#and i know very well they make a lot of mistakes

[woniiez]

ᴛɪʟʟ ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ ᴇɴᴅꜱ | ₗ.ₕₛ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢꜱ. brothers bestfriend! heeseung x fem!reader

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ. You were sleeping when jay started banging on your door “y/n heeseung is gonna stay with us for the summer”. Lee heesung, your brothers best friend and the boy you’ve had a crush on since you saw him 5 years ago in your living room.

|| ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ. 10k maybe (wrote this on my phone so i have no idea, tried to check it but it kept giving me different word counts)

ɢᴇɴʀᴇ. smut, brothers bestfriend.

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ. nsfw! smut lmk if there’s anything else.

(hii this is the first fic I’ve ever written, I obviously have a long way to go lmao but I hope you like it. This was written with really less detail and not too many complications something simple I guess. There might be a few spelling mistakes or the paragraph formation is messed up so bear with me on that 🙏🏻. Since this is the first time I’ve written it’s not really fully “fic coded” you could say Ig but I’ll learn in time, it could be different writing wise from a proper fic.Anyways I hope you enjoy and if you have any questions regarding this or anything else lmk.)

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You’ve never really talked to Heeseung much. He comes over a lot but jay doesn’t let you hang out with them much, it doesn’t really bother you much but what did bother you was when jay started banging on your door to wake you up on a weekend at 8am to tell you “ Y/N!! Heeseung is gonna stay with us for the summer”

You couldn’t wait for summer break to come but now you’re grateful there’s still a week left.

you RAN to karina’s house which thankfully was next door. She was obviously still asleep.

“Karinaaa!! WAKE UPPP” you say while pulling the blinds up, “y/n it’s 8am please I haven’t slept all night” karina said while pulling the blanket over her face

“I need to tell you something. ” you looked at her with a very serious face waiting for her to sit up “yes y/n goodmorning to you too” you smiled at her and murmured goodmorning back “ok get this jay said Lee heeseung is gonna stay at ours for the summer..the WHOLE summer!” You let out a sigh you didn’t know you were holding. You waited for her to say something She looked at you like you ate her cat or something, she really is cranky in the morning “can you say something why are you looking at me like that” she took a breath in and out. Oh no u hate when she does that, it feels like she’s going to pounce on you “y/n..is this what you wanted to tell me so badly to wake me up at 8am on a Sunday?” She said in a calm and low tone. You just looked at her as u blinked slowly and nodded slowly, she wasn’t having any of it “y/n it’s not a big deal it’s just heesung and jay is best friends with him you literally see him everyday” well that was true but she didn’t know about the crush you had on him, you just couldn’t bring yourself to tell her.“This is gonna be a looongg summer” you thought to yourself.

It was the first day of summer.

As you woke up the golden sunlight peeked though your blinds, casting stripes across the room. Making you think “it’s finally summer” you smile to yourself. You yawn as you watch the dust particles flying around the window.

You threw your blanket away from you and went to freshen up exited for the summer. You tie your bikini around your hips and back, then throw on an oversized shirt and some jean shorts.

You walked down the stairs each step filled with excitement, thinking about everything you were gonna do this summer with karina, going to places we’ve never been or just hanging out in your backyard. You took a deep sniff smelling waffles from the kitchen. The smell of the batter, the sound of the waffle maker, and fresh maple. You ran to the kitchen to see jay cooking. You love your brothers cooking especially his waffles it’s something he only makes it in the summer. “Jayy you’re making waffles?!!!!???!” You said giggling

and grinning, doing a silly dance “when I met you in the summerrrrr~~” you sang as a smile spreads on jays face. He hums with you.

“Sit down y/n 5 minutes more” he said looking back at you raising his eyebrows. You were walking around the wall to sit on the counter and suddenly you saw heesung sitting on the chair “WHA-“ you were totally surprised and feeling like an idiot since you just sang and danced and HEESEUNG SAW YOU. You completely forgot he was supposed to be here.

You feel your cheeks heat up as you try to laugh the embarrassment off. You looked up at heeseung who was already looking at you up and down. With a slight smirk on his face he tilted his head to the side. “What’s up?”

he said. His tone is relaxed and raspy. You feel so small in his presence , you feel your cheeks burn and u look up at him “hey I heard you’re staying here for the summer”you say trying to relax your voice, you sit down on the chair next to him and look up at him waiting for an answer “mhm” that’s all he says. You think if you’re going see him the whole summer you need to get to know him better atleast. You tilt your head and ask,“Can I ask why?” Your eyebrows raise in curiosity and a gentle smile forms on your lips showing you’re genuinely interested, before he said anything jay came up to the counter and sets the waffles in front of you with a light frown he glances at you and says “y/n don’t bother him” his eyes meet yours and he slightly smiles. Heeseung takes a waffles and puts it on his plate, jay walks away to get the ice cream he looks over at you but you were already looking at him, you look away “im moving to New York after the summer cause of my dads work” he says,his tone relaxed. He shrugs, his eyes glancing away for a moment. “he’s already there so I’m staying here till I leave” he lets out a light laugh and takes a bite of the waffle. You look at him, your heart skipping a beat at the news. A mix of surprise and a touch of sadness washes over your face. “New York, huh? That’s a big change,” you say, trying to keep your tone light despite the flutter of emotions inside. You bite your lip, thinking about why you feel sad you barely know him?!. “Are you excited about it?” you ask, your eyes searching his, hoping to catch a glimpse of his feelings. He shrugs a bit. “I’m not really worried” he says nonchalantly. Not wanting to show too much emotion you take a bite of the waffle “oh okay” you said kind of sad but you think jay might be really sad since they’ve been best friends since they were 10.

It’s been about 2 weeks since you talked to heeseung. Even though you’re living together there’s not much interaction between you too, well there are moments when you’re going out in your prettiest clothes and he undresses you with his eyes. You try to ignore it as much as you can, you can’t betray jay like that no matter how much you want to right?

Eventually you decide invite Karina over and take a swim in the pool. The cool water feels refreshing, and the familiar scent of chlorine surrounds you, bringing a sense of comfort. As you float on your back, Karina asks you a shocking question “do you like heesung”she says looking at you with her eye brows raised and crossed arms. “Karin-“ you pause cause heesung is standing at the backyard door by the pool. Did he hear what she said? You’re just looking at him with a confused expression. Karina looks back and smirks to herself. You can’t help but say something,it’s getting awkward “hey Heeseung do u wanna swim?” You ask, Karina noticed how your voice sounds way different from when you both talk. He scratches the back of his neck and says “yea can I?” Looking between Karina and you. You try to communicate with Karina through your eyes “ofc you can” she says with a smirk on her face as she looks at you, you look at her with a confused face as you raise your eye brow asking what she was doing. Heeseung walks towards the pool and slowly with a confidence smirk he pulled off his shirt, his toned body revealing itself to you. You flinched at the sight, you thought how it would feel if he was on top of you and you touch his toned abs..

Suddenly water hit you and you fell of your floaty into the water “what the hell!” You looked at Karina thinking she did that but you heard deep chuckles coming from the side, it was Heeseung “sorry didn’t mean to do that, just diving” he shrugs and looks you up and down like he’s ready to undress you “oh yeah btw there’s a party here tonight” he said. You looked at him in confusion since your parents are home. He continues “oh um jay told me to tell you, your parents have to go to a wedding” you tell him you’re going inside to talk to your mom and jay. You get up and wrap yourself in a towel, by now you think heesung has a staring problem.

You take a shower, change and head down with Karina.

You see jay helping your mom pack you walk into the room “mom where are you going” you ask since everyone knows except you.

“Y/n honey me and your dad have a wedding to attend it’s in the next town so we’ll be back in the morning” you tell her to be safe, you look at Karina and smile looking forward to the party. “Jay take care of y/n and don’t do anything stupid” she looks between you and jay, you put your hands up.

As soon as your parents leave jay picks up his phone and starts calling people over. Since it is your last year why not have a party.

You walk up to jay as he’s wearing his watch he looks over at you “soo who did you invite” you ask out of curiosity since he didn’t tell you about the party which is in YOUR house. He looks at you smiling “anyone and everyone” he winks. You wonder what’s gonna happen tonight your head already hurts. You weren’t really into parties, just going if your friends invited you or when you need to get your mind off something. But tonight it’s someone. Jay looks at you thinking to yourself and says “y/n I’ll keep an eye out for you tonight” you already know what that means. Jay isn’t much of an over protective brother but when it comes to his friends or guys in general getting involved with you, he hates it. Since they’re not someone he fully trusts.

As you get ready in your room, the sounds of the party downstairs filter through the door. Muffled laughter and music. Making your heart race with anticipation. You can hear the clinking of glasses and the cheerful chatter. As you finish your final touches, someone knocks on your door “come in!”

You look at the door as it opens and it’s heeseung hes wearing a black Prada button up with black pants he looks. Your heart skips a beat you blink, he stands there effortlessly attractive. You can’t help but admire his face shape the way his body fits in his clothes, how his jawline is shaped perfectly his eyes are captivating.

Closing the door behind him he walks towards you with a knowing smirk leans down to your ear and whispers “baby you’re staring”. You’re taken aback, you take a step back but he still walk towards you. “I think you’re the one with a staring problem hee” you say fixing the collar of his shirt, he’s chuckles shocked by the sudden nickname and confidence. He presses you again your closet behind you and he slowly puts his thumb over your lips. Before he can do anything else the door opens and you push him away.

It’s jay he looks between both of you “uhm Lee let’s go Jake’s calling you” he says while looking at you. You feel trapped not knowing what to do. Heeseung winks at you secretly and heads back down. Jay raises his eye brow “y/n what the fuck don’t you remember what I told you” he says in a low and angry voice though you can tell he’s hurt. You try to say something with your heart racing, you try to scan jays face but he just walks away.

You walk down after fixing your lipstick. You spot Karina with some of your old classmates and join them.

The party is in full swing when you find yourself in the kitchen, pouring drinks for your friends. Suddenly, Heeseung appears beside you, leaning against the counter with that trademark smirk. “Need any help?” he asks, his voice low and teasing. You nod, trying to ignore the way your stomach flips at his proximity.

As the night progresses, the atmosphere becomes more charged. Laughter and music fill the air, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is about to change. You catch Heesung watching you from across the room, his gaze intense, and you feel a pull toward him that you can’t resist.

Later, as the party continues, you find yourself in a quieter corner of the house, away from the noise. Heeseung follows you, the tension between you crazy. “It’s crazy how we’re both here together,” he says, stepping closer. The air feels thick with unspoken words, and before you know it, he puts his hand on your waist leaning in, his lips brushing against yours in a soft, tentative kiss.

Your heart races as you kiss him back, the kiss getting deeper. The world around you fading away. You know you shouldn’t be doing this, but it feels too right to stop. Just as the kiss deepens, you hear your brother laughing, pulling you back to reality.

You break apart, breathless, and heesung looks at you with a mix of desire and uncertainty. “We can’t do this baby,” he whispers, but the way he looks at you says otherwise. The party goes on, but in that moment, everything changes. You kiss him again and deepen the kiss.

As you pull away from the kiss, your heart races,his forehead on yours. You glance toward the living room where the party is still in full swing. You can hear your brother laughing with friends, completely unaware of the moment that just unfolded between you and heesung.

“Maybe we should go back,” you say, your voice barely above a whisper, still feeling the warmth of his lips on yours. Heeseung nods, but there’s still hesitation in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” he asks, searching your face for confirmation. His hands go up and down your waist. The last thing you both want to do is betray jay, but you can’t help it after liking him for so long.

“I don’t know,” you admit, biting your lip. “But we can’t let anyone see us like this.” You take a step back, trying to regain some composure, but heesung reaches out, gently pulling you back toward him.

“Then let’s keep it our little secret for now,” he suggests, a mischievous glint in his eyes. His hands back on your waist moving upwards. You nod, the thrill of secrecy making your heart race even faster. You both go back into the party agreeing on keeping this a secret.

As the night progresses, you and heeseung have moments together, glances across the room, whispered conversations in corners, and the occasional touch that sends sparks through your body. The chemistry between you is undeniable, but you’re also acutely aware of your brother’s presence, and the potential consequences of your actions.

At one point, you find yourselves outside on the patio, where the sounds of the party fade into the background. The night sky is dotted with stars, and the cool breeze contrasts with the heat radiating between you.

“Do you think he’d be mad?” you ask, your voice barely above a whisper. Heeseungs expression softens as he considers your question.

“I don’t know,” he replies honestly. “But I don’t want to hide this if it means something.” His words send a thrill through you, you’ve wanted heesung for such a long time but the thought of your brother’s reaction hangs in the back of your mind.

As everyone starts leaving it’s already 2am and jay is extremely drunk. You ask heesung to put him to bed.

You’re sitting in on your bed still wearing your black mini dress when the door opens and closes with a bang. It’s heesung he’s charging towards you suddenly he gets on top of you. You’re just looking into his eyes looking for something but they’re just filled with desire. As you’re about to say something he puts his lips on yours capturing them into a kiss.

It starts of slow, he sits against the headboard and you climb on top of him, your knees on the sides of his thighs. He pulls you in again for a deep kiss, he puts his hands on your waist tightening them. They way yours and his lips are moving next to each other feels unreal, he pulls you even closer towards him, you release low moans now needing him as close as possible. As the kiss gets heated you feel his tongue licking your self asking to go in, you let his tongue enter and explore your mouth he groans. He puts his hand on your zipper, you look at him and nod.

He quickly takes it off and looks at your perky boobs “so fucking sexy baby” he looks like he wants to eat you. You gasp when he takes one of your nipples in his mouth “hee-“ and swirls his tongue around,he gives the other one attention aswell taking it in his hands god. His hand goes down to your clothed core as he starts rubbing over it. “Hee please” you cried out, “please what pretty, say it” he whispered

You moaned and squirmed against his hard cock, making him hiss “baby u need to stop moving”.

He laid you against your back and started placing kisses all over your neck and breasts making you breathe heavily. As he placed kisses all over your body he reached your wet core. He took his shirt off revealing his toned body you started kissing him everywhere until It all went too fast when you suddenly felt a hot wet sensation licking your pussy slow. Your eyes rolled back, feeling hee’s tongue going deep in your pussy and sucking on your bud. Your moans could no longer be held back, letting them out freely for everyone to hear.

“H-hee ah- wait!” You cried out feeling your orgasm coming faster than you thought since it’s been 2 minutes. Heeseung didn’t stop, feeling your pussy tighten and open and before he knew it too, his tongue was getting covered by your juices. He licked his lips while looking at you, you thought you could look at him like this forever.

As he takes his pants off with his underwear you look at him surprised at how big he is. You gulped.

Heeseung notices your expression and smirks “you ready baby?” You nod aggressively not wanting to wait another second.

He kissed you everywhere complimenting every little thing, he leaned over and positioned his dick at your whole and slowly pushed it in. “HEE! Fuck” you moan, he thought you looked so pretty with your mascara running down your face because of him.

“Fuck baby you’re so tight” he groaned

You let out a ragged breath feeling him in you. He felt so big and you felt so full. Heesung looked at you asking if he could move “u-h you can move” heeseung nodded and moved slowly watching your face as you roll your eyes back in pleasure.

That’s when he started moving faster, you both were a moaing mess. Panting against each other.

Heeseung groaned feeling you squeeze against him, he could feel his orgasm coming.

You felt your orgasm coming as he went in and out “f-uck hee im cu-ming” you moaned and closed your eyes as it came over.

Heeseung thrusting in deeper while you got off your high. He let out a raspy laugh.

You both were breathing heavily after he came and laid down with you. “that was-“ you said panting

“great. “ heeseung looked at you and kissed you once more before he got up and got a towel from the bathrooms and cleaned you up before laying back down.

“Hee?” You said laying down on his arm. “Yeah baby?” He pulled you closer under the blanket “when will you leave for New York?” You said. Your voice not above a whisper, he looked at your sad expression and put a strand of hair behind your ear “I told my dad already im not leaving”he said. You sat up holding the blanket to your chest, “wait really?!” You said smiling so big it hurt. “Yea. “ he said. Hugging you tightly. “I love you hee” you said looking into his sparkly eyes as u pecked him on the cheek “I love you too baby”. He kissed you back.

The sun was out ask you opened your eyes, you rubbed your eyes the memories of last night came flooding back into your mind and you couldn’t believe that actually happened. A smile crept onto your face.

You felt heeseung holding you tightly by the waist. You shifted to look at him, he looked so pretty while sleeping as well. You started tracing his lips and his nose even his eyes. He started blinking and smiled “goodmorning” he said, his morning voice so raspy and attractive. “Morning” you giggled and put your face into his neck.

You suddenly pulled back hearing your door open. “y/n wake uppp!” It was jay.

He stood there looking at both of you naked under the blanket.

He started blinking in disbelief.

Heeseung tried to cover you with his body which made you laugh.

You totally forgot you were in the same house as jay through all that.

Jay just walked out. You looked at heeseung confused why jay didn’t punch anyone. You and heesung got dressed and went down to the kitchen to talk to jay.

You both sat on the chairs in front of the counter where jay was making breakfast.

You started “jay uh.. can we talk” you felt like you’ve betrayed your brother big time, your mind had a lot of things to say but you need to tell him the truth first.

Jay looked back at you with his eye brows furrowed he nodded letting you know to go on but before you could heeseung started talking “look man im sorry it happened this way, I never wanted to hurt you or y/n” he lets out heavy breathing.

You could see how hard this is for heeseung because this is his only one friendship he cares about.

Jay looks at him very angrily “if you didn’t want to hurt me you shouldn’t have done this” he said in a higher voice as he crossed his arms. You felt bad for heeseung for getting the blame “jay it’s not his fault I also wanted too” you say searching jays eyes for something but they were just empty “y/n I know and that’s what I hate more, I told you so many times not t-“

You didn’t let him finish and told him the truth. “I love him” you say.

Heesung hold your hand and jay looks at heesung for an answer. “I love her aswell” Heeseung says in a very straightforward and sincere tome. Jay turns his back, you both give him some time to think. He turns back and sets breakfast up he glances over to both of you “Heeseung you better treat her right or she’ll have to witness your funeral” jay said while smiling as he hugged heesung. You looked at Jay with a smile “im sorry and thank you” you hugged him back.

In the evening you invited Karina over for a barbecue your dad was hosting. You told her everything.

She was really happy for you.

After the barbecue ended all of you jumped into the pool.

Heeseung pulled you to him and gave you a peck on your lips he whispered “I love you” you giggled and splashed water on him.

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© won!!ez , 2024. do not copy, steal my stories

[roboticchibitan]

Not a job (I am disabled) but I also have a story. I'm a Tibetan Buddhist and my teacher is a Tibetan refugee and he's been a monk for 48 years. He's 65. He lived alone in a cave for five years. He holds some conservative views about things like marriage (in the sense of arranged marriages often being more successful and therefore better than "love marriages," not in the sense of "same sex marriage bad") and how children should be disciplined. So I was nervous to come out to him as nonbinary.

I visited him a few weeks ago and made a remark about wanting to be a monk in my next life and he said "well you never know what will happen. It could happen in this life." I told him that was true as I've already decided I'll become a monk if something happens to my gf. I then said something along the lines of "I guess technically I'd be a nun... I'm kind of somewhere between a monk and a nun though." And then I was internally like "will he think anything of that? Maybe I shouldn't have said that."

But he responded really positively! He told me about how being trans wasn't a thing in Tibet but now they've had their first trans person transition from being a monk to being a nun and that she's very popular. Then he told me about Indian hijras and asked me some questions. He very excitedly said "you're teaching me so much today" like three times.

He asked me if third genders are legally recognized here for things like official documents and I told him that federally I didn't think so but that our state does. And he told me that India recently recognized third genders legally and that "people should just accept it because it is the reality now."

I haven't heard him use any pronouns for me yet but I know he'll try his best to respect them. English is his third language so I don't really mind if he makes mistakes cuz I sure don't speak more than one language and I still make mistakes when someone I've known my entire life changes their pronouns.

Lots of people have open hearts. The haters are just loud.

I started a new remote job last week, and I'm the only genderqueer person at the company (and the first person who uses neo pronouns that anyone on my team has ever met, apparently).

So far:

Manager carefully wrote down spelling and pronunciation of my pronouns and told everyone on the team to respect them.

Coworker apologized privately for misgendering me (I hadn't told her yet) and said she will practice.

Guy on another team valiantly tried to use my pronouns and ended up saying something like zirzs-zhizz (I DM'd him and thanked him for trying and linked him to a practice site).

Teammate told me he has written out my pronouns and how to use them in a sentence and literally taped it to his monitor so he can practice.

Teammate also referred to me as compañere after I linked to a comic about gender-neutral endings in Spanish (whole team except me + 1 other person speaks Spanish as first language and they held all meetings in Spanish before the two of us started).

I am so stoked that people are actually trying. 💜🤍💚

[johanna-swann]

We've analysed the Bucktommy break-up to death, but I keep seeing the "pedestal" thing popping up and I have thoughts about that.

Because in my opinion, the "Buck put Tommy on a pedestal" explanation doesn't really hold up all that well. Buck found out about Tommy and Abby right before that break-up. He found out about one of the worst things Tommy ever did to another person - letting Abby fall in love with him, getting engaged to her, leading her on for over 2 years and then leaving her to take care of her sick mother alone even though he knew right from the start that he would never love Abby like that. And even though he really had no room to judge anyone's dating behaviour after that stunt, he called out Abby for her rebound and in the same breath (unknowingly) called Buck a himbo to his face.

After that Buck, understandably, spiralled a little bit. He really did seem shaken up, especially because it seems he forgave Abby for the way she left him and he feels protective of her. But instead of making any impulsive decisions he sat with that information and thought about it, acknowledged what Tommy did, then got advice when he didn't come to a satisfying conclusion by himself. He thought it through and realised: That was then and this is now.

Now he's not worried that Tommy might do something like that again. Now he thinks that despite this complicated past they somehow share he and Tommy could have a future.

He knows Tommy isn't perfect. He knows Tommy has hurt people. He still admires Tommy because Buck, in some ways, has a similar past. He has also hurt people he loved to protect himself (hello lawsuit arc) and he has learnt and grown a lot over the years. And he knows that this journey of self-improvement must've been much harder for Tommy who had a lot less support than he did.

But admiring a person despite their flaws is not the same as not seeing those flaws. I think it's possible Tommy thought Buck wasn't seeing him for who he really is, but Buck very much took a look at that relationship and said "Stop. What am I doing here and do I want to continue this?". That's what his fieldtrip to dispatch was about. Buck made a very conscious decision when he chose to move forward with Tommy.

Buck's mistake was, as usual, to jump all in too fast with the big steps and a definite lack of diplomacy. Through Tommy's eyes that might've looked like the same thing, like Buck was still wearing the rose-tinted glasses, but I think moving too fast and going in blind are two separate issues and from Buck's side only one applies to the situation.

[erinwantstowrite]

Hi! I dont usually ever send asks but I saw your post about including more DC characters in your AU's and was wondering if you were ever planning on including Kate Kane and/or Renee Montoya as they are two of my favourite characters in all of DC and almost never appear in batfamily fics even though they both work with oracle, nightwing, huntress, and other members a surprising amount in the comics. I like the idea of Kate especially being reluctantly enamoured with Peter, and that she would remind him of Col. Rhodes as I feel they have similar no-nonsense attitudes, dogged determination, and militant mannerisms while being pretty gentle on the inside. You might have answered this before but are Peter and Col. Rhodes close? I would assume they at least know each other pretty well from his friendship with Tony. Also thank you so much for LOF and all your writing - it genuinely brings me so much joy. <3

i 100000% want to write Kate Kane in the future, though i still need to read up on her, Renee, and Helena to make sure i'm writing them correctly. i started LoF worried about juggling too many characters in the plot and also didn't actually know a lot about the batfam outside of what i'd already been reading, considering LoF was supposed to just be me and alighterwood messing around with a silly au, i didn't think to put more than the cast we have. other aus will definitely have them in the future because i feel bad i missed out on them. i briefly considered putting at least Kate in LoF, but i feel like she would have at least been MENTIONED before now, and it would feel like a cheap throw in. she deserves more attention in another au

and i hadn't thought about it, but Kate and Rhodey ARE pretty similar. Since Rhodey is Tony's best friend, he and Peter get along very well! i hadn't mentioned him too much in LoF itself because, well, LoF was supposed to be 15 chapters originally. it was supposed to be wrapped up a while ago but then i got a little too into writing it. and i made a mistake forgetting how present he'd have been in Peter's life. admittedly, this comes back to me having a hard time juggling so many characters. he'll be showing back up in a couple chapters (when we finally get our Avengers POV) and i hope to remedy that mistake

[hannieoftheyear]

Warning Signal (jww) TEASER

Two targets you need to figure out, alongside the one person you most despise, and zero mistakes allowed.

As the lives of your targets get more and more intertwined, and your plan gets more complicated, memories of the past and feelings you thought you could put aside threaten to ruin the mission.

pairing: criminal!wonwoo x criminal!reader

w.c: 915 (for the teaser), full work will be over 20k

release date: tbd

genre: exes to partners in crime to lovers, violence, angst, smut (not in the teaser)

content warnings (for the full work): vague descriptions of what their "job" actually is, criminal acts, stalking, spying, invasion of privacy, use of fake names, fake identities, stealing (both reader and wonwoo do all of the above), mentions of guns, fight scenes, blood, murder, death (not the main characters) | the story will contain flashbacks written in cursive (such as this teaser)

note: this is very different from what i've been posting so far, but i had a dream about a similar story and couldn't get it out of my mind.

on that note, i'm not sure when i'll be able to finish this bc it's taking a lot of time to make sure everything makes sense and for the relationship to be fully fleshed out. it might be done by january (that sounds so weird to say omg)

if anyone wants to be on the taglist, comment this post!

“The bit is over Wonwoo, go home.”

“Let’s just work together, one last time.” His voice reaches closer and closer from behind you until you stop walking and force yourself to face him. 

“Not only do I not need your help, I especially don’t want it.” 

“Look, I’m not asking you to forgive me, just–” He appears to have regretted what he was about to say, and you don’t wait for him to gather his thoughts. 

“Just what? Understand it? We’re way past that don’t you think?” 

“We’re good together,” your brain glitches with astonishment before he corrects himself, “We always worked better when we did these jobs together, you know that.” 

“You have some serious nerve, after last time, the least I should do it rat you out right this second.” 

“You wouldn’t do that, it’s not your style.” 

“To fuck over my partners? No, that’s yours.” 

He's trying to charm his way into your life again, like the past few months could disappear at the flash of a smile, and you'll be damned if you let him.  

“Let’s just see it as a mere trade of information, nothing more.” Neither his voice nor his expression suggests that he’s trying to deceive you, and you hate that you're even considering his offer.  

“And I wouldn’t have to see your face ever again after?” 

“That would be your loss, but sure. One last job and we’d be done.” 

“Are you being serious?” 

It’s hard to trust him. No matter how much he insists it’s his only goal. But it’s true that whatever knowledge he collected on that dude would save you a lot of time and resources, and you have to do this job well to prove yourself to your boss. 

“Dead serious. I promise.” 

A year before… 

The waitress, with purple bags under her eyes and bleach blonde hair tied up in a bun on the edge of falling undone, sighed on the way to tell the same client, for the fourth time in two hours, that it was prohibited to smoke inside the establishment. You saw that man doing countless other illegal things while sitting on that same dark booth the entire night, but the bar drew the line at smoking indoors. 

He huffed at her but ultimately put the cigarette out against the wood table. There were fewer and fewer people the more the time passed, and soon enough, it was going to be too suspicious for you to still be there. You couldn’t be the only customer left in the bar when he left, but the person he was still waiting for was the key to all this, and you couldn’t leave without that information. 

An ‘80s country song started playing on the radio, and the man started tapping his fingers against the table, following the rhythm of the classic. It was almost serene, the way he relaxed at the sound of the familiar tune, but the night started to feel more and more like a waste of time. Whatever the deal was with the person who wasn’t showing up, it was clearly not happening. 

“Can I buy you a drink?” A familiar figure sat in front of you at the secluded booth you kidnapped for the whole night. But the smile that appeared on your face at him quickly dissipated. 

“You shouldn’t be here. It’s too empty.” Besides the staff, you and the old man, there were only three people inside the dusty bar at that time, all alone, too drunk and on the brink of leaving. It was almost impossible not to stand out in that crowd. 

“Don’t worry, I called in a few favors.” Just as Wonwoo finished his sentence, a group of at least ten men, talking loudly and in the mood to celebrate something, walked into the tiny bar, disrupting the serenity but providing you with much needed cover. 

“You’re so... resourceful.” Your words mixed with a giggle as the atmosphere changed from calm and musty to a playful bachelor-esque party inside the bar. “How did you know I was here?” 

“I always know where you are, baby.” A chill climbed up your spine at his teasing smile. “And also, I was waiting for a guy to show up here. He’s supposed to be meeting someone.” 

The loud laugh that escaped you almost beat the drunk shouting of the bachelors in volume. It was easy to connect the dots, and it also wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. 

“You know something I don’t?” Wonwoo’s eyes didn’t stray away from the smile on your lips. 

You just giggled as your eyes darted towards the sketchy old man, who was back to smoking, seeing that the staff’s attention was focused on the new customers. You could feel Wonwoo’s gaze stay on you for a second before following yours, and the realization hit him quickly, the years of working together serving their purpose. 

“Yours?” The amusement in his voice made you nod eagerly, sipping on the mocktail that had been sitting untouched on the table for over an hour. “It’s been a while.” 

This job, the thing that you do for a living, got lonely every now and then. Doing everything on your own, not being able to share it with the people closest to you, can take a toll on anyone, no matter how detached they're able to get. So, when you got a chance to work with the one you love, you were for sure gonna take it. 

“I know, it’s gonna be fun.”  

thank you for reading! i love this story and i cant wait to finish it so you all can finally read it!

remember! if you want to join the taglist, comment on this post ♡

[seewetter]

I like wemblingfool's addition and I appreciate the "We learn and understand way more from “rocks” than paleontologists are given credit for." sentiment and this criticism: "If true paleoartists tried to reconstruct a hippo, while they naturally would not get every bit correct, it would certainly look like a real animal, and not that alien monster that tumblr is so fond of using as “proof” that paleontologists don’t know anything".

But I don't think that this devalues all of ironychan's analogies from the original post. Not every Jurassic "peacock" ends up like Sinosauropteryx. There are lots of prehistoric animals whose coloration and sounds we don't know. What did t-rex smell like? We can reconstruct Parasaurolophus sounds, but we don't know its exact specific calls. Wemblingfool even admits that some of this reconstruction work is so effective because it draws on lots of contemporary creatures, it analogizes. And yes, that gives us a beautiful window to look at the past, but it doesn't *solve* Spinosaurus for us, those fossils remain debated and controversial. Our fossil record will always remain incomplete, hiding Triassic "peacocks" and Jurassic "orangutans". I think that ironychan was a legitimate target of wemblingfool's criticism (especially if the sentence "My point here is that we don’t know anything about dinosaurs." is taken at face value as a literal statement that non-avian dinosaurs are unknowable)... but I don't think pointing out that paleontologists might struggle to reconstruct elephant ears is the same as sharing a shrink-wrapped hippo as supposedly subversive paleo-art. I am no expert in paleontology, I don't profess to know whether elephant ears are yet another example of a feature that would under guarantee be reconstructed by professionals, but I think that's missing the point. There simply are marvels of the prehistoric world that science has yet to uncover or that no longer can be uncovered.

To take an opposing stance to that is to argue for "rationalism" in the sense William James talks about and opposes. That rationalism would be a philosophical position where scientific research is said to establish facts not only as items of (highly professionalized, highly reliable, practical) knowledge but as quasi-dogmatical encounters with reality-in-itself, a reality that supercedes empirical observation, a reality that can no longer be scientifically called into question not because it would be highly impractical and thus silly and unreasonable to do so but because this "is reality" and somehow above critique.

And I don't think that's a good way to think about long extinct animals (or anything, really). As I said, it's great to see just how professionalized, how reliable, how effective, how talented, how dedicated and informed paleontologists are. How practical / useful the things they discover are (for them and for us). They don't play around, fantasizing dinosaurs, they do their jobs and tell us really clearly how dinosaurs work.

But if we describe open scientific questions or potentially mistaken scientific assumptions as if these were threats to the scientific community, as if no future paleontologist would ever overlook that elephants have ears, as if that necessarily would be discovered by paleontology, as though the excellent professional practice of paleontology provided an external guarantee of capital-T Truth, as if paleontologists couldn't be making some error for each and every fact they've ever asserted (not because all their facts are wrong, very few of their facts are likely to be wrong at all...but because reality is complex and even well-worn scientific truths can unexpectedly turn out to be based on mistakes that ended up in the research results in any of a myriad ways that feel really obvious to future researchers in hindsight).

There is no external guarantee for truth. Scientific research is always built on previous research. Findings are built on evidence found and observations made, on tools used and logical paths pursued. Science is the path to making practical assumptions...Occam's Razor is nothing if not an intensely practical exercise (I have 2 explanations, both explain the same amount of information but I choose the simpler one, because simpler explanations are easier to work with...i.e. more practical to work with. I only change my mind and adopt the more complex hypothesis if it reliably explains more about everything than the simpler model does).

And yeah... that's what I came to say and now I've said it. Time to crawl back into my little system of tunnels...

I submit to you that the most iconic feature of any animal is either unlikely or impossible to fossilize.

If all we had of wolves were their bones we would never guess that they howl.

If all we had of elephants were fossils with no living related species, we might infer some kind of proboscis but we’d never come up with those ears.

If all we had of chickens were bones, we wouldn’t know about their combs and wattles, or that roosters crow.

We wouldn’t know that lions have manes, or that zebras have stripes, or that peacocks have trains, that howler monkeys yell, that cats purr, that deer shed the velvet from their antlers, that caterpillars become butterflies, that spiders make webs, that chickadees say their name, that Canada geese are assholes, that orangutans are ginger, that dolphins echolocate, or that squid even existed.

My point here is that we don’t know anything about dinosaurs. If we saw one we would not recognize it. As my evidence I submit the above, along with the fact that it took us two centuries to realize they’d been all around us the whole time.

[margoshamangolord]

A BIG POST WHY TFA SENTINEL IS A GOOD CHARACTER WHILE STILL BEING A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT

lots of thoughts under cut

I hated him like any tfa viewer is expected to, and i still do, because he's wrong oftenly and very fucking immature about his own actions, but it's just that fandom treats him like a simple flat cardboard designed for nagging the main characters, while he's not. Even people usually fond of discussing character depth just go "ew" at him, but i want to prove that he's not worse than even ratchet or bumblebee in terms of writing. His actions have depths, reasons and explanations. I do not want to excuse him in points where he actually fucked up, but i do want to remind that he's a character with a history and insecurities like others in tfa

I want to start off with the fact that while the hate he has inside the fandom is not really interesting, it is easily expected. He acts like a piece of shit and has a lot of negative traits (for example you have his attitude towards organics, and while you could kinda write it into being a reaction to Elita's 'death', it wouldn't be really valid, since Optimus was there too, he saw the same things as him, but he has no disgust towards humans)

The first thing i want to show would be this screenshot from the allspark almanac. It actually broke me when i saw it and prompted to write this because it brilliantly explains his whole character drama.

He feels guilty. He actually knows and admits he made a mistake and he is weighed down by it. He is fully and painfully aware of his stupidity in the situation.

But is he going to admit it? Is he going to apologise? Of course he's not. He cannot carry the weight of his guilt, but he cannot apologise and let himself be weak. So he made a vow.

He presses Optimus down and puts that weight on him because it's easier for him to stand straight reassuring himself that he's not at fault at all here. He feels that if he says sorry, then he'll be guilty forever and will never let go if he acknowledges it. He is guilty and he knows it, but he's immature and he does not want to think about it at all. He distracts himself with the rules and regulations.

"I did it, i fucked up trying to be something greater than i should, breaking rules. I'm never gonna wash it off, I'm guilty, but i must be better. If I don't make any more attempts at throwing over the rules, if I hold down others from doing so, i will be better, right?"

Rules are safety and comfort for him. Breaking rules and trying to be special is something he associates with Elita's death, and his thought process basically is "no rule breaking=no tragic accidents to be responsible for". He's confident that if he does everything by protocol, how he's told, then there will be no situation he would have to be blamed in. Of course he takes it to an extent. You oftenly see him obsessing over rules and regulations more oftenly than others — and now that makes sense.

The second thing would be his profile and Optimus's words about him. This text doesn't really serve us much important information, just a simple outside opinion on how he acts, except the first phrase.

"Sentinel means well, he really does."

As bizzare as it sounds, even Optimus, who he has a very sour relationship with, understands this. Sentinel actually means well — but it's just his experience and perception that really distort what comes out in the end. His "well" is very different from others' "well", but he definitely does not actually mean intentional harm in most occasions.

An unconcious goal that he most likely has is "do not let the elita incident happen again". It actually explains why he's trying to press down Optimus's ambitions and yells at young autobots about the importance of listening to the code. He may see himself in others.

Last is miscellaneous details. He actually covered Optimus and Elita when they were retreating — wouldn't do this if he was as selfish as creators want us to believe. He says he made a mistake in the almanac (when he was kinda being interviewed, he told the truth). Wouldn't really do that too. Most times he's been a dick to Optimus and his crew were him simply not believing immediate information without proof like he believes is the right way, like he's supposed to, and from his perspective he was genuinely sure he's doing the right thing

Conclusion

I would still slap him if i met him. But it doesn't mean that he should be rushed and avoided during discussion of character flaws and I'm tired of him just getting flatted down by the fandom as "mean and stupid do not touch". I want him to be taken seriously, and tbh finding out that he actually feels bad about archa seven is all it takes to be suddenly enlightened about the inner workings of his brain, because it connects all the dots.

And i would give all my money to see him canonically get a better development and more focus in the show. I would love if he accepted his wrongs, and if he had a genuinely honest conversation with Optimus. I really would.

[lesbianstanleypines]

As one of the biggest Stan fans, I think a lot of Anti-Ford people don't realize that Ford was also homeless for 30 years of his life. 30 years hoping from dimension to dimension, he'd given up on being able to go home very quickly. Ford was ready to die without ever seeing his home ever again just to fix his mistake.

So yeah, it's understandable he tells Stan to leave. We have to remember he didn't know the full extent of Stans drifter days and the hardships Stan faced while homeless as well. All Ford knew was the house he'd given up on ever returning to was made into a fake tourist trap, making a mockery of his research

He spent so long without a home, he has every right to want his home back.

[mr-mercutio]

So here's something that I have learned about patriarchy I want to share: patriarchy is designed to benefit PATRIARCHS. Being the male "head of the family." It's about power and status and hierarchy. To be a patriarch you have to be in charge of others - generally your family. That includes other men! There's no real way to actually escape this, but the closest thing to escaping it for men is to become patriarchs themselves.

My dad was raised in a very strict and traditional catholic household. My opa (his dad) was very much The Head of the Family - even more so because he immigrated to Canada and his father wasn't around, so there was no one above him. He expected obedience from his wife and children, including his two sons, and that was just The Way of Things.

My dad suffered under this quite a lot. And he did the big hippie thing of vowing not to be like his dad - and to his credit, he did try in many ways not to repeat the same mistakes his dad did when being my dad. But the problem is that he still bought into the system of patriarchy. And the only real way to have power in that system is to be a patriarch. So that's what he became. He got a wife and had kids and expected them to defer to him the way he had to defer to his dad. He expected the cycle to continue, but now in his favour.

Problem was that no one else in my immediate family was fine with that. My mom eventually checked out of that. I cut my dad out of my life about 8 years ago. My sisters barely speak to him. We said no, you don't get to control us like that just because you're The Man of the House. You don't get to dictate our lives to us, to tell us how to behave and what's allowed and what isn't, especially as adults. It was chafing enough as kids, but as an adult he still had this expectation that we'd all still defer to him. He would always be right the same was his dad was always right.

And that worldview of his extended to everything outside the family as well - that's why he buys into men's rights nonsense and is anti-choice and thinks the world is too woke. Because he sees that people aren't willing to just prop up the system, and it means he doesn't get the power from it that he was promised. When he was young, it was clear that if he just held out and did what he was told, he would one day be King. And now he doesn't have that and hates it.

I've cut him out of my life because it's been too difficult to stay connected to him. He's hurt me too much and I can't be okay with him anymore. But I'm SAD for him because he's been screwed over by this system just as much as most people I know. Not in the same ways, but still very palpably. But he'll never acknowledge that the problem is the system and not everyone who refuses to follow it. For him, everyone who says no to patriarchy is just wrong and a traitor to how people should live, and he refuses to see that he doesn't benefit from this system because it's a BAD system. It crushed him and remolded him into something to prop itself up, and that's heartbreaking.

The people who support patriarchy are rarely the ones who are actually truly benefiting from it. Yes, men definitely get privilege from the system because it's designed to put men over everyone else. But very few men in the system actually manage to escape the hierarchy of the other men over top of them who make their lives miserable.

If you can, be kind and try to understand and help. It's too late for me and my dad - there's too much bad blood there now and I tried to help for too long without success. I still hope for his sake that he finds a better way to be happy. But there are lots of men out there who would blossom and thrive if they could let go of the idea that patriarchy is going to make them king - and there are more chances than ever that they CAN understand that. Try to give them that chance.

I want there to be fewer MRAs. Do you want that too? Do you want to know what helps us get there, from a feminist perspective?

You may not like my answer: acknowledge that sexism can affect men. Recognize that, although the patriarchy generally privileges men, they are also subject to restrictive gender roles that are harmful to them (shunning all things “feminine,” not showing emotions, being protectors/strong, never admitting being victims of SA/IPV, having to “earn” their manhood, etc.).

Give young men a place other than the right-wing manosphere to be heard about the issues they experience. If these grifters are telling them “only we understand how hard it is to be a man, the left hates you for your gender” and they look to the left and see “men claiming they have ‘problems’ are losers who just hate women, all men are trash,” do you think they’re going to be drawn towards or away from feminism?

Before you leave an angry response: no, this does not mean to center men instead of women in feminism, it just means including them at all. No, it is not “coddling” men to treat them with human dignity, you can and should continue to hold them (and every other gender) responsible for unpacking sexist beliefs. No, this does not mean it is every individual woman’s and feminist’s responsibility to prioritize men’s issues, it just means at the least not shutting them down when they do speak up about sexism. No, it is not “not all men-ing” to point out that “men are trash” sentiments hurt the feminist movement rather than helping it. Ask questions before you make accusations on this post, please. I have been abused by men too, I get it, this isn’t easy to hear.

[burningcheese-merchant]

Xcuse me but I forgot very important questions about BS parenthood.

Does he teach the kids more things besides fighting? Is he a cool dad, stoic dad, protective dad or "over-the-moon" dad? Does he gives romantic advises to his son? Does he let his little beast princess play with boys her age? Does he dreads the day when she falls in love? (I have the headcannon over my own BurningCheese fankid that whatever girl/boyfriend she gets they need to AT LEAST be able to put up with him in battle)

Yay, more questions from my buddy Almellow 🗣️🔥🙌

Spice is 100% "over-the-moon dad" when they're babies. It's a pleasant surprise to many to see him so genuinely bubbly and smiley (not to Golden, though, she knows his soft side by now and is just happy to see him enjoying being a father). It's really cute. (I like the concept of hyper-masculine men being soft and loving towards their families ok)

As they grow up, he becomes a mix of all those dad modes, really. Mostly Cool Dad, because having your kids look at you like you're larger than life is just the best. (He's also not the best at disciplining them a lot of the time tbh. He wants to indulge their foolishness, it's more fun. He ends up acting like a child himself, wanting to have fun with his children. And then they all get chastised by Golden together after they break something lol)

He's less protective than you'd imagine him to be; not because he doesn't care, but because he really does have that much faith in their strength right from the get-go. It's actually Golden that's the overprotective one, at least when they're little; he had to coax her into letting them start their warrior training because she kept wanting to push it back and making excuses to do so. (She just can't bear the thought of her little ones getting hurt. She's lost so much already. If anything happened to her children, her little gems... Spice is the one to convince her to have faith in the kids and let them do things. Of course they'll get hurt, she and him get hurt all the time still and they're adults. But they'll be fine. They're tough. They have to nurture that toughness, not stifle it. They can't protect them forever... But they don't need to. The kids can stand on their own two feet. He's never doubted either of them for a second, for any reason. She shouldn't, either.) But make no mistake, Papa Bear is alive and well, just dormant. Only coming out when necessary. You want to see the old Burning Spice? You want to see the Beast of Destruction again? Hurt those kids. Harm a single hair on their heads. Make them cry, make them bleed. Knock on that devil's door enough and Burning Spice will answer it, and he will greet you with that axe of his and that fiery, seething hatred that once consumed his soul and helped burn away countless others'.

Burning Spice trying to talk to his son about love is a really amusing thought lol. I don't think he'd go out of his way to do it until he actually notices his son expressing some form of interest in someone, then it's honestly 50% Lighthearted Dad Mockery™️ and 50% Actually Trying to Teach My Son How to Be Smooth™️. Pepper Jack is having less than none of it, this is all embarrassing as hell, he doesn't want to hear a damn word from his father's mouth (he's a teenager by this point, what teen wants their dad to try to coach them on how to flirt lol). He tries to shut Spice down with sarcasm (Jack is the KING of backtalk and smartassery when he's a teenager, he's a damn menace) or just questioning his wisdom in general. He likes to bring up how annoying and gross Spice and Golden always are (unapologetic PDA constantly lol). He's already forced to witness what "love" and flirting look like, he doesn't need his father pouring salt in his wounds

(Jack once made the mistake of going "didn't you used to be weird and creepy towards Mother" once, as a sort of "gotcha". It made Spice genuinely upset and angry and he tore Jack a new one that lol. Jack felt bad (and kind of scared. Spice never really gets truly angry with the kids, but Jack has seen him get angry with others, and... Oh Lord) and apologized, promising he wouldn't say anything like that again. Things were cold and awkward between them for, like, a week. And then Spice got over it and went back to annoying his son like usual lol)

As for Matar Paneer... She's his princess. His little girl. His little flower. (He has nicknames for both of them lol. He really does love them very much.) She can play with who she wants, so long as she's happy and no harm comes to her (but again, he believes in her strength wholeheartedly and expects her to kick ass if trouble comes by). But... Oh. When she's old enough to date... Poor Spice, he's so miserable lol. He would unironically own and wear this shirt:

If Burning Spice is saying he'd gladly go back to prison for something, you best believe he's being sincere lol

It's Golden that has to step in here. Before, he was the one soothing her worries; now the roles are reversed. She needs Spice to understand that Paneer is a becoming a young woman and she has the right to pursue and be pursued if she wishes. It's ok to care and worry, but he has to let her live and grow. (She's her mother and has always been a girl's girl, she knows what's up and will always be 100% in Paneer's corner in this regard.) Spice once asked her to have more faith in them, now she's asking him to do the same. (And, of course, he can brutally murder whoever hurts Paneer, if that really does happen. But he'll have to wait his turn, because Golden already plans to do the same ☺️)

And yeah, of course Spice teaches them stuff besides fighting. He's happy to do so. He teaches them how to meditate (he gets back into that after he reforms. Jack picks it up a lot faster than Paneer does lol). He teaches them to make the traditional Wild Spice dishes he still remembers how to do himself (he lets the other spices teach them the rest). He... teaches them about history. About the Wild Spices' history, and about history in general. He sounds so... somber when he talks about things like that. It's strange to them. They're used to seeing him act lively and wear that sharp-toothed grin he's always got. But it must mean that what he's saying is really important, right? He wouldn't look and sound like that if he wasn't being serious, right?

[jjenthusee]

A Part Of The Family

Roy Harper and Lian Harper Drabble!!! (feat. Jason Todd and Dick Grayson)

A/N: if you’ve kept up with me, you might have noticed that I’ve started to stan Roy YAY 😫 it was a crazy deep dive and I got attached to his character lol one of the main reasons i wanted to write for him was because of his Native American/Indigenous upbringing. I was shocked when I found out because (i don’t normally try to share too much about myself cause this is a public space) but i’m indigenous too ✨😌✨ i have to rep my people for Native American Heritage Month *confetti* but i thought i would have to share this to give context on how i plan to write and explore Roy’s character. At least from my research (sorry if this is wrong) but he did grow up on the reservation in some of the backstories and it’s not explored very much :( it explains his tattoo, knowing the language, and frankly, a lot of native rep is kinda bad, but i thought leaving out a major part of his childhood didn’t help reflect who he was. As someone who has experience and lives as a member of the tribe it’s based on, I wanted to share some silly thoughts :) ofc remember all people with cultural backgrounds have different experiences so read this or don’t but i’ll see how this turns out so ENJOY 💐 and comment, like, reblog

Summary: Roy shares a part of his past with Jason and now he’s determined to share an important moment of Lian’s life.

Word Count: 1.2k

“I don’t think she’s going to budge anytime soon.” Roy rested himself on the couch, overlooking his best friend and daughter. They were both on the floor, a soft blanket laid for Lian’s designated tummy time.

Lian blankly watched Jason hold toys, making noises as she followed the sounds, glancing up to look at his excited face as he talked to her.

“Don’t listen to him, Lian. Just over three months of life and we are already best friends.” Jason’s words kept Lian’s attention.

She would give the tiniest smile in return. No laughter yet, but she expressed her enjoyment of Jason’s presence, nonetheless.

Roy was grinning watching the two, a much clearer expression, but remarkably like Lian’s smile. He had been lacking some sleep, but Jason’s frequent visits were helping him get a couple extra minutes of rest.

To Roy’s surprise, Jason had been over almost everyday this week.

The company was fine, better even according to Roy, but he didn’t mean for this to happen. It had been a small slip, a tiny mistake, just a sleepy mumble of his brain when he watched Jason clumsily hold Lian for the first time.

Roy corrected Jason’s hands to be comfortable for him and Lian. In the movement, he had unconsciously spoken.

“This reminds me of way back, when there was a new baby in the community, all the kids would crowd around trying to make funny faces, trying to make the baby laugh.” Roy lulled along to Jason’s slight sway, more confident in holding Lian in his arms. “Then we would hear all the elders yell out to us that we would have to cook if we got the baby to laugh.”

Roy chuckled to himself, remembering the days back on the reservation, feeling the hot sun on his skin.

Jason set his gaze on Roy, never moving his head away from Lian’s tiny body, but focused on the man’s sudden reminiscent tone.

It wasn’t often that Roy mentioned the past, he didn’t discourage it directly, but he also didn’t freely talk about it either.

So, Jason took a chance.

“Cook?” Jason harmlessly questioned, smoothing out the tiny hairs on Lian’s forehead as she stared at his face again.

“Well, it’s a big deal when a baby laughs for the first time. We celebrate and it’s planned by the person who makes the baby laugh.” Roy got up from his spot once he heard the washer finish. “Almost costed my entire savings when one of my friends and I tripped trying to run to the baby first, luckily all we got was a big sneeze.”

Roy threw the damp clothes into the dryer, chuckling to himself.

“I wonder when Lian’s going to laugh.” Roy smiled at the thought. “I hope it’s soon. Wouldn’t mind a lil’ party.”

Roy should have been careful about his words that afternoon.

Now Jason felt determined to be the first person to make Lian laugh.

At this rate, Roy wouldn’t be surprised if he already had the decorations planned out and stashed away somewhere.

It was nice to have company. Roy had usually expected Jason to be there next to Lian, giving laidback greetings.

Then there was another Bat sitting before his daughter.

Dick had unknowingly found out about Jason’s frequent visits and Jason was very pissed about it. Despite his very noticeable apprehension to Dick’s presence, he bit his tongue in favor of Lian finding the new addition intriguing.

Too intriguing. Uncomfortably intriguing and an annoyance to Jason.

“Fu—Get lost, Dickface.” Jason spoke with slight venom in his voice, but it quickly disappeared as he held out his fingers to Lian’s tiny hands.

“But Lian wants me here. Isn’t that right, Lian?” Dick cooed, a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. Making noises to get her attention.

“Don’t you have other red heads to bother?” Jason scooted closer to Lian, trying to nudge Dick away.

“You’ve been here five days in a row and you expect me to ignore that?” Dick stood up to make faces at Lian from above Jason’s head.

“A man can’t visit a friend?” Jason stood up blocking Dick.

“Then I’m visiting a friend too.” Dick maneuvered his way to Lian’s side in her bouncer.

“Just fucking leave—“ Jason threw Lian’s rattle at the back of Dick’s head.

The tiny sounds bounced off Dick’s back as it collided to his feet.

There was a brief moment of silence before Dick slowly looked back at Jason. A smile was on his face, but the vein in his head was bulging slowly.

“Dinner’s ready—“ Roy called out, making eye contact with the two men wrestling with a baby blanket as Jason tried to somehow twist the fabric to trap his brother.

Dick on the other hand was flexible enough to lessen the hold and pushed the side of Jason’s face with his free hand.

They murmured insults back and forth as calmly as they could, but the strained smiles on their faces couldn’t mask their current wrestling match.

“Stop pushing me—“ Jason grumbled.

“Then stop twisting my arm—“ Dick pressed back.

“Hehehe.”

Three necks snapped to the quiet sound from the ground, almost lost in the commotion, but there was little Lian.

She laid on her back in her bouncer, completely enamored by the noise and movements around her.

She made small movements in her arms in her excitement, a wide gummy smile on her face.

“I made her laugh.” Jason smiled confidently while tightening the baby blanket around his brother.

“I made her laugh.” Dick challenged, trying to kick back.

Roy walked around the two men to pick up Lian, cuddling her in his arms, and unbelievably happy to witness the delightful sounds from his daughter for the first time.

“Nuh uh, Dickwad, it’s my party.” Jason threatened.

“Jaybird, she was looking at me too! Wait, what party?” Dick finally asked.

“Why are you even here?!” Jason groaned.

Roy couldn’t even focus on the two bickering behind him, he was busy kissing the side of his daughter's head.

He tenderly kept her in his arms, seeing her gaze back up at him.

His smile was met with a smaller copy of his own.

Roy had seen and heard of the A’wee Chi’deedloh, the First Laugh Ceremony, in his time living on the reservation. As a kid, it was just a time for him to eat and play with his friends, but it also welcomed a new family member.

He remembers one of the elder women talking to him as a young boy who stood watching from the distance.

“We welcome the baby into our present world from the Spirit World, it’s a time that we share with everyone. It’s the first sign of a baby showing us they want to be a part of the family, to show and give love.” Roy heard the elder talk to him. “Don’t forget to eat and get salt from the baby, it’s their offering to us, to encourage them to be generous as they grow.”

At the time, Roy was involving himself more with the tribe, asking questions and participating. He remembers the look on the baby’s face as he received salt and a bag of goods.

He remembered how content he felt that day eating his sweets and now he would finally experience the perspective of a parent helping their child in the ceremony.

“Welcome, she’awéé’, my Lian.” Roy affectionately whispered to his daughter. “I’m happy you want to be here.”

—

Translations:

She’awéé’ — my baby

A’wee Chi’deedloh — First Laugh Ceremony

Roy Tag List: (temporary) @soysaurus @janybabyy @simpingforheros

[mvrdermeharder]

I’m still very much fucked up over ch 284… in a good way and in a bad way. I have a lot of contradictory feelings and thoughts regarding Isagi x Kaiser.

Bc on one hand: I’ve always wanted to see a team-up between them. It has been teased for a looong time, them being extremely similar to one another has been stated by multiple characters, and it has been the focal point of the NEL arc in general. And we KNOW just how well Isagi can work with someone who thinks in a similar way and who gets his plans (Isagi x Rin in U20, Isagi x Hiori in Ubers, Isagi x Noa in Manshine).

So we could only imagine how well someone who is a perfect mirror to Isagi (regarding playmaking, positioning, play style, comprehension of the field, psychological skills, … ) would play together with him. I think what a good Kaisagi team-up would look like is a continuous “no-look-chemical-reaction” as we’d seen with Isagi x Hiori. (But the requirements of a chemical reaction are not met just yet… and i’ll get back to this)

Both Kaiser and Isagi had learned to understand each others’ abilities and mirrored their own evolution off of them (Isagi with metavision + throwing his pride away for the sake of winning, Kaiser learning not to settle + offering up everything to improve) so now they are even more similar thanks to observing each other…

And in previous games there had been problems bc of the similarities: how they were always at the same place at the same time, resulting in dire mistakes by getting in each other’s way intentionally or unintentionally. But now, as they actually respect each other, they can use one another as “an additional me” on the field.

They understand themselves just as well as they understand each other bc of their similarities, so they could (hypothetically) visualize a play constructed around this. They could rely on each others abilities, thought processes and playmaking because they’re both capable of visualizing the same thing.

What i’m trying to get at is this: nobody knows your thoughts better than yourself. But now, there are 2 Isagis or 2 Kaisers on the field, for them to use as objects for their plans, relying on shared image and understanding, leaving no room for mistakes.

However. A chemical reaction requires their protagonistic goals to align. And there is no way in hell that either of them would give up their desire to score… that would be horrible writing for Kaiser at least, as he’s just found his true originality (to score for love), so he can’t compromise this development that quick… it doesn’t make sense narratively.

And regarding Isagi’s “new discovery” abt how he wants to just… win. We could interpret it as he wants to win no matter what he has to sacrifice, but I think he’d still want to be the one scoring at the end.

So, with the next ch name “Contract” it’s possible that it will be about Kaiser and Isagi establishing a contract that benefits them both: they will work together to get to the penalty area/get through the defense, and from then on they’ll both try to position themselves to score without the other interfering (or something like this… still competing in their own way to score, but helping each other until the last steps). This would make a “temporary-goal-in-common”, which could suffice the basis of a chemical reaction.

But…

On the other hand… it would be sooooooo good to see Kaiser reject Isagi’s offer. And not just bc “woo plottwist!!”, but because it would actually make sense for Kaiser to do that. Right now he is dead set on “living in restriction” so i don’t know if he’d be willing to team-up with Isagi to make things easier for himself.

And also, based on his reactions (or lack there of) this chapter, it’s clear that he wasn’t considering a team-up until Isagi had requested it. He looks surprised by it, in fact.

Additionally, his reaction to being used by Noa was to rebel against it: he does not want to stay in BM to dethrone Noa, he wants to forge his own path instead. And in this chapter, we could see that his reaction to Isagi saying he “exploited” or “used” Kaiser to his plans… well, he certainly isn’t thrilled by this either imo. To my understanding, he’s always been in a “use and/or be used” situation: with his father, Ray Dark, Ness, Noa… So it would make total sense for him to reject Isagi’s offer to team-up and use each other, as he’s quite possibly sick and tired of this.

So well… i don’t know. I REALLY, TRULY, GENUINELY want to see Isagi and Kaiser team-up.

Eventually.

But I feel like right now is just not the perfect time for it (mainly bc of Isagi’s weird character writing tbh).

But since this is the last match they’re playing on the same team… I doubt that we’d get a Football Club arc before the World cup, so even if they sign with the same club, it’s unlikely that we’d see them play together after the NEL… bc cmon, there are already 284 chapters, there is no way Kaneshiro would stretch the story out even more. The World cup arc’ll be long enough anyways.

So yeah. It’s basically now or never for a Kaisagi team-up.

Which is kinda unfortunate.

And while I’m hyped for it bc i LOVE THEM, the circumstances are unsatisfying, which is the thing that annoys me lol

Jfc this got so long

[blueishspace]

Hero, Villain God 12

(Prev) (Next) (First)

*Grian's pov*

In the end it is not vigilantism or villainy that ends up being the hardest part of this act you have created.

It isn't even music production as even though Ariana's youtube's channel takes a lot of effort and skill you did not expect to need it is still not that big of an hassle once Mumbo decided to help you.

No, the biggest challenge yet is mundanity, Grian was only a being you created as a civilian identity to stand behind the other more interesting personan... You put thought into the other but you never thought too much about how to be a civilian.

You have created yourself an identity but you never prepared yourself for living with it and you are slowly realising that knowing from an outside perspective how to do something is much different from actually doing it...Also as the god of chaos the rules of reality tend to slightly bend around you which makes doing menial tasks paricularly complex...

...Case in point: Cooking. You thought it would be easy, you have seen others do it in the past so it shouldn't have been hard.

And yet, "shouldn't" is the key word.

"Mumbo? You are back...sooner then I expected"

"This...this is the time I normally come home"

"Oh ..."

"Grian, what?"

"Did your hair...lose...weight?"

"Grian? Are you cooking something?"

"Yeah ... You could say that"

"W-well mate, what do you mean by that?"

"I was cooking...before"

"Y-yeah? So? Did something happen? Did something break? 'Cause that's fine, mistakes happen."

"I uh...I might have burnt the water"

"What... ... How? That's uh... not possibile?????"

"The water just caught on fire"

"That's not- what??????"

Of course then he hears the clucking, great timing, this is humiliating.

"Is that... A chicken in the kitchen?"

"Nooo, why would there be chicken in the kitchen? That would be weird."

"... There is a chicken in the kitchen, why? How??"

"I tried to break an egg and a chicken popped put"

"... Was there something in my coffee? This just isn't...ok whatever, I'm done. We have a chicken now I guess, sure why not?"

"Uh... are you going to name it?"

"You birthed it, It's your responsability now. I'm going to bed and reconsidering my life now"

...You ended up calling the chicken Cluck, hardly original but you have never been good at creating very original names.

*Mumbo pov*

Grian is an... Interesting roomate. He's exceptionally smart sometimes, he knows a lot of the natural world and hystory... He says very specific scientific facts like they are common knowledge...

He's also extremely talented at singing, which is especially impressive since he's doing so at an higher pitch then his speaking voice... It's almost like he changes vocal cords... And his drag persona? Ariana? It's stunning. You can't believe how good it is.

...

...He's also, and you mean it in the nicest way possible, a weirdo. He's not creepy or anything like that but he's extremely bad at being a normal person. You wonder about his past sometimes but you refuse to bother him about it, you of all people should know why someone would like to keep their past a secret... still you do wonder, for a man who says to have no powers he sure acts like he does.

Despite everything though...you can't deny you are getting used to his presence, he was supposed to be an alibi for you to hide your villainy behind but... Ugh, you spoon! You shouldn't have gotten this attached to this guy and you are probably going to get more attached as time passes.

It's fine, you can deal with this, hiding behind him has always been plan z and plan a has yet to fail, your project will be a success.

And if anyone does try anything... There is a reason you are called the Boogeyman.

[m4rs-ex3]

trailer screaming part 1

say it with me now: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ok

i was trying to see ezran being sad but then i saw fucking corvus. 170% seeing soren and running to him oh my god holy shit

oh yeah yeah that's that good shit.

the way we keep seeing the spirits of those cave fuckers i KNEW that those things were way too cool/horrifying to go to waste and apparently they knew it too. also i guess zym fucking killed them

well oh my god that's so coo

WHO NOW WHAT

oh hell yeah fuck shit up bestie!!

i'm very happy to be back at the banther lodge, and i assume this is an impromptu council meeting, but i can't get over the fact that this is literally the last supper. go ahead and tell me it's not

a) i am so happy that aanya is joining the ez and sorvus gang like hello they are a perfect group and b) dunno where tf they are but CRYSTAL CAVERNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@#!!!#W!!

*kissing noises*

a) yay astrid's here b) sorvus, pyrrah, astrid and rayla in lux aurea... yeah i don't even know what so think about that

my. fucking. GIRLS

from "my heart for xadia!" to "for ALL of xadia" oh you know she's including the human kingdoms in that now

"we all made mistakes" that's fair but i don't think i like you saying it

making a separate post for the rayllum scene don't you worry

what can i say except this is the sickest thing i've ever seen??

why's bro just fuckig standing 😭

FUCK SHIT UP!!!!!

HELL YES RUN FOR YOUR LIFE PLEASE LET THIS BE WHAT I THINK IT IS IVE BEEN WAITING FO RTHIS DAY

noo the bisexuals are fighting

ok but this syncs up pretty perfectly with the teaser image (based on both the sky + the layout of the banther lodge lot) as well as ez parting the guards so my guess is that runaan has been broken out of jail (probably not literally but who knows), soren is pissed and wants to fight about it, and ez comes to break it up

also the rayllum scene is once again at the lodge and with different lighting so it either takes place before or after and i pray it's after

1) slay 2) i have no fucking idea where she is. maybe i'm just stupid maybe not. duren perhaps? idk

he's not happy but honestly the charred ends are an absolute LOOK (i see he's taking a page out of claudia's "dyed tips" book)

to be continued~

[laswells-ashtray]

Okay, I have a silly request BUT- young John Price shenanigans WITH Macmillan.

I can see it now tbh. You think that man is sassy now? You should’ve seen him in his sergeant days.

Dude cussed out a whole Lieutenant, commanding officer, AND a few of his peers. He probably even got suspended a few times before the higher ups just gave up and made him scrub the showers.

I feel like Mac would also be a dad to him in a way. Stern, no nonsense, yet very tolerant of all of Price’s bullshit antics.

I’m very convinced that Price went on many solo missions by himself against orders, stole a few of his superior’s cars, and was out late past base curfew. Almost gave Mac a heart attack a few of those times and DEFINITELY got a smack to the back of the head.

I know little about MacMillan, I'll admit but one thing I do know is that he's Scottish. And as a Scot, [I need to bring it u every so often to you lot never mistake me as English], I know a lot about pissing off Scottish elders. Therefore:

"Hawl you, you crabbit little git. You're the one who insisted on playing hero, you're the one who fucked your ankle so if you're gonna be annoyed about not going on the next mission, you're to fucking blame."

The sheer angry look on little John Price's face would intimidate many, not Mac. He knows better. To him, it's just a boy with a petted lip.

"My ankle isn't even that bad, you're-"

"If the next word out of your mouth is overreacting then you're leaving here with a face like a skelped arse."

That promptly shuts him up, on more than one occasion he's smacked John with his gloves when he's holding them and they're fucking nippy, he knows that from experience.

"Time do you call this?"

The cheeky little fucker has the audacity to laugh at him.

"You look like a Bond villain, sitting there."

"Well, Mr Bond. You'll be scrubbing the loos clean with a fucking toothbrush."

Is it patriotic to say he likes watching the Englishman suffer? No, he doesn't but maybe it'll teach John not to make him suffer when he pulls another one of those fucking disappearing stunts.

"That's a pisstake, Mac."

"You're far too cocky for someone that'll spend tomorrow on his hands and knees, scrubbing bogs."

There's a brief moment of silence where he makes the mistake of thinking he might've gotten through to John before-

"Connery was the worst Bond."

"Get back here, you twisted little shite."

John is concussed. Everyone but John is willing to accept that he's concussed. Even when he's leaning a little too heavily into Mac's side and using the other man's head to block the sunlight from his eyes, he isn't willing to accept the fact that he's concussed.

"This gonnae teach ye not to run ahead like a fanny?" Mac is sympathetic, to an extent.

"Saved a rookie." John did and maybe later, he'll clap him on the back and tell him `good job, son` but right now he kind of wants to strangle him.

"That you did, not without taking a header when you landed tits o`er taes, mind you." His heart about hit his hole when he saw it, John had taken a hard hit saving a cocky younger boy who'd barged ahead against orders thinking he was the dog's bollocks.

"He has a little one at home, showed me pictures, Couldn't let him get killed even if he is an arrogant bastard."

"Aye, showed me pictures of the wain. She's a wee sweetheart, still doesn't give you the right to act like a prick."

"Who've I got at home other than the spider that lives by my window." One day he was going to kill John Price and he wouldn't feel bad about it, he was positive of the fact.

"You've got me, ye daft fanny. No getting yerself blown up tae fuck, too much paperwork on my end." That and it might kill him. John Price was a bitchy, reckless arsehole with no self-restraint when it came to the job and he'd wormed his way onto the short list of people that Mac could find himself giving a fuck about. The bastard.

[reaperlight]

(Venom 3 spoilers)

(More Eddie finds help from protective murder friends au)

Cletus: The first rule of rescuing a loved one from an evil government lab is to have fun and be yourself.

Eddie: This is not helpful.

Cletus: Sorry. You know... I did what you're doing right now. I searched for years but like I could only actually do it when I already had Carnage, so...

Eddie: So how is that supposed to help Venom?

Cletus: Do you really wanna make my mistakes, Eddie? You saw how that ended up.

Eddie: I don't know, you seem to be doing alright now.

Cletus: Eddie...

Eddie: I can't abandon him.

Frances: We know.

Cletus: Look... I've been there. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now. But you don't wanna be messing with this. At least not alone. Put those guns away and let us help you. You know Anne's really worried about you.

Eddie: You had to involve her in this.

Cletus: I didn't know what to do, you weren't listening to me and I couldn't just watch you throw your life away...

Eddie: It's already gone. I can't. Without him--

Cletus: Eddie... you know I'm already burned. So let me do it. I can get him back to you.

Eddie: Why, why would you help us?

Cletus: I told you, Eddie. I like you. That's all I ever wanted, to be your friend.

Eddie: You always try to befriend people via sledgehammer?

Cletus: I may have... overreacted. You know I didn't have my head on straight.

Eddie: And now you do?

Cletus: Yes. Look, I'm not asking for your forgiveness but I'd like to try and make it up to you, if you'll let me.

Eddie: Assuming I even agree to this... what's in it for you?

Cletus: Just... Can we be friends, for reals? Please? You don't have to forgive me. I'm not asking that. Just... we really want to be friends with you. That's all.

Eddie: Alright fine. Just help me get Venom back.

Frances: You won't regret this, Brockilicious!

Eddie: Believe me, I already do.

Cletus: So like, maybe... do you want us to just... clear the way for you? We storm in there, you get Venom out, all is good.

Eddie: You know they'll be prepared for symbiotes, right? That's like their whole thing. You'll get captured.

Cletus: Oh Eddie you do care! Yeah uh... Well both my girls kissed and made up, really bonded you know, and now we're immune to sonic attacks now. And I can stand the heat. I can take it. I don't really... experience pain like you do anymore. It takes a lot to feel anything. All my life it's been nothing but suffering. It's funny how I almost miss it.

Eddie: Are you going to read poetry now?

Cletus: Ha! You know that wasn't for you but maybe if we survive this I'll write something for you.

Eddie [daring to hope]: ...you really think you can do this?

Cletus: Uh yeah, did it before at Ravencroft.

Eddie: They've got like these elite symbiote hunters.

Frances: But they won't be prepared for me.

Cletus: Have I mentioned lately that Frances is awesome?

Eddie: Only every five minutes.

Cletus: Her powers have grown. She is like wicked strong in the Force.

Frances [eyes glowing, raw power swirling around her]: Alright, let's do this!

Eddie: No murders.

Cletus: C'mon Eddie, you know we can't promise that.

Eddie: Just... keep it to a minimum will you?

[Seeing the tank where Venom is held from some distance away while fighting their way through the base]

Eddie: Aw shit, I knew I'm forgetting something. How are we gonna get him out? I can't rebond with him or the codex thing activates. But I can't just leave him there. But as long as this Knull guy is out there if we bond again they'll come after us and doom the planet. He'd send those Xenophages, big monster things. They'd eat you for breakfast

Carnage: They can certainly try.

Eddie: Buddy, I've seen them eat like ten of you. You're not special.

Carnage: *Offended symbiote noises*

Cletus: Yes, you're very special, sweetheart. But I think it would be wise to listen to Eddie if he says it's dangerous.

Frances: ...I could carry him for you.

Eddie: What?

Frances: Venom. This... codex thing won't happen if someone else hosts him, right? I host Carnage sometimes. It won't be a problem. I can host him for you.

Eddie: But wouldn't that be awkward?

Frances: Why? I told you I host Carnage sometimes.

Eddie: Okay but like, for Cletus? [To Cletus] That's like... my husband in your wife... Sharing a body.

Cletus: You're sure you're okay with that, baby?

Frances: Yes, I can do this. I want to do it.

Cletus: Okay. If you're sure.

Frances: *nods*

Eddie: Okay. Then after this...

[All dodging bulletfire, Eddie looks away as Carnage slams tentacles through them and Frances clears a path with her new telekinesis and mind control powers.]

Eddie: Shit, what are we gonna do?

Cletus: So like, it seems simple enough to me. After we rescue your husband then we find this Knull dude and kill him.

Eddie: I doubt it's that simple. I don't think he's even on Earth.

Frances: So like we steal a rocket or something? If they're coming after you anyway might as well go big.

Cletus: Yeah, we just do whatever we need to do and find this guy and then... then you let me do what I'm good at.

Eddie: Are you sure you're cool with all this? Especially after all that happened before...

Cletus: Eddie... if we weren't cool do you think I be helping you now? If anything you did us a favor. You gave me and Carnage a chance for a hard reset so we could really bond.

Eddie: Wait a minute... the codex. Oh shit. It exists because I died and Venom brought me back to life....

Frances: You died?!

Eddie: Temporarily, nevermind that. [To Cletus] You died. So then why aren't they coming after you?

Cletus [Visibly confused]: Maybe they are and and we haven't noticed yet?

Eddie: Well, that's a terrifying thought but not quite as bad as you secretly working for Knull.

Cletus: Eddie, Frances is the only person I'd ever let boss me around. And I'd make a pretty shitty spy considering you already don't trust me, and for good reason.

Eddie: That's true.

Cletus: Maybe... Well, that wasn't the first time I died, you know.

Eddie: Huh?

Cletus: Told you. Baby Cletus died on the operating table as a newborn babe. Also my heart stopped when I got the needle too.

Eddie: Jeez, you're like a zombie.

Cletus: Yeah, suppose it could be something supernatural at play here, like Granny was involved in some weird cult shit. Also nearly bled to death when granny carved up my back with a kitchen knife as a kid. Maybe that counts as dying too.

Eddie: Carved up your back?

[During a pause in the fighting, briefly takes off his shirt and shows the scars. ]

Eddie: Woah!

Cletus: See, I'm not bullshitting you. I never lied to you, Eddie.

Eddie: Huh? Yeah, I believe you, okay Just... Holy shit.

Frances [holding him tenderly]: I know, my poor baby!

Eddie [visibly alarmed]: Yes. Also...

Cletus: What? What is it?

Eddie: I am sorry that happened to you. Like, there's no good way to say this so I'm just gonna say it. I'm not accusing you of anything--

Cletus: What is it, Eddie?

Eddie: That's Knull's symbol.

Cletus: What?!

Frances: Knull's symbol?

Cletus: ...well fuck me.

Carnage: Do not fuck him. He is taken.

Cletus: Eddie, I swear I don't know this guy. I didn't even know what that was. Given the way my family treated me I wanted nothing to do with it--

Eddie: I believe you. I do. And I am so, so sorry.

Cletus: This was from when I was kid... Was this asshole fucking with me my entirely life? Before I was even born? My entire family? Well, I wanted to kill this guy before on general principle but now--

Eddie: Now it's personal?

Cletus: Oh It was already personal. He hurt you.

Eddie: ...

Cletus: Eddie, I... I'm sorry. About before. My head wasn't on straight.

Eddie [sighing]: Honestly, I'm more angry about you kidnapping Anne.

Frances: In fairness that was my idea, don't blame him for that.

Cletus: We just needed you there, you know?

Eddie: Why?

Cletus: Because you're our friend and we were getting married and... and it seemed like a good idea at the time? I apologized to her when I called her.

Eddie: What did she say to that?

Cletus: I promised her I'm not that guy anymore. That I was gonna help you not repeat my mistakes. She passed on some legal contacts in case we got into any more trouble which I think more for your sake than mine but it was most appreciated in any case.

Eddie: [*staring at the scarification on his back.*]

Eddie: But... what does it mean?

Cletus: Well, I always assumed it just meant I was raised by abusive fucks.

Eddie: I'm sorry. But what if like... Knull's controlling you or something? Has been controlling you all along?

Cletus: ...I like to think I have some agency. No, those are my mistakes and I own them.

Eddie: That... That's all well and good but how can you kill him if he can just possess you or something? He's supposed to be like a symbiote God, right? And you've got his symbol.

Cletus: We don't know if he can do that? ...can he?

Carnage: *nodding*

Cletus: Oh.

Frances: *gasping*

Eddie: Shit.

Cletus: Well, if it comes to that... Frances. Can you...?

Frances: Cletus, you can't ask me to---

Cletus: Baby, you can control my mind, I give you permission. I want you to do it if that sick fuck is making me his meat puppet, alright? Do not hesitate. Use that jedi mind trick of yours to make me slit my own throat.

Frances: Baby!

Eddie: Woah!

Cletus: I'd rather die then be made to hurt you or our friends again. Do whatever you have to do to stay alive. Can you do that for me, baby?

Frances [*Wiping away tears, nods.*]

Cletus [*also wiping away tears*]: That's my girl.

Eddie: I don't doubt that she's strong, but I think Knull is supposed to be really tough. Venom was afraid of him--

Carnage [scoffing]: Venom was afraid of me.

Eddie: Just... we don't want to be underestimating this. What if he's too powerful?

Cletus: Well, I guess we burn that bridge when we come to it.

Frances: Come on, Eddie. Let's go rescue your boytoy.

[Getting to the tank where Venom is held]

Frances: [*Breaks the glass*]

Venom [in Frances]: Eddie!

[Venom making out sloppy style with Eddie while Cletus awkwardly looks away.]

[Eddie considering he is so far unmurdered. Maybe they really have changed...]

Cletus: C'mon we gotta go.

Venom: ...what?!

Eddie: He's with me, they're helping us. I'll explain later, come on...