#anyways I have been saved from one or more awkward work situations and also I get to go to a farmers market and also buy furniture

[allalrightagain]

I'm a bad IT professional and have continued to use google as a search engine mostly out of prejudice for what duckduckgo was when it first started. However, I am not too proud to admit when I'm wrong, and duckduckgo has just done in one search what google has been convincing me for three and a half days was impossible.

brb changing my default search engine everywhere.

[jadeyarts]

Separate from that other anon I for one would personally love to hear your Peri and Harbinger/Foxglove headcanons

OMG YAYYYYY. I HAVE QUITE A FEW ♥ (for my own convenience i'm referring to them by their og series names for reasons)

the events of timmy's secret wish are what first planted the seeds of genuine, fully positive feelings and fondness for poof in foop's mind and heart... maybe even a puppy love crush. he seriously thought "well, dying in poof's arms wouldn't be so bad" and hoped that wouldn't awaken something in him. it did.

in a lot of episodes they often have differently colored eyes - foop has a darker shade of purple. i think poof's noticed, and i think he even likes the look of those darker eyes.

given how foop would cry out for poof to protect or save him, i think that poof grows to be incredibly protective of foop… poof will square up for his square!!!

hes the one telling cashiers that foop asked for no pickles, imho ♥

at some point poof stopped intervening in foop's nefarious schemes so i've kind of interpreted poof as just... not caring anymore. he can't stay mad at foop for long, and he finds himself not even bothered by whatever damages he ends up causing anyways. i think he might even find his antics amusing.

after the events of certifiable super sitter, foop actually feels comfortable with admitting that poof is his best friend-

it'd take a few more years to admit it to poof's face, though, it's too embarrassing for him! he'll gush to chloe constantly, though - she knows he's in love with poof before either of them does.

foop's first boyfriend was actually their mutual friend sammy sweetsparkle in high school, while poof had kind of an on-and-off puppy love situationship with goldie... until he kind of flipped out on her about constantly getting foop's name wrong in the middle of a jealousy induced break-down. foop was actually thrilled to hear that poof let his dark side show over wanting to be with him.

sammy and foop ironically broke up on good terms because sammy's best attempt at understanding the fairy/antifairy situation is that they must be soulmates and he didn't want to stand in the way of true love. he's their second biggest supporter.

technically poof confessed first but his confession was literally just screaming IF I DONT SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH YOU I AM LITERALLY GOING TO BLOW SOMETHING UP!!!! at foop, which was a love confession that would only appeal to foop.

chloe TRIED to plan the "perfect" first date for them but it was horribly awkward and not to their tastes. so instead their first REAL date was poof taking foop to a kelly clarkson concert where they got matching "my life would suck without you" t-shirts.

poof actually buys - WITH HUMAN MONEY, IN A HUMAN DISGUISE - every kelly clarkson album as it releases for foop.

they nearly elope several times but got caught by wanda every time. wanda doesn't really like the fact that poof is with foop but doesn't wanna turn into mama cosma about it so she comes to terms with it. she doesnt want them to just run away and get married when she doesn't think they're ready yet either, though. timmy has to be the one to appeal to foop's desire for attention to convince them to have a big wedding after they graduate. poof doesnt care whether he has a big wedding or just elopes - as long as foop is his. if foop wants a big wedding, that's what they'll have.

whenever people ask how long they've been together they tend to go silent because their first instinct is to say "about 50 years" even though they're only about 22-24, and they've only officially been a couple for about 6 or 7 years. foop's second instinct is also to say "from the very first moment i drew breath" like the dramatic weirdo he is. which isn't even accurate and they both know it.

literally so specific to my own little homebrewed post-canon that you can't even pretend it works with anw:

in my elaborate fanon after AC and AW abandoned foop in season 10, poof begs wanda to find someone who would be willing to take foop in. luckily, wanda knew just the fairies for the job.

after getting adopted foop changes his name to foxglove thimbleplight - poof changed his last name to thimbleplight when they got married so he becomes periwinkle thimbleplight. :3

they still call each other poof and foop - usually in the form of embarrassingly cheesy affectionate nicknames. we're talking "smoopy-poo" level cheesy usage here.

(actually that one still works with anw but the art i drew is clearly my own designs and not the anw designs and it's exceedingly cheesy so)

poof convinced foop to go to the fairy academy with him - initially foop was hesitant because he… wants to… but… antifairies cant become godparents, right??? poof was willing to do literally anything it would take to keep foop by his side though. he initially considers manipulating some poor unsuspecting godparent to quit on their godkid just so he can hijack the ensuing fairy idol for foop to win and take their job… it's devious, and he knows foop would have loved that he did something so malicious just for him, but in the end he just gets into a fight with jorgen and the fairy council about it. he argues that technically foop is legally a fairy now since he was adopted by fairies, so he should be allowed to become a godparent. they end up agreeing.

their relationship was kind of a controversial issue in fairyworld for a few years because of poof's high profile status - while they're not the first fairy and anti-fairy couple, they're the first recorded instance of a fairy coupled with their own counterpart in eons. the media did get bored of them eventually though.

they already wanted to get married after high school but they agreed to postpone the wedding until after they graduated from the fairy academy so they had enough free time to make it as over the top as foop wanted it to be. poof actually proposed to foop AGAIN with a diamond ring after they graduated from the fairy academy, even though they were technically already engaged - with the intent of being as over-the-top dramatic and annoying to the rest of their classmates as possible.

^ which is similar to what cosmo and wanda did as teens though details differ. cosmo is literally the only one who seems to realize this and audibly goes "WOW, DEJA VU..." when this all happens.

while wanda had to get used to poof and foop together, cosmo accepted it pretty much immediately. mostly because sometimes they reminded him of himself and wanda. (<- actually canon)

[adelheidvonschicksal]

Hcs for Itadori x reader, who distances themselves from him and avoids him, because they have feelings for him and are scared, because they don't know how to behave around him and are scared of rejection please?

Itadori is the best person you know. He’s kind and empathetic, always willing to listen to others, and has this endearing positivity about most things. He may not be the brightest person but he’s quick to learn when given the chance. He’s also strong and handsome.

Likewise, people could list positives about you; but in this situation, when you think about what you have to offer in return, all the positives you’ve heard, you still can’t see what is so special about you that someone like him would accept your feelings. You feel inadequate.

You’re don't think you're pin-up model pretty like his posters, Itadori likes tall girls with big asses, he claims, and there’s nothing about his behavior that would insinuate that he likes your personality more than the rest of your friends.

You can’t take another day without telling him, feeling the need to scream out that you like the boy every time he gets too close, touches your arm too readily, calls out your name to back him up in whatever dumb arguments he would have with Kugisaki, or save you a seat right next to him.

You’re terrified that you might accidentally let it slip, and he’d reject you because there isn’t a good enough reason for him to like you as much as you like him. And if your words didn’t make him realize it then your actions would give it away eventually.

Fortunately, Itadori isn’t very perceptive when it comes to romantic feelings towards himself. What he can notice is when one of his friends seems troubled, and he can notice even more that he hasn’t been seeing you around as much lately.

He notices things like you don’t sit next to him anymore at meals, you don’t seem to want to hang out together as much (and when you do you always ask if the others coming too), or when he’s reading a good manga and wants to show you a panel you’re not there.

Itadori thinks he’s done something wrong to make you angry at him, and the guilt of not even knowing what he did wrong starts to preoccupy his mind. Maybe he took one too many snacks out your “secret” snack drawer (shit, did I forget to replace it?) or maybe you didn’t like the way he’d play with and squish your plushies when he’d hang out in your room (they never complained about it so how was I supposed to know!), or maybe you didn’t like his humor (But you laughed at his jokes a lot. But what if it was those awkward uncomfortable laughs and he didn’t notice!)

Itadori is pulling out his hair trying to figure it out. He considers you one of his best friends, and it’d be awkward to be classmates and work together if you hated him.

He gets all desperate about it, annoying Fushiguro and Kugisaki to help him figure out what he did so he can apologize already because every time he tries to ask you swear you’re not mad at him!

He wants to make up already and go back to arguing about stupid things instead, like whether purple or pink hair would suit you the best. He becomes hyper-aware of the pinch in his heart when he thinks about the two of you possibly matching and now you keep avoiding him.

Either Fushiguro or Kugisaki is going to try to force you to talk to him because the tension is getting annoying and a bit sad with how pouty Itadori gets and to tell him that you have a crush on him already. That you’re already pushing him away and losing him by hurting his feelings.

Before you can, Itadori is already onto his next move, buying anything to make up for what he thinks he did wrong: new snacks; new plushies; new novelty socks from when you loaned him a pair and they got ripped up during a mission; that hoodie of his you’re always complimenting? Yours, you can have it. He doesn’t even like hoodies anyway!

He’s going to show up at your dorm door, apologizing. He doesn’t know exactly what he did so he is going to simply apologize for everything. He really hates fighting with you because he really likes you, and it’s killing him not to have you like him, too.

You end up having to apologize to him and explain that you’re scared to be around him because you have feelings for him and didn’t want to be rejected, that you want to be friends with him even if he doesn’t have those feelings back for you, and you were afraid to lose him as a friend.

It takes him a minute to process everything you said. He’s trying to think of a world where he could ever reject you. You’re so pretty and talented and smart, and you did nothing but occupy his mind over the last couple of weeks and even before then he’d think about you a lot. You’re dazzling.

He explains all that to you so sincerely, with the smallest hint of shy embarrassment as he puts the words together, that it makes you feel stupid for even thinking he’d reject you and not realizing that he could hold the world with the amount of feelings he has for you.

Of course, you accept.

Itadori laughs and shuffles all the items he got for you: he guesses this means he prepared the s/o hoodie too early?

[ghostf1ux]

5 Times Jason Saved his the Flock and 1 Time they Saved Him: Batman's Number 1 Rule

Day 9: "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

Words: 1.4k

TW/CWs: Injuries

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (here) | Part 6

-------------------------------------------------------

It's a quiet night, as far as nights go.

The rain is pounding on his windows, and occasionally thunder and lightning split the sky, but by Jason's standards, it's pretty quiet.

He had decided not to go out tonight, not because of the weather (that only got so bad about ten minutes ago) but more at his family's… urging for him to rest. He was still healing from a sprained ankle, a bullet in his shoulder and a different bullet in his thigh (the same one with the sprained ankle).

Normally this wouldn't even be close to stopping him from going out tonight but his family thought of some real creative threats to stick him with so he's opting not to call their bluff. He also has some research on some other things he's been meaning to do anyways, so he supposes it works out. 

So here he is, holed up in his actual apartment in the Bowery, sitting on the floor so he can have all his papers spread out around him. It's late in the evening, dipping into morning, though not enough that the sun is going to make its appearance on the horizon. Even with the rainfall, there's still at least another hour before daylight graces Gotham's streets.

Which is precisely the reason why when he nearly jumps out of his skin and suddenly has a knife (Talia's knife, the one she gifted him all those years ago, the one that never leaves his ankle sheath in case of emergencies) in his hand at the sound of the fire escape outside his window rattles concerningly loudly, he has no problem admitting that he was genuinely startled by it. Well, maybe a little problem. But that's besides the point, because even over the rain he can hear the way someone is dragging their feet up the stairs.

And then they get to his level, and they stop.

In a flash, Jason is poised to strike behind the wall to the window's right. He waits stock-still while the person– intruder?– fumbles with the latches, with his security system, before seemingly giving up.

He almost relaxes, assuming the person, whoever they are, is going to leave, before there's a short rapping of knuckles on the window.

1-2-3-pause-4-5.

Wait.

But that's–?

That's the way Talia would always, always knock on his door back in the League, to let him know it was her. Its rhythm never changed, not once, no matter the situation.

But she's not here.

And nobody else knows it, as far as Jason knows.

…Except for one person.

Jason rushes to disarm the various security systems he has in place before throwing the window open, uncaring of if its a trap or not because only Damian knows that pattern and–

And a black-shrouded figure is hunched over himself and leaning against the wall right outside his window, head hanging over his chest as his breaths puff out into the air. Thank fuck it's cold enough to actually see those, or Jason was about to have a very different reaction.

“Damian– what the fuck?” Jason scrambles to hop out his window to actually see the baby bat and he–

His vision tints with green when he sees the hints of a large wound over Damian's stomach that he's holding his arm at an awkward angle over, presumably to keep pressure on it. In the darkness and the rain he can't make out much else, but for Damian to be this exhausted that he can't even disable Jason's security means it's bad.

“I've got you, baby bat, c'mon.” He goes to pick Damian up, but as soon as he makes contact there's a blade at his throat. Jason freezes. “It's just me, Dami.”

“Akhi…?” Damian croaks out, finally lifting his head to look at Jason. His domino has been broken off of one eye, leaving it bare for Jason to see just how desperate he is. Blood streams from a cut along his hairline, but there may be another head injury based on the blood on the side of his neck as well.

Jason offers Damian an easy smile as he lowers the knife and allows himself to be hoisted into Jason's arms, but it falls when Damian's whimper at the movement stabs him in the gut.

“Why did you come here?” He asks genuinely as he gets the both of them back into the apartment and Damian on the second couch next to the window he has just for this purpose, before closing it and actually taking stock of Damian's situation.

“I– I didn't have anywhere else to go,” Damian mumbles, turning his gaze away from Jason. Now that he's seeing him in the light, there's a lot more blood soaking his uniform than Jason thought. It's not clear what it's from, because the rain has blurred all sense of pattern from it, but based on the sheer amount he thinks it's not Damian's. If it was, he doubts his little brother would be walking around and making it however far he made it just to get here of all places.

Jason decides to forgo asking why he didn't go to the Cave, which has much better medical equipment than he does.

“Dami, what happened?” Jason murmurs instead as he gets to work maneuvering the Robin suit off him with as little movement possible. It doesn't work super well, but hey, points for trying.

“I was… foolish. I allowed myself to be–” his breath hitches and he grits his teeth as Jason works on getting his very clearly injured arm out of its glove and sleeve. “–led into a trap. I was not skilled enough to fend off the masked men that came, and I was tranquilized. They brought me to a nameless facility, where I was tortured for hours, according to my internal clock.”

The Pit flares up at this, hissing venomously. Where was B during all this? Why was Damian out alone? If it's been hours, why hadn't they found him yet?

“They made a mistake,” Damian continues, “and I was able to escape my bonds. However–”

Damian cuts himself off, but Jason doubts it's from anything he's doing, at least for now. Currently he's just assessing for internal bleeding, broken bones, the works. He's found none of that, though some of his ribs do seem to be cracked. His gaze, a glowing acidic green right now, he thinks, flicks up to meet Damian's for just half a second before he averts his eyes again.

“In my… in my altered mental state, I was not able to stay my blade,” Damian finishes almost in a whisper. Translated, ‘I was scared and desperate and fought my way out with everything I had and now people are dead.’

Jason pauses what he's doing to kiss Damian's forehead, smoothing his sweat and rain plastered hair back. So this is why he came to me instead of going to the Cave. 

And he was right to. With B's reaction to murder in the past, even in self defense, it doesn't paint a very reassuring picture.

“I'll take care of it, akhi,” Jason murmurs,  carding his hand through Damian's hair once more before going back to patching his injuries. There's a long cut on his stomach that needs stitches, but everything else just needs some bandages and a few splints.

When he's done, he finds some painkillers he has from the last time Steph was over while injured. Before offering them and a glass of water to Damian, though, he first taps the little one's shoulder to get his attention.

“Dami, I need to know where this happened before you can sleep.”

He rattles off the vague location, and Jason helps him take the pills. He then brings Damian to his room and gets him situated on his bed.

“I'll be back soon, okay? Just get some rest. B's not gonna find out about this, don't worry.” He leaves Damian with one last kiss to his head before soundlessly shutting the door behind him.

With his duffel of gear in hand he makes his way to another location where he can change, and then heads to the building Damian was being kept at.

It doesn't take long before a modulated voice is speaking in his ear.

“Hood. I thought you were refraining from going out tonight?” Oracle greets.

“I was, but something came up that needs my attention. Are we on a private line?”

“Yes. Why, what's up?”

“I need a favor, and this can't get back to B.”

“...Did you kill someone?”

“No, I didn't.”

There's a pause, and then:

“What do you need from me?”

[moonspiritmars]

okay tonight's mismag2 episode really felt like all of the air was sucked out of my room. I'm still at a loss for words over the beautiful, raw, and fucking real depictions of grief by Lou and Danielle tonight and I need to spend time finding the words to explain the way in which they touched me, as someone who has experienced a comically large amount of grief. I felt transported into their characters many times tonight and that has never happened to such an immense degree for me before. Even just thinking about it has me tearing up again jesus. I just want to thank them more than anything.

There's been a lot said about Evan tonight and so I don't want to add too much more to it because I want to focus more on the others but I did need to get one thing out, as someone who has been the Evan Kelmp to many of my friends and loved ones.

K just wanted to help, to fix, to heal, to unbreak the broken, and there are many things that are admirable in that desperate need to help despite your ability to do so.

It's just that the thing K tried to 'fix' wasn't broken anymore. Healed poorly, sure, but healed nonetheless, and yet to K it was still seen as broken, in need of fixing, in need of saving.

To have healed 'ugly,' and have that not seen as healed enough creates a deeply wounded creature in you, if there wasn't one already there to begin with. To be nonchalant, or even proud, of the way something has healed, whether literally or figuratively, and have that be stomped on by someone who believes that if they can heal you just a little bit more, fix you a little bit better, they can ultimately mold your healing to meet their standards, fucking burns. So many people already struggle to feel like they will ever be anything other than broken, and these attempts while often in good faith, just reinforce that belief. Also, it may not be true for everyone, but wanting to fix at whatever the cost, without thinking about consequences, can often be tied back to wanting to feel some semblance of control. K wants to save the world, and they can't, but if they can just save Evan, maybe they'll finally feel like they're worth something.

Evan never asked to be saved, though. Sure, people rarely ask straight up to be saved despite wanting it more than anything, but to assume that is the case for every person who has healed awkwardly is a deeply unhealthy saviorism complex that always harms more than it helps.

Idk there's probably 100 better ways to get this point across, I just have been in this situation before and it hurts in a brand new way. I flinched when K became fixated on the healed bone in Evan's arm because I knew where it was going immediately and didn't like it. It's a wound that never develops scar tissue, a burn that is always a burn no matter how much time has passed. You are not broken, but you are not healed 'correctly,' and no matter how much work you did on your own, how bloody your fingers are from clawing your way out of the deepest of holes, how you learned to save yourself despite everything, it won't be enough. Whether directly or indirectly, it means you won't be enough, either.

Anyways woooooooooo the deeply wounded animal in me flinched and whined at this episode, but also settled in the raw and real depictions of grief by the cast. I cannot wait to write more about Jammer and Sam, about feeling like your purpose is to hold everyone else together, to smile and laugh so people don't worry about you. For now I'll just settle with saying from the bottom of my heart, thank you for grieving in front of us. I have a hopeful feeling that many people will find parts of themselves healed by the beautiful work that was tonights episode, and if those parts heal awkward or a little bit wrong, remember they are healed. That is enough. You are whole, and you always have been. To have brokenness inside you does not mean that you are broken yourself. To heal at all, even at awkward angles, in 'ugly' ways, is a beautiful, fragile thing. Cherish it.

And hey if you feel like you are broken and unhealed and not ready or able to heal or tend to your wounds, and like people will always see you as broken and unhealed and nothing more, I won't. I don't. Pinky promise.

[triviallytrue]

Watching something as iconic as NGE is kinda funny because every now and then something happens and you're like "oh! that guy! from tumblr!"

General thoughts:

Poor Shinji. Dude keeps getting put in situations.

The Ender's Game comparison keeps coming up for me - child soldiers utterly essential to the cause. The big difference is that they are just completely flubbing their psychological management in NGE - in Ender's Game they had eyes on the kids 24/7 and maintained in-depth psychological profiles on all of them, whereas in NGE they have loads of money and manpower focused on maintaining the EVAs but their equally-essential pilots are just... going to school. Shinji got punched and they didn't know!

And what is Misato's deal, anyway? She's in her 20s and has a crazy amount of authority (she just requisitioned all of Japan's power) and they're just kinda... letting her manage Shinji? It's not her job, but she's just doing it? She's his commanding officer but also his mom/sister, which is a really bad combo. Also I don't think I'm imagining the grooming undertones, those seem intentional.

The real motivator for someone like Shinji is (of course) his social connections - the two schoolkids and Rei, and then maybe to some degree Misato, and then even more distantly his father. Kids don't put themselves through severe distress just for the abstract concept of "saving the world," especially a world that has thus far been very unkind to them. To bring back the Ender's Game comparison, this feels like a very deliberate point that Graff and friends were aware of (the way they used Valentine as a strategic resource) but in NGE it seems to be mostly happenstance that Shinji made some human connections before completely shutting down.

Rei thus far is an interesting foil to Shinji. Normally I get kind of put off by scenes like the one where he walks in on her, but it gives you a lot of important information about both of them. Shinji, underneath all the abandonment issues and repression, is still a pretty normal kid - awkward, horny in that embarrassing adolescent way, deeply self-conscious. Rei is alien (or perhaps just very autistic). She just doesn't clock 90% of the tension at all. She pilots the EVA without complaint (though perhaps with equal psychological distress, just heavily repressed). She also gets along very well with his shitass dad, which is revealing in its own way.

I'm told there is another child, a red haired one, named Asuka(?), the thus-far only implied Second Child. Wonder why she isn't here yet?

I heard that it was some kind of twist that the EVAs were alive in some sense, but doesn't that naturally follow from the first couple episodes? Unit 01 moves to save Rei without a pilot and then goes berserk to kill the angel. Maybe there's more to the twist that I don't know yet.

What's up with the angels? Why are they here, what do they want, what are they exactly? Who cares. They are a plot device in purest form - they enable the rest of the show, but the show is not meaningfully "about" them. They didn't half-ass it though - the designs are absolutely phenomenal.

Oh, and there's some second project NERV is working on, a human transformation thing that got mentioned once and never again. That will probably be important eventually.

[shrimpalbuspotter]

Do you think that If there were other wealey/potter kids in slytherin that it would take away from albus's story and character? Also what do you think are the certain traits that are a must for writing him? Like AUs can change his character but what things need to be the same to still be albus?

GREAT QUESTION BECAUSE I ALSO WONDERED THIS A WHILE AGO.

No, I don't think Albus being in Slytherin was the root of his problems. Yes, people wouldn't care as much because he isn't the FIRST Potter/Weasley, but he's STILL Harry Potters child and unless it was James Sirius that was Slytherin, it would have still been a big deal. (It would've been a big deal anyway). Now if Harry was the one in Slytherin, nobody would care. Infact, Slytherin would gain a pretty good reputation. BUT there's one issue, Albus Potter is terrible at magic, and he hung around with Scorpius Malfoy. THAT was what really made all the bullying start, so that would keep his character on track and not change much of the story. We even see in the play that Albus and Harrys issues don't lay in him being a Slytherin, so they'd still have the fight, and he'd still try save Cedric!

Now onto the next question. Some quintessential Albus things that I personally think are important to his character are these:

1. Being a Slytherin. I think taking away this key part of him, or even just any of the traits that come along with it, ruin his character. If you show me an Albus who is brave and disregards his safety and would throw himself infront of an avada for people, I will not recognise him.

2. Being sharp tounged/surly. This may just be me, but i think him being able to bite back at Harry on the spot in a way that really hurts and isn't just a playground taunt is amazing. He had to go through shit to get a backbone and by god he won't let it go to waste. Timid, shy Albus just doesn't work well for me, it feels like doing an injustice.

3. Being bad at magic. One of the biggest things with Albus is the fact he has no talent. His dad was Harry Potter and he's the saviour of the wizarding world, who learned to cast a Patronus at 13, who tutored a group of students in DADA at 14, who survived the killing curse 2 times, and many more things. Albus was terrible at spells, he was surprised he could perform Incendio whilst going into third year (a first year spell), he only learned expeliarmus in 4th year, and he couldnt even get his broom to lift. But these things are IMPORTANT! Because he has so much pressure put onto him as Harry Potters son and he SHOULD be working extra hard to make up for being in Slytherin, but he doesn't even try. He only learns spells that would be useful to him in a situation, but otherwise he just can't find it in him to even care. I dunno this is just important okay okay.

4. His relationship with Harry. I dislike people thinking Harry should've been the perfect dad, and that he should've understood Albus. Harry probably doesn't even accept the fact he experienced abuse or bullying, nevermind trying to understand his son who is open with the fact. Their relationship and their reconciliation at the end of the play is essential, because it shows that they both care about eachother so much and just don't know how to show it. It's sweet.

5. Scorpius always has to be his bestfriend. Even if it starts with them being enemies and becoming bestfriends. If he isn't even mentioned in a fic or characters act like they don't know him... God... SOB.

6. LOOKING LIKE HARRY. Albus needs to look into the mirror and feel sick at the sight of his face because a young version of his dad stares back at him. He needs to become a teenager and find appreciation in the sallowness of his face, in the murky green of his eyes, and the awkward way he stands, because he finally looks different from Harry and its all he wanted. He loves his dad, but he needs people to know he's a seperate entity. Yeah... yeah this is essential for sure mhmhmhm

7. DRY HUMOR. THATS IT. PLEASE MAKE HIM SARCASTIC.

Okay that's it uhh I guess SOME of these could be taken away and it'd be fine but overall Albus needs to be characterised as a self proclaimed git who pretends to hate his dad that he is a replica of and is always sad slash angry except when he's around his bestfriend. Thanks you for the ask..🙏

[corazondebeskar-reads]

you know you never stood a chance - deleted scene #1.5

you know you never stood a chance series

deleted scene #1.5: because you look so fine

series masterlist

Joel Miller x f!reader

Words: 3.5k

Summary: set in the middle of deleted scene #1 (after Joel & Ellie come home but before you move in with them). Joel's acting weird lately.

Warnings: established relationship, technically spoilers for tlou pt 2 but no one goes golfing, poor communication, p in v, two idiots at the end of the world, fluff, tooth-rotting over the top fluff in the only way two assholes know how, oral (m&f receiving), brief Tommy & Maria cameos, a few butt slaps, good ole southern hospitality, when i started this i meant for joel to play guitar but sadly he does not.

also on ao3

dividers by @saradika-graphics

Joel’s been a little weird lately. In a very Joel way.

Or maybe not. You’re not really sure what to think of it.

Ever since that first day when he walked you home from dinner, and you didn’t invite him in, he’s been… awkward.

Or maybe he hasn’t. You don’t really know Joel. It’s a startling realization you had after he left that night.

You lived with him for six months and traveled the country with him, but neither of those were very good representations of him. When you shared the apartment, you only saw him to fuck. You didn’t hang out shooting the shit or have riveting conversations about current events over breakfast.

When you were out of the QZ with him and Tess, there was no talking. Not a single unnecessary word. He and Tess communicated silently. You were on a need-to-know basis and never had a need-to-know.

And those months traveling with Ellie? Well, you’d learned a little more about him, but also, he was under such intense stress that you’re not sure how much was Joel and how much was the situation.

He’s been a lot nicer since he got back to Jackson. Well. Maybe nicer isn’t the right word.

He’s been more talkative and smiled more. Most of the time, when he opens his mouth, though, it’s to be a sarcastic ass.

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t like it.

And, okay, maybe you do know him.

You decide maybe you’re the one being weird, so you let it go until the weirdness intensifies one Friday night.

Tommy had you both cornered at the mess on Thursday. “So y’all are coming to the Bison tomorrow, right? Ernie came back with a couple of guitars to try to round out the act.”

Joel perks up at this, and you watch him carefully. He’s never seemed interested in whatever goes on at the pub. “They work?”

“They need some love,” Tommy says. “Reckon you might be able to fix ‘em up?”

“Shit,” Joel says, the curse drawn out and low as he thinks. “I might. He gonna let me come ‘n take a look at ‘em?”

“You could probably swing by tonight; see if any of ‘em can be saved.”

Joel eyes your empty plate. “C’mon, I’ll walk ya home first.”

“The Bison is closer than my house,” you say, utterly perplexed by the way this conversation has gone. “I can walk myself.”

“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll come back after.”

You think it’s kind of silly but he’s insisted on walking you home every day. Every day that you don’t end up in his bed, anyway.

Every time, he holds your hand. Sometimes you talk, sometimes you let the warm summer silence lead you.

He always kisses you goodnight. Never as chaste as the first time, but never letting it get out of hand, either. He doesn’t ask to come in. He doesn’t try to start anything.

He’s respecting your boundaries, you think, and it’s kind of weird. But good weird.

Tonight, he lingers with his arms draped loose around your hips, holding you close there but letting you lean your upper body back against the siding. He’s got a look on his face that you can’t identify.

After a moment, he narrows his eyes and jostles you a little with one arm. “Gonna come with me to the Bison tomorrow?”

“Since when do you go to Friday Night Live?” you tease.

He scowls. “Since tomorrow.”

“You can’t say since tomorrow; that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, I just said it, didn’t I?” His face twists into something you do recognize.

“Hey,” you pout. “Why’re you mad?”

“M’not mad. Will you stop teasin’ me and answer the question?”

You’re so lost it’s not funny. But now you recognize the first expression. He was defensive.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be a dick. Sure, Joel, if you’re goin’, I’ll come out and see what the fuss is.”

“Don’t gotta try to be something you just are,” he says. There’s a hint of a smirk lurking.

You bite down a smile, rolling your eyes.

“Alright, sweetheart. I’ll see ya tomorrow.” He leans down to kiss you.

“Whoa, mister. You already got a goodnight kiss. Getting greedy?”

He bites at your lip. “Hush,” he scolds, helping himself to several kisses. “That one expired. Gotta make it up to me.”

You’re grinning stupidly, now, but so is he. “Alright, you big baby. One more.”

But he stands up straighter and kisses your forehead instead. “G’night,” he murmurs.

As always, he waits until you’re inside with the door locked before he leaves.

You lie awake for too long, tucked in and cozy, but kept up by the colony of butterflies that he seems to have let loose with all that kissing.

You’re getting ready to head down to the Bison when there’s a knock at your door. You’re trying not to think about how weirdly nervous you feel.

It’s probably just from the thought of the crowd. There’s a reason you haven’t bothered to check out the bar. Small spaces and big crowds aren’t your idea of a good time.

Maybe they were, once. You don’t really remember anymore. Now, they remind you of the hangings back in Boston.

And that’s a train of thought you’d like to derail, so the knock is a nice distraction.

When you open the door, it’s Joel.

“Oh, hey. Thought I was meeting you downtown.”

“Figured I’d walk with ya,” he says. The words are almost mumbled, and he stands stiff just outside the door.

“Alright, gimmie a few, I was just gonna change.”

“Y’ain’t gotta do that, you look nice,” he says.

You raise your eyebrows. “Thanks?” And you gesture to where a pot of tomato soup had spilled down the side of your tee and then splattered across the bottom of your jeans when it hit the floor.

“Right,” he says.

“You can come in,” you say before heading up to your room.

You spend more time than you’d like picking something to wear. It’s those damn crowds, maybe, making you feel like you need to look nice.

In the end, though, you just pull on a clean tee and jeans with a flannel you’d nicked from Joel when you were out on the road. He hadn’t said anything about it so you figured he never even noticed. It helps, fortifying you against whatever’s making your heart beat out of your chest.

When you get back down, he’s standing in your kitchen. You stare, trying to force your brain to reboot and accept the image of him looming in your space.

He’s got a glass of water in one hand and the other wrapped tight over the edge of the basin.

“You okay?” you say.

He clears his throat and turns around. “Yeah, just needed this,” he gestures with the drink. “For, uh, for these.”

You blink a few times. There are flowers clutched in his other hand, stems trimmed to fit neatly inside.

“Okay,” you say with a shrug.

He sets the glass, now full of purple and yellow blossoms, on the counter.

“We better get going before Tommy sends a search party,” you tease, grabbing him by the belt loops. He lets you pull yourself in, leaning up for a kiss.

It’s syrupy, and his hands come to your waist so he can lick into your mouth, drawing soft moans from you both.

“There’s the hello I was lookin’ for,” he says. He looks you up and down. “Y’look real pretty, sweetheart.”

“You need your eyes checked, old man.” You move to the door, and he follows, waiting while you stuff your feet into your boots without bothering to untie them.

“Sure, let me just call the optometrist,” he rolls his eyes. “You know I like you in my clothes.” He’s patient while you lock the door, but as soon as your key is stowed in your pocket, he’s got your hands wrapped together.

It’s not until you’re sitting in the bar at a round table with Tommy and Maria that the gears finally come to a stop, and everything falls into place.

Joel’s dragged his chair to butt up against yours, and he’s got an arm slung around your shoulder. You’re leaning against him, talking to Maria about the equipment one of the patrol teams had found at an abandoned farm when your brain shorts out.

Of course, you don’t even get a second to process the thought before it spills from your mouth.

“Joel Miller,” you snap, sitting up and looking at him incredulously. “Is this a date?”

He pulls back a little, eyes wide and brows raised. “Yeah,” he says slowly, like he’s not the one that tricked you into this.

“Were you going to tell me?”

“I…” he looks wildly at Tommy and then back to you. “I thought you knew.”

“Let’s go get some drinks,” Maria says quietly. Her husband doesn’t get the hint, and she has to hiss in his ear about privacy before yanking him away from the table.

“You thought I knew? How would I have known?”

“I’ve been courtin’ ya for weeks,” he says, scowling. “Didn’t think I needed to spell it out for ya.”

“You’ve been what?”

He flushes a little but stands his ground. “Courtin’ ya. Y’know.”

“What are you talking abo—oh. Oh.” A lot of things are starting to make more sense. The flowers. The hand holding. The sweet partings. The way he pulls out your chair at the table.

“What the hell are you doin’ that for?”

He huffs a breath, arms folding across his chest. “Well, never mind.”

You take a deep breath, but it catches, stuttering in the suddenly humid room. “Can we talk about this outside?”

He must see it on your face because he puts a worried hand on your shoulder to steer you through the crowd.

Once in the open, soothed by the slightly cooler breeze, you cover your face with both hands.

“Joel,” you start.

“I was just tryin’ to do right by you this time around,” he tells the patch of grass under his boots.

You can’t help but smile just a little bit. “That’s sweet, but I don’t need you to do all that.”

He looks up at you, mouth still twisted down. But you see it for what it is again. Worry.

“You don’t have to try so hard, Joel; you already know I’m a sure thing.”

“I’m not just tryin’ to fuck you,” he snaps. His hands are clenched into fists, and he won’t look at you now. “I’m tryin’ to… I’m tryin’ to show you—”

You step closer, and he doesn’t shy away, but he does shut his mouth. You wrap your fingers back around his belt loops. “I know,” you say. “But I don’t need all that. I just need you. Just you.”

“I’m no good at this,” he grumbles.

“At what?”

“At… this,” he puts his hands on your hips. “At bein’… at relationships,” he finishes. His ears are red. “Never was.”

“Me neither,” you say. “But I’ve only had the one back before. You coulda lied and pretended to be a pro, and I’d never have known.”

He rolls his eyes and kisses the top of your head. “Just, are you… do you want to be—“

“Joel Miller, are you asking me to go steady?” you grin a little wickedly. “You wanna be my boyfriend? My boo? My beau?”

“Christ,” he says, wiping a hand down his face and groaning. He takes your hand and tugs, heading down the street.

You let him pull you along, still giggling and throwing everything you can think of at him as he weaves through the streets.

“You gonna call me shawty? Gonna make me your girl?”

He stops, and you run smack into him. “Yeah,” he says.

“What?” You hadn’t even realized you’d made it to his house, but he crowds you against it just to the side of the door. “You wanna call me shawty?” You can’t say you expected that.

He rolls his eyes. “I’m gonna make you my girl,” he says. His voice is low, with his head tucked close enough that his breath brushes your ear. One hand is on your hip, and the other is pushing the door open and sliding the key back into his pocket.

Shit, that was smooth.

“What? Ain’t got nothin’ smart to say now?”

You open your mouth, but only a squeak comes out, so you shut it and shake your head.

“Yeah? You wanna be my girl?”

Your throat’s so dry, you think you’d never had water, so you just nod a little, looking up at him through your lashes.

He smirks and kisses you, hands roaming as he walks you backward into the house. When he pushes you down onto the bed, you realize you don’t even remember climbing the stairs.

Or taking off your pants.

He makes quick work of your shirts and bra but then pulls the flannel back on you. You roll your eyes, but it quickly becomes involuntary when he runs a finger across your slit.

“Aw, sweetheart. You’re all wet. Somethin’ got you all worked up?”

But you aren’t so far gone yet that you can’t bite back.

“Yeah, turns out this hot guy has a huge crush on me, but he was too scared to ask me out. A shame, really.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“Well, I really wanted to suck his dick, but I don’t date chickens.”

“Well, that’s just not very nice. You’re hurtin’ my feelings, sweetheart.”

“Big tough guy like you?”

His fingers brush against your clit for little more than a second before he pulls his hand away. “Yeah, I reckon you’re going to have to make it up to me.”

He stands up straight. “Get to it.”

You grin and bring your hands up to his belt, taking your sweet time to drag the end from the loop and tug it away from the buckle. You flick the prong back just as he growls his impatience.

He tugs it out of the loops and tosses it on the ground as you slip the button loose and drag the pull down the teeth of his zipper one by one.

He grabs your chin, fingers digging dimples into your smug grin. “Think you’re bein’ cute, huh?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to do a good job.”

“Gotta have it in your mouth to do a good job, sweetheart. I taught you how to suck dick better than this.”

He smirks when your eyes darken and you whimper a little at the memory. He lets go of your jaw and shoves two thick fingers in your mouth.

When he pulls them back out, he shows you how wet they are. “You’re fuckin’ droolin’ for it, sweetheart.”

“Uh huh,” you mumble. But your fingers are nimbler, making deft work of the zipper and tugging his pants down.

When his cock springs free, you waste no time swallowing it down. Damn. You had meant to drag it out and tease him.

“See? Ain’t that better?” He strokes your cheek before cupping the back of your head. “So fuckin’ pretty like this.”

You moan and look up at him through your lashes. He groans and pushes you down on his cock until your nose is buried in the thicket of hair at the base.

“Yeah? You feel pretty with my cock in your mouth?” His other hand cups under your jaw, stroking your cheek with his thumb. “My pretty girl,” he murmurs.

There’s a foreign ache in your chest. You use it to distract you while you choke on him, letting him fill your throat and mind.

He fucks you like that for a few minutes, pulling out abruptly. “Hands ‘n knees, sweetheart.”

You obey immediately, though you settle on your elbows instead, a pillow tucked between your arms and head. He gropes at your ass, squeezing and rubbing his hands over it before he gives it a few firm smacks.

As if he can sense the complaint you’re about to make, he spreads you apart and buries his face in your cunt. You forget all about your impatience—you may still yearn for his cock, but his tongue is a hell of a consolation prize.

He’s fucking ravenous. He nuzzles in—you’re absolutely going to have beard burn—and devours. Two fingers pump in and out of your cunt while he licks around and in, and you can’t really tell where he ends, and you begin. It’s all so wet and rough and blissful that you reach your orgasm in no time at all.

But he pulls away, yanking himself from you with heaving breath while you cry out in disappointment.

“Beg,” he growls, slapping your ass before starting to build you up again.

You do. You beg endlessly, pleas and whines and praise spilling from your lips, broken by gasps and cries, but when you’re close, he pulls away again.

He kisses your swollen labia when you nearly sob in frustration.

“Mean,” you peek over your shoulder at him so he can see your wet eyes and exaggerated pout.

“Yeah,” he smirks. “Just like you were earlier, teasin’ me.”

You gasp. “I made it up to you!”

He scoffs. “Yeah, but ya woulda sucked my cock anyway.”

Damn. He’s not wrong. That was as much for you as it was for him.

He’s stroking your clit gently, now, and you’re having a hard time keeping your brains in a line. Or ducks. Whatever it is, they’re not doing a very good job because you can’t remember what you’re mad about.

“Please,” you whimper.

“Please, what, sweetheart? You need my tongue back?”

“Yes—fuck,” you gasp as he stuffs three fingers in your cunt.

“Hmm. Better apologize.”

“I’m sorry!” you say immediately.

He shakes his head. “Sorry for what?”

“I’m sorry I was teasing you, please, god-fucking—”

He’s sucking on your clit, pistoning his fingers hard enough that it almost matches the way his cock knocks your brain out.

Finally, finally, he doesn’t pull away. When you reach the edge, abdomen seizing, he works you through it and doesn’t stop until you’re whimpering on the other side.

He stands up, and you’d complain, but you’re too fucked out. Plus, he’s fully out of his jeans now, and all you have to do is stay like this, on your knees with your ass in the air.

He fists himself and drags the head up and down, parting you minutely but never slipping in. “Goddamn, you’re drippin’ for me.”

Your face is smushed into the pillow, but your moan is loud enough for him to hear.

“Whose cunt is this, sweetheart?”

“Wha?” you mumble.

He slaps your ass. “I said, whose pretty little cunt is this?”

“Yours, Joel.”

“And whose girl are you?”

You moan. “Yours, Joel.”

“That’s damn right.” He slams hard into you. “Say it.”

“I’m yours, Joel. I’m your girl.”

“Fuck yeah you are,” he grunts, thrusting deep on each go, barely pulling out only to slam right in. “And I’m all yours, sweetheart.”

You’re embarrassed about it later when he teases you, but his words make you cum.

“That’s it, good fuckin’ girl, cum on my cock. Just how I like it.”

His hand rubs over your lower back as he talks you through it, and it spills over into another orgasm as you clench and shake around him.

His mouth is filthy tonight, peppered with the grunts and moans you love to soak in. His hands never leave you. Eventually, he stops to roll you over and fucks into you with your knees bent up to your chest. Your fingers dig into his arms desperately as the force of his thrusts knock the air out of you over and over and over.

“Fuck, sweetheart, cup your tits for me,” he pants, pulling out and holding his cock at the base while it weeps, and when you obey, he tugs once, twice, before covering them in his cum.

“Shit,” he says, chest heaving as he catches himself on one arm near your head, hovering over you. “Shit, sweetheart. So good to me.”

He lowers himself onto his side next to you and traces an idle finger through the mess on your chest.

“Did you just fucking write your name in cum on my tits?”

“No,” but he doesn’t tell you what he did write.

He kisses you instead, and you roll your eyes but kiss him back.

You wait until after he’s cleaned you both off and settled back in bed beside you.

“So what’s it gonna be? You gonna call me boo or babe? Or babycakes?”

He rolls his eyes. “Will you knock it off?”

“No,” you admit.

“‘Sides, I ain’t gotta come up with somethin’.”

You pour. “Why not? What if I want a cutesy nickname?”

He rolls onto his side and looks you in the eye. “Already call ya sweetheart, don’t I?”

You flush, heart stuttering. “Oh yeah,” you whisper.

“Good enough for ya?”

“Uh-huh,” you say. “It’s perfect… sweetcheeks.”

His pillow smacks you in the face, and you cackle.

*title from "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet

[fem-the-artist]

Magic Future au

Some of the basics:

Usually when I’m drawing an older Timmy unless specified otherwise it’s probably for this au

This entire a use, basically my own personal headcanons of what I think Timmy’s future should be also in know that anything past season six that happened in the show is not canon

So no Chloe , no sparky , no foop (there is a version of an anti-poof. It just doesn’t align with what the show portrayed.)

Wishology is also on thin ice. I am going to pick and choose what I do and do not want from that special. 

 There’s also gonna be quite a sprinkle of Nicktoons unite in here because universal travel is silly 

The for main ages that I focus on for Timmy are 10 (really more like 11) 14, 19 and 32  I’m gonna post a visual aid later to show where he’s at on those four points later 

But there’s a reason for each of these ages being focused on 10 11 is focused on potential episodes I thought of as well as for those of you who know my OC Cinnamon who is Tootie’s godparent  so this age is mostly used to explore new relationship dynamics between the cast, with is such a change 

14 is really used to explore that awkward teenage phase and is right before Timmy has his gender epiphany. Also, a lot of relationship drama is 14 and figuring things out. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs. 

19 is the one you’ve seen the most of on my page, he’s confident he’s shameless he’s Timmy! interacts the most with the Nicktoons gang currently dating Jimmy. I wanted to skip ahead to 19 instead of 18, because 18 would be dealing with the no fairies memory issues drama. 19 however, they were essentially cut a small deal. Cosmo and Wanda are temporarily suspended from being godparents. Timmy doesn’t lose his memories however, he also doesn’t get to keep Cosmo and Wanda as god parents, but he gets the small bottle of fairy dust that he keeps around his neck at all times for emergencies 

It’s also an indicator that he’s essentially part of the magical world. Timmy was allowed to keep his memories and magic in his life for 3 reasons

Reason 1 saving fairy world countless times  is one of them

Reason number 2 really just amounts to poof’s existence because I’m doing his wishes and memories under does poof 

And reason number 3 Timmy is just far too ingrained into fairy culture, everyone in fairy world knows him. He’s a minor celebrity. He spent holidays there, he invented, and is the announcer for the Fairy Olympics. And to put it simply the people there know him and no other God kid has ever gotten that much notoriety in fairy world. He is one of them. 

Anyway, back to the ages 32 seems like a jump, but that’s because it takes place during ‘new wish’  with Hazel. Ok hear me out for this one. I love the ending of channel chasers everyone does, but I’m also want Timmy to keep the magic in his life so a compromise.

Fairy warden Timmy you know him you love him I’ve always believed that if Timmy was gonna be anything, he was gonna be a goddamn lawyer, with the amount of times that boy has gone to court 

In the episode, a wish to far Timmy makes a series of selfish wishes, and Jorgen takes him to court saying ‘hey, you don’t get your fairies anymore you suck’. Essentially, Timmy had no real defense outside of Cosmo and Wanda, who are a biased party and who Jorgan never listens to so in theory

If this is a thing that Jorgan regularly does, I feel like the kids who get called on like this should get a defense lawyer, a.k.a. Timmy! Being a fellow fairy warden means he has just as much authority as Jorgen as well as previously being a human means he understands where the kids are coming from because fairies have been shown to not fully understand how humans work so tend to be biased, which is why Timmy would be the perfect lawyer on the kids side!

Anyway, Timmy is a fairy warden/lawyer 

As for how channel chasers plays into this, we’ve got a double life situation going on here  we’re technically, while he still works as a fairy he lives as a human (also, he’s not a full fairy just stating that since fairies are born, not made he technically qualifies as a separate species. Most people call him a pseudo- fairy. Jorgen called him a demon, and because he called him a demon. That’s technically his species name now lol)

But anyway, Tommy and Tammy exist and are still Timmy’s kids  who don’t know their dad is a fairy so it’s like a gravity falls trying to figure out the mystery situation where they’re pretty sure their dad isn’t human but they don’t know what he is 

Also, Cosmo and Wanda are Hazel’s godparents since they’re no longer on suspension at this point 

Poof is probably like in whatever the equivalent of fairy high school is 

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 65 – System Collapse by Martha Wells

I’ve had this on preorder long enough to have entirely forgotten about it by the time I got the email that it’s available for pickup – but thanks to the magic of an extremely obliging local book store, I was still able to pick up and read the entire thing before it’s technically released. So score one for buying indie, I guess.

The book is set directly after Network Effect – directly directly, to the point where I needed to look up a plot summary to remind myself what the situation was – following our beloved rogue and rampant SecUnit, ART, and their assorted humans as they try to convince an abandoned and alien-contaminated colony’s inhabitants to trust them and accept evacuation with them (and also go along with the colonial charter they’re forging) rather than the indenture offers the corporate mission also on site are offering. Along the way there’s hacking, shuttle chases, gunfights, and plot-critical media curation.

Mostly though it’s about Murderbot having PTSD (on account of all the horrible trauma in Network Effect specifically, and also just its life generally) and absolutely zero idea how to cope. After a false memory/panic attack makes it crash out of nowhere it spends the majority of the book terrified that it’s going to crash or freeze up at some vital moment and get everyone killed, dealing with constant alien-related paranoia, and generally second-guessing itself and feeling useless and depressed. Absolutely no one around it has any idea how to deal with this, and their awkward attempts to be supporting are both endearing and entirely unhelpful.

Anyway, this is a Murderbot novel. Do you like Murderbot? Then you will like this. Do you not know the series? Then by god start with All Systems Red none of this will make any sense at all without context. Do you dislike murderbot? I mean hateread as you like but it is largely more of the same, don’t expect any series-saving twists for you.

It’s kind of absurd to call the series ‘cozy fantasy’ – by the end of the book SecUnit is down several extremities and bleeding out on the floor (as is traditional by this point) – but I feel like the series fills about the same emotional niche for me as like say Becky Chambers does for people with normal tolerances for low-tension sentimentality. The setting is a horrible dystopia and the plots are full of violence and trauma, but all that is more or less set dressing to stories that are actually about SecUnit making connections and deciding at a tortuously slow pace what sort of life it wants to have (usually several hours after commuting itself without thinking) while consistently running into the best possible friends and forming mutually affectionate relationships it absolutely did not want. It’s a story about fun, low-tension character dynamics, corporate kill teams aside.

I am being entirely sincere when I say the fact that SecUnit has no idea what it wants or what its doing is a selling point. In the same way, the fact that there’s never any real ~breakthrough~ or moment of sudden recovery is absolutely key to the book working. The story closes with it being hopeful and doing better but from any remotely reasonable baseline still being pretty far from ‘okay’ (in much the same way, it is utterly vital to the whole series that it has absolutely zero angst over ‘not being human’ or pinochle syndrome and only cares about ‘not being normal’ insofar as its had to work really hard on some automated scripts for walking and idle motions to pass as human while doing infiltration work).

Anyway, speaking of character dynamics – look, I’ve always been the first to roll my eyes when people complain about not being able to keep tracks or large casts. But every time I open one of these books, I realize I have only the vaguest idea who the vast majority of the (human) supporting cast is. Not really an issue with actually following the story, but I’m absolutely certain I’m missing out on some things.

The non-human supporting cast are great though. ART best spaceship, and I cared significantly more about the colony’s central control computer than any of the actual colonists. I’m like 70% sure this is intentional.

Stepping back, it’s interesting how the series’ setting has evolved over time. In All Systems Red the universe around SecUnit was incredibly broadly sketched, generic sci f playing with space opera and cyberpunk tropes it pretty much relied upon readers already being familiar with. This never exactly stops – especially for the aesthetics and technology, the book has a profound lack of interest in the specifics of what ‘projectile weapons’ look like or how spaceships work beyond the convenience of plot – but as the books go on the world definitely gets more specific and also broader. You can mostly blame ART for this, I think – there’s a definite shift in the tone of the setting when you introduce an institution like the University with power like it can throw around, and more generally make active resistance to and subversion to the corporate status quo a plausible and fruitful endeavour.

All this to say that there’s an offhand mention at one point about ‘intracorporate violence’ increasing and the system being increasingly unstable, and I’m curious what Wells is going to do with that going forward. Especially with the book’s final resolution and the status quo it sets up going forward.

Anyway like I said, it’s murderbot. This is the 7th book in the series. If you’re considering reading it you’ll probably love it.

[universal-imagines]

☾ found feelings

fandom: haikyuu!! pairing: nishinoya x reader word count: 1.2k request: perhaps a scenario with nishinoya comforting his crush when they get rejected by their own crush. maybe ending with them realizing that nishinoya is better then their crush anyway?  

a/n: this request has been in my inbox since i first made this blog, and it’s been written for about as long too i just never got around to transferring it from my notebook to my computer but here it is now! i had to make a separate post from the ask cause the set up was all weird. this might also be the last post i make with banners cause i lost all my old ones and no longer have photoshop ( ´•̥̥̥ω•̥̥̥` )

please do not use any of my works, in any shape or form, without permission.

He knew. Call it a libero's intuition, if you will.

The moment Nishinoya's cell phone rang, almost vibrating its way off his nightstand, he stopped what he was doing to answer. Only one person would call him this late, and today of all days too. But something told him it wasn't about the positive response you'd wanted.

Congratulating himself on another good save, he allowed himself a tentative smile along with his usual greeting.

For a couple of minutes, all he got in response was a sniffle. But he was patient. If volleyball had taught him anything, it was waiting for the right time to move.

"They rejected me," you finally voiced his suspicions.

A part of him couldn't help but be relieved. As mean as that was, he was afraid of missing his chance. When you first told him about your crush, he'd felt a tinge of pain in his chest. And his stomach twisted every time you gushed about them. It was eating at him. He should have been happy for you, but it hurt hearing you talk about someone else. It was worse than missing a crucial point in a match.

The other part of him was heartbroken on your behalf. He knew just how much of yourself you put into that confession. It was nothing short of pouring your heart out. He knew because he had listened to you practice, day in and day out, as you worked yourself up to confess. So hearing you so broken about getting rejected hurt and made him angry. This person he didn't even know didn't deserve your affection, much less your tears.

"I'll be right over." He wanted to say so much more, but that could wait until he could comfort you in person.

A heavy sigh of frustration left Nishinoya's body as he let his phone drop onto his lap. He had every intention of keeping his promise of coming over, but he had to compose himself first. What kind of impression would he give if he looked ready to beat someone up? Probably not a bad one cause it showed he had his friend's back, but there was more to it than that. And he wasn't ready to explain it all just yet.

But he was ready to get some late-night comfort food, however. All your favorite snacks and meals were at the top of his checklist, along with two pints of ice cream.

Two convenience store stops later, among other places, Nishinoya made his way toward your house. It wasn't a long walk, but after his 35-minute detour, he arrived at your home almost an hour after promised.

One knock. Two knocks. Three knocks it took for you to open the door. As expected, a puffy-eyed [ name ] appeared in the doorway. The sight of you almost sent him on a rant, but he stopped himself.

"Sorry for taking a while..." he searched for your eyes, "But I'm armed with snacks." The last bit came out as more of a question than a statement. He wasn't sure how enthusiastic he was allowed to sound, so he wanted to assess the situation first.

You didn't even look at the bag of goodies he brought before enveloping him in a hug.

"Yeah... sorry," he whispered, doing his best to return the hug.

Finally moving from the door, both of you ended up in your room. It was quiet for a while, but not in an awkward way. You were both just enjoying a pint of ice cream. The silence might have lasted longer if it weren't for Tanaka, who sent Nishinoya a meme.

'Damn Tanaka,' Nishinoya thought as he scrambled to silence his phone.

"They said they never gave me any reasons to get my hopes up. That... they could tell I liked them and went out of their way to make it obvious they weren't interested, but..." You drew a shaky breath. "I can't believe I didn't notice. I must have been so annoying."

"Did they seriously say that?" Nishinoya's blood was boiling.

You nodded, needing another moment to gather yourself. "I could even feel how annoyed they were." "What an ass. You'll probably think I'm saying all this because I'm your friend and would take your side in any situation, but he didn't deserve you. If that jerk could not see how amazing you are, that's on them. Not you. It just sucks you got your heart broken because of someone like that."

Nishinoya was glad to see you roll your eyes at him because it meant you were feeling slightly better.

"I don't know about being amazing and all that. If that were the case at least one person out there would like me, but there's no one." You shrugged.

"There is." The response slipped out on its own. "I'm sure there is," he quickly added.

"Doubt it."

"Why?"

"Because... well, because no one has ever said anything." You threw your arms up in defeat.

"What if they're afraid of telling you? Of getting rejected? You just found out how much it hurts."

"Yeah... you're right."

'Stupid. Stupid Noya.' He would shoot himself in the foot if he could.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" He was panicking over what to say to fix his mistake.

"No, it's okay. You're right. After what happened today, I don't picture myself confessing to anyone ever again. And if anyone does confess to me one day, I know I'll never be that mean."

Nishinoya chuckled. "Being let off easy still hurt, you know."

"Sure, but it can't be as bad as being outright rejected on top of being ridiculed for confessing." You crossed your arms and huffed, but he could tell it was more for show.

"Can't argue with that," he shrugged. "So, is it safe to assume you're less upset about getting rejected but more about how they went about it?"

You nodded with a soft smile.

"I hope you know that ass really didn't deserve you. Besides, you can do so much better!"

"Oh yeah," you chuckled. "I deserve someone who will cherish me and treat me right. Someone who will bring me pizza at midnight."

"Ha, I've done that." Catching himself once again, Nishinoya quickly added, "And it wasn't fun."

"What are you talking about? We stayed up all night watching movies and talking. I remember cause you forgot you had practice the next morning and were dying." You were now laughing.

"Exactly, not fun."

"Whatever."

The night went on like that, harmless banter back and forth with some movies and laughter sprinkled in between. The person who'd ruined part of your day was long forgotten by now.

"You should just stay over at this point. It's 4am, and you don't have practice tomorrow. So it's okay, right?" You were already pulling the blanket over the both of you as you spoke.

"Fine. Just don't kick me off the bed when you wake up in the morning cause you forgot you asked me to stay."

"I only did that once!" You laugh at the memory.

"Once was enough!"

"Okay, okay. I'll make it up to you if I do it again." You scooted a little closer to him and shut your eyes.

"How about you make it up for last time first?"

"With what?" You yawn.

'A date.'

He thought he had said it outloud when he heard the exact same words he was thinking, but you'd been the one to utter them. Maybe it'd been a figment of his imagination, he was tired after all. But he would soon find out they weren't. He would have to wait until morning though, cause you were out like a light.

please do not use any of my works, in any shape or form, without permission.

[emberfrostlovesloki]

Aaron and CM Meet-Cute Master List

Photo credits: Left (@themoontaxi) Center (@lesbianladysif) Right (@hotch-girl)

Good afternoon my loves! I hope you’re having a great Saturday/weekend so far. Mine is flying by, but not unpleasantly. The lovely @imagining-in-the-margins has asked me to make a small master list of all the Meet-Cute-Fics I’ve written during October and November, and I’m more than happy to do that. I’m pretty proud of all the writing I’ve accomplished over the last few months. I’ve written 117,496 words of Criminal Minds fanfiction which is roughly 188 pages worth of work. How it happened... well I just love these characters so much, and I can’t stop thinking of ideas for them! I hope to continue loving them for a long time still. I’m also, incredibly grateful for the mutuals that hype me up every day - @sadgirlzluvdilfs @criminalskies @hotchs-big-hands @softhairedhotch @citrusiove. Even if you’re just a silent reader of my work I really appreciate you. I hope you all have a good day and if you ever want to talk, my messages are always open. ❤️ 

You can read the master list below the cut. You can find my full master list, with a lot of my older Spencer content and my academic work, at this link (or it’s just the pinned post on my page.)

Fic Guide: 

✨ = most popular 

❤️  = personal favorite(s)

* = smut 18+ Minors DNI

∆ = must read A/N before the fic 

** = drug use

Aaron Meet-Cute One-Shots 

A for Effort: A meet-cute of how Aaron met the non-BAU reader at Penelope’s theater improv group show. And how Aaron accompanies the reader to host her Halloween extra-credit horror movie watch and discussion for her students. (link) 

Talent *: An inebriated Aaron finds out that the readers has a hidden talent and they offer to show him it later. When they get back to his apartment later, more sober, Aaron apologizes, feeling awkward for getting them into this situation. They (the reader) honestly asks Hotch if he would let them do it anyway. (link)

Eclipsed: A one-shot about how the non-BAU reader saved Aaron from a date gone wrong and when Aaron, Jack, and the reader go to see the solar eclipse together. (link) 

Demons ❤️ : The team is forced into very close quarters during a case on an offshore oil rig in Alaska. It’s bitterly cold and there’s nowhere to go and three men have been beaten and stabbed to death. The team must solve the mystery before it’s too late. A mix-up in rooms also has Aaron and the reader closer than ever. It allows him to learn something new about her. (link)

Pierced: The non-BAU reader gets a new piercing and sends Aaron a picture of it while he’s on a case. To say he’s flustered is a bit of an understatement. (link) 

Melancholia ❤️ : Characters both duck for cover under the same tiny storefront when it starts pouring, aka, how the reader met Aaron. Also, the reader is feeling down due to the seasonal changes and Aaron is there to give her some love and support. (link) 

Everything Stays *: The characters fight over the perfect pumpkin at the patch and explain why each of them needs it; aka, Hotch and the reader watch as Jack and the reader’s niece talk about pumpkins. (link) 

Unwanted Attention ✨: Having to travel to the middle of nowhere Ohio For a serial killer was bad enough, add to the fact that the local LEOs are looking a little too hard at JJ, Emily, and _y/n_, was testing Aaron’s resolve. Lots of protective Hotch here! This is another @imagining-in-the-marginsinspired fic for her Meet Cute Writing Challenge. I’m using the dialog prompt: “Watch where you’re going!” “… You ran into me?!” (link) 

This Space of Ours * ∆: Aaron is subjected to the whims of a sadist in search of revenge because his younger brother was put away by Agent Hotchner and the BAU team. (link) 

Life can be Terrible, but at Least You’re In It * ∆: This is a mix of two of @imagining-in-the-margins Meet-Cute writing challenge dialog prompts. I’ve mixed the two prompts: “Do you believe in Fate” and “This was way too cliched” to write this fic. (link) 

Stalked: The non-BAU reader gets locked out of her apartment and their neighbor picks the lock for you; aka you get locked out of your apartment and Hotch steps in to give you a hand. (link) 

Love is a Maze: The non-BAU reader gets lost in a corn maze… meant for children. She begrudgingly asks a total stranger for help; aka the reader gets stuck in a corn maze and has to ask a total stranger (Aaron) to help her get out. (link) 

Derailed: The non-BAU reader and Aaron are sat together on a long train ride. A one shot in which the reader unexpectedly spends an hour on a train with Agent Aaron Hotchener. (link) 

Haunted Houses and Haunted Hearts: The non-BAU reader gets scared in a haunted tour and jumps in the arms of someone that they think is their friend -- but it’s not. A short one-shot in which you have a spend a few hours with  Aaron Hotchner at a Halloween horror haunt. (link)

Emily One-Shots 

This is becoming a bit of an unintentional series, but you could read these as stand-alones too. 

Moschino and Muddy Water: The non-BAU reader offers unsolicited fashion advice to a total stranger in the dressing room; aka when you meet Emily Prentiss in the Moschino dressing room and give her some confidence… and maybe something more. (link) 

Mean It ✨: Emily accidentally dumps her coffee on the non-BAU reader in a very dramatic fashion; aka when Emily and the reader have their first date and it does not go to plan. (link) 

Halloween Honey *: Emily introduces the non-BAU reader to the team at Derek’s on Halloween night. After they get back to Emily’s apartment they take their relationship to the next level. (link) 

Spencer One-Shots 

Coffee Shop ** ∆ ✨: Characters get the same coffee order. They both reach for it at the same time, aka, when the reader and Specer order the same, oddly specific coffee order and the reader can see that Spencer is struggling and tries her best to be someone he can lean on. This story is more about Aaron and Spencer’s relationship than anything else and it deals with Spencer’s drug abuse problem [the reader is just kind of there.] (link) 

More to come for Aaron, Emily, and Spence soon!

[allwormdiet]

Buzz 7.6

Rod Serling: You are now entering... the Sister Zone

Sighs

Taylor I know this is deeply personal and private stuff, but you are explicitly the one who brought all of it to the forefront

I'm never gonna shed a tear for a fucking Nazi, but that doesn't mean Coil didn't still fuck this up. We see where that controlled chaos gets us in short order, and nobody's gonna be happy with it.

This doesn't go anywhere due to the ensuing violence, but it's a sweet thought

Oh boy.

Oh hey, remembering actions have consequences, good job Taylor. Might've helped if you'd gotten here sooner, but oh well.

It's pretty funny how poorly Sophia has read Taylor. She's on some kind of "leopard can't change its spot" mentality where Taylor was pathetic and will always be pathetic. I'm not sure that was ever true, honestly; the worst chapter of Taylor's life was authored by Emma, apparently because of Sophia. Taylor's supposedly immutable nature as a cowardly vermin was imposed on her by Sophia's worldview.

Also it feels like the mark of a deeply unhealthy mentality that bleeding makes Taylor feel like the situation is easier to deal with. If Emma came at her with a knife would that make her life more bearable? Because that's fucked.

Fucked.

Well, glad to know that awkwardness aside Brian isn't going to question Taylor's recounting of her trigger event.

Well, better late than never to make your case I guess. Late still isn't great though.

And here comes the emotional damage

Man I'm judging both of you for this one, Rachel is great

I feel like Brian saying she's like a sister, when he already has a sister who is dramatically different from her, is. I don't know what it is exactly but it's definitely something. Does he want Aisha to act more like Taylor? Because I don't know that that's ever happening

Dude doesn't have a normal-sounding relationship with women from the sound of it though, honestly. Like he figures there's, what two girls and a Rachel* in his life, plus his mom who he's trying to have out of his life as much as possible? He's clearly got beef with his mother, he's trying to parent Aisha which she doesn't seem super cooperative with, and for Lisa she's something between a friend, coworker, and lieutenant. There was never a classmate he worked on projects with, even in middle school? Nothing came up at any of the prior jobs he's worked? This feels kinda like a him problem.

*Rachel is a girl unless she decides she isn't, but that's not Brian's call to make

I wonder what exactly led Lisa to think that Brian was interested in Taylor. Did she misread him entirely, or is there some level of interest or attraction that would be understood as romantic if Brian had a healthier understanding of relationships and intimacy? Some third thing? I feel like she'd need to tell us herself and God knows if that'll come up for her again.

The luxury of crying. How maddeningly bleak.

Oh boy, I bet we're going to be getting an entirely levelheaded and reasonable reaction out of the fucking Nazis!

Current Thoughts

Brian and Taylor read to me as two deeply fucked up kids who are desperately trying to defy . Brian's got abusive parents (he says his dad's not abusive but he's at best neglectful, and somehow I doubt his mom saved all the horror for Aisha during the time she was involved in raising him) and Taylor's only friend has been running like an eighteen-month campaign to systematically destroy her life.

Taylor seeks control in her life as a cape, being independent and standing tall, being too strong to fuck with. Brian seeks comfort in the belief that he remains normal, that nothing that hurt him has changed him, that he is above his trauma.

This doesn't help either of them, but nobody's giving them the means to actually deal with their shit.

Anyway, uhh, Sophia's got a batshit worldview? I dunno what's got her this way but it's clearly not good for her or, uhh, anyone around her. Maybe that's what she hooked Emma on to lead her down the "bullying Taylor" road, but why would Emma give a shit? And why would Sophia give a shit about Taylor?

Anyway. Next time, we see what the goddamn Purity stans are apparently fine with

[beansnsoup]

Request: where (for robin) reader asked her out in French or something but reader doesn't know French and only learned those words.

♡

"Tu es tout pour moi."

Summary: You've been trying to find a way to ask out your dream girl for weeks now. After finding out about her leaving French, you finally find your perfect technique.

Relationship: Platonic going on romantic

Warnings: fem reader because robin in gay so, fluff

You sat in your bed listening to the same different tapes over and over again, repeating the words it said.

Ever since Robin mentioned these tapes that she bought a long time ago, you've been fixated on learning these same languages to find a way to bond with her and maybe ask her out.

You've been pretty much in love with her since the first day you've met her.

So, the way she talked about how long she had these tapes and they way she helped decipher those secret codes and along with speaking other languages had you thinking if you were to learn one of those languages you could ask her out without it being awkward.

It would also be an awesome excuse to learn a new language you've been wanting to for a while now.

You caught her as she was locking up the video store that evening, "Robin, wanna go for a drive?" You asked her, awkwardly pointing over to your car.

She looked over to Steve, who normally gave her rides. He sent her back a thumbs up and a smile then looked at you to shoot finger guns.

She looked back and smiled, "Sure,"

Robin followed you and opened the passenger door, beginning to look through your cassettes. You thanked the Lord you didn't bring your language tapes.

She finally chose one and pushed it into the player, gradually turning up the volume as it started.

Because of daylight savings, it was still pretty light outside. It was also a weekday, and Keith only stayed open super late on weekends.

You thought it was the most perfect sky view. That wasn't the only thought going through your head right now though.

'What if she thinks I'm a total psychopath?'

'Maybe this was too complicated of an idea. It's just a confession.'

'What if I mess up? Would that be offensive to the French?'

'If this doesn't work out, I don't know what I'll do.'

You pulled up to Lovers Lake, "I know this looks super weird, but I promise you it's not."

She laughs at your awkwardness, "Not only lovers come here, y'know?"

"I do now,"

The two of you sat in silence. You felt like you just ruined it all. She probably assumed that you brought her here as a hookup or something.

You guys sat there for a while on the hood of your car until you finally opened your mouth,

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"This. I should've have asked you to come for a ride, this was stupid."

"Oh."

"No, no, not like that!"

Robin continued to sit there,

"I just meant that I had this whole plan, and I've been trying to think of the most awesome way to execute it for weeks. I even went to Steve for advice, which I rarely do. That's probably why he gave me the weird finger guns. Anyways, the point is that I finally got the courage to do thus but it all backfired in my face from overthinking, so I'm sorry."

Robin just looked at you. Normally, she was the one that rambled on and on, but she started to notice that you caught it from her and did it under anxious situations.

"I, uh," You started again.

Robin grabbed your hand, which was stretched out next yo you on the hood of the car, "I'm here to listen, Y/N."

You breathed in, "I learned French."

"Really?"

"I mean not the whole language just yet but a specific sentence."

Robin felt so giddy right now, she tried to keep her sanity for you so you could get through whatever you were trying to say.

"Can you say it? I want to see if my French has gotten any better, I've been listening to those tape more than I usually have, I don't know why though, sorry, you didn't need to know that much." She asked.

You gulped, you felt your face tingle, you knew you were nervous, but God, this was just pathetic.

"Um, okay."

You breathed out and looked out towards the lake.

"Tu es tout pour moi. Je t'aime vraiment, et je ne sais pas si tu ressens la même chose, mais j'avais besoin de te le dire."

Robin just looked at you, that how you knew instantly that she knew what you said and if she didn't she was slowly trying to decipher it.

That's when she randomly came in for a kiss, which you obviously returned. It had all worked out, and your stomach was full of butterflies.

"I like you too."

"Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better? More than a friend, right?"

"Yes, of course, more than a friend, I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't. You honestly are the best person I've ever met, and I'm pretty sure Steve was getting tired of me going on and on about you on the drives home. I mean, he did tell me so many times to just grow the balls and ask you out, but I was too scared. I'm so happy you drove me here today."

"I'm so happy you feel the same, I was terrified the whole way here."

She laughed, "I hope this doesn't affect the instances in town. In horror movies, one of the people that are a couple always dies."

"Wait, we're a couple?"

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I didn't know that we didn't have labels or anything, forget I-"

"No, no, Robin, I really like that."

"Really?"

"Yes Robin, I am now your girlfriend, I'd you'll take me."

"I will! I will, yes!"

I'm so in love with her bro

She cups you cheeks and pulls you in for another kiss.

[mrhowells]

Smallville 4x02 *chanting* clois clois clois cloisss

Why are they psychoanalyzing each other already lmaoooo

that's some quality yeeting😌

First of all, MOTHER. Second, imagine being able to pull off that orange jacket, I could never

"Lois!!😳😨" The queen doing queen shit while Clark is just standing there clutching his pearls, THEE DYNAMIC

Why is her dad so extra tho💀

I'm having so much fun right nowwww🤗 Have I mentioned that I love Lois? Because I love her a lot

Clark being super upfront with his parents never stops warming my heart🥹

name a more entertaining duo I'll wait

both Lana and Clark seem quite different from season 3, it's almost jarring

PLSSS imagine if he was wrong💀💀

Women supporting women, we love to see it😌

an understatement if I've ever heard one💀

"The awkward tension is just getting started." Lois I love you

I'm memeing the hell out of this episode just so you know

"I can see why you're in love with her." *the bisexual Lois agenda*

Clark: "Look you're really not the person I wanna talk to about this."

Clark, 5 seconds later: "So here's what happened-"

she looks so pretty here it's insane actually

"To keep an eye on me, is that it, boss?" ugh the way she says that is so hot don't ask me why

"My heart isn't exactly what it used to be." They keep reminding me and I hate it😭😭

Clark is having some unpleasant flashbacks right now🤡

watching Lionel get stabbed like whatever, he'll survive🤷🏻‍♀️ Anyway, back to what I was saying-

askajskajsak the old geezer💀😭

the love of my life everyone

"I don't know how you ever survived without me." I feel like she's saying that to me but also YES, Lois saving Clark since day one👏👏 (flash forward to Loisidiedwhenyouleft he literally CANNOT survive without her I'm-)

bless🥹

He's like gimme credit I did good work too Lois acknowledge meeee🥺

Chloe's like can y'all stop making prolonged eye contact I almost got murdered and I wanna go home👀

🙏🕯Manifesting Lionel in prison and out of commission for as many episodes as possible🕯🙏

Jonathan defending Lex while Clark won't have it? Oh, how the turntables...

"It's funny isn't it? After everything we've been through, I thought it would take us longer to get over it." OOUCH

"Us?" He's like in what universe-

"Yeah, you and Lois."

"Lois? She's bossy. She's stuck up, she's rude. I can't stand her."

Clark Kent, you beautiful beautiful clown🤡 Look at the face this mf made when he said the first part, "she's bossy😍😏😍"

"Do you believe in destiny?" "I don't want to."

yeaaah he really doesn't😬

The more Lex emotionally controls the situation when he's with Lionel, the less threatening Lionel is. Really makes you realize that he only has as much power as Lex allows him to have, if Lex stops caring (which I don't think he ever fully will but I digress), Lionel becomes irrelevant. Even if he still managed to outsmart Lex in whatever way, as long as Lex just shrugs it off like "Whatever old man, smart move I guess." any victory on Lionel's end really loses its impact🤷🏻‍♀️

I still want to know how old Jason is btw👀

[msfcatlover]

Y’know what? Jason deserves one non-traumatic win in my Reverse!Robins AU. I’m tying saving Eddie into the immediate follow-up to the Red Robin/”Bruce is ‘dead’” arc, and I’m using it to fully cement Jay’s relationship with Steph.

(Somehow this ended up a full overview of that relationship. Oops. Anyway, CW for allusions to the Tower fight, the Joker, & the Red Robin arc, and all the traumas one can expect to accompany those.)

After the fight at the Tower, Jason was a mess and trying to hide it. He could admit to Cass (can’t lie to Cass anyway) that Steph scared him, could admit to Damian that Jason wanted more training to ensure his own safety, could even admit (haltingly) to Duke that Steph wasn’t what Jason thought she’d be. But… Jason’s never been good at handling vulnerability, and on top of everything else there’s this irrational sense of betrayal, that the other batkids kept telling Jason how much he & Steph would’ve gotten along, how proud Steph would be of Jason, and it turns out that actually she hates him. Jason’s hero doesn’t care if he lives or dies, even if it’s by her hand. All of Jason’s siblings are fucking liars.  (Also, Jason doesn’t know what it’ll do to him if he opens up about his hurt, his conflicting feelings, his trauma, and gets brushed off. Everyone’s missed Steph so much, and it’s easy for Jason to imagine his pain being brushed off or downplayed as being at most a barrier to Steph’s return. It’s easier to just put on a brave face than find out the exact limits of his family’s love for him.)

Even after Gotham settles back into an uneasy peace, Steph the new power player & sometimes-villain reigning over Crime Alley, Jason avoids her. It takes Jason a few weeks to realize nobody seems to trust Steph around Jason; he hardly ever patrols alone anymore, and those patrols never go near her turf, someone always meets up with him if a chase takes Jason within spitting distance of the Alley, he’s not allowed on the few team-ups they have with her… and Steph is avoiding Jason too.

They do become more civil over a few accidental meetings. A few unexpected run-ins on patrol, where she basically ignores him. A few more where they have to work together, at least to win the fight. Jason decides to crash at a safehouse, Steph is already there (and a complete mess from a fight that went very, very wrong earlier in the evening), and Steph groans that she’s too tired to do this right now and can they please just ignore eachother and then never mention this again? A handful of times she rescued Jason from kidnappers, seemingly by accident, with slightly less plausible deniability each time. Once or twice Jason’s case found Steph in a rough spot and he jumped in to rescue her. The ear infection incident.  They can just about pass for friendly work acquaintances who’ve never beaten eachother so badly one of them threw up and then required emergency medical care.

(Steph does try to apologize at one point, when they were both getting a midnight snack from the same food vendor, getting as far as, “I refuse to let Batman & Nightwing set the standard for emotional honesty in my life, so I’m—” then a shootout started up a few streets over. She swore, shoved her burrito into Jason’s hands, and took off. Jay had to get Tim to tell him Steph didn’t fucking die, because she never even checked back in.) (Too busy doing emergency surgery on her own leg, and cursing that she absolutely is taking her emotional cues from Damian, because the idea of having that conversation when she can’t just disappear the second it’s awkward is more than she can deal with right now.)

Then the Joker happens. Steph stays at Jason’s side until he can walk on his own again. They have several tough conversations during that time, and there are moments when they both need space from eachother, but Steph rescuing Jason has basically turned her into a mental safety blanket for him, and Jason’s situation was close enough to Steph’s death that she needs to make sure he doesn’t die the same miserable way she did. She does go back to avoiding Jason for a while once he’s off his crutches, but only for a couple weeks (during which everyone guilts her for it,) before Jason tracks her down and shows up in civvies like, “Look, you can never see me again if you want, I just wanted to make sure we’re good. I mean, we’re cool now, right?”  (They both definitely still have hang ups & issues in their relationship, but yeah, they’re cool now. Or maybe it’d be more accurate to say they’ve been cool for a while, they’re just on the same page about it now.)

Bruce “dies.” The Red Robin arc happens. Jason gets stabbed, takes a dip in the Pit, calls Steph to ask her how to manage Pit Madness, which is why she was already on her way and in time to save him from… y’know, the other big traumatic thing that arc is known for.  I am going to cut Jason some slack and end the arc there. He already has his proof, Steph takes him back to Gotham, he crashes at her place while the Justice League tracks down Bruce. They have a Disney marathon and don’t talk about it over the most ridiculous ice cream sundaes they can make from supermarket supplies.  (Damian does find out, because he walked in on them talking around it when he stopped by to make sure they were both okay. Dami & Steph also end up having a heart to heart when he puts the pieces together and she runs after him to remind him not to take his anger out on the local criminals when he’s worked up like this. It’s only then, in the hall of a run-down apartment building at 4am, reassuring Damian that both Steph & Jason are going to be okay, that Steph realizes for the first time how small her big brother looks from her new perspective.) (Tank!Damian supporters DNI, that boy’s a beanpole, and Steph is already like 6ft tall without a Lazarus upgrade, she’s like 6′6 or something here.)

Jason reaches out to the Titans after Bruce comes home, and finds out that thanks to all Eddie’s dimension-hopping (and probably some weird timeloop/travel story arcs at some point, if we’re being real, it is comics after all,) even though Eddie & Jason were the same age when they met and Jason’s only just celebrated his 18th birthday, Eddie had apparently passed 20yrs of life at some point while Jason was gone and got dragged to Hell.

Jason will absolutely not stand for this. He calls Steph up and asks if she wants to help him bully the fucking Devil Himself.

13hrs later, Jason has his best friend back.  (Eddie’s just like, “Jay??? When’d you turn into a fucking giant? How long was I gone?!”)