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mrspanky · 4 years ago

Note

I'm not really sure how long these are meant to be. "Right, I'm pretty sure that's called trauma".

Trauma Bonding, (a Jason Todd x Reader)

Warnings: Language.

Genre: Fluff/angst/comedy/romance

Authors note: This prompt is perfect, thank you @aethers-stuff ! Sorry it took me so long to write! I hope you like it. ♡(: _______________________________________________

Dick watched you two from the kitchen.

Jason was seated on one end of his livingroom couch and you on the other. You were talking loudly, gesturing with your hands so much that you looked like Italians at a family gathering. You were both exceptionally expressive and extroverted people on your own, so when you got together, the room's volume was always raised a noticeable few notches.

It was endearing, but a real headache when it went on for too long.

Dick massaged his temple. An extrovert himself, he felt the need to jump into the conversation, but he knew better. You and Jason would simply not shut up long enough for him to get a word in when you were both really on a roll, and Dick didn't feel like expelling that much energy. Plus, he was curious to see where this would end.

“...That’s ridiculous Jason”.

You crossed your arms.

“There is no way in hell you're dying your white streak black.”

He raised his hand from the couch armrest in exasperation.

“I wasn't even asking you.”

You arched an eyebrow.

“You should've been. The white streak stays. It's your trademark. If you're concerned about me being right, I dare you to ask everyone to vote.”

“Hon, I am not in the practice of asking people if I can or can't do things.”

“Luckily, you never ask me my opinion so you don't have to worry about breaking your pattern just yet.”

“...You never keep it to yourself, so why would I even bother”.

Dick shook his head. You were like an old, emotionally constipated couple and it was amusing to observe.

“Just kiss already”, he said under his breath.

You turned your head towards the kitchen, hearing him faintly, but almost unintelligibly.

“Dick, did you say something? Sorry, we're arguing here, I hope we're not too obnoxious”.

“Hey don’t throw me under the bus with you, I was just trying to have a moment of quiet meaningless thought when you started playing hair cop,” Jason quipped.

“Hush.”

“Right back at you”.

“-Both of you shut up for a minute. I didn't say anything”.

Dick rolled his eyes.

“However, we do have patrol in an hour, and Bruce sent me some weird instructions.”

“Weird how?”

You tilted your head in curiosity.

Jason glanced at you, and huffed a little. He couldn't help himself. Despite himself, he found you really endearing. Especially in moments like this when your lips were pouted in confusion and....”.

Dick snapped Jason out of his brain fog.

“Jay. Buddy. Try to pay attention.”

“Wasn't not doing that,” he grumbled.

“Then what did I just say.”

The two brothers shared a childish battle of glares.

“...fine, you made your point. I was dreaming about this whisky I saw in the manor the other day”, he lied.

“Ok. Very in character, Jason. Now, the mission is-”

“...looked decadent. It was really old and had this fancy label on it that-”

“...Guys. I can hear you from the other room”, Tim walked in looking miffed.

There was a pause as all three of the human boom-boxes stared blankly at the intruder.

“...you’re a detective, Tim”, Jason deadpanned.

“Ugh, Jason...that’s not the... just shut up.”

Tim pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

“Did you all get the mission briefing?”

“Somehow, Jason didn't”, Dick fumed.

“Alright, fine. Basically, Jason, you, and Y/n are staying back tonight because you're the only ones who haven't been seen yet in the city, and Bruce wants to save you guys for an undercover mission next week”.

“What?!”

You both looked at each other in disgust.

“I'm not working for the bat anymore!”

“Yeah, and I've never even started to work for him! He can't just expect us to be at his disposal and then bench us!”

“Guys, relax. He's just doing this so you can have a better element of surprise later. You're both really valuable, ” Dick reasoned.

You and Jason paused, your egos begrudgingly satisfied.

“...fine”.

“Fine”.

“Good. Ok. So everyone suit up”, the oldest brother concluded.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jason was irritated.

He found you interesting. Really interesting. Usually, he dealt with his fear of vulnerability by acting too unbothered to care, but you intrigued him so much that he struggled to keep his mouth shut around you. He was afraid to get too close to you; he would lose you eventually like everyone else.

But, he knew so little about you, despite all of the banter. A talent you both possessed, was chattering without disclosing any actual information. You had only met each other two months ago, and usually it would take both of you longer to warm up to a new person, but there was just a feeling. You were kindred spirits. He wanted to learn more about you, despite himself.

“So what brought you here”.

“Here as in what brought me to dress up and punch criminals as a nightly routine, or as in what brought me to be in an alliance with Bruce Wayne that I'm now regretting?”

There it was. Those were the kind of responses that made Jason feel just enough on his toes to be uncharacteristically comfortable with you.

“Take your pick I guess.”

“Bruce Wayne it is then. I'm not really a fan of my life story”.

“Ttt, ” Jason laughed, taking a page from his youngest brother’s book.

“I'm kind of an accidental friend of Dick’s. We met first at the Bludhaven police station, I was there for...pfft...I was just there, ” You paused with a laugh.

“He helped me out, and we didn't see each other again until he ended up working with me anonymously for info on a case as Nightwing years later. We both just figured out each other's identities and he brought me on a mission once where I met Bruce. And Bruce is a convincing prick so now here I am, somehow under his command”.

“Sounds about right. So when do we kiss?”

Great. Now he sounded like an asshole.

Jason looked at you, gauging to see what your reaction would be. He’d half said that last part by accident, but now that he’d acted out of impulse he knew he couldn’t take it back.

“-What?”

“When do we kiss? You heard Dick”.

He was really committing to his blunder now.

“Yes, and I ignored him and smoothly got him to change the subject. Besides. You're not my type”, you lied.

Jason was in fact, exactly your type.

“What is your type?”

“Shit”, you thought.

“Hmm. I like people who I can chase that don't actually like me, and then I eventually get to give up. It makes it easier”.

You admitted this in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but you weren't really kidding. Something about Jason’s persistence made you want to open up, despite your usual habitual wall-building.

“You're like a fucking mirror; you know that?” Jason laughed.

He knew you weren’t kidding because he’d said things along those lines millions of times.

“Your point, Mr. Therapist? People hurt people. I kind of prefer to enjoy relationships from a distance at best”.

“Right, I'm pretty sure that's called trauma”.

“Call it what you will, but it's a good way of not getting even more mentally busted up than an already fucked vigilante”, you grinned.

“Nice.” he smirked.

“You sound as dumb as me”.

“That’s a little low don’t you think? I’m only half as dumb as you at most, but yeah. Fine. We share some things”.

“What’s that supposed to mean Princess,” he smiled.

He felt himself get exited a little. What you had just said made it sound like you felt you two were similar just as he did.

“That I think we’re both stupid people that have really stubborn hearts that get us into trouble”.

Your heart was beating so fast. You hadn’t meant to say that much.

“Now who’s the therapist”, he said in a low voice.

He leaned in closer to you a little, testing the waters to see if you were just being a little cautious, or if you actually weren’t comfortable. He felt like you were just being scared like he always was deep down, but he didn’t want to push you if it was only going to cause you both more pain.

He was a little scared too. You scared him. Not just because you were powerful and beautiful, but because he actually liked you. He wasn’t used to that. But he knew himself, and when Jason Todd does something, he can’t do it half way. If you were in this too, he knew he’d do anything for you, and that was terrifyingly vulnerable.

As he leaned in, your breath caught.

“Fuck”, you thought.

His eyes were stunning.

You hadn’t let yourself notice how much until now.

“Jason…”

“...Todd why are you about to taint Y/n”.

Jason spun around.

“Damian!” you yelled.

The small Wayne was standing in the doorway.

“Shortstack, you are too young to be using a fancy word like taint”, Jason recovered.

Tim and Dick emerged behind Damian in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” Tim asked.

“Todd was just about to be disgusting with Y/n in front of all of us”, Damian smirked, crossing his arms.

He knew he just set up Dick to take a fit.

The oldest brother was not pleased.

“Jason, really? Damian is right here and you didn’t think to chill?”

Jason rolled his eyes.

“We didn’t do anything Dicky. The kid here is being a drama queen. The only thing he walked in on us doing was some good old fashioned arguing”.

Jason knew he was making himself look like a major...well...dick, but he knew you wouldn’t want to commit to the family knowing about anything that might be going on between you two, however small just yet.

Dick rolled his eyes, and the three brothers walked in the doorway and into the kitchen to get water. You and Jason were always an entertaining spectacle for sure, but patrol was tiring, and they all needed to cool down.

Jason looked back to you. You were looking at your feet with your arms crossed and a barely contained smile on your face.

“The kid has good timing,” he huffed with a laugh.

“Oh fantastic”, you gazed at him, laughing back quietly.

“So, you want to talk some more about trauma?” He asked in a playful, but matter of fact tone.

“Maybe sometime, Red,” you smiled.

You turned and walked away.

“She’s gonna make me work for this”, he thought.

It had been so long since either of you had met your match, and you both were going to thoroughly enjoy this.

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aliensunflower-fics · 4 years ago

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In Defense of Salt AND Sugar: Aka ML Fandom pls chill out.

So I don’t talk much as those who follow me will say I tend to just stick to myself and my own things. HOWEVER, Ive gotten a lot of asks about why I write both Salt and Sugar for Miraculous Ladybug.

The short answer: Both salt and sugar are valid, fun, intriguing things to read and write and the point of writing is to entertain and be entertained.

The long answer: Salt isn’t inherently someone hating on your fav show and sugar isn't someone necessarily giving it a free pass either. Ya’ll are just dramatic as hell.

The LONGER answer:

I write salt because I LIKE Miraculous Ladybug, BUT the show has not lived up to its potential AT ALL. The show could be so much better and the characters are so flawed or full of holes that occasionally I feel FRUSTRATED and mad!

I hate that Alya a character who I was so excited about, gets shafted ignored, sidelined, or written like a jerk! She could have been this great detective working alongside her friend to unmask the villain, but instead she often comes across as pushy, obsessed with Ladynoir or Adrinette, and so damn easily tricked. Not to mention how when shes not gushing over her ‘ships’ shes pushed to the side and ignored. [or you know... LILA]

I hate that Marinette’s crush makes her do things that are so cringy and awkward i feel ill I hate that she’s constantly the only one making mistakes and ‘learning lessons’ when the show has all these other great characters that could use the spotlight and be the ones learning lessons. I hate that she’s so jealous and that she cant ever seem to catch a break as if the show is punishing her constantly.

I HATE that Adrien is a mary sue, how the writers say hes perfect and treat him as such, I hate that he gets to guilt Marinette into fixing everything and dealing with bullies, I wanted a funny, Ron Stoppable, naive boy who learns about real friendships and grows into a great partner. Instead he gets to be pushy and downright a jerk as Chat Noir ignoring his responsibilities, guilting Ladybug with his feelings, never taking no as an answer. He’s not a good role model for kids.

I hate that Chloe got built up to have a redemption arc several times only for the writers to decide that Chloe a teenage girl who needs some serious therapy [and actual reasonable punishment for her actions] is worse than Gabriel child abuse Agreste. She could have been a great lesson on compassion and growth and dealing with your own pain without hurting others. Instead the writers wrote her off completely.

And dont get me started on how the show treats Nino, Kagami, Luka and the rest of the cast. They may as well be a backdrop for the forced love square that we NEVER get a break from. Seriously I’m a sucker for romance but does it need to be EVERY damn episode?! Can’t we just get some wholesome friendship between everyone including Adrien and Marinette at this point like COME ON.

And i’m not even touching on the white washing, awful lessons on responsibility and forgiveness, awful lessons on well so much other stuff really, the guilt trips, the teacher, the fact that she show could be used to teach kids how to better handle negative emotions and the importance of open communication and not keeping quiet about injustice and/or your feelings but instead decided that the main priority should be a love square that gets force fed to us EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.

My point is the show has FLAWS. That doesn’t mean its the worse show ever and it doesn’t mean its not fun, and has a great premise and characters, and so when I write Salt I write it because i’m frustrated! Im frustrated with the show, with the characters, with the writing and so I vent that out with salt I write those characters as their worst selves because I cant stand how the show has decided to treat them and Im ANGRY and disappointed.

It feels good to write salt and to read it. It’s nice to see characters get called out for bad behavior, its nice to read about Adrien not getting the girl. Its nice to occasionally indulge in salt because it validates that the show is flawed and lets you get out that frustration.

BUT ON THE FLIP SIDE

Miraculous Ladybug is a lovely show. It’s a show that decided to give little girls a FEMALE HERO. And not just as a side kick or background character! No they made her the protagonist! Its so important to me that little girls see good well rounded female characters in media.

And even if the show is clumsy about it they are TRYING to build an expansive lore that tickles the theorist brain. And gets people invested in the world.

The show also made Marinette shy, and awkward, and clumsy something a lot of girls deal with during puberty as growing up can literally make you clumsier as your body adjusts. Having a character who tries to be positive and tries to find solutions who solves things with creativity instead of pure violence. Thats LOVELY for young girls to see.

Growing up I loved and admired Kim Possible, and probably would have loved Marinette, even if the shows not perfect I can admit its trying and I can see why people love it as much as they do! And why they write these fluffy sugary fics its the reason I WRITE fluffy sugary things.

Because even though I am frustrated and angry and disappointed with the show, I still see Alya’s potential and how great she is as representation to little girls who want a black female superhero so I write fluff where Alya’s loyalty, compassion, cleverness and her pursuit of justice are center stage.

I see how Adrien could be better and I want him to be better and I WANT him to be the naive funny comic relief the Ron Stoppable to Marinette’s Kim Possible. I want Adrien to grow and learn and spit in his dad’s face I want him to overcome the abuse and be happy. To show people that neglect and abuse doesn’t mean you will get stuck like that forever, that you can overcome that and be a better kinder person.

I want Nino and Kagami, and Luka and Chloe and the class to grow and get attention and have funny moments I want to laugh and make other people laugh! So I write prompts focused around comedy and shenanigans and where the characters get to be fun and silly and make decisions for themselves!

SO IN CONCLUSION:

I write salt AND sugar. I see the value and merit in both sides of the coin, and I respect how other people see the show. I know its easy to get angry with other people in the fandom who see the show differently then you do but please can we put down the weapons and just BREATHE.

Someone who writes salt might LOVE the same show as you, and they might in fact love it so much that they vent their frustrations in angst and salt and cracky fics. Let them vent about how they wish the show was better, leave their tags alone or block them if you cant stand to see it. But dont attack salt writers for ‘hating on your show’ when they might love it just as much as you do but want a way to vent out their feelings.

On the flip someone who writes sugar might NOT be forgiving the show for its flaws, they might see all the same flaws as you but decide to take that frustration and write fluff and fix it fics and sugar because they want to indulge in a version of their favorite show where everything is just... OK. Where everyone is well written and happy and the character development sticks. Stay out of their tags let them have their sugar, they aren't writing it to hurt you just like you don't write salt to hurt them.

So ENOUGH. Enough hunting each other down, enough sending each other hate, enough filling each others tags. Let people write SALT if they feel angry and vengeful and disappointment, let them have their tags, let them explore the dark side of the characters, let them rant and rave and be HURT when the characters they love upset them with their actions. Its not your place to tell them to stop, to tell them their feelings are invalid, to tell them that ‘adrien is sweet sunshine boy how dare you’ or ‘alya would never’ or ‘i hate your marinette leaves dupont au’. Just leave it be, heed the tags, and let it go.

AND ENOUGH. Enough hunting each other down, enough sending each other hate, enough filling each other tags. Let people write SUGAR if they just want something to feel happy about. Let them makes coffee shop au’s, let them make fix it fics where everything is just happy without needing 8 pages of backstory for why everything is just happy. Let them squeal and gush and talk about the ship they like and the fluff they see. Its not your place to argue with them that the show is flawed, its not cool to ruin their fun by accusing them of not understanding the flaws, to tell them ‘umm actual this character shouldn’t get to be happy’ or ‘wow this is so shallow’. Just leave it be, heed the tags, and let it go.

PS: Now with that said and done. I do have one final message for everyone - If you write/enjoy pedophilia, if you sexualize KIDS. Then get the fuck out of fandom spaces, stop fucking following me, and do everyone salt and sugar a favor by LEAVING. Your pedophilia and child sexualization aint wanted, aint ok, and I will fight you.

PSS: IF YOU HATE WHAT IVE SAID ABOUT SUGAR AND SALT FINE OK I RESPECT YOU REGARDLESS. ENJOY THE SHOW, STAY CLASSY, DONT HURT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION.

#its just me #ml salt #ml sugar #adrien salt #adrien sugar #alya salt #alya sugar #chloe salt #chloe sugar #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #class salt #class sugar

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kittyprincessofcats · 4 years ago

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She-Ra S5 E08 - Shot in the Dark

There might be spoilers for the rest of the season in this post!

I absolutely LOVE this episode, and at first, I couldn’t really put my finger on why I liked it that much. And then Noelle tweeted this:

And yeah, that’s what it boils down to. This is the first *happy* Catra episode since... basically since “Once Upon a Time in the Waste” - and back then, the happiness didn’t last long.

(I also just think that story of AJ being so worried about Catra and Noelle reassuring her with every script is so adorable. I love to see how much they all care about these characters.)

Now let’s get into the episode!

- “Why does space hate me so much?” Yeah Glimmer, as I’ve said before, your powers don’t work in space because otherwise things would be way too easy and this show would be over way too quickly.

- “So, your plan is to, what? Ram through an armada of ships?” “No! ...Maybe!” 😂 I love Adora.

- The way Catra’s hands are shaking when she tells Adora they’re going to get caught... oh, baby 😢. And how Adora suddenly looks so worried... gosh, these two.

- Catra and Adora playfully arguing over whether or not Catra ‘defeated’ them in the past is so cute. I love this kind of ‘former enemies’ bickering and it’s why I was so glad they didn’t wait until the very end of the show to redeem Catra.

Bow: “Adora, Catra’s right.”

[Everyone’s eyes go wide.]

Bow: ... “That felt weird to say.”

😂 Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Bring on all the ‘former enemies’ bickering, please!

- So, is this just because Wrong Hordak’s “brains were scrambled”, as Bow put it, or do all the clones randomly blurt out that Horde Prime has a weakness whenever they hear someone ask about it? I’m going to assume it’s the former. Also, the way he keeps blurting out more and then denying that Krytis exists is super funny.

- I like how they set Krytis up before with Catra having visions of it back in Taking Control - still pretty convenient that just hearing the name lets her make the connection, but I’ll take it. (Is it meant to be some lingering effect of being connected to the hivemind that she’s having visions of it again now, or is it just her remembering what she saw before?)

- I love the detail that Darla’s information on Krytis is locked and they need administrator clearance to access it. Shows again that the First Ones aren’t that different from Horde Prime - they were also ashamed of their failure to conquer Krytis and tried to hide the information on it.

- “In- In- In- Incorrect. It is located nowhere, because it does not exist, because Lord Prime destroyed it.” I honestly think this line should be a meme. When you want to hide something from someone (but you know it does exist), just quote that exact line (kind of like “There is no war in Ba Sing Se”). I once said it to my sisters when they asked about certain fanfics I wrote as a teenager. (“Nope, they are located nowhere, because they do not exist, because Lord Prime destroyed them.”)

- Changes in the opening: Micah, Spinnerella, Scorpia and Mermista are now standing mind-controlled around the Heart of Etheria in the villains’ shot. They’re also all missing from the final heroes’ card. In that final shot, Perfuma and Sea-Hawk both look sad now, and Netossa looks angry.

- Catra touching her neck when she sees the spire on Krytis... 😢. I’m here for the angst, but I also just need Catra to get lots of love and comfort after everything she’s been through.

- Can we talk about how absolutely ADORABLE her space suit is, though? Bow is absolutely right to coo over those ears. And when she tries to take it off with her foot? And Adora laughs about it? And Catra smiles when she sees her laugh? ❤️❤️❤️

- Wrong Hordak still denying that Krytis exists while currently being on Krytis is absolutely hilarious to me. It reminds me of flat-earthers or anti-vaxxers, or people who try to deny Covid exists (while others are currently dying from Covid) - not that any of those are funny, of course. I just mean that wrong Hordak nicely demonstrates how ridiculous they can sound.

- Catra calling out the Best Friend Squad on how dumb their plan is and then reacting with “Honestly, what did I expect?” is absolutely iconic. They really were missing her as the team’s braincell all along.

- Bow and Glimmer teasing Catra about her “first mission”, Catra grumbling that she’s going to kill Adora’s friends, Adora responding with a really calm “Please don’t” - everything about this is perfect. 🤣

- Also, small detail, but I love how Catra has a hard time walking in her spacesuit because she’s not used to wearing shoes.

- The remaining rebels looking around the destroyed camp is really sad. Frosta immediately trapping Castaspella in ice and checking her neck is great, though. That’s what they should have been doing all along. Why didn’t they also check Shadow Weaver’s neck, though? I know she’s intimidating and all, but there was no way of knowing if she’s chipped.

- “How did the rebellion lose so many of our finest members and yet we’re still stuck with you?” Castaspella’s asking the real questions! I like how literally no one in the rebellion likes Shadow Weaver. (Though honestly, I’m also glad she’s not chipped. Imagine how hard fighting a chipped Shadow Weaver would have been.)

- “But if you try anything, I won’t hesitate to strike you down.” Castaspella said ‘I won’t hesitate, b*tch!’

- Every single part of Wrong Hordak’s existential crisis (and Entrapta’s handling of it) is absolutely hilarious. I’m not going to quote all of it here, but pretty much every line of it is comedy gold. My favourite moment is probably “It seems Wrong Hordak has begun to question the meaning of life” (and everyone’s annoyed expressions at his crying) 😂😂. (On a more serious note, though: As much as it’s played for laughs, Wrong Hordak turning his entire worldview around in such a short amount of time is also pretty epic.)

- Catra just cutting through that door - damn, she’s strong! And I love Adora’s blush! (Yeah, the door was probably just an illusion, but my point still stands. She’s at least strong enough that it doesn’t seem completely weird that she'd be able to just cut through a door like that.)

- “You have an arrow that turns into a magnifying glass? I can’t believe we were losing to you guys.” 🤣🤣 Catra realizing the people she was fighting are actually idiots will never not be funny.

- It goes hand in hand with Bow realizing Catra is actually a cute kitty with an adorable sneeze. Good stuff. And the way her tail gets fluffy when she insists she’s not cute? D’awww. (Bow saying “The angrier you get, the cuter you are” reminded me of that scene in Steven Universe where Peridot loses her limb-enhances at the beginning of her redemption arc and Steven calls her cute and “an angry little slice of pie”.)

- Castaspella’s cape getting stuck in tree branches and the like is pretty funny, ngl. This is why Edna Mode said “No capes”.

- Shadow Weaver saying that her gifts are “far subtler” than mind-control is very fitting. Her thing is manipulation, after all. She doesn’t need to control people’s minds when she can just manipulate them and raise them in a way that’ll make them do what she wants. It’s scarier than mind-control in a way because it’s far more realistic. Mind-control doesn’t exist in real life, but manipulative parents (or just manipulative people) who will mess someone up emotionally? Very realistic.

- I like that you can tell that something’s off about Entrapta’s voice this time if you pay attention to it.

- “Seriously? How have you guys stayed alive this long?” Yup, the people you were fighting are idiots and you’re the braincell of the team now, Catra.

- I love the creepy music when Entrapta tells them it’s the first time they’ve talked since the last floor.

- Also, I love how Catra’s first instinct is to just launch herself at Melog, even though you could tell she was terrified just a moment earlier.

- I really like the moment where Glimmer realizes there’s magic on Krytis, especially since she doesn’t have her other powers right now.

- Melog bonds with Catra because they have the same sneeze ❤️❤️

- “Are you... are you petting the thing that’s been trying to kill us?” I love this whole moment 😹. I also love how Adora is so protective of Catra and immediately yells “Get away from her!” when Melog seems to get angry.

Catra: “I’m sorry. I got angry. It’s something I’m working on.”

Adora [with sparkling eyes]: “Aww, you are?”

Catra: “Yes! Now can you please...” [deep breath] “Yes. I am.”

I love everything about this. Catra genuinely working on her anger issues, Adora being so touched about it (remember back in Taking Control where she wished that Catra would ‘at least try’?), Catra having to hold back her anger because she realized Melog responds to emotions - perfect. ❤️😂👍

- Catra is so sweet when she calms Melog down. And the moment where they form their bond is really nice.

- So, can Catra understand Melog because of their bond, or because they’re both cats? I’m assuming it’s because of their bond?

- Melog’s backstory is really sad. But Adora offering to take them to Etheria is a really sweet scene.

- I like the parallel between the Best Friend Squad realizing that magic is Horde Prime’s weakness (and that the only planet he ever failed to conquer had wild magic) and Shadow Weaver telling Castaspella that the First Ones weakened Etheria’s magic and they have to set it free.

- “Stop me if I try to take the power for myself.” I’m not sure how I feel about that line. I like how SPOP has very much written Shadow Weaver as ambiguous so far. She’s not a good or nice person by any means, but is she at least on the side of the good guys and really trying to help now or is she still only after her own selfish goals? I very much did not want Shadow Weaver to get any sort of redemption or forgiveness, and I’ve always interpreted her as still being power-hungry. So, I have mixed feelings about this line. I like that it canonically acknowledges that Shadow Weaver is still tempted by power and might actually try to take the magic for herself, but asking Castaspella to stop her if she tries makes her look more selfless and like she’s taking precautions against it. (But then again, could Castaspella even stop her if she tried? I’m pretty sure Shadow Weaver is the stronger one of the two. So, you could still read this as Shadow Weaver being a master manipulator and only saying this so Castaspella will feel more inclined to trust her and go along with her plan - while knowing full-well that she could easily defeat Castaspella if it ever actually came down to it.)

Glimmer: “So, just to make sure I get it - We’re going to go running through a Horde blockade while relying on the magic of a creature we just met?”

Catra: “That about sums it up, yes.”

You know what this means - Catra’s a part of the Squad now!

- “Punch it, Darla!” I still love that the ship’s name is Darla. Also, all of their expressions when they fly through the blockade should be a “draw the squad” meme.

- Catra holding Adora’s hand and getting embarassed about it ❤️❤️ (while Adora is dumb and doesn’t even notice).

- I did not expect us to get a Glitra cheek kiss this season, but I’m not complaining! Also, Catra complaining while Glimmer and Bow are hugging her is such a cat thing; I love it.

- “We made it. We’re home.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is actually the first episode this season that ends on a happy / hopeful note and not on some kind of cliffhanger. And I really like that. This is where the “space arc” of season 5 offically comes to and end and I’m glad it has its own little happy ending. (And as much as I like the final episodes of the season, the space arc is still probably my favourite half of it.)

I love this episode, mainly because of what it means for Catra. She’s finally happy, she saved the day, she’s bonding with Bow and Glimmer and constantly flirting with Adora, and she has an amazing therapy cat now! I loved all the bickering between her and the others and how she’s starting to open up to them. Also, Wrong Hordak was absolutely hilarious in this episode and I commend Entrapta for having the patience to deal with his existential crisis. This was a really nice way to wrap the space arc up and bring the Squad back to Etheria.

[Previous episode] [Next episode]

#spop #spop s5 #spop s5 spoilers #Shot in the Dark #Catradora #Catra #Melog #Adora #Glimmer #Bow #Entrapta #Wrong Hordak #Noelle Stevenson #AJ Michalka #She-Ra and the princesses of power #Castaspella #Shadow Weaver #long post

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ganymedesclock · 4 years ago

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So... What do you think about revisiting Danny phantom in general? Revisiting the fandom I've noticed a lot of fanfic that have Danny's parents finding out his deal rather violently, or generally having more violence/angst than the original show..

I’m assuming you’re sending me this ask because of my recent burst of Danny Phantom art, so, it’s probably not a surprise to say I’m doing a certain amount of revisiting myself, and certainly not about to shame anyone else for it. It was a very dear cartoon to me in many ways and left some enduring hallmarks on my own writing, and I can absolutely understand people feeling the same way.

That said, as someone who’s been in this fandom for a while, albeit quietly- there certainly is a thread of macabre interest in fandom spaces, one I don’t always know that I agree with, especially when it comes to the Fentons.

My personal verdict on the Fenton parents specifically is I think they are not handled fairly by canon. This is a problem that Danny Phantom as a show shares with Fairly Odd Parents, though I would argue the Turner parents in FOP are quite a bit worse at this.

Roughly, I think how the Fenton parents are canonically depicted suffers from a phenomenon that affects many parts of the show: DP, as a series, has a bit of a sense of confused priorities between comedy and drama, and as a result, what’s 'real’ in-universe and what’s “just supposed to be a joke”. The kind of humor that DP tends to spring for is exaggerated or shocking behavior- it also tends to be a humor that hinges on the idea that other people are generally inconvenient to the main character. So humor-characterization is inconsistent here- Jack is negligent until it’s more inconvenient to depict him as overbearing (see: Girl’s Night Out and other cases he desperately wants to bond with Danny) he’s a recluse only loved by his wife until it’s more inconvenient to depict him as having an active social life (Masters Of All Time and that he and Maddie are going to a themed party so they’re dressed ‘weirdly’ in public)

A big victim of this is Jack’s sense that ghosts aren’t people and his desire to dissect them. Because here is the thing: it’s all talk, in the worst way. It hinges on the idea Jack- someone who knows enough of what he’s doing that along with Maddie and, in the past, Vlad- ripped two different holes in reality hard enough to permanently alter someone’s relation to undeath- has never seen a ghost before the series as he says in Mystery Meat.

The series has a big problem where it hinges on the Fentons’ inventions and expertise but also wants to treat them like idiots constantly. And if you notice how much I’m talking exclusively about Jack- that’s part of the problem. Maddie, in many ways, outside of episodes that throw her a bone, despite constantly being told by people she’s too good for Jack, is really treated as an extension of Jack. Masters Of All Time even suggests that her choosing Jack in the first place was just a path of least resistance between her two college friends, and she’d have married whichever one stuck around.

The Fentons are not respected as experts, so Jack is given his ignorant line about dissecting a ghost. The Fentons need to remain exaggerated, ridiculous, an inconvenience to Danny- so they threaten his alter ego and point guns at him, but this is funny and not serious and not a reason to be worried about them as parents, because they are not on Danny’s level. Nobody is ever on Danny’s level. There is literally an episode called The Ultimate Enemy. The antagonist is an evil future Danny. The only person who could ever be Danny’s ultimate nemesis is Danny himself.

And when the series stops milking the Fentons for jokes about how they’re so stupid and how Jack is an idiot and Maddie married that idiot but even she doesn’t respect him even though she loves him and dutifully follows him everywhere and god how can these people care about ghosts they’re so ignorant and out of their league-

-then it kinda shuffles its feet awkwardly and goes, yeah. the Fentons love each other, and love their kids.

Yeah, Jack has framed photographs of Maddie, Jazz, and Danny on his personal workstation.

Yeah, in Mystery Meat Jack was seriously debating walking away from his lifework because it upset one of his kids.

Yeah, every time in canon the Fentons find out Danny’s secret they’re immediately all in supporting him.

Yeah, even not knowing it’s Danny, Jack has an amiable conversation with him in Million Dollar Ghost and the ghost containment units designed by the Fentons get some jokes about that they’re a little cramped but they aren’t horrifying prisons of inhumanity- and as soon as Danny Phantom the ghost boy has a good point, Jack lets him go on purpose.

Yeah, Jack is a competent ghost hunter who can take on Skulker and win as well as beat down the giant lake monster Skulker brought with him in Girls’ Night Out and would do this in a heartbeat, no jokes and no sidetracks, because that monster just chewed on his baby boy and nobody does that to his baby boy.

Yeah, Maternal Instinct is an entire episode of Maddie throwing hands with (or deceiving and manipulating) literally anything she thinks was responsible for getting Danny in this dangerous situation.

...And then the series says “but that’s not funny! Here, have jokes about the Fenton Stockades, that exist and have spikes and Jack wants to put his kids in them for time out, when the spikes apparently don’t hurt given Jack is not injured for being put in there. Here, have a joke about Jack attacking Jazz with a vacuum cleaner because he gets hellbent on the idea she’s possessed for no good reason. Here, have an uncomfortable joke about how badly Jack Fenton wants to vivisect a ghost while it screams. Funny funny funny. Why- why are you flinching?”

It basically creates a comedic situation where the show is constantly winding up like it’s gonna punch you- with the idea that the Fentons are bad parents and this has consequences for Danny and Jazz personally- and then laughs in your face if you flinch. It’ll never actually punch you- but it will sure keep swinging its hand really close to your face and laughing at your reactions.

This is, I’m just gonna say- one of the worst elements of the series, this weird relationship it has with “hahaha are we depicting an abusive family or not? ;)” where its actual point is that Jack Fenton is a person who should be shamed for being overzealous, for caring about this niche field, because nobody cares about ghosts! (unless the entire premise of the show does) Nobody wants to think about ghost science! That’s LAME! (unless Vlad does it)

So I think ultimately this creates a polarizing experience in the fandom. What part of this information do you take?

Do you take, say, my personal approach, which is:

“Hey, so it’s pretty clear and consistent that the Fentons love their kids and wouldn’t hurt them. The Fentons are nice people. They can be obsessive or headstrong but there’s nuanced and salient ways to examine this in the basic framework that they care, both about their family specifically, and in general- and while I think they can have flaws or conflicts with their kids, and with ambient ghosts in the world, I really don’t think they’re in danger of torturing a sapient entity in their basement and it frustrates and annoys me that canon ‘makes a joke’ of them doing these things because it thinks they’re so incompetent that these things are not really malicious actions, when- whether or not you successfully shoot them, it takes a certain kind of person to point a weapon you know is dangerous at something that looks, and talks, like a fourteen-year-old, especially when you’re a parent who has probably at least once in your life worried about something happening to your kids, and the ghost of a teenager means something happened to someone’s kid, in a general sense.

So my end conclusion on the Fentons is I think they are being depicted in a kind of metatextual bad faith, that they are not cruel or malicious people, and in my personal take or understanding on the series, I’d massively dial down those elements, and if any remain, take them seriously as problems they have in their relationships with other people.”

Or do you take an approach more rooted in,

“If the Fentons are shown to be negligent parents they are negligent parents, I’m going to examine and depict them as that, and I find this very hard to forgive, so it’s going to have real and nasty consequences.”

Both are basically valid. The place where I tend to get a little uncomfortable is twofold:

First, I think sometimes people just really want some fictional tragedy to either create or consume, and to that end, you aren’t going to get much juicy drama out of the Fentons being reasonable people. This isn’t evil or unforgivable, but for me, it’s definitely my least favorite fannish content to create or consume. I’m no fan of angst for angst’s sake, and I feel like there’s enough misery and heartbreak in the world that I’m not interested in wallowing in it unless it’s got something interesting to say.

Second- and this is a point I’m gonna be saltier: A lot of abusive Fenton fics that refuse to forgive them for the poorer-taste jokes the series makes, simultaneously give Vlad a blank check, when he has done targetedly malicious things to Danny.

Now- do I also have a more sympathetic read on Vlad, and feel like canon also gives him a bad rap? Yeah! But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, “I can’t forgive the Fentons for stuff that was tagged onto them because canon thought it was funny, but I’m gonna editorialize Vlad’s depiction to lionize him as the ideal parent figure for Danny to run into the arms of.”

And the main reason I get so worked up in this, is I feel like Jack in particular (when Maddie is characterized as subordinate to Jack, following his cues, etc., and that’s its own demon) is... characterized as kind of a mocking caricature of traits that I personally recognize as an autistic and ADHD person.

Because the reality is? In many practical ways, I am Jack Fenton.

I like a bunch of weird stuff people find unacceptable or gross, like bugs

I’m hyperlexic (that means I talk, a lot)

Scatterbrained, forget words or where I left something or, sometimes, to do something important

Passionate and excitable including and especially in situations where it’s not normal, or expected, to have this much energy

I absolutely can forget birthdays, even for people I love dearly that mean the world to me! It’s horrible! There’s almost nothing I can do about it! My brain refuses to hold onto this information reliably and no amount of caring fixes it.

And being this way, living like this? My worst nightmare has always been that people think I either don’t care or that I’m just too much of a stupid, flippant buffoon to get right.

The thing about Jack is he’s “a person like me” and he’s “a person like me” who was designed to be a joke. We’re clearly expected to view him as untrustworthy, stupid, just like a big dumb dog of a man who barks in the wrong directions, who sometimes, when it counts, fetches a stick like he’s supposed to. Good job, Lassie. You got little Timmy out of the well.

And I am going to say with certainty and confidence that feeling like this is how people see me is the most unbelievably crushing feeling I have ever experienced in my life. That my excitement and passion means I’m unprofessional, stupid, don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s nearly painful for me, as an adult, to watch Danny Phantom because the show can never get off Jack’s case. And the few times it does, he hauls overtime arduously to make a difference, to help, to build something that will protect others, to put his own life on the line to stop hostile ghosts.

And immediately, then he goes back to being stupid stupid dog man. ha ha. why does his wife love him? no wonder his kids don’t ever want to be seen with him. no wonder his best friend is trying to kill him and he doesn’t even know, the big idiot.

(never mind that we see a scenario where he does know. and admits he would’ve forgiven Vlad anyway. but he can’t forgive Vlad hurting Danny.)

So to rein in this wild tangent: I’m not saying all must love Jack Fenton and despair. I’m not even telling people to hide their angst. If I have a sincere request, it’s this:

If you’re inclined to thinking of Vlad as a cool, troubled, complex person (as I do!) and are haunted by the implications of The Ultimate Enemy specifically for Vlad, that when Danny lost everyone else in his life that Vlad really genuinely tried to help, and was not gloating and happy and victorious to have Danny as his protege, and when that went badly, he was haunted to the end of his days by not having been able to help-

-but immediately turn around and think Jack is just a rotten awful person who’d absolutely hurt his own kid in spite of canon to the contrary (when there’s just as much, if not more, canon of Vlad being willfully hostile)

It might be good to examine why you’re feeling this way, and if this might not come down to the fact that even when canon has people call Vlad a desperately lonely fruit loop, it has a lot more respect for him than it does for Jack, and this isn’t because it’s actually taking a stance against any of the qualities it gave Jack that someone might find disagreeable- it’s because Jack’s just “a big old fat idiot nobody likes, right?”

and that’s... not something comfy to buy into.

#Danny Phantom #readmore #long post #I have a lot of feelings about the fenton parents #and about how generally cartoons like to normalize child abuse in the context of jokes #and this creates a very upsetting similarity between parents who are otherwise characterized as good and reliable #but given these jokes anyway #and parents who genuinely seem really nasty #but it's tied up in a bow with 'it's Just A Joke'#Anonymous

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

⁂ Capturing Memories (Coyote Starrk)

Genre: Angst, Romance, Comedy ☁

Word Count: 7,363 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Starrk ☁

World: Anime, Bleach ☁

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

When the Aizen Army incident first began, you didn’t think much of it. You didn’t think about the Espada – who they were or where they came from. You just knew that you had to stop them. To you, at that time, they were mere enemies that had to be stopped. You never once stopped to think of the reason behind why they were following Aizen. To be honest, it didn’t really matter to you. You had never cared about your enemies before, so why bother doing it now? It was foolish. Of course, for those who already knew Aizen, Gin, and Tousen, it was difficult for them, but no one was familiar with the Espada. And you were no exception.

You stood atop one of the buildings in Karakura Town, staying alert for any Espada level hollows that decided to appear. While everyone else was busy, this was your job and the reason for you being appointed this job was simple; you were more sensitive to Reiatsu than the others, and you were able to feel it farther away and pick it up a lot quicker than the others could. It was a really handy skill that you were thankful to be born with.

That being said, you caught wind of a spiritual pressure that did not belong to a soul reaper or a human. You knew that it was an Espada, but it was very faint. Whoever it was, they were damn good at hiding their reiatsu, but you could still track it.

Jumping from building to building, you found yourself outside of town in a fairly large forest. The reiatsu was coming from deep within and you knew it was risky to be going in alone, but if you wasted time contacting the others, you might lose it. If worse came to worse, the others would feel your reiatsu when you began fighting. Your job was to stop him from getting away, and that’s exactly what you planned to do.

When you got to the clearing, you hid behind a tree to see if it was anyone you had seen before. Ulquiorra, Yammy, and Grimmjow were the only ones that you had met, and this new Espada was not one of them. He was tall and skinny, with dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders in small waves. He wore the typical Espada uniform, but it was tailored to the way he liked it, as all of them were. He seemed too relaxed to be in enemy territory, though. He was laying back against a tree, his arms behind his head and eyes closed. He didn’t seem too threatening. Then again, neither did Yachiru, and everyone knew how terrifying her power could be.

“How long do you plan to hide, soul reaper?” He asked without opening his eyes.

You scowled at him, coming from around the tree and into the clearing. As you got closer, you noticed a little girl with him, sitting against the tree to his left. She was short, maybe Hitsugaya’s height, with blonde hair. One of her eyes was covered by her mask, but the other was pink in color. “Who are you? And why are you in the world of the living? Did Aizen send you?”

At first, neither of them said anything, and you thought they might not answer, but after a few silent moments passed by, the male opened his eyes – revealing them to be a beautiful shade of blue – and stared at you lazily like he had no interest in the conversation.

“Aizen-sama sent us here.”

“To do what?”

The girl leaned forward, narrowing her eye at the male beside her. “He sent us here for recon, but Starrk is too lazy!”

“It’s a troublesome job.” The male yawned, closing his eyes again. “He should have sent someone else.”

“But he sent us!” She scowled before looking up at you, her expression anything but friendly. “You lookin’ for a fight?”

“Lilinette,” the male scolded, opening his eyes again to send her a pointed look. “Don’t make me fight a pointless fight.”

“Stop being lazy!” She yelled, jumping up and pointing an accusing finger at him.

As the two argued, you couldn’t help but stare at the male Espada. He seemed… different from the others you had met. You really couldn’t explain it, but there was an air around him… you couldn’t place what it was, though. There was no doubt that he was powerful, but there was something else. It was… it was…

“Loneliness,” you muttered to yourself.

He heard me, though, turning his eyes back to me. “What?”

“Um…” Had you dug your own grave? Probably. Did you continue digging? Of course. “You seem… lonely.” you furrowed your brow as you analyzed him. You could feel it in your gut. This guy was different, in a good way. He wasn’t emotionless, like Ulquiorra, or stupid like Yammy. And he wasn’t blood-thirsty like Grimmjow. To be honest, it seemed like he wanted no part in this. So why would he be following Aizen? It made no sense.

Something flickered through his eyes, but it was gone as fast as it came. Lilinette snapped her attention to you, huffing and walking over. She stopped right in front of you, her eye filled with anger. “What do you know about him, huh?! You don’t know anything, so don’t act like you do!”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” you muttered, staring down at her; she reached just above your stomach. “That’s just… that’s what it feels like when I look at ’em…”

“Then maybe you should stop lookin’ at him!”

“Lilinette.” He sighed, resting a gloved hand to his forehead. “Stop it.”

“But they – !”

“Enough, Lilinette.” His voice was stern, but his eyes betrayed him. They looked just as lonely as his aura had indicated, and they were holding pain.

You felt bad for him and you wanted to know more. You knew you were getting in over your head, but you wanted to know more about him, you had to know more. “Um…” the pair looked at you and you smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of your head. “Can I have your names?” You had heard them say their names, but you wanted to hear it from them and get their full name.

“What for?” Lilinette snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at you.

“Curiosity.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.” She stuck her tongue out at you childishly, as if she had just won the fight you weren’t even having.

You grinned. “Good thing I’m not a cat, huh?”

Her eye twitched, a tic mark appearing on her head. “Yeah – ! Well – !” You laughed as she sighed in defeat, hanging her head. “Fine! You win! My name’s Lilinette Gingerback,”

“Y/N, nice to meet you, Lilinette.”

She humph-ed, looking over at Stark expectantly, but he wasn’t paying attention. A big red tic mark appeared on the back of her head and she walked over, kicking him hard in between the legs.

He fell forward, clutching his private area with a strangled groan. “I told you… to stop… doing that…!”

She simply humph-ed in return, turning her back to him. “You should have been listening! What if they would have killed me while you were daydreaming, huh?!”

You winced, slowly approaching the fallen Espada and resting a hand on his shoulder. “You gonna be alright? She looked like she got you pretty good…”

“I always do!” She grinned proudly.

“That’s not something to be proud of,” you muttered under your breath, kneeling down next to him.

After a couple more minutes, he fell back onto the grass, his blue eyes closed and his arm covering them even though he was under the shade of the tree. “Coyote Starrk.”

“What?” you blinked at him.

“His name, idiot, his name!”

“Oh… right,”

Stark looked over at you, moving his arm up to his forehead. “Do you plan to kill us? Or take us to Soul Society?”

You stared at the lush green grass below you, watching as it rustled in the wind. When you had first arrived at the clearing, it was your full intention to bring him to Soul Society or kill him if he resisted. But now… you just didn’t know. If you let him go, would that count as a betrayal to Soul Society? ‘I mean, it’s not like I’m letting Aizen go. This guy seemed harmless enough, and he hasn’t done anything wrong to my knowledge. It wouldn’t hurt… right?’

“Well?!” Lilinette screamed, the sound louder since she had moved closer in what you assumed to be anticipation. She obviously wasn’t a very patient Espada. Wait… was she even an Espada?

You let out a sigh, turning your gaze up to the baby blue sky, trying to ignore the bickering of your heart and mind. “No,”

“Eh?” She blinked, a look of both confusion and surprise on her face.

“I won’t try to kill you. And I have no intention of trying to take you in.” You closed your eyes, the decision made. Your heart was cheering, while your mind simply sighed in defeat. It was always like this. They’d battle, but only one could win. They never agreed on anything, so you couldn’t have it both ways. It was one or the other, and both were fully capable of screwing you over.

“Seriously?” She blinked again. “Then why are you here?”

“That was my intention… at first.”

“What changed it?”

“I wish I could answer that,” you muttered, scowling at the ground. Even you didn’t understand it.

“Well, since you’re here, you can make yourself useful!” She pointed her finger at you, a grin on your lips. You merely blinked, wondering just what she meant by that.

“Lilinette,” Starrk called in a warning tone, but he was ignored by the smaller hollow.

“Since we’re here, I wanna try some human food! Go get me some!”

Your eye twitched. ‘This kid was sure demanding, wasn’t she? Wait a second…’ “Since when can Hollows eat human food?” you raised a brow, cocking your head to the side.

“We can still eat stuff like that.” She sent you an offended look, re-crossing her arms. “We just choose not to. Gin-sama has always offered us food, but it didn’t look right,”

You smiled wearily, scratching your cheek as you looked away from her. You remembered Gin’s cooking all too well from before he betrayed the Soul Society. He would always try to cook for you and Matsumoto, but the food he made was far from edible. You always had a routine for that situation, something the two of you called Dash and Break. While Matsumoto distracted the silver-haired male, you’d grab the food and sneak out, feeding it to the wonderful plants. And Gin always wondered why they died…

You shook your head, trying to rid yourself of the memory. ‘Stupid Gin. He hurt so many people when he left.’ You failed to notice Starrk staring intently at you, but you didn’t miss his voice. That voice of his could cut through even the deepest of your thoughts.

“Don’t bother her if she doesn’t want to go, Lilinette.”

“But I want to try real human food!”

“Why bother?” He sighed, closing his eyes. “You probably won’t get it again. It’s too troublesome,”

“They don’t mind, right N/N?”

“N/N?” your eyebrow twitched. The hell had she managed to come up with the exact same nickname that Ikkaku used just to annoy you?

“And don’t go giving people nicknames without their permission.” He scolded again. Honestly, he was acting more like her parent.

“You’re so mean, Starrk! Don’t do this, don’t do that! That’s all you ever say!” She cried, fists clenched at her sides.

With a sigh, you stood up and readjusted your zanpakuto at your side. “What do you want?”

She blinked up at you before registering what you meant. “You mean you’re going?!”

You shrugged, looking away. “Got nothin’ better to do. Though I’m supposed to be patrolling…”

“Great! I don’t know the difference, so just get me whatever, kay?!”

You sighed again, shaking your head and walking away. You could faintly make out Starrk scolding her again, but you didn’t catch what about. A smile made its way onto your lips. You had only known those two for, hell, less than thirty minutes, and already you felt close to them. This was a dangerous feeling, you knew it was, but you couldn’t bear the thought of giving up Starrk. You felt drawn to him, as cliche as that was. But that’s what love is, right? One big cliche.

Hold it…

You froze in the middle of the street, feeling a sense of dread wash over your mind. ‘Did I… just say love?? I haven’t even known him for an hour and I’m talking about love. What the hell is wrong with me?!’

You shook your head frantically, kneeling down and clutching your hair between your fingers. You had never been much of an expert when it came to affairs of the heart, more specifically love. You had never thought much of it and often scoffed at the idea of being in love with someone. And love at first sight? That was about as bad as werewolves and imprinting. ‘I mean, seriously, how hard is it to believe that you can fall in love with a single look? This isn’t a fairy tale!’

“Ugghh! What have I gotten myself into?”

“I don’t know, but it must be pretty bad if you’re talking to yourself.”

You let out a small yelp, jumping up and taking on a strange stance, similar to the one Renji had performed when his Zabimaru turned into a broom. Matsumoto stood there, her head cocked to the side and a curious look on her face. “R-Rangiku!”

She blinked. “Are you okay, Y/N-chan?”

“Y-Yeah. I-I’m fine.” you cleared your throat awkwardly, looking away and fixing your clothes.

Matsumoto stared at you for a minute before a knowing look crossed her face, her lips curled up into a grin. “Y/N-chan is having boy problems~!” She sang. “I can’t believe little Y/N is having a problem with a boy! You’re finally growing up!”

Your eye twitched, a tic mark appearing just below your eye. So what if you never went hunting for guys? You were far more focused on yourself than trying to find a man.

“So tell me, who is it?”

“No one! I’m not having a boy problem!” you cried, but the dust of red on your cheeks gave away the lie, despite how hard you tried to conceal it. Matsumoto had radar for these kinds of things.

“Renji?”

“No way!”

“Ichigo?”

“Matsumoto…”

“Ooo, is it Hitsugaya-taichou?!”

“Never!”

“That’s cold, Y/N-chan~” She whined, a pout on her lips.

“Matsumoto!” you groaned, walking away from her. “I’m telling you, it’s not a guy!”

“Someone I don’t know, then.” She confirmed, following after you with a hand to her chin. She clearly wasn’t letting this go, like she ever did to begin with. “I’ve never seen you hang out with anyone I don’t know. Someone at school? A new friend, maybe?” She grinned in a cat like manner. “Ohh~? Love at first sight, perhaps~?”

“Love at first sight does not exist! It’s just bullcrap that people made up to explain lust for someone’s body!” Freeze. ‘Did that mean I was lusting for him? Had I mistaken this feeling for love, when really it was just my hormones going to work? Ugh!’ You were over-thinking this way too much. You shook your head again and continued walking, ignoring the questioning look from Matsumoto.

She followed after you silently at first, her hands behind her back as she leaned her body only slightly backward as she walked. Her eyes stayed trained on you as if searching for any little indication to solve the mystery, but you gave her none. What would happen if she found out who it was? What it was? Would she call you a traitor? Report you to her captain and then Soul Society?

She must have seen the worried look because she caught up to you, her hand lying gently on your shoulder, her voice matching. “You can tell me. I promise it’ll stay between us,”

“If… If something is forbidden -” you paused, swallowing hard. ” – does that mean it’s wrong?”

“Hmm?” She put an index finger to her chin, looking up at the sky. “That’s a good question. Depends on what it is, I guess.”

“Love?”

She blinked, staring at you for a minute. Things seemed to click in her head and she sent you a soft, knowing smile. “You fell for the enemy, didn’t you?” You stayed silent. How could you possibly admit that? It sounded so wrong out in the open like you had just murdered a million people. “Who is it?”

“His name is Starfk,” you answered softly, staring up at the darkening sky as you remembered the male. “He’s an Espada, part of Aizen’s Army.” you paused. “Does that make me a horrible person? I mean, maybe it’s in my head. I don’t even know the guy!”

Matsumoto smiled, wrapping her arms tight around your shoulders from the side and resting her cheek against your own, much like a mother would do to a child. You had always believed that Matsumoto would make a good mother. Aside from the drinking, anyway. “It’s not in your head. Your eyes are screaming your feelings. I can tell, your heart has already linked with his. It’s too late to pull out now.” She tightened her grip and lowered her voice, just above a whisper. “It doesn’t make you a horrible person, Y/N-chan. We can’t help who we fall in love with. I, too, am in love with the enemy.”

“That doesn’t count, Matsu!” you complained with a frown. “You fell for him before he was a traitor!”

“Not quite,” She shook her head with a sad chuckle. “He was a traitor from the very beginning. I just didn’t realize it.”

“We were all fooled.”

She nodded, releasing you and slapping your shoulder hard. “I say go for it!”

You scowled, rubbing your stinging shoulder. Was that really necessary? For her, you guessed it was.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

When you returned with the bag of store-bought food, you found the two hollows in the same place as before. You had vaguely wondered on the way back if they would even be there when you returned, figuring they used the food as an excuse to get away without a problem, but you were happy to find that they were still there. The thought that maybe they trusted you also made you feel happy.

But it may not even be that. They may just be that confident that they can kill you which, depending on what number Starrk is, he probably could.

When you entered the clearing, Lilinette’s head snapped up before her eye narrowed and she stalked over to you, resting her hands on her hips. “It took you long enough! I was beginning to think you ditched us!”

“Sorry. I ran into a friend on the way and we got to talking.” you held the bag out to her and she ripped it from your hands, returning to Starrk’s side before taking every item out and inspecting it with a sparkling eye. “It’s not much, just some junk food from the convenience store,”

Lilinette had settled for a bag of potato chips, but she seemed to be struggling to open it. Finally, she got so angry she ripped the bag into bits, scattering the salty treat all over herself, the laying Starrk, and the grass. Starrk opened his eyes to glare at her but, like earlier, she simply ignored him, reaching out to grab a chip that had landed on his stomach. She popped it into her mouth and began to chew. When she swallowed, her eye lit up again and she reached for more. “You have to try these, Starrk!”

He grunted in response, not making any movement indicating that he planned to do that.

Lilinette scowled at this. “We probably won’t get another chance! You said so yourself! So try it!”

You watched as the pair argued back and forth. It was amazing, seeing the way they reacted to one another. It was like they were brother and sister, the bond between them was clear as day. You bit your lip to stop from laughing when Lilinette tried to force him to eat the chips, at which they started to argue again. While Lilinette’s retorts were heated and annoyed, Starrk’s were half-hearted. It was amazing that the two could get along so well, but that was close to the same thing as Ichigo and Renji. They were always in each other’s face, but they had the other’s back when push came to shove.

“How long are you going to stand there?” Starrk asked, his eyes trained on you as he held the smaller girl back with one hand on her forehead. She struggled to get closer, but with his long reach and power, she failed with each attempt. “Sit,”

You smiled softly, avoiding his gaze while you took a seat on the other side of his body, facing him just as Lilinette had before she started to argue with him.

“Fine!” Lilinette scowled, sitting across from you with her arms crossed. “You better not change your mind, because I’m not sharing!”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” He mumbled, laying back down. He had to have been the laziest Espada ever.

Paying attention to Starrk, you failed to notice what Lilinette had picked up next. She shook it before setting it next to her ear. “What’s this?”

You glanced over, eyes growing wide. “Lilinette, wait – !”

But it was too late. She uncapped the bottle and it exploded in her face, covering her in the sticky substance. She blinked in surprise, a tic mark appearing on the back of her head. She growled, throwing the bottle across the clearing.

With a sigh, you removed your white button-up shirt and draped it over her head, using the sides to wipe her face off. “Honestly,” you whispered, ignoring her protests. You got the feeling that Starrk was watching you but you ignored it.

You felt a very familiar spiritual pressure and your body stiffened like a block of ice. It’d be bad if you were found with these two, but it’d probably end worse off for them.

Stark must have sensed it, too, because he stood up abruptly. “It’s time to leave, Lilinette.”

“But – !” she whined in complaint but Stark wouldn’t hear it.

“Let’s go.”

She pouted but stood and followed him. Before they could leave the clearing, you called out his name, making him turn and stare at you, his expression still blank. “Umm… will I get to see you both again?” you cursed yourself for almost slipping and asking solely about him. As much as you liked Lilinette, you couldn’t help yourself from wanting to spend one on one time with him.

He didn’t say anything, but he seemed thoughtful. Finally, he spoke the words you didn’t want to hear. “We will, on the battlefield as enemies.”

And then they disappeared.

You had already known that, but hearing those words from him… it made your heart ache in a way you didn’t know it could. You really hated this. How could someone make you feel so out of sync after less than an hour of knowing him? Well, you guessed by now it had been a little over an hour.

Caught up in your thoughts, you didn’t notice that the familiar reiatsu had finally reached you. At least not until he placed a hand on your shoulder to get your attention. Of course, he had to lean up on his tiptoes to reach that high.

“What are you doing way out here?” Toushirou questioned, glancing around at the surroundings. “You’re supposed to be on watch.”

“I, errr… I took a break, yeah, that’s it! I took a break!” you forced a grin, holding up a bag of gummy worms. You could tell by looking into his aqua-colored eyes that he didn’t believe you, that he could see through the mask you had forced up upon his arrival, and that he knew you were hiding something from him. But he didn’t question it or push it. He simply ordered you back to Urahara’s shop, lecturing you the whole way about abandoning your post without a word.

You couldn’t focus on his words, though. Your mind had strayed back to Starrk. You wanted to see him again, but you knew he was right. The only time you’d cross paths again would be on the battlefield, as enemies, trying to take one another’s life.

Life could be so cruel sometimes.

“Y/N!” Toushirou hollered, several tic marks appearing on his head as he glared at you.

“Y-Yes?” you swallowed, hard. He may have been small and downright adorable, but he was sca~ry when he got angry. And boy did he look angry.

“Did you hear a single word I said?” He questioned, his voice labored as he tried to keep calm. Keyword: tried.

“Ehehe… no?”

“Y/N!!”

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

It had been a while since the day you met Starrk and you knew you had been acting like a depressed nut job. You always thought it was so stupid when people acted like that, just to blame love for it. You thought it was stupid and sickening, yet here you were, acting the same way you swore you never would.

But you couldn’t help it. You tried your best to forget about him, but he plagued your mind day and night. You thought about him, you dreamed about him. It was horrible. You knew that the others were worried, but what could you do? You weren’t even fully prepared to accept being in love with him, it was just too ridiculous to believe. You were honestly so tired of it that you were tempted to ask Urahara for help. But, what could he do?

Sure, he was a freaking genius that seemed to know everything, but could he really fix matters of the heart? You were pretty damn sure there was no cure for love-sickness…

You sighed, your head flat on the cold wood surface of the desk as you stared at the window. The sky was a bright, baby blue with just a few fluffy white clouds scattered about. It was the exact same as that day and it filled you with a new sense of longing.

‘Damn bastard. The hell did I have to fall for you for?’ And he probably had no clue. You doubt he’d feel the same, anyway. You were just a mere human and how could an all-powerful hollow, Espada or otherwise, ever fall for a mere human? Even if that human was on the same length as a Shinigami. But that was besides the point. It was a matter of principle and pride!

“Y/N-chan?”

You twitched at that voice. You knew that voice. You hated that voice. Don’t get me wrong. you didn’t hate Orihime, per se, you just… strongly dislike her. But it’s nothing personal, you just really can’t stand damsels in distress, and she’s kind of… well, she always needs saving. It pissed you off. She gives all women a bad name and makes them seem weak! Still, you didn’t want to be an ass to her, knowing how Ichigo and the others cared about her. “Yes?”

“Are you okay?” She asked, softly.

You didn’t bother looking at her. ‘Where does she get off being worried about me? We’re not even friends,’ “Fine,”

“Really? Because the fact that you’ve sighed about a hundred times since you entered the room and class hasn’t even started yet says different.” Tatsuki commented.

Of course, your lie wasn’t very believable, but she didn’t have to shoot it down like that. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“Ugh, you’re so hopeless! Let’s go, Orihime!”

“But – ”

“They’ll be fine!”

You scoffed, glad that they had finally left you alone. You tried to close your eyes, hoping to get some sleep which you had been deprived of since that day, but it didn’t work. Every time you closed your eyes, you thought of him and his stupid beautiful blue eyes. ‘Asshole,’ “Damn it!” you slammed your forehead against the wood, harder than you meant to. This resulted in you springing back in your seat, clutching your forehead and muttering, “ow!” under your breath.

“Idiot. The hell was that for?” Ichigo asked as he took his seat in front of you.

“You’re right,” you muttered.

His body tensed as he froze, slowly turning around to look at you with wide, fearful eyes. “Did you just… agree with me?” He twitched, springing up and grabbing your shoulders. “You never agree with me! Is the world ending?! Are you sick?! How long do you have to live?!”

You cocked your head to the side, staring at him like he was an idiot. Which he was, but that’s beside the point. “Ichigo?”

“Yes?!”

“Are you on crack?”

“What – Ow!!”

You glanced at Rukia, who had just kicked Ichigo in the back, thus sending him flying into the wall of the classroom, and smiled. “Thank you, Rukia~”

“Sure thing,” She grinned with pride, sitting at the desk beside Ichigo’s. “But, it is a bit weird. You’ve been acting strangely for a while now,”

“Ever since they came back with Toushirou,” Ichigo commented, rubbing his back and throwing a glare at the short shinigami before retaking his seat.

“That’s Captain Hitsugaya.”

“Oh, hey Toushirou.”

A tic mark appeared on the small captain’s head at the blatant disrespect, but before he could act on that annoyance, his lieutenant stepped forward, instantly gaining the attention of every male in the classroom.

“Y/N-chan is in love~” She cooed, winking at you.

Each and every one of them turned to look at you, bearing mixed expressions. You groaned, sinking down in your seat, feeling your cheeks getting hot. “I am not!”

“You are too!”

“Matsumoto,” Toushirou scolded before taking his seat. “Don’t force people into believing they feel something they don’t.”

“But, Taichou~!” She whined with a pout. “Y/N does feel it! They’re just in denial!”

“Denial?” Yumichika ran a hand through his hair. “Such an ugly thing.”

“Like you?” you muttered under your breath, but he heard you.

A tic mark appeared and he glared at you. “How dare you! And stop laughing, Ikkaku!”

Ikkaku had fallen against the wall, his arms wrapped tight around his stomach as his obnoxious laughter filled the classroom. It was contagious, apparently, because the rest of us soon joined him, other than Toushirou – whom you’ve never seen laugh – and Yumichika – who was the reason for the laughter.

It felt nice to laugh without a care in the world, but you should have known it wouldn’t last. You felt a small reiatsu, one you knew very well. It was faint and only lasted a second, but you knew it was there. And for some reason, you felt as if it were meant for you, meant to get your attention. You jumped up from your seat, ignoring the looks and calls of your friends, rushing past the teacher as she entered the room. You ignored her yells as you ran down the hall.

He was here. Starrk was here in the world of the living. Did that mean the battle was beginning? Did he have a reason for being here? You pushed your legs harder, using Shunpo to get you there as quickly as your power would allow. By the time you reached the clearing, you were out of breath and had to hunch over to regain your normal breathing pattern.

“Did you breathe at all on the way here?”

“Lilinette!” Your eyes caught hers and she grinned, clearly amused by your current state.

“Did you miss us that much?” She questioned, folding her arms over her chest and grinning smugly.

“Yeah, I did.” Why deny it? You wouldn’t admit to missing Starrk more than her, though. Your eyes looked farther across the clearing where Starrk stood, leaning against the tree with an expression that clearly said he didn’t want to be there. Your smile faltered and you quickly looked back to Lilinette. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s an easy one! See, Starrk – ”

“Lilinette!” Starrk yelled, cutting her off.

You blinked in surprise at him, that being the first time he had raised his voice. The last time they were here, no matter what she did or how much she annoyed him, he never once raised his voice, but this time was obviously different. What did Lilinette have to say that you weren’t supposed to hear? Orders from Aizen?

She pouted at him. “Fine, geez.”

You raised your eyebrow as silence fell over you. You were beginning to regret coming here. Starrk obviously wasn’t happy about it, and you knew Ichigo and the others were probably worried about the sudden exit you had taken. Maybe if you just slowly back away, you can leave without them noticing. You managed to make it one step before Lilinette caught on, turning her glare on you.

“Oh, no! You’re not going anywhere!”

“If they want to leave, let them.”

You winced. Maybe he didn’t mean anything by it, but then… why did it hurt so bad? You decided now was as good a time as any to use your wonderful lying skills that have gotten you out of quite a bit of trouble in the past. “Sorry, Lilinette. I really shouldn’t have come here, anyway. I was watching over a friend’s little sister and kinda left on short notice. I need to get back and make sure they’re okay. It was nice seeing you again, though.”

Without giving her a chance to respond, you turned on your heal and shunpo-ed away.

“Wait!” she cried, but it was lost amongst the wind rushing in your ears and the pounding of your heart in your chest.

You felt like you couldn’t breathe. You thought that, maybe, if you went to see him you’d feel better than you had this past couple of weeks. But that didn’t seem to be the case. You think it did more harm than good. ‘Thanks again, heart, you’ve screwed me over once more!’

What were you supposed to do now? You couldn’t return to school, not like this. It’d raise even more questions that you didn’t want to answer. Couldn’t go home, since you lived with Urahara. Couldn’t go to Ichigo’s because his dad would bug the hell out of you ’til you told him what’s bothering you. There was only one place you could go; the park.

As expected, the park was nearly deserted, just a few younger kids there with their parents. You followed the path, setting yourself down on a bench in the middle of the long walkway and under the shade of a tree, where no one was around to mess with you. You slid down, your head inclined towards the sky as your arm fell over your eyes.

You realized you brought this on yourself. It was stupid of you to believe that he would have wanted to see you. You were just a human, just trash, as Ulquiorra liked to say. Definitely not worth the time of a Hollow. And besides, you found it hard to believe that a Hollow could love, anyway. But… they felt other emotions, right? Well, except Ulquiorra. You found it hard to believe that he felt anything. The Espadas were different though.

They didn’t just take on human form, but they took on human emotion, too, even if they didn’t realize or understand it.

“Ahhh, but it doesn’t matter,” you sighed.

“What doesn’t matter?”

Your body tensed, ‘For the love of god, please tell me I imagined that’. Carefully removing your arm, you looked at the figure standing in front of you, his face as blank as it usually was. This was just not your day. Mentally slapping yourself, you re-covered your eyes with your arm and tried not to make a big deal out of it. “It’s nothing,”

“Weren’t you supposed to go babysit?” He questioned; you could feel him watching you carefully.

You almost twitched, ‘Damn lies. Do they always have to catch up to me?’ “They’re uh… running around playing, or something…”

He raised a brow. “Is there a reason for that lie?”

This time you did twitch. “You knew from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“Yes,”

“Figures,” you paused. “Where’s Lilinette?”

“Back in the forest. She sent me after you.”

‘Of course, he wouldn’t have come of his own free will, idiot.’ “Oh… right.”

Silence fell over you and you closed your eyes again, willing him to leave. You didn’t hear anything from him and assumed he had left. But, being the curious person you were, you had to check and make sure. When you removed your arm and opened your eyes, you were relieved that he wasn’t standing in front of you anymore, but when you glanced to the side, he was sitting on the bench next to you.

You jumped in surprise, nearly falling off the bench. The hell did Espada move around like cats? He glanced at you, amusement clear in his blue eyes. Still, his expression did not change. You were beginning to believe that Ulquiorra had competition.

The silence remained but you found one question, in particular, floating on your tongue. It came out before you could stop it. “I thought you said we’d see each other next on the battlefield?”

“I did,”

“You here because of Aizen again?”

“No. He doesn’t know we’re here.”

You raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit worried. Sure, he was strong, but was he strong enough to stand up to Aizen? “You sure that’s – ”

“It’s fine,” He shrugged, running a gloved hand through his hair.

“Alright then,” you muttered. “Why are you here, though?”

“If you were a cat, you’d have lost about six of your lives already, you know?” He questioned, clearly avoiding the question. Why didn’t he want you to know why he was here? It didn’t have anything to do with Aizen, right? Did he have plans of his own?

“Funny. Wanna tell me why you’re avoiding that question?”

“Seven lives,”

“Starrk,” you scowled at him, falling back against the bench. Were all Espada this difficult? Wait, you already knew the answer to that.

Starrk didn’t respond. He just closed his eyes and rested his cheek on his fist. With a sigh, you moved your gaze to the sky. Birds chirped above you as they made their way through the sky, bouncing from tree to tree as they chased each other. The wind blew your hair and rustled the bright green leaves on the trees. A few children could be heard in the distance, laughing as they played with their parents and friends. It was a beautiful day, one that should be enjoyed. The kind of day that you don’t expect anything to go wrong on. The sun was hidden behind a soft gray cloud and the day was cool. Not cold, but not hot, either. It was perfect.

But you couldn’t bring yourself to fully admire it. Your thoughts were too focused on the male sitting beside you.

Starrk stood up suddenly, startling you from your thoughts. He moved to stand directly in front of you, his eyes locked on your own. You couldn’t look away, even if you wanted to. Which you didn’t. “You still want to know why we came back?”

“Of course,”

“Because of you,”

“Me?” you blinked, pointing your index finger at yourself.

He nodded, moving his gaze to the sky above. “Since I can remember, I’ve always been alone. Because of how strong I was, no other hollow could stand to be around me. They always died because they weren’t strong enough to handle my power. I’m not sure when it happened, but because of that loneliness, my soul was split into two.”

“And Lilinette is the second half?” you guessed.

He nodded again. “I’m not even sure which of us was the original. But we were together to stop the loneliness that we felt. I still feel it, but it’s not as strong as it used to be, thanks to Lilinette. I joined Aizen because he made me believe that I could be around people without them dying. They were strong enough to be around me, but I was still lonely.” His eyes closed for a minute before reopening, this time locked with your own, his voice barely above a whisper. “You take that away, completely. I don’t feel lonely around you, and neither does Lilinette.”

You had no clue what to say. You had never been in a position like that before. Whenever Matsumoto would question you about it, you’d always reply, ‘I’ll cross that bridge when and if I come to it’, and now that you were at that bridge, you had no idea how to get across. You looked away from him, tugging at the collar of your shirt as your face started to heat up. You cursed yourself for that. ‘Like a blushing school kid, I swear,’

“You’re strong,” He stated.

You knew what he meant. You were strong enough to be around him without having to worry about his power destroying you. Did that mean he wanted to stay? “Starrk?”

“Hm?”

“Do you know what love is?”

His brow shot up in confusion. “No,”

You stood up, unable to believe what you were about to do. You got closer to him, staring into his eyes. “Then let me show you,” you grabbed the back of his head, forcing his lips down onto your own. You wanted to convey everything you felt and Matsumoto always told you that the best way to do that was through a kiss. She always said that when you kiss someone, that person can feel everything you felt, and you were hoping she was right.

Starrk relaxed, his hands gripping your waist and pulling you closer to his body. You felt it. That level of happiness that people say you can only feel when you’re in love. You could feel it so clearly and, suddenly, all that crap about love didn’t seem so stupid anymore.

You pulled back, smiling up at him. “I love you Starrk and I… I don’t ever want to be apart from you.”

His lips twitched up into a smile and his grip tightened. “You won’t have to be,”

“You’re not alone anymore.” you murmured, kissing him again. He responded instantly, his grip tightening. “Will you stay with me?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Finally! I told you they’d want you, Starrk!” The two of you pulled apart to look at the grinning blonde, who looked extremely proud of herself. “You should be thanking me! If I hadn’t pushed him into coming here, there’s no way he would of!”

You laughed, placing your hand on top of her head. “And how would you like me to repay you?”

She grinned. “I want more human food! The same as last time!”

You smiled as Starrk came up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder.

Matsumoto had been right about everything. You were happy and you knew these memories would last you a lifetime.

~Fin~

“Wait, wait, wait.” you pushed the Fin sign out of the way before returning to Starrk’s side. “I have another question.”

“Of course you do.” He grinned softly. “Eight lives.”

“What number are you?”

“You don’t know?” He blinked. You shook your head and he sighed, removing the white glove from his left hand to reveal a big, bold 1 in black. “I’m the Primera,”

“Holy shit. Never would have guessed that one.”

“See? Even Y/N thinks you don’t act very Primera-like!”

“Oi, I never said that!”

“But that’s what you meant!”

“No, it’s not!”

Starrk sighed as he watched the two of you, a smile tugging at his lips. He really wasn’t alone anymore.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

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toooldforfandom-liveblogs · 5 years ago

Text

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power S02E04 - Roll With It

Huh. Interesting title. There have been some changes in the lives of some of the main characters so maybe it's about how they are reacting to them. Catra with being effectively demoted after Entrapta managed to catch Hordrak's attention, or maybe Glimmer with everything that has happened? Although I guess Adora is the one who hasn't really dealt yet with everything that's been happening to her so it could be her way of postponing doing that.

I don’t know, so let’s do this!

I thought Glimmer was usually the leader in these missions, interesting. Is Adora's training with Light Hope taking effect?

Welp, I guess Bow is dead now.

Wait, wait, what? Why are they taking it so seriously like they'd actually let Bow die?

It has to be a dream, right? But who's? She-Ra was the leader so it'd make sense if it was her having stress nightmares.

...oh, they are playing a RPG. Okay then, nevermind all that tragic stuff.

Also, why don't figures that look like that exist?

Look at that! It's so cute! It's like a She-Ra amiibo! Or a Nendoroid maybe?

Are they actually using a tabletop rpg to plan out their missions? Because that's awesome. And weird. How would an observation check work in real life?

I mean, they can't count on having rainbow powers so there'll always be some improvisation.

I'm dying at the show's suddenly getting out the sad strings for this joke.

It's either going to be Kyle or Scorpia, right?

Also, Adora is really showing some cracks under the pressure. I understand her being serious about it but her attitude seems a bit beyond that.

there you go

Oh Scorpia, I missed you.

I mean, Scorpia is a Force Captain. How does the horde's hierarchy work anyway? Catra is also a Force Captain but in charge of... everything below Hordrak?

We should all strive to be as positive as Scorpia.

So far I've been kinda joking about Scorpia having a crush not really believing it'd go beyond some insinuation and jokes but there aren't a lot of other ways to interpret that line. Poor Scorpia, they are really setting her up to get horribly disappointed and/or hurt at some point, huh?

Anyway, what's Catra doing? Preparing for the season finale?

That slow blink is such a perfect reaction image, even though it only works in context.

This is extremely cute and now everything I want is for Scorpia to be happy.

I can't remember if the lizard guy has a name, but he looks like he regrets waking up that morning.

I just realized that the episode title is probably about Adora accepting that she can't plan everything in advance.

This is the coolest and most unexpected thing I have seen this week. Wow. It kinda feels like a direct reference to something but I'm not sure what, but it does have the feel of the 80s, especially with all that purple neon aesthetic.

And Kyle's pompadour is the absolute best and he'd gain the instant respect and love of everyone in the Horde if he managed to get that haircut.

I really missed Glimmer. She may not have the most strategic or realistic of plans but damn she's going to look awesome while executing it and isn't that the most important goal of all?

Actually, they need to change reality to make Glimmer's plan viable because now I want to watch that show.

"Fee Fi Fo Fugh so annoying"

There's absolutely no way Glimmer would have resisted using her powers long enough to make this the first time they detect them.

Wow, soldiers. Can't wait to not see them during the attack.

This episode could kill everyone by the end and I'd still walk away thinking it was awesome just because of these scenes.

Catra did capture Glimmer and then completely bamboozled them when they captured her so... it kinda makes sense that Glimmer sees her as some slick and sophisticated super villain.

Noooo, don't interrupt that line.

After seeing the awesomeness of Glimmer's imagination, I want to see what Bow's plan.

Rooting for the villains here.

"mom?"

One more thing to crush Scorpia's heart when it inevitably gets destroyed.

I hope someday the Horde will become accessible to everyone, including those with claws for hands.

"Scorpia fails to do something with her claws" is the one joke in She-Ra that feels weirdly cruel.

Mermista flexing her kingdom's budget with her custom articulated Revoltech figure vs Bow's nendoroids.

Yessssss

The biggest lore drop so far, Glimmer watched anime when she was a kid, Bow watched 80s cartoons.

OH MY GOD

Those are the original costumes, right? Poor, poor Mermista.

This is absolutely amazing.

Yup, still amazing.

Isn't that the reason why all the characters have the same body in the original show? They are really having fun with this episode.

Undertale, 2015

Adora's rage counter.

...I mean, how do you argue with that?

This episode keeps getting better and better.

Bow's nod is just * chef's kiss *

SEA-RA

Oooh, this is going to be good.

I hesitate to mention a specific site because I have no idea where kids post OCs and self-insert fics these days but, wherever it is, Frosta is 100% there.

The best part is that Mermista keeps being the only who likes Frosta's edgy OC.

Yeah, she's definitely posting that OC fanart everywhere.

oh my god this episode

Scorpia is going to take their OCs seriously, isn't she?

This is reaaally not going to help fight the Horde's "the princesses are evil and can't control their powers" propaganda.

How is it possible for the episode to keep outdoing itself.

Another example of the princesses' disregard for the lives of the innocent. That child had a family!

There's always a lower place on the totem pole.

Wow, perfectly accurate. I had no idea Perfuma understood Catra so deeply.

Catra is rocking those sunglasses.

I have nothing to write, this screenshot is perfect as-is.

Everyone writing their awesome self-insert fics while Adora writes angst and hurt/comfort.

This episode has been absolutely amazing so far but I was waiting for Adora to explode at some point. I'm glad she's finally telling them about the pressure she's feeling.

That went from hilarious to sad to heartwarming in like 60 seconds.

...the tower is going to be empty, isn't it?

Unexpectedly cute.

THANK YOU

oh my god, I'm speechless at everything that's going on

I just found out your name, Rogelio! You can't die now!

welp, rip.

It looks like no one told Scorpia how Glimmer escaped Shadow Weaver.

I can't tell if Scorpia didn't meant to kill Glimmer so she threw her where she was safe or if she did it on accident.

aw, they were waiting for her

It's the hair, main, the hair. This wouldn't have happened if he had a pompadour.

What an amazing episode to come back to, even though I ended up watching it in pieces (I watched a bit in March before the hiatus). Somehow it managed to get better every time I pressed play.

I don't really have a lot to say because the episode was mostly comedy but almost every joke landed for me. I'm just a tiny bit worried about what an episode so funny means for the season since Adora's explosion wasn't as big of a downer as it could have been. Was this the breather before it all goes to pot?

In any case, I'm glad Adora opened up at least a bit, that I got to hear Glimmer doing an "oh ho ho" laugh and that everyone got their chance to shine with their roleplaying abilities.

Until next time!

[patreon - discord]

#shera liveblog #shera #shera s02e04 #spop

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annzybwrites · 5 years ago

Text

Truth or Dare: Coming Out Edition (Chapter 1: Information Time)

Read on AO3 | Donate to my Ko-Fi if you like | Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6

A South Park Fanfiction Relationships: Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak, Kyle Broflovski/Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick/Leopold "Butters" Stotch Characters: Craig Tucker, Tweek Tweak, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Token Black, Clyde Donovan, Jimmy Valmer, Timmy Burch Additional Tags: Established Relationship, mentioning of underaged sexual acts but nothing explicit, Swearing, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Comedy Summary: Tweek does NOT want to attend the annual sleepover that his boyfriend and eight other boys have every winter, because he does NOT want to play Truth or Dare. He knows he’ll be dared to do so many embarrassing things!! But wait, wait, wait… the attention ISN’T on him? It’s on some of the other boys?? No way - there’s other gay couples in the school??

Chapter 1: Information Time

To say Tweek was nervous was an understatement. He’d chewed all of his fingernails down to the bed, pulled out three buttons on his shirt, and even ripped out some of his hair today, and still he couldn’t get rid of the shaky, quaking sensation in his stomach as he thought about tonight. Tonight, when he was attending a sleepover with nine other boys from school, including his boyfriend, Craig. It was a big sleepover they had tried to plan every year since sixth grade, sometime around Christmas. They were in eighth grade now, and Tweek had managed to get out of it for the past two years - the first year with a fake illness and last year with a real one. Don’t get him wrong, he’d love to have a sleepover with everyone, but he knew what would happen if they did.

He knew they’d play Truth or Dare.

And he knew that everyone would dare him and Craig to do embarrassing couple things! Or ask them embarrassing questions about their relationship!! And he really didn’t wanna be forced into that!!!

The only reason he was going this year was because of Clyde. He had said he didn’t care if Tweek was sick this year and that he’d just shove a face mask over his mouth and drag Tweek to Token’s house himself if he had to. Plus, Craig had looked so sad when he asked Tweek to try and be healthy enough to come, and there was no way Tweek wanted to see that look on his face again.

Currently he was finishing packing up for the night. Craig was laying on his bed with Stripe while Tweek was trying to fold his outfit for tomorrow, but shaking too much to do it right. “Ah!” he screamed in frustration and threw it on the ground.

“Tweek.” His bed creaked as Craig got off of it and walked towards him, Stripe resting on top of his hat. “I’ll fold, okay? Go grab your bathroom bag.”

“Right!!” Tweek shoved his clothes at Craig before walking stiffly to his bathroom. He didn’t want to do this! He didn’t want to sleepover!! He didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of everyone just for their amusement!!! Yet here he was, preparing for a sleepover he didn’t even want! He didn’t understand why Craig wanted to do it either! Surely he had already been asked embarrassing questions at the last two sleepovers! Why would he want to be asked more?! He groaned to himself as he opened up his bathroom mirror and grabbed his little travel bag of toiletries. He always kept a little bag filled with a travel toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and deodorant. You never know when you’ll need to leave in a hurry.

When he came back to his room, Craig had everything else folded and packed up neatly in his little duffel bag, and Stripe was back in his cage. “Got it, babe?” he asked, his own sleepover bag slung over his shoulder. His face was as neutral as ever, except for the excited little rise in his eyebrows. It made Tweek relax a little. If Craig was saying it’d be a fun night, he’d try and believe him.

“Yeah, I got it.” He hurried over and shoved it in his bag before zipping it and standing up. “Let’s go.”

“Sure you got everything?” Craig asked, holding out his finger to start counting off. “Pajamas, change of clothes, underwear, White Elephant gift -”

“I got it, Craig!” Tweek huffed, bumping their hips together. Well, bumping his hip against the top of Craig’s thigh, but it was the same thing. “Let’s just go to this stupid thing already.”

“I don’t want you leaving the sleepover to pick up something you forgot,” Craig told him simply, the left corner of his mouth dropping every so slightly into a frown.

“I didn’t forget anything!” Tweek promised, looking away. “Can we just go?!”

Tweek could feel his blood pressure rising the longer Craig just stared at him.

“Stop staring!”

“Sorry.” Craig sighed, shoving his free hand in his pocket. “It’s just… I know you didn’t want to come to the sleepover for some reason.”

“What?” Tweek snapped his head over to him, eyes wide in alarm. “Why would you think that? I was just sick the last two years -!”

“Yeah, what a coincidence.” Craig rolled his eyes. “Tweek, just tell me why you don’t wanna come, okay? I wanna know.”

Tweek bit at his lip, looking down at the floor. His first reaction was to argue that he did want to go, but what was the point? Craig would just get mad at him if he kept lying. “All right, fine!” Tweek shut his eyes as he rattled off, “I just don’t wanna be asked stupid couple questions, all right?! I don’t wanna be asked how much we kiss or if we’ve talked about sex!! Or, or be dared to kiss you, or sit in your lap, or whatever they dare couples to do during truth or dare!!”

When Tweek opened his eyes again, he was surprised to see a slight pink tinge in Craig’s cheeks, his eyes widened about two millimeters all around. “... Oh.” It was obvious he hadn’t even thought about that. “Fuck, you have a point.”

“Of course I do!” Tweek hissed. He groaned and covered his face. “God, I don’t want to do this!!”

“It’ll be okay, Tweek,” Craig promised, stepping over to place a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think the attention will be on us tonight.”

“Why wouldn’t it be on us?!” Tweek yelled, throwing his hands back to his sides. “We’re the only gay couple in the school! And Clyde is fucking obsessed with us, I swear!!”

“... Okay, we might have all of Clyde’s attention,” Craig admitted, “but I promise that’ll be it.”

“How can you be so sure!!?”

“Just trust me,” Craig spoke cryptically as he squeezed Tweek’s shoulder. “You’ll see what I mean when we get there.”

“You better be right, Craig,” Tweek mumbled, his left eye twitching.

Craig did his little frown again and kissed his forehead, dropping his bag to the floor. “Close your eyes.”

Tweek already knew what was coming and sighed. “Craig, I’m fine -”

“Please, honey?”

“Nnngh!” Tweek made a sound of complaint, but complied anyway and just closed his eyes, his left lid still twitching. He tried to keep his breathing even as he felt Craig dig his fingers into his hair, cupping the back of his head, yet he still jumped when he felt it: the slightest pressure of Craig’s thumbs against his eyelids, trying to relax his twitching with touch. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as Craig gently rubbed his thumbs from side to side, as if trying to smooth out a bed comforter. He was never quite sure how to feel about this. The touch did calm him down, Craig wouldn’t be doing this if it hadn’t proved effective before, but Tweek was still just so used to letting his twitches pass, or trying to calm them himself, that it felt strange to let someone else calm them.

After only a few moments, Tweek’s eye twitch was gone, and Craig finished his little relaxation technique with a kiss to both of his eyelids. That was Tweek’s favorite part, ever since he had read that a kiss on the eyelid meant “deep affection.” His whole face felt tingly after getting one.

“That was completely unnecessary,” Tweek mumbled, opening his eyes slowly as if he expected those lips to come in for another kiss. He felt heat on the back of his neck as he took in the small grin on Craig’s face.

“Maybe I just wanted to touch you, babe.”

Tweek knew he was blushing now as he pushed at Craig’s chest. “Ugh! Let’s just go already!! You know you can’t do stuff like that at the sleepover, right?!”

“I’ll behave,” Craig told him, chuckling as he slipped his hand in Tweek’s and picked up his bag again with the other. “Don’t stress about tonight, honey - you get three passes during Truth or Dare if you really don’t wanna do something.”

“Really?” Tweek brightened, already feeling better at the prospect of being able to skip something. “Sweet!”

“Yeah, sweet.” Craig nodded in agreement, and without another word they were walking off.

Tweek was always fascinated with how they walked together. Since Craig was almost a foot taller than him, really they shouldn’t be able to walk hand in hand so easily. But, since Craig had long, slow strides, and he had small, fast ones, he was able to take two and a half steps for every one of Craig’s, so it worked out pretty well. It always filled him with pride when Craig said that he was the only short person he knew who could keep up with him.

Pretty soon they had walked all the way to Token’s house, and Tweek’s nerves returned tenfold as Craig rang the doorbell. “Oh, god,” he muttered, causing Craig to squeeze his hand tighter.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered. “I promise.”

“You better be right,” Tweek hissed just as Clyde answered the door, smiling ear to ear.

“Well, if it isn’t the lovebirds! So nice of you to join us, Craig, Tweek.”

Tweek shivered and looked away from Clyde’s accusing gaze, stammering nervously. “Yeah! I f-felt good enough this year!”

“Fuck off,” Craig told his best friend, flipping him the bird. “Leave Tweek alone.”

Clyde whined and latched onto Craig’s arm, not caring if his middle finger was pressing hard against his face. Since he was only six inches shorter than Craig, he was able to stare into those cold blue eyes much easier. “No way! I won’t have my best friend all to myself tonight - of course I’m sad!”

Craig rolled his eyes and pulled his arm back just so he could wrap it around his shoulders and give Clyde a one-armed hug. “You were the one who threatened to drag him here.”

Clyde latched onto him immediately, making Tweek smile. It was always funny to him how Craig had an emotional best friend and boyfriend while he himself was so emotionally bland.

“Because!” Clyde was exasperated. “I knew you’d just mope if Tweek ditched us for a third year in a row!”

Tweek exchanged a glance with Craig, who was a little embarrassed. “I wouldn’t mope -”

“Clyde!” Token’s voice was heard from somewhere in the house. “Who’s at the door?”

“TWEEK AND CRAIG!” Clyde yelled back, making no move to stop hugging Craig.

Token waited a good five seconds before calling again. “Aaaaaand are you letting them in?”

“In a minute!!” Clyde pretended to huff like one of the goth kids. “God, mom!”

“Don’t take that tone of voice with me, son!”

Tweek started laughing and put a hand up to cover his face. Their insistence to assign a “family roll” to everyone in their friend group was so ridiculous, but kind of endearing. “Oh my god. Who’s the dad, again?”

“Jimmy, obviously,” Clyde replied as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. He grinned and squeezed Craig as tight as he could. “And Craig’s my older brother!”

Craig smiled softly and ruffled Clyde’s hair. “The best older brother you’ve ever had.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Do I have a role?” Tweek was curious.

“Other than being Craig’s husband?”

“Clyde.” Craig shoved his friend’s head away before pulling Tweek into the house, the latter almost tripping from the sudden movement. “Shut up. Tweek can be...” Craig had to think for a moment. When he couldn’t come up with anything he decided to flirt instead. “Tweek can be the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Tweek blushed and looked away, squeezing Craig’s hand to let him know he appreciated the sentiment.

Clyde, on the other hand, just snorted. “Yeah, so your husband.” He slammed the front door shut as if to enunciate his point.

“Do you see any rings?” Craig pointed out logically, holding out his left hand for Clyde to see.

“We’re way too young for that!!” Tweek agreed, scrunching his face up as he thought about it. God, that was way too much commitment for an eighth grader!

Clyde sighed and came up between them, wrapping his arms around both sets of their shoulders. It was a little awkward for him because of the height difference between Tweek and Craig, and because the couple’s hands were still linked together, but he made it work. “Oh, you two. Just accept the future already!”

“That’s not ominous at all,” Craig snorted, knocking his and Tweek’s hand into Clyde’s stomach so he’d back off a little. “Come on, Tweek - let’s find dear old mom and dad.”

“They’re in the Entertainment room!” Clyde exclaimed excitedly, running off ahead of them. “And I have dibs on the left recliner!”

“Literally only you care about that.”

“Whatever, I still have dibs!”

Craig exhaled sharply through his nostrils in place of a laugh, which is how he usually laughed anyway. He glanced at Tweek, squeezing his hand to get his attention. “You okay?”

Tweek nodded. He liked how thoughtful Craig was to him. He knew Tweek didn’t want to be here, so he knew that this social situation would drain him more quickly than others, so he was checking up on him. It was nice. Just another reason he was glad they were together for real now. “Yeah, I’m okay.” Craig started taking off his shoes, so Tweek followed suit. “Ask me again when Stan’s group gets here.”

Craig did his short, silent laugh again, this time accompanied with a grin. He enjoyed it when Tweek got snarky. “Come on, you like those guys.”

“I know!” Tweek was distracted, adjusting his duffel bag over his shoulder as they walked. “But they still always get into major trouble! Just last week they brought live grenades to school - who does that!? Where did they even get them from!!”

“I think Stan’s uncle.”

“Why would he give grenades to children!?”

“Because he’s an idiot?”

“... Ugh !” Tweek pouted at him. “Always logical, huh?”

“Just call me Mr. Spock.”

Tweek snorted and bumped his hip against Craig’s leg. “I’ll call you Captain Dork instead.”

“Nah, that’s you.” Craig argued, smiling just a little more.

Tweek rolled his eyes, but he was also smiling as they made it to the Entertainment Room. And by “room,” think “theater with red carpeting.” One of the walls was completely covered with a giant television, minus the small shelf it was perched over that contained literally every game console on the planet. The opposite wall was a bookshelf full of DVDs and video games. The other two walls were a rich, red color with dim lights lining up the sides; one held a popcorn machine, soda fountain, and candy display case, while the other wall had a long, white, ornate counter that you could place whatever snacks you wanted on it. In the middle was a fancy, red-leather couch, two recliners, and a few bean bag chairs.

Clyde, Token, Jimmy, and Timmy were invested in an intense game of Mario Kart at the moment, but each of them greeted them with distracted grunts when they arrived. Token was laying on his stomach on a purple bean bag, Clyde was in his favorite recliner, Jimmy perched himself on the middle of the couch, and Timmy had his chair, of course.

“Where do you usually sit?” Tweek asked Craig, wondering how this room stayed so clean. He couldn’t imagine Token’s guests being very careful about not leaving stains.

“Here.” He pulled Tweek over to the other recliner, which was just small enough to ensure their sides would be comfortably pressed against each other. “We’ll fit.”

Tweek resisted the urge to smile and fell back into it, Craig following suit soon enough. “Lift our feet up, long arms.”

“Of course.” Craig snorted and pushed the button on the side of the chair so it would slowly bring their legs up. He started making a low, little “ooo” sound affect as it did, and Tweek had to cover his mouth as he started to laugh.

“Knock it off !” He buried his face against Craig’s shoulder, still laughing a little. “God, you’re so weird.”

“But you like it.”

“Hey, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum,” Token called without looking away from the TV. “Your flirting is distracting.”

“I told you they were more mushy in the evening. Augh!” Clyde threw the controller down when his kart fell off the track and he had to be picked up by the little cloud.

“Timmy!” Timmy laughed and turned to give them a grin that made Tweek’s insides melt into his socks.

“Aw, come on, guys,” Jimmy spoke up, “leave them al-l-lone. We should be ha-appy for them.”

“I call next game,” Craig interrupted. His strategy was usually to act like all of his friends weren’t commenting on his love life when they all ganged up on him like this. Tweek smiled a little and snuggled into his side more, appreciating how level-headed Craig could be. “You know, when Clyde inevitably comes last.”

“Hey!” Clyde started to tear up as he glared at his best friend. “Why do you assume I’ll come in last!”

“Well, you are in last right now,” Token pointed out. “And it’s only the first lap.”

“You’re pr-pretty bad at this, Clyde.”

“Timmy.”

“Fuck you guys.” Clyde tossed his controller to Craig preemptively.

“Wise decision.” Craig nodded in approval before taking the controller and expertly making his way through the track.

Tweek was fascinated with the way Craig had mastered the drifting maneuver. He was up to sixth place by the second lap. “How often do you play this??”

“Not that often.”

“Craig,” Token argued, “this was like the only thing we’d play when you came over, remember?”

“Then why isn’t Clyde any better at it?”

“Because you’d always knock me off the track you jerk!” Clyde screeched, getting up from his favorite chair to go by the popcorn machine instead. “When are the pizza rolls going to be ready, mom?”

“You’re welcome to go to the kitchen and find out.”

“But that’s so faaaar!” Clyde complained as he scooped up popcorn into a bowl. “Someone come with me.”

“We’re in the middle of a game.”

“Tweek’s not playing!”

“What?” Tweek jolted when he was addressed, one of his eyes twitching at Clyde. He had been so absorbed with watching Craig race that he tuned out everything else.

“Come with me to check on the pizza rolls!”

“Oh!” Tweek started to slide out of his shared seat. “Sure, Clyde.” He was starting to feel hungry anyway. “What flavor?”

“Cheesy Taco!” Clyde grinned and wrapped his arm around Tweek’s shoulder as they walked. “The superior flavor, obviously.”

“I don’t know,” Craig argued, eyes still glued to the television. “I kinda like Macaroni and Cheese & Bacon.”

“Get outta here with your trash taste, Craig.”

“I like that flavor, too!” Tweek argued, nudging Clyde with his elbow as they walked.

Clyde grinned and nudged Tweek back. “You’re just saying that because he’s your boyfriend.”

“I am not!” Tweek huffed. “I have my own opinions!”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Clyde snickered and nudged him again.

Tweek glared and “tazed” him - or, rather, poked his side with two fingers to make him flinch away and laugh. Most people were ticklish in that spot. He quickly blocked his own sides with his hands so Clyde couldn’t retaliate.

“No fair!” Clyde pouted and tried in vain to move Tweek’s hands off of his sides. “Let me poke you back!”

“This isn’t Facebook - don’t poke me.”

“You started it!” Clyde puffed his cheeks out. He looked like a squirrel pouting with his cheeks full of nuts.

Tweek started laughing and shook his head. “You look ridiculous, man.”

“Whatever.” Clyde sighed and ran ahead since they were close to the kitchen. “What?!” Tweek heard him whine as he turned the corner. “There’s still five minuuuuutes!” He slumped his head down on the top of the stove.

“Don’t do that!!” Tweek pulled him back with a nervous crack in his voice. “You could turn it on and burn your face!!”

“Oh, geez.” Clyde paled and took a step back, staring at the oven as if it would burst into flames right then. He put his hands over his cheeks, whispering dramatically, “My pretty face doesn’t deserve that.”

Tweek sighed in relief and let go of his shirt. “So, we’ll head back now?”

“In a second.” Clyde grinned and looked both ways, making sure no one was spying on them. He leaned in, putting his hand up to shield his mouth from non-present prying eyes. “Has Craig ever told you about when he first fell in love with you?”

“... What?” Tweek could feel heat pooling in his cheeks. His eye started twitching again in confusion and nervousness at the weird turn this pizza roll adventure had taken them. “What are you talking about?!”

“He hasn’t, right?” Clyde grinned and dropped his hand. He still whispered, though. “You wanna find out?”

Tweek took a step back. Clyde’s whispering voice made his ears feel like ants were crawling around them and biting the insides. “You’re being really weird!!”

“It’s a great story. Surprising, anyway.” Clyde chuckled and crossed his arms. “When we play Truth or Dare, I was gonna make that one of his truths; ask him “when did you realize you loved Tweek?””

“Why?” Tweek swallowed, his mouth dry as he looked away. His stomach started flipping around like a gymnast. “I’m sure C-Craig would tell me if he thought it was important.”

“Not if it’s embarrassing.”

“Why would that be embarrassing?!”

“You’ll find out,” Clyde grinned, “if you ask him the same question! He can only pass so many times, you know?”

“Clyde!” Tweek frowned and started tugging at his hair lightly. He quickly let go and switched to grabbing his fingers instead; Craig had been trying to get him to stop grabbing his hair ever since he accidentally made his skull bleed that one time. “I don’t - ngh - wanna ask Craig something that will make him embarrassed! Gah! I’ll just, just ask him in private later!! Why do you even care about this?!”

“Because he’ll probably never tell you!” Clyde pouted like a squirrel again. “I think the story’s cute but he thinks it’s lame. You’d think a sap like him would love it, too!!”

“Whatever, man.” Tweek turned and started heading back to the Entertainment Room. He didn’t like what Clyde was conspiring. If Craig didn’t want to tell him when he first “fell in love” then fine! Whatever! They both knew how each other felt now so who cares when it happened? Tweek supposed he was curious, but if Craig was embarrassed about it like Clyde was saying then he didn’t want to force him. Craig never forced him to do anything he didn’t want to do, he could at least return the favor. Especially when it involved a stupid game of Truth or Dare.

Clyde raced ahead of him so he could crash into his favorite recliner, leaving Tweek to walk much slower into the room. As soon as he crawled into his own shared seat, Craig whispered, “Are you okay?”

“Ah!” Tweek jumped. He should have expected the question; he knew he was twitching thanks to Clyde’s questions and instigating tone. “I’m f-fine!”

Craig creased his eyebrows together and turned to Clyde. “Hey, take your controller back.” He tossed it over to him, whacking him on the shoulder with it.

“Ow!”

“Sorry. Just play.” He wrapped an arm around Tweek’s shoulders and pulled him closer, letting his blonde head rest on his shoulder. “What happened?”

“N-nothing…” Tweek grasped for Craig’s hand while he chewed on his lip. “Clyde was just being really weird! He’s going to ask you some “embarrassing” question during Truth or Dare and wanted me in on it.”

“What question?” Craig looked confused. “I’m never embarrassed.”

“Nnngh…” Tweek squeezed Craig’s hand over and over, treating it like a stress ball. “He wanted both of us to ask about when… when you fell in love with me.”

“...”

“Craig?”

“That little shit.” Craig looked away, but Tweek could still see the blush on his cheeks.

Tweek felt his stomach churn unpleasantly. Why was this story so embarrassing for him? It was obvious they were in love, so why did he not want to talk about when it happened so vehemently? Tweek started to feel a nervous insecurity, his brain trying to say that Craig didn’t want to answer because he wasn’t in love with Tweek. But that wouldn’t make any sense because Clyde had said he thinks the story is cute. Not falling in love isn’t cute!

“Tweek?” Craig spoke up, turning his head back to look at him with a small frown. “If you wanna know, I’ll tell you. I just really don’t want to talk about it in front of everyone.”

“I get that!” Tweek insisted, squeezing Craig’s hand tighter. “You don’t have to tell me tonight. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s not that I’d be uncomfortable,” Craig insisted, his blush more pronounced as his eyes shifted away from Tweek’s. “It’s just… that would probably be the one thing that would make me embarrassed.”

Tweek felt a painful lump in his stomach. “Why?!”

“What do you mean, why?” Craig creased his eyebrows together. “Wouldn’t you be embarrassed to tell everyone about when you fell in love with me?”

“No!” Tweek shook his head rapidly, keeping his eyes closed when he was done. “You can’t help when you fall in love with someone!”

“When did you fall in love, Tweek?” Token asked curiously, turning to look back at the two as he paused the game.

“Yeah!” Jimmy grinned. “I’ve never h-heard this story!”

“Tim my ~”

As everyone turned to stare at Tweek with their big, judging eyes, he had to admit that this was a little nerve wracking, but he wouldn’t call it embarrassing. “W-well, I guess… ngh…” He scratched at his neck, eyes cast down to the floor as he thought of how to say this. “It was about after a month of fake dating - you know, after that whole yaoi thing with the break-up and make-up?”

Clyde started snickering until Craig gave him an especially scathing look.

“We were g-going for a walk by the park,” Tweek continued, looking between Clyde and Craig nervously. Why were they looking at each other like that?! “A leaf fell in my hair and I started f-freaking out because I thought it was a bomb or a mutant bug or something, and Craig… just pulled the leaf out and talked to me calmly, telling me everything was fine, and we continued our walk like nothing happened.” Tweek smiled softly and reached for Craig’s hand, glancing at his eyes. “And it just… hit me how much I really did like him. And it meant a lot to me that, that’s he’s so accommodating to me and my anxiety, but still treats me like a person.”

It was silent among them for a moment, Craig’s entire face more pink than it was before as he stared back into Tweek’s large eyes in disbelief.

“Wow,” Token broke the silence first. “That’s… really sweet.”

“Gross,” Jimmy spoke next, “but sweet.”

“Timmy!” He stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes.

“Timmy’s right,” Clyde snorted. “You’re both so sappy you should open up a waffle house.”

“Shut up, Clyde.” Craig swallowed and looked away before he kissed Tweek in front of everyone. “I really liked that story, honey, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Tweek ducked his head down, noticing that his heart rate had increased immensely. Guess he was more nervous than he thought talking about when he fell in love.

“Craig’s turn!” Clyde chirped gleefully. “Come on, you have to tell us now!”

Craig opened his mouth to no doubt argue with his best friend, but then the doorbell rang.

“Looks like the troublemakers are here,” Token commented, getting to his feet to go answer the door.

“Now the real party can b-begin,” Jimmy joked.

Tweet groaned and curled up even more against Craig. “Oh god, I don’t want to do this.”

“Look on the bright side,” Craig whispered as he rubbed Tweek’s back. “At least fatass isn’t included anymore.”

Tweek snorted, a small grin appearing on his face. “Yeah, I guess that’s something.” About three years ago, Cartman finally got shipped off to some military school to teach him discipline. He still hung out with Stan’s group for a bit in the summer, but during the school year Butters takes his place as their fourth friend.

“Hey, dudes.” Stan was the first one to walk into the entertainment room, carrying a large box wrapped in red with a green bow on it. “Where should I put this?”

“Daaamn!” Clyde whistled, coming over to help him with it. “What the hell did you get?! This is bigger than Token’s gift!”

“Trust me, it’s not that exciting.” Stan sighed. “You can blame my dad.”

As the two of them carried their gift to the back of the room, Tweek realized that he hadn’t grabbed his own present out of his duffel bag. “Ack! We should put ours over there, too, Craig!”

“Oh, right.” They both started rummaging in their duffel bags for the gifts they had brought for the exchange. The used Christmas bags instead of wrapping paper, because neither of them were that good at wrapping presents.

Tweek looked up when he heard Clyde snort. “Wow, Kyle - nice wrapping paper.”

“Shut up.” Tweek turned to the redhead, seeing him glaring at Clyde as he held a long, rectangular box in his hand, wrapped in blue paper decorated with gold menorahs all over it. “You do this every year, God - I don’t have Christmas wrapping paper! Get over it!”

“Yeah, but it makes it so obvious to remember which present is yours which basically ruins the point of a White Elephant!” Clyde whined.

“Craig’s the only one who bags his present and you don’t complain about that!” Kyle snapped right back.

“That’s not true this year!” Clyde grinned, bounding over to wrap Tweek up in a tight hug. “Tweek brought a bagged gift this year!”

“Oh.” Kyle blinked, his glare melting into surprise. “Right. I… forgot you were coming.”

“Y-yeah, well,” Tweek smiled weakly and waved, his eyes travelling to the room entrance as two familiar blondes walked in. “I’m here.”

“Coffee bean!” Kenny greeted, voice muffled as always, but now by a brown bandana rather than his parka. “You made it!”

“It’s great to see you, Tweek!” Butters chirped, smiling adorably as always. It was no wonder he won the ‘cutest blonde’ award in sixth grade, even if Craig insisted that should have gone to Tweek. “You’re gonna have a great time, I promise!”

“I hope so!” Tweek’s voice cracked, so he quickly rushed to carry his bagged gift off to the back of the room with the others, Craig following close behind.

“You should pick my gift,” Kenny said, holding up a white box that had Christmas-type symbols crudely drawn all around it in red marker. “I think you’ll like it.” He winked, which cemented in Tweek’s mind to not pick that gift.

“You’d like mine, too!” Butters held up another white box with red, Christmas symbols all around it, though his drawings were more bubbly and cute compared to Kenny’s shaky, blocky style.

“Aw, they’re matching again,” Clyde cooed, clasping his hands together. “When’s the wedding?”

The question made Tweek jump a little, but Kenny seemed unbothered as he countered: “You still haven’t proposed, Cookie,” before brushing past him to drop his gift off with the others.

Butters following behind him with a roll of his eyes. “Come on, Clyde - Kenny and I are just good friends!”

Clyde blew a raspberry and waved his hand down in disbelief. “Yeah, okay.”

“Timmy.” He seemed to agree as he copied Clyde’s hand motion and rolled his eyes.

Idle chatter continued, but Tweek tuned most of it out and stared at Craig with wide eyes. It didn’t take long for Craig to pull him a little away from everyone and ask, “What’s on your mind, honey?”

“Kenny and Butters??” Tweek hissed, glancing over at the two who did seem to be standing a little closer to each other than usual. “Are th-they -?”

“Clyde highly suspects,” Craig interrupted with a simple shrug. “But, then again, he basically ships everyone in this school with somebody, so that’s not that surprising.”

“Didn’t Butters just break up with that girl from France?!”

“That was three months ago, babe.”

“Already!?” Tweek deflated a little, looking down at the ground. Where did the time go? It definitely hadn’t felt like three months since the time Butters cried through an entire school week.

“Yeah.” Craig reached over to rub Tweek’s hair, trying to soothe him. “It’s okay. Time moves weird here, I swear. But he’s super over her now, which is just fueling Clyde’s belief that he and Kenny are secretly dating.”

“No way…” Tweek felt hope rising in his chest. “So there might be another gay couple in the eighth grade?” That would take so much pressure off of them! God, it was always annoying and creepy to have adults take random pictures of them whenever they were on dates!! But if there was another gay couple in middle school, it would be more normalized and maybe they could just live their fucking lives! And, more immediately, maybe they wouldn’t be asked so many embarrassing questions during Truth or Dare if the attention was off of them! This was amazing!

Craig thought for a moment, shrugging and staring into his eyes as he admitted, “There might be two gay couples, babe. They’re just in the closet.”

“Are you SERIOUS??” Tweek yelled once more in shock and joy - though mostly shock.

This time Clyde bounded over to check on them, placing each of his hands on one of their shoulders. “Heeeyyy, what’s the happy couple doing over here?” he glanced between them in concern.

“Nothing!” Tweek smiled at Clyde to show everything was fine. “I’m just excited to be here!!”

Clyde blinked at him owlishly, and Token even walked over in surprise. “You’re excited now?” the rich kid asked.

“We thought you hh-hated being here,” Jimmy added, moving back towards the couch to sit down.

“Yeah, dude,” Stan nodded, hands in his pockets. “Why else would you have ditched us the last two years?”

“I was sick!!” Tweek squeaked, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, because we all believe that.” Kenny chuckled, his bandana hanging loosely around his neck as he stuffed his mouth with pizza pockets. Oh, they must have finished cooking while Tweek and Craig were talking.

“Don’t eat them all!” Clyde ran over to grab five from the plate Kenny was holding.

“Clyde, relax,” Token told him. “We have more cooking as we speak.”

“Yeah, dude.” Kenny held his plate over his head. “This is the most food I’m going to have all month.”

Tweek noticed Butters’ smile drop into a sad frown at that, but he just turned away and didn’t say anything. Why would he looked like that unless they really were closer than just friends? Wait, what was he saying - it was normal to care about your friends a lot, that didn’t automatically mean anything! Ugh, great, Tweek was going to be hyper aware of both of them and overanalyzing all of their interactions all night, wasn’t he? He sighed and tugged Craig back over to the reclining chair, starting to feel drained already. This was going to be a long sleepover.

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

(Please consider donating to my Ko-Fi if you enjoyed!)

#south park #sp creek #sp bunny #sp style #sp fanfiction #south park fanfiction #ToD:COE #annzy writes

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youremeimyou · 5 years ago

Text

The Lesser Gods of Bangtanis(pt.1)

Introduction - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

pairings: Kim Taehyung x reader, Jeon Jungkook x reader, OT7(this fic is about all of the boys’ characters, not just ‘Y/Nxsomeone’ focused) genre: angst, fluff, comedy, adventure.. - fantasy au, medieval au, magic au, royal au word count: 4k warnings: brief violance?(just some combat and sword fighting stuff)

Description: Princess Y/N, who holds the fate of her people on her shoulders arrives at the kingdom of Bangtanis, that is the home of our mighty heroes. What will the destiny of our heroes be, when she brings along a threat called dark magic and a little bit of love with her?

A/N: (To understand the characters and where the story stands, it’s best to read “introduction” before this one.) I can’t believe how much I enjoyed writing this.. This will be a series about all of our boys in an adventure with Y/N. I hope you’ll like it. I’m actually very nervous about this cuz it’s different than what I’ve written before. Any feedback is appreciated and encouraged, please let me know what you think. Enjoy!

It was nearly evening and the sun was threatening to dissappear under the hills but another boring lesson of Dynasties History was still going on in the study hall. And Taehyung was imprisoned alongside these stuck up dukes and duchesses. He couldn't wait to get out of there. The worst part was he could never understand why these young people pretended to be interested in kingdom afairs while they could just live their lives to the fullest.

As he stared outside the window he spotted his best friend and companion, the court jester Park Jimin, taking a stroll towards the city with two beautiful women on either sides of him. Oh, he had to be there. Or else he'd lose the bet the jester and himself had made to win over two hearts at once. He quickly got out of his seat and made lots of rattling sounds while doing so. As a result, all eyes in the room turned to him, questioning stares came from everyone including the elderly teacher. Taehyung was confident, he had a way with people to help himself get out of trouble.

"Lord Taehyung, I'm sure you have a good reason to disturb the study like this?" questioned the teacher with a non-approving look on his face. Taehyung spoke back with an equally smug comment as he walked towards the exit.

"My, of course I do, Instructor Seong. But I couldn't possibly say what it is."

The old man was baffled like everyone else in the room. Enjoying the attention, Taehyung continued.

"You see, I'm not supposed to talk about matters of the kingdom anywhere I like. Therefore I have to get to the throne room immediately to complete an important task."

Now every other young royal with a rank in there looked at him with envy. Everyone knew he was the favorite of the king. He was the only one among young royals that was informed about government business. So, everyone wanted to either be him or be with him. But his careless attitude made these other nobles despise him. And he loved it.

The teacher couldn't say much to stop him and the poor old man knew it. So, instead of trying to discipline him like he would with other students he settled for a sigh.

"I suppose we shouldn't expect your quick return to the lesson, my lord?"

"Well, as much as I love learning this subject I'm afraid duty comes first, instructor. At least my friends here are lucky to be staying." Taehyung said, barely able to keep his laughter in and walked out shorty after.

All was going well until he turned around the corner and came across the one person he couldn't fool, King Namjoon.

"Taehyung? Good, come join us."

"My lord, I actually-"

"Aren't you supposed to be in the study hall? It has only been a moment since I sent men to come get you."

Taehyung was surprised to hear that. He only said those things back there as an excuse to go out to the city. He didn't know the king actually needed him.

"What's the matter my lord? You seem concerned."

"You'll see once we get to the throne room."

When they entered the great hall that was the throne room, Taehyung spotted the royal advisors Kim Seokjin, Jung Hoseok and Min Yoongi, already discussing what seemed to be an important issue. The commanders and high-ranking knights of the army were also gathered there.

King Namjoon went next to his advisors to hear their reports and Taehyung listened from the other side of the table as they informed the king about the coming of a princess. Min Yoongi leaned in towards the king after that and spoke in a low voice.

"Why have you brought the kid again?" he asked while looking at Taehyung.

"I wasn't kidding when I told you I'm preparing him for the throne, my friend." the king replied as silently.

Taehyung couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Everyone seemed to be worried.

"My lords, if I may interrupt. What's so concerning about a princess coming to visit?"

Yoongi shook his head in disapproval while Hoseok explained.

"It's not a visit. We've recieved word from this princess that her home was envaded by the creatures of the night. She managed to escape but her family was left behind. She seeks our help. For shelter and more importantly, for an initiative to take back her lands."

The creatures of the night were beings born from dark magic that were thought to be terminated ages ago during the Dark War. Everyone knew it as a myth. But dark magic was real. And after the war the use of magic altogether wasn't common as it used to be. Some kingdoms forbid it and some, like Bangtanis controlled the practise of it to not let dark magic rise. Only a few experts in the palace were allowed to conduct magic in Bangtanis. And every one of them answered to the head sorceror, Jung Hoseok.

"Who is the poor princess?" asked Taehyung, understanding that the issue was a most troubling one.

"Y/N is her name." The answer came from Kim Seokjin. "I remember her from when she was little. She was here once with her father, a mighty king who came to sign a treaty with the former Lord of Bangtanis. This news upset me for I had become very fond of that king and his family back then."

Princess Y/N.. Taehyung thought he remembered her too, from when they were kids.

King Namjoon spoke up after moments of thinking.

"Dark magic is too dangerous of a threath to expose our kingdom to."

Min Yoongi added, "I agree my lord. It'd be unwise to get involved. I'm afraid there isn't much we can do to help."

"But the princess and her company cannot make it to another kingdom without getting caught. Even if they did, no one else would accept them. We'd be condemning them to death." Jung Hoseok objected.

The king looked troubled. Kim Namjoon was a man of honour, the best ruler Bangtanis ever had. Turning his back to people in need wasn't something he was keen to do. But the risk on the other hand was very big.

"When will they arrive?" the king asked.

"The letter said they'd be here most probably at first light, tomorrow. It also said they ran out of food and supplies."

Taehyung hated politics mainly for this reason. A few men in a room were arguing on what to do when actual lives were in danger.

"My king, may I have a word in private?" he decided to try and get the king to help these people. The king and Taehyung moved away from the table and started talking with low voices.

"My lord, we have to help them-"

"Taehyung, you're a young prince. You may not understand the consequences of such an attempt against this curse of dark magic."

"Hyung.." Taehyung exhaled desperately. "You're a young king, aren't you? But you've achived so much because of your good heart. What does your heart tell you?" he appealed to the kind side of the king, trusting on their brotherly bond that Namjoon wouldn't consider his words disrespectful.

"What do you suggest?"

"I wouldn't know much of what to do regarding fighting dark magic. But can't we at least grant them shelter for the time being?"

King Namjoon walked back to his advisors and announced his decision.

"We will accept them when they arrive, attend to their needs and help them recover from what they've been through. We're not deciding on anything else until we talk with the princess about the details. And that's final."

So began the preparations for the arrival of the princess. A troop of knights was formed and given the task of meeting Princess Y/N on the borders and guiding her company safely into the kingdom.

After the meeting, Taehyung decided to go down to the city to clear his mind of troubles, as he always did. Big responsibilities were his greatest fear, so he felt he quickly needed to get rid of them by doing reckless things. Besides, the princess wouldn't be arriving until tomorrow, he had plenty of time before being given more tasks.

Right when he entered his favorite tavern, he spotted Park Jimin, surrounded by even more than two women this time. Though, all over the jester would be a better term to say about the ladies. He made his way to them and interrupted without a care.

"Isn't it too early for this kind of entertainment?"

The jester rejoiced as he heard the voice of his best friend. From where he was sitting, he reached an arm to grab the prince by his shirt and pulled him closer without disturbing his lady friends.

"Glad you could join us. I think it's safe to say that I won the bet, dear mate."

Prince Taehyung cleared his throat with a deep grunting sound which captured the women's notice and made them realize who he was. Three of the five quickly went to him giving him all their attention. It made Taehyung smirk at Jimin. The jester sighed in defeat, kindly sending the women away.

"You're right, too early for that."

The two rascals spent the evening playing games and gambling. Only when it was deep into the night that they decided to get out of there and slowly head back to the castle.

As they were passing through the now closed mart, they heard sounds coming from the other side of the road. Too dark to decipher who, Taehyung saw two figures, one big and one small. The bigger seemed to be approching the smaller in a hurry. As the boys got closer to them they could see it was a man about to attack a woman.

Rushing towards them they stopped in shock when she grabbed her attacker by the wrist, twisted him around and landed a strong kick on his back. When the attacker tried to get back up from the ground where he was knocked down to, the girl took out a sword from inside her cloak and pointed it theatheningly on his neck.

When she heard the two boys arriving, she quickly used the back of her weapon to knock out the attacker and aimed it towards the boys after that.

"Woah, woah relax. We won't harm you." Taehyung said.

"You couldn't even if you tried."

The boys gave each other a quick look with cocked eyebrows. That was one wicked young woman.

"Who are you? I hope you're not drunk fools like this one right here. Otherwise your fate will be the same as him."

"We should be asking you the same thing." Taehyung said back.

Sensing her discomfort growing, Jimin spoke up to let her know they were friendly.

"I'm the court jester and he's a prince of the Kim Dynasty that rule here. What about you?"

"I'm a simple villager."

"Who owns a quality sword?" Taehyung spat back. Jimin tried reasoning again.

"Well you see, my friend and I sort of know every women of this village but we don't know you, so.."

The girl let out a huff in response to their arrogant faces after that comment.

"I'm not from this kingdom, I just arrived here." She slowly lowered her sword, seeing that they looked harmless and were unarmed but still held a tight grip on it, just in case. And since they've moved closer, Taehyung had a chance to get a better look on her face.

"Well then, since you're a traveller from another kingdom, what's your business here?" Taehyung asked.

"My business is not your concern."

"Oh but I think it is, princess."

Both the jester and the girl looked surprised.

"I don't like pet names-"

"It's your title, Y/N. I never forget a face. And you still have the scar on the corner of your eye."

Taehyung was now standing right in front of the very much confused princess whose cover was blown unexpectedly early.

"How do you know that?" was all she could manage to ask.

"I'm Kim Taehyung."

Taehyung? Who- wait. Prince Kim Taehyung? That prince? Oh no.. the princess thought while the memory flooded back to her. The boy who gave her that scar, playing sword fighting with sticks as kids.

"And what does that supposed to mean to me?" She played it off like she didn't know.

Taehyung slightly tilted his head in dissappointment as Jimin spoke.

"You two have a history?"

"She was here once before, for sometime. We were kids but still.. Kind of hurts that you don't remember, Princess Y/N."

Jimin secretly smiled at the ground, understanding she was pretending. Taehyung decided to let it go for now and try to figure out what was happening.

"Where is your company? And you were supposed to arrive in the morning."

"I will. I mean my double will."

"You have a double?"

"It's a means of safety. They're looking everywhere for me. Not just those creatures but also bounty hunters, too. Everyone expects me to travel with company. But that's my double. Try to think of it as acting, if you can. I made her memorize every line she needed to."

"I am an actor princess. The concept is familiar, thank you. But how in the world is travelling all by yourself in the dark is safer?"

"As you've witnessed, I can take care of myself. And I have a mission of my own. But you say you’re an actor? Please don't tell me you're an actor, pretending to be a prince right now."

Taehyung's mouth dropped open a little bit in response to her snarky remark. When he realised she was being sarcastic, he settled for just rolling his eyes. Jimin was enjoying this bickering between the two, even though he didn't know what exactly was happening. It was rare to see Taehyung not being able to get his way with a woman for the first time.

"What mission?"

Y/N wasn't planning on getting exposed as the princess this early. But she had to admit, getting help from people like them that knew this city and its people would be better than going at it alone.

"My father told me to find the head of the Jeon family. He said it was crucial for our salvation."

Jeon family weren't nobles but they were known to be great warriors among the people. Jimin knew of them. So he informed the confused prince.

"It must be the father of that Jungkook kid. The one who saved you from a beating once, when you cheated while playing dice, remember?"

The prince remembered but thought he was hardly a kid. Sure, he must've been a bit younger but he was more bulked up than both the prince and the jester.

"What would they have to do with this?"

"I don’t know yet but my father was very specific. Now, do you know where they live?"

“I do. We’ll take you.” Jimin offered, understanding the subject to be important. Taehyung on the other hand looked at him in surprise for knowing.

“Well, I walked Jungkook’s sister home a few times.” Jimin winked as the prince and the princess rolled their eyes.

When they arrived at the said family’s door, Taehyung made his hand into a fist and moved it to slam the door. The princess was quick enough to catch it before he could.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She whisper-shouted at the surprised prince.

“Knocking?”

“That’s not knocking. That’s punching the door. And it’s the middle of the night, we can’t startle people like that.”

Taehyung was quick to response. “Fine. I’ll let you do it the girly way, then. The lady way..” he said and looked at her closely to observe her reaction in order to figure out if she still disliked being called a lady as much as when they were kids.

“I’ll do it the nice way, Prince Rude.” Taehyung smirked for his success in making her annoyed.

“Is he always this dim-witted?” She directed the question to the jester who tried to hide his laugh but failed, enjoying this too much. And with that, Taehyung’s smirk was replaced with gritted teeth.

The princess gently knocked at the door a few times. When no one answered for a while, she knocked.. a little harder. Taehyung didn’t miss the opportunity to retort, of course.

“So much for the nice way..”

As Y/N glared at him, the door slowly opened up to reveal a young woman in her night gown. “Who are you-” she stopped when she spotted the jester at the back. “Jimin?”

Jimin could only smile awkwardly back at Jungkook’s sister who looked at him like she was ready to hit him. “Why are you here?”

“Apologies for disturbing you at this hour. I’m Kim Taehyung from the palace. We’re here on important business.” Taehyung adressed the girl in the politest way possible and the princess noted how his demeanour changed in front of a beautiful girl.

“Prince Taehyung? I’m so sorry, my lord. Of course you must be. How can I help?” The girl’s whole demeanour changed, too and all her attention was now locked on the prince. Y/N crossed her arms and started talking.

“You know little lady, it’s dangerous to answer the door to strangers at night. Especially when dressed like that.” In all fairness, her gown was a bit short. The prince looked at Y/N questioningly.

“I’m just saying. You’re lucky we’re harmless but next time, better bring a knife-”

Jimin finally cut in.

“Look, I know it’s late but this is very important. We need to speak to your father, right now.”

She granted them entrance and woke her parents up, explaining who the visitors were. Jungkook’s father immediately remembered the young princess. From the time her family visited Bangtanis, years ago.

“Princess.. It must be an urgent matter for you to come here at this hour. But I must say, I’m glad to see you all grown up. I bet your father is very proud.”

His words made Y/N a little sad for they made her remember her father’s current condition.

“My father was the one to tell me to find you. He’s being held prisoner by the creatures of the night.”

“What? The creatures of the night? But how-”

“We don’t know. All I know is that my father told me you could help us fight this dark magic. Please.. I’m desperate.”

Taehyung could see the worry on the princess’ face for her family and kingdom. This must’ve been hard for her. Even though she was obviously skilled and brave, she was still young. He thought her strength was admirable.

Just then, a young man with messy hair and messy bed clothes came out of one of the rooms at the back.

“What’s all the noise abou-” his eyes connected with the princess’.

Y/N? He thought. Was it really her? The princess he met fifteen years ago and couldn’t really forget about was sitting on the couch at his home?

His father had introduced the princess to him when they were kids.

“What’s your name, then?”

“It’s Jungkook, my lady.”

“You don’t need to call me that. Call me Y/N and I'll call you Guk.”

“But my father said you were a princess.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re both kids and we’re equal. Let’s be friends.”

That was how she stole Jungkook’s heart as a kid. Jungkook himself was surprised to remember all of that and to instantly recognize her.

His sister spoke up to break the silence that took over after his entrance.

“Sorry, that’s my older brother Jungkook. He doesn’t like to be woken up.”

“Jungkook, come here and sit down.” His father beckoned him.

“This is Princess Y/N. You two have actually met when you were children.”

He knew that. But looking at her face, Y/N didn’t seem like she remembered to him.

“She’s in dire need of our help. Her home is invaded by dark magic. I will gather some-” he coughed while looking at Taehyung before continuing. “rather skilled men tomorrow and you will do everything you can to ready them for battle.”

Jungkook looked confused. “If they’re skilled, why do you need me to ready them, father?”

“They’re not skilled like that, son. You’ll see later.” He turned to the princess once more. “I don’t know if you already have, but you should speak to King Namjoon, princess. I have a group of men that can be of help, like I said. But having the knights of Bangtanis in on your fight would also be of great help. And maybe Prince Taehyung can help you convince the king.”

Taehyung nodded.

“I’m scheduled to meet with him in the morning, which probably will come soon. So we should head out to the palace but I want to talk about the details of what you’re preparing, later.”

“Of course. I will inform my son about everything and have him come find you later to explain it in length. You see, I’ve grown old.”

Jungkook’s father laughed bitterly and Jungkook shook his head from side to side at what he said.

“But you can trust my son. Just as your father has directed you to me, I’m directing you to him.”

Jungkook and Y/N’s eyes met and she gave him a quick, tired but hopeful smile.

“Thank you all for agreeing to help.” she said.

Jungkook’s father smiled at her. “I owe your father a big debt. He has helped me and my friends in the past. Now we’ll return the favor.”

The walk from the village to the castle was a long one and morning had arrived even before Y/N, Taehyung and Jimin arrived at the gates. The princess guessed her double to be in the throne room already, as scheduled.

The princess was visibly struggling to even walk for she had been on foot for a long journey and hadn't slept for quite some time. Moreover, consently being on the edge, looking over her shoulder and waiting for someone, something to sneak in and grab her took quite the toll on her. Coming here undercover was a key factor to her mission but travelling all alone had been harder than imagined.

As they made their way to meet the king, Jimin parted ways with them. Jesters weren't supposed to be involved in such matters. He would be learning everything from Taehyung later, of course.

"This is it." The prince pointed at the door as they arrived.

"Great. I'm about to meet the king but I must look like a mess." Y/N said with a sigh. Taehyung didn't think so. For someone who had been roaming the wilderness, he thought the princess looked rather.. well, lovely.

He then pulled her to the corner away from the guards at the door and spoke to her in a low voice.

"So, how do you want to do this? You know, you're double is probably in there."

"You're right. Just introduce me as a villager bringing news of a problem on the outskirts or something."

"Good thinking. You certainly look the part." He teased and managed to get a death stare from her.

"Just let me do the talking. Otherwise they might not believe you when you claim to be the actual princess."

Guards let them pass without question. Taehyung was a prince of the ruling dynasty after all. The meeting inside seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"That's the double?"

"Yes."

Taehyung looked at the double. Then, at the princess. More like stared at the princess, really. Taking in all her features, he'd admit to maybe having been a little mesmerized.

"She looks nothing like you. You look much more.."

He stopped. Got out of the daze he was in and changed what he was about to say to something different.

"...colder."

Y/N scoffed.

"You're quite the charmer aren't you?"

He flattened his lips together to contain a smile and then grabbed her by the arm to bring her to the king as unnoticed as possible. But the people in the room slowly turned heads their way one by one. Y/N was starting to feel a bit nervous, afraid of compromising the task. And Taehyung could feel her body stiffen next to his. He spoke in a volume only she could hear.

"Don't worry. Everyone thinks your double is the princess. They're just not used to being disturbed at an event like this. Especially by dowdy looking people like yourself."

And his reassurance and sarcasm worked in getting her to relax.

The advisors of the king took action after seeing Taehyung. Kim Seokjin quickly stepped towards them while Jung Hoseok started to kindly lead the people in the room outside, stating the meeting over.

Taehyung thought Seokjin would be angry with him for not attending the meeting.

"Hyung, I know I'm late but before you start scolding me, this is-"

"Princess Y/N?" Seokjin was almost sure but he had to ask first. And Taehyung was initially shocked but thought if he remembered the princess, so could Seokjin. Seokjin was older at that time, after all.

"Yes, that's me but please keep it down. Also, how did you know?"

"I was the prince who was assigned to see after you and your father back when you visited for the treaty."

"The one who took me to see that play?"

"With me!" Taehyung cut in. "I was there, too. You do remember me, don't you?"

Y/N kept talking without acknowledging his little comment.

"How did the meeting go?"

"Your double was wonderful, don't worry. She almost had me fooled! Now, let's have you meet the king."

"I believe it'd be better if everyone else left before I reveal myself."

"Those are the king's advisors Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok. King Namjoon wouldn't decide on anything without their counsel."

"But they're very young. Normally all advisors are old men."

"Our king is young, too."

They explained the situation to the king and Y/N told them everything that had happened to her. Then she asked for their help, almost beggingly.

"Princess, first of all I'm really sorry for all you've been through. We've been trying to figure out what we can do to help. Unfortunetely, sending my men to fight a force they have no experience with is not a great option. We've settled with your double on helping your company recover from the dreadful journey for now." King Namjoon stated.

"I understand your reluctance. I know creatures of the night are quite terrifying. I've witnessed that first hand. But I cannot hide here forever. I must try to free my kingdom, with an army or by myself... We thank you for giving us shelter, no matter what your decision will be about lending us a fighting force."

Taehyung felt so helpless and he couldn't imagine how Y/N was feeling. Coming all this way and not even getting an actual answer. He hoped whatever the Jeons had planned would turn out to be good.

They assigned Taehyung to attend to the princess, to help her keep her indentity a secret as she preferred. And Taehyung would carry information between the two parties. After that, Hoseok convinced Y/N to get some rest for the time being.

"I'll take her to her chambers. Which one did you have prepared?" Taehyung asked.

"Well, her double was escorted to her assigned chambers. We should quickly have another one readied." Jung Hoseok said in a hurry. They weren't exactly prepared for two princesses.

"No. Maybe I shouldn't accomodate inside the castle. It's crucial that I don't get discovered."

Min Yoongi had an idea. "There's an empty cottage out in the village. It used to be my home. Prince Taehyung can take you there. And he will stay with you. We'll have knights securing the cottage from afar. How does that sound?"

"Perfect. Thank you for your understanding."

The duo left the throne room and started making their way to the said cottage.

"Why does a village house belong to an advisor of the king?" Y/N was curious. First the advisors turned out to be young and now she learned one of them used to live outside of the castle. Bangtanis was full of surprises.

"Min Yoongi isn't royal born. He was an orphan who King Namjoon befriended as a kid. He made sure the cottage would stay there even after moving in the castle. By the way, I don't suppose the beds will be comfortable so thanks for that, princess."

"You're welcome to leave me after we get there. In fact, I encourage you to." Y/N spat back.

"You already said you think it's perfect. Admit it, you can't wait to catch me alone."

"Keep dreaming, Prince Smug."

Neither of them knew just how much their destinies were intertwined. Taehyung somehow had a feeling, though. A feeling that made him want to stick close by.

...

A/N: to be continued haha..

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koganphrancis · 5 years ago

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Shameless really had to scour the history books to come up with the reason I guess they’ve landed on for Ian’s marriage issues.

It would’ve made a lot more sense if they had brought them up in S6, but, no, Mickey was gone by then and Ian was about to experience actual love for the first time in his life-or so the show wanted us to believe. And that’s why I have to call bullshit on Ian seemingly suddenly not thinking he’s deserving of love. Once he got on his meds, he strode bravely into relationships with Faileb and Trash without batting an eye. (And yes, one could argue those were “bad” relationships a person who knows they are worthy of love would’ve avoided-but that was never the show’s point of view. They literally thought each of those partners were huge upgrades from Mickey, and that they would provide Ian with healthy relationships, something other than “war and sex”, which is what they tried to reduce Mickey to.) Think back to when Ian pursued Trash FOR MONTHS-he never once said, “Maybe Trash doesn’t want me because I’m unlovable.”

And that they randomly brought up Ian’s medical condition after all this time as a big part of the “reason” didn’t set well at all. Myles’ AV Club review sums it up beautifully: “I don’t want to dwell too much on this, but I have long argued that the show has fundamentally mishandled Ian’s disorder by refusing to acknowledge how it would impact his day-to-day life. When I asked showrunner Nancy Pimental about this back in 2016, the answer was basically that they didn’t think people wanted to see Ian “popping medications all the time,” but I’d argue that it makes any stories they do want to tell about his bipolar disorder weaker. If they just put in a small amount of legwork discussing his disorder—a mention of a doctor’s appointment, a scene of him picking up a prescription—it would make it less like the show is just circling back to his disorder when it’s convenient for the story. The idea that Ian had to search so deeply to realize that it was his bipolar disorder that was creating his reluctance to marry Mickey (or anyone) implies that even he doesn’t have it at the front of his mind, and while perhaps that’s a defense mechanism the show has set the issue aside too long for that to be articulated. I’m happy the show is finally bringing it back to the surface, and Ian and Mickey’s eventual reconciliation will be better for it, but it doesn’t change the mistakes made along the way.”

Could Ian’s bipolar disorder be part-or even the cause-of his issues about marriage? Absolutely. Has the show done anything before tonight, other than the Season 5 finale, to indicate this? Absolutely not.

Plus, within the episode itself, Ian acts as if Mickey’s the one who has a problem, not him. He tells the assembled family members that Mickey “will work it out of his system” (with Byron) and then be ready to talk things out, so...

Anyway, to go back to the beginning of the episode-if online friends and others hadn’t pointed out that Ian was thinking of Mickey here

it never would’ve occurred to me that he was. I’ve never seen Mickey in that bed-and I haven’t seen Mickey and Ian in bed together in YEARS. Prison bunks don’t count-and even if they did-Mickey bucked him out of there so fast in their first episode this season it couldn’t have counted anyway.

And that brings me to something that also bothers me about the entire way they’re handling this marriage problem of Ian’s-we haven’t seen Mickey and Ian interact in any meaningful way since they got out of prison. The writers have been hellbent on throwing even more obstacles in their path at every turn-which, I get, yes, that’s a big part of storytelling. But these guys have all the traps with none of the downtime to relax and recover together-and to let the audience see what’s going on while catching their breath. They cut the scenes where it was just two of them in the same room, talking about what we’ll never know because they were CUT.

These two have had enough angst-if the show really wanted us to believe the logical destination for them was down the wedding aisle, why not give us a season of them growing together instead of tearing them apart again? They were in prison living right on top of each other-couldn’t the comedy have come from them getting out and sticking just as close, even when they didn’t have to? Couldn’t we have had scenes of them sitting together on the couch, Mickey drowsing while Ian’s watching some dumb reality dating show Mickey has no interest in, but he’s there because Ian’s there and they both like feeling the warmth their bodies generate merely by being close? Couldn’t we have them talking in bed, long into the night-Ian asking Mickey to remind him to get a renewal for his prescription; Mickey having an “oh crap” moment when he’s telling Ian how he spilled his Orange Julius on his (cute) khaki shorts and remembers at 2 in the morning that the other pair is in the laundry and Ian tells him it’s fine, he washed them with his own clothes and even ironed them and they’re hanging in the closet? Have Ian find a You Tube video about making a recipe that tastes “just like” Kentucky Fried Chicken at home to save money, so Mickey’s hanging out in the kitchen while Ian’s attempting to make it with disastrous results and they wind up with Mickey calmly putting the big lid from the spaghetti pot over the grease fire Ian starts in the frying pan and telling Ian he’ll spring for the twenty bucks to get a bucket of extra crispy for their supper? Couldn’t we have just had that interspersed with actually discussions about what they’re feeling or going through? The show, via up till now unknown Sandy, tried to convince us it was giving us domestic Gallavich-why didn’t they just write it?

Anyway, I did like the fact that Ian had to wake up, put some clothes on, put his boot on, get himself down the stairs and Mickey was STILL pretending to kiss Byron behind his big honeydew melon helmet after all that implied time passed for Ian to do all that shit with his injury ;) Mickey is nothing if not fully committed to making sure Ian knows what he’s missing out on.

Mickey packing up his shit and telling Ian “when you know, you know” was to me equal parts funny and frustrating because it was like he was telling Ian A: Mickey knows how he feels about Ian and B: Ian should know how he feels about Mickey by now-but he clearly doesn’t. I thought having Mickey say Byron might be a Koch was a weird choice-I don’t think either Mickey or Ian (and most of the show’s target audience) would know that would mean his family-it it’s THOSE Kochs-are rich af, and if the show wanted to argue Mickey thought it meant his heir to the Coca-Cola fortune or that they somehow hold a patent on cocaine they can drop fucking dead. And the stretch to try to make the joke about Byron studying something from Britain vs “English” was painful.

And flashing back to S6 yet again, the show had Ian belittle Mickey twice-first by saying his emotional IQ is lower than Carl’s actual IQ (and, again, by the end of the show we’re supposed to think it’s Ian who is emotionally blocked, but how are we supposed to believe it or have sympathy when he was mocking Mickey-who is actually quite open with Ian when it comes to his emotions), and then secondly by claiming that Mickey has freakishly small hands. Well, Ian, you have a freakishly large head, and it doesn’t seem to dwarf Mickey’s mitts:

The scene with Debbie didn’t enrage me for once, and I was shocked. But I was glad she told him to marry Mickey to make him happy-but again in that scene Ian was searching for a reason after the fact to justify his still even a mystery to him reluctance to marry.

The scene with Lip was the best one they’re probably going to have for quite a while, maybe ever at the rate the show is going, but again, violent flashbacks to Ian’s Faileb/Trash days when he said “Debbie told me to” (marry Mickey). Remember those lost seasons where he did anything those bozos told him to and never stood up for himself? And also, if the show wasn’t wasting so much time with scenes of Frank tied to a bed and Debbie grooming an under-aged girl, Lip and Ian could’ve talked further, maybe delved into what Lip suggests Ian figure out for himself someday. If we could actually see Ian trying to get to the root of the problem, maybe it wouldn’t feel like the white board didn’t just say something like: Mickey/Ian break up-bipolar???

Their last scene of the episode had a lot of good stuff in it, even if ultimately it just broke down in the end with the lazy writing. Ian shoving the ring at Mickey and Mickey being let down by finding out not only is Ian not trying a little too late to salvage the engagement, but he’s making some lame “promise” and claims Gallaghers don’t break their promises-how can he say that to Mickey of all people? Name one promise Ian KEPT to Mickey! Noel, as always, plays out so much emotion without saying a word, and the heartbreak is palpable. And when he says Ian is saying he doesn’t love him enough? Noel! He makes it all so real. And we’re not let off the hook yet. But Mickey calling Byron by the wrong name, Ian pointing it out, and Mickey countering with he answers to whatever the fuck I call him was a nice throwback to the days of Mickey’s refusal to use Ian’s first name AND all the nicknames he came up with from Fire Crotch to Sleepy Face and Mumbles and almost makes me believe that the writer of the week maybe bothered watching at least the Gallavich scenes videos on You Tube. Almost. I’m more ready to believe Noel improvised that line in there himself ;)

We then get the reuse/recycle scene of Ian saying how there’s so much wrong with him and how he doesn’t know himself from one day to the next (so, again, would’ve been nice if there had been evidence of him feeling that way/dealing with it before last night), when he says to Mickey “how do you know that’s who you want to spend the rest of your life with?” I thought Mickey’s answer of “Jesus Christ, Ian” was perfect. He wasn’t going to stand there and give Ian a list of the many, many times he’s proven his love for Ian or try to coddle Ian and kiss him to try to make it better. Mickey’s finally figured out it’s up to Ian to either believe in Mickey’s mighty love or not, but Mickey’s done trying to sell it. Mickey’s gotta be so tired of all this-all along he’s done what Ian wants, even back when it was putting his own safety in jeopardy (another thing that I hate about the Terry retcon-remember when he was yelling his head off in the background when Mickey told Ian he’d meet him at the store in twenty, even tho it wasn’t a good time? Ever since that day, Mickey has always done everything in his power to give Ian what Ian thought he needed or wanted from Mickey).

Anyway, maybe I’m just a bear of very little imagination, but I honestly don’t see that they’re going to write anything that wraps up all this “tension” and Ian’s inability to commit well. By the end of the episode, I was picturing that they’ll have Mickey and Ian do a non-singing version of the Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge to get Ian over his qualms about marriage. It fits in perfectly with the writers stealing from other stories, plus the whole thing is 4 minutes, which is considered a long scene for IxM these days.

The last we see of Ian, he takes a little detour to piss in the Vespa’s tank, and so now we’ve had two scenes of Paula getting at Ian’s junk, one of the Vespa with it, one scene of Mickey’s cousin grabbing Mickey’s dick, while that scene with the mayonnaise lube was the one and only time Ian and Mickey have come close to each other’s genitals/having sex all season. For all we know, they haven’t had it since-especially since Mickey had that telling line of getting bitchy when nothing’s been up his ass for a while...

(Gif credits: Ian and pillow-sickness-health-all-that-shit, Club kiss-mickeygifs)

#Shameless Season 10 #Episode 9 #The cramming continues #As does my lamenting how much time they wasted not letting them have scenes in the first half of the season #Mickey moving into Byron's modern day version of Jeannie's bottle and being a bossy bottom was fantastic-Noel not surprisingly knocked it #out of the park #But damn isn't he carrying enough of the show as it is?#Give him more scenes!

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reddeadmort · 6 years ago

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I’d love something with Arthur and John both arguing in full sibling rivalry and both Abigail and fem reader are stood by the sidelines wondering what the hell they’re gonna do with their boys 🥰

I really liked this idea, but I’m not too sure about what I’ve written? I was intending on just making it funny, but it ended up going a bit angsty near the end…. I think I was in an odd mood!

Oh brother, where art thou, you dumbass | Arthur x reader | AO3

Guidance: Mostly fluff and comedy, sibling rivalry, a little bit of angst snuck in there too. Written with fem reader in mind, but actually turned out gender neutral.

Words: 2.2k

You and Abigail were happily chatting, sat across from each other at one of the tables, when the sound of bickering voices alerted you to your two boys arriving back at camp.

“Shut up Arthur!” John’s annoyed snap made you and Abigail look up from your cups of coffee. You looked over to Arthur and John, then back at each other, rolling your eyes. What now…..

“Yeh, next time you should let the wolves eat the rest of your brain, it’ll make you a genius!”

“Will you shut up!” John yelled back as he stormed off towards his tent. Arthur was chuckling, looking very pleased with himself, as he walked over to you and Abigail. He was still chuckling when he sat down next to you, but quickly stopped when he finally looked up at your disapproving stare.

“What?!” he asked. You rolled your eyes, shaking your head.

“Do you really have to wind John up so much?” you sighed.

“It’s fun, and easy too.” He grinned; he really was pleased with his latest quip at John’s expense.

“You know he only ends up taking it out on Abigail!” You spoke to him like a naughty kid, gesturing across the table to Abigail. It felt odd speaking to him in such a tone of voice, but him and John really did act like petulant children sometimes.

“Was only a joke” he grumbled, fiddling with his thumb. You couldn’t stay mad at him, not when he was so cute.

“I know, sweetheart, I know. But maybe it would be nice if sometimes you and John could talk to each other without taking the piss?”

“S’pose.” Arthur grunted in response. You leaned over to him, lifting his chin up for a quick kiss.

“Come on sweetheart, why don’t we go sit in our tent and you can tell me how the job went.”

Arthur smiled at you and stood up. As you walked over to the tent you gave Abigail a little wave goodbye; she returned it, before standing up and heading to find John. She had some ego repair to do.

—-

Unsurprisingly, Arthur didn’t really listen to you, and John ignored Abigail’s pleas too. Every time one of them brought something back, the next day the other came in with something bigger, better. Dutch wasn’t helping matters; if John messed something up, he got a lecture, if Arthur made a mistake it was ignored, and Arthur made sure John noticed.

A couple of weeks later, you were organising items in the medical wagon when you spotted Arthur heading purposefully towards you, a cheeky grin on his face. As soon as he was close enough, he grabbed you, kissing you passionately; it was unexpected, but not unpleasant. You giggled as Arthur wrapped his arms around you, leaning you over, like the drawings in one of Mary-Beth’s romance books.

You were thoroughly enjoying yourself, until you realised that Arthur wasn’t making eye contact with you; instead, he was looking up, across the camp. You pulled away slightly, only to see John embracing Abigail in the same manner; he was also paying no attention to his significant other, instead watching you and Arthur. Son of a bitch….

You pushed Arthur away, slapping him on the chest.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing! Don’t you go dragging us into your little rivalry!” You looked over towards a slightly bemused Abigail, John standing there with a massive smile on his face.

“Marston, stop your grinning, this does not mean you won!” you yelled at him, stomping off towards your tent, leaving a slightly guilty looking Arthur scratching the back of his neck. You were over-exaggerating your anger for effect; you weren’t that mad, how could you be after that kiss. But you were already plotting your revenge and were sure Abigail would be more than happy to help you.

—-

It hadn’t taken long for you and Abigail to form a plan; if these two lovable idiots were going to try and one-up each other, they sure as hell were going to help you while they did it. That morning, you waited until John left his and Abigail’s tent before sneaking over to talk to her.

“Hey Abigail! Did it work?”

“Morning Y/N! Yes, like a charm – I’d barely told him that Arthur was going to help you hang it up before he was insisting on doing the washing. I didn’t even get the opportunity to really rub it in!” You and Abigail grinned at each other – this was going to be way too easy. You headed back to Arthur’s and your shared tent; Arthur was sat on the cot, sketching in his journal. You sat down next to him and sighed heavily.

“You alright darlin’?” Arthur asked, placing his arm gently around your shoulders.

“Oh, nothing Arthur. I’m just bored, and I’ve just got a load of washing to hang up, once John is finished with it that is.”

“John? John’s….doing the washing?” Arthur was incredulous. “Since when did Marston start helpin’ out with the chores?”

“Oh yeh, it’s so sweet, Abigail said she was tired and he just offered to do it for her. Such a gentleman.” You gave a little wistful sigh, slyly studying Arthur’s face to see his reaction.

“Hrmph.” Arthur looked up and away, chewing on the end of his pencil. Damn, Arthur would be a harder task than John.

“Anyway, sorry for moaning sweetheart, I’ll leave you be to stay here and finish your drawing.” You gave him a little kiss on the cheek before moving to stand up. Arthur didn’t let you; he gently grabbed your wrist and pulled you back down.

“No, darlin’, you stay here ‘n relax. I’ll go make sure Marston is doin’ it properly and hang it up for ya. Fool is probably making them even more dirty, don’t want you havin’ to re-wash anythin’.”

“Thank you Arthur, you are the sweetest.” Arthur leaned over and gave you a little kiss before standing up and walking off. You lay down on the bunk, feeling very pleased with yourself; as Abigail walked past, she glanced over and you gave her a little two finger wave and a grin.

—-

The next couple of days continued in much the same manner; you and Abigail had never had it so easy. You’d even managed to get the boys to do some of the other girl’s tasks by saying they were yours. You’d had to let Miss Grimshaw know what you were up to pretty quickly, but as long as stuff was getting done, she didn’t care. On the other hand, you could tell Dutch was starting to get a bit aggravated; Arthur was ignoring Strauss’s requests to chase up some debt collectors, and John wasn’t exactly focused on finding new leads. Between you, you and Abigail decided to see if you could get the boys to do one last challenge, then have a talk with them.

You weren’t too sure if you’d be able to pull this off; it was easy to get the boys to do things for you as their significant others, but getting them to help each other’s partners might be more difficult. Abigail had it easier with Arthur; he already liked to help out with Jack, and had felt a sense of responsibility for them ever since John took off for that year. But you weren’t even sure if John liked you all that much.

Arthur was your first victim. You watched as Abigail waved him over to her tent, and told him how John was supposed to be helping her write a letter, but he’d gone off into town instead. For a moment, you didn’t know if Arthur was going to take the bait; you’d overhead him say to Strauss just now that he was going to head on out and use his special skills of persuasion on a few debts. But he did, sitting next to Abigail on the bed, grabbing a piece of paper.

You actually felt a bit bad; maybe this was too far, manipulating Arthur’s instinct to protect? Unfortunately, this thought distracted you, and you didn’t notice John walking towards the tent until it was too late.

“What do you think you’re doing in my tent Morgan?” John said loudly, accusatorily, across the camp clearing.

“Here he comes, John Marston, the self-appointed hero.” Arthur stood up as he mocked John, walking towards him. “I’m just lookin’ after Abigail, seems you need help doin’ it.”

“You stick to helpin’ your own woman, Arthur!” John’s cheeks were flushed, his fists clenching at his sides.

“What’s wrong John, you worried Abigail is goin’ to finally realise she can do better than you?”

“Did you think that up all by yourself?” John sneered at Arthur. Arthur didn’t take kindly to this remark, stepping forwards so him and John were almost touching.

“Unlike you, Marston, I didn’t need to get half-eaten to be able to string a long sentence together.”

“You think you’re so tough don’t you. You don’t scare me Morgan.” John was obviously feeling especially brave today.

By this point, you had joined Abigail by her tent and you were both staring across at the boys, incredulous. This was obviously far more than just a simple need to one-up the other.

“As entertaining as it would be to see who will win between these two, we should probably do something before they kill each other” you whispered to Abigail.

“Probably” Abigail chuckled. This didn’t phase her nearly as much as it did you; she’d seen the boys go toe to toe frequently before. “Here, take this – how good at throwing are you?”

Across the camp clearing, Arthur had grabbed John by the front of the shirt.

“You sure ‘bout that?” Arthur snarled in his face. John opened his mouth to reply just as a bread roll smacked him in the side of the head. Arthur let go of him, turning slightly towards the direction the offending article came from, as a second roll hit him square in the chest, bouncing off and catching a dazed John in the face.

Arthur and John looked over to see Abigail bent over double laughing; you were also giggling, but had your hands covering your mouth, your ‘oops’ expression belaying the fact that the second roll may well have been yours.

“What’s so funny” they grumbled, almost in unison.

“Nothin’ boys” Abigail gasped, barely able to get the words out she was laughing so hard. “You two just carry on now.” As she finished her sentence, you and Abigail made eye contact; after a pause, you both started laughing again, hard, you had the proper giggles now.

Arthur and John looked at each other, at you two, and back to each other again. Arthur scratched his chin and John ran his fingers through his hair, both as equally bemused as each other, their anger dissipated. Eventually, you and Abigail pulled yourselves together, straightened up and gestured for the boys to come over.

John turned to Arthur, looking at him quizzically; Arthur shrugged and started to walk over, John following just behind.

“Come here you fools” you pulled Arthur in for a hug as Abigail did the same for John. Pulling away, you patted Arthur on the arm reassuringly.

“Did neither of you think it was a bit odd that the other one had suddenly started bein’ so helpful?” you asked the men. They looked at each other, then back at you; you could see a glimmer of realisation beginning on Arthur’s face, but John still looked utterly confused.

“Abigail and me were getting proper fed up of your two’s constant competition. So we thought we’d at least make you useful.”

Arthur sighed, covering his face in his hand; you’d played him like a fiddle. John was staring at Abigail questioningly, looking for clarification.

“John Marston, you’re a fool. A sweet fool sometimes, but still a fool.” Abigail smiled as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Now boys, there is a serious side to this. This was just a bit of fun, making you help out with chores here and there. But what happens if you act like this when you’re out on jobs or such? Being so stupid, annoying each other, taking more risks just because the other one did so. It’ll get both of you killed.”

There was a moment of silence as the boys contemplated what you’d just said.

“You’re right Y/N, as usual.” Arthur rumbled. “Marston, I’m….errrr…. sorry. You do a lot round here, and I’m glad to have ya by my side.”

“Me too Morgan. I guess sometimes I just…well I expect you to give me grief, so I end up giving it first.”

You smiled as you gently rubbed Arthur’s lower back. You suspected this truce wouldn’t last long, not in the camp anyway, but as long as they didn’t do anything stupid outside the camp, they’d be okay.

#arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan fic #arthur morgan x f reader #arthur morgan fanfic #arthur morgan fluff #john marston #abigail roberts #rdr2 #rdr2 fanfic #rdr2 fic #red dead fanfic #red dead redemption 2 #john marston fanfic

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tonya-the-chicken · 5 years ago

Text

Ok, someone (@gucciasswitch ) dared me to do whole list and who am I to resist

1. What was your first OTP?

Probably Royai. FullMetal Alchemist was my first anime I watched on TV and I immediately fell in love with relationships between Riza and Roy. I used to fantasize about them all the time. I still do love them.

Also I remember I wanted Zuko to end up with Katara

2. What is your current OTP?

Definitely EnjiRei. I think about them and their family all the time. That's just what I do when I ship - I maladaptive daydream. What I like about them is ice and fire aesthetics is how fucked up everything is but Rei still somehow can forgive him or at least try to? He somehow remember her favourite things? I want to know more about them. Like, how exactly Enji found her? What happened to Touya?

I also like BakuCamie, ShinTsuyu, ZenNezu, still Royai, Huwumi, Natsuo x his girlfriend, maybe MomoIida, Jeankasa, Sabigiuy, Levihan, Miritama, Levifar

3. Do you have any OT3/OT+ ships? What are your favorites?

Mmmmmm, probably no. Though, I once saw OchaTodoDeku and it looks wholesome

4. What is/are your favorite trope(s)?

Tropes, tropes... I like what is called "unsexy erotica" by some author on ao3. Like, when characters are processing their feelings and it's the end it's not really sexy though it still somehow amazes me. It's not really a trope though, I saw only one fanfic with that.

I love redemption arcs made well, bad people turning good and having the love no one ever gave them before (duh)

5. What is/are your least favorite trope(s)?

Definitely soulmates au, it makes me cringe somehow. Or is it not a trope? Whatever

6. Do you have a certain kind of ship you’re more attracted to?

I often ship canon ships. Also for whatever reason I enjoy different-sex couples more often. Also if I see a person with fire powers I'll connect the dots them with someone with water/ice, it's just math... Jk... Unless

7. Are most of your ships “pure” or “problematic”?

Actually, they are mostly pure. But also I ship EnjiRei and someone gonna send me anon hate for this, ehhh

8. Who is the most shippable person you can think of?

Objectively it will be the main character of any series cause they have the most interactions. For me personally it's Enji cause I love him right now and I like to explore his relationship with everyone, like, I can occasionally ship him with Hawks, All Might, Burnin', Rei and some OCs

9. Are there any fandoms you don’t have any ships for?

The ones I am not in, duh. Actually, I am not really active shipper... In one punch man I don't ship anyone? But it's not like I am really in fandom khkhkh

10. Do characters have to have canon interactions for you to ship them?

Yeah, if it's not ship with OC (obviously). There can be exceptions like hetalia cause characters are basically countries

11. What makes a great ship in your own opinion?

Logic and some shared life philosophy/goal/struggles. Or just deep feeling and will to understand one another. Dunno

12. What drives you away from a ship?

If I don't understand why, basically. Also any mentor x student relationships are very big no-no for me. I don't like this power dynamic when one person is doomed to see another as they are above them. And also incest is nah

13. Is there anything you ship but refuse to interact with the community for?

Probably EnjiRei? I am kinda scared cause I don't want people to treat me badly based on that, ya know? Actually, I am trying to be more open about it cause fuck society, I am tired of your shit

14. Has a fanbase ever made you ship or not ship something? Why?

I stopped shipping eruri cause I got very fed up with fans being nasty, I guess. Like, they always tried to prove that it is canon and I just got tried and switched to levihan?.. Also I probably started to ship huwumi because of fanbase. I just never thought of the ship. But the most important deed is that fanbase brought me Dabi is Touya theory. Thank you, strangers on youtube

15. Do you like/participate in ship wars? Why or why not?

Define "ship war"? I sometimes enjoy observing people arguing but mostly I am annoyed when someone shit on character or ship. So sometimes I guess I can write something like "bitch can you stop" but usually I try to stay out of it. I guess I am pro-shiping and anti anti most of the time

16. Are there any ships you just can’t/don’t understand? What are they?

Ereri, Dekumight, RoyEd... Do you see the pattern? I highly dislike mentor x student ships. Also incest ships are no-no even if everyone is an adult for a simple reason - I actually have brothers and this shit creeps me out

17. Are there any popular ships that you just don’t like? What are they?

Ereri. It's the only banned tag I have (edit: not anymore, I am trying to ban enji antis). Also probably RoyEd but FMA fandom is not really active or I am not really into it

18. What is your favorite unpopular ship?

EnjiRei........

19. Do you prefer fluff, angst, or smut for your ships?

It depends. I mostly don't like smut just for smut but if there's some feelings and processing of them, ya know... Angst goes well with everything though I recently found out I kinda dislike seeing violence and suffering in fanart... I actually like comedy more than pure fluff, I am kinda Mr Nighteye and believe in power of humor

20. Do you prefer bigger fanbases or smaller ones?

Bigger ones cause bigger fanbase = more content to CONSUME

21. Have you ever received hate for a ship you liked?

The most close thing to hate I received was this: https://tonya-the-chicken.tumblr.com/post/189156146100/you-ship-enjirei-and-call-urself-a-feminist

Nothing more probably...

22. Do you have any ships that you ship, but would never want to see as canon?

I think no. I am quite ok with any of my ships becoming canon

23. Have you ever had a ship become canon, but you didn’t like how it was portrayed?

Nah... Though it still can happen since many of my fandoms have actively running mangas/animes

24. What is your favorite canon ship?

Define "canon ship"? Probably Royai

25. What are your favorite ships from a dead fandom?

Sweden x Ukraine from Hetalia. I used to ship ot hard XD I had a whole blog dedicated to it! I just don't know dead fandoms, ok

26. What are your favorite shipping scenes?

Nothing in particular but when a characters does something stupid/risk his life to save/help their love interest. Like, when Zenitsu wet to spiders forest to save Nezuko... Or when Jean saved Mikasa from titan.

27. What are your views on reader x canon ships?

You do you, I guess, but my opinion is NO

28. What is your best shipping advice?

Have fun yourself and don't ruin it for others. You are free to block anyone and anything, it doesn't make you a bad person. And also try to think critically about views shared on social networks, like, not everything in true.

I'll also add here about media affecting reality: aS A fuTuRE PSyChoLoGisT I can say that YES, THEY DO AFFECT EACH OTHER. But often Internet can't get all the nuances and ends up censoring everything. In university we had an assignment where we analyzed modern media. And TV news collected around 30 media risks meaning that materials can affect (usually child's) brain in negative way. What now, are we supposed to not show violence and war? "Destroy everything that can traumatize a child" is a bad solution because of many reasons. Kids are not supposed to read 18+ content, kids are not supposed to spend time on Internet without parental control, kids are not supposed to watch a lot of stuff without an adult's presence. But they do and it's not fault of people who create 18+ / "problematic" content.

29. Do you like OCs (Original Characters)?

Yes, I do, if it's not self-insert OC, you know? I have some myself but usually not for shipping

30. What are some of your favorite shipping blogs?

What is shipping blog?.. Ok, I guess that people who post about ship or what??? Eh...

I'll recommend you to just look up blogs I follow, whatever, I'm tired

#ask game #gone wrong #get to know me #I won't tag itwith characters #maybe I'll tag EnjiRei cause if you ship it to hmu or whatever #enjirei #bye

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al-damnvers-spam · 6 years ago

Note

Hi! Would you try a prompt for AgentReign/Danvarias to the O.A.R. song Peace. I don’t know what it is about that song that always makes me think of Sam & Alex. Thanks!

I’m a sucker for AgentReign and good music, so this was amazing to write. I didn’t include the lyrics this time, but I think it still works. Little bit of angst, but it gets solved pretty darn quick. Side note: while I was listening to the song for the first time last night, I could picture Alex and Sam dancing to this song in their kitchen. Adorable.

“I’m fine, Alex.”

“Don’t lie to me. Please don’t. I know you’re not okay, and that’s alright. I can’t imagine that any of this is easy for you…” Alex started, only to be cut off by her girlfriend.

“Stop treating me like I’m broken, Alex. That’s what I’m trying to say. I’m strong enough for this, I don’t need you to treat me like you’re walking on eggshells, afraid of hurting me.”

Alex opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. She hadn’t realized Sam felt that way. She knew how it felt, and her heart sank at the thought that she’d hurt her in some say.

“Look, I… I need some air. I’m gonna go take a walk.” Sam said, shaking her head. Without another word, she headed out of the apartment, fighting tears. Of all the people to understand what she was going through, she thought Alex would be one of them. She knew that all either of them wanted was a life without the pain they’d suffered before. But considering the lives they led, she knew it wasn’t entirely possible. She headed to the park nearby their apartment, letting her thoughts settle as she wandered around. She found herself sitting on a bench, staring at some ducks in the pond nearby.

How could she have let this happen? All she wanted was for them to be happy. And it was so difficult these days, but if they could just make each other laugh and smile, maybe it would be okay. After about an hour of deep thought, Sam sighed and got up to head back to the apartment. Fighting wasn’t going to do them any good, they had to talk. She came back, however, to an empty apartment. Usually, Alex could be found lounging by the TV or attempting to make dinner in the kitchen. This, of course, sent Sam into a slight panic. Did Alex leave? Had things really gotten that bad?

“Alex? Babe? Where are you?” She called through the apartment, then her eyes landed on a note on the table.

‘Come up to the roof.’ was all it said. With a look of interest, Sam headed down the hall to the the stairs that led to the roof of the building. She couldn’t help but smile at what she saw when she got there.

There were two chairs set up and a picnic blanket underneath them. Cartons of takeout Chinese food and a few bottles of beer were situated between the chairs, and Alex was standing there, staring up at the stars above them.

“Alex?” Sam said softly, not wanting to startle her. Alex turned to her, a soft smile on her face.

“Hey. I, um… well, I wanted to apologize for earlier, and I figured we needed to talk anyways, so… I got us some food and some beer and set it up. There’s supposed to be a meteor shower tonight, too.”

“That sounds amazing, Alex.” She smiled softly and walked towards her. The two of them sat down and each took some of the food, eating in silence for a few moments.

“I really am sorry about what happened. I didn’t realize that was how you felt, but I should have. I wasn’t paying attention.” Alex said finally.

“You don’t have to apologize, Alex. You really don’t. I was out of line, too. I shouldn’t have expected you to know without telling you. After all, mind reading isn’t really an effective form of communication. Not for humans, anyways.”

Alex was quiet for a moment, contemplating her next words.

“Sam, I… I just want us to be okay. I want us to have all of that really stupid romantic comedy stuff. I want a montage of us dancing in the kitchen while we make dinner, running around with Ruby and potential future kids, surprising Ruby with a dog, cuddling during a movie night, all those things. I don’t want to fight. Not with you. More than anything, I just want to be a safe place for you. I know that’s hard for us, given everything we’ve been through, but I can’t pretend like it’s impossible. I just want… I want peace. With you.”

Sam watched her for a moment, nodding in understanding. “I want all of that, too. And I want it with you. I hate seeing you sad, I hate seeing you cry. And maybe those things are part of life, but they don’t have to be our whole lives. So how about this: We start fresh. We forget the arguing and the fighting and we try to work things out this time.”

“I think we can do that.” Alex smiled and glanced up at the sky, where some shooting stars were starting to rain down. She stood up and offered Sam her hand. “Come here.”

“What are you up to, Danvers?” Sam smiled.

“Dance with me.”

“There’s no music.”

“We don’t need it.”

With a smile, Sam took Alex’s hands and stepped closer until her head was on her girlfriend’s shoulder and they were swaying to the music in their heads.

“This is some pretty great romantic comedy material.” Sam commented, making Alex laugh. She could listen to that sound forever.

“Yeah, babe, it sure is.” Alex smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Maybe they wouldn’t have peace forever, but they had it for now. And that was enough.

#agentreign #alex danvers #sam arias #supergirl fic

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ganglylimbs · 6 years ago

Text

Endgame Review

!Spoilers for Endgame! Also, I'm going to try to put this under a read more. If it doesn't work, I apologize for the long post.

I'll be honest, I did not expect to come out of Endgame liking it as much as I did.

Don't get me wrong. I expected to like the movie. I'm a slut for action movies, in fact my favorite type of movie is action-comedy, and Marvel has always pulled that off very well.

[[More]]

But with some of the spoilers I saw (Nat and Tony's death, Steve returning to the past, some things the directors have said that I'll get to), I expected for this review to be a lot more salty.

I mean, as a fair warning, I still don't like any of the things I mentioned above. I hate that Natasha died (hate it for the fact that until this movie, they never treated her like a character. And only do so now because they need to make her death sad). I hate that Tony finally got his family and was killed for it. I said before the movie even came out that I hate the thought of Steve returning to the past permanently.

But. They weren't as horrible as I thought they were going to be. (I did cry like a baby for both Natasha and Tony though.) And the way they did Steve, well I still hate it (for me, it feels too much like him giving up, abandoning his friends) but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and does give an end to Captain America.

So. The movie was a lot of fun, I liked the action scene. I really, really loved the big action scene at the end with everyone coming together to stand against Thanos' army. But you know why I actually came away liking the movie overall?

It's because, besides the first 30 minutes where Tony yells at Steve, this movie was about them being a team. This movie was about them being friends.

You have Tony and Nebula playing table football, where I suspect Tony let's Nebula win. Nebula pushing the last of the food towards Tony. Nebula setting Tony up as he's dying. Nebula and Rocket traveling the planet as they help Nat keep Earth safe.

Rhodey checking on Nat. Nat and Steve's friendship has always been great ("I'd offer to make you dinner but you look miserable already.") Nat bringing Clint back.

Scott is a delight with everyone and treats them all as friends. That scene when they all come together and Rhodey scares him. Then Rhodey and Scott arguing against Bruce and Nebula about the rules of time travel (and Scott's "You mean Back To The Future lied to me?" is amazing).

Rocket and Bruce bringing Thor back. Bruce telling Thor that he's here because Thor was the one to bring him back. Bruce, Tony, and Nat's brainstorming session about where the stones might be. Tony and Steve reconciling and even joking around with each other. Tony and Scott complimenting Steve's ass. That trust scene between Steve and Tony.

Basically, this was all I wanted from the past three Avenger movies. Them being more than a team. Them being friends. And it was so nice, to watch them work together on screen like that.

It's just sad that MCU decided they could only do that at the end. Because imagine if we got this in another movie? Where everyone survives and they beat the bad guy? How good of a movie that would have been.

Of course, that would involve them to actually follow through with friendships and romances which MCU is fucking terrible at. Look at Bruce/Natasha, who have no conclusion. They don't speak about the ending to AoU. Ever. Just a couple glances and Bruce being upset at her death. But they don't follow through with it. At least have a discussion about the events of AoU, even if the audience doesn't like it, dammit! Follow through on your ideas so they have a satisfying ending!

Or Steve/Sharon, who is never spoken of again. Like, she just never existed. Or Wanda/Vision, a couple that doesn't really have any buildup but I would actually be ok with. Except for the fact that Wanda barely mentions Vision in Endgame.

Look at the friendships. Steve and Tony have this great friendship in any other Marvel thing ever. And yet they are never friends in MCU, no matter how many times they try to imply that they are.

Bucky and Steve barely talk in Infinity War and Endgame, which is weird considering Steve destroyed Shield, the Avengers, and betrayed Tony for the guy. And then at the end, Bucky doesn't even talk to old Steve!

With Sam and Steve, my problem stems more from what the Russo brothers supposedly said. (I'm going to spend the next few minutes bitching about the supposed things they said. I am saying "supposed" because this is all second hand stuff I have seen). So, "supposedly" the Russo brothers said that the reason Steve returned to the past was because he didn't trust anyone in the future. Which makes no fucking sense considering his last moments in the future has him talking with Sam. Sam, who is practically begging Steve to stay with him. Sam, who cries at seeing Old Steve and getting the shield.

And so this begins my problems with the Russo brothers. All the memes about them becoming JK Rowling is true. Because again, I didn't like the thought of Steve staying back in the past but I still thought it was done well. Why do you have to explain it? Why not let the fans talk and discuss and theorize? Because any explanation (especially a stupid ass explanation like that) will just let people down.

Like the thing about since Natasha is a shadow, she wouldn't want a funeral. The thing is, Tony's funeral wasn't a big public thing. It was friends gathered around to send off another friend. While not make it a Natasha and Tony funeral, then? They both sacrificed themselves for the world. They both deserve that respect.

What makes it worse is that they could have so, so easily put it in there. If they just wanted the ending to be about Tony, ok, there's another scene right after she dies that could have been perfect. The group was already gathered around. Tony asked about if she had any family. Steve says they were her family. There, right there, is a good time to have a mini funeral. Just...say a few words, remember your friend.

Have a funeral for her.

It's just...the Russos keep trying to explain things and talk about why they make certain decisions and it ends up all being bad.

Anyways. So here's a list of Good and Bad things I liked/hate about Endgame

Good

Nebula. Just Nebula in general. She has quickly become my favorite character. But I thought it was especially great that it was Nebula who pulls Gamora from the dark side this time. And it's a cinematic masterpiece that future Nebula kills past Nebula for Gamora, symbolizing Nebula letting go of the past.

The fact that Nebula and Thor are now official Guardians is amazing and I can't wait to see them in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Also, more Peter and Thor interactions!

Gamora not being revived but being brought back from the past. I just think there is a lot of angst potential there, the Guardians having to deal with a just turned from evil Gamora. Also, we hopefully get to see the actual progression of Gamora's and Quill's relationship this time.

The best joke was hands down the America's ass bit. Every single thing about it, from Tony starting it till Steve commenting on his own ass, was amazing.

Steve vs Steve fight and Steve being exasperated by his own catch phrase. I loved it.

The Time Heist. Man, as someone who usually doesn't like time travel stories, the whole Time Heist plot was great. It kind of made me want to see what would have happened if the entire past! team saw Future! team and tried to stop them from taking the space stone, though.

Again, everyone bantering with each other! Being friends! Fuck yeah, for friendship!

Thor's talk with his mother. I know there are some problems with fat! Thor, but I thought that the fact that he got so excited about being still worthy was great.

Bad

Huce. Or whatever the Bruce/Hulk combination is called. Not that I hate that they combined, but that they didn't explain it. When the Russos' talked about the problems Hulk and Bruce had in Infinity War and why Hulk wouldn't come out, that Hulk was upset with Bruce because he felt like he was being used, I was excited to see how that would play out in Endgame. I wanted Bruce to talk about it! Or go on a journey to figure himself out. Except they didn't do that. They just breezed over it. They didn't explore that at all. How disappointing.

I have a few minor problems with the characterization of Tony in the beginning. Mainly that throughout the MCU, one of the few constant things they had was that Tony couldn't stop fighting. He couldn't stop being Iron Man, he couldn't stop thinking of the future and how to save it. So you're telling me, suddenly he doesn't want to fight anymore? I mean, it's not even that he turned the team down at first when they asked for his help figuring out time travel, because I can buy him being scared. It's that he doesn't change his mind till he sees the picture of Peter (I get that the whole thing they were going for is that everyone has a personal stake in this, but again, this is Tony, who has been trying to protect Earth long before Peter came around). And it's especially the fact that even figuring out time travel, he offers to hide it. To forget it and live in a post-snap world. What makes it more startlingly is you have those two bits of crap characterization contrasted with him still creating suits, for both Pepper and him. Again, this is a man they have made clear can't stop being Iron Man, can't stop trying to protect people, and suddenly he wouldn't immediately try to change back time to get everyone back? It just bugs me a bit.

Which leads me to an overall universe problem I have. I'm sorry, but I don't like Pepper/Tony in MCU and Endgame kind of brought that to the forefront. Because I suspect that they had Tony offer to throw away the chance to get everyone back specifically so they could have Pepper tell him to be a superhero. I get that it's supposed to be Pepper finally giving him permission to be who he is, but that's my problem. I just don't think it's a good relationship when one partner wants the other to change so drastically or change such a fundamental part of themselves. Tony Stark is Iron Man. That, again, is something they hammered into everyone. No matter how much it cost him, no matter how much it put his life in danger, no matter how much Pepper begged him not to, Tony could not stop being Iron Man. So yeah, I just didn't like their relationship that much.

Tony dying. Specifically, the fact that the one character that is constantly plagued with PTSD is only allowed to rest when he dies. And that he gets the family he so wanted, he gets the friends he so wanted, and he never gets to enjoy this. This wouldn't be such a problem if it also wasn't for the fact that the Russo brothers have also supposedly said that Bucky couldn't be a superhero because of his past and because of his mental problems. So yeah. If that part is true, then I don't really trust their stance on mental health and I can totally see them thinking that dying is a fitting ending for someone with PTSD.

Overall, I would absolutely watch Endgame again, if just to get those friendship feelings again. It's sad that this is an end to an era, that we will probably never see the original 6 again, but I do hope that when Marvel needs to milk that cash cow again and re-do the Avengers, they actually have them be a family this time.

#endgame #endgame spoilers #avengers #just some thoughts #i like the movie #it is what it is #there's just so much they could have done #but didn't #hopefully the read more works #mighty heroes

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