#and no that doesn’t excuse her actions and yes i still think what she did to luther was irredeemable but im just really hoping they finally-

[meejijis]

ah yes today is the day where one of my most hated manga moments of all time gets animated and I’m already just salty just thinking about it

[disneyprincemuke]

you don't get to tell me about sad * fem!driver

outtakes of her year that i didn't know where to fit lol so this is the last(ish) angst installment

pairings: sebastian vettel x fem!driver, max verstappen x fem!driver

notes: iM BACK BABYYY

(series masterlist) | (📂 2025: fall from grace)

(prev)

so she runs from her garage again. just another weekend where everything has skewed from what was discussed and there is no reasoning to be done.

she finished the race damn near last over a pitstop that ran longer than it should have.

the minute sebastian could not spew an excuse she would hear out was the minute she stopped listening to him during the race. and honestly, it was the only way she could salvage not finishing last of the pack.

“let’s talk about it,” sebastian says, hurriedly chasing her down as she storms into the racing home, her presence immediately silencing the chatter in the room. “let me talk you through what happened. it’s not your fault.”

“i know it’s not!” her distress is made known, echoing in the air of the room. she stops in her tracks and turns to face sebastian still by the door, flinching back. “how could that be my fault? i was doing my end of the bargain as a driver!”

he takes a deep breath. “rocky, just listen to me, okay?”

“it’s not fair! none of this weekend was my fault!” she shrieks, turning back around and trudging up the stairs loudly. “the team fucked me over, that’s what happened! i can’t possibly think of a reason you could come up with to excuse what happened!”

“i’m not excusing it, i’m just–”

“oh, god, sebastian!” she stomps her foot on the ground to demand sebastian’s attention. which surprisingly works. “just admit it — the team fucked me over. point blank period, that’s literally what happened.”

sebastian sucks in a deep breath. “yes, we did. and we’re extremely sorry. but–”

“’but’ again,” she laughs dryly, rolling her eyes. she makes a sharp turn for her driver’s room and holds a hand up to stop the step he tries to take towards her. “take your apology to the headlines being drafted about me as we go in circles over this, sebastian.”

“you know i’m not breaking up with you,” matt says amidst the silence that they’ve been sitting in as he packs his bag. “i just need a break.”

“from me,” she points out shakily, dropping her head low.

“from this cycle.” he lifts his head and sits back to look at her.

she sits on the edge of her bed, feet hovering slightly over the floor. she watches her feet swing slightly, counting in her head, desperate not to lose the last remaining sanity she feels she has.

initially, she sat in the vacant room in tears, refusing to watch him pack up to leave her all alone in her apartment. she wallowed in her woes in a dark corner before she eventually dragged herself back into her bedroom.

she’s been sitting here watching him in silence ever since, trying to find the words in her head to say something to him.

maybe he’ll change his mind; maybe he’ll stay if she says the right thing.

“yeah, i get that.”

“i don’t think you do.” he stands from his position on the ground and walks over to her on the bed. he takes the empty spot next to her, resting his hand above hers that grips the mattress tightly. he feels her grip loosen slightly. “i still love you, bub.”

she shakes her head with a sigh. “i would have stopped a long time ago if i were you. i’m not very nice.”

“it doesn’t work like that,” he squeezes her hand, “you’re having a hard time. i get that and it’s okay. but i want you to want the help i’m giving you. i’m not going to force it on you if you’re just going to keep pushing me away when i try.”

“i don’t know why i keep doing that,” she admits with a scoff. she drops her back on the bed behind her and looks up at the ceiling of her bedroom. “i’m not usually like this, i promise. i’m better than this.”

“i know.” matt mirrors her actions and drops himself on the mattress.

she wants to say she’s sorry and that she’s thankful for him sticking around longer than he had to. it’s at the edge of her tongue but she simply cannot get herself to admit that she’s wrong. that perhaps this time, someone is finally right about her.

“do you, really?” she hums, “i’m the worst.”

“i think you should give yourself a little more credit,” he sighs, reaching out for her hand again. this time, she moves her hand away before he can grab it. “i’ll come home soon, okay? i’ll come back for you, i promise.”

she repeats in her head the gameplan she’d drafted with sebastian. the one that seemed so foolproof all weekend that made her believe she could turn it all around.

instead, she’s standing on the grass next to her wrecked car, another unfortunate mishap she’s sure would make her talk of the town again.

she puts her hands on her hips as her eyes trail over to her blown tyre. then she remembers that her crash wasn’t caused all by herself.

“are you alright?” charles asks softly, slowly approaching her as he takes his helmet off. “unlucky weekend.”

she glances over her shoulder where he approaches her. she forces a small grin to her face and tries to wave his concerns away. “i’m fine.”

her chest starts to hurt slightly, tears prickling at her eyes.

this is not the time and place to be breaking down. especially not at someone like charles because surely, something went wrong with her that caused this.

“it’s my fau–”

surely, it can’t be his fault. there’s no way that the person she’s looked up could cause this crash.

but there’s also a voice in her head telling her to believe charles. he wouldn’t be apologising if he didn’t actually think that he caused it.

“unfortunate,” she chuckles. she swallows the scream threatening to make itself known and shrugs at charles. “i’ll see you in the paddocks, mate.”

“thought i might find you here.”

“fuck off, max.”

the older driver laughs, walking over to her with hands in the pocket of his jeans. he drops himself on the little platform she’s resting on.

“everyone’s looking for you,” max chuckles, innocently taking a sip from his water bottle. “i heard seb panicking and sending out a search party to get you.”

“i know,” she snorts, “i heard him screaming and delegating people to find me.”

the only reason max knew where to find her is because he is the one who introduced her to this place. he had found her holding her tears in at some point last season walking around the paddocks and he whisked her away without another word.

it’s a pretty obscure location in the paddocks, one that max often resided in when it got too chaotic and loud. she’s the only one he’s ever given this sort of information to.

“how’s everything?” he asks with a sigh, leaning back on the wall behind them. “matt flew back to the states already?”

she nods and drops her head, picking at the grass beneath them. while she truly tried to keep her problems to herself, max approached her a week prior when he saw her entering the paddocks all by herself.

he had asked why the man, typically found on her arm every race weekend, was not with her today.

she softly admitted that they’re on a break, prompted by her reactionary behaviour from how her year is going so far. still, she tries to keep the confession minimal.

it’s hard enough to watch your boyfriend pack his things in silence to leave you behind. it’s even harder to admit that there’s nobody else to blame but yourself.

her mishaps every weekend on the paddocks, she can point all the fingers she wants. but when it came to her matt, there was nobody else she could pin it on. there were 2 people in that relationship and she knows that she’s the one that’s burned it down.

“i’m so sorry,” max sighs, resting his cheek in his hand. he props his elbow on his knee as she leans forward. “that must be really hard for you.”

she shrugs. it’s really not that big of a deal. or, at least, it shouldn’t be to somebody else in a happy relationship of his own. “it’s my fault, anyway. i don’t blame him.”

“you can still be upset about it,” he mutters. “i know you love him, so i don’t imagine any of this is making you feel better at all.” he puts a hand on her back and rubs circles, something he honestly wishes someone had done for him when he was younger. “it’s just me, mate.”

“it’s alright, but thanks for trying to be there for me,” she grimaces, turning momentarily to give him a small smile. “but i don’t reckon i get to feel bad for deliberately pushing him over the edge.”

she’d been fine all day. she thought she was genuinely getting better: she’d even gone for a walk in the sun and felt enlightened most of the hours she’d been awake.

that was until she had sat down at her dining table with dinner, consumed whole by the silence and emptiness of her apartment. without understanding why, she lost her appetite as her stomach started to churn.

her heart feels like it’s skipping beats from how unwell she suddenly felt.

she finds herself on the floor of her bedroom, phone pressed up against her ear as the ringing pulls her in and out of her trance.

her world has spinning for the better part of 5 minutes, her chest feeling like it’s closing in on itself and the framed picture in her peripheral vision taunts her.

there’s no climbing out of this rut; she’s almost sure she will be stuck in here forever. she either lives with the fact that she’s a failure or it’ll someday kill her.

“hello? is this really you?”

tears she hadn’t realised were there start to fall out of her eyes. the sob she didn’t know she had in her throat fills the room as she drops her head into her other hand.

“i don’t know why i called,” she pauses with a soft sob, “sorry, i should go.”

“no,” a firm voice demands, “just stay on the line.”

“okay.”

she had just spoken with matt this morning, on a short 5-minute welfare check video call. she told him she was feeling slightly better with the biggest smile on her face.

now she doubts herself if she’d even meant it. if she was truly better, she wouldn’t be here on the floor feeling worse than when she woke up this morning.

going backwards isn’t supposed to be the way she’s going.

it’s always forward. if there’s no progress towards the betterment of her situation, then she’s simply not trying hard enough.

she should try harder. it’s the only way.

“hey,” matt coos softly to catch her attention. “if you need me there, just say the word. i’ll come home.”

she wants to say yes. she even wants to break into a louder sob and admit that she misses him; probably might even be going crazy without his presence as of late.

she hasn’t got anything figured out.

but instead, she says, “i’ll be okay.”

being alone in her hotel room is the last thing she wanted for herself, the silence too overbearing for her to handle. though asking to hang out with her friends she watched leave together to get dinner wasn’t an option either.

so she opted to lock herself in her driver’s room until someone chases her out. perhaps she’ll sleep over without anybody finding out.

she’d coddled herself up in her beanbag under a blanket, reading away furiously on the things people said about her.

sure, she shouldn’t be on these sites speaking ill of her, but there’s nobody to stop her. she’s fallen down the rabbit hole of everyone’s opinions of her once more and she can’t seem to stop.

she’s stooped even lower this time: she’s on social media reading what the public has to say about her.

it’s not just about whoever in the industry is saying now.

she never tried to let anyone’s opinion of her, in forms of tweets and social media posts, get to her much.

but a post highlighting about the two mere instances where she had unintentionally lashed out on matt in the paddocks did it for her. and the one time she had a disagreement with sebastian in her racing home after a pitstop mishap.

“for fuck’s sake,” she cries, throwing the blanket off her.

she can’t throw her ipad. she starts to heave, feeling it all coming down on her once more.

she grabs the closest thing to her. and unfortunately, it’s the very mug she’d gotten 2 years ago as a present for sebastian.

you know, the matching mugs she got as a celebration for scoring points as a race engineer and driver duo on the grid.

and it does what a mug would do if you threw it against the wall: it shatters. into pieces.

it’s repairable if she really thought about it rationally. the handle has popped out along with another large piece straying by its side.

only then she realises what she’s done.

“oh, fuck.” she sits hurriedly and brushes the stray hairs from her face. “oh, no.”

she scrambles from the ground and runs over to the other side of the room where her favourite mug sits in 3 separate pieces, tears prickling at her eyes as she realises what she’s done.

she gathers it into her hands with a heavy cry, dropping her hands into her lap. if she’d known sooner that this mug was what she’d grabbed out of fury, she wouldn’t have chucked it across the room.

“come on,” she whispers to herself, trying to fit the pieces together as if it would magically mend itself. “fix yourself. be a mug again?”

“i thought you were back at the hotel– are you okay?”

“i didn’t mean to do it,” she cries at the familiar voice and accent, lifting her head and hands to show him what she’s done. “i didn’t mean to, i didn’t even realise what i was throwing until it broke into this many pieces.”

“hey,” sebastian coos, softly closing the door behind him. he walks over to where she kneels on the ground and grabs her shoulder. “you’re okay. it’s okay.”

she shakes her head profusely and rests her head on his shoulder. “i didn’t mean it. i didn’t want to break it — i still like you, i promise. you’re like my dad when we’re on the road. i’m s– i didn’t mean it.”

“relax.” he squeezes her shoulder, pressing a firm kiss to her temple. “it’s just a mug. we’ll just get a new one, okay? don’t even worry about it.”

he waits for a second as she processes his words, slightly hesitant to agree with him. she nods slowly, “are you sure? you’re not mad?”

“i’m not mad,” sebastian hums with a smile. “let’s get you back to your hotel room, okay? i was just about to head out.”

“okay.”

taglist: @wcnorris @treehouse-mouse @laura-naruto-fan1998 @mindless-rock @vellicora @ironmaiden1313 @angsthology @cherry-piee @christianpulisic10 @elliegrey2803 @33-81 @darleneslane @nikfigueiredo @happy-nico @namgification @localwhoore @c-losur3 @notawc @sadg3 @kazuha-pista-badam @mellowarcadefun @megatrilss1885 @peqch-pie @woozarts @meadhbhcavanagh @2bormaybenot @a-disturbing-self-reflection @mclarengf @xoscar03 @nomie-11 @green-thots @tinyhrry @iwilleatyourgod @inejismywife @love4lando @louvrepool

[varyajc]

Can you do the Hashiras with a partner who is an ex dancer that is very flexible and fast? They became a hashira very quickly and were usually quiet until they became comfortable with the hashiras😺 it can be nsfw or sfw🍕🦄🐺

HASHIRA HEADCANONS

CONFESSING TO AN EX-DANCER - Sanemi Shinazugawa, Giyu Tomioka, Shinobu Kocho, Mitsuri Kanroji, and Kyojuro Rengoku

a/n; UGH, THANK YOU FOR THE ASK! These are just headcanons for now since I’m working on a Sanemi fic! (I was originally going to do them dating, but I decided to do confessing, why? Because..I dunno. Pls lmk if you wanted something different!) I’m going to be real here, I don’t write for demon characters often, so this might be out of character. Forgive me.

SANEMI SHINAZUGAWA

~When you first became a Hashira, he didn’t exactly care for you. He simply thought you were another Hashira, so why the fuss?

~However, you thought he disliked you, which somewhat let you to also distancing yourself from him.

~Soon, you found yourself becoming close with the other Hashira besides Sanemi.

~You attempt to make a conversation with him, getting nowhere.

~Despite all this, you still attempt to speak with him, go on missions, etc. He soon found you quite..alluring? Your voice was extremely soft, you’re good what you do, and even took notice of your physical abilities.

~I wouldn’t say he was exactly impressed, but it did catch his attention somehow.

~Then when he finally took notice of your skills, I would say his respect for you went up more. That’s when he decided to finally make an effort to somewhat form a friendship? He was hesitant to try and become friends, so he stubbornly figured he could at least speak with you more.

~After a while, he devolved a crush on you. Why? Because of your unshakeable character, how attached you are to your family, and is very intelligent.

~He confesses to you, and oh my, he’s so awkward. He’s stumbling over his words, his hands are shaking, whilst his eyes are bloodshot and pupils incredibly small.

~To his surprise, you say yes to dating him, which catches him off guard but also makes him the happiest man on earth.

~The rest is history.

GIYU TOMIOKA

~When you first became a hashira, like Sanemi, Giyu didn’t exactly take notice of you.

~Whenever you tried to speak with Giyu, he’d just stay silent and listen, and after you finished, he walks away without another word.

~You’d speak to Tomioka normally, with you doing the talking.

~However, when you two went on a mission, he finally saw you in action. He wasn’t exactly like mind-blown impressed, just respected you more as a Hashira rather than someone who’s just there.

~However, you started to show interest in him. It was very subtle, but he was very overwhelmed by the way you attempted to give him affection.

~I’m extremely doubtful that Giyu would be the one to confess, I think you would confess. However, he doesn’t accept your confession, in fear he’d hurt you or lose you.

~I feel like he’d use an excuse. “Give me more time.”

~I don’t see Giyu dating anybody..unless; They defend him, go out of their way to speak with him, and definitely gives him space whenever he needs it.

~And when he does reluctantly agrees to date with you, I’ll just say he’s comfortable..for now.

SHINOBU KOCHO

~When you appeared as a Hashira, she was pleased that another one has been added to the mix.

~I can see her making an effort speaking with you, she’s quite pleasant and that’ll make you feel more comfortable around her.

~You guys speak fairly often, often going on missions together, even. She was also shocked to see you being so..flexible and quicker than her.

~However, when you started to show interest in her, she noticed it IMMEDIATELY.

~I can see her confessing, but I feel you’ll crack first and confess. She’s not opposed to the idea of dating you, but you two are hashira, remember that, so you have to somewhat keep the public affection subtle.

(I can’t write for her, I’m so sorry if this is out of character.)

MITSURI KANROJI

~I just know she’s excited she has a new comrade to speak with! I can see her totally speaking to you first, as you are very shy.

~Her bubbly personality makes you most likely open up to her immediately, I guess I can say you feel somewhat safe around her.

~You guys eat together all the time, go out to eat, train together, send each-other letters. I can see herself making hand-made gifts for you as well.

~I can see her falling for you easily, your angelic face and soft voice makes her melt.

~She confesses to you, and she ends up crying of happiness when you accept her confession.

~The love you both have for each-other is so beautiful, you two spend even more time together after you two become official.

KYOJURO RENGOKU

~I know Rengoku would go up to you first, with his loud, booming, voice of his.

~The more he approaches you, the more you warm up and start being more relaxed around him rather than tense whenever you hear his loud voice.

~I can see the more you two interact, the more you two want to spend time with each-other. (In a friendly matter.)

~However, the more time you two spend with each-other, the more you start slowly start falling for Kyojuro.

~Does he notice? No. I feel like he’d be completely oblivious to any romantic interest shown in him, even when you give hints!

~This man is completely shocked when you confess to him, doesn’t accept confession right away because he know if he likes you like THAT.

~After a while, he does chose to date you, and long story short, I’ll say you two are happy..for now.

@varya-jc - DO NOT TRANSLATE, REPOST, OR CLAIM MY CONTENT AS YOUR OWN! YOU WILL GET BLOCKED AND REPORTED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

a/n: can you tell I got lazy at the end? Wtv, I need 🍃 + 🚬

[autumnmobile12]

Endeavor: Physical Strength vs Emotional Strength

Or The Total Mess that is the Todoroki House.

*Note:  The following is not a defense of Endeavor nor is it excusing his actions.  It is a deep-dive analysis into the complexities and nuances of his behavior and how it affected his life and everyone else in that family based on observations I’ve made throughout the series. There are also comparisons with other objectively violent characters from other series.

Trigger Warning for domestic and child abuse.

...

We're gonna start out by looking at what happened to his character over the available time frame. Endeavor did not start out as a violent person to his family. We can see that in the flashbacks of the family's early days.

Starting here, note that he’s not cold toward Rei in this scene.  The way they’re walking around out here in the garden gives the impression that negotiations between him and Rei’s family are going well so far, but they’re out walking and talking in private just to make sure this arrangement is going to work and making sure further negotiation isn’t going to be a waste of everyone’s time.  I say this because if he was dead set on ice powers for this Quirk marriage, Rei probably wasn’t the only option.

It's also important to remember Rei did choose this. She chose for her family rather than herself, but it wasn't her parents' end all be all decision. (And maybe there was familial pressure on her side, but it's not explicitly stated in canon so exactly how much free will Rei actually had is up for interpretation.)

However what I think shows here is they weren’t really talking all that much. Specifically, he is not ‘talking down to her.’  He is not treating her with any particular disrespect or putting her down as inferior.   He doesn’t have the arrogance he later exhibits. This also isn’t him being aloof and ignoring her either.  Look at his face, specifically his eyes.  That is the same blank, deer in the headlights, “I have one brain cell dinging around in my head that is struggling to find a way to interact with people,” stare he shares with Shouto.

He has no idea what to say to her. 

So finally, Rei turns off to the side to admire the garden, and he asks, “Do you like the flowers?”  It’s a small thing, but it does show that in some capacity, he did show some interest in Rei and making her happy.  He’s just stupidly awkward about it at this point. (Even if his ultimate goal was…well, we’ll get into that.)

But this trait of never knowing what to say is a massive defining part of Endeavor’s character that has manifested in a myriad of disastrous ways throughout his entire arc.

Now I don’t think there’s enough shown about Endeavor and Rei’s relationship that we can conclusively say they ever loved each other at any point, but I do think they were, at the very least, cordial in the beginning.  They got along, they loved their children, and that in their minds was good enough for them. If you look at the scenes that are Touya and Fuyumi's early childhood, the family seems content. There's no sign of the abuse we see later.

The other big indicator that Endeavor was not originally a violent person to his family is the two very different ways he approaches training with Touya and Shouto. His motive for training them hasn't changed, but compared to the warmth and pride extended toward Touya we see in the above picture, Shouto’s experience with training in the second screenshot is harrowing and traumatic.

So why the difference?

A big reason is it has to do with age.  When Rei defends Shouto, telling her husband that, “He’s only five!” and Endeavor is still pushing their son to achieve the standards of an older child, yes, this does show his impatience. However, the other unspoken sentiment here is he himself is not getting any younger.  When Touya was born, Endeavor was twenty-two and had his whole life, career, and all his hopes with it ahead of him.  His kid has a greater Quirk than his, his legacy is secure, nothing to worry about.  But then they learn about the genetic issue with Touya’s Quirk.  He can’t use his fire safely, he’ll never be able to use it safely, and he will never be a hero in the way Endeavor can.

Touya:  Failure

Fuyumi:  Failure

Natsuo:  Failure

Shouto was probably viewed as his last chance.  Endeavor was getting older and running out of time.  If Shouto didn’t work out, then this legacy was dead in the water. At least, I hope Shouto was the last chance, otherwise he might've tried getting another kid out of Rei, divorced Rei and married someone else for the same reason, or attempted securing his successor through a grandchild.

Which is some freaky medieval way of thinking.

Anyone else getting Henry VIII vibes here?

Remember what I said about him never knowing what to say? The most obvious example of this is his complete and total inability to control the situation with Touya.

The tragedy of both Touya and Fuyumi's characters is they are the only two kids in the house who remember the happier childhood, and they both cling to that in their own way. It's why Fuyumi is so determined to 'fix things.' She's trying to regain the family they lost. For Natsuo and Shouto, things have always been bad in the house, hence why Natsuo bailed as soon as he could.

Then we have Touya. His flashbacks start with him at a toddler age. It is very common and normal for a child that young to prefer one parent over the other, but usually it's the parent they're most familiar with: The one that stays home with and takes care of them. Remember, to a toddler, everything is new and potentially scary, and that can also include a parent that is not always present: The parent that's working. In the Todoroki house, Endeavor has his career as a hero, so we have the indication that Rei was the parent who stayed home. In that situation, the probability of Rei being the 'familiar parent' was more likely, so for Touya to prefer his father over his mother shows just how close he was to Endeavor. Or because Fuyumi was the new baby and needed more attention, he could have gravitated away from Rei and gone to his father instead. He didn't see his father's ambitions for him. He didn't see that he was a successor as opposed to a son.

What he, through a child's innocence, saw and understood was that his father loved him and wanted to spend time with him.

Cue the genetic disparity of his Quirk: Where Endeavor failed as a parent was him never talking to Touya about what had happened. He didn't sit down with him and explain it wasn't safe for him to use his Quirk.

The My Hero world has a social problem of Quirks defining one's worth. It's not just the PLF's philosophy. Having no Quirk is viewed with pity and having a Quirk that can't be used could be viewed as a disability by this society, regardless of the fact it's completely possible to live a healthy life without having a Quirk. So Touya's 'issue' required compassion and understanding, especially from a parent. What Endeavor needed to say and what Touya needed to hear was, "This is a path that is blocked to you, it isn't your fault this happened, and I will love you regardless."

Instead, he just dropped him completely. (Given his character, I doubt he's even the one who broke the news to him.) In Touya's eyes, he didn't have the adult nuance to understand why he was being ignored; he just had the child innocence of, "I don't want to hang out with Mom and Fuyumi, I want to be with Dad. Why is he ignoring me? Why won't he train me anymore?"

What Touya learned from this is he only has value in his father's eyes as a hero. So he began training himself to be a hero because he was desperate to get that love and affection back. When Endeavor discovers the fact he's been training and burning himself, Touya never apologizes for disobeying him. He just repeatedly says variations of, "I can do this, then maybe you'll finally be proud of me."

Fuck, dude, just tell the poor kid you're already proud of him. That's all he needed to hear.

And Rei does call Touya out on this. She asks him, "Do you want to be a hero because you want to be a hero or are you doing this because it's what your father wants?"

In order words: "Are you doing this because you think it will make your father love you?"

And we come full circle to the 'death' of Touya where he realized, "I was never a son. I was a product."

...

Endeavor never addresses the problem going on under his roof. He handed the problem off to Rei. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know (and still doesn't) how to be a parent, and instead of confronting that lapse in his character, he instead made a coward's retreat back into the safe and familiar territory of being a hero.

This was the catalyst for his violence to his family.

Being a hero means fighting villains.

Fighting villains is often solving problems with violence.

Because he never knows what to say, he didn't know how to properly navigate a complex emotional situation, so he resorted to the only method he knew that worked:

Beat it into submission.

And since we have the previously mentioned signs they were once a happy, normal family, I have a feeling the violence began very suddenly and without warning.

...

To back this up, I'm gonna give a little personal insight here. I used to work in an orthopedic clinic and a lot of injuries that came through were hand injuries due to someone punching a wall out of anger/frustration.  You may think this is fine since they didn’t hit another person and only hurt themselves, but the issue with taking your aggression out on even an inanimate object is you are unwittingly training your brain to associate anger with violence and make it all the more likely for you to lash out violently against another person.

Throughout his career, Endeavor has conditioned himself into this same mindset of repeatedly forging and reinforcing the physical connection of violence with the mental/emotional connection of anger.

Look at this scene from Arcane.

If you haven't seen this series yet, 1.) Get on that. You're missing out. (Don't worry, there's not too many spoilers below.) and 2.) This is Vi and this screenshot is from a scene where she, in a moment of anger and grief, strikes her little sister hard enough in the face to knock her to the ground.

Look at the horror in her eyes when she realizes what she’s done.

Now before and after this moment, we see Vi undoubtedly loves her sister and would die for her. (Season 2 pending...) The first thing she does when they're reunited is hug her and tell her how sorry she is. But Vi has also been a fighter all her life. The sisters grew up in the rough part of town, they had to fight to survive, and they've experienced a violent atmosphere from a young age. We also see that when Vi gets frustrated or angry, she punches/slaps inanimate objects, so she too subconsciously associated violence with intense emotions, and in a moment of blind rage/grief, she failed to dissociate and she hurt her sister.

It wasn't a conscious decision, but it happened nonetheless.

What follows is she walks away from Powder. She doesn't go far, she just puts some distance between herself and her sister to calm down and process what's happened and hopefully find a way to move forward. Only, for unrelated reasons that don't pertain to this topic, she is apprehended by authorities and spends the next 6-7 years in prison, obsessing over her regrets and finding her way back to Powder.

She is never going to forgive herself for this.

I bring this scene up because as far as fiction is concerned, we as the audience do often excuse a character losing their temper and hitting a loved one once. What Vi did was not okay, but because it only happened that one time, nobody is labeling Vi as 'abusive.'

...

So consider the first time Endeavor hit Rei. We don't see it in canon, but with all the indicators of a relatively happy home, I believe that first act of violence was the culmination of these factors:

Endeavor's ongoing inferiority complex with All Might and the frustration in his inability to surpass him, and then projecting that frustration onto his family.

The career of solving problems with violence.

The subconscious association of anger with violence resulting from that career.

I'm also going to throw out the possibility of multiple head injuries incurred from his career playing a role. Traumatic brain injuries can and often do lead to behavioral changes where an individual has trouble managing emotional responses, experiences anxiety, has a shorter temper, etc.

Obviously, none of the above should be treated as excuses (not even the TBI possibility because there's therapy options for that), but they are potential contributors to the pivotal moment of frustration and impatience where Endeavor, like Vi, failed to dissociate and did something he couldn't take back.

Striking Rei is his tea kettle incident. Think back to the awkward moron who didn't have a clue what to say to her when they first met. That young man never thought he would do something like this. That first moment when he hit Rei, I really don't think it was a conscious decision and it may have taken him off guard as much as it did Rei. Like Vi, he probably acted out of blind anger and may have been just as horrified by what he'd done, and I can imagine Endeavor walking away from that to calm down and process that he crossed a line he thought he would never cross.

Unlike Vi, who was going to return to Powder after calming down so she could apologize, beg forgiveness, and move forward, Endeavor is an emotional coward who never knows what to say or how to confront a complex emotional hurtle. So he did the same thing he did with Touya: He retreated from the problem and pretended it didn't exist, and because it was never addressed and he was never held accountable, it only got worse. The lid was off and there was no getting it back on.

I'm not saying there was a definite chance he could have come back from that (that ball was in Rei's court as much as it was Powder's) but Endeavor had a choice:

He could have addressed what he'd done and made amends by submitting to whatever consequence Rei set down for him.

Or he could have rationalized his own twisted justifications for what he did.

He chose wrong.

For another comparison of the violence aspect, I’m also going to bring up Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara!!, a character who I think flies off the handle far more frequently than Endeavor does.

If you haven't seen Durarara!!, same as above with Arcane.

The nuance of Shizuo is the intense rage he experiences, the violence that follows, and his own inner turmoil. He associates violence with anger, but these are traits that he fully recognizes as detrimental to himself and his personal relationships with other people. He has a temper, he gets violent, he lashes out with abnormal strength and has seriously injured many people.

But the people he's attacked are usually people who provoked him, whether it's thugs who opted to harass him on the street or he heard that a friend was in trouble and rushed off to help them. Not that violence is the answer, but they were people who arguably deserved a beating. More importantly, though, is the way Shizuo treats his relationships with caution. He's a loner by choice. He does want to connect with other people, but he keeps his distance because he legitimately fears harming someone he cares about. Because of his caution and self-awareness, he is a complicated and likable character that I think anyone with a short temper who has said or done things they regret can relate to.

If he didn’t have that level of control on himself and was violent with everyone regardless of who they were to him, he would be despised by the fandom as much as Endeavor is.

This is how Durarara!! can get away with presenting a violent character in a comedic fashion. Shizuo, despite his temper, is an absurdly strong guy, a little bit of an idiot, and fiercely loyal to his friends. All three of those are endearing qualities.

And in the right framing, Endeavor's violence is also presented as comedic.

This scene is funny, but grabbing Hawks like that and lifting him off the ground is technically assault and it is intimidation. Replace Hawks with Rei and this scene changes drastically from funny to very unsettling. Replace him with Touya and it's a fight.

...

Where Endeavor really differentiates from Vi and Shizuo is marked by two important factors:

Shizuo, for all his claims at being unable to control his anger, has it very much under control around the people he cares about. He really only lets loose against a perceived threat.

Vi mostly has that same control even though she lost it for a moment, but she was also separated from her sister in an indirect punishment for her actions.

Endeavor does not have Shizuo's restraint nor did he face any immediate consequences like Vi.

Which brings us to Rei.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to Rei, and the absolute harshest opinion I have of her is that she is pathetic and she failed her children. And I know that's a very black and white, cold-hearted view, but hear me out because it's a lot more complicated than that.

Endeavor is ultimately responsible for his own actions, but Rei also had the option to deal with the problem when it started. When he started hitting her, she could and should and have taken the kids and run as fast as she was able and not looked back. No amount of financial security, family appearance, or whatever justification one finds in this scenario is worth it. She should not have tolerated that abuse against herself and she definitely should not have subjected her children to that. While there's nothing conclusive to say Endeavor was physically harming any of the kids aside from Shouto, not fighting for her autonomy/safety was inadvertently teaching all four of them this is how men treat their wives, women are supposed to tolerate this treatment, and a marriage like this is 'normal.'

And in the end, she straight up abandoned her children. We see from Shouto's point of view right before she attacked him with the tea kettle. She's talking to her mother on the phone, saying she 'can't take it anymore' and she just wants to 'run away from this life.' Well...considering she goes on to spend the next ten years in a psych ward and left her children to her abusive husband...she did get what she wanted. Ten years and she really didn't put any more effort in trying to get back to them? She knew Endeavor was hurting her youngest. Going home and protecting her babies should have been her priority. For a long time, I legitimately thought she was in Fujiya because she was considered unsafe to rejoin society whether she was a danger to herself or to others. When she shows up in Endeavor's hospital room, I stared at the screen and thought, "The fuck? She could discharge herself at any point?"

All right, now that I've gone over my hard-line point of view, let me dial back the judgment and consider what else is going on here:

Rei is a refrigerated character.

She has very little characterization beyond her abuse and being the victimized mother in Shouto's story, so we don't know all that much about her. In all fairness, her oldest son suddenly dying while she was hospitalized certainly would have contributed to her downward spiral and account for her prolonged hospitalization.

She tolerated her abuse longer than she should have, but it is possible:

She learned that from her own parents. Tolerating abuse is often a byproduct of generational trauma. Maybe her father treated her mother the same way and she grew up thinking this was normal.

Maybe the first time Endeavor hit her, she rationalized it into a point of acceptance where she told herself that everything was fine and that it was only the 'one time' and it wouldn't happen again, a sentiment she kept repeating every time it happened.

Maybe she was raised to believe ‘the man of the house is always right,’ and that is a mindset that is hard to break if instilled from childhood.

Her parents certainly didn’t seem all that supportive with what was going on, but we also don’t know how much she told them. We don't even know if that one phone call she had with her mom was the first time she reached out for help after years of pretending everything was fine or if this was was something she was repeatedly updating her parents about and those parents chose to be aloof to it.

Maybe she really did grow up in a loving home and just didn't know what to do when confronted with the violent relationship she found herself in.

Maybe she was gaslit into believing it wasn't abuse.

Maybe she really did report the abuse and the godforsaken, root-of-all-evil Safety Commission told her, "Your husband's a hero. Stay quiet and don't ruin that public image." Basically told her to suck it up. That is also a possibility, and one I think could be the most likely, but the series doesn't really go into just how corrupt the Commission was, so we're in headcanon territory.

Maybe she did try to take the kids and run but failed to get away. (Unlikely since it’s never mentioned in canon.)

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have an upbringing that instills the belief, 'if your partner hurts you, they are dead to you' and not everyone has the good fortune of a reliable support network that can help them recognize a bad situation and get them out of it.

Given how well-known Endeavor is to the public, maybe Rei was afraid no one would believe her about the abuse. "A hero would never do such a thing. She's making it up for attention. Her family was poor, so she must be a gold-digger trying to screw over her hero husband in the divorce proceedings."

There is also the important fact that Japan has a social stigma against divorce. Persevering for the sake of family stability and maintaining an ideal appearance is a deeply ingrained cultural norm, which does introduce a troubling power imbalance between a husband who works and a housewife who doesn't have her own independent income. We also have to remember that Rei and her family were financially dependent on Endeavor, so she may have feared the monetary fallout at the prospect of leaving him. Also, with the popularity of the hero ranking system, the No. 2 Hero's wife divorcing him would have been very public and potentially humiliating for all involved.

And we can’t ignore the fact that Endeavor systematically broke her down into a shell of a person who couldn't see a way out of her situation and was tormented to the point she had a psychotic episode and attacked Shouto, the very child she tried to protect. And this too could have contributed to her prolonged hospitalization if this was the final straw and she viewed herself as a failure of a mother.

Maybe it was a combination of two or several of the above factors.

At the end of the day, abuse is a multi-faceted beast, and just as the abuse comes in many forms, the victim can have any number of reasons for staying in their situation.

So even though I have my harsh opinion of Rei and I think she should have done more to protect her children, I do 100% sympathize with her. She is a victim and she in no way deserved what she went through.

But while her inaction wasn't the cause of the crisis in her family, it was definitely a contributor to how badly it got out of hand because whatever the reason Rei didn't expose Endeavor or try to take the children and leave him, that lack of accountability opened up the opportunity for him to rationalize his own twisted justifications for his actions.  “It’s fine. She deserved it because ______. She was 'acting out.' She was overreacting. She doesn't know what she's talking about.”  Whatever he needed to tell himself to believe he didn’t do anything wrong even though he knew he wasn’t fooling himself or anyone.

She didn't stand up to him. Their children couldn't stand up to him.

So he continued the physical abuse unchecked.

...

Moving on into the redemption arc.

After the Kamino Incident, Endeavor finally, finally, finally got that vaunted No 1. Hero spot he'd been chasing for two decades. But he didn't earn it the way he wanted to by proving he's the best of the best. All Might retired, so he won by default.

And then he finds it's just one spot further up on a ranking system that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. So he looks back at what's really important and he sees the charred skeleton frame of a house he burned down.

One institutionalized wife

One dead son

One daughter who clings to the memories of a happier home

One estranged son

One son who only has a use for him as a teacher and not a parent and will probably drop him the second he no longer needs him

In spite of everything, I do genuinely think the man deserves some credit for at least being willing to make an attempt at reconciliation. Not a lot since he dug that hole himself, but let's face it, a lot of lesser people would have looked at that mess and thought, "Fuck it, no going back now," and continued business as usual. So the question becomes:

Is Endeavor trying to redeem himself out of a need to make himself feel better about everything he's done or is he truly doing it for the benefit of the people he's hurt?

I tentatively think/hope could be a mix of both--I believe there is a part of him that cares about his children--but it definitely skews more toward making himself feel better because there's never a moment before the redemption arc begins where he's isolated, thinking back on everything, and just has the appropriate, "What have I done?" revelation. If his remorse was genuinely all about his family, we would have had that 'crying in the hospital scene' a whole lot sooner.

I think if Horikoshi wanted to portray Endeavor's redemption as genuine remorse for what he did to his family, I think he would have put more of a focus on Endeavor actually seeing the impact of what he'd done and feeling the inner turmoil and regret. Not just Natsuo's anger but also seeing firsthand Shouto's isolation and complete lack of social skills as a result of his training or having a conversation with Fuyumi where she admits she never wants to marry or have children because she doesn't 'want to risk ending up like Mom.' Seeing the effects of his behavior, realizing it's his fault.

So no. While there may be a part of Endeavor that loves his children (or he tells himself that he does), his wanting to atone is inspired mainly by his self-worth. He realized the ends did not justify the means and he tries to fix it.

But either way, how does he go about it?

The biggest change he makes toward earning forgiveness is to his hero career, which tracks with his character. That's familiar territory, so it's easier for him to navigate. He takes a significantly gentler method of teaching/mentorship with Shouto and he tries a kinder approach with his fans. That's progress, but it's still avoidance of the main issue that is the rift he caused with the other members of the family.

His relationship with Fuyumi doesn't have much friction. Fuyumi clings to their family's happier memories. With Touya gone, she was the only child who could remember a childhood without fighting parents, abuse, and suffering siblings. In a twisted way, this is something she and Touya have in common. So it makes sense that she would be the one who's the most receptive to Endeavor's attempts to be a better father. She sees this change as their best chance at being a normal family again. Like Touya, she wanted her father back.

Natsuo is different. He was 3-4 years old when the toxicity in their household really began to spike and when the violence started. Incidentally, this is also when memory cells in the brain start to fully develop and form concrete memories. Compared to his older siblings, the abuse is all he knows and that is why he's the child who left and went low-contact. The only thing Natsuo's really done wrong is start family drama when there's company over for dinner. I mean, c'mon. That's just rude. Don't do that in front of guests.

While Endeavor makes attempts to better his training methods/fan interaction, what he doesn't do is call a family meeting to discuss things, not that this would have resolved anything by a long shot, but it would have established a baseline of where everyone in the family was at and whether or not forgiveness was even on the table at all. It is an extremely arrogant thought for Endeavor to think forgiveness for something of this magnitude is possible, and if he wanted to seek forgiveness (or to atone, whatever the hell that means) for the lifelong mistreatment of family, he should have been more prepared for the most abject, humble groveling to the people he wronged that he could manage.

He should have admitted to his mistakes and faults, laid out everything he'd done wrong, apologize for that as best he could, then express he wanted to repair their relationship and be a family again while also acknowledging that he understands if that is not possible. Lay down that groundwork, maybe be open to family therapy so that a professional third party can act as a mediator and provide impartial guidance, figure out where the boundaries are, acknowledge he can't give them back their ruined childhoods but he can *insert anything Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto ask as recompense, even if it's just leaving their lives forever*, and listen for once to what his family is saying.

Instead, he tries to have normal conversations with his children as if nothing bad ever happened. He offers to come watch Shouto's remedial training like that's a totally ordinary thing for him to do. He tells Natsuo during the family dinner that he would like to try his cooking some time. That is a good olive branch! There is nothing wrong with saying that, but without that prior baseline conversation, it comes off as contrived and that's how Natsuo interpreted it. He sends flowers to Rei, also a good signal to send, but he should have done the the uncomfortable thing and contacted her through her physician to see if she's open to meeting with him for a conversation or sending her a letter she could choose to open at any time (or send back unopened.) That would have established that same baseline and helped move forward towards the atonement he wanted.

But he does the same thing he always does: He pretends the real issue just doesn't exist and he tries to control the situation to suit him.

Why?

Say it with me: He never knows what to say! He can't navigate complex emotions!

He doesn't try to find out if his family is even willing to forgive him, frankly because he's an emotional coward who doesn't want to hear the answer.

However, we cannot say he has no character development at all.

There is one thing worth noting around this point in the plot that I think is important to recognize. If Endeavor ever had any character development that was in favor of his redemption, it was when Natsuo was kidnapped and nearly killed, and it's not because he ran and hugged him in the street.

In this scene, he admits to Natsuo that his actions might as well have killed Touya.

This is a small thing, but it also huge because you have to consider that up until this time, Endeavor has been gaslighting himself into believing it was Touya's fault for getting himself killed or Rei's fault for not doing as she was told and watching him. He could even have been irrationally blaming All Might for just being a barrier to his goals. Any warped excuse and justification he could think of to escape the blame.

It's not a lot, but he did finally give voice to the guilt that he is the reason he failed and his child died. He finally acknowledged that the blame lies squarely with him and no one else, and acknowledging he drove Touya to his own death means way more than just talking about his intentions to atone.

He took accountability here, at least within the family.

That is one point he's earned. We as the audience can begrudgingly concede that one.

But this progress is again stalled when Endeavor makes the decision that it would be best for his family if he distances himself from them. He chooses to build another house for them where they can all live together with their mother and away from his shadow.

The initial reaction I had to this decision was, "Okay, your solution is kicking them out of the only home they've ever known?" But then I considered that having those kids leave a house where they lived through a traumatic and stressful childhood was a good call. Natsuo already bailed, after all. And then there's Fuyumi... Yeah, you know what, maybe a conversation would have been appropriate here. Instead of finding out what they want, he goes and decides it for them like he always does.

Touya has a genetic disparity that prevents him from using his Quirk safely? Endeavor decides he shouldn't be a hero, disregarding any possibility of finding a potential workaround.

Shouto finally uses his fire at the Sports Festival? Endeavor has his whole speech that pretty much shows he has Shouto's entire life planned out after graduation.

He wants to do what's best for his family? He decides what's best for them.

And we're back to the big dumbass never knowing what to say and still running away from the main issue by making assumptions and decisions without actually considering the thoughts/opinions of the people around him and controlling the situation to his benefit.

He may have his intention to do better, but he has no idea what he's doing. He doesn't know how to relinquish his authority role.

And then we have Touya with his, "Bitch, you thought!" grenade. Or is it a nuke?

It's important to note is that failure to articulate emotion in a healthy way is a trait that is shared by all of the Todoroki family members.

Endeavor - the emotional coward who resorts to violence when confronted with an uncomfortable situation

Rei - the passive mother

Fuyumi - the peacekeeper and people-pleaser

Shouto - the child who was systematically deprogramed into an angry husk imitating his father that he has only recently started to recover from

Touya and Natsuo are the only two who actually have some pushback against the bullshit in their family. Touya's a whole kettle of insane fish who's warped psyche deserves a character analysis of its own, but the point is, even as a kid, he doesn't creep around his father or try to make peace with him. Natsuo also has no problem calling out Endeavor for everything that went wrong in his childhood, plus he moved out and went to college as soon as he could.

Touya - the unstable sociopath who shares his father's tendency to violently lash out while stuck with the mental fragility of his mother

Natsuo - the traumatized avoidant

Neither of them have a functional way of dealing with their issues. (In fact, Touya is so unhinged about it that the door has peaced out and is halfway down the street.)

Endeavor wanted to atone for what he did...by burying and not actually taking any real accountability until the unavoidable moment Touya is screaming down to him, "Is it because you became No. 1 that you finally paid attention to your family?"

Touya has a warped view of the world brought on by years of trauma, but he hit the nail on the head.

Endeavor's main motivation for atonement is for the self-satisfaction.

So we have the symbolism of Endeavor, who has always used his physical strength to solve his problems by beating them into submission and used his intimidating height to glare down at everyone beneath him, and then we have Touya standing on top of a mountain, shouting down. Endeavor's in a position where he's looking up at his dead child, who is arguably the broken bough, elephant in the room, core unavoidable reason a full atonement was never going to be possible, bringing about a twenty-year overdue reckoning.

And he once again doesn't know what to say.

As the story ends, this is where we leave him: Crippled, looking up at his dying child, and confronted by one of the lives he ruined. By choice, he's going to sit here and face what he did. These talks are not going to be pleasant. I doubt Touya is so burned out and exhausted that he doesn’t have the heart to spit out more of the lifetime of vitriol he’s built up.

I know a lot of fans were disappointed Horikoshi didn’t kill Endeavor off in the end, but I personally prefer to look at it this way:

Some characters deserve death.

But some deserve to live in despair.

...

To revisit Arcane, I think this quote neatly sums up Endeavor.

[solarmorrigan]

Hands Where I Can See Them, part 10

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Ao3

[Warning for reference to sexual activities, fairly brief]

-

Robin watches Steve walk past the “Action” section with an armful of Schwarzenegger films three times before she says anything.

“You’re distracted today.”

“Hm?” Steve looks up at her, snapping out of whatever vacant thought he’d slipped away into and entirely proving her point. “Sorry, what?”

“Distracted. You.” Robin points down the correct aisle. “The Terminator and his ilk go down there.”

Steve shakes his head. “Right, sorry.”

Following him over, Robin leans against the end of the shelf while Steve sorts through cases that Robin knows have already been organized. “So what’s got your head in the clouds?”

Steve is quiet for a moment longer. He doesn’t seem unhappy – he seems lighter, actually. He’s not in the same weirdly good mood he’s been in for the last week, but he’s a little more settled, so whatever it is, Robin figures it can’t be bad.

Finally, he glances around the store (it’s empty; Sunday nights hardly even require two employees once the afternoon rush has died out, but Robin won’t complain about being paid to sit around and do nothing for a while), and then says, “Eddie and I are dating. Like, for real this time. I think.”

The words come out in a bit of a rush, and it takes Robin a moment to decide that, yes, she’d heard them correctly.

“Excuse me?”

Her tone is exactly as pointed as she’d meant it to be, if the way Steve winces at the question is any indication.

“The last you told me, you two were ‘talking about it’ and ‘taking it slow.’” Air quotes are heavily employed to illustrate Robin’s new skepticism.

“And we were!” Steve says quickly.

“That was, like, two weeks ago, Steve!” Robin says. “That is not slow!”

“Well it’s not like we just jumped into it! We did talk, and we went on a couple of dates–”

“What? When? Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”

“I mean, the first was last weekend, so–”

Robin gasps, jabbing a finger at Steve. “You lied to me!”

“I did not,” Steve insists, pointing a finger right back at her, though it doesn’t have quite the same effect with one arm still full of clunky plastic cases.

“You did! You asked me to take your shift because, and I quote, you were going to do something for yourself,” Robin shoots back.

“And I did! I gave myself the chance to see where this thing with Eddie was going,” Steve says.

“Or, you gave yourself the chance to fall right back into the same pattern that hurt you before,” Robin says.

Steve shakes his head. “It’s different this time,” he says, more quietly.

“How?” Robin demands. “Because ‘dating for real this time, I think,’ doesn’t sound that different.”

“I mean, we didn’t say the word dating, exactly, but…” Steve shifts a little on his feet, but stands firm. “He told me that he loves me.”

“Uh huh,” Robin drawls. “And was that before or after you slept together?”

She regrets it the moment she says it, regrets it the moment the words form and she knows they’re going to come out, but it’s too late. She can see the flash of genuine hurt on Steve’s face before he buries it beneath a layer of cool indifference.

“We didn’t actually have sex, but thanks for the vote of confidence,” he bites out, turning and rounding to the next aisle.

Shit.

No one who Robin has personally seen tear a monster in half with his bare hands (feet?) has any right to look as much like a kicked puppy as Steve does, but he somehow manages it.

And the thing is, she knows how important that is to him – for someone to say the words out loud. She’s learned about his parents in bits and pieces; she even eventually got the full scoop on Nancy. She just– she worries. And when she worries, she says things before she really thinks them through.

Sighing, Robin walks around to the next aisle, finding Steve kneeling and paying entirely too much attention to the stacks of cases in front of him. When her slow approach isn’t rebuffed, she sinks down on the floor next to him, cross-legged with her back facing the shelf.

“I’m sorry. That was a cheap shot,” she says.

Steve shrugs.

“If it helps, it wasn’t directed at you,” Robin goes on. “I just– I really don’t have any reason to trust Eddie’s motives, and I don’t like it when you’re sad, and it’s my job as your best friend to look out for you and be mad at people on your behalf. Especially if you’re not going to be mad at them yourself.”

“Isn’t it also your job as my best friend to trust me and my judgment? And, like, support me when I’m doing something that’ll make me happy?” Steve asks quietly, a little dry.

“I guess,” Robin groans, leaning to the side so that her cheek is pillowed on the round of Steve’s shoulder. “But come on. If some girl made me cry, are you telling me you’d get over it in a snap?”

Robin can feel Steve tense beneath her for a moment, and she absolutely knows he’s thinking about lying to her.

“That’s different,” he finally says.

“It really isn’t, you big goddamn hypocrite.” Robin doesn’t bother to hide her smile, even as she smacks Steve on the back, ignoring the whiny ‘ow’ he gives her for it. “So tell me about the date.”

“Which one?” Steve asks.

“The first one. Must’ve been pretty good for you to agree to another,” Robin says.

“It… really was, actually.” Steve shifts carefully out of his crouch, giving Robin enough time to sit up before he settles onto the floor in front of her, back to the opposite shelf. “I mean, it was weird at first. He took me out to some random neighborhood and then we walked a little ways into the woods.”

“Creepy,” Robin says.

“A little bit, yeah.” Steve nods. “And then we came to this little, like, forgotten park? Had some playground equipment and a gazebo. And when we got there, he told me to turn around, so I couldn’t see what he was doing.”

“Creepier.” Robin wrinkles her nose.

“Yeah, but I was curious, so I did it.” Steve shrugs and Robin snorts at him. “But when he let me turn back around, he’d uh – he had a bunch of candles lit up all around the gazebo? It was… really nice. And he brought dinner – something he cooked. Like, with one of the recipes I taught him.”

Robin’s brows go up, reluctantly impressed. “Damn, alright, point to Munson, that was pretty good,” she admits.

“It was,” Steve says with this dumb, smitten little grin that Robin will absolutely tease him about later.

“Okay, okay, so he picked up on you being a romantic, that’s great, but,” Robin holds her hands out in front of herself in an emphatic sort of ‘here’s the thing’ gesture, “where was all of this before?”

“Right?” Steve bursts out, flinging his arms out in front of himself, narrowly avoiding knocking into one of Robin’s hands. “Thank you! I’m not crazy for wondering that!”

“Of course you’re not,” Robin says, narrowing her eyes at him. “He didn’t tell you that you were, did he?”

“No, no, he– he didn’t.” Steve quickly shakes his head. “I just… I don’t know, I felt like I was being kind of unreasonable, I guess. Like, maybe for wanting any of that at all. Or wondering why he didn’t do it sooner.”

“You’re not,” Robin says again. “You deserve to get what you want, Steve.”

“Yeah, that’s what Eddie keeps saying.” Steve sighs, leaning his head back against the shelf.

“Well… good,” Robin says, a mildly reluctant concession. Maybe Eddie’s getting on the right page after all.

“He says he wants me to tell him when I need something,” Steve says. “Like… he wants me to talk to him.”

“What, about your feelings?” Robin asks, playfully wrinkling her nose. “Gross.”

“The worst,” Steve agrees drily, but he looks pleased, and a little thoughtful. Robin gives him the minute to think, before he says, “I did kind of blow up at him, though. Before that.”

“Good,” Robin laughs, nudging his knee with hers.

“It did sort of feel good,” Steve admits, glancing down through his lashes at Robin. “Just… to kinda get it all out.”

“What happened then?” Robin asks.

“Well, it’s – last night kind of went sideways,” Steve says. “It was supposed to be another date, but…”

“But…?”

“He just – when we were having dinner last weekend, he kept calling it our first date, and it was, but it also wasn’t? I kept thinking about what I thought was our first date.”

“Wait, was that the time in your car out by the quarry?”

Steve lifts his head up so he can shift the full brunt of his scrunched look of disapproval onto her. “No, hooking up in my car out by the quarry was not our first date. That didn’t happen until later.”

“Well it’s not like I have timestamps on these things, Steve!” Robin groans.

“It was that night at the diner,” Steve says, and Robin’s mouth falls into a little “oh” of recognition.

“The diner.” She nods.

It’s obvious in retrospect; Robin has heard everything about that night and then some, from the way Eddie had managed to get ketchup everywhere to “and he can do this thing with his tongue, even I didn’t know you could do that, but I’m gonna try and figure it out, it was so good–” (Robin had teasingly asked him if he’d need to practice on a peach or a banana, and he’d thrown a handful of balled-up receipts at her before deciding “both”).

“But he wanted me to tell him about it, so I did, and then last night, for our date, he took me to the diner,” Steve says, raising his eyebrows at Robin.

“What?” Robin’s eyebrows scrunch down in answer. “Did he think he just gets a do-over?”

“That’s what I asked!” Steve says, before subsiding a bit. “But I don’t… I really don’t think he thought that far ahead. I think he just wanted us both to have, like, some kind of special memory there.”

Robin hums, squinting at Steve skeptically.

“Anyway, I kinda yelled at him and I left, but then he actually came and found me,” Steve continues.

“Where did you go?” Robin asks.

“The lake.”

“Why were you all the way out there?”

Steve grimaces. “Mostly because I knew he doesn’t like going out there.”

Robin snorts, and Steve’s grimace shifts into a guilty sort of smile.

“But he came out there, anyway. And we talked, and– I really think he means it, Rob,” Steve says, looking at her like he needs her to believe it, too. Or at least like he needs her to believe him.

Robin sighs, letting her head fall back slowly, as if she’s deflating. “Fine,” she says eventually. “Munson is off death row. He can have a parole hearing.”

“I think you’re getting a little too into this whole execution metaphor,” Steve says.

“You’re both lucky I didn’t decide to make it literal,” Robin shoots back, and Steve laughs. “So, wait,” she looks back up, “you seriously haven’t had sex again? Since the whole…?”

“Oh my god, get this: he actually walked me to my door last weekend,” Steve says, halfway between incredulous and amused. “He didn’t even ask to come inside. Said the rule is to wait until the third date.”

“Oh, I bet you loved that,” Robin teases.

“I mean, I wouldn’t have said no if he had asked to come in,” Steve scoffs. “But I’m… kind of glad he didn’t. It was different.”

Robin smiles. “Different is promising,” she says, reaching out to pat Steve on the knee. “Now come on; we close in, like, half an hour and I don’t want to stay late cleaning.”

“Yeah, alright,” Steve agrees, hoisting himself off the floor before offering Robin a hand up.

“Also, you owe me dinner for all the secrecy,” Robin declares, heading back towards the front of the store with the intent of putting the counter back in order.

“What?” Steve groans. “I already spent, like, two weeks with literally no one to talk to about all of this. Haven’t I suffered enough?”

“Nope,” Robin says, and for all she can hear him grumbling, it only takes a minute before Steve is standing next to her again, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. “Sap,” she mutters, putting arm around his waist and squeezing him back.

“And yet, who agreed to be my best friend?” Steve asks.

Robin sighs. “I did,” she says, and she doesn’t even have to look to know that Steve’s grin mirrors hers.

Part 11

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Tag List (Currently full! Message me if you'd like off the ride): @bushbees @y0urnewstepp4r3nt @gleek4twd @hellfireone @westifer-dead @anne-bennett-cosplayer @starman-jpg @mugloversonly @swimmingbirdrunningrock @alycatavatar @y4r3luv @rhapsodyinalto @vinteraltus @lilpomelito @tillystealeaves @noctxrn-e @pearynice @giverobinagfbrigade @novacorpsrecruit @hotluncheddie @strangersteddierthings @alongcomesaspider @theheadlessphilosopher @jettestar @rajumat @garden-of-gay @jamieweasley13 @dam28lh @oldwitcheshat @lololol-1234 @perfectlysensiblenonsense @salty-h0e @r0binscript @mavernanche @back2beesness @a-lovely-craziness @paintsplatteredandimperfect @redbullgivescaswings @emmabubbles @heartstarstar-blog @thesuninyaface @thatonebisexualman @fruitandbubbles @erinharvelle @m-owo-n @theystoodandplayedwithsilence @surroundedbyconfusion @luthienstormblessed @3ldr1tchang3l @pansexuality-activated

[samandcolbyownme]

OMG HIIII!!! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! I JUST TURNED 19 AND WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD DO LIKE A VAMPIRE JAKE WEBBER SMUT? If not that's okay (I lov your stuff! )

I’m a few days late but - Happy birthday babe! Have a wonderful day! 🖤🎂

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, vampire!Jake, mentions of alcohol, being drunk, mentions of blood, blood drinking, compulsion, flirting, kissing, semi rough actions, hair pulling, choking, unprotected sex, general filth

Word Count: 1.9k | unedited

Balloons littered the ceiling, and confetti mirror them on the floor.

Bodies bumped against one another as they danced to celebrate your special day in a club your close friends rented out.

“How’s the birthday girl?” Caylee yells as she runs up to you, “Having fun?”

You finish off your drink and nod, “Best. Birthday. Ever!” You wrap your arm around her waist as you make your way up to the bartender, “Can I get-“

“Another bay breeze?” He asks, giving you a smirk and you smile, biting down onto your lip as you nod, “Yes, please.”

He nods, “Coming right up.”

You hear your friends whispering loudly behind you, so you turn, “What are we whispering so loud about?” You laugh, looking around in the direction that they’re looking.

“Who invited the vampire?” Caylee asks with a giggle, “Doesn’t he look like something out of, I don’t know, twilight or something?”

“Vampires aren’t real, Cay.” Your other friend laughs and Caylee finishes her drink as you look at her, “Who are we talking about.”

“Okay. Okay.” She laughs, setting her empty glass down, “Through the crowd, standing against the wall. Dark hair, white open button down, black leather jacket.”

You give it a few more seconds, looking through the crowd, and as soon as your eyes set on him, it’s almost like something takes over you.

“You know you could stay.” You smile up at him as he stands up from the bed to get dressed, “You don’t have to leave so soon.”

He bends down, pressing a kiss to your forehead before leaning back to look into your eyes, “I wish I could, sweetheart. But you won’t remember this until you see me again.”

You nod, and within a blink of an eye, you’re alone in your room.

“Hey.” Caylee shakes you slightly, “Where’d you go?”

You take a deep breath, looking between her and your other friends, “I invited him.”

“Who is it?” Caylee asks as she grabs her glass that’s now full again, “Did you hook up with him? How do you know him?”

You keep your eyes on him as you push through your group of girlfriends, walking over to him with a smile, “Thanks for coming to my party, Jake.”

“You remembered my name?” He turns his head towards you as it still rests against the wall, “Had to come show the birthday girl some love.”

You lean against the wall, smiling as you look down and back up at him, “I didn’t think you’d remember.”

“I didn’t think you’d remember, either.” He smirks, turning his body towards you, “Having fun?”

You nod, “I am, but what didn’t you think I’d remember? As soon as I looked at you I was taken back to when I told you to stay and you said you wish you could, but couldn’t.” You tilt your head, “What happened?”

He chuckles, taking a sip of his dark colored drink, “Stuff you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.” You bite your lip and Jake shakes his head, “You don’t want to do this. Not here, not now.”

“Why?” You whine slightly, and Jake shrugs, motioning to the crowd of people, “Because all of the focus is on you. You’re the birthday girl, after all, right?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t-“

Jake cuts you off, “Go have fun. Find me later.”

And you do as he says, no if, and’s, or but’s about it.

You spent the next two hours dancing with your friends, eating cupcakes and just having fun, just like Jake said.

Eventually, he caught your eye and your focus was set on him, but you were intercepted by Caylee, “You need to tell me who that guy is!”

“Someone I hooked up with a few days ago.”

Her mouth drops, “Excuse me.” She can’t help but laugh, “You hooked up with that and didn’t bother to tell any of us? Girl, I-“ she raises her brows, “He’s hot.”

“You literally called him a vampire from twilight.” You laugh, your gaze averting to him once again.

Caylee laughs, “I never said I didn’t find him attractive.” She shrugs, downing her drink, “You’re the birthday girl, just be safe.”

You roll your eyes, smiling at Jake as you walk up to him, “Sorry. Birthday girl duties.”

“Did you have fun?” He smiles as he sips on his drink and you nod, “Yeah, but I think we can have a little more if you want.”

“Bold.” He chuckles and you shrug, “I know what I want.”

He tilts his head, “Follow me.” He extends his hand out and you immediately take it, allowing him to guide you through the club and to one of the back storage rooms.

“We’re doing this here?” You question as you press your back against the wall, eyes scanning up the racks with supplies.

“Just-“ Jake presses you into the wall harder, eyes glued to yours, “Can I taste you?”

You nod and within the dim lights of the closet, you see his eyes, change? You weren’t sure, but before you could react, “Don’t scream.”

His lips are on your neck and you let out a light moan, but that quickly turns into a piercing, sharp sting as his fangs sink into your skin.

Everything in you wants to scream, but you can’t.

Jake groans against your neck, pushing his hips against yours as he lifts his head to drag his tongue over the marks, “Delicious.”

You felt lightheaded, dizzy. You tilt your head back, resting ur against the wall as you look up at him, “You.. just..”

“Drank your blood?” Jake raises his brow and smirks as you nod. He licks his lips, “Yeah, I kinda only want yours now.”

You squeeze your eyes shut, “Wait..wait..”

You feel Jake’s fingers in your chin, “Look at me.”

You open your eyes and look up at him as your breathing grows more rapid, “The only time I compelled you was when I needed a drink and when I left your apartment that night.” He pauses, “Everything else was you.”

“But- I-I do-“ you stammer, trying to figure out what you want to say, but you’re baffled.

“Just…” Jake slides his hands down your arms, bringing your hands to cup his cheeks, “I promise, no more compulsion. I’ll-“ he takes a deep breath, resting his forehead against yours, “I’ll you everything you want to know.”

You swallow, “I want you.”

Jake’s lips were on yours, hands squeezing your hips as he lifts you up with such ease. Your back is pressed against the wall and he pulling your dress up to pool around your waist, “I don’t want to hurt you, that’s not why I’m here.”

His lips trail down your neck and you let out a sigh, “So you just want to fuck?”

He leans back, shaking his head, “I am yours to do whatever you want with. I’m captivated by everything that makes you, you.”

Your heart starts pounding with his words and you nod, pulling him in for another heated make out.

He reaches down undoing his jeans and you push his jacket off his shoulders, gasping when you see the white, blood stained shirt underneath.

“Don’t worry about that right now.” Jake assures as he sets you down, “Turn around.”

You turn to face the wall, ass pushes out towards him as your cheek rests against the wall by your hands.

Jake leans in, his voice in a low whisper, “Gotta make this quick, can’t keep the birthday girl, too long.”

You moan out as you feel him move your panties to the side before he his cock slip in between your folds and into you fully. He groans lowly, “You have no idea how often I kept thinking about you.”

He pulls out slowly, only to thrust back in hard, “Wanting to be the only one who makes you feel this good.” He reaches up to brush hair from your face, “Wanting to be the only one who can make you happy. Make you smile. Laugh, fuck.”

You claw at the wall, moaning louder and louder at his words and thrusts. You push your ass back, head tilting back as his hand wraps around your hair, “J-Jake.” You whimper, “I-I’m so close.”

“Already?” He chuckles lowly, “Must mean I’m doing a good job, yeah?”

“Y-yes. Yes, fuck, Jake.” You whine, eyes rolling back as he tugs your head back by your hair, “Cum for me, y/n.”

Your walls pulsate around him, earning groan after groan from his lips, “That’s it.. just like that, baby. Doin’ so good for me.”

You bite down on your lip to try and muffle your moans but Jake reaches up, pulling your lip from in between your teeth, “Mm, not gonna work, baby. I want to hear you.”

You groan, using your hands to push your body off the wall and back towards him, “fuck, fuckfuckfuck.”

“Not much longer baby, c’mon.” Jake groans, head resting against yours, “I know you’re almost there. You can do it, cum for me. Cum on my cock.”

Loud, whiney moans leave your lips in a string, one right after another as you cum, “Shit, Jake. Yesyesyesyes.”

You feel Jake’s cock twitching inside of you and you moan, your forehead resting against the wall as Jake’s grip on your hair lets up.

He steps back, reaching down to pull your panties back over your filled cunt, “You alright, sweetheart?”

You nod, spinning around with your head still against the wall, “Yeah.” You nod, “I’m glad you came back for me.” You laugh slightly and Jake smiles, “I’m obsessed with you, what can I say?”

You pull your dress down and stand up straight, “How soon will these marks go away? I don’t know what I’d tell my friends.”

“Do you want them healed?” Jake raises his brows and you nod, giving him a shrug, “I mean, it would be nice.”

Jake brings his wrist to his mouth and bites, “Here. Just drink some of this. It’ll heal the wounds, rather fast actually.” He chuckles and you give him a weird look, “Are you sure?”

“Been around for a while, babe. I promise. I’m not here to hurt you.”

You sigh, reaching up to hold his wrist against your mouth. Your lips attach to his skin and you wince, mainly at the thought of what you were currently in the middle of doing.

Jake brushes hair from your face and pulls his wrist away, “Let me see.” He brushes hair from your neck and nods, “Do you feel that?”

“Feel what? The pain going away?” You look up at him and he nods, “Exactly.”

You smirk, “Thank you, I, um-“

“Don’t. This is all new, but promise, I’ll hold your hand every step of the way.” He smirks and nods towards the door, “Come on. Let’s go party.”

You lay your hand in his and he stops you from opening the door, “One thing..”

“What’s that?” You turn towards him and he sighs, “Just don’t.. um, die for a few days.”

You blink and shake your head, “I mean, I don’t plan on it, but can I ask why?”

Jake chuckles, “If you die with vampire blood in your system, you’ll come back as one.”

“Good to know.” You laugh, “I’ll try my best.” Jake smiles and nods and you open the door, “I want to introduce you to my friends, they asked me earlier, who invited the vampire.”

——

I hope you liked this, Jake as a vampire is HOT! Let me know what you thought! I love you all, thank you so much for reading. See you in the next one! 🖤

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

[dbnightingale24]

The Dog House Isn’t The Best, But It Can Still Be Our Home

Final installment to 'Pavlov's Dog'

~~

Part 3

~~

I told you guys I'd post it at some point 🥴 I'm honestly so sorry this took so long to post, but last year got really dark for me and everything just kind of took a backseat. Thank you so much for your patience, and thank you to all of you who checked up on me. It means more than I'll ever be able to express. Thank you @fuckingbye for being an amazing friend, and for also making this amazing moodboard. You are a saint and I love to the ends of the earth. Without further ado, here's the final chapter!

Word Count: 71,942 (yes, you read that correctly)

Warnings: SMUT (MINORS DNI 18+ ONLY), Public Sex, Semi Public Sex, Drinking, Smoking, Swearing, Daddy Kink, Angst, Heartbreak, Mild Violence, FLUFF, Lying, Betrayal...I think that's it?

Song(s) That Inspired This Chapter: Will You Take Me Back In The Morning If I Promise To Never Act This Way Again?

I do not give consent/permission for my works/stories to be posted elsewhere. I do not condone this type of behavior, this is for entertainment purposes only.

~~

“You can’t keep going on like this, babe,” Daisy sighs sympathetically as she takes a seat next to the bathtub.

“It doesn’t matter,” you shrug as you take a drag of your cigarette, “none of it fucking matters.”

“Babe, it’s been two weeks. You do the same thing every day. You get up, eat the smallest bit of food, you sit out on your back deck and smoke until you decide to start drinking, then you draw yourself a bath and drink and smoke in it until you decide it’s too cold, or I come and get you. You can’t keep doing this.”

“I don’t even have a reason to be mad at him, do I?” you scoff incredulously before taking a drag from your cigarette, “it’s not like he lied. He didn’t even know, so I have no reason to be this upset, do I?”

“He was a complete and total asshole,” she states firmly, “and you have every reason to be upset with his actions. Yeah, it was a shit show, but he definitely could’ve handled it better.”

“The shit he said right in front of that child, even if it isn’t his, were so fucking cruel! No child deserves to be spoken to like that, and he of all people should know that!”

“Babe-”

“After everything we talked about on that trip...it’s like it didn’t even matter to him. He didn’t even care.”

“I’m sure he was just shocked-”

“That’s not an excuse, Dais.”

“I never said it was, but c’mon: it’s Ransom. You really think he was thinking clearly? Linda and Marta were there and I’m more than sure he was afraid of losing you, then Marta drops a fucking bomb on him, and it sounds like she did it on purpose, if I’m honest. Just to fuck him over.”

“Daisy, I just-”

“BABY, PLEASE ANSWER THE DOOR AND TALK TO ME!” Ransom calls desperately as he bangs on your front door.

Like clockwork.

“Why can’t he understand that I need time? I don’t owe him shit,” you start to sniffle as your tears fall, and you grab the bottle of tequila that lives by the bathtub now, and take a long drink from it.

“I’ll get rid of him, just please...please get up and do something,” Daisy begs desperately.

“Ya know, you’re wrong,” you say as she reaches the doorway, finally looking at her, “I put on makeup today,” you smile weakly.

She lets out a humorless laugh before disappearing and you hear her footsteps quickly making their way downstairs.

Since everything that took place on his doorstep, you haven’t spoken to or seen him. You don’t know what to say or how to handle the situation. He’s been calling and texting non-stop since it all happened, and every two days he comes by to visit, and Daisy tells him to leave you alone every time.

But you can’t keep avoiding him.

No, you don’t know what the right thing to do is, but you know that avoiding him is the wrong thing, and you can’t keep letting Daisy handle these issues for you. You have to at least speak to him, but say what? Do what? It’s not like you have any real right to be mad at him. It’s not like he cheated on Marta with you, he didn’t cheat on you with her, he clearly didn’t know he had a child so he didn’t keep it from you, and he did defend you to Linda. However, that doesn’t change the things he said to that child.

Possibly his child.

“He’s not my son and this isn’t fucking funny!”

“We can take a test if you want, but he is your son!”

“Well, I don’t want him! You wait...however many years to tell me about him, and you sure as shit don’t need any money, so why now?!”

“He deserves to know who his Father is, Ransom! He’s a Drysdale and-”

“Watch it,” Ransom warns with a foreboding tone.”

God, how could he be so cruel to a child, after all of the talks you two have had? He’s always cruel though, isn’t he? To you, to Marta, his own son (the resemblance is too strong for that boy to not to be his child), and fuck it, even Jack. He can’t ever seem to control his temper and, if he can’t do that, what chance do you two have together?

Still, he owns your heart and you don’t know how to get it back at this point. You don’t know and you don’t wanna know.

“Ransom, you have to stop coming around!” you hear Daisy yell, and you sigh before taking another drink from the bottle.

“You can’t stop me from me seeing her, Daisy! She’s my girlfriend!” 

“Bullshit! You two never made it official-”

“Daisy, stay out of it! Let me see her!”

“No! She’s not ready to see you and you can’t force-”

“I’m not forcing anything-”

“What do you think this is?! Showing up because she won’t answer your calls or texts, and demanding to see her?! Leave her alone!”

“You can’t stop me-”

“Let him in!” you call, lighting a cigarette as you use your tip toes to turn the water back on, and heat up your water just a bit.

Who the hell knows how this is gonna go?

You hear the both of them speedily stomping up the steps, but Daisy get there first and says, “are you sure? You don’t have to-”

“I can’t keep letting you fight my battles,” you smile weakly at her as you turn the water off.

“Babe-”

“I have to deal with this at some point. I can do this,” you all but mumble not believing yourself as you take a drag of your cigarette.

“I’ll be in the room over,” she sighs softly before turning, “fuck you Drysdale!”

“Fuck you!”

You hear her slap him and shake your head. Nothing can ever be simple, can it?

“Sweet Thing, please-” he starts as soon as he makes his way into your bathroom.

“Ransom...don’t,” you quickly interrupt. “This isn’t just some small disagreement.”

“I didn’t even know I had a child!”

“I could’ve dealt with that, Ransom! It would’ve taken some time, but I honestly could’ve dealt with that! It’s the way you spoke about him in front of him!”

“I don’t want him!”

“You didn’t have to say it in front of him! Jesus, it’s not his fault that you’re a selfish bastard! He didn’t ask to be born, and Marta-”

“She did this out of spite! Not because she wants me to be apart the child’s-”

“Be that as it may, he didn’t do anything! Basically telling her that she has no right calling him a Drysdale, when he is in fact a Drysdale! Ransom, I know you’re rough around the edges, but for fucks sake! All the talks we’ve had about our own fucked up childhoods and you do this?! You just...I don't fucking get it with you, Ransom!”

“What is there to get?! We fucking talked about this, Y/N! I’m not-”

“That’s no excuse for this! You took it too far and I...Ransom, I can’t-”

“Don’t you fucking say it,” he warns as his eyes start welling up with tears. “Don’t you fucking say that to me!”

“Ransom...I love you, but I can’t be the only good thing in your life. The only person you like,” you sob, sitting up and ashing your cigarette in the ash tray resting on the little table near by.

“WHY NOT?!”

“It’s too much fucking pressure! It’s too much pressure, and I can’t keep watching you be terrible to people because you had a rough childhood! You having a rough go of it doesn’t mean you get to walk all over people for the rest of your life!”

“Listen, give it a few days and you’ll see-”

“No, Ransom. This is done. I can’t do this with you anymore. You have to grow up at some point, and I refuse to mother you.”

“Y/N...you’ll see...you don’t mean it. You always say you’re done and you come back-”

“I can’t anymore. All of this just hurts too much. You keep finding new ways to hurt me, even when you don’t mean to, and I just...you’re cruel, Ransom. You’re cruel, you’re a bully, and you will hurt anyone by doing anything. I know there’s good in you, because you’ve let me see it time and time again, but you refuse to let others in, even in the slightest and I just...please don’t call me anymore,” you sob pathetically. “Don’t call, don’t text, don’t come by...we’re done.”

“You don’t mean this-”

“Don’t make it harder than it has to be, please. Just let me go,” you beg softly as you wipe your eyes.

“You’ll see. In a week or so, you’ll see and I’ll be waiting. I’ll wait and everything will be as it should, again,” he smiles weakly, wiping his own eyes.

“Ransom-”

“I’ll call you in a few weeks, okay, Sweet Thing,” he promises, making his way over to the bathtub. “I love you and I’ll talk to you.”

He cups your face and kisses you passionately and you’re so tempted to pull him into the tub with you, but you know you’ve got to stop. You left one toxic relationship just to jump into a different type of toxic relationship.

“Ransom,” you breathe once you two break apart, “please-”

“I’ll talk to you in a few weeks,” he promises with a sniffle before standing up and walking out.

“Ransom-”

“I’ll see you in a few weeks,” he repeats, his voice cracking as he continues on his way out.

Daisy is back inside and by your side instantly, climbing into the tub and holding you close as you cry uncontrollably, as you try to come to terms with the choice you’ve just made. Yeah, he’s right in saying that you always come back, but that’s not the case this time.

You need to stay away from him for good.

The fact that he has it in his head that all of this will be sorted out in a few weeks, lets you know that this is only the calm before the storm. As both you and Daisy lean back into the tub, and she holds you close while you cry into her shoulder, there’s only one question going through your head:

How the hell are you supposed to quit the love of your life?

**

4 Years Later...

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You can read the rest of the story here

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taglist: @whiskeytangofoxtrot555, @companionjones, @autumnrose40, @fuckingbye, @pono-pura-vida, @nomadstucky, @mazda098, @chemtrails-club, @bree-lyrie, @mjey12, @charlottiedawson, @fenixstar , @thickania

[dragondream-ing]

If someone defends Rhaenyra’s usurpation because of tRaDiTiOn, they better be waving a Maegor banner proudly.

I’m being serious.

So many people in this fandom care about the tradition of Westerosi inheritance and act like yelling about it justifies team green’s actions. They never seem to take into consideration what it means.

This post is inspired by my allergy to inconsistency and hypocrisy. Here we go.

The only consistent tradition of Targaryen succession is the ruler choosing their own heir. Sometimes that aligned with Westerosi tradition, often it did not. And it started with the very first heir. So either you admit Maegor was the rightful heir over Aenys, or you admit he wasn’t because Aegon the Conqueror said so.

Let me explain.

Visenya was Aegon’s first wife. In Westerosi tradition, Rhaenys would be considered at best a mistress and her children out of the succession or, at the least, behind Visenya’s children. The lords accepted the validity of Aegon’s plural marriage because they didn’t have the power to oppose the Conquerors, simple as. Tradition didn’t matter in the face of dragons. It is not a genuine argument and hasn’t been since the creation of the Crown itself. House Targaryen’s exceptionalism went beyond incest and dragons from the start, and accepting Aenys as king shows the nobles accepted this when it was convenient.

So I’d like team green to be consistent. Is the king’s word law, a la Aegon choosing Aenys as his heir? Or is this a break from tradition that was only corrected when Maegor killed his nephew and took the throne?

It gets messy from here. Maegor, as we know, didn’t have a child, so he chose his great-niece, Aerea as his heir. Jaehaerys was still alive, he could’ve chosen him. Heck, that might’ve eased like a drop of the tension between him, Jaehaerys and Alyssa Velaryon. So if you’re a tradition truther, Maegor was the proper king but then chose an untraditional heir. Hmm.

Then we get to Jaehaerys, and a tradition truther might think YES, THAT’S OUR GUY. But he’s really not.

Yes, he stopped considering his eldest living child, Daenerys, as his heir after Aemon was born. But then Aemon died.

Aemon did, however, die with an heir. Her name was Rhaenys. In Westerosi tradition, she’d inherit after him, because a daughter inherits before a brother. Now, I know the lords do all sorts of things to circumvent this (see Alys Karstark), but that *is* Westerosi tradition.

Did Jaehaerys follow tradition? Nope. He picked his second oldest son, Baelon.

Some might say there are logical reasons for this. Baelon was a warrior, older, and had grown sons. Rhaenys was like 18, married to an ambitious lord not named Targaryen, and at risk of dying in childbirth (Baelon was named heir in 92, Rhaenys had her first child in 92). HOWEVER, we see with Jeyne Arryn becoming Lady of the Vale while still a *toddler* that Westerosi tradition doesn’t set aside claims merely because such concerns exist. In fact, in ASOIAF, some Lannister married an f-ing BABY to lay claim to her lands because *she* is the acknowledged inheritor.

You could argue that it matters more when it’s the Crown, and I’ll concede that while pointing out you’ve made my argument for me: isn’t that a good reason for the Crown to do what it wants instead of following traditions that hamstring it?

If you’re a tradition truther, however, you should be in a rage and insisting Rhaenys inherit, and you should be outraged by what was done to her at the Council of 101 after Baelon dies. Her claim wasn’t even considered, Laenor’s was—ya know, her toddler son who got his claim *through* her.

So then Viserys takes the throne and continues the Targaryen custom of choosing his heir. And the tradition truthers of the fandom rise up and boo, and they cry “duty and sacrifice! What about tradition!?”

Just admit that the lords of Westeros, Alicent, her merry band of greens, and the fans that make excuses for them didn’t and don’t care about tradition unless it suits them, and they only become vocal about it when a woman stands a good chance of inheriting over a man.

Viserys never wavered in his choice, the realm knew it and so did the greens. This is precisely why Rhaenyra had far more support than her brother, and why the argument that the realm wouldn’t accept her is bs. The realm DID accept her. Because they understood something many in this fandom struggle to

There was only one consistent tradition of royal succession between the Conquest and the Dance: the ruler chooses their heir.

[nburkhardt]

Here is an angsty thing with a happy ending! (Please note: this takes place BEFORE seasons 3 & 4 but after demodogs.)

Pray for the Ground to Swallow Me Whole

He’ll eventually thank her for the domino effect she caused. It’ll be the best thing to happen to him, even if it meant leaving town very premature.

But for now, his heart hurts and his eyes are burning from holding the tears back. For now he’ll stand here and listen to words that’ll haunt him, to faintly be reminded of times when he was an ignorant asshole that only cared about himself and didn’t bother thinking of his actions.

Truthfully, he sorta thought this would happen.

The only ones who actually actively engaged with him was the kids, especially Dustin and Lucas. But if he was being truly honest with himself, a nasty voice in the back of his head always told him they just liked him because he saved them. He tried not letting that get to him.

Currently though? That nasty voice is whispering and it’s not just a voice in his head anymore.

The voice just sounds a lot like Joyce Byers.

“- you did help him and I’ll always be grateful for that. Honestly. But I also remember him coming home from school and telling me about this kid, this jerk who laughed and poked fun at him,” Joyce stops to take a breather, crossing her arms and looking disappointed as if he wasn’t already used to that kind of look, “It actually makes me very uncomfortable to have you around, you have to understand that?”

He choked down a defense and sob, blinked hard before looking away with a nod. Listening to this for the last twenty minutes has broken him down faster than Nancy calling him “bullshit”.

“Yes, Mrs. Byers, I’ll-I’ll leave your family alone”

She nodded, “I’d appreciate that, Steve. But I’m not just talking about my family”

He’s hit with ice and dread. Freezes up and looks back at her, “wha-what do you mean? I’m sorry, I’m confused”

“I don’t think it’s really appropriate for you to be around Will and his friends. With my knowledge of what Jon told me about you and the fact you are five years older than them. It would make a lot of their parents uncomfortable too. Don’t you know that?” She’s speaking softly now, like she’s talking to a scared animal.

And maybe she is, he feels like it.

He shakes his head, not to her though. To himself, shaking the memories of hang outs with the Henderson family. Memories of Claudia Henderson making extra food- “just in case, dear! You can even have leftovers for tomorrow!” And Dustin biking over just to tell him about the newest movie he wants to see- “we absolutely have to go, Steve! It’s gonna be a classic, trust me!”

The memory of Claudia hugging him close, telling him “such a blessing, sweetie! You’ll always be welcomed here” that still makes him cry late at night in his empty quiet home.

He avoids looking at Joyce, trying to figure out a way to get away.

“I- uh, I gotta, if you’ll excuse me” he mumbles and doesn’t smile or even look directly at her. Just moves around her to leave, as he walks out and overhears the excited voices calling for him, he ignores them and keeps his head down to avoid showing them how red his cheeks are in embarrassment and how much he’s holding back tears.

Without saying goodbye, he gets into his car and drives.

He doesn’t know how long he drives, doesn’t know where he’s going. Just driving to get away, to avoid listening to Joyce’s words that are already taunting him in his head. Slowly mixing in with “you’re bullshit” and “run away, Steve, always running away!” and all the disappointed sighs and taunts from his father.

The car picks the location for him, gas running low and he’s forced to stop at Lovers Lake. Pulling to a stop and turning his car off, he sits in silence. Staring ahead at the lake, eyes still burning.

It’s a long time as he just sits there. In silence.

Rubbing his eyes to get the tears to go away, there’s no reason to cry. She is right, he was an asshole and it is inappropriate for a eighteen year old to hang around thirteen year olds.

Even more inappropriate to hang around a house where he isn’t welcomed.

He rests his head against the steering wheel, arms around it and his knuckles turning white from how hard his gripping the wheel. His eyes burn and he laughs a bitter sound, lightly hitting his head against the wheel. “Fucking, knock it off, get yourself together” he mumbles and it’s weak, he chokes back another sob as he squeezes his eyes shut.

There’s a knock on his window that makes him flinch hard, eyes are wide and he’s immediately aware of how fucking stupid he was to let his guard down like that. Looking next to him he flinches again, not because he’s scared but because of who’s standing there.

Of all the people to find him right now, during probably his lowest point ever, is the local drug dealer. The twice senior and King of the Freaks, Eddie Munson.

“Hey man, uh, you okay?”

Shaking his head, he rests it back on his headrest taking a breath before rolling the window down. Munson takes a step back, he only knows because of the chains hanging from the guy’s pants.

“All good, Munson” he lies straight through his teeth, he doesn’t need to see how red his face is with how warm it feels. And his hands actually hurt now from how hard he was gripping the wheel, “i didn’t- uh, see anything.”

Since he’s leaning his head back on the headrest with eyes closed, he doesn’t see how Munson reacts. The only noise is just nature, birds chirping and the wind hitting leaves. He doesn’t even hear Munson moving, so opening his eyes he looks over and finds the guy standing there with an odd look on his face.

“Look, I’ll just- fuck,” he knocks his head back before rolling the window up and turning his car off, climbing out and avoiding looking directly at the guy. “I’m gonna just go”

Doesn’t bother waiting for something back, it’s been long enough in his own pity party. Now, he just needs to walk home and figure out how he’ll go about life without seeing the Henderson family and the rest of the kids.

“Are you walking? What the fuck, just leaving your car here?” Munson shouts out at him.

He glances back at his car then at Munson, slowing to a stop. “Why do you care?”

It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, why would this guy care whether he leaves his car here? It’s only Hawkins, no one is going to steal his car. You’re more likely gonna come across a monster around than a stolen car.

Especially not at Lover’s Lake. Also why care about him? He’s an asshole and everything Munson hates and loudly announces at lunch.

He shakes his head and starts walking again, taking the silence that Munson doesn’t actually care about him. It doesn’t hurt to admit another person doesn’t like him, he honestly would be shocked if someone did like him.

What really hurts is the fake worry, the questioning, the fake concern and the curiosity.

He’s going to continue to walk home that’ll take him a few hours and will only make it back by dark. Without a weapon, without the bat to hold, because he left that in his car and Munson is still here. Can’t let him ask anymore questions.

“-sus Christ! Jesus, slow the fuck down Harrington!” Munson sounds out of breath, a lot closer too.

He flinches when a hand lands on his arm, “What? What do you want?” He turns and shakes the hand off, “if someone steals it, whatever. It- it doesn’t matter.”

Munson squints at him, looking confused, “Dude, wait, why are you crying?”

Touching his face, he laughs and it sounds so wrong. He is crying, didn’t even realize it was happening. Shaking his head, he turns around and doesn’t bother answering.

“Come on, Harrington!” Munson grabs hold of his shoulder and his grip is rough, “look, I’m sorry if you want to be alone but fuck, dude, you look like shit and crying alone is the worst. So, why don’t I give you a ride to whoe-“

Shaking his head, “like I have anyone to run to right now”

There’s a flash of Claudia and Dustin Henderson in his head and he wants, thinks that they’d shake him and hug him tight if they knew what was said and how it’s haunting him already. Won’t go away, it just brings more tears.

Munson’s silent and his hand drops, leaving behind a faint pressure and that hurts too.

“God, I’m so pathetic right now.”

“Nah, just lonely it seems”

His eyes snap to Munson and his hands are shoved into his jacket, kicking his foot before looking back at him, “I won’t judge, seriously. Let me help, even if it’s just to give you a ride”

“Just a ride?”

Munson nods, “just a ride, unless you change your mind”

He nods, taking a deep breath before stepping towards Munson, “okay, you can, um. Take me home?”

A smile spreads across Munson’s face and he takes his hands out to swing them towards where his van most likely is, “your chariot awaits, good sir!”

Despite his mood and how this might possibly be one of the worst days of his life, he cracks a tiny smile. Just enough to squeeze at his heart, actually.

Walking along side Munson is quiet, it’s a little peaceful. If he remembers correctly, Munson was never this quiet before. Always talking or laughing or yelling, he’s loud and sometimes overly obnoxious.

This is nice. Actually really nice, this quiet with him.

They make it to the van and the ride isn’t the same quiet but it’s still there. He can feel it deep in his bones now.

That this, right here, is peaceful.

Hello! This whole thing originally started back in May and I lost a little interest in this particular WIP, so I stopped and it’s been in my drafts since. Then I kept getting writers block, still have it tbh. But I read it back today and decided I can technically turn this into a two part fic instead of a one shot soo, it’s finally being shared!

I want to be clear that it’s an AU from after the demodogs and everything after that won’t be the same. And that I have nothing against Joyce but I thought “what if it was someone else than made Steve leave/didn’t like Steve?” guess who I picked 😇 plus we have enough Hopper & Joyce adopt Steve fics, we need a little more of them not doing that. Also!! There should be more fics of them being wrong, that they’re being judgmental and need consequences for their words & actions.

Anyway! I’m automatically assuming only a few people will read this far into my rambling. And if you did I love you, you get a platonic forehead kiss ☺️

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[lunafreya24]

A Passion of Ice and Fire

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon/Cregan Stark

Chapter 5: Jace speaks to Baela about his time in Winterfell and what he discovered there. Their betrothal hangs in the balance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jacaerys made the short trip to his cousin’s chambers. When he arrived, he found the door slightly ajar, with only a handmaiden inside. 

“Excuse me, have you seen the Lady Baela?” He asked her.

“She said she was going for a walk, Your Highness.” She responded sweetly.

“Thank you.” He said, leaving the room. He knew her normal route well. They had often walked it together. It was one the few times they could be fully open with each other. He walked until he found her sitting on a flat rock, looking out onto the sea. She reminded Jace of his mother so much in that moment, he knew she would make an amazing queen one day. That is if she still wished to marry him after hearing what he had to say. 

He approached her. “May I sit here?” He asked bashfully, Baela looked up at him and nodded, sliding over a little so they could share the most even part of the stone.

Jace took a deep breath, trying to find the words. “I’m sorry,” he began. 

“What for?” Baela countered. 

“For my callousness earlier today. I didn’t mean to be that way; I just didn’t know how to face you after what has happened.” 

“What do you mean Jace?” 

“While I was in Winterfell… I…. discovered something…. about myself.”

“Discovered something?"

"Yes. Something that will make see me...... differently."

"Jace, I don’t understand. Just speak plainly.” 

“I slept with another man.” Jace blurted out, shutting his eyes and feeling his cheeks flush from admitting his actions so bluntly. 

“What?” Baela questioned, in shock. 

Jace rushed to defend himself. “I did not do this to hurt you. It just…. happened. I don’t know how to explain it. I understand if you’re angry.” 

“I’m not angry. I am a bit stunned though.” she said, laughing a little. 

Jace visibly relaxed at her words. “I can understand that. I just hope this doesn’t change our friendship.” 

“Oh no, of course it doesn’t. You and I have been close friends for over a decade now. It will take much more than this to break us.” She said with confidence. 

“That’s good to hear.” Jace paused before continuing. “And what about our betrothal?”

“What of it?”

“Do you still wish to go through with it?” 

“Are my wishes anyone's concern? Do they even matter?” 

“They matter to me, Baela. My mother said she would speak with you if you were unhappy. She, of all people, understands our situation.” 

“Thank you Jace, that means a lot to me, but I think this betrothal is the best thing for everyone. And besides, our choice of spouse was never truly ours to begin with. Now our families and our legacy will be secured. We’d be far from the first royal spouses that didn’t love each other romantically. And at least we are fond of one another. I would much rather be married to a friend than any of the other possible suitors. Nothing but spoiled children fresh off of their wet nurses and fat grouses old enough to be my grandsire.” Baela relented. They shared a laugh together. Jace felt his body completely relax. Despite his worries, he had expected this kind of response from her. They both knew the importance of duty and the sad fact that marrying for true love was a privilege, not the custom. 

“You’re right. And I still wish to marry you as well. I think you will make an incredible queen one day. But I still wish for your happiness. You would be allowed to find your real love with whomever you wish." Jace said, gently taking her hand. “I only ask that you are careful who you lay with, if only for your own safety.” 

“You as well." Baela said, a touch of fear lacing her voice. "Especially after what happened to your father. Both of them.” 

“I know.” He acknowledged. They both knew the grave danger of such things. Jace sighed and rested his head on Baela’s shoulder. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, the only sounds being the crashing of the waves against the beach. 

“Does this other man have a name?” Baela asked, breaking the silence. 

“Lord Cregan Stark.” Jace whispered, not lifting his head from her shoulder. He could feel Baela turn her head, her gaze burning right through him. 

“Lord Cregan Stark?” Baela asked, astonished. This story was getting crazier with every word. Jace picked his head up, hardly suppressing his smile after seeing Baela’s stunned expression. 

Quickly, her gaping turned into a mischievous grin. “Tell me everything!”

[ncfan-1]

Am I weird for thinking that the moment when Sol sealed his own fate wasn’t when he continued to make excuses for himself even to Osha, but at a much earlier moment in Episode 8? “You’re not even sisters.”

Sol’s attempt to convince Mae that she and Osha aren’t even sisters is, in context, the most heartlessly cruel thing anyone does this season. Mae has lost everything—in large part because of Sol. The only thing she has left is her bond and her kinship with her sister. Her bond with Osha is basically non-existent at that point in the episode—in part because of Mae’s own actions as a child, but due in larger part to the lie Sol has spent the last sixteen years hiding behind. Her kinship with her sister is all Mae has left, and now Sol wants to take this from her, too? To leave her with absolutely nothing at all? To say to her “You have no claim on her love. You’re not connected.”

It feels like… Sol very much regards both Osha and Mae as his, though only Osha is ever afforded the gentler, more positive parts of him, with Mae left to bear the brunt of his worst traits, especially at the end as he’s completely unraveling. And now he’s desperately trying to gain and regain complete control over both of them, and it feels like he’s hit on the idea, whether consciously or not, that it might be easier to control them if he breaks the final bond between them, if he plays divide and conquer and leaves the more unruly of his “children” with nothing at all she can hold dear.

And down on Brendok, after he’s seen the desolate ruin he left Mae to struggle to survive in all by herself, Sol could have had a turnaround, Sol could have relented and actually taken accountability for what he did when confronted with the place and possibly having some memories jarred loose of the way things actually were, but he doesn’t. He just doubles down. He has the absolute gall to tell Mae that she and Osha aren’t even sisters again.

Thankfully, Mae seems to regard this argument with all the contempt it deserves, but that doesn’t make it better. How do you look a woman whose life you destroyed when she was just a little girl dead in the eye, not once, but twice, and even in the ruins of her home standing in the exact spot where you killed her mother right in front of her, try to take the only thing she has left away from her and grind it into dust?

…Because you’re so deep in denial that you genuinely have no conception of how vile what you’re saying to her actually is.

Not that that this makes it better. If anything, it makes it worse. Sol has one moment of something approaching clarity—the way he struggles to say aloud that yes, he did kill Osha and Mae’s mother, the way his denial breaks into self-loathing, the way this is the only moment in the whole episode where he looks at Mae like she’s anything other than a problem to be gotten under control. But it’s not enough to save him. Really taking accountability could maybe have saved him, but it’s only a moment, and the moment he realizes Osha was in earshot, he sinks right back down into denial.

But he still tries to deny Osha and Mae’s sisterhood. And that is something so heartlessly cruel that I think it is what seals his fate. Because you don’t come back from that. Particularly not if you are so deep in denial that you refuse to even acknowledge how cruel it is. If you never admit that what you’re doing is wrong, you can never feel proper remorse. If you don’t feel proper remorse, you can’t tell that you’re digging your grave. You just seal your own fate without even realizing what you’re doing.

For more than one reason. On a metatextual level, Osha and Mae are the main characters of this show. Their relationship and their past is the crux of this show. Sol seals his own fate by trying to deny Osha and Mae’s sisterhood because, well, they are the main characters. The story is hurtling towards their reunion and reconciliation when Osha learns the truth. And he has positioned himself as someone trying to keep them apart and break the bond between them even at the very last. In a story where the goal is for the sisters to finally understand each other and properly love each other again, a man who is trying to keep them apart and trying to deny that they even are sisters… has just made himself into the final boss. He’s made himself into something that has to be vanquished for Osha and Mae to have any resolution.

And you want him to be vanquished. Because by the time Mae was out of the restraints and shocking Sol with Pip, I was hissing something pretty familiar at my screen: Stop talking.

[copper-16]

Genuine question here, I hope this doesn’t come off as rude.

I don’t understand why people are hanging this over korbin alberts head so much. Yes I agree she made a mistake, but as lesbian who grew up in a very catholic town, it is against that religion to support the LGBTG+ community. Which is a main reason I left that religion.

There is a difference between supporting and showing respect for a community and while I think she hasn’t shown any to enough respect. I don’t believe she is entirely obligated to apologize for following apart of her religion.

Hope u have a great day🫶

I understand what you are trying to convey, however I have to say that I respectfully disagree with you.

I don’t find religion to be a complete excuse for this, because at the end of the day her actions are the problem, not her religion. I do understand what you’re saying about the fact that she might have grown up in an environment that was very anti LGBTQ+. Perhaps Korbin did grow up in this kind of a church, but that’s doesn’t mean that she still can’t be held accountable for how her actions hurt those around her.

I respect Korbin Albert’s choice to be religious, even if I am not so myself. But her religion cannot be used to perpetuate hatred. There’s a loss of mutual respect and trust between a community and a person when they like or interact with such openly hateful content in such a way. I look at players like Sam Coffey, who are religious and yet still chooses to be allies and not say anything hateful against LGBTQ+ people. Maybe it is Sam’s belief that marriage is between a man and woman, but this isn’t something she imposes to others. And I also don’t see her saying any hateful things toward the LGBTQ+ community.

The reason I find that many people are “holding this over her head” is because her actions were public and hurt a LOT of people. She also appears to show little remorse about it what she has said. I think Sam Mewis put this rather well in saying that because her actions were public, her apology and continuation of learning should be (at least to some extent). We aren’t just going to sweep this under the rug and move on. She is still accountable for her actions.

Under no circumstances does religion justify the perpetration of hate.

There would be a similar reaction towards a player who was equally opposed to the LGBTQ+ community if they weren’t religious. If a completely secular player did or said similar things without a religious reasoning behind it, people would be equally outraged. The conflict at its core is about the actions.

I’m not planning to answer anymore asks on this particular topic on my page moving forward

[hp-confessions]

Seeing Snape and marauders fans argue all the time is like the live reenactment of the characters in a nutshell.

Both will continue arguing over their takes on that era and how their sides are the better choice. However, no one, or at least most of each community refuses to listen to each other. Instead they keep arguing as if it’s going to solve things.

Usually it’s always just reduced to petty insults.

“Snape deserved to get bullied” On a snape slander post.

“stan bambi” on any and EVERYpositive tt centered around snape.

“She should’ve gotten with snape anyways” on a jily post.

The same thing happens in the book. Insert the name calling.

Then there’s the apologists/victim blamers.

“Snape didn’t do anything wrong. he was right to bully children.”

Just because snapes life sucked doesn’t mean he’s just allowed to take it out on others?

“They were just fifteen.”

Unclothing someone, the shrieking shack incident , and probably having multiple 4v1 isn’t justifiable by any means.

“they matured”

Seeing as sirius still calls snape snivilous at his grown age, snape taking any moment he can to slander any of them, or just remus brushing things under the rug id say that yeah no the fuck they didn’t.

“snape saying mudblood was an accident”

He still said it.

“Shrieking shack was an accident”

Remus got exposed and Snape could’vedied.

“We dont know if they completely took off his underwear so it’s not that-“

exactly. we don’t. yet a lot of evidence points towards it but wtv. either way he still took his pants off. That’s assault.

“His father and the rest nearly killed me and tormented me for seven straight years.”

yes, and that’s bad ofc but that doesn’t excuse snape continuing the cycle and doing the same to his students.

”He was a slytherin! He wasn’t a good person!”

pretty sure a first year wasn’t showing any signs of being death eater material but alright..

then there’s the demonizers….😟

“Snapes a pedo because if harry was a girl he’d be creepy towards harry”

WHAT THE FUCK🤢🤮 NO HES NOT OH MY GOD..😨😭 Genuinley what goes through your mind when you think that.. Snaoe would probably still act hateful or if anything he’d absolutelyavoid fem!harry because in this hypothetical situation she was similar to lily. Not because he’s a pedophile but because of TRAUMA????? HELLO???? Seeing ur bully is one thing but seeing ur dead ex bff is another.. just. because. you. think. he. liked. her. mother. does. not. mean. he’s. going. to. become. a. kid. liker. for. her. daughter. just because harry’s a gender bend doesn’t mean snapes going to transform into a creep. how did you even get that from SNAPE of all people. SNAPE. If you haven’t gotten the memo bro DESPIES no he LOATHES the existence of children. he’d be the last person to be a pdo. Yes he does care for them obviously, but in a way of where if a pedo was idk being creepy with a child bro would 🪄💥🧨🔪🧠 off that pedo…

“Sirius tried to murder snape”

….no…he didn’t. if i recalled sirius was not guilty gor murder charges regarding a rat.. like i said earlier, the shrieking shack incident wasnt okay in the slightest but that doesn’t mean it was purposeful attempted murder. they were stupid (no this also doesn’t justify their actions) and thought it’d scare him and obviously didn’t think their little prank through. they weren’t trying to murder him they were just being assholes. i don’t see sirius using remus to kill, ever. a highly dangerous prank apparently? yeah? murder? no,

“____/____ didn’t contribute at all”

Snape, sirius, and remus literally threw away his life to save harry. not pettigrew tho he’s a little bitch rat i hate pettigrew!!!!!!!👺👺

Anyways, to summarize, everyone’s arguing yet never actually trying to achieve anything but submission when that’s quite literally impossible to accomplish. And that’s because no one’s willing to find a common ground and no one wants to actually create logical arguments. Petty insults and cursed theoretical nonsense isn’t going to solve the argument.

Many Snape fans ignore or straight up defend him bullying students and refuse to acknowledge he was in the wrong.

Many marauders fans ignore or straight up defend the bullying and refuse to acknowledge they were in the wrong.

Snape will refuse to back down from Sirius and Lupin and will continue behaving the way he does.

Sirius and Remus will refuse to back down from snape and continue to do the same things they did as schoolboys.

Real or fantasy, this is something that will never be resolved. maybe because no one cares enough to fix it? maybe because they care too much?

either way i guess it’d be nice to say i like snape and not immediately stereotyped as a snape apologist or get made fun of by it from friends. Im not stupid and if anything i like that he’s morally grey. i don’t support his actions, but i like to see characters with faults and put together why they ended up that way. his home life and other (non bullying) aspects of him are relatable and that’s another reason i like him.

i guess it’d be nice to talk to marauders fans and let them yap abt fanfics and for them not to think that i’m going to instantly call them horrible people for liking the marauders. I may not be in the m fandom but that doesn’t mean i won’t be respectful and gen listen to them. i’m sure that marauders fans like relate to the non bullying aspects aswell.

anyways yeah, i kinda just wished the fandom was a little more chill and not a fucking dumpster fire💀💀

~

[moonlavenders]

I Hate Apple White

She’s awful. I don’t like Apple for a series of reasons. Her design is lovely and I like her voice but that’s all I really enjoy about her. By the way this is only about the show. I don’t know anything about the books but I heard they were good.

Apple’s Incredibly Selfish

Apple represents the privileged while Raven represents the underprivileged. I get that. It’s just, she doesn’t seem to change much, if at all. The whole story it just feels like she’s just being kind and sweet for her image. She seems to love her friends but not nearly as much as she loves herself. Apple was willing to have her supposed best friend live a horrible life just so she could live a life of perfection. Apple never felt like she got less selfish to me.

Apple was Never Appropriately Punished

Literally all Apple did was apologize and she was instantly forgiven. No one was apprehensive or upset after that. It’s one of my least favorite things when someone (fictional character or otherwise) does something awful says “I’m sorry” and is instantly forgiven. An example of where this was better handled was in Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Zuko apologized to the gaang and they didn’t forgive immediately. It took him proving that he was trustworthy and on their side for them to trust him. And even after that they still had individual episodes where they form a bond with him. And what Apple did was on a similar scale to what Zuko did. Apple freed the evil queen (basically a terrorist(which was an accident I’ll give her that)) and then aided her afterwards. The school didn’t punish her neither did the government.

The Fans Treat Her Like An Innocent Victim

They woobify her to hell and back. Yes her mom is bad. No that does not justify her actions. It’s like people believe that just because someone has trauma or family issues that they can’t be held accountable. They take away all of Apple’s agency and act like she was mind controlled into doing everything she did. Apple had free choice. While she was manipulated, she wasn’t forced. They’re just like “She’s just a sad misunderstood lesbian!” Or “Apple has a tough home life! She was just guided by what she was taught!” While the second argument is true. It doesn’t excuse her behavior in any way. An appropriate punishment would be suspension or even expulsion.

Miscellaneous Complaints and Opinions

Apple seems to have trouble seeing any perspective but her own. She doesn’t seem to understand Briar issue. Apple equates her destiny (to sleep for a few days before being woken up by her true love) to Briar’s (to sleep for a hundred years before being woken up by her true love)

Apple seems to care way more about her image and winning than her friends. She injured Darling playing the sport in Dragon Games. Apple likely got this from her mother.

I don’t think Apple should date anyone until she works on herself for a while (Two or three years)

[thefandomenchantress]

So. The Ace culprit theory.

I’m sure my stance on this is not surprising. Am I aware there is some evidence for it? Yes. Will I also ignore said evidence due to extreme bias? Also yes.

No but seriously. Does the Ace culprit theory hold water? While I’ll bring some of the most damning pieces of evidence up in this post, I also want to analyze if the Ace culprit theory works thematically. Or at least that’s the goal.

Okay? Okay. Let’s get started.

First things first, this motherfucker:

The Tape

As anyone who’s seen an Ace or Eden culprit theory is most likely aware of, the tape disappears from the background in this scene.

Not only that, but it can’t be a mistake. Later, Rose and Teruko can’t find the tape, even though no one has been to the gym that morning besides them. That means one of these three must’ve taken it.

Which means our only potential culprits are Eden, Ace, and Teruko…Or I guess one of them could be an accomplice who helped the real culprit. Either way, who is most likely involved in the murder?

Well, we can take Teruko off the list. Not only would it make almost no sense to kill her off right now, but she was standing the whole time and never bent down to grab the tape. If she did, it would’ve been extremely obvious to the other two and they would have said something about it.

Eden makes a lot more sense. She was shoved to the ground as it disappears, so while she was on the ground she could’ve grabbed it without anyone noticing, especially since Teruko is distracted by Ace and Ace is distracted by Nico almost murdering him. She was also already on the second floor and possibly planning her murder/setting some of her plans into action before this happened.

But Eden’s not the focus of this post. What about Ace? Can we justify why he would’ve taken the tape?

In my opinion…Not really?

See, if Ace took the tape, it would hinge on the idea that, while bleeding out and mostly unconscious, he decided he would need to commit a murder. After all, he was almost just killed and if he doesn’t act fast someone could try to murder him again. This isn’t a bad idea, per se. But I just can’t believe it.

After all, as Eden and Teruko walked in, we know Ace must be unconscious, (if we assume Nico is actually trying to kill him, which I do), since Nico is approaching him and presumably getting ready to make the final blow with the wire they’re carrying. If Ace was conscious, he wouldn’t be just sitting there accepting his fate. So that means that in the minute or so of Nico leaving and Teruko investigating, Ace would’ve had to have woken up and made enough of a coherent murder plan to know he would need the tape.

While Ace isn’t as braindead as the DRDT cast assume, this still seems like a bit of a reach for a character who lends to not think things through, especially when he’s bleeding heavily and emotions are running high. But hey, characterization is pretty subjective, so I won’t go too deep into this. Who knows, maybe Ace is a murder-plan-making genius.

But if Ace was planning a murder in order to escape the school and not get killed like he almost just was, then he would have known he needed to pass a class trial. Meaning he shouldn’t be publicly declaring he’s going to murder Nico, since if people know he was the one who murdered them, he would be executed. So if this theory were true, Ace would’ve had to have been lying about wanting to kill Nico and going off to do just that.

But if Ace was just pretending to want to kill Nico un-secretly, then why? He would need to act angry at Nico in order to not be suspicious, since that’s what he would normally do, but he doesn’t need to pretend to try and murder them to sell his act. If he took the tape and the other two saw, it would make sense for him to use “I’m going to kill Nico with it” as an excuse. But if he did steal the tape, he did it secretly, eliminating that option.

Okay, but what if we go with the theory that his plan at the time was to kill Nico with it, then plans switched and he decided to use it to kill someone else? Well, that would still leave the question of why he sneakily stole the tape. He already announced he was killing Nico, hiding the ‘weapon’ he planned to use wouldn’t do anything. Also, tape isn’t exactly a top-tier murder weapon.

All this is to say that I just can’t see why Ace would’ve acted the way he did if he was planning a murder already. Stealing the tape as he was bleeding out is the only way Ace could’ve gotten his hands on the tape, and therefore the only way he could’ve set up the murder contraption. And if that’s the case, I just don’t think it makes enough sense to me for me to believe it.

Next piece of evidence:

Arei’s crime scene

This murder method appears to be…Weirdly complicated? Especially for a chapter two case. The culprit would need a good reason to complicate their plans like this. After all, the more preparation and supplies need for your method, the more evidence that’s left behind.

The Ace Culprit theory offers a good explanation for all this. The more complicated (or clever) the murder method, the less likely it is that people are going to assume the class idiot is the culprit.

I do think this is something I…Can’t really refute? Presuming Ace somehow got his hands on the tape, maybe he had enough time to think of this plan. I can’t know for sure he didn’t.

So let’s move on to something else.

The theme(s) of Chapter Two

The most obvious title/theme of the chapter is ‘All That Glitters’, coming from the saying, ‘Not all that glitters is gold’.

At first, I thought of this as a simple, ‘people aren’t what they seem’ theme. In that case, Ace fits, because the character who’s seen as dumb and cowardly killing someone is such a clever way would be unexpected.

But I don’t think that’s quite what the saying the title is referencing means. It’s more along the lines of something not being as good as it seems. Gold is valuable, but not everything that looks like it is.

And in that case…Yeah, it doesn’t quite work for Ace anymore, since no one saw Ace as good or valuable to begin with, or at least a good majority of the cast doesn’t.

Eden, Levi, or Hu, the top murderer choices from what I’ve seen, all make more sense. The person people thought was good, and who cared about/wanted to protect everyone there, was plotting to kill one of them. Their friendly demeanor, (or in Levi’s case attempts to be friendly), misled people into thinking they were good when they weren’t…Or at least they weren’t once they were pushed to the brink.

There’s also the secret title/theme, A Good Person. This one also doesn’t quite extend to Ace, besides the fact that he and Levi are pretty interconnected. But his and Levi’s connection alone doesn’t quite prove anything. Levi never speaks to Ace about being a good person, at least from what we’ve seen, and something like that doesn’t seem to be on Ace’s mind.

Levi and Eden, however, are both major players in the notion of a good person, because of their talk at the beginning of the chapter. You could make it work for Hu, too, but I’d say she’s more looking to be a useful or reliable person than a good one. But close enough.

All in all, I don’t think culprit-Ace makes much sense, logic-wise or thematically. Especially since, at least to me, it doesn’t feel like his story is supposed to end here. That’s just how I feel, though.

If you want to bring up any other pieces of evidence, or why you think Ace is the culprit, I’d love to hear it! Since Ace is my favorite, there’s always a chance I accidentally overlooked a key piece of evidence while trying to prove his innocence.

[maoam]

So here’s a post defending Sakura and since it makes assumptions about people who think Sakura is a bad character (not badly written exactly, just unlikeable) I’ll respond to it: [link]

“Sakura is toxic because she made fun of Naruto for being an orphan–” She regretted it the second after Sasuke rightfully called her out and even opened a therapy center for war orphans. “

Her opening a clinic is not canon, it’s novel only, Kishimoto didn’t write that, and only Kishimoto’s portrayal is canon. What Kishi portrayed was that Sakura never redeemed herself when it comes to understanding loneliness.

She compared her shallow feelings to the massacre of Sasuke’s entire family and clan. That’s how selfish and ignorant she is. She’s taking her family for granted and rubbing it in Sasuke’s face as she makes this about herself and her hurting because he’s leaving her. She even said Sasuke’s revenge won’t make HER happy. As if it’s about her or Sasuke should care whether it makes her happy or not. Even in chapter 693 after Sasuke had given a speech about how he wants change, Sakura went on a rant on how things can go back to how they were if Sasuke just stays with her. She doesn’t even listen what he says! No matter how much time passes. No matter how many times Sasuke tells her her feelings aren’t relevant when it comes to his goals.

And Kishimoto wrote her to be like this even in the Road to Ninja movie (which’s script he wrote). She has to constantly be told her actions are hurtful. She treats Naruto more like someone she has to tolerate because they’re in the same team rather than a friend. Sometimes she feels guilty when others point out how badly she treats him as a friend/comrade, but she always falls back. It’s hilarious after how awfully she treated him in part 1 she still begged him with tears in her eyes to bring Sasuke back. Lol. And her fake confession was indeed stupid and showed not only she doesn’t know Sasuke, she doesn’t know Naruto either. I hate the “Sakura makes mistakes, she’s human” excuse. I noticed usually when people use the word “human” to defend characters they’re annoying characters. She’s not sympathetic, she’s annoying. And dumb, she left her teammates in the middle of nowhere.

“Sakura is abusive because she constantly punches Naruto–” She only hit him in the manga when he did something perverted or disrespectful, it was heavily exaggerated in the anime. It's called slap stick comedy. If you think it's aBuSiVe, I hope you have the same energy for Jiraiya who peeked at the women's bathroom without consent and gets brushed off as ‘comedic purpose’, double standards much?”

Yes I absolutely have the same energy for Jiraiya. Screw him. And only when Naruto does something stupid? How is punching the shit out of him because he accidentally kissed Sasuke okay? Sasuke isn’t even hers. And what about when he punched both Naruto and Sai because Sai called Ino beautiful?

“Sakura was SEVEN when she announced Ino as her rival. I'm sorry y'all are morally uptight who's never made a single stupid decision as a kid that you feel the need to accuse a child of being a villain for acting like a child. And it has been implied very clearly Sakura wanted to get out of Ino's shadow and only used Sasuke as an excuse to do so. And if Sakura was this horrible bitchy friend you guys think she was then I don't think Ino would immediately jump to protect her during chunin exams. Sasuke did more terrible things to his best friend than Sakura did but once only Sakura gets shit for it. And they never stopped being friends, only their dynamic changed, it included friendly bickering and rivalry. Ino never was mad or bitter with Sakura and even proudly told her she bloomed into a beautiful flower, this doesn't sound like a person who's been unfairly betrayed by a best friend over a crush?”

First of all most little girls don’t dump their friends over a boy. Teenagers maybe. The reason why Ino still cares about Sakura is because Kishimoto portrayed Ino as a good friend who wanted to help Sakura. And still cared about her when her life was in danger. He even used Ino’s dad to stress her care for her friends being what he’s most proud about her during the war arc. He wanted to highlight Sakura’s bad treatment of her friends with Ino. Sakura was always portrayed as catty towards Ino. Their only interaction in part 2 is Sakura wanting Sai to call Ino ugly (why would Kishimoto do this and nothing positive from Sakura towards Ino in part 2?) and in Gaiden she’s nervously laughing when Sarada comes between Ino and Sasuke. Sakura also taped herself over Karin, she sees them both as threats. As she told Ino, she’d never let her near Sasuke. Kishimoto portrayed her consistently like this.

“She has a Stockholm Syndrom--”

I’m not one of those who thinks she has a Stockholm syndrome. She’s just a dumb girl who mistook her hormonal urges and school girl “romance” for true love and acts obnoxious about it, with no regard for Sasuke’s feelings.

“She is shallow, she only liked Sasuke for his looks–” If her feelings for Sasuke truly were shallow, she'd have moved on after he left the village, she'd have moved on after he became a criminal, like Ino did. She saw Sasuke at his worst and still chose him with all his flaws. A ‘shallow crush’ wouldn't last for so many years. If her feelings weren't strong or deep, Sasuke wouldn't choose her in the end.

Her feelings are shallow. What kind of argument is “she didn’t move on, that’s why her feelings are not shallow” is? I guess this is good news for stalkers, their feelings are always true love because they don’t give up! Kishimoto used 自分勝手な 恋な, (jibungattena koina) which means selfish/self centered/egoistic love to describe Sakura’s feelings for Sasuke in the beginning. It’s a negative word. After the manga had ended he used the word 中毒 to describe Sakura’s feelings for Sasuke, which means addiction. And it’s even worse than the first one. It’s very negative, toxic. How do people not realize he’s mocking her? Also, Sakura DID give up on Sasuke and didn’t accept all his flaws. Sasuke even himself acknowledged at the end Naruto is the only one who never tried to cut ties with him and who never gave up on him. Maybe it’s someone else who needs to read the manga properly.

Her feelings never matured or developed. Kishimoto showed it to us very clearly. She’s desperate for any crumb from Sasuke, and mopes when she doesn’t get it. Even during the war arc, when the fate of the world was at stake, what she cared about was Sasuke-kun not fussing over her.

I’ll simply copypaste from my other post: Sakura was portrayed like any other fangirl of Sasuke in the beginning, who liked his looks and how cool he was. She never tried to approach Sasuke as a friend but only kept asking him on dates despite his blatant rejections. She never says why she loves him, or even likes him. According to herself Sasuke never says anything to her. Her first confession showed how little she understood Sasuke. She was the girl with everything, with family, while Sasuke and Naruto had nothing. Yet she had the nerve to say if Sasuke left she would be just as lonely as he was. She’s comparing the massacre of Sasuke’s family to a boy she never talks to leaving her, while disrespecting her own parents in the process. How juvenile that must have sounded like to someone like Sasuke. In Part 1 Sasuke occassionally protects Sakura because she’s too weak to protect herself, and in part 2 Sakura probably wanted to entertain the thought Sasuke would still have this consideration for her. But in Part 2 Sasuke treats Sakura like a fodder ninja. She doesn’t manage to get a proper reaction out of Sasuke who focuses on Naruto everytime he meets up with his former team. Sasuke also leaves Sakura to die couple times while choosing to save Naruto instead. Despite all this, Sakura still thought she’s entitled to Sasuke, and in her second confession she started to yet again scream how much she loves Sasuke and how much she hurts due to it. In both of her confessions she is guilt tripping Sasuke and trying to make him pity her. In both of her confessions she makes everything about herself. She admits to herself she can’t do anything for Sasuke, yet she tries to win him over by pity. But she annoys Sasuke once again, and he puts her in a murder genjutsu. Sasuke then says they have no reason to love each other. And he’s right. What does Sakura know about Sasuke? Clearly nothing, considering she said the worst things she could have said during both of her confessions. She heard Sasuke talk about wanting change, yet she started to scream how if Sasuke stays with her, things can go back to how they were. It’s like the most basic things she doesn’t understand. She’s just an overemotional child who has nothing of worth to say. Kakashi who coddles her tries to talk to Sasuke on her behalf as well, insisting Sakura suffers for loving him. Sasuke then thinks of his family and says perhaps those are ties to a failed past. As in Sakura literally lives in the past. And she does. Despite the fact everything has changed, she thinks about the moment when Sasuke thanked her, and ignores him calling her annoying for her ignorant comments, or the fact someone who wants change obviously doesn’t want to go back to the way things were. This brutal rejection though still won’t slow Sakura down, but after Sasuke is leaving to his atonement trip Sakura blushes like a school girl and asks to come with him. After him mocking her and putting her in a genjutsu, this is what she does. Sasuke didn’t choose her, she simply did not leave him alone. This is his reaction after seeing her first time in 12 years:

Kishimoto also just HAD to drop the information that Sasuke never kissed Sakura. Because he wanted to show to us how loving their marriage is. Hah.

He also had to drop the information Sasuke avoids her like she’s the plague. Just because.

If she didn't love him, she'd not be able to stop his curse mark.

I’m gonna stop you right there. Sasuke didn’t want to worry his teammates, he said so many times. He easily withdrew the cursemark during his match as well by remembering his teammates worry over him. It wasn’t that hard for him to do. It had nothing to do with Sakura’s love being “true” or “pure”.

“Sakura is useless as a main character–” That's not her fault. That's a criticism for the author. None of the female characters in the series have as much complexity, fight scenes or power as the male characters. It's a shonen centric more to the male characters. Sakura IS a main character because she contributes more in the manga than other female characters but she's not going to contribute as much as Sasuke or Naruto because the series revolved around men more than women. “

Wait til you find out the only version of Sakura that exists is the one Kishimoto created. And the issue isn’t her “not contributing as much as Naruto and Sasuke” it’s her being a dumbass who can’t do anything on battlefield unless she’s being held by hand and who prioritizes getting validation from Sasuke over actually acting like a proper shinobi. Let’s look at Sakura’s track record:

Land of Waves: Useless, just stands around.

Chunin exams: She thinks she’s got it during the written exam, but she didn’t realize the true meaning of the test despite acting she’s the smartest in their team. In the forest of death she stands around and screams, when she finally has to fight it’s like 2 minutes and she has to be saved by 4 support characters and Sasuke. She gets mocked for her amateuristic shinobi skills by her opponents. Ino uses shinobi like tactic during their fight, while Sakura only punches and has no strategy.

Konoha crush: She gets one-paneled by Gaara and well needs to be saved as always.

Search for Tsunade: Doesn’t do anything.

Sasuke Retrieval: Doesn’t do anything.

Kazekage Rescue: The only arc where she’s not useless and it’s because she’s literally used as a puppet and someone is directing her moves.

Tenchi Bridge Mission: Useless, gets knocked out and rescued several times.

Akatsuki Suppression: Doesn’t do anything.

Itachi Pursuit arc: Doesn’t do anything.

Pain arc: Cries for Naruto to help. Lmao. Doesn’t even try to buy him time despite acting she’s sooooo strong and wants to protect Naruto and Sasuke.

Kage Summit: Everything she tries to do in this arc she fails.

Oh Sakura, how useless you are. Can’t even land a punch on a regular Kumo ninja. Can’t even lie to Naruto believably. Can’t even lie to Sasuke believably. Have to be rescued from Sasuke more than once. Then end up crying like you always do. Haha.

War arc: Temari saved Shikamaru’s ass in part 1 already. She was also a great leader during the 4th shinobi war, and land a hit on Madara. And what about some others? Tsunade broke down Susanoo and healed her teammates while being broken in half, Karin took down a monster kages couldn’t, and Ino took control of the Ten-tails and stopped its attacks and connected the whole shinobi army. Meanwhile Sakura stans go crazy when she punches some white zetsus once (and IMMEDIATELY needs to be saved after because she was too busy bragging how she’s better than Tsunade and didn’t pay attention to her surroundings). She only started to fight when Sasuke appeared because she wanted to show off to him. And she’s still useless. Charges in with no strategy once again, gets stabbed by Madara and needs to be rescued. Then stand around in awe when Naruto and Sasuke actually know what they’re doing. She can’t even stab an eye to end it all. Kishi shows how in both Kage Summit arc and War arc she trembles with a kunai and doesn’t hit her target. None of the other female characters except Hinata are this bad. They use whatever little screentime they have to be useful, while Sakura is too busy being rescued and whining because Sasuke-kun doesn’t love her back.

Here’s a couple posts to showcase how Kishimoto writes her. He uses the same narrative motifs with Sakura until the end. Open your eyes:

[link], [link], [link]

There’s countless other posts on both of our blogs but those are pretty right to the point. I doubt people want to read a whole thesis right now.

In short, Sakura Haruno is fucking amazing and maybe if y'all didn't hold female characters to such a ridiculous high standard and bothered to understand the manga instead of watching filler episodes, you'd know.

I never watched fillers because they suck. Sakura also sucks even in the manga. It’s not hard to notice Kishimoto meant to portray her as a shallow, weak and boy crazy character. I’m not even gonna go for the comparison of characters who have suffered massive injustice from the system and react realistically and understandably, and Sakura who has had everything handed to her and couldn’t even began to understand the tragedies and suffering of those characters. Who still acts like her life is so hard when a boy she knows nothing about doesn’t like her back. Lol. She never grew up, and I wait for the day when people stop trying to excuse her character and insisting how she’s supposedly so great.