#bc i felt so alienated from everyone else

[infintyonhigh]

Alien movie references in Heartbreak Feels So Good

Nope, 2022, dir. Jordan Peele (gifs by murraybaeman)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982, dir. Steven Spielberg

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[OLD ART ALERT] A COLLECTION OF SCENES FROM THE GILLIONS CATSCRATCH ARC THAT BROUGHT ME GREAT JOY. i love fishy chips especially when its just gillion being delirious and violent and hostile

[milo-is-rambling]

My mom was just like ahhh Im anxious to go out of my comfort zone and I was like you’re good how is this out of your comfort zone you’ve done this before and she was like why do you always judge my feelings and say I’m not allowed to feel that way I should feel some other way and I’m sitting here like :| as if she hasn’t done that to my my entire life and as if I didn’t mean you’ve done this before as a you got this sentiment not get over urself

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

If you are up for it could write more Justice League x Assistant reader?

That scenario did things to me honestly, and I can't find anything similar 😭

Maybe reader calls in sick and the each JL member goes to check on them unanounced (reader never told them were they lived but of course they'd know *sideeyes batman*) which end up on all the members questioning and pointing at each other *cue spider man meme*, because why are you at my darling's- I mean our Assistant's house!

Reader kicks everyone out except the gourmet chef batman brought to cook reader some chicken soup.

A Day in Life: In Health and Sickness

Synopsis: A day in life were you, the Justice League's assistant, find out that sickness and a bunch of obsessed superheroes are just too much to bear all at once.

Pairing: Yandere!Justice League X Assistant!Gn!Reader; Platonic!Alfred Pennyworth

Tw: Nonconsensual (not sexual) touching; A single mention of obscene acts; Kinda breaking and entering; Reader gets physically restrained; Kinda forced infantilization? But not really, just humiliation; Some members of the League might be out of character bc I don't know them well enough; I was sleepy while revising and editing this so I might fix any mistakes I didn’t see later; English is not my 1st language.

Word count: 2,6k

Requested? Yes.

Extra notes: Thank you so much for your compliments and the request!! Your suggestion really gave me inspiration to write as soon as I saw it. It's not exactly what you asked for but I hope it's the same vibe and you like it!! Also I’ve seen all the requests for a part 2 of “He's My Collar”, but as stated here, I didn't answer bc I’m working on it! I just didn't have any ideas yet!

General masterlist | A Day in Life - Series masterlist

Whatever hit you today, it sucks. Yesterday, in the afternoon, you had a mild throbbing in your head, but not exactly a headache, at night, fever hit you, alongside a cough. Medicine helped enough but today you still felt a little warm, your head hurt, your nose was somehow stuffed and leaking at the same time. You've been awake for an hour and still just couldn't get yourself to care for your basic needs like showering and eating, let alone go to work, so you called in sick. At least you would have some piece for a day.

Or that's what you thought, until you heard some tapping on your window, scaring the shit out of you, and saw Superman outside with a sympathetic smile and holding a pharmacy bag, a crate of water bottles and food.

Ugh, of course you couldn't actually have some peace.

You took a deep breath to prepare yourself and got up, walking towards you bedroom window, and tried sticking your head outside, hoping he wouldn't enter your home if you kicked him out before, but before you could do anything else, he supersped inside and suddenly was at your side, making you dizzier.

— Hey! I heard what happened. How’re you feeling? — The alien’s face showcased his concern on his furrowed brows and he took a step too close (any step in your direction taken by one of the heroes was already too close for you), extending his arm forward to place the back of his hand in your forehead. You took a step back but he didn't seem to mind.

— Uh, I'm fine. You didn't need to come here. — Superman shook his head.

— I wanted to help. Here, I brought som- — Doorbell. The hero looked in the direction the sound came from, most likely using his X-Ray vision to look through the walls and doors, and squinted his eyes. Oh boy. — You called someone? — His voice is weirdly calm, contrasting with the way he abruptly starts marching out of your room and to the door.

Earlier you thought the fast exertion of movements would be too great for you, but apparently adrenaline was on your side, enough to follow him around as if you were the visitor inside your own place.

— I didn't. — You respond flatly and holding back a groan from annoyance, since you also didn't invite him.

Superman immediately opens the door as soon as it's within his reach and what's on the other side surprises you more than when you got the job at the watchtower.

— Superman. — Batman didn't seem surprised, but he also never showed emotions other than anger. — (Y/N). This is Penny-One. — He is surely referencing the old man well dressed on his side. — He is here to take care of you. — You raise an eyebrow, almost speechless.

— T-Take care of me? — You helplessly watch them invading your residency, painfully aware there's nothing you can do. Superman crossed his arms.

— This is not necessary, I came here to do just that. — Superman’s protest unfortunately doesn't give you any hint of how this will all turn out, nor does it scare Batman and his friend away..

— You have your own responsibilities. — Batman simply states. — You should go.

Penny-One simply turns to you.

— It's a pleasure, Miss/Master/Mx (Y/N), even in your condition. Master Batman talks a lot about you. — You don't know what to stay and it probably shows, since no one waits much for your reaction before Penny-One is moving towards your kitchen and Batman and Superman continue with their argument.

You just go and sit down on your couch, questioning your life decisions and escape plans, which will have to wait until this damned curse leaves your body (and your home).

Your hands raise to rub your face and maybe give you some clearance, maybe wake you up from this nightmare, but keeping your eyes closed and sitting down only remind you of your condition. You feel worse or is it just your spirits? Either way, you let your body slide down until your side rests on the couch cushions, arms hugging your own body to try to have some warmth back. When did it become so cold?

At least their voices were low, as if trying not to bother you, it's a little soothing, especially with the promise of having food. Your eyes hurt just from staying open so you don't. At some point, some type of fabric is thrown over your body and a hand combs through your hair. You are too weak to do anything.

Next time you open your eyes, it's due to disturbing noises, your head is no longer on the arm of the couch and instead is laying on someone’s bare thighs. A pair of hands is running through your locks, and a really nice smell is in the air.

Did you fall asleep?

That would explain why your head is on fucking Wonder Woman's lap and she is looking at you lovingly. Also the fabric from before is Superman's cape.

You quickly shoot up, although just as fast, four or five pairs of hands, coming from seemingly out of nowhere — startling you even more — push you back down, you don't go without struggle, and soon, all hands disappear, green lights catch your attention and you can't move your body a single inch anymore. Somehow, you ended up restrained by a green and bright cocoon, as if you were soon to be a butterfly, only your face is free. Green Lantern’s construct.

— Hey, hey, calm down, hot stuff. I know she’s scary and you would never want to be close to anyone else but me, but you still need rest. — You're turned to the ceiling against your wishes. For some reason the fact that your whole body is covered doesn't give you the comfort nor the protection it should give you, instead, it reminds you of how vulnerable you are.

Your wide and paranoid eyes try to search for anything, since your head is being held in place. You can see Wonder Woman above you, glaring at something outside your line of vision, you are still in her lap. A bit of Aquaman’s blond hair on the bottom of your vision. And Batman, towering over you and the amazon, just observing as always.

— You can release them now, Green Lantern. — It's Superman's voice.

— He is not going to. — You see Batman saying at the same time another voice speaks the same sentence, making all of them turn in the direction of the sound, somewhere you can't see, but you recognize the voice. — He thinks they're weak and incapable of making decisions. — I'm sorry, who is weak and incapable of making decisions here? — He also wants to prove he is the only one capable of protecting and taking care of (Y/N), and impress them so they will fall right into his arms, call him a hero and give him a kiss… And other obscene things. — Batman smirks. Wonder Woman and another new and deep voice loudly laugh, the masculine voice being more obnoxious. Someone scoffs indignantly.

— Okay. Get out of my fucking head or I will make you. — The Lantern's voice sounds angry and you hear hurried footsteps. They wouldn't fight right here, right?! Right beside your sick body and in the middle of your crumpled apartament… It would make such a mess…

— I wasn't inside your head. Your thoughts were too loud, it's like you are screaming in my ear.

— I will make you scream! — You hear Superman superspeeding, probably getting in between the fighting duo.

— Ha- Green Lantern, calm down. No one will make anyone do anything here.

The agonizing feeling of restriction grows.

— WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE? — You scream in a husky voice, panting right after. Everyone is silent and the next second, the construct moves you around until you're sitting up, back to the back of the couch. You are still being held and manhandled, but at least you're not in someone's lap and you can see something other than your ceiling.

Martian Manhunter is standing a few meters away from you, Superman by his side. Wonder Woman was still sitting beside you and doesn't look like getting up any time soon, Green Lantern makes his way to sit down on your other side, placing his arm around you, gladly you can't even feel it. Batman is still standing on the side of the couch, his cape covering his body. Aquaman is sitting in your armchair, his face laid on his hand, watching amused, if not a bit annoyed.

It's so weird seeing all of them, suited up, in the middle of your living room, and in plain daylight.

— We came here to nurse you back to health. — Wonder Woman speaks.

— Uhh, don't you think this is a little too much? — The heroes look at each other as if looking for the issue.

— I mean, yeah. I could do it alone, but for some reason when I got here, these freaks had already broken into your house. — Freak Lantern says, pointing an accusing finger at the other freaks in question, the trinity, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. — Those two came in later. — He nodded at Martian Manhunter and Aquaman, not giving them a single look, his eyes solely on you. Like everytime he insists on overly making eye contact with you, it's a bit uncanny. — Worry not, beautiful. I will kick them out for you. — Superman and Wonder Woman snort at his arrogance.

— You could go with them. I'm fine, I don't need help. I’ve been taking care of myself for years and can still do it. — You've been nice long enough, they crossed the line, they invaded your apartment, which is so unprofessional, and you need to set limits. They just look at you with pity.

— I am are aware of my neglect. — Neglect? — But it's going to be different now that we are reunited… — Uh? What is Manhunter talking about?

— Exactly. History has proven how men are unreliable and indifferent to others. I'm the only one you need, darling. — Wonder Woman caresses your face. — I don't even know what they think they are doing here…

— What are you doing here, princess? Don't you have mommy issues to fix or a guy named Steve Trevor to talk to? — The amazon furrowed her eyebrows and glared at the one sitting on your other side.

— Don't listen to him, (Y/N). I left Steve a long time ago, when I met you. — Girl, why? Go back to your man! Leave me alone! — What about Aquaman? Doesn't he have a kingdom to rule? — The man in question dismissed her answer with a hand movement.

— I’m protecting Atlantis’s future by making sure none of you get any ideas and (Y/N) survives their illness. — Batman shook his head.

— I’ve already made sure they're taken care of. You shouldn't be here. There's more important matters for us out there.

— Then why aren't you there?

Their battle of egos is just too fast for your slowed down brain to process and try to formulate any form of strategy. Before their banter gets worse, the older man from before reappears.

— Your soup is ready, Miss/Master/Mx (Y/N). — Penny-One seems unbothered by the commotion around you, walking in with the source of the heavenly smell. Your mouth waters.

— Let me do it, Penny-One. — Wonder Woman gently offers and takes the bowl from him, along with the spoon. The Justice League makes sounds of disgust when they start watching her spoon feeding you (they wanted to be in her place).

You groan, complain, try to wiggle out of the construct but nothing works, especially with your fatigued and sick state. If you weren't claustrophobic before you might be from now on. You are clearly uncomfortable and practically begging to get out but for some reason they just won't listen. It gets to the point where as soon as you finish your soup — after realizing, again, that with those people it's just easier to surrender —, and take your medicine, Green Lantern’s temper apparently gets done with your whining and resistance, and he simply makes another construct. Now you have a pacifier in your mouth. It's your limit.

They start fighting again because some of them find it degrading, some like to hear your voice even if they know how close to cussing them out you are, and some think it's cute and prefer your quietness over your cries.

You can't move. You can't spit it out. You can't bite it off. You can't ask for help.

Green Lantern is rubbing your cheek while — slightly — mocking you. Wonder Woman is cooing at you, while trying to convince the Lantern to stop with his antics. Aquaman is clearly expressing he is on the Lantern’s side. Batman, Superman and Martian Manhunter are threatening him.

Frustration gets the better of you and the dam breaks loose. Now you are wrapped, with a pacifier and crying. Like a baby. In front of your bosses. In front of people who think you are vulnerable and need them. They're practically keeping you hostage. You didn't want them here. You told them no, countless times, and they just blatantly ignored your boundaries.

You have a pa-ci-fi-er. In. Your. Mouth.

And they are talking. They are ignoring you. They're been doing it for hours. No. Months. That's abuse.

This is the most emotion they ever got out of you and it immediately quiets everyone down. They're just staring at you, shocked. This whole thing is just a shitshow. A disaster. They're a curse. You are cursed.

It's so distracting that it makes Green Lantern lose his concentration, which is what fuels his ring’s power, and the constructs start dissipating.

You immediately get up and put as much distance between you and the team, who all have wide eyes and maybe had just now realized the gravity of the situation, while thinking about control damage.

You are searching desperately for how you could effectively kick them out, while also experiencing just the aftereffects of a new trauma, when it looks like it will get even worse. Flash zooms into the apartment.

— Hey, (Y/N)! Sorry I took so long! Busy Day. N-Not that I wouldn't quit anything and everything just to help you. I just now saw the notification that you took a day off today! W-What… W-What are you guys doing here…? — The speedster noticed after his rambles the he is not the only one in the middle of your living room, and points at the whole team, who is on the complete opposite side of you. They also point at him.

— You’re late. — Batman states.

— Slowest man alive. — Green Lantern calls out his friend.

Flash looks around as if gathering his thoughts and notices your distressed state. He turns completely to them, his back to you and him being between you and his team.

— What did you do to them? — At his demand, all of them start pointing at each other and giving some sort of explanation or their side of the story at the same time, turning it into unintelligible sounds, until your yell interrupts them.

— GET. OUT!

— But-

— OUT!

— But, (Y/N)-

— NOW! GET OUT NOW!

They grumble but comply. Penny-One, who was totally unfazed during the while ordeal, just sighs, and starts making his way with them. Until you take a timid step toward him and stop him.

— N-Not you… I-I mean the soup was really good and I don't think I will have the energy to cook later… I-If it's n-not bothering you… — The older man smiles placantinly at you.

— Of course, dear. I'm getting paid either way, might as well just finish my job here.

Like, comment and reblog 🥰

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@wandalfnation

[double--blind]

(SPOILERS) Ashley, self-esteem, and starvation

So, I adore Ashley. She's this intensely toxic, vicious, cruel, manipulative girl, and her psychology gives me hella brainworms. Andrew's not the only one whose head I wanna crack open and root around lol. She's thrown away the world just to keep her brother by her side, and she'll continue to do worse and worse for the same reason. She's pretty awful! I've been thinking about why, though. How did things get so bad? How did her soul get so dark?

We don't know everything (I'm waiting for those new eps patiently aND CLAWING AT THE WALLS AND FROTHING AT THE MOUTH but whatevs y'know whatevs I'm normal. I'm fine), yet what information we have been given is bumping around my brain like a DVD screensaver on hyperdrive

It's clear from the start that the roots of Ashley's issues lie in her horrible, neglectful upbringing, but it's hinted that even those outside of her family felt the same abt her. I'm lowkey even betting we'll learn later on that she was ostracized by her peers somehow. However, what's most disconcerting, I believe, is how little she was when the results of this alienation are first made apparent to us (bc kids aren't dumb; they notice this stuff oftentimes instinctively, impossibly young, before they even know what it means to be hated), and how devastating the consequences were.

(There's something decidedly childish abt her dream sequence in the "questionable" route—filled with crayon scribbles and rabbit plushies, the metaphors simplistic yet profound—which really hammers in how these sentiments are things that have made a home in her since childhood. Formative subconscious truths.)

Growing up unloved and noticeably unwanted by virtually everyone around her likely left her with a gaping hole in her heart that she'd spend the rest of her life trying to fill. She'd make friends, but she'd always worry that they'd leave her, that they'd betray her, nothing tangible or weighted enough in their connection to trust in its persistence. Why should she expect otherwise? Not even being bound by familial ties ensures affection if her parents are any indication.

Every lesson she'd ever learned had always taught her this: you are easy to abandon. You cannot love and be loved by virtue of your own worth.

You have to rip their affection from their clenched hands if you want it so bad.

This understanding carries with it an undercurrent of degradation, instilling within Ashley a constant, biting inferiority complex which will never fail to be a source of insecurity. She will always be put last. She was difficult to raise, so her parents gave up on raising her. She was difficult to get along with, so her friends gave up on getting along with her.

It's an odd cycle. She's difficult bc she needs to be to get attention, but bc she's difficult, she can't keep it. Not without having whatever fondness she's managed to cultivate within someone fray at the seams, volatile and prone to collapse, bleeding toxicity.

Hence, her relationship w/Andrew.

By being the only reliable constant in her life, caring for her and keeping her company, Andrew essentially became her only source of happiness, and she's since learned not to bother with anyone else. Still, it's dangerous to keep all your eggs in one basket; since he is all she has, she must protect her place in his life with even greater ferocity, which becomes a torturous ordeal when coupled with her damaged self-esteem.

It's apparent in her quarrels with Andrew that she needs constant reassurance that she is wanted in some capacity or perceived in some positive light (getting pouty when Andrew says he's "stuck with her", needing to hear that she's pretty, needing him to "choose her", wanting him to say he loves her back, etc. etc.), yet her insecurity remains, bc unlike her, he's got options. She doesn't think he needs her like she needs him. He's got a gf, their parents love him, her friends love him. Why would he settle for her? What if someone better comes along? Someone she can't scare away?

Wouldn't he just leave her like everyone else?

Even before getting locked in the coffin of their apartment, starvation's been a constant theme in Ashley's life. She's constantly aching for love, and Andrew's the only one who can feed her. When you're forced to fight for a bite to eat or suffer every moment you hunger, you become ravenous—covetous—when faced with food; you don't want the hunger to return, so you lock down the source of your sustenance, wary of its retreat. Ashley's in a permanent state of intense insecurity, always anxious that the love that gives her life will leave her.

Andrew knows Ashley better than anyone else in the world, and it's obvs to everyone and him how desperate Ashley is for him, but I don’t think Andrew has truly, consciously processed the depth of that desperation. It's there buried in his head somewhere no doubt, but rn, he doesn't operate w/the direct awareness that he is everything. He is brother, mother, friend, and soulmate. He is life and love, air and water, everything that is good in the world—everything that there is to justify existence.

It's heartbreaking, in a way, that it's so difficult for Andrew to convince her of his loyalty. This goes further than his tendency to hide his true feelings, bc when push comes to shove, he's at her beck and call. Objectively, he's hers. She doesn't see that bc all she sees is all the ways she can lose him.

So, she gets bratty. She gets pushy, possessive, territorial. Manipulative. Gets under his skin, guilts him to exhaustion, bc she can't see him staying any other way, bc he doesn't get it, bc it works. He bends to her will, for her sake. For now. It's always "for now", bc he'll start slipping away again, and then it'll get worse. She does worse.

Becomes worse.

[ladybender]

Jesus oh my god...

Futurama's second episode of this season "Quids Game" was a punch in the guts. In a good way! It goes right on par with episodes like "Cold Warriors" and "Game of Tones": an exploration of Fry's childhood, this time through the lens of mean aliens making him relieve his 8th birthday party games - this time to the death!

I have a lot to say about this episode so buckle up!

Let's start off with some minor complains I have for this one, which are pacing, stakes, and Leela's characterization (in a particular scene).

The episode really flew by so fast, almost at a break-necking pace, and the games felt too short and jam-packed because of that. The emotional weight of the end of each game hits hard because with every one a beloved character dies. There managed to find the time to get the reaction for the major ones (Kif, Leela's parents and grandmother), which is great, but the episode moves so quickly and there is little more time to absorbed it all.

Though, about this issue, I wanna say that I often feel like episodes are either going by too fast or too slow the first time I watch them and it usually doesn't feel the same from a second watch onward. so this is really a minor one that might not even be an problem for me later on, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

moving on to stakes, with this I mean that I originally thought, before the episode aired, that the end goal of the death dame was that the winner would get a prize. A birthday gift for example, and it would have incentivized everyone to go on and even play dirty (which, in retrospect, seems like a really smart thing to put in! compare everyone trying to get an advantage to Fry absolutely refusing to cheat, and pack an even bigger punch with that ending). I suppose playing to survive is motivation enough, but I think it undermines the "wants" of most other characters, and since this was a big coral episode (which is absolutely a strength! I can only imagine how hard it must have been to put together, wow!) I would have loved to see them striving to win, guess what their “birthday wish” would have been, maybe even learn a few of them along the way.

The third iffy thing I want to mention is Leela in the scene in the kitchen. There are seven characters left in the competition and only four baseballs to find to win the round. Leela is panicking trying to find one and she begs fry to cheat and find it for her since he already played when he was a kid and knows the house. Now this conflict was SO good and ALMOST perfect, but whyyyy oh why was Leela so ready to leave Fry behind??? doesn't make sense to me??? I know she was scared and upset bc she had just lost her family and that probably pushed her to act irrationally, but I just can't see her only wanting to keep herself alive and not Fry, especially when an easier and stronger solution is RIGHT THERE.

Have Leela go to Fry already with one of the baseball (that she might have found in some crawled and ridiculous place, to show how desperate she is to win and survive. if you have the wish giving stakes it's even better because you can imagine she'd use her gift to bring her parents back). in the meantime, the other characters find two other balls so there is only one left, and NOW Leela begs Fry to cheat to find the last one and win with her. It's even more emotional, Leela tells him she doesn't want to lose him too but Fry categorically doesn't want to cheat, and in the end tells Leela to win without him, sacrificing himself for her. Bender finds the last ball in the fridge and the episode continues just like we saw (with Bender tossing the ball to someone else right before being pulverized lol. like I said, Bender should be cheating like MAD in these games, really drive home the concept).

I wanna make it clear that these complains don't really turn me off from the whole episode, they are just my free flow of thoughts on stuff that i thought could have been stronger.

But now for the meat. This episode was phenomenal!!! so much good Fry's family characterization and SO much to unpack for Fry as a character. Cody Ziglar has such a spot on take on Fry, it was so validating seeing this episode and putting together all the little pieces of Fry's psyche I’ve picking out for years now, converging into one.

It seems superficial at first glance, but this really runs deeper than it looks. Fry has always been earnest but insecure, proven and proven again in countless episodes. You expect a person goofy and easygoing like Fry to go ham at his birthday and celebrate with all the people he loves, but we find out Fry doesn't like his birthday and feels bad about being put at the center of attention, and it all goes deeper and more upsetting from there.

Adding to all of this and speaking about Fry’s parents, especially his mom, I wanna add that it’s such a realistic conflict it was painful to watch – she wanted to give her son the chance to be a winner, she had no idea how the situation would turn against him. Sometimes a good day of parenting could be the kid’s most terrible experience of his life, and that’s brutal but the parent meant well even if they ruined things for their kid. It’s so sad Fry never got to see how much his mom and dad did for him, and she wanted him to feel like a winner, but this isn’t a story with an easy resolution. It’s bittersweet and it's insane and this last scene ruined me fr, like just look at this what the hell

This exploration of Fry goes hand in hand with everything we know of him. it seamlessly adds another layer of understanding that I’m honestly not even sure I can unpack in a single post, because there is so much to say and draw conclusions from, starting from the very first episode and ending with Meanwhile. From his relationship with his parents and his brother, to his love life and friendships, from his view of himself as a loser to the way he's always striving to better himself while always staying true to himself, trying to achieve his goals the hard way instead of finding an easy way out. Think the why of Fry, Parasite Lost, TKOS, the sting, godfella, my three suns, BBS, cold warriors, and on and on and on. It’s building together a picture of Fry’s character that’s so complex and worth exploring.

With this episode we have a new fundamental facet of him, and for this alone it’s an amazing episode.

I’ll mail my therapy bill to the writers, thank you

And thank you for reading, let me know your thoughts and opinion, I wanna know what y’all thought about this episode

[devilart2199-aibi]

IDW collection reading update! :D 📖 (Fixed!)

Phase 2 volume 4 done! This volume included: Monstrosity, RID issues 12-18 and MTMTE issues 14-16!

I ended up reading all the way to Phase 2 volume 6 before finishing this update so my notes are a bit scattered! Anyway! As usual my thoughts are below :3 ⤵️

Monstrosity:

This story is set in the past, when Optimus has assumed leadership on Cybertron after the senate and pervious primes were killed.

This story is, I dunno... For some reason I can't really get into these?? It feels... edgy?? Idk, I feel like that's not the best way to describe it. But there's something about the vibe with these ones in the past (like Autocracy and this one).

Of course everyone is becoming the characters we know since this is in the past. So there is going to be a lot of fumbling and growing from them and things that seem out of character. But given their situation at the time, i can't be super harsh on odd decisions.

They have to deal with the senate and their corruption, as well as that from the previous primes, the Decepticons uprising and wanting to take over, Cybertron running out of resources aaaaand I feel like something else I can't remember rn 🤔 but a lot is going on!! Haha.

There is a scene that references the OG animated movie where they toss Megatron out of Astrotrain and he goes "I still function...!" Which was a pretty cool homage tho.

But this kinda felt like a whole way to just show how badass Megs is meanwhile Optimus is going through it on Cybertron 😂 It was entertaining and interesting at parts, but some things I was 'eh' about

RID: 12-16:

Before i go on, I'm sorry, but... this Megs panel is giving me the same energy as that little alien guy that was in the news months ago 🤣 Now actually⤵️

Megatron returns!! This story was very entertaining!! I feel like I can usually guess where something is going, but I was surprised by a lot of the twists here! There was so many!

The character deaths had me shook! 😭 Wheeljack ahhhh!!! Metalhawk!! Also everything with Prowl and the Constructions! O_O;

I'm sorry Prowl 😔 I was pretty surprised when they started killing off the Decepticons at first, but then went: "Well, I guess he's being super ruthless now" I couldn't see you were brainwashed!! 😭🗿To my defense, him teaming up with Arcee and given Arcee's record, it kinda seemed like the natural progression of things lol 💀

Two things I kinda have mixed feelings about tho are:

1. Arcee just casually being part of the Decepticon gang and no one questioning her being there?? She then easily kills the guy controlling Devastator and that was like... Megatron's big plan. Why didn't she do it sooner? I imagine it was to draw out Meg's, but still it seemed weird.

2. Starscream killing Metalhawk after Metalhawk came to save Starscream. It's in his character and everything, and I'm happy that he did it bc it shows who he is. But OOF I thought he was leaning a different way for a bit and that I had Starscream wrong, But no, he's greedy boy. (I was starting to like Metalhawk T_T)

Anyway! Good guy Swindle!! 🥹

MTMTE 14-16:

💀💀💀💀💀 BIG SAD. But!!! It was a super interesting story!! I really enjoyed learning about Overlord and Chromedome.

Chromedome becoming Trepan's apprentice in the past was crazy!! :O And the whole scene with him and Prowl in Prowl's office. When Prowl asks/threatens Chromedome to go into Overlord's mind 😙👌 *chef's kiss* GET 'EM CHROMEDOME!! 💪👊🔪

The whole thing about how the Phase Sixers are made was very interesting too!! This frame ⤵️ Meg's saying this made me lmao 😂 I can now see the thing between him and Overlord better now.

As for Overlord getting out and obliterating some of the crew... ughhhhh 😭😭😭 Pipes man!! Ratchet protecting the medibay was awesome. Best doctor 🚑😌

I was shocked during the fight with Overlord that Magnus got so injured!! I've read ahead already, but I was sweating it, I thought he was gonna die too 😭😭 Overlord goes right for your spark man 💀

Luckily they got Overlord back to his containment cell, but- 😭😭😭😭 LITTLE MAN 😭😭😭 Why'd he have to hop in there to get the sword??? OTL

Then Chromedome blowing it up once the cell disengaged from the ship 😭 It was a perfectly painful sequence! 👏

When I saw the scene with Whirl and the cannon/ blaster shooting asteroids, I knew it would come around 😔

Also!! Learning that Chromedome has had other deep connections with bots (idk if Brainstorm meant Conjunx' specifically) and given them his innermost energon before and that's why he's dry!! Excuse me as I sob 🤧🤧🤧🤧😭😭😭😭 and then he makes himself forget!!! UGHH OTL My heart man!

The tape that Rewind made too!! 😭🤧

Drift taking one for the team too by getting banished 😔 he's a real one. Also pls come back.

RID 17-18:

We got more Shockwave lore here and I'm a big Shockwave enjoyer so I was very happy!! More heartache of course tho 😢

Him pitching/making the Jhiaxian academy of advanced technology is huge. Then all the experiments he did once he was turned purple 💀💀💀

Him going to Dai Atlas and injuring him before the attack on the senate so that he would escape death was a cool surprise. He's still in there ;_; ahhhh.

There is another story that happens in current time where Bee gets turned into Goldbug, but I think he's called "Goldfire" here? 🤔 He really got injured during the whole thing with Meg's so they had to fix him up with pieces of his old earth form.

It was cool to see included in the story :3

Final Random Thoughts:

This volume had a bunch of great stories in it! And I learned quite a bit about characters I like!

Though it was sad, I'd say my favorite story was the mtmte one with Overlord (The Overlord arc?). The art is always fantastic and so is the story!

I look forward to reading more and I'll be making another reading update very soon since I'm already on volume 6!

I didn't want to lump them all together bc I like using images as the story breaks and Tumblr only let's you use 10 per post 😔 Also... I ramble quite a lot haha, so 3 volumes worth would definitely be too much! 😂

Anyway! See you next time! 👋

[ganondoodle]

i know i said i wouldnt be ranting about totk anymore, but i realized i didnt really count the sage dungeons as story (dont ask me why) so i thought im gonna write a better summarized version of my opinion about totk (i have around 60% of the game, all lightroots, not yet all shrines (missing like .. 20 or so, know the reward), not all krogs (dont know the reward), not all mayoi (half know the reward?) )

(in no particular order)

good stuff (in my opinion)

the. MUSIC! god the music is good, it was good in botw too but now with much more different bosses it really is probably one of my fav soundtracks of all time (most fav are all three phases of the end fight, the pre-fight to that, the build up one before all of those, Frosgeira (wind tempel boss) the glorious mASTER KOGA and more tbh)

the build up and end boss fight(s) are fantastic, i dont think im ever not gonna have my heart racing when approaching it (despite now skipping almost the entire way bc i set a teleport thing right before it) just bc the build up is so well made and the music(again) is such a banger and the fight(s) itself is so fun too, tbh i keep wanting to play it just bc its so fun

i LOVE how many themes play into the music (endfight alone had so many layers, fav probably is ganondorfs classic theme and calamity ganons both in the same piece among much more, and daruks theme in the fire temple)

(edit) YOU. CAN. TOUCH. DA. DRAGONS!!!!

ganondorf

ganondorfs design (x3)

ganondorfs weapon designs

ganondorfs voice (japanese)

everyone elses voice (japanese)

all voices (german)

thE YIGA!!! i love everythign about them and am so happy they got to be more than just some mini mission

(edit) also the fact that they get zonau tech to work without any special ghost powers is so ????

(edit) koga can summon and use zonau tech unlimited?? hes so cool

NO stealth mission!! (as far as im aware)

bosses are very different from each other

main dungeons are not too short and not too long and mostly fun (mostly bc i personally didnt like the gerudo one), i love that you can still somewhat cheese them and do them your way

sages felt like they got a bit more involved

(edit) you gotta do more stuff before getting to the actual dungeons and i really like that, feels less like a fetch quest but that you are actually helping

(edit) each sage is actually there in the dungeon and is required for it, which is great!

each settlement saw a much bigger danger/change (tho that has more impact if you have played botw) and its problems felt much more real

shrines are well varied tho i think overall a little easy (only got stuck on two so far and later solved them easily bc when i first started them i was tired and exhausted, no brain left lol)

NPCs felt less flat + more bigger sidequests that felt like they had more impact

cool new monsters + designs

the underground was pretty appropiately creepy

the sages abilities are neat

you can refight bosses!!

stable points system is a neat way to encourage you using them

weapon fusing is neat

(edit) the forest of the krogs being corrupted like that is both creepy and a neat nod to oot

(edit) the vai gerudo outfit being gone!! (one) evil has been defeated

(edit) the health bar going so far off the middle in ganondorfs second phase is honestly just funny hnjdfdjk unfortunate that you only need the master sword and with a few perfect dodges his health melts like butter in the summer

(edit) the music when dragondorf transforms sounds so sad .. its probably meant as a oh no world is actually ending sad but i like to think of it as a oh god what did he do to himself sad

the scene where rauru seals ganondorf kinda fruity

(graphic, animations and the overall world is still fantastic)

bad stuff (in my opinion)

everything zonau they feel forced into every bit of the world and its history (i know them being somewhat alien is intentional but not like that) it feels crammed into places they werent before and shouldnt be and it makes it all feel very artificial

the glyphs/dragon tears/memories really ruined alot for me, while it gave you insight as to what happened, it felt like it showed you too much and too little at the same time and i think it would have worked better if it was all in text for once if even at all, so the past stil stayed a mystery and youd be left wondering

timetravel .. really wasnt necessary and felt more like an excuse to get rid of zelda + make her the poor little sacrificial girl again + and to make her turning into a dragon as tragic as possible, like nothing but a stepping stone to the big reveal tm

shiekah tech being not just fully irrelevant but practically erased, wiped off the world (i know about the literally last guardian parts in hateno, it feels more like an oversight tbh, purah technically using it ... tho i dont think she ever calls it that, the purah pad is jsut the sheikah stone but worse), there being no good explanation, no remains, nothing as to why it would suddendly stop working and why even the titans and ESPEICALLY the shrine of life would be destroyed, if anything why wouldnt you enshrine it as a memento to history it was such a focus in botw and so well integrated into the world that it being fully gone, not even old overgrown, or visibly reused to build homes etc., or remains of how they built the og shrines in the underground feels like a HUGE missed opportunity (seriously it would have been so easy to make the ancient shiekah base their tech on old zonau tech, without stealign the gocus but buildign a connection)

all of the continuity problems, totk feels like botw didnt happen and the excuse of 'they didnt want to confuse new players' doesnt make a lick of sense in my eyes bc; its supposed to be a sequel, if you want it to be a standalone game then dont call it a sequel- if you start to play a game with the sequel instead of the first part its your own damn fault if you get confused; if anything, it would have been a good opportuntiy to make people interested in botw so theyd buy and play that one too

ganondorfs character is very flat, you basically get to know nothing about him (yuno even calls that out midgame but its never elaborated upon nhgfrdfhkk)

the zonau and their kingdom of hyrule is presented as this so perfectly good thing to such a degree it turns creepy, the end cutscene with mineru going poof was kinda uncomfy to watch tbh

the reward for all shrines being essentially a reveal as to who the hero in the tapestry was and it being, of course, some weird half zonau is the lamest answer to a mystery i didnt want an anwser too, it doesnt feel like it came naturally either (again my point of the zonau being forced into everything)

the shrines (zonau) feel so much more unnatural than the shiekah shrines, alien in a bad way and not in a good way + really are like a bad reskin of them, their sudden appearance and use is so much less logical

back in botw i was doubtful of if the shiekah tech wasnt going to far too modern tech and cause it all to feel like a bad mix of modern tech and medival fantasy, but they balanced it perfectly (tho the eponator zero was very much the limit imo) but the zonau tech .... oversteps that line i think, it really does feel, more than anything else, that it was just bc they wanted the stuff to be in there bc it might be fun to play around with, im not against that kind of stuff mind you im all for fun, but it feels a little like they thought of a box with endless stuff to play with first and a zelda game second (if you get what i mean)

quite a few quests or things in the game seem like they are more and then end in a dead end (the worst of all is impa saying she wants to go research what could help zelda turn back, and i was excited and convinced that shed give me a quest to find some mcguffin that would do that after i beat ganon but there wasnt anything you could actually do; less bad one but disappointing nonetheless the dongos were mentioned and treated like this big awesome thing from alot of NPCs all around the map and then when you find them they are bascially just gem vending maschines)

the way zelda turns back and link gets his arm back is incredibly unsatisfying, none of them even have something like a scar, or mark from it all, zelda spent thousands of years as a dragon (a transformation that was said to cost your soul but i guess that wasnt true) and link had his arm bascially eaten by miasma and he gets it back like it was never lost, zelda returns all intact as if nothing happened, getting blasted by some magic tm by two ghosts that were supposed to be long gone is the solution to all problems!!

(edit) link losing an arm wouldnt just be super intersting but also lend itself well to lead up into the next game where his prothesis is the focus and source of abilities

(edit) zelda got done so dirty, instead of her actual interests and character to shine she just gets shoved into yet another crisis surrounded by strangers in a world that looks like hers but isnt, and all she does is beg the ancient sages to swear to help link and sacrifice herself again (can you call that fridging? bc she sure feels like she got fridged) i like zelda and i dont like how much i didnt care about her and tbh im angry at the game for that

(edit) both link and zelda not even slightly changing in the years btween botw and totk kinda boring, like a haircut can only do so much

(edit) sonia really is the wife that dies to make husband sad thing isnt she? i get that gan had to get his hands on an enigma stone but i feel like there had been better ways to do that, the fact that she dies that easily is almost funny honestly, why does ganondorf even have weapons when he can just one punch people to death (tho i find it funny to imagine he can literally just kill people in one punch but hes too prideful to do it most of the time so he always uses weapons to look more cool)

(edit) so many new characters that you barely get to see or interact with, i really ... couldnt get myself to care much

(edit) zonau tech being so irrelevant to the games story while its also the focus is .. weird, its really just play doh for the players and nothing else honestly

(edit) monsters mining sonanium feels strange bc ... they dont do anything with it? the best thing i can think of is that they were told to do that so link cant .. upgrade his battery thignies? but then again you could just destroy the mines and remaining constructs to stop it .... also you really dont need anything zonau tech related to beat gan?

(edit) ganondorf beign so utterly uninterested in their tech is weird considering how he dealt with shiekah tech (and we KNOW it can get corrupted) he should be a tech nerd tbh

my twitch VoD of the first time beating the game getting muted at the credits despite me talking over it

nitpicks (in my opninion)

(edit) ganondorf should have a bit more of a boar inspired design, as treat, i think

(edit) the enigma stone wandering back to ganondorfs forehead even after transforming is? weird? i guess an excuse for da epic last stabby but still? (how cool would it have been to have to plunge into his mouth and break it there or something)

(edit) the underground gets a lil old after a while, the fact that its pretty much the same everywhere aside from some .. very strange flowing magma is a lil boring

(edit) ganondorf could have gone way more crazy with abilities and all that, imagine hed spwan multiple miasma arms on himself when you get him to a certain level of health

(edit) i miss unique weapons, there arent even normal axes around anymore, everything is about fusing really, i miss the cool shiekah tech weapons

(edit) the forest of the krogs being largely irrelevant is kinda weird

(edit) mineru being the sage of spirit still is kinda meh, the robot is neat but i thought tauro or purah would be the surprise sage tbh

(edit) the bosses were a little easy (i did boldo gohma rather early and did it without even getting hit)

you cant talk to koga normally :(

you cant find koga again after the last fight :(

you cant refight him (to my knowledge) :(

i find it very strange that yuno seemingly lost daruk shield, despite him having inhereted it in botw

the sage powers are not .. very great integrated, while its fun to haven them run around and help you fight, to actually use their powers you have to chase after them, something that in the heat of a battle is very annoying to do, constantly activating the wrong on or them losing their charge up when they get knocked over is like trying to herd a wild pack of geese while a three headed dragon is shotting laserbeams at you

some widlife just disappearing all of the sudden is very strange (like the rhino in hebra)

some new houses or settlements would have been cool, that the material things at the sides of roads are really only for you to play around with and not to build anything that lasts

you cant fight ganondorf (non dragon, even the dragon is locked to that evening sky) in the sunlight, night or rain, i would have loved to fight him at various times of day

their refusal to show any kind of blood is honestly turnign serious scenes into very awkward ones, sonia just getting punched and she dies with not even like, losing some spit from the force or something, or the fact when you defeat ganondorfs second phase he acts mortally wounded but doesnt even look scratched is just :/

amiibo stuff while neat being included its really mostly just bloating your inventory, if i wanted 5 vaguely different link outfits then i would have gotten the amiibo for it

why hide the -now-totally-not-phantom-ganon-armor- behind such a long questline and then .. have that NOT be upgradable

they put in a house building thingy and then not let you have a roof or a tree or something :(

at some point stable points jsut get you more and more of those free staying over night tickets that i maybe used .. once at the very start and now its just accumulating in my inventory

only one new horse coat pattern :(

satori now only being a thingy that shows you caves is kinda boring, i loved the mystery around it in botw (additionally, that it shows you caves you have completed already kinda sucks)

the end of the shrines isnt that cool anymore, speaking to a mummified monk that gives you essentially his last remains of life energy is so much cooler than a statue of the oh so awesome god king and his wife

the many references and reuse of old names is neat but together with timetravel etc. it easily leads to confusing and fighting among fans for who is more 'right' and its just .. tiring

(edit) considering how much of the advertising was about the sky islands i wished there were more and bigger ones, the underground (that was a little one sided after a while, it all looking the same rly) could have been alot smaller if the sky was bigger instead

(edit) i wished there was more of a sense of .. lost life in the ruins you find, from all races, the ancient ruins are jsut some bridged and ceremonial stuff and i wished there were more like .. houses, like people actually lived there and it not being all around beign a platform for you

(edit) the fact that the half zonau hero exists mean either rauru and sonia had kids but those were clearly not important enough to ever show nor mention, or there were other mixing of them before they all mysteriously died out the fact that the ancient hero was half zonau means their genes survided till then but somehow it never came up? the tapestry still exists and impa and purah say like its a well known fact that the hero looked like that (not at all close to any modern species) when you talk to them while wearing it (the fact that the hero armor thingy is very reminiscemt of ganondorf is like some backtreading bc we were theorizing about the hero having been ganondorf once and they wanted to stop that .. but the more funny thing is the HC of its a descdendet of rauru and ganondorf nhjdfknhdgkfnhkfd) (edit to add to the HC; the game being a big battle about child support is funnier than it should be idk if nintendo knew what they were doing adding details like that)

all in all it just feels like missed opportunities, lost potential, and more a game build around some game mechanics they really wanted to get into than telling a neat story, espeically so bc they called it a sequel, most of my complaints wouldnt be there if it was some alternate thing instead

i probably forgot stuff but if i think of more i will add them later with a little note that it was added in an edit (sidenote, i find it funny how much more nuance that whole conflict would get if rauru and ganondorf were bitter exes bfdrjfbdfndk)

[space-stone-rose]

So, I’m gonna have to take a break from my insane reading streak bc finals are just around the corner. But, I thought about making a short recap of the three books I’ve read in these past days

The clockwise man

It was a cool book, I didn’t like it as much as the next ones, though. But maybe that’s part of the charm? It felt like the doctor was somewhat harsh and rose was written quite dumb, she’s not dumb. There was a kid named Freddie, he was nice but a little quirk was him being hemophiliac, tf. Anyways, I got carried away. The plot is: the doctor and rose arrive in London 1920, they stumble upon a man who has just been robbed, but the marks left by the burglars look mechanic. Eventually we discover it’s the dudes from the episode: The girl in the fireplace (I think it was called. Yk, the Madame Pompadour episode), and we know it bc there’s a ticking noise even if there’s no clock around. But the twist? Are they the real villains? Or is someone else behind a bigger scheme?

The monster inside

The doctor and Rose crash on a desert like planet, as they begin to walk they get ambushed by scary looking space policemen. They’re under arrest for trespassing. What? Turns out the planet is actually being used as a jail. But as they accept whatever will happen to them, they get separated. Aliens go in one jail, humans in another, which by the way, is on a different planet (but on the same system). The doctor works on how to get Rose back, and Rose finds out there’s Slitheen on board. Well, they’re not Slitheen, but every raxacoricofallapatorians looks the same to her, and uh oh, them being on board with her? That means trouble

The winner takes it all

The doctor and Rose are back on Earth after Rose finds out her mum has won an all inclusive, everything already paid for, vacation. At the same time, there’s this new video game everyone’s talking about. Sick graphics, quite difficult, almost impossible to beat; then the doctor comes along and beats Mickey’s high score. Turns out the aliens people killed in the game were real, and the graphics are sick but in a different manner now

[londonfog-chan]

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader: Rite Here, Rite Now Part 2

I listened to Square Hammer at least 57 times this week trying to figure out how to describe it in like two sentences pls send help.

Part 1 , Part 2 (You are here)

***

If someone told you that you’d be sitting in a stranger’s garage, white knuckling your linen skirt while your crush was playing - on his own actual guitar - a stupid song you wrote for him, you’d have called that person a liar and bitten them for playing with your emotions.

You were in hell. This garage was hell. Not Eddie though. He was pure heaven, like having the real honest to god Eddie Van Halen rocking out next to you (a crush you’d harbored since 1981 when he married your favorite daytime television actress. Eddie Munson resembled Van Halen perfectly in your mind and you tried your damnedest to look cute enough to be his Bertinelli). Despite the fact that Corroded Coffin was positively butchering your melody and holding you hostage to replay the same bars over and over again, you tried to remain positive and focus on the fact that you had made Eddie smile with something you’d made for him.

It seemed that he was obsessed with your piss poor excuse of a song. He was enthusiastically playing along to it within minutes of hearing the first few notes. You got to see him shred on his guitar, and Eddie had even proudly told you what kind of guitar it was when you asked: a 1984 BC Rich Warlock, his “black beauty”, and you still had no idea what BC Rich meant but the full name had the word “warlock” in it and that sounded so fucking wicked. You liked warlocks. And you liked that Eddie had a warlock.

There wasn’t anything he could do wrong. Ever since you came to Hawkins, Eddie had been your dream boy. He treated you like a person, someone worthy of kindness despite the fact you wore baggy clothes and a sullen expression all the time. Everyone else said hateful, ignorant shit about you. It wasn’t easy being the new kid in town, and you did this same song and dance often moving from place to place. Never quite fitting in. Skirting on the outside of groups, always the lone wolf, until the day your world changed when you came to school with your Sony Walkman headphones blasting Anthrax and a very handsome stranger stopped you in the hall by your locker to talk thrash metal.

Said handsome stranger was still torturing you with the wrong kind of sound you’d had in mind for “Square Hammer”. Admittedly you weren’t a thrash metal aficionado. Your tastes were more fantastical, glam and glitz and big theatrics were what you liked best about music, especially when it came to metal. The more flashy aspects fascinated you because they were everything you didn’t have it in you to be. You were the antithesis of flashy. Square Hammer was your poor attempt at breaking into Eddie’s world, try as you might to listen to bands like Megadeth and Sepultura, you couldn’t help but to imagine more grandiose sounds for the vision you had for his song. Metal to you was like reading Poe or Stoker. Dark and mysterious, alien to you, that you couldn’t help but envision something similar for Corroded Coffin.

“Is something the matter sweetheart?”

You felt warmth on your hand. A veiny hand with a mood ring enveloped yours, and you looked up to see concern written all over Eddie’s face as his big sad eyes stared down into your soul.

“Huh!?” You exclaimed. “Oh yeah… I’m fine…”

You tried to put a false smile on your face to hide the fact that you were being eaten up with the ick at the unpolished sound. But Eddie saw right through you.

“Not with your hands looking like you’re ready to rip your skirt up.” he said, standing close to you, “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… I don’t want to sound like a cunt…” you mumbled.

“Hey… you won’t sound like a cunt.” Eddie said, “We’re musicians. If something is going wrong with the vision you have to tell us so we can make it better. We're a team, that includes you. Your input is valuable, and we want to hear it.”

You grimaced. His gentle words weren’t very reassuring. Especially not when you were hiding your mean perfectionist thoughts and trying but failing to be this image of a cute, cuddly creature that Eddie would fawn over. But you knew: he wouldn’t relent and let you stay quiet. He’d get the truth out one way or another, or you would just blurt it out in a shitty way.

“Okay… Well, it’s just that every time we start I know the intent is to let the Casio speak up for itself, and then everyone else just jumps in…” you began.

Eddie nodded, encouraging you to continue as the guys came over. They crowded you and they keyboard, staring at you as they listened intently.

“... I hate it. It’s making the song way too jarring. For the vision I had for this, you’d want to warm everyone up a bit, not scare the shit out of them with every guitar and percussion line dog piling on at once. Dougie’s bass line is also way off, too choppy and it doesn’t get to exist and unfurl. And the worst part is that the Casio is way too weak in the intro. If you want it to have a voice it’s going to need back up really badly during that first fifteen seconds to allow the listener to really lean into the first verse. I get that you want to pack a punch and beat the shit out of some eardrums, but do it gradually, otherwise it just sounds like a bunch of sloppy noise.”

You were just blabbering at that point, trying to convey poorly what you had envisioned and how you imagined the whole ensemble would sound in your head. Not once did you dare to look up and see what expressions the boys were making as you continued to dress down their rendition. Eventually, you got so tired of hearing your own voice you began to quiet down. That was it, you thought you fucked everything up, and that they would all tell you to get the hell out of Gareth’s garage and never come back.

But to your surprise, the boys were actually all deep in thought. Listening intently to your criticism, and from the looks of things plotting. Hands on chins. Strategizing as if they were looking at an invisible chessboard. It was similar to how the group operated during a particularly intense one-shot, evaluating the miniatures as they were laid out on the map, quietly strategizing each player’s next move and brains working overtime to visualize every possible outcome.

“What if we add a bit of a light duet to the beginning with the Casio?” Eddie asked you suddenly, “Like if I follow along with you just low enough to give you that extra oomph, but really allow you to let the keys shine.”

“Um… I think maybe it could work.” You began.

“Y’know Ed, I think even a slide at the beginning could work with both the Warlock and the keys.” Interjected Dougie, then to you he said, “I kind of get what you mean, by itself the keyboard sounds too fucking lighthearted, you want to really let the intro get a chance to warm everyone up before diving right the hell into it.”

“Honestly yeah, as it stands, ‘Square Hammer’ is almost psychedelic kitsch.” Gareth said, his leg nervously striking the bass pedal and making it boom along time to his leg shaking, “Not what comes to mind when we consider the direction we want to go. But I feel like working more metal riffs, maybe let that bass purr a little and the Warlock work her magic, we could salvage it from being total shit.”

“It’s not that bad to be considered kitsch.” Jeff interjected. “I think it has potential to be at least our one hard rock track if we can come together to add that metal magic-…”

You were shocked. Completely flabbergasted as the boys continued to talk amongst themselves. They weren’t acting like giant man babies about your criticism, and instead were meeting it back with critique of their own. As if they wanted to engage with what you created, regardless of if they all liked it or not. While the consensus seemed that you were outmatched four to one as to how you wanted to proceed with ‘Square Hammer’, it didn’t bother you that they were obstinate in keeping their vision. In fact, you began to get excited, looking at your Casio keys with newfound vigor and passion that you had not felt in many years.

It was exciting to collaborate with Eddie’s passion project. The prospect of helping him to create something wonderful was filling you with an excitement that made your heart soar. You felt part of the collective. Welcomed. Accepted even as Eddie then turned and smiled at you.

“Alright folks, let’s try one more time and see if we can’t bring this together. And you sweetheart, I can’t stress this enough- let’s keep those ideas coming. Don’t be afraid to share with the rest of the class!”

“I’m afraid if you give me enough leeway, the cunty thoughts will really start coming out…” you grimaced.

Eddie laughed, loudly and obnoxiously, as though you were the funniest person on earth.

“Sweetheart, this is the most we’ve ever come together to sound unified. At this point we’re counting on your cunty ideas to make something presentable.”

You gave a laugh, a determined nod, and then you all began the arduous process again. To anyone else it would have seemed to simple to voice your opinions, but for you, often afraid to let your passions for perfection show, it was a big step and you were proud of yourself for speaking up. Once the awkwardness of letting out your thoughts went away, you started to become intensely interested in getting this song to the next level. You brought up percussions on your Casio to show Gareth what you had in mind for drum support during the intro. Eddie worked out the right slide technique with Dougie for a sultry purr of the bass at the beginning that had chills running down your spine when you heard it for the first time. He let one note hang on until the full ensemble of the band built up to the crescendo, and that simple act of gradual additions helped elevate the sound of the music to an entirely new plane of existence.

The new sound for your song was snappy, unified, and it paved the way for Eddie and Jeff to make magic with their dual combination of rhythm and riff. The difference was incomparable to the humble beginnings of your song. By the time everyone was comfortable with the work they had done, Gareth’s mother was already descending the stairs to the garage from the house to tell you all to go home, as practice was cutting it close to the prompt time that the neighbors could legally report you all for noise ordinance violations.

It was amazing. You were almost disappointed when you packed up your Casio with Eddie’s help. Dougie, Jeff and Gareth approached you one by one to thank you for your contributions, for taking time to come, and for writing them such a wonderful song. They didn’t linger to shower you in praise, but they each seemed to have a glint in their eyes as Eddie stayed by your car with you.

“Sweetheart, you were incredible today!” Eddie praised, “The guys are over the moon with you, thank you so much for your help and for your song.”

“… I didn’t think you guys would like it when I first came up with it…” you said, “I know the sound isn’t exactly traditional heavy metal… But it felt like the song was missing something every time I tried to keep it confined to one style. I wanted more avant-garde, and I immediately hated it. I wanted to make something that you would like.”

“Give yourself some credit. You are one hell of a musician.” Eddie said, leaning into your space as you looked away nervously. “You have your own visions, willingness to experiment, and one hell of an ear for notes. That’s not something just anybody can do. I loved what you did with “Square Hammer”, it’s fresh and edgy and the guys absolutely loved working through the kinks.”

You couldn’t help but smile, rubbing your shoe into the gravel of Gareth’s driveway.

“Can I tell you something?” you asked, then continued anyway, “I almost pussied out. I didn’t want to show up today with garbage so I considered staying home. But when I thought of you, how disappointed you’d be if I didn’t show, I realized I’d be betraying you. I didn’t want to do that. So I had to nut up and show anyway.”

You looked from the corner of your eye: Eddie was positively beaming. The glow of the streetlight illuminated his dark brown eyes into a soft cognac color, his hair surrounded by a golden halo glow. He looked like an angel when he smiled at you like that.

“I’m glad you didn’t puss out.” He said softly. “You brought a bitchin’ performance, and I know I speak for all of Corroded Coffin when I say we were honored to have you here with us. That melody you made? Damned fine divine intervention sweetheart. And that’s coming from the number one metalhead in Hawkins.”

His face was inches from yours, and you couldn’t look away nervously. You didn’t want to. Something about the way he looked at you, so pure and sweet, it had you drawn in. So close that your noses were touching and you found you didn’t mind it one bit. Your heart didn’t race, in fact it felt so warm your eyes became half lidded in anticipation of closing your lids and meeting lips.

“Eddie… Thank you…” you whispered. “That means a lot to me… Thank you for everything… Thank you for inviting me over and for asking me for help, for inviting me into your world. This means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

“You’re always welcome here…” Eddie whispered back, lips just centimeters from yours as he moved closer, encircling his arms around your waist as you welcomed his touch. “You’ve got a fire in you that’s unlike anyone else I’ve ever met before… And I’m so damned grateful I have the privilege of knowing you.”

Both of you stayed that way for a long, hungry time, until you met together in a soft kiss. His lips were a little chapped, but you didn’t care. He was so warm, encircling you protectively and pouring everything he had into the kiss, it was better than you could have ever conceived of. Being there with him in the silence of the coming night, you felt so safe. Protected. As though there was no where else on earth you would rather be.

You carried that high with you, all the way home to your bedroom where you crawled into bed with your trapper keeper and a pen, intending to write Eddie yet another song. Only this one would be different. It would speak from the heart, tell him how you really felt, and hopefully expand your bright future as a couple when the morning came.

[nctstar]

Hello! I saw that your requests are opened. Can you please write something or a smut with Doyoung siren? It sounds so incredible in the beginning of golden age 🤯

hi! I know this is SOO late but I'm still getting used to this whole request thing...hopefully will be much better at it next year :) anyway, I think it's probably different to what you envisioned but it does involve siren Doyoung so :D

the girl of the Surface

I leant over to kiss Doyoung on the cheek. Sure enough, the skin on his face felt wet against my lips, and he tasted like salt. When I pulled away, his cheeks were flushed deep orange.

“May I see you again, Doyoung.” I walked away after that, not knowing this was the start of an endless story, a loop, if you will.

pairing: siren!doyoung x fem!reader

other members: the 127 members :)

word count: 3k

genre: low fantasy, smut

warnings: sexual content so minors please dni! yes the sexual content is between sirens and humans so if that makes you uncomfy then don't read, penetrative sex, riding, kissing, fingering, profanity (use of the f word mainly)

disclaimer: this is a fanfiction purely from my (filthy) imagination. I don't know the nct members and don't claim that they act like this in real life. I also do not condone any of the activity by any of the characters in this fic. I'm also not a siren expert so feel free to educate me kindly if I'm wrong about certain things - I did do some research for this but there's obviously a lot out there on stuff like this

a/n: honestly i'm a bit iffy about the quality of this - I feel like it's not my best writing but I'm still eager to get this out bc I feel like it's intriguing at the least. I feel like subconsciously I adapt my writing style to suit whoever I'm reading rn - and rn I'm reading the starless sea so I tried to be more whimsical - but reading back on this I don't think I can pull off this style like queen erin morgenstern can so...anyway it's a work in progress :D also completely forget about golden age oops

also let's just say the jungwoo alien fic walked so this one could run lmao

Every day, Doyoung sneaked away to meet the girl of the Surface.

That’s what everyone else called her, like she owned the place. Nobody knew her name, voice, what she wore or even what she carried. The outlines of her face and body were always blurry, just out of focus.

He wasn’t supposed to go see her. Not on the first day, and definitely not on the days after that.

Doyoung mainly spent most of his days cooped up in his bedroom, nose buried in the pages of a book, words swimming around in his head at all hours of the day. While his siblings rushed here and there, tails flapping and knocking knick-knacks off the makeshift shelves he had built, gossiping about the latest happenings at the market, he travelled the world in his head. Not just the one below, but above the Surface.

Many nights were spent awake, wondering, what is so bad about the Surface?

One night, way before he had ventured above and first laid eyes on her, excited shouts had awoken him from a floaty slumber, and he swam out of his house to find the body of a human male falling through the water, his white shirt billowing out of his body, one shoe coming off his feet, threatening to be lost in the depths of the water.

His brother, Jaehyun, nudged him. “Hey.”

He nodded, acknowledging his presence, but his eyes never left that shoe, not until it fell off completely and started to float away. At the same time, he watched the water around the body stain red, spreading quickly like he imagined paint would on canvas. Above the Surface, of course.

“You think this is how it is above the Surface?”

“Like what?” His brother was eating already. Not the human – well, not yet, anyway.

“Do they also feed on-“

“Hey! Doyoung! Get over here. We need more sirens.”

∞

The day after that, Doyoung and Jaehyun were initiated and sent up for the very first time.

“Hyung, how are you moving so easily with these things?” Jaehyun rubbed his sides in annoyance, wincing when his fingers met the quickly hardening ridges of fins. “I can’t believe I’m going to have this for the rest of my life.”

Doyoung was quiet, the swish-swish of his body travelling upwards, closer towards the Surface. His thoughts were flooded, the voices of the other sirens refusing to settle in his brain. Do not rise above the Surface.

But the people in the books, with their dances and songs – different to the ones he knew. Songs that inspired, that brought peace, that declared love.

Not songs that represented betrayal, violent ends for the ones who dared to stop and listen.

 Would he be able to hear those songs?

“It’ll be fun. You know,” He caught up to Doyoung now, arms brushing as they swam in sync. “the others said you can have fun with them before the song ends.”

Doyoung looked at his younger brother, whose eyes were glinting with something akin to pride, or mischief. “What kind of fun?”

Jaehyun smiled at him. “Remember that time Johnny-hyung made that huge thing crash, and it had hundreds of humans on it? Well, he said he had a lot of fun that day.”

“It’s called a ship.” Doyoung looked ahead as the water began to lighten, signalling their arrival. “Those huge things are ships.”

“Okay…” He trailed off, frowning slightly before getting distracted by his new fins again, now fully hard and sharp enough to cut the skin of his hands if he pressed down too hard. “Anyway, we can always hope for people on the shore too. In fact, they say there’s a human who lives on the shore of the land nearby.”

“What land?” Doyoung watched the rays of the light source above, the sun as the humans called it, let beams of light strike through the water.  They moved on their own accord, freely, like how he pictured the legs of the dancers as they moved to music above the Surface.

“Hyung it’s called an island, actually.” Jaehyun smirked, teasingly flicking his tail against Doyoung. The pressure of the fins in his sides started to push into his chest, making him feel a little lightheaded. A human…on an island? Above the Surface?

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of a legend. Like, legend has it she exists, but she never responds to a siren’s call.”

Something turned in Doyoung’s stomach. “She doesn’t…” he whispered, looking down, thoughts plaguing him.

“Yeah. They tried everything, but…not a single time did she even step closer, or indicate she was affected by the call. Hyung, they even,” Jaehyun grabbed Doyoung’s arm, letting his body float around to face him. “rose above the Surface. A siren-hyung was desperate. And then-“

“And then what?”

“He was never seen again.” For a moment it was silent, Jaehyun’s eyes staring unblinking into his own. Then, his torso erupted in fits of laughter, the fins in his sides uncomfortably moulded to his shaking body. “I can’t believe you fell for that, Hyung.” Doyoung sighed, shrugging off the arms of his younger brother. Above him, the sun burned ferociously, the water lining the edge of the Surface getting lighter.

∞

I had no idea I would meet Doyoung that day at the shore.

I was expecting a stretch of time with nothing to keep me company but the sounds of the rushing waves and the mess of my own thoughts. But alas, the figure became clearer as I walked barefoot across the sands.

Stopping in my tracks, wanting desperately to have some sort of weapon handy instead of a hefty book (though, a book could easily become a weapon if you try hard enough), I called out, chest feeling tight all of a sudden. “Who are you?”

The man was naked excepting the wrap of brown fabric around his hips, and my eyes ran across the weird lines on the sides of his toned chest. He was completely dry.

He didn’t move, and, I couldn’t see his face yet, so it was a surprise to hear his voice for the first time. Not only because I didn’t expect him to speak, but because his voice came as a deep, sonorous sound right into my ears, as if I had earbuds in and had just hit play.

“My name is Doyoung. I’m a siren.”

I should have turned away immediately, ignored him, or even stayed in place, waiting for him to leave. But instead, I did the worst thing you could ever do in such a situation.

In storybooks, sirens use songs that capture you, much like a physical trap, until you’re so far deep you fail to comprehend what you got yourself into. Yet, Doyoung was silent after he finished speaking, after admitting the sin of his existence.

“Are you serious?” The feeling of his chest was rubbery and wet underneath my fingers, despite him looking completely dry. “How is this-“

“Why did you come to me?”

I looked up at his face. He was handsome, but not in the mysterious way that you would expect a mythical creature. Redness and scars peppered across his skin, eyes furrowed in human-like confusion, legs as long as sundown stretched for on this island. His hair was messy, lips tinted red, parted slightly as if he was really breathing. My hands ached to touch his face, but I held back, not wanting to fondle this random…male specimen I had literally just met any longer.

“You’re the girl of the Surface. Like in the stories.”

You squinted, the sun beating down mercilessly between your bare shoulder blades. Getting nervous ay once under his intense gaze, I toyed with the shell necklace around my neck, averting his gaze. “Um, thanks, I guess. But I’m just, well, I’m _.”

“Legend has it siren calls don’t work on you.” Doyoung kept speaking like a narrator in an old timey film, stating facts rather than working to keep a real conversation going. “You look really blurry all the time, but you seem to take on the form of a human female. A young adult one. In all the decades you’ve been here, no one has been able to take you to the seas. You’re an enigma. No one can figure you out.”

I paused, my brain refusing to accept any of this information, but my heart warmed with something gentle and forgiving. I leant over to kiss Doyoung on the cheek. Sure enough, the skin on his face felt wet against my lips, and he tasted like salt. When I pulled away, his cheeks were flushed deep orange.

“May I see you again, Doyoung.” I walked away after that, not knowing this was the start of an endless story, a loop, if you will.

∞

Days and days and days later, I lay down on the sand with Doyoung for the first time.

He lay on top of me, and I hooked one arm around his neck, pulling his face near mine so he could kiss me. He did not. Instead, he rocked his hips against mine, and I felt his hard-on against my clothed core, making me whine. Pieces of sand travelled through strands of my hair, settling on my scalp.

Was this wrong?

He sank his teeth into my teeth, making me shake under him. Iron grip around my wrist and arm, he sucked and nipped the skin of my neck, and I cried out in pleasure. “Oh my god, don’t stop, p-please.” He groaned, his nose nestled into the crook of my neck. Letting go of one of my hands, he brought one between my legs, both of us working together to shrug off my bikini bottoms. Fingers nestled inside me all in one go with no warning, I felt the length of his fingers push against my sensitive walls. I bucked my hips upwards, involuntarily letting him travel knuckle deep inside me. When I climaxed, I dug my teeth into the salty skin of his neck. His eyes were closed the entire time.

“Is this wrong?” Ironically, even as he paused, his hard-on pressed urgently against me, as if answering for me. I shook my head, wanting to feel him inside me, wanting no more than to let my mind and body turn into jelly, to be overwhelmed by sensations akin to ones that made my world shake. I kissed him deeply, fingers digging into his scalp. Despite being so obviously turned on, and proceeding to fuck me at inhumane speeds for the next hour, Doyoung didn’t make a single noise the entire time after that.

∞

You couldn’t stop reading, even as the clock on your bedside shone angrily. Beside you, your husband groaned. “Babe.” One hand was slung messily across his eyes, the sheets revealing a slip of stomach and leg as he shuffled, half asleep. “You’re not reading your diary again, are you?”

“Doie, it’s just so cute. I love reading how we met. And what we did.” You brought your face closer to Doyoung’s, his eyes now sharper, even in the dim lights of your shared bedroom. You made sure the moonlight hit the curve of your hips and ass as you moved to kneel next to him. From his lips to the skin of his face and torso, you watched his body breathe sleepily. So beautiful, you thought.

It had been five years since that day he had crawled out of the water and met you.

Now you were, as Doyoung would say, living life above the Surface, like commoners in a children’s story about witches or pirates. People who fell in love, got married, had babies, then lay to rest on Earth forever.

By some magic, Doyoung was no longer a siren.

But the thought that he might still be one, might still accidentally have trapped you all these years, haunt him.

As you felt Doyoung’s length fully sheath inside you, you frowned, moans spilling senselessly out of your mouth as you rode him. You knew him so well, physically, and emotionally. Leaning over, you kissed him over and over again, the sounds of your hips hitting his pelvis becoming louder as you tried to reach your high. “Shhh…baby…you’re perfect. ” A lone tear slid down his face as he stared into your eyes, as if they were endless voids and not the eyes of his beloved wife. He began to whimper, and the sound of him shaking as he came made you reach your high too, slumping over him as you heaved. “Fuck yes.” You noisily kissed him as your hips began to bounce again, making him throw his head back and moan loudly.

“H-how can this be real?” The ceiling was warping into swirls, and the air was getting hotter. The weight of your thighs that pressed against the sides of his hips were beginning to fade away, and he felt paralysed. Distant voices wafted into the room, as if a filter was suddenly being lifted. Someone shouting his name. He pressed his eyes closed, tight, his hips stuttering as he came down from his second high.

You were gone. But for some reason, he could still feel the smooth surface of the shell that hung from your neck tickle against his neck, as if you were still there on top of him.

“HYUNG!”

His eyes snapped open. He felt a rush of air. Someone sighing, their blurry figure materialising as he came to. “Fuck, you scared us!”

The sun bore down on his face, and Doyoung felt his skin burning under its unforgiving rays. Despite the ache that yelled angrily through his entire body, he sat up, now faced with the rest of his members. Taeyong squatted next to him, holding a cold waterbottle, droplets riding down the outside surface. “Here. Drink this.”

Johnny’s broad figure towered above him, still hazy, but as his face got closer, his voice became clearer. “Where did she go?”

Doyoung frowned, and Johnny matched his expression. Everyone was silent, Doyoung shakily responding. “What are you talking about?” Taeyong tapped him, bringing the bottle closer to his lips.

As the ice-cold liquid rushed down to his stomach, Doyoung was awash with a new sense of clarity. He physically shuddered, as hidden memories of the past five years came to light. His face dropped, his eyes filled with horror. “W-where is she? The girl?”

“As I said, she left after she saw me. It was strange…” Johnny paused, and then pressed his lips together, looking down. The others were silent, and Doyoung whipped his head to all of them. They were all holding back. “What is it?”

Taeyong rested one hand on Doyoung’s bare shoulder, making him flinch. Nodding apologetically, he continued. “She looked vastly different to all of us.”

Jaehyun scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m sure this is all an elaborate prank, Hyung. This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Hyung.” The maknae spoke, looking genuinely scared. Yuta patted him gently, as if silently agreeing with his next words. “Jaehyun-hyung saw Taeyong-hyung.”

“I wasn’t there, I swear.” Taeyong lifted both his hands up, his eyes watery and confused. “I swear to you guys.”

“Well, I saw Sarah. From my high school.”

“The girl that you lo-“ Doyoung stopped. Icicles formed in his stomach, the realisation making him sick. “Oh my god.”

“I saw Lavender, Doyoung.” He didn’t need that confirmation, but Taeyong’s voice was shaky now. “I saw her, clear as day. But…there was something off about her. I know this sounds crazy, but, she…she didn’t seem like herself.”

“But…whoever we saw,” Jaehyun still seemed skeptical, side-eyeing Johnny. “They all ran away after the first glance.”

Taeyong’s face was reddened by the harsh sun as Doyoung sat frozen in shock.

“Did she – or he – leave anything behind?”

As the words left his mouth, Doyoung’s hands were already inside the pocket of his pants. He let his fingers run over the shell in his pocket as the rest of the boys muttered their answers.

The words were becoming background noise, his thoughts all-encompassing, consuming him like water on a cold swim. He stood up, much to the surprise of the others. “I’m fine, guys. Meet you at the car? I’ll just be a few minutes.”

He would’ve found another way, even if his members hadn’t reluctantly left him that day at the beach. After all, you had left the necklace in his pocket for a reason. You loved him. You weren’t tricking him. You let him live because you loved him.

“Welcome home, baby.”

Right?

∞

To you, the stories had always fascinated you. The people of the Surface, with their friendly songs and parties, and stupid, blind trust in things that looked like them.

Especially things that looked like desirable women.

It quickly became your life’s mission to have as many as you could, not to share, never…to share. No, this was all for yourself. Nobody else got the Surface like you did. Nobody could scan and hunt on dry land like you did. You were always one step ahead, always planning your next move. In fact, the cute little maknae on the beach today was next on your radar.

But Doyoung…Doyoung was so much fun.

And what is it that they always said?

Oh right.

You’re allowed to have a little bit of fun…until the song ends, of course.

The song was almost over for Doyoung. Despite everything, you were starting to feel…bad, something you had read about in human books. Guilt. You wanted to give him a chance, a chance to walk away, because he honestly seemed like a good human. But obviously, he liked you too much to forget so easily.

You forgot that humans could be naïve like that.

At least you tried. Now, as the sun set on the horizon, it was almost time to head home. You were quickly getting bored, and tired of singing for the day.

[rose-of-gabriel]

My Teammates, My Friends

Set at the end of s1 ep12: Basic Straining

Harold's revenge doesn't go the way he planned. Courtney reflects on what her team means to her.

Beginning of a series of Season 1 rewrites bc I still love Duncney and can't let things go.

It was the breeziest Courtney had ever felt going into a bonfire ceremony. Yes, they’d lost the challenge, and she was fully prepared to start strategizing again in the morning, but for right now everything just felt right. Duncan stood amongst their fellow Killer Bass members on the other side of the fire pit, meeting her gaze before giving a dramatic roll of his eyes at how much Chris was milking his time at the podium. Courtney ducked her head, a heat rising in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the burning embers of the fire.

Even when Bridgette and Geoff were called, leaving her in the usually precarious position of bottom two, she didn’t feel worried. For maybe the first time in this competition, her team actually felt like her friends. It was probably - definitely - sad to admit, but she’d never experienced that before. Every “team” she’d ever been a part of - debate team, model UN, student council - had all been so performative and impersonal for everyone involved. Courtney would call those people her friends but she knew it wasn’t the kind of friendship she read about in books or magazines; friends who made you feel at ease, who had your back unconditionally. Yes, she was aware that this was still a competition, but as long as the teams remained, there was a tentative, hopeful, nearly forgotten part of her that trusted the four people before her more than she had anyone else in a long, long time.

These thoughts wrenched to a halt when she realized Chris had cut himself off mid-monologue. She re-focused, expecting to see military personnel or aliens raining down on them since there wasn’t anything else she could think of that would make Chris surrender the spotlight. There was no surrender, though. The devious, snake-like expression curling across his features opened up a pit in Courtney’s stomach, and from the looks of her teammates she could tell they’d noticed the pause with equal trepidation.

“Now campers,” Chris said, setting the plate and final marshmallow atop the podium before reaching into the placket of his shirt, “we have an interesting development.” He produced a folded stack of paper and held it aloft. “See... according to the ballots we received in the ballot box, every. single. person. voted Courtney off.”

The pit in her stomach imploded, leaving her sick and dizzy. She barely heard the reaction of her teammates over the rush of blood in her ears.

Pressure built behind her eyes as her gaze ricocheted across their faces, landing finally on Duncan, or where he would have been had the punk not already taken several imposing steps in Chris’ direction. “Dude, no fucking way! ”

Chris jumped backwards, raising the ballots high in one hand and throwing the other up in front of him. “ Hey! Hold it, hold it, hold it!”

Geoff and DJ both reached to grab Duncan’s shoulders, and while he did stop, his expression was murderous. Chris continued quickly. “All six ballots were for Courtney, making me and the producers more than a little curious as to why one of our fiercest competitors would vote herself off. So we went back and had a looksie at the confessional booth footage.”

Chris inclined his head to where Chef Hatchet was laboriously pushing an old dolly with an even older projection set up the slope toward the bonfire. While Courtney by no means had her barings back, she still noticed how Harold’s shoulders had hiked up to his ears and he had scooted as far from her on the log stool as he could. Suspicion stirred in her mind but she was too rattled to interrogate it.

“Lights please!” Chris called. The array of tiki torches and lanterns surrounding the fire pit suddenly faded to nothing, the only light now coming from the bonfire and the harsh, white light of the mobile projector. “Chef, if you would be so kind, roll tape!”

Chef arranged the projector so it displayed on one of the massive, flat rock faces that walled in the area. He pulled a VHS tape from the front pocket of his apron and opened a compartment on the side of the projector. Before he inserted the tape, though, Harold burst to his feet. “Wait!” he screamed, throwing his spindly body in front of the lens. “Wait, you don’t have to show it.”

“Oh, don’t we?” Chris grinned.

Courtney’s nerves were frayed to the point of snapping. “ Harold.” She growled, rising to her feet with her fists clenched. “ What did you do?”

Duncan was next to speak, cracking his knuckles. “You are dead, shrimpy.”

Unaffected by their outbursts, Chris continued coolly. “You’ve got a choice here, Harold. We can either play the tape or not, but somebody has to walk the dock of shame tonight.”

Everyone had put the pieces together by now; even Geoff’s usual half-grin was soured in a glare. Duncan started toward their condemned team member, but Courtney beat him to it. Harold shrieked and covered his face, but instead of clocking him Courtney grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt. Though he had a good few inches of height on her, Courtney yanked him down with enough force that his knees buckled, putting them at eye-level.

Her voice simmered with intensity as she hissed his name. “You have exactly five minutes to get on that boat. Because if I watch what I think is on that tape and you’re still on this island, I promise that you are never. leaving it. Understand?”

“Yes.” He squeaked, eyes nervously flitting between her and the team.

The instant she released her grip he was gone, sprinting for all his worth back to the cabins. Courtney inhaled deeply through her nose, efforts to calm herself ruined by Chris chiding, “Easy, Courtney. Chef’s gonna escort him to make sure he doesn’t hide out anywhere and to make sure no one tries to deal out their own justice, vigilante style.” He chuckled. “Although that would be awesome. ”

For a second Courtney thinks she might actually punch Chris’ lights out, but the host is saved by Bridgette throwing her arms around her teammate. “Oh my gosh, Court! Those were like the worst two minutes of my life.”

Two minutes? Had all of that really just happened in two minutes. Courtney felt like she’d just stepped off a rollercoaster and her stomach was finally catching up with her. When Bridgette released her, she pressed the heels of her palms against her forehead and closed her eyes. There was sound and movement all around her but nothing concretely registered except for the rough, warm pressure of a hand sliding down her spine to rest at her lower back.

“You okay?” Duncan said into her ear, so quiet she wasn’t sure if anyone else heard.

His voice and his hand on her back were the anchors she needed to feel like she was on solid ground again. She dropped her hands from her face and her shoulders fell with them as she surveyed the teens around her. Bridgette was visibly the most affected, hazel eyes wide like Courtney would vanish if she blinked. Geoff and DJ wore similar looks of both sympathy for Courtney and anger for the situation, and Duncan…

Well, Courtney didn’t know what to make of the look he was giving her. It was somehow soft and warm yet still retained its fierceness from before. She wasn’t sure if it was the intensity of his gaze or the crash of adrenaline that made her shiver. “I’m good.” She tried to sound more confident than she felt.

“Man, that is one sick little dude.” DJ groused, crossing his arms over his chest.

Geoff added, “Yeah, Court, that was wickedly messed up. Sorry, brah.”

Courtney shifted her weight just a fraction to press more firmly into Duncan’s hand, forcing a steady exhale from her lungs. “I’m just glad he was dumb enough to make all of the ballots the same.”

“Seriously.” Duncan agreed, pulling her an inch closer.

She turned her head to look up at him, nerves settling enough to crack a smile. “You have any experience with voter fraud?”

“Pfffft, that’s weak shit.” He dismissed, though the corner of his mouth ticked upward.

The vice in her chest eased, and the airiness from before was returning. These were her friends , friends who were angry on her behalf and happy that she was still here. Friends that surrounded her with support but she knew would give her space if she asked for it. That was the last thing she wanted, though, threading her arm across Duncan's back.

“Anyone up for stealing some brownies from the mess hall while Chef’s distracted?” She asked.

Geoff whistled, “Heck yeah!” at the same time Duncan praised, “Atta girl.”

It was DJ who hesitated. “Sure you don’t wanna see the ginger twerp off, Court? I know I’ll be happy to see him go.”

Courtney hummed thoughtfully. “The look on his face would be pretty satisfying.” Her gaze flickered to Duncan’s with a mirrored grin. “If we’re quick we can do both.”

The expression on Duncan's face turned wolfish as he addressed the group. “You heard the lady.” He said and the five of them took off toward the mess hall, Courtney’s heart soaring with every step.

[abominable-space-they]

I think about this so much I accidentally made a spacedogs meet cute about it.

a lot of autistic ppl feel shy & awkward in social situations but NT's usually read us as bitchy unless we're actually being bitchy, then they usually think we're being cringe, dumb, or funny

So when I imagine Adam & Nigel meeting in a social situation, at some society party that encompasses academia & the performing artists/musicians crowds

I imagine Adam trying to keep to himself but inevitably being drawn into conversation bc his knowledge base is like a party trick to these ppl. Sometimes he bristles & snaps but they think he's being funny.

He tells jokes that are as much at their expense as he dares, small frustrated sharp toothed indulgences. They never realize, they never react at all, except Nigel.

The first time Nigel laughs at one of his jokes, Adam thinks he's being laughed at, his eyes jerk up, instantly clammy with anxiety.

Nigel is just smiling enthusiastically, he tips his beer in Adam's direction

"A-fucking-men. Who has time for bullshitters? Kill em all, let god sort em out"

Nigel goes back to whichever party attendee he was talking to like it was nothing. It probably was nothing to Nigel. Adam however was cast adrift. He'd never had an interaction with anyone like that, without that looming shadow of his otherness perched hulking between him and anyone else he ever tried to talk to.

He went over and over the conversation in his head, tried to find the hidden mockery, the underlying "god why are you so weird?" but couldn't find it. Did that mean it wasn't there? Or did he miss the obvious again?

After that Adam started paying closer attention to Nigel when their paths crossed. Nigel was handsome. He had an easy dangerous charm, always smiling, having a very good time. He was always with another very sexy person who hung from him like he was their salvation, at least that night.

Nigel was piercingly observant, clever. He never said the things he saw though, just smiled a crooked secret smile. Adam got a little obsessed with categorizing all of Nigel's smiles. There was the easy smile when he knew he had his audience in the thrall of his charm, the smile when he knew he was about to make some money or get laid. Those smiles were self satisfied.

There was the smile when Nigel thought the people around him were being a bit amusingly predictable or unimpressive. The toothy sharp smile when he was angry. That one was dangerous.

None of his smiles ever reached his eyes, not really, not any time at all... except when he was joking with Adam.

And what exactly did that mean?

Adam thought it might mean that Nigel was in a very real way, almost as alienated as he was, just better at hiding it. He was better at not letting the boring people know that he only thought they were boring or inconvenient or both.

Adam wished he was brave enough to ask Nigel to teach him how to care less, to show less. He could never quite bring himself to.

He felt to obvious to himself, like Nigel would take one look at Adam and just know the strange mix of envy and desire that was building in his gut.

He couldn't be rejected if he never asked though. So that seemed like his best bad choice. Not the best plan he'd ever had, but not risking the possibility that he'd misjudged was the safest option at least.

The night everything changed for them was a Friday, unassuming in most ways. Adam was socially at his limit that week. He didn't want to come to yet another fundraiser or overly extravagant dinner party really

But he even more so he didn't want to miss his weekly small dose of Nigel's joking with him (flirting, he was flirting Adam knew that, but Nigel was always flirting w/ everyone. It didn't mean anything he reminded himself repeatedly)

Then that particular tired night Nigel came in wearing Adam's favorite shirt, a whimsical one with adorable little dumb dogs on it.

It's so out of place on this dangerous charming man, Adam loved it instantly.

Unfortunately that night Nigel was also wearing some gorgeous willowy, tall, blonde fashion model of a man, named something like Kyle, Micheal, Jeremiah, or maybe Brian.

Something like that, Adam couldn't be bothered to remember.

Usually Adam only drank a little wine or beer at these events. It seemed a bad idea to risk his paper thin respectable, not quite acceptance here, on to much alcohol making him even more blunt and irritably overwhelmed.

But tonight, at the end of his very bad week, Nigel coming so prettily draped with this... arm candy? Adam couldn't take it

Wouldn't take it

He stormed over to the little catered bar area, composing himself. It wasn't the caterers and staff's fault.

"Can I get four shots of tequila, no salt, two limes-, Please"

The kid behind the bar blanched slightly, Adam was here as many Friday events as he could stand and he never ordered anything more daring then a hard cider.

His face must have looked the right amount of serious though, the bartender didn't try to make polite conversation over it. Good.

Adam steeled himself with his frustration, his righteous indignation. He made Nigel's eyes smile, not this beautiful hanger on who knew nothing about him other than that he was rich and handsome. It was inconceivably unacceptable.

He decided no preamble to mess up would be best so just handed Nigel his shots, the ones with the limes. He pointedly didn't look at very pretty Eric what's his name, just nodded a bit to formally at Nigel.

"I got these for you. I-... thought you might like them"

Nigel looked confused but not unhappy about this turn of events

"Adam?... what are we celebrating? Or is this the last drink before we go off to war?"

"I don't know yet honestly. I am trying to be spontaneous. I'm not very good at that"

Nigel chuckled, The honest one, the one that made his eyes glow happily. Good. Social contract fulfilled then.

Adam didn't look at his shots either. He didn't give himself a chance to second guess himself, just threw the first shot back past his tongue like it was medicine, with no chaser. He squinted a bit, stimmy growl humming through the burn. That was all right, it focused him in his body.

A a few seconds later his stomach stopped tossing around warning messages and was ready for the second one. He tossed that one back with medicinal efficiency too.

When Adam felt settled and calm enough to look directly, Nigel appeared happily stunned as he took his own shots. This obviously wasn't what he was expecting from Adam at all. He put one lime in his mouth to suck the bitter taste of alcohol away, offering Adam the other.

"You don't need a chaser?"

Adam laughed at himself a little, his wild misspent youth mostly involved mystery illnesses and constant pressing anxieties.

"No, I was a sickly kid, always having to take new medicines, deal with medical tests... "

Adam made intentional eye contact, looking up through his eyelashes at Nigel, leaving his mouth a little open, shining & wet

"I can swallow just about anything now. I've put much more questionable things in my mouth then tequila"

Nigel, for the first time in Adam's experience was almost speechless, still holding the lime out to him.

"You sure?"

Adam shrugged

"If you insist I guess."

Still making as sexy burning eye contact as he contained in his whole body, Adam leaned in, plucked the lime slice out of Nigel's mouth, and popped it into his own.

"I don't know, a lot of people hate bitter things, things that come on to strong, are to intense. But I've always loved them. They feel refreshing, centering. Personal taste I guess."

Adam slowly bit into the lime, skin and all, in a showy way just to watch Nigel watching him do it

The arm candy boy finally decided enough was enough

"Excuse me?! What the fuck?!"

Adam sighed deeply, neurotypical people were so tiresome

"You should just go away now. You're no longer needed. He thinks you're boring. I think you're boring. It's because you're boring. If you go now you'll still have your dignity though Jason"

"My name's not fucking Jason & I'm his date freak, you go"

That roused Nigel out of his amused willingness to see what Adam was gonna do, stepping slightly between them with a bristling, heavily controlled violence rolling off him

"Funny thing, he's fucking right. Any-fuckking-way, if you don't like fuckin freaks then you don't like me Jason. I think our night just ended. I'll call you an Uber. I'm not an a complete monster."

"What?!?! I can get my own Uber. What the Fuck is happening right now? MY NAME'S NOT JASON!"

Adam rolled his eyes, making sure not to flinch or shrink. The cold indignation helped.

"ok? Go be not Jason anywhere but here"

Nigel's beautiful date was livid, which Adam supposed was fair. Nigel just laughed at the whole mess though, like it was a relief, something new and entertaining.

"I'm sorry. I said I'd buy your drinks, a nice arrangement so I could do my job. I never said anything about marriage and a two car garage"

Adam didn't think Nigel really sounded sorry at all, even as Not Jason flounced away, cussing Nigel out loudly. Nigel seemed not even a little sorry. It was a relief. Adam hadn't realized he was holding his breath. He watched Not Jason go, turned to blink owlishly at Nigel.

"I'm sorry I didn't know he'd make such a scene"

Nigel laughed again, delighted.

"You didn't know he'd make a scene?"

"No, I have an ample amount of ability to feel shame. I would have left immediately if I was him, and I didn't know if you'd choose me. So I might have been the one who needed to leave. I'm sorry, that's probably the craziest thing I've ever done. I will probably freak out about it a bit later, depending I guess. But Nigel, he can't make you smile. I make you smile."

Nigel looked at him like he was some rare uniquely precious thing. A whole constellation of beautiful secret things, found hidden behind a taxidermy squirrel riding a tiny ski jet at a flea market that smelled like moth balls and stale chocolate.

"You thought I might reject you and you still did all that?"

"Yes? It's offensive. He can't see you, how much more you are then just this stupid party. I see you Nigel, every Friday I see you. Why can't I be the one..."

Adam trailed off, not quite brave enough to finish the sentence. Nigel had no such fear though. He pulled Adam close so he could speak low in his ear, semi private even in the crowd.

"You would be Gorgeous, they don't realize how funny you are, or how bitchy. I do, you're beautiful, but what I do for a living is pretty fuckin against the law. No offense babe but you seem the law abiding good boy type"

Adam felt an electric thrill shooting through his whole nervous system. He didn't read it wrong?! Nigel liked him too? Romantically?! The thrill made him braver then he would be usually

"Maybe I'm tired of being good. Maybe I want to be bad too Nigel... within reason"

Nigel snort laughed happily into Adams space, clearly endeared by Adams specificity

"Within reason, noted. Listen soo, the thing about not having a gag reflex? Were you being serious? Or was it just a come on"

"Yes it was a come on, yes I was being serious. I'm usually serious, even when I'm not being serious. I was serious about the reason too, I really was a sickly kid... that's... less sexy."

"mmmh Adam babe, don't sell yourself short. You're fuckin sexy, and hell with an opener like that. Work can wait, you wanna tell me all about that sickly childhood and anything else you want, Alpha Centauri?... If you're feeling inspired"

"you remembered I like the stars?"

"How could I not? You light up when you talk about them."

Oh, that felt so very nice. Adam threw caution to the wind, tugging Nigel by the hand back away from the crowd and the noise. He absolutely had to get his mouth on this man immediately. It was an emergency, a mouth emergency.

"I am feeling very inspired Nigel"

"Inspiration looks damn beautiful on you Babe. We might have to start a mutual inspiration club, only two members, very exclusive"

Adam barked a laugh at that very silly joke. I wasn't the type of joke a very cool dangerous guy makes, like the dumb shirt, Adam loved the dumb joke instantly too.

"Yes, ok let's do that then, sounds fun"

(years later they still called their anniversary mutual inspiration club, everyone always groaned but them, they're to busy being "inspired" to care what anyone but them thinks at all)

[drpeppertummy]

truthfully my friends this isnt something im overly into or experienced in & as such i have Absolutely no idea if its any good or not. godspeed

[alien-esque parasite creature-in-stomach bordering-on-rapid-horror-preg situation, ends in hospital post-surgery bc you know id never let it explode him but the hospital isnt like a whole big thing, nobody has a good time in this but hes fine]

Val was beginning to wonder if eating at that sketchy restaurant in Hell had been a good idea.

Truthfully, he'd known it was a bad idea from the start. He hadn't liked the look of the place when his sister had brought him there, the service had been awful, the food had been worse, and he'd felt a little off ever since. That had been a few days ago, and he was back home now. It was always shockingly cold returning to the mortal world after visiting his family, but he was glad to be back in Connie's arms, even if it meant braving the chilly autumn air.

Exhausted from the busy week behind him, Val flopped down onto the bed. He was freshly showered and dressed in his pajamas, and very glad about it. Connie was taking her turn in the shower now. Sprawled out flat on his back, Val looked down at himself, and his brow furrowed. He hadn't felt quite right ever since visiting that restaurant, and he was still a little bloated. He laid his head back down on the pillow and rested his hands on his belly.

"Looks like your mom stuffed you like a turkey," Connie teased, standing in the doorway. "Does she think you're as skinny as I do?"

"Christ, does she," Val laughed.

"Maybe you oughtta visit more often, let her beef you up a little," she giggled, dropping herself onto the bed next to him.

"I don't think I could handle that," said Val. "You know everyone else in my family is like ten feet tall?" Connie laughed.

"And I bet they feed you like you are too, right?" She placed a hand on his rounded tummy and raised her eyebrows at how firm it felt. "Sheesh, you really feel stuffed."

"Tell you the truth, my sister dragged me out to some weird restaurant a couple days before I left. It was a mess, you never woulda gone in. Whatever I ate didn't sit right, I guess, my stomach's been a little funny ever since. I've spent the past few days feeling like I swallowed a bowling ball."

"Huh," said Connie, rubbing his belly. It gurgled uncomfortably under her hand. "Maybe you got, like, mild food poisoning or something."

"Maybe," he sighed. "Probably."

"Do you feel sick?"

"I don't know. Not quite. Just off. ADR, as they say at the vet. I mean, I definitely feel bloated, I can tell you that much."

"Believe me, you don't have to tell me," she chuckled, patting his belly. It didn't sound hollow, like it was filled with gas. Instead it sounded solid, like patting a rock, and it let out another sickly gurgle. Connie winced sympathetically.

Suddenly, Val sat up. Connie looked up at him, surprised. His face was difficult to read, but he seemed tense. Concerned, she sat up beside him.

"Val, what's the matter?" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know," he said uncertainly, holding both hands against his tummy. He looked down, brow furrowed. Was he more bloated than before? His stomach felt tighter, and…strange, somehow. Almost as if something inside him was pulsing.

"Maybe you should go to urgent care or something," said Connie. She didn't like the look on his face, and she didn't like that he was still so bloated days after eating whatever he'd eaten.

"I can't go to urgent care. I'm not even human. They wouldn't know what to make of me even if I was feeling fine."

"Yeah, but…I don't know. I'm worried," she said, squeezing his shoulder. Now that he was sitting up, his belly looked even more distended than it had when he was laying, and it was oddly top-heavy, as though whatever was making it so swollen was stuck up in his stomach. She didn't like that at all.

Val couldn't disagree with her point of view. Still, he preferred to avoid letting people find out he wasn't human if he could help it. It was a dangerous secret to reveal, and there had been plenty of times where he'd nearly paid a heavy price for it. He didn't have much time to mull it over, though, because his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a bizarre wave of pain in his stomach. He doubled over with a groan, clutching his belly.

"Val!" Connie grabbed his shoulders. Val remained frozen, trying to process what he'd just felt. It was pain, certainly, and pressure, but it almost felt like movement as well. Cautiously, he sat back upright, his breathing shallow and shaky.

"That's it, you're going to the hospital," she said, standing up. Val opened his mouth to protest when another surge of pain shot through him, and this time he definitely felt movement. He doubled over again, gaping like a fish as his belly pushed out against his hands.

Carefully, Connie pulled him to his feet, putting an arm around his waist to hold him steady, and hurried him out of the bedroom. As they walked, she felt something shift under her hand, and for a moment she froze, looking down at him.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I don't--I don't know," he choked out, desperately hugging his middle.

"Let's go," she urged, and practically dragged him out of the house.

Connie hastily put the directions into the GPS and was off like a flash before Val could even finish buckling up. His belly bulged conspicuously over the seatbelt, undeniably rounder than it had been earlier, and whatever was inside was growing restless. A moan of terror escaped him as he watched something move under the skin.

"Connie, I love you," he blurted out, his voice shaking.

"I love you too. Don't talk like you're gonne die. You're not gonna die." She reached out and grabbed his shoulder tightly before returning her hand to the wheel. Val thought she looked like she definitely thought he was going to die.

The pressure inside his stomach was unbelievable, and only seemed to be increasing as whatever was inside continued to move around and grow. It was growing fast now, and he could feel his stomach stretching and straining to contain it. He tried not to think about how far it could stretch before it burst.

"We're almost there," said Connie, trying to reassure herself just as much as him. She glanced over at him and was horrified to see his belly visibly squirming. Suddenly, his belly surged violently, and he let out a hoarse cry as the creature inside him began to thrash, pushing out hard against the walls of his stomach.

"Oh, god, please," he cried out, clutching his belly as his tightly-stretched skin was pulled tighter still. "Oh, please, god, no--"

Val woke up feeling like he'd been run through with a chainsaw. He wasn't sure where he was or what had happened, and he didn't have the strength to care. All he knew was that there was a horrible searing pain in his belly. As he regained consciousness, though, he began to recall the events of the night, and he looked down at himself. His belly was flat. Flat, and bandaged up. He let his head fall back onto the pillow with a sigh of relief.

The surgeon told him that he'd barely made it in time, and that they'd pulled something like a sucker-mouthed chupacabra out of his stomach, and that it was nearly the size of an infant, and that his wife had urged them to just not ask questions, and that after the procedure they were inclined to just roll with that, and that he'd have to stay in the hospital for at least a week. Val groggily accepted all of this information; the surgeon could've told him he'd grown a second head and he'd have nodded along. With his stomach intact, all he cared about now was seeing Connie.

EPILOGUE BECAUSE I CANT WRITE ENDINGS: It took one day for Val to win the hearts of all the nurses with his charm and only five for him to be released--for good behavior, he'd joked. Against all predictions, he recovered surprisingly quickly, although his tummy remained terribly sore for weeks; that was, of course, to be expected. He'd persuaded the hospital to let him ship the creature back to Hell for further evaluation. Astonishingly, they'd managed to get it out alive after sedating it right along with Val, and it had been nicknamed "Fluffy" by the frightened staff who were in charge of keeping it under observation. Fluffy, as it turned out, was a relatively common parasite found in undercooked lava cod, which was exactly what Val had eaten, although most of his fellow demons and devils were built sturdily enough that it wasn't much of a danger to them. Connie, who had been even more shaken up by the incident than her husband, received even more affection from him than usual in the following days. He felt awful for putting her through the experience--he'd expressed this, and she'd incredulously assured him that it wasn't his fault--and he made sure to bake her something special for taking care of him.

[nobedofroses]

October 10th

pairing: no outbreak!Joel x gn!reader

warnings: just fluff!

words: 926

a/n: Prompt for today is Horror Books from this list by @raven-cincaide-words (didn't realize it was going to be three days in a row, sorry for the spam tags haha). Sarah is 11 in this bc I said so

Directory, Day 9

🎃🎃🎃

The way you and Joel started to get to know each other was through your shared love of horror books. You worked at the local used bookstore that he and his daughter, Sarah, frequented, coming in about every other week to get a new-to-them book each. You always recognized regulars and were able to pull up their rewards without asking their names, and you’d usually remember their reading tastes as well. But maybe it happened quicker with Joel because when he was in the store, it was hard to pay attention to anything else. 

It also helped that his tastes seemed to align perfectly with yours. Every time you commented that he was getting a good book, he told you next time he had enjoyed it. And every time you refrained from saying anything but made a little face, he told you the next time that he had not enjoyed it. By the second time this happened, he was coming to you for recommendations before he even started looking. 

Each time you saw them come in, your body flushed warm with happiness and excitement, knowing you’d get to talk with Joel about your shared hobby and usually also get to hear about Sarah’s most recent soccer games while you were ringing her and Joel up. You wished you could see them more, even more than when they started coming in every week. (You hoped against hope that you had something to do with that.) 

Joel was trying to work up to it, asking you out. He didn’t want to bother you, you were at work after all and supposed to be polite to everyone. Tommy thought you were interested in him after all Joel told him about your interactions, but could he really trust Tommy? 

But Joel did feel like he could trust Sarah’s impression of you. She was always very excited to go to the bookstore to see you and after every soccer game she’d mention telling you all about it. And by your interactions with her about something as mundane as 11 year old soccer games, you were a genuinely sweet person. 

If Tommy wasn’t good for anything else when it came to dating advice, he had promised to take Sarah to the movies or something to give Joel time for a date once he actually did ask you out. Joel thought today would be the day. There was a fall fair coming up and it had one of those cheesy haunted house rides that he thought it might be fun to go through since you both liked horror books. It’d be like riding through some terrible pulp horror book. He hoped you’d think it was funny and not immature. 

When he and Sarah walked into the bookstore, you were helping another customer, talking animatedly with excitement in your eyes. Joel hoped you’d be just as happy if he did ask you out. When he asked you out. 

Sarah bolted past him into the children’s section, eager to see what Nancy Drews or Goosebumps she could add to her collection. Joel meandered around to the travel section since it was the closest to the register and he could talk to you as soon as you were free. 

A minute later he heard, “You planning on going somewhere?” 

Joel turned around, half thinking he heard some sadness in your voice even as you were joking. He shook his head and smiled when he saw you, “Can’t. How would Sarah’s team go on without her?” 

You laughed, looking so happy and pretty that he felt his heartbeat quicken. 

“So, any recommendations this week? You were right, there are some good alien horrors,” Joel admitted, referencing your recommendation from last week. 

“See? Stick with me and you’ll be alright,” you shot him a look that he hoped you meant as flirty. It definitely brought a flush to his cheeks. 

Before Joel had to come up with something to say, you started explaining the options you had found for him this week, which just so happened to be stashed under the front desk. The two of you discussed the merits of each until Sarah came back with two books, one Nancy and one Goose, as she called them. 

Normally, Joel only let her get one book per visit because they only had so much room on their bookshelves and Sarah wasn’t willing to take any back for some store credit. But today, he was too nervous and not thinking straight and let her get both as long as she went back to the children’s section to one of the chairs and read until he was ready to go (i.e. he had finished asking you out and you had said yes). 

You looked at him curiously and he shifted his weight, smiling sheepishly, “I, uh, wanted to ask you somethin’.” 

He waited for your nod of encouragement before he swallowed and kept going, “Since you like horror books and all, I thought maybe you’d like to go check out the haunted house at the fall fair? It’d be like a pulp horror, you know?” 

You looked thoughtful and he couldn’t tell whether that was a good sign or not. “Would… Sarah come too?” 

“Nah, she’s gonna go to one of the new cartoon movies with my brother. This would be…” Joel cleared his throat, “It’d be a date.” 

Your look quickly changed from thoughtful to happy. Your smile was bright enough it made him feel all warm inside and you nodded, “Yeah, Joel, yeah I’d really like that.”

🎃🎃🎃

[tersyne]

transformers one thoughts (major spoilers):

art deco got me like

op sneaking around like that was a little wild. he’s usually much too big to sneak. and then the two mechs with t-cogs managed to chase after him so easily really emphasized how much weaker everyone who couldn’t transform was

op did come off as a bit arrogant/self-centered to me, in how he would challenge the system without thinking of the consequences to the people around him (elita getting fired, dumping megs in the race with him) which I don’t think was the intent. but it could’ve been imitating the launch-the-allspark-into-space-and-immediately-regret-it version of op in some of the more recent continuities. It is mirrored a bit in megs as well, like when he fires on the statue without concern for bystanders or on sentinel—they’re both capable of tunnel vision while focusing on their own morals

elita telling op he doesn’t have the touch OR the power. nice little easter egg :)

having cybertron’s environment in a constant state of transformation was wonderful. like this might’ve been my favorite addition to the franchise from this continuity. it added a new danger to the already-dangerous job of being a miner. the train tracks that only exist when there’s a train but also respond in real time to obstacles? whatever the heck was happening on the surface? muah

when the quintesson guards came out at first I was all >:( why do they have legs? but then the actual quintesson came out and it looked SO GOOD AND OMINOUS. it was bigger than sentinel! and the organic curves of the tentacles after all of the blockiness of cybertron felt so alien. really well done. the only thing is I don’t remember it rotating faces at all which I’m a little disappointed in, but maybe in a sequel?

weird to realize they pulled the matrix-disintegration from bayformers, but it just goes to show that every continuity brings something new! I have a feeling that scene was cooler in 3d

alpha trion’s alt mode was AWESOME. go grandpa go!!!

having the future-decepticons as the former high guard made me squint a little bc I would THINK that the group specifically devoted to serving the PRIMES might be inclined to follow a PRIME who bears the MATRIX OF LEADERSHIP, but apparently they’re quite alright with megatron’s vengeance and might makes right philosophies? or is this just the remainder of the high guard? did sentinel kill all the truly loyal ones?

did anyone else get the vibe that starscream was deliberately provoking megatron during their fight? like he wanted to see what he was capable of?

screamer’s voice being like that because of megatron + the recurring injury to bumblebee’s voice also due to megatron in other continuities… I am connecting the dots…

other people have pointed out how this recontextualizes starscream’s attempts to replace megatron as leader if megatron replaced HIM in the first place

sentinel’s convenient recorded confession reminded me that the target audience is children and I should be mindful of that

the fight scenes leaning into the transformations and movement… very nice

there didn’t seem to be any reason for megs to switch his optics to red? this felt like a missed opportunity

ETA: also applies to other continuities but: of course peace is no longer an option when his name is no longer pax

so there’s no longer an energon shortage; sentinel’s dead; everyone has a t-cog; the quintessons are going to be back soon, and NOW you want to start a civil war? bro where is the logic? do you really think anyone’s going to join the decepticons in this continuity? they’ve got a guerilla force at BEST

op: don’t be like sentinel!!

megs: *kills his leader, steals his t-cog for himself, takes on the name of a prime (but not the full name bc megatron is a false prophet too) and leadership role*

op: MY BROTHER IN PRIMUS THE BAR WAS ON THE GROUND