#and which shithead can i input as the villain'

[jrueships]

is that tags post about zach wilson or joe burrow I can't tell 😭

any! and all of them !

[bethhxrmon]

Alright, it’s time for an analysis that no one asked for! So, starting off I would like to say that the “Which Kurt Kunkle Are You” instagram account has done a far better job of analyzing the movie and having humor in a similar tone to the movie than I have. I’m not gonna reinvent the wheel here, if you want some real in-depth and good analysis plus some fun memes and good art, check it out!

This is going to be a combination of a critique on Billy Hargrove and Kurt Kunkle’s characters as well as the audience reaction. Keeping in mind that I’m not an expert and it’s been a week since I’ve seen Spree and over a month since seeing Stranger Things 2 and 3 (double majoring and doing online uni is time-consuming). I might miss things and I might interpret things differently from you. That’s just how it’s gonna be.

So let’s start off with the whole Billy vs Kurt deal that one lovely anon decided to bring to my attention. My first point is going to be that comparing Billy and Kurt is like comparing apples and oranges, they’re both fruit. In this case, they’re both villains. That’s where the similarities end, unless you wanna bring up that they’re both from California lmao.

Kurt is the main character of his respective movie (whether he’s a protagonist or if that’s Jessie can be up for debate imo), whereas Billy was intended to be the human antagonist (pretty sure that’s what the Duffers said) of season 2. Obviously this opens up Kurt to be a more well-written character. He has lots of depth and development as a character and a true, complete arc. His death was, frankly, unavoidable. I say this as someone who likes his character.

Meanwhile Billy is a side character and one of the least important characters of the entire series. His job is to be a road block in season 2. He was also used as a way to prove the show acknowledges racism in that time (it’s very blatant and there’s no systemic racism in the show but that’s an essay for another time). This is something that since the season’s release, Dacre has tried to backpedal on. I’m not faulting him for that, I don’t know the guy, but it sucks that the show is essentially trying to erase its own antagonist. Anyways, his death isn’t a shocker. What was a bit surprising (more disappointing actually) was that the third season doesn’t acknowledge his actions at all. Billy has no character arc aside from the fact he has a shitty dad and that he used to have a mom. Wow. His death was also unavoidable, not much to be done with his character. I don’t blame the Duffers, they have plenty of characters to work with that are actually enjoyable.

Now, let’s get into the audience reaction/fan bases. Let me just say it here: if you’re attracted to Kurt or Billy or any other antagonist in a physical sense, good for you! I hope you’re living your best life either way whether I can relate or not. What becomes an issue is when you don’t acknowledge the bad things the fictional character has done.

In the case of the Spree fandom, to my knowledge (I’m not an all-knowing internet being, I can be wrong about things), there aren’t any “Kurt deserved better” or “Justice for Kurt uwu owo” posts. The fandom on the whole has determined that Kurt deserved what he got. He is a shitty human being, he killed people. In other shocking news, fire is hot. No one in the fandom actually wants to date or marry Kurt Kunkle. No one is genuinely trying to imagine a healthy relationship with him. Why? Because that’s not how his character works! “Stanning” him, and my one-time use of the term “Kurtslut” is meant to be funny and a joke. It’s in the same vein as the satirical, sarcastic tone of Spree itself. 

So I’ll admit it, I don’t intentionally go into the Billy tag very much, if at all now that I think about it. His character doesn’t intrigue me at all. However, since people love to come on anon and give input no one asked for, I’m aware that some people refuse to even acknowledge all of Billy’s misdeeds. They think he deserves better and shouldn’t have died. This entirely misses the point of Billy’s canon characterization. If people like his character so much, then they should accept him for what he is as a character. Otherwise, do you really like that character? Or do you just feel bad because his dad’s a shithead?

Also, this is a bit of a side note, but most of my beef with this side of the Stranger Things fandom has come more from the Harringrove end of things (I have a whole post on that). It’s a screwed up ship. I’m only saying this to cover my bases because this should go without saying, if anyone started to ship Kurt with one of the canon characters in Spree, I wouldn’t be here for it. That’s that on that.

To conclude if you made it this far, no one is stanning or glorifying Kurt. Some of us are just attracted to a fictional character. It’s not that deep. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk!

[riin-ari]

What will be tomorrow?

AO3

Pairing: TodoDeku Series: Boku no Hero Academia  Summary:  Midoriya is in danger during his internship and all the class can do is wait in the dorms for the Pro Heroes to get him back since they promised to not make any moves. In this time Todoroki has too much time to think about him and Midoriya. About them and what could happen to him.

The clock just went to past midnight and the whole class 1-A was still together in the common room of their dorms. The mood was tense and most of them tried to distract themselves from the reason why actually everyone was here at this time of the night.

To begin with – not the whole class was here. One was missing and everyone waited nervous about his return.

“Oh come on. This already happened often. That shithead will come through this door with his fucking smile and will get all flustered and shit about how sorry he is. He better is for letting me fucking wait here.” Bakugou breathed out loud. Next to him Kirishima gave him a nervous smile. “Yeah sure, you are right. But you know what they said.”

“Still, Midoriya is strong! He had it worse already! He will be fine!” Kaminari gave them a thumb up and tried to sound constructive but he wasn’t well with hiding his worry. They all were but he was right.

They have been already through a lot and a lot of dangerous things have happened to them. Various dangerous things that shouldn’t have happened to them in their age. After all they still were first years but they long knew that this didn’t mean anything anymore. In this society that changed too drastically they had no time anymore to “only be first years”.  

“Deku-kun will be fine! He will be. The Pro Heroes said they will get him back. They said he will be back before the night ends.” Uraraka said with a mixed expression. They all would have been ready to run when they heard that Midoriya became the target on one mission of his internship.  

“We all know he sometimes chooses reckless methods when he sees someone in danger. That’s Midoriya after all. He promised though that he wouldn’t act inappropriate anymore and would choose a wise choice for his actions. So I am very sure that we will get him back soon and he better has a good excuse on why he was in danger again.” Iida shoved his glasses back on his nose. The others couldn’t help but smiled. That was Midoriya after all.

One of them didn’t smile though. He sat aside from the others at the kitchen table staring straight ahead. His expression was neutral but that was only a façade. Behind his calm look Todoroki’s mind was driving him crazy.

It was so Midoriya to want to do this internship so bad so he wouldn’t fall back on anything or anyone.

It was so Midoriya to want to become a great hero in such a short amount of time.

It was so Midoriya that he didn’t see how much he did already to the people around him.

It was so Midoriya to run into a dangerous situation like this one.

It was so Midoriya that Todoroki sat here and couldn’t do anything and just worry that he will come back.  

They all wanted to jump into action to help him but the teachers and Pro Heroes said they had to wait here. They had to promise and after all the bad publicity the school went through lately they had no other choice than to agree. They already did more than they should have done when they saved Bakugou but this time they didn’t even know much about the situation either.

It was only said in the afternoon that a villain attacked Sir Nighteye and two students. It was a fast attack and the actions behind the attack were still unclear. The two students were the targets as they were brought away from the Pro Hero quickly. There were more villains involved in this. One had a dangerous teleportation quirk that was very useful in bringing them away from the city in no time. Another one had an unknown illusion quirk that already was widely discussed in the news. The fact that they were able to overcome Sir Nighteye’s quirk in such a short time was already impressive. After that news after news came in again. Some of them were theories that the League of Villains were behind it again and they wanted to kidnap more U.A. Students. Not many of the information were actually useful. But suitable Pro Heroes were already chosen right after to get them back.

In the end though this is nothing unusual anymore. Villains come and will bring us all in danger. The Hero’s will try to fix it as best as they can but how much can they do? How often will they be able to just get someone back? When will be the time that we won’t be able to go outside anymore without the fear that something bad will happen today. Should we really trust those people who call themselves Heroes so much? All I see right now is defeat and loss after loss. U.A. should clearly think about what they do with their students.

Todoroki clenched his fists. He had heard already so much bad mouthing about U.A. from the media and usually he didn’t care. They chose this and they could go if they wanted to. They could just leave and search for a job that didn’t put them this much in danger. But nobody of them wanted that. They all chose this for themselves. Bakugou did and still wouldn’t think of doing anything else and so did Midoriya too. He chose this because he wanted it. He wanted to help the people around him even though they talked bad in the media about them. He wanted to help every single one of them. He would do this until the end because this was his dream and it made Todoroki angry that so many people just ignored this dream and gave their negative input on a topic they couldn’t imagine happening to themselves.

But there was one thing that he hated. One thing that he feared and hates so much. Especially with Midoriya being Midoriya. He put himself so much in danger for others. In situations like that he didn’t even thought about himself anymore because he wanted to save the other so bad. Even at the Sports Festival Midoriya damaged himself so much just for the sake of Todoroki. Just to tell him that he was worth it more than his father made him believe.

And now he was in a situation again where he could only wait if Midoriya would be fine and come back. He wanted to do something so bad. And the worst thing was – he regretted his choices right now so much. With them aiming to be heroes a lot of things were put behind. One of these things were their feelings. And Todoroki couldn’t avoid them anymore. He had to admit it to himself weeks ago already that he had feelings for Midoriya that were beyond friendship. And while the choice of never telling him wasn’t actually a hard decision for him since he knew this would never work, he still regretted it. Worst case scenarios ran through his head. A future in which he wouldn’t see Midoriya’s smile anymore. A future in which he would never be able to tell him how he really felt.

In this moment it didn’t even matter to him if Midoriya would like him back or would never want to speak with him again. The thought of not telling him the truth and live with a lie his whole life was more crushing than to know he said the truth and Midoriya would live on. As long as he was fine anything was alright.

Neither of them believed that this could be the end because nobody wanted to think that. They all just knew Midoriya would come back and this wouldn’t be the end. They all knew and yet Todoroki couldn’t help himself and made up scenario after scenario in his head how All Might would come through this door, tell them to sit down silently and explain with a shaking voice that Midoriya wouldn’t come back.

He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to lose him. Nobody did but in this moment he wanted to be selfish enough and think it would hurt him so much to lose someone as important as Midoriya. He already had such a special place in his heart in such a short time. He didn’t want to lose him. He didn’t want to run around with the fear of losing him all the time. Yet if they were heroes they always had to face this danger and had to live with this fear but wasn’t that unfair on its own? But they chose this and so it would be part of his life. He had to accept it but he didn’t want to accept that he would lose Midoriya. Even though they would never be together. As long as he could live his life like he wanted to and would honestly smile about it, it was okay for Todoroki.

“Todoroki-kun?” Yaoyorozu’s voice brought him out of this thoughts again. He didn’t even notice that his hands were shaking. He looked at the surprised but worried expression in her face.

“We were calling you but you didn’t answer.” She said calmly.

“I am sorry. I didn’t listen.” He noticed that the others were staring at him as well.

“Did … something happen?” He asked trying to keep his voice calm.

“No we were wondering if you are okay since you looked like you were collapsing any moment. Even your breathing was becoming faster and you wouldn’t answer when we called.” She explained.

He didn’t notice after all. For a moment he cursed his body for betraying him like that. He couldn’t explain his emotions and feelings that well and had a hard time even showing them openly. That he would lose himself so much in front of his classmates was something he didn’t thought would happen months ago. Only thanks to Midoriya it was possible for him to feel at least comfortable enough in their environment. Still he didn’t want anyone to know his thoughts.

He looked to the side a little embarrassed not knowing how he should react.

“Thank you for your concern but I am fine. I just lost myself in thoughts. Didn’t want to bother anyone.”

“Tsk. Halfy don’t shit your pants. He will be fine.” Bakugou said annoyed.

“Well I wouldn’t say it in those words but he is right. Midoriya will be fine. We will just wait here until he comes home so we can greet him. I am sure he has much to tell!” Tsuyu said and gently smiled at him.

Todoroki still couldn’t tell if they noticed something about his crush. From time to time even during lessons they would make comments about him and Midoriya or would say something to him that contained their green haired classmate. Sometimes it felt like they all knew but wouldn’t Midoriya know too then?

Suddenly the door to their common room opened and everyone turned their head to face the person coming in. At first Todoroki was afraid to even look who was standing there but soon he heard a relieved yell from a few of his classmates already and he opened his eyes which he didn’t remember closing and saw Midoriya Izuku standing there. He looked confused at first probably because everyone was still here but then relieve showed on his face. He smiled though you could clearly see how exhausted he was. “Guys … I am home.” He said with a trembling voice.

“DEKU YOU GAVE US A BIG FRIGHT!” Uraraka yelled and ran at him. Right after her was Iida who gave him a careful but still very forceful hug.

“I am sorry!” Midoriya yelped still under Iida’s hug. “You didn’t have to stay up though just for me.”

“Don’t be stupid. Come on! Details! Details! Are you alright? What happened? Did the villains get their asses kicked??” Ashido jumped up excited. The tension left the room fast.

So far Todoroki wasn’t able to say anything. He just stared at Midoriya and looked at all the others who came to him giving him a pat on the shoulder or hugged him. In Bakugou’s case it was a mumbled “I fucking told them you would come back. Next time do it earlier so we don’t have to sit her so long and wait” which everyone heard and knew that this was Bakugou’s way of showing he was glad to see the other safe.

He seemed to be okay. A few scratches on his arms and he had a bandage around his head. He told them that they actually were saved about two hours ago but needed to keep it a secret since the villains were still on the loose around this time and the media would have been just a disadvantage. Also his phone was crushed thanks to the incident and he had to see Recovery Girl first until he was allowed to leave. This time he was lucky enough that he hadn’t got any bad injuries. He told them on short what had happened but Todoroki still couldn’t focus much. He just stared at Midoriya, at his eyes which tried to look at everyone, his tired smile as he explained.

“Okay we are all really relieved that Midoriya is back but it’s really late already and Midoriya himself also should rest. We should call it a day and talk about everything tomorrow in the morning. Since we don’t have school tomorrow we have plenty of time to discuss.” Iida said at least and he was right. They were all exhausted from the tension and Midoriya needed rest the most.

Todoroki hasn’t moved from his spot and as his classmates went by him looking at him with a knowing expression they just nodded and left the room quickly. Yaoyorozu gave him a pat on his shoulder and he suddenly noticed that he and Midoriya were the only ones left in the room.

They were looking at each other but for a few minutes neither of them said a word.

“Midoriya …” He tried to say something but his voice was husky for some unknown reason.

“I am so glad I made it back.” Midoriya said and suddenly he was close, standing right in front of him.

“I am glad too. I was really concerned when I heard what happened.” Todoroki made a note to slap himself when he was alone. He sometimes cursed his not existing ability to find the right words like Midoriya often did. Right before he wanted to tell Midoriya everything as soon as he would come through that door and now he wasn’t able to bring out a word. His mind was full of things he wanted to say and things he wanted to do but his body wouldn’t do any of those things.

Instead he suddenly felt Midoriya’s hand on his cheek and soon he felt why exactly. “You are crying.” The smaller one said worried. Todoroki didn’t even notice that. His body really betrayed him today.

The next betrayal though was the fact that he couldn’t hold back anymore and hugged Midoriya really tight. He tried to still be careful enough to not hurt him but he couldn’t hold himself anymore. He buried his face into Midoriya’s shoulder and stayed like this. For a moment it was quiet and nothing was heard. The room was quiet and the light was dim. Only their uneven breathing was heard.

“Todoroki-kun …” Midoriya mumbled while softly stroking his back.

“I am sorry …” He wanted to draw back but Midoriya wouldn’t let him instead he hugged him tighter.

“This quirk was insane.” He said. “It would let me see nightmares and fears I had deep down. It let them appear before me and I had to see them over and over again until the Pro Heroes came to save me. I had no idea how to flee or what to do. I could only wait for help even though I was the one who wanted to help. I saw so many of the people I love and adore vanish and die.” His words were barely only a whisper but they were so close that Todoroki could hear them loud and clearly. “In one of those nightmares I saw you. I saw how you were beaten down in front of me and then died in my arms. I wanted to do something but my body was only able to watch and feel the pain. It was so clear in my head that for a moment I thought this illusion was reality. You died and I couldn’t even tell you …” His voice broke in a silent sob.

In this moment Todoroki knew and realized. He could feel Midoriya’s heartbeat and his trembling body in his arms. He knew that they both lived with the fear of losing. Everyone did. Everyday. But in this moment he knew that he would give his best to protect this precious person in front of him with his life so he wouldn’t regret anything.

“I like you. I like you really much and the thought of maybe not being able to tell you this suffocated me. I didn’t want to tell you because I had no hopes that you felt the same but since I heard that you were in danger again I couldn’t think of anything else. I don’t want to regret and I don't want to lose you.” Todoroki said with his head still on Midoriya’s shoulder. He felt when Midoriya’s body moved so he was face to face with him again. His heart beat so much in his shoulder at this moment and he didn’t know what to do with this. Midoriya’s hands were both on his cheeks again and he saw how he got on his tip toes and kissed Todoroki on the forehead. In this moment he felt like his heart was going to jump out of his body but the biggest feeling in this moment was relieve. Relieve that Midoriya was here with him and that he stayed with him. That he didn’t reject him even after saying all those things.

“I like you too and I can't imagine it any other way.” He smiled softly. His hands were still shaking but at this point both of them were. Neither of them didn’t know how to react or what to do. They were just happy right now even though their bodies were heavy and there was still so much on their minds that they wanted to talk about.

“We should really go to upstairs. I have no idea how longer I will stay up like this. We can talk more tomorrow like Iida said.” Midoriya laughed.

“Me neither.” He looked up to him shyly. “Would it be okay if I stay with you for the night? I really don’t know if I can sleep alone after all of this today.”

“You can stay with me forever I don’t mind.” Todoroki bluntly said and immediately blushed. Yes he said to himself he would be honest with Midoriya but he didn’t want to chase him away with his words right after they just probably got together. Another thing they should discuss in the morning. But to his relieve he only heard the other one laugh again.

“That sounds like a nice idea, Shouto.”

When Todoroki took Midoriya’s hand and went with him up to his room he knew that this would only be the beginning of something he couldn’t control. It was an uncommon thought he guessed. He probably should have been just happy that Midoriya was with him right now and that he was fine. The events came out good after all. This day ended how it should have ended – in the best way possible for this situation.

“You still seem like you have a lot on your mind.” Midoriya said nuzzling his body softly against the other while they walked.

“I shouldn’t be the one saying that after you just had so much to go through.” He said.

“Hm that doesn’t mean anything. I still want to know! I want to know your thoughts. I am curious. We can talk about mine tomorrow since I really just try to not think about them much but right now I would like to know.” He tilted his head.

They came into this room. “I can try to explain but give me some time.” He said.

“If I am allowed to I will borrow some sleeping clothes from you since I really don’t want to go downstairs to my room anymore and use your shower. You can think. Well only if you want to because it’s not like I am forcing you to tell me but you know I am just really trying to understand you and oh you can ask me anything too just so you know I mean if you are curious I can tell you right away and– “

“You are rambling again.” Todoroki laughed softly and already went to his dresser to give him some clothes. Midoriya blushed. “Sorry!”

“It’s fine. I think it’s cute!”

He really had to get used to this sort of interaction Todoroki thought after Midoriya went into the shower. This was nice though. Being careless and just to say what was on his mind. He knew this could be so easy but his mind didn’t allowed him that. Maybe he could learn this.

Minutes later they both were lying in his bed next to each other face to face. As soon as the light went out Midoriya took his hand and he noticed that he was trembling again. That’s why Todoroki laid his other arm around him. “Tell me if I can do something about those illusions.”

“Being here with you already helps. It’s just hard to get those images out of my head after I thought they were real. Distraction is fine and I know you are here with me right now and everyone else is safe too.”

Todoroki thought. “Mido-…Izuku. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure! Anything.”

“When you were away I was so worried and regretted that I didn’t told you. I thought about so many things and the future gave me an uneasy feeling in that moment. I know right now this is good like it is and we are both here but I am afraid something will happen again. With both of us aiming for the top and how the world just changes right now. I have no idea how to face all of this. Losing, changes. Are you ever afraid of that?”

It was quiet for a moment. “Yeah. I am. I think it’s at some point natural to be afraid but that only lets us make better decisions I guess. Don’t listen to me though that much because I don’t know it exactly either. Things will change and we will be different. Everyone will be. But it’s fine. We will find our way right? Just like I found my way back here to this dorm, to you. You wouldn’t have thought about that when you woke up today!” He chuckled softly.

“No I think not. I also didn’t think you would be in danger today but that’s just the Midoriya Izuku way I guess.”

“I will really try to not be so reckless. I have already done a lot of damage to my body and I worry so many people close to me. Every time I try to be careful things come into my way and I want to find a solution right away for this problem.”

“That’s admirable but you need someone who puts up with your recklessness. Someone who has your back so that person knows that you will be home for the evening again.” He hums.

Todoroki suddenly felt soft lips on his own. “Then I guess right now I am really at the right place to be safe. We will just do our best. ”

“Don’t worry Shouto. Even though we don’t know anything about tomorrow we will make the best out of it. And I think if we want to survive Iida’s lesson tomorrow about getting a healthy sleep schedule we better should rest.” He only got a soft grumble as response and stroked Todoroki’s hair. Who would have thought that a day that changed so drastically ended in such a peaceful way?

“Thank you, Izuku.”

“Anytime. Thank you too, Shouto.”