#but she did genuinely start to like sam as time went by

[captianbrnes]

Pretty like the Sun

Summary: When you start to doubt yourself, Bucky is here to pick up the pieces you left behind.

Warnings: Insecure reader, that's all i think

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!reader, friends to lovers

Word count: 1k

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆

You don't even remember how it started. It just switched one day and now all you could focus on was ur ‘faults’.

Were you even fit to be an avenger? How did people like you? Did your friends even truly like you? Weeks went by and you could feel yourself slipping more and more, you tried to act normal to your super friends hoping no one would notice. Bucky did.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ 

 “Have you noticed anything wrong with Y/n? She just seems off, im worried” Bucky expressed to Sam and Natasha in the kitchen while making a cup of coffee.

“ Idk man she's your girl shouldn't you know?” “She's not my girl Sam.” He rolls his eyes knowing Sam knows about his crush on you.

“Maybe go up to her, just go check on her.” Nat says as she pats the super soldiers’ back, leaving the kitchen.

He decides then that the only way he'll know is to ask so Bucky gets up to head to your room. 

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ You're laying in bed staring up at the ceiling when you hear 3 knocks from the door. Not feeling up to talk to anyone, you don't say anything hoping whoever’s there will just leave. “ Doll it's me Bucky, I want to talk, can you open the door for me?”

Oh Bucky… Your crush for the longest time, also one of your closest friends. Ever since you first joined the avengers you knew you were done for. His immediate smile threw you off your feet and it was then you knew.

You and Bucky started to become closer to each other over the months, spending most of your time together either watching movies or walking around New York. Bucky was one of the people who you cared about the most and that's why you felt so insecure. You wanted to be your best for him all the time, be perfect in hope that he’ll maybe fall for you just like how hard you fell for him.

What you didn’t know was that he already fell just as hard.

The first time Bucky spotted you he couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't understand how someone could be that beautiful, your eyes shined and your smile glowed, you look like the Sun. He cared so much for you and hasn't felt this much love for anyone ever and just wanted to make sure you’re okay, that's why he's here.

You decide to get up and open the door for him, checking the mirror beforehand making sure you look okay. “ Hey Buck, everything okay?”

You choke out looking up at him while trying toseem happy. “ Yeah everythings fine, just wanted to check on you, haven't seen you in a while… Can I come in?” Bucky says rubbing his hand on the back of his neck hoping that you'll let him in and open up to him. “ Uh sure-” You both opt to sit on your bed and it's then that Bucky takes your hand and decides to speak up.

“I'm here because I'm worried about you doll.. What's going on? You know you can talk to me right.” He says looking down to you with genuine worry in his eyes. He could get so scared sometimes worrying if he upset you in some way. “ No, I'm fine-” “Dont.” Bucky interrupts. He tilts your chin up to meet his eyes.

“ Don't act like it's fine when it's not. Some Things upset you, I want to know what it is. Let me help you like you helped me” This was it. As he said that you felt yourself breaking and water managed to make it out of your eyes finally breaking down.

“Hey hey hey, i got you, you're okay breath baby, breath.” Bucky says holding you closer to him and accidentally letting a pet name slip out. After Bucky gets you to breathe and calm down he sits you on his lap and starts to speak.

“ You're okay Y/n, I'm here with you okay. Just talk to me whenever you're ready.”

It's then you finally speak up and voice all your insecurities about how you dislike how you look and feel as if youre useless and don't matter to the team. Bucky’s heart starts to break hearing these words come out of you feeling as if you're not good enough. He can't stand to see you like this anymore and put his forehead on yours making sure you're looking at him.

“ Look at me, doll, I have never thought about you in any of those ways. You are the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen and the best thing that's ever happened to me.”

“I want you to know how incredible you are and that I understand how you're feeling but that none of it is true. I am so in love with you it's crazy.” Bucky spills out not caring about if you feel the same anymore, he just needs to get it out.

“ You light up a whole room with that smile of your doll. You're the funniest person I've met and bring me so much comfort… I've never cared about anyone like i've cared about you.``

“Bucky i-” Is this true? Does he really feel the same way? “ Bucky, are you serious?” you exclaim.

Realizing that you might not share the same feelings, buckys eyes go wide with worry looking like a kicked puppy, before saying “ I um- I know that you might not feel the same ways as me but i couldn't keep it in any longer. And I'm sorry if I ruined anything I didn't mean-”

You silenced him as you crashed your lips into his humming into the kiss. You guys finally pull away after a while and decide to cuddle up under the bed together, your eyes closing.

There's still much more you guys need to talk about in the morning but none of that comes to mind now that Bucky’s finally holding you in his arms.

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A/n : Hiii!!! Hope you liked the story. Im going to try to write more just and super busy.....

[kaleldobrev]

What Are We?

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader

Summary: Dean and you do a lot of couple things together but yet…you’re not a couple, and you often wonder why.

Original Prompt: Requested by anonymous | Hey! How are ya? I don’t know if you write for chubby reader but if you’re comfortable with that then could you write something about dean and reader being in a situationship and the reader thinks he doesn’t wanna date her cause of how she looks and he confesses that he actually likes her? You can change it however you want. Thank you so much!

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: Cursing (2x), Angst, Fluff, Talks of body "issues"

Authors Note: Thanks for the request anon friend! Of course I’ll write it. I don’t discriminate and neither would Dean 👌🏻 | As a girlie who has a slight muffin top myself, I loved this prompt <3 | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡

Situationship (noun): a romantic or sexual relationship that is not considered to be formal or established.

This was the type of relationship that you've had with Dean for the past several months. At first, it was something that you were okay with because you thought that maybe it would eventually turn into something more. As you felt that if he liked you enough to sleep with you, make out with you, and basically do everything a "normal" couple does, then why wouldn't he eventually want to make things official with you down the road? But it's been months, and there's been remotely no talks about making things exclusive, and you were really starting to wonder why.

Exclusivity was a word that you wouldn't use to describe Dean, but it was something that you wanted with him, wanted with him because he was the one person that you could genuinely see yourself being with. But at this point, based on the current situation that the two of you were in, you were afraid that he didn't actually want to be with you, that he was just using you until he had found someone better...found someone that was his usual toothpick thin type that he tended to go for, which wasn't your body type.

When it came to your body type, it was something that you had a love/hate relationship with. You weren't the thinnest girl in the world, but you still liked the way you looked, as you believed the muffin top you had was just something more to love. And at this point in your situationship, you didn't think Dean minded either, as he would always trail kisses along your stomach, telling you how beautiful you were, and how perfect you were. Complimenting how much he loved your thick thighs as he gripped them. But at the same time, that talk seemed to never leave the comforts of the Bunker; and if it did, it stayed strictly around your mutual friends. The hand holding and kisses would cease as soon as the two of you would leave the Bunker, and you couldn't help but think that he was embarrassed to be seen with you, be seen as someone that he was romantic with.

That's why you were confused, confused about what was actually going on between the two of you. He would constantly tell you how beautiful you were and hold your hand, and do those types of things in front of Sam, Jack, Cas, Jodi, Donna, but would never do these things in public. You were good enough to sleep with, but yet you weren't good enough to be considered his girlfriend?

You walked down the hall, a few books in hand as you made your way to the War Room. But you were stopped when you heard Dean call your name from his bedroom as you walked past. You turned around quickly, and went back to stand in his doorway. “What’s up Dean?” You asked.

“You didn’t say hi to me when you walked past,” he stated, flipping to the next page in his book.

To be honest, you did see him, and normally, you would have said hi to him, maybe chatted for a little bit until you eventually made your way into the War Room. But today, because of what was on your mind, you didn't really want to speak to him until you were sure about how you were going to handle this situationship between the two of you. “Oh, sorry,” you apologized.

“You okay Sweetheart? You seem distracted today,” he stated closing his book.

“I’m always like this,” you said. He got up from his bed and started making his way toward you.

“No, you’re not actually. Your voice is different, and your body language tells me other wise,” he said. “So, what’s up?”

“Very Sherlock of you,” you said. “I’m fine honestly.”

He looked at you with slight disbelief. “Y/N, we've been friends long enough for me to tell when you're lying." There it was. Friends. He used the word friends. You weren't sure if you should be relieved or disappointed.

“Yeah…friends,” you repeated the word.

“Are we not…friends?” He seemed hurt by your usage of the word, which caused you even more confusion.

“Honestly, I don’t know what we are,” you admitted, and you didn't expect those words of yours to come out like that.

He cocked a brow. “What do you mean? Did I do something?” As long as Dean could recall, he hadn't done anything to have hurt you as of late. He tried to recollect everything that he had done or said to you over the last couple of days, and he was honestly coming up with nothing; but there must of be something, as you would have never said something like that to him if there wasn't at least something wrong.

“No, no, you did nothing wrong I’m just…” you sighed. “I’m confused that’s all.”

“What are you confused about?” He asked.

“Do you mind if I came in and we closed the door?” You asked, and he nodded. He felt himself get nervous just as much as you were starting to feel the same. Holding your books in your hand you walked inside and Dean shut the door behind you. Setting your books on his table the two of you sat on the edge of his bed. You had no idea where to start, as you thought you'd have more time to figure out this conversation in your head. “I’m confused about what we are.”

“What do you mean?” He seemed genuinely concerned.

"What this is between us. You say that we're friends, but we have sex, make out, more often than not sleep in the same bed together, do everything normal couples do but yet...you say that we're friends."

"If you don't want us doing any of that anymore that's...fine," he said, but Dean wasn't remotely fine with stopping what was going on between the two of you, because he loved being able to just crawl into your bed at night and just kiss you and hold you in his arms.

You sighed in frustration, as he seemed to completely ignore the point you were trying to make. "That's not what I'm saying Dean. What I'm saying is, well, I'm more like asking really." You took a deep breath, and you felt your heart start to race, slightly afraid to ask what you were about to ask. "If I'm good enough to sleep with and do couple things with, why am I not good enough to be your girlfriend?"

Dean honestly didn't know what to say to you. Well, he did, but he knew that it was a poor excuse of an answer, an answer that he knew that you weren't going to believe even though it was true. All he wanted was to be with you, exclusively be with you (which he essentially already was). But he was afraid, afraid that the second the two of you mutually agreed to be together and only together, that you'd eventually realize pretty quickly how disappointing of a person that he was, that the novelty of him would somehow wear off. "It's cause I'm not thin right?" You asked.

Your question caught him off guard, honestly annoyed that you would say that was the reason he didn't want to be exclusive with you. He honestly didn't understand why you had thought that was the reason, as he thought that he had made it pretty clear how beautiful he thinks you are inside and out. But, apparently he hasn't been doing a good of job as he thought he had been. "What? Y/N, that's not the reason," he stated, his voice slightly annoyed.

"Then what is the reason Dean? I mean, that's honestly the only reason I can think of. Well, that or...you're embarrassed by me," you said, your voice getting lower.

“I’m not embarrassed by you Y/N, you know that,” he said.

"If you're not embarrassed by me, then why won't you hold my hand in public?" You asked. "Because, it's just weird to me you know? I mean, you have no issue telling me how beautiful I am in front of Donna, Sam, Jack. You have no problem kissing me in front of Claire or Cas. But the second we aren't around any of those people, the second we are outside of the Bunker, you want nothing to do with that with me anymore." Your voice was about to break, as all you wanted to do was just not have this conversation anymore; you just wanted to crawl into bed under the covers.

Dean knew you had a point, and he could fully admit to everything that you had just said. He did only hold your hand, or kiss you, or tell you how beautiful you were when they were in the presence of friends or family, but it was because he could be vulnerable in front of them; he wasn't afraid to be vulnerable in front of them, but he was afraid to be vulnerable in front of people he didn't know, afraid that they were somehow going to use the love he had for you against him, and it was something he didn't want to risk. "I'm sorry," he began finally, and you raised a brow at his response. "I'm not embarrassed by you Y/N, not at all. And the reason I'm not with you, with you isn't because I don't think you're skinny enough," he hated saying those words. "Honestly, it fucking breaks my heart that you think that's the reason because I think I do a pretty good job at telling you how beautiful you are," he said, taking your hand. "And it's not just bedroom talk. I honestly think you're so fucking beautiful."

"Even with my muffin top?" You asked, slight amusement in your voice, but you were still serious in your question.

"It's just more of you for me to love," he said.

"When you mean love..." you trailed off. "See, now I'm more confused."

He sighed. "I know what I'm about to say is something that you're not going to believe, but it's the truth," he took a deep breath before he continued. "Not only do I think you're too good for me, but I'm afraid that someone will use what we have together against me somehow, against us somehow. And...I can't...I can't risk that." I love you too much, he wanted to say.

"So, you're telling me the reason you don't hold my hand in public is because you're afraid some demon or something will see that and then use it against us?" You asked, clarifying. "Dean." You wanted to not believe him, but you did, and you hated that this was the reason. You hated that because he was so afraid of losing you, losing what the two of you have, that he didn't want to even hold your hand outside of the Bunker walls.

"I know you don't believe me Sweetheart," he said, his voice sounding slightly sad.

"I do Dean I just..." you sighed. "You know I can take care of myself right? How many times have you seen me take on two, three, four creatures at time and only had a single scratch?" You took his other hand. "Dean, I genuinely want to be with you if you want to be with me. I know you're afraid that you're going to lose me but, newsflash, I'm afraid of losing you too. That's...that's just what life is Dean. It's just more of a reason to go for it, because...we might not always be here."

Dean knew you were right, you were always right. And to your point, it was something that he hated, but he couldn't help but find himself agreeing with. He would rather have a little bit of time with you than nothing at all, because at least he would have some memories of the good times you had together, instead of the constant, "What if's?"

"Dean, I love you," you said. "You're the only person I want to be with okay?" You leaned in, and so did he, mere inches away from each other's lips.

"Love you too Sweetheart," he replied back. He leaned in fully now, meeting his lips to yours.

"Does this mean we're together? Like you'll actually hold my hand in public or is that still off the table?" You whispered.

Dean grinned. "I'll grab your ass in public if you want me to," he winked, and you felt yourself slightly blush at his comment.

The two of you knew that the newfound relationship wasn't going to be easy, but it was something that the two of you were willing to fight for.

Tag List: @roseblue373 @beansproutmafia @queenie32 @deanwanddamons @missy420-0 @jackles010378 @mrsjenniferwinchester @syrma-sensei @k-slla @justletmereadfanfic @deans-daydream If you'd like to be added to a tag list, let me know!

[starry-bi-sky]

childhood friends danny and jason miscellaneous thoughts: because why not, i'm reworking ch2 because it no longer fits with the remaster of chapter 1 so i've been thinking of them, and i love talking about them. which you should totally go read the remaster because its 26k words and im very proud of it and it barely got any attention.

First off Ellie vapes. Mostly because I think its real fucking funny. The first time Danny finds out about it he gets all up in arms about it. Ellie at first thinks its because she's smoking -- which, helloooo pot meet kettle, Danny has been smoking for a lot longer than she has.

And then he throws a curveball at her and says he's upset specifically because its vaping. Like no, no. Dammit, if you're gonna fuck up your lungs you gotta do it properly, none of this cotton-candy flavored nonsense.

He plays it up for laughs and it's largely non-serious 'i can't believe you're using a vape', if only to hide the fact that he is genuinely displeased with his little sister smoking. Self-destructive behaviors and bad habits are his thing, thank you very much.

But, well, he knows he'd be a hypocrite if he told her he didn't like that she was smoking. He's aware its bad for him, but habits are hard to break and he's not particularly keen to break this one in particular.

Danny bullies her relentlessly about it whenever she vapes in front of him. Like don't be a loser, Elle, carry a carton of cigs and a lighter in your back pocket like the rest of us degenerates.

[more under the cut]

Secondly: Danny's piercings? He got the first lobe piercings as a lost bet from Sam in junior year, and they did it in her room with a needle, a small bottle of blood blossom extract, and an apple. He broke out in hives for a week after thanks to the blood blossom, but it prevented the hole from healing up :)

He got the rest done professionally at a piercing place in the Ghost Zone. He asked Johnny where to find it. Sam and Johnny (and Kitty) nearly convinced him into getting snakebites. He got an eyebrow piercing instead.

Danny's undercut is also self-done, he did it because Technus shot at him with an ectoblast and it missed hitting him, but set his hair on fire. Danny got it out pretty quickly, but it left his hair lopsided and obviously looking like it got burned by something. He went to Sam for help after the fight. He liked the way it looks so he's kept it that way since.

-

Vlad brought up Jason once(1) in a taunt during a fight, and this was after Jason disappeared from the ghost zone, and Danny very. very nearly killed him on the spot. He hasn't done it since.

Which leads into the other thing: Grief Triggers! As I call them. All Banshees have them in this au.

While all banshees are, in general, in a permanent state of grief, Grief Triggers are a specific emotional response that can cause them to spiral into a state of intense, sometimes debilitating sorrow, and most of the time causes them to start wailing.

Banshees know what their Grief Triggers are and in general tend to try and build up a form of resistance against it so that, if something occurs that happens to trigger said grief, they can at least either get away from other ghosts to let loose or have enough control over themselves that it'll take more work to send them spiraling.

As expected, Jason is Danny's grief trigger. He's built up a pretty good resistance to it so that hey, talking about him and his death is easier than when Danny was fourteen. But a little more prodding and it will trigger, especially depending on who brings him up and how. (See: Vlad)

Grief Triggers also manifest relatively the same; with the induction of an intense state of grief and sorrow, but how a banshee acts on it can sometimes vary. Again, it depends on who triggers it and how. Some of them can get,,, violent, depending on how it happens.

Rath, this au's 'Dan', is a case of a banshee being put into the grief state caused by grief triggers and... never really leaving it. Which they usually do on their own, or with help depending on the severity of it.

At the time it happened Danny was going through the worst week of his life a second time: his best friend's ghost disappeared, then his family and friends all died right in front of him, and then he was stuck with someone who wasn't helping him through that grief.

He was already in the grieving state when Vlad tore out his ghost half. As a result, Vlad only made it worse. With that fury thrown into the mix, Vlad ended up getting torn apart and nobody else was close enough with nor could they get close enough to Rath to help him come down from the wailing state.

So Rath ended up getting stuck in a perpetual negative feedback loop of absolute misery, and well... drove himself insane. The rest of the world became collateral as a result.

-

the difference between Danny and Jason lies in the fact that Jason died, while Danny is dead.

-

I'm having more thoughts on the CFAU/TMWS universe banshees, actually.

Banshees are either born in the ghost zone from ectoplasm and are ecto-entities and work as banshees as how we know of them, or they're human spirits that died mourning someone and that grief was so intense that it turned them into a banshee. They're a little more rare.

These banshees typically mourn only one person, or sometimes they follow their Realm-born counterparts and choose a family to mourn for. Typically their own.

Ember is not a banshee; human spirit banshees are always mourning another person. However, her abilities emulate certain qualities of banshees: like the beautiful singing. But in comparison to an actual banshee, Ember's voice pales.

Does this mean Danny has the better singing voice? Yeah. Ember is incensed by this.

-

If canon Danny and CFAU/TMWS Danny met, I think canon Danny would be kinda unsettled or off put by CFAU.

CFAU Danny still has some pretty core Danny traits, at least I like to think so -- his general drive to help people just out of compassion for them (even if it manifests differently at first due to trauma), his wit and humor, his fear of failing to protect his loved ones, all of those resonate with canon Danny.

However, canon Danny, as far as I can remember and as far as his wiki goes, rarely gets extremely angry or emotional. He gets irritated and he gets annoyed but him getting mad I don't think happens super often. CFAU Danny is the angrier one between Jason and Danny. It's one of the things I consider a division point between him and canon Danny as it's a result of him growing up in Crime Alley. Canon Danny is canonically shy and meek prior to becoming Phantom, CFAU Danny couldn't be -- he'd be dead already.

CFAU Danny's anger would off put canon Danny, in my opinion. His anger, his smoking, and for lack of a better term, his bloodlust would unsettle him.

Like, for example, say CFAU Danny gets transported to a canon (or canon-adjacent) Danny's universe. He's staying with canon for a little bit as they brainstorm how to get him back home, and CFAU Danny goes to school with canon if only so that he's not stuck in the house all day.

Whether they try and pass CFAU Danny off as canon's cousin or if the town already knows that he's another version of Danny, it doesn't matter. Because insert Dash.

Dash who, in CFAU Danny's world, has since learned not to fuck around with Danny or the other kids because Danny has long since asserted that he will beat his ass if he does. 'Fucking around' always predates the 'finding out', and Danny is happy to act as consequence.

(As my father told me (paraphrased) when I was a small child and full of uncontrollable anger: "there's gonna be a day where you're gonna hit someone, and they're gonna hit you back")

And canon Dash, who is used to canon Danny who kinda just takes it because it means that he won't target other people, would see CFAU Danny. He'd notice the resemblance between him and canon, immediately try and go "oh new target!", and try and bully him the same way he does to canon. And Danny "I am the consequences of your actions" CFAU Fenton, instantly throws hands.

Just, CFAU Danny is kind but he's also Gotham-raised and full of bite; he's meaner than canon is. He's more ruthless too, especially in his ghost fights. The ease of which he slips into violence would, imo, discomfort canon. CFAU and Canon would eventually get along though, they're not so different that they'd be in constant clash of each other.

(Canon Danny and Danyal Al Ghul however,,, thats another post LMAO)

[uptondixon]

"You can hear it in the silence" - Sam Carver x Intelligence Officer!Reader

I noticed there's a surprisingly small amount of Sam Carver fanfics out here so this was born!

Reader is an officer from the Intelligence unit, she and Carver have been dating in secret for a couple of months. After a tough call involving both Truck and Intelligence, Carver can't help but demonstrate his love for you.

One robbery in progress, a bomb, and a bunch of civilians hurt. That is not how anyone imagined a Sunday morning to go. 

After the mess was contained, two out of four offenders were dead after a shooting with CPD. The other two, however, disappeared among the crowd of civilians. Paramedics were handling the wounded in triage while the firefighters were dealing with the remains of the explosion. 

“Y/n?” Voight said, calling your attention to him. “What about the guard you talked with?”

“He seemed nervous Sarge, even scared, and it wasn’t because of the robbery,” you said, checking the information you wrote about the guard. “The story he told, it looked rehearsed to me.”

Voight nodded, “Okay, you talk to him again and see if you can get more info, meanwhile Kev and Adam can search his proprieties so we can try and make a connection—”

“Y/n!” a shout was heard from a distance, directing your attention towards the sound.

Sam’s figure came into view. He was dressed with his coat and helmet, his face carrying a mix of worry and relief. You couldn’t help but leave a small gasp, your face morphing into pure and genuine surprise.

“Carver! I—” you started but the words vanished when he hugged you. Your arms wrapped around him, instinctively hugging him back. The embrace was so strong it lifted you a little off the ground, making you smile.

“Sam,” you said, a smile still on your face. Breaking the hug was hard since he was holding you so tight, but he started to let go when you said his name. Your feet met the ground again. 

“I saw you in the middle of the shooting, I thought you were going to be shot!” Carver said, his hands holding yours. 

“I'm fine, I ducked in time,” you smiled at him again, trying to soothe his worries. “We all did,” you looked at your team behind you, Sam’s eyes following yours.

He suddenly went quiet, his eyes staring at your intertwined hands. Realization hit him that you two were in public. 

You smiled at him sheepishly, arching your eyebrows and holding his hands tighter for reassurance. You knew he was feeling shy, it was so cute the way his eyes shifted back and forth between your eyes and the ground. You were not any different, looking between him and your team. You both sure did not expect your relationship to be out like this, but there was no coming back now. 

Your team held both confused and smiley faces. Hailey and Jay were smiling so big you could count every tooth in their mouth. They have been suspecting about your relationship with said firefighter after catching you messaging him during a boring lookout late at night. Another one who had suspicions was Voight, he heard from Mouch one night over dinner at his and Trudy's house that he saw you and Carver talking at Molly's. On the other hand, Adam, Kim, and Kevin looked absolutely shocked. They appeared to be the only ones who missed any signs about this.

“Is everything okay guys?” Stella's voice brought you back to reality. She was more discreet with her reaction than the others, but you could spot a small smile forming in her mouth.

“Of course, Lieutenant,” Carver said, regaining his composure. “I’ll see you later, yeah?” he smiled that smile you love so much. Staring into his blue eyes, you smiled back. 

“See you around, Y/n,” Stella said, leaving with Carver following behind.

You nodded with a smile, walking back to your team. 

“Don't look at me like that, Adam,” you said pointing a finger at him. Adam was staring at you as if you had grown another head.

“Well forgive my shock, but is that the reason why you rejected all the guys I told you about?”

“Bro, I rejected them because they suck.”

“They do not suck, Y/N, they’re nice guys.”

“Well, would you date them?”

“Enough you two,” Voight said with a ghost of a smile. “Let’s get back to the case.”

After listening to the rest of Voight’s instructions you all left in the direction of the cars.

“Now, I’m your partner, how come I’m one of the last people to know about this?” Kevin said, getting into the passenger seat of your car. 

“Y’all need to share when stuff like this happens!” Kevin said through the window when Jay and Hailey passed beside your car to get to their truck.

All you could do now was laugh and get ready for the teasing coming your way in the next few weeks.

[writingfanfiction]

“Ten things I hate about you” - Chapter One

Pair: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Modern High School AU. Skinny sophomore Steve Rogers is new in school. After meeting fellow sophomore Natasha, he quickly develops a crush on her. However, Steve finds out he can’t ask her out because her dad won’t allow Natasha to date if her older sister, the senior Y/N, doesn’t date first. The only problem is: Y/N has no interest in dating whatsoever. With the help of his new friend Sam Wilson, Steve comes up with a plan to find Y/N a suitable match. The best candidate? The most dreaded senior in school, Bucky Barnes.

A/N: Loosely based on the movie of the same name.

“Ten things I hate about you” masterlist | Main masterlist

*****

You weren’t usually a violent person. Far from it actually. You truly believed violence was the very last resort to deal with any issue. However, John Walker not only wasn’t someone you could reason with, but he also brought the worst in you. Which was why you had barely sat foot in school property when your knee went straight between his legs. You were sure most people wouldn’t blame you even if they didn’t know why you had attacked him. It was John Walker after all. The only problem was that Mr. Coulson wasn’t like most people, so all he saw was you kicking the school’s star running back, and he didn’t bother to learn why you had resorted to violence. “Nothing is an excuse to be violent towards a fellow student, Miss Y/L/N,” he said. And that was the reason why you were on your way to the principal’s office even before your senior year had officially started.

Right outside of Principal Hill’s office, May Parker, the principal’s secretary, sat at her desk typing away in her computer. Upon seeing you, she smiled brightly at you. “Good morning, Y/N! I see we are starting the year at full throttle,” she chuckled. May liked you, and she had said so on multiple occasions. She liked your no nonsense attitude, and believed most of the time you had good reasons to behave like you did. To her that meant that most of the time you shouldn’t have been sent to the principal’s office.

“Always a pleasure, May!” You smiled in greeting.

She adjusted her big frames at the top of her nose and asked you, “How was your summer, Y/N?”

“Oh, you know. Your ordinary teenage summer.” You shrugged.

May smiled knowingly. “I hardly think you had an ordinary teenage summer!”

You chuckled. She knew you too well! “Well, it was my ordinary summer and I’m a teenager, unfortunately, so...” You shrugged. “How was yours?”

“Good! Peter and I went to the beach for a couple of weeks.”

“I’m glad you had a good time.” You smiled at her. You were genuinely happy for May. It was good to see her managing to get back on track after the untimely death of her husband.

“Thank you, dear.” May smiled again, understanding what you left unsaid. Before she could dwell too long on sad thoughts, she continued, “Please, do be seated. Principal Hill will be with you in a moment.” She pointed to the waiting chairs, where you were surprised to find a seated Bucky Barnes.

Bucky had disappeared from school during junior year, never having returned after winter break. Multiple rumours abounded as to the why of that. They went from clearly believable possibilities to the most absurd hypotheses. You were quite sure he had neither become a hair model in Japan nor become part of some motorcycle street racing gang. You weren’t friends with Bucky Barnes, but you knew the guy pretty well not to believe the absurdities you heard through the teenage grapevine.

Bucky had been your classmate ever since kindergarten, and ever since you could remember the two of you had been competing for the title of best student in your class. You were both highly competitive, and had been trying to best each other at everything. Although he was extremely annoying to you due to your competitiveness, just as you were to him, Bucky had been a sweet, sort of golden boy until ninth grade. He had been genuinely nice to everyone, a model student and a model teenage boy. He was like a ray of sunshine, short shiny hair perfectly combed, colourfully but tastefully dressed and all smiles. He had been a star football player who had made it to the varsity team in ninth grade. Even though he had made it as a benchwarmer, no other freshman had made it to varsity. Then, something happened during summer, before sophomore year, and Bucky became this unapproachable loner who let his hair grow, wore a great deal of black and leather, and who was trying to kill himself by smoking too many cigarettes and driving a vintage Harley. After whatever had happened, to most people he was clouded in an aura of mystery that made most people afraid of him, while at the same time most girls fawned over him. The only thing that hadn’t changed, however, was his competitiveness to be the top student in your class. You never understood why. Sure, there were rumours that he was just naturally gifted and didn’t even have to study to get good grades, but you knew that wasn’t true. You were there to witness his presentations, that guy put effort in his school work.

You and Bucky had a strange relationship. While you wanted to best each other, you still didn’t really hate each other. Moreover, you were probably the only person who wasn’t afraid of him, why would you be, and you friendly bantered. There were also times when your competitive nature made you two end up together in Principal Hill’s office.

It seemed he was back from wherever, though, as for some reason he was also waiting for Principal Hill on the first day of senior year. What could he possibly have done so soon? You paid a moment’s attention to him. His already long hair seemed longer, his face had a couple of days stubble, and he looked bigger than before. But what struck you the most was the fact that he looked more man than a teenage boy now. Sure, he was eighteen, lawfully an adult, but most seniors didn’t look manly.

“Y/L/N.” Bucky said by way of greeting and nodded his head at you.

“Barnes.” You sat down next to him, dropping your backpack on the floor.

“Did you miss me?” He smiled mischievously at you and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Every single day!” You answered sarcastically in a high pitched voice and put a hand over your heart.

He laughed at that and you couldn’t help but smile. His genuine laugh had always been lovely. Not that you would ever say that out loud. Bucky continued, “What are you doing here before the first class of the school year had even taken place?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

“Yeah, but I asked you first.” He smirked.

You had no problem sharing what had happened, and you and Bucky had been in those same chairs many a time, so you just let the smirk slide and answered, “Walker.”

“Say no more!” Bucky put his hands up.

You chuckled and asked him, “How about you?”

“Walker.” He winked at you.

“Now, don’t make me wish to best you at that as well, Barnes!” You joked.

He smiled again. “I don’t know… I punched him in the face. How can you best that?” He challenged you.

You were the one smiling mischievously this time. “I kicked Walker’s genitals.” Bucky made a face and squeezed his legs together. You heard May chuckle in her desk and you sent her a smile. She also didn’t like Walker.

“You know, I concede this round. You bested me this time, Y/L/N.”

“How gracious of you!” You smiled sarcastically.

“You know, I thought you were adept of non-violence.” Bucky smirked at you, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He knew all about your opinions. Well, most of the school did, since you were quite vocal about them.

“Well, sometimes violence is the only way, Barnes. Like when a jerk crudely comments on your best friend’s rear.”

“The Carol Danvers wasn’t the one who kicked him in the nuts?” Bucky’s eyes were wide open.

“I was closer to him.” You shrugged.

“Of course.”

After a moment, you asked him, “How about you? Why did you punch Walker? Did he crudely comment on your ass as well?” You smirked.

“Ha. Ha.” Bucky said in a monotone. “Funny, but no. He was harassing some poor freshman in that alley at the other side of the street.”

You put both of your hands over your heart and sarcastically asked him, “The Bucky Barnes protecting the weak and oppressed?!”

Bucky shrugged. “Consider it my good deed of the year.”

“Of course.” Bucky smiled at you and, once again, you couldn’t help but smile back. At that moment, you realised you had kind of missed bantering with him.

You heard Principal Hill’s door open and you looked at it. “… And remember, anything you need, we are here for you.” She took a step out of her room and, upon seeing you and Bucky, she sighed, forgetting all about the scrawny blond boy behind her, effectively preventing him from leaving the office and making him witness your interaction. “I cannot believe this.” Principal Hill threw her arms up. “What are you two up to already? You hadn’t even had your first class of the school year, you can’t possibly have exploded the chemistry lab again!” The blond boy behind her was suddenly scared.

“We didn’t explode the chemistry lab!” You defended yourself.

“Yeah, we exploded a couple of beakers and test tubes…” Bucky shrugged.

“Maybe an Erlenmeyer flask…” You added.

Principal Hill sighed. “What are the two of you doing here?”

“We are here separately. We caused different, totally unconnected ‘problems’” You air quoted the word problems. John Walker was the real problem.

Bucky nodded and added, “Although, we are here coincidentally because of the same object in our acts of violence.” You nodded.

Principal Hill pinched the bridge of her nose. “What. Did. You. Do?”

“John Walker-” You and Bucky started in unison.

Principal Hill lifted her hand to interrupt you. “I see. You are free to go. No matter what you’ve done to Walker, I’m sure he’s also at fault.” The blond boy behind her was shocked the principal was letting trouble makers off the hook. You and Bucky smiled, grabbed your backpacks and got up.

Bucky walked to Principal Hill, and in a low tone said, “You know, Hill, I’ve turned eighteen while I was away. You know what that means, right?” He wiggled his eyebrows. You rolled your eyes. The guy really enjoyed playing with fire.

Principal Hill tilted her head and smiled at him before firmly saying, “James Buchanan Barnes, get your ass off my office before I sent you to detention on your first day back!” Bucky only chuckled.

“Goodbye May!” You waved at her on your way out.

“Always a pleasure, May!” Bucky saluted the secretary before following you.

In the hallway, your friend Carol awaited you. You opened your mouth to talk to her when you heard Bucky behind you. “I’ll see you around, Y/L/N. You won’t have it easy like you had last semester.”

“I’m not worried, Barnes. You’ll just be lagging behind me, exactly like you’ve been since High School started!” You tilted your head to the side and gave him a fake sweet smile. He repeated the gesture and walked away.

“I didn’t know he would be back.” Carol said as you two started walking. You shrugged. She continued, “You know, you two have great OTP potential.”

You looked at your friend as if she had grown another head. “Did you smoke something while I was in there? That’s Barnes you’re talking about.”

“I know.” She smirked at you. “But now that I think about it, you guys had always had this super weird, but strong, chemistry…” You rolled your eyes and pinched your friend. “Ow! What are you doing, Y/N?!”

“I’m just checking if you’re not an alien shapeshifter who’s pretending to be my best friend.” Carol didn’t look amused.

*****

Next chapter coming soon

[robin33r]

TAURTIS.

Taurtis isn't talked about enough. He's genuinely gotten drowned out and it's golly awful!!! Everyone's so focused on Sam and grian and their stuff taurtis gets drowned out.

Taurtis is such an anomaly and he is MORE than just some silly guy who's Sam's best friend. I'd argue he's just as bad or maybe even a tad bit worse. Hear me out.

Straight up at the beginning of the series, no one mentions (outside of like 2 people) that taurtis has killed someone and made it on TV while getting away with it. Bros the first murderer we see in the season revealed and hey, this can imply he's done it before and never gotten caught. Taurtis knows damn well how things are and id argue hes the result behind Sam's behavior. Not Yuki, while she did also heavily influence him, he did a lot more damage.

No one ever mentions ot though because he's just a "silly little guy"

Even from the start Taurtis has been seen making these decisions for Sam but the way they work is making it look like the others independent when I can argue they're both codependent on eachother in a way. Taurtis even convinces and forces the idea of Sam doing things for to a sense someone can see "for his (Sam's) own good" When Sam was in love with Sookie and found out she was into women, he was bummed out, however Taurtis was the one who suggested he could chop her up or get Sam to dress as a girl in which; he even protested at first and kept denying. Taurtis in the beginning had a small weird obsession with when things went wrong; they could resort to "chop chop" It is known and we all talk about Sam and Yuki being a yandere but what about Taurtis being one potentially? I know this can be diminished by the nice treatment Salex (I have a whole another yap session about salex and him and sam) The second Sam said he had no chance with Sookie, Taurtis asked about using force and deceiving to help get Sam what he wants. Also for whatever reason he has a TON of images of Sam on his phone canonically?? Am I the only one who's taking that into acc?

Sam is EASILY one of the most quick-to-influence characters in the series and can easily be manipulated, despite being described as a manipulator himself. And the person who's been with him the most in life and who's been living ALONE with for who knows what time? For Sam to having gone down the rabbit hole he is, the person who'd have tk influence that would have to be Taurtis. He encourages and excuses everything and I'd argue he even partakes in stuff in his own time. There's also the fact he has no problem hurting his own friends as well, he's CONSTANTLY being physical with Sam and he doesn't even care with Stabbing him off a building as a friendly gesture to a sense. There's also the fact he literally doesn't care if someone (coughs SAM) plays dress up with him whenever they want, it's fine its whatever right?? He could care less about that stuff

HOWEVER in the end he's still a teenager, he's a genuinely insecure teenager. It's not directly stated however it is very much implied with his reactions and interactions and his need/drive to impress others and for them to be impressed by and to want him. He almost needs people to need him and that's probably part of what makes him happy about Sam's codependency because he knows Sam needs Taurtis. Taurtis needs someone to need him, which is probably what started his infatuation with salex because she always praised and flirted with him and fueled his confidence; that's what he wants or "needs." That's part of where I think not only Sam but TAURTIS is also codependent in his own way. It's an eye for an eye. He gives what he wants and expects that to be given back in its own way. He's more than happy with being popular and having Sam do so much, hell that helps boost his confidence. He's got his own demands and we've seen instances where he makes Sam supply hjm or give him his own food (which my friend has pointed out that Sam's willing to even starve for taurtis if it meant taurtis could feel full/get what he wanted.) We see Taurtis even being insecure when Sam and Grian point things out (like when he went bald and how horrible it looked) and he instantly jumped on trying to find ways to quickly grow his hair back. He doesn't want that imperfection. He's quick to jump to conclusions too because when Sam makes a small comment he INSTANTLY retorts. (Example; "you have a great chewwy/ you'd be a great chewwy-chewbaca" "are you saying I'm hairy/fat???) He's still an insecure teenager, despite his popular and having someone straight up need him to be even the slightest bit okay, I dont think he'd willingly abandon that

I have so much more to say but rn this is what I'm giving, I could go into his relationship with Sam, his acts/interests, hus family and childhood but that's for another episode

[wekiamo]

still love you pt. 2

heyy finally part 2! 😭 sorry for the wait. anyways i’m glad y’all like the fic! reblogs are appreciated and requests are totally welcome!

warnings: swearing, murdering, stabbing, blood, fluff! if something’s missing tell me in the comments

you screamed.

“[NAME], NO!” tara screamed even louder than you did. she started to cry even more. you couldn’t die, you and sam were one of the most important things in her life. you were always there for her and she was always there for you, you both had some kind of sister connection. you always had so much fun, you loved deep conversations - actually, you loved anything that made you spend more time with each other. you could never lose her and she could never lose you. was she losing you right now? that’s one thing she would NEVER want in her life, ever.

while tara was still screaming for your name, denying that you were dead, sam had covered her mouth and started sobbing. sam couldn’t even think of ever losing you, that she’d panic. she can’t imagine a life without your jokes, without cooking a new recipe with you every day with the same playlist going on, without crying on your shoulder and you crying on hers, without holding hands with you everytime she gets nervous.

“her screams were way better than i thought, i bet you had your fun, huh? great job, son” bailey praised as ethan came back from the dark room, alone.

ethan nodded and smirked in response.

“we were having a little fun. wanna join?” quinn asked, walking to stand beside sam and tara so he could see them - sam with blood in her arms and tara with blood in her cheeks.

“no thanks, i think we’ve had fun enough, haven’t we?” the tall boy looked at his father, then his sister, making bailey nod - quinn was not satisfied at all, she wanted to tease and hurt them more before actually killing them, but she tilted her head in agreement.

“so, tara” bailey started, walking towards the girl whose expression was totally readable - a mixed feeling of anger and sadness. “how do you want to die? would you rather get stabbed in the mouth, the neck, the eye-“

“fuck you” she said almost whispering between sobs.

“oh you liked the last option, tara? wanna be stabbed in the eye?” he chuckled. “fine”.

tara could not stop crying. it was just all too much for her.

“what about you, sam? how do you want to die?” quinn looked at the girl, tilting her head

she didn’t respond, she only stared. she looked at each one of them, starting with tara, then bailey, then quinn, and stopped at ethan.

“motherfucker you don’t even have the RIGHT to ignore my questions” quinn yelled at sam then slapped her hard.

oh how sam wanted to jump on her and make her scream so loudly that anyone in this city could hear, but she couldn’t. not right now. sam was getting more and more out of control - if she could get away with this situation, she’d kill them, ALL OF THEM, brutally.

“how do you think it was to get a phone call and acknowledge that my son was fucking murdered? huh?” bailey grabbed sam by her neck roughly, making the girl unable to breathe “he died in YOUR hands. now you’re going to fucking pay for this and for all we’ve suffered” he got his hands off of her

“he was crazy, him and his pathetic girlfriend went on a killing spree because of a FUCKING MOVIE. he was so useless he didn’t even get to kill more than one person ” sam laughed “he deserved to die. but you guys are all insane too, just like him”

“ENOUGH” quinn raised her arm with her knife, about to stab sam’s neck when you stepped in

“get the fuck away from her. NOW” you said, pointing a gun to her, holding it with both of your hands. you were far from them.

“what the fuck?” ethan turned to you, looking genuinely confused.

“[name], you’re alive!” tara said with a tone of relief in a slight grin, unable to completely smile due to what’s happening now

“you’re just like your brother, aren’t you,you little shit?” sam asked not waiting for a response, looking at ethan “thank god you’re alive, [name]. you’re just in time” she continued

“what the fuck is happening here, isn’t she supposed to be dea- HEY” tara took the knife out of quinn’s hands and grabbed her by the shoulder, stabbing her in the chest. “what happened quinn? why so quiet, bitch?” tara teased. “i’m gonna fuck you up” quinn said, falling down to the floor quickly.

“weapons down, bailey” now you were pointing the gun to him

sam was gone. you didn’t mind where she was going, because you knew well she was coming back for her revenge.

you were now getting closer and closer to bailey, gun still pointed at him. “lost another poor little baby, didn’t you?” bailey’s face was covered in fear, and he didn’t know what to do now. “how sad is that?” you teased him, pouting your lips

“you’re going to pay for everything. first richie and then quinn? double the price now” he said, looking obviously furious by seeing another child of him get killed, but this time right in front of him. that made him even more angry

“oh, am i? how?”

“behind you, kid”

you did not even turn to see what was going on behind you, but you could hear someone’s steps getting closer and closer.

bailey started smiling like a crazy psychopath. well, he was one. “it’s over for you now” he said, and you turned your head to see someone in a ghostface costume standing beside you.

“no, i think its over for you.”

“what-”

in no time, he was getting stabbed everywhere. arms, legs, chest…

repeatedly. and he didn’t stop screaming in pain. he was screaming like a fucking baby. not he knows what it feels like to be stabbed in his own skin. that goes on for almost a whole minute.

until it stops. and the person in the ghostface costume unmasks - sam.

“my dad is a serial killer. but you know, i’m better than this”

“thank you, thank you” bailey, still alive somehow, thanked sam with blood visible all over his body. it even made you pity him for a second, seeing him all bloody.

tara was now standing beside you too. she gave sam a look you didn’t really understand at first, then tilted her head.

“i think you liked that last option more than tara did” sam said before stabbing him in the eye. now you understood. she got her revenge, once again. she had a relieved look in her face, and you did too.

“cool” tara said with a slight grin, once again.

suddenly, quinn got up and started running in your direction. you quickly turned to ethan and threw your gun at his hands, and

ethan shot quinn in the head.

“aw man, i wanted to do it this time again” tara said in frustration, remembering how she shot amber

“ethan, you’re with us?”

“yes, and i’m so sorry for everything - i was forced to do everything and i tried to convince them not to do any of this, but it wasn’t my choice.” the boy said, frowning “please trust me”

sam and tara looked at each other, then they looked at you”

“i guess it’s true girls, we can trust him”

ethan smiled softly, getting closer to the three of you.

“why did you kill anika? and chad? you could’ve told quinn and bailey you didn’t get to kill anika and chad, and let them go” tara said still mad and untrustful of him

“i didn’t kill anika. that was my dad, and again, im very sorry. about chad, i dont think he’s dead. i was very careful with the knife”

“are you sure?”

“yes. we can go look for him”

“you’re not the ethan we know. where’s the super awkward ‘am i gonna die a virgin’ weirdo?” sam asked and they all laughed.

you looked at him, he looked down at you.

he grabbed you by the chin and leaned in to kiss you. it was passionate and genuine. you felt comfortable in his touch and started playing with his perfect curly hair - someting you knew he loved - and still seems to love.

“i love you, [name]. i’m sorry you had to go through all of this”

“i love you too ethan” you said, kissing him back.

“ew. anyways, let’s go and look for chad!” tara said, and sam followed.

you and ethan were still kissing. for a moment, you forgot how much of a good kisser he was.

“you’re still good at this” you said, pulling away from the kiss

“i know, honey” he joked, and you both laughed. “now let’s go with them”

[upslapmeal]

Notes from the Taskmaster 16x10 recording

The last two episode recordings I went to, I meant to make comprehensive notes when I got home afterwards that I would be able to look back at and post when the episode aired. I did not, in fact, end up doing that. So this time I was determined to have lots of notes, and made them on the go in the breaks in recording. However. They were made in a rush and I never went back through them to pad them out (you'd really think I would have learned by now). So instead of just having to rely on my memory, I ended up with an almost coded list of words and phrases that it's taken me pretty much 2 weeks to sit down and decipher lol. So with that said:

the pre-episode Greg-Alex entertainment was Greg getting Alex to sing a song about a recent news story to the tune of a song suggested by the audience - in this case it was Trump's lawsuit (the one in May 2023 since there are...a few) to the tune of Wuthering Heights

Alex really went for the whole live thing, and was constantly referring to it throughout the episode

when the contestants came onstage, I obviously first saw Sam in his bright colours and blond hair

we were right on the back balcony and my first impression from that distance was that he kinda looked like Jamie Laing lol

Greg made a passing comment about how he's been dressing in grey but I was completely taken by surprise when the vt rolled and he looked completely different!

I had assumed he'd actually buzzed his hair and didn't realise it was a wig until the ep aired

Sue made comments throughout the episode about how Sam looked like Dahmer

Lucy's prize task story, unsurprisingly, went on for ages and included a whole story about the holiday they went on that I tragically cannot remember

I was so glad they didn't cut 'untaffled' because I looked through my notes before again before watching the episode and couldn't for the life of me remember what she'd said

Greg's said that his immediate response to naked Alex in the prize task was that he was 'smooth like an eel'

After Julian's prize task there was a discussion about how people wanted to be buried, and at one point (I wish I could remember the conversation leading up to this) either Greg or Alex said they would be buried 'together forever in the Victoria monument'

There was a whole long debate about whether Sam intended to use nature as part of his doughnut task, and whether the bird toppling Ms Doughnut to her death should be counted

Greg told Sam to 'convince me to give you 3 points'

Sam went on talking about how amazing nature is and how we're all connected and at one point said 'consider the statistics.....3000' (I'm 99% sure this is what he said and I didn't just forget the rest of the quote)

Julian's exercise name was absolutely not a one-off, to the point they started running a 'cunt count' for the episode

Sue talked about how she had recently had an ADHD diagnosis, and that she kept viewing tasks holistically rather than paying attention to the details. This was specifically in relation to the exercise where she just did the same thing 4 times

I'm not sure if we saw the full extended version of Hotel Taskmaster, but we definitely saw a cut that included more than the aired version (though tbh I think they do that for most tasks and I just noticed this one bc we got the extended version)

We got an 'I put it to you' from Greg that Alex-as-Qrs looked genuinely cool

Lucy described Alex as having 'tight metallic buns' which Greg later referred to as his 'robot arse'

I cannot stress how much of a breakdown Susan had in the studio about the forks and marbles - you get a glimpse in the episode but that was nothing!

Susan also took AGES to do her throw in the live task - she kept on being about to throw before being interrupted, or saying her arms were too short, or that she needed a wee, or having a fit of giggles, and the longer it went the worse it got lol

Greg and Alex also had a go at it, and Sue wanted another go without the pressure. Greg and Sue got the ball in but Alex didn't

Don't ask me to remember the context, but at one point during the record, Greg told a story about someone he knew (whose name he said he would tell the others backstage) who would have sex in a cow mask and would demand 'LOOK AT ME!!!'. Anyway that was referred back to a few times in the ep

When Sam was given the trophy he just stood near-motionless with it for what felt like ages before we got to the hugs and everything

And now we enter the magical world of ~what on earth was this note referring to~ where I just hope someone else who was there (@politicalprocrastinator how's your memory?) sees this and can fill me in on what I've forgotten:

At some point around the prize / first task I wrote 'correct dog guess'. Whose dog? What was being guessed? Absolutely no idea

At some point there was a joke about the 'former Prime Minister', I think the idea being that by the time the episode aired we'd inevitably have a new PM? but I honestly can't remember

Someone called someone else submissive in a way notable enough for me to have written 'submissive' as a one-word bullet point, but not notable enough for me to actually remember

And now three bullet points which I will present in their original form:

Birthday

Bum hole in back

Get in bath

[bcacstuff]

The conversation Alice had with a fan and you mention that there is stong language tell more about that? Was it her who used it to the fan and was it fan who did that or talking shit about Sam?

I think you meant t write 'slip' 😉

So yes, before all kind of crazy stories start to occur, and this is actually the subject I wanted to address but as well had to think about how to do it in a correct way, as honest as I possibly can but also with integrity.

You see, it concerns DMs, and yes, meanwhile someone showed them to me and I have read them. I could surely have said no, I don't want that, but at the same time, I had 2 Anons claiming Alice had answered fans in DM. I showed you part of the Anon message:

"Alice has been replying to a fan in DM this I know 10000% saying Sam followed her and sent her DM and now she’s posted in London."

The rest was more or less calling Sam out, so i didn't like to post that part.

So I felt a bit in dubio, one side doesn't want to be secretive, the other side is thinking, those are DMs, not meant for public consumption to begin with.

Also, I need to emphasize that I was shown these DMs second hand. There is no way I can verify. I'm not saying I don't trust the person who showed them to me, I'm merely saying, I can not verify how genuine they are, is this really what this person in DM said or not. So I really would emphasize this and keep that in mind when reading the rest of this post.

I'm not literally gonna write what was in the DMs, but will try to give an objective summary of it.

I saw 2 DM convo's, by 2 fans separately and not at the same time with Alice. One DM convo was short, fan asking, she answered, th other was a little longer more a little convo. Both starting with asking her how she got Sam following her. She answered both. (which I have to say I find surprising, it is quite easy to ignore). But okay, she seemed to have answered both of them. Telling how Sam slid into her DMs, now I don't feel that is something new, that part we know (hence I feel I can tell that part). And Anon 2, i don't know when, I just know he started following her on 13 June. She went on with more personal stuff he did and said they DM-ed daily.

But she was also sort of bragging that he invited her to London. Now both DMs were before this weekend. One started on 20 June, and they ended last Wednesday. So nobody knew by then Sam was going to be in London and at the tennis match. My Anon also wrote Fridaynight, before we knew he was in London, but she wrote because Alice posted a picture tagging her hotel in London. And yeah, your question ismy question as well, why on earth did she felt the need to advertise that?

Then in both DMs she suddenly (and imo unnecessarily) said something on Sam's behalve which was not so nice. Something both fans I know felt hurt by. You could say, perhaps he told her about fans harassing women he's been connected with somehow, but from what i saw these fans were not harassing, were asking her something in a friendly way, curiosity, she could have ignored, or simply have given a short answer without all the rest. I feel it was not her place to say something like that on his behalf, whether it is true or not, it was not on her to do so.

I'm not gonna spell out what exactly was said, but it was unkind, hurtful for the (curious) fans, and unnecessary. I know some might have their thoughts about the fans contacting her, and I in no way would encourage anybody to do so (and I surely never did or will do so myself). But that is not a reason to be hurtful and say things on someone else's behalf that hurt his fans.

As said, and i emphasize again I can not verify this all, if that is really what she said. And that is also why I wish not to spell something like that out, here my integrity is at play. I just can say, the DMs didn't look fabricated/photoshopped or anything. But I just can't verify.

Anyway, whatever happened to Be Kind!?

[heyitsmelouiss]

Screening story time!

This will be a bit of a ramble so skim as you please😂

So I got there about an hour earlier than we needed to be. Starting off even waiting in line was fun because I got to talking with another fan who mentioned that she spontaneously bought tickets all the way from Florida just to be here for the screening and she had work the next day!😂🤦🏾‍♀️ shout out to Makayla. it was fun talking to you! but after about an hour we finally went in the building and got seated and they handed out paper at the door so you could write questions! My question was “ if you could hand Louis an album for a bad break up what would it be?” they didn’t answer my question.😂 Buuuutt my friend asked “what TV show would your character binge” and they answered hers!! But after a few minutes, the new episode played and WOWW it was really good guys. A lot different from what I thought it would be, but still really good. You guys are going to really love Delainey’s Claudia🥹 the panel was really good too. It’s funny because all of these amazing, incredible actors all seem kind of shy. Obviously it’s quite intimidating to be in front of a crowd that Sam kept mentioning that he wasn’t able to see any of our faces.(in the middle they did turn on the lights for them) but they were all pretty shy it was cute. Then after the panel, everyone obviously rushes to the stage. I didn’t get a chance to even get close but outside when they came out, I got to interact with Jacob and Sam! I asked Sam a couple questions that he said we’re too hard basically😂 and I genuinely got starstruck by Jacob. I don’t know what happened. I just lost all words. I’m not even kidding. I’m kind of disappointed in myself because I had so much to ask him, but I managed to ask for a hi five🥲 they were both really sweet and took so much time trying to get to everybody. next time I go to something like this. Hopefully I’ll be more prepared.🥹

10/10 would recommend

Couple of bad photos below and maybe I’ll post the clips later

[6-atlas-6]

Redacted headcanons cause why not

After the second Quinn audio where he told Sam everything him and Tank did, when they went home Tank started secretly packing up some of their stuff because they were sure Sam was going to leave them

Blake only uses his sight when he absolutely needs to because he's terrified off watching his listener die in his arms again

Morgan never particularly cared that he can't use his sight for things related to him, but he always wishes he could see what him and his listeners lives would be like together in the future

Avior is so terrified about being alone without Starlight again that he panics over the smallest things, like waking up in bed in the morning and Starlight not being next to him

Damien calls Huxley's moms "mom" because they're more of mothers to him than his ever was

Vega is so used to his life being about hate and being feared that he doesn't know what love feels like himself. When Warden wasn't immediately scared of him and treated him like a person, he assumed it was only to get information out of him

Dear made Lasko so comfortable with himself that Lasko actually tried to get in contact with his mom for the first time (she didn't answer)

When Lasko said he wasn't ready to have yk he genuinely thought Dear would leave him because he's so used to that being the only thing people want him for, especially because he doesn't understand how anyone would like him for his personality

When James left his listener again, he took a piece of their clothing with him and cried for hours when it lost their scent

[xxxninjaxxx23]

You brought the light I needed in my life

Part 2

(The next morning)

I don’t know something about this song just seems so genuine when the morning sun is beaming through your window. Maybe the opening beat got to me 🤷‍♂️

(Tara’s Pov) I woke up to the sunlight beaming in my face once again. ‘sigh’ I told Sam numerous times that I wanted blackout curtains for my room but she insisted on slim curtains that let sunlight in my room anyways. She said something about being too emo or like that character Wednesday Addams who’s actually my favorite.

I face planted into my pillow “I guess there’s no point In going back to sleep.” I climb out of bed and head into the kitchen to eat breakfast. “I don’t smell anything or hear the stove running. Cereal it is then I guess.

As I finished pouring some milk into my bowl of cereal, I heard Sam walk in the kitchen, turning the stove dial “Oh come on!! I just poured a bowl of cereal!”

Sam put her hand over my mouth “Shhh! Y/N is still asleep and put some pants on Tara.” I looked down, forgetting that I only wore a long over shirt over my body.

“Eh fine, I do it in a minute. But first. I want to know about Y/N sleeping in your bed, did you touch first base with them already?”

(Sam’s pov) Of course she would ask that “No Tara I didn’t touch, first base….the hangout with really fun and all but…..I don’t know. Do I really want to put a blind trust In someone again?”

Tara ate her cereal “You “trusted” them enough to sleep in the same bed as you.” She then smirked “Don’t think I didn’t see you cuddling with them, lover girl, last night to be exact. I took a pic of you both because you looked so cute together. The post already has a bunch of likes and still going.”

I almost dropped the bacon when I heard that “You did what?! Why would you post pictures of my private life Tara?! That’s so not cool!”

Tara flinched a bit “Jesus Romeo, don’t get a stick up your ass. But at least everyone will know you can have a romantic relationship with someone.” Sam glares “No Tara that is personal. It’s no one’s business of what I choose to do in my life…look I don’t know if I really want this because, who wants to be in a relationship with the daughter of the first Ghostface killer?”

Tara shook her head “Sam…you really need to stop letting this get to your head and give Y/N a chance. You deserve love too.”

I kept my focus on the bacon “I always tell myself that. You’ve seen how it ended with Ritchie and I can name a few others that were no different than him.”

“Suit yourself” Tara said as she finished her breakfast and went to watch tv in the living room, putting her bare feet on the coffee table again.

I threw the bowl in the sink and bolted to the living room “Tara how many times do I have to tell you?! That is not a footrest!” I pried her legs off the table, earning a glare from Tara. “Well you don’t want to rub my feet. I’m just resting them” she said.

I rolled my eyes “If I give you a foot rub, will you stop putting them on the table?” Tara nodded as I sat down next to her “Alright. Put ‘em here on my lap.”

(Y/N’s pov) My eyes fluttered open from the morning sunlight in the room. “Well that was some dream I just had… I wish it didn’t have to end soon.” Oh well, I’ll see if Sam wants me to help her make breakfast.

As I leave the room to the kitchen, I find Sam sitting on the couch with a girl “Umm am i interrupting something?” The girl bursted out into a laughing fit “Tara stop it!” Sam said. ‘Tara’ quieted down with her hands in her lap.

“Well Sam, are you gonna introduce me to your new “friend or what?” I could have sworn I saw her wink.

Sam clears her throat “Y/N this is my younger sister Tara. Tara this is Y/N my new lov-Friend!” Sam quickly said, hiding her blush but Tara noticed “Weellllll I’m going to get ready to start my day. You two kids have fun here or wherever but not too much.” She said winking once again as she left to her room.

I was stunned “Well your sister is quite….something. At least she doesn’t dislike me, that’s a start.” Sam shook her head “She’s quite a handful and a gremlin. Always never afraid to speak her mind, even if it is the harsh truth…but that’s why I love her.”

I nod “She’s capable of standing up for herself and becoming independent her age, that’s quite impressive. Seems like she learned from her wonderful sister who guided her.” I said, sitting down next to Sam.

Sam smiled then looked down at her watch “I do have to get ready in a bit. You want to share that breakfast with me.?” I nod “I thought I smelled bacon” we both laughed.

(Later)

(Tara’s pov) I was tapping away on my phone in the diner, waiting for Chad to get here. Sam came by noticing that I was here “Did you actually bring money this time or do you want to add another free meal to your huge tab?” I smiled “No, not this time. I managed to bring my wallet.” I picked out the item I wanted then Sam left with the written ticket.

“Ok now to wait for Chad.”

(Sam’s pov) I brought the order ticket over to the cooks then decided to mop the corners when I saw how dirty they were. Y/N really is one of a kind, I’m glad I made a good first impression on them. I smiled as I got the bucket and mopped up the cobwebs and stains.

“Aww my little girl is growing up too fast. Already found a new partner to kill later down the road I see?” Said a voice I’m all too familiar with….I wish I hadn’t heard him but he follows me around like a fly on paper. I looked up to see him sitting at the table in front of me.

“What do you want?! I told you to stop talking to me!” He grinned. “That’s no way to talk to your father now is it Samantha?”

I gripped the mop “I’ll ask one last time. What. Do. You. Want?”

He puts a hand on my shoulder “Nothing really, just concerned about the new (boyfriend/girlfriend) you picked up from the pen again. Still looking for a worthy one just like your old father hm? Only they don’t really know about us.”

I scoffed “There’s no “us.” I’m not like you and never will be!” He crossed his arms with a smirk “You always say that but what’s gonna happen if this new person finds out who you are? Either they would cut you off or attempt to kill you and piss on our legacy like those others did! I hate to be a downer sweetie but you’re gonna end up going down my path again if they choose the second option.”

I gritted my teeth throwing the mop at the wall “Shut up! Shut the fuck up! That wasn’t me becoming Ghostface! I killed Ritchie because he tried to hurt my family! My other relationships left and never came back, because of your stupid legacy!!”

He didn’t speak for a bit but nodded his head “touché princess, touché. It seems like you have a lot to think about. Like it or not, you have to watch your back with this new love interest. Don’t hesitate to use the knife and gut them if you have to” Then he vanished.

I cover my face for a bit and let out a breath before finishing my task.

(Tara’s pov) While I was waiting for my food, I watched an interesting show Sam just put on in the corner. ‘She’s probably thinking about him again. Billy is a part of her after all’ “Hey love, did you order anything for me?” Chad said, laughing. I smiled and shook my head “No big guy I didn’t. But that’s ok because I ordered a decent sized sandwich we can both share.”

He gave me a peck on the lips “Alright, sounds good to me.”

A few minutes later, I see Sam walking out with a tray that had my food. But halfway to the table, she stopped and stood still for a bit. “Sam?” Her eyes went wide for a second and her shoulders tensed. “Sam…you ok?” Then the tray dropped, spilling the food all over the floor. She collapsed, breathing rapidly with her fingertips on her head.

The manager walked out from the kitchen “What’s going on? Sam-“ Chad and I rush over to the pair, I already seen this enough to know what it is

“Sir! She’s-she having a panic attack.” The manager got concerned and reached for the phone “That won’t be needed sir. I’ll handle this.” I walk slowly towards Sam and placed both hands carefully on her arms “Sam…Sam, it’s ok. I’m right here, just breathe carefully ok? Do it with me…1….2….3….breathe.”

Sam relaxed her shoulders and let her hands hold mine as she calmed her nerves down. After a couple of deep breaths Sam was back on her feet but she collapsed into my shoulder, crying her eyes out. I hugged her back, trying my best to comfort her.

“I’ll go clean the mess up” Chad said, I nodded.

(Sam’s pov) I have no words on what just happened an hour ago but the next thing I know, my boss is speaking to me “Sam…I think it’s best if you head home and get some rest, I’ll cover it from here and make sure you get you paid.” It’s clear he wasn’t in the mood for an argument either so I took off my apron and thanked him as I headed home.

Halfway to the apartment, I collect my thoughts.

‘God what I mess I am. I can’t even have one good thing in my life without my dad following me everywhere I go, running his mouth. I hate to say it but he’s not completely wrong. I really like Y/N and all but what makes me think they won’t be another Ritchie? Then I would have to kill them and be lonely once again.’

I wiped my eyes ‘sometimes I wish I could go back and destroy that fucking mask, then yell at my grandfather for driving dad towards insanity.’

As I made it home, I decided to take a shower. I got a few text messages one notably being Y/N saying they would like to do another movie night soon. A few tears rolled down my face and I didn’t have the strength to reply back.

After my shower, I heard a knock on the door “who is it?” I asked. “It’s Y/N” I opened the door and smiled a bit, “hey, what are you doing here?”

Y/N fixed (his/her) hair “Ah yes. I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by and say hello. I also live in this complex too by the way.” I was taken back

“Wow, so I guess we’re new neighbors then?”

“Fraid so” Y/N said.

I rubbed my arm “Well….you can come in if you want. I was just going to pour a cup of wine.” Y/N smiled “My favorite! Make that two cups I will pour for us.”

I sat down on the couch resting my eyes as Y/N offered to serve the wine.

(Y/n’s pov) ‘ok…I have to tell her. This could be my chance to start something new between us’ I whispered as I took the full cups to the living room.

I set the cups down and took a seat next to Sam. We sipped our wine and stayed quiet for a while until I decided to start a small conversation about our hobbies and our takes on romance novels.

“I’ve been….thinking about you a lot.” Sam said, at the end of our conversation. It surprised me a bit but gave me a pinch of excitement! “R-really?”

Sam breathes a bit heavily before speaking “Unfortunately I have been, a lot and….I’m afraid.” I gently took her hand into mine and she accepted.

“What’s there to be afraid of? I was actually going to confess my thoughts to you as well. I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but I’m feeling something between us the more we see each other Sam and it still continues to grow.”

Sam nodded her head, frowning “I-I like you Y/N I really do from the bottom of my heart but….I’m just not ready for another relationship yet, I’m sorry.”

I tilt my head down in a bit of disappointment, despite her request to stay with her last night and sleep in the same bed as her. “It’s because of your last relationship isn’t it?” Sam nods

I look up at her. “I understand. I won’t force you or rush into something you don’t want too soon…or at all. I’m fine with us being friends if you want.”

Sam caressed my hand “I think that’s for the best….I just need some time to process everything that’s going on in my messed up life. If I CAN get my head straight then maybe we might have a chance after all.”

I gave her hand one last gentle squeeze “I’ll be waiting for you when that time comes.” Then shared a hug before leaving.

(Later that night)

(Tara’s pov) The arcade was fun a second time! Despite Chad breaking the joystick off the giant claw machine in the end. At least the owner was nice enough to let me have a prize from the machine before throwing us out. Chad dropped me off but had another class tomorrow so he went home to rest.

As I unlocked the door and closed it, I hear Sam’s faint crying coming from the living room. I peek around the corner to see Sam drinking a cup of wine as she let her tears fall.

I wanted to comfort Sam but seeing her in that kind of state told me to leave her alone for a bit. So I went into my room and changed into my night clothes.

“Oh Sam…..what have you done?”

I tried my best to fall asleep, hoping she would be ok to talk about this tomorrow. Or whenever she can.

(To be continued. No worries, am already working on a part three)

[grimogretricks]

The Magnus Protocol 30- season finale

A gut punch of a season finale ! My thoughts on this, and how the relationships between the characters set this up, below.

Found myself exclaiming CELIA!!! out loud at this one! Genuinely, in retrospect, I think the dynamic between Sam, Celia and Alice was set up very well for the utter gut punch of this season finale ending.

At the start, Alice had the upper hand, she was the one in control, cracking jokes for every occasion, taking nothing seriously, very much by design. She overstepped boundaries at times with her jokes, and wasn’t all that respectful of Sam. At every turn she disapproved of him looking any deeper into things, and Alice’s constant insistence that they should NOT investigate anything was quite wearying. It was easy to sympathise with Sam wanting to investigate more and more, so we could get more information as to where the plot was going.

As it went on though, and Sam established his relationship with Celia and got an ally in the investigation, and finally it felt like, yes, here he was getting somewhere.

But we all know, from TMA, that the urge to investigate, the urge to actually go prying into mystery, is a double edged sword, made of many fears, ready to drag a person into a complex web of fear in which ‘knowing’ in itself can feed a dark power. The ‘somewhere’ that you can go, is not a good ‘somewhere’.

At the back of our minds then, whenever Alice says ‘don’t!’ we sympathise with Sam’s need to know, but at the back of our mind, know that Alice is right. Even if it’s also true, ignorance at this point couldn’t save them.

On the personal level as well, it’s easy to sympathise with Alice losing, as Sam gained, in his relationship with Celia, and hard not to cringe at Alice’s jealousy on the matter.

The way that alienation has been building between Sam and Alice, all that awkwardness around his relationship with Celia, all that Alice pushing too hard and too constantly for him to listen to her, for him to stop prying into things, stop investigating, for everyone’s safety, all that came together for that perfectly painful denouement.

 Sam, no longer heeding Alice’s warnings, Alice, panicked and having to let everyone ELSE fall by the way side (and maybe die.. I don’t think things look good for Colin or Teddy, they both had incredibly ominous send offs), desperately trying to get through to him, but she’s already said it too many times to be anything but too late. He’s stopped listening, and he’s followed Celia, right to the centre of Hilltop road, right to where he believes, something terrible will happen. In some futile belief that somehow, to go there is to be able to stop it.

And in doing so, he draws ever closer to the horrible truth of things, that won’t reveal anything good, that will only consume him, that has only awful secrets. That will take him to that somewhere, that is nowhere good.

And ahhh, Celia’s voice, the way, as they got closer, the way she started to show how she knew the answers to the questions, the coldness in her voice, the distance, creeping in. The way she spoke of the balance she needed. The revelation, of all that she’d been getting close to him for. That he was the sacrifice, she’d make, to keep herself from having to go back. That final confrontation, between her and Sam, interrupted by her statement. Powerful and painful!

So, yes, in retrospect, painful as some of that interpersonal conflict has been between Alice, Sam and Celia, I do think that it did a great job of building up to the crescendo of this moment.

And then, in the wake of it all, there’s Celia, having the gall to play innocent and say Sam played the hero.

I wonder what shall happen, in the wake of all of this! I hope we stay in the OAIR world, and not back to the post-apocalypse for too long, but I am not sure, considering where Sam went.

Overall, I think The Magnus Protocol made a solid start to its season, and I’m definitely invested. I’m surprised how enmeshed in TMA it actually turned out to be, although  at the same time, a lot of people seem to be trying to make it into something that’s more different from TMA than it has reason to be: The fears came here from the TMA universe, there’s no reason to believe that they are, in essence, different, even if they might manifest in slightly different ways. I believe that the difference of this world is that manifestation of the fears and efforts to keep them in balance are being more consciously pursued via alchemy and the endeavours of organisations like the OAIR on one side and the Magnus Institute on the other. But now we have inter-dimensional balance also to consider. And now the archivist from one world has gone through to the other, creating, presumably, a new imbalance.  

[marvelling-at-marvel-blog]

The thing about S1 Jamie that I think is interesting is I think on rewatch there is some insight as to why Jamie went so hard on the bullying of Sam. (Not gonna be defending Jamie's treatment of Sam just looking into maybe why). Because out of all of the things Jamie did is season one. The one that seems hardest to understand or really forgive is his treatment of Sam. The first time around, you couldn't understand it. Sam is legitimately the kindest man in existence. (I know as a stroyteller it was the easiest way to really get us to dislike Jamie and really make us more understanding of Roy's treatment of Jamie which to be frank is not great and understand Ted's fruatrations with him) and Sam just keeps trying with Jamie.

But know I think it far to say thay S1 Jamie was jealous of Sam and his easy going, happy, postive nature. I dont think he was aware of it though.

Season 1 Jamie is so interesting because on paper, he had everything he thought he wanted. But I dint think he was overally happy. But yeah it seemed to be all his way

1. He played for the team he grew up supporting and dreamed of playing for. I imagine his first time stepping on that fiels in that uniform would have been monumental. Sure, maybe he wasn't a starter, but he got some minutes and the unspken agreement that in a few years, he would be a star.

2. I imagine he was initially disappointed to be loaned out, but then he learns he is being loaned to Richmond. Yeah they suck, but he gets to play a full 90 minutes, is basically going to be the best player, kick most of thier goals and he gets to be team mates with Roy Kent (he dreamed of playing against him one day, with him is a dream come true, I really think pre show Jamie would have been so excited to play with Roy Kent and was so disappointed in how it turned out). Plus, it has the added advantage of getting him away from his dad. And once his done his loan, he can come back to Manchester. This is his chance to get away from it for a while and be the star

3. He meets and gets to date Keely Jones who his always had a crush on. Dhe is literally a dream girl for him

So he should be happy right. His got everything he wanted, but it's not going the way he expected because.....

1. Roy Kent hates him (in my mind Roy was standoffish from the start, heres come this whizkid who was everything he used to be and slowly losing. I think Jamie came in at 100% and immediatley put Roy on the back foot). Jamie tries with Roy but the more it doesnt work the more Jamie goes OK, if I cant make him like me I will show him I am better than him. Hence the beginning of that relationship.

2. Yeah his away from his dad and his killing it at Richmond, scoring their goals, winning them matches but it only seems to be winning over half the team (he can't see yet his attitude is what is stopping the other guys from liking him). And the team still isn't doing great even with him. Plus he may be away from his Dad but his relationship with his mum feels like it in a werid place which sucks cause she is his favourite person ever.

3. And Keeley seems to be where its going right but sometimes it feels like his a bit of a project for her. And I think he has heard people (like Roy) question why she is with him.

And let's face it, he is still likely hearing from his dad when he doesn't perform up to his standards.

And then heres Sam. Who (at this point in time) isn't playing well, isn't scoring goals, not massively contributing to thier wins and yet he seems so genuinely happy all the time and everyone loves him, Roy Kent seems to like him and is friendly with him, complimenting him (which he has never done to Jamie). Sam is so open and kind he has probably talked about his dad in the locker room, and his relationship with his family seems perfect and that must gnaw at Jamie because all he ever wanted is to make his dad proud and his pretty sure he will never achieve it because the man is a d***k who is impossoble to please, yet Jamie never stops trying and things are werid with his mum which he hates. But all he hears when its brought up from Sam is how great his family is.

Then along comes the new gaffer who Jamie can't even understand why he is coaching, but he also seems to love Sam and wants him to be the decoy so Sam can kick the goal. Even though Jamie knows if he kicks it, it will go in.

Now we all know the reason Sam is liked is because he is an amazing, kind hearted, dedicated person, but I think S1 Jamie is so jealous and does not even know it.

Because S1 Jamie is still living with the notion that being the best in the most important thing ( thank you James Tartt Sr) so to Jamie he is out here busting his ass at training to be the best, scoring all the goals yet Sam seems to be the one who is living what he thought his dream time at Richmond was going to be. And I know I mention it but I think it is a big thing for Jamie, the harder he tries the more Roy seems to despise him, and take enjoyment in his embarrassment.

And S1 Jamie in all maturity handles his jealously by trying to make Sam feel as bad as he is feeling. Which Jamie, baby. That's kindergarten mentality. And poor Sam actually thinks Jamie is a great player and would love to learn from him in the beginning and isnt having a great time either.

But yeah. I dont think Jamie ever disliked Sam. I think he was insanly jealous of him all the time and didn't know how to handle that or even admit it himself.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Apologies for my rambles.

[toast-tales]

Cursed Cravings, Chapter 12: The Beast

In which Danny sees what Christopher has been trying to hide from her. Contains: 4.4k words | Chapter 1 | Read this story on A03!

There was something odd about Christopher’s behavior the week after the ball he’d put on, but Danny couldn’t put her finger on what it was, exactly. He’d taken to isolating himself in his room more often, and every time she saw him—because he still served her meals, at least—she swore there was something more gaunt about his face, dark circles weighing beneath his eyes and a grim sort of fatigue about him. He’d started leaving his horns uncovered, and after a few days it almost seemed like they were slightly longer than before, extending past the back of his head so that his bun couldn’t have hidden them if he tried. Or so it seemed—when she asked, Christopher quickly denied it, and the subject was never brought up again. 

He kept saying he felt sick, that he just needed to rest. She couldn’t figure him out—he seemed to actively avoid any company with her, yet when he did grace her with his presence for those brief moments, it almost seemed like he clung to those seconds, as if it hurt for him to leave. His sentences were short and to the point, but his eyes betrayed a strange, inscrutable sadness.

She asked about the reason for his morose attitude, constantly. He simply denied it.

It went on this way for almost a week. Each day, Danny saw less and less of him until he disappeared completely a few days ago, with Sam being the one to deliver her food to her room instead. Sam always dodged the question when Danny asked what Christopher was up to. 

That day, a week after the ball and three days since Danny had seen the giant last, Danny gave a pointed look towards the door that opened of its own accord as the familiar wheeled cart made its way into her room with a tray of food atop it. “Where is he, Sam? Is he still feeling sick?” 

An increasingly small part of her was annoyed at the fact that she cared. If anything, shouldn’t she prefer to have less contact with her captor? 

In truth, she hadn’t felt much like a prisoner at all in the past few weeks, which was surely the first sign that she was beginning to lose her grip on reality. The second sign was that she had genuinely started to feel concern for the giant with the way he’d been carrying himself—such a stark difference from his usual, smug, confident facade. She was worried that there was something genuinely very wrong. 

The cart that rolled up to her bed sagged, its legs curving downward in something that seemed to convey a familiar weariness. Sam hadn’t been in the highest of spirits either lately. “Yeah. Chris is, uh…he’s not feeling much like his usual self lately. He’s…resting.” 

“Is he sick? What’s wrong with him?” Danny’s brow furrowed. Could giants even get sick? What would they do if he was? Surely they couldn’t just call for a doctor.

Sam hesitated, the cart bending forward so that Danny could grab her food. It was a motion one could almost describe as sheepish. “He’s…he’s fine, this happens every so often. Don’t worry about it.” 

Danny took the plate of food, but barely gave it a sideways glance as she set it next to her on the bed. “Can I…see him?”

The cart snapped back up to its normal height very, very quickly. “No. That’s, uh…not a great idea right now.” 

Danny stood up to her full height—which, all things considering, wasn’t very intimidating, especially since she was struggling to keep her balance on a giant mattress. But she was at least taller than the cart that served as Sam’s temporary body, and that was good enough for now.

“Oh? And why not?” She crossed her arms defiantly, hoping Sam had a weak enough will to give in to her interrogation. She was tired of the lame excuses and the vague responses. She wanted answers. 

The cart rolled away slowly before it stopped in its tracks, and Sam’s voice came from the curtains above her on the bedpost—quiet and, if she had to guess, purposefully stalling for time. “Listen, I, uh…I can’t talk about it.” 

She redirected her gaze to the general location of Sam’s voice, casting a withering glare towards the green gossamer that seemed to be curling even tighter around the bedpost. “What, did he forbid you or something? Why can’t you just tell me what’s wrong with him?” 

Is he hiding something? If it was just a regular illness, something that happened a lot, surely he wouldn’t be acting so weird about it, right? Is it more serious than that? 

Or is he just…avoiding me for some reason?

The curtains deflated with what sounded like a heavy sigh, and she saw the flame in the lamp on her nightstand diminish to almost nothing all of a sudden. Sam’s voice came from the lamp, as soft and sad as the tiny flame they’d nearly snuffed out. “Trust me. It’s probably better if you stay here, and don’t worry about it.”

Danny had never been one to relent, and she wasn’t about to start now. Every passing moment strengthened her resolve, but she knew she wasn’t getting anywhere if she couldn’t convince Sam to help. “Hell no. I want to see him. And you’re gonna take me to him.” 

“Why do you want to see him so badly?” Sam asked, plainly.

“Well Jesus, it almost sounds like he’s dying or something,” she grumbled, before she nearly bit her tongue as she thought of how insensitive that could be, given she still didn’t know if that was the case or not. She redirected her gaze elsewhere, although with Sam, she never really knew if she was making eye contact in the first place. “I’ve just…been worried about him. I want to see him, if something’s really wrong.” 

The flame of the lamp flickered nervously before it regained itself, beginning to burn a little brighter than before. “You…care that much about him?”

What a weird question. “I mean, I at least care enough to make sure he’s not dying.” She gave the lamp a look that bordered on pleading, though she tried to convince herself she was still remaining firm and resolute. “Please, Sam.”

The room was silent, with only the whistling of the wind in the trees outside to fill the air. For a moment, she thought that Sam had left—but somehow, she could still feel the manservant’s presence in the room, tremulous and uncertain as they seemed to consider her request.

“He’s going to kill me,” she heard Sam mumble to themself.

She nearly fell over as the blanket beneath her lifted up slowly, before floating off of the bed and landing gently on the floor. 

“I’ll…I’ll let you into his room.” 

Danny scrambled off of the blanket, giving it a warm grin as she righted herself again. “Thanks, Sam. You’re the best.” 

The blanket folded itself neatly back onto the bed, its edges giving a neat little flick of pride as it did so. Sam chuckled lightly. “I know.” 

The cart that had rolled in with Danny’s now-forgotten food bent down so that the bottom shelf of it was low enough for Danny to climb onto it. She scrambled on, and it began to make its way towards the open door, moving slowly and soundlessly down the hall.

The cart slowed down even further as it rounded a corner to be met with the grand entrance hall, rolling to a stop at the foot of the huge wooden staircase in its center. From Danny’s extremely low vantage point, it curved up further than she could see. She got off the cart as it bent down again, and a corner of the fabric runner on the stairs beckoned her over with a tiny wave. 

As she approached it, the deep red fabric scooped her up and began to smoothly lift her up the enormous stairs, one by one.

“Hey, Danny?” 

She stared blankly ahead as she traveled upwards, knowing it was better than looking behind her as they rose higher than she’d ever been in the house before. She’d never been taken to the second floor of the mansion. “Yeah?”

Sam’s voice came from directly beneath her, closer than she’d ever heard them. “I know it wasn’t under the…best of circumstances, but I’m really glad to have met you. And Christopher is too, even if he doesn’t admit it.” 

A weight sank into her stomach like a ship with lead sails, slow and heavy. She figured out what it was that had been bugging her about Christopher and Sam’s behavior lately—besides the fact that they both continuously dodged her questions. Their actions, the way they spoke, everything was colored with a sort of…finality, as if they were preparing for some inevitable end.

Was Christopher…going to die? 

At the moment, it was the only thing that seemed to make sense to Danny. She felt her hands going clammy all of a sudden as an icy chill prickled across her skin. No. No, surely that couldn’t be the case. Could it?

I mean, if he dies, I go free, don’t I?

The thought came and went without leaving a mark behind, like a leaf blown away by the wind. Her freedom wasn’t even close to the forefront of her mind anymore—not to mention she only had a week left, anyways.

And what good was freedom if her friend had to die for it? 

That word stuck and wedged itself into her brain—friend. Was Christopher her friend? Had she really just called the giant who’d imprisoned her for weeks her friend? 

She brushed that mess of confusing thoughts aside. Friend or no, she didn’t want to see Christopher die. She doubted there was anything she could even do if that was the case—but at the very least, she wanted to be there for him. As little sense as it made, she needed to be there for him now.

“I…I’m glad to have met you too, Sam. You’ve been really kind to me so far.” She laughed, though the sound was prickled with nervousness. “But I think you’re being a bit dramatic. I’ve still got a week—you’re talking like this is the last time you’ll see me.” 

The runner reached the top of the stairs and gently helped Danny onto the wooden floor before setting back onto the stairs with a sad resignation about it. “Well, you know…I’ve been around for a while. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go. Mostly go.” 

It felt a bit strange to do so, but Danny bent down to give the corner of the runner nearest to her a gentle pat, hoping Sam was still possessing it. She gave a short, strained laugh as she tried to swallow her nerves. “I’m not going anywhere for now, Sam. Just…take me to Christopher.”

There was another long rug that ran all the way down the hallway, and its edges fluttered weakly in an invitation for her. She stepped onto it and the red carpet moved her along the hallway, cradling her entirely as it did so. She had to admit—it was an efficient, if slightly weird way to travel.

The closer they seemed to get to their destination, the slower Sam moved, until the rug crawled to a stop just outside a huge, intricately designed wooden door at the end of the hallway. It was, by far, the fanciest door she’d seen so far in the mansion, and it loomed overhead like the face of an enormous cliff.

Danny stepped off the rug and turned to face Sam one last time. “Thank you again, Sam. I really appreciate it.”

The rug settled almost uncomfortably back onto the floor. “Just…remember what I said earlier, okay? He’s not his normal self right now. Try not to…judge him too harshly.” 

Danny smirked. “How bad could he be? It’ll be fine, I got it.” 

The door opened just a crack, enough for Danny to make her way through it to the room on the other side.

It shut behind her with a soft click.

The first thing she could hear was Christopher’s labored breathing from the bed on the other side of the room, leagues away from her. And then, suddenly, it stopped. It felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the room—it was absent of Sam’s familiar presence, and dead silent. A pin drop could have cut through the tension.

“Christopher?” she called out tentatively, raising her voice even knowing that the giant should be able to hear her anyways. “Are you okay?”

“Danny?” Christopher’s voice was weak and trembling—he sounded almost shocked. “You…you shouldn’t be here. Sam shouldn’t have let you in. You need to leave. Now.” 

This did not dissuade Danny from proceeding further—it only made her approach the bed at a faster pace than before. “Leave? You sound awful. I came to check up on you, bastard. And I am not leaving until I figure out what the hell’s wrong with you.”

She saw the giant sit bolt upright in bed as she got closer, staring at her down on the floor with an expression she couldn’t make out clearly, with the shadows from the lamplight casting half his face into darkness. His hair was a frenzied mess, not neatly put up like it normally was—it hung limp and tangled over his shoulders, revealing the horns on his head clearly. They wound around his scalp before curving up into thin, sharp tips that reached well above the top of his head.

Are they…bigger than before? He didn’t say anything about them growing like that. 

He gripped the blankets with a worrying intensity, like they were at risk of flying away from him. He didn’t even seem to be breathing as he sat there, still as stone. 

She boldly stared back at him, his behavior only making her more confused—and concerned. “What’s up with you?” 

His grip on the bed linens tightened further, as if his muscles had begun to seize. “I…don’t…” His chest heaved with a single, heavy breath as he inhaled deeply, and his whole body trembled. “Please. I don’t want to…I don’t want to do this. You…you need to leave.” 

She decided that she was close enough to the bed now—still able to see Christopher’s face over its edge—so she planted her feet apart in the most confident stance she could muster and crossed her arms as she’d done earlier with Sam, ignoring every warning from the anxiety that was starting to creep into her body. “No. Put aside your fucking pride for one damn minute. I’m here because I care about you, okay?”

“Danny, Danny listen to me. I can’t…” He gripped his stomach, a painful growl escaping through his clenched teeth.

“Look at yourself!” She waved at him frantically. “You’re in pain. I’m not gonna just leave you when you’re hurting like this.” She spoke more gently, her voice laden with compassion. “I told you, you don’t have to hide things from me. I’m…your friend, Christopher. I want to help.” 

She realized it didn’t even feel strange to refer to him as a friend, though it had been the first admission from her own mouth out loud. She couldn’t deny that she cared about the person in front of her, and that she hated to see him hurting like this. She just wished she knew what to do.

“It’s because you’re my friend that you need to—AAAGH!” Christopher doubled over and cried out suddenly, a sound that wrenched Danny’s heart with a deep, piercing ache. It was a cry of frustration and despair as well as pain, loud enough to make her ears hurt from the volume. 

She winced, but did not budge.

She felt so incredibly powerless on the floor. She couldn’t get closer to Christopher, she couldn’t do anything to reassure him…she couldn’t really do anything at all.

“Sam,” she called out, knowing the house’s spirit could hear her from wherever they were in the house, praying that they would help her again. “Bring me up to him.”

“Don’t,” Christopher growled, still doubled over atop the bed.

At first, there was no response—and then she watched as one of the bedposts twisted and curled in on itself, its wood silently forming into a tiny, human-sized spiral staircase that wound all the way to the top of the giant bed. Danny wasted no time in rushing over to it, leaping up the stairs almost two at a time.

“God damn it, Sam,” Christopher seethed.

“Chris, she’s right. You’re just going to hurt yourself at this rate. You can’t—”

Christopher made a sound somewhere between a growl and a moan to cut off the voice that floated hesitantly from somewhere nearby. “Shut up.” It wasn’t an authoritative command by any means—more of a quiet whimper, but Sam complied nonetheless. 

When Danny finally reached the top of the stairs, she was nearly out of breath, but she still yelled despite her lungs gasping for air. “You are so fucking stubborn, bastard. Just tell me what’s wrong!”

Though he was still bent over, kneeling on the bed with his arms wrapped tightly around his middle, Christopher’s head snapped to face her in an instant, his wide and bloodshot eyes fixed on her with a newfound intensity.

It was hard to tell in the dim light, but they almost seemed…darker.

“Leave,” he gasped, desperation clawing at every edge of his voice. She could see now that there was a slight tremor in his fingers that clenched the fabric of his shirt. “...please. You don't…you don't deserve this.”

Danny took a few more steps toward the giant, slowly, like she was approaching a spooked horse. “Christopher,” she began, a much quieter authority in her voice.

She could hear every breath he took in the aching silence as she approached him, but as she reached his body and put her hand against the wide expanse of his knee, his breathing stopped. His eyes never left her—he didn’t even seem to blink.

He’s been alone here for a long time.

“You’re not alone right now. I don’t know what’s wrong, but whether you like it or not, I’m gonna be here for you. Got it?” 

She heard the giant swallow, his lips trembling. Finally, he managed a single, quivering word.

“Why?”

She huffed a quiet laugh. “For such a smart guy, you sure ask a lot of stupid questions. ‘Why?’ Because believe it or not, I give half a damn about you. That’s what friends do. They help each other.”

Christopher shook his head as if to refute her notion, but he didn’t say anything else in reply. He squeezed his eyes shut, muttering something under his breath she couldn’t make out.

A tear fell from his eyes to the sheets below.

“Now, can you just tell me what’s wrong?” Her voice was gentler, as if she was talking to a troubled Nathan instead of a miserable giant.

His lips barely parted as he mumbled out a single word.

“S…starving…”

Danny cocked her head, confused. “How can you be hungry? You said giants didn’t need to eat—”

Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Her gaze traveled to his palm that still clung to his shirt tightly. She saw a dark, crimson color stain his fingers and the white shirt in the dim light—not from an underlying wound, but from his palms themselves. He was somehow pressing his nails into his palms so hard that they had begun to bleed.

“Hey! Don’t do that, you’re hurting yourself, dammit!” She’d been ready to climb up his knee to get closer when she stopped suddenly, her breath catching in her throat. 

Christopher slowly unfurled his fist and let go of his shirt, revealing the fresh, bloody wounds in his palm—and fingers that had somehow grown long, sharp nails, just as black as his horns. It looked almost like a dark malaise had begun to travel down his skin, coloring his newly-grown claws and the tips of his fingers as black as pitch.

Christopher’s eyes snapped open to view her with a sudden, intense urgency. 

The giant’s eyes were black—completely, like an inkwell had spilled behind his eyelids and drained them of light. 

A sharp spike of fear slithered down her spine in an instant, but she still didn’t move until she heard the next word from Christopher’s mouth—broken, raspy, and sounding not entirely…human or giant. 

“Run.” 

The fear inside of her snapped like a wire and she threw herself away from the giant, obeying his instruction without a second thought. Putting herself so close to Christopher meant that she had more ground to cover to get to the staircase Sam had made for her, but she bolted for it all the same. She only narrowly avoided Christopher’s first attempt at grabbing her, his hand shooting out towards her with a wild ferocity like he’d become possessed by some feral animal.

What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

“CHRISTOPHER!” she cried out, not slowing down in the least or daring to look behind her before she finally reached the stairs, leaping down them as quickly as she could. “Christopher, snap the fuck out of it!”

That can’t be him. He wouldn’t attack me like this. What the FUCK is going on?

Christopher seemed to be beyond the point of engaging in conversation. She heard him growl in frustration as he scrambled off the bed, frantically swiping around the bedpost to grab her again while she was part of the way down the staircase. She decided to leap down to the floor and ignore the rest of the stairs entirely, feeling his fingers just barely graze her as she did. The impact wasn’t exactly soft, but she tried to keep her knees bent and let the adrenaline propel her forward.

She couldn’t outrun him. She had to be smart. Under the bed. It was her only chance—she sprinted under the bed frame, aiming for the middle that would hopefully be far enough out of his reach. It was dark, and dusty, and she thought she could see the shadow of what looked like a spider carcass somewhere ahead, but it was easy not to think about it when she was gripped with the terror of her life being on the line. 

She’d only been able to buy herself a few seconds of rest to catch her breath. A horrible, deafening SCREECH made her throw her hands over her ears, and in a split second the dark safety she'd managed to claim gave way to open air as the entire bed—the huge, ornate, four-poster bed—was shoved out of the way, scraping against the hardwood floor and leaving her standing completely out in the open. Christopher towered over her, breathing heavily. The light from the window behind him cast him in shadow, making his horned silhouette all the more terrifying.

Danny was frozen in place. There was nowhere for her to go. Snarky retorts would do next to nothing here, and it was clear to her that no matter how much she tried to fight, she was supremely outmatched in every way. 

The air was stripped from her lungs in an instant as she was snatched up and lifted high into the air, level with the giant’s face—there was none of the usual care for her comfort, no grace and poise about his movements now. She could feel the sharp point of his claw press against her chest, but not hard enough to cause any pain—yet.

A bit of Christopher's blood stained her shirt.

She stared at the giant’s face with wide, frantic eyes, still not quite able to put together what was happening. There wasn’t a hint of humanity left in Christopher’s face—his pitch-black eyes bore into her like a wolf about to pounce, ready to tear her flesh apart. It wasn’t the giant she knew. It wasn’t Christopher at all. 

It was a monster.

“I know you’re still in there, bastard,” she gasped, her voice wavering despite her desire to be brave. “I know this isn’t you. Please, Christopher.” 

It could have been her imagination—but she swore the grip on her loosened slightly, a slight tremor running through the hand that held her. 

The giant swallowed again, and this close to his mouth, the innocuous action sent another chill up her spine. What is he going to do to me? Is he going to kill me? 

Is he going to…eat me?

The hand that might have possibly considered letting her go had no such plans anymore—his fingers tightened around her again and she felt the sharp tip of his claw against the base of her throat, preventing her from moving or looking anywhere besides straight into the unfeeling void that had taken over Christopher’s eyes. 

He moved her so close to his face that his lips brushed against her, and she fought to contain her body’s sudden shaking. 

“Please,” she whimpered, “don’t hurt me, Christopher.” 

She felt his lips tremble, as if there truly was something inside this monster holding him back. She held her breath as she waited, praying silently that it was her friend and that he would regain control of his senses.

It was her only hope left.

A few ragged, hoarse words escaped his lips, as if it was a struggle for him to simply force them out—as if he was trying to speak while having the air choked out of him, like an invisible noose was tied tightly around his neck. It still didn't sound like Christopher’s normal voice.

“You’ll…be…safe…”

His lips parted against her.

She couldn’t understand why she had lost the will to fight—it went against every fiber of her being. She never gave up, even when things seemed hopeless. Normally, she would scratch and bite and claw her way out, scream and yell and curse until her throat was sore. 

But she didn’t. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, her heart pounding so fast she thought it would burst, but she could not summon the anger she needed to fight back and escape. 

Her world changed in an instant as the giant pushed her into his mouth, and everything became dark and wet and cramped. Whether from fear or shock, her body went limp as she submitted weakly to the horror that surrounded her. 

She believed him. 

A giant beast had snatched her up in its claws, growling like a wild animal and shoving her into its mouth to consume her whole.

But when her friend told her she would be safe, she believed him.

And it was yet to be seen whether or not that was the last stupid decision she’d ever make. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Next chapter ->

I'm sure you were all wondering when some of the tags on this story would actually come into play, weren't you?

Tune in next week for Chapter 13: Matters of the Flesh. And thank you for reading!

FANART of this chapter by the wonderful @safe-from-sharp-teeth !

[joltyflare]

(Sun and Moon Show Theory #2: Eclipse Will Bring Solar Back)

This is a pretty common and obvious theory by now, especially after today's lore in LAES. It seems like it's very clear this is the direction the shows (SAMS and LAES) are headed. But I still think it's worth posting!

I think Eclipse is working on bringing Solar back. I also believe he will succeed at being the one to bring him back rather than Moon.

His motives are now more obvious than ever: He wants to prove himself. Everyone is constantly berating him and calling him useless and whatnot and we know Eclipse has always had quite the ego. We also know he is intelligent...and regardless of what he thinks about his status as being a mere copy of himself, we know that he is aware that he is still intelligent and still has his pride. He especially wants to prove he is the more "dominant" one between himself and Moon (unable to accept that New Moon isn't the same Moon he had this rivalry with and that he doesn't care to be his rival now). When he visited Moon and Moon started going on about how nobody would ever love Eclipse, Eclipse made that remark about him being unable to bring back Solar. The way he did this and then immediately mentioned wanting to prove who is the dominant one makes me believe that Eclipse feels like he can bring back Solar and one-up Moon in doing so.

Of course, another reason he wants to do this is because Puppet and Frank's words actually got through to him. He knows he needs a purpose to feel fulfilled. He always needs a goal to work towards, otherwise he feels incomplete. Apparently, at least for the time being, his goal seems to revolve around being superior to Moon. Ever since his first death that seems to be the case. Moon and Eclipse can't seem to get away from each other and seem to be drawn together like moths to a flame at this point. If he redeems himself, I still feel like it'll be hard for him to pass up this rivalry even if it does become a more friendly rivalry. But, regardless, the words of Puppet and Frank seemed to have sparked something within him that he couldn't shake off.

But there's also the fact he visited Earth and spoke to her. When he visited Sun and Moon's home, he simply seemed to be investigating (more on that later) but when he visited Earth he seemed interested in actually talking to her. He appeared to be there primarily to speak to her about Solar's death. When he asked her if she really needed Solar and she said yeah, he let out this long sigh. I can't help but wonder if that set him fully on the path to finding Solar. After all, she seems to be the only person to have shown him true kindness thus far and he's finally believing that she is genuine as well as starting to respect her as an individual. Maybe he's starting to care about her. He didn't mock her or anything and simply seemed curious on her thoughts. Some people were saying he could have possibly gone to Monty's place to investigate further but I find it doubtful, since Solar didn't have much relevance to Monty's home or anything like that. I think he was there for Earth and maybe trying to disguise the fact he was there for her by just turning and looking away from her as he spoke.

Anyway, that's it for the motive part of this theory: Needing a purpose, wanting to prove himself (especially to Moon), and maybe feeling a bit of sympathy and empathy (especially toward Earth).

As for the evidence...well, there's that whole conversation that sparked him even considering being the one to bring Solar back. Or even considering it to be a plausible thing that can happen. After Puppet and Frank practically ordered him to do this, he yelled at the air about how it was probably impossible and then muttered "unless..." despite seeming somewhat dismissive still. Then he apparently went into Sun and Moon's home to where Solar died, brushed his finger along the floor, and left. And he of course went to where Earth was for whatever reason...and, of course, proceeded to talk to her about her grief over Solar. He has also seemingly abandoned the immediate desire to kill Ruin. Then he went to Moon and was somewhat mocking him over the fact he couldn't revive Solar and then went on about how he wanted to prove to be more dominant...which is an interesting thing to just suddenly say.

But today's episode is what really sells this theory for me. I mean he was thinking really hard about something, openly said he's not planning on hurting Sun, Moon, or their family, and then needed to think some more and started talking to himself about how he needed code, a lot of power, and maybe something else? He seems to have almost everything he needs. He even doubts that Sun and Moon will even want his help, which makes sense when combined with how he has been treated by the two brothers since Solar's death. Yeah...all this is pointing in the direction of Eclipse reviving Solar.

It's obvious Solar will come back! There are very few people who even think he'll stay dead and even staff in the official server are as convinced as fans that he'll be coming back. Bringing him back, at least according to Puppet, is important to the balance of things as well. The way he died even leaves a lot in the air and makes me feel like his story would indeed not end there. I mean fans were in an uproar more than any death in the series as well, so there's that.

But my main belief is that they wanted to do a Solar redesign anyway. They never wanted to get rid of Solar and they seem to like killing off characters as an excuse to give them new models. A lot. Solar's model in VRchat was glitching a lot anyway and there were hints he'd get a new body regardless but this would make the most sense if we were to get the one we see in thumbnails. Regardless as to why, I think this is gonna be an exciting part of his return!!

I might make a post explaining why I think they'd have Solar die to simply get a new body for him. Some of it obviously has to do with a redemption arc for Eclipse and it ties in well with he plot but there's more things design-wise that make me feel it's the only way to give him the design we see in the thumbnails.

Anyway, yeah, I think Solar is coming back and I think Eclipse will bring him back. Also, no, I do not think Eclipse will have to sacrifice himself for this to happen...so I hope Eclipse AND Solar fans (such as myself) can enjoy the prospect of his return!!