#a boy asked about my pronoun pin so i explained and he said my dead name so i corrected him and he asked if ant is short for anything

[teenytiny-ant]

Came out to 5 people in cc yesterday!!!!

[rostovs-lover]

roy rogers

brian may x reader | cursing, some suggestive language, a little bit of anxiety, alcohol consumption | she/her pronouns | fluffy? slow-burn?? | wc.3667

i’m low key tempted to make a part two,, 

anon : Can I request a super cute fic where Bri needs more money for uni, so he starts offering guitar lessons and the reader has a little brother who really wants to learn how to play, so she signs him up. Maybe her brother is extremely good with a guitar and he has a lot of lessons with Bri. He also sees the reader a lot and he catches feelings HARD. Maybe the reader’s little brother spills something to both of them with the help of the rest of the band and they end of together. I just need major FLUFF

your younger brother thinks his guitar teacher is perfect for you and he’s adamant about getting you together. requests open!!

     A Roy Roger’s is a nonalcoholic drink made of cola and cherry grenadine and topped with a maraschino cherry.

     Your younger brother, David, practically lived in your apartment. For a fourteen year old he was brilliant and very, very sneaky. Sneaky enough to creep out of your mother’s house in the dead of night and crawl up to the fire escape of your second story apartment.

    When you’d stumbled to the kitchen, half asleep, he’d been at the table thumbing through a cookbook. He’d also had the audacity to laugh when you screamed, thinking he was an intruder. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and it most definitely wouldn’t be the last either.

    “One of these days something is going to be thrown at your head,” You hissed, setting a bowl of cereal in front of David, who looked at it with the utmost disgust.

    “What is this?”

    “Quisp, either eat it or starve.”

    He glowered at you, “I like Waffelos,”

    “That's so sad, I have no money, its Quisp or nothing.” It was quiet for a while as you both ate, David still looking through your cookbook.

    He closed the book, examining the cover as he spoke, “Mum said you have to sign me up for guitar lessons,”

    “Mum said what?”

    “You have to sign me up for guitar lessons, she’ll pay. I have a well of untapped potential in the musical realm. That's according to her coworker, Deirdre.” He sighed, exasperated, “Mum trusts Deirdre apparently because now I have to learn guitar.”

    “Where on earth does mum expect me to sign you up, I mean did she give you any specifics, like a price range? Do you even have a guitar?”

    “First, I have mum’s old guitar. Second, she just said lessons. I think she trusts your judgment.”

    Despite how much you appreciated your mother trusting your judgment, finding reasonably priced guitar lessons with someone who wasn’t a creep was harder than anticipated. You had collected a handful of flyers and business cards, all offering said lessons. The first call you placed was to a nice old lady looking to take up some spare time by providing lessons but she lived too far away for your mother to drive every week. The next was almost promising until you told Robert MacIntere that the lesson was for your brother, not you and he hung up the phone. One woman had too many cats, another man asked for your shoe size, someone else cursed you out when you said you couldn’t do their outlandish prices. The only promising thing you had gotten was a History professor, a very nice man too. You were thrilled when the lessons had finally been scheduled until he bowed out at the last minute and you were back at square one. 

    You had almost given up when, one rainy Thursday evening, you found an advert pinned outside of the auditorium. Guitar lessons, not too far away, open every Tuesday and Wednesday after three o’clock. The document was typed, all except a phone number scrawled on the bottom, almost as if an afterthought. You scratched the number on the palm of your hand and called straight away when you got home.

    The line wrung for several seconds, “Yo?”

    “Hi. Hi, yes I’m calling about a flyer I saw posted at Imperial College? It was an advert for bi-weekly guitar lessons, and your number was on the paper. I was wondering about booking a couple of weeks?”

    The person on the line snorted, “Sorry dear, that’s not me. I assume you’re looking for my mate, just one moment and I’ll gather him-” You heard his hand cover the receiver as she called for someone, “Just one sec’ lovie,”

    The phone was audibly handed off, “Hello?”

    “Hi, um I’m calling about the guitar lessons?”

    “Oh!” His voice, “Yes, of course! That's me, are you looking to schedule one?”

    You had scheduled for the following Tuesday at four, to meet at his apartment. In the car on the way there, David rambled on about everything he wanted to learn and exactly how ecstatic he was for this. He had named his guitar George, after George Harison, who he admired. On the elevator ride up to Brian’s apartment, David was practically vibrating and he bounced on the balls of his feet as you waited at the door.

    The door was opened by a blond, clad in a bathrobe and flannel pyjama pants who puffed at his cigarette as he stared at you, “What brings you here?”

    Before you could speak David, who the blond hadn’t noticed until just then, piped up, “The guitar lessons. I’m the one being taught, [Name] is just sitting in.”

    “Oh, well come in then, I’ll go and get Brian.” He tucked his cigarette behind him and lead you inside, “Um, make yourselves at home, couch is all yours.” He howled Brian’s name and ducked into the kitchen, snuffing out the smoke in an ashtray.

    David got settled on the couch, tugging out his guitar, and you set into a chair. From around the corner rushed a very frantic body, clutching his own guitar. He was very tall, and the black pants he wore made his legs seem unproportionate to his body. What caught your eye the most though was his hair, he had a thick mane of tightly wound black curls, which also added to his height.

    “Hi, I’m very sorry about this, I got a touch caught up in a bit of school work.” He settled onto the couch next to your brother, “You must be David, I’m Brian.” He gestured a hand to your brother.

    David, ever the charmer, shook firmly as he spoke, “Its pleasure meeting you. I wasn’t quite sure that lessons were even going to happen, no one seemed right, according to mum, but you seem nice! Your guitar is neat. Oh! That's my sister, [Name], I believe you spoke on the phone.”

    “We did,” Brian leaned forwards to shake your hand as well, “Its nice to meet you,”

    A better teacher would have been hard to come by. Brian was patient and soft spoken, he worked at your brother’s pace, never rushing past anything he didn’t fully understand. The lesson was only an hour long but it seemed much shorter, with a book in tow you didn’t pay much mind to anything else. That was until you caught yourself glancing over the cover to watch the lesson. Brian was attractive and he had very nice hands. You were somewhat aghast you’d never seen him on campus, he seemed hard to miss.

    The lessons became weekly, and despite trusting Brian and his roommate, Roger, you still opted to stay for every one. It was always pleasant, the apartment was nice, Brian was nice, and you had begun to get acquainted with his friends. During the third week, Roger had let it slip that they were in a band. Brian’s face had flushed scarlet and he’d played with his fingers as he explained that it wasn’t anything serious. On that same visit, you’d had a conversation with Roger in the kitchen while he got you a glass of water. He was nice, only half awake at the time, but you’d realized you had an evolution class together at school. He had also given you his number, and David would absolutely not let you hear the end of it.

    “Please-” Your brother cried as he threw himself onto your sofa, “You haven’t had a boyfriend in ages. The last one was, what was his name?”

    You rolled your eyes, “Chet?”

    “Chet Robbins! Chet the safe bet!”

    “Chet the safe bet? Did you make that up?”

    David smiled, very proudly, “I did! Just now actually, because it's true! Chet, the business student, trust fund child, frat boy. Why not date a drummer?”

    “Because I like stability David,”

    “[Name] date the drummer. I beg, I plead. He was so into you, he gave you his number!”

    “If you will recall, I have his number. Because his number is the apartment number and that's what I called for the lessons. I also refuse to date your teacher’s best friend. How would I approach that, ‘Hi Brian! You’re teaching my brother an instrument, I did your friend last night. How have you been?’”

    David gasped in mock disgust, “I never said a word about doing him. You foul wench, I simply implied dinner. Maybe seeing one of his shows.”

    “Oh my dear, when you date a drummer it's never just dinner.” You snorted.

    “Well, when I date a drummer it will be. Only dinner, no foul play.”

    “Please, please keep that attitude for the rest of your life.”

    It was quiet as he mulled over your words. You started off, putting away your bag and coat when he abruptly sat up, “You don’t dislike the drummer, in fact, it has nothing to do with him. You don’t like my teacher’s best friend, you like my teacher.” He grinned when your face lit up, “Oh you do, you absolutely do! I’ve never seen you blush that hard.”

    “You little twit,” You hissed, “If you say a word about this I will have your head. This stays between us and us only.”

    David was sneaky, very sneaky. Your conversation had planted an idea in his head like a seed and every brief glance and soft smile you shared with his teacher was water. He was growing a downright devious plan, with you directly at the center of it.

    David, after quietly looking over the house and picking up on Brian’s affinity for science fiction, had been the one to recommend you start reading George Orwell’s 1984. He had also purposely disappeared to the restroom when he caught sight of Brian eyeing the cover.

    Brian carefully cleared his throat, “Do you read much Orwell?”

    “Oh, Orwell? No, not really. I, um- I read The Road to Wigan Pier for a book club a while ago. Are you a fan?”

    “Oh yes,” He smiled, leaning forwards, “I’ve read that, actually. I was in a band a few years back by the same name,”

    You cocked your head, closing the book against your finger, “1984?”

    “Yes, quite silly, I know. Never was much good at naming.”

    “Roger said you’re in a band now, what's that called?”

    His cheeks were beginning to pick up a soft pink again, “Um, Queen. Our singer named it-”

    David sat back down, “Did I miss anything important?”

    Brian looked away and you went back to your book. The only noise became the guitar residing between the two boys on the couch. David had learned enough to start on a song, I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash. It was recognizable enough to draw your attention, and it was lovely at first until it was all David played. When you returned home, when you visited your mother, he played it so much you had memorized the fingering to it.

    It was at another lesson, several weeks later, when you had been left by your lonesome. David had gone to get a drink and Brian had run to retrieve something from his room. All alone and with nothing to tell you not to you settled into the couch with the guitar and tried at the song. It was choppy, a bit off-key, but mostly there.

    “I didn’t know you played?” Brian’s voice was soft but you still jumped, shooting around to find him. Leaned against the back of the sofa he twirled a coin between his fingers, grinning down at you.

    You swallowed, “I don’t, no, not really. Dave’s just played this so much I remembered how it looked.” 

    He propped his chin in his hand, “I think you could be quite good. Just, here-” He slipped the coin between his teeth to reach down, softly grasping your wrist, adjusting your placement on the neck. His hands were warm and it sent a shiver up your spine as he carefully moved your fingers, “That should do nicely, I trust you’ll do well with the right placement.” He was quiet for a moment, silently pondering something, “Friday night we have a show at about ten o’clock, say you come and maybe I could show you something on the guitar afterwards.”

    You considered, “Where is it?”

    “The Cameo, downtown London.”

    “It sounds lovely, very, but I have to admit I’m not big on the downtown London clubs. I actually don’t know where that is. Although I do have a friend whos well versed with the scene, I could ask her to show me there?”

    “Wonderful,” He grinned, “It's a date!” Something else David wouldn’t let go of. Usually, all he talked about was the music he learned but now he was enthralled with the prospect of a new romantic venture. You had been informed on exactly how to dress, what makeup to wear, what drink to order. He also picked the exact shade of blue for you to paint your nails.

    You called Marilla after your mother picked David up and she had agreed, enthusiastically, to show you to the club. When she arrived you had been called ‘prudish’ and were forbidden to dress yourself. In the very back of your closet was a floral dress you’d bought for a wedding reception that never happened. It was supposed to be returned but you just hadn’t gotten around to it.

    “It doesn’t scream rock n’ roll,” She inspected the green fabric under the kitchen light, “But anyone can look like Twiggy with enough eyeshadow so it’ll have to do. You should invest in club clothes, you might have to if anything goes with this guitar player.” Her eyebrows wagged.

    You rolled your eyes, taking the dress from her, “Hush, you’re just as bad as David.”

    “Your brother?” Marilla snorted, “What's he got to do with this?”

    “He's an insufferable little shit, that's what-” You pushed off your top, “At first he tried to get me with the guitar player’s flatmate but when that didn’t work he really pushed Brian and I,”

    Marilla was amused, far more amused than you, “He's a cunning thing, I’ve always liked him. Oh boy, now I really want to see your guitarist, Brian was it?”

    The club pulsed, dull lights glaring down against everything. It was smokey and smelled of weed and whiskey. The band onstage was far too loud and you clung to Marilla’s hand as she pulled you up to the bar.

    “What do you want?” She practically had to yell for you to hear but it went through you, you couldn’t think with all the noise and lights. She sighed and patted your hand, “A Moscow mule and a Roy Roger’s please.” She shouted at the bartender, “It's alright babes, no alcohol, just fancy cherry coke.” You nodded and accepted the drink, taking a tentative sip as you scanned the crowd. The band onstage had seemed to conclude their set but it didn’t make things any quieter. It was overwhelming really, moreso as Marilla started to pull you up to the front.

    “Come on, it's almost ten. Your boy’ll be up next!” She settled in front of the stage, rooting you to the spot next to her.

    Brian’s flatmate came out, twirling a drumstick between his fingers and he was met with loud cheers. Marilla whooped, waving big up at him. He was followed by the bass player, Brian, and the singer. They were all enthralling, and you were enraptured. The boys on stage looked ethereal, in flowy tops and sparkly makeup. The frontman was clad in glittery jewelry and the bass player wore platform boots. Their music drew you in and eased your nerves about how crowded the club was. The last song had a guitar solo and as he played Brian’s eyes met yours. A rose of warmth bloomed into your cheeks and he grinned, fingering at the chords.

    Marilla, immune to none, elbowed you in the ribs, “That's him?!”

    You nodded, “It is,”

    “Damn girlie! Good for you! But for the record, I think I like the drummer,”

    “His name is Roger. If you come backstage with me you can meet him.”

    She grinned, “I’m so proud of you, getting connections!” As they finished Roger flung one of his drumsticks into the crowd. You flinched as Marilla’s hand shot out. She squawked as she caught it, quickly tucking it into her pants and taking your hand, pulling you towards the back lounge. She pushed at the thin curtain to the side, slipping in.

    It was quieter and you watched people in glamorous outfits dally about. A redhead in hot pants dropped onto the shabby leather sofa, passing glass bottles of something to both the drummer and bassist. The singer was swirling what you could only assume to be a cosmopolitan. He looked up, catching sight of you and Marilla, both looking a bit lost.

    “Hello, come come!” The singer waved you over and Marilla practically dragged you.

    “You are spectacular!” She raved, “All of you, magical!” She tugged the stick out of her waistband and made her way to the drummer.

    You cleared your throat, “You really are amazing, you have a lovely voice.”

    The brunette smiled, “Thank you! I’m Freddie by the way, our charming drummer is Roger. The lovely John plays bass and Brian should be around here somewhere, he plays the guitar.”

    “It's nice to meet you, Freddie, I’m [Name]. I was actually looking for Brian,” You twiddled with your fingers, looking down, “He asked to meet here tonight. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is would you?”

    “You know, he may have popped to the kitchen. I’ll show you,” Freddie stood up. He seemed to catch your hesitation, glancing back to Marilla, “I’ll keep an eye on her. Roggie really is no harm, he plays much bigger than he actually is, I don’t think he could hurt a soul. Not an undeserving one at least.” He started towards the kitchen with you in tow.

    Aforementioned kitchen was small and shockingly clean. Your guitarist sat on the counter with a glass of water.

    Brian seemed to be in his own world until Freddie caught his attention, “Someone’s been looking for you, my dear,”

    Brian looked up, “[Name]! Hello, I’m so glad you came!” He slid off the counter setting his drink down, “Did you bring your friend?”

    “I did, she’s become infatuated with Roger though.”

    He grinned, “Oh Rog seems to do that to some people.”

    “Well, I'll leave you to it!” Freddie called, waving and walking back to the lounge.

    When the door shut Brian began to fiddle with the bottom of his shirt, “I left my guitar in the other room, I could go and grab it if you’d still like to learn that song.” He studied your face, “But you don’t look comfortable, are you alright?”

    “Yes, this just isn’t really my scene. I’m not used to the noise and everything, there's a lot of people here.”

    He smiled sympathetically, “I know, it's crowded. There's a nice little diner just down the road, we could walk there and talk if you’d like.”

    You nodded, “Sure, that would be lovely.”

    The air was crisp and it brought you back to reality from the club. Brian had lent you an extra sweater he had brought, it was warm but you had to roll the sleeves a few times. It was quiet as you walked, the occasional car rushing past. The sidewalk narrowed as you got closer to the strip of restaurants and you felt the back of Brian’s hand brush yours. You caught his fingers, lacing yours into them and nervously looking up. His expression mimicked yours, jittery and shy and totally taken.

    “You look very pretty,” He murmured, thumbing over your knuckles, “That green looks very nice on you.”

    You smiled, “Thank you, you look lovely as well.”

    “Oh pish posh, this is just stage wear. But I’m glad you think it looks okay, Rog said I looked frumpy.”

    You giggled, “Marilla, the one who brought me, called me prudish earlier.”

    His laugh was soft, “Well, we can be fashion disappointments to our friends together,” He pulled open the door to MaryAnne’s Diner, holding it for you.

    You were settled in a booth waiting for your order when Brian spoke, “David really has potential,”

    “With the guitar? I’m not surprised, he's always been good at everything he tries. It's really quite annoying, how brilliant he is.”

    “He seems so, a very nice kid. Does he live with you?”

    “No no,” You smiled, “No he lives with our mum, he just sneaks out to see me more than he should. I don’t know if I ever thanked you for letting me sit in, I know it's not common practice. I just worry about him, he seems so much older than he actually is and I’m worried it’ll get him in trouble one day.”

    Brian patted your hand, “Oh darling, I understand. I really don’t mind at all, I’m glad I met you.”

    “I’m glad I’ve met you as well.”

    He had walked you home, contently explaining the story behind one of the constellations he saw.

    He stalled at the door, keeping your hand in his, “So I suppose I’ll see you next week?”

    “Absolutely,”

    He moved one hand to push a piece of hair out of your face, “Well until then I suppose,”

    You leaned up, closing in on him. You felt his hot breath against your cheeks, “Is this okay?”

    He nodded, “More than,” And pulled you into him. 

     He was as gentle in kissing you as he was in everything else, carefully nudging his nose against yours. His mouth was warm and he stroked your mandible, easing deeper into the kiss. He relished in the taste of maraschino cherry from the Roy Roger’s you’d had earlier. You gasped softly as he nipped at your bottom lip, pulling away. The lipgloss he had been wearing was smeared against the corner of your mouth and he carefully wiped at it with his thumb.

    David would never let you hear the end of this either.

[melioramercy]

his and theirs

the one where spencer reassures his nonbinary girlfriend after a long day

reader uses they/them/theirs pronouns and is referred to with the title “girlfriend”

“hello, my dear.”

the clattering of your keys in the bowl by the door alerted your boyfriend of your arrival back at the apartment. you’d just finished a grueling day working retail and you just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. you sighed, padding over to where your boyfriend sat reading on the couch, toeing off your shoes as you went.

wordlessly, you pulled up his arms and settled back under them, letting his book rest on your back. he smiled at the action, speaking again when it became obvious you weren’t going to respond.

“hello to you, too. long day?”

his question only earned another sigh, which prompted him to set his book down and start stroking your back and hair. you two sat in silence for some time, before you finally sat upright in his lap with tears in your eyes.

“hey hey hey, what’s all this? somebody give you a hard time at work?” his voice was laced with concern. his main priority being to figure out what was wrong, but also harboring the idea to barge up to your work and tell off whoever had made his babe cry.

“you know how my boss has a hard time with my pronouns? and they keep saying they’re not used to referring to me with what they call ‘plural pronouns’?”

it was no secret, you were the first non-binary person to be hired at that store, and no one you’d worked with even knew what it meant when you asked, 'what are your pronouns?’ so it had fallen on to you to both educate and exist authentically, something that was tricky enough already outside of the workplace.

spencer nodded, encouraging you to continue.

“well, today i was helping a customer, and they noticed the little pronoun pin i wear.” your boyfriend’s lip quirked up; it was his idea for you to wear a little enamel pin with your pronouns on it. he’d gifted it to you shortly after you started dating, and surprised you with one of his own.

“that way im normalising it, babe. people won’t look at you weird because we both have pins!”

"and they asked me, 'oh what does your pin mean?’ so i explained my pronouns and continued helping them with the product that were looking for. but then my manager came over and said, 'isn’t that pronoun business just so silly? i can’t even make sense of it myself. i just call her by her name, it’s much easier that way. don’t have to worry about messing up and offending her.’”

the microaggression wasn’t lost on spencer. this was what made him mad. you felt his fingers tense where they were holding your hips protectively. he knew where this was going, as your manager had a history of making snide comments.

“and the customer just looked at me, and i could feel their pity and their confusion and i just wanted to drop dead. i felt like i was on fire, not from embarrassment but just from being so scrutinized. it took everything i had not to cry right there. so i finished the sale and excused myself to the back room, but of course my manager wasn’t done.”

of course not. why not just to leave it at that? why continue to badger his girlfriend for something they absolutely couldn’t help?

“so my shitty manager comes back and says, 'hope i didn’t upset you too bad back there, sweet cheeks. you know people aren’t going to get this whole, ‘im not a girl’ thing you’ve got going on. especially when you look like a girl.” at that point i just didn’t know what to say, so i finished the shift and clocked out. i feel so humiliated. i mean, i’ve been there for five months, and they don’t even make the effort. i mean, is it my fault? would things be easier on me if i just used the pronouns people want me to use?“

spencer had been mostly quiet up until now, letting out little hums of acknowledgement or grunts of disapproval. but that last statement set him off.

"no babe. absolutely not. you don’t owe anyone anything. you know that, you’re the one who told me that! you may be non-binary but you don’t owe people androgyny just because you use non-gendered pronouns. screw anybody who makes you feel like that. it’s not your responsibility to always educate people or call them out, but unfortunately sometimes you have to.”

his tenacity made you start to giggle, even though you were still sniffling.

“i mean it, beanie. there’s nothing wrong with you. it’s just basic human decency. i know how much you hate that job, and that, as you put it so eloquently, your manager should "just eat a big old bag of dicks and shut up.”

you were laughing out right now, any lingering sadness from your day drowned out by spencer’s goofy tactics to cheer you up.

“maybe you should quit.”

you balked at the suggestion. surely you didn’t hear him right.

“spencer, i can’t just quit my job, i can’t just sit around while you’re off saving the world. even if i pick up some random hobby, i would go stir crazy. not to mention the bills.”

“y/n, my love. slow down. i’m I’m not saying you shouldn’t work at all. i’ve maybe floated the idea to jj that you should nanny.”

“spencer—”

“i’m serious! you’re great with the boys, they absolutely adore you, and will was talking about going back to work full time.”

“spence…” there were tears in your eyes yet again, this time for much different reasons.

“oh no, i made you cry.”

“no, spence, they’re happy tears. that sounds like the most wonderful thing. i have to admit it, the boys do love their auncle y/n.”

you started pressing small kisses to spencer’s jawline, giggling when his scruff tickled your cheek.

"so, what do you say? want to call your boss and put in your two weeks?” maybe it was because you’ve had a long day, but in that moment, you truly thought spencer must have been put in your life for one reason: to show you the love you deserved.

“mmm, later. there’s something i want to do now,” you spoke the words right into his ear, still nuzzling closer to him.

“i think i can accommodate that. whatever my beautiful girlfriend wants, they get.”

“i love you, baby. now take me to bed. we stopped watching doctor who in the middle of the episode because someone fell asleep.”

“whatever you want, my love. whatever you want.”

[kaypeace21]

I have a question but I just want to say first that I love your theories. They’re very well thought-out and interesting. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you could explain how Mike is queer-coded? I’ve seen you mention it and I’ve seen others talk about his attraction to androgynous El, but is there more? Thanks!

ALOT MORE! I talked about it here in the past- but without getting too much into s3 (since I’ve already talked about s3 byler extensively).I’ll just have links for everything I noticed in s3 at the bottom of this post. In regards to s1 and 2, Mike was heavily coded as queer. But most significantly this was done in s1- arguably he was more queer coded than Will ever was. I won’t get into all the details (we’d be here all day) but the highlights, at the top of my head are-

s1

- Mike in his his basement has a red heart being propelled by a rainbow.

- 4 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. When El loses her wig , Troy said “she doesn’t even look like a girl” to the cops. But Mike just calls her “really pretty”

-Nancy says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve … Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!

- Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns when talking about crushes using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrassing himself because he can’t articulate the difference between friendship and romance. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative  answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’.

Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone. 

You know someone that you like” 

El: “a friend?”

Mike: ‘not a friend uh … uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)

-Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just … want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide”  (which is heavily queer coded)

- when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays,   “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded . And how such a lyric is oddly romantic- if we’re supposed to see their bond as nothing but platonic XD

-his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”.

- when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee  and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea (for the first time) that Will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is THE ONLY ONE physically assaulted (like a gay-bashing) .  They leave Lucas and Dustin unharmed. Even though Lucas just proposed to another guy- which should have gotten him a beating by the homophobic bullies.

It’s supposed to subconsciously hint Mike is queer like Will, and likes Will. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El and have a guy propose to Mike. Mike says to “ignore them” ( the homophobic remarks) but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed . 

2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront, unlike his straight friends who are in the background . But this time Mike initiates the confrontation), as the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies. All happy and gay”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier , telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally/wanted to defend Will). 

The framing of Mike once again being in the front and snapping at the homophobic remarks (these gifs don’t do it justice, just rewatch the scene -Mike eyes water at the remarks). Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” (like Troy said) thanks to El . Troy at the police station even uses the word “fly” not levitate.

- Mike proclaiming “I’m the only one who cares about Will!” Seems like something a kid with a crush might say ( because obviously his other friends care about Will). But he thinks he cares the most.

-Mike sneaking out to find Will, as Steve sneaks in to Nancy’s. They both even make eye contact (and pretend not to have seen each other).

- they share dinosaur toys , in s1 and 2 they appear to be the only ones with dinosaur toys.

- The s1 mom hug scene where Mike feels he lost Will is paralleled in s3 - signifying how he lost him a 2nd time.

- Mike in the 1st ep being the one to insist on looking for Will in the rain (callback to s3). But he never went looking for El when he saw her through his window? Even when Mike saw Will’s dead body, the second he heard his voice he convinced his friends to help rescue him!

- You remember the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings, and how he caresses the drawing after thinking Will was dead. That’s totes platonic.

s2

- Will in all 3 seasons identifies as a wizard. But in s2 Mike (the paladin) says Will is a cleric. Meaning this reflects how Mike actually feels about Will. In d&d, they have similar moral values, powers, and generally need and depend on each other in the lore of d&d. Paladins have similar healing powers to clerics, but clerics have stronger healing abilities - which is interesting since Mike has always been viewed as the protector. But to Mike Will has helped him (maybe deal with the loss of El and other trauma) , just by being there. And if Mike says Will is a cleric,despite Will still identifying as a wizard in s3, it shows how deeply Mike actually feels about Will. It shows he views Will as one of the only people who understands him and views him as a healing presence and his moral compass.

“ strength of conviction gave many paladins a sense of common fellowship but did not always endear them to others. In many cases, paladins did not get along quite as well with other non-paladin adventurers, with the exception of clerics with similar beliefs.”

“A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress his or her oath (of honesty, courage, compassion, honor ,and duty). A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.

-Mike stands next to Will under the rainbow poster

- Mike forces Will to dance with a girl, but you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like  ‘what,why’d I do that ?’ And after this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these 2 shots.

- All the mileven byler parallels or byler scenes were almost ALL initiated by Mike. If the parallels were meant to show a one sided love triangle (on Mike’s end). They would of made Will the instigator not Mike! Parallels can be watched here , start at 6:50)

-Mike initiated the “crazy together’ line- and in s3 he said ‘blank makes you crazy’. So subconsciously he knew the line had romantic connotations.

-Mike initiating the hand hold (with a zoom in shot) and in the show this is only done for romantic pairings. Also Mike being the one to initiate the ‘arm thing’ which is generally romantic. But in s3 , Lucas also does this, saying “I am spending quality time with my girlfriend’

-Mike saying, asking him to be his friend was the “best thing I’ve ever done”

-Mike constantly following Will around, asking if he’s okay or biking to his house to check on him. In s3 running out to chase Will to the garage and apologizing, and running into a storm to apologize a 2nd time.

YOU SEE A PATTERN! Mike is whipped! And is the one constantly chasing and pursuing Will, not the other way around! Before s3, people always portrayed Will as the (stereotypical- problematic trope of ) a sad-pinning-gay in a one sided love with Mike. It’s like people didn’t even watch the show (and just assigned tropes/stereotypes they wanted, that weren’t actually there). Will (probably too shy or scared to- because of homophobic taunts) never initiated a single byler moment- it was ALWAYS Mike!!! If people were actually objective, they would of thought it was Mike who was the one pinning! I talked about it here. 

We literally only saw Will pine or be jealous in s3 when Mike was in a relationship with El/when they fought.  

The cannon Spotify playlists

called ‘Mike’s basement beats’- These are character playlists that Spotify and St worked on together after s2.

-his first song is “small town boy” an 80s LGBT anthem about living in a small town and being queer and bullied. Every band member was openly gay.

-his 11th song is ‘don’t you want me’ from a “celebrate your gay pride” album

S3

I’m not repeating my literal essays so here are the links to pretty much all my s3 byler meta.  (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

- brief s3 mentions) it’s implied Will and Mike go on movie double dates all the time (right after he makes out with El). He celebrates the holidays (generally associated with introducing s.os) with Will/El. The breakup with El is treated comedically - and all Mike does is complain and burp on the couch. The byler breakup is serious (with the backdrop of rain)while Mike was visibly upset he hurt Will and apologized twice almost immediately . Running to the garage and then into the rain and banging on his door (s2 callback). The “it was the best thing I’ve ever done “ shed scene was shot purposely more romantic than the pool shed scene of “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”. The fact he think “blank makes you crazy”,and he used a similar line on Will in s2. The fact that Mike equates falling in love with girls as a part of growing up and his love for El as something “old people” say. While his affections for Will , he believes are childish (like d&d) and something he has to grow out of. The “I love her” scene was treated comedically. The last Mike/Will exchange vs Mike having his eyes open and not kissing El back . Not remembering he said “I love her”, and dismissing it as something he said in the heat of the moment. Mike looking back at the Byers house , then flashing to Will crying, than flashing back to Mike hugging his mom. Then those scenes having a monologue about not wanting feelings to change but how it’s inevitable.

Also we see in s3 (in El’s room) the return of the heart being propelled by a rainbow.

No hate, but I’m honestly flabbergasted when people think Mike is straight when he’s literally MORE queer coded than Will. Is it just my autistic brain seeing things as obvious, that others easily miss- or just people refuse to see it … or heteronormativity getting in the way?

gif credit : (not sure about the first 2, tell me if they’re yours so I can give credit), last 3 by  eggogorgon , the last gif by cath-avery

[oookaline]

A response to this tweet:

https://twitter.com/LETMEVOL6/status/1318301718610923520?s=19

"ok. i’m bout to ask a question to the larries. yalls whole argument is that simon and modest are homophobic right? please explain to me how Harry got away with being such a strong advocate for the LGBTQ+ community while being in One Direction? Why was harry the only one dropping hints on his sexuality. if they were so dead set on pushing this heterosexual narrative onto the boys then how did Harry get away with the things that he did? harry was dropping hints at his attraction to males. no, not with over analyzed song lyrics. i mean dead ass saying it. I genuinely want to know because Harry‘s been out of the closet for years now .y’all claim that Louis is closete. Harry managed to get out of the “evil clutches of Simon Cowell“ what stopping Louis and doing the same? unless this whole Larry theory was a lie and y’all were bored like, can someone please tell me why that happened? if Harry is allowed to be so open about his sexuality what stopping louis? if Harry got away from Simon would stopping in Louis they all have the same opportunity Harry may be the richest member but Louis can’t be that far back so tell me how did Harry manage to get away and be so open about his attraction of males and louis didn’t? i genuinely don’t get that."

Harry has been refering to his partner as gender neutral since forever, its not something he dropped hints on.

Not only that you have to also consider the narratives management pushed upon each of them aswell: Ima try to do a brief summary on H and Lou only, as this is reffered to Larries.

Louis: Perfect Boyfriend, a stable girlfriend throughout the years, influencer pretty girlfriend, no background on her so no backlash, constant papwalks on them and the occasional 'theyre toguether' tweets. Literally what it would be normalized as a happy relationship.

Harry: Fuck Boy, dated a lot of people, womaniser, headlines every week linking him to a new person, kendall, Taylor, Caroline etc, all big names yet all stunts, papwalks, 18 months of dating or interaction then never talked about again, the boy to wisk you away to a magical night then leave you the next morning.

Now taking these both you can see they are very different narratives, thus enabling them for two very distinctive ways to hinting at their sexuality with us.

Louis due to stunt reasons had to make his love songs (or his songs overall) seem like they hint at a specific girl, eleanor. Building up on the narrative they've had over the years. So while he can't directly call out his 'perfect woman' in gender neutral pronouns like Harry does, he CAN on the other hand choose what he specifies her as: a good chef, long brown hair paired with a british accent.

Very specific things that very obviously link to Harry while making press and hets think its towards Eleanor.

That one interview which didn't air where Louis said he had a boyfriend...

But this is just verbal. Lyric whise Louis has been more open and smart then anyone I've ever listened to-

The lyrics directly paralleling gay relationship, the struggles, the fear of not being able to be with them... Everything that a Heterosexual reletionship would NEVER experience. A few examples:

→Alive - One Direction (Louis) MM

"My mama told me I should go and get some therapy"

"I asked the doctor, "can you find out what is wrong with me? I don't know why I wanna be with every girl I meet"

"I can't control it"

"She said, "hey, it's alright Does it make you feel alive?"

"We got to live before we get older. Do what we like, we got nothing to lose. Shake off the weight of the world from your shoulders. Oh, we got nothing to prove"

"Went to a party just after the doctor talked to me, I met a girl, I took her in up to the balcony, I whispered something in her ear that I just can't repeat, She said, "okay" but she was worried what her friends will think"

This whole song is about questioning you sexuality and realizing you like the same sex.

Read over the lyrics and change:

girl - boy

she/her - he/him

and you'll see what I mean

→End Of The Day (Louis and Liam) MITAM

"Love can be frightening for sure"

"All I know at the end of the day is you want what you want and you say what you say, And you'll follow your heart even though it'll break, Sometimes"

"All I know at the end of the day is love who you love, There ain't no other way, If there's something I've learnt from a million mistakes, You're the one that I want at the end of the day"

"The priest thinks it's the devil, My mum thinks it's the flu, But girl it's only you"

"When the sun goes I know that you and me and everything will be alright, And when the city's sleeping, you and I can stay awake and keep on dreaming"

this whole song (apart from that one "girl") is just a huge gay awakening. If you keep the girl its a wlw anthem then.

some more exaples from scattered songs:

"There's a moment when you finally realize, There's no way you can change the rolling tide" -Ready To Run

"There will always be the kind that criticize, But I know, yes I know we'll be alright" -Ready To Run

"Told myself I kind of liked her, But there was something missing in her eyes" -Home

"I was stumbling, looking in the dark , With an empty heart, But you say you feel the same"-Home

"Still high with a little feeling, I see the smile as it starts to creep in, It was there, I saw it in your eyes" -Home

"But I know you're only hiding, And I just wanna see you" -Through The Dark

"And I can see your head is held in shame, But I just wanna see you smile again" -Through The Dark

"And I will hold you closer, Hope your heart is strong enough" -Through the dark

"People say we shouldn't be together, We're too young to know about forever" -TDKAU

"They don't know about the things we do, They don't know about the "I love yous"-TDKAU

these are just some out of the many Louis wrote. You can see where I'm going with it now.

and im not even going to touch i to all the shading Louis did with his clothes, tattoos, actions etc...

Now, Harry 'got away' with those actions because of various reasons, but I wouldn't say that he got away, I'd call it more of a "You stop me from doing this we will get backlash for possible homophobia and then y'all lose money so suck it up fuckers we're going on a rainbow ride" which is true; Yes, Harry did always refer to his ideal partner in gender neutral forms, but during the rainbow direction project was when he really amped it up so he could always go with the casual "I'm just supporting my fans, there's no harm in that" when confronted about it, which includes him waving the flags around and all the other stuff.

But it also seems you all are forgetting about how along with all the Queer!Harry we got, we also got more and more headlines of Wom!Harry, more stunts and etc: 5 different official relationships (not counting Kendal twice, which would make 6) between late 2014-early 2016 ALSO NOT COUNTING RUMOURED GIRLFRIENDS which then would make the list go so much higher, Harry couldn't before and still can't hang out with WOMEN or else there will be rumours of them dating.

And this doesn't happen with Men :/ He can hang put with multiple men, and there probably will be barelly one and a half articles written about it -only by small outlets- which in comparison to when he is seen hanging our with a 'mysterious woman' we'll get hundreds of articles about it in a span of an hour.

So what I'm trying to say is that sadly he can still call his ideal partner a he and be seen kissing a guy that the media probably will focus on the chick on the background and write an article like "Harry Styles seen out with friends in LA and he seemed extra cozy with mysterious blonde".

But again, the same with Louis, he hints at us about his sexuality so much, be it us the only one who properly listens to him.

With his songs and the flags and the pins and everything.

Here's some of his lyrics from the Oned era:

"We were meant to be but a twist of fate, Made it so you had to walk away" -Happily

"I don't care what people say when we're together"-Happily

"I can't even think straight but I can tell, You were just with her"-JABOYL

"And nothing's ever easy, That's what they say"-JABOYL

"Pay attention, I hope that you listen 'cause I let my guard down, Right now I'm completely defenseless"-If I Could Fly

"I've got scars even though they can't always be seen, And pain gets hard, but now you're here and I don't feel a thing"-If I Could Fly

"One day you'll come into my world and say it all, You say we'll be together even when you're lost"-Something Great

"I want you here with me, Like how I pictured it, So I don't have to keep imagining"-Something Great

"The script was written and I could not change a thing, I want to rip it all to shreds and start again"-Something Great

"You're all I want, So much it's hurting"-Something Great

So yeah, its sad that you just alienated that one thing without having context nor looking at the bigger picture. If I missed anything please tell me. :]

sorry for the long post

(copied from my answer on twitter)

[arigatouiris]

daughter of artemis // p.p — [06]

c h a p t e r  s i x

Pairing: Peter Parker x Demigod! Reader [Female pronouns]

Warnings: swearing; angst [a lot of it]; greek mythology rewritten [completely my interpretation of it, oops]; slightly based off the games god of war and assassin’s creed odyssey; hurt/comfort; cliche; fluff [on later chapters sometimes]; mentions of sex and gore; slight alternate universe

Follows events after Endgame, but Tony, Natasha, Steve, Loki are alive in this universe.

Author’s Note: Finally it’s post Endgame now! Peter makes an entrance in this chapter, and there’s a change in POV as well. Hope ya’ll like this! 

Word count: 4396

06 // φίλος friend

❅

Everything was strange. Peter never realized how much he valued being alive, until he saw Tony being quickly evacuated into a capsule to preserve his life. He had done it—snapped Thanos off the face of the universe; but almost at the cost of his own life. Peter thought he was dead, that was it, but when Pepper felt a faint pulse, they knew he was still there. Now, back on Earth, even if the doctors did say they were unsure, Peter knew one thing: Tony Stark had saved the world.

He felt strange, and not only did the world move without waiting for anyone who had been snapped five years ago, he had to pick up where he had left off. While the nurse cleaned his wounds, all he could ask about was Tony. If Tony is okay, if he’ll be fine, every question went unanswered, but it left Peter hoping. Tony was alive, and he damned well stay that way.

    “Peter,” came Pepper’s voice as she walked into his room. She smiled softly at him, and he thought he could offer one back, but to no avail. They were currently in what used to be the Stark tower, but rebuilding this whole almost destroyed piece of land would take an incredibly long time.

    “May’s back. I called the shelter. I’ve told her you’ll be coming to see her as soon as your wounds are cleaned.”

Peter stood up without thinking and rushed to the door, Pepper smiling a bit at the ground. Happy would be waiting for him at the front, ready to take him to where his aunt was. The last time he saw her was at the shelter, and he hoped and prayed things were alright now. He knew he should have felt happiness, but like he kept repeating in his mind, everything felt strange. He looked and felt like he was 18, but five years had passed.

He was quiet during the whole drive, Happy wasn’t even trying to engage in conversation.

    “The shelter’s fine, kid. I… I took care of it while you were gone.”

    “Thanks, Happy.” Peter’s voice was dry.

On reaching the shelter, his eyes welled up with tears. It looked the same, but there were new trees near the entrance he hadn’t seen before. His memory was fresh, and this ached his heart more than he thought it would. Walking inside, he came face to face with May’s back, as she was standing and reading something, two people near her.

    “M-May?” Peter’s voice broke, and he was a small boy again.

May turned around and her hand went to her mouth in surprise. Running to her nephew, she embraced him as tightly as she could, letting out breaths of relief and happiness at the sight of this boy. Peter hugged her back, as if his life depended on it, and he was starting to feel that happiness he thought he wasn’t going to feel.

It’s alright, he told himself, breathing in his aunt’s presence. It’s going to be okay, he could finally tell himself. Pulling back, he smiled at her, as she did the same, rubbing his face with her hands.

    “How is he?”

Somehow, Peter knew this question was about Tony. Nodding, Peter offered a small smile, indicating that things weren’t as bad as he thought would go. May’s relief calmed him. Suddenly, his eyes began to fill with tears, May pressed her lips together and waited. She knew what was coming, and she knew it had to come. Bursting into tears, Peter covered his eyes with his hand and cried—to cry was to release all sorts of ugly little pressures and tensions. Like waking out of a long, dark dream to a sun-filled day. And right then, he felt it leave his body; the pain, the sorrow. May was holding him, school would begin, he would go back to being Spiderman, Tony Stark was alive, and things were slowly going to get better.

That night, as he had dinner with May, she brought up the topic of school.

    “Midtown’s offering a whole different system of schooling from a month now. They’ve pushed reopening the school to mid-November now because of the kids returning.”

    “That makes sense.” Peter said, eating his rice as normally as he would have five years ago.

    “You’re in Senior year.” May grinned, tilting her head a bit.

Peter smiled back before focusing on his food. He found it funny that he had an appetite, but it wasn’t as if it was anything extraordinary. He felt as hungry as he normally would have on any weekend.

    “Peter,” he looked up to meet his aunt’s gaze. “Give it time.”

Smiling at her, he finished his meal and headed up to his room. He froze at the entrance; it felt as if he hadn’t left the room at all. Five years? He asked himself again, tears filling his eyes. He quickly rushed in and looked around his room; everything was in place, left in order. He had heard from Pepper that Happy kept this place the way it was, which proved that the man had hope that everyone would return.

However, he couldn’t sleep that night. Grabbing his suit, Peter quickly pressed the device to wear his suit, and webbed himself out of his room. Maybe this’ll take my mind off things, he thought swinging through buildings. It wasn’t that late out, and he could see people look at him with awe, and another emotion he couldn’t quite explain.

    “Welcome back, Peter.” Karen’s voice startled him.

    “Karen! Uh, is there something happening?”

    “People are at their homes, trying to figure out what’s really going on. Everyone’s back, and surprisingly, the crime rate is really low tonight. You can relax.”

    “Thanks, Karen.”

Swinging through buildings, Spiderman sucked in the air of Queens that night, letting the breeze heal his mind. As he passed a building, to his right he saw a girl on the terrace, with a bow and was trying to shoot a target. Blinking confusedly, Peter perched on the building opposite, and watched from above. What is she doing? He thought, It’s dark out, she can hurt herself!

Peter found it almost too easy to jump right behind her, but apparently it was a bad decision. The next thing he felt was the girl had roughly pushed him down and pinned him to the ground, his web shooter was kicked away, a few feet away from where he was being held. His eyes widened, which caused the eyes on his mask to widen, only to meet the girl’s surprised expression.

    “Spiderman?” Her voice was slightly familiar, but there was no mistaking it. He had seen her before.

She stepped back and pulled away, and Spiderman took a good long glance at her. Her (h/c) hair reached her shoulders, and waved around in the breeze; she was pretty, more than pretty, but there was something about her that screamed as if she was not from around here. She wore a black jacket, a white top inside, and black jeans. Strangely, she was barefoot.

    “Are you okay?” She asked again, cocking her eyebrow.

Standing up, Spiderman remembered her like it was yesterday. Because it was, he thought, unaware that a smile had crept on his lips.

    “You’re her.” He said, his voice in awe.

She blinked at him before offering him a smile, but it was a different sort of smile. She was teasing him.

    “I go by ‘her’, yes. Try not to make that assumption with everyone though.”

    “N-No! I meant, you’re the girl from the shelter. The one who—”

    “—also beat you to the ground the last time we met, did the same this time.” She chuckled, crossing her hands in front of her chest.

Peter couldn’t believe his eyes. She looked older, prettier, and not to mention, sassier. There she was, standing in front of him, after having pushed a superhero to the ground twice in a row. However, if she had grown up from the last time he had seen her, then that meant…

    “You… You’ve—”

    “I wasn’t turned to dust, if that’s what you’re saying.” She smirked.

Peter’s heart went out for her. It must have been lonely. “What about your family—”

Stepping one step closer to him, she looked up at him and said, “It’s very nice to see you again, Spiderman. This place has missed you.”

Peter’s heart warmed at her words. He remembered having saved her from getting too flustered in the middle of the road, and he remembered bringing her to his aunt’s shelter; she had changed so much in these five years, a battle he probably would never learn about. Hearing her say that this place missed Spiderman gave him the closure he needed.

    “I still don’t understand some of it, but… I’m glad I’m back. I’m glad everyone’s back, um…?”

She chuckled once before saying, “(y/n).”

    “You know who I am now at least.” Spiderman teased, remembering how she didn’t know him the last time they had met.

The girl turned to the target and then looked back at her bow, thus bringing Peter to ask her the question he had been meaning to ask her since he laid eyes on her the second time.

    “Why are you shooting arrows in the dark?”

(y/n) shrugged before pulling the arrow against the bow and just as she released it, “I can see better in the dark than most people.”

The arrow hit the mark, right at the center, stunning Peter in hindsight. He saw how she turned to the moon after that, a small smile on her features.

    “But, it’s not safe.” Spiderman said, sounding like a puppy.

    “What you’re doing isn’t safe either.”

    “But, I’m a superhero—”

    “What if I’m a demigod?” She said, smirking widely.

Peter deadpanned at her, but the mask just stared at her without expression.

    “Yeah, and I’m stronger than the Hulk. Come on, (y/n). Don’t joke around. You can really hurt yourself.”

For some reason, (y/n)’s laugh after what he said sounded as if she was hiding something. Choosing not to press more buttons, Spiderman folded his arms and waited for her to respond. There was no way he’d let her do something so stupid when he was around.

    “Alright, Spiderman. I’ll go home now. Go and save people or something.” She said, smiling back at him.

Laughing, the superhero gave her a thumbs up, waved her goodbye, and left the area. Peter left the area in two minutes, but he wouldn’t deny how he felt much better than he did when coming there.

❅

He wanted to laugh out loud, but he didn’t want to startle her. There she was, doing the same thing again, the next night. It was now as if she knew he’d come and stop her. Jumping right behind her, Spiderman tensed and waited to see if she’d try and pin him to the ground again.

    “Are you stalking me now, Spiderman?”

Standing up straight, “You train a lot for what exactly?”

She didn’t say anything, and shot another arrow. Moving to her right, Spiderman noticed her put down her bow and face him, offering a kind smile at him while doing so.

    “Friends call me Spidey.” He said, waiting for her answer.

    “So, I’m a friend now?” She asked, eyes widening a bit.

    “W-Well, yeah, I mean—”

    “Relax, I was just teasing.” (y/n) giggled before placing her bow on the ground. She walked over to the edge of the roof and sat down, letting her legs dangle at the side. Spiderman followed suite, and sat beside her.

    “So, you still didn’t tell me.”

(y/n) placed her hands on her lap and looked at them. “It takes my mind off things.”

    “Do these ‘things’ bother you a lot?”

The girl then looked up at the moon. It wasn’t in full today, a little less than full, but a smile came her way either way.

    “You like the moon?” Spiderman asked, without knowing.

    “Oh, yeah. I love the moon.” She said, almost as if the moon were a person.

    “Don’t you have any friends you can talk to about those ‘things’?” Spiderman asked.

    “Well, I’m sure you have things bothering you too, Spidey. You don’t talk about them to everyone, do you?” She hit the nail.

Turning away from her, he sighed. “I wish I could.”

    “It won’t help.” She said, shaking her head a bit.

    “You can talk to me.”

(y/n) smiled, her eyes turning small as she did. “Because I don’t know you? And sometimes it’s best to trust you because I don’t know you?”

Spiderman let out a laugh, “You remember very clearly my exact words. You must be a fan.”

    “I’m a fan of anyone who’s trying to do the good thing.” (y/n) said.

These meetings continued on most nights. Spiderman would often find her busy with either shooting arrows, or landing kicks and punches to a very tattered looking punching bag. Some nights, he doesn’t bother her. He knew she knew what she was doing, so he let her be. Other nights, he’d join her, and they’d talk. He’d tell her about Liz without ever mentioning her name, and she told him facts about animals he never really knew about.

She was so down to earth it was startling. Some nights, she looked vulnerable, like she needed a friend to sit by her side in comfortable silence. Other nights, she looked almost like a deity—the perfect balance of danger and charm, she was at the same time fascinating and inaccessible, distant because of her demonstrated flawlessness, and possessing such strength of character that she was dismaying and at the same time utterly attractive in an enticing and forbidden way.

Before he knew it, it was already mid-November. Which meant school would reopen, final year of his schooling, and he might not meet (y/n) on the rooftop again. Crime was slowly beginning to pick up, and with school starting, Queens would go back to being regular.

Regular meant crime would follow.

One night before school reopened, he spotted (y/n) sitting by the edge, all by herself. Jumping down to the roof, Peter sat beside her as Spiderman and waited to see if she wanted to talk. She was playing with her fingers, being absolutely comfortable with herself.

    “No training today?”

    “You’re late so you missed it.” She answered, looking ahead of her.

He was impressed with her in so many ways. She had never asked him once who he was, she had never asked him anything about what Spiderman does, or about a robbery; it was as if she wasn’t curious about him at all, and had no questions for him. It was in a way great that he didn’t have to deal with lying to her, but it was all too simple.

    “Aren’t you… curious about me?” Spiderman wasn’t intending on asking her this, but the words slipped out.

She looked at him and blinked, “Would you rather you lie to me?”

He couldn’t believe it. “So, you’re not asking because it’ll be hard for me?”

She shrugged, “People have their secrets, Spidey. We all do.”

Of course she did, Peter thought. She was training almost every single day for something or someone he had no idea about. And when he thought about it, she had never answered a single question about family or why she was training. She had her secrets, and this was the sole reason why she could respect that he had his.

    “So, when you first came here,” Spiderman began, “You were from some other place.”

    “Greece.” She said, nodding.

    “That’s so cool!”

    “Is it?” She asked, grinning amusingly.

    “It is, it’s an insane place. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

(y/n)’s smile almost died. I never want to go back, she thought.

    “I came here after my mother died. I came looking for my father. But, at some point, finding him became secondary. I train because I want to be strong.”

    “I’m sorry about your mother.” Peter’s voice was low. He of all people knew what death felt like. Having lost uncle Ben himself.

    “I too had someone who passed away. Right before I got these… powers, it killed me when I lost them. Ever since then, I knew I had to use these powers for good. And so, Spiderman was born.”

    “It is loss that pushes us to do better things.” She said, smiling at him.

Spiderman nodded. “My mother was everything to me. Ours was a… traditional joint family. No one else accepted me because my mother was a single mom and things didn’t exactly run that way where I come from. But she always made me feel so loved.” (y/n)’s voice broke at the end, Peter noticed.

A second later, he hugged her from the side, startling her. Her eyes were wide, and she remembered how her uncle had hugged her last. This was the first time in five years that she was being hugged. It felt nice. Once he pulled away, she offered him a kind smile.

    “You’re really a good guy, aren’t you?”

Spiderman scoffs, “I try to be.”

Looking away from her friend, (y/n) thought about school.

    “School starts from tomorrow.”

    “You don’t sound too excited.”

She laughed as she replied, “Nah. My classmates literally have labelled me the ‘mysterious exotic girl’. It freaks me out a little, honestly.”

She felt Spiderman’s hand on her shoulder as he said, “I hope you find good friends this year.”

Smiling at him made her recall the eyes of the brown eyed boy she had seen in her visions. She hadn’t had any visions of him these past few years, but whenever she thought of him, her heart felt warm. There was something utterly heartbreaking with the way he looks at her, each time she thinks of it, a part of her dies for not knowing.

❅

Walking into school felt familiar and strange to him, all at the same time. Not a familiar face in sight, as his heart raced in his chest, his stomach doing backflips with all the anticipation. However, just as he was about to head into what was supposed to be the senior class, a familiar face made him almost want to cry.

Ned’s surprised expression didn’t go past him, as Peter rushed to his best friend and embraced him. Thank goodness, he thought, holding onto his friend. Ned pulled away and smiled at Peter, who smiled back, a familiarity not being born again but only restarting.

It’s quite early for class to start, but there was already someone there. Peter stopped dead in his tracks, not a word of what Ned was saying reflected in his ear. His eyes widened at who was sitting there, and he forgot his own name.

But, he didn’t forget hers.

    “(y/n).”

Ned paused and looked at his best friend and followed his gaze to the girl sitting near the last bench, reading a book. She looked comfortable, and really really pretty in Ned’s eyes, but she also looked like she didn’t want to be disturbed. But, seeing that she had earphones on, Ned nodded to himself once and turned to his friend.

    “She can’t hear you, she’s got earphones on.”

Peter walked inside and sat down, surprised that she didn’t even look up from her book. He wanted to walk over to her and say hello, but that was the problem. He knew her as Spiderman and Peter had no idea who she was. There was nothing he could do.

A short while later, people poured in to class and for some strange reason, no one interacted with her. As Peter was watching her, a hand fell around his shoulder and a very annoying voice whispered in his ear. He was thankful that it wasn’t Flash.

    “That’s (y/n). She’s so mysterious and cold, dude. Don’t even try with her.” He said, teasingly.

Peter was annoyed. So this is what she meant, he thought in his head and snapped, “That’s because no one’s tried to get to know her.”

The boy blinked, “Oh, but people have. She’s just too intimidating.”

She’s nothing close to intimidating, Peter thought before turning to his books. For him, it felt as if he had read off a book just yesterday. It’s been five years, Peter, he thought before sighing. Once the first class was done, they were supposed to move in to the other. Luckily for him, the kids who were brought back from the snap shared all classes so that they could pick up what they had left off.

    “I sort of feel bad for her too.” Ned said, looking at the ground.

Peter didn’t say anything, and he didn’t know why. He could have told Ned that he was friends with her as Spiderman.

    “I have a great idea,” Ned said, grinning. “We should invite her over to build a new Lego Death Star—”

    “What if she doesn’t like Star Wars?” Peter asked, rolling his eyes.

    “Then we stop trying, I mean come on—”

    “Ned.” Peter scolded, fighting back a smile.

    “Just ask her!”

Walking to his locker, Ned and Peter both find her standing in front of her’s, reading the last few pages off a book. Peeking in closely, he read the title of the book ‘Leaves of Grass’. Ned ushered Peter to go to her and the secret superhero glared at him. Walking over to the girl, Peter cleared his throat before expecting to be blown away.

Her eyes widened when she met his gaze. Her jaw opened just a bit, almost as if she had seen him before, somewhere, a hint of familiarity sparked in her eyes; she knew the face she was seeing, it was quite obvious.

Peter freaked out. Oh my god, he thought, feeling his heart beat faster in his chest. What if she recognized me? Did she recognize me? How could she? There’s no way, right?

    “Uh, I’m uh… Parker. Peter. Ugh, Peter Parker.” Peter said, feeling stupid.

The girl instantly broke out a grin and replied, “Hi, Peter Parker.”

Peter stops talking and just looks at her, a soft smile on his lips as she cocks her eyebrow at him. Pressing her lips together, she folded her arms in front of her chest and waited. She was blinking at him, slowly, and his heart slowed down as well. He could spend hours looking at her the way she was looking at him.

    “Hi.” He said, slapping himself internally.

Giggling, she replied, “Hi.”

He could feel Ned hit himself on his forehead. “I’m (y/n).” She said after.

    “I know.” Peter said, smiling like an idiot.

He noticed her features stiffen and immediately regretted his answer. Putting his hands in front of him apologetically, “No, no! I meant, I mean—”

    “What’s up, Peter Parker?” She asked, tilting her head.

    “So, uh… Ned and I,” Peter gestured to Ned, who was behind him and waved at her—(y/n) sent a wave back, “We were wondering if you’d like to come build a Lego Death Star with us—”

    “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what that is.” She said, slightly wide eyed.

Peter stilled. “No way. Star Wars?”

(y/n) shook her head, chuckling. “Where I come from, we don’t really watch movies.”

    “Greece?” He asked, blinking.

    “Yep.” She said, popping the ‘p’.

    “No movies in Greece?” Ned suddenly asked, standing beside Peter.

    “Hi, Ned. I’m (y/n).”

Ned smiled a lovely smile at the girl.

    “And no, my family is very… traditional.”

Standing in silence for what felt like a minute, (y/n) picked up her book, closed her locker and grinned at them as she said, “Sorry boys, but I’ll have to pass this time. Maybe next time.” She looked at Peter, eyeing him funnily, and walked off.

    “She’s so dreamy.” Ned said, watching her leave.

❅

The very next day, there was a new English Literature teacher who was assigned to their homeroom. (y/n) couldn’t care less about who would teach her, no one compared to Athena or even her uncle, but he hadn’t shown himself around in quite a while. However, when this new teacher walked in, brown hair, strong jawline, thick framed glasses—anger surged in her veins.

What the hell is he doing here? She thought, glaring at her uncle who stood in front of the class. Suddenly, girls and a few boys began to whisper to themselves, hearing words like ‘hot’ and ‘cute’ being thrown around. She was certain her uncle heard everything the kids were saying, and she was not impressed. Sending him the ugliest glare she could conjure, (y/n) sat there. Apollo looked at her and immediately looked away, not wanting to reveal much at the moment.

Peter, on the other hand, noticed this exchange. He was sure it was because of his spider senses, but for some strange reason, (y/n) looked quite angry with the new professor, Alec Stavros. Turning back to the teacher, he probably wouldn’t want to ask her.

Just as class ended, Apollo raced out, (y/n) following quickly behind him. She caught up to him easily, however, despite his worry.

    “What are you doing here? And what is this? You’re wearing a disguise!” She hissed, frowning at her uncle.

Apollo grabbed her arm and turned her around. (y/n)’s eyes fell on the janitor at the far end of the corridor. Turning back to her uncle, she glared at him questioningly. Apollo kept still. Blinking, (y/n) turned around and spotted the janitor, doing his work, his back turned to them, but a symbol so familiar from her past was staring right back at her.

Her eyes widened as they landed on the symbol of a Hyena.

    “He doesn’t know what you look like. But, if he finds you, he won’t care if it’s public or inside a sheltered area. He will try to kill you.”

There was no fear in her heart. Only anticipation. As if wild dreams were beating inside her, (y/n) wanted to laugh to channel her rage. It had begun.

Smirking, she looked up at her uncle and said, “I’ve been waiting for five years. Let them try.”

❅

series taglist: 

Those I could not tag, I’ve added your urls here!

@maddie-laufeyson​, @mscoloneldanvers​, @https://dancing-flame.tumblr.com, @daughter-of-stark​, @spider-mendes​, @nerdyandproudofitsstuff​, @someonekeepstakingmyusernames​, @alina-margaret​, @yourwonderbelle​, @viarogers​​, @https://huangsushii.tumblr.com, @eridanuswave​ @oliviaisnotlistening​ @mizpotatobiscuits​ @editsbyjenny​ @abbieroseb​ @justtrynagetthroughlife​ @secretlittlewonders​​ @missmulti​ @shallowshawnshallowshawn.tumblr.com  @eunoiametonia​ @adistiany​ @justletmesleeptillidie​ @ppunderoos​ @myheartonthemove​ @heir2chaos​ @honeybutterparker @truthdaze @mvmakki @-thatgirloverthere- @growingthornz @freddies-fried-chicken @jinxedleo https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/wrongyuckie @gogoca 

[bookdragonlibrary]

Second Friday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Private security 

- Will has the dad belly! Lian is cuter and cuter! <3 (But it’s just me or she seems less Asian than in season 2? Where’s Jade?)

- Lucas Carr! :D (For those who don’t remember him, he appeared in the first YJ comic book and in season 2 when he teachs Gar at Mount Justice.)

-  Why Dr Jace stays at Luthor Grande Hotel, in Metropolis! 

- Bowhunter Security! With orignal Roy/Arsenal, clone Roy Will/Red Arrow and clone Jim Harper/Guardian (So if he’s Guardian again, what about Mal? He’s still a hero? Which one?) I love the dynamic of the Harper family and Roy calls Will bro!! He has finally dealt with his trauma (he seems to) and considers Will like he’s older brother! :3 

- Dick in a security costum! Just like in Titans with the policer costume. He has a new outfit every Friday! 

- “An old soul in an young body” Another clue for the Motherbox theory! So the first Halo is still alive inside or gone for good?

- Zatanna! TT.TT

- American genetically modified beef! xD

- Am I the only one who sees Jeff x Dr Jace miles away?

- “To the SUV!” My new war cry! 

- Now Brick has red skin, it means he activated his metagene. How did he get out of jail by the way?

- I love how they show the Prince’s not understanding. He asks questions instead of jugement and “it’s a machine. I don’t understand.” instead of “You’re dumb” or something.  

- I’m kind of afraid of Wolf sleeping. Don’t tell me he’s getting old and will die soon :( 

- All Halo knows from her post life is violence, torture and hatred. No wonder she doesn’t want to remember... 

- Don’t forget the clipboard! xD Will is more loyal to it than to his hat! 

- OMG! Giovanni aged so much in just 7-8 years! He’s what? Between only 40-50! Side effect of Dr Fate’s control?

-  “Wall” My heart, why? TT.TT So heartbreaking than Dick is too afraid to be part of a team because he lost Jason and Wally and Barbara gets injured.

- “I’m older than Jim.” So Jim was made after Will. interesting!

- Harper’s family business! Need more episodes with those 3!

- I really loves the humour in this episode! xD 

—————————— Away Mission

- Forager! Orion! Wait, what a bastard! :o 

- Gregor tries to protect his little twin brother and has compassion for the Quracis refugies. I love him! 

- Bear! Wait there’s a thing between him and Dreamer?! The notebook with the photos! The nostalgia!

- So the New Gods use metaslaves? O.o 

- Traci, Jaime and Bart! :D And Jaime finally talks! Now Scarab’s turn! “There’s no sound in space. The physics on the show is so messed up!” It’s Jaime or Scarab who speaks? Or Jaime took the comment habit of his bug friend? I definitely see Scarab saying something like that! xD So Traci watches the shw for the story or for Gar? “Hello Megan!” Their ringtone for the missions is the generic of this show! So cute! 

- Cassie and Tim have a conversation without yelling at each other. That’s an healthy relationship. So I hope they won’t break up :( “Awkward...” Sorry Virgil, you seem pretty alone :(  

- Jaime, why do you massage your side? Bart didn’t hit you that hard, did he? And he calls him amigo, sorry Bluepulse shippers... (Well, at least it isn’t hermano, so maybe Bart’s just pinning, whatever that means.) I was expected Scarab to yells “Incompatible!” to the boom tube... “Who watch the show for the physics? Who uses a boom tube for the physics?” I love the dynamic of this trio! And Traci is so adorable! Bart’s haircut changes every frame or what?

- “I hacked the Justice League’s computer!” That’s my boy! xD And G designation is for Grayson right?

- M’gann and Cassie are two mad girlfriends, poor guys (Jaime, Bart and Virgil) they didn’t do anything wrong :/ “Superoblivious!” xD 

- “Excuse me?” xD The Yj comic reference with Lucas Carr! Brion who wants to impress Halo.

- Even in bug form, M’gann is still white! :) It’s me or Blue just growls?

- Guys, stop stressing Brion, you gonna make him fail :( What did I say? —‘ “My trees” So Lucas Carr is a neightboor or something? “Excuse me?!” New color for Halo: Yellow is for attacking. I want to see what the green does!

- I love how M’gann put down her little brother like the older sister she is. So she used to hide behind a green form and her little brother behind a beast? You can see M’gann growth throught the comparison with her brother. “I have been dealing with the red and green oppression.” Wait, so there are red martians too? And is for Darkseid he made the bugs made at the New Gods? So they have less allies against him?

- Every metateens we saw so far doesn’t look human anymore. I don’t know if thee Light are doing that on purpose so we could not recognize them anymore or it’s because the forced evolution is too much for their body :(

- Is Halo healing herself like a reflexe or does Sphere help the processus to begin? Violet? That’s so cute! Wait, another supermartian parallel!

- Bart still has the same energy! (I hope this is not an act this time...) I love the Team dynamic: Virgil helping Cassie and thir hand five, Bart trying to stop the bugs from attacking Jaime, Cassie rescuing Jaime, Jaime helping Traci :3 The weapon has to be similar to Genesis tech to hurt Blue however...

- Baby martians look... cute? I think when he kills the green martian, it was on the mental plane and not a memory since he has that beast form. The nostalgia! Everyone is back in season 1 and with their season 1 version of themselves, except Artemis and... why do you have to bring Wally in every single damn episode?? Conner is M’gann shield! 

- And two more metateens dead TT.TT Wait, failsafe? Poor Forager! He just wants justice and kindness :( I love how Cassie and Jaime jump on his side and M’gann adds two arms to adapt to his appearance. I’m sure M’gann’brother made the green bug mad telepathically, because Mantis already knew Forager brought the Earthlings and Bear on New Genesis when he first stopped the bugs’ attack.

- I need more of the trio Traci/Jaime/Bart to see their friendship, Traci’s story. And more Cassie and Virgil screentime because we barely saw them in season 2 and in this episode :( 

- Why Blue seems so angry all the time? He had like one positive line in this episode. Is he still dealing with his trauma in season 2? Is he angry at himself? I don’t know if it’s anger, frustration or self-hatred :( I just want him to be happy after the nightmare in season 2 :( But I think it would be more human if he still has to deal with himself after being mindcontrolled for months... 

—————————— Rescue Op

- Black Spider and Terra. The goggles have to much screen time to not have an importance after. Who was Jackie? “All the bosses will be proud” So Shadows + Light + Darkseid?

- So Barbara is indeed in a wheelchair :( I love how she still can push Dick down :) And barbdick are a new couple :) We need another ship name, a more YJ like one :)

- The Outsiders trio is so cool! So Forager don’t use pronouns so much. So he’s a he, she or them? Wow, Halo knows a lot about New Genesis. Another clue for the Motherbox theory. M’gann is so done to explain she’s not a earthling: “I’m not from Earth” “I’m from Mars!” “Brion is the alien to Forager” this is so true. Thanks for putting this! I love how Brion is so enthousiastic to meet aliens :) He looks like a kid! So bioship is in a car camouflage. Maybe that’s why Halo hurt herself so bad :( Mars town xD “That’s what we were thinking too. We? Uh Me” (and Oracle xD) So is Tara controled, brainwashed, has her memories rewritten? Or is she willingly working for the Shadows?

- Why I think Forager x bioship will become a... ship? xD Like Will x clipboard xD

- Dick, if you don’t want them to go to the Shadows, why did you show Brion their localisation? --’

- Halo’s enthousiasm is so cute! Forager’s too! 

- Why it feels like Sensei is manipulating Brion with words just to make him mad? I’m sure he’s lying.

- Can we talk about Brion’s extreme reaction to Halo’s death? Parallel to Spitfire maybe? And can we please stop killing Halo? I know she will ressurect but it’s still painful :( 

- Why the ninja fighting style reminds me of Robin? Like an older Damian?

- It’s indeed Sphere who starts the healing processus. “Is Halo a new god?” Another clue for the theory?

- When Ra’s mention “the Detective”, Dick growls. Is he mad at Batman? Or at the comment? Ra’s isn’t with the Light and at the head of the Shadows anymore. So who? Sportmaster? Cheshire or Deathstroke would be good clues! Ra’s should be mad at Jade with how he said “Get out!”

- Talia with Damian? So who is... Jason?? An amnesic Jason. Ok. I’m fine. I just need to... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???? (I don’t like the deisgn of Talia which is too close from the animated movies: no bra is definitely not a good idea to fight and she looks too white for an Arabic person :/ Damian is ok I guess?) Do Ra’s want to “return” Jason when he will have his memories back or to use him against the batfamily? Jason should have been trained by Sensei for Dick to not recognize his fighting style.

- Brion really looks like Conner’s mentee with his clothes xD The parallel with the first trio (Robin, KF and Aqualad) Why are you breaking my heart like this? Except they did save Superboy when we don’t have intel of where Tara is :( Dick is still so sensitive when we talk about Wally :( And he looks so much like Batman now: same speech. Same situation, same result: another team is born! Poor Violet :( And the guy with the spiderweb tatoo could work with the Shadows? Or am I confusing with RWBY? xD 

3 episodes = 3 trio. I love it! :D I know we will have more scenes with the Outisders but I also need the other trios: more screetime with the Harperfamily (the bowfamily?) and the Team!  

I guess we will see the Batman Incorporation next week? Since we didn’t see them at all in 6 episodes. And more second season team would be great too, they only have one episode so far :( 

[hufflepuff-ravenclaw-reviews]

Proven Innocent Season 1 Episode 10

As you might imagine, Wren (Yes, I finally was able to find her name...) has been spending her nights with Madeline, even though she's supposed to be in a halfway house. She wakes up one morning following a nightmare, and joins Madeline on the floor. (It's never been explained, but Madeline prefers to sleep on the floor, even though she has a very lovely bed.) Madeline says that she needs to go to work, and Wren has job interviews. However, when Wren expresses her displeasure over the jobs offered by the halfway house, Madeline offers to get her a job at the law firm as a clerk. (Basically pulling legal files and reading law books to find the specific thing needed for a case. Tedious work, but necessary.)

Wren is given a job at the law firm, although Madeline only introduces her as my “friend”. Violet explains that a lot of the people that they've helped have trouble finding jobs, even if they were completely cleared of all charges, so they take them on.

Just then, a naval JAG officer comes in with the case du jour. The first female who would have become a navy SEAL who apparently snapped and killed her commanding officer/teacher. If you're familiar with other legal dramas, you'll know that those military court systems are an absolute joke, and if somebody wants to frame you for murder... well... Good luck with that.

Before we kick that off, let's talk about the Bellows subplot that never actually connects to the main plot. (Again.) Isabel goes in to tell him about a meeting, and finds that he's got his wall of Rosemary's murder. You know, with the pictures, the newspaper clippings, the random bits of string that connect everything...

She tells him that she does have Levi's trust now, but she doesn't think that she knows anything. As she looks at the map, she mentions this one spot in particular Levi told her about. Rosemary and Madeline would hang out there a lot. So Bellows thinks that it's where Madeline went when everybody was looking for Rosemary. He wants to drain/search the lake around that specific spot in the hopes of finding the murder weapon, which was never found. He had previously wanted to drain/search the entire lake, but it was too big and the price too high. But if he can narrow it down...

Later, his former boss, now obviously retired, drops by. When Bellows mentions searching the cove for the murder weapon, this guy is LITERALLY the only one who says “Why the hell are you so obsessed with Madeline Scott?” Instant like; I've been saying this for quite some time now. They talk about this... or rather, the guy tries to tell Bellows to move on with his life, and compares Madeline to Moby Dick for Bellows. Bellows refuses to listen.

Eventually, Bellows makes the call to have the cove searched.

They go to talk to their client, who does confirm that she had been in a drunken fight with the guy she didn't murder right before he turned up dead. As you might imagine, she got a whole lot of shit from the men about her being a woman... and that's what the fight had been about. She then goes on to say this about the gun that was found in her locker: the day before the murder, they'd done an inspection, and there had obviously been no gun in her locker, or anywhere among her things, then. So in order for her to have gotten the gun, she should have driven drunk into town, bought an illegal gun, gone back, murdered the guy, put the gun into her locker, and then just... gone to sleep. This makes Easy think that she was framed, because why else would the gun have been in HER locker?

Madeline, Easy, and the JAG officer go to the scene of the crime, on the military base. They're contemplating the house next door, and saying that the people who lived there might have been able to see something. Just then, other JAG officers come up and arrest the three of them.

They don't like them snooping around, which as you might imagine, is highly suspicious. Madeline is quick to point out that the guy in charge was the father-in-law of the murdered man, and his judgment isn't sound about the issue. He should step back from the case. Easy also mentions that nobody bothered to question the neighbor, and the guy gives permission for them to look into the matter further.

Meanwhile, we're also getting a subplot with Bodie and his on-again-off-again girlfriend, the police officer. If you'll remember, she broke up with him after Bodie kind of tricked her into giving information for a case. However, it's clear that they want to patch things up again. She makes him promise that he can either use her for information or they can be a couple. Bodie says that he wants everything and they kiss.

Some time later, she comes by his house... with her son. Well, sort of. She says that he's actually her nephew, but she has temporary custody over him as her sister cleans up her act from drug addiction. However, she first got custody of the kid two years ago... and... well. You probably know how this is going to turn out. Bodie is uneasy, but he did say that he wanted all of her.

Madeline, Easy, and the JAG officer go talk to the neighbor. However, much like everybody else so far, he didn't see nothing, and he has nothing to say. They complain about people helping cover up the crime in order to help their COs, but then Madeline calls over to the man's son. He mentions that the night that this happened (keeping in mind that the incident occurred 4 years earlier), that he heard a noise, looked out the window, and saw a man running from the house. Madeline questions about the kid's use of “he” pronouns, and the boy confirms that it was a man. He did tell his dad, but his dad said that he must have been mistaken.

With this new info, they go to the JAG court, but the judge completely and utterly scoffs over the idea of an eight year old as a witness, without so much as hearing what the boy has to say. After some talking, they do agree to give them three days to investigate; Easy also asks for all of the relevant files.

Violet is recording her podcast about the company, and this client du jour, when she notices Wren watching her from outside. (the recording studio is all glass, so it's not like it was super obvious or anything.) They talk for a moment, and Violet asks Wren what her story is. Wren says that she robbed a store with a gun, but the clerk got hurt, so she did twenty years. Violet says that she spent half of that time with Madeline, her best friend. And she seems to imply that she knows that Madeline and Wren are more than just friends.

As they're looking over the files back at their office, they notice that there was an incident report about the murdered man and another officer just days before he was murdered. They question why this was never brought up in court, because the other officer would have been a suspect. However, the name is redacted, and the courts insist that it's classified and has nothing at all to do with the murder. Madeline is obviously not convinced, as you might imagine.

While Madeline is trying to get the files unredacted, Bodie and Easy go talk to some other navy officers/teachers, who continue to give them the round-about. She clearly snapped, she wasn't fit for the job, why'd she kill my friend? Blah-blah-blah.

Later, Madeline pulls in some favors with somebody high up the political chain of command to get a copy of the unredacted files. Surprise! It's the father-in-law. So they obviously go and talk with him. He says that he got into a physical fight with his son-in-law because his daughter had just had a baby and the deadbeat dad was spending half of his time at the bar and not even helping. He also says that he was at some thing that the Pentagon confirmed this to be the case.

Easy and Madeline go back to talk to their client, and bring up the rumors that keep going around that she'd been sleeping with her instructor. She denies this, but says that they were friends, which is also frowned upon. (Not just sleeping together, but like... just talking to your student isn't allowed. Yikes.) Anyway, she says that he would confide in her, but she never told anybody about this. She goes on to say that he was having PTSD-like nightmares, and keeps bringing up something over and over.

So Madeline and the JAG officer look into the name that their client gave them, but there was nobody named that that the victim would have served with. However, a quick search on the computer shows that the name is of a place rather than a person. It's in the Middle East, and there was an incident report with the victim and his team at the place. And surprise! The guys that Easy and Bodie had talked to were members of the victim's team in the Middle East.

So they go talk to one of the two men. He hems and haws and gives them the run-around again before Madeline wears him down. He says that they were going towards a house when they heard a bang. They opened fire, because that's what you do. However, inside, they found zero guns and only just not only civilians, but largely women, children, and the elderly. One of the old men was still alive and likely would have survived if they'd helped him, but one of the other members of the team killed him so that there would be no witnesses. They then agreed to never talk about what had happened.

However, obviously, this needs to come to light now. Madeline drags the man who killed the innocent old man onto the stand, and not only has him say about what he did in the Middle East, but also brings up the fact that the gun found in her client's locker belongs to him... which he bought while he was deployed in the Middle East. What an idiot.

So the courts find the client not guilty, clear her of all charges, but also reinstate her into the navy. (Although why she'd want to go back to such a toxic place is beyond me, but if it makes her happy, then sure.) There's a tender moment in which Madeline pins a metal onto the lady's uniform, and then they all pose for pictures.

Later, Violet asks Madeline about her relationship with Wren, and asks that they're more than friends. Madeline confesses that she still likes guys, but Wren is different somehow. She doesn't know what would happen if the two of them were to break up, because would she date a guy? Would she be interested in finding another girlfriend? She doesn't know if her love of women extends beyond Wren or not.

And what's Levi been doing this episode, you ask? He goes into the cafe where the gothic chick works to find Heather harassing her about talking with Levi. Levi gets into Heather's face. Heather then drags up Levi's shitty behavior from 10+ years ago, stating that as a college student, he was obsessed with Rosemary, which was why he kept coming back around the high school, even though he'd already graduated. And the entire time, the gothic chick is like “Dude, you're embarrassing yourself. Stop already. JFC why.” The gothic chick then says “tell him about Sparrow Ridge.” Heather won't say anything else, and just leaves.

Later, after the case, Levi calls Madeline and the two of them go to this abandoned house. The name on the mailbox says “Sparrow Ridge”. He mentions what the gothic chick said to him, and he looked it up on the internet. He breaks in without a care for breaking and entering because the house is condemned anyway. They look around for a moment before he motions towards a doorway that's all boarded up. Madeline kicks the boards down enough that they can get through, and go down into the basement. There, they find an unholy amount of candles and what looks like a circle on the floor... Awfully “blood is dripping from the walls and I'm going to read Latin from this book made of human flesh” nonsense if you ask me. They open a??? Cupboard? Closet? And find the initials of Heather, the gothic chick, and Rosemary, as well as a couple of others that aren't brought up. Under each set of initials are tally marks.

And something tells me that this is about more than Heather selling prescription drugs at school with daddy's prescription pad.

[a-gay-bloodmage]

—Sera Was Having None of This—

Pairing: Platonic Sera x Male-Genderqueer Trevelyan, Minor/Background Blackwall x Male-Genderqueer Trevelyan

Pairing Type: M/F, Minor M/M

Words: 2,425 

Warnings: Body Dysmorphia/Gender Dysphoria, Medieval European Society Has No Word for Being Genderqueer and It's Frustrating, Mallory Still Wouldn't Use They/Them Pronouns Though, He's Still Pretty Binary in all honesty, You Pry This MlM and WlW Friendship From My Cold Dead Hands

Mallory had fallen into another depression. Well, not exactly another, but today it was worse than it'd been in a few weeks.

Ink smudged on his hand from writing in such an exhausted state, not used to having to notify people whenever he'd be out of commission for a while. All the energy seemed to be drained out of him, making the simple task of penning a few letters like crossing a mountain.

He waited for the ink to dry, eyes stuck on an open wine bottle on his nightstand.

No, he told himself. Not today. Please, Maker, Mallory, not today. He rested his face on the desk, cheek pressed against the wood. As much as he ached to drink and forget, he knew that it'd make things worse like this. He didn't have anybody to hold him back from poisoning himself with every drop of alcohol in his room—and there was certainly no shortage.

After a few more minutes of lying half on the desk, he brought himself to finally pin the note to his door, careful to make sure nobody saw him do so. He looked awful today.

"Please, do not disturb me. I am not feeling well and wish to get some rest! Thank you." It was signed with a little heart.

He all but crawled his way back up the stairs, shedding the thin blanket he'd wrapped himself in as he slid into the thick covers of his bed, tucking a large pillow between his legs and against his chest as he curled up into himself. The room was dark—curtains drawn to block out the light—but it wasn't dark enough. He could still see his hands. Any view of his flesh made him sick.

He drew the covers over his head and tried to cry out his illness.

• • ♡ • •

Sera was having none of this.

She read the note and decided that if the door was locked, she was going through Mallie's window.

She jumped onto the Inquisitor's porch, trying to ignore the fact that she'd nearly fallen a few steps back. Skyhold should really do something about its loose bricks. She knocked a couple times, waiting for Mallie to open up. Surely she wouldn't ignore knocking if it came from someone willing to scale a wall to talk.

It made Sera uneasy when Mallie didn't answer. The shut doors, the curtains covering the windows, and that note on the door all spelled trouble.

"Inky! Let me in!" No response. "I'm gonna pick your lock!" No response. "Mallie! Mallie-Mallie-Mallie!" No response.

Fuck it, she thought, pulling out a pin. I'm going in. She set to picking the locked door.

Mallie didn't respond as Sera flung open her door. The light weakly spilled into the dark room, and Sera could see the lump curled up on the bed. Despite being under a layer or three of blankets, she could tell Mallie was all curled up and pathetic.

"Mallie?" Sera went to the side of her bed, leaning forward and pressing her hands into the mattress. "Come on, what's wrong?" No response. "You drunk again?" If Mallie wasn't fighting the Breach or camping in the wilderness, she was drunk. Sera tried not to think of the implications of her habit.

"No. Go away, Sera. I don't feel good." Her tone was dangerously... wet. Like she'd been crying. A lot.

"Should I go get a healer?" She bent down slightly to be on eye-level with the blankets.

"No."

"Nonsense, dummy!" She reached forward and yanked back the covers. "Come on, fresh air!" Mallie was curled around a pillow, naked except for her loose boy-breeches. It was still weird seeing her without her makeup and tits. "Ugh, you look like shit." Mallie's eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and she was covered in a nervous sweat.

"That's why I don't want anybody fucking seeing me," she hissed, yanking the covers back over her head. "Fuck off, I'm sick."

"You depressed again?" Sera asked, pulling up the covers to look at the Inquisitor again. Mallie yanked the blankets back down over her head.

"I'm always depressed."

"No you're not," Sera smiled, jumping up onto the bed. She kicked off her shoes. "You're usually all peppy and shit."

"Still depressed, idiot," Mallie groaned. "Please, just- just leave me alone to die."

"Nope, you're not dying on my watch," she said, flopping down so that she was lying on the bed, staring at where Mallie's face was beneath the blankets. "Tell me what's wrong, dummy." She pulled the blankets up just enough to peer into the darkness, her elven eyes allowing her to see Mallie's pretty blue ones.

"Nothing, now leave." She didn't yank the blankets this time.

"Nope. Staying." Sera wiggled a little closer. "Come on, tell me what's wrong, maybe cry a little, and then we can go do fun stuff. Make you less sad." Mallie's eyes were trained on the pillow she was hugging. "We can go drinking," she offered. She huffed at Mallie's lack of response. "Really? You always wanna drink, boozer."

"Sera, stop," she choked out. "I don't wanna do anything. I don't wanna go out where people'll see me. I-" She cut herself off as she began to choke on held-back tears, lasting only a few seconds before burying her face in her wet pillow and beginning to sob. "I just want to be alone..."

"Mallie, come on..." Sera hated having such a weird friend, sometimes. Not the whole sorta-lady man thing, but the fact that yesterday, Mallie was so happy. She was drinking, and laughing, and just being happy. Mallie was so much better when she was happy. But then there were days like this, where she was sobby and depressed, locking herself away and just wallowing in misery. Of course she and Beardy are in love. They're both dumb sad-sacks.

"Sera, please, I feel awful..."

"But why?" Sera frowned at her. "You're not sick, and nothing bad happened yesterday. We were, like, sealing breaches and killing demon stuff."

"Doesn't matter," she muttered, face still buried in her gross, soaked pillow. "I feel like shit because I am shit, Sera."

"No you're not," Sera laughed. It was ridiculous to think Mallie wasn't amazing.

"Yes I am!" Her muscled arms gripped her pillow even tighter, her biceps shaking with the strain. "I'm so- so stupid and I'm wrong and I'm just- just-" A scream was hardly muffled by her pillow. Sera flinched, inhaling sharply though her teeth.

"Mallie!" She instinctively reached out and grabbed Mallie's quivering shoulder. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm what's wrong with me!" Her pretty pink nails looked like they were about to break into the pillow. "I'm so fucking wrong!" Sera didn't know what to say. "Maker, I'm so fucking wrong..."

"No, you're not," Sera repeated, soft and nervous against the heavy sadness that seemed to emanate from the Inquisitor. "Maker, Mallie, what's wrong?"

"I can't even explain it," she muttered, still not showing her face. "I just can't."

"Try then," Sera said, instinctively shrugging. "Won't know how to help 'til you tell me, stupid." Sera internally cringed at calling the crying mess an idiot again. Whoops.

"I hate this body," she said, her tears slightly quieter, but still seeming to strangle her. "It's wrong. It hurts."

Sera puffed out a cheek, squeezing one of Mallie's well-built biceps. "You're all strong and pretty and shit."

"I don't wanna be a girl," she sobbed, the sudden, odd statement throwing Sera off.

And yet you spend your whole life putting on makeup and dresses, Sera thought. Sure, Mallie had mentioned before that she wasn't all-the-way-girly, but she still liked being called a she and dressing the part. And now you tell me that's wrong?

"I don't want a cunt and I don't want real tits, but-" She groaned into her pillow. "But I want the rest and I- I don't know..."

"So you want to be a girl with man bits," Sera said, smiling at Mallie, even if the Inquisitor couldn't see her. "Why's that making you cry, Inky?"

"I just, I... I just feel wrong," she said, finally lifting her eyes from the pillow, wiping at them with shaking hands. "I probably sound absolutely mad."

"Yeah, but I always knew you were mad," Sera laughed, rolling her eyes. She could only hope that Mallie didn't think that she was being insensitive. She just wasn't someone who knew how to be mushy-gushy sweet and sentimental.

"Sera, I get that you're trying" Mallie sighed, "but you don't get it. I can't-" She looked away from Sera, messy, silky blonde hair falling every which way across her freckled face. "I don't want to be a man. I don't want to be a woman. But I want to have... stuff from both." She bit down on her lip, whining.

"Should I go get, like, Krem or something? He's all mixed up, too," Sera suggested. She really didn't really know what else to say.

Mallie shook her head. "No he's not. He knows that he's a man. I'm... lost, I guess." 

Lost was a hard word to hear coming from Mallie. Before Sera knew about what was under her skirt, the Inquisitor was one of the most fun people she'd known, even if she had her off days. She always wore a full face of makeup, pretty outfits, and her hair was always in perfect styles. She was girly and dumb and giggly, but she could drink as much as Bull. She was never lost.

Even if it wasn't a total lie, knowing that Mallie was putting on a show of happiness for everyone made Sera hurt. It hurt her to see Mallie hurt. Mallie didn't deserve to hurt.

"You're not going to get better just by lying here," Sera whispered. Her small, rough hand squeezed Mallie's shoulder. "At least get up or something. You smell like sweat and... sad." She pursed her lips. "What happened to roses and hard liquor?" She grinned when Mallie smiled, even if it was pretty damn slight.

"You're going to be the fucking death of me," she groaned, shifting around in her bed to move the pillow away from her front.

"Based on what I just witnessed, I think you're going to be the death of you."

"Eh, probably," Mallie responded, rolling her eyes. She reached over, wrapping a big, wonderfully muscled arm around Sera's thin elven body. Sera struggled against the hold half-heartedly, still not accustomed to the bare, masculine embrace, but not wanting to leave Mallie's side. The Inquisitor mumbled something out, quiet and basically inaudible.

"Huh?"

"I said thanks," she said. "I didn't think anyone would bother with this... stuff." Mallie's body was toastier than a piping hot kettle, the comforters of her bed obviously stifling in their heat. Mallie didn't seem to mind. She had often bitched about the fact that Ferelden was far colder than the Northern Marcher city she was from. "It surprises me how okay you are with all this."

"Why wouldn't I be?" She laughed. "The sky is shitting demons and I live in a tavern in a castle now! You can cry over being a not-man-not-girl-in-between-something-or-another! It's not the weirdest thing that's happened this week!" She turned over to smile at Mallie's soft, freckled face. "Did you know the friggin' tavern bard wrote a song about me? That's weird!"

"That's why you should never sleep with an artist!" Mallie was smiling. "And I heard that song, too! What was it? Her tongue tells tales of rebellion?" She was laughing, wiping away at a tear that ran down her freckles. "Fucking brilliant!" She shook her head, grinning. "Maker's tits, Sera, how do you always manage to cheer my sorry ass up?"

"I'm just that good," she said, smirking. "Your depressed butt can't handle my goodness."

"Right about that," Mallie said, poking Sera's cheek. "Thanks again, though."

"Stop with the thanks!" Sera groaned. "Friends cheer friends up. It's a friend thing! I'm just being... friendly."

"Friendly is an oddly casual word for pulling me from the dredges of self-hatred and disgust," Mallie laughed. "Most people don't bother trying to understand."

Sera shrugged. "I'm kinda nice when I wanna be," she said. "You deserve to be treated nice, you dumb, blonde bastard."

"Oh, shut it, you dumb, blonde bastard." The two of them quickly dissolved into snort-laced giggles.

They ended up just lying there, at ease with one another's presence. Sera always liked having friends who weren't touchy-feely, who gave her space but weren't obsessed with being uptight or proper. Mallie was different. She was so painfully obsessed with touching and feeling and hugging and kissing it was a miracle not everyone in the Inquisition had smudges of her makeup on them. Sera had at first been scared of it, not used to a girl wanting to cuddle her while just being friends. It was weird having a close friend pick her up in a hug and kiss her on the cheek, leaving behind bruised lungs and pink prints on her face. Closeness was weird. But Mallie was so weird that the weirdness was just another part of Mallie that Sera considered her friend.

When she looked over, she noticed that Mallie had fallen asleep, long lashes resting quietly on wet, freckled cheeks. Breathing softly and just existing as a person. Maybe she was dreaming about something. Probably her beardy boyfriend. Sera wasn't sure why someone would want to sleep with a man who smelled like a barn and had hair that probably scratched during kisses, but Mallie seemed to like him. He made her happy, so that meant he was really good. He was pretty funny, too, when he wanted to be.

"I hope you feel better," Sera whispered, smiling over at Mallie. "When you wake up, we'll bake some us cookies, alright?" She knew Mallie couldn't hear her. She didn't really care. A promise was more a promise when it was said out loud. And she really wanted to go bake cookies with Mallie—even if neither of them were good at baking. It was just fun. And they could sit on Sera's roof and throw the burnt cookies at guards and birds, too. That was always fun.

Maybe Mallie would feel better someday. Maybe she wouldn't. But, no matter what, Sera would be there. Because friends were friends no matter how weird.

[ofdanny]

mmmk so hi !! i’m taylor, i go by she/her pronouns, and i am very very excited to be here. my two muses are danny and todd and i’m not very good at these posts ?? and i also kind of don’t like them so lets just dive right into this, yay !!

HELLO my name is ( DANIEL HARTLEY ). people often mistake me for ( DYLAN O'BRIEN ). i find this very silly but people also tell me i’m ( EASY-GOING ) and ( APATHETIC ). i am born in ( MEDFORD, OREGON ) but i now live in ( SEATTLE, WASHINGTON ). if there’s one song that describes me the most it’d have to be ( WEEKEND by MAC MILLER ). — ( taylor, 19, est, she/her )

to say the least daniel was a surprise to his parents. they had no desire to have kids, but the only plus to him was that he just so happened to be a bouncing baby boy, and his father saw an opportunity to keep the company alive. as a child the only parental guidance he ever received was from his caregiver and homeschool teacher, ana— walking, potty training, puberty, his first kiss… ana was there for him through all of it.

his parents never gave him much attention outside considering they were too busy living their best lives as one of the most well-loved power couples. of course, it hurt him but ana eased the pain. the only time he received any actual attention from his mother was when his father would be working late and little four-year-old danny would walk into his parents room to find his mom. she’d let him brush her long, dark hair, or sing to him when she was in an exceptionally good mood some nights, or listen to him play the piano ( which he was learning at the time ) — those few evenings are engraved in his mind, his love for his mother growing with every short-ended second he spent with her. 

when daniel was thirteen his father told him that he was the heir of the greatest company of all time. to a normal, tween kid this would have sounded like a dream. but daniel loathed even the thought of it.when he was sixteen when his mom left him and his dad without any warning, and the reason for her leaving…? danny has no clue. he wasn’t very involved with his parents when he grew past the age of eight. ana was all he needed to an extent. 

due to his mothers disappearance his father kind of went off the deep end— anger issues, drinking, sleeping with other women. the communications technologies company that his father owned held it’s own for the time being until his father got back on his feet. that’s also when they up and officially settled in new york rather than switching between oregon and new york. all of this would have left danny unphased until his father fired ana out of spite, merely because he saw daniel was fine while he was drowning in sorrow. that’s when things started to go south for hartley. 

he had started to resent his father, his mother, and this posh lifestyle. he started to fight with people in public places, affecting his fathers reputation. he blew off every other new teacher that came in to teach him ( even though, eventually, he finally let up and is learning about business— his fathers wishes, of course. ), and he practically formed an unhealthy habit of spiraling, using booze and alcohol to help drink himself into incoherence. the only thing that helps clear his head is when he plays the piano, and he plays it well considering he mastered it at a young age.

nowadays, his father has him attend meetings and consistently tries to convince him to embrace the wealth and the power he may gain one day, but the discussion always ends in one of them red-faced, steam coming out of their ears. as said before, daniel hates this lifestyle. he never asked for the riches or the power, and he certainly doesn’t want it. you’d think he’d want love and affection, but he’s gone without it for so long that he no longer has a the cravings for it. he has very little for friends, and he prefers to keep to himself. he will purposefully hurt your feelings if you don’t leave him alone when he wants you to, and he won’t think twice about verbally abusing you, hitting your insecurities and things of the sort.

long story short, daniel is 23 years old. he’s very sarcastic, very dead-pan, and if you catch him on a bad day? he’s not nice, and he’s very hard to get along with so good fucking luck loldanny came back to oregon because his father said ‘it’d be good for him to gain some perspective’, but in reality he knew his father just didn’t want to take the time off of work and the thought of coming back to the place where he and his mother were once still together is… catastrophic. daniel didn’t fight against his dad wishes to come to the cabin. although, he also hates how nostalgic the place is. all in all, danny is just here to it in a corner and drink tbh

WANTED CONNECTIONS  ;

long lost friends - he gets to the cabins and runs into someone who looks familiar. turns out it’s his old buddie from when he was just a tot !! and wow you’ve changed kind of and shit daniel you’re still a dick huh lol

drinking buddies - the pair always meet at the same time on the same day, unspokenly, and it slowly grows from causal bar talk from across the counter to them pouring their souls out to each other and laughing until they crY ok how cute i stan

frenemies - the typical banter on these two is expected from everyone around, and at times they may cross the line with their horrid words and degrading insults but in the end they always result to tough love. but, god forbid one of them get’s too mushy with the other… they’d never live it down.

twisted - as toxic as they seem the pair always seem to end up together… in bed… naked. they are so wrong for each other that anybody could take one look at them and know that they wouldn’t last a day. but, somehow, they always manage to sex it out with no strings attached despite the screaming and the infuriating words they say to one another. they are perfectly wrong for each other and they both hate and love it at the same time. but how much longer can they keep this up…?  

HELLO my name is ( TODDERIC TENNER ). people often mistake me for ( THEO JAMES ). i find this very silly but people also tell me i’m ( AFFABLE ) and ( MANIPULATIVE ). i am born in ( MEDFORD, OREGON ) but i now live in ( NAPA, CALIFORNIA ). if there’s one song that describes me the most it’d have to be ( VOICES IN MY HEAD / STICK TO THE PLAN by BIG SEAN ). — ( taylor, 19, est, she/her )

when todd was pretty young he moved from foster house to foster house pretty much until his adopted father found him ( more on that later ). the story is that as a baby, todd was left at child services doorstep so tbh no one has a clUe who his parents are. • his history is the typical sob story of hating every home he moved to bc the people who took him in didn't want him in their home bc he was too problematic  and a "bad influence on their other children". he was just a very angry kid honestly • all that being said, when he was 15 he left the family he was supposed to stay with for another week or so but he honestly couldn't take being around that family anymore so he packed his backpack with the three pieces of clothes he had and left. he didn't know where he was going but when he turned into a dark alley he found two men beating and stomping another man nearly to death. like any kid with the least bit of common sense he turned around and legged it only to run into what felt like a wall but was a man three times his height.

long story short they dragged him back to their headquarters and pondered on whether or not they should just kill him or let him stick around. the man who was three times his height spoke up and they decided to keep him to help with operations.

all in all, Todd was adopted into this huge ass drug industry and was adopted by the super tall man who turned out to be basically this really big drug lord who wanted a son and found one yay !!

so todd basically learned how to lie, scheme, steal, fight, intimidate... pretty much a bunch of negative traits and he was great at it. he didn't like it but he simply did as he was told.

todd's now 27 and on a job that was supposed to be an easy pick up and dip out but it turned out to be a fucked drop bc the feds came and they caught todd and he was immediately put in prison but they soon let him out because they somehow could pin any hard evidence against him so he's now a free man rip

after that whole shabang todd took it upon himself to ditch the whole gang lifestyle and create a life for himself. he got on a bus and hit the road from oregon to california, using the money he made and saved from the past jobs to buy himself a comfortable house in napa and now he sells wine :)

he figured his old gang would come for him but they haven't yet and he isn't going to complain about it either. he's keeling his head low and staying quiet for the time being.

in reference to coming back to oregon is interesting bc after settling down in napa he went on a search for his parents only to find out that his father died in a car crash ten years back and his mother supposedly passed with him too, but they never found the body.

his father had a will written out though and in it stated that there was a house oregon that was left for todd and with it was a note with a simple apology, that hardly explained anything about why they abandoned todd and who they were, and an address that belonged to the cabins

todd is only here to find more information on his parents and history. ( wanted connection: maybe someone who knew his parents ? maybe someone else's parents knew his parents, recognized the name and "i'm so sorry for your loss...."

now his personality? he seems like a typical guy. he keeps to himself most of the time. since he's on a mission to find information he won't be afraid to use someone to get what he wants. if you get in his way he'll find a way around you or a way to move you. simple as that.

WANTED CONNECTIONS ;

roomies - todd and his roommate soon become acquaintances but it’s open for pretty much anything ? todd doesn’t truat anyone so maybe they sOMehow gain his trust and he lets them help find clues or information ? idk lets talk omg

use me - they’re friends but then again they’re not. lovers? yes and no. either way, the sex is great and when either is feeling stressed or sad or whatever the feeling, they text / call each other up and “my place or yours?”

you knew my parents ...?! ( this could potentially include multiple muses !! ) - todd is only here by chance and he is desperate to know who his parents were. one would think finding information would be hard, but the minute he mutters “tenner.” at check-in, some stranger places their hand on his back and whispers “i’m so sorry for your loss...”

  okay !! so this is very general and informal i'm sorry if it wasn't clear ?? if you have any questions or anything of the sort please feel free to ask !! ask me anything pls ill spill my guts to you. also i may be adding more wanted connections over time so please click here just in case i add more mmmk. again, ( i’ll keep saying this ) i’m thrilled to be here h2gkmo

[cosmetologynerd]

The Funeral (Peter Parker x Reader)

Hey guys! Another day, another story! This is a direct chapter from another fan fic I am writing on another website, I have just changed it to make it Peter x Reader instead of my character in the book. I hope you guys enjoy! 

P.S. Sorry if there are a few switches between the use of first person and third person pronouns. I literally took this off of my other page, changed a few things and tried to catch as many as possible. 

Warnings: Severe sadness, dealing with death, some fluff 

Uncle Ben's funeral was the hardest thing you have ever had to go to. Every single person who had ever been in Peter's life was there. MJ, (y/bff/n), Ned, Harry Osborne, and much to Peter’s displeasure, even Flash Thompson. Yet, they were all here, silent tears rolling down their cheeks as the service went on. (y/bff/n) sat in the row behind Peter, Aunt May and you, and she kept her hand on your shoulder the whole time. Peter kept his hand tight on yours throughout the service, almost as though he was clutching onto it for dear life. His cries rippled his body He was a mess the whole time, and as we walked up to his uncles casket for the final viewing, Peter froze.

"Pete?" you asked putting your hand on his shoulder. He looked at you and you could clearly see all the pain and hurt in his eyes. His brown eyes had tears rapidly flowing down out of them down his cheeks.

"I- I can't. I can't see him this way," he said, his voice shaking.

"Peter," you said slowly. You couldn't stand to see him in this much pain. It hurt  to see him in this much pain. Your heart broke over and over again this way every day. It was as though he was slipping farther and farther into darkness every day. Pulling him into a hug, you whispered into his ear, "I know you. I know you'll always regret it if you don't tell him goodbye."

Slowly, you pulled away lacing your fingers with his. He looked at you, blinking rapidly. He tightened his grip on your hand and you squeezed his back. Together, you both walked up towards the black casket, and looked down on Uncle Ben. He was so young. Too young. And to see him here, laying like he was asleep, made you want to cry, the tears already in your eyes threatening to fall. You tightened your grip even more on Peter's hand as you laid down a single white rose on him and murmured your final words to Ben Parker so low even Peter couldn't hear you. "Thank you for saving me from my father that day. I will always be grateful."  Your eyes were full of tears, your voice shaking and it took a moment to collect yourself before you could look up at Peter again. 

You stepped to the side, still holding Peter's hand while you let him say his goodbye. Peter’s words, his final words, his goodbye to his uncle was the thing that broke your last resolve. "I don't know what it will be like without you, seeing how my parents left me and it was always you and  Aunt May. But I promise, I will do everything I can to do good. For you. Thank you for being my dad, Uncle Ben." The tears streamed down your cheeks and you felt Peter tug on your hand slightly. Looking up from his uncle and into his brown eyes that you loved so much, it was with a small nod that you both knew. It was time to move on. Slowly, you moved away from the casket and Peter enveloped you in the biggest hug. Wrapping both his arms over your shoulders so he was holding you as close as possible, you sobbed into his chest. His familiar comforting scent of cinnamon engulfed your senses and crying though you were, his scent started to calm you down.

"I'm so sorry,"you said through hiccups. "T-this is all my fault."

Peter held you tighter, his strength surprising you. "It's not your fault. If you had run down there, you'd be dead too." His voice was tight. Placing his hands on your shoulders he looked you in the eye and said, "I couldn't handle it if I lost you too."

A hot blush rise to your pale cheeks and Peter raised his thumb to wipe away my tears. "Peter, (Y/N)," a voice called from behind you. You felt a small shiver run up your spine as you turned to look at Harry Osborne walking right towards you. Peter let go of you and you saw his mouth drop open before splitting into a wide grin.

"Harry!" Peter said, running to his old friend. "Thank you for coming."

"You know I would." He said, then turning to you. "(Y/N)! You look lovely." He pulled you into a hug, which you only returned to ease Peter's mood. You wouldn't forgive Harry so easily for walking out on you both, not when you both had needed someone so much. But Peter's hands were curled into fists. Immediately, you let go, shocking Harry.

"Look, I know I just kinda walked out of your lives a few years ago. And I wish I could go back and change that, I really do. Why don't both of you come to Oscorp tomorrow? I can show you guys around, we can catch up..." He said, trailing off when you crossed your arms across your chest. Peter placed a hand on your shoulder and felt yourself relax.

"We'll come. We have to go find Aunt May right now though. It was good to see you, Harry."

***

Later that night, you perched yourself on the fire escape just outside of Peter’s bedroom window. He had been gone for hours, and your couldn't help but worry about him. He probably just needed some alone time, and honestly who could blame him?

"I wish you would talk to me, Pete." you sighed, looking down at the ground. There was someone down there. Curiosity got the better of you and slowly you climbed down the two flights of the fire escape. Your bare feet hit the pavement of the alley and a gasp emitted from your lips. Standing before you was a person you had only seen two times before. He wore a red and blue sweat suit, the red masked pulled over his face with black rimmed goggles covering his eyes. The last time you saw him, he actually pulled your other best friend from being run over by a car.

He stared at you, apparently shocked. "Hey there," he said after a moment.

"Hi," you said, stepping around a pile of broken glass. "What brings you to Queens at half past one?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said. "I was actually here to, um-"

"You don't have to explain. It's your job to keep everyone safe right? That just means you're here doing that." You hurried to get your sentence out there so he wouldn't feel obligated to tell you something.

"Your friend keeping away from busy streets while on her cell phone?" He asked and you felt the smile form on your face. He remembered us. He remembered you.

"Uh, yeah she is. I think the near death experience scared her for life."

He stepped closer to you. "And you? Are you staying out of trouble?"

There was no way to explain it, but hearing him ask you that, with concern etched in his voice, made you shiver. "I- I-" you thought about Uncle Ben. "I had a close call a week ago. Something happened to one of my friends family members. I was there..."

Spider-Man was silent for a moment. The silence seemed to stretch out between the two of you and you thought he was going to turn and leave. "I'm sorry to hear about that- your friends family member, I mean." His voice was quiet and foggy. He cleared his throat and spoke again. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt though."

You felt a blush rise to your cheeks. The distance between you had shrunk greatly and it made you feel flustered. "I- uh, h-he is too. The funeral was today and he said some stuff that made me think- I mean- I don't know. I just know now I have two people glad that I'm still around." You rambled on, your voice getting quieter with every word.

Spider-Man took an abrupt step back from you and immediately you felt cooler. "Which window is yours? I'll take you up. You shouldn't be out here- especially barefoot."

You looked down at your bare feet and then back into the hidden eyes of the masked boy before you. "Y-you don't have to-" you started but he cut you off.

"It's not safe out here. Trust me, yes I do."

There was a hint of finality to his voice that made you immediately nod. "I'm three stories up. Third window in," you said pointing at it.

He stepped next to you and scooped you up in his arms. He raised one hand and shot webbing out of a device on his wrist and gave a slight tug. Slowly, your arms wrapped around his neck and you climbed higher, looking at him the whole time. It was back. The sense of familiarity you got from him when he saved (y/bff/n). But again, you couldn't pin point it.

He set you down on the fire escape and went to leave but you grabbed his hand. Your heart raced as you spoke to him. "Spider-Man... if it's not too much trouble.... could I ask a favor of you?"

He looked down at your hands and then at you, his masked eyes settling onto your (y/e/c) ones. "What is it?" He asked timidly.

"My friend- the one I told you about down there- it was his uncle who passed. He's having a hard time and he keeps wandering off late at night and it worries me, him being alone out there. Would you please keep an eye out for him? Keep him safe? His name is Peter Parker."

He stared at you for a moment before jumping onto the escape with you and opening the bedroom window. "I'll keep him safe. I promise," he said. "Now please, get inside."

You nodded and turned to go but you turned back around. Throwing your arms around him, you whispered a soft thank you into his ear and placing a gentle kiss on his masked cheek.

And without another word, or a glance back, you did as he asked and went inside, your heart pounding the entire time.