#Sue Storm One Shot

[deadpcnned]

Sealed by the Storm (jj.m)

chapter two

pairing: jj maybank x reader; marriage of convenience

content warning(s): mentions of blood (finger cut), mansplaining 🤢, angst

author's note: second chapter! sort of a filler chapter while we see a glimpse into jj and reader's relationship. the plot picks up the next chapter. also thank you so much to the lovely people who already joined the taglist, i hope i don't disappoint <3

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“Come on, you piece of crap,” Y/N mumbled, falling back on her hands and giving her knees the relief she needed from squatting for the past fifteen minutes. She groaned as she removed the flashlight lodged between her teeth. The generator for the charter shack had shut down in the afternoon but with all the Pogue’s campaigning to get people to show up to the impending courthouse hearing, the shop had been closed and no one bothered fixing it. 

Y/N looked out to the water, staring at the moon as it hung low over the water. She hadn’t wanted to come out here to fix the generator, much preferring the comfort of the hammock she had been lying in, but she doubted anyone else was thinking about it. If she didn’t get this thing working tonight, the lights would be shot for the early-morning charters, and JJ would never let anyone hear the end of just how much business they were losing – even though he could’ve been out here trying to fix the problem.  

As much as Y/N wanted to try to repair the generator with a begrudged attitude, she knew she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit JJ was partly why she was out here so late. She didn’t hate JJ Maybank, not by a long shot. Y/N believed hatred should only be reserved for people with dark hearts, full of evil and malice. JJ was not only far from that level of rotten but also a good guy. In her heart of hearts, she knew he was probably one of the best guys on this island. But knowing someone wasn’t a bad person didn’t mean you had to like them all the time. 

And God had she spent the last few months severely disliking him. She just wasn’t the type of girl who could exercise enough patience when someone like JJ ran amok. John B had told her a few times that JJ had a rough go at life and sometimes that made him act irrationally, impulsively. But hadn’t they all? It wasn’t even a question– she knew they all had been dealt some shitty cards. She never understood the way the Pogues would let him off with an exasperated expression or a few angry words when they’d all seen hard times. They had lost all the money they’d gotten from the El Dorado gold over stupid decisions and she felt like she couldn’t even be mad about it. 

Sure, there was a rare beauty in what they’d created due to the aftermath of those decisions. She hadn’t felt the sense of belonging she got when she was with the Pogues in this eclectic home they’d built since she was thirteen. She’d known other types of love, like the love she received from Terrance, but it wasn’t like this, like the love only a family could give you. Terrance had taken care of her and Cleo in ways a father should have, but that didn’t change the fact that he was their captain. She answered to him and had to follow his every order, no matter how she felt about it. That kind of dynamic couldn’t produce unconditional love, even if she knew a deep kind of love still existed. With the Pogues, she knew it wasn’t like that. She’d gotten through the tests of loyalty they never explicitly told her she was taking and that gave her a permanent spot on their DIY family tree. But why did that love have to mean they stayed broke forever?

So, yeah, she couldn’t always stand JJ and his quirks, sue her. Yet, here she was, on a late night, the only light around her from the moon and the flashlight she held, trying to make sure JJ could do something that made him happy tomorrow. She could admit, probably only to herself, that she cared enough about him to want that. Since she’d stolen Genrette’s letter from JJ, her stomach had twisted every time she thought about it. JJ’s tense family relationships, or lack thereof, weren’t a secret, though Y/N didn’t know the extent of how bad it could get. To think that he now had to deal with the possibility that everything he had known was a lie and that everything he had endured growing up hadn’t been written for him made her feel sick. The one thing she could cling to on nights when her mind seemed to play a constant loop of her worst childhood memories was that she knew where she came from. She knew her name and she knew what that meant, even if her name was all she had left to show for that part of herself. JJ might not even have that. 

At some point, Y/N had found herself closing her eyes as she listened to the distant slap of waves against the pilings and occasional creak of the shack. There wasn’t much Y/N could do for JJ, nor was there much she wanted to do for him, but she guessed it wouldn’t hurt to repair some dingy generator. It’s not like she didn’t have experience doing these kinds of jobs.

Sighing, Y/N stuck the tiny flashlight she’d brought back between her teeth and resumed her crouching in front of the black and yellow box. The beam of her flashlight shook slightly as she spoke her next steps aloud, trying to find where she kept going wrong. Y/N wasn’t a patient person, though, and as more time went on she felt the same frustration creep up. Her movements began to grow quicker with every passing second, trying anything and everything that could work. In her franticness, her fingers slipped, grazing a sharp edge, and she hissed pulling it back to examine her finger. Sucking in a breath, she rolled her eyes at the cut on her finger. Somehow she’d managed to cut herself deep enough that she’d need to wipe off the blood and find a bandaid. Just as she was going to get up, she heard the sound of familiar footsteps padding against the deck. Y/N could recognize the sound of  JJ’s workboots anywhere. There was a time she used to look forward to that sound, though she’d never let anyone know. That was before the blond-haired boy had shattered her trust. 

“What are you doing out here?” JJ asked, not waiting for her to turn around and acknowledge him. With one last glance at her finger, Y/N moved to look at JJ. From the light of the moon, she could see he was wearing a muscle tank and some shorts, his hair tussled in every which way indicating he’d likely been sleeping before this.

“Fixing the generator,” Y/N said, flicking her flashlight to the box behind her. “It shot out earlier today.” She turned the flashlight back towards JJ, causing him to flinch from her shining the light directly in his eyes.

“Jesus, don’t blind me,” JJ covered his eyes with his forearm, waiting until Y/N moved the light and mumbled a ‘sorry.’ He moved closer to where Y/N was standing to try to get a better look at the generator behind her. “I didn’t realize the generator was acting up.”  

That was odd. JJ always noticed when something was wrong around the store, especially if it could influence his chartering. He must have been really out of it today if he hadn’t noticed something as big as the generator being out. 

“Yeah,” Y/N said, deciding against pointing out how worrisome it was that JJ hadn’t noticed. “But it doesn’t look like the piece of shit can be fixed. I’ve checked everything that could be wrong.” 

“Did you check the fuel levels?” JJ asked, sticking his hand out for Y/N to pass him the flashlight. 

“First thing I did.” Rolling her eyes, Y/N let him have the object. No point in stopping the inevitable.  

“What about the oil levels? Or the air filters. Maybe they’re blocked.”

“Nope, checked both those things.”

“Alright let me just check the wiring. It cou–”

“Already did that,” Y/N’s voice was a bit louder now, forcing JJ to snap his head up. “And I have a cut to prove it. Now is there any more advice you want to mansplain before I leave?” Y/N’s arms crossed across her chest, not trying to hide just how irritated she was with JJ. When did she ever?

JJ blinked, his mouth opening and closing. He shook his head, looking down. The slight tilt of his head was her only indication in the low lighting that he looked ashamed. He kind of looked like a scolded child. She hated that she found it cute. 

“No, ‘m sorry,” JJ muttered, moving away from the generator and stopping directly before Y/N. “Here, let me see.” 

Before she could try to stop him, JJ flashed the light to where Y/N’s hand now rested uncrossed. Comparing both her hands, he reached for the one that was bleeding, before mumbling a curse under his breath. JJ’s touch was gentle as he tilted her hand to assess the damage. JJ’s thumb grazed the back of her hand in a steady pattern. Y/N wasn’t sure if he noticed the way his touch lingered or if it was just an unconscious reflex, but the moment his thumb skimmed across her skin, she felt a rush of warmth spread through her, settling deep in her chest. Her breath caught and she couldn’t figure out why such a simple action was suddenly making her so aware of him. 

“Got yourself bad,” JJ said, his voice coming out in a whisper as if any increase in volume would shatter this moment around them. She wasn’t sure why, but Y/N didn’t want to be the one to shatter it either.

“I-it’s nothing,” She assured him, the level of her voice matching his. “Just a cut.”

“Yeah, but you’ll still need to clean it.” JJ’s hand lingered on Y/N’s for a moment longer, before stepping back and giving the girl some much-needed space. “I’ve got a first aid kit, one sec.” 

“The first aid kits we bought are in the house, not here,” Y/N reminded him, her voice returning to its regular cadence, when he stepped towards the door of the shack. “Remember?”

“I keep one here,” JJ explained, stepping through the doorway that led to the tiny store. A moment later he returned with what looked like a blue and white first aid kit. Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the box in JJ’s hands. The Pogues had bought a bundle of two first aid kits when they had opened the store because Pope insisted that it was important to keep one on hand. But those kits had been red and white, so when had JJ bought this? Or why? It seemed kind of a waste.

Without saying a word, JJ sat himself down on the steps that lead up to the deck and motioned for Y/N to join him. 

“JJ, I can clean the cut. You don’t have to worry about it,” Y/N assured him, not moving towards the stairs.

“There ain’t much light, otherwise I wouldn’t insist,” JJ called back, shifting through the supplies in the box. “I know you’re tougher than a little cut. I just want to help.” There was something in his tone that told her it might be more than a want. “I won’t screw it up, don’t worry.”

Y/N suppressed a sigh, letting her head fall while he couldn’t see. Maybe she was too harsh on him. She didn’t want him to feel so dejected around her, she just expected more from him. Hesitating for only a minute longer, she moved to sit next to him on the rickety staircase. Wordlessly, she positioned herself so her knees were turned towards JJ, her bare skin brushing against the fabric of his shorts. She waited as JJ pulled out the necessary materials and took the flashlight from him when he held it out to her.  A moment later, JJ looked up at her, making her breath catch again.

The shadows softened the sharp edges of his face, hiding most of him from her view, but the faint moonlight caught just enough – the slope of his nose, the curve of his jaw, and the faint outline of his lips. The limited light didn’t do much to illuminate his features, but it was enough to make her pulse quicken. The way his eyes, even in the dark, seemed to fill the gap of silence between them, was unnerving. The shadows seemed to lean into him, framing his face like a half-finished sketch that was the most captivating piece of art she’d ever seen. JJ was handsome in every light, but there was something enchanting about him in the moonlight.  

“I’m gonna need your hand,” JJ spoke, breaking Y/N out of her trance. 

“What?” Y/N asked, too dazed to cringe at how dense she must’ve sounded. She watched JJ’s lips stretch into a smirk and again, even in the dark she could see that teasing glint in his eyes. 

“Your hand? You know, to clean the cut?” JJ broke eye contact with Y/N to look at her hand, which was tucked away at her side. With JJ’s eyes concealed from her, Y/N snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at her hand too. 

“Oh, right.” Y/N extended her arm, so her hand hovered above the first aid kit in JJ’s lap, silently berating herself for her lapse in focus. She thought JJ would definitely be letting that go to his head, but instead of taking this moment to embarrass Y/N, JJ simply took her hand in his grasp.

“Flash the light this way,” He said, his voice only slightly teasing. “Perfect.” He worked in silence, letting go of her hand to open an individually wrapped alcohol wipe before his warm fingertips wrapped back around her palm. The silence would have been a nice change of pace from JJ’s incessant need to fill any quiet moments, but right now Y/N didn’t trust herself. The less they talked the more she’d stare.

“Thanks,” Y/N controlled her voice so that it didn’t betray any discomfort as she spoke. “So um… how are you doing?”

“Hm?” JJ asked, the small sound endued with confusion.

“About the letter,” She clarified. “That news is a lot to handle.” She felt JJ’s hand tighten for a moment before loosening up. He chuckled, not stilling his movements as he placed the bloodied wipe next to him.

“You could say that,” JJ’s tone carried a sense of amusement, but she knew it was just a front. He let her hand go again, to unscrew the cap of the generic Neosporin. When he began applying the ointment to the cut, he didn’t take her hand in his again, instead letting it hang in the air. “I’m fine. Don’t really believe any of it anyway.”

“You don’t?” 

“You do?” JJ said, looking up at her. Y/N turned the flashlight in her hand to get a better read on his expression, causing JJ to flinch back like before. Shielding his eyes, he shouted, “Stop doing that!” 

“Sorry! I’m sorry,” Y/N said frantically, but her apology was overpowered by a fit of laughter. 

“Seriously! You keep doin’ that and I’m gonna need a seeing-eye dog, woman.” JJ quipped, causing her to laugh even harder.

It took her a moment to calm down from her laughter and when she looked at JJ he had a small smile on his face. Simply chuckling, he shook his head and started to apply the ointment. Not wanting this conversation to pass them, Y/N continued with her earlier thought. “It’s not that I do believe it, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. It could be real.” JJ’s smile disappeared, but she could tell from the position of his shoulders he wasn’t upset. 

“It feels like it is…. Impossible, I mean.” Y/N nodded as he spoke waiting to see if he’d elaborate. When he remained silent, she didn’t push. JJ needed to talk to someone because she had seen how everything played out disastrously when he didn't. But she wouldn’t push him to talk to her. They’d been better friends at one point. JJ had been one of the first people she bonded with when she’d joined the Pogues, aside from Sarah who she had felt an immediate inclination towards on Terrance’s ship. It didn’t matter though, that she’d once considered him her (second) closest friend in the group because she definitely wasn’t that person for him. She probably had a large part to play in that, but acknowledging that didn’t change how things were. She knew she had no right to force him to talk, so she shifted her attention to something else to fill the space between them. As she searched for another topic, she noticed JJ was already wrapping the bandaid around her finger, meaning he was almost done. 

“So, since when do you keep a first aid kit here?” Y/N asked, not wanting him to leave just yet– not after their first good moment in a long time. “This one’s different from the ones we got with Pope.”

“I’ve had it for a while,” JJ shrugged, throwing the bandaid wrapper to the growing pile of trash next to him. Y/N aimed the flashlight at the box of medical supplies, taking a proper look at it for the first time. It was a total wreck: silver wrappers spilling out, oversized bandage wrappers crumpled haphazardly, and a few tools resting on the rubbish she couldn’t properly identify. She’s not sure why the mess surprised her considering the kit belonged to JJ and he could be a bit clumsy, but how had he used so much already? 

“How long is ‘a while’?” Y/N pressed, leaning forward to shuffle through the mess. She shifted through the mess, tugging out a half-crumpled roll of gauze. “This thing’s been through the wringer. No wonder it took you so long to find the stuff.” She tossed the gauze back up in the box, noting the moment his expression changed. 

“Yeah,” JJ said before his jaw tightened and he stood up abruptly with the box in his hands. “It works fine.” JJ roughly set the first aid kit on the ledge of the shack, turning to face away from Y/N. 

Y/N frowned, not intending to have stuck a nerve with him. “Hey, I didn’t mean–”

“You know what?” JJ interrupted, spinning completely to face the generator. His movements were sharper now, less fluid. “I’m just gonna check one more time. There’s gotta be a way to fix this.”

Y/N rose to her feet, her stomach already clenching with the fear of an impending mishap. “JJ, stop. Leave it. I already–”

“I’m sure you checked it properly,” JJ cut her off as he crouched beside the generator. JJ’s hands moved frantically, tugging wires, and removing lids. “You probably just missed something, that’s all.” 

“JJ, hold on,” Y/N urged, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder and shining her flashlight where JJ was still working. “Let’s just—”

JJ shrugged her hand off, his movements growing more erratic.“No– relax…just relax. It’s fine, see? I’m just gonna–” JJ kept twisting wires and prying things that didn’t need prying, parts that even Y/N hadn’t dared to touch despite spending the better half of her life on various ships.

“Please. Stop,” Y/N insisted. She knew this JJ, she’d seen him too much recently. “You’re making it worse.” JJ visibly flinched at her words but didn’t slow his movements.

“I’ve got it!” JJ snapped, his voice loud in the silent night. “I can fix this. Just let me fix it.” Y/N heard the way JJ’s voice waivered at the end, but she didn’t have time to figure out what it meant. Suddenly, JJ began to hit his hand against the side of the generator mumbling, “It just needs a little push.” 

Y/N’s protests fell on deaf ears as JJ continued his harsh beating of the generator, his movements extreme as if the generator had personally insulted him. JJ’s didn’t stop, until finally, miraculously, the entire deck lit up. Y/N looked around, her eyes wide as she took in the sight. There was no way…

“See?” JJ got up from the floor, his arms spread out on either side of him as his breath began to slow down. “Just needed a magic touch.” As he walked closer to Y/N, JJ gave her a pointed look that was no doubt meant to say ‘I told you so.’ Y/N pursed her lips, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of admitting he’d fixed the problem. It wasn’t because she hadn’t been able to do it herself. It was because once again JJ had let his impulsive behavior take the wheel and this time he just got lucky. Pushing past her ego, Y/N was about to say thank you when –

A loud SNAP interrupted her, followed by a mechanical whine before she was met with complete silence. And darkness. Save for the orange sparks flying out from somewhere in the generator. JJ cursed under his breath, as he and Y/N ran down the stairs and off the deck. It was silent as they watched to make sure nothing else happened and the sparks didn’t lead to a fire. When she was sure there wouldn’t be anything else, she turned to JJ, her jaw set in annoyance. 

“You’ve got it?” Y/N repeated his words back to him, dripping in sarcasm. “You broke it, JJ.” 

JJ didn’t take even a second before defensively responding, “Well, it was already mostly broken.” 

Scoffing, Y/N looked to the sky, praying to anyone who’d listen to give her patience. “Mostly broken? It was off, JJ. Off and fixable. Now it’s dead. You just killed it.” 

JJ’s hand moved to the back of his neck, as he muttered something under his breath. He tilted his body away from Y/N which made her furious. Stepping to the side, she faced him head-on. 

“You just couldn’t leave it alone, huh? Why do you always have to–” 

“I was trying to help!” JJ argued and she couldn’t miss the unguarded, almost raw way he sounded, but she had to ignore it. Because no one else would tell him how bad this really was. “It wasn’t working before either, what’s the difference?”

“The difference, JJ,” Y/N said, her teeth grinding against each other. “Is that before we could have called a mechanic to fix it. Now, we need to buy a brand new generator. With money, that I don’t need to remind you, we don’t have! And we’ll be cut off from any profit we get from everything in here.”

They stared at each other, the flashlight beam caught awkwardly between them. JJ’s face was once again shrouded by darkness, but she could see the pout of his lips. 

“I’ll figure something out,” JJ’s voice was quieter now. “It’ll only cut into the early morning charters. We can keep track of profit the old school way– pen and paper.” 

“The early morning charters are half our business,” Y/N shook her head. “Just– stop making excuses, alright?”

JJ’s shoulders fell as he nodded, “Okay…” 

Y/N stared at JJ, not responding or furthering her chastising. JJ wouldn’t meet her eyes and she was glad. His usual bravado was missing as he tugged at what she presumed were loose threads on his shorts. If he had the gall to keep arguing right now, she would’ve lost it even more than she already did. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything more, so she just shook her head and left back towards the house.

“Y/N,” JJ called, his voice so quiet it was almost inaudible over the waves. Y/N just ignored it and continued on her path. She wanted to turn around, she wanted to tell him they’d figure it out. But she didn’t know that they would and she hated to lie. With that explanation to herself, she kept walking away from JJ, not knowing she was delivering the final blow to his heart.

taglist: @tpwkyarely @ayy1234567 @theater-bitch

[itsthestutterforme]

Just Try (A Johnny Storm Drabble)

Summary: You and Sue grew up together and Johnny has always been on the sidelines in your mind. Until one day, he gives you a hypothetical.

Notes: GIF is not mine, this is not a beta’d read, mentions of Ari Levinson, allusions to sex

—

“Johnny’s been in his head a lot lately. Have you noticed?” Sue questions, applying her mascara in the vanity mirror next to you while you brushed your lash extensions with a spoolie.

“I mean, he has been more quiet than usual. But I didn’t think much of it. What could Johnny possibly think so hard about?”

“Do you think he’s talking to someone?” You stopped brushing your lashes and looked at her. “Are we talking about the same Johnny Storm?”

She nudges your side with her hip, causing the two of you to chuckle.

“Can you at least try to talk to him? He talks to you more than he does with me.” You leaned against the vanity table and took the mascara wand out of her hand.

“Hey, none of that. There is no sad talk allowed on your birthday.” “I’m not sad. I just.. I know I’m hard on him, but that’s because I want what’s best for him. And now he doesn’t trust me.”

“Of course he trusts you, Sue. You’re his big sister. He just doesn’t want to disappoint you.”

“And I said enough of that,” you set the mascara on the table and pulled her to her feet. “You’ve been playing big sister all day. Now it’s time to let loose and shake some ass.”

A knock on the door brings your attention from the mirror. Johnny leans his body against the door, giving you a quick once over.

He wore a simple black t-shirt and some jeans. But he felt a little underdressed once he saw what you and Sue were wearing.

“The limo’s here,” he states. He spun on his heel to wait by the front door when you called his name.

“How does she look?” You motioned to Sue but his eyes was trained on you.

“Beautiful- she looks beautiful. You better not bring anybody home.” He says, finally shifting his glance from you to Sue.

“As if. That’s something I should be saying to the two of you,” Sue snorts, pushing past him with her coat and purse in hand.

“Hey, I haven’t brought a guy home in a while.” You called after her. Johnny’s gaze fell to the floor at your words.

“Yeah, yeah.” She calls back. You spared yourself one last look in the mirror when you noticed Johnny meeting your gaze through the mirror.

“Everything okay?” You ask slowly, hugging your trench coat close to your chest. You had closed the gap between you.

Despite the fact you were wearing heels, you still had to lean back a little to look him in his eyes.

The scent of your perfume eased his nerves but your gaze combated that eased feeling, making his heart stutter in his chest.

“Johnny?” “Uh, yeah- yes, I’m fine.” “Are you sure?“ he opens his mouth to say something when Sue reenters the room.

“You guys ready?” Sue asks. “Yep, ready when you are.” You answer with a smile. You and Johnny follow Sue to the front door and took the elevator down to the lobby.

His eyes were glued to his phone the entire limo ride to the club, despite the music and Sue opening all of the windows and climbing through the sun roof to shout after a couple shots of tequila. A few people walking on the street wished her a happy birthday.

You had closed your eyes, relishing how the wind kissed your cheeks and smoothed over your silk pressed hair.

The music drowned out and it was just you and the wind. Johnny notices your silence and lifts his gaze to you. Time slowed when he watches your features relax, your head leaning further out the window.

Every night he thinks of what life would be like if he was with you. Not just with you in bed but with you. Loving you.

Things he never gave the time of day was now flooding his mind every chance it gets. Truth was, the thoughts were always there.

He suppressed them.

He turned his attention towards motocross and being a womanizer. But none of that stopped him of seeing you smiling when he would close his eyes at night.

He hasn’t been on his A game in months. He complete disappeared from the media. No instagram posts. No interviews. No special appearances. Nothing.

He felt like a love sick puppy.

He could tell by how limp your neck was that you were falling asleep. He hesitantly reached over the seat and touched your knee, refusing to acknowledge your dress was riding up your thighs.

Your eyes slowly peeled open at the touch, meeting Johnny’s concerned gaze.

“You okay?” He asks. “Oh God. Did I fall asleep?” You sat up straight at the realization. “You did.”

“Please tell me she didn’t notice,” the two of you looked to Sue shouting something about an apartment key through the sunroof. Mostly likely something about Reed.

Then she mumbled something about fuck men, which was definitely about Reed.

“I doubt it,” Johnny states, making the two of you chuckle. “Doesn’t take much to get her drunk, huh?”

“No, I guess not.” You met his gaze again, the warmth of his hand remained on your skin. There that feeling was again, a thrumming under your skin at the connection.

What was happening right now?

“We’re here!” Sue squeals, dropping back down into the limo.

Johnny hand pulls away from you and you cleared your throat, adjusting your dress as Sue opens the car door.

Johnny gets out first to help you and Sue out of the car.

You made an effort to avoid eye contact with Johnny throughout the night. You don’t know what is going on but it’ll stop if you ignore it long enough. Right?

Johnny watches as a man weeds his way through the crowd to where you and Sue were dancing.

He smooths a hand over your waist and you looked over your shoulder at him. He flashed you an award winning smile that immediately made you weak in the knees.

“I’m Ari,” he says into your ear, smiling when you said your name in return.

Johnny’s jaw clenched at the sight, taking a long swig of his beer. Ari drapes his arms over your shoulders, his hips rolling against your backside as he whispers something in your ear to make you laugh.

Why were you laughing with him? He doesn’t know you, Johnny thought to himself.

“Hey Johnny,” a woman greets, sliding into the space next to him. “You here with someone?” She asks, sliding her hands up his clothed chest.

Johnny looked to see if you noticed her touching him, only to see your eyes closed as Ari kissed the side of your neck.

“Fuck it,” Johnny says allowed, cupping the blonde woman’s cheeks before kissing her.

“Gross, get a room you two!” Sue shouted at you and Ari over the music. “And leave you? No way!”

“I’m sure Johnny will take me home.” Sue mediates. The two of you looked over to Johnny who had his tongue down some blonde’s throat.

“Looks like that’s not happening. Let me take you home.” You told her. “No. I’ll call an Uber. It’s okay.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving you here drunk and alone while you wait for your Uber to get here.”

The two of you continued to bicker until Ari stepped in.

“I can take drop her off if you’d like,” “No, Ari. You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s really no problem. I don’t like the idea of any woman being alone and drunk either. People don’t exactly have the best intentions.” Ari explains.

“And after you drop her off?” You asked, his gaze darkening at your words.

“Well that’s entirely up to you, sweetheart.”

**

The morning after wasn’t anything like you expected. Typical, the morning after consisted of getting dressed and doing the walk of shame out of their apartment.

Except the morning with Ari meant morning sex with you on top, him drilling into you from below.

His arms encircling you so you couldn’t writhe away from him. He wanted you to take every inch.

While you were fucked out on his bed, he made you Belgian waffles and poured you some orange juice.

He offered to drive you home but you strongly insisted against it. Instead you called yourself an Uber to take you home, reminiscing at how Ari knew your body like the back of his hand.

You knew that meant that he was a fuck boy like Johnny was, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he made you feel like you were on Cloud 9.

You bit your lip as you reminisced on Ari’s hips slotted between yours. The smile fell from your face when the Uber driver pulled up to the curb in front of your apartment.

You thanked him before taking your heels in your hands and stepped onto the curb. You unlocked the front door, sighing when you closed it behind you.

“It’s almost noon,” a voice states behind you.

A yelp leaves your lips when you spun around, grabbing the nearest thing you could. You held the umbrella tightly in your hands until you slowly recognized the man in front of you.

“Damn it, Johnny! What the fuck!” “You really should have better security,”

“I had security. No one knows where my spare key is and I have a ring camera,” you explain, setting the umbrella back on the rack.

“A ring camera that would work better if you didn’t mute the notifications,” he retorts. “I’d got annoying after a while, okay. It’s a busy street.”

“What are you doing here, Johnny? Did something happen to Sue?” You added, changing the topic of conversation.

“No, Sue is fine. I thought something happened to you,” “You thought- why?” Your gaze fell to the blanket sprawled out on the couch. “You spent the night here?”

It wasn’t the first time he’s slept over your place. Most of the time it was because he was hung over from the night before and needed a place to sober up. You hadn’t thought much of it until now.

“Yes. I told you I was worried.” “Why?” He disappears into the kitchen and came back with some coffee and ibuprofen. You graciously took the cup of coffee and tossed the two pills on your tongue.

“Something felt off about the guy you were with last night,” he said, watching you take a careful sip of your coffee.

“Right, like you could make such an observation when you’re too busy making out with some blonde chick.”

“Didn’t think you cared much. Considering you let that guy fondle you in the middle of the club.”

“I did not let him fondle me,” you pointed, annoyed with his accusation.

What was this? Why were you bickering like you were.. a couple?

“Look, I don’t care about who you take home. So why do you care about who I take home?”

“I didn’t take her home, alright? She tried to take me back to her place but.. I couldn’t.” “Why not?”

“Let’s just picture something for a second, okay? A hypothetical. Me having a girlfriend. An amazing, smart, independent, long term girlfriend. We go on trips together and do interviews together. And just be happy together.”

“I’m sorry but I’m having trouble figuring out where all this is coming from, Johnny? If you have a crush on someone, just ask them out. You’re Johnny Storm. Talking to woman is as easy as breathing at this point.”

You take another sip of your coffee and Johnny stuffs his hands in his pockets.

“Not this woman. She makes me freeze every time she looks at me. I can’t think straight. It’s like I’m back in grade school all over again.”

“Wow. She really has you in the palm of her hand, huh? Who is she?”

You take a longer sip of your coffee once you felt the coffee had cooled down a bit. You wait for his response but he simply stares at you, waiting for you catch on.

Your face fell when the silence set in the room. “No,” Shaking your head, you step around him and walk into the kitchen.

“Y/N,” he calls after you. “No, Johnny.” You said, lifting your hand not wanting to make eye contact.

“Come on. Is this so far fetched? You know me better than anybody. I know you better than anybody. Definitely better than that guy from last night,”

You rounded the counter top to put some distance between you, sighing in disbelief. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing.

“You are a fuck boy and I have serious commitment issues. Not to mention, you’re my best friend’s little brother. It’s not going to work.”

“Aren’t relationships about work? Wanting to better yourself for someone else?” “Change because of someone else never lasts,”

“Just give me a chance,” he rounds the countertop to near you. He huffs when you backpedal away from him.

“Is this why you’ve been acting different? To get my attention?” “Not exactly. I just made the decision to work on myself and shy away from the optics for now.”

“Don’t you hear how insane that sounds coming out of your mouth? The motocross playboy wants to shy away from the optics.”

“I know it sounds insane.” He takes another step to see if you would move away. When you don’t, he slides into the space next to you, resting his elbows on the counter top.

And I know you feel the same way from the way you looked at me last night,” “I was buzzed so that doesn’t count,”

“Oh yeah?” He starts, encroaching in your space.

Placing a hand on either side of you, bowing his head until he was at eye level with you. The tip of his nose grazed the bridge of yours.

The smell of his cologne enveloped you, forcing you to resist leaning into him.

“And how about now?” He smiles when you lifted your head in defiance, you tense when you feel his leg brush against yours.

You couldn’t make any movements with touching some part of his body.

“I feel absolutely nothing,” “Liar,” he leans in to whisper in your ear.

“It’s lust at best,” you crossed your arms, using your body weight to nudge him away from you. He nods in understanding, smoothing a hand over the back of your head.

He pressed a gentle kiss to your temple. Your eyes fluttered at the gesture, meeting his gaze for the hundredth time since last night.

“Then it looks like I’ll have to convince you otherwise,”

He pulls away from you entirely, crossing through the kitchen back into the living room to put on his shoes. He doesn’t say anything else before he strolled out of your apartment, leaving you in silence.

“What the fuck?” You said aloud, taking your phone into your hands to call Sue.

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 236: Go South—JJK is generational

Gosh. Can we pleeeease just like... have a moment of silence for the one and only...THE Man, Gojo Satoru.

Ok, time's up.

Moving on.

Word vomit under the cut.

The process of reading this chapter was a very interesting one this week because the fandom got really noisy as soon as the leaks dropped.

Between allegations of bad writing and the utter sense of grief Gojo fans were expressing, it was quite the 💩 storm.

And then the actual scanlations started dropping, and little by little they replaced most of the noise with the utter sense of calm and peace and satisfaction that Gojo felt in his last moments in this plane of existence.

I gotta say that I just absolutely loved how Gege depicted those emotions (outside of Gojo's "dream") through shots of the devastated Shinjuku district.

The remnants of the battle of The Strongest, as if the landscape and the buildings themselves represented the end of an era, the devastation of the structure of Jujutsu society itself.

After all, as The Strongest sorcerer in the modern era, Gojo represented the very system he was trying to destroy.

Gege loves his irony.

Now, I would normally say that the words in the speech bubbles are superfluous because Gege creates such a beautiful atmosphere through the setting alone. But it is the words themselves that re-contextualize not just the battle, but also shed more light on Sukuna's interest in Megumi, which I feel we haven't seen the extent of what he had in mind.

Now I'm hoping this isn't a dream

Listen, I must admit I've never cared for Gojo.

I don't hate him, I don't love him, I simply never really cared for him.

That, of course, changed with this chapter.

And it is perhaps Gojo's death that really solidified in my mind the idea that one of the underlying themes in jjk is... dun dun dun... DEATH.

Yeah, I know. Sue me, I'm late to the party lmao.

But it's not just death itself that is a theme, but rather the face we put on when death comes knocking at the door.

There aren't many things that we can be certain of in this life, but death is one of them. So how we confront death and our mortality shapes the sense of self.

I know a lot of people were dissatisfied with the transition from 235 to 236 and Gege not showing how/when Gojo got slashed in half, but I find the abrupt transition makes sense, and I even dare say was... quite poetic.

For one, now knowing that Gojo knew Sukuna was holding back, a lot of incidents throughout the battle are given new meaning. Like that look of confidence on Gojo's face as he "thinks" he's finally managed to "get through" to Sukuna.

So I have to say that I loved that Gege starts the chapter with Gojo becoming aware that he has died or is dying.

In other words, Sukuna's attack was so sudden that Gojo's next moment of awareness as "Gojo Satoru" is in what we would normally think of as "the light at the end of the tunnel" where he is greeted by people who were of significance to him in his youth.

And can we please just talk about how Geto is the first person he sees when he becomes aware that he is dying?

Please. This is fucking poetry!

Insert keyboard smash.

Screaming in jjk.

Go South

I literally lack the words to explain why I love this whole chapter so much. Which is a lot to say because I am about to word vomit about it. But like...

Again, hindsight is 20/20.

I always thought of the panel above as Geto being jealous of Gojo surpassing him in strength but, in retrospect, I think Geto's disappointment had more to do with Gojo's sense of self over-identifying with the title "the strongest" and how that made him harder to relate to, which is one of the main themes in this chapter. I'll come back to this in a sec.

But first...

Quick depth psych segway. I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating again that an overwhelming sense of self is all ego. There's nothing wrong with ego per se.

The problem is that an over-identification with ego means inherent separateness because, as an organ of the psyche, the ego sense of self is what gives us a separate identity from the collective.

On the other hand, soul/heart (another organ in the psyche) is the principle of relatedness--love, the single energy that can bring us all together as a collective.

But as we already know, the stronger the sorcerer, the more overwhelming the sense of self.

Unfortunately, because an overwhelming sense of self = separateness, this also means the person in question can't relate to others.

And is this not thematically perfect for a sorcerer whose perfected cursed technique was meant to render others unable to "reach him"?

In other words, Gojo saw himself as separate (because he was "The Strongest") and that made it harder for him to relate to others, but only because he self-identified as "The Strongest".

Infinity ∞, in this sense, is also about the self-fulfilling prophecy Gojo was stuck playing out in his life in regards to seeing himself as "The Strongest".

But like a serpent eating its own tail, Gojo came back full circle, and in the moments before his death, learned that what really mattered to him was not strength for the sake of strength, but rather the connections he had fostered with others.

PLEASE. GEGE. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK?!!!!!!!!!!!

To bring it back to "Satoru became 'The Strongest'"...

I just loved so much that seeing Geto as soon as he becomes aware he's died felt like an encounter that meant Gojo had returned to the person he was before he self-identified as "The Strongest".

But more importantly, Gojo's imagination of himself as back when he was young also speaks both to how much he cherished that period of his life, and to how he was emotionally frozen in time due to his encounter with Toji.

It makes me wonder whether Gojo was afraid of dying alone when Toji almost killed him. So it's almost like what he took away from that battle was that he was always alone, and so he sought to push others away.

The kicker is that he simultaneously feared his existential isolation and yet craved the very source of his fear--human relations.

But in choosing self-preservation, he was a selfish to the very end.

What an idiot (tragically affectionate).

Anyways. How much of this is hc? Someone tell me please 😂. I feel like I went off the deep end in the last few paragraphs.

Like everyone else in this fandom I've lost all objectivity when it comes to Gojo because his departure from the story was truly one of the most heartbreaking moments in jjk.

I understand people's complaints about the "execution," but I think the world-wide phenomena that Gojo's death has spurred speaks to Gege's ability to elicit deeply archetypal emotional responses as a story teller.

With Gojo's death, a part of our own psyche too has died. And what's most significant about this death is that it was, true to Gojo's character, "something that needed to die because it represented the very thing it sought to destroy."

And this would be why I love Gege's writing.

A fitting way for Gojo to go out

I know not everyone agrees, but I really appreciated that he was satisfied and at peace in the very end.

He got his cake (battle to death with Sukuna) and got to eat it too (reconnected with his loved ones).

Sukuna

But we can't talk about Gojo without talking about Sukuna as the one who liberated Gojo from the burden of his existential isolation.

Sukuna gave Gojo a fun battle, but if it weren't because Sukuna figured out how to cut through Gojo's metaphorical defenses by learning to cut through space-time itself--the very fabric of reality, Gojo might not have found his humanity once again.

The outcome of this battle spells out in no uncertain terms how dire the situation is as Sukuna has proven himself to be the uncontested "Strongest".

But in a sense, the end is a new beginning, and this time, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

JJK is generational

I get the feeling that everyone will remember where they were when this panel dropped.

I was in bed. It was 6 am and Tasokare, my miniature panther, was demanding attention.

A moot was on the way to the gym. They never made it out of the house after seeing the panel.

Another moot was completely avoiding Twitter to avoid leaks, but her brother, who does not even read jjk, saw the panel on Facebook and showed it to her.

Yet another moot was on vacation at the beach.

JJK is generational like that and there's just so much more I can say about this chapter and its implications (like the idea that Sukuna can now cut through space-time, why?! what does he want to get out of this ability?), but I just don't even know what more I can say right now.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to any thoughts you might have. Just a heads up, I'm very, very slow at replying.

[spiderman2099sleftnipplepiercing]

Dropping snippets of SpidermanAU! because I can…. Yes, I reuse poses sue me. Pose thief here 🫣

From Earth 1985

Johnny Lawrence is the Valley's one and only Spiderman. (I know it's cringe okay, but couldn't decide between Encino or Reseda.)

His biological Father split, but he continues to live with his Mother and ass hat step-dad.

Kreese is the one who gets shot when Johnny storms out the Cobra Kai dojo one night. (Uncle Ben styled canon event)

His boyfriend Daniel Larusso, whom he failed to save when he was thrown from the clock tower. By none other, then his ex-best friend, turned green goblin Tommy. (Cry about it- Gwen Stacy who?)

These are just notes. Please hath mercy.

(Waiting for YA'LL to say NO MERCY.)

[reallyromealone]

Based off an idea @demonicpansexual came up with

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

(Name) laid on the couch grumpy, he was craving snacks but all the snacks in the house were usually the ones Mikey enjoyed ((name) did too before the pregnancy) but now that he was VERY pregnant, all the foods made him nauseous.

"Jiro... Please don't eat that by me" (name) mumbled already feeling queasy at the smell of Mikey's parfait and the Alpha looked annoyed before standing and just before he got an ear shot (name) heard him mumble the last dumbest shit he could ever utter.

"Can't stand the smell of good food...is that even my kid?"

And like that (name)s fairly calm and content scent turned the foulest Mikey bad ever smelt it "what did you say?" (Name) mumbled to Mikey who though realized he fucked up, couldn't keep his foot out of his mouth as he continued "it doesn't like Taiyaki or anything!"

"You did not just refer to our PUP AS AN IT! HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS SHIT!" (Name) roared out as he shakily stood up "to even consider that!"

Mikey watched as (name) began crying but when he stepped closer (name) stepped back.

(Name) hid in the main bathroom for three hours before bedtime, staring at Mikey who lay on the bed almost expectantly at his mate.

Only to look shocked when his Omega turned around and stomped off to the guest room, the sound of the door locking could be heard.

(Name) sighed as he did the laundry the next morning, sorting the clothes to put in the washing machine when he smelt something.... off about Mikey's clothes.

It smelt like an Omega.

But not him.

(Name) proceeded to sniff nearly two weeks of Mikey's clothes (he's behind on laundry, sue him) and began hyperventilating when more than half smelt of this Omega.

Mikeys cheating on him?

Did he even want the pup?

Is that why he tried saying it wasn't his? For an out?

(Name) slipped on his shoes and left the penthouse, the guards not sure if they should stop him as he left without any jacket teary eyed and clearly distressed.

Draken was surprised to see his brother, well not really as his brother visits often but surprised to see him shaking and crying.

(Name) was hyperventilating when he finished telling Draken everything and the Alpha was ready to throttle Mikey, his brother devoted everything to him since they were young teens and this is what he does?

Draken thinks he may have to clean the storage room out.

"Ken..." (Name) mumbled, looking down to see a wet spot on the floor "no no! It's too early!" (Name) practically screamed and Draken was already calling the paramedics while comforting his brother.

Mikey came home to an empty house.

He looked high and low before demanding a guard tell him where he went "and you just LET HIM!"

Mikey unloaded half a clip onto him before gripping his hair stressed "my pregnant mate is out there with my pup! FIND HIM!"

his pup.

Mikey halted as a lump in his throat began forming, he really did that to (name)? Accused him of cheating when Mikey had let an Omegan whore get close to him at one of Bontens's many clubs.

God he was the worst.

Bzzzt

Bzzzt

"Speak"

"Hi, is this Manjiro Sano?" A voice spoke out and Mikey was suspicious "why do you ask?"

"This number is on the emergency contact sheet for (name) Sano, he is currently in labor"

Mikey hung up the phone as he bolted out.

Draken stood as Mikey stormed in, the shorter man looking frantic and hissed when Draken got in his way "do you really think he wants to see you?! You fucking sack of shit!"

Security pushed them apart with the threat of being removed from the hospital and Draken glared "I would be amazed if he wanted to see you after this"

It took four hours but (sons name) was born, (name) being moved to a room with the incubator so he could feed him better.

Mikey came into the room as (name) slept to see his squirmy son who had pitch black eyes like himself.

Despite being premature the baby looked identical to him.

This was his son.

Mikey slept beside (name) the entire night as he recovered, holding his hand gently.

(Name) woke hours later and just stared at Mikey with rage, slightly pulling his hand away and waking Mikey "baby--"

"Don't"

"Please I'm so fucking sorry"

"You fucking hurt me Mikey"

No jiro or even Manjiro.

Just Mikey.

That was basically calling him by his formal name.

"Please... Let me make this right"

"I will give you this chance but I'm staying at my brother's with our son"

[thevindicativevordan]

Since you read all of Ultimate Fantastic Four, what do you think of the series?

Gave me an understanding of why shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians are popular. Something about following trashy people can be oddly compelling and entertaining. Ellis and Millar’s sections were the strongest of the run, with Carey only getting good towards the end. Ellis spends a lot of time “realistically” explaining how the powers of the Four work, and used that same approach to the Ultimate takes on Doom and the Negative Zone too. Millar in contrast is throwing out cool ideas to see what sticks (zombie F4, everyone gets superpowers, spiders that eat time travelers, Doom pulls a Superior Spider-Man on Reed) and doesn’t particularly care to explain in depth how any of it works. His is the most entertaining section of the UFF and the one where the premise really shines. You get to see the potential of a less squeaky clean F4 in terms of what stories can be told, all of the Four get character focus even if in the case of Sue and Johnny it only makes them more unlikable.

I already talked about Reed but regarding the other three:

Ben is more or less the same as his 616 counterpart. Pissed at Reed for his transformation, angsts over it and is terminally depressed, but when his team or world needs him he brings the clobbering. Thing’s best moments are ironically in the President Thor arc where he has no powers. Scene at that end where he beats the Super Skrull to death for genociding Earth is peak Thing. Ben Grimm rules no matter the reality.

Ultimate Johnny is a moron. A well-meaning moron with a (small) heart of gold to compensate for having no brains to be fair. He has some good moments like clueing Reed in that Sue likes him at the start of the series, and being willing to give up his powers if it means curing Ben as an apology for an incredibly asshole “joke” he plays on Ben earlier. But he remains a shallow fratbro for the entire run, with only the death of his father at the end of the series (thanks to Ultimatum) pushing him towards bettering himself. Bendis’ usage of him in USM is superior to how he’s used in UFF imo.

Another unintentional foreshadowing here that I loved. Sue goes on a mission to Siberia alone after Reed alienated himself from the rest of the team because he was obsessed with shooting the Cube. Sue gets shot down and Johnny blames Reed for it, threatening to burn Reed to death if Sue dies. Follows through on that threat after Reed DOES hurt Sue in Ultimate Doom! Within the arc itself Johnny comes across as an unstable prick, but people probably feel more inclined to side with him knowing what Reed will become. I however saw how you could feasibly make Johnny a bad guy, imagine a world where Sue does die and Johnny is the one to go off the deep end. Can’t see 616 Johnny ever breaking like that, but this guy could have.

Sue… is much, much worse than her 616 counterpart. Most writers, even great ones like Hickman, don’t know what to do with Sue. At best she’s the “mom” and that’s her entire character. She takes care of the kids and nags the rest of the team. Ultimate Sue being unmarried means that they can’t fall back on that so instead they make her whole personality being a woman. Mole Man and Namor are sex pests towards her, she gets kidnapped because one villain wants to use her to resurrect his wife and the other villain wants to steal her powers because she thinks they’re wasted on Sue. Everything about her revolves around the men in her life, even breaking her and Reed up merely leads to a new permanent relationship between her and Ben.

Sue’s biggest fear is becoming her mom, who is a selfish asshole who abandoned the Storm family because she valued her career more than them. Suppose that means she’s attracted to Reed initially because her mommy issues made her think she could get Reed to pick her over science where she failed with her mom. She’s constantly showing off skin to titillate the readership. Arcs focused on her were the worst of the run, and that breakup scene at the end of UFF: Requiem managed to make her shooting down a marriage proposal at her dad’s funeral unsympathetic. All these legit reasons to break Sue and Reed up for good, and they went for the one that makes Sue as unlikable as possible. Yeah how dare Reed not prioritize saving you over saving the planet!

If UFF exists on a spectrum with Reed being morally sketchy even prior to his breakdown, and Ben essentially being the same as his 616 counterpart, Johnny and Sue are right in the middle with Johnny edging towards the heroic side and Sue leaning towards villainy. People have forgotten this but Ultimate Sue had two evil futures where she broke bad. One where she becomes Kang which was Fialkov trying to justify Reed’s transformation into Maker, and the other in a completely forgotten F4/X-Men crossover where she becomes an evil dictator in an alternate future after Johnny gets killed in Ultimatum, with Reed opposing her. God that entire story was a fever dream, on its own it’s mediocre as hell but every goddamn reveal hits ten times harder when you know what’s coming.

Damnit this was a punch straight to the gut. In said future Reed becomes Nihl, no matter what it seems he was destined to emulate one of the Four’s foes. Biggest takeaway from UFF for me is that I could buy Ultimate Reed, Sue, or Johnny breaking bad. All three are shitty people with poor emotional control and narcissistic elements to their personalities. Reed simply had the misfortune to be the one Bendis chose to shove into the deep end.

Ultimate X-Men is the only Ultimate series I haven’t read yet but right now I rate UFF as the weakest of the ones I have. It’s not bad by any means! Actually I quite enjoyed it depending on the arc. Unlike USM and Ultimates however I don’t think UFF does anything better than the mainline FF book. Tellingly that while MCU adaptions of Spider-Man and Avengers borrowed a lot from their Ultimate counterparts, the FF seem to be drawing entirely from 616. UFF works better as a contrast with the mainline rather than as an entry point to the franchise for new readers.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

from what I remember. quick summary

In the battle of the mill we see 2 boys (OC of the series) with each one their group of people, Aeron Bracken shows off his sword with his friends, then Davos Blackwood comes to complain about the issue of the limits and accuses him of moving the stones of this one. They try to intimidate Davos telling him that he is the false king that his house supports, Aeron says that his side is a baby killer (because of Jaehaerys and his public funeral accusing Rhaenyra that Otto did) so they are going to face each other and both die (fight off camera)

So far so good. but the council comments that the Bracken attacked the Blackwoods (?

Then Daemon goes to Harrenhal and among the people who meet is Willian (the Blackwood child from the first season) who says he is loyal to Rhaenyra and asks for the land that the Bracken took from him

when Daemon goes to threaten the Bracken with his dragon and William (on a random hill) tells him to change sides or they will face the dragon and Amos Bracken says: we choose fire, turning around on horseback with the others while Caraxes prepares to attack (in a great shot I must say) and then Daemon defeated saying admiring that they did not let themselves be intimidated by a dragon and when William tells him to finish them off for that, Daemon says that men like that (like the Bracken) he needs in his army, and tells William that there are other ways to convince him, an implicit suggestion

Then in Harrenhal Daemon receives the news that Bracken have surrendered but because the Blackwoods attacked their lands, looting their food, septs, abusing women and killing children, which makes the houses of the rivers go to claim him horrified by what William is doing under a flag of Rhaenyra and that they are not going to do led by a tyrant

Then in the last chapter Oscar who is already lord of the trident after the death of his grandfather (they removed Kermit and killed Elmo) tells him that they will honor their oath no matter how unpleasant their leader is (Daemon) but that a damage and an affront to the land of the rivers must be repaired, William says that the Bracken have already surrendered and that is their purpose, but Oscar manipulating makes Daemon behead William for his crimes or he does not give him the army of the rivers

…That’s it?

From the way fandom talked about it, you’d think they had the Brackens, provoked by the Blackwoods (including their lord and his sister Alysanne, since they were in the raiding party Amos chased before getting surprised at the Burning Mill) defeat the Blackwoods in honorable combat (which incidentally happened in the book twice between Amos Bracken and Samwell Blackwood, both of whom are pretty unrecognizable here) and only surrendered because Daemon forced their hand by threatening the lives of their kids. I heard that the writers were supposed to be biased against the Brackens, instead of the Blackwoods committing war-crimes (also in the book) just…being acknowledged as terrible in-universe and apparently facing consequences for it?

From what you’ve written, the Brackens only “”look”” better because of what they didn’t include:

No Brackens being victim to the most obvious chevauchée ploy ever. It’s completely ridiculous in F&B that Amos Bracken would’ve taken too many men to chase away a raiding party so his own castle (and he couldn’t rely on the other Greens for support) got invaded and taken over by the time he (or rather his brother Raylon Rivers) got back. I’m not great at military tactics, but even I know GRRM made the Brackens get plot induced stupidity to make the Blackwoods look better

No Aly Sue Blackwood allegedly killing Amos Bracken with a magic arrow to the eye slit in his helmet after Amos killed her war criminal brother in single combat. Amos gets to live (and he’s not a bad dude, but the pettiness isn’t book canon at all) so at least no glorification of Blackwoods there.

No Daemon storming Stone Hedge and taking the Brackens hostage means we don’t hear about how his “third wife and baseborn paramour” were also captured, which is a cheap ripoff of Jonos Bracken in ADWD and an unnecessary detail to show how “eevil misogynists” the Bracken men are. No Raylon Rivers also contributes, as his existence implies Humfrey Bracken was siring illegitimate children decades back

No Daemon taking Brackens hostage also means the Brackens surrendered so as to not see their smallfolk come to further harm from the Blackwoods, rather than Raylon Rivers kneeling to not see the rest of his family (RIP Amos) get slaughtered. At least someone cares about civilian casualties Hess insists “don’t count”. But it also makes Daemon look better by not having him openly threaten innocent women and children

The only thing I liked that they added (other than the Blackwoods committing war crimes on Bracken lands actually acknowledged and had consequences) was the Brackens actually have a reason to support Aegon II other than “well the Blackwoods went for Rhaenyra and we don’t like them”: they think Rhaenyra had something to do with Jaehaerys’ murder (which…she did, considering Daemon had men paid to kill a “son for a son”) and are disgusted

But then the Blackwoods end up looking better because:

Apparently in the show the Brackens started the fight? Because the Blackwoods accuse them of moving rocks? When in the book it’s the Blackwoods who draw first blood when: “In the riverlands, raiders out of Raventree, flying Rhaenyra's banners, crossed into the lands of House Bracken, burning crops, driving off sheep and cattle, sacking villages, and despoiling every sept they came on (the Blackwoods were one of the last houses south of the Neck who still followed the old gods).” which, as I’ve said many times before, are war crimes even in universe. The Brackens only fought back after the fact, as was their right. This is another example of the show inventing petty actions for the Greens so the Blacks look more justified

Daemon seems (it’s implied) like he gives Willem the idea to abuse Bracken smallfolk in order to get the Brackens to surrender, rather than the Blackwoods coming up with the idea themselves because they hate the Brackens and those who live on their lands. This again undermines how awful the Blackwoods were, because the chevauchee wasn’t to force a surrender, it was to punish the Brackens so they could draw them out to kill them and give Daemon enough time to take Stone Hedge by force. Once again, Daemon’s cruelty (just like with Blood and Cheese, and his reaction to Baelon’s death) is left unsaid and his participation in the coordinated attack on Stone Hedge seems to be negligible

The Bracken men are weak fighters in the show. Amos Bracken beat Samwell Blackwood twice in the book, once over a duel for Rhaenyra and the other during the Burning Mill battle. In Season 1, Willam fights Jerrell (ofc Jerrell provokes him 🙄 ) and stabs him to death nonsensically (sure a dude with a knife is going to win against a dude with a sword. Wth); in Season 2, Davos fights Aeron (again apparently the Brackens are the aggressors) and they kill each other. Blackwoods win or draw in duels in the show, Brackens sweep in the book. This is contradictory for the show because wouldn’t the better fighters be the ones to attack? But you can’t have that, because the Blackwoods need to be the wronged party and only escalate because the Brackens are stubborn

Basically, the changes the show made to the Bracken/Blackwood conflict aren’t “Bracken bias”, but more of a mixed bag that makes both families look better or worse, because the show doesn’t really care about them; they care about Daemon Targaryen (who in the book only shows up at the end of the conflict) and how he acts and reacts to his Blackwood Allies and Bracken opponents. Amos’ refusal to surrender to Daemon (never happened in the book; his half brother Raylon agreed to surrender after Daemon threatened to hurt his family) wasn’t about the Brackens being brave but how Daemon would respond to an outnumbered enemy who would rather be burned alive with his men (I hope he asked them if they agreed beforehand) than surrender to him. Him admiring their bravery and saying they were worthy soldiers is more about softening his character, since in the books neither he nor the other Targs care about the Brackens (although the Brackens later fight the Green army led by Borros Baratheon, so maybe this is show foreshadowing for why). As this is Daemon, his reaction is to do something underhanded by insinuating Willem commit atrocities against Bracken smallfolk (although clearly he was eager to do it and wasn’t sorry at all) to force their hand…but then consequences come for him…or at least Willem, who he’s forced to execute because the Riverlords are disgusted by the atrocities done under Rhaenyra’s banner. But as stated, this conflict is made about Daemon, so Willem’s death is pretty inconsequential, and it’s just another crime to taunt him about in Harrenhal I guess, as well as to make the Blacks look better (war crimes are not sanctioned and we execute the perpetrators I promise!). I did find Daemon apparently coming to admire the enemy Brackens while having to punish the Blackwood Allies an amusing inversion of Jaime’s interactions with them in ADWD, though.

tl;dr I still don’t have nearly enough time to watch this show due to a personal emergency. It sounds like the show acknowledged that the Blackwoods committed atrocities against people on Bracken lands, and had one Blackwood be executed for it; however, I believe that’s more to make the Blacks look better than to denigrate the Blackwoods, who initially are made out to be the “wronged party” and superior fighters against the Brackens anyway. What happened doesn’t seem to be “Bracken bias”, but to highlight contradictions in Daemon’s character at admiring an enemy’s courage but also being willing to sign off on unjust violence to bring them down (I guess there’s that “blend of light and dark” the Rogue Prince keeps blathering about, even though no such lightness was seen in the book).

You’ve made it to the end; Horse House appreciates your patience.

[salarta]

Polaris, an Unsung Hero

Anyone who hasn't seen some of my more recent posts, to recap, I think Polaris' chances of good near future treatment out of Marvel are extremely slim verging on nil.

It was already bad enough that Marvel is going all in on unthinking 90s nostalgia, which was terrible for Lorna in how it restricted her to "Havok's supporting character girlfriend." Even worse, the X-Men comics have an element of 80s nostalgia as well, so current X-Factor added the "abducted damsel in distress for Havok to have manpain about it" angle too. Pair that with too many X-Men fans I've run into making excuses for poor treatment (one even explicitly saying Lorna "deserves" terrible characterization) but then getting upset when their own faves like Pyro get similar poor treatment, and it's worse. But the United States 2024 election results were the last straw for me. While I have serious doubts that fuckery isn't afoot, the Dems aren't even trying to stop fascism in any way, and in fact are trying to throw trans people under the bus as an excuse.

So what we're left with is the suggestion that a majority of voting Americans want racist, sexist, trans hating pedophiles running the country as long as they "get mine," an attitude echoed in X-Men fandom ("Polaris getting fucked over is fine as long as my fave is treated well"), and the people with the greatest ability to resist these problems instead eagerly jumping headlong into exacerbating them.

It's fucked. And it's left me feeling like Polaris doesn't have a shot at good work in the short term, cause how do you build awareness of what she deserves and get people to understand and respect it in this atmosphere?

At this point, you're wondering why I said all of the above when it seems far off from the title of my post. It's connected because it's had me thinking differently over the past few weeks.

I don't think I can "fight" for the character, because I don't see a path forward to do it. What I can do, though, is simply share my feelings and what I see.

And folks. I was reminded of something important last night.

Progress in this world isn't something that gets rewarded for the people and forms that initiate it. It gets punished. Daring to break the mold, daring to move the needle forward, daring to pave the way for others, that gets punished sharply.

That's what happened to Polaris.

I don't know how many people know this, but Marvel comics was rife with sexism, and still is but to a lesser degree. Sue Storm started out as only able to turn invisible, and treated very often in the sexist supporting character vein. Some depictions of the Fantastic Four even had Reed threatening to smack her around.

In the X-Men books, at the time Lorna was introduced, Jean Grey was placed in the common mold of female characters at the time. More regressive, more supporting character in nature. Both Jean and Wanda were often set out as the "token girl" for the respective men around them. It wasn't exactly a progressive spot to be in even as just the idea of a woman on a team at all could arguably have been progress (when you compare to how Wonder Woman was first added to the Justice Society as their... secretary).

Enter Polaris. Although her introductory issue had a tinge of the "for a dude" in how Iceman got to save her at one point, the majority of her first appearance - and of some (not all) depictions pre-Claremont - made her very progressive in her time.

When her powers and relation to Magneto were learned, the X-Men feared her. Before learning those things, they saw her as just another woman in need of help. But after, they saw her as a full-fledged threat who could really tear them apart if she so chose. By herself. Not even adding in the potential mutant army at her beck and call there. But then, she decided to resist the "evil blood" of her father (note: this was before Magneto was established as Jewish, when Magneto was a mustache-twirling white man villain and nothing more) and follow her own path.

We had two progressive acts in her first issue. She was established as a truly dangerous woman, and she decided to be her own woman rather than simply do something because that's what her father would want from her. Then some depictions between this and Claremont let her speak more feminism by chastising Havok and Iceman for fighting over her instead of caring about the mission at hand, or by Lorna saying she's "nobody's girl" when Jean started suggesting it.

This progress was punished.

Gradually, Lorna was reframed as "Havok's girl." As his almost property. As a character who isn't allowed to have her own thoughts and feelings, only caring about what Havok wants and what matters to him. Claremont exacerbated this with his tenure by not only reinforcing the idea, but turning Lorna into a punching bag for villains and even other X-Men like Storm. Got bad enough that Claremont even had Zaladane steal Lorna's powers and then add extremely generic powers (super strength, invulnerability) alongside basically a "hate sink" power where the concept was for literally everyone she ever meets to feel their most negative emotions and want to kill her (even if they kill themselves in the process) just cause she's there.

That's where Lorna's stuck. Any time she makes any tiny modicum of progress, she gets forced back into the role of damsel and punching bag, if not explicitly like Claremont then implicitly with jokes and insults aimed at her (see also: 2020s X-Factor having Lorna say she's a "big gun" and then immediately having possessed Siryn mind control her and outright call her stupid for being written as stupid).

Every time I think of all of this, it makes me sad and angry. Polaris deserves a fuckload better. Even if you pretend she wasn't made until Claremont or until the 90s, like so many at Marvel like to do, she still deserves better. She's been wronged and savaged and had so much of what she offers torn apart and handed off to other characters.

Did you know they recently "created" a new character to "follow in Magneto's footsteps" named Magnetrix? Using Lorna's own first codename from before she was given the Polaris one, to promote a brand new character meant to steal yet another thing from her, the notion of her as heir to Magneto's legacy. While she's stuck as a supporting character girlfriend on X-Factor that gets abducted for Havok's sake.

Yet in my recent thoughts, after all the apologism from X-Men fans, after the US 2024 election, I find myself looking at something else here instead of the horrific injustice that looks like it'll never get fixed in my lifetime (maybe not even in the lifetime of anyone alive today).

Even though Claremont set it, ironically, Polaris is a very appropriate code name for her. Because it represents the north star, a guiding light. It steers people in the right direction within the darkness.

If someone uses that star to get where they're going, the star is rarely given accolades when they show up as needed. People don't go "Let's hear it for the guiding star! Yeah!" They just revel in where they are.

That's Polaris and her influence in a nutshell.

Yes, the progress seen in Sue Storm, Jean Grey, Scarlet Witch, Storm, the bulk of it comes from good work focused on them. Just like the bulk of a ship getting to its proper destination comes from the good work of those people on that ship who moved it along. But that ship needed a guiding light for those efforts to matter. That ship needed someone or something to light the way.

Polaris lit the way for all of those female characters and more.

I know most fans of those characters will balk at the suggestion. They'll say it was all self-powered, that Lorna did nothing for any of them. Some of those fans will even say Lorna made it harder for their faves. And I can understand why they would be so defensive of their faves in that way, I really do.

But the truth is, you need someone else to go first. You need someone else to stand out, take the beatings, set the precedent.

None of these characters, including Polaris, would have gotten anywhere if not for Wonder Woman and any characters who inspired that character. Wonder Woman set a precedent herself by being a female superhero who actually got shit done, and being extremely progressive in her time (even despite the sexism of things like being assigned secretary of the Justice Society). Just being a female superhero was blazing a trail.

Polaris blazed a trail herself by introducing most feminist ideals with her coming onto the scene. She created an opening for Jean and Storm and all of them to be able to get more progressive characterization. Lorna took the beating so they could move forward.

That's what happened. That's what's still happening. To this day. She built up the value of Magneto having an heir with his same power set, and now not once but twice, Marvel's introduced two female characters meant to take Lorna's place in that role so they could send her back to sexist treatment land. The upcoming "Magnetrix" is just the newest. There was also a recent story set in the past with a different character whose name I can't remember doing the same thing, seemingly carrying Magneto's legacy.

When Claremont decided to make Lorna into a hate sink for her power set, as shitty as it was for him to do, the truth is he was just making the implicit into something more explicit.

No matter what good Lorna does, no matter what trails she blazes, she's never rewarded for it. All she ever gets is punished and put down. All she ever gets is people saying she deserves to be treated shitty. Or people saying she doesn't deserve to be Magneto's daughter. Or people insisting she can't be anything more than Havok's girlfriend on X-Factor, and that X-Factor is all she's good for.

But despite all of that?

She's in the end doing good for everyone. Even though Marvel and too many X-Men fans at large will never, ever respect her for it.

They'll happily take advantage of the openings she creates. They'll love how she makes it easier to make their own faves do the things she already did, but that they can take credit for it with a different (sometimes new) character. They'll never give her her due. They'll just take take take.

And I guess... that's her real legacy. And why she's an unsung hero.

She gets nothing for the beatdowns in and out of the fiction. She gets nothing from the repeated character assassinations, the taking away of everything she is to hand off to other, "more deserving" characters. Any time she makes progress, it's instantly lifted for others to reap the benefits.

She's never going to be who and what she should be, and should have been for decades.

So maybe the best approach is really just to bask in the afterglow of what she accomplishes in secret.

Without her, what progress we do have wouldn't exist. Jean Grey and Storm would not have solo books today. Or at least, it would've been a much harder uphill climb for them to get those solo books. So many paths and ideas within X-Men and wider Marvel comics that get celebrated for being progressive, simply would not be if she hadn't taken the bullets for daring to stand out.

This doesn't mean I'll start reading Jean Grey or Storm comics. I'm not really interested in either of them, and truthfully, the way my brain works, reading those comics would actually just leave me more upset that Polaris will never get anything even remotely close to the same thing. I don't like to engage in stuff that just upsets me in a bad way like that.

But from afar, I can still think of how much my favorite character has done in secret, with no accolades and respect to show for it.

[rubywrites-4]

Such a backstabber🔪🩸

warning: violence, inappropriate language and more ⚠️

Johnny Storm had never been the type to settle down. He was a former playboy, known for his charm and charisma, but all of that changed when he met Y/n. She was different from anyone he had ever met before, and he knew from the moment he laid eyes on her that she was the one for him. They had been dating for a while now, and Johnny was convinced that Y/n was the love of his life. He had even started planning on proposing to her, wanting to spend the rest of his days by her side. But little did he know, his playboy ways were far from behind him.

Y/n had a close friend who she had known since she joined the Fantastic Four team, and unbeknownst to her, this friend had caught Johnny’s eye. Despite his feelings for Y/n, Johnny couldn’t resist the temptation of his friend, and soon enough, he was having an affair behind Y/n’s back. As the day of the pre-wedding party arrived, everyone was in high spirits. Johnny’s side chick was there, mingling with the other guests, and everything seemed perfect. But then, chaos erupted.

Bombs went off, sending guests running in every direction. Johnny was frantically searching for Y/n when he finally spotted her, standing with blood on her white wedding dress, tears streaming down her face. His heart shattered as he realized the extent of his betrayal.

Rushing to her side, Johnny hugged Y/n tightly, vowing in his heart to be loyal to her from that moment on. But just as he was about to profess his love, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw a knife protruding from his abdomen, and when he looked up, he saw Y/n standing before him, a devilish smile on her face. “you thought I really do love you huh Storm?” She laughed at Johnny and continue pushing the knife deeper into his stomach

Suddenly Doctor Doom made his appearance while clapping his hand saying “bravo sweetheart” & kissed Y/n on the lips “mhm I missed you baby” Y/n moaned in the kiss and Doctor Doom replied “ I missed you more my baby” while kissing her back more deeper.

Johnny, Sue and everyone looked at Y/n in disbelief and was confuse of what’s going on and then a flashback played where Y/n is actually spy sent by Doom and also his girlfriend as well. Y/n acted as that innocent and sweet girl charisma and won everyone’s heart including Johnny’s and they both started to get to know each other and decided to date. Each and every time Johnny insisted sex, she would drug Johnny and goes to find evidence on the documents Johnny has secretly kept hidden while he’s unconscious and the next day she make him believe that they had sex and he passed out in tiredness. One final day she had found the important details and evidence of the Fantastic Four Team.

Flashback comes back to the reality where Y/n looks at her friend that she acted fake friendly and said“ I don’t have anything against you but no one shall have a friend like you who steal what’s belong to others so you know what you deserve bitch? ” Y/n winked & reloaded the gun to shoot her friend on the chest and forehead. Johnny didn’t even blink his eyes because of the shock and the fear he had for you at the moment

Evil smile presented on Y/n face and then she looked over Sue and smirked “ you would come after me for doing this to you” Y/n sighed and shot sue on the shoulder and apologized “I’m sorry Sue! You’re nice but I have to” luckily the shot didn’t affect Sue badly

Johnny scream and struggled to get out of the grasps Doom’s people had on him. Tears, fears and the pain do betrayal presented on his face and he asked Y/n with pleading eyes “ Y/n you bitch! Such a backstabber!! how could you do this to me ?” Y/n looked at him and laughed “ah little boy you don’t get to say that. You literally had a side chick and did things so you don’t get to talk about betrayal” y/n smiled sarcastically and told “lucky me I didn’t love or date a manwhore like you for real”

Y/n shot Johnny on both legs and he screamed in pain. Doom took his girlfriend’s hand “let’s go baby. I missed you so much” y/n smiled and pulled him for a kiss. Doom smirked and said “ah not here princess… let’s go to our home”. Both of them walked away holding hands and Y/n turned around to see Johnny fighting for his life while tears streaming down his eyes, Y/n smiled devilishly and showed her middle finger “this is how you do it mothafucker” then blow Johnny a kiss before walking away.

[excelsiorfics]

A Day at the Park

Date: 06 Feb 2022 Author: kitausuret Rating: Gen Word Count/Status: 1606, complete Dynamic: Franklin Richards & Sue Storm & Reed Richards, Reed Richards/Sue Storm Characters: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Franklin Richards, Venom Symbiote Tags: Slice of Life, NYC, Alien Cultural Differences

Summary: Trying to learn something more about the alien symbiote dropped off to them by (or, perhaps ripped off of) their longtime ally Spider-Man, Reed decides to take their guest along on a little trip to the park with his wife and their young son. In giving it a little bit of freedom, he's hoping to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding it... and hopefully, understand it a little bit better, too.

[marvelmcumania]

Blazed in Love

Pairing: Johnny Storm x Fem Reader

Summary: Johnny and Y/N met each other in school and became great friends but one misunderstanding broke the friendship and they went their separate ways. Many years later a space mission has brought them together will the friendship rekindle or the romance?

AN- You can find the same name on Wattpad Updates won't be frequent will be updated at any time English is not my first language Do not repost Feel free to reblog and let me know your thoughts

Chapter 2 - 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚖

A helicopter is hovering near the trees. A huge spacecraft looming on the horizon Modern tech combined with industrial design that NASA could never afford The craft's nose is pointed straight up, ready for launch The workers in jumpsuits are scattered around the two-hundred-foot tall scaffolding, performing the routine checks.

Y/N stares up at the craft and looks back at Ben and Richard shaking her head "Nope not doing this not doing this at all" and turns back from the spacecraft. "Ben you take it"

"Y/N" Reed tries to stop her.

"Final decision" Leaving no argument over there

Ben makes a face "Why can't you do it? Y/N and well even I cannot do it."

Before Y/N could speak Reed beats her to it"External SRBs, orbital system engines. It's just like the shuttles you flew in- Y/N it was fun remember"

"Nope Reed"

"Same here I cannot take orders from that underwear model. The wingnut washed out of NASA for sneaking two Victoria's Secret wannabes into a flight simulator" Ben angrily answers him

"Then think about me, Ben" She whines, not interested in meeting the only person she hates.

"Youthful high spirits."

The three of them walk toward the base of the scaffolding. "They crashed it into the wall. A flight simulator"

"I am sure he's matured since then. "

"Well, I hope he is mature," she says, keeping a stoic face. But my guts says he ain't." From far away, she sees a man leaning over to kiss a hothead, only to reveal it's Johnny Storm riding his motorcycle, and the woman driving a red Corvette. Y/N rolls her eyes, knowing this man still hasn't changed. She glances at Reed and Ben, and hands them the binoculars, "I ain't gonna handle the spaceship but I will help you Ben" Saying this she walks away.

"Yep she is still angry with him" Reed mutters and glances at Ben that Y/N  "Well have I asked you to do something you absolutely said you could not do?"

"Five times."

"I had it at four"

"This makes five"

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

Y/N was on a call with Matthew asking her about the progress of the mission "Yeah we are nearly set" Reed and Ben were unpacking gear into lockers when suddenly

"Captain on the bridge"

Ben goes to attention on reflex Johnny snaps a picture with a digital camera and then advances as Ben realizes who it is. Y/N gives an irritated look when Jonny turns the camera toward her to take a quick shot: "Digital camera $254. Memory stick $59. The look on your hard-ass former CO's grill when he finds out he's your junior officer: priceless. The same goes for the best friend Say hi to the BF" and takes his seat.

"Yeah he sends his regard," Y/N says giving him a tight-lipped smile "I will talk to you later babe Luv ya" and hangs up the phone

Ben eyeballs Johnny and suddenly reaches up as if to grab him He flinches But Ben reaches for Johnny's zipper and adjusts his uniform "Thank you. That's so sweet"

"I can handle the ship" Johnny's eyes furrow glancing at Y/N meeting her eyes who turns away " I can even handle Mr. Blonde Ambition. But I don't know if I should be flying or playing Vegas in these suits." Ben says while removing the hanging dress and showing it to Reed Johnny and Y/N "Who the hell came with them?"

"Victor did." Sue enters, wearing her blue, wetsuit-like uniform, carrying a stack of flight suits. "The synthetics act as a second skin adapting to your body's individual needs to--"

"See, now that means it keeps the hot stuff hot and cool stuff cool" Johnny continues Sue's words.

Reed stares at Sue "Wow fantastic" he takes the suit from Ben "Material made from self-regulating unstable molecules" he turns enthusiastically to Johnny Y/N and Ben "I've been working on the formula for this" Y/N and Johnny glance at each other amused by hearing his work while Sue and Ben looked annoyed at him

"Great minds think alike" Sue mutters sarcastically and starts handing the suit "Here you go, Ben"

"Thanks, Sweetie"

"Here's your Y/N"

"Thanks" Sue then walks up to Reed and throws the Suit at him 

"This is so weird"Y/N mutters watching the interaction from far away "One is acting too dumb and the other makes it wanna see"

"Tough life."

Y/N flinches at hearing the voice and glances at Johnny beside her. She scoffs and walks in the same direction Sue goes: "Hey, wait!" Johnny calls out following her "What no hi how are you Jon Jon or something like that"

"No Mr Storm"

"Mr Storm?" Johnny asks raising his eyebrows "When did we go into the professional way?"

"Since you broke my trust" Y/N abruptly turns Jonny almost colliding with her his smile falls off "Now we have some work to do Mr. Storm so shall we proceed" he gives her a nod and follows her to the spaceship

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

Victor and Sue lead others inside the space station into the command center.

"ETA until cosmic events nine hours" Victor announces walking ahead of all of them

Johhny makes his dad voice "If you behave maybe next time daddy will let you drive" he says keeping hands on Y/N's shoulder who glares at him and ducks down to walk beside him

"Keep talking there won't be next time," Ben mutters Y/N snickers keeping a hand on her mouth.

Reed focuses on Earth Sue, who is coming behind him. "It's a Long way from the projection booth at the Hayden Planetarium, isn't it?" Reed turns towards her, a  little stunned that she would bring that up.

"Yes yes, it is."

Johhny Y/N and Ben exchange a look "The earth looks beautiful from far."

"And that's why you loved astronomy"

A small smile graced Y/N's lip and she glanced at Johnny he was still the same Jon Jon but after what he had done she turned away following Sue.

"Trouble in paradise Trouble in friendship" Ben hummed leaving Johnny alone 

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

"We can monitor the cloud's approach and observe the tests from here," Sue says when the enter command center

"Is it safe?"Y/N asks her concern over her face

"The shields on the station should protect us" Reed replied Y/N furrowed her eyebrows

"Should?" Ben questions 

"What's matter Ben? Getting paranoid in your old age?"

"It was a genuine question Victor" Y/N answers Victor smiles coldly at her Johnny steps forward shielding from her any comments he would spew

Ben turns to Victor making the environment tense Reed cuts in

"Let's start loading  those samples Get your suit ready, Ben."

Victor keeps his eyes on Ben "So I still see you're doing all the heavy lifting?" he then turns to Reed "Maybe you should have stayed in the lab fieldwork never suited you and you" Turning to Y/N "Had lost the opportunity."

"I don't need it your welcome"

Reed doesn't defend himself Ben steps forward "He does the talking I do the walking Got it?" Victor holds tight to his smile He nods "Got it take a walk, Ben... Actually, if you'll all excuse me I need to borrow Susan for a moment"

"Sure"

Y/N sighs and walks away to the airlock ahead of Johnny and Ben.

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

Ben preps for the spacewalk Y/N closing the back rear of his suit "Please tell me your guy's not trying to rekindle things with my sister again"Johnny questions while checking Ben's suit

"Of course, it's strictly business," Ben tells him

"Yesh, well, his eyes says differently don't they?" Johnny answers him where as Y/N is setting the coordinates on Ben's suit.

"Hey, two hearts got busted last time." his voice came muffled through the glass "Maybe she's not over it either."

"Wow Dr. Phillips that's deep" Y/N rolls her eyes hearing Johnny's sarcastic answer

"Johnny"

"Let's hear about that you got Victor more money than God stud of the year" he turns around bringing a set of clear sample boxes of the cart each containing a variety of plants "And you got Reed, world's dumbest smart guy worth less than a postage stamp. That's a little toss-up."

"Don't trouble your tiny little mind."

"Don't wander off now, boy"

Y/N says "All the best Stay safe," she hugs Ben.

"Don't worry I will be perfectly fine"

Johnny and Y/N step out of the airlock Y/N goes to the control panel to shut the door Securing airlock chamber They look through a small window Johnny gives him a salute to see Ben giving a thumbs up and he returns it. The airlock door opens revealing the space and he steps into it gracefully

Y/N sees Ben walking on the threshold on his way to the equipment from the small window. "So how are you?"

"Good" 

Johnny nods at her, keeping her tight-lipped. "How is Matty?" He hopes these small conversations can help her talk.

"Good" still keeping an eye on Ben

"Won't you ask me how I am doing?"

She turns to look at him "No"

Jonny is shocked by her answer "All this because of what happened 8 years back"

Y/N takes a deep breath "Yes a person who was a great friend to me broke my trust and started ignoring me and that was you, Johnny"

"I didn't mean to do that"

She laughs sarcastically "Yeah then why didn't you defend me then why did ignore me?"Johnny stays quiet for a moment "You started going with those hot chicks who flaunted your money and your best friend who was with you all the time needed you" see walks to the control panel

"Look-" Before Johhny could say anything they heard Reed's urgent voice

"Ben, need to get inside now!"

"What's going on?"

I ain't done arranging your flowers yet, egghead.

Reed stood near the sliding doors "Ben turn around" Both Y/N and Johnny saw a huge solar storm heading towards them

Guys I am not gonna make it

"Ben you gotta jump It's the only way" Johnny speaks through the comm and Ben makes a jump

"Come on Ben come on" Y/N mutters

"Come on Ben you got this" Johnny yells when the solar storm is near to Ben. The entire corridor rumbles Light flickers and sparks as the watch helplessly

"Okay, Johnny, get ready to close the portal." 

Before Ben could reach the solar storm hit space ship pushing Ben forward Y/N and Reed see Ben slipping down and the solar storm burst the door the storm hitting all four of them

[theoceanoasis]

Okay, sue me

Please give us a third part to hot rod being ratbats caregiver and he’s taken by autobots while sparked

The Autobots forced them off the transport and led them inside where they were placed inside a prison cell.

Around him people cried for their loved ones who'd been killed and their freedom which had been taken from them. No one knew what was going to happen next, if the Autobots were going to execute them for their perceived betrayal or if they'd be forced to join.

The entire time he barely resisted putting a hand on his belly wanting to reassure himself that his little one was safe. He should have never left Soundwave and the Decepticons. Even if they were in the middle of a war, he would have been safe with them.

He didn't know how long they sat there until the Autobots came back.

"We will forget your treasonous actions if you join us."

"And if we don't?"

Someone dared to ask and one of the Autobots shot them.

"You'll be executed as punishment."

He shivered wrapping his arms around himself as though he could protect his sparkling. Those who remained were split up into groups and assigned jobs.

His job was working in the boiler room and was very labor intensive. He worked long hours and only got to sleep for a few hours before they were forced back to work. Rations were very small and he found himself constantly worried that he was going to lose his sparkling because of the stress he was under.

He found himself feeling sick all the time but he was still forced to work. Since he wasn't eating much his belly didn't show, which was a good thing because he didn't want them to know he was sparked.

Although the labor he was doing now was hard. What they'd force him to do if they knew he was sparked would be much worse.

He tried coming up with a few plans to escape knowing he was on borrowed time. It wouldn't be long before he started to show and the Autobots realized he was sparked.

He wished there was some kind of way he could send Soundwave a message. Although he doubted Soundwave would want to hear from him after he left him.

Soundwave had been looking all over for Hot Rod and had been a mess ever since he left him. He'd reread the letter repeatedly always wondering what he did wrong. Not understanding why Hot Rod had to leave. Everyone had been walking on eggshells around him worried he'd snap at any moment.

He'd been staring blankly at one of his reports when Ravage had walked in with urgent news.

"I found Hot Rod."

He found himself sitting up before he even realized it.

"Where?"

"He's been captured by the Autobots."

Ravage showed him the footage and he watched as Hot Rod was forced to work in the boiler room. His feet were chained to the ground in order to stop him from escaping. He looked tired and his paint beautiful was now dull and chipped.

Nearby an Autobot barked orders at him and he flinched away. He watched angrily as the Autobots were working him to his death.

"How did this happen?"

"Hot Rod was about to leave Cybertron when the Autobots had stopped everyone from leaving. They'd accused them of treason and taken them back to their base."

"Typical Autobots acting as though they owned all of Cybertron."

He continued looking at the footage giving Hot Rod a worried look. Even though he'd left him he still loved him and he wouldn't let him remain in Autobot custody any longer.

Hopefully after he'd rescued him Hot Rod would give him an explanation on why he left and maybe they could even work things out.

"We need to rescue him."

"We're ready to go."

He looked at Ravage in surprise and he shrugged.

"We already knew what you were going to say."

He followed Ravage out of his office and to the hanger where others were waiting. Megatron had gathered them in order to attack the Autobot base.

"Good luck getting Hot Rod back."

He nodded and together the Decepticons marched towards the Autobots base. All of them filled with anger at the idea of Autobots kidnapping civilians and forcing them to work for them.

He stormed the base in a rage desperately searching for Hot Rod. Ravage led him to the prisons where he was sitting on the floor. He barely noticed him when he walked in and it wasn't until he said something that Hot Rod looked up.

"Are you real?"

He nodded and hacked open the door. Stepping inside he walked to Hot Rod who stood on shakey legs looking about ready to collapse.

"I'm so sorry Soundwave I should have never left."

Hot Rod gave him a sad look as he wrapped his arms around himself and he desperately wanted to take him back to the Decepticon base and keep him by his side forever.

"I was so worried about our sparkling growing up in this war and I thought leaving would have been the best option."

He looked at Hot Rod in surprise just as he collapsed from exhaustion. He easily caught him giving him a worried look.

Ravage and the others freed the other prisoners while he took Hot Rod to the medbay. He sat by his side while the medics worked the entire time trying to process the fact Hot Rod was sparked.

[lezzballer]

I'm sharing a preview of my story and I'd like to hear your feedback on it!

I don't have a title for it yet so the working title is Lauren Jackson x Reader Meet Cute. The story is set in 2003 in Connecticut because I love writing retro ball. Storm Head Coach Ann Donovan made Sue and Lauren train together before the 2003 season because they didn't get along. This story takes place during that time.

It's the end of February in Connecticut. The winter snow is melting and the campus stress is mounting. Academic and athletic stress keeps you up at night. So rather than waste your time lying awake staring at the ceiling, you party.

There's a basketball party tonight and it's a big one. The conference tournament starts in a few days and Sue is in Storrs again to see the games. It's been a year since she was drafted but she's still a god here. So whenever she comes back here, you throw her an absolute rager.

You're a few shots in when Sue walks through the front door. She runs over and wraps you in a big hug. "I've missed you, dude!" she yells in your ear. You've missed her a lot. Your heart broke when she was drafted to Seattle. Everything is harder without Sue around.

As you and Sue get reacquainted, someone else walks through the door behind her. A giant. You recognize her immediately but there's no way she could possibly be in Storrs. This must be a dream.

"I told you I had a surprise for you, remember?" Sue says. "Well, here's your surprise."

Ever since Sue left Storrs for Seattle, she's been complaining to you about Lauren Jackson. Every time you'd call her, she'd tell you "Lauren is a problem." And now that 6'5" problem is standing in the doorway of this UConn party. She looks down at you. For a brief moment there's something warm in her eyes. And then her face twists into a scowl.

"Who is this?" she asks Sue. Sue introduces you. Lauren doesn't shake your hand or smile. She just looks around the room and sighs. She does not want to be here.

Sue rolls her eyes. "Okay, where's my drink?" You lead Sue and Lauren through the crowded living room into the kitchen and pour some shots. Sue pounds her shot back without flinching. Lauren pours hers in a can of coke. By now, the rest of the UConn basketball players have realized that Sue is here. They all file in to the kitchen to embrace Sue. One-by-one, Sue introduces them to Lauren. Lauren glares and mumbles her way through every introduction until she's left a bad first impression with everyone. When she's content with her work, she turns away from the crowd and sips her vodka coke. A cheeky grin forms on Lauren's face while Sue attempts to clean up after Lauren's rudeness. "Sorry, we're a little jet-lagged!" Sue says as she leads the crowd out of the kitchen, leaving you alone with Lauren.

"Are you jet-lagged?" You ask.

"No, I'm just on the wrong continent." Her Australian accent is thick and musical. Every sentence sounds like a question. You can't tell what's sarcasm and what isn't.

"So, how'd you end up in Storrs?"

"Coach's orders."

"Coach Auriemma?"

"Who? Oh, that's your coach, right? No, I'm here on the Storm coach's orders. Anne Donovan wants me to follow Sue around. You know, they're not even paying me for this. It's charity work."

"So why are you doing it?"

"I have no idea. I could be on a beach in the Gold Coast right now. I'm missing bikini season for this. The waves, the girls, I'm missing it all for Storrs."

She talks about girls openly with no shame in her voice. You've never heard a woman talk like that in your life. This WNBA player is living up to every stereotype and she doesn't seem to care.

"There's girls here, too, you know." The words fall out of your mouth before you even realize what you're saying. "And bikinis."

"Really?" She looks you over and takes a long sip of her vodka coke. You suddenly feel dizzy. Your college team is laughing and dancing in the living room. And you're just a few feet away flirting with a WNBA player. This can't be happening but it is. You're not even drunk. If you were drunk, this would all make a lot more sense. Maybe it's time to get drunk. You walk over to the bowl of Nightmare Punch and fill up your cup. The punch is a deep maroon brown color. It smells terrible and tastes even worse. You choke down half of it and then look enviously at Lauren's vodka coke.

"Wanna trade?" you ask.

"No way!" she laughs. Her laughter feels so good.

Your teammates come find you and pull you and your Nightmare Punch onto the dance floor. Apparently your song is on. Part of you feels grateful that your teammates saved you from whatever it was you were just doing. And another more wicked part of you resents them for it.

Three songs and one bathroom break later, you find your way back to the kitchen. But Lauren is already gone. You feel a pang of crushing disappointment in the pit of your stomach. You retrace your steps back through the house looking for Lauren's sulking 6'5" figure. You don't find her but you do find Sue.

"Hey, have you seen Lauren?" You ask.

"Lauren? No. What time is it?"

You look at your watch. "It's barely ten" you say.

"Ten? Okay. Lauren's gone"

"What do you mean she's gone? We're in the middle of nowhere. Where could she even go?"

"I don't know. She just leaves. Every time I try to do something social with her, she just disappears. It's all part of her, you know, it's all part of her bullshit. She's a problem, remember? And you're supposed to help me solve that problem. That's why I brought her here."

"Lauren said your head coach put you up to this"

"Well, I gave Coach Donovan the idea. Lauren hates me and she hates UConn. So I thought, what the hell, I might as well bring her back here with me."

"To torture her?"

"Exposure therapy. Listen, she'll turn up tomorrow morning. Let's forget about her and have fun tonight." Sue pushes another drink into your hand. There was a time when this used to be enough for you. There was a time when drinking and laughing with a beautiful woman was all you wanted in life. But you're growing up and learning that you want more. You remember when Sue visited back in December and brought a boyfriend to your game. The little crush you once had on her died that day. You want more and you won't get it here.

You hang around the party for a little while longer before grabbing your jacket and slipping out the door. There's nowhere to go in Storrs. But Lauren is 6'5". You should be able to see her from a distance. And the booze in your system gives you confidence that you'll find her.

You walk about 50 yards before reality starts to set in. It's freezing out here and Lauren is long gone. Your drunk mind pictures her leaving the party with one of those Gold Coast bikini girls she was talking about. "Damn it!" You yell out into the night. Now you're really mad. You had a chance, a brief window of opportunity, and you missed it. "God fucking damn it!" Rogue tears spill over your eyelids. You can't go back to the party now. There's only one place in the world where you belong. The gym...

•••

I'm working on writing the next scene. Here's a work in progress that you can read now if you want!

Let me know what you think of it so far. If you like this and want to read more, send me an ask about it so I don't procrastinate lol

[kazuma-asogi-blog]

Shrewd Simon Short sewed shoes. Seventeen summers, speeding storms, spreading sunshine successively, saw Simon’s small, shabby shop, still standing staunch, saw Simon’s selfsame squeaking sign still swinging silently specifying: Simon Short, Smithfield’s sole surviving shoemaker. Shoes sewed soles super finely.

Simon’s spry, sedulous spouse, Sally Short, sewed shirts, stitched sheets, stuffed sofas. Simon’s six stout sons — Seth, Samuel, Stephen, Saul, Silas, Shadrach – sold sundries. Sober Seth sold sugar, spices; simple Sam sold saddles, stirrups, screws; sagacious Stephen sold silks, satins, shawls; sceptical Saul sold silver salvers; selfish Shadrach sold salves, shoestrings, stops, saws, skates; slack Silas sold Sally Short’s stuffed sofas.

Some seven summers since, Simon’s second son Samuel saw Sophia Sophronia Spriggs somewhere. Sweet, smart, sensible Sophia Sophronia Spriggs. Sam soon showed strong symptoms. Sam seldom stayed storing, selling saddles. Sam sighed sorrowfully, sought Sophia Sophronia’s society, sang several serenades slyly. Simon stormed, scolded severely, said Sam seemed so silly singing such shameful, senseless songs. ‘Strange Sam should slight such splendid sales! Strutting spendthrift! Shattered-brained simpleton.’

‘Softly, softly, sire,’ said Sally. ‘Sam’s smitten; Sam’s spied some sweetheart.’

‘Sentimental schoolboy!’ snarled Simon. ‘Smitten! Stop such stuff.’ Simon sent Sally’s snuffbox spinning, seized Sally’s scissors, smashed Sally’s spectacles, scattering several spools. ‘Sneaking scoundrel! Sam’s shocking silliness shall surcease!’ Scowling, Simon stopped speaking, started swiftly shopward.

Sally sighed sadly. Summoning Sam, she spoke sweet sympathy. ‘Sam,’ said she, ‘Sire seems singularly snappy; so, solicit, sue, secure Sophronia speedily, Sam.’

‘So soon? So soon?’ said Sam, standing stock-still.

‘So soon, surely,’ said Sally, smiling, ‘specially since Sire shows such spirits.’

So Sam, somewhat scared, sauntered slowly. Shaking stupendously, Sam soliloquised: ‘Sophia Sophronia Spriggs, Spriggs — Short — Sophia Sophronia Short-Samuel Short’s spouse — sounds splendid! Suppose she should say — she shan’t — she shan’t!’

Soon Sam spied Sophia starching shirts, singing softly. Seeing Sam she stopped starching, saluting Sam smilingly. Sam stammered shockingly. ‘Spl-spl-splendid summer season, Sophia.’

‘Selling saddles still, Sam?’

‘Sar-sar-tin,’ said Sam, starting suddenly. ‘Season’s somewhat sudoriflc,’ said Sam, steadily, staunching streaming sweat, shaking sensibly.

‘Sartin,’ said Sophia, smiling significantly. ‘Sip some sweet sherbet, Sam.’ (Silence: sixty seconds.) ‘Sire shot sixty sheldrakes, Saturday,’ said Sophia.

‘Sixty? Shoot!’ said Sam. (Silence: seventy-seven seconds.)

‘See sister Susan’s sunflowers,’ said Sophia, socially, silencing such stiff silence.

Sophia’s sprightly sauciness stimulated Sam strangely; so Sam suddenly spoke sentimentally: ‘Sophia, Susan’s sunflowers seem saying Samuel Short, Sophia Sophronia Spriggs stroll serenely, seek some sequestered spot, some sylvan shade. Sparkling springs shall sing soul stirring strains; sweet songsters shall silence secret sighings; super-angelic sylphs shall —’

Sophia snickered; so Sam stopped. ‘Sophia,’ said Sam, solemnly. ‘Sam,’ said Sophia.

‘Sophia, stop smiling; Sam Short’s sincere. Sam’s seeking some sweet spouse, Sophia.’

Sophia stood silent.

‘Speak, Sophia, speak; such suspense speculates sorrow.’ ‘Seek, sire, Sam, seek sire.’

So Sam sought sire Spriggs. Sire Spriggs said, ‘Sartin.’

(I did not write this I googled long tongue twisters)

I'm not reading all that. My apologies, I...

Wait a minute, you were the one to sic van Zieks on me the other day, weren't you?

I see. You're making fun of me. Well. What if I were to assert that I just spoke aloud your entire message perfectly? If you want to claim I'm lying, the burden of proof is on you, my learned friend. I'd like to see what sort of evidence you can conjure up to the contrary.

Or you could give up and acknowledge my superior elocution.

[breannastewart]

as an avid aces hater when are we gonna wake it up how a’ja is doing now, what stewie has done for YEARS, all while they discredited and invalidated it when stewie did it because of “seattle being a superteam” and how it didn’t really count because she had sue.. sorry it’s just funny to me

well I have MANY thoughts about this lol. so let's go.

people act like what vegas has done is something unique and special, having all those number one draft picks, growing and building something together, blah blah blah. the seattle storm did it before vegas did, but I watched plenty of people say they didn't like them and it was bad for the game that they were winning. in 2020 someone legit called them a superteam so it's not impressive before the superteam talk really began last year. the seattle storm were never a "superteam" by what we know a superteam to be. sue, jewell and stewie were all number one picks, just like those aces players. sami and AC were players no one gave a shot and only became who they are because seattle gave it to them, and they developed into solid, solid pieces in that system. the only notable player they got in free agency was natasha howard but she was not the player she is now, she became that WHILE in seattle. vegas didn't do it all entirely organically, chelsea gray was not an original piece, they got her in free agency like they got CP3 in free agency. as for the stewie and a'ja part of this, stewie could do a million things right but it would never be enough to impress that side and I'm vice versa it's the same, but I have NEVER seen a fanbase more vicious about their preference than the aces/a'ja/sc side. when it was stewie vs a'ja for MVP in 2022, I distinctly remember people saying stewie can't be MVP because she has a bunch of number one picks around her, but somehow that wasn't a disqualifying factor for a'ja who did as well. and those teammates of a'ja's were ALSO in the MVP convo, whereas stewie's teammates were not. stewie's team record was a disqualifying factor for her MVP case, because her team was 4th. despite the fact that she singlehandedly dragged them to that top 4 finish, without her I don't think they would have gotten there. that seattle team was not as deep or on that year as they were in the past. VALUABLE is in that title, so you tell me what added the most value to their team in that run? they said it should only go to the best player on the number one team. but I'm sure now this year, that somehow will magically not be a factor in a'ja's case given vegas' record halfway through the season. they will be the first to complain about goalposts moving all the time, but no one moves them more than them. and guys, these people couldn't STAND that storm team. I'm serious. when someone said back then it was bad for the league that seattle was so stacked and winning, I remember asking was it bad for the league when the lynx were stacked and winning even MORE, did y'all hate them as much as you do seattle? do they hate vegas that much now? no, clearly they don't. I'm sure they think what vegas has done is just fine. and mind you, seattle was doing all that without being the shady POS vegas has been over the last few years. people conveniently overlook that, too. they hated seattle simply because they were good, they hated sue and stewie, and always wanted to start some campaign that jewell was overlooked and should leave when jewell made it clear REPEATEDLY that was the place she was happy. and there were media who very much played into this whole thing, people who were able to get credentials to interview people like sue or stewie, but then talk shit about them constantly on their little twitter accounts. all seattle ever did was be good and love on each other in their little family bubble and people couldn't stand them. it's funny as much as it's not funny, really.

but anyway. it's fuck all of them and vegas forever until karma finally does it's big one or whatever. side note: at least my MVP hasn't ever been super chummy with a weirdo super fan who is also an abuser, so. I at least can always feel good about that.

[positivelybeastly]

How do you feel about X-Men '97 coming back?

"Quite the meritorious happenstance, don't you think? One might have thought our tale lost to the annals of history, a dusty page in a tome left up on a shelf to be only occasionally perused as a curiosity or in a pique of nostalgia . . .

But it is not to be so!"

"As Tennyson himself said, "Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them, volleyed and thundered; stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well, the X-Men.'

. . . Paraphrasing, of course."

I am incredibly excited.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't issues already - this is very much a nostalgia driven series, aimed pretty much precisely at me and my generation, and if I'm objective about it, I would have preferred it if X-Men: Evolution had come back instead. In terms of long form storytelling and character development, it was just better than the 90s show.

There's also some iffiness going on with Sunspot, who's joined the main cast - I believe his skin tone is incorrect, which is a common problem with a lot of Latino and Afro-Brazilian characters in comic books to this day, and given that they've made the cool choice to make Morph non-binary, I would've figured they'd want to depict Sunspot as accurately as possible?

That being said.

It just looks fucking good, man. Ray Chase is doing an amazing job of channelling the original Cyclops actor, who is no longer with us; the animation still feels very much in keeping with the original show, while still looking a MILLION TIMES BETTER (I completed a rewatch of the show not long ago, and hoo boy does season 5 especially look really rough); and after so many years of Krakoa comics, there's something to be said for going back to basics.

Is it a reversion? Yeah, a little bit. But I like my X-Men to be warm, and a family, and friends, and to play baseball and basketball, and not to all fucking hate each other, so sue me, I'll accept a step back for the story if it means I get the characterisations I prefer back.

Besides, the comics still exist for people who want the Krakoan stuff, so a bit of more original flavour X-Men for those of us who don't want our mutants to be living in various kinds of dystopia won't hurt anybody.

This also gives the show runners an opportunity to fix some of the issues the original show had, like a much more weakly written Jean and Jubilee than they ever were in the comics, and a chance to adapt some storylines that have NEVER been adapted before, like Inferno. I'm optimistic!

And, selfishly? Between the Marvels, X-Men '97, and what's currently going on in X-Force, I'm just ready for Beast to be written well again. I'm really hoping that he gets some good dialogue, a fun fight scene, maybe even a focus episode this season, but so long as he isn't doing some abominable shit, then I'll happily take it.

Maybe that makes me fickle or easy to please? Guilty as charged, then. I'll happily be easily pleased, because it means I'm fucking happy with what I get. :P

I don't know if I'll have a '97 verse? I can already tell you it'd be verse: hated and feared, but there's not a lot that's substantially different about TAS Hank to how he was in the 90s. That being said, I'm DEFINITELY going to try and get my hands on as many caps as possible - as you can already see, the lad looks so handsome!