#and THEN you realize that you don’t always need to fix every single issue as soon as it pops up

[mars-ipan]

i keep trying to find a reason for my weird mood i’m in and i just remembered that i don’t need a reason

[bunniesanddeer]

Hi! I hope you’re having a wonderful day or night.

I saw your asks are open and I had an idea. What if it’s a protective Alastor x Reader who is the daughter of a protective Lucifer? Maybe she kept in contact with her dad so they are closer and she is older than Charlie. When Lucifer comes to visit the hotel him and Alastor cause some drama

Thanks!

W.P💚

I hope this is what you were looking for? I am very new to doing things like this!

Daddy's Girl

Pairing: Alastor X Lucifer's Daughter! Reader

Tags: Sisterly love, some sexual connotations, spoilers, some angst maybe? idk, swearing, Mimzy.

SPOILERS FOR "DAD BEAT DAD"

Word Count: 1,775

The hotel was eerily quiet when you awoke, so you made your way downstairs to see if anyone was awake. All you could hear as you made your way down the stairs was your quiet footfalls and weird murmuring. As you turned towards the sitting area, you realized the muttering was coming from your younger sister, Charlie.

Charlie was pacing back and forth in front of a pin board covered in colorful papers, and strings. She tugged at her hair, her muttering growing more frantic. As you took in the scene, you realized there were a few people standing and watching her. Niffty was bouncing on the couch, her face full of a strange glee. Husk and Sir Pentious were watching with mixes of bafflement and curiosity.

“Hey, Char Char? Are you ok?” You asked, walking around the couch to get a better view. You saw Angel and Vaggie approach from your peripherals as Charlie whipped around frantically.

“Nope! No. Not really! Haha. Hah…” Her false smile falls as she rips a page off the board. “I have been up all night trying to figure out why the hotel isn’t working! We’ve done every single trust exercise and arts and crafts project I could find! We’ve talked about our feelings and… nothing is working!”

You frown. You knew that things taking so long would eventually get to her, but it was sad to see just how severely. She needed more help. 

You walk up to your sister, and set your hands on her shoulders. “I think…”

Her expression collapses. “Please don’t say it.”

“We should call dad. And ask for his help.”

She winces. She clearly doesn’t want your dad’s help. You can’t exactly blame her, either. The two of you were raised a little separate, and it had affected her relationship with Lucifer pretty badly. Although, you were older, and it had afforded you time with Lucifer before Lilith had started to separate herself from him. Charlie had only had a handful of years before their relationship went south. It showed in her anxiety with him, and Lucifer’s inability to talk to Charlie openly. It made you sad, but you weren’t sure how to fix that rift.

“He’s the reason the extermination happens to begin with! He just let it happen! He doesn’t even like sinners! Why would he help me?” Charlie hugs herself, looking off to the side. “He’s always preferred you anyway.”

You hear some audible winces from the audience by the couch, but you ignore them. You pull her into a tight hug, her taller frame putting you at her collarbones. “You know I would change that if I could, honey.” You squeeze her tightly and say, “We can at least see if he can get you a meeting. Anything to give you the advantage, Char Char.”

She sighs, and hugs you back. “Yeah. I guess we can at least try.”

You pull back. “I think you should call him. I bet he’s dying to hear from you, even though he sucks at showing it.”

Charlie rubs her arm and nods. “Alright. I’ll do it!”

As she struggles to start the phone call, Husk makes comments about her having ‘Daddy Issues’, and you blanch. How rude! (Even if it was true). The others make comments about meeting Lucifer, but you and Vaggie just keep your eyes on Charlie. She seems so nervous, and it makes your stomach twist in knots. 

She finally calls. It rings three times before a faint, “Heyyyy bitch!” rings out on the other end of the line. You facepalm. Good going Dad.

When all is said and done, Lucifer announces he is visiting within the hour, after much cajoling and guilt-tripping on Charlie’s part. Although, from what you could hear, he seemed excited.

Charlie is excited, and so is everyone else in the hotel. You cheer for her, and then the realization hits you. 

Alastor. Fuck.

As the final touches are finished, you sidle up to Alastor with a small grin.

“Please, please don’t start shit. Charlie needs this to work. And I need this to work for Charlie,” you murmur to him. 

He barely glances at you. “Worry not, sweetheart! You know I would never do anything to risk the reputation of the hotel! Charlie will get the help she needs!” His arm wraps around your shoulders, and he squeezes you into his side. For just a moment, his head ducks down, and he whispers into your ear. “Just need to make it clear whose little girl you are now.” Then he perks right back up like nothing happened.

Your face burns hot. How dare he! But you don’t get to do anything in retaliation, because Charlie is opening the door.

“Chaaaaarlie!” Lucifer exclaims, immediately pulling her into a tight embrace. Your sister’s face is full of shock, and you just want to laugh. Ha! You were right! He continues talking to her in the slightest baby voice, and you can’t help but let some giggles escape you. Your dad could be just so silly! “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

He lets go of Charlie as she welcomes him to the hotel. He spots Keekee first, and pets her. Then greets Razzle and Dazzle. You watch from the sidelines with a small smile. It was nice seeing your dad outside the home. He had been holing himself up for so long… You look up at Alastor, who hasn’t moved an inch since your dad came in.

You elbow him gently. “You okay?”

Alasotr’s expression is tight. His eyes flicker to you for a moment, before landing back on your father. He merely hums in response, making you frown. How odd… You knew the two wouldn’t get along, but for Alastor to dislike him already?

 Then your dad spots the bar. “Oh! What in the unholy Hell is that?” 

Alastor immediately shadow-walks to the other side of the room, and you know it’s time to intervene.

“Oh! Just some of the renovations we’ve made.” Alastor gestures with his mic, before continuing. “Adds a bit of color, don’t you think?” 

You wince, and make your way to Alastor’s side. 

“Hey, Dad,” you say, trying to prevent your dad making any further comments on the decor. That's a good way to piss off Alastor.

“Sweetheart!” Your dad runs up to you, and tries picking you up. You laugh at the tights squeeze. “How’s my girl?” His hands squish your cheeks, making it hard to respond.

You giggle through the ministrations, and finally push his hands back so you can respond. “I’m doing great, Dad. Figured I should introduce you to Alastor here.” You gesture to Alastor, who looks the closest to not smiling that you have ever seen. It makes your stomach feel like lead, as you keep talking. “He’s our facilities' manager, and my…”

Your voice trails off, and you look at Alastor, as if hoping he has the word you are looking for.

“I’m her lover!” Alastor exclaims, quite loudly. His static drops for a moment and then bursts back up in volume, making you wince. Great. He just announced that to everyone in the room. The ‘everyone’ being everyone who didn’t know. You can hear Charlie ‘whoop!’ in the background, and several variations of ‘what the fuck’. “She’s quite the darling. I just couldn’t resist this sweet face!” Alastor grabs at your cheeks, similar to how your dad did, and squishes them. “See?”

You risk a glance at your dad. He looks ready to kill. Fuck. This is absolutely not how you wanted to tell your dad. He nearly killed the last partner you had for ghosting you. You can see your dad’s horns growing, and you push Alastor back.

“Haha! Yeah. Uh. Sorry. I would have told you before now, but we’re kind of new! We were trying to keep it on the down-low for now but…” You glare at Alastor, but he just has this shit-eating grin on his face, and you know he doesn’t care. 

“Right.” Your dad continues glaring at Alastor. You wince, and decide to go over by the snack table. Angel is just giving you this look, and you know he will be asking about Alastor’s dick, which you have not seen, later. Husk seems disappointed in you, and you absolutely know why. You just give him an apologetic shrug, and watch as Alastor and your dad seem to start a pissing match. 

It ends with Alastor in his face saying, “Fuck you,” and your knees nearly give out. Holy shit. 

Charlie finally intervenes, and Lucifer, after some more glaring at Alastor, get her to introduce him to the rest of the residents.

Alastor lays a hand on your shoulder as your dad greets both the guests and the staff. You can feel his thumb rubbing back and forth, and it sends shivers down your spine. You look up at Alastor, but his gaze is still locked on your dad. Annoyed, you roll your eyes with a huff, and look back to the meet-and-greet. Your dad is looking back at you, his frown deep, and a barely audible growl making its way to your ears. Your dad is fucking growling at Alastor. What the Hell?

A rumble builds up in Alastor’s chest, and you can feel it against your back. This one sets heat back up to your face. Gosh, this man needed to get his shit together. No need to start stuff with your dad! Alastor’s hand tightens on your shoulder, before he lets go and stalks back towards Charlie, who is trying to convince your dad to help her. 

And then they’re singing. Because of course. Alastor joins in, saying some things that seem to really piss off your dad, but you can't hear much over the blood rushing in your ears. Sometimes these two could be so embarrassing. When your dad pulls out the golden fiddle, you nearly die laughing. (He still wasn’t over losing that one time!) Everything comes to a head, with the two men yelling insults in each other's faces, when suddenly-

“It’s ME!” A woman barges in through the lobby doors, yelling and calling herself Mimzy. She’s blonde, and dressed like a flapper. Alastor seems to recognize her, so you don’t worry. 

Later that night, when your dad has finally agreed to help your sister get that meeting, you all settle onto the couches, making a game plan. Alastor sits beside you, one foot resting on the other knee. You lean over and ask softly, “What did you say during that song, anyway?”

Alastor’s grin sharpens, and he presses his lips near your ear, again. “Charlie calls me dad, and your eldest calls me Daddy.”

If you nearly choke on your own spit, you refuse to admit it. 

[happy74827]

Beyond Repair

[William Afton x Wife!Reader]

Synopsis: Despite everything he’s done, so far the only consequence he’s received is marriage counseling {GIF Creds: @bittwitchy// Tagging @moonbanana-library because I feel like you’ll enjoy this}

WC: 2595

Category: Slight Fluff, Slight Angst [TW — Afton, cursing, small mentions of 18+ content]

Don’t we love random sparks of inspiration at four in the morning? I sure do 💀

『••✎••』

You were always a clueless little thing.

You saw the world with rose-tinted glasses, and you believed in everyone. You saw the best in people, and you wanted to see the world like that.

And it wasn't a bad way to look at things; it kept you innocent and full of light. William, however, wasn't as good as you were. He had seen the world for what it was, and he knew how the world worked.

He'd lost his innocence, and he had seen bad things… done bad things. Sure, he was good with kids, but he had a secret side that he knew would completely crumble the way you saw the world, how you saw him.

So, despite everything, he made sure you'd never know. He kept the darker side of himself out of your view. And he did everything he could to be the husband you thought he was.

Soon, that husband's facade became a father's facade, and you had a beautiful daughter who had his eyes and your smile.

But he knew the truth.

He'd never been a good man. Not even close.

The moment his eyes landed on you, the day he'd met you, the years he got to spend with you, and the day he had asked you to be his wife. Every step in between, he knew that he didn't deserve any of it. He knew that he should have let you go.

But he was selfish.

He needed you. He loved you. Your innocence was refreshing. And your optimism was addicting.

William knew that he didn't deserve anything, except for maybe an early death. Yet, despite knowing all that, he was greedy. He was an ambitious man, and he took every opportunity that presented itself to him.

Even if that meant hurting the ones around him.

Because you see, the only thing in this world he wanted more than your love was the recognition he'd never gotten. And the respect.

So when he'd built his pizzeria and made his animatronics, he saw just how successful it became, and he saw just how many people knew him and just how much respect he was finally getting.

That's when he realized.

That's when the real William began to show himself. And that was his big mistake. That mentality led him to this grandma's couch, impatiently awaiting for hell to begin.

Marriage counseling.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head, trying to hold back a laugh. This was so pathetic. For years, he's crossed lines and done things that would put him on death row, and he'd never had a single issue. Yet, one small argument with you, and suddenly he's a man with a failing marriage?

What kind of joke was this?

Turns out the clueless little thing that you were had taken his little stunt a lot more seriously than he had anticipated.

"This is ridiculous," William groaned, slumping back into his seat as he stared up at the ceiling. "This is going to be a waste of time. All we need is a vacation, and it'll all work out just fine.”

You just stared at him with a look of disbelief and a small bit of disgust. Quite adorable, if he was honest.

"Really, William?" You said, rolling your eyes. "It's going to take a little more than a vacation to fix our relationship."

William turned to look at you, and he felt his heart twinge when he saw just how upset you were. His lips parted, and he felt a surge of regret wash over him.

He really hated seeing you like this.

You were the only person who ever seemed to make him feel remorse, and right now was no exception.

He opened his mouth, trying to find the words to tell you that he was sorry, but he stopped himself before he could say anything.

Because he wasn't sorry.

Not really.

“Ah, the Aftons, I presume?" A voice said, and William looked away from you, looking to the front of the room.

A man, most likely in his late 40's, was standing by the doorway. His dark hair had streaks of grey in it, and he had a few wrinkles. He was wearing a brown turtleneck and a pair of black pants.

His face was unreadable, and William couldn't tell what he was thinking. But he could tell that this was the same therapist he'd spoken with on the phone.

"I'm Doctor Miller. It's nice to finally meet you both." The therapist smiled and held his hand out.

William sighed, pushing himself off of the couch, and stood up. He shook his hand and forced a smile. "Likewise."

The Doctor nodded and glanced at you. He smiled and walked over to you, extending his hand.

You shook his hand and flashed a warm smile. The smile didn't meet your eyes, though. His smile was fake, and so was yours.

Maybe you were more similar than William had first assumed.

The doctor let go of your hand and stepped back. "Let's get started then."

William sat down, slouching his posture and staring up at the ceiling. He thought about wrapping his arm around you, pulling you closer to him, and holding you tight, but he thought better of it.

You'd probably reject his affection anyway. For being a clingy wife, you were surprisingly good at pushing him away.

Doctor Miller grabbed a notepad and a pen, walked to the chair beside the couch, and sat down.

He smiled the first genuine one out of the three of you, and opened the notepad.

"Alright, Mrs. Afton, I'd like you to start off. Tell me what happened." He said, his gaze fixed on you. Of course, he was already taking your side.

William glanced at you and raised an eyebrow. This should be good.

You hesitated before speaking. "He’s… well, different lately. He's distant. And cold. I hardly see him anymore, and when I do, he doesn't talk to me. He spends all of his time either in the basement or his office."

Doctor Miller wrote something down and nodded his head. "Is there any particular reason you believe this is happening?"

“No, but he has been acting more aggressive lately. I tried to talk to him about it, and he just snapped. It was like he wasn't even listening. Like his mind was somewhere else."

William stared at you. You sounded so sincere. So hurt. If he had a heart, he's sure it would be aching.

Doctor Miller hummed, nodding his head, and turned to William.

"What was the argument about, Mr. Afton?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

William looked at the doctor, and two options popped into his mind. Option one is to tell the doctor his true feelings. You were being ridiculous and childish. He didn't need your bullshit. He had more important things to worry about. Or, option two, lie.

He was always good at lying.

William sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced at you and started to speak.

"She's right; I've been a little cold recently. I've just been stressed out. My business has been a lot lately, and I've been dealing with a few other personal issues. Stress isn't a good look on me, I'm afraid."

He lied, flashing a small sad smile at the doctor.

Doctor Miller looked at him for a moment before writing something down.

"Well, it sounds to me like there are a few issues in your relationship." He said, putting his notepad on the table and resting his arms on his lap. “One of them is a communication issue, which is not uncommon in relationships like this. I believe I can help you, but I want to ask you both a question first."

"What's the question?" You asked, and the Doctor turned to you, a soft look in his eyes.

"Are you still in love with him?"

You and William both tensed up, and the room was silent for a moment. He couldn’t help but turn to look at you, genuinely curious to hear what you were going to say.

You hesitated, your eyes locked on the ground. William felt his stomach churning and his jaw clenched.

He was actually nervous.

For the first time in a long time, William was actually nervous.

You turned to look at him, and he felt a wave of relief wash over him.

"Yes. I still love him."

Doctor Miller nodded and turned to William. "What about you? Are you still in love with your wife?"

Truth be told, you were the only person who ever came close to making William feel love. Vanessa was a close second, but he wasn't sure if it was the same kind of love. At least, not in the way he felt about you.

If this was love, then he was still in love.

"Always.” He spoke without a moment of hesitation. He gave you a warm smile, pulling that facade back up again. “…That's why I'm here."

The doctor smiled, and William swore he saw the tiniest hint of pity in his eyes. "That's good. That means there's still hope for your relationship.”

With all the money this one therapy session was costing him, he damn well hoped so.

"So, here's my idea," the doctor said, sitting up in his seat and clearing his throat. "I'd like to start off with a few activities, some couples challenges, if you will. This will help me understand where the problem areas are, and hopefully, after a few sessions, we'll be able to fix them. If not, we'll find a solution together. Sound good?"

Activities? Challenges? What was this, summer camp?

William resisted the urge to roll his eyes and nodded. "Sounds great."

You nodded, smiling, and William swore he saw a bit of excitement in your eyes. He wondered how much this meant to you. Had you really thought you were losing him?

"Perfect," the doctor said and grabbed his notepad. He flipped the page and started writing something down.

With the amount of writing this guy was doing, you'd think this was a novel. It took a lot out of him to not get up and snap the damn pen in half.

"Now, this might seem a little strange, but I want to try an activity right now. Something small and easy, so we can gauge your relationship and see how you interact with each other."

"What kind of activity?" You asked, tilting your head slightly.

"Something simple, don't worry. Just a conversation."

Conversation. That sounded boring.

William was about to complain when the doctor cut him off.

"When was the last time you two were… intimate?"

William's eyebrows furrowed, and he stared at the Doctor, whose gaze was fixed on him.

Was he asking what he thought he was asking?

William felt his face heat up and his jaw clenched.

He had to be kidding.

"I'm sorry, but what does that have to do with anything?" He asked, forcing his voice to sound calm.

The doctor turned his head to you, and you just looked down at the ground.

William was going to lose it.

"Being… connected with your spouse in that way is an important aspect of a healthy relationship. Without that sincerity, that vulnerability, you'll start to grow apart."

"We're perfectly connected," William said through gritted teeth. “What do you think you're implying here?"

He knew you like the back of his hand. He could read you like a book, and he was confident to know what you were thinking, doing, or feeling at all times.

He knew that look.

Your eyes were downcast, your hands were fidgeting, and your bottom lip was slightly jutted out.

You were embarrassed, and he knew he had to act. Play the good husband role, and save you the humiliation.

He reached his arm over and wrapped it around your shoulder, pulling you gently upwards. Your body tensed at his touch, but you relaxed when you looked up and saw his warm smile.

"See? We're completely connected." William said, his arm squeezing your shoulder. “I believe this is where our time is up. If you'll excuse us, we have some… activities apparently to get to."

William stood up, grabbing your hand and pulling you up with him. You were quiet, and he could feel your stare on the side of his head.

He couldn't tell if you were upset or grateful.

William cleared his throat and gave the doctor a cold smile. One that he purposely made so that the Doctor would know how displeased he was.

"Thank you for your time, Doctor Miller. We'll be sure to contact you soon."

The doctor nodded, a blank expression on his face. He didn’t say a word as William took you by the arm and guided you out the door.

No way in hell was he doing this again.

"William-" You started, and he cut you off.

"No more therapy, sweetheart," William said, his hand tightening around your arm.

"I-"

"No more," he said, his voice low and stern. Still, he kept that warm smile on his face. It made you fall back into silence.

"We're done. We'll figure this out on our own. No more doctors or counselors or whatever the hell he was.”

Truth be told, he was absolutely livid. All that money wasted for a bum therapist to imply that their marriage was falling apart because you weren't communicating?

What a scam. This is exactly why he preferred to do things on his own.

William led you back to the car, opening the door for you and helping you in. He walked around the car and slid into the driver's seat.

He took a moment to breathe, his head falling back against the seat and his eyes closing.

God, he hated being here.

Hated it so much.

He needed a cigarette and maybe a stiff drink.

"I'm sorry." You said, your voice quiet.

William lifted his head and turned to you. He blinked, confused, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What for?"

"I… I thought maybe if we went to see a therapist, they could help. They could fix this. But… I think I messed it up. I'm sorry."

Your voice cracked, and he watched as tears started to form in your eyes.

His face softened, and he turned his body towards you, leaning his back against the door. Such a crybaby you were, emotionally connected and sensitive.

Just another reason why you worked so well with him. Blinded by emotion, you were easy to trick. Easy to manipulate.

You were naive, and it was adorable.

"No, no. Don't cry." William said, his hand lifting and cupping your cheek. He brushed away the tears with his thumb, and he forced a smile. "There's nothing to fix. We're fine, I promise. I’ll make sure of it. Okay?"

"Okay," you whimpered, nuzzling into his hand. It’s quite the contrast compared to the look of disgust on your face from earlier.

He didn't want to see that again.

William leaned forward and pressed his lips against your forehead. He could smell the shampoo and soap from your morning shower, and the smell calmed him down.

He could tell the action had calmed you down, too.

William pulled back, and his lips twitched upwards. "Don't worry about a thing. I'll fix this."

After all, he always got what he wanted. And what he wanted was his wife.

And no stupid, worthless therapist was going to guide him away from that.

[parentsday]

Hiii! Since you asked about headcanons/analysis stuff:

There's a common interpretation on the fandom about Max's treatment of David in the early episodes coming, at least partially, from trust issues regarding adults/authority figures. And I've seen push back against it, too. People who say it's just because David is annoyingly positive. Nothing else.

And sure, I can see that. But Nikki also acts in a cheerful manner and mostly enjoys camp, and Max doesn't treat her with the level of rudeness he treated David in season one. This could be due to her being his little partner in crime, but idk. I always interpreted it as him thinking that David is some fake nice adult who will just let him down if he allows it.

And, while I was thinking about this, I realized how this interpretation of Max's behaviour towards David adds another heartbreaking layer to Parents day.

Max's perception of David started changing after Order of the sparrow, specifically after the "Somebody fucking has to" moment. For just a moment, the annoying, overly positive persona drops, and Max is able to see a nuanced human being. And it's clear that he starts understanding David a little more, because in Cult camp (literally the next episode), he allows himself to be brainwashed and trusts that David will save the camp (btw, we as a fandom don’t talk about this aspect of this episode enough).

So yeah, his perception of David changes for the better.

But then, parents day happens.

And David spends most of the episode being an absolute jerk, even if he doesn't realize it.

He pushes SO HARD to try and make the day perfect, basically ignores Max when he states that his parents aren't coming, gets way too serious about playing the role of Max's dad for the day, forces Max into the activities and then, at the end of a day that was already shitty for Max, he yells at him.

I think the context of Max's opinion on David finnaly becoming more positive makes this episode so much sadder.

Because it ceases to be just about Max's neglectful parents.

Now it's also about the closest thing he has to a trustworthy adult making him uncomfortable, ignoring his feelings and then yelling at him and telling him that he "has a bad attitude" and "brings everyone else down instead of trying just a little bit to have fun".

(Which are things he must have heard from adults before, if he behaves the way he does at camp in school and other places)

Remember in Friends like these when he said "Life's just one dissapointment after another. I can't belive I let myself forget it"? I think he might have had the same train of thought here: "I can't believe I let myself forget David is an asshole that only cares about impressing Campbell and making this stupid camp look good". Or: "I can't believe I let myself forget that every single adult thinks I'm a bad kid and a lost cause."

And I know it gets fixed quickly, with David apologizing shortly after, but still. I think the idea of Max being dissapointed at David in Parents day, even if it was just for some moments, is so good.

I also think this is the episode that comfirms to Max that David is genuinely a good person trying his best. He spent the entire day having to think about the fact that his parents suck, and then there's David, who is kind, apologizes for upsetting him and takes him to eat pizza and have a little heartfelt talk.

When was the last time his parents apologized to him, or cared about what he wanted/needed, or talked to him so gently?

The contrast between his parents and David is so big, and I think that's what makes Max finnaly go "Yeah, this guy isn't actually that bad."

(Sorry for rambling, omg.)

hi first of all thank u for an ask and such insightful one at it too !! this was an incredibly pleasant read and a lot of the stuff you say i personally find very good analysis of the show and agree with, however i do have some stuff to say abt it soo here we go ^-^ (this will be a long one so sorry about this in advance)

as i said in some previous reply, max is an incredibly peculiar guy when it comes to the way this show treats his trauma and the way he himself behaves as a result of it, and that’s by design! a lot of the thing he says and does in the first two seasons when it comes to david are there for reasons of narrative set up, and are later masterfully recontextualized by parents day later, leaving very little room for interpretation when it comes to how and why he operates. im gonna go out on a limb and say that i don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that most of his actions towards david in the early show stem from the childish born-from-trauma need for attention and also from his need for societal reinforcement of his own ego’s right to exist. when it comes to the first one i see most people agree (bc it’s a basic child psychology fact), but turn their noses in reference to the second one.

contrary to popular belief, max being in need of constant affirmation that he, as a person with little self value, deserves to exist next to other people is something that we see examples of constantly and is not a terrible part of his character that needs to be ignored. max is a neglect victim who from our knowledge is given very little attention by his parents, as a result of it he is a pessimistic asshole kid whose ego suffers from the very thing that made it this way. its in his strained relationship with nikki and neil, its in him arguing with david to put himself in the position of an adult, its him putting himself above others when it’s not needed and its in him putting his own egos safety first when time comes to accept that things are moving forward (two final episodes from both s3 and s4 are good examples of this). its not an inherently positive trait, but it is one okay for him to have by the virtue of being a young abused child with no support system, and denying it will leave him devoid of this characterization. in freudian (ugh) terms, we cannot separate his character’s superego from his id in a way that won’t harm the way he was intentionally written. Id, ego and superego are all influenced by our relationship with our parents, the amount of nurturing of a child's emotional and psychological needs parents does will result in the child’s psychological state forming a certain way, max as a character who is heavily reliant of his lackluster relationship with his parents is not devoid of this and it affects his relationship with david too. and the reason i’m saying all of this is exactly due to this.

david, when put in most simple terms, is a character who’s an adult figure present and mature enough in max’s current social position that it allows him to treat max as a child, something max is not used to. not used to to such an extent that it puts a strain on his ego in the process. david feeds his need for any form of attention, positive or not, just as much as he clips away at max’s need to be seen as socially important and in a position of an adult. it’s arguable if both of these are good or not but the main thing they are in relation to is obvious: max feels that being an adult who meets both of his psychological needs in ways that are unfamiliar to him makes david an untrustworthy person, thats exactly where you interpretation comes in clutch.

max and his behavior towards david cannot be separated from david being an adult, that is made clear with the way he treats nikki as an equal just because she is a person his age, despite her sharing a lot of david’s traits. going through the episodes you mentioned, order of the sparrow episode lets max see david perspective for the very first time. max is allowed to peek into the reason why david acts the way he does, however it alone doesn’t make him see david in a good light, if anything it makes him appear genuine in his actions. it also lets max have something for david that he didn’t have before: trust. it ends up being used in cult camp as a confirmation of it being something david can live up to (you are absolutely right, we really don’t talk abt this episode and it’s narrative weight enough). all of this has been adding onto the way max himself perceives david, parents day, however, lets both of them internalize the sentiment of mutual understanding towards each other together. parents day does this by lampshading max and david parallelism, making this whole episode consist of max seeing his parents in david just as much as david sees himself in max through the whole show and putting them in each others shoes by the end of it. the episode ends with david choosing max as a priority, he is still acting selfishly (once again david is an asshole) but choosing to do so towards max because the situation allows him to understand max the way s1 finale let max understand him. and with the final turning point in their dynamic, max understands that both his ego and need for attention can exist without them being reinforced by an adult treating him like he is an adult too. max was chosen as a priority for the very first time and that alone made him feel of more value than the treatment he initially yearned for would have. above all else parents day makes max see david as someone he can look up to as a person in emotional way, not only in a life or death situations, the shot of david from his perspective in the end making sure that we don’t miss it.

most of this is not me disagreeing with you, on the opposite i think a lot of the arguments you make are nice and are mindful interaction with the media. gold star for enjoying meta analysis to both of us i guess ⭐️. my main problem is, however, the fact that using all of this to basically say ‘maxs parents suck so he has a distain for david because of it’ is a heavy oversimplification that you somehow go against in your initial statement too and that i, personally, just don’t enjoy. this alone does not make your interpretation wrong though, if anything just reinforces your general idea into a more concrete argument rather than a collection of bits and pieces of evidence pointing to it. hope all of this made sense

tldr; man idk no summing up this one as to not take away from the overall statement im making with this. read the post 🫶

[doll3tt33]

1 month till the new The Boys season starts coming out.

Have a yandere headcanon for celebration. 🤲

Yandere Hughie uses his pathetic meow meow powers to his advantage. He'll purposefully play up his fear and anxiety to lure the reader in. Reader just wants to help him. He seems so sad. Yandere Hughie clings onto you where ever you go.

Yandere Butcher nearly beats the boy senseless when he does this. However, you are the only thing that holds him back. He doesn't want to fuck up whatever relationship he has with you. People can tell that he is softer around you. A kind of softness people only saw in him when Becca was around.

The two are bickering even more than they did before. They have a lot of trouble sharing. Hughie wants to keep you safe from how Butcher is.... Butcher. Billy wants to keep you safe from Hughie's weakness. He doesn't need his doll getting killed because the kid decided to puss out again. (Billy's words, not mine.)

If yandere Annie got caught in the mix? 😶 She is keeping you safe from both of those idiots. She'll be like a super normal girlfriend who just kills people behind your back. She's open to being in a relationship with both you and Hughie at the same time. Butcher getting near you? Nuh the fuck uh.

Yandere Frenchie and Kimiko work together against all the others. Kimiko had such a hard time learning to trust Frenchie, but not you. Both always team up with you on missions. Frenchie helps to teach both you and Kimiko how to bake. To simply their yandere-ness— Frenchie is the overprotective boyfriend and Kimiko is the possessive girlfriend. Goddesses help whoever lays a hand on you. They either get a bomb up their ass or their neck snapped.

MM I feel would be the only non-yandere in this situation. He's the mediator who does his best to keep you safe.

If yandere Soldier Boy is there? Every yandere in The Boys agrees that you have to be protected from him. He's not shy about demeaning or crudely flirting with you. His stance on your boundaries... non-existent. Sooooooo yandere Soldier Boy is gonna have to work 4x time to get even a crumb of your affection. He could just try to kill everyone—but he suspects you might hate him for that.

+ Bonus: Yandere Homelander

This largely depends on if he knew you as a citizen, or after you became a part of The Boys. Either way, this mommy's boy will do anything for you. He realizes that your group is gonna try to use that against him. So it kind of becomes a back and forth where Homelander kidnaps you and plays house—and then The Boys get you back safely in their arms. Homelander has this genius idea that if he puts a baby in you, you'll belong to him forever. He would hate you having a baby... because it takes away attention from him. So he'd probably just give the baby away or 'accidentally' kill it after it's born. He is one fucked up man with issues that couldn't be solved by the most renowned psychiatrist.

OMGWHWJJW IM BACK AND I SEE THIS IN MY INBOX

Off the bat, I see the words ‘Hughie’ and ‘pathetic meow meow powers’, and I already know it’s gonna be some quality content right there!! 😭🙏

I also very much agree he’ll lure the reader in by making them want to ‘fix him’ - the nice guy™️ who has been wronged one too many times. He’ll probably be the most soggy pathetic yandere ever but yk, that’s the beauty of it 🤌

AND BUTCHERRRR. I agree with everything, especially the part where there’s a type of vulnerability that only Becca is accessible to, but instead of her now it’s reader. In a way, I feel like we can already see so much of that from the show, to the point I’d say we even witnessed what he looks like when he’s utterly obsessed with someone?? ((I know one can debate that he’s simply just in love, but mans was causing collateral damage left and right because of one. single. woman.

Anyways, back on topic, but I love how the girls are fighting over reader!! As if those two don’t already have enough to fight about in the first place 😂

I gotta say tho, this part: “He doesn't need his doll getting killed because the kid decided to puss out again.” That is peak characterization! Something Butcher and Hughie would argue about for the life of them.

As for Annie!! Definitely with you on the ‘normal gf on the surface while killing more than she actually should behind the scenes’, but I feel like she’d rationalize it, because we know how empathetic she is and how she feels about senseless violence. She’ll try to come up with a reason to justify her actions and even gaslight herself into believing them to minimize the guilt.

For Frenchie and Kimiko, I LOVE this dynamic. I’d add that because Kimiko is the possessive gf, she’ll even out-yandere Frenchie?? For the reason being she’s a supe and wouldn’t hesitate to decapitate him if it came to that. At the same time tho, Frenchie, like you said, would be overprotective, even putting his life out on the line for reader (cuz have we seen how impulsive this mf can be? 🤦‍♀️). However, he just wouldn’t “win” the competition when it comes to reader if that makes sense?

AND YES MM WOULD NOT BE A YANDERE, BIG AGREE. As strict and assertive as he can be, he’d be respectful of boundaries. Just like how it was described in the show: he has a moral compass like Hughie, but is courageous like Butcher. Simply put, MM is a chill guy.

With soldier boy, YES TO EVERYTHING. But I wanna add that personally I think it’ll be a bit tricky for reader to even realize his obsession with them at the beginning. It’s like, wait- is he sniffing my unwashed socks rn or is he just being Solider Boy?… 😳

when it comes to a certain time and place, reader will catch a glimpse of his not-so-ordinary fixation he has with them ((tho emphasis on time and place, since idk maybe it’s just me but he’s alr a lil freaky in general

and my favorite, HOMELANDER AS A YANDERE WJKWWKWK. I love how plausible all of this is, cuz we already seen his behavior with Stillwell and hints of it with Maeve (not sure about Stormfront. Maybe not so much since they were in their honeymoon phase?)

But yeah, it’s so Homelander to get someone pregnant, only to probably laser the baby into smithereens when the man-child within him feels particularly “unnoticed” one certain day

it’s okay tho cuz he’s just a (42 year old) boy with a deeply wounded inner-child/j 😢😢

[queenburd]

okay that post already has 3 votes for “one now, one later” so here’s part one of “the narrator is taking forever on this surprise”

warning for some existentialism, spiraling thoughts. this is a heavier chapter overall, confronting issues of putting your own needs aside for other people. there are references to my Zending fic as well.

i genuinely can’t think of a catchy title for this one. i’ll figure it out when it goes on ao3.

-

Stanley is feeling… unhappy. No, out of sorts. Upset?

It’s complicated.

His narrator hums gently as the protagonist folds his elbows onto his desk and rests his head on his forearms. “Stanley? Anything I can do?”

No. No, he doesn’t think so. He can’t even necessarily place what’s wrong. He’s just come back from the Museum, after quietly sitting in the small dark room with the narrator’s voice, and the room with emails flicking by.

(He’s done that ending loads of times. Every time he tries to tell the narrator about it, the fellow expresses confusion. He knows Stanley isn’t lying, he’s even taken a peek at the memories with Stanley’s consent, but try as he might he can’t find its map or codes. It’s another mystery of the parable.)

“You always seem a little, well, morose after we reset from that ending. Is—is it the crusher? Because, I would change it, if I didn’t worry it would make that aspect of the game inaccessible to you. I don’t know if it would figure out how to compensate. Sorry.”

No. It’s not the crusher. Stanley’s died in plenty of ways, all fairly quick and painless. The crusher isn’t the problem.

The narrator is quiet. There’s the strange sound of fingers fidgeting on a desk. He has such fascinating sound cues, for not having a form.

“I—if you figure out what’s wrong, will you tell me? I want to fix it.”

Stanley inhales sharply. That’s what it is.

“What?” Anxiety creeps into the fellow’s voice. “What is it?”

Stanley would offer him the memory, if it wasn’t one that they both had. As it is, all he needs to do is think of a single, ugly word. The narrator’s breath hitches.

Villain.

-

then

Stanley stumbles out of his office, paler than the voice has seen him. Half of the narration spills out on autopilot before he catches himself at the sight of Stanley, leaning back hard against door 430 and sliding down to the floor, arm curling around his knees and a hand shielding the back of his neck. He hides his face against his kneecaps. His breathing is unsteady.

“Stanley? Stanley, what’s wrong?”

It only catches traces of Stanley’s thought patterns—they are scattered, disorganized and stained with a dawning horror and a deeper, ugly hue of shame. It hasn’t—

The narrator hasn’t seen a reaction like this since he bloody yanked out the memory of the Zending from Stanley’s head.

God, please let it not be another Zending. They weren’t anywhere near that room!

“Stanley please, you’re scaring me.”

He—he doesn’t think he can take it if Stanley begs him not to hurt him. After everything they’ve been through and after the narrator’s own attempts to change, he can’t bear it again.

Something fundamentally changed in him, that run. He’s looked over it many, many times, trying to understand the shift in dynamic. It wasn’t a rapid onset that he was aware of, but that was the run that the narrator… realized something about himself. About Stanley.

He didn’t want Stanley to be scared of him.

He’s not a good person. Of course not, he’s not even a person, really. He’s a god, a creator, and he made a story with a simple protagonist and a happy ending. And then, when his protagonist suddenly became more than a simple puppet, but a person, convinced he was trapped and desperate to rebel and escape, the god that made him became vengeful. Sent a flood to kill all the world, but there was no rainbow afterwards, no promise to not do it again.

So Stanley struggled, and the narrator looked at his creation that had somehow eaten the fruit of knowledge, and he punished him. He demanded the protagonist fulfill the role he’d been given, play the story the narrator had lovingly crafted for him.

Somewhere along the way, far too soon after this game of tug of war began, the narrator forgot that the whole point of his story was to give the man a happy ending. Stanley’s happiness, the original goal, was lost under the anger and the pride and the offense that his story wasn’t appreciated.

He’d been an idiot. He’d been cruel. He’d waved his power around over the man and abused it, and Stanley had done all he could in the face of it to get some kind of retribution, but in the moments he found he could hurt the narrator, he despised himself.

Stanley was a good person, and the narrator was not, and this knowledge had plagued the voice since then.

He’s tried to be better. He knows he can’t make Stanley trust him, he knows the scales are tipped so much more in his favor. He controls this parable and that in itself means they can never be equals.

That—

It—

It’s okay that Stanley will never trust him, he doesn’t deserve it. He just wants Stanley to know that the narrator doesn’t want him to suffer. That this was all supposed to be about his happiness. The narrator did all of this for him, and is going to try to make it right.

If Stanley only ever sees him as the jailer, that’s… fine. Better a jailer than a torturer.

The narrator is afraid to touch his thoughts again, he can’t bear the thought that Stanley’s mind will be pleading [ I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me too badly ] again.

So he drops his voice to a near whisper.

“Stanley? I’m not going to hurt you. I promised, remember? I told you I wouldn’t. Whatever it is, we can figure it out together.”

This, more than anything, distresses Stanley more—his breath hitches into a sob.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t—“

He only ever makes things worse, doesn’t he?

Stanley shakes his head rapidly. He places a curled fist on his chest, over where his heart would be. Presses circles into his shirt.

[ sorry, sorry, sorry ]

The protagonist scrubs his eyes, trying to control himself. The narrator hears himself swallow.

“It’s… it’s okay, it’s going to be okay. We’ll get through it, whatever it is.”

Stanley grimaces hard. Rests the back of his head against the door. Sniffs angrily.

He tries to sign, but his hands are shaky. Fiercely, he gestures to his head, flicking his fingers towards his temple, as though to say [ just look, just look at my thoughts ].

“I… you’re sure?”

Stanley nods.

The narrator brushes over it again, gentle as a breeze. He’s not sorting through the memories, he’s just touching at the surface information Stanley offers him, in Stanley’s own words.

Stanley had gone down that hall with the word escape pointed at it—the one that leads to the crusher. He’s gone there many times before, though the narrator doesn’t understand why. If he wants death, there are quicker routes for certain.

Now, he turns over the simple explanation that there’s a secret ending there, one he did not make, one which houses a different voice. The information unsettles him deeply. How did something like that get into his creation?

And then, the true horror.

It isn’t his creation at all. It never was. He’s just a piece of a creation, designed to believe—

He’s not the god of this world; he’s simply a piece of code. All he ever claimed Stanley was, and the narrator is no different. Just a character in someone else’s story.

He doesn’t realize that he’s been muttering “no, no, no, no,” for a near minute until Stanley cringes again. He forces himself to stop.

Stanley’s shame rolls off of him in waves, and the narrator cannot for the life of him understand why. He touches the man’s mind again, feather-light.

[ trapped in here with me and there’s no freedom for either of us and I just kept blaming him and I knew he was alone and I knew it scared him and I kept trying to leave but I can’t leave we’ll never leave this is forever this is forever the end is never the end is never the end and he was trying to be better and I didn’t care and I didn’t listen and why did I do that why did I do that? What sick person sees someone trying and just keeps taking their frustration out on him, what’s wrong with me? Maybe it’s built in hahaha coded in I’m not even really a person he wasn’t lying she was right Stanley was already dead ]

No. That—that’s not acceptable.

The narrator has a lot to process here. He has the distinct feeling that if he thinks too hard about this, he will spiral just as badly as Stanley is. His whole worldview has tilted almost 180, and he knows if he tries to deal with it right now, right this second, it might break him.

But Stanley is already breaking, and worse, Stanley is—is blaming himself, for fighting back after all the narrator has put him through.

His Stanley, his good, mischievous, gentle Stanley, is calling himself all sorts of terrible things. That takes precedent.

The narrator does what he does best.

He performs.

“Right,” he snarls, “that’s enough.”

Stanley looks up with an audible gasp. It hurts to hear. He pushes on.

“Do you really think I’m so simple as to be so easily manipulated by your actions? Think what you want, Stanley, but don’t think I’m so weak-willed and dependent on you for my own happiness. This is my story,” he continues, unable to hold back the slightest waver. “This is my world. I exist here to tell you where to go and what to do, I hold the power here. That hasn’t changed, do you understand me?”

Stanley is… staring at his knees with a furrowed brow. The narrator caresses his thoughts in the way one might tuck an errant curl behind an ear. He shapes his next words with care in response to what he finds.

“You decided a long time ago you were the hero of this little narrative, hero of my parable, and I was the villain. Have you forgotten that? I am the villain, Stanley. I am the enemy, the unyielding force which you rage against to no avail.” He chuckles in a manner he hopes sounds cruel and contemptuous, and not desperate. “Did you really think that would change? No, no, not at all, Stanley. In this world, I am the villain. You focus all that loathing towards me, and you remember that I hold all the cards, and that so long as I am here, you cannot give up.”

He’ll be the antagonist, he’ll be the monster that needs to be slain, if that’s what it takes. If that keeps Stanley from taking all that hurt and frustration and fear and pointing inwards at himself.

Not his good, stubborn, Stanley.

Stanley rests his forearms on his knees and stares into the middle distance. His face has flashed through confusion, resentment, realization. Now he is deep in thought. The voice doesn’t dare peek this time. It finds it is afraid to.

All this work trying to show Stanley it's been trying to make amends, and now it has to go back to how things were before. So the one person it cares about has someone to aim all his hurt at.

Just bury the distress deep, deep down. It will be his cross to bear, the fact that he only wants this man’s happiness and yet he can never share it with him. He will have to be the opposing force forever. Forever.

Stanley looks up.

[ No. ]

The narrator scoffs a bit. “No? What do you mean, no?”

Stanley signs slowly. There’s a determination in his eyes, one the voice hadn’t realized it was missing very badly. Now it shines, his mouth set in a firm line.

[ You’re not the villain. You don’t want to be the villain. You just want me to think that. Why? ]

Damn. He really thought he’d put on a good show there.

“Don’t you want something to strive against? Some nefarious force that you can blame for your suffering?” He tries to keep the harsh tone, spitting the words as condescendingly as he can.

Stanley shakes his head.

“You… don’t?”

[ Tired. Done fighting. No point. Want… ] He trails off, unsure how to complete the statement. Inhales deeply. Lifts his hands.

[ Want to tell a new story. Like you talk about in Confusion ending. ]

“The confusion ending…?”

[ New path, new story. Just me and Stanley. ]

It doesn’t make sense that Stanley would talk about himself as a different entity—oh! Oh, Stanley is trying to quote him!

[ We’re in the journey. ]

He hears himself inhale sharply. Asks the next question with trepidation.

“What do you want our story to be?”

Stanley—smiles.

-

now

He hears the narrator clear his throat nervously. “That was quite a long time ago, Stanley. Does it still bother you that much?”

No. He’s grown resigned to the fact that this place is his eternal home. It’s small, limited, but the companionship is fine and even after thousands of runs they keep managing to find new things to do and new ways to entertain each other. Resignation has long since turned to acceptance.

No, it’s—

Stanley’s mind reaches out and grasps at the whisper of frustration. He tries to hold it up to the light.

“I want to fix it.”

That’s what the narrator had said, when he realized Stanley was not happy. For years, he’s done everything in his power to make Stanley happy.

Once upon a time, the voice only cared about its perfect story, and they were enemies. Once upon a time, it hurt Stanley again and again for disobeying.

Sometimes it feels like the narrator has spent all this time trying to make up for it. Stanley knows it’s more than that, that there’s care between them, but it’s always about what Stanley needs, what Stanley wants, Stanley’s well-being.

He remembers coming back from the Museum that run, shaken and disgusted with his own behavior, and wanting to become so small that he would cease to exist, because how could he still be hurting someone who was trying to be better? How could he call himself a decent human being? Well, he couldn’t, he wasn’t even human.

He remembers feeling so completely off-center that it felt like the laws of gravity had twisted completely around him, and feeling like he would never find his footing again. There had been no way to ground himself.

And still, the voice had tried. First with overwhelming tenderness Stanley didn’t deserve, and then with faux antagonism in the hopes it would be a familiar enough enemy that he could find his balance.

He could hear the crack and waver in the words. The words themselves, little clues, little ways to read between the lines. Lines like “focus all that loathing towards me” and “you cannot give up” and “don’t you want something to blame for your suffering?”

Even then, even with the logic of the world shifting monumentally for both of them, the voice was worrying for him. Trying to give him solid ground.

“Yes,” the narrator says, a touchy huffy and sheepish, “you saw right through me, I know.”

Doesn’t the fellow get it? Doesn’t he see what Stanley is trying to get at?

“I dare say I don’t.”

Fine. Another example. The skip button.

The narrator inhales sharply. Stanley feels, for a fleeting instant, vindicated.

“Wh—why? What about it?”

He. Had left. The narrator. Alone. For eons.

“But—we’ve been over this, you didn’t have any options—“

And the moment they got back the narrator focused entirely on comforting Stanley! Calming him down, trying to forgive him, again and again giving him so much care and attention—

“You needed—“

But the narrator never let himself process it! Stanley had never been able to return the favor, not really, not truly! Not ever!

“But—I told you, I’m fine—“

How could Stanley even know? For all his narrator is dramatic, expressive, he doesn’t talk about these things! He avoids them!

“There’s nothing to discuss! Clearly it doesn’t bother me as much! Why are we arguing about this, Stanley, what have I done wrong?”

Nothing, but that was the problem!

“I don’t understand!”

Stanley tugs at his hair a little in frustration. How can he be more clear?

It’s not an equal exchange. Stanley can’t do things for the narrator the way the narrator does things for him, and part of that is because of his limitations on what he can control.

But part of it is the fact that the narrator still thinks he has more power than Stanley does, and so he must dedicate everything to him. He thinks only ever about Stanley, at the expense of himself.

The narrator sniffles. “What am I supposed to do? You’re my friend, and—and I do have more control over this place than you, so why is it a problem that I shape it to do things for you?”

But what about the narrator’s wants?

“I don’t—“

He absolutely has wants! He has feelings, desires, he cares about his story!

“The story doesn’t matter!”

It does! Why does he think Stanley still does it? It’s the only thing Stanley can ever do to try to really make him happy!

“You… you don’t do it for yourself?”

The voice sounds utterly heartbroken. Stanley’s heart sinks.

Fuck. This is getting out of control.

“You don’t like it? You don’t have to do it—“

Listen to himself! Listen to the things he’s saying, please!

The fellow is just… giving up pieces of himself for Stanley. He puts all of his own feelings aside. Stanley knows he feels emotions deeply, they both do, but the narrator never actually—

He never expresses any of it. He never processes his own trauma, his own sadness or fear or hurt. He just puts it all aside for Stanley. He won’t let Stanley return the favor.

He’s not human, he’s further from real humanity than Stanley is, but the narrator is still a person. He still has experienced terrible things. He still needs to confront it. Process it. He’s still allowed to want things for himself.

How can Stanley ever show him how much he really, truly cares, if the narrator won’t treat him like an equal on this?

Ah, damn. He’s crying a bit. He hadn’t realized. Stanley scrubs at his eyes.

It isn’t that he’s sad, at least he’s not sad for himself. He just… this is important. It worries him. It frustrates him. And he’s trying so hard to not make it about himself, because that’s the trap!

The narrator—whimpers. Just a small noise, hurt and distraught, a sound lodged deep in a throat. Stanley sniffs hard to try to collect himself.

“Do you want me to go?”

No, that’s—

Stanley takes a deep, deep breath, and reshapes the thought.

What does the narrator want? Does the narrator want space? What can Stanley give him to show that the protagonist cares about his happiness?

“I…” It’s said very quietly, full of uncertainty. “I don’t know. Can I have a minute to think?”

He can take as much time as he needs. Whatever he needs. Stanley wants to be there for him.

Quiet. The room seems to hold its breath. Stanley takes deep breaths and rubs his hands over his face, finding his calm. His heartbeat slows. He keeps his thoughts quiet, on the off-chance the fellow is still trying to see if Stanley wants or expects a certain reaction.

“I… I think… Stanley, can you step out into the hall?”

Yes, absolutely. He stands by the divider next to the copy machine and waits patiently.

“Thank you. Can—“ a swallow. The narrator composes himself. “Would you please close your eyes?”

Stanley does so, obedient, if a bit confused.

“Okay. Now, I need you to promise me something. Promise me you will keep your eyes closed, and not open them, no matter what. I’m going to be very, very quiet for a few minutes. Just be patient with me, and don’t open them until I say you can. Okay?”

He sounds frightfully nervous. It leaks into Stanley a bit, because—because what is this about?

The voice hesitates, then says very softly, almost shy, but absolutely certain.

“This is something I need.”

Stanley takes a deep breath. He puts a hand over his heart.

He will keep his eyes closed. He promises.

“Okay. Just… just give me a few minutes.”

Stanley waits.

He slouches where he stands. Lets his head drop a bit, leans against the divider. Silence creeps in around him, which makes him a little nervous, but he was warned and he made a promise. The narrator is not going to leave him. He wouldn’t. He knows how it makes both of them feel.

So Stanley waits. And waits.

[PART 2 TOMORROW]

[chicspo]

I’m so devastated. There’s this girl at my job (almost 30) and me (23) and she hates me so much and sees me less than her which is insane bc I’m always minding my own business. She keeps saying stuff like “Ew why do we have people who are [my position in the company) with us” even tho she literally just got promoted from the same position that I’m currently in?? I’m new in this company and everyone say I’m the best so I think that what makes her hate me even more because I’m younger than her and already busting my a$$ to get promoted. I talked to my manager about it and he 100% agreed with me that she has “people management issues” that’s what he called it and he agreed that she’s toxic and in the wrong but wants me to “help her get out of it” and I told him directly, “I’m not here to fix people and I’m not obligated to help anyone. I’m here to do my job and thats it” and he was like it’s up to you if you wanna help her or if you wanna ignore her. but.. He doesn’t do anything about it and he let her control everything. She literally drives him home after work and gets him his coffee every morning and ???? This is a whole different story lol. It’s been weeks now so I decided to take the next step and talk to my coach in the company and he was like “talk to the director, he knows her and can judge better than me but heyyyy don’t forget to mention -if you want to of course- that you wanted to quit your job because of her and I was the one who told you not to do it, and let me know how it goes” and I PAUSED. At this point, I realized that every single one of them is literally just using me for their advantage and I don’t know if it’s even worth it to tell the director because there’s 99% he won’t do anything because he has worked with her before and she’s the kind of person who goes out of their way to please people in higher positions to get what she wants and I’m the complete opposite of that. I don’t kiss no one a$$ lol. Do you think it’s wroth it to tell him especially if he doesn’t have a strong connection with me but I was told before that he tells people that I’m smart..? or should I just stfu and apply for different jobs and run from them as fast as I can? It’s destroying me mentally and I feel like I’m gonna explode. It sucks because she did something terrible to someone who was there before me and he left the company.

u cant change the way a person is or acts. and telling someone else above her to help u is useless. no one will care for u the way u do. if u can endure it then push thru. is it worth it? or is it more worth it to apply for new jobs? u weigh out ur options. there will always be people everywhere who are jealous of you and who want to see you fail. who will tear you down in hopes of getting a reaction out of u. so be strong no matter what and be self sufficient. u dont need anyones help. maybe take this as an opportunity and look for other possibilities in other places if its too hard on you

[anjuschiffer]

Do We Dare to Dream? - Chapter 4

...didn’t realize i didn’t post this before sleeping...I got work in like 6 hours...enjoy :D

-

P.Tag: @toodaloo-kangaroo @vixen-uchiha @elijahcrevan

Tag: @hammalammadamdam

-

MASTERLIST | PREV | AO3

The invasion of the League’s headquarters quickly made Ra’s reconsider the security and loyalty of his men, Ra’s quickly worked to fix that issue…even if it meant killing every person who showed even the slightest bit of uncertainty.

As for Jason, after being dipped into the Lazarus Pit, he was put to work, being given his first solo mission in a long while.

“Meet Damian.” Talia introduced, Jason simply looking at the 7 year old boy staring back at him.  

He had seen the boy a few times, having always been ushered away whenever Damian would want to use the library or training grounds for his own. He was never allowed to interact with the boy…not that he would have cared if it weren’t for the reactions the others would have around them.

He would hear the murmurs and whispers that would follow when instructors would look at Damian and then at him. Stares that judged and compared Jason to Ra’s grandson…

Something was up, but he didn’t dare to try and figure it out. After all, he didn’t want to die again.

“I don’t trust him.” Damian told his mother as he started to fumble with the handle of his newly gifted dagger.

“Damian.” Talia warned, turning back to Jason. “For your next assignment, you are in charge of my son’s safety.”

”Safety?” Jason dared to ask, earning a glare from Ra’s. 

“You will be escorting him to his father’s place.” Talia finished, watching as Damian looked at her wide eyed.

His father?

“We will be providing transport up until you get to Gotham.” At that name, Jason felt his mind muddle. “From there on, you will go to this address. That is where you will find Damian’s father.”

Jason accepted the package Talia handed him, which judging by its weight, was probably filled with a letter and some currency. 

“Upon arriving there, you will keep a close eye on him until Talia or I come back to get him.” Ra’s clarified.

“Understood.” Jason said, accepting the assignment with no further questions, knowing what would happen should he ask any other question.

“You leave in an hour.” With that, Jason left to prepare to head to Gotham, with an odd feeling looming over his head and heart.

- 

“We should’ve already reached the bay by now.” Damian scolded, a deep scowl on his face. 

He fought the urge to tap his foot as he kept staring at Jason’s back. “Grandfather said-“

“I know what Ra’s said, brat.” Jason sneered, blocking a flying dart the brat threw at him as he got up. 

“Watch your to-“

“Save it.” Jason cut him off, throwing the dart over the cliff, holding himself back to stay as he took one last look at the boulder within his barracks, wrapping the red ribbon tighter on his wrist. 

A single narcissus bloomed near the edge of the boulder, Jason knowing how off it belonged within the walls of the League. The pure white flower swayed in the breeze, a ladybug perched on one of the petals. “I just wanted to say goodbye to-” Jason bit his tongue. “Let’s go.” 

With one last glance, Jason picked up his things, feeling himself dragging his feet as he left the place he had to call home for the past three years. 

Where he met her. 

See you on the other side, Marinette. 

-

“I thought you said you’ve never been here before.” Damian quipped, glancing at Jason before going back to trying to take off the tracker on his wrist.

Ever since they got dropped off at the airport, Jason took it upon himself to place a tracker on him. Or rather, strap it onto him. Something about preventing child trafficking or something along those lines. 

He didn’t need it. 

He was born and raised to be the perfect assassin. 

He didn’t need to be protected, nonetheless by this pitied orphan. 

The audacity of this street rat to-

“Shut it.” Jason warned, wondering if Damian always muttered or if it was a recent thing. Not that it mattered. 

He had bigger things to worry about. 

His mind had been going haywire at every street the bus turned since they set foot in Gotham. His guard was always up and would worsen as a person came into his field of view…which made him ponder about Damian’s statement. 

Has he ever been to Gotham before? As in…before Ra’s took him in? 

Even though Jason never remembered being in Gotham before, his body certainly did, taking control the moment they got there. As if it's been there before.

As if it remembered. 

Despite Ra’s clear instructions on what to take and how to get to Wayne Manor, Jason disregarded it and went his own way, which is how they boarded a bus to get across Gotham and got off the first stop after Queens Bridge. 

“You don’t expect me to walk the rest of the way, do you?” Damian asked him as they got off at the very first stop once out of the tunnel, pulling his hood over his head. 

After all, if Jason was covering himself up…there had to be a reason for it…

“I thought you said you were trained to be the perfect assassin. Is a bit of hiking too much for-“

“I’ve hiked longer treks than this city. Survived in numerous jungles filled with creatures that would tear the average man apart.” Damian scoffed. “This is nothing.”

“Then you better keep up.” Jason said, putting on the mask Ra’s gave him, tracking Damian as they headed to Wayne Manor. 

-

Jason woke up as soon as the first beam of sun rose from the horizon, causing him to grunt and turn to the other side, making sure to not shift too much. Once there was no escaping the rising sun, Jason sat up straight, his back leaning against the tree trunk as he stretched, the oversized sleeves of his jacket falling to his elbow.

It’s been a bit over a week since he got to Gotham and just a few days since Damian was safely snug inside Wayne Manor, although that didn’t relieve Jason from his duties. 

As instructed, Jason led Damian to Wayne Manor and once Damian was at the gate, Jason left him with nothing but the small bag that held his clothing and a letter of introduction Talia wrote for the boy.

Jason watched as Damian was welcomed with open arms, Jason feeling something in his stomach twist and turn when a sleek black car took Damian from the entrance to the heart of the Estate, to the manor itself. To a safe haven from the elements of the world.

A place where he was watched around the clock, where an elderly gentleman came to escort him to his meals, a place with a bed, with running warm water meaning nice warm baths and clothing that kept him warm and that perfectly fit him.

And that was only based on the amount of times Jason was able to peer into the room Damian was staying at. Because yes, he was well aware that other things happened past the door, but thanks to the distance between the two, Jason couldn’t exactly open up the curtains whenever Damian would close them up for privacy. 

Then again, Jason could care less to what happens to the brat as long as he was in one piece. He had other things to worry about, like his survival. 

While Damian was able to live the spoiled life he had in the League almost instantly, Jason had to sneak into the estate like a rat, hiding into the nearest thing in sight: a tree. 

A tree that luckily shielded him from the sun but didn’t exactly protect him from yesterday’s rain. A tree where he had almost fallen off of twice and which owls resided and watched him in the middle of the night. 

Their hooting last night almost caused him to have one for breakfast, but not having the necessary tools to successfully gut them prevented him from doing so. 

Hours passed by, the sun finally started to set, Jason deciding to move to a new tree with a denser canopy. 

After settling into a new tree, he grabbed some binoculars and peered into Damian’s room, watching the brat practicing his form with his katana before turning to where Jason was. 

“Creepy kid.” Jason muttered, taking out a few dried figs before taking his time savoring each bite. His stomach rumbled after he finished it, begging for another bite of the sweet fruit. But even if gave in to the demand, he found himself with only two more rations left and not knowing how long this supervision was to last, Jason needed to spread these two rations for at least three days until he could secure more food.

And knowing Damian and the little shit he was, Jason knew better than to rely on the kid for any food, meaning he had to find his own.

Perhaps he should raid the kitchen…

Of course, that meant having to risk leaving his post and essentially his duty, of prioritizing his life over his mission…

His mission…

Mission…

“It’s always for the mission, isn’t it, Bruce?” Jason caught himself saying, freezing once he processed those words.

Who was Bruce?

As if to answer his question, a man stepped into Damian’s room, a man Jason hadn’t seen until that day…a man who-

Jason groaned as his head began to throb, grasping at his chest as memories flooded his mind, Jason pathetically shutting his eyes tighter in hopes of getting rid of them. 

“This will be your new home Jason. And this will be your new room.”

“Why not? I heard waffles are a good way to start the day.”

“How would you like to enroll back into school?”

“Jason, we can’t keep eating burgers every night. Otherwise you won’t be able to develop a diverse palate.”

“I still can’t believe you’ve never read Pride and Prejudice. Remind me to get you a copy from the library.”

“Jason, let’s go home.”

“Jason.” 

“Jaylad.”

“Jay.”

Bruce…the name of the man who adopted him…his name was Bruce…Bruce Wayne! But…he was also Damian’s father…

But…did he have a right to keep calling him his father?

Did he even know he was alive?

Jason could feel his chest churn at the questions that continued to plague his mind, the growling emerging from his stomach not helping one bit.  

His thoughts were finally snapped when he saw something move from the corner of his eyes.

There, on one of the manor’s skylights, a lone figure stood there, Jason grabbing his binoculars to get a better look at them.

He didn’t expect to see a person -who could easily be mistaken for a kid- to be standing on top of one of the most highly secured manors in all of Gotham. Wait…how were they standing there without tripping any alarms off?

Who were they?

The perpetrator was on the small side, wearing all black attire -save for the pink hoodie with detachable sleeves- and had pink pouches attached to their legs…

Out of the list he had to memorize from Ra’s about the groups and individuals who were his enemies, Jason couldn't pick out a single name to pin onto the person on the roof.

As he kept watching the person attempt to get into the manor, Jason caught a glimpse of their face…or at least where there was supposed to be a face.

A mask hid under the hood.

Something about their mask started to turn gears in his head...Jason wondering why their half black, half pink mask reminded him of-

“Deathstroke.” He found himself whispering. There was no way…

There was no way he already found them…he had made sure to make their traces were, well, untraceable…

But now that he has a theory, he couldn’t help but realize this person had to be working with Deathstroke of all people if their attire meant anything. While it was pink, it held a bit of resemblance to the one who caused Ra’s to send his heir to the manor.

And as if to read his mind and confirm his theory, he watched as a panel of the skylight was lifted up, Jason watching as the person turned over to his direction and gave him a peace sign below slipping into the manor with grace…

Seconds past until Jason realized what happened…

Without a second thought, he got off the tree and ran.

NEXT

[joshriku]

I WILL GET YOU STARTED /pos

David!!!!!! :D

ok you know what i was thinking about i was thinking about the use of 'your father's people' and 'my people' all across david's story, and just this clear distinction like a line david traces that very rarely overlaps. essentially his 'father's people' is always the x-men, anything associated to the x-men (and eventually krakoa). really starts off with xmen legacy 1 for the first time

except the xmen dont do that for him and it furthers this line even more in a 'them vs him' mentality. to david, 'my people' refers to mutantkind, but xmen legacy 3 shows pretty much what he's thinking when he defines 'my people':

he continues with '‘not because of dad. not because of the bloody dream. but…because you’ve had a crappy deal outta life and it’s about time someone fixed it. / children should have childhoods. people should have choices. and nobody should ever be forced to fight if they don’t want to.' which goes exactly as the antithesis to what he thinks the x-men were built for, aka the whole 'child soldiers who just react to danger when it hits the fan and never prevent or change anything'. to david, 'my people' encompasses everything that isn't centered around the x-men or the casual mutant heroes, but every single corner where mutants might go ignored and hated and discriminated. that's where he wants to act. but what's really fascinating is that it's not just charles' people, but also his world. gabby remarks that she lost david the second charles realized he was his son, because david belongs to his world, and here's the kicker - just like david makes the 'my father's people / my people' distinction and rejects it, he also rejects his world:

(STILL ONE OF MY FAVE LINES IN THE RUN AGHH)

but the problem is david's self-belief goes through the it's so over we're so back chart so often that 'my people' oftentimes gets tainted--he starts referring to 'his people' more often to point out how badly he's fucking something up, despite how much he craves mutantkind to be a family, he just can't help but fuck it up. there's no future for 'his people' because he thinks he's not the right one to give it to them.

and this idea of 'his people' seemingly end with him at the end of xmen legacy, EXCEPTTTTT in legion of x 6 where the ol debacle comes back to haunt david once more:

it's funny bc the way uranos words it goes exactly the way david believes charles treats his people, and therefore it's not the way he'd do it. krakoa david emphasizes over and over to not be like charles, not in the way it used to be in xmen legacy, but to be better than him and to not make the mistakes he does. so uranos provoking him like this? straight up saying would you die for your father's people? He's nasty. he hit david where it hurt most--previous to this moment, i think there's no mention of david saying anything like 'my people' again since he started the altar. he talks about leading but he doesn't allude to it. he's no longer jealous of the x-men like he used to be, probably knowing better, but he's trying to lead with empathy and with care like he did in legacy 23, but he's almost avoiding mentioning this line on the sand between him and charles again.

but this happens :)

and 'your people' turn out to not just be the people in the altar, but the rest of mutantkind, too--it turns out to be magneto, someone he's definitely thought of as 'his father's people', and it's this impossibly big figure he somewhat respects that needs him, and it's not just him needing david but everyone else - kurt relied on david the whole issue, so did ruth, so did vox ignis, so did every mutant fighting during AXE. they needed someone to hold the line so they could finish the battle. mutantkind needed david. it's finally that distinction being gone.

like in xmen legacy 4:

funnily enough after that scene, the end of legion of x 6 finally has david referring to his people without thinking of himself as a disappointment for once (but also wishing he had died so really we have a long way to go):

happy endings :) his people :) character writing babey!!!!! such a good theme running across so many issues!!!!!!!!!!!

[rootvegetableboy]

cm dev log #2 - december 2023

woah, 2024 already? how the time flies! december is a really busy time and i honestly felt like i didn’t get that much progress on the game done this month, but now looking over all my notes, i’m feeling really good about the direction i’m heading in.

astute readers will recall that in november i built a dialogue system. in december, i took this a step further, making an in-game menu available for accessing your stuff/status/saves/etc! creating an inventory also meant creating my very first items, which, well…

you can only carry 8 items. here, alda chose to make every single one beef jerky.

i had to fix a lot of infinite beef jerky glitches during this stage. at one point i had a really weird issue where you could consume an item but only if it was the most recent item picked up… any item consumed in the middle of the list would crash the game…

eventually it all worked out, though. there’s even special text if you try to cram too many things into your pockets:

yeah there’s too much beef jerky in here. sorry

the other “big” thing i did this month was start etching out the barest beginnings of a combat system!! (i say “big” because let’s be real it is game dev. it is all big. i also got a bunch of the script/story done this month and that is HUGE, even if i cant show it off as easily)

i started with some light testing of bullet properties and physics, getting used to handling objects in this way, and then followed that with establishing how player movement and direction works in combat. in retrospect i probably should’ve flipped the order of these, but i stopped working on the bullets pretty quickly when i realized where my attention was needed, and everything is working out ok so far!

the bouncing bullets get stuck on the wall a lot more than you’d think…

aiming with the cursor! this would probably feel a lot more natural with joysticks.

so i haven’t actually combined the bullets + aiming into actual shooting mechanics yet. this is a big goal for january, i’m trying to whip up some combat prototypes asap so i can make sure the game is Engaging and Juicy and Fun 2 Play.

i really like how the aiming looks and feels with a mouse, but there is some amount of awkwardness when moving from a non-combat area (where WASD dictates your direction) into a combat area (where you suddenly have your direction dictated by your cursor coordinates). maybe it’s because i use a trackpad but i am always thrown off when moving from non-combat to combat… interestingly enough, combat to non-combat doesn't stand out so much. as always the list of things to continue testing is ever-growing!

this next month i really want to start focusing in on the combat. previously i have been tackling systems that scared me less—something about coding combat interactions is just insanely intimidating to me lmao. i’m feeling a lot more confident now that i have a dialogue and an inventory system under my belt, so i want to tackle this next challenge asap. i don’t want to get too deep into the art or sound until i’m certain i have a good mechanical foundation in place!

maybe next month i’ll have some extremely rough playtests…? but who knows!

see you in february! <3

[padawansuggest]

Okay so here is the deal: I wasn’t going to get in to get this actually extracted till the 24th, but, I have been distressed because the antibiotics weren’t reducing the swelling as well as they were supposed to and it was distressing. Thing is, this extraction is on a 3 root tooth, which means it might come out in pieces and it’ll be harder to get out, but it’ll work. They originally said a root canal could fix it, but I said I would rather have a bone graft so I have a possibility of an implant later. So they said they can fit me in today in 3 hours to do the extraction and bone graft.

Now. A bone graft is around 600 and the extraction itself is around 400 and the examination today was around 100. So. That’s a lot of money for out of pocket. And I had to have all of it ready by 4pm. So I started phone calls, I called dad and he said he’d ask grandpa (I would like you to know now that if none of this was possible I would still get the tooth extracted today cause it’s that upsetting to me but the graft for an implant later was the goal here) but with grandpa he couldn’t send money for a few hours and even then he sends through credit union which takes a bit.

So he’s still sending 300 or so because he’s amazing and I love him, but that means that that 300 is going to pay back my gf who is putting down her card to make up the difference here. So I’ve got around 400 in PayPal and maybe 200 in cash and 300 from grandpa, so babe is making up the difference here. Which isn’t too much thankfully.

I just. Needed someone who immediately could help but also trust me to pay back. Either way. God this would be so much easier if I could get on disability already I could save up myself for things like this every couple of months. Ugh.

Anyways. Once more, saying that the emergency will be taken care of but if anyone’s genuinely invested in helping I will accept that, PayPal link in bio in all that, but I also want to be transparent about costs and stuff, and also that if my fics or funny posts can inspire donations I will never turn that down because at least I do something in this world that brings a smile and that makes me so happy, but I also don’t really have much going for me because of disability so it’s nice when I can get help like that. Pretty much everything I have goes to medical or an occasional switch game if it’s cheap enough to justify it lmao I’m not gonna lie about that but I’m still cheap and get them on sale, usually for under 10$.

So like. Writing and crochet and gaming is my life rn and if I can get past some of these issues I got, exercise can be a huge part of my life again, I miss it so much. But constant head infections this year has made me realize that exercise sucks when you feel bad.

So. Um. I love you guys and you all have made this journey so much easier and I’m so happy to have every single one of you. I’m happy that some of you could help and it’s honestly made a massive difference in this whole situation, and, again, not asking because I can scrape by, it’s just, any help you guys give is always appreciated and used to it’s fullest, like now.

Uh. Yeah. I’m still nervous but way less nervous now that I have a plan, and the graft situation was a bonus that is coming to me from family which is so nice of them to help look out for my future here too. Love them.

[wallisninety-six]

I wish people really understood how freaking openly hostile social media and internet spaces are for neurodivergent folks (ASD & OCD in my case) because people just seem absolutely *wired* to be as hostile as humanly possible about the most mundane shit ever it seems like, everything needs to be a sweeping moral statement and every single person seemingly wants you to be on the exact same page as them for some drama you don’t know/care about and get openly hostile when you don’t know what tf they’re talking about because you don’t know the exact intricacies of 5 billion other people on the internet

it’s like 100% the worst tendencies of society against neurodivergent folks magnified 10 times over on a place that’s supposed to be some kind of sanctuary away from it- yeah nothing can be perfect in this world but people can try *not* being sociopathic and *on* at all times for no reason at all

like between having trouble reading emotions and having crippling intrusive thoughts making me wonder who i can trust or not (and whether I’m somehow evil for not being on the same page/having any sort of inherent human flaw that all people have turning people away) it’s legitimately making me not want to be around anyone- i realize I’m screaming into the void and i really can’t fix anything but all I can do is vent Like, yes, things are tense and bad now- ***but things have ALWAYS been bad and tense**** we’ve been through 2 world wars, threat of nuclear annihilation and social issues/conflict has never gone away in all of human existence- Bad times is no excuse to be bad to other people, can you all chill tf out a lil bit and try to like, be nicer to people?? Would it *kill* you?

[ao3feed-hitoshi-shinsou]

One Day I Realized You were Too Good for Me

One day I realized you were too good for me by Sariana May

"I feel so, so useless and I'm sick of it! I feel so guilty every single time I can't do shit. I make all these messes that you always fix. Without complaint! Honestly I doubt I've ever seen you express a complaint ever!" He roughly wipes at his face. "It really really sucks being me and you just make it worse. You do so much stuff for me and I do nothing for you back." "That isn't true." Hitoshi cuts in Izuku swivels his head around "Oh really? Name one instance, where I wasn't freaking defective!" "You don't need to do anything for me." "So it's zero." He says blankly "You didn't let me finish." “You don't have to do anything now because you've done so much for me before and I'm just returning the favor.” Izuku's eyes bore into Hitoshi's “Still useless.”

Words: 4340, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Shinsou Hitoshi

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Shinsou Hitoshi

Additional Tags: Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Quirkless Discrimination, Pro Hero Shinsou Hitoshi, General Education Department Midoriya Izuku, Aged-Up Character(s), Quirkless People with Extra Toe Joints Wear Custom Sneakers | Red Shoe Theory, Dead Midoriya Inko, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst, Fluff, i think, Miscommunication, Self-Worth Issues, Insecurity, Depressed Midoriya Izuku, Crying, loads of crying, like the amount of time I wrote 'tears'

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45401554

[gretavangroupie]

you should take a step back and think about what you’ve written in the last chapter.

i don’t think you realized you’ve written sexual assault in the midst of everything that was going on during the scene where jake confronts y/n.

you should have written a trigger warning. not only for SA but also cheating. it’s triggering. in fact, why even add that?

it feels as if you like hurting jake in this fic, and it’s no longer entertaining to read. i hope you realize your mistake and take a step back from the plot you’re creating right now.

Hey there! I will be addressing the trigger warnings after I post this, so make sure to check back!

In the future we'll make sure to be more conscious and detailed with the trigger warnings, because you're right if any chapter needed detailed TW's it was this one.

From the start, this story was always meant to have uncomfortable moments like this, and it's not the first instance of it showing up. There have been references to all of the above mentioned things multiple times. If you are nineteen chapters in you probably are well aware of that.

I also think this is a good time to remind everyone that this story is exactly that. A story. None of it is real. But that doesn't mean that these situations don't happen. They do, every single day.

However, to suggest that I like hurting Jake is just weird. Do you think we would have written nineteen chapters of a story just to fulfill some weird personal vendetta of hurting Jake? Are you following the plot of the story at all? If you're not interested in reading, then simply don't.

As far as the plot we are creating; It's been thought about and crafted over months. It has a clear beginning, middle and end, and unfortunately this is a major plot point within that. Again, if you are uncomfortable with where the plot is currently, you are in no way obligated to continue reading.

Thanks for sending this in and giving us feedback on the things we can do better at. Keep your eyes peeled for those updates to the trigger warnings.

If anyone has concerns like this, please feel free to send me a message so that we can talk one on one, to fix the issue. 💕

[thenhlteaissuperhot]

How close do you think the oilers are to winning the cup?

I desperately want leo and connor to have one but goaltending is such an issue and I don’t have faith in management to fix it 😬

Not anywhere close if the current situation doesn't change I fear.

Sure, thanks to Leon and Connor they do make the playoffs pretty much every single year unlike other teams that are promising (Detroit for example) but fail to get past the regular season, however, because they only have Leon and Connor who are performing on a level worthy of Stanley Cup winners all season long, Oilers are always set to lose sooner or later in the playoffs because you simply can't rely on two people carrying the team on their backs towards the victory (just like in every other team sport), in hockey you also need at least decent defense and goalie, not just forwards, not even mentioning how slim the chance of actually winning gets when one of your stars is injured thus doesn't perform at his usual level (like Connor this year).

They are one of the few teams in the league relying unhealthily solely on the one or two big stars, who are paid big bucks (justifiably but still big bucks), the rest of the team is a mess of cheap patches you try to put together with hopes it will work out - the problem is, in most of the cases, these "cheap" players fail to perform at moments when the team desperately needs them to (read as playoffs) or in the worst-case scenario, completely, only taking up the space on the roster and money from the budget cap.

Sure Edmonton is not as desperate of a case as Toronto, which has to pay big bucks to Matthews, Marner, and Nylander (who just like those cheap players fail to perform during the playoffs), but the budget for acquiring other decent players is not exactly spectacular when you are paying 11 million to Connor - now realize that Leon is severely underpaid with those 8 million, which definitely don't reflect his overall performance, and will definitely ask for more when his contract ends next season. Still, just as I have said, Edmonton has way more opportunities than Toronto to acquire actually decent players with the money they have left, but the management is rarely making great decisions when the chance to improve drastically through a trade actually surfaces.

I honestly feel like a lot needs to change in Edmonton around Leon and Connor if they really want to be genuine Cup contenders.

[alyjojo]

Love Reading 🍼- July 2024 - Scorpio

Singles:

Who is Coming In: Ace of Cups rev, 5 Wands rev, 6 Swords rev

Regarding: 3 Cups

Long-Term Potential: Judgment rev

I like this energy, or the reason behind it anyway. This is someone you missed the boat with before, probably a friend. A friend of your sibling that you had a crush on for years, your cute neighbor, the church group friend whose mom is friends with your mom - it feels “loose acquaintance” but you know of them. Always liked them. I’m seeing a reunion in some way, could be school, I’m getting more of a wedding vibe from this…or your parents are involved with them/theirs somehow, having friends and other people in common bring you together again, to celebrate 🎉

But…it’s probably not going anywhere. Your feelings will be the same, you still like them, but I keep hearing “missing the boat”. This person could be married themselves, or were, or they’re religious now. There’s some sort of belief system that doesn’t vibe with yours, and heavy fixed energy would show a mentality that is just as stubborn and resistant to change as you, they’re not flexible in their belief systems or way of being. That seems to clash greatly with yours, it’s not specific how. Could be totally different religions, or there’s a big difference in education and interest in something that just sets you apart greatly. This isn’t something that will ever change, and there may be some flirting anyway; this interaction still feels positive. Long term, it’s going to give you some perspective on “missed opportunities” that may have been FOR you and not TO you, if this ever made you sad. It’s like Spirit knows what you *need* more than you do or something 😉 But keep the dreamy energy…it’s like giving you what you want at the wrong time for the purpose of seeing why it had to be this way, and because you’re headed towards something more authentic to who you are, without having to sacrifice that for someone else.

Messages:

- ✨ I See You in My Dreams ✨

- I’m a FOOL for you 🃏

LOVE CALL 📱

- Expressing Love

- Messages of Love

- Thinking of You

- Informing You

New Worlds 🌎

There are many more things for you to discover, so don’t give up.

Signs you may be dealing with:

Cancer & heavy fixed energy 🙅🏿

Couples:

Them: The Sun rev, 3 Pentacles rev, The Hermit

Regarding: Ace of Pentacles

Okay, the story I’m getting isn’t going to fit with every person so take it however it applies, Spirit works through me with examples and visuals, it’s up to you to give it personal meaning. Your person is someone that may do something for work or money that makes you very uncomfortable. Sex work is the thing that’s highlighted, either because it’s literal or because it’s showing how something like this could set apart a partner from one’s own personal standards, morals, beliefs, etc. And there’s no “fix” for that when your person wants to do what they’re doing, it’s their choice.

There is a level of passion or “options” in whatever they do. A stripper COULD fk everyone in the place but are they going to? Probably not. Does that matter to you? Not really, it’s simply being that they could that’s the issue. I get you being very uncomfortable, and they’re choosing to leave this connection behind because of it. They have no intention of changing anything, except being around people that don’t support their way of doing things. They know you don’t support them and feel they have no other choice than to walk away. Are they devastated or full of emotions, no, they come off as accepting this as truth and realizing some people just can’t vibe with it. No anger, no sadness, none of that - but it is shown that whatever they’re doing IS exactly what they want, 9 Cups at the bottom. They could very well be a player, changing partners like underwear, and it’s not changing - that’s what’s they want to do. They could be impulsive or like to drink/use substances/party, which makes trust even more difficult, or that’s the environment they work in, and intend to stay in.

Messages:

- Pornstar 🌟

- Really Tall

KEY ON A RING 🔑

- Many Options

- Unconventional

- One Night Stand

- String Along

Make a Change 🪄

Embrace growth, seek new paths and welcome transformations with an open heart.

You: The Star, 3 Cups, King of Swords rev

Regarding: 6 Swords

You’re both on the same page of moving forward, that’s the goal, but it looks like you’re doing so separately. You’re healing from whatever has gone down, even if it’s just a lack of trust and nothing actually happened - every story is different. They’re pretty certain it’s time to move on and are actively doing so; you’re not as sure but you only want to move in a direction where there’s some actual progress. You want to reunite with this person, leave the past drama behind and put an end to the cycle…but with everything else involved too. The options, the job if it’s a job, their mentality of things or belief system, their overindulgences or interests even, this feeling is coming up as kind of narcissistic - and I don’t think the cards are calling you one, it’s showing that’s the effect this person has on you. They’re so not in your lane that you don’t know what to do but make them, control, condescendingly talk about the things they like or do in the hopes they’ll change. But they won’t, and you’re having to see that by seeing the end of this connection. You’re just made of totally different stuff with totally different goals. They bring out a side of you that isn’t great because it doesn’t align - that’s all it is. They aren’t terrible they’re just not like you, and it’s the same story switched. Neither one can *make* the other person be what they want them to be, or need.

Messages:

- I love our walks together.

- We don’t value the same things and it bothers me.

SWORD & ROSE 🗡️🌹

- Clarity & Truth

- Revelations

- Honor & Protection

- Determination

See What’s Real 👁️

Observe with clarity. True insight lies beyond the surface.

Mutual: 4 Swords rev, The Moon rev, 2 Swords rev

Regarding: 9 Pentacles

Very difficult energy here. You’re both healing from the experience, and separate now. You both feel you’ve realized some needed truths and have gotten the clarity and/or closure you needed to move on - which both of you are doing. I think you’re the one looking back towards them, because with Soulmate here it’s like you’re questioning whether this was your person and you dropped the bag too soon, missed your chance at forever. I clarified the Soulmate card and got The Magician rev and Queen of Pentacles rev. There’s no easy way of putting that really, this person likely used you. Tricked, bamboozled, told you it was forever and left as soon as you had an issue with their bs. I don’t think you’re the only one either, that’s who this person is - at least at this stage of their life.

Is this your soulmate, no. Is this someone meant to come into your life to teach you a lesson? Maybe, for some. Is this someone who just comes in and out of people’s lives to gain from them and then discard - possibly narcissistic - again maybe, for some. They may also have brought out narcissistic sides of you, feeling a need to control or manipulate by being kind of a dick, playing mind games, thinking that would work or something idk. Both of you are focused on yourselves and doing what you want/need to do for yourselves - separately. Both of you are very stubborn and holding on to your positions on the matter, whether it’s a job, behavior, hobby, whatever, it’s not going to change. This person won’t change, they’re very resistant to the perspectives of others, generally, because their way works for them. Not for you. If anything it looks like it’s simply meant to end, if it’s meant for anything. And to reinforce boundaries on both sides of what is expected of whatever “Soulmate” actually does come in for you both, this connection forces you both to not drive on autopilot and be more aware of the people you get involved with - how they match up to your own personality, goals, desires, etc.

SOULMATE 👥

- Soul Connection

- Partnership

- Soul Contract

- Life Partner

Eclipse of Concealment 🌒

Navigate through the Eclipse of Concealment, understanding the cyclical nature of hidden phases and awaiting revelations.

Signs you may be dealing with:

Heavy Aquarius, Virgo, Capricorn, Libra & Pisces