#You know what that shit sounds like? ''THEY'RE NOT PUTTING WHITE PEOPLE IN TV OR MOVIES ANYMOOOORE''

[ook-spam]

As someone who's lived in both countries as well as the USA I'd say that they're all equally racist but that their culture influences how that racism presents so you have to be mentally, and in worse cases--physically, prepared to deal w the different types. I'm non Black POC so I won't claim to know that exact experience, but since my siblings are White passing I do have some very direct experience with the contrast.

In the USA there's a large Black population and a set of common social understandings because of that. The acceptable ways to treat Black people have evolved a lot over the years, but in my understanding the difference in current attitudes has a lot to do with population numbers. It's not as socially acceptable to say and do some of the things a Japanese or Korean racist might do but the ways it does manifest are very.. American? I feel like I'm explaining this badly. Maybe the contrasting examples will help

In Korea and Japan racists are going to be more direct with comments, staring, etc but unless it's a particularly aggressive individual then most behavior will come from people having very little exposure to blackness and making the kind of ignorant assumptions that someone who's only seen black people on TV might make, which will feel weird to an American and is up to each individual to decide if they want to deal w or not. Most people often won't know enough about Black people or their history to make like, layered backhanded comments steeped in meaning, they'll just say some up front out of pocket shit that'll sound crazy if you're used to the comparative subtly of the West. This ramps up the further you get from big cities with significant foreign populations like Seoul or Tokyo. Especially in Japan. I had multiple ppl tell me directly that I was the first foreigner they'd ever seen in real life, and we were in a city of 100,000+. Mind you this was in 2018, but there's genuinely still that level of ignorance sometimes so it can be tough.

As for general cultural attitude, there is a crazy blatant idealization of not specifically Whiteness (or at least, it's not JUST an idealization of Whiteness since it's heavily mixed with ideas that were there long before colonization) but more of paleness, thinness and perfection that can be a lot to contend with. I'm only a few shades darker than the average east Asian, but for many East Asians they can become much paler if they avoid sun, use creams etc, so there's this idea that darkness is "fixable" if you just "put in the work" which really affected me as a kid since my lightest light was still darker than some people's deepest tan. I think it's in part because of this that White people get treated the way they do. I grew up with my siblings getting affection, praise and job offers for their Whiteness while I was treated like a normal kid so it's definitely it's own beast. I've seen a lot more open hostility from Korean and Japanese people towards like, Thai and Indonesians bc there's a much longer history of conflict and discrimination there, so I think it's just different

Idk. In the end every place has its ups and downs, so you have to decide on your own what's worth dealing with or not to you, but I would definitely encourage people to take the leap anyways if those trips are something you want and think you'd have fun on!! There's so much to gain from experiencing other cultures, even if each one comes with its own nastiness

Do you have any thoughts on visiting Japan or Korea as a POC? Should I be wary of the reports of how they treat darker skinned people?

Well first, they are also people of color, whether they act like it or not 😬

I mean 😅 I've accepted that going anywhere other than Africa will get me treated like I'm.. well, Black. I want to visit South Korea, and I've been told that the experience is really cool but just to expect that there will be places that both don't accept tourists (valid) and specifically Black people (invalid). And that people will likely stare at you. But again, that happens here too so 🤷🏾‍♀️

I mean, I wouldn't let antiblackness stop me from traveling the world, so you could go as a person of color! You should always be aware of the racial climate of the place you're entering, and move accordingly. But just because you look different doesn't mean you have to let people touch or ogle you or act like you're not human.

[sleepknoot]

"Giving your canon muse the same pronouns you use or making them trans is making them into a self insert. :/"

If you're a cisgender mun and you write your canon muse as cisgender, you're making them a self insert. Especially if they're the same gender as you :/. See how some of ya'll sound? Lmfao

[remember-the-fanfics]

Imagine the first time Gen z Overlord meeting Angel Dust for the first time when Charlie and Vaggie brought Angel Dust to the hotel while GenZ reader was in the hotel preparing the welcome party preparations with Razzle and Dazzle, GenZ reader ignores Angel Dust's attitude and is kind and respectful to him by giving Ángel Dust cake that Genz reader for him?😃😃

"Razzle, Dazzle! This has to be perfect for Charlie and Vaggie will be back with the first guest!" Yelled (Y/n) decorating the not completely burned cake, the last two burnt cakes will be eaten by them or the tiny dragons.

"No- alittle to the left! No Razzle, that's down- finally thank you!" (Y/n) yelled watching the two put up a sign. "Okay, so I don't want to pressure whoever is coming so I think 'HELL-O (the o is silent)' is funny, it's a pun. I'm totally not feeling stressed about this." (Y/n) voiced to Razzle and Dazzle as the two came over to see the cake, words looking like it was blood and covered in rainbow sprinkles.

The pair looked at (Y/n) blankly.

"I used all the white with the actual frosting and being in hell most colors are red, black, and death."

"-and this is the entrance and Oh wow." (Y/n) heard Charlie say, they brought the cake towards the group. "You really decorated well, (Y/n)."

(Y/n) sees Charlie leading a fluffy yet skinny spider man sinner from the doorway with Vaggie trailing behind.

"Thank you, it was mostly Razz and Dazz since I was baking a cake for the guest." (Y/n) said putting the cake on a conveniently placed table, dusting off their hands. "Who are you?"

"You live under a rock? I'm Angel Dust, everyone on the streets knows me or wishes to." He said and (Y/n) blanking starred up at him.

"W-well (Y/n) here doesn't usally watch what you usally star in Angel." Said Charlie.

"Oh! He's an Actor then? I don't often watch TV, I'm usually working or helping Charlie." Said (Y/n) before Angel Dust started to laugh.

"I've never meet anyone who hasn't already seen all of me if you get what I mean." He finished and looked at the cake. "Hah. Funny if it didn't look like a rainbow was trying find me but thanks. Just know I'm only here for the free grub and room."

"Well I hope you atleast give a chance one or twice." Said (Y/n) before a sound from the kitchen was heard. "Shit, they're trying to eat the burnt cakes." They yelled rushing towards.

"How many did you burn? Razzle, Dazzle. Don't eat to much!" Said Charlie speeding after them.

"You never said you had child labor." Said Angel Dust taking a bite of his cake.

"(Y/n) was technically an adult when they dead also they are an Overlord."

"That explains why they've never watch porn with me in it-. Wait. How the hell does that child have that much power?! That's like giving a toddler a knife."

"I questioned it everyday."

-

"Isn't Angel Dust a drug?" Asked (Y/n), sharing the last burnt cake with Vaggie and Charlie because Angel Dust kept his.

"It another word for PCP." Said Vaggie, slightly cringing on how the cake was somehow raw and brunt at the same time.

"Like a pipe for plumbing?"

"That's PCV, kid. How do you not know these things?" Asked Angel.

"I died before I could I guess, my parents would probably kill me if they ever saw me with any drugs." Said (Y/n) shrugged. "So what kind of actor are you? I feel like i heard your name before since you mentioned it earlier."

"I'm porn star."

"...Well that explains alot of why people would be weird when I asked who they were talking about. I hope you enjoy your stay."

[batboyblog]

Less than 60 days out from the election, how do you think we’re doing, considering the recent debate and Taylor Swift unleashing the Swifties?

I'll start this by saying we're with-in the margin of effort, if either side really puts their backs into it, and pushes and shows up, volunteers in big numbers and turns out voters it could go either way.

So having said that, I feel good, right now the national polls are close, but all show Harris ahead. The swing state polls likewise are close but mostly show tied or leaning to Harris. On top of which Senate Democrats (and the candidate for Governor in NC) are running far ahead of her in polling, I hope thats a sign that late undecideds will break Democrat, they often do break toward the incumbent.

On the debate, I'm often skeptical that debates shift things. That said I think anyone watching would say that debate is pretty unique in the history of Presidential debates. The media has been working very hard to uh "sane wash" Trump and what he says. That debate was an unfiltered view of Trump. I'm frankly shocked he brought up the pet eating, the right has been meming about it but I thought he'd only say some dogwhistle to it not just straight up say some of the most racist shit imaginable on live TV. The bar for Trump was very low and he still failed totally to meet it. Likewise Harris had a high bar and met it, she was claim, she was professional, she came across as ready and smart while also serving as the audience surrogate to let us all know "yeah this is as crazy as you think it is"

just briefly here the attack on Haitian Americans is crazy, and racist, and the whole "the immigrants are eating dogs" goes back 100+ years, I've read people accusing NYC Jews in the early 1900s of kidnapping and eating neighborhood cats and dogs. But also its politically crazy too since Florida where Trump and Republican Senator Rick Scott have both been slipping in the polls as America's largest ethnic Haitian community, just over 500,000 or roughly 2% of the state, so great plan to call them pet stealing and eating monsters just before an election.

The other factor is the Laura Loomer. If anyone doesn't know who she is click that link and enjoy, but basically she's a white nationalist and Islamophobe (that's according to her) and the person extreme far right Republicans point to as proof that they're not "that bad" any ways, Loomer seems to have been with Trump, on his plane the day of the debate and every day since, and Republicans are wigging out

MTG, and any number of Trump super supporters are sounding off about how much they don't like this, and the internet is "joking" that Trump and Loomer are sleeping together. Together with his unhinged debate being connected with one of the worst people in American politics might cause serious problems. In any case a campaign of just alt-right memes is not gonna win most Americans.

On TSwift, I mean the data I've seen showed a really big jump in people exploring registering to vote after her message which is good. I'm again skeptical about how much of an impact she'll have? celebrities in general don't have that big of an impact, basically 90% of famous people are Democrats/liberal, but their fans don't always go along, don't get me wrong I'm happy she endorsed I just am unsure how big an impact it'll end up having.

So to repeat what I said at the top, we're in the margin of effort, if everyone who doesn't want Trump volunteers and puts in the work Harris will win, so

VOLUNTEER

[ca-suffit]

im sorry your takes are generally pretty great and i appreciate the space you make in fandom but i find the dismissal around lestat's queerness to be diminishing.

louis is a fantastic gay character and u r right about how he represents his queerness which is fabulously. he is mother he is fashion he is wife, a lot, and lestat is a lot more masc in aspects of their dynamic. louis also struggles with it, had internalized homophobia, and his relationship to his sexuality is fraught. now you can have that complexity and still be a "gay icon" sure but what i see here is a gay man existing. not every gay man existing has to be ~iconic~. louis is working on himself.

lestat is a different person and is going out there to make a mark on culture actively, regardless of why. he's not putting on a dress for five seconds (which btw was still pretty impactful in context but ok), he is being meaningfully gnc and making art. this is what queer culture is. it's frustrating to see this element diminished like it's just a meme or a bunch of people being thirsty.

im all for critiquing fandom being weirdos about it but i think the showrunners are doing something spectacular and pretending like fans are making lestat into something he is not just isn't the vibe.

reading this made me realize that I left out a sentence in this ask, so it did come off differently than I intended. I'd meant to say there's already been a lot of exploration of characters / ppl like lestat, but there's never been a character like louis before. I wasn't rly ever talking about lestat's queerness itself, I was talking about how he's prioritized bcuz he's white.

if u personally identity with him in this then that's ur right to, obviously. no group is a monolith and I was never trying to say one way is more "right" than the other. I rly do apologize if it came across like that, cuz I can see why it did.

"he's not putting on a dress for five seconds (which btw was still pretty impactful in context but ok)"

I don't rly know what u mean here bcuz within the show, nobody comments on the dress. ppl react to the baby but everything we know of the dress otherwise was only revealed by carol cutshall bts. I don't know what impact ur meaning here. to the tv audience, sure, but the NOLA audience?? or is it the fact he designed it in the first place.

tbh the thing I most noticed was that once again a white, european immigrant got to be center stage in an event that louis, as a black, louisiana native, isn't (like the card game lestat already had a place at more favored than louis earlier in S1). he also was able to wear that dress in public without public scorn (being european prbly helped here too, he's "other'd" but not the same way as louis is "other'd" for being black), which is something louis could never have done and actually survived at all. it's not that lestat doesn't experience homophobia otherwise, but he's still got a lot more room to confront it than louis, claudia, or armand would have, as ppl who would be confronting homophobia *and* racism with no access to white privilege (claudia literally dies in the same hour we see lestat confront a homophobe otherwise on his and louis' behalf and "win").

idk what they're going to explore for S3 yet, but what we've seen so far is....not that deep tbh. it's not even especially "queer." we're aware he is so we know it is, but straight men have worn makeup and flashy outfits and done homoerotic shit as musicians before too. very often. nothing we've seen from lestat so far has been pushing any boundary as a queer artist or making any kind of statement. I'm not trying to sound like a total bitch here, but a lot of what ur saying is pushing this white fandom agenda of the "importance" of so much that any white, queer character does that....just isn't. lestat's image and sound is taking a lot from other ppl in real music history who *were* doing groundbreaking things at the time, straight or not, but what he's doing is just wearing it as a costume rn. his lyrics even say "I'm an actor / in my makeup." like I said, S3 in full will bring more to the table, obviously, but for what we've seen so far....this hasn't said anything in any objective way that's "deep." u can still like it and identity with it, but idk how u'd argue that it's doing anything tbh. ur welcome to do it tho, I'm not trying to shut down the conversation here. I'm just giving my perspective. I *do* actually think this is stuff we should talk about exactly *bcuz* fandom rides so hard for it all the time. it should be explored why that is, what's the logic behind it. I rly am interested.

edit: wanted to add too that p much everyone we see in this show is queer and creative so literally why is nobody ever saying all this about louis' photography, claudia's acting and interest in fashion (or her general observations on the world thru so many diaries that are referenced in multiple ways as she's not around anymore to speak otherwise), armand's theatre work, madeleine's dressmaking. that's usually why ppl comment on lestat, bcuz he's the most noticed and praised but he's literally not the only one doing it at all.

[the-things-ive-seen]

The worst of the Wonder Twins

As I flipped through the pages of the Wonder Comics yet again, I could but feel depressed, confused, and, of course, deeply pissed off. What sort of audience was meant to be turning these pages, and what exactly would they feel about the teenage wonder duo, who were shitting not just on their own legacy, but everyone else's as well?

To put it simply, In this new volume of the Wonder Twins, Jayna and Zan are space aliens who moved to Earth from their home planet and serve a upcoming superheroes with a lot to learn about Earth. Except there's a problem. The wonder twins used to live on a utopia world without crime and spontaneous orgies, and Earth is a political hellscape of suffering and drama. Feeling out of place and deeply horrified by the nature of Earthlings, Zan and Jayna try to deal the difficulties of justice and society.

But that description paints a bit of glamourous view on the series as a whole. In reality, Jayna and Zan are the descendents of their world's version of space Hitler, so they quickly leave their home world out of shame and migrate to Earth. After awkwardly jamming themselves into a highschool setting and becoming junior Justice Leaguers, they constantly complain about how inconvenient everything and how Superheroes, specifically the meta of Superheroes, is crass and stupid joke. The series continues spotlighting human nature, societial issues, and strawman arguements until the Wonder Twins have had enough. The volume ends with the Twins yelling at the Justice League for not understanding moral ambiguity before they're kidnapped by a racist TV star who wants her cell phone back.

Normally, I don't have a lot to say about comic books, even bad ones. But goddamn, this entire volume is horrible; both in concept and in execution.

This series is a lot like the TV show Velma, and you all fucking know that is not a compliment. Its depicted as bright, colorful, and comedic but constantly tries to drag you into the dark and serious. It tackles ideas and social issues, but it doesn't actual know them except on a surface level. I think what's even worse is that the 'solution' to these problems is to just... fix it. Doesn't matter how, or why, or who it effects. Just fix any problem infront of you, simple. World hunger? Just fix it. Cat in a tree? Just fix it? Dad trapped in the Phantom Zone? Just fix it. Thank you Wonder Twins, I had no idea that all of life's problems were just one panel transition away from being fixed. I must've forgotten that I had all the resources, methods, and charisma to deal with everything. I guess the problem was me all along.

I guess what pisses me off about the series is how they Wonder Twins are such shitty superheroes (In this volume at least). Upon first going in, I thought I would be frustrated by how their powers work in each issue. But no! The Wonder Twins themselves are quite possibly some of the worst Superheroes I've ever seen in action.

Sadly, Zan is not being sarcastic. They actually are trapped in plastic bags after an unprompted home invasion. The Wonder Twins spend most of volume fighting powerless human beings who may or may not be wearing stupid costumes. I'm not refereing to armed thugs either, but usually groups of three or less people. This is not counting when they get to scare off the angry mob crowd, which is recurring villain in this series. 'Society is the real villain', said the teenage white girl.

Aside from these performance issues, I'm also refering to Zan and Jayne's character. They... suck. A lot. I actually used to like Zan, but now I think he's just an ignorant moron. Which is what the series was going for; a lovable moron, but the story never hesitates to water him down or belittle his existence and relevance. I genuinely feel bad that he can't play a bigger role or have important things to think about and share his perspective, which sounds very strange for someone who is a main character. As for Jayne, she is the worst. Like, insurmountably the worst. A humanoid being I wouldn't tolerate being around for ten minutes. I think Lisa Simpson was at least likable and had solutions for life's problems. Jayna is just a miserable sad sack looking for more reasons to give up. I can literally count the initiative and planning she shows on one hand because most of the time she's complaining about how the planet Earth is too complicated and broken. Yeah, she's a teenager and everyone eventually becomes disillusioned by life on Earth, but holy shit stop ranting for one second and do something already. Stop complaining about walls and start climbing. Stop acting hopeless and go find some. Batman sometimes exhausts me with dark poetry, but listening to a teenager complain about the mere existence of crime and corruption, without dissecting why that happens in the first place makes for an abysmal experience.

Sigh.

I guess that takes me to the heart of my argument, and my personal gripe with the volume.

Did I mention I hate Jayna?

For context, "a Soap Box is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. ... The term is also used metaphorically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant, impromptu, or unofficial public speaking." -- Wikipedia.

When I say The Wonder Twins is a soap box, I'm not referring solely to the political overtones of the series, but I'm referring to how the story portrays these themes and the beliefs of the person writing it. When I read this series, I didn't walk out more self-aware of my actions and the government's failures to make a better world (this comic came out in 2020, by the way). I came out feeling embarrassed to have read such a painful virtue signal for anyone who donates money every day to a tip jar. This series is a painful mishmash of anarchism arguments, radical vanilla ideas, and lazy school intern adventures. And in the midst of all that I'm supposed to adopt an intentionally vague message to rebel against authority because a comic book series, the medium best known for maintaining the status quo, is appealing to my inner narcissist? I mean, it's either that or the author is so obsessed with telling people to fight American status quo, that they forgot that they were writing a comic book, where the point is they need not change the world, but inspire the world to change. Because it's a fucking book.

Look, everyone has an off day. We lose focus of what we're fighting for and begin to lose faith in our beliefs. I already mentioned the disillusionment thing. I'm not going to speak for everyone, because sometimes it can be a good thing to lose faith. It gives us an opportunity to change, to see if something is working for us. What's important is that we don't lose hope and give up completely; that we don't flip tables in hopes that the mere idea of starting over will make us feel better. I think Superheroes used to help with that, because even someone like Batman could overturn a hopeless situation. And, with good writing, a story like that can be... inspiring. Superheroes could be inspiring.

The Wonder Twins don't make me feel that way. I feel like they were supposed to be, but here they don't. The Wonder Twins series feels like a reminder that in superhero land the world gets slightly farther from the real-world status quo every day, becoming better and reaching nonexistent solutions, before the editorial office slingshots the whole DC meta backward and suddenly 9/11 was inevitable. The Wonder Twins themselves feel especially hopeless, demanding rewards for kindness and being privileged to the point of genuine confusion. I don't see them as heroes, they're just doing their job. They hate their job and everyone involved with it, but hey, they wanted the job. As if to further my point, the series literally ends with them working in a facility where they get to make their own rules to bend while working as Superheroes.

Maybe I missed something or maybe one guy's personal change of heart is supposed to convince me that Zan and Jayne make a difference in anybody's life. Maybe this was supposed to be the story of how the Wonder Twins realized there are no rules when it comes to giving someone the help they need, just consequences. Well, all I can think of is what it was supposed to be. It's a wonder how it turned out this way instead.

Also, the art direction sucks. Every fight or conflict is less than a page long. This is what I meant when I said they forgot that they were writing a comic book.

[lol-jackles]

Okay, maybe the Ackleses can conquer the industry with their understanding of PR. How did HBO senior executives decide that they could fix people's reactions to mediocre shows by using sock accounts to argue with people on Twitter? To make it even stupider, they also ticked off the poor underling they assigned the job, so much that he threw it into a court case over working conditions at the company. LMAO at these overpaid clowns.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/hbo-chief-casey-bloys-fake-twitter-accounts-1235634912/

Link. You mean social media can be used as a weapon?  You don't say?!

Like, is anyone really surprised?   My former colleagues were more mad that Boyd couldn’t be assed to make his own fake Twitter account but had to tell an underling to do it.  But I was, come on, most companies have a staffer or two doing sneaky social media things like this, pushing their narrative.  Hello, ever been on the Apple TV online discourse?  Apple has some good shows, but online discourse would make you think that they were already way out ahead of golden era HBO.   No doubt there are some dedicated Apple fans, but I find it hard to believe that level of devotion was natural.  And you know Amazon Prime does this, as they're the most desperate to have a cultural impactful show.

At least Mittens ran his own secret legendary Pierre Delecto account.  

Why this was news is because Bloys isn’t some newly jumped-up exec or business major in tv flailing with failing products. He’s a veteran producer who’s been extremely successful at HBO for a decade plus. Why is he so thin skinned and defensive? Why does he care so much when he’s been so successful?  While his excuse-explanation is having too much time on his hand during Covid sounds eye rolling, there is a grain of truth.  Remember when I said here and here that what previously didn't bother executives were bothering them during the pandemic lockdown.  It was why Misha suddenly scrambled to say (unprompted) three times that he and Jared got along and it was the fault of J2 fans for tainting his reputation, not because of his army of minions who lost what's left of their singe braincell over not getting canon-Destiel like he ambiguously promised for over a decade.

An assistant named Sully Temori, who is now suing HBO for wrongful termination, was given the task in June 2020 to write responses troll with  X account of Kelly Shepherd, a so-called mom and herbalist from Texas with 4 followers.  The troll targeted critics for being a middle aged white man who was “shitting on a show about women” i.e. The Nevers. Gee, those words sound familiar, right?  It's 80% of what SJW say online whenever they come across something they don't like and can't handle different opinions.

HBO is best TV brand with the most number of Emmy wins (just ignore that HBO has the most number of members in the TV academy).  So like in the article, people were surprised that a successful veteran executive would do this.  Except you see it all the time: celebrities, accomplished directors, and athletes going nuts on twitter replying to random accounts with 8 followers, "No @BigDickTerry6969, You're the one who SUCKS!!!".

One of my nieces is in the industry and doing well enough that she said if she ever gets famous enough, she will use some of the money to put guardrails in place to keep her from googling herself or reading twitter threads about her.  She also wants me to act like an addiction-recovery sponsor that she can call in the middle of the night with, "We just dropped a new episode and I really just want to know what people think, that's fine right? I just want honest feedback.".  And I will be, "No, you don't, you have to resist that urge. I want you to go outside and look stars, okay?"

Honestly, reading about Boyd's antics was like reading John Grisham's The Pelican Brief and The Firm and getting to the Big Bad reveal and end up having Big Disappointment staring back at you. Tom Cruise at least improved the movie adaptation of The Firm.

[thatonewatching]

Church Boy-Hurt

Once she let go, I stood at my full height and looked at her. She was about four inches taller than Sal. So, around my height. She kept a straight and serious face throughout our entire interaction. I nearly lost my shit and started sobbing again. I couldn't let her see me do that again. 

"Travis, you have to sort this one out by yourself. You can come back tomorrow." She said, flicking the ash off her cigarette into a black resin ashtray. "Okay..." I muttered, rolling down my sleeves and holding my hands. "Goodbye..." she said, walking me to the door. "What?" I said. "See you later..." she corrected. 

"See you later..." I replied walking back down to the elevator and using the keycard Sal gave me to get back down. Once it stopped, I got out and walked back into Larry's apartment. A woman was on the couch and watching TV with another man. He had the same-colored hair as Sal, eyes too. The woman was a spitting image of Larry. Guess this was their parents?

"Who are you?" the woman asked, moving closer to the blue-haired man. "I'm Travis, Sal and Larry's friend. I was just here, I left to go on a walk." I said. "Oh, they're in the treehouse." the man said, putting his arm around the brunette. "Where?" I ask, not having any previous knowledge of the so-called 'treehouse'. 

"Just leave through the door in the back of Lar's room. You'll see it." she said. "Oh, ok..." I said, walking towards Larry's room. "Oh, honey, I'm Lisa, by the way. This is Henry." Lisa said, giving me a warm smile. "Oh, ok. Well, thank you. See you around." I said, waving goodbye as I entered his room and closed the door. 

I walked to the door I hadn't noticed before and gently pushed it open. The cold air hit my face as I exited the complex. I looked up and saw a tall oak with a wooden house settled in its branches at the very top.  

There were a few dozen steps leading to the top, I climbed each one slowly, scared I was going to fall and bust my head open. I reached the top and heard some voices. Sal and Larry's voices, to be specific. It was odd. Usually, Sal's voice was muffled and quiet. This time, it was clear and louder. I listened before actually letting my presence be known.

"Larry, I feel bad."

"Why? He's a dick."

"Because! There has to be a reason."

"No, there doesn't. Some people are just assholes."

"Well, Travis doesn't seem like that type. I just...maybe he has a bad home life, y'know? Something..."

"Maybe, I dunno. I don't really care, to be honest."

"So you've said."

"And I'll say it again."

"Please, don't..."

"Whatever..."

"But seriously, I just want to be friends with him."

"Sal, you can't befriend everyone. You know that, right?"

"Yea, I know."

"Then why do you keep trying?"

"I just...there's something about him...he's so...mysterious? I don't know how to word it."

"Whatever, man. Maybe he'll warm up to you, doubt it, though."

"I hope so...I really do..."

I decided it was time to enter, since they had gone silent. I climbed up and looked right in front of me. My heart sank and I felt my face get hot as ever. Sal didn't have his mask on. His nose was barely existent, his lips were scarred, and little white lines and big ones too, covered his face. I could see some of his teeth from a hole in his cheek. His baby-blue eyes widened when he saw me looking. 

"Travis! Look away! Now!" he screamed, scrambling over to his mask that was laying on the floor. I adverted my eyes and tried my best to stifle a smile. I heard the sound of buckling and waited until I was told to look back up. "Alright..." Sal muttered. I looked back up and he was huddled up to himself. "Sorry...I'm sorry you had to see that..." he said, closing his eyes and putting his head to his knees. "It's..." I started, but stopped quickly, not being able to find my words. 

Quiet sobs came from the blue-haired boy as the greasy one stared at me with contempt and loathing. "What?" I aggressively ask, directing my attention to Larry. "I ought to push you down right now. That's up to Sal, though." he answered, glancing at the sobbing boy. "No! Stop it, both of you!" he yelled, through sobs and hiccups. "I didn't do anything!" Larry yelled back. "You're an ass to him! We just talked about this!" Sal yelled. "Sorry, me and him issues!" Larry said, leaning into his beanbag chair a little more. 

Sal stopped yelling and stopped crying too. He stood up and walked over to me. "Move." he demanded. "Or I'll fucking make you." he threatened. I did as he said and stepped to the side, allowing him access to the exit. He climbed down quickly, not even looking back up or uttering a word. 

"The fuck was that all about?" Larry asked. I just shrugged my shoulders in response, having absolutely no clue what the hell to say or do. "I'll bet he's going back to his room. Let's go back to mine, we can check on him in a few." Larry said, getting up and waking to the exit. "Okay?" I said, surprised at his sudden kindness. Maybe he was just being nice because Sal wanted him to. 

When we got back into his room, he sat down on a stool near an easel and pulled out some art supplies. "You paint or anythin'?" Larry asked, putting his hair into a messy bun and an apron over his clothes. "Sometimes..." I answered, plopping down on the floor. 

"Cool, wanna paint, then?" he asked, holding out a paintbrush. "Um, sure..." I said, walking over and grabbing a small canvas from his drawer. "What are gonna paint?" He asked, putting the tip of his brush in a beautiful shade of blue. It reminded me of Sal.

He has ruined it for me.

He ruined the color blue for me. 

Now every time there's a cloudless sky, crystal blue water, a sapphire stone, a morning glory flower, summer azure butterflies, and even the sweetest candy.

All of it, ruined for me. He's always in my mind. I can't get him out...

I wish I could. 

It's too big a burden to bear. 

(Originally posted March 19th 2023 on Wattpad)

"Church Boy." - Hurt - Wattpad

[mr-independent]

'its been a while bud,' you might be saying, 'whereve you been?'

Doing stuff. My life is busy as all hell lately, but hey at least i got a free neon yellow fitbit out of the deal. Ironically, yellow is one of my favourite colours and also one of the 2 (two) colours that i can't really see. Yes, I have tritanomaly. No, I don't understand how those two things can both be true, either.

Anyways it's Christmas in May, dear 4 followers that love these posts, so let's crack open a cold one for the boys and get right into it.

S2e4, Coach Santa:

-- why is Colin wearing a turkey hat? I thought that was an American Thanksgiving thing? (Edit: apparently people eat turkey on Xmas. I grew up so decolonized i asked my mom once why my friend Baz wore a t necklace when his name started with a B. Turns out it was a cross. All I know of Xmas comes from Santa depictions and Christmas themed tv show episodes lmao)

-- Isaac's Santa outfit is fucking Iconic

-- Keeley and the Diamond Dogs is such an underrated dynamic i love them so much

-- the immediate teamwork to put together the gift for Jamie is a cute little moment 🥰

-- the title callback to the weird claymation short thing is also a nice touch. Can you tell i love Xmas episodes bc i do. I'm also Jewish lol. And I love irony.

-- I keep forgetting Roy's sister is a surgeon. Also Sexy December 28th is hilarious, i really hope they stuck with it

-- what in the world is the Higgins kid doing with a surfboard in England???

-- the fact that nobody used to show up for Higgins Christmases until Ted showed up 🥰

-- the fact that Henry got his dad a dartboard, Ted's favourite thing to do with his own dad when he was Henry's age, hurts my heart

-- Everyone is wearing shoes indoors. Is that like. An English thing? Ted is too, is that also an American thing? I am. Horrified

-- 'this one is pre-cheekied' I love u Dani

-- Richard is like The French Stereotype and I love that for him lol

-- Roy is lactose intolerant and ate so much ice cream he shit his pants? Relatable king. Also his birthday was three weeks before christmas, making him a Sagittarius, for those so inclined to know

-- Dani and Zoreaux acting like they're gonna die in the trenches over a nerd gun war are such fucking nerds

-- how long, do y'all think, has Rebecca been doing this? I'd like to think it was a sneaky little tradition she hid from Rupert for years

-- 'theres two white people at the door and they're smiling' you go babe tell it like it is

-- look i get Keeley has long nails but pressing a doorbell with your whole palm is unhinged behaviour

-- 'let me fix my knee' *just fucking punches it into place* gotta say, Roy's getting more relatable by the minute. I too have fixed my janky knee by simply shoving it back into place

-- Keeley is wearing a crop top in December. Gotta love the commitment. Also Ussie guy has such long hair now wtf

-- gotta say i completely forgot Christmas Poppers were a thing. That's uh. Not what immediately comes to mind when someone uses the word poppers around me but hey that's just me

-- i forgot we so often get answers to our questions in this show. Rebecca has been doing this for years. I love when I'm right

-- Ted's 'right I'm the one with the accent here'... Ive lost track of how many times I've had that exact thought lmao

-- Love Actually! Good movie, love that Roy thought of that

-- Ted thinks singing is just talking an octave lower. Not surprising but funny nonetheless. And before you say it, yes i understand that was Jason Sudekis' solution to trying to sing in a different accent so he doesn't sound like Jason Sudekis but also. Adorable.

[littlewalken]

Aug 31

To find where the shitty pictures of Sl*pkn*t moved to just look up their name with recent uploads. If I see any of y'all with your jumpsuits and masks over here I will get out one of those soap dispensers and put it on the hose, lol.

Moved all the band business over to it's own blog so when I get to uploading stuff by *rgy the bots hopefully don't come here.

And for those of you really wondering what it's like when rock stars come over to your house... Most have a 'holy shit you're not kidding' when they see the only place you can afford to rent and it helps keep the good people humble by reminding them of where they might have come from.

Sometimes they're just there for a little while hanging out while you politely stay out of the way and go about your business outside of offering non alcoholic drinks and snacks if you're the one adulting. Any music going on involves tuning and trying out a bass guitar that's going to be borrowed for awhile and maybe playing a few riffs at a reasonable sound level.

Or it's like 'photographer isn't here, what's your band's name, here's your photo CD.'

And the one time one of them came to Thanskgiving but he wasn't one of the tatooed crazy haired ones.

So yeah, movies and TV lie to you. One of the guys who visited had a song playing on the radio at the time, they still play it, and that we didn't give a shit and just new him as ___ probably helped.

And honest to Aziraphale I still don't listen to any of them. I couldn't even tell you if I've heard of any of them except radio guy because we always change the channel when that song comes on. Nothing against him or any of them, they're just autistic nightmares and a couple of them look like you can smell them thru the photos and if you tried to touch them they'd be sticky.

But all those kids with their big raccoon striped hair and neon color streaks and white dreads and giant pigtails full of crap were late to the aesthetic party. You all look like grown men who were mad at their hair in the early 2000s. Pretty sure they were men. None of the girls looked icky if you know what I mean.

With the bulk of the photo thing out of the way, the other blog posts will trickle in keep your jumpsuit on, I look forward to some sort of creative thing creeping in. Do have some writing I want to get to.

[rinadragomir]

Julie Plec and convenient diversity 🙃

Okay so when I found out they chose a British guy to play Dimitri I was a bit upset but in a super chill way cause 1)he looks fantastic 2) British accent kinda reminds me of Russian so I thought they not gonna have any problems with working on it.

Then my Tumblr friend made a post and I found out they erased that part of him. TV show Dimitri is not Russian anymore. I was kinda confused cause 1)then why would he have a Russian name👀 2)what about the fact that Rose spends the whole book in Russia, what about Roza, what about half of their jokes😟

BUT TODAY 🤡I FOUND OUT 🤡WHAT THAT PIECE OF HUMAN 🤡SAID ABOUT THAT CHANGE 🤡

Okay it's not a literal quote but it's almost it:

Dimitri is not Russian anymore, you'll be fine with it when you learn more about that amazing man playing his role.......It was important for us to convey the spirit of modernity, to show today's world with all the diversity of its cultural idiosyncrasies. Accent, origin and race do not matter because we are all part of the same community.

That clown living her clown life 🎪

Okay let's see

So she put 1) diversity is important, we all different and it's cool to show it AND 2)why diversity if we're the same person? 🥺 IN ONE FUCKING SENTENCE?!?!????!

Julie Plec literally said: OF COURSE diversity is important, we have Black Americans! Latins, Chinese guys...or not Chinese, I mean asian people = only Chinese right? And of course ...*whispers* I can't remember more..... um.....what? Turks? what is it? Turkey? Like ...Turkey on Thanksgiving day?🥺Yeah? Russian? Russia... sounds familiar where is it👀ugh nevermind some white dudes, they sound like British anyway

I forgot to mention I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE CAST they're babies and they do the best they can, their acting is the reason I watched that trailer✋they just do their job and do it perfect

I have BIG ISSUES with creators of this show

⚠️Before some of you start with your American "um bitch u know dat black people live in Turkey and British people live in Russia and Latin people live in Romania" I'll say: they definitely MIGHT live there, tho I've never seen anything like this in any of these countries (I live in one of them and I've been in two others

But after Dimitri being a British announcement, there's no way Rose is Turkish. No fucking way. No one actually cares about the diversity. Diversity is a thing ONLY when it comes to people who live in America.

When people from Turkey, Russia, Romania even slightly open their mouth EVERYONE SHUTS THEM UP with "um....white dudes talking again 😴we have Black and Asian people, others don't actually exist👁️👄👁️)

If you think that "WOW we have a cool beautiful black girl as a lead, finally some good fucking food, finally a WELL WRITTEN WOMAN OF COLOR"

no think again😍you really believe that a woman who thought "ugh....idk all of these Turkish and Russian....ugh language, traditions are so hard🥺" will MAKE AN EFFORT?! To write a proper black lead girl? Seriously? I have some news

If you look at the cast and think "we have a proper diverse cast! That's so great! Different cultures were so important in the books, I'm sure tv show creators will explore this topic even deeper" you're poor innocent silly soul, that's who you are.

👉🏻IT'S NOT ABOUT AN "AdApTaTiOn" IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE BOOKS AND THEY DON'T WANT TO, BUT THEIR LITTLE DAMAGE BRAINS CAN'T COME UP WITH THEIR OWN NEW UNIQUE STORY (and even when they can, it's so fucking bad, no one wants to watch it), SO THEY TAKE A POPULAR TITLE AND MAKE THEIR OWN SHIT PRETENDING IT'S ALL THE SAME CAUSE THEY DIDN'T CHANGE CHARACTERS NAMES. 👈🏻

And a little reminder how people look outside of England and the USA for my beloved Julie Plec and people saying "real diversity is here, who needs these white guys on the screen" (Turkish, Romanian, Russian)

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

So I found this article and I probably shouldn't have because now I'm mad:

Other than the fact that Bucky has never been a villain therefore he doesn't need a redemption, I want to talk about two of the reasons the author gives in his article because... well, they're fucking dumb. First this:

"This character wouldn't have done bad things if those around them hadn't treated them so bad" is a take I hear often to defend racists and homophobes and misogynists who claim a feminist once insulted them so they have no other option but to hate all women.

Walker is an adult with agency and a brain in his skull (a small one yes, but it is there). Anything that man does is his responsibility, no one else's. Do Sam and Bucky give him the cold shoulder? Yes. Wanna know why? Because this kid knew Sam had given up the shield and he still took it. Because this kid was live on national TV calling Steve "his brother". Because Sam and Bucky don't know this kid and yet he's talking to them like they're old friends. Because this kid is stupid enough to say he wants them all to work together because he wants "Cap's wing-men" by his side as if Sam and Bucky were sidekicks and not full grown adult men and heroes in their own right.

Walker is not a villain because he's treated as one. He's a fucking idiot trying to fill huge shoes he's completely incapable of filling and instead of being humble and accepting that he keeps his arrogance and his ignorance even before Steve's best friends. Of course Sam and Bucky don't like him, there's nothing to like.

Then the claim that Bucky "constantly belittled" Walker is laughable considering it takes Walker's attitude completely out of the picture and makes it seem like Bucky was rude out of the blue. Walker was an asshole for most of the time.

But the most pathetic claim in that point is to say that Bucky "let" the Doras fight Walker. Are you so hilariously delusional that you think the Doras wait for a white man to "let" them do anything?! They have agency, they went in there to get Zemo (not to fight) and Walker started talking to them about "pointy sticks" and jurisdictions and touched one of them. Of course they were going to fight him.

And the writer claims that since Bucky let the Doras fight Walker it is his fault he took the serum. Are we at the point where not only Bucky is blamed for shit he was forced to do but he's going to be blamed for shit other people have done too? Walker was of sound mind when he took it, nobody was forcing him to do anything, he willingly chose to take the vial and inject it on himself. And that's his fault no one else's.

Bucky was never an "enabler". I love Sam but what he did was wrong, Isaiah had been very clear about his situation: he lived in the shadows, he wanted to stay in the shadows, he never asked for recognition. Sam ignored all that and still brought his name to the public (according to the series Isaiah liked that, it doesn't make sense to me but fine I'll allow it, he could have changed his mind once he saw the exhibit, dunno) but when you meet someone and they give you very clear signs as to what they want for their lives then you act behind their backs to do something you think is better for them even if they have told you otherwise... you're not a hero, you're getting yourself involved in something that doesn't concern you and doing it without their knowledge or consent is wrong, no matter how you spin it.

Bucky honoured Isaiah's wishes of anonymity and yet he's called an enabler, as if he had any involvement in the torture and illegal imprisonment Isaiah had been put in.

The other points are stupid as well (typical blaming Bucky for the WS stuff) but these two irked me to no end because I hadn't read them before. It's like these people don't understand what they watch or they're browsing twitter as they watch the series and therefore only get a few superficial takes every now and then. But holy hell, it's 2021, can we please stop victim blaming already?

[chaoticbritishqueen]

Phrases I've overheard/said over my second year at Uni:

"I went out last night, and I only got sexually harassed once!"

"When they said free donuts here, I wasn't expecting a nightclub-" "a cafe maybe? But not a nightclub"

"A 53 year old man came onto me once, and asked me why its weird for 19 year olds to date men in their 50s- like dude, if their age ends in TEEN, skip it, your old enough to be their father."

"That's just basic white girl music" "BITCH, I'm Indian, I love Taylor Swift." "Oh I'm so indie look at me I don't know who Taylor swift is"

"Who developed CRISPR-cas9?" "Emmanuelle and Jennifer Doudna" "OOOOH THEY'RE WOMEN-"

"What size do bras go upto?" "Huh?" "Like D?" "D?!?! IF THEY ENDED AT D I WOULD BE FUCKED" "E?" "Higher" "REALLY!?"

"You really think that being Russian makes you a minority?!"

"My grandad's wife is Chinese! She taught me to use chopsticks" "wait... you're part Chinese?" "What, where'd you get that?!" "You just said your grandads wi-" "I WOULD HAVE SAID GRANDMA, why would I refer to my grandma as my grandads wife and not my grandma?" "Good point-"

"They're watching Grey's Anatomy in leacture" "mood" "they'll probably learn more from that than today's leacturer"

"GIGGLES STOP MAKING ME FUCKING LAUGH"

"Oh god I turn 20 next year." "Omg your so old" "wait she's old, I'm 28" "REALLY?!" "What year were you born" "2002" "2002?! I'm also 2002- YOU ALSO TURN 20 NEXT YEAR" " I FORGOT"

"I'M GOING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR RIGHTS!"

"It's spooky season bitches, time to make a viking funeral for a pumpkin"

"You somehow made shaggy sexy? I'm actually impressed."

"Why are you looking for a boy?!" "HE'S LOST AND ONLY 18"

"I love candy canes!!" "Me too!" "You can make the ends really sharp and threaten people with them :)" ".....WHAT?"

"STOP LAUGHING" "NO YOU STOP LAFFING" "wait... WE SWAPPED ACCENTS"

"OUCH, i don't even have a dick yet, and THAT still hurt my ghost penis"

"Isn't that one of the easiest unis to get into?" "Yeah, why's you think I go there?" "OMG-"

"You said strap on, Continue."

"My tragic backstory is that I have a TV in my room?" "No, it's WHY you have a TV in your bedroom" "oh"

"Hong Kong is the plymouth of asia. Umm no offence" "WOW... how bad is Hong Kong"

"You know what I thought when I first met you?" "What?" "Wow, this girl has a lot of hair"

"Pain and pleasure use the same parts of the brain. That's why knives are sexy."

"Sorry that we straight crimed you"

"I'm ace, not blind" "you should put that on a Tee-shirt"

I'm sorry, but any disappointment you have for me is on you for believing in me"

"I'm not sexy, but I can wink"

"Are you not attracted to leonardo Da Vinci?" "The turtle?" "NO...he means Dicaprio!!"

"I would kill for socks worn by lady Gaga, not into feet but it's Lady Gaga."

I have hairy toes..." "so do I!" "Hairy toe gang!"

"Can people stop falling in love with me?! Its getting ridiculous." "I've never heard of this problem before.." "I KNOW I SOUND SO VAIN, BUT LIKE CAN THEY STOP?! I don't want another awkward conversation!"

"This body is crispy"

"Imagine a watermelon! Wait no, that's too big. Imagine a small watermelon! And put it in a balloon of water and hit it against a wall. That's what happened to that brain"

"Can someone tell me when I'm gonna die from the covid jab? Because I'm on number three and still nothing yet? I'm bloody waiting"

"Sorry my hearing is shit" "side affect of being high?" "Huh?" "Side effect" "dude, I'm literally deaf-" "oh-" "Like Permnant hearing loss here"

"I'm not about to ask my 12 year old sister what kind of fanfiction she reads."

" if we have to accept the autism, then you have to accept being a furry. I don't make the rules."

“Where did we get to?” “Ah yes, tongues battling for dominance”

"to be fair, I'm closer to becoming an evil scientist than a platypus..."

"would you like a nipple clamp?"

[heresathreebee]

No Touching

[Ava Starr x Female!Reader]

Summary: Friend dates with Ava always brighten your day (and night). Tonight is more enlightening than brightening, though… 

Previous Masterlist Next

Word count: 1.7 words

Warning(s): 14+ | angst, gay panic, dolls, 1 (one) racist antique, Steven Segal movie, chronic pain, tears.

AN: No actually I didn't bother to edit this, not doing that anymore, I think too much as it is. As always, I write with a black reader in mind but feel free to read even if you aren't. 🖤

You are eighty percent sure that you and Ava are dating.

85%... 78%... 81.5% sure.

It would probably be best if you cleared that up (but be cool about it though). You've started seeing each other more and more, and on purpose no less. Never a dull conversation, she's reluctant to share some of her life story but she's eager to know everything about you and you're more than happy to indulge. It's not like you know nothing about her; you just don't know the specifics of her past. 

Her parents died when she was young, she's ex-military (you think?), and she just came off of a huge life change and is getting used to what she calls 'real life.' You figure out she's a bit of a shut in and hates crowds, so you go out of your way to show her quiet places and introduce her to things she's never tried before. The bowl by your front door where you put your keys has 20 or 30 marbles from ramune bottles in it. You can't seem to ring her secret out of her, she just gives you this cryptic knowing smile and laughs at your attempts to sweet talk or annoy it out of her. 

You feel so close, growing closer still, she's quickly become the best part of your week, and you catch yourself thinking about her even when she's not with you. But you've never held hands. Hell, you've never even so much as brushed shoulders with her by accident. If you're dating, shouldn't you at least hug her goodbye? Is she even able to be into you like that?? 

You try not to let the panic set in as you stand outside of the antiques mall. You told her you liked old things and promised to show her your favorite pastime. God, how do you go about this? Should you just flirt with her and see how she reacts? Also how does one flirt? What if you’re fucking up and she really just wants to be friends? God knows you could use some friends right now. 

When she does appear, you do nothing. You continue to act relaxed and enjoy her presence, promising yourself you’ll ask about it afterwards. Ava’s wearing that grey jacket again made of a thin sports fabric and you make a mental note it might rain today. 

“Ava,” you stage whisper, waving her out of the jewelry section by the front desk and into the maze of vintage old clothes and furniture. “Back here, to the left.” 

Deep deep deep in a corner of the massive store, Ava stops dead in her tracks (you run into her but back away quickly) and stares. 

“This... is…” Ava covers her mouth with her hands to hold her laughter in, “ghastly.” 

The shelf is wide, with dark wood trimming and protective glass. The lights are almost fluorescent as they illuminate dozens of humanoid dolls. Some are cute, but some are also creepy, unnerving, down right scary. 

You point at the one with the Jonbenet Ramsey likeness and deep cracks in her porcelain face. It was overly large compared to the rest, having to have stuffed legs crossed like a sitting child. "I think I fear that one the most." 

You felt Ava shiver and didn't even realize you were standing that close. Her eyes darted from face to face, taking in every terrible and wonderful detail of them. You smelled coconut in her hair and tried to distance yourself a bit, missing the conversation. "Huh?" 

"I said they're haunted, aren't they?" 

"That one definitely is." You look over the other dolls. "I don't know, I think the rest are kinda cute. 'Cept that one: that one can fuck off straight to hell." 

Down on the second shelf where the light began to struggle in reach belied an offensive porcelain joke. The decoration portrayed an over animated child at play, with oil black skin, fat red lips, and bulbous eyes. This child was dressed in white rags and sucking on a wedge of fruit. Guess which one. Fucking guess, I dare you. 

"It's not even a fucking doll," Ava grumbled. "Why is it here?" 

You leaned in to whisper, "someday, I'm gonna buy that thing just to fucking smash it on the pavement." 

"Oh, what a lovely sound it would make." 

You hum. "I'm not gonna give nobody money for that trash. Can't steal it either, we'd never make it to the door." 

Ava looked over her shoulder with a cheeky smile. "We?" 

You simply tilt your head at her, and she huffs out a laugh. She nodded as if agreeing with you, then drifted away from the case like a wary woman. You toured through the rest of the store like a treasure trove of other people's memories, war memorabilia, ancient brand merchandise (why would anyone want a life size green m&m in their house? Who is this for?), and paintings from the dadeism era by unpopular artists. You ate lunch at the vendor shops in downtown and retired to your place for a movie. 

You must have fallen asleep at the beginning but you came to during some big shootout between Steven Segal and generic Latino drug dealer #7 when you accidentally dropped your hand into Ava's lap. Quickly, Ava withdrawals, thrusting herself to the other side of the couch as if in disgust. Your head jerks up in hurt and confusion, you hadn't even felt anything except a light tingling. You could barely hear the tv audio over the sound of blood rushing in your ears. 

"You can't touch me," Ava spat. "You just can't. Ever. Please…" 

"I'm sorry. Ava, I– I am so, so sorry I didn't mean to–" 

"It's not your fault and you didn't know," she mumbled and faltered, "it's just… you can't." 

You feel tears prick in the corner of your eyes as you try to swallow. "I'm sorry. Really. It won't happen again." 

Ava looked up at you guiltily and sighed. She folded her legs and eased herself off of the couch arm rest, hands tucked into her lap and unable to meet your eyes anymore. 

"It's not what you think it is," she explained. "I… I have a condition of sorts. And it… it hurts.” 

Her words put a hold on the tears threatening to spill from your eyes. “Like a… skin condition? Or nerves or something?” 

Ava nodded quickly. “Yes. yes, like a nerves thing. My um, my nervous system. It's chronic."

“Oh Ava,” you cover your heart with a breathy sigh, “of course! I wish I’d known I would have never–” 

“It’s not something I like to talk about.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m really glad you understand. Sorry I freaked out, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything.” 

You tried to blow a raspberry. “It’s whatever, didn’t hurt my feelings.” 

Yeah, you could hear the weakness of the lie, too. Still, Ava went and parked herself on the couch exactly where she was before– close but not too close. Warm but not quite touching. You were ready to let it slide and go right back to pretending to watch the movie when– 

“So what’s going on between us exactly? I like girls– I like you– and I don’t mean just in a friend sort of way– is it maybe sorta possible you might feel the same way about me?” 

Who said that? You? Honestly you’re feeling a little dizzy as you try and stare a hole in the tv screen. And Ava? Well at least she didn’t hold you in suspense for too long. She chuckled– and god you had to look. You had to know if she was laughing at you or with you. Your eyes snapped to her completely unmocking face. 

She blinked at you, bit her lip even. “Yes, I am.. Capable of liking girls. Might prefer them actually. And I definitely like you in a more-than-a-friend sort of way.” 

It takes a second to sink in. OK, it takes a hot minute to sink in. Like the movie ended and you walked Ava home and you slept in until 10 am and made omelettes for breakfast at noon and laid down on your floor staring at the ceiling until sundown. Yeah that kind of hot minute. And your lips curled into a soft smile because you had a girlfriend and she liked girls and you could not be happier than you are right now. 

~

Ava asked you to meet her on the corner by the antiques mall that night. You don’t know how but she got her grubby, thieving little mitts on that disgusting tar baby doll from the haunted doll shelf. You made her swear up and down she didn’t pay real money for it, then nearly pulled out your hair when you realized it meant she definitely stole it and– 

"How the ffffUCK do you just DO that?!" 

"Slight of hand," she mused. 

Fuck, and she was a geek. Yeah, you're definitely in love. She pushes the ugly thing into your hands and despite being cold porcelain it feels like it's burning. 

"Do the honors." 

There's no build up. No ceremony. You don't want to drag this out anymore. You take a swinging leap and spike that shit and watch it shatter into a hundred pieces with the most glorious sound you'll ever hear. You land in slow motion, already replaying the image of thick glass pieces cracking on the indigo pavement. You stand over your mess, triumphant. 

The quiet of the night time street drifts back to you, as does Ava. "I'll be honest I expected a big speech." 

You shrug. "I've been waiting too long to do that. Thank you, Ava. I mean it." 

"Oh believe me it was my pleasure." Ava swaggers closer to you and if you didnt know better you'd think she was going in for a kiss. "Tonight, the tar baby. Tomorrow, the world." 

You resist the urge to clap her on her shoulders and throw your hands in the air instead. "Sounds like a date!" 

Next

[kyubbikyut]

WINGS | JURIC

smut included

it's not holy as the title

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

he insert the fourth finger inside his hole, he started to muffled into the pillow, practically moaning. the older moved his fingers back and forth as he squirts and ejacted his loads to the bed. the younger glanced at his arms and arched again, moaning loudly.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

eric woke up and saw juyeon on the couch beside the bed, watching some TV shows. he sat up, making a bit creaked sounds on the bed as juyeon turned and looked at him in sudden shock.

"morning babe," eric said hoarsely and smiled lightly. juyeon nods and turned back to watch the TV. among of their 11 friends, eric was the only one who haven't had puberty.

the day came as it was kinda disaster for him. he sighed and got up, grabbed his towel together and went to shower. he got into the bathroom and removed his shirt and pants.

then he realised that he found a white sticky liquid on the pants. he put it away, turning on the shower tap and bathed. he walked out soon as he found juyeon were removing the bed's cover.

"why?" he asked his boyfriend and juyeon smiled lightly. "you peed," he said and eric looked away, feeling pissed off when juyeon said like that. he huffs and went to changed into a comfort clothes. he puts on a white shirt and some sweatpants too.

he sat on the couch as juyeon joined him too. somehow, eric started to wrapped his arms and legs around juyeon, clinging to him. "what's wrong baby?" he asked and look at eric.

"i dreamt of something weird last night," he said and he hugged juyeon's arm. "what is it?" juyeon asked and focused at the younger's answer. "hmm its kinda weird but it's like two people, they're naked and one of them puts in his fingers into the other butt- i don't know. It's just weird."

"you're on your puberty i think," juyeon said and eric looked at juyeon curiously. "puberty?" eric said and juyeon nods. "yours came late," juyeon said and eric pouted.

"what'll happen during it?" eric asked juyeon and juyeon chuckled. "just wait, you'll feel terrible soon," juyeon said said as eric raised his eyebrow and continues to watched the horror movie that juyeon opened.

for the next ten minutes, eric was asking afew nonsense questions to juyeon. " plot twist- what if the ghost want- wait why does this girl is so brave? she's captain America's daughter, is she? why doesn't she go with her friends?"

juyeon who had be the person whose listening to eric, he looked at eric. "eric," he said and eric looked back at juyeon, he slightly gets quiet then. eric pouted and put his head down on juyeon's lap.

juyeon played eric's hair while the younger drifted off to sleep. the younger started to mumbles things but juyeon let him did it. he slept quite long and as he was asleep, he let out a uncomfortable voices, but then he whimpered by himself, making juyeon to look at him out of curiosity.

he checked whether he was sick or sum, but he isn't. eric then began to moaned quietly in his sleep, for a couple minutes. then he kept quiet. juyeon was actually curious about his boyfriend getting a late puberty and he still haven't seen or watched porn.

maybe he had his puberty earlier, but it didn't effect him well, juyeon thought. he was having fun actually looking at eric sleeping as the younger was moaning quietly, squeezing his legs together and his pants started to get pooled with his cum. the fact that he's still asleep during that time.

juyeon could smirks widely this time, the younger had woken up and he felt so embarrassed so he was being mad at juyeon for not waking him up. eric thought it was piss, but it's not.

both of them were eating lunch now, eric was eating a lot more than juyeon expected. juyeon just stared at the younger as the younger glared at him. juyeon smirked and continued to eat.

that evening eric was sleeping on his bed all day, so far, he never had a boner yet. juyeon also, on the couch, either playing video games or watching movies and documentaries.

that night was kinda hot, juyeon turned out all the lights as he laid beside eric. suddenly he felt eric were pulling his hand down to his crotch, telling him to help him out.

"it hurts,please help-" eric pouted and he moaned quietly. juyeon pulled back his hand and hugged eric closer "not now, baby, I'll help you out later," as eric fell asleep, juyeon later fell asleep too afew hours later.

eric woke up next morning and he had a morning wood, which make him feel frustrated about that thing being sensitive for the all time he get rid of them while he was in the shower.

he once saw juyeon jerking off himself and he remembered how does it work, he opened the shower tap and let the water flows on his body letting out loud sounds, so that juyeon couldn't hear him.

he started off taking a pump of lotion he had in the bathroom and applied it on his boner, the lotion was kinda cold but he managed to get used. he slipped his right hand down andwrapped his fingers around his length

"ah-" he quickly closed his mouth so that it wouldn't be loud. he began to bucked up his hips, jerking off himself until the climax. he felt a knot on his tummy, making him wanna release it.

he jerked off afew times later, then he shoot the load. some of the liquid splashed on the wall and some was on eric's abdomen body part. he took a proper shower later as he was smiling on himself, probably just realised that he had done that thing earlier by his own.

he walked out from the bathroom, gladly juyeon was asleep on the bed, eric went to wear clothes and he laid down beside juyeon. the older was asleep quietly as eric looked at him. he hesitately got on juyeon's lap, straddling him. he sighed to himself and just laid on top of the older.

eric gulped as he smiled lightly at juyeon . he suddenly had the boner back. juyeon looked at him worriedly. "let me go to the bathroom for a while" eric got up but juyeon pulled him down to sit with him. "let hyung help you,"

juyeon said and he slowly pulled down eric's pants and underwear. juyeon get on the floor, he's on his knees for eric. he looked at the younger's length. it was kinda erracted and its not as big as his. he started off to give off a kitty lick on the tip of it.

eric had his hips bucked afew times but juyeon pushed his hips down lightly. "patience, baby" he said and continued to lick on the tip. he took some of the younger's precum.

he pulled up the younger's shirt and rubs his nipples. "I want you to put one of your legs up, it's okay. it won't hurt" juyeon smirked softly and wrapped his arms around eric's left legs.

eric lifted his left legs lightly. "good boy," juyeon said and pats eric's head as eric smiled, liking the way he had been treated. juyeon started to put in the younger's length inside his mouth. the younger started to closed his eyes, moaning softly.

he didn't swore, even though his friends did, but he never swore at anyone or anywhere other than doing 'things' with juyeon. "ah- hyung," he called the older as the older smirked. he continued to suck and deepthroating him.

"s-shit," eric cussed and juyeon looked up at him, he found eric cursing was a new things as he never saw the younger cursed. juyeon continues to swirl his tongue around his length slowly, teasing the younger lightly.

then juyeon stopped, he picked him up, walking towards the bed and threw the younger on them. juyeon get rid off his shirt quickly and hovered over the younger, kissing his lips passionately and moved down to his neck, leaving butterfly kisses while rubbing his nipples.

the younger only could whimper loudly, demanding for more from him. juyeon removed eric's shirt, he flipped him and juyeon smiled. "don't look," juyeon said as eric obeyed. "hyung, touch me. quick," eric said and his hands began to move towards his length.

juyeon were getting rid of his pants, both are now naked. the older flipped back eric as the younger were jerking off, probably biting his lips and moaning softly. eric looked at juyeon with wide eyes and he stared at juyeon's length.

"i got deja vu," eric said slowly as juyeon kissed his lips, juyeon slapped eric's hand away from his length as eric arched. juyeon got a tie from his wardrobe quick and tied eric's hand. he flipped him again this time.

he lightly squeezes the younger's plump ass, eric was whimpering, telling juyeon to be quick. juyeon slowly slide his middle finger inside eric's hole. eric was screaming loudly in pain. "hurt, hurt," eric said but juyeon calmed him down by kissing the back of eric's neck.

one became two, two became three. eric was lifting up his ass right now, begging juyeon for the fourth finger before he fucked him up.

he insert the fourth finger inside his hole, he started to muffled into the pillow, practically moaning. the older moved his fingers back and forth as he squirts and ejacted his loads to the bed. eric arched and continued to moaned loudly.

eric breathes heavily as he looked at juyeon. "I'm tired," he said and gulped. "oh, baby it's just warm up. we haven't started yet,"

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | A MYSTERIOUS INTERLUDE

first time reader click here

This is a scrapped chapter. Originally, I was planning to 1) give Reader a longer, more intense destructive streak before her ending up with Tony. I planned three or so chapters that involved an abusive Quentin Beck, but, ultimately decided that to be too cliché. 2) I had planned to write at least 30% of the fanfic in Tony's/third person POV. This chapter would have been number 11/12 - Tony would have rejected her advances in the lab & she would have got hooked on Beck's charming facade.

Why am I publishing this? It seems like a waste if effort to shelf it, plus, it's Tony's POV. You can skip it since it has no relation/bearing on the current story. Just a tiny "what might have been" tidbit.

It was a moment's notice. One second, they're standing in a group, laughing, soaking in the warmth from the fireplace, chattering amongst themselves, telling tall tales and sipping their liquor. It all goes black briefly, and then they are surrounded by darkness - it's nearly impenetrable, so thick that their voices echo in it.

Tony's body was encompassed by the nanotech suit immediately after his eyes and his brain adjusted to the rapid change of surroundings. His teammates, too, had their skills honed on an instinctive level - the faint thump of Mjölnir in Thor's hands, the golden-green glow of his brother's magic, whirring of Barnes' prosthetic arm. Steve's shield stayed tucked behind the living room couch but his enhanced physique and readiness to fight 24/7 has him covering the unenhanced Clint and Natasha in mere seconds.

Tony was mostly angry rather than afraid. The team was having a good time at his party and the chance encounters of weird shit like this had been reduced to nearly zero percent possibility thanks to Friday's screening process: supervillains, Hydra agents and the likes strictly prohibited on Stark-owned premises.

It was a strange coincidence Banner had to take a break to check up on one of his experiments not even five minutes before the rest of the team was experiencing the strange change in scenery. Speaking of Strange, the sorcerer also was nowhere to be seen - Tony distinctively remembered seeing Stephen ten feet away from the bar, engaged in a hearty debate with the lead of SI's Medical Engineering department.

"This is not magic," Wanda piped up from behind him, confused. "I don't feel anything on the usual frequency. It sounds more like Friday humming in the walls, like electricity."

Good to know, Tony thought. It was nice having someone who was familiar with the undiscovered side of science - after all, Tony had always considered anything 'magical' to be science he had not personally understood yet. Wanda's most redeeming quality in Tony's eyes was the fact that more often than not she seemed to be as clueless as everyone else when it came to her powers and didn't act so high and mighty as some other people. Cloaked people, and horned people, for example.

"The fuck, man? I was hoping, just one evening, one normal evening with my beer and wings," Clint whined. Tony could hear Natasha huffing in annoyed agreement.

"Mr. Stark, what are we going to do?" His very own spider-child, on the other hand, sounded distraught. Peter's voice has this funny thing it does when the boy is upset but tries to hide it: it quivers on the vowels, wobbles slightly.

Tony had to blindly grope the air for a moment before his arm found Peter's shoulder. The boy was shivering and took the offered comfort eagerly, folding into the older man.

"Okay, whoever is pulling this stunt, my advice is: don't," Tony sighed, 12 000% Done With This Shit™, exclaiming loudly. "If that's a prank, stop it or speak up. If you got beef, then you got some nerve doing this in my tower. Show yourself."

He could feel the fine hairs on his neck stand up as the team tensed next to him, readily gearing up to pounce. Peter was vibrating in Tony's arms and the billionaire suddenly remembered the curious side-effects of Peter's powers, the spidey-sense. It must have been going absolutely haywire - the kid nearly hyperventilated himself into a heart attack.

"Stark, I must apologise for the uncomfortable circumstances. Believe me, it was a necessity - you always demand attention, whereas I need people to pay attention to me for a moment. Don't worry, you'll get yours when the time is due."

The voice was vaguely familiar. Male, slightly nasal but quiet and creeping. Insinuating. It lacked the usual boisterous bravado of a mid-grade bad guy, Tony had to take an educated guess that the owner of the mysterious voice was well-off, white. Privileged. No hint of desperation in it, as if the man was pitying everybody.

"The fuck? Q, is that you?"

Oh shit, Tony realized in muted horror. She must've been hanging around somewhere in their vicinity - which wasn't unusual, the girl usually orbited around Barnes, Wanda, Peter or Bruce. All of whom were present at the party. Tony had forgotten about her, to his shame, somehow having had automatically assumed she trotted out of the room on Bruce's heels. His science bro and her acted like conjoined twins when it came to their scientific ventures.

"Stop talking," The man growled, the voice suddenly coming from a very different direction. Tony heard a distinctively feminine yelp, albeit muffled. Peter violently jerked in Tony's arms. The engineer put the superstrength of his suit to use, holding the teenager down.

"Aw, hell no!" She yelled, the indignant shrieking followed by the sound of a moist palm slapping something glass...y? "What the fuck? I am asking you again. Are you... Oh my God, are you wearing a fishbowl on your head? Ow, motherfu-" The rest of the sentence is muffled, garbled. Whoever this "Q" was, she obviously knew him and he had silenced her. And, apparently, Q had an uncanny choice of headwear.

Tony was sure the rest of the team had followed his lead on doing a spit-take. They've fought enough supervillains with more than questionable fashion sense but a fishbowl? That was new.

"Be quiet, baby. It's for your own good. I don't want to hurt you if I can help it," The Fishbowl chastised her.

Tony's confusion once again returned to irritation at the frivolous way the villain addressed his science buddy. Peter's friend would have been more accurate but Tony had put her into the 'science bro' category not too long ago. They were close, as much as they could be, with the age gap and totally different interests and... The immense amount of guilt Tony felt for his attraction towards the girl. He was a dirty old man and she was barely an adult.

Every damn day Tony did his best to avoid making a shiny, big, new problem. Yet her brains and her wit and the uncanny ability to pull anybody into a conversation had a firm hold on his attention.

"Leave her alone," Stark angrily declared, powering up a repulsor. "What do you want? Party crashing isn't allowed in my tower anymore."

"What I want, Stark, is for you to give credit where it's due," The man answered simply, giving Tony just enough time to shove Peter behind him towards Natasha and take a tentative step forward.

The soft glow emanating from the repulsor illuminated barely two inches around his hand. The darkness surrounding it seemed to swallow the light. Tony moved on quiet feet towards the voice, easily avoiding furniture. His memory was good and he knew his tower, his home, better than anyone else.

"Did I hear that correctly, you're accusing me of plagiarism?" Tony tried for indignant, hoping to provoke the man into an inevitable, drawn-out speech where he lists all the wrongs Tony ever did him, giving the team precious time to regroup and form some semblance of a plan.

"Yes," Q simply answered, pausing for a second. "I hope you enjoy your next adventure. It certainly will show you the potential of my creation."

Tony shared a muted sound of confusion with the rest of the team.

"Q, I am very disappointed," To Tony's horror, th girl stared talking again. She sounded somewhat breathless, and closer to him than before. "Stop it with the dick measuring contest, you're a grown ass man. Go work for OsCorp, or Hammer, drink your sorrows away." She sounded so tired. And even closer to him.

"This is not a dick measuring contest!" Q roared suddenly and wow, that man was unstable. "This was my life's work, my creation, he insulted, berated and threw away!"

"I get it, I really get the whole 'being discarded and thrown away' thing," She replied, somewhat sarcastically. "But you know what? I'll be damned and I'll be fucked if I give some piece of shit any more of my undivided attention. They don't want me? Fine, they can fuck off and take their complaints with them." Her speech was periodically interrupted by shuffling noises.

Tony didn't dare to interrupt, seeing now the possibility of Q being actually calmed down by a teenager (probably) quoting some teen drama TV show.

"But going full Joker? You're a brilliant man, Quen, I wouldn't even look at you twice if not for your brains and your baby blues, however I don't fuck with the bad guys. That shit kills," The hand that rested on the wrist cuff of Tony's suit unmistakably belonged to her. She had the remnants of some sort of wire around it, sleek and quicksilver-shiny, irritating the tender skin under it. "And I want to live. You've gone and pissed off an entire crew of supers and I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think, Quen," There was genuine sadness in her voice.

Tony stood silent in confusion.

Whoever this Quen was, they obviously shared a close relationship. Tony's brain ran through the list of her friends, her relatives - there was nobody named Q, Quen or even remotely similar. Natasha had mentioned a possible boyfriend at some point but the man sounded too old for that, he was at least thirty. Or maybe? Tony wouldn't put it completely past the girl, if judging by the blatant way she flirted with Bruce. With himself.

"Baby, this is not about you. I don't want to hurt you," Quen replied, a hysterical edge to his voice. Something began flickering in the distance, attracting Tony's attention to the shape of a man with a round sort of helmet and a red, billowing cape (hello, 2012-Thor!).

"Too late, Quen. You've tied me up and you went on to attack my friends. I've already told you that if you yell at me one more time, I will leave you. So I guess this is it," Her voice broke at the end, pitiful sniffles following the statement.

Tony watched the exchange, mildly uncomfortable and very concerned. The man yelled at her? That was absolutely unacceptable, however, what else could one expect from a maniac with a flair for the dramatic?

The girl bodily placed herself in front of Tony, standing, doing nothing but rubbing her wrists. It was then that the engineer noticed Q nearing them, the shape becoming distinctively closer. And - yep, there it was - the fishbowl on his head. It completely obscured him, making his face invisible, unrecognisable.

The man seemed rather fixated on the girl standing in front of Tony. He floated in front of her, ignoring Tony, taking her bound hands in his own. A brief click and a hiss later, her wrists were released and the contraption fell freely to the floor where it landed with an oddly heavy thud. Tony hoped there was no lead in that thing - supervillains were dangerous but lead poisoning was cancerous and fatal.

"Baby..." Quen timidly touched her face with a leather-bound glove. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm sorry." Tony took the chance to examine the man's costume. If anything, it looked somewhat steampunk-y? There was a lot of bronze, and the chest brace had some sort of glowing lines on it. Power storage units?

She stared up, towards the man's hidden face. "M'sorry, Quen," She mumbled, going in for a hug. Or that's what Tony thought. The majestic cape that billowed behind Quen was unceremoniously yanked from his body as the girl ducked, covering herself with it, yelling: "TONY, NOW, SHOOT, SHOOT!"

Tony did just that, shot Quen flat in the chest and the man stumbled backwards, tripping on the cape - such a stupid, unexpected thing. But Tony knew, his girl was clever and resourceful. Pride swelled in his chest as he shot the man again, Rogers running out from behind him blindly, body-slamming Quen into the ground for good measure. Two hundred pounds of supersoldier later, the battle was over before it even started.

"No!" The villain shouted as Steve pressed and popped the hilarious glass contraption on his head. The accessory was no match for the Captain's super strength. Tony immediately recognised the man as his former employee, Quentin Beck, and it clicked for him. It was totally a personal vendetta.

"This stuff is tough, plexiglass, maybe," The Captain remarked, pointing at the scattered shards around Beck's head. "It appears to be augmented too, some kind of tech, I don't know. You're good at this, Tony," Steve chuckled humorlessly, roughly turning Beck around and securing his hands with a pair of vibranium-reinforced handcuffs. God only knew where he'd gotten those from.

"Good at what? Making enemies?" Stark couldn't resist the self-depricating joke.

"Stop it, Tony," Natasha's gently admonishing voice interrupted Steve's incoming lecture. Tony, for once, was thankful that the Widow interrupted. He was in no mood to listen to another one of Steve's speeches.

"Who do you work for?" That deadly gleam in Natasha's eyes was terrifying and Beck was only a man.

"I don't work for anyone but myself, thanks to Stark," He spat venomously.

Natasha cocked an eyebrow in Tony's direction.

"Fired him years ago, this guy was going nuts. Brilliant but crazier than a bag of cats," Tony replied, feigning nonchalance. He could feel a mild headache begin to gnaw at his skull. "We worked on a project together, he got upset that I refused to weaponize it. We had a falling out. End of story." With that, Tony stood up, retracing his suit to only leave the gauntlets on his hands, gathered the various pieces of tech the good captain had removed from Beck's persona and made way towards the nearest table.

Or where he thought it was. All of them were still surrounded by the uncanny darkness. The anxiety that Tony forcefully shut down reared it's ugly head as soon as he lost physical touch with his teammates. He stumbled, his foot catching onto something on the ground.

"Ow, motherfucker!"

"Buttercup, I haven't fucked your mother nor I plan to," He snarked back automatically, flooded with relief at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Hope so. She'd probably bite your dick off if you try," A hand was groping his calf and then she stood up in front of him, still clutching the ridiculous cape. It appeared to be a source of light, which was very strange. The girl looked positively demonic, illuminated by red light, face scrunched up, eyes puffy, and clothing in disarray.

"You good?" Tony managed to choke out, confusion and worry and anxiety making his chest tight.

"Balmy. My boyfriend is a homicidal maniac with an inferiority complex," She sassed, an edge of panic to her voice. "Oh, and he tried to kill one of my best friends. I am fine and dandy."

"Your boyfriend?" That was the only thing Tony heard. Bat-shit crazy Beck, his babygirl's boyfriend? There was no way in Hell he'd allow such a thing...

"My ex-boyfriend, I guess," She sighed, removing the cape from her persona. Refusing to meet his eyes, fiddling with the hem of her top. "Here," The girl abruptly thrust the cape at him. "This is a funny thing, it's like a hologram but you can actually touch it. You should, uh, probably disinfect it, or something. I've been on-uh, around it many times," It was so unlike her, the fumbling, the embarrassment, Tony wanted to wheel her straight to medical to check if she's gotten concussed again.

Then his brain caught up and all he saw was red. Figuratively and literally - the cape was still in his face, loosely hanging from her outstretched hand. She must've seen the look on his face.

The step she took back was quick and worrying. "Forget I said that, I don't know why I said that. Oh, god."

"What were you thinking?" Tony inhaled a solid lungful, prepared to make his opinion very clear. "Getting involved with a lunatic! For a second I actually thought you were smart, there isn't a chance you missed that the guy is short of a few marbles," His voice was quiet, the one of a calm fury. His words cut deeply and he could see the hurt, the shame in her eyes, on her face. Tony knew he'd regret it later however his brain insisted it was a necessary evil. He continued ranting until he ran out of breath. "Not to mention he's, what, twice your age? And he yells at you and tells you to shut up? It didn't ring any alarm bells in that pretty little head of yours?"

"Tony, stop," Steve's hand landed on the engineer's shoulder and he simply shrugged it off, staring at the quivering girl in front of him.

She was crying, silently, few tears pooling in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks, leaving ugly streaks in her make-up. Tony expected her to sass him, to argue back, to yell obscenities like she usually did when something or someone upset her but he was met with hurt, stunned silence. His worst fear came true when she looked away, shrugging.

He'd seen this sort of dejected shrug the time her father drugged her and... She just took it. She expected it, even, his outrage, his disappointment. Being hurt and mistreated was the norm for her, Tony realized belatedly. There were too many parallels between them both that made him uncomfortable deep inside. His chest felt tight, regret washing over him like a tsunami wave.

"I'm turning on the lights, close your eyes for maximum comfort," Strange's voice announced suddenly, causing everybody to jump and shudder. Tony complied begrudgingly. The sudden influx of light was painful even from behind closed eyelids. His headache became a full-on dull throb.

"What happened?" "Are you okay?" "Is everybody alive?" Resonated across the room. Tony spied several small drones smoking and crackling next to the exit door, Stephen Strange closing a portal he must've used to evacuate the civilians.

The puddle of red holographic cape on the floor. And her hastily retreating back. Damn.

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