#but they did. kinda drop the team later on in the show

[rei-ismyname]

Giant-Size Wolverine retcons

Marvel, famously, loves having Wolverine as a cash cow, to the point it has its own entry on TVTropes. This manifests as a LOT of Wolverine #1s being released as well as the clawed-one showing up on deceitful covers and guest starring anywhere they think they can justify it. Less common (but still frequent enough) is Forrest Gumping him into historical events or rewriting events he was there for as a character study cynical profiteering.

Sunfire is still great - 'banal prattle.' You tell em

This is the latter, foregrounding Logan in Giant-Size X-Men to the detriment of almost everyone else. In the original Giant-Size X-Men, Logan sits at the back and says very little. Here he takes charge and uncharacteristically identifies that the new squad lacks synergy and a sense of teamwork. He opens with 'it's your first day as new X-Men, people. I'm going to show you how this works.' Uh, isn't it yours too? Did I miss a meeting?

Poor Kurt. Eddie Munster is just mean

So he starts a fight, telling everyone there's one too many people. Colossus objects for sexist reasons (not objection to killing lol) and Storm puts him in his place. Sunfire and Thunderbird both have little patience for white people or bullshit and Logan catches a fireball...

... and an elbow to the spine. Ororo goes off with electricity and Kurt just doesn't want to die, so he BAMFs behind her and starts choking Storm from behind. Logan turns the tables on Proudstar and drops a one liner about metal conducting electricity. I'm no wizard, but I don't think it interacts well with human flesh, either, especially if they have a metal skeleton. Obviously he takes everyone down and has the biggest dick in the world.

Yeah... about Thunderbird.

Banshee bursts in and reveals Logan is acting against Chuck's wishes. I'm generally in favour of that but I'm not fond of its narrative function at all . He has an open shirt, a toothpick in his mouth, and looks oh so pleased with himself. I'm not some reactionary purist who worships the sacred texts and pushes back against retcons. Quite the opposite, in fact. Additive retcons are fantastic when done well - Magneto being a Holocaust survivor stands as one of the best in fiction.

I don't think that's what this is, or at least it's not successful. In Giant-Size X-Men #1 there's no time for this pissing contest because all the other X-Men need rescuing ASAP. Chuck rounds them up and handles the basics then defers to Cyclops, the field leader of many years. They leave immediately and nobody is getting along. Sunfire leaves then comes back. Scott is all business because he's worried about the folks on Krakoa and there just isn't time. If they respect the chain of command in the field that's good enough. Team building can come later.

What's achieved here besides sidelining everyone to centre edge lord Logan? Not a lot, in fact I'd say it minimises Logan's character arc most of all. He was a grumpy loner who eventually learnt to trust people, came to see the X-Men as family, and committed to the team. Logan knowing half this stuff already and having this degree of social confidence just undermines that, as well as Cyclops' leadership of this ragged band. Not sure what Whedon was thinking tbh.

That wasn't the end of it, though. Interestingly, this is Chris Claremont writing here. Again, I'm not a purist and I'm under no illusion about CC's later X-Men work. He'd worked with these characters for a long time but Giant-Size was Wein & Cockrum, so he's choosing to expand the origin story. Thunderbird is still alive so they're still pretty new here. Anyway, Cyke is running a danger room training session - Storm vs Thunderbird.

After some kinda bizarre ethnic posturing Ororo is pinned.

Unsurprisingly, she starts to wig out due to her claustrophobia. Logan picks it up with his advanced senses and jumps in. Scott owns the mistake and ends the training session.

I find it hard to buy Scott would feel like his authority was undermined here. Logan is being as paternalistic as ever, but Scott blames himself for failures. He doesn't externalise it and he understands he's not leading children anymore. It's Chuck who has difficulty adapting to this specific dynamic. Also, Logan had zero interest in leadership. None. It was Ororo who was a friendly rival to him and ended up succeeding him as leader. He also didn't especially trust or show respect to anyone. Everyone else has problems but the focus and Charles' confidant is Wolverine. That's silly as hell.

Okay, private insecurity and self-doubt, totally Scott's thing. I'm just going to ignore literally everything else that's happening, especially 'damaged goods.' Ugh.

The second story came out in 2005 in Giant-Size X-Men #4. Aside from the Wolverine oversaturation and other weird shit I've pointed out, I feel like there was a concerted effort to bring certain characters closer to their FOX movies counterparts. Chuck started looking like Captain Picard, Scott was Flanderised a bit but moreso deemphasized, and Logan started to look and act more like Hugh Jackman. He joined more teams, regressed in social growth yet became way more important to the X-Men. More important to the very fabric of the Marvel universe.

I get why it happened (capitalism) but I think it was executed poorly in many instances. These are particularly egregious, but Wolverine was and is fucking everywhere - under many different writers. There's always going to be a sense of asynchronicity under those circumstances. I've actually come to really dislike Logan lately. Obviously it's an issue for most long running characters, but his particular regression to the mean every new book bores the shit out of me. He's not growing at all, even when everything around him changes. On Krakoa he was mostly just gruff and stabby, monologuing about hell, beer, time, nature, poison, and being the best he is at what he does. 🙄

He'll usually find someone worse than him to point at and call out with transparency he never applies to himself. Magneto, Scott, Beast, Scott, Chuck, teenage Scott, Sabertooth, Omega Red, Beast, Chuck, and Scott again. Someone please deconstruct this guy! Send him to therapy, break him down to his base components and examine them. Fuck his moping or running naked with wolves or fighting the W-digo - give him a messy boyfriend and force him to get the fuck over Jean Grey.

He can still fight ninjas and mentor troubled teens and sulk about whatever his latest thing is - just have him grow! His books will still sell, people will still cheer when he says bub, and snikt isn't going away. Hire Al Ewing to do it like he did with Loki, Hulk, Magneto, Sunspot, etc. Some of those changes actually stuck and the characters are more popular than ever! Is that too much to hope for? Almost certainly, but one can hope.

Boy I got carried away on that outro, lol.

[karanseraph]

Today's Double feature is Age of Extinction (2014) and Transformers One (2024).

General notes: these movies are made 10 years apart. Interesting. That means that like Transformers One came out in the 40th Anniversary year of the brand that Age of Extinction must have been around the 30th Anniversary, when there was that whole Thrilling 30 thing.

Transformers is animated adventure type genre movie while Age of Extinction is a live-action (with animated robots) movie in a sort of action blockbuster genre.

I didn't see many parallels between the two movies, not in the way I did with the other double features, where there's some clear parallel or an example of reversal from one movie to how the same element was treated in the other movie.

I've been trying to think how to word or to technically describe the difference in the whole feel and structure of these movies. It's kinda like if we imagine them as novels, then Age of Extinction was written in an omniscient POV which can show us directly things that happen millions of years ago or can show us different events from around the world that are happening at the same time. The audience doesn't experience the actions of Cemetery Wind team through the Autobots or Yaeger family, but the audience sees the actions of Attinger and his Rogue CIA group even before the Autobots learn the details. Which, I think lessens the impact when the protagonists do learn what is happening, because the audience already knows. We already know Ratchet got killed when Optimus finds out about it, for example.

In Transformers One the POV is somewhat more limited. The flashbacks and lore-drops have a diegetic presentation as Alpha Trion's recordings and presentations show the audience these past events as the characters are also learning of them. I feel this has more impact.

IIRC there are a very few instances in which the audience sees events in Transformers One other than when Orion or D-16 are present. I think there are a few scenes in which Sentinel reacts to the race or speaks with Airachnid that arguably is not in the usual limited POV following Orion and D. But most of the movie does follow them. There's even a fade-to-black when they are knocked out and taken by the High Guard. We don't witness how they are transported and find ourselves the audience there looking at Starscream on his throne. We also, don't see what happens with Elita between the time she's fired by Darkwing and when she enters the train where Orion, D, and B are hiding. But, we do later see her encounter with Airachnid when Orion is not present but only in contact over comms. It's not strictly one or two perspectives, but it is limited and expands only as needed to show a significant event.

Age of Extinction (and most of the Transformers live-action movies) jump around showing us what people all over the planet are doing. It's like the movie equivalent of reading a Dan Brown novel.

Whereas Transformers One, we could imagine, is more like reading a YA Science-Fiction/Fantasy novel that closely follows a few characters.

I think in terms of the ranking of the movies, Age of Exitinction is maybe very slightly above Dark of the Moon for me. Both movies still probably have way more human characters than they need and have some genre and tonal differences. And Age of Extinction has the time-skip/new team hurdle to get over. And Age of Extinction also has the weird episodic muti-ending feeling. *BUT* Age of Extinction has scenes of robots talking to each other and not just being props in the background. Bee doesn't talk/radio as much in this movie, I felt, but when we get Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs interacting with each other as well as Bee and Prime it's something that was missing from the previous movies. Like, some of the characters like Jolt, Dino/Mirage, Sideswipe had some actions or one-liners, but they didn't really have much interaction or personality. The bots in Age of Extinction have enough personality to have rivalries and disagreements but work through that to still save the world. Road Warrior Megatron + Sentinel Prime were much better than Galvatron. He was a lame villain. And those KSI bots were so generic (but intentionally because mass-produced knock-offs in universe) the way so many generic Decepticons showed up in scenes of Revenge of the Fallen or Dark of the Moon. But, Age of Extinction also has Lockdown and he felt like a villain with swagger.

So, this thing that Age of Extinction actually did better than the previous movies was then 10 years later done *even better* by Transformers One, in which they just made all the characters the bots, whether the main protagonists, antagonists, minor supporting characters, or background extras.

Since I found out that Transformers One is on Paramount+ in my region, and since I still have access to this service, I've been watching it every day and then watching some other Transformers content I have access to. Back-to-back like.

It's only been a few days.

The first day I watched Transformers One and then about 6-ish episodes of EarthSpark 'Season 3 '. Transformers One IMO, is the superior work. I don't hate EarthSpark (the obvious shift between seasons 1 and 2 does frustrate me). It generally does a lot of things I like. One of them is that it has an interesting animation style in which the 'Transformers Bots' come out looking very toy-like and the special effects 2D in style and it makes me feel like the whole thing is someone playing with toys, but in a good way (except one of the kids I'm playing with wants to go in a direction I don't like). Anyway, Transformers One is just a more epic thing all around. It's from the same era but made with different style and design. Less like toys (weirdly, considering Director, eh?) and more like an animated Science Fiction/Adventure in general. Also, arguably deeper resonance in the characters and their arcs.

The next day I watched Transformers One and then Rise of the Beasts, which only came out a little more than a year before. So, similar era of media, again. Animation vs 'live action' (but we know those bots are all animated just in a 'realism' style). The characters look pretty good to me in both. And the plots and characters and their arcs are different, but both are interesting and have resonance. I mean it's like the 'brothers' that turn into enemies with one, but then in the other it's largely about these two (three but Primal is so ahead of the others) guys from different planets trying to do their best for their own families and coming together to fight a destructive force. So, both movie are pretty epic. I kinda want others to watch these back-to-back to see what they feel, because one movie is like the one splitting apart and the other is about separate people joining as one.

Now, today I'm watching The Transformers: The Movie (I believe I own this one) and Transformers One back-to-back double feature. I'm still in the midst of this. But I think TF:tM holds up. It's 80s as Hell, right? 1986 up against 2024. But if I think about it in terms of "was this good or typical of its time" then both movies looked good in their era. Both animated, though different in technique and style. Both make use of Quintessons while the main foe is someone else. Both pretty epic plots. Both have that sort of cultural resonance where Transformers One does have those sort of Prince of Egypt vibes (I see what you did TFWiki) or like shades of Set and Osiris or vaguely The Lion King where there's a pair of close characters who split apart dramatically with betrayal. And Transformers: the Movie is very Hero's Journey itself borrowing heavily from Star Wars. Both these movies made use of some amount of celebrity casting and it worked. Transformers One several more girl or woman type characters than Transformers: The Movie, but that's also likely reflective of the eras in which they were made. Transformers One still mainly has the one main pink heroic girl and dark bad girl characters which is a thing with this whole genre of the action toyline adaptation, but yes, many other different types of bots in the background.

I think maybe Bumblebee tomorrow?

[theshadowrealmitself]

The more I think about it, the more I think it should be that Peter’s issue, while he does do team ups, he doesn’t full on join teams (the closest is Red Team where they only join up occasionally), and he doesn’t know how to respond to Miles joining (creating?) a team, and Miles’ new problems, instead of the problems with being a lone hero, should be team problems

[marksbear2]

DENJI X OLDER MALE READER

Headcanons- Platonic!

Hello!! Today I’m trying to work on expanding my writing by writing for characters that I never wrote for!! So I’m doing Denji from CSM! Feel free to request!!

⚠️Warnings!!- Basically fluff, death mentioned at the end, killing, comforting and etc. Could be read as Gn.⚠️

— You was his gay awakening. Instead of falling for Makima he fell for you. He was attracted to your maturity and seriousness. Not really in the romantic way but he quickly moved on from Makima.

— He always tries to impress you by trying to kill devil’s in front of you and acting all high and mighty and unfazed whenever he just got his ass kicked. 

— Spending all of his free time following you like some lost puppy. 

— His love language is acts of service so whenever your in need of something he will get it done. You need a pencil? He’s there with all sorts of pens and pencils. 

— He’s willing to do anything for you. He puts you first before anyone else.

— The first time he saw you fight a devil, he was starstruck in awe as you fought the devil. He was amazed by your movements and skills.

— Whenever your back from a mission he always asks you how it went, are you okay, did you get hurt, asking about how dangerous or big the devil was. Like some little kid.

— He thinks your totally badass if you defat a devil with ease. Becomes some childlike fanboy whenever you do it.

— Your one of the few who treats him like an actual kid, and not some object who they can use him for. You treat him like his age. 

— Only really listens to you. Whenever the other hunters try to boss him around he ignores them but if you say something he’ll do it.

— You kinda became his father figure.

— He waits inside your office waiting for you too be done with whatever paperwork or assignments.

— He secretly hates the fact that your close friends with Kishibe. He’s confused as to how you two are friends, but he just guesses since your two are around the same age and maturity level.

— He hates getting lectured by you, and always storms off whenever your doing it just to come back a hour later.

— Whenever he turns back from his chainsaw form he leans on you support and mumbles an apology for getting your clothes dirty from the blood.

— You taking him out to eat and such so he can experience things without the others. 

— You calling out Makima out for her manipulative and evil behavior. You always took Denji away from her and try to keep him away from her.

— You and Kishibe teamed up to train him and power together.

— He would sit by your desk and tell you all his biggest and all the way to his smallest fears. 

— You being one of the few people he actually trust and comfortable around you. Always smiling around you.

— He hates seeing you hurt, it kills him to see you injured, he would drop the whole mission to move you to safety.

— If you ever die, say from getting killed by a devil he wouldn’t rest until the devil pats for it. He would slowly be consumed by anger and revenge to the point he would be willing to die for your revenge.

— Denji wouldn’t move on from your death. He would sit in your office just staring at the your chair.

— Accidentally calls people by your name. He doesn’t really catch himself doing it but the others noticed.

— He always freezes up whenever someone would say something that reminded him of you. Hearing a line you would usually say causes him to stop whatever he’s doing and his heart pounding in his chest.

— Denji hates it whenever would someone would use the brand of cologne you used before dying. He would kinda get angry and say “That’s Y/n’s cologne your using you know!?”

— If you had a devil contract he would ask about how you got it, what type of devil it is and if you got any cool powers from it.

— Accidentally called you dad one time and his face went red from embarrassment as he tried to clear up the accident.

— He isn’t ashamed to show his childish side around you. He feels safe and comfortable around you so he doesn’t feel judged.

THE END

[loulovingho]

prompt: those pictures of buck make me think he's going to be endlessly harassed by Gerrard. I'd like to see something where it builds up until he kinda has a breakdown. maybe at home, with tommy?

It'd been a bad month. Possibly the worst of his life, and that was saying a lot. Twenty-four hour shifts were usually simple for him, but nothing was simple when Gerrard was in charge.

He was two hours into his fourth shift with the new captain when Gerrard found out that Buck was dating a man. Not just any man. A man that Gerrard seemed to particularly despise.

And maybe he should have thought better before blurting out that Tommy was his boyfriend, but he hated Gerrard and a part of him thought it might be fun to play with the man's mind a little.

He was wrong.

Tommy had dropped him off for work after he and Buck had accidentally fallen asleep after a particularly eventful night. Thankfully, Buck kept a change of clothes in his locker, so it really hadn't been much of a problem. He had forgotten his house keys and wallet at Tommy's though, so he was pleasantly surprised to get a visit from him a couple hours later.

Tommy had approached cautiously, but once Eddie informed him that Gerrard left to run an errand, he relaxed and let Buck pull him in for a brief kiss.

Tommy talked to the team for a bit, getting filled in on the endless cleaning they now had to do. How they had to fake bathroom breaks to get a moment to text or make a phone call.

In less than ten minutes, Tommy was heading back out the door. “See you guys soon,” he said, giving them a wave before pointing to Buck and smiling, “and see you tomorrow night.”

Just as Tommy had rounded the corner out the side door, Gerrard was walking in the front. “Was that Kinard?” he asked, disgust evident in his voice.

“Yes, Sir,” Eddie replied.

“Hm. What was he doing here?”

“Had to drop off something,” Chimney answered before Buck could even open his mouth. “Had a delivery meant for here that got sent to Harbor instead.”

“Can't even trust the postal service to do their job right these days,” he grunted out.

The group started back on their cleaning, but Gerrard blocked Buck's way. “Thought I heard you got plans with Kinard tomorrow, Buckley. That right?”

“Y- Yeah, it is. I mean, I do... have plans.”

“Huh. You didn't strike me as the type to hang out with a guy like that.”

“What do you mean?” Buck asked, face scrunched up in confusion. “A guy like what?”

“You know,” Gerrard shrugged. “Soft. Weird. Sissy-like.”

Buck could feel his face heating up. “I'm not sure those are the words I'd use to describe him.”

“You gotta watch yourself around people like him, Buckley. Men like us,” he said, making his hands into fists to flex his muscles, “we've got a reputation to withhold. Show the world real, manly strength still exists.”

Buck wasn't exactly sure what to say. He had known Gerrard was a terrible captain, had heard the stories from Hen, Chim, and Tommy, but this was so far out there he briefly wondered if he'd been transported back to the 1950's.

“I- I'm still not following.”

Gerrard rolled his eyes. “You're not stupid, kid. Kinard is... I'd say it right out, but you can't say anything these days without offending someone.” He nudged his head in Hen's direction.

So Buck said the words for him. “He's gay?”

Looking back at this moment, maybe he should have paid attention when Eddie came up behind Gerrard and motioned for him to cut it out.

Gerrard raised his hands up in surrender. “You said it, not me.”

“Yeah, I did,” Buck replied with a nod. The rage building inside him made him feel like he was left with no choice but say the next words that fell out of his mouth. “He's also my boyfriend.”

He could see Eddie in his peripheral, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

Watched as Gerrard's face turned from pale white to tomato red. A rage coming over him like Buck had never seen on a human before.

And that's what started the shifts from hell.

Gerrard, in those first shifts before knowing Buck's sexuality, had been rough. He was a grumpy, old man who demanded respect and attention that he didn't deserve. But he didn't pick on any specific person. They were all equal targets.

Until they weren't.

It was almost as though Gerrard felt like he'd been betrayed by Buck. Like Buck was supposed to be the one person at the station that was on his side, and finding out this single piece of information destroyed any and all possibility of that happening.

He had an endless string of one liners at his disposal, specifically for Buck, to use at any given time. And he used them every opportunity he got.

Buck could never do anything right. Nothing was ever cleaned properly and the equipment wasn't put away the way it should be. Gerrard didn't hesitate to reprimand him during calls. In fact, that seemed to be what he enjoyed the most. Anytime Buck tried to speak up he'd be brushed off or told his ideas were ridiculous.

When they had to line up at the start of their shifts, there would always be something wrong with Buck's uniform, or his hair, or the way he was standing.

He'd been put on cooking duty too. But it wasn't fun the way it was when Bobby was in charge.

Being on cooking duty with Gerrard was it's own special punishment. He decided all the meals, regardless of what anyone else wanted. He expected a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and he wanted them all at very specific times.

It was all food that Buck knew how to cook, but to Gerrard it was never done right.

“Too salty.”

“Too sweet.”

“Why'd you cook the meat so long? It's like leather.”

“Why's the meat still red in the center? You trying to kill me?”

“I hate cilantro.”

“You cook like this for Kinard? Must not be many options left for him.”

That was another problem. Gerrard brought up Tommy every chance he got.

“You kids today are so sensitive. Kinard used to laugh at all my jokes.”

“You keep your home this messy? Huh. Can't believe your boy toy puts up with that. He really has gone soft.”

“Kinard used to be my right hand man. Hate to think of what he's doing with that hand now... You probably know all about that though, don't ya, Buckley?”

*****

Buck had just gotten off a twelve hour shift when he headed home to start dinner. It was six o'clock by the time he entered the loft and Tommy would be over in an hour.

He was still shaky from all the things Gerrard had said to him today. Comments about Tommy, comments about him. Buck had tried to not let his words get to him, but that was proving more and more difficult each day. There were only so many different ways you could hear how worthless you were before you started to believe it.

He took a shower to try and help calm himself down before heading into the kitchen to get started on dinner.

Seared lamb chops, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots were on the menu for tonight. Then a pre-made sweet wine cake for dessert.

Things fell apart pretty quickly.

He was deep in an internal conversation (fight) with Gerrard as he peeled the potatoes, causing him to slice right across his finger. Once he'd cleaned up the blood and gotten a bandaid, he remembered that he hadn't turned the oven on to preheat for the carrots.

While the oven preheated, he got the potatoes boiling and got the carrots laid out on a pan.

Then he started looking around the counter for the lamb chops, which he was supposed to let sit out for twenty minutes before he started to cook them.

He could have sworn he took them out before he got his shower but, lo and behold, there they were in the fridge.

He shoved the carrots into the oven and got started on the lamb. He didn't have enough time to let them sit out now.

By the time Tommy knocked on the door twenty minutes later, Buck felt like a big ball of nervous and panicked energy.

“Come in!” he yelled, not bothering to turn away from the lamb.

“Hey you,” Tommy said casually as he entered the loft. The overall calmness of his voice somehow stressed Buck even more.

“Hey.”

“It smells amazing in here.” Tommy came up behind Buck, set a bottle of something down on the counter, then wrapped his arms around his waist. He pressed a kiss to Buck's neck. “Missed you.”

Usually, Buck wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in Tommy's arms. Tonight, it just felt too hot.

“Yeah, y- you too,” Buck replied, trying to sound as normal as possible.

Either it didn't work, or Tommy could sense how tense he was, because the next words out of his mouth were, “You okay?”

Somehow, Buck managed to turn toward him and fake a smile. “Yeah, I'm good. Just don't want the lamb to burn.”

Tommy gave Buck a peck on the lips before letting him return his attention to the lamb. “I brought wine,” he said, picking up the bottle again.

“Oh, good. You can put it in the fridge, or leave it out on the table if you want, or-” he whipped around, “God, I forgot to set the table!”

“I can set it,” Tommy offered.

“I wanted to have it all done before you got here.” Buck moved toward the drawers that held his good napkins, pulling them out before slamming the drawer shut. The noise caused Tommy to jump a little. Buck headed for the silverware next, tossing each utensil on top of the napkins and once again slamming the drawer. “I don't even have the wine glasses out or anything.”

Before he could pick up the napkins and silverware, Tommy placed his hand over it. “Really, Evan. I've got it. Are you sure you're okay?”

Buck sighed, letting Tommy take control of setting the table. “Yes, I'm okay.”

There was a heavy silence in the air while Tommy got the table ready.

Finally, Buck broke it. “You like your meat medium, right?”

“Yeah, that'd be perfect.”

“Great.”

Tommy paused on his way to get the glasses. That great did not sound very good.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“Well, they're already passed medium. They're medium well.”

“That's fine. I'm not really picky.”

Buck huffed. “You just said medium was perfect for you.” The words came out harsher than he intended, but he couldn't find it in him to care. He'd ruined the most important part of the meal already, and the fact Tommy had been so nonchalant since he stepped into the apartment was only making things worse.

“Medium well is perfect too. I really don't care how my meat is cooked, Evan.”

Buck turned off the stove and moved the lamb to a different eye so they would stop cooking. He grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the carrots out of the oven.

The second he saw them, he felt enraged.

“Damn it!” he exclaimed, practically throwing the pan onto the counter. “I forgot to put the glaze on them.”

Tommy eyed him for a second before moving closer. “It's fine, Evan,” he said, placing a hand on Buck's arm. “They look really good.”

Buck shrugged him off. “No. They'd be really good if I put the glaze on them, but I forgot it. Damn it!”

“Babe-”

“Oh my God!” Buck hurried back to the stove and turned off the potatoes. “I overcooked them! They're gonna be too mushy now!” He wasn't sure what it was, but his eyes were now both blurring and burning.

Tommy was trying his best to keep up with each dilemma that was happening. “We're having mashed potatoes, honey, I don't think it matters how mushy they are.”

“Yes, it does, Tommy! God, you don't get it!” He dumped the entire pot of potatoes into the sink, making it the disposal's problem now.

“Okay, that's enough,” Tommy said, his voice soft yet commanding. “Come here.” He came up behind Buck, who had his hands gripped on the countertop and his head hanging low. Tommy placed an arm around Buck's waist and guided him around until he was wrapped in Tommy's arms. He buried his face into Tommy's neck as he started to sob. His whole body shook with the force of his cries, tears pouring out and running down onto Tommy's shirt.

Just something else to add to the list of things Buck had ruined tonight.

Tommy only held him tighter. One arm around his back, keeping Buck steady. The other on his head, rubbing gently against his scalp.

They stood there for a few minutes, until Buck calmed enough to speak. “I'm sorry,” he whimpered out against Tommy's neck.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Tommy assured him. He ran his hand up and down Buck's back. “Let's go sit down, okay?”

Tommy led them to the couch, cradling Buck in his arms as soon as they sat down. Buck closed his eyes as he rested against Tommy's chest, letting himself be soothed by the way Tommy's hand ran up and down his back. He provided just enough pressure to relieve the tension in his muscles.

They were quiet for a while. And although he'd calmed down quite a bit, tears still escaped out of his eyes and down his face. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried like this.

“It's Gerrard, isn't it?” Tommy asked.

He didn't need Buck to answer. The shaky intake of breath told him all he needed to know.

“This is so stupid,” Buck said, wiping tears from his cheeks. “I- I'm acting like a child.”

Tommy shook his head. “It's not stupid, Evan.” He tugged lightly on Buck until he was sitting up enough for them to look at one another. He brought his hand to Evan's, keeping them intertwined as they talked. “Talk to me. What's going on?”

And that's when the dam broke. Once Buck got started, he couldn't stop. He told Tommy about all the ways he'd been picked on, the comments Gerrard had made, the things he'd said about Tommy. He talked about the way Gerrard spoke of their relationship, and made it seem like Buck was one mistake away from Tommy walking out the door.

Buck told him that even though he knew it wasn't true, it still messed with his head to hear it during every shift, over and over again.

“So he's been harassing you for a while now. Does the rest of the team know about all of this?”

Buck sniffed. “Some of it. Not everything. They couldn't do anything about it anyway. Hen and Chimney have to walk the line right now, because of Mara.”

“And Eddie?”

“He's got his... own stuff going on.”

“Hm.” Tommy wasn't too impressed by that answer, but that was a problem for another time. “You know you could have told me, right? I don't want you to think you have to hide this stuff from me.”

“Didn't want you to h- have to relive it. You already dealt with him, and I felt kinda dumb for it bothering me so much.”

“Evan, it's different. Gerrard didn't do any of that stuff to me. I wasn't out then, and I told you he didn't make me a better person. You shouldn't be having to deal with this every time you go in for a shift. It's not dumb that this bothers you. I don't know anyone that it wouldn't bother.”

“I just... I thought about filing a complaint, ya know? But,” a stray tear fell down his cheek, “I don't think I'd have anyone to back me up,” he admitted. “And even though it's anonymous, he'd know it was me.”

Tommy nodded. He understood how tricky filing complaints could be. It was what started the rift between him and Gerrard. Wheels were already turning in his head on what he could possibly do. He'd need to speak with his own captain, maybe Bobby, definitely Eddie, and possibly get a word in with the chief. But, if something could be done, he would do it to make sure he never had to see Evan this upset ever again.

“We'll figure something out,” he said, determined.

“Yeah. Yeah, o- okay.”

“And Evan,” Tommy scooted even closer to him, gently cupping Evan's face in his hands. He wiped away the remaining wetness from Buck's cheeks, staring deeply into his eyes as he spoke. “You are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm not just saying that, I mean it. None of what that man said is true, but even if it was, I wouldn't care. I don't care if every meal you ever cooked was wrong, I don't care if your house wasn't perfectly clean, I don't care about any of it. Only you. Got it?”

Buck nodded, allowing himself to fall forward into Tommy's chest and be cradled by him again. “Yeah,” he replied, closing his eyes as Tommy comforted him. “Yeah, I got it.”

[karasuno-planet]

All's fair—Academic Rivals | Tsukishima Kei

Tsukishima x Reader (she/her pronouns used)

wc: 1.1k

genre: kinda angsty but nothing crazy! sfw

warnings: feelings of inferiority, jealousy, slight cursing, calculus 💀

a/n: finally the long awaited academic rivals fic!! sorry I've been MIA for a couple days, I was traveling <3 everyone say thank you to @23starii , @alexaslibrary13 , @nym-blogs , and @h0neymustardwh0re for asking and encouraging me to write this one :)

(gif not mine)

Even after a long losing streak on the boy's volleyball team, Tsukishima always had one thing he believed he could never feel defeated in: his academics. School was just naturally easy to him, but that's not to say he doesn't work hard. It was his innate intelligence coupled with his work ethic that made him an absolute force in the classroom.

So when the calculus tests were being handed back, there wasn't a worry in his mind. The teacher set it on his desk face down.

Tsk, how dramatic, he thought, flipping it over.

In big red pen, he saw 98% written in bold on the top of the paper. Scoring a 98 was certainly above average, but not above Tsukki's average.

Before he could say a word the teacher was projecting at the front of the class, "Sorry, but there's no curve on this one. Somebody managed a perfect score, so it was achievable."

What?

The class murmured, upset with pretty mediocre grades for such a prestigious class. Discontent spouted from all directions. Well, besides directly from Tsukki's left hand side, where you sat. It was silent as a mouse. Awfully suspicious.

He stole a quick side glance at you to see exactly what he feared, a big, bold, 100% at the top of your test.

No matter how hard he tried for the rest of the day, he just couldn't shake that jealousy from his mind— the constant image of your perfect test seemingly ingrained to the back of his eyelids. He was so used to setting the curve in that class, how could he have overlooked competition this whole time?

☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

Later that day at practice, he tried channeling his emotions into his gameplay, with mild success. He was definitely playing with the kind of ambition he often lacked after long days of school.

When the team stopped for a water break, Nishinoya was quick to chime in, "Hey Tsukki, what's got you so worked up??"

The annoying presence of his pesky teammate irritated Tsukishima, "I doubt you'd even be able to understand it, dumbass."

Noya's face dropped at the outburst, "Sure Tsukki. Just let me know when you've pulled the stick out of your butt!!"

☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

Days went by, then weeks, and Tsukishima's hunger to match your academic achievement only grew. He became exceedingly obvious about it.

Every time you raised your hand, suddenly he did.

At the end of every test, when you stood up to turn it in, so did he. And his legs were long enough to beat you to handing it in every time.

When the tests were returned, you started to turn and catch his eye as he stared intensely trying to get a peak at your grade. Eventually you just made an effort to show him. After all, you weren't insecure about your grades. They were phenomenal and you both knew it.

The real surprises began when you both started to talk to each other. Suddenly the rivalry was put into words. It started out friendly, asking about when due dates were and simple things like that, but eventually you started to full-on taunt each other. Everything became a competition, and you weren't about to lose.

Even friendship had become a competition, you could feel Tsukishima's glare burning a hole in you when you turned around and asked Yamaguchi for a pencil one time. Not to mention when he had caught you talking to him before class. If only he had known what kind of information Yamaguchi let slip about him.

The final straw was when the teacher called for a group project, and you immediately turned around and looked at Yamaguchi. That was too far. Tsukishima immediately snapped, "Y/n, what do you think you're doing?"

"What's the big deal?"

Tsukki met your resistance with fierce eye contact, "You're working with me."

"huh?"

Yamaguchi's face was just as shocked as yours for a second, but he quickly shook it off and asked a boy who sat near him to work with him.

You pulled up a chair to Tsukki's desk and got to work on the packet of problems you were assigned to complete during the next two classes. You remained mostly in silence, dividing the work equally, but occasionally you shared glances and raised your eyebrows as a way to taunt each other.

As you started to run out of room on your paper and move far to the right side with your writing, your hand bumped Tsukki's. You could feel your heart drop and he quickly recoiled and pulled his hand away.

When you finished your allotment of problems for the day and set your pencil down, Tsukishima quickly grabbed your paper and starting checking over your work as you followed suit, looking over his.

He sighed, setting your paper down, free off mistakes. "Wow, you aren't quite as hopeless as I thought."

"Same to you..." you returned his completed problems, "If only you were as good at volleyball as you are at calculus."

"Like you would know," he returned your banter with a fervor, a quality you caught yourself enjoying a little.

"You'd think with four eyes you'd be a little more observant..."

"What?" He grasped to understand your insinuation.

"Look harder in the student section next time."

He sat in silence, floored, now knowing you had been watching him play. Is this what he had caught you and Yamaguchi discussing before? He felt like a fool, not being able to feel your malicious gaze on the court—not even considering that you might've been there.

Little did he know, it wasn't quite malice in your heart as you watched him play.

☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

He left without saying a word when the bell rung, and flocked straight to Yamaguchi to walk with him to practice.

They made sure to walk out of the vicinity of the classroom before Yamaguchi broke the silence, "Tsukki?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not upset that you didn't partner with me, but uh... why her? I thought you kinda hated her."

"Oh, uh... I don't know. I didn't want her to work with you."

Yamaguchi looked Tsukki in the eyes, his curiosity peaking, "Do you have a crush on her?"

Tsukishima was completely taken aback, "A crush??" He hesitated, "Yamaguchi, don't say stuff like that."

[masterlist]

[tammyu2]

Hey guys it been a while but I’m back with some ninjago content wooo!!

Dating the ninjas include:

Lloyd

I think you guys would be a enemies to lovers. He was cautious of you at first until he started warming up to you then he became your bestie.

When he realised he like you my boy was shyyyy. But he kept it in the inside and pretended to be more tuff for you. But sometimes he would get distracted and completely lose his tuff boy persona. Things like little touches here and there. Such as you both grazed hands or you fall and he catches you.

Buddy is blushinggg- Of course he doesn’t tell the rest of the ninja but he does drop hints here and there for advice.

“Hey Im asking for a friend- how do you flirt with a girl you kinda sorta like?”

The team is sus and deffo teases him on it a lot. So every but you know.

Once you two tie the not he is clingy. Cause his parents never hugged him enough (wow that was fowl of me-)

He always touches you in some way. Like either your holding hands, his arm is around you, etc.

He will only fully trust you with his deep past (if you don’t know it by then) later on in the relationship in fear that you will leave him.

When you don’t?- man had to restrain himself from both crying and proposing then and there.

Over all he is clingy and need affirmation that you love him cause of his extreme trust issues🫶

Cole

I feel like he is the type to not stress to much over crushing on you but at the same time. If anything goes wrong then it’s the end of the world.

The type to be like “Psh it’s not that hard. Your just having a normal conversation with your crush.” But when it happens he is all like “AHH I HOPE MY BREATH DONT STINK. DID I PUT ON MY SPECIAL COLON ON TODAY??”

He confesses to you with a burnt cupcake. He tried his best okay?? Leave the poor guy alone >:|

When you guys date he is definitely more layed back and comfortable around you. He trusts you more and you know he likes you so there’s no need to worry.

He honestly seems like that classic jockey bf minus the masoginistic mindest. He is actually a heavy feminist I believe.

But he is supper proud to show you off. Every chance he gets he talks about you. Man is not afraid to show off his amazingly beautiful partner.

Lou loves you. He actually books you and Cole private seat tickets whenever he has a show and you guys are in town for it.

Overall he is a loving chilled back man that is just so inlove with you.

Zane

He is an nindroid and naturally he always knows what’s wrong with him. But for some reason whenever he us around you his circuits combust. He had an idea of what he had but how could a android such as himself possibly have.. fallen in love with you?

It takes him a while to actually understand the full extent on his feelings towards you bc you are his first. But once he does he really doesn’t change his demeanour around you. It’s not like it changes anything it’s just a subconscious thing that he knows he likes you.

He will give you little gifts tho. And always help you out with anything that involves artificial intelligence.

When you two confessed he kissed you out of nowhere leaving you a flustered mess. It went down like this:

“What the?? Zane!! You can’t kiss someone out of nowhere! You caught me off guard..”

“But is it not true that I like you and you like me so that makes us a couple? And don’t couples kiss?”

“Yes but no. I’m gonna need to sit down and explain to you how timing works aren’t I?-“

After a bit he learned more about relationships and such. He still is lost here and there but he has the hang of it down. He is quite similar to Cole and is not very concerned about your relationship. Not that he doesn’t love you. It’s just a casual thing for him.

He makes a date for you two to try your best at hard or homey recipes to test both his cooking skills but also your knowledge on food as a whole. It’s a nice bonding thing you two do.

But over all he is a non chalant protective boyfriend that is just a little confused but has the spirit anyway!

Jay

When he starts liking you it’s obvious to everyone including you. He stutters and always blurts out complements not realising you hear them. He is always nervous and sweaty and he fidgets with his hands and is a complete mess for you.

He is a blabber mouth whenever he has the chance to bring you up. And he always sighs dreamily after as if he was a Disney princess or smth.

When you two confess he was loosing it. Like man was ready to pull out his hairs from nervousness. Luckily thanks to you he was much more calmed down after.

When you two date he is at your service at you command. Anything and everything if it’s possible he will give to you if you simply ask him. He will go out his way to show you how special you are to him and how much he loves you.

If you thought lloyd was clingy? He is NEXT LEVEL! Man is literally a koala. Unless on missions he will spontaneously combust without being with you.

His parents absolutely adore you. They love you so much you may as well have been their own daughter. They always ask Jay to bring you around for lunch or something just to see you again.

Over all He is a lovey dovey boyfriend who absolutely is yours till the rest do time even if god truck him down. So he’s a huge simp.

Sorry guys I’m rlly tired I will do Nya and Kai another day. Tata! Hope you guys stay healthy and stay safe!

~Tammy<3

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

so part of me wants to blame this entirely on wbd, right? bloys said he was cool with the show getting shopped around, so assuming he was telling the truth (not that im abt to start blindly trusting anything a CEO says lol), that means it’s not an hbo problem. and we already know wbd has an awful track record with refusing to sell their properties—altho unlike coyote v acme, s3 of ofmd isn’t a completed work and therefore there isn’t the same tax writeoff incentive to bury the thing. i just can’t see any reason to hold on to ofmd except for worrying about image, bc it would be embarrassing if they let this show go with such a devoted fanbase and recognizable celebrities and it went somewhere else and did really well (which it would undoubtedly do really well, we’ve long since proven that). it feels kinda tinfoil hat of me to making assumptions abt what’s going on in wbd behind the scenes, but i also feel like there are hints that i’m onto something w my suspicions: suddenly cracking down on fan merch on etsy doesn’t seem like something a studio looking to sell their property would bother with, and we know someone was paying to track the viewing stats on ofmd’s bbc airing, which isn’t finished yet, so i’d expect whoever is monitoring that to not make a decision abt buying ofmd until the s2 finale dropped.

but also i think part of me just wants there to be a clear villain in the situation. it’s kinda comforting to have a face to blame, a clear target to shake my fist at. but the truth is that the entire streaming industry is in the shitter. streaming is not pulling in the kind of profit that investors were promised, and we’re seeing the bubble that was propped up w investor money finally start to pop. studios aren’t leaving much room in their budgets for acquiring new properties, and they’re whittling down what they already have. especially w the strikes last year, they’re all penny pinching like hell. and that’s much a much harder thing to rage against than just one studio or one CEO being shitty. that’s disheartening in a way that’s much bigger and more frightening than if there was just one guy to blame.

my guess is that the truth of the situation is probably somewhere in the middle. wbd is following the same shitty pattern they’ve been following since the merger, and it’s just a hard time for anyone trying to get their story picked up by any studio. ofmd is just one of many shows that are unlucky enough to exist at this very unstable time for the tv/streaming industry.

when i think abt it that way, tho, i’m struck by how lucky we are that ofmd even got to exist at all. if the wbd merger had happened a year earlier, or if djenks and tw tried to pitch this show a year later, there’s no way this show would’ve been made. s1 was given the runtime and the creative freedom needed to tell the story the way the showrunners wanted to, and the final product benefited from it so much that it became a huge hit from sheer gay word of mouth. and for all the imperfections with s2—the shorter episode order, the hard 30 minute per episode limit, the last-minute script changes, the finale a butchered mess of the intended creative vision—the team behind ofmd managed to tell a beautiful story despite the uphill battle they undoubtedly were up against. they ended the season with the main characters in a happy place. ed and stede are together, and our last shot of ed isn’t of him sobbing uncontrollably (like i rlly can’t stress enough how much i would have never been able to acknowledge the existence of this show again if s1 was all we got)

like. y’all. we were this close to a world where ofmd never got to exist. for me, at least, the pain of an undue cancellation is worth getting to have this story at all. so rather than taking my comfort in the form of righteous anger at david zaslav or at wbd or at the entire streaming industry as a whole, i’m trying to focus on how lucky i am to get to have the show in the first place.

bc really, even as i’m reeling in grief to know this is the end of the road for ofmd, a part of me still can’t quite wrap my head around that this show is real. a queer romcom about middle-aged men, a rejection of washboard abs and facetuned beauty standards, a masterful deconstruction and criticism of toxic masculinity, well-written female characters who get to shine despite being in a show that is primarily about manhood and masculinity, diverse characters whose stories never center around oppression and bigotry, a casually nonbinary character, violent revenge fantasies against oppressors that are cathartic but at the same time are not what brings the characters healing and joy, a queer found family, a strong theme of anti colonialism throughout the entire show. a diverse writers room that got to use their perspectives and experiences to inform the story. the fact that above all else, this show is about the love story between ed and stede, which means the character arcs, the thoughts, the feelings, the motivations, the backstories, and everything else that make up the characters of ed and stede are given the most focus and the most care.

bc there rlly aren’t a lot of shows where a character like stede—a flamboyant and overtly gay middle-aged man who abandoned his family to live his life authentically—gets to be the main character of a romcom, gets to be the hero who the show is rooting for.

and god, there definitely aren’t a lot of shows where a character like ed—a queer indigenous man who is famous, successful, hyper-competent, who feels trapped by rigid standards of toxic hypermasculinity, who yearns for softness and gentleness and genuine interpersonal connection and vulnerability, whose mental health struggles and suicidal intentions are given such a huge degree of attention and delicate care in their depiction, who messes up and hurts people when he’s in pain but who the show is still endlessly sympathetic towards—gets to exist at all, much less as the romantic lead and the second protagonist of the show.

so fuck the studios, fuck capitalism, fuck everything that brought the show to an end before the story was told all the way through. because the forces that are keeping s3 from being made are the same forces that would’ve seen the entire show canceled before it even began. s3 is canceled, and s2 suffered from studio meddling, but we still won. we got to have this show. we got to have these characters. there’s been so much working against this show from the very beginning but here we are, two years later, lives changed bc despite all odds, ofmd exists. they can’t take that away from us. they can’t make us stop talking abt or stop caring abt this show. i’m gonna be a fan of this show til the day i die, and the studios hate that. they hate that we care about things that don’t fit into their business strategy, they hate that not everyone will blindly consume endless IP reboots and spin-offs and cheap reality tv.

anyway i dont rlly have a neat way to end this post. sorta just rambling abt my feelings. idk, i know this sucks but im not rlly feeling like wallowing in it. i think my gratitude for the show is outweighing my grief and anger, at least for right now. most important thing tho is im not going anywhere. and my love for this show is certainly not fucking going anywhere.

[spid3namy]

— FOOTBALL

pairing : football player e!1610 miles x cheerleader black!female reader

summary : you and miles have a sweet little before and after game ritual

contains : fluff , kissing

word count : 577

notes : this is my peace offering for the angst i made earlier and all the angst that will be coming later on LMAO

“Amor, I gotta get on the field. I can’t keep kissin’ you right now.” 

You pout but otherwise let go of Miles’ face, your hands dropping to your thighs. Miles gives you a sweet smile and grabs his helmet from beside you, giving you one last kiss before he runs towards the field. 

You let out a dramatic sigh and stare at him as he goes to his teammates. You were proud of him and all but sometimes you just wished that he didn’t have to leave so soon! Maybe you were just being clingy.

Actually.. You knew you were. 

That was besides the point though! The point is, you already missed him and he was only three feet away from you. 

“Y/N! Hurry up and get over here!” 

You blink and look over to whoever was yelling at you. Your teammate, Kylie, was screaming for you to hurry up so you could do your cheer routine for half time. You let out a heavy sigh and pull your hair up into a high ponytail, putting your cheer bow on before you jog over to the other girls. 

You already knew that you would be the loudest person cheering for your boyfriend. You always were. It often gets you in trouble. Not that you really cared. Sue you for wanting to support your boyfriend. 

You couldn’t help but stare at the way that Miles played. He was so skilled. It was kinda hot. 

It wasn’t a secret that you found him hot. Especially when he was playing. Hell, everyone knew he was hot! But you were the only one lucky enough to be dating him. 

The game was pretty fine, Visions obviously won. Miles was the MVP as always. Most games were the same. Miles would steal the show before you and the rest of the cheer team did your amazing routine during half-time. 

Miles loved watching you cheer. He went to every practice whenever he didn’t have practice just to see you. He was so hopelessly in love with you. Everyone could see it. Now, Miles wasn’t the stereotypical jock, he was actually really smart. He was a “nerd” as you called him. He took pride in his smarts and good grades. He never really had to worry about getting kicked off the team.

When the game had ended, Miles immediately went to go find you. He always did. 

“There you are, hermosa. I was lookin’ for you”

You chuckled and rolled your eyes playfully, allowing your eyes to move to look at him. Of course he was. You even knew he was looking for you. He was pretty predictable. 

“I ain’t even go no way, Miles.”

Miles chuckled and wrapped an arm around your shoulder, much to your dismay. You loved him, of course you did, but you hated how he would be so close to you whenever he was sweaty. Some girls might be okay with that but you definitely weren’t.

“You stink, Miles.”

“Hey!”

“What? It ain’t my fault that you’re all sweaty and stinky.”

“Oh like you smell any better.”

“Don’t play with me, Miles. I will hit your ass.”

Miles chuckled and rolled his eyes playfully, allowing himself to turn his head towards you. He grabbed your chin lightly and kissed you sweetly. It was his way of shutting you up without actually telling you to shut up. He knew you were no joke. 

Kisses were always your game rituals.

[onceonafullmoon]

I was wondering if I could request Isagi x reader headcannons pleasee!

No pressure tho! <3

I think that when you meet Isagi, you’d meet him before bluelock actually, I think you’d be a classmate of his

And I think that you wouldn’t really take notice of each other until the day you see him play football for the first time in middle school

He’s determined, unlike anything you’ve seen before and it has you captivated

Not enough to say anything to him of course, courtesy of preteen embarrassment, but it's enough to make you stare at him as he walks by to class sometimes

It goes on like this for sometime, you going to his games occasionally, always in slight awe of him as he plays until highschool where you find yourself busy with your own after school activities and clubs

Eventually after a while a friend suggests that you go to a football game and you agree, after all, you were kind of curious to see how the team had changed\

But to your slight disappointment, you see that Isagi has changed his playing style, molded to fit more into his team and it kinda… irks you a bit

It’s just a little disappointing to you that you’ve seen this spark in him get snuffed out, even if you don’t know him personally, so you decide to write him a letter

It's a bit cheesy, but you write to him about how interesting of a player you think he is and how you think he has a lot of potential

A little encouragement never did anyone wrong, right?

But of course, you’re a bit too shy to just give it to him, so you end up putting it in his locker when no ones around

At least, when you think no one is around, because unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) he sees you

He doesn’t confront you then, his mind racing at thoughts of a possible confession (it would be his first one after all) but he instead finds something he appreciates even more when he opens the note

Naturally, he approaches you to thank you for it the next day, saying that your words meant a lot to him, much to your embarrassment

But even though you are slightly flustered, you can’t help but feel happy that he was touched by your words, and the two of you end up forming a friendship

You start going back to his games and he starts showing up at your events too, the both of you guys also hanging out after class

He doesn’t really realize that he’s been spending so much time with you until Tada starts teasing him about how “it’s so cute that you have a crush”

Isagi denies his words at first, shoving him playfully, but later that night when he reflects back on it, he realizes that his friend might actually have a point

It only grows stronger on the day that he loses to Kira, and you’re there to comfort him, but he still doesn’t say anything about it

He does, however, inform you of this interesting new program that he’s been invited to a few days after, and he tries to hide his blush when you enthusiastically offer your support for him

Blue Lock offers Isagi some much needed confidence, he comes to find, and he thinks about the words you first wrote to him as he progresses onwards

And when the U-20 match hits half time, he’s ecstatic to see you in the stands next to his parents with a smile on your face

To which he gets a few jeers and comments made at him for

But after the match he can’t help get the image of you out of his head, and when they allow a two week break from Blue Lock, he knows he has to see you

To be honest, he isn’t really intending to confess, but when he sees you again and takes in the sound of your sweet praises and concerned inquiries about how he’s been doing, he can’t help himself

He just ends up confessing straight up, and though you’re taken by surprise, you tell him that you’ve kinda felt the same way

Well, it’s not like the two of you can really explore much of your relationship together as he has to leave soon again, but the rest of the day turns into your first date

You’d move to give him a kiss after it was over and he dropped you off at home (ever the gentleman) but he stops you, pressing his fingers against your lips

You look up at him slightly confused, to which he replies that he’ll get his kiss from you after he becomes the number one striker, with a cocky smirk

Yeaah… you might have melted into a puddle that day

But needless to say, you do end up getting that kiss

As a boyfriend, Isagi’s very thoughtful and observant of you

He’ll notice when you have a bad day immediately, and he’ll also know the best way to comfort you

He’s also really good at giving you gifts for this reason, which you’re slightly jealous of

Very supportive also though, if you ever want to take up a new hobby or work towards a new goal, he’ll be there to hype you up

Almost no fights between the two of you because he’s just so chill, though when an argument does arise he’ll definitely come check on you after

Read: no sleeping on the couch after an argument, you both are sleeping in the bed

A big fucking simp though, will talk about you to almost everyone and the worst part is he doesn’t even realize it himself

Loves to wear matching couple fits when you guys go out because he’s just that flattered that you’re his and he’s yours

He’s honestly pretty fucking corny most of the time, though it’s something you adore about him rather than find cringy

But other times… especially after a game, you get pleasantly surprised by how forward and confident he can be

In all he’s a very loving guy and basically the epitome of the word “boyfriend”, but he still has his egoist moments

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Okay, my one and only major complaint about Bad Batch is that I don't think they handled Tech's death properly (I still don't think they should have killed him off at all, but here we are; and even if they intend(ed) to leave things open-ended to maybe bring him back later, the titular characters in the show wouldn't have known that); and with all the reasons I've seen floating out there as to WHY Tech's death was handled the way it was and why the characters reacted the way they did (or didn't), I just want to explain why none of the "reasons" cut it for me. If you're satisfied with how Tech was handled in season 3, I am genuinely happy for you (and lowkey jealous, ngl 😉). I've just been thinking about this a lot and need to spell it out!

Reason #1: "Why do we need to see more of the characters mourning? What we got was enough. We don't need a 2 hour episode that's all about the characters grieving." (Yes, someone actually used "2 hours" in their argument.)

Let's recap what we got: 1) A scene where Echo looks sadly at the Marauder's pilot seat, Wrecker actually sheds some tears (bless him), Omega's in denial, and Hunter tells Omega they're going to retire on Pabu because Tech is gone... followed up almost immediately by the villain dropping off broken goggles as the only proof that Tech was ever on Eriadu; 2) a scene where the audience is shown Tech's goggles but Hunter doesn't interact with them- instead, he looks at Lula, proving that his driving motivation is recovering Omega (which is fine when taken from the perspective that he can't do anything about Tech, whereas he can do something for Omega; but that perspective is ultimately just headcanon because the show never reiterates or follows up on this); 3) Wrecker alluding to Tech (not by name) to try to convince Hunter to be more cautious; 4) Omega name-dropping Tech (wait, does Crosshair even know what happened?... yay for context clues, I guess); 5) Echo name-dropping Tech in relation to data decryption with the team looking down sadly for 5 seconds (I timed it) before Crosshair changes the subject; 6) Phee name-dropping Tech in relation to her not knowing what m-count is; 7) Crosshair referring to Tech's information on Ventress; 8) Omega leaving Tech's goggles in the Archeum with none of her brothers around (hot take: it kinda bothers me that the goggles are given the same treatment as Lula, I totally understand the context/deeper meaning of Omega leaving her childhood behind by leaving Lula, but we're talking about the one relic they have of their fallen and irreplaceable brother being given the same emotional weight as a doll); 9) Phee referring to Tech having a discussion with her about Crosshair while Tech's goggles are in the background (and, noticeably, Crosshair doesn't react at all and just changes the subject back to needing a ship); 10) Crosshair says the squad died with Tech, Wrecker says Tech understood the risks, and that's that.

So, what we got was enough to establish that the characters were sad in the immediate aftermath of Tech's death, that some of them may have stayed sad about it all through season 3, and that the show didn't completely forget that Tech had been a main character at one point.

What we DON'T get is any real reference to what Tech meant to the family as an individual and a brother, any real indication of how the loss of Tech (distinct from the mission to save Omega) influences his family's actions or the story's overall narrative, any actual acknowledgement in the show of Tech's sacrifice having any meaning or the family moving past grief to express any form of gratitude for Tech's presence and influence on their lives, any reference to Tech having a true impact on 4 of his 5 siblings (Omega is the closest we get to witnessing Tech's continued influence on any of his siblings and even seeing that involves squinting/head tilts at times)... in other words, we get a few minutes of sadness, but never any catharsis. We see they miss him, but never does this truly inform the narrative or their decisions in season 3, AND it's left frustratingly vague where the characters are in the grieving process (more on that later).

Besides, no one (that I have come across, at least) was ever asking for a 2 hour episode. At most, Kanan got a 22-minute "eulogy" episode, and most of us aren't even asking for that. I'd have been at least minimally satisfied with a "Mayday moment" for Tech - and that scene lasted a grand total of 20 seconds. What would have been more satisfying would have been the show taking all those superficial name drops and converting at least a few of them into meaningful mentions indicating what Tech means to his brothers and/or how he continues to have an influence on his family and/or how his sacrifice is a motivating factor for them.

Reason #2: "There was no time."

Leaving aside the fact that there was apparently plenty of time and opportunity to make Tech (among others) a red herring...

Let's assume that the showrunners were not only told they only had 1 season left to wrap everything up, but were given highly specific time allotments for each episode to where they weren't allowed to add any scenes (I highly doubt this is what happened, but we're rolling with the "no time" thing here). You know what you do in that scenario when you're talking about something like following up on a main character's death that clearly has left your entire fanbase in an uproar? You MAKE time: you trim down the action scenes, you make the characters walk a little bit faster, you decide whether an extended scene of Echo giving Omega a crossbow that is never going to show up again is actually worth saving (I actually like the scene, by the way; just giving an example), you cut out a few of the extremely vague lines of dialogue Fennec and Asajj indulge in. What you DON'T do is kill off a beloved main character and then rely on convenient time lapses/time skips to just brush over all the fallout apart from a few name drops that do nothing to establish just how important said character was to the other characters in the show.

What's more, they could have EASILY included some true closure with ANY of the Tech name-drops/scenes that were already in the show. Have Hunter look at Tech's goggles before looking beyond them at Lula in 3.02. Have the brothers be present with Omega when she decides to leave Tech's goggles in the Archeum in 3.11. Have any of the brothers say one meaningful line about Tech while they're otherwise silently basking in the sunshine in the end scene on Pabu in 3.15!

Reason #3: "They're soldiers."

Of all the reasons given for why Tech's death was mishandled, I dislike this one the most. What does CF99 being soldiers have to do with the aftermath of Tech's death being reduced to perfunctory allusions? (If you want to get into the argument that soldiers in general have to figure out a way to "move on" and The Clone Wars didn't really spend any time on the clones processing losses after battles, let me just say I don't care for how this topic is covered in The Clone Wars either, and Bad Batch was a golden opportunity for the Star Wars franchise to move past this unfortunate trope.) Fallen soldiers in real life get memorials/funerals too, even if it's months after the battle. Fallen soldiers are honored and remembered by their families and those closest to them. If the show is trying to push the stereotype that soldiers move on from tragic deaths of comrades by being "stoic" and holding it all in and never talking about it, I strongly disagree with the perpetuation of this stereotype; and if the characters as soldiers actually DID grieve Tech in a healthy way, why didn't the show depict it?

Reason #4: "Star Wars writers don't know how to write meaningful scenes/payoff regarding death and characters dealing with death/loss."

The Bad Batch writers proved time and again how brilliant they are at writing emotional storylines with maximum payoff. Case in point: Mayday. Enough said (I'm writing too much on this general topic as it is).

Reason #5: "They got over it."

Maybe I'm reading things wrong, but a rather drastic change in behavior for one character (going from cautious and weighing all risks, to reckless and jumping headfirst into situations without proper backup), and another character including Tech's death as just one reason why he "deserves" to go on a suicide mission, does not read to me as the characters "getting over it." It reads to me as "avoidance behavior" and "continued internal conflict." (Granted, Hunter's more reckless behavior in season 3 likely had as much to do with the Omega situation as it did Tech's death, but the point still stands. And if the point DOESN'T still stand, then I've got even MORE issues with how this plotline was handled, so we'll just keep assuming it does.)

Furthermore, if the characters had truly "gotten over it," there shouldn't have been any hesitation or issue with them discussing and honoring Tech in meaningful ways.

Reason #6: "They DIDN'T get over it."

Right, and we ended the show that way, with no clear resolution to them actually coming to terms with Tech's death and honoring his memory. Great.

Reason #7: "Whatever. It's good Tech stayed dead. Tech's sacrifice meant something."

... Did it? Did it really? I mean, I know I say quite frequently that Tech's sacrifice is what made the happy ending possible for the others (because that's the only thought that got me through a rewatch of season 3). But the show, the narrative itself, certainly doesn't act like it really meant anything. Hunter says in the season 2 finale that they "weren't going to waste Tech's sacrifice" because they were going to retire on Pabu... and that discussion promptly gets forgotten and never brought up again, not even when the squad is trying to stay off the Empire's radar in season 3 after Omega returns. Never is there any discussion that "not wasting Tech's sacrifice" by hiding on Pabu to make sure no one else dies (a very understandable reaction, of course) also goes against the very mission Tech pushed for in the first place: rescuing Crosshair. Never do we hear Omega tell Crosshair, "Tech didn't give up on you, I'm not giving up on you, that's why you ARE going to escape with me." Never is there any talk about "Tech wanted us to live and stay together, so that is what we are going to do." Never is there any acknowledgement at the end of the show that they are all going to live in peace on Pabu because Tech made sure they could live.

The last half of season 4 of Rebels is full of references to Kanan's sacrifice actually meaning something and having direct tangible consequences not only for the family but for Lothal and the Rebellion. For one thing, the show itself literally spells out that the mission to shut down the Imperial factories on Lothal was actually a success because all the fuel reserves were destroyed - Kanan had died, but the mission had succeeded and directly led to the success of the bigger mission to completely free Lothal, and while this is very poor consolation for the loss of Kanan, at least the show openly acknowledged it. Kanan and his influence is also openly credited for Ezra foiling Palpatine's plans with the Jedi Temple and the WBW, Ezra learning to let go and again disrupting Palpatine's plans in the finale, and doing what was needed to ensure Lothal was fully freed.

Imagine how different Rebels would be if Kanan's death had been treated like Tech's: no mention that his role on the mission had any impact whatsoever. No reference to Ezra or any other member of the Ghost crew living up to what Kanan had taught them all - or, at best, there's a perfunctory reference in the epilogue that Ezra decided to keep using the Force the way Kanan had taught him to. No depiction of Ezra or Hera or Sabine or Zeb accepting Kanan's death and letting go of the pain while holding on to the memories. Nothing to show that any of the Ghost crew members act in memory of Kanan or that he is a motivating influence on them. No indication that Kanan's sacrifice drives Ezra to decide to follow up on their initial success with the factories and ultimately completely drive the Empire from Lothal.

Rebels just wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling.

Now, imagine if Tech's death had been treated like Kanan's, and maybe it will become more clear why I have a REALLY hard time agreeing with the argument that the show itself actually depicted Tech's death as "meaning something."

[weeeeeeezamboni]

@respectthepetty made a post about Tan being the second murderer and it makes so much sense! of course there are two killers, the masked murderer covers way too much ground and is in way too many places at once for their to only be one, and as @respectthepetty also previously mentioned, we've already seen another subtle throwback to Scream by way of the three main rules for not becoming a victim (all of which were ignored in the very first episode). it only makes sense that we'd see this too

i don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet, but i was thinking last night about the bathroom scene from episode 2 and how they might've pulled that off, and then it hit me

Tan wasn't there

is that what the kids are calling it these days? apparently he'd gone up to sleep (according to Phee who we already know is killer #1), but even watching it for the first time with innocent eyes, this felt strange. he only shows up again later, after the whole incident with Top that he was suspiciously absent from, talking to White and Phee while the rest of the original boys have their team meeting

but this whole exchange feels kinda off

Tan brings up how strange it is that they seem so scared of Non's ghost, and then gets this look when White calls them Non's friend

and then is weirdly quick to jump to the conclusion that his friends, the people he took a trip into the middle of the woods with, hurt Non

and then White says this

and the camera cuts immediately to Phee and Tan looking like they're hanging on his every word

and then White drops the bomb

and they share this significant look

in episode 3 Top volunteers to drive out of the woods to get help after Uncle Dang's death (and after having already failed once attempting to escape with Tee), but Phee stops him, claiming he's untrustworthy (he is)

of course you shouldn't, both killers are at the house, Top might just make it out to help

so naturally, Tan volunteers to go with

but on their way out of the woods, they end up getting lost

following Tan's directions

and then Tan eventually makes it back to the house alone

and we're really supposed to believe he just woke up where they fell and walked all the way back to the house perfectly fine?

after he looks at Phee like this

something obviously happened out there in the woods, and next thing we know about Top is his bloody wallet chain and a trail of blood leading into Janta's shrine

it's revealed later that it was him behind the mask that night, which means it was him that did this

and i don't care how strong Tee thinks he is

that man is not lifting you off the ground by your neck

which means we know three new pieces of information about Top since he went missing:

1) he's suddenly acquired heightened strength (and i'm also gonna point out here that man was hit with a golf club multiple times? where did Tee even get it from? did i miss something?)

2) Top was clearly unwell and vomiting when he made it back to the house

and 3) he was seizing on the couch and then bleeding from his eye

now i'm not an expert on drugs so i don't know if there are any kinds of steroids or anything else that can produce all three of these effects at the same time, but there was definitely something funky going on in his body

these boys all deserve what's coming for them, and i really hope Phee and Tan are working together on this and i'm not just seeing things i would live for that

[konigenblobbity]

What is your Problem?! [Part 1]

Ghost x F!Reader, Soap x F!Reader

Warnings: Angst, yelling, Ghost being mean, Soap comfort, light chokehold, love triangle

—> [Part 2]

Summary: Ever since you joined the task force, Ghost has had it out for you. Punishing you for things he’d brush off for others, constantly criticizing everything you do, ignoring you when you’re just trying to help. It’s been like that for a year, and you finally snap. You see red when he claims you don’t deserve to celebrate with your team. The mission having been absolutely grueling, taking months of prep, where you had many sleepless nights, but having gone perfectly smoothly… you snapped.

A/n: Was writing some angst and then it got away from me, kinda turned into a love triangle fic lol, enjoy? Also didn’t read through it so there might be some spelling and grammar mistakes 0_o

You walk into the common room, with an ear to ear smile as a loud cheer echoed on the walls. Every member of your team smiling, some raising their glasses. You then feel an arm wrap around your shoulder. “Congrats boss! Finally wrapped up that shite mission” you chuckle at Soaps words, but can’t help but agree.

This mission was exhausting, having been the reason for many restless nights and countless coffees. “Can’t agree more Soap” he smiles and then says “let’s get to the bar and get you a glass of the strong stuff” with a wink he begins to pull you through the crowd. You feel pride as people greet you and pat your shoulder congratulating you.

That feeling leaves in a heartbeat as you feel a new hand on your shoulder, stopping you in your tracks. You turn and just like you dreaded, there stood Ghost, his figure looming over you and his serious demeanor sending a shiver through you. “You’ll have to excuse me Soap, I need to borrow the ‘boss’ for a moment”

You felt yourself tense, he clearly wasn’t going to congratulate you… he never did. Ever since you joined the task force he’s had it out for you. Some ruthless vendetta to make your life a living hell. Always treating you differently to everyone else.

He’d criticize you during training and then make you stay longer if he didn’t think you did ‘good enough’, yell at you for things he would’ve brushed off if it was anyone else, even going so far as to insult you right to your face. Deeming you worthless, obsolete, and entirely unfit for this task force.

You hoped he’d warm up to you over time, giving you the chance to show your worth, get him to finally respect you and treat you like a part of the team… instead of some kind of obstacle. You respected Ghost… and you wanted him to like you.

Seeing how he treats the others, joking around and poking fun, but when you make the slightest playful jab he’d go cold and order you to do 100 push ups without hesitation. Your hatred for him slowly grows by the months, no longer admiring him, but despising him for his endless torment.

You pray that Soap won’t let you be pulled away by Ghost, but he simply shrugs, unwrapping his arm from your shoulder and saying. “Sure! Just don’t keep her too long, we wanna do a toast later” he winks at you and smiles “in your honor” you smile back but without another word Ghost pulls you away, into his office nearby.

You stand in front of him, back straighten, stiff and your heart beating fast from the suspense. He stands tall in front of you, roughly a meter away. His expression hidden by his mask but his eyes glaring into your soul. You don’t dare speak, not wanting to unintentionally aggravate him.

“You’re not going to get a toast.” His words making your heart drop, as you can’t help but clench your fists at your sides. “I’m sorry sir. I don’t understand” you spoke sternly, controlling the urge to say anything else, at fear of disrespecting him.

He sighs but then doubles down saying. “Well… they can’t make a toast because you won’t be there. You’re going to go back to your dorm. I’m not permitting you to celebrate” You were speechless. Standing there, with your mouth agape and you just felt your blood boiling.

“What. Sir I’ve been working on this mission for months. It went perfect I don’t understand what I did wrong?” You begin to raise your voice, slowly losing your grasp on your rage. Your face beginning to redden. “Watch your tone. And no, it did not go perfect” you try to take controlled breaths, wanting to lunge at Ghost and rip out his tongue.

“Sir. With all due respect…” the way you said it clearly showing you meant no respect, spitting the word out like poison. “There were no causalities, we didn’t get spotted, and we were able to avoid excessive violence. Everything went smoothly” he just laughs. You bite your cheeks to avoid snapping. His laugh pushing every one of your buttons.

“What about when you turned off your comms? I’d call that a major misjudgment” you paused. Thinking back to the mission. And then you can’t help but laugh, running a hand through your hair finally breaking from your stiff posture, letting a wild smile grace your lips.

“You’ve got to be fucking joking…” you whisper and at that Ghost narrows his eyes and loudly orders “What was that soldier?” And you just look at him, glaring into his eyes, your own seeing red.

“I said. You have to be… fucking. joking. When are you done being a prick? Huh? What will it take for you to just fucking respect me and stop treating me so unfairly” you’re yelling now, pointing your finger at him accusingly, causing his to try and interrupt you.

“I suggest you-“ you stop caring, finally breaking and not letting him get a single word out. “No! I suggest you get a goddamn grip. I don’t deserve your harassment, I don’t deserve your punishments, I don’t deserve how you look down at me as if I am worth nothing” you were so loud that some of the noises in common area died down. Everyone hearing you lashing out, but not fully able to hear what you were saying.

“When I turned off my comms… it was because I had to go silent for a while. Being mere meters away from enemy guards, and not wanting to reveal my location, risking the lives of my team” he stands there, his own fists clenched at his side now, seething rage seeming to radiate off him. He finally managed to speak up.

“You were selfish” the way he spoke was unthankful, no compassion in his tone, as if what he said was undeniably true. “Fuck you.” It was almost breathless, his words sending a dagger through your heart, you were sick and tired of him. You turn to exit the office.

You’re then roughly pinned against the office door, his arm pressing against your throat, your hands grabbing onto it as if you could pry it off. The motion caused you to groan and there was a loud thud. “Don’t you dare disrespect me” he spoke through gritted teeth, he was seething at this point.

You felt your eyes well up and you couldn’t help as a few ran down your cheeks, you were exhausted, not just from the mission, but from the hell Ghost has been putting you through.

“That’s rich… you’ve been disrespecting me ever since I arrived. I was never good enough for you, no matter how hard I tried, or how I much I bled, or how perfect I was. It was never enough for you. You never gave me a chance… you were against me the second I arrived” your words interrupted by shaky breaths, but you didn’t stop. Finally saying what was on your chest.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about” if you weren’t so angry, you would’ve detected the slight guilt in his tone. “You’ve made it clear how much you hate me. You treat me so differently to everyone else, as if I haven’t been a part of this team for a whole year. I don’t care if you punish me… I am going to celebrate with my team. I deserve a fucking break” his grasp on you loosens, he was shocked… your words finally hit him as he stepped back.

You cough lightly before glaring at him. You turn around and leave the office, walking back into the common area where eyes are immediately on you. You ignore it, weaving your way through the crowd to get to the bar. Soap sits there waiting with a glass of whiskey and a smile.

When he sees the state you’re in, red eyes, brows appearing permanently furrowed, and your face red with rage. “My god Lass… what happened?” He immediately looks concerned, facing you as you sit down on the stool grabbing your glass. When you down it instantly, not bothering to answer Soap, he turns to look back at the office door, where Ghost stands with crossed arms.

He sighs. Out of everyone, the only person you told about Ghost’s abuse was Soap. He had constantly encouraged you to have patience, to give him a chance to warm up to you, to just wait… he couldn’t help but feel awful now.

“He finally broke me…” you whisper as you reach over the bar and grab the bottle of whiskey, opening the cap. “Christ Lass… I’m so sorry” Soap watches as you don’t even pour it into your glass, drinking straight from the bottle. His whole being hurt at the sight, you were supposed to be celebrating. His anger growing at the idea that Ghost finally took it too far.

“He told me to go back to the dorm… told me I wasn’t allowed to celebrate” you chuckle and put down the bottle. “What?” Soap was in pure shock, frozen in place. Watching as you wipe the tears from your eyes, using the back of your hand to wipe away the remnants on your cheeks.

It’s then that Soap notices the redness of your neck, his brows furrow and he grabs at your jaw, gently, and tilts your head up. You pull away but not soon enough for him not to see it. His whole expression drops “Did he hurt you?” When you don’t respond, just taking another sip from the whiskey, he stands up from his chair.

You grab his arm before he walks off, his whole demeanor seeming enraged, but he stops when your hand circles his arm. “Don’t. Just stay. I don’t want to be alone” your voice was quiet, almost raspy, Soap picks up on the broken sob that leaves you afterwards.

He immediately moves to sit back down next to you, moving his stool to be closer to you. He takes your hand in his, holding it tightly. “I’m so sorry Lass… he said he’d never go that far. He promised.” You look at him confused, and he lets out a sigh. “I’ve talked to him about going easier on you… I just couldn’t ignore it anymore. I’m sorry. I should’ve asked”

He waited for you to get mad, to walk off, the way your eyes widened only making him more nervous. What he doesn’t expect is for you to grab the back of his neck with your hand, pulling his face to yours. Allowing your lips to collide with his gently. He let out a gasp, his eyes wide, but he slowly let them close, moving his arm around your waist and kissing you back.

There was a loud thud as Ghost’s office door slammed shut. Having seen the whole thing he can’t help but be infuriated. Not at you, not at Soap, but at himself. Knowing he pushed you too far, and to his disappointment, pushed you right into Soap’s arms.

Soap mumbled against your lips. “I’ll keep an eye out for you lass, I swear I won’t let him hurt you like that anymore…” he moved away, and then pulled you close against him. “I’ll take care of you from now on”

[silverwhittlingknife]

hi Silver! o/ because that fanart made me wonder - would you happen to know when/where Dick's stuffed elephant plush Zitka turns up in the comics?

GREETINGS CAM <3333 THAT ART WAS SO CUTE

Yeah, I think your instincts are right - it's a truly adorable bit of transformative fandom, but I'm 95% percent sure it's not comics canon. Barbara has canon plushies, but I don't think anyone else does.

I got kinda invested in the investigation (it's hard to prove a negative!) and I ended up typing out an entire History of Elinore/Zitka, so, uh, if you're curious, meet me below the cut for:

Where does Elinore / Zitka - the animal - appear in comics?

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

Where does Elinore / Zitka appear in comics?

We're gonna go in chronological order!

Dick's circus elephant friend was first created for practical reasons: in Batman 436, Marv Wolfman does a big expanded flashback to Dick's circus backstory as a way to subtly show us Tim before officially introducing him (so that we can have a technically-solvable mystery-of-Tim's-identity in LPoD). In this comic, there's an elephant named Elinore who loves Dick:

Aww. Such a cute elephant!

Batman 436 comes out in August 1989. New Titans 60 comes out a few months later, in November, and guess what? When Dick visits the circus, he is suddenly surprised by an unexpected blast from the past! It turns out that even though it's been years, Elinore still remembers him!

Here's the part where Elinore remembers Dick:

SUCH a cute elephant. I love her.

(Guess who else still remembers Dick even though it was so long ago. Guess which other character is about to be an unexpected blast from the past. Guess which character Elinore is directly paralleling guess guess guess sorry everything is about Dick and Tim in my mind but I can focus I swear)

Four years later, in 1993, Batman: The Animated Series retells Dick's origin story. They like and keep Wolfman's elephant, but they change her name to Zitka:

Wolfman doesn't return to the elephant beyond those two appearances, and a few years down the line, New Titans gets cancelled and Wolfman's not writing Dick anymore anyway. So the animal gets abandoned for a while, until Devin Grayson, a fan of both Wolfman and B:tAS, revives the Wolfman-era Titans team in JLA/Titans and then the ongoing series Titans 1999.

Grayson then brings back the elephant in a flashback to Dick's past in Titans 16 (Jun 2000), where she imports the B:tAS name. Sometimes I'm skeptical of TV-to-comics imports, but honestly, I endorse this one. You lose the alliteration, which is a shame, but IMO Zitka is a better elephant name than Elinore.

Here's Dick with the newly-christened Zitka in Titans 16:

Grayson also briefly references the elephant in Gotham Knights 20 and - in a final angsty callback - in Nightwing 88 (Feb 2004), where Zitka tries futilely to comfort Dick in the midst of his trauma conga line:

... And... honestly, I think that's it for comic appearances? The two Wolfman comics plus the three Grayson comics.

Both Wolfman and Grayson are writing multiple titles - Batman, New Titans, Titans, Gotham Knights, and Nightwing between the two of them, spanning a big chunk of Dick's post-Crisis canon - and both writers use the elephant for heartwarming moments of nostalgia, which means if you're doing a post-Crisis readthrough for Dick, Elinore/Zitka feels memorable. But I don't think she actually shows up that much.

For post-2011, I am not as well-informed - throwing this out to the dash? anyone know? - but I feel like Zitka the heartwarming symbol of Dick's heartwarming circus past is, uh, thematically very at odds with the Court of Owls evil!circus vibes, so my instinct is that this story element was almost certainly dropped in the reboot.

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

In WFA, yes; in main comics continuity, no. Technically, I have not read every comic ever published, so I could be wrong!! But I don't think so.

Below, find my rambling reasoning on the tonal vibes of pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-2011, and why this particular story element doesn't seem right to me for the first two.

Pre-Crisis (...okay, mostly the Silver Age): stuffed animal, yes or no?

tl;dr no, requires too much background knowledge on the part of the reader, plus the elephant wasn't a thing until later

Elinore doesn't get created until post-Crisis, but also just generally, pre-Crisis callbacks are more along the lines of this reference in Batman 129 (published in 1960), where, wow, Batman and Robin are hunting jewel thieves - and it turns out Robin recognized this strongman! BUT HOW?!

The comic goes on to recap Dick's entire origin story in flashback, on the assumption that you may not know it.

(BTW, if you'd like to know more about Haly's Circus throughout the years, nightwingology has a great post here summarizing a lot of fun plotlines and characters!)

Basically: Silver Age comics are very self-consciously episodic and kid-friendly; they're not generally gonna do overly-elaborate callbacks because they don't know what comics their kid readers may have randomly picked up or remember.

By the time of post-Crisis, comic books were being written for an adult audience buying from the direct market, i.e. readers who are collecting whole runs & don't need or want Dick's origin story to be recapped to us in full every time it's referenced. That's why in post-Crisis, we get stuff like "hey, neat, this particular soda brand is getting mentioned in several different books!!" or "in order to understand this story arc, buy SIXTEEN DIFFERENT COMICS in FIVE DIFFERENT RUNS and read them ALL ACCORDING TO A NUMBERED ORDER and also you better be following the individual plotlines and recognize these five minor characters who we don't bother to introduce!! Good luck!!" But the elaborate post-Crisis plotlines - and subtler worldbuilding like a stuffed animal callback to Dick's backstory - don't make a lot of story sense UNLESS you're imagining your readers as completionist adult fans.

So IMO a stuffed animal wouldn't be a pre-Crisis thing unless it was The Episodic Story Of the Week, and I don't think a stuffed animal is action-adventure-y enough for the fast-paced storytelling of the Silver Age. (Unless it, like, came to life and tried to eat you or something.)

Post-Crisis: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr: no, Dick's a manly tough guy, he's not gonna have a stuffed animal, that'd be lame, like something Tim might do

Part of the edgy grimdark adult vibes in 80s/90s comics is that some characters who used to be kinda silly & goofy & lighthearted - like Batman and Robin - get reimagined as Serious and Angsty and Edgy in a Tough Cool Manly Brooding Way. This massively affects characterization for Bruce, Dick, and Bruce and Dick's relationship.

(I obviously love this change & love the tense Bruce-and-Dick interactions, but plenty of fans of the earlier fluffy comics really disliked the edgy retcons of Miller / Wolfman / Starlin / et al.)

The upshot is that post-Crisis is a period when you could have a recurring reference like a stuffed elephant, but you wouldn't have a stuffed elephant, not for Dick. I think a toy like that would be too cutesy / childish / effeminate to give a male character in post-Crisis, unless you were poking fun at him.

Now, you could probably let Tim have a stuffed animal, because Tim is sometimes cool but also sometimes a tryhard loser who is faking being cool and not entirely pulling it off (see e.g. the Robin comic where he practices tough-guy faces in the mirror, or the Teen Titans comic where Conner discovers his cringy Enya CD, or when he's fanboying over Connor and it's awkward, etc etc.). A stuffed animal would be deeply embarrassing, and you'd have to be careful to compensate by having Tim do something cool afterward - but Tim's character concept allows for "he's kind of a loser sometimes."

But Dick isn't!! In post-Crisis, Dick's a tough / impressive / "cool guy" character, the kind of guy anyone would want to be, even in the flashbacks where he's Robin, and even in the stories where he's more lighthearted than angsty. It'd be kinda lame for Dick to have a stuffed elephant, so he wouldn't. I feel like Dick would be more likely to poke fun at it if someone had one, like when he's making fun of Wally for liking the Hardy Boys. Dick could have a Batman action figure, at most, and if he had one he would have it ironically.

Basically: in post-Crisis, a male character hugging a stuffed elephant feels more likely to be a punchline to me, not something poignant. (Even with Tim, Tim could have an embarrassing stuffed animal, but he couldn't hug it when sad - that's too far. Maybe Booster Gold might do this. Probably he wouldn't, but spiritually, he would. Sorry Booster ilu! <3)

Instead, Dick instinctively deals with his inner turmoil like the TORTURED ACTION HERO he is: by punching things and brooding and yelling and joining the mob and sleeping on rooftops and going on obsessive secret missions and acquiring Angsty Stubble!! Just like Batman!

(Technically I don't know if Bruce ever joined the mob but you know he would.)

Anyway as you know this is my favorite continuity and I am poking fun affectionately, but uh, yeah sdfsfdsfs. No stuffed animals.

Post-2011 / Infinite Frontier / Wayne Family Adventures: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr it's in WFA! Probably not anywhere else, but it could be.

Post-2011 stuff tends to be cutesier overall, most of all in the current Infinite Frontier era. So I don't feel like this would be tonally out-of-line with IF comics. Taylor tends to go for more meme-y references rather than fanfic references, though.

So the obvious best fit is WFA, which is aiming for a rough approximation of Silver Age family-friendly vibes - wholesome, episodic plots, Teaching Good Moral Lessons For The Youth, etc. - plus lots of Easter eggs for fanfic readers and some comic references.

And look, here we are:

Aww.

Whew - that's everything I could find!

Anyway as you can probably tell, I LOVE the elephant, so this was a very entertaining rabbit hole to go down, thank you <3

[novemlia]

LOVE ME, NOT HIM!

sum: kaiser gets jealous when your attention is no longer on him, but on a certain bastard müchen midfielder, Alexis Ness. warnings: kaiser, kaiser being jealous, gn!reader, kaiser deserves being a warning, kinda ooc!kaiser and being overprotective, me being biased when it comes to Ness

ft. Michael Kaiser, Alexis Ness a/n: i hate and love kaiser and ness so much, this is also a kaiser x reader but slight possible ness x reader if ykwim

wc: 0.5k words

He doesn't like that you've gotten so close with Ness. Scratch that, he hates it. He's so used of people fawning and swooning for his good looks and great goals. The prodigy, the genius, the ace and main striker of Bastard Müchen, the Michael Kaiser. Yet here he is, frustrated that he can't even obtain a single drop of attention from you. All because you and Ness became best friends.

It's not a big deal, not at all. He could handle it. If you could just stop talking about Ness all the time, maybe he could.

Every time you visit, you make a beeline straight towards Ness and not him! Like he just let out the biggest shocked gasp when you hugged Ness first before him. Before the Michael Kaiser??? How could you do such a thing?? He was flabbergasted, appalled, dumbstruck, too stunned to speak to the finest point where you'd be shocked it was Kaiser making that sour face whenever he saw you prioritize greeting Ness before him.

Kaiser was excited that you were coming to assist one of his practices. He was ecstatic, over the moon when you called him to tell him about that. He could finally show you why he was deserving to be the ace of the team. No matter how arrogant or rude he seemed, he always treated you as an equal. Unbeknownst you, he just so happened to have the biggest crush on you in which you attending gave him a chance of showing off like always. He made sure you were looking at him playing, making sure he was the only one you couldn't keep your eyes off.

After practice, he approached you on the benches with Ness tailing right behind him.

Seeing the duo coming closer, you waved and greeted them with a smile. "You guys were great as always!" Oh my god did you just boost his ego tenfold which is supposed to be practically impossible considering his ego is as big as Megamind's forehead and his as well if not even bigger but surprise surprise, you just did. He was looking at you stand up from the bench thinking you were going to approach him, but instead you decided to hug the male behind him. Kaiser's face morphed into the most petrified and betrayed face like you just grew 15 heads and ate his so-called beautiful hair.

Ness, however, being the well-mannered nice best friend he is, hugged you back. Kaiser now just wanted to unsee what was happening right in front of him. So, he proceeded to break off the long hug between you and Ness and picked you up like a potato sac, dragging you away. "Wha- Kaiser put me down!" He didn't consider that at all yet still put you down once you guys were far away from the magenta haired midfielder. Once you were down, you started scolding him as he pouts like a 5 year old throwing a fit. Yeah, sure, he may be an annoying jealous prick. There is no but, he is one, but he'll always be your annoying jealous prick.

He'll just tell you one day about how feels but for now, he'd rather not and decides to just hug you as an apology. He'll make sure however that everyone knows that you're his, sooner or later.

extra a/n: i hate and love that turtle smiling looking dude. both him and ness. reqs are also open so feel free to drop some for me to write!

[90s-suplex]

Hiii I just wanted to say I really loveeee your little blog since I'm deep in the trenches for stone cold Steve Austin lmao (down bad)

it's literally so sad to hardly come across good stories about him (involving a reader) so I decided to hit you up and shoot my shot Abt requesting a little story where he's still in his attitude era but is also quite comforting and actively being caring through either his words or actions towards the reader. I'm never opposed to a little smut but if you don't want to for any reason then I don't mind it being left out.

Ofc if you're unable to or unwilling to write something like this then I completely get it and respect you for it. (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

I also wanna apologize if I did this wrong since this is the first time I'm kinda interacting and actively being busy on Tumblr so it takes some getting used to haha

AN: based on this Steve Austin & Michael Cole segment because it lives in my mind rent free, I‘m sorry 🤐 (in case the hyperlink doesn‘t work, just search up ‚Stone Cold attacks Michael Cole‘ on youtube lmao)

I‘m not sure if you could classify this as ’actively taking care of reader’, I promise I tried writing something comforting & fluffy at first but since Austin is a smug lil‘ bastard this took a detour :3 I‘m sleepdeprived, so I hope this makes any sense lmao !

reader is genderneutral and not a wrestler :)

Summary: After witnessing Stone Cold Steve Austin‘s gradual decent into paranoia, you decide to talk some sense into him.

Tw: implied sexual references, mentions of wrestling typical violence

—————————————————————

“We're backstage with former hardcore champion Kurt Angle. Kurt, thank you for joining us for this quick interview," greeted Michael Cole the moment you turned on the TV.

A couple of minutes ago, Stone Cold and you had arrived at the arena. Being one of the top draws of the company, Austin had the luxury of a private dressing room and tonight you had decided to join him there instead of waiting for him at the hotel. 

Since he wasn’t scheduled to appear on TV until later parts of the show on this particular day, the two of you showed up when TV tapings were already well underway. After dropping off your belongings, you sank on the couch and switched on the TV to find out what had happened so far, while Austin went into the bathroom to get ready.

“Last Monday Night on Raw is War, the hardcore championship was on the line in your match against RVD. Stone Cold Steve Austin interfered and cost you the title when he tossed you down from the stage onto the concrete floor 10 feet below.“

Kurt pressed his lips together into a tight line as he listened to Michael Cole rehash last Monday night‘s events.

“Tonight you will team with Chris Jericho to take on RVD and Stone Cold Steve Austin,“ Cole continued. 

“How do you feel going up against a man like Austin, who has total disregard for your physical well-being?" Michael Cole implored, leaning closer.

“How do I feel?“ Kurt answered after snapping his head back, “I feel the same way about my tag team match tonight against Austin as I will at Unforgiven." 

The camera slowly zoomed in on Kurt. There was a film of sweat covering his face. He shifted his attention away from Cole, now pointing his index finger directly at the camera before he spoke again. 

"I feel like kicking Austin's ass. And after kicking his ass, I am gonna take his title. I will walk out Unforgiven as the new WWF champion." 

You looked over your shoulder. Said championship belt laid on the opposite end of the couch. You leaned over, grabbed it and took a good look at it.

"What?" a muffled voice came from behind you.

Oh, this will be interesting, you thought to yourself and placed the belt on your lap. It rumbled briefly before Austin opened the bathroom door and stepped out. 

"What did that sumbitch just say?" he asked you with his head cocked to the side. Austin had just finished changing into his black ring trunks, holding his shirt and jeans in his hand. 

You reached for the TV remote on the desk before you and turned up the volume.

"Kurt wants to kick your ass. He said he's gonna take your title too, while he's at it," you replied. 

Austin snorted in disapproval. He tossed his clothes onto a spare chair in the corner of the dressing room, shaking his head. "Good luck trying," he spat out.

With three quick strides, he stood next to you. "Can you believe the nerve of that guy? He's lucky this ain't a one-on-one match tonight."

He sank down onto the sofa. "Tonight he can hide behind his tag Team partner. But Kurt knows I can beat his ass any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.“ 

He paused for a moment and his eyes darkened, “Hell, I can beat both of their asses at the same time!“

You rolled your eyes. Over the last few months, Stone Cold had become increasingly more paranoid. Granted, he had always been quick-tempered and cocky. However, these tendencies had intensified drastically, reaching their peak the night he attacked Michael Cole on live TV, throwing ridiculous accusations at him and harassing him. 

The fast-paced life, countless hours on the road and injuries had worn him out, there was no denying that. He was on edge most of the time these days both on and off camera, always eager to start arguments with whoever crossed his path, though he never took his irritations out on you.

On the outside he was closed off, only allowing a handful of people to get to know him on a deeper level. You found it quite amusing how surprised other people would be to find out how he behaved behind closed doors when he craved your soft skin. Whenever you decided to join him on the road traveling from city to city, he’d always be thankful as you were his sweet little escape.

Regardless, you had grown tired of his mood swings and wanted to talk some sense into him. You felt bad for Cole. But knowing how stubborn and bull-headed Stone Cold was, you knew this could prove difficult. Especially since you weren’t part of this business. 

On the other hand, you weren‘t stupid - his abrasiveness was part of his appeal - both to the crowd and to you. You knew that and Austin did too. 

Your fingers drew mindless circles on the championship belt on your lap as the next match had just started on your backstage TV. 

“It‘s pretty, ain‘t it?“ he mused and pointed at the prized possession on your lap. His features had softened, revealing a slight smile.

You grazed over the ridges and nodded. 

“What‘s it made out of?“ you asked. Your reflection stared back at you from the squeaky clean golden surface. It couldn‘t be made out of real gold you figured - at least not entirely. Still, it had to be somewhat valuable.

When he didn‘t reply you looked back at him. He was scratching his beard.

“Ha! How .. ironic,“ you teased him drawing out your words. “You wanna whip Kurt‘s ass for trying to take your title but you don‘t even know if it‘s worth a dime?“

He exhaled, “Well, I don‘t know the specifics. They don‘t matter anyway.“

Austin moved closer to you and pointed at the nameplate on the belt. It displayed Stone Cold Steve Austin in capital letters. “You see? It’s more about the ideal value than the material one.“ 

“You do know I need my title back later, right?“ he snickered while playfully nudging your knee.

His hand stayed there and the two of you were silent for a few moments.

He spoke again, “Technically, it‘s not worth much. Some kind of cheap alloy.“

Aha. So it‘s worth nothing after all.

“But every time I go out to the ring, I bust my ass trying to make it look like the most prestigious thing in the world,“ Austin explained while he let his hand slowly trail up your inner thigh.

Your skin prickled under his touch. 

“And I‘d say I do a pretty good job at that,“ Austin squeezed your thigh lightly before he continued in a low tone, “What do ya think?“

He did. That‘s why you were curious about its actual worth in the first place. But you decided you’d rather mess with him a little bit.You returned his gaze. As he cocked his eyebrow awaiting your response, you simply shrugged half-heartedly.

“Kinda, I guess.“

Your answer earned you another chuckle from him. “Hard to impress, I see.“

With a final squeeze, he stood up to go fetch his training bag. You watched him leave to tape up his wrists in preparation for his upcoming match, but still felt his touch linger on you. As soon as his back was turned to you, you shifted on the couch and cleared your throat. Moments later, he returned to the couch along with his bag. You glanced at him out of the corner of your eyes as he pulled out his knee braces and put them on. 

You sank deeper into the couch. Suddenly you felt incredibly stupid. You were chewing at the inside of your mouth, pondering on how to tackle this topic.

“Have you ever thought about taking it down a few notches?“ you began and crossed your arms over your chest.

For a second, Austin seemed genuinely confused.

“Your attitude, I mean. You’ve become so irritable over the last months,“ you paused. “And paranoid. Lashing out at people, stirring shit up...“

Now he seemed to understand what you were trying to get at. 

After he finished adjusting his knee braces, he rubbed his face in a contemplative way. 

“Maybe you should take a break?“ you suggested.

He immediately dismissed the idea. “If I do that, I might as well call it quits. You heard it yourself, Kurt is itching to take my spot, as are all the other guys. You call it paranoid, I call it being prepared.“ 

Austin leaned back and put his arms on the back of the couch, “And I‘d rather be prepared than surprised and stabbed in the back.“

“Okay, I get that. But don‘t you think you‘ve taken it a bit too far lately?“

Images of Austin‘s unfair attack on Michael Cole on live TV a couple of weeks ago flashed before you. 

“Attacking staff? Really?“ you shot him a stern look. “Did you really have to stoop this low? You know Michael-“

You got interrupted by a big, hearty laugh from Austin.

“This is about Cole? You feel sorry for Cole?“ he chuckled.

You failed to recognize what was so funny about your remark.

“Don‘t worry, he can take it. Besides, he had it coming,“ he justified his actions. “He should know better than to run his mouth. He‘s been around long enough.“

When he noticed your dissatisfaction, he let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes. He was tired and he didn‘t want to start arguing with you. 

“But if it makes you feel any better, I can go talk to him.“ He didn‘t flat out say ‘apologize‘, but this was a good start. Better than nothing. 

Your face lit up and he regarded you with a certain spark in his eyes that you couldn‘t quite place.

Once again he inched closer towards you, “I don‘t get why you‘re getting worked up over this. As far as I am concerned, I‘ve always taken real good care of you. Ain‘t that right?“

He paid close attention to your reaction as he placed his hand on your thigh again. “Or would you say otherwise? I‘m open for critique.“

With his hand resting on your thigh, you knew what he was alluding to and you had to admit - he was right. He had always been more than … generous with his affection towards you. The heat between your legs returned and you cursed yourself for reacting that way right now.

“I saw you squirming earlier, “he added when you took too long to reply with a mischievous grin plastered on his face.

Great. And here you thought you were being discreet.

“This isn‘t about me, so don‘t try switching the topic.“ 

Austin raised his hand defensively, “Nobody‘s trying to switch the topic. I simply asked you a question. That‘s all.“

You exhaled through your nose and rolled your eyes with great exaggeration, making sure he saw it. “Yes, you‘re right,“ you disclosed in a flat tone.

„A bit more enthusiasm wouldn‘t hurt, you know. Should I be worried now?“

You stifled a laugh. You were supposed to be mad at him! 

„Feeling insecure now?“ you said and patted the back of his hand.

Mere seconds after those words left your lips Stone Cold grabbed your waist and sat you sideways on his lap.

You were briefly taken aback by the way he picked you up as if you weighed nothing and felt your cheeks heat up. He reached out to tuck one hair strand behind your ear. 

“Don‘t worry, I’m quite robust.“ 

You avoided his gaze. How long until he had to leave for his match? You turned your head to check out the time on the clock behind you. Immediately, he took advantage of you exposing your neck. Austin‘s lips brushed over the thin, sensitive skin on your neck and you held your breath. 

“But I’m curious now. Go on, tell me. How do I make you feel?“

He grinned against your skin as his hand found his way under your shirt, slowly wandering up your back. 

“Don‘t I make you feel good?“ he murmured before slightly biting at the nape of your neck, which had you biting back a moan. 

“Lost your tongue now, huh?“

Oh well, now that you thought about it, you had successfully gotten your point across. Considering the fact that Austin would have to leave for his match soon, you might as well continue this conversation another time you decided.

He bit you again, waiting for an answer.

You pressed your legs together. “Y-Yes, you do..“

Shifting in his lap, you moved in to kiss him, but at the last moment, he pulled away. 

You blinked at him with your lips still pursed. What?

He seemed to revel in your disappointment. 

“Sorry,“ he gestured at the TV behind you. „Gotta get going.“ 

He maneuvered you back onto the couch and got up.

“What’s that sour face for, sweet-cheeks?“ he teased.

He lowered his tone. “I‘ll be back in 30 minutes. You think you can wait that long?“

You sat back and crossed your arms over your chest. Eventually, you nodded and handed him his title. 

A few seconds later he was out the door.