But you never let them deter you, working even harder at your job despite every jab and sly comment thrown your way. Days became harder with time, the slander against your name growing harsher by age. Your dream of finding love in such a harsh environment becoming dust swept under the rug.

🤍⚪️Behind Doors (Fratboy!Peter)

Request : Playing truth or dare with college!Peter and MJ dares you to give him a (private) lap dance

🤍⚪️Pillow Fort

Peter is tired from a rough night of patrolling and comes home to you sleeping in your very own pillow fort

🤍Pretty Little Thing (Dom!Peter w/ Dom!Wanda)

Request : could you do like a dom wanda and peter x reader smut 😳

♡____⚔︎____♡____⚔︎____♡

Head Cannons

🤍⚪️Frat!Peter finding out the reader is a virgin 

Request : What would frat Peter! Be like if he found out the reader is a Virgin?

🤍⚪️Teasing Frat!Peter

Request : From your new doc Peter says “I think I’ll start off with my little slut,” I- that’s some content I didn’t know I would need 😂 if you could elaborate that would be amazing

♡____⚔︎____♡____⚔︎____♡

Blurbs

🤍Blurred Lines (Dom!Peter)

Request : Could you write overstimulation with Peter eating reader out and she's squirming and begging him?

PETER PARKER X GN!READER

One-Shots

⚪️♣️ one true love. (Dark!Peter)

Peter will go threw everything to keep you safe, protected and most importantly always his. He saw you as the person he observed and watched for the past few months, the sweet, kind girl that stopped to pet stray dogs or smiled at everyone who needed it. But somethings he never took notice of, some things that would’ve made him love you even more.

🤍⚪️◻️Breaking Point (Dom!Peter)

You and Peter encounter a problem with his super strength, luckily your powers come in clutch. 

🔳It Was Fun While It Lasted (Villain!Reader)

Despite your life on earth, your life with the avengers, you’ve always felt like something was missing. You never felt that longing to save the people of the world, their wide smiles and thanks never satisfied you like it did everyone else. That was until Thanos told you about your true past, your true purpose.

♡____⚔︎____♡____⚔︎____♡

Head Cannons

⚪️Taking Peter out to Target

Request : Peter Parker fluff- as friends or on a date, the reader and Peter go to target and cuteness, flirting and a lot of fluff happen 🥺

♡____⚔︎____♡____⚔︎____♡

Blurbs

🔳A Team

🗿r o c k

⚪️Heat Annoyance 

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E116-119 (Dec. 15, 2020)

Hi! I missed the first three minutes or so and opened the stream to Brian giving an absolutely incoherent ...ad? for some jewel game? Six thousand jewels just for logging in? Some app in the app store and he’s literally been talking about this now for six minutes and I don’t know what he’s talking about. He finally wraps up, Laura brings the show to a close, and we’re all a little worse than we were before.

Ashley tries to get us back on track and Henry bays over her. Brian tries to ask the first question and breaks off into feigned sobs halfway through. This is chaos incarnate.

Tonight’s guests: Laura Bailey & Ashley Johnson.

How’s Yasha feeling right now about Molly? She and Jester both are desperately curious about whether there’s a spark of Molly left in Lucien that can be brought back. It’s not the same as when Yasha was controlled by Obann; this seems more like just the way this is now. They’d settle for even finding the good in him, like they did with Essek. Brian jokes that they can monitor his mental state if Matt’s Irish accent starts to slip a little bit.

Jester is a little wary about scrying on Lucien now since he’s able to see her back.  She’s interested to try again now that Fjord’s given her the necklace.

Ashley has to run and grab a replacement set of headphones from Brian after hers get “crunchy.” It’s pretty cute seeing them run around and smooch on another screen. Brian teases that he doesn’t have any more questions for Jester since Caduceus has been doing all the healing lately. Laura tells us indignantly that she had Heal prepared for Caduceus in that last big fight, but Fjord got to Cad first. Brian explains how this is the same as all the good jokes he always lines up for Talks but never tells. Ashley’s crunchiness continues and we go briefly to a technical difficulties screen while Brian hops up to fix it.

Dani pips in to get this show back on track. Save us, Dani!

Ashley hadn’t thought about the aspect of Lucien controlling his friends’ minds, but finds it really creepy. It’s a cool game dynamic, and it’s a little different because they’re there willingly, but it’s really weird.

Jester thinks that “the tarot cards know all. She wants to buy into it real hard.” If it doesn’t make sense now, it will later. Laura has an Idiot’s Guide to Tarot Reading.

They’re super interested in why Aeor is like it is. Were they more advanced than us? Did they evolve along a different line? Ashley loves sci-fi and is all about this, especially since she wasn’t there for Happy Fun Ball time & hasn’t been able to get caught up on some of the things she missed in between, so she’s using this as an erstwhile replacement. She can already tell there are some things from this campaign that will bother her the way the unopened box did from C1. She and Laura both seethe at the camera about having to leave the spider behind.

Cosplay of the Week! Harland3r on instagram with a gorgeous winged Pike with a shield & mace. It’s an incredible photo and the wings look great.

Travis distracts Laura by dancing like a Trex offscreen. That seems right for this episode.

Jester’s encouragement of Yasha pursuing Beau was important in a lot of ways, not least because Ashley considered herself as uninterested in D&D romance as Travis & was a little unsure of activating a romance among her friends. However, it felt really natural within the game and it was really helpful to have Jester’s in-game encouragement. Yasha’s grown a lot and is in a much more positive place and is ready to find out what’s possible. Laura: “Jester from the get-go has seen Yasha as this wonderful soul from the beginning, and has seen how sad Yasha’s been through everything, and to see the difference that she exhibits when talking about Beau is drastic and wonderful. Jester’s joy in life is helping others find joy.”

Ashley points out it’s also so fun to “yes-and” with Laura because you’re like a little kid being dragged along by the hand - you don’t know where it’s going, but you know it’s going to be fun along the way.

Ashley does have a sense of “thank goodness Marisha isn’t jumping right into this” so she can coax herself into it, but when she tried to figure out the poem she had a lot of drafts that didn’t survive. She intentionally crafted the letter to give Beau an out if she didn’t feel the same way. There’s a lot going on with Lucien right now and there’s constantly a running thought in the back of her head about “maybe Beau is not into this.” Even the last couple episodes with Jester & Fjord have had Ashley finally understand shipping.

Brian brings us to the moment “almost as romantic as the pre-season finale of the Bachelorette.” Jester was “goo” afterwards. Early on in the campaign, Jester was very forward with her flirtations with Fjord & he shut her down. And then he kissed her underwater and immediately went and slept with Avantika, and Jester automatically shut herself down, because she thought she was misunderstanding & would only be hurt by those emotions. She deliberately focused on just being there with her friends, making everyone healthy and happy. These last few episodes where Fjord was flirting back felt like “my teenage heart again, my first kiss, the boy I like actually likes me back!” and she was able to open back up.

Yasha definitely has some instrument plans for those bones. She doesn’t know if she’s going to add to her harp or create a new one.

Ashley and Laura cheer about Travis stepping out his comfort zone. Laura thinks it was really good that he was doing it with her, his real-life wife, to see if he likes that sort of stuff in his D&D campaign. “It was just so sweet. It was just so sweet.” Brian says he’s actually a really romantic dude & Dani is so glad he asked before the kiss. Brian: “It’s going to be so sad when he breaks your heart and goes back to the corpse of Avantika.” Laura: “It’s fine, Jester will be long dead by then anyway.”

Jester does believe the four-year time trade was worth it, but that the city leaves “a mark on your brain,” especially as in-depth as she saw it. “Jester’s always been reticent to talk about her age because she’s aware she’s perceived in a juvenile way by a lot of people, and she’s insecure about that. She grew up by herself without a lot of social interactions and is experienced in a lot of ways now and naive in others; she’s very aware of human emotion around her, but chooses to see it in a certain way.” Losing the time makes her wonder if she needs to grow up & become an adult about certain things now. Laura: “I think actually she’s closer to Fjord’s age now. Actually, I’m not sure about his age. I don’t know how old he is - I’ve never even asked Travis!” Brian: “I think he’s definitely fifteen.” Laura: “Travis, how old is Fjord?” Travis, off-screen: “Sixty-five,” but he’s had the Mask of Many Faces up this whole time. Later, he adds that he’s in his early 30s.

Ashley has really enjoyed digging into Yasha’s more humorous side lately. It’s how she gets comfortable as a player, making it fun and light in a way that this year needs. “It’s also really funny to think that Yasha doesn’t know how Message works.”

Brian congratulates Laura & Ashley both on their game awards nominations. Brian vamps trying to get himself in as the presenter, but incidentally refers to Laura as his sister in the conversation and it’s super cute. “I would like to be the one to give the award to either my fiancee, or my sister!”

Fanart of the Week: @ethanmaldridge with an illustrated page from the Katzenprinz book. It’s just beautiful.

Jester’s polymorph gambit was terrifying, but the stakes got even higher when everyone else got stunned. She does lament choosing a bunny at the start. “Frickin’ Fjord’s armor!”

Yasha loves being polymorphed lately. She thinks it’s kinda funny, especially given her rigid upbringing with such defined roles.

Laura feels like Jester and Vex are weirdly two halves of herself. Brian: “You see the very bargainy, I’m gonna use my wit & smarts to negotiate situations. But at the same time, you’re very open to what people are thinking & feeling and navigating that. What you end up putting out (though it comes across as innocent and naive) is something pure because she truly believes it.” Laura thinks Yasha and Pike are the same way for Ashley, though Ashley feels a little closer to Yasha right now. Sometimes you just feel really exposed. Laura compares how much idealism she put into Jester to her character from Fruits Basket.

Since Yasha didn’t belong to either side in the war, she’s not hugely concerned by the fallout; she more wants to make sure her found family are okay and safe. Jester is the same way, Laura tells us. Jester doesn’t have any greater vision of the Empire & Dynasty interacting; she cares about the people, and it hasn’t been until the vision with the city that she kind of woke up and realized they have to really stop this now. It feels bigger than the Dynasty/Empire. Ashley: “It seems more of a thing for Beau and Caleb to care about.”

Really, up to now Jester was mostly concerned about getting Molly back, but now the stakes seem much higher. “We have to do this. We have to complete this, to beat them, to keep them from doing this.” Yasha is just going with the flow for now. There’s a lot coming at them and they are ready to find out what’s next.

And that’s that for tonight! Brian thanks the crew especially for working incredibly hard on switching everything to home-based streaming. He then gets stuck halfway spinning around in his chair and the last thing we hear is him idly wondering “What’s Fjord taste like?” which seems pretty on brand for tonight’s show. Is it Thursday yet?

[raiseyourcups]

The Battle Picked Me

Pairing: Din Djarin x Jedi!Reader Warnings: none, I don’t think, mention of Order 66 Word Count: 1k of an unbeta’d mess but when you have to get an idea out of your head...

You spent so long hiding your true nature. Following a path that no one before you had told you was an option but you followed it anyway. After all what was living if not a balancing act anyway? Between dark and light, having passion yet inner peace, reaching serenity but having emotions, chaos and order when needed. Balance. 

When you first met the Mandalorian and the tiny green alien he called his son, you didn’t know what to make of them. The first thing you noticed was that the Mandalorian didn’t refer to the Child as his son but just “kid”. But you’ve been around enough parents to know when someone has all but adopted a child and the Mandalorian? Had an adopted kid even if he didn’t know it yet. An adopted kid that you recognized, or you at least recognized the species.

“Hello, my name’s Y/N and who is this little one?” You asked, cooing at the small child in Karga’s arms. 

“Mando’s son,” Marshal Dune said, a smile on her face. This caused you to look up at the beskar-clad man in surprise. You had heard about him, the fuss he had raised before you got to Nevarro. Someone had said the rumor was that he had been rescuing a baby from Imps. “Come on, Mando, we have business.”

“The kid-”

“He’ll be safe with me, I promise,” you said, staring straight into the Mandalorian’s t-visor. You hoped you were making eye contact, you always preferred doing that to make sure your point got across. You couldn’t see it, but you had made eye contact and the Mandalorian behind the helmet had to fight to look away from your eyes. 

He let himself be pulled out of the building by Cara, still looking at you before finally turning away. You turned back to your class full of children. “Okay, now where were we?”

The second thing you noticed was that the Child had lifted another kid’s pack of cookies without leaving his seat despite being too far to reach for them. That was the thing that had given you more pause. You didn’t know much of the universe but you knew the Force. It was always there beneath the surface and when you reached out, you felt the Child reach back. And you knew him. 

You hadn’t used the Force in so long, not since you were a padawan and the Clone Troopers suddenly attacked. You had narrowly escaped with your life, your saber, and a secret that you passed off to someone you thought you could trust.  You then hopped from planet to planet until you came to Nevarro and became their school teacher of sorts. 

You spent the rest of the school day trying to teach the children out loud while making sure that the Child, Grogu he reminded you, understood as well. He spent most of the time “telling” you about everything other than the lesson you were going over. You learned that the Mandalorian had once turned him over to Imps but had then rescued him, you also learned that they had just been attacked by ice spiders and that the Razor Crest was in dire need of fixing. Needless to say, you ended class early and just sat with Grogu, reminiscing as you waited for his “dad” to show up. 

Unfortunately the Mandalorian came back all too soon and swept out with Grogu before you could even tell him his son’s real name. After that you spent your days teaching the children and going over the information you had gleaned from your much too short “conversation” with Grogu. You had apologized to him but he had forgiven you, knowing that you couldn’t have done much to hide the two of you if you had stuck together during the peak of Order 66. 

The one night you felt a disturbance in the Force, you weren’t sure if it was something that had happened or had yet to pass but you knew it would be bad. So that night and the following ones, you went out far enough from the city where no one would be able to see you and you practiced. You didn’t know why but the Force had a funny way of making things that needed to happen, happen. 

During one of your late night training sessions, you felt Grogu reach out through the force. You fumbled a little, dropping your saber in your shock. But then the connection dropped and didn’t come back. 

So you didn’t think anything of your need to train until the Mandalorian came back in a different ship, no Grogu, and shoulders tenser than tense. You watched as he went to speak with Marshal Dune and when you saw her leaving with him, you couldn’t stop your feet from running after them. 

“Wait!” You called out, noticing how they tensed up at your voice and only Cara relaxed when she saw you. “I’m going with you.”

“What? No!” Cara exclaimed. “You’re a school teacher.”

“That’s not all I am,” you said, pulling your saber from the holster you had taken to wearing recently. It was usually hidden by your tunic making it easier to hide from everyone. You held it out to the side and pressed the button, igniting the lightsaber. 

“What the kriff?” Cara said, staring at the lightsaber in shock. The Mandalorian didn’t say anything, just kept staring. 

“If it’s an Imp who has Grogu, I’m coming with you.”

“How do you know his name?” That got the Mandalorian’s attention, his hand going to his holster. You couldn’t blame him, you would probably do the same thing if you were in his armor. 

You still shook your head in annoyance. “Because he told me, last time you were here and I felt him reach out through the Force not even a solar week ago. What happened?” 

“Moff Gideon took him.”

“Say no more.” You turned off your saber, placing it back into its holster. “I’m coming with you.”

[hatterstan-shameblog]

Okay so Aguni is sound asleep, just enjoying the few hours of peace he has, when there's a knock on the door. He ignores it, but the person just keeps knocking and knocking.

"Morizono, open the goddamn door!" he hears Takeru call, "This is an emergency!"

He groans to himself before standing up and opening the door.

"What?"

"So, remember that weird chonky cat Niragi found?"

"Yeah... what about it?"

"It's not fat... and is not a cat."

Where Hatter and apparently every other idiot at the Beach mistake a domesticated pregnant genet for a fat exotic cat. And it just gave birth on Hatter's bed.

I have no idea in what direction this is supposed to go lol but hopefully something chaotic.

alright I had to look up what a genet is and DAMN they are CUTE AS HELL and I’m love them v much

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Terminator

Rating: PG-13 for dialogue and like one drug reference

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Aguni Morizono is a simple man who enjoys simple pleasures.

He enjoys a healthy slathering of grape jelly on his toast. He enjoys watching the sunset reflect over the ocean. He enjoys watering his garden and reading the newspaper and taking naps on the sofa on Sunday afternoons after he’s finished his grocery shopping for the week.

What he does not particularly enjoy is being shaken awake by a borderline-frantic Takeru in the middle of the night.

Takeru insists that he has a good reason; that this is an emergency. Aguni reminds him that running out of marijuana does not qualify as an emergency, and pulls the blanket over his head in an attempt to shut the very exuberant man out.

But the aforementioned exuberant man refuses to be shut out, and he references the aforementioned emergency again—this time insisting that it is an actual real emergency and requires immediate attention. Aguni sincerely doubts this and tries his damnedest to fall back to sleep—a truly Herculean task, given Takeru’s incessant talking and the way he’s bouncing on the other side of the mattress like some kind of weird large puppy. Aguni is just about to enter the first misty moments of dozing off as Takeru says words like ‘Niragi’ and ‘cat’ and ‘bed’ and it’s all somewhat possible to ignore until he utters one word that makes Aguni sit straight up.

‘Babies.’

Now, ‘babies’ as a concept does not bother Aguni. He’s actually somewhat fond of them, the way they unabashedly stare at him on the train or in the park, eyes wide and fat little hands waving a clumsy ‘hello’ in his general direction. And if he waves back sometimes, well...that’s his business. (It’s only polite, after all.)

No, the issue here is that ‘babies’ and ‘the Borderlands’ sounds like a terrible, terrible mix. What’s worse is that said babies have, for some reason, been left in Takeru’s care. And, judging from Takeru’s presence in his room, the babies have been left alone.

It takes no time at all for Aguni to throw on a pair of pants and slip into his boots. It takes even less time for him to grab Takeru by the collar of his robe and physically drag him down the hall, the other man switching between heartfelt thank-you’s and desperate pleas for Aguni to be gentle when handling the raw silk of his ensemble.

Now, to those of us on the outside of Aguni’s brain, it may seem like he hasn’t thought this through; that he has tunnel-vision’d his way through the last two paragraphs without a logical thought as to how and why ‘babies’ may be present. That is simply not true. Aguni has considered that ‘babies’ could actually mean a number of things aside from ‘human infants’ and has thus compiled a short list of the three most likely candidates:

The spider plant he had placed on Takeru’s windowsill has propagated—or, as some would call it, ‘had babies.’ This is Aguni’s favorite option of the bunch. It is also the least likely.

Something about the cards. Although Aguni has never Takeru refer to them as ‘his babies,’ it is no secret that he is very protective of his prized collection. Seeing as this may or may not affect the entire Beach, it’s important for him to be aware of the situation.

Takeru is high as a goddamn kite and hallucinating. This is, unfortunately, the most likely scenario.

It is also important to mention that Aguni has taken a good look at his life and his choices throughout this ordeal, particularly when Takeru commented on the state of his biceps and made an off-color insinuation about the right one looking slightly more defined than the left—and then asked if he would like to discuss his love life, with an exaggerated raise of his eyebrows. Aguni chose not to comment. He also chose to push Takeru into the doorframe on the way into his suite, and took a smidge of pleasure when his head collided with the wood with a satisfying clunk-ing sound.

“Look,” Takeru says proudly, pointing a finger at the bed, “babies!”

Nestled in what a bulging nest of fluffy white blankets are...things. Fuzzy things. One big fuzzy thing, with sleepy eyes and what looks to be a long spotted tail wrapped around one, two, three tiny fuzzy things. When Aguni leans in to get a closer look, the big one quirks a corn-chip-shaped ear and gives him a wary glare.

“What,” Aguni asks, “in the goddamn—“

But before Aguni is able to finish his sentence, Takeru is giving him a stinging slap on the arm.

“Aguni Morizono,” he hisses, hands balled into fists and perched on his hips like a mother hen, “I will not have my children exposed to that kind of language.”

There are plenty of things wrong with what Takeru just said, but Aguni is having trouble getting past the idea that these...creatures have somehow been claimed by his very silly friend.

“Think about it,” Takeru continues, swanning his way past a very confused (and tired) Aguni to sit on the edge of the bed just behind the brood of fluffy individuals, “This lovely lady could have given birth on anyone’s bed...but she chose mine.  Why do you think that is?”

“Because you leave the sheets all balled up in the middle and it’s the perfect place for an animal to make a nest?”

“Wrong, but I like how confident you sounded when you said it!”

With his hands pressed together and held in front of his lips, Takeru looks almost prayerful as he very seriously explains his theory.

“A woman alone-- heavily pregnant, scared, and lost in these cold and cruel Borderlands.  Her thoughts shift to her young.  Who will keep them safe?  Who will help take care of them?  That’s when her instincts took over,” Takeru opens his arms, the silken cuffs of his robe pooling around his elbows, “and, using her superior sense of smell, followed her nose to the den of the nearest alpha male for protection.”

Aguni wishes he could say that this is the dumbest thing he’s ever heard. He also wishes he had a cup of coffee (with a healthy glug of Bailey’s in there for good measure) before this whole event took place.

Takeru has since busied himself with the tiny new mother and her young, watching with gentle fascination as the newborns snuffle and snooze against her with unopened eyes and clumsy paws. When he reaches out a ring-bedecked hand to stroke along the bigger one’s head, she gives him a small growl and a pointed glare—to which he laughs and withdraws his touch, saying something cheeky about “the last time she let a man get too close” and quickly following it up with a promise to talk about it “after the kids are asleep.”

Takeru has just held up his hand for a high-five (which Aguni has decided to not reciprocate) when they hear a crash and then a bang and then the thundering thumpthumpthump of angry booted footsteps rapidly approaching their position in the bedroom. For some reason—a reason he’s not very keen to dwell upon at the current moment—Aguni instantly snaps into defense mode, hands curling into fists and shoulders squaring themselves in anticipation of a coming attack.

“WHERE. IS. TERMINATOR!?”

Niragi bursts into the room like a firework, all noise and flash and fire in his eyes. His knuckles strain around the dark of his rifle, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice. Of course, Aguni knows (hopes) he won’t actually resort to filling Takeru full of bullets, but he keeps a close eye on his trigger finger, anyways.

“Ah! There’s my co-parent,” Hatter says with a measure of glee, gesturing with a flourish of his hand towards the cute, hairy pile on his bed, “As you can see, our lovely Terminator is doing very well and—“

“Our? She’s not fucking ours, she’s fucking mine,” Niragi snaps, “and I’m gonna fucking kill you for stealing my cat.”

“Not a cat,” a calm voice says, and Aguni turns to see Last Boss lurking in the doorway, katana sheathed and arms crossed, “She’s a common genet, native to the savanna’s of Africa.”

“Ooh, does that mean the babies have dual citizenship? No, wait,” Hatter claps his hands together with glee, “triple citizenship? Africa, Japan, and the Borderlands?!”

“Africa’s not a country, it’s a continent, dumbass,” Niragi retorts, “and I think we have bigger problems than what’s going to be on their fucking passports.”

It’s probably not the best thing in the world for Aguni to let Takeru and Niragi descend into heated bickering—a back-and-forth of ‘you stole her’ versus ‘no, she chose me’—but Aguni is simply not interested in breaking up their squabbling. Instead he goes to stand by Last Boss, who’s watching the two long-haired men argue like it’s a mildly interesting tennis match.

“So,” Aguni says, “you, uh, seem to know a lot about those things.”

“I did my research when Niragi first brought her back,” Last Boss says calmly, “He’s good with her, but I wanted to make sure we were taking care of her correctly.”

“Did you know she was pregnant?”

“I had my suspicions. Niragi wouldn’t listen, though. Kept telling me she was just fat.”

“Yeah, I thought she was ‘just fat,’” Niragi interjects, his gun no longer pointed at Takeru but a murderous gleam still in his eye, “because this fucking asshole kept feeding her potato chips!”

“Because she loves them,” Takeru shouts back, throwing his arms up in the air, “So shoot me for being a nice guy and sharing my snacks with your weird cat!”

“Don’t,” both Last Boss and Aguni say in unison—which is very uncomfortable for the both of them, but at least it has the desired effect of keeping Niragi from blasting a few dozen holes through Takeru’s person.

With the two of them quickly getting back into their heated back-and-forth, Aguni turns his attention to the creatures on the bed. Somehow, despite all of the noise and excitement, the mother and her babies have curled up and fallen asleep, the rhythmic rise and fall of their bellies a stark contrast to the chaos unfolding around them. Aguni feels jealous, but also, feels bad about feeling jealous because this...Terminator thing has undoubtedly had a rough night, too.

“Luckily,” Last Boss says, “genets are pretty independent creatures. She’ll be fine to take care of the kits on her own, provided that she has access to food and water.”

“So we should just...leave her alone?”

Last Boss shrugs.

“More or less.”

Aguni sighs internally. He sighs externally, too, but the internal sigh is the one that really sums up his thoughts on the whole situation. Just getting one of those hot-headed men to leave those poor animals alone is challenging enough, but both of them? That’s bordering on ‘damn near impossible.’

But, for the sake of those weird fuzzy babies, he has to try.

Takeru jumps when he feels Aguni’s hand on his elbow. He also manages to shut up for a moment, which is a nice bonus. Last Boss has also sprung into action and seems to be talking to Niragi in hushed tones, a hesitant but friendly hand on his shoulder.

“C’mon,” Aguni says, gentle-firm as he guides Takeru into a standing position—much to the other man’s confusion.

“Mori, what—?”

“You’ve had a big night. I’ve had a big night. But do you know whose had the biggest night of us all?” Aguni gestures to the snoozing creatures in front of them, “Terminator. She’s exhausted, and the last thing she needs is the four of us keeping her up. You can stay with me tonight, and we’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”

“But,” Takeru protests—an iota quieter, now that he’s realized that the pipe on the bed is now a sleeping pile, “we can’t just leave them alone, can we?”

“You’re right. Which is why,” Aguni says, “Last Boss is going to stay with her and keep an eye on things. If he’s okay with that, of course?”

Last Boss offers a solemn nod. Aguni makes a mental note to thank him for this later—maybe he’ll let him pick the music on their next supply run (provided it’s from Aguni’s list of pre-approved artists, of course...)

“You know what? Fucking fine,” Niragi spits, flicking his hair back with a quick jerk of his hand, “it’s too goddamn late to deal with you fucking losers, anyways. I’ll come back to collect my cat and her kittens in the morning.”

Aguni does not risk correcting Niragi on his incorrect terminology regarding his pets—frankly, he’s a little too busy being amazed at how suspiciously easy it was to get him to leave. With a sharp pivot, Niragi is exiting the room in what could be called a ‘brisk saunter,’ no doubt wanting to put as much distance between himself and whatever-the-hell just happened in this room as possible.

Aguni, for once, can relate to Niragi quite well.

With Last Boss keeping vigil over the new little family, Aguni is able to wrangle Takeru away from his room with minimal fuss. It’s probably because the man is very tired—despite multiple claims that he ‘isn’t sleepy yet’ and ‘can stay up for hours.’ This theory is proven when, within a grand total of seven seconds of Takeru flopping face-first onto the middle of Aguni’s bed, he’s managed to slip into what only can be described as a ‘light coma.’

Aguni manages to wrestle a stray pillow away from his sleeping friend’s grasp (he’s a notoriously cuddly sleeper, which has led to some...interesting situations over the course of their friendship) and settles his weary self onto the couch. It’s not quite long enough to accommodate his height, but it’s good enough for what will most likely end up being an extended nap before the sun comes up and he needs to solve whatever other issues have popped up at the Beach overnight.

...But, at least those problems won’t involve babies.

Probably.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Also here is a common genet and DAMN SIS U CUTE AS HELL

[discotreque]

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

[demonslayedher]

I'm glad you reactivated the questions, here are some flowers for you: 💐 Seriously speaking I'm sorry that because of a question I asked you a few weeks ago you watched a series of videos of psychopaths 🥲It made me laugh at first but then I felt guilty 💔 it's all Muzan's fault for leaving us all with curiosity (imagine his parents' reaction once they realized there was something wrong with him even as a human)

Yay, flowers (which I shall kill with my black thumb)! And no, no, it’s fine, I had hoped it came off funny! I like listening to stuff like that while I draw anyway because I’m a nerd anyway and I found it very interesting.

Speaking of being a nerd, you have innocuously unlocked the following essay about Heian period nobility and wisteria flowers: There is nothing to state so in canon, but I find it highly reasonable to say Muzan might had been of the very powerful Fujiwara clan. Step inside my office, Anon.

Okay. So. The Heian period, simply put, was a time of cultural flourishing and beautiful pastimes, the origins of a lot of Japanese style aesthetics, and a romantic courtly like of romancing everybody else in the court. This is assuming, of course, that you were at the very, very, very, very top of society. Otherwise, the vast majority of people were poor and sick and starving and ew, in young Muzan’s world, we do not wish to associate with that. In the Heian court, Kyoto basically is the whole cultural world. Even though there were other cities that could rival Kyoto, the emperor was there, so it was essentially the cultural center of the country. The nobles who lived there got money from owning land in far-flung provinces, but actually having to live in those provinces? What a drag! Having to live away from Kyoto for work, even if it wasn’t an official banishment, often felt like a punishment to the nobles and their families who were used to the social scene at court. And, like affluent courts around the world throughout history, understanding all the intricacies of style and “Heian Rumors” was key to having social clout, and popularity was power. And yeah, nobles would be vicious to each other. While clan dynamics and history are complex and not something I’m getting into here (I don’t consider myself well-versed in it enough), the Fujiwara clan is a BIG DEAL.  Basically, in Heian times, children were typically raised in their mother’s home, thereby heavily influenced by their mother’s clan, so besides a young man’s parents, his in-laws also would had been hugely influential in his life, as they will have a long-felt influence on his progeny. The Emperors typically married Fujiwara daughters. This, in addition to other positions of influence of the Fujiwara clan members usually held with influence over the Emperor, means that politically, there was no messing with them. Now, just because I say Muzan might had been a Fujiwara clan member, I don’t necessarily mean a member of the main branch of the family. Often, due to inheritance management, different branches of various noble clans might be given different surnames. The Fujiwara clan does have different branches, some of which did go one to have close ties with the imperial family even after the fall of their power at the end of the Heian period and all the way through the Taisho, and some branches carry some impressive family legacies but otherwise live like normal or high-class common folk in modern-day. (I know one such Ojousama from a renamed Fujiwara branch; she’s a sweetheart and never brings it up herself but every time I hear other people say things about her family, I’m like, dang.) We can venture from Muzan’s likely expensive medical treatment, multiple marriages (meaning other clans sought to be connected with his family even by marrying their daughters to a sick man), and even preparation for cremation as a baby that he was of a very, very high status. 

Being the sick son of a prominent family may have warped his personality in multiple ways: first, he was probably already used to a culture of popularity equated political power. We see in Muzan’s dealings with humans in the Taisho period that he can be exceedingly charming to get what he wants (a psychopath trait, haha), so he was probably pretty aware of the complex ways of socialites in the court. But, even being aware of that, it probably frustrated him to no end that he was too sick to take part in the social pastimes where he’d gain clout. It’s also possible that he was a bit of a bargain husband for his wives’ families who were seeking to a make ties with his family, as they must not had been politically useful enough to be married off to other powerful matches. This may be some of why he was so ruthless to them, for he never saw them as useful to him in the first place. This probably got a bit worse once he became a demon. Now to be lewd, but he probably got more vigorous in his pursuit of more powerful lovers, and knew how to slay the women’s hearts as he liked (you know, popular Heian pastime, everybody had lots of lovers, it was the norm, though political marriages and legitimate children were still important). That new sense of power probably went to his head. But, ultimately, he must had been limited in clout since he couldn’t take part in any daytime activities, thereby limiting his access to more powerful spheres of influence. His reputation from having grown up sickly must had followed him too. It’s anyone’s guess how much affection his parents had for him and how happy they were about his health at first, and if and when they might had noticed his changes. He was a full-fledged adult by the time he turned into a demon, so who knows how closely they even associated with him. They likely had healthier children who they devoted more care and attention to, and invested more family resources in while assuming Muzan would probably die young.

Who knows what the final straw was in Muzan leaving court? Was it frustration at not being able to walk in daylight that made him flee to the Kanto area in pursuit of the blue spider lily (from near where the doctor lived) long before Kanto became politically affluent? Or was it the rumors at court about how he didn’t age, and that he was eating people?

Of note, a lot of the early legends of demons in Japanese culture take place in the Heian period.

In his book “Japanese History of Demon Slayers,” retired Shizuoka University professor Tetsuo Owada capitalized on the success of Kimetsu no Yaiba to dive into a lot of ties between the series and what it may pay homage to throughout Japanese history and culture. While this was published last September and a handful of his theories have been disproven by the second fanbook published last February, and while I think a lot of his theories are stretching a little too far to make strong connections, it’s still deeply, deeply interesting stuff. He goes into some specific comparisons of demons, like Minamoto-no-Raiko and his posse of four big bad warriors taking on the Tsuchigumo (giant spider demon) terrorizing the mountains north of Kyoto harkening to the case of Rui’s family (and, ding ding ding, this was the primary focus of the official Kabuki/Kimetsu crossover last November), as well as takes little questions left in canon and dives into them a bit deeper. One such question is, why were wisteria lethal to demons? According to Prof. Owada’s research, there is no historical basis for this. Some of the talk online is that: 1. Wisteria are in fact poisonous, and consuming too much of them would cause vomiting and diarrhea (though I’ve also seen people make jam out of them because of the fragrance, so, like???) 2. Beans are thrown around at Setsubun to ward off demons (like so, Feat. Muzan and Kimetsu Beans), and wisteria are of the bean family 3. Wisteria like sunlight, so perhaps like Nichirin, they soak up some of the sun’s properties that are lethal to demons 4. In the language of flowers (Hanakotoba), wisteria symbolize kindness, welcomeness, refusing to leave someone’s side, being drunk with love, being straightforward and truthful, not losing the humanity in one’s heart, thereby containing a lot of meaning contrary to the conduct of demons Interesting, but some of its kind of a stretch. While still finding it a stretch to apply it to wisteria being poisonous to demons, Prof. Owada goes on to say that since ancient times, while the wisteria has some negative connotations of how it was sometimes written with characters meaning “doesn’t heal” (不治) and growing downward with smaller and smaller flowers like symbolize the slow downfall of a family line, it conversely also carries positive connotations of longevity and flourishing family due to the fact that its vines grow upward.

Now, you might picked up at some point that the Japanese word for wisteria is “fuji.” Not to be confused with Mt. Fuji (that’s written differently), it IS the same fuji as in “Fujiwara”: 藤.

Prof. Owada goes on to explore the association with the use of Wisteria crests in Kimetsu no Yaiba, especially on the houses of supporters of the Demon Slayer Corp. His recurring thesis is that the pandemic is partly responsible for Kimetsu no Yaiba’s popularity since demon legends have long since had origins in epidemics, and he supposes the Wisteria crest has a protective effect on the houses, similar to a talisman used in a lot of real life rituals for warding off illness and then often displays in or on the entries of houses to protect the family every year (I have one such item gifted to me, it stays by my doorway, along with a couple sticks of charcoal (but the culture of charcoal is a post for some other day)). The talisman is in reference to a god of Hindu/Chinese origins being treated with hospitality by the So clan, so although other families perished in disaster/disease, he promised to always protect the So clan descendants, so the talisman says “Descendants of the So Clan” so that any household may try to claim that divine protection. The gratitude-exchange of hospitality and protection and sure sounds familiar! Prof. Owada isn’t done yet. While the crest design used in Kimetsu no Yaiba isn’t an actual family crest in in real life, there are lots and lots and lots of family crests that use a wisteria design and have the character for “wisteria” in the name. Any time you hear “—tou”, like Satou, Saitou, or even Gotou, you can typically assume it’s 藤. It’s very common nowadays, but the first family to be granted the use of this name was the Fujiwara clan, when one of the pre-Heian and very powerful emperors granted their clan head this surname, which was a major honor, and it marked the start of the Fujiwara clan’s political dominance (there was already influence leading up to this, but meh, we like clear-cut stuff to simply centuries of history, don’t we?). Furthermore, although we often think of the Fujiwara clan for their influence at court, and we might think of the Minamoto clan for warrior heroes who fought demons, Prof. Owada concludes his argument of wisteria’s protective influence by pointed out a long list of Heian period Fujiwara warriors who also were the heroes of demon slaying legends, stating that their name has also long been tied with demon slayer culture. SO!!! Let me go on with my theory here. Muzan is from the same family line as Ubuyashiki. At some point (I assume after Muzan is long gone from Kyoto), the family is told while their children keep dying, and they accept their mission to bring an end to Kibutsuji Muzan and clear this curse on their family line. My thought is that their ancestor was a full blood sibling of Muzan, one whom was more invested in than sickly Muzan. While perhaps already an off-shoot of the Fujiwara Clan and thereby not entitled to the same sorts of inheritance, they probably maintained close ties with them. But, as it was already not direct by that time, the other Fujiwara clan branches were not affected by this curse. To further spare the clan the effects of this curse, this was probably when that sickly branch took the name Ubuyashiki. (And yes, I have things to say about this name and its possible mythological origins which I find a highly, highly interesting connection. Prof. Owada supposes it is tied with Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine and that is why there are nine pillars, but as much as I love Izumo Taisha and its giant pillars I base my argument in separate Shinto (but also Izumo!) mythology and accept that there are not always supposed to be nine Pillars specifically and Gotouge simply chose that number based on the number of strokes in the kanji for ‘Hashira’ (柱) BUT I DIGRESS). So, the Ubuyashiki Clan is it’s own thing, but is sort of like a cousin to the other Fujiwara branches and thereby continues to enjoy Fujiwara support throughout the Heian period, like some of the Fujiwara warriors going out there and slaying some of Muzan’s early demon experiments, and using their influence to bring in other warriors to the demon slaying cause (pet

theory: Genpei War warrior Kumagai Naozane was a member of the proto-Corp and using Kasugai-garasu was in practice since at least late Heian period). While the Ubuyashiki Clan probably already their own inherited land (and funds that came from it), throughout their history, their cousin clans might also have provided financial support to the Ubuyashiki Clan. But, they probably distanced themselves from the clan due to the curse and not wanting to be tainted. When you bring back in the wisteria associations this puts the contrary associations with a flourishing and dying family line in a new light. Furthermore, the “not healing” way of writing “fuji” also means a lot more in the context of Muzan’s, and later the Ubuyashiki clan’s illness.

[drabbles-of-writing]

Reverse Au! Dump

Don’t mind my idea dumping here. Brain decided to have fun while I was at work and I have too many wips as it is, so… Thought I’d ask before I dumped, experience. Used morningmark’s comics as a base, so if you want reference. Now this isn’t all that well compiled, but here it goes.

~

Magic in the Other World is varied as it is crazy. So many styles over the generations and not a lot of organization. There are some that try to categorize it all, but that works as well as you’d expect. Some were lost, some erased, some weren’t passed down/recorded because “the power is all mine! Ahahaha!” It took a lot of time and collaboration, but eventually a sort of system was installed to help out. Still a lot of work to do, but its a step forward. Nowadays the term Wild Magic is generally reserved for those that aren’t all that well documented and understood.

Some Magics are very powerful and desirable, but also tend to be very high risk/high reward, kinda pass/fail, pretty literally Do or Die most times. So not a lot of people can use those or are even willing to. Story says this one guy named Odin hung himself on a massive tree by his own spear for nine days, no food water or rest in constant pain before he could unlock the secret of Runes. But it’s also said he gouged out his own eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom so… 

There are lots of different ways to channel magic too: wands, staves, jewelry, certain gems, familiars, potions, enchanted armaments, chants, scripts, etc. Each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages and play into a Witches’ style. Every Witch has at least two methods of spellcasting. Only children have one. Haven’t thought of how Luz gets her Palisman though. Maybe its one of those magic Artifacts like Dr. Strange’s cloak, Elder Wand, Thor’s hammer, or a Green Lantern’s Ring. Something that can’t be recreated because the secret is lost, materials no longer exist, too hard/dangerous to make, accident that can’t be recreated, etc. Happens more often than people like.

Camilla is sometimes called the Blue Witch. She’s a healer by heart and trade, but push her and she will become a one Witch Battleship. Bismark who? Aaaaand she just deleted a whole battalion. And the fortress behind them. Hide me. There are the very rare occasions, like count on one hand rare, when someone near and dear to her heart is in trouble that she takes up her other job. She’s especially terrifying when she decides to torture, those who know how to heal the body know best how to break it. Many shades of Blue, some are very close to Black. She doesn’t necessarily hate Humans exactly, but doesn’t have the highest of regard from past experiences.

Luz has training and is a proficient Witch for her age. Camilla and her father were adamant about having a general knowledge/skillset alongside her specialized skill. Jack of all trades and a master of none, still better than a master of one. She has gone through the system for her magic with varying success. Oracle magic? Zero talent. Bard classes? She can play an instrument, but can’t sing at the same time. When she does sing she tires too hard and messes up. It’s only when she doesn’t try, like absently singing along with a song or playing by her heart, that she’s good at it. Beasts? Can use them, but would rather play with them. Bleeding heart and all that. She does have a good handle on healing magic partly due to Camilla drilling necessary skills into her and partly osmosis. Her father arranged for some CQC lessons from an old friend of his which the girl loved. You get the idea. It wasn’t until she discovered Glyphs that she found her niche and her skills took off. Glyphs are one of those ‘eccentric’ or 'archaic’ styles since they haven’t been used in so long after being lost and are barely understood. She still has a long way to go, but she is on her way.

Luz never really had much in the way of friends, partly cuz of high profile parents which leads to certain pressures and a target on her head, partly because of her magic style and personality, and partly because of the trouble been going on. Luz grew up her whole life with this tension of a group of anarchists trying to burn society that’s just trying to do the right thing. The anarchists started small, but have been a growing problem the past few decades with talk how to 'reshape the world’ in not a good way. Anyone with critical thinking skills can tell this is a bad idea, but they are too brainwashed to notice. They harass anyone who doesn’t follow their rhetoric and attack anyone who even questions them. Luz’s parents put a real kink in a lot of their plans for years, which makes Luz guilty by association. 

Luz got caught in one of those sudden larger scuffles and was accidentally chucked/blown through a portal created by an attempted tactical retreat that went off course. Hence why she can’t go home because she hasn’t learned how to do portals yet. Those are high level anyway so how did these guys pull it off so easily? Luz has a hard time blending in obviously. Learning how to use a phone was a fun endeavor. Internet was a trip. Luz is amazed how these people can do all this cool stuff without magic. Keep a low profile sure, she can pass off as a weird out of town kid. Keep the beanie on, underperform in gym and stuff because some things don’t change, like genetics. Someone sharp eyed will see discrepancies. The Beanie has a small Glamor spell built in that covers her witchy traits but she forgot the ears which is why it sits like it does. Luz can erase memories in case she has an accident, but it’s less of a 'remove my face from this picture with a scalpel’, and more of a 'lemme just hack off the past hour or three from your brain with an axe.’ If she tries to take any more then she starts burning into some more dangerous territory and those Wiped are groggy and disoriented for a while after already. Then the magic attacks start happening and her heroic instinct/anti-bystander complex kicks in and there goes that. It runs in the family so Camilla isn’t surprised in the slightest when she finds out.

“Oh titan, why did you curse me with another me?” “I’m right here Mami!”

Eda has a shack very akin to Grunkle Stan. Lots of junk that Lilith can’t believe that people are dumb enough to buy. She’s also involved in some not so legal dealings on the side. Well, Eda isn’t actually hurting anybody and the tax dollars she should be paying would only go towards some politicians’ next yacht or another pointless overseas 'investment’ instead of where it’s supposed to go so. Eda does give some good intel on occasion and a place to vent so Lillith overlooks her. Lil’s more of the secret police for witches and a petty crook isn’t part of her job anyway. Eda understands Luz’s predicament and is willing to help. The cover story is that Camilla work in hospitals and has to work crazy hours while her dad passed away so is living with Eda for a while. King is that kind of critter that grew up weird and acts like ten different animals all the time.

Gus is the nerdy kid who infodumps on everybody, even if they’re not listening. Loves anything fantasy/sci-fi related and plays Minecraft too. A good kid at heart, but needs some social skills. Keep him away from anything more sugary than tea. Luz learned a lot listening to him. Not all of it is entirely useful, but still. Some of his ramblings give her some good ideas for magic and stuff, like putting Glyphs on cards.

The Blights are the cool rich kids obviously, and have some discipline and social issues. Big family name makes them intimidating for normies and a meal ticket for the unsavory. These kids need real friends. They decided to act out to get some attention from the parents who then decided to ignore them. “If you’re going to act like a child tantrum, get treated like one.” Ed is perfect for Drama classes, if he were allowed to partake. Can’t decide what Em is great at, hacking perhaps? Amity’s car is an inheritance from the only family to treat her as such Twins aside, even if she’s too young to remember it. She only remembers that she has feelings surrounding the car. All three of them were pretty impressed with Luz for standing up to them, calling them out on their shit, and not giving a crap about their family name. Being treated like a normal person is pretty weird. Can we get her to do that again?

Amity tried dating Boscha once, didn’t work out very well. Boscha is still hurting over Amity’s comment of “I’d rather go date the new weird kid (Luz) than go back to you.” It’s one of the reasons she goes after Luz. She has that kind of Bud personality from Spider Man, feels lesser and so acts out so much. 

“Wow, this new Witch is amazing. Not as cool as the original Witch.”

“What is it with the Witch with you?”

“Oh, she’s a hero. Looks out for the city and the little guy. She inspires me. Makes me want to be a bigger person. *sees Luz* What’s up Luz-er?”

~

And that’s what I got right now. I know there was more, but it’s lost to the void right now. Might come back later, maybe not. Lemme know what you think.

............

DAMN you weren’t lying when you said you had an info-dump this is *chefs kiss* you got me intrigued now