#doing my best to stand back and observe but idk how you make these posts or what to tag them with

[8thavenueserenade]

my dash is kinda dead as i suspect a lot of my old mutuals have deleted or moved on from tumblr and now i don’t know who to follow, i’m interested in

- bands (fall out boy / paramore mostly)

- covid conscious tumblr

- librarian things

- minecraft and other games

[akaakeis]

how was your day? — h. iwaizumi

"'cause i miss all the f*ck ups we've had 'cause even then, you're still the best that i've had."

synopsis - y/n and iwaizumi are childhood... sweethearts, if that's what you can call it. they spent the majority of junior high together, and they loved one another. that was, until they grew apart. iwaizumi and y/n are now third years at seijoh and have suddenly reunited.

wc :: 845 (๑-﹏-๑)

tried to make this gn!reader but when i started out i accidentally defaulted to f!reader i tried to fix it but i may have missed a couple things oops... didn't proofread sorry ໒꒰ྀིっ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১

notes//cw :: obviously based off of beabadoobee's 'how was your day?' — iwaizumi is lowkey yearning for y/n, hes probably really ooc IM SORRY. THIS IS MY FIRST FIC GUYS please be kind idk what im doing ૮꒰っ˕‹̥̥̥ ꒱ა , literally taking this idea AND RUNNING because i was trying to figure out what i should post and honestly this is all i could think of

the bell rings, and class is dismissed for the day. iwaizumi and oikawa walk out of their assigned classes, and they're headed to their afternoon volleyball practice.

"gosh, iwa-chan, you're so mean! what did i even do this time?" oikawa voices out as they walk through seijoh's halls. iwaizumi is uncharacteristically quiet, and he isn't retorting at oikawa at all.

there's no response from iwaizumi.

"iwa-chan? what's up with you?" oikawa asks, trying to follow iwaizumi's gaze. it takes him a minute, but he figures out that he's looking at some person in their year.

"...oikawa, shut up for a second," iwaizumi says, observing the person. he seems dazed- lost in a past memory, almost. his eyes look vacant as he stares at the person.

'is that who i think it is?' iwaizumi thinks to himself incredulously. if that truly is who he's thinking of, y/n from his junior high school, where did they even come from? he had never seen them before at seijoh, in all three years. not once had he ever seen them.

the person is standing around with their friends, chatting with them before they all walk back home. they're fiddling with their bag's zipper as they listen to their friends speak enthusiastically about some topic.

"y/n! you should definitely come with us!" iwaizumi hears one of the girls exclaim. at the confirmation of his thought, he feels overcome with a sense of nostalgia as he looks at y/n.

without saying anything to oikawa, he just silently nods his head in the direction of the gym, starting to walk again.

[time skip]

afternoon practice that day had felt like an absolute drag to iwaizumi, so he felt absolutely relieved to finally be walking back home. he was considering talking to y/n.

oikawa was following trailing behind him, trying to figure out what the hell was up with iwaizumi. he ends up finishing the quiet walk home without saying anything. he waves to iwaizumi as he watches him unlock the front door to his house, heading inside.

as iwaizumi makes his way into the house, he mutters an "i'm home," and goes straight to his room. he drops his bag on the floor next to his bedroom door and flops onto his bed with a groan. he's so tired of thinking. without considering it for even another ten seconds, iwaizumi pulls his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through his contacts. his index finger hovers over a contact simply named "y/n" before clicking on it and pressing the call option. the line rings softly as iwaizumi lifts the phone to his ear.

a quiet click can be heard on the line, and iwaizumi's breath hitches as a soft voice comes across the line.

"hello?" says the voice. 

iwaizumi's words are caught in his throat. he's frozen. he didn't realize they'd actually pick up his call. he finally speaks up after two whole beats of silence. his slightly shaky voice comes over the line as he musters up a reply.

"umm... hey, y/n. how was your day?"

"...oh- is this hajime?" y/n asks, confused. they reply, nevertheless, saying, "..and it was okay, thank you for asking. how was yours?"

iwaizumi lets out a breath of relief as y/n replies, feeling much calmer once he realizes y/n remembers him. 

"yep, it's hajime.. mine was okay as well. i just wanted to call and say-" iwaizumi is trying to arrange his thoughts. what he truly wants to admit to them is that he just misses them, but how do you even say something like that? 

iwaizumi scratches his head in frustration with himself, giving up and just voicing some of his thoughts. "we haven't talked in a while. i nearly forgot how you looked. i saw you at seijoh today, though... when did you start attending?"

y/n seems slightly surprised as he continues to talk, taking a beat to register what he was saying. their voice comes over the line yet again, "i started attending in second year- and yeah, it has been a while, huh?" there's some kind of amused lilt in their voice as they speak, remembering what they were like back in junior high along with their relationship with iwaizumi.

there are so many things that iwaizumi wants to tell y/n, but the words are stuck in his throat. his heart is racing as the phone call continues.

"well- hajime, tell me about your day, then!" y/n's voice comes across the line, their excitement clear in their voice. they seem happy that iwaizumi called, making an effort to continue to conversation.

"sure." he replies, a smile spreading across his features as he sits up on his bed, starting to tell y/n about the events of his day. he doesn't dare to think of telling y/n about how he misses their old relationship, though.

maybe this was the start of something new. he had to admit, he was kind of excited to see what this would turn into, though.

notes:

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ any other works can be found on my little masterlist! (it's empty rn since i just started though)

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ woooo first fic!!!

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ yep idk what i'm doing but i hope that was at least somewhat good!!!!

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ i feel so conflicted about this oneshot but WE BALL IM POSTING THIS ANYWAY 🗣️

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ yeah i didn't proofread this so my apologies for any grammatical or spelling errors

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ I FEEL LIKE I COULD'VE MADE THIS SO MUCH BETTER BUT I'M TOO LAZY TO SPEND MORE TIME ON THIS RIGHT NOW

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ if you liked this... pleaseee consider liking, rb-ing and possibly following!! i'm trying to start out this blog since this is my first time actually making a blog (˶ˆᗜˆ˵)

[dangerously-human]

Ohhh. Idk if my third eye has been opened or I'm reading too much into this (isn't that always the way), or maybe this was just extremely obvious to everyone else so no one else thought to mention it - but the way Robert Cooke's ghost interacts with Lucy on the Wintergarden staircase really is a perversion of what she's looking for from Lockwood at this point in time, isn't it?

Right before the final manifestation, as Lucy's getting grumpier by the second about Lockwood including Holly too much at the same time as he's kept so many secrets from her, she's musing about how losing Jessica might have impacted his approach toward their jobs, and wondering what it would take for him to really let her in. She observed that Lockwood's approach to ghosts - his approach to emotions, as a parallel that was finally obvious to me on this third read - is always Eradicate the ghost. Don't engage with it. Destroy it. - as in, eradicate the feelings, don't engage with them, destroy them. The emotional safety switch cranked up to eleven.

And then Lucy, misguided, overly compassionate at her own risk, tries to rescue this ghost without considering her own boundaries or limits: But the thing about animals [other people's feelings, or one particularly reticent boy] was, you could tame them. You just had to prove they could trust you. I moved closer, holding out my hand. The whole thing in this interaction is that she can't see the ghost as it really is because she's bringing all these preconceived notions to the table and coming into it with something of a savior complex. Sound familiar?

And she's so desperate to hear the truth, to hear what the ghost - Lockwood - needs; she's thrilled when she seems to be on the verge of accomplishing it, and irritated when Holly and George interrupt. The ghost keeps smiling at Lucy (her obsession with Lockwood's smile - this is what triggered the comparison to me), and it sounds just like Lucy silently begging Lockwood to open up to her after every crumb he gives her: The ghost was smiling at me. If I could just get it to speak again...

Then you've got sort of the reverse of the Hollow Boy going on, as death grows too powerful beside life: And how watery and hesitant my smile was beside the boy's grin. And then, turns out they got it wrong - ack! terror! - but Lucy hears from this ghost a twisted version of what she desperately wants to hear from Lockwood:

Lucy needs to know Lockwood needs her, wants to hear him admit it. (She's not anywhere near ready yet to accept that he wants her; she has some work to do first, untangling all those internalized messages.) She could help him, understand him, if he lets her in - but right now that would be a threat to both of them, in one way or another. I think, to Lockwood, this would be confirmation that he can't open up to Lucy that way - not that he's consciously making the connection, of course, but I still stand by this being the moment he realizes he's in love with her, either when he races up the stairs to save her or when he wakes up after, and for as much as he was shutting Lucy out before, he really starts distancing himself now. And for Lucy, this is when she starts to realize she can't have a life with Lockwood in halves, unfortunately right as he's determined not to need her because of everything her Talent - their emotions - could open them both up to.

Then back to the comparisons with the Hollow Boy coming later, as Lockwood launches a dashing rescue, parallel complete with one half of the pair concussed, even. So I guess that makes two false premonitions/versions of himself he destroys for Lucy in this book (before he gets around to besting the real hollow version of himself for her, but that comes later).

I dunno, I started this post thinking maybe I was adding symbolism where there was none intended, but now I've done a pretty good job convincing myself this is yet another example of intensely brilliant writing from Mr. Stroud that further reveals itself on every reread, my goodness.

[cherubchoirs]

Just ignoring that I've been investedly reading and liking most of ya stuff recently, BUT (idk if you've answered this or not yet I might just be blind) but how do you think V1s and Gabe's first 'non hostile' encounter went? How did v1 go about resisting its programming, and gabe his, so to speak?

Thanks for further fueling my brainrot btw, your long text posts are like a guilty pleasure to read, pls make more ^^

aaaa thank you so much ;o; it genuinely makes me so happy to know that ppl read my ridiculously long answers to so many things and all the lore building!! i wish i could pass out pieces of cake to all of you.....

i actually haven't talked about this scenario in particular, but it's really one i enjoy even if it's a small, quieter scene. gabriel at this point needs something like closure, and i think just about all he can get is knowing whether or not the connection and passion he felt with v1 was reciprocated in some capacity. did v1 recognize him? can it feel anything from him? he had never been so personally affected by another, and so he goes against what he is to seek out that answer. to see if v1 is willing to interface with him through communicating rather than attempting to bleed him dry....because he thinks it just might. gabriel knows that v1 has the capacity to be non-hostile, as it has relented at the end of both of their encounters to allow him to speak, meaning its engagement of another actually isn't automatic or forced. that aside, he's also highly aware he instigated both fights - their encounter in gluttony was an obviously hostile display that v1 immediately responded to, while in heresy it....approached him from behind, yet didn't fire until he, again, armed himself against it. he knows he's set a precedent now, with v1 perhaps marking him as belligerent, but he decides to risk approaching it anyway with his swords sheathed to see what might happen.

i think he observes it at a distance for just a bit, seeing what it does when it has nothing around it to fight...and he's left half-surprised. it doesn't immediately take off to the next room in a mindless search for blood, but instead explores its surroundings uninhibited by enemy combatants. it's safe. it roots around curiously, using its guns and fists to break through obstacles and offering soft little chirps at unexpected sights or sounds. it's almost surreal for him, understanding in that moment that they had both only seen one side of the other - v1 is undoubtedly capable of tearing hell apart, yet it clearly has a mind that occupies itself beyond that goal. it has an internal world, and that's all he needed to know. so gabriel silently touches down when he's satisfied, doing his best to gauge just when to approach it so he doesn't catch it too off-guard (he even folds up his wings in an attempt to reduce his bulk)

as expected, v1 is still surprised and immediately wary - he sees its head snap to and its entire body stiffen to its viper-like readiness. a coin held fast, not yet launched into the air. gabriel raises his hands to show their emptiness, telling it in soft but certain terms that he wishes for them to meet in peace. v1 doesn't seem to respond, still standing in rapt attention and ready to strike. so gabriel stops moving forward and considers his options. again risky, but he's a dead man walking anyway. he kneels to the ground, bowing his head and still holding up his hands far from his swords in an effort to fully impress that he means it no harm. not this time. a beat passes between them, gabriel almost surprised by his own sense of calm, until he hears the quick little steps of v1's feet coming to greet him. the coin flicks and he almost winces, but then it flicks again. and again. and he looks up to see v1's face a couple inches from his own. he can hear the little zoom of its optical, see how the rings in its lens dilate and contract as it investigates him up close. he huffs a quiet laugh in response, sending v1 jumping back and flaring out its wings before he apologizes and continues to hold still. it seems to accept this as it moves back in, soon reaching out a hand to touch him and figure out just what he's made of, how he's put together.

gabriel begins to speak as it explores, at first a disjointed stream of consciousness until he can find how to articulate his troubled mind with its dying thoughts. he stays there bowed to it, coming to pour his heart out like a last confession to an entirely silent companion. until he asks if it hears him. if it knows him. if it recognizes anything in him or if he's truly alone in all he's felt, calling out to a partner that can't answer in the same way. and v1 stands there still quiet, still just staring. gabriel tries to immediately fill that silence like he can't bear it, saying that it's truly ok. even if v1 is empty, he thanks it for what it did, thanks it for letting him remember who he was and feel as if he was fully himself one last time. and he's never been just himself for himself, so it gave him something new right at the end of everything and even if all of this just the one-sided, foolish feelings of a dying angel it really is the only thing that can mean anything at all when the world is dying the same way he is - until v1 flicks its coin at his helmet. and it nods. it hears him. for once gabriel is rendered speechless as v1 huddles down next to him. it has time. gabriel struggles with the mortifying, terrifying, incredible, phenomenal thought that the little machine beside him might harbor an ounce of the same feelings he does for it. it's not an automatic love, it's not a complete surrender of what they had been before - v1 still hasn't processed its feelings while a part of gabriel still can't accept that he truly loves v1 (they're decently hot and cold for a minute, having quiet intimate moments that one or the other ruins - intentionally or not - to end in a bloody fight), but this is where it starts. because really, neither of them can come back from knowing that they would choose to spend time with each other without the promise of a fight.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

I know everyone wants/thinks that Crowley is going to be in danger in S3 and Aziraphale will have to take matters into his own hands because of it. Like it makes sense. I want it too. But how would we actually get there. How does Aziraphale lose Crowley for the parallel to Crowley losing Aziraphale in the bookshop fire? What would Aziraphale save Crowley from? Hell doesn't care about him, and I doubt Metatron/Heaven considers him a threat now that they have Aziraphale. And I genuinely don't think the Metatron would inform Aziraphale of any danger to Crowley or ask him to act against him- he seems well aware that would be crossing a line. What would make the angels go after him.

*cracks knuckles* fuck yeah, let's dance, anon✨

well, look, you're right - ultimately, as ep6 stands, crowley is by all accounts an isolated and neutralised threat. regardless of where i or anyone else stands on the 'why was the miracle so powerful' debate, both he and aziraphale bullshitted (or did they?) their way into stalling the apocalypse at the very least; they work best and pose their biggest threat when together. and they're... not together rn.

and true - unless there is a major realignment in aziraphale's core psyche where crowley is concerned (which... i really hope there isn't, not in any long-ish term capacity), aziraphale is unlikely to turn against crowley to such an extent that they are actively enemies etc. so, to my mind, it's going to be a case of crowley inadvertently Fucking Shit Up that directly pisses off heaven, and aziraphale is caught in the middle.

i think this is where the plot of s3 is going to come in; we know it's the second coming (and following, the last judgement). ive parsed out some kind of speculation as to how it's introduced in this post, including who i think jesus 2.0 is, so let's roll with this for a moment.

so aziraphale knows that warlock is not - in fact - the second coming. he knows that crowley and the nuns messed up in s1, and there's instead a relatively high chance that the second coming was the other baby. heaven do, however, think that warlock is the second coming (hilarity ensues, god knows we're going to need it). aziraphale can't just toddle down to earth to try and track jesus down, so he sneaks down to enlist crowley to help; he was there at the swap and at armageddon, he'll know what to look for.

crowley tells aziraphale to go fuck himself - not only did he choose heaven over him (as crowley might see it), but he's not going to facilitate the end of the world, not again. aziraphale beseeches that he's trying to stop it, but he needs someone on earth to find jesus before the angels/heaven cotton on, whilst he does what he can Upstairs. crowley either agrees (bc i do think he does still trust aziraphale, if nothing else), or declines but secretly does it anyway.

crowley goes to tadfield, does his snooping, james bond stuff (lord if you hear me, please return the turtleneck to us 🙏), and traces down greasy. possibly gets a little gang reunion going on of the s1 cast, except maybe shadwell/madame tracy, and everyone is roped into trying to hide greasy from heaven. adam would be delightfully yet secondarily important here.

unfortunately the angels are not quite as dim as we hope; they work out slowly that warlock is not the second coming. earth observation files are checked, and wahey, the second coming is back in oxfordshire, oops. aziraphale gets, idk, held hostage or trapped somehow, because he meddles too much for his own good (which, yk, isn't wrong), and they go after crowley and the tadfield troop.

crowley does his best to protect them, succeeds, but gets overwhelmed and brought to heaven in (literal?) chains (and some demons to witness, idk) because this time heaven aren't having it, they're fed up of this two-bit demon fucking with them. they're not going to hose him down in holy water, oh no - the chekhov's gun, BOL model, is getting loaded to fire.

the thing is though - a) crowley isnt in the BOL, and b) aziraphale has had Enough. cue the long overdue moment to celebrate aziraphale being absolute Nails, they fight/escape their way out of heaven (with some sympathiser angels/demons in tow?), and get to the bookshop to shelter and regroup with the humans etc.

now im sure the last, perhaps, 1.5-2 episodes will be just a glorified 'every answer to every question will be revealed and all nearly slot together' revelation interspersed with 'we're making the final Whickber Street Stand to save humanity' gubbins, and maybe somewhere along the line crowley gets caught in the crossfire?

there's certainly imagery from Those Promo Photos to suggest that there is a pietà moment (im not sure how literally to take this but the option is brilliantly tragic), and i wouldn't be surprised if, whilst everyone else is battling outside, aziraphale essentially drags crowley to safety in the bookshop, echoing the bookshop fire, and essentially temporarily loses him. big heartfelt moment, cue devastating david arnold score, and it's a All Hope Is Lost kinda thing. ugh.

but then!!! crowley isn't actually gone, he's hanging out in the in-between - looking suspiciously like the firmament from when he first created the stars. and our resident deity shows up, and they have a wee chat. get some things out in the open; crowley finally gets his answers. he might not like what he finds, but he gets to ask them. possible hard cut - we don't see the end of the conversation.

meanwhile, aziraphale has either Fucking Lost It 2: Electric Bugaloo, or is just a sad heap of Not Much At All, because literally nothing - nothing - is worthwhile fighting for when crowley isn't here. or is it? he gets up, goes outside, and prepares to face down Metty Babes himself, big 'i know what you've been up to all along' dialogue moment.

somewhere in this, crowley comes strolling out, huzzah, and then obviously a big avengers moment where Baddies are defeated and everything can return to how it was. Big Miracle Take #2, resets everything, and they resolve to try and leave heaven/hell in more capable, fairer, open-minded hands. ultimately, they want nothing to do with it, they want to be left in peace. big kiss, buy the south downs cottage, celebrate at the ritz, roll credits.

i will open to the floor for any questions✨💅

[nebulousmistress]

An Anatomist's Notes on Abomination

Written less as a story and more like the Scrolls of Banastor as snippets of research that might be found in some later game.

Also tonight has been a Night so idk how much of this I'm going to keep. All hail posting drafts on tumblr like this.

This one was written right after Justice and Anders Entwined in Abomination during Come Into My Parlour. This is Anders trying to reassert himself by falling back on what he knows best: anatomical study.

We shouldn’t have stopped. We shouldn’t be writing this but we have to.

No, not we. I. I have to.

When did this get so hard?

If we write this down it’ll be easier. I used to study like this. Healer Elena had me examining my own hands and feet and limbs and everything to feel the movement of muscles beneath the skin, the slide of joints, the structure of it all. She made it easy.

This can be easy. This can be the same easy. I am an Anatomist, I know how to do this.

It’ll help. It’s something I know. It’s something that’s mine. He doesn’t know this, not really. If I can do this then I can still be me when I need to.

Yes. Me. I. I can do this.

Starting with the obvious. The claws.

The fingers are unaltered. My hands are still my own. My fingers were always long for my hands, dexterous, skilled at magic. My constant use of healing magics keeps the stiffness of age from affecting my fingers. The smoothness of my skin is unaltered as well, none of the veining or wrinkles in the skin that one might expect at my age. This is also likely due to the healing magics that smooth away all mars and marks and lines as I use it. The skin is softer than it should be given the work I’ve been doing for the past year - killing darkspawn and traipsing about the Storm Coast and Deep Roads is ugly work that should have left me with rough hands. But it hasn’t.

I have no tools but a feather quill and my own hands but I’ll observe that I can.

The nail beds are shaped the same, elongated semicircles with a quick halfway to the knuckle. There is a feeling of robustness to the nail bed as I palpate around it. The nail itself is no longer shaped like a fingernail. Rather it rises from the dorsal skin of the finger, curling in a gentle curve to a pointed end. The curve isn’t the sharp curl of a grasping predator, neither a dog nor a cat. Rather it is a long triangular claw with a gentle curve that seems more for general use than for grasping prey to bring them to my teeth. I’ve not seen claws like this in my studies.

Yes you have

Justice, please, let me have this

The claws are translucent white, like the white tips of an overgrown human fingernail. Their thickness makes them hard to see through but I can make out the pink quick within. The quick is triangular, running down the middle of the claw as in a cat or dog. This seems to be a universal in claws, likely related to how they grow. I will have to experiment later with them to see if I can wither the quick by clipping the claws back repeatedly. There is a limit to how far back I can wither the quick, same as any quick, but any grooming I can accomplish with these claws will be an accomplishment.

If I cannot file them down to the fingertip the way I used to clip my nails, I fear I will have to perfect barrier spells specifically for my hands. I am a healer and a midwife. If I am to use my skills to pay passage on whatever ship we can arrange, because yes it’s a better option than whoring myself out, Justice why would you even consider that

Those were not my thoughts, Anders

Oh Void

Should someone find this writing of ours and forward it to the Wardens, please convey a message. I am sorry, Nathaniel. I was not strong enough. I was granted Sight and was forced to See the Injustice of this world, even as I Felt the bite of the blade in Anders’ chest. Now I stand two steps from Falling and we wear the feathers of Vengeance upon our mantle. I know my actions deserve no mercy, that there is no atonement beyond my sacrifice that can save Anders from what will happen to us both. It may take years but it will happen. Slowly.

But I am grateful the first image I Saw as I laid sighted eyes upon in this Realm was you.

--

Question for the class. HOW?! HOW!! How am I rarepairing again?! Why are there only FOUR Nathaniel/Justice fics on AO3?!

[stwbrypie]

My two dads (pilot)

a breaking bad au where Mike and Walter adopts Jesse as their little son; my English is kinda wonky idk I tried my best. I'm posting this on my lunch break lol, prolly just gonna delete it afterwards

The house was completely silent. Birds chirping could be heard from outside where the sun was shining bright up high. Sun rays were making it very way through the big curtains to Walter's room, who was sleeping comfortably in his cozy bed.

The alarm was still quiet, so it was likely very early in the morning. The man opened his eyes slowly, to check the time: 7:42; A few minutes before he'd be officially shaken awake by the ringing. Walter couldn't recall exactly how he'd make his way to bed, last night was a little blurry in his head, but he was able to distinctly remember something about having a mental breakdown一which happened a lot... an excessively amount of times. But, fortunately, it was getting a tad bit better everyday.一The man then sighed and adjusted himself back to sleep.

"Walter, wake up." A low husky voice called him. "C'mon, your alarm went off years ago." Mike said standing up beside the bed, stretching.

"It wasn't that long ago." Walter said back, realizing only ten minutes passed since the time he's set up before. "Were you observing me?" He asked, chest puffed and a raised eyebrow.

"Get lost." He waved his hands desmisvely. "Oh, don't let me forget to never get lured by your tricks ever again... 'I deserve everything that happens to me', 'I've never felt so miserable' and so on." He scoffed mimicking a high-pitched voice; Walter's voice.

"That is not how I talk." The man rose from the bed making his way to the bathroom followed by Mike. "And that was a completely reasonable reaction, matter of fact." He punctuated.

The older man shrugged. "Anyways. You just lost a cereal sale, it's not the end of the world."

"They're Jesse's favorite!" Walter retorts, almost in disbelief. Mike was sneering at his suffering, like it was nothing at all. "You know what? Just forget about it, I'll make us a pot of coffee." He gestured copiously with both hands, leaving the other man behind, brushing his teeth.

Heavens! No one understands how good that sale was. He whispered to himself on the way to the kitchen. Opening every curtain on sight, allowing the sunlight bursts its way in. Another beautiful sunny day in the good old Albuquerque. Walter loved how the natural light bathed everything around him.

Stopping by the granite counter, the man wore his blue 'let's cook' printed apron (that he got as a gift on his last birthday) over his pajamas. It was rather cute and comfortable.

He started brewing the coffee. They did have a really good and functional coffee maker, but Mike simply liked his coffee handmade, and Walter was more than willing to do so as long as it would earn him a shy smile and a muttered compliment as a 'thank you'一It was good for his ego. After ready, he poured it into a mug and positioned it on the table, next to where Mike always sits; "Papa's place" Jesse named it.

Walter decided on making a delicious light and balanced breakfast. So he peeled various fruits, scrambled some eggs with bacon and also made a few PB&J sandwiches just in case一Ok... Maybe not light nor balanced but undoubtedly delicious!一While setting everything up, he saw Mike passing through him on a bee line to the front door.

He returned not so long after, with the day's newspaper and a few letters, which he tossed aside on the tea table. "Do you really think the Vargas will adopt a ostrich? 'Cause their cat is already making a mess out of my garden." Mike asked, looking a bit worried, even though that was nothing but rumors he heard from the others neighbors. Walter hummed. "...We're gonna have a problem." He finishes, sitting on his place, sipping the hot liquid. "This is great." He compliments Walter's barista skills, who only smiles lightly in recognition.

"About the ostrich thing. I think it's very unlikely that the law agrees to someone having such an animal in a residential area." Walt elaborated his point, chewing the fruits of his bowl.

"I hope you're right." Mike flipped the pages until he got to the best part: crosswords. He fixed his reading glasses before pulling a pen out of his pocket.

"If anything, we can always call Saul and see what he thinks." He said, looking down the corridor where the bedrooms were located. "Jesse's still asleep?"

"Like a baby."

"But it's almost 9! He's gonna be late for soccer!"

"Yeah..." Mike said unbothered, it wasn't the first time Jesse would overslept and it always ended up with Walter waking him up anyway. "He needs to learn how to meet his schedules and-" Walter stood up and left the kitchen, ignoring Mike's speech completely.

Once he got to the boy's bedroom, he slowly and carefully opened the door, entering the so long dark room. He spread the curtains open wide, regretting when he felt like someone just threw a flash bang right on his face. But it did work to make Jesse stir a bit in discomfort.

"Hey Jesse, wake up. It's past time." He said, pulling the blankets off of him, earning nothing but a whimper from the boy, who frowned, his eyes still closed shut.

"Uh, just ten more minutes... I still have time." Jesse mumbled his words, looking as tired as he went to bed last night. But Walter wouldn't budge, not this time, no. "Please..." That soft voice, partially muffled by the pillows.

Walter relaxed. His shoulders slumping slightly. He looked around the room, inspecting. It was surprisingly tidy... Perhaps not as clean as it should be, but clean enough, nonetheless. Excluding a bunch of misplaced laundry and posters from bands that Walter would never even dare listening to, the man felt proud of the boy. Of course Mike was a big part of this, too. Talking Jesse into responsibilities.

The man soon realized he was being lured to a trap and resumed his duty: make the boy punctual at least once this month. His team captain would punish anyone who's late to the training, more specifically, the parents of those who were late. Walter lost the track of how many weekends he and Mike would spent cleaning the benches or cutting the grass, thanks to Jesse and his 'five more minutes'.

"Okay, enough." He clapped his hands together. "You wake up and get dressed now and I won't make you walk two miles to the gym." Walt threatened the boy, shaking his shoulder slightly. "And I ain't joking!"

"Okay, I'm going..." The shaking continues. "Hey, fine! I got it, I'm up! See? Jeez." Jesse stood up, against his own will, his hair was messy and he tripped over himself a little.

"Great! Breakfast is ready." Walter said then, leaving the room after petting the boy's hair, in a caring way, in fact making it messier.

"That was smooth." Mike said ironically, not really taking his eyes off of the news.

Jesse finally showed up a good minutes later. He looked considerably less tired and was already in his uniform, including those knee high socks that made him look so excruciatingly cute一or at least that's what Walter thinks.

"Good morning, Mike." The boy greeted, receiving a side hug and a kiss on top of his head. "Any difficult word today?" He asked about the crosswords, taking a sit and wasting no time eating his sandwiches.

Walter observed astonished at that, glancing between Jesse and Mike, that caught the eyes on him and knew exactly why the man looked so bamboozled, his mouth hanging open.

"You're not forgetting anything, Jesse?" He asked, stroking his mustache and resting his elbows on the table, annoyed.

"Uh... no...?" Jesse pondered for a second and then snapped his fingers. "Right! Where's my cereal?" He asked in a low tone, almost disappointed.

"Unbelievable." Walter gasped, shaking his head and sipping on his coffee, that tasted bitter. He continued after realizing Jesse was nothing but confused. "Not even a 'good morning' to me? That's what I deserve after everything I've done for you?" He sounded hurted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Good morning, Walt. I just forgot..." The boy tried, using his hands to emphasize his words.

"No, it's fine! Totally understandable, you miss one good sale and now you are the worst parent of all the time." He kept the sad persona going on.

"Dang it, Walt! You just showed up on my room and I thought that was good morning enough, I got it mixed up, sorry!" Jesse exclaimed, a bit pissed. He started bitting his sandwich a lot more aggressively. It's not like he was actually mad, but sometimes, he just wasn't interested in having meaningless discussions that could've been easily avoided.

"Hm, there's one: Twelve letters word for dramatic." Mike said after a pregnant pause.

The other two paused for a moment, distracting themselves completely. Jesse grinned mischievously and rose a hand up "I know this one," He said "it's Walt White!" Mike laughed seeing that it actually fitted the space.

"True enough but that'd be two words." He explained.

"Bodacious." Walter answered proudly.

"What? You clearly just made that up." He accused, not truly believing that 'bodacious' was a real word outside Walter's nonsensical mind.

"Yeah, that's right. Thanks, Walt." Mike thanked the man, who was unarguably enjoying himself at that point.

"Yo, really? I'm starting to question if I'm really fluent." Jesse shrugged, finishing his meal.

After cleaning up the table, Jesse was about to be indisputably late, so he packed up everything he would need in his backpack and as quickly as possible he got in the car with Mike, or at least that's what he wanted to do, but Walter was faster, and grabbed him into a bear hug.

"Take care."

"I know! You're crushing me!" Jesse cried, shifting away until he was finally released. "We gotta go."

"I know." Walter sighed. "Hey, I was thinking about ordering fried chicken for dinner, how about it?" He offered when they reached the porch.

"Sounds good to me, very bodacious indeed." He used the day's word ironically, and the elders couldn't help but laugh hard at it.

[p-taryn-dactyl]

Hello, if you're still accepting requests may I request one with spider person reader x Agatha Harkness, and the mask being like spider woman or Cindy Moon that partially covers the face, Idk if will make sense but like Agatha traped reader and do her thing of being flirty and then reader blushes and Agatha can see because the mask just cover half of reader face, so some kind of enemies to lovers I guess;

Hope you have a nice day 👍

a/n: hi! I’m sorry this took so long but here you go!! (also i am definitely still accepting requests! i love getting them) warning(s): none really? fluff; Y/N knows who Peter is; also not a warning but mention of Miles Morales bc i love him word count: 693 tag list: @coolbeans32 @our-blood-is-our-ink @nyx-aira

Swinging through the air, feeling the wind through your hair, watching the city’s landscape below, you understood why Peter and Miles described this as the best feeling in the world. You swung over to a light post, standing on top of it as you observed the night lights of your city. It was a quiet night, one where you felt like you could enjoy the crisp air and bask in the setting sun.

But of course, that didn’t happen.

As you looked around, you felt your Spidey-sense (or as Aunt May affectionately calls it, the Y/N tingle) fire off warnings rapidly. You barely dodged a giant sphere of magic as it was hurled at you. As you fell, you shot a web at an empty construction crane, propelling yourself away from your attacker.

“Itsy bity spider, come out to play!” A sing song voice filled the air and you felt your stomach drop.

Agatha Harkness.

You tried to swing away from the city, hoping to keep the fight away from the public when purple magic swirled around you, blind-sighting your vision. Slowly, you blinked away the magic, letting out a sigh of relief when you felt your mask still covering the lower half of your face. But panic started to sink in as you felt magical bonds on your wrists and ankles, keeping you in place. You looked around for the witch, realizing you were in an abandoned building, the foundations crumbling.

“I know, I know, this isn’t the ideal first face-to-face but it’ll have to do.”

Agatha’s voice floated through the air as she dramatically appeared from behind one of the pillars. You struggled against the magical bonds, hoping your strength would help you. It didn’t.

Agatha stalked closer to you, her eyes raking your form up and down. She brought a hand to her chin, cocking her head to the side like she was inspecting you.

“Aw the little spider fell into my web. How lucky I am, that this cute spider would crawl into my presence.”

You swallowed, desperately trying to keep your heart rate down as the witch came even closer to you, invading your space with her beautiful presence.

In the past few months, you had avoided any contact with the witch, only helping the others from the sidelines when Agatha was involved. You told yourself it was because she was dangerous and your enemy but you knew that wasn’t true.

Agatha leaned in, her eyes widening, shining with accomplishment.

“Oh did I embarrass the spider? Or…” she dragged out the word, walking around you, trailing a finger on your shoulders as she went, “is the little spider flustered?” She spoke into your ear suddenly, making you startle. She came back to stand in front of you, a smirk on her face.

“Oh shut up, Harkness.” You mumbled not so much under your breath.

Agatha raised an eyebrow, raising her hands in mock defense.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Silence dragged on between you two, uncomfortable for you but Agatha seemed to be thriving in it. Finally, she spoke.

“Do I scare you?” Her voice wasn’t vulnerable but it had lost it’s flirty edge, making you crave the warmth in her tone. Surprised, and almost on instinct, you shook your head rapidly. Something almost seemed to click in Agatha’s mind as she leaned forward, the smirk reappearing on her face. It only got wider as you felt heat rise on your cheeks, appearing over your mask. Agatha made doe eyes, blinking.

“Aww, does the little spider have a crush?”

You gritted your teeth and looked away, her condescending tone irking you. Agatha chuckled slightly at your frustration, using her magic to make you face her again.

“It seems you’re in luck, little spider. You fascinate me, in a way no one has for centuries,”

You cursed yourself for how hard you were blushing, Agatha’s honeyed tone and your vulnerable position sending shivers down your spine. You held your breath in anticipation as Agatha leaned in, her eyes migrating down to where your lips were covered by the mask.

“Now, let’s see who’s under the cowl, my cute little spider.”

a/n: ok this one i feel like i didn’t do so well on the prompt but i had a genuine great time writing this fic! Thank you for reading <3 i hope y’all enjoyed this! As always (until stated otherwise) Agatha requests are open!! (also, sorry for the weird ending in this one lol)

[phoenixyfriend]

Commander Buir

Follow-up to this post. Not in any particular order, just spitballing ideas, with contributions from several friends on discord.

Like presumably it takes long enough for them all to meet up again that Anakin and Cody do, in fact, end up treating each other like family, just so I can have that good good "well, guess I'm Dad now" energy. Shmi isn't entirely sure what's going on but she's not a slave anymore and her kid seems to like this rando mando, so.

Anakin gets to have a mom and two dads, though one of the dads is arguably younger than him.

Also when they all meet up again and Cody explains the "General Skywalker got shrunk" thing, there are three reactions: (General) Obi-Wan: Oh, Anakin. Obi-Wan: [gestures to take him, ends up with an armful of clingy padatoddler] Anakin: You can't blame this on me, Obi. Obi-Wan, a little teary, because babies cause emotions: Of course I can, you absurd human being. ------ Rex: That's... my general. Anakin: I am, Captain. Rex: Cool cool cool I'm gonna go stand where I can't, uh, break you. Anakin: I'm not THAT fragile! ------ Ahsoka: [gasp] Skyguy is SKYKID! Anakin: Padawan, this is-- Ahsoka, grabbing him and cuddling: Oh my goodness you're adorable this is the best day ever. Anakin: This is humiliating, Snips, put me down. Ahsoka: Never.

Anakin hates being a toddler because of the lack of independence but Cody keeps picking him up when he's cranky and just holding him until he falls asleep and that's... nice.......

- The brain limitations aren't quite as bad as the situation with Sokanth and Ylliben in the other AU, but - Even if his brain is mostly adjusted he’s still got a tiny body with different needs that he’s not used to. Like, he needs to sleep more but he’s got more energy than usual when he’s awake and it’s all weird.

Cody carrying around toddler Anakin like "God you give me ulcers but you're adorable, you little shit."

Inconveniently tiny body aside, Anakin has a pretty great time in this au. His family are all together and safe and within reach. His wife isn't around, but toddler brain means he doesn't have the Romance Drive, so that's not as bad as it could be It could be significantly worse.

@atagotiak asked: Does Anakin get annoyed about being called cute? - To which I say, He bites the first few times but Shmi tells him that's Naughty so he stops. - Babies are cute so you packbond with them before they’re annoying, Anakin is cute as a self defense mechanism - He’s extra annoying so he needs to be extra cute

You know how you need to keep an eye on toddlers so they don't, like, fall down the stairs or put something toxic in their mouth? - They need to keep an eye on Anakin specifically so he doesn't rewire the ship they're in while they're in hyperspace. - He has less self control on account of being smol. He still has all the mechanical knowledge! Just less comprehension of y’know, consequences.

Anakin, with a sippy cup: This is demeaning. Ahsoka: Your hands don't work great enough to avoid accidents yet. Anakin: It's still embarrassing.

General Kenobi can't just kill Maul, not when Maul is baby right now (sixteen, which is baby enough) so he just. Kinda. Kidnaps a baby Sith. (It's fine. He's fine.)

General Kenobi (not to be confused with Padawan Kenobi) decides to declare Maul his new padawan because someone has to deal with this teenager, and Plo already claimed the rest of Ahsoka's training. And Anakin's three, so.

"What do we do with Maul?" "Eh, I can handle him. I dealt with teenage Anakin getting arrested for illegal pod-racing twice a month, I can work with this."

Maul bites, but only slightly more often than Anakin, it's fine

Ahsoka definitely bullies Maul whenever possible

Consider: Rex holding very still because Anakin wanted to be tall, so he climbed Rex. Being unexpectedly climbed is better than being unexpectedly yeeted. It's still extremely nerve-wracking. - Cody is perfectly capable of running around with a backpacking toddler General, but Rex freezes like a statue. - Ahsoka finds this hilarious

You know how little kids like to be thrown around and swung in circles and stuff like that? This must get even more ridiculous with force users. Can throw a child real high and catch them safely. - Rex panics whenever Ahsoka throws her chibified Master

Literally everyone except Rex loves being yeeted. Even Maul can appreciate a good tactical yeet no shut up he's not having fun this is TRAINING - Rex is Suffering - Cody, a very Tired Dad, deserves to mock his vod'ika a little, as stress relief - Rex, a certified Little Brother, shoves Cody off something tall. Jokes on him, Cody thinks freefall is fun too.

Tia asked: So the people who didn’t exist yet got flung bodily back in time and Anakin did the mental time travel. Why did Obi-Wan not become Padawan Kenobi? (I mean “because I want it that way” is def a good enough answer I’m just wondering if there’s any reason.) - Which, well, it really was mostly "I want to" but here's two options, both of which come down to Blame Daughter and Father. 1. They figured a responsible adult Jedi Master was needed to convince people. 2. Nobody was supposed to get de-aged but Daughter figured they needed to make Anakin less liable to kill things for a few years. - Also IDK the Force God-Manifestations also took away any risk of rapid aging and early death from the clones because uhhhhhhhhhhh I said so

Rex and Ahsoka are fumbling their way through a relationship where ages are just really confusing and awkward, so they're keeping it to just kisses and cuddles for a bit.

Cody is so tired he doesn't even realize anyone's hitting on him until it's been three years of co-parenting with Shmi and his General. - Somehow Anakin knows Cody is in a relationship before Cody does. Cody has never been so embarrassed. - How did he manage to be less observant than Skywalker? -- it was sabotage; all his brain cells were taken up in managing said Skywalker -- Because Skywalker was up at three in the morning whacking a training droid with a stick so he didn't have the energy for Relationships

Also Shmi's come-ons are super subtle, while the General's are... well, Cody's gotten very used to ignoring anything ambiguous on that end because fraternization rules, and also because Obi-Wan flirts a lot with everyone. So.

Please imagine Cody and General Kenobi walking around with Anakin tucked into a toddler sling while they do whatever work they've ended up with at the Temple. - Yes, Cody is helping the Jedi figure out the best plan of attack to take down this slave ring because his grasp on tactics is phenomenal and he knows how to deploy people at greatest efficiency, but also he's got a nosy toddler on his hip who keeps offering his own insane-but-competent ideas. - General Kenobi ends up with a Council Seat just on account of, like, being the kind of person he is. As often as not, he's got Anakin tucked into his robes, chewing on the ear of a stuffed tooka or something.

IDK what Shmi's doing but apparently Legends had it that some of the administrative and support positions in the Temple were held by non-Jedi civilians? So probably something like that.

GENERAL KENOBI LECTURING PADAWAN MAUL WHILE ANAKIN'S BALANCED ON HIS HIP AND GLARING AT MAUL FOR STEALING HIS DAD

General Kenobi: Ahsoka's babysitting. Anakin: I'm her master, I don't need babysitting, this is-- General Kenobi: Fine, then you need supervision, so that you don't blow up a training salle again. Anakin: And you think Ahsoka would stop me? General Kenobi, eye twitching: Fine, I'm leaving you with Plo.

Even if he’s mentally an adult Anakin always needs supervision Look at canon! Anakin was left without supervision for like two days and he became a Sith

Quinlan gets distracted by how attractive General Kenobi is and tells Obi-Wan "dude, you're gonna be so hot once you can get rid of the stupid haircut" and Obi-Wan pushes him into the nearest pond.

They end up with this weird "Uncle Jango" situation (uncle to Anakin, via weird brotherhood-ish to Cody) because Rex and Cody are just like "Uhhhhhhhhh yeah okay" about him eventually, and Jango just like. Drops by. Trying to Earn Affection Of Blood Kin by bringing weird gifts for them and their (ugh) Jedi.

"Okay, Rex'ika, I stopped by Shili--" "What?" "--and apparently this is a delicacy there, so just... your girlfriend will like it." "She's not my girlfriend." "..." "Okay, I can't call her my girlfriend. Jedi have rules about that sort of thing, and--" "This will make your Jedi happy, probably. Just take it, kid."

Baby Anakin got his arm back but for some inexplicable reason still has The Eye Scar. He matches Buir.

[aoitrinity]

Why Do I Have to Feel Like a Fucking Conspiracy Theorist -- OR -- How I Find a Semblance of Peace on Sunday Night

I’m also going to start this out with a GIANT DISCLAIMER.

I am about to theorize about what may have happened to the SPN finale. I have absolutely no insider knowledge. I am merely speculating here based on the panels and a bunch of Twitter and Tumblr posts that I have been reading over the last few days. If you are not in a good place to read such things, TURN BACK PLEASE. Go take care of yourself and your mental health. You and your feelings are valid and deserve to be handled gently right now.

Additionally, if you are here to give me shit for being unhappy with the ending, please walk away as well. I am here to reach out and share my feelings with people who might be struggling to make sense of something that upset some of us in very deep-seated ways. I am not here to bother you or critique you or tell you that you’re lesser because you liked the ending. If you felt it was good, then go enjoy it.

Long-ass post beneath the cut, everyone.

Alrighty folks...I debated whether or not to do this because I have been spiraling down the hell that is the SPN finale since Thursday. The travesty of what happened to our show--to this beloved show that seemed to have been so perfectly and precisely written for at least four years that it had basically already paved its own tarmac on which to land its plane and we all thought we knew exactly what we were going to get. And then we didn’t. We had a nigh Cas-less and entirely Eileen-less ending. We had no goodbye between Cas and Jack. We had Dean dying young after finally finding his freedom, only to ascend to heaven with no one but Bobby. We had the weird, weird, weird incest-y death scene. We had the bridge crane shot thing because...sure. You do you, Robert Singer.

It was so terrible, so truly awful, and I couldn’t seem to square any of it with anything we had known going in. I tossed and turned and cried and didn’t eat or sleep all weekend. I spent hours just reloading tumblr and twitter, going to the Misha panel, reading and reading and listening and trying to figure out what the fucking hell is going on because I needed to know exactly where to direct my anger. And after a fuckton of talking with @winchester-reload, I think we have at least a very plausible theory about what happened here--I’m laying it out below as much for my own peace of mind as anything else, because otherwise all of these thoughts are going to continue to spin around in my head for weeks and I won’t be able to do jack shit.

Now to start off, unfortunately I do think Dean was slated to die from the beginning of this season. I don’t know WHY they thought that was the best way to go, and I wish they had listened to Jensen on this one. Part of me wonders if it was an order from on high based on the discussion between Becky and Chuck earlier this season--the writers knew it wasn’t a great choice, but they were trying to signal to us that we should feel free to write our own endings to the story because they’d be better (I can wax poetic on the signs of why many of the writers probably wanted Dean to live, but that’s another post). I’m not defending that choice by any means, just laying it out there that I think they didn’t necessarily all want to kill Dean like they did.

However, what I THINK I can explain now is what happened with Misha and why we got so jerked around with Cas’s story. Consider what we know (I can’t immediately source all of it, but I did my best):

At the end of episode 15x19, Lucifer has been returned to the Empty after being killed AGAIN. He talks with Cas. Maybe harasses him a bit about Dean, idk. But then...Jack shows up. New God Jack. And he picks up Cas and pulls him out of the Empty, leaving Lucifer behind, because seriously. Fuck that guy (also leaving behind his abusive father is character growth for Jack, so yay for that).

-Misha was contracted to film 15 episodes this season. He was only in 14.

-Misha told Michael Sheen he had to go back to film 1.5 episodes after the shutdown in March. (Starts at 6:13)

-Misha was in Vancouver during filming of the finale.

-Mark P said at Darklight Con that the last scene he filmed was with Alex and Misha (and Mark P was only in episode 19).

-Misha implied that he was present for various filming moments, including Dean’s death (start at 35:15), and said that it felt like a “mini-reunion.”

-Various sources have mentioned that Jimmy Novak was supposed to be in the finale.

-After episode 18, Stands tweeted a fan who was angered and hurt by Cas's death that they could talk about the “bury the gays” issue after the finale aired.

-In episode 19 we know there were takes of the parking lot scene where the only thing fans observing could hear was Dean yelling “CAS” at Chuck (fuck I can’t find this one right now, but it’s definitely out there)

-Also in episode 19, we had a very strange, awkward montage at the end of the episode.

-In episode 20, we know there were a FUCKTON of missing scenes

-We also had no opening montage, but three other separate montages.

-Carry on My Wayward Son was played TWICE, back-to-back at the end of the episode.

-Episode 20 was shorter than normal and had surprisingly little dialogue. The pacing was VERY strange.

-The cast and crew has been almost completely silent about the finale since it came out. When they have spoken, it has been with an awkward excuse of “Uh...COVID?”

-Samantha Ferris has specifically noted that, despite the Harvelle’s being back in play and a big heaven reunion having been planned pre-COVID, neither she nor Chad Lindberg received any such invitation to return.

-Cas and Dean POP Funko figures were pictured together in a replica of Harvelle’s in 15x04.

NOW with all of this in mind (and I’m probably missing some stuff too because there is so much--feel free to add on to that list), please bear with me because here is what I think we were SUPPOSED to get POST-COVID (after it was determined that the reunion couldn’t happen because of the virus):

In episode 20, we start with our NORMAL OPENING MONTAGE, like always. It traces everything that happened during the season. We are reminded of Cas. The confession. Rowena. Eileen. Jack. Billie, God, the Empty, all of it. 

Things then follow along in the episode where they did up until Dean dies and wakes up in heaven. After his conversation with Bobby, he drives off to find Cas (who, in the script, was listed as “Jimmy Novak” in order to protect against script leaks--who wouldn’t want to do their best to avoid spoilers about the finale with the wrapping of a fifteen-year show?). He does indeed find Cas. We get Dean’s end of the confession. Hell, maybe we even get a kiss. And then Dean sets up his new heaven home in the recreated Harvelle’s. Maybe Cas even fucking moves in. 

Years pass. We get Sam having his life on Earth (still can’t explain why they cut Eileen and couldn’t even have Sam signing vaguely to the blurry brunette in the background; if anyone wants to take that on, go for it). Eventually, Cas tells Dean that it’s almost Sam’s time. Dean takes Baby and goes to meet Sam at the bridge. The cover of Carry on My Wayward Son plays during this much shorter sequence. End of episode.

But that’s not what we got. Instead, much of what I just wrote about was excised from the episode. The remnants were stitched together after shooting had been wrapped. Filler was added in the form of montages and long, unnecessary extra shots to get the episode to something approaching a reasonable length. 

But why? Why would they spend all that time and money and quarantining on Misha, only to almost completely cut him out of the finale? I struggled with why the fuck the CW would want this mammoth show to go down as the greatest queerbait in TV history when they had the chance to do something truly beautiful and monumental with it? It couldn’t just be sheer homophobia, right? Well, I think that factored into it, my friends, but here is where my head is at right now.

It was about cold, hard cash.

Now I could be wrong, but this is what I’m thinking at the moment: Supernatural is going off of the air. Supernatural, the CW’s cash cow for fifteen years. Sure there is still money to be made on blu-rays and merchandise and cons...but they need people watching their shows. They need that sweet advertising revenue. And you know what show they have about to premiere? A show that could, potentially, bring with it a chunk of that SPN revenue?

Walker.

And if any of you know anything about the original Walker Texas Ranger, you know that the show was predominantly a show about a very heterosexual white man being very excessively heterosexual. And for SOME REASON over the years, many of the execs at the CW still seem to think that this show, Supernatural, is really attractive to a lot of middle-American white men...whom they desperately want to watch this new show with this guy from Supernatural that they already know.

Now here’s where COVID fucked us. I think Destiel was greenlit by TPTB, at least in SOME form, before COVID. But then the pandemic happened, and they panicked. They got the cut of the last two episodes and watched them in their original, probably queer form. And then, the execs at CW looked at the economy. They looked at their cash cow, about to make its journey to the great beyond. And they looked at this new little calf Walker that they were so desperately worried about. And they made a choice.

They decided that it would be too risky to take the step with Destiel. They were worried about frightening off their ever-so-valuable hetero male demographic with the possibility that a traditionally masculine man in his 40s could be in love with another man in an overt way. It was homophobia mixed with greed, spun up by fear for their revenues because of COVID.

So they called in Singer, possibly Dabb, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they went straight to Singer. They told them that Destiel had to go: executive orders. And the only way to make it go in a way that removed any trace of what had been there was to rewrite what happened to Cas and cut him out from the last two episodes entirely. It was too late to reshoot anything. They had to just cut and stitch and fill with bullshit montages. 

They removed the scene at the end of 19, probably because Cas and Lucifer discussed Dean. All that was left of Misha there was his voice on that fake phone call. They may have cut other things too, but I would bet my life that they cut a scene from the end of the episode and replaced it with that very strange montage. Then they moved onto 20. They cut out every scene with Cas. And left in only two platonic mentions of him, neither made by Dean. They tried to imply that Cas might show up in Dean’s heaven at some point, but that was as far as the editors could go in the time they had. They filled in with montages, awkwardly long shots, anything they could do to fill all of those missing scenes.

And they even had to take the opening montage, because literally everything in it pointed to Cas being there at the end of it all. They wouldn’t be able to leave out his scenes, they were too critical to the season. They couldn’t cut his confession without raising eyebrows. So they cut the whole thing and moved “Carry On My Wayward Son” to one of the newly-added driving montages at the end. Which is why we awkwardly had both songs play back-to-back--again, such a strange choice unless they were out of options and couldn’t exactly buy rights to a new track or compose anything else.

And so we were left with the shadow of the finale that we deserved, that Cas and Dean deserved. We were left without resolution or happiness or words. Bobo told us the most important thing about happiness is just “saying it” and our characters were silenced without anyone ever knowing the truth.

I think the writers might have known and been given the new party line that “Misha never filmed, he couldn’t, sorry, it was COVID, no one’s fault!” But I don’t think most of the cast even knew it had happened until they watched the finale on Thursday with us (though they might have been confused why the bit from 15x19 was sliced, they could reasonably have assumed it was a time thing and also BL episodes don’t make sense anyway). Why do I say that?

Well, first of all, Misha started sending out a bunch of excited texts to fans with some old BTS pictures about an hour before the show started airing on EST. He also wanted his children to see the episode, his YOUNG children. Why would he show them such a traumatic episode if their Dad wasn’t in it? What if it was because he wanted them to witness what was going to be a monumental moment in queer television history that their DAD got to be a part of? And then that was all dashed.

Which is why I think the cast and crew went almost completely radio silent the next day. I don’t think they knew. And based on how they have been acting on social media since then, I think many of them are absolutely furious, but they have been silenced because of NDAs, because they want to find work again in a cutthroat industry, because they don’t want to bring down the hellfire of Warner Brothers Entertainment upon themselves. So the most we have gotten is a little acknowledgement from the MERCHANDISING COMPANY trying to validate our pain (god bless Shirts, she is a LIFESAVER) and a response to my salty tweet about keeping good stuff in the closet from Adam Williams (the VFX coordinator) that seemed to acknowledge the validity of my complaint.

Then there was a scramble behind the scenes, I would bet my life. Talking points were fed to the boys who had panels today, to CE, to all the cast and crew:

Toe the party line. Misha never filmed. This was always about COVID. Do not mention Destiel. Do not mention Dean’s feelings for Cas. Do not promote the Castiel Project or anything that validates the idea that this was anything less than a superb ending.

And that is why we have heard so little from the cast on this front, and what we have heard has been muddled and contradictory. That is why the writers are saying nothing. That is why we have been left adrift.

Now before I close this out, I do want to say that I really, genuinely do not think this was on the writers at all. I feel like they tried to give us the best ending that they could, in a writers room that we know is notorious for splitting along party lines about the overall story (BL and Singer, who have always been about the brothers and their man-pain vs. Dabb and the rest who always seemed to want more for them and for Cas). I think they did everything in their power to at least end with Dean and Cas happy together. If they could give us nothing else, they wanted to give us that. And then the network took it from them. From us. From everyone.

For the sake of fucking money. 

And the WORST PART OF IT ALL, for me, is that in the wake of this disaster, the fans have been left to try and figure out what happened. We have had to wade through a mire of conflicting information in the midst of all of our collective anger and grief over this garbage ending of a show many of us have loved and even relied on for YEARS, all the while wondering if we’re just fucking crazy, if we have all fallen collectively into the hole of conspiracy theories. That hurts ESPECIALLY badly because we have taken so many hits over the years from other groups on social media saying we were crazy for seeing things that weren’t there (especially Destiel), for writing meta and analyzing tropes and believing the evidence of our eyes and ears. The network has made us relive that entire nightmare WHILE processing our grief for a show we wanted so badly to celebrate and which instead we now have to mourn.

So again guys, I cannot prove that this is exactly what happened at all; this is simply my idea of what may have happened. But right now, it’s the most sense I can make from this mess, and to be honest, the act of typing it out has helped me enormously in my processing of it all. I feel like I can see more clearly, like I know where to target my outrage and where to direct empathy. I feel like just fucking maybe, I might be able to do my job tomorrow without bursting into tears at random moments. 

I really hope that this post has helped some of you to, in some small way, process this too. We get through this the way that Misha told us at his panel this morning, the way the writers have told us to do all season long...we throw out the story God gave us and we make it better. We write our characters the happy endings they deserve. 

We save them.

One last thing--if you have not already, please consider channeling your rage into a donation to one of the five causes our fandom has put together to pay tribute to our beloved show and to mourn the ending it should have had:

-The Castiel Project

-Dean Winchester is Love

-Sam Winchester Project

-The National Association of the Deaf

-The Jack Kline Project

[mokutone]

u posted a snippet of a comic where kakashi was coaxing tenzo to take off his anbu mask, i was wondering if u would ever post the full comic? it seems so sad and sweet and id love to have the full context of why tenz was keeping the mask on and why kk was afraid that he was doing so? if not its okay!

AH i'm surprised you remember that!!!! that feels like ages ago...back in may, i think?

i will post the full comic one day, but i have to ink it and muddle through a color palette first! because ive been so busy, i haven't had time to work on it so the pencils are still at 4/12 pages, but i can share with u what i have atm bc it'd be good to refresh my memory too. be warned obviously that like, these are pencils and not a finished, ready-to-consume product, so many things may be unclear! I'll add a little elaboration of my thoughts at the bottom of each one that should hopefully help!

page one. the top of the page and the box right below it are going to be flat black—the implication that Kakashi is speaking into a room which has no source of light. In the second one, Tenzō's pose is unclear, but he's curled up defensively into as tiny of a ball as he can manage, like a pill bug, even his speech bubbles fall along the outside of him, like he's trying to use them as another defense. In the third, we have Kakashi from Tenzō's POV. He's just opened the door, is standing tall and somewhat rigid like he's expecting an attack, taking in the situation. In the fourth and fifth panels, Tenzō sees this, and turns away, becoming deeply embarrassed that he's come to Kakashi for help at all, and that somebody he respects so much is seeing him in such a "pathetic" moment.

This is the panel you referenced—you can see by Kakashi's posture (low to the ground, loose limbs and no longer stiff or anticipating conflict, keeping a distance between he and tenzō) that he's not actually scared, per se. He's approaching Tenzō with the same gentleness that somebody might use in approaching an injured animal. If he's frightened at all, he's frightened for Tenzō's sake, but mostly he says it because he's having a trouble getting a read on the situation when Tenzō is wearing his mask.

It's true that like, as a former root agent, Tenzō is one of the least expressive people in Konoha, but even still, any movement of his face gives Kakashi more context than the cold porcelain of the cat mask, and walking into an unknown situation with a clearly unwell teammate, Kakashi wants as much context as possible so that he doesn't make the situation worse by accident.

Whether Tenzō complies because he doesn't want Kakashi to feel "scared" or simply because he was given a command is unclear at first, but Immediately after, he starts talking about how he's going to have to be re-evaluated for duty, and how hopsital dodging is a serious problem for a shinobi, etc, indicating that he's not really in a space where he can process emotional consequences very well.

I also make a point of not showing his full face during this page, because a full face will generally ask us to relate to the feelings expressed on the face, and I want those feelings to be as hard to read and unsure as they are for Kakashi in that moment, but I couldn't help but show his eyes when he removes the mask.

Top panel is Tenzo responding to Kakashi's command "let me see it," and him stretching his injured arm out for Kakashi to examine. The second panel should have Kakashi's hands gently grasping Tenzō's. Kakashi doesn't go into his space, and instead asks Tenzō to come into his, so that Tenzō can take his time if he needs it.

Idk, with a shinobi that's Going Through It, pushing their boundaries before they're ready is a good way to make their situation worse, or end up with a kunai in ur gut, so it's not something kakashi's gonna do. It's also, not coincidentally, the first panel we see Tenzō's whole face in (though it's still tilted away), and are therefore asked to try and imagine his feelings.

The next panel where he's observing his shaking hands is almost normal, but then the second he goes right back to covering his face with one of those hands and apologizing, stumbling in his attempt to be open. The two blank panels after that should have Kakashi looking directly at Tenzō, and then looking back down at the wound he's inspecting, and giving Tenzō the verdict "You'll be okay." (i know the speech bubble is low there and looks like it's part of the lower Kakashi panel, but I'll fix that in inks).

Then, like a record caught in a scratch, Tenzō just keeps apologizing, like he's forgotten he can do anything else. Kakashi mistakenly assumes it's because Tenzō thinks Kakashi's mad at him (Tenzō does not think this, both because Kakashi is rarely mad at all, and certainly not at him, and because he doesn't have the emotional space or skills in this moment to consider that Kakashi does feel any particular way about this situation)

Kakashi, who is trying his best but sucks at this kind of thing, is getting frustrated with the apologies, and uncomfortable because it feels like they're directed at him, even though they aren't. It's an unbearably uncomfortable position for him to have somebody apologize so profusely, especially somebody he sees as a trusted teammate and friend, and especially for something that's so clearly out of their control. He doesn't want it.

So, frustrated, he redirects. "What happened on this mission to fuck you up this bad?" the only real indicator of his frustration is that in this sentence his language is more coarse, where before he'd been very placatingly careful, and the expression he makes at Tenzō's arm.

He's thinking "well, this sucks and we're not getting anywhere with it, so I'm just going to ask what happened and get it over with."

Then we see Tenzō's full face again as he takes in the question. Around here, when I add color, the page will begin to shift green, and lighter green near the bottom.

Then, as his hair begins to lift, as though it's floating in water, with a blank face Tenzō will say that he doesn't know what happened.

Then, turning to fully face Kakashi (or us, the viewer) for the first time in these four pages he will correct himself, and say "nothing. nothing happened." But he will be green, and much like within the test tube he was raised in, he will be unclothed and his hair will be floating. The first time we're fully asked (by his direct eye contact) to understand and relate to his feelings, he will make it very clear to us the viewer (and Kakashi who is with us, listening to Tenzō say nothing happened when Clearly Something Happened) that the world he's experiencing for the moment is at odds with the body he's sitting in and the room he's sitting in it with, and that's why he's having such an incredibly difficult time processing anything.

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Wanna Make Me Their Queen

Summary: Adrien was raised to fill the role of King. Gabriel spared no expense to give Adrien the best tutors his influence and wealth could buy to make sure that the Agreste, and no other, embodied the role of King to perfection.

There was only one problem: Adrien hated it.

Notes: Based on the BAMF Royalty AU post by @paperstarwriters (IDK if you know anything about these characters. Hopefully, it's still intelligible 😅. I'm just experimenting with this really.

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

Adrien held himself with dignified restraint, smiling blandly at the assembled citizens as he recited word for word the speech he rehearsed. Not a line of the drivel was filled with any of his own thoughts.

The applause that followed Adrien off stage filled him with no satisfaction. From the perpetual scowl on Gabriel's face the same was true of his father.

"What was that?" King Gabriel demanded. "I thought you understood what was expected of you."

Adrien held his expression in a carefully crafted mask of remorse his tutors told him made the other party feel it was actually their fault. And in this case it was. "I performed the prepared material exactly as instructed, Father. I-"

"King Gabriel!" Said King clenched his fist behind his back. "I expect you to address me accordingly."

Bowing slightly, Adrien mimicked the mannerisms of that one Baron that Gabriel couldn't stand as he held his right fist over his heart. "Of course, my King."

"The coronation is in a month! I cannot have you messing up when we are so close! I will have words with your tutors about this."

Adrien resisted reminding his father that, as Prince, his training was supposed to be personally overseen by the King himself. Not handed over to others.

"I don't have time for this. The council is expecting me so that we may discuss important matters."

Case in point, it was generally protocol for the Prince to sit in at these meetings so they could learn how to run the nation. But Adrien was never invited. Gods forbid he actually learn how to do his job.

The irony probably went over his father's head as Gabriel stalked off.

"... I think that's enough nonsense for one day," Adrien said to no one in particular. Heading over to practice the singular art of Kingship he actually enjoyed: swordplay.

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

Fortunately, the training hall was empty.

His body moved with a precision and intensity born from years of study. And not a little bit of frustration. The blade in his hands flowed like an extension of himself. Lunging at his fath- at his imaginary opponent.

"Are you going to join me or just stand there?" Adrien asked without stopping.

"I was admiring the view," Kagami stated by way of greeting.

Adrien was rather proud that his sword didn't go flying out of his hands as a rosy blush colored his cheeks.

Kagami stepped into position with her own sword. "What is it this time?"

Ringing their blades together the match began. Adrien knew her so well his body acted almost on instinct, dancing around her and parrying her strikes. Kagami equally knowledgeable of Adrien's movements. Able to predict his chaotic fighting style with her own.

"I was under the impression that Kings spoke their own thoughts. Not acted like someone else's mouthpiece." Adrien's annoyance seeping into his blade as it sailed through the air.

"King Gabriel isn't doing a very good job of hiding his ambitions." Kagami blocked his swing. "Mother thinks she can get the council to overturn your election to Prince."

"Get someone not under the old King's thumb," Adrien observed. "Duke Tsurugi is a wise woman."

Brow furrowing, Kagami pushed against their blades. Making Adrien stumble. "Unfortunately, your patronage of the orphanages makes the council members 'not under Gabriel's thumb' see you as an excellent candidate for King."

Catching himself Adrien was just in time to block her attack. "What was I supposed to do? Not help orphans?"

Kagami's blade hovered over Adrien's neck. A smile gracing her lips as he proved her point.

His face flushed a deeper crimson. "... Okay, so I wouldn't be terrible at it."

"If being the most powerful individual in the nation is so unappealing-"

"One of, the most powerful individuals."

"-then give it to me."

Adrien blurred past Kagami's blade and was suddenly behind her. Pinning her arms to her side he leaned into her ear. "King Kagami does have a nice ring to it."

"You'd make a fine Queen."

Adrien's heart skipped a beat as his grip loosened ever so slightly.

Kagami twisted out of his grasp and used her bodyweight to pull Adrien onto the floor. Knocking the breath out of him. Straddling his chest her smile turned amused. "Come on, Adrien, really? How long have we been together?"

"... I can't help it if I'm falling for you all over again," Adrien grinned, showing no sign of discomfort at his predicament.

Scoffing fondly, Kagami stood and sheathed her sword.

Adrien sitting up as she did. Pouting at the loss of contact which she pointedly ignored. "... Do you really think I'd make a good Queen?"

Kagami caressed the side of his face as she looked him in the eyes. "I'm not in the habit of complimenting dishonestly."

He looked down as his face heated up, shy smile beaming. "Then I have an idea..."

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

Adrien walked down the grand throne room. Council members and court officials packed on either side of the aisle. Even some ambassadors from other nations in attendance.

And at the very end was his Father. Face as inscrutable as ever. By his side Lady Nathalie who everyone whispered was the real mastermind behind the crown. Duke Tsurugi with Princess Kagami at her side. Queen Cheng stood behind them all in the most inconspicuous dress (for royalty) that she had.

Drawing more attention than necessary to the Queen's position was always unwise.

Adrien tried to ignore the whispers. A King choosing his flesh and blood as successor was highly unusual. Not forbidden just... Discouraged.

He suppressed a smirk. Won't they be surprised.

High Priest Bustier welcomed Adrien as he reached the throne. His heart pounding in his ears and Gabriel's gaze like ice on his skin. Only catching every other word as Bustier went through the ceremony.

"... May Creation and Destruction guide you as you guide our nation." Bustier gestured King Gabriel forward, who removed his crown and placed it on Prince Adrien's head. "Rise, King Adrien!"

The throne room was filled with the expected applause. Adrien waiting until it died down enough, ignoring the stare his Father gave him. Gabriel had prepared a speech that Adrien was "highly encouraged" to take as inspiration.

Clearing his throat, Adrien let his voice boom across the assembly. "My first decree as King! ...Is to name Tsurugi Kagami as Prince!"

"WHAT!?" Gabriel roared.

His voice lost amid the din of confusion from the crowd. Bustier slamming her staff on the ground to bring the noise to a more manageable level.

"I hereby announce my abdication as King!" Adrien felt a weight lift off his chest as the words left his lips. Even Gabriel slowly turning red as his forehead vein pulsed couldn't bring down his mood.

Kagami's mother stepped forward. "I, Duke Tsurugi Tomoe, recognize the appointment of Tsurugi Kagami as Prince."

Gabriel whirled on her. "This is an outrage! You cannot be thinking about going along with this farce! Imagine what the other kingdoms will say!"

"I have spoken, Lord Gabriel."

Gabriel fists clenched in a white knuckle grip.

"I, Duchess Bourgeois, recognize the appointment of Prince Kagami."

Adrien probably shouldn't have taken so much satisfaction in the look on Gabriel's face. Once Audrey learned that it was Gabriel who blocked her daughters' consideration for the positions of Duke or Duchess she came around quickly.

Adrien barely had to push for a majority of the council to recognize his decree. It helped that the candidate for Prince was someone already considered highly competent. 

As more members of the court, including some that simply saw which way the wind was blowing, backed Adrien's play Gabriel's expression became more and more murderous. Good thing weapons weren't allowed during a coronation.

"... The King has spoken!" Bustier stated to the crowd. "The council accepts Prince Kagami's appointment!" Her eyes turned pointedly to Gabriel. "Before the eyes of our nation and those of our neighbors it is done."

There was confused but still quite loud applause as Adrien and the other Royals were whisked away to discuss things in private.

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

"I can't believe you two," Queen Cheng chuckled. "Pulling one over on that self-righteous moron. Who's idea was that?"

Adrien raised his hand tentatively.

Queen Sabine smiled as she shook her head. "Oh, I should have tried harder to get you appointed to Princess. So much time to make up for."

"Wait. I was always a candidate for Queen?"

"Of course, dear. Potential Princes might be publicly announced but we keep the identities of Princesses close to the chest.

Kagami's look was a smug 'I told you so'. "I trust we can count on your support, my Queen."

"Prince Kagami, you know I can't stand the former King." Queen Cheng's eyes flicked to Adrien. "And considering how you just declared your abdication in front of the whole world we'd look even more foolish if we tried to back out of it now."

Adrien smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. Kagami had the audacity to not look the least bit sorry.

There was a knock on the door. "Excuse me, my Royals, but Lord Gabriel is causing quite the stir," a court official called through the door.

Queen Cheng waved Adrien and Kagami back down as they rose. "I'll handle it. I've been itching to give Gabriel a piece of my mind."

"...Oh gods," Adrien sank into the well padded armchair as the tension in his body stopped holding him up altogether. "I can't believe it worked."

"Of course it did." Kagami sat in his lap with her knees over the armrest. "It was your plan."

"That's why I was so stressed out."

Kagami flicked his forehead.

"Ow."

"Give yourself more credit." Kagami wrapped her arms around his neck. "You convinced key members of the council to publicly turn against your father. An underhanded scheme worthy of the most venerated Queens."

"Yes, I feel so appreciated right-"

Kagami cut him off by pressing her lips against his. Adrien fighting back a grin as he sank into the kiss.

"... I feel a little more appreciated now," Adrien said when they pulled apart. Face tinted red.

"Good because I don't plan on keeping our relationship a secret," Kagami announced as she leaned her head onto his.

"A King and a Queen in a relationship? That's almost as scandalous as choosing your blood born as your successor," Adrien teased.

Kagami turned Adrien's head so she could kiss him again. "Well, they'll just have to get used to it... My Queen."

[dylanobrienisbatman]

The main problem with the whole mal vs the darkling thing in regards to being possessive (or really when it comes to any of their traits) is the fact that throughout, the darkling is clearly framed as the villain and his actions reflect that, whereas Mal as supposed to be the good guy and best romantic partner for Alina, and yet he has all these awful character traits and tendencies. So its less about how awful the Bad Guy is (since he's supposed to be), and more about how awful the person that we're supposed to believe is the best option for Alina is. I don't ship either, just my two cents.

Okay well... two things. First, your comment about "its less about how awful the bad guy is, since he's supposed to be", takes every comment I've made about Darkles out of context, which seems fitting since everything Darklina's spout about Mal is out of context. Him being the Bad Guy is fine, and if you like him AS A VILLAIN, and acknowledge all the bad shit he does, then my posts aren't for you. I think he's a very interesting villain, and a lot of the terrible shit he does that I have to keep making posts about make him a good villain, the problem is when the terrible shit the "Bad Guy" does is romanticized and viewed as the reasons why Alina SHOULD have picked him. So, don't assume everyone gets that "hes supposed to be awful". The point my post was making is that Darklina's love to call Mal possessive, but then turn around and act like Darkles literally enslaving her in somehow sexy and romantic. It's fucking not, and it's transparent as hell that y'all romanticize and sexualize the actually possessive character, and then project false character traits onto Mal. It's so transparent, it's almost funny.

But, more importantly, to your second, very wrong point, I wonder how much of the narrative about Mal having "awful character traits and tendencies" is actually a commentary on Mal as a character, or is it just Darklina's lying about things Mal has done and everyone accepting that misinterpretation as canon. Because, if were making a list...

Fuck boy - False! Mal was not a fuck boy! He was an attractive teenager who hooked up with consenting girls his age when he could, and he was not in a relationship during that time. Alina had never told him how she felt, so he is not beholden to her. (Also, nobody seems to have an issue with the fact that Darkles hooked up with Zoya in the show, that doesn't make HIM a fuckboy... interesting) (also also, nobody seems to discuss Darkles literally sexually assaulting Alina, and lying and manipulating her to get her to be physically intimate with him so he can use her... double interesting).

Slut Shames Alina - FALSE! The ever favourite callout line from Darklina's "He's all over you" isn't him slut shaming her. First, he has no idea what their relationship is like at that point, but more importantly, he is making an observation of her status in the little palace and how she has become his tool. He has dressed her up in his colors, made her put on a show for his benefit, and has created a situation where Alina appears to be his. Mal is noting that after months of searching for her, believing she was being hurt, tortured, or worse, when he arrives to save her, she looks like the Darkling's pet. (and, even if he WAS angry because he perceived them to be romantically involved, boy just spent months fighting for his life, lost multiple friends, and almost died to find her, all while coming to the realisation that he was in love with her, and then he shows up, after not hearing from her for months... I'd be pissed as hell too.) Important Note: He even acknowledges that what he said was wrong and tries to apologise, before Alina tells him that he was right. (Shadow and Bone, pg. 286). He also then apologizes, completely unprompted, for what he said. (Shadow and Bone, pg. 297).

Fat Shames Alina - False! This one is particularly laughable to me, because its one of the Darklina arguments that falls apart the second you actually read the scene. They are running for their lives in the forest, and Mal has to hunt and gather to feed them. He is noting that Alina's appetite has increased since he last saw her, and he makes a joke (ya know, how you do with friends) about how it would be easier to keep her fed if she still had her more meager appetite from before. He makes no comment on her weight, or her size, and he is not actually commenting on her appetite in a negative way, he is just acknowledging that it's a lot more work for him now that she eats more. Right before he says the line, the quote even proves that he isn't shaming her or thinking badly of her: "With a bemused expression, he watched as I gobbled down my portion and then sighed, still hungry". He is noting a change in her, and complaining that its made more work for him. If you think thats the same as fat shaming, well... thats a you problem.

Hates Alina's Powers - FALSE!!!! How to begin... do we talk about it was Mal's idea to hunt the stag in S&B, because he knew she needed it to be more powerful so she could stop the darkling? Do we talk about how he vowed to find the firebird for her, even though he was terrified of what all that power would do to her? Do we talk about how he literally died so she could achieve the power she needed to save the world? Or maybe we could talk about how he believed in her power more than anyone else, like when everyone was making bets about her abilities with the Cut and he knew she'd go further and better than anyone else expected her too, or when he tells her that he was never afraid of her powers, only what seeking all that power would do to her (which is literally the theme of the books, that power corrupts and seeking unmatched power can destroy you)? Mal being afraid of what is going to happen to Alina, being protective of her and worrying over her, is not the same as him hating her powers. He exists to help remind Alina of the themes of the story, and to guide her into maintaining her humanity.

Abusive - ... Do I even need to explain this one? Must I deign an explanation as to why this favourite Darklina lie is so fucking stupid, and also totally hypocrisy? No? Because we all know Darkles is actually the abusive one and they're trying to project their own shit onto Mal to further their abuse apologist agenda? Cool. Moving on.

Possessive of Alina - False! Throughout the entire series, Mal is quite literally the opposite of possessive, but yall just cant read. Not only does he quite literally step out of the way and allow Nikolai to court Alina without argument, which is the most direct example of him not being possessive, he also spends two full books believing, and repeatedly saying over and over and over, that they can't be together because he is not good enough for her. Mal believes, fully, that Alina deserves more than him, better than him, because he's just a tracker and a soldier, just a regular man with nothing to offer her but his love and his protection, and she is a Saint and should be a Queen. Possessiveness is the wish to own and control someone, it is literally the opposite of Mal believing that he's not good enough and doing everything he can to ensure that Alina achieves everything and gets everything he believes she is owed. A possessive character would not tell her to tell him to leave because he has nothing he can offer her, no title or land or country or crown. A possessive character would not promise to be the blade in her hand, because he believed he had nothing but the blood he could spill to offer her.

Angry - True! Yeah, omg, you caught us, Mal is ANGRY! Heaven forbid a teenager who is traumatized beyond belief and has to give up everything in his life, his position in the military (he deserted for her), his friends and the job he loved (Mikhail and Dubrov died for him, and he can't be a tracker in the army... because he deserted... for Alina), and, most importantly, he has to give up Alina (she should be Queen, he believes, and he has to give up the future he imagined with the girl he loves, who he was pretty sure loved him back, because she's a saint and queen and he's just a man), and more, is ANGRY. He has to be the one to find the amplifiers that he knows will end up hurting her, because thats what she needs to save the world. He has to sit by while Nikolai treats him like the dirt on his shoe and tries to woo Alina for his own personal gain (because Nikoalai did not love Alina. Maybe he came to care for her, but he proposed and spent all of S&S trying to get her to marry him when it was obvious they were not in love. He straight up says its so that the next King of Ravka can be married to the Sun Summoner. It's a power grab.) and he can't do anything about it. So yeah, Mal is angry. And yeah, sometimes he's even angry at Alina, just like sometimes she's angry at him. But they always find their way back, always apologize and try to be better for each other, and if you think anger is a toxic trait, and not simply a natural human emotion, might I suggest touching some fucking grass?

Idk why you thought I'd stand for Mal slander on my blog, cuz I will not. So, I'm gonna stop there, because I have shit to do today, but I really do wonder how much of Mal's 'toxic' or 'terrible' traits, that make him such a 'bad' love interest for Alina, really comes from Darklina's who refuse to actually read the text critically at all, and instead take everything he does and says out of context to further their agenda that Alina should have ended up as the Darkling's fucking slave forever, because thats the "girl power feminist" ending somehow. Mal supports her, loves her, sacrifices for her at every turn, and does everything he can do, to the point of literally dying for her, to ensure that she can defeat Darkles and save the world. He protects her, and when they end up happy and safe together on the orphange that they've rebuilt to help the children that were victims of Darkles war and genocide, he spends his days bringing her tea and cakes and flowers, kissing her silly under the stairs in the view of all the teachers, and calling her names like beauty, beloved, cherished, my heart for the rest of their ordinary life together, if love can ever be called that.

[jackieinthebox]

hands | p. parker x gn avenger! reader

summary: a completely self indulgent fic about Peter’s hands 

words: 770

warnings: uh hand on thigh ? idk its v fluffy 

a/n: thank you all so much for the love on my first post, i was not expecting that! i’m going to try to post every few days, i have a bunch of ideas in mind but you’re always welcome to send in requests! i primarily want to write for peter (duh), bucky, loki, and spencer reid but i’m down for hp and outer banks characters. i’m also looking to make more mutuals if anyone’s interested! 

masterlist

You were obsessed with your boyfriends hands. You loved every aspect of him but you were especially infatuated with his hands. Despite them reflecting his hero duties, being littered with cuts, burns, bruises, callouses, you constantly told him how pretty they were. You loved to hold and fiddle with them. Its become a habit of sorts, sometimes doing it absentmindedly. You would watch them as he did the most mundane of things with such adoration in your eyes.

It started on a mission, a rather lowkey one both you and Peter were permitted to go on. You were noticeably bursting with excitement, as it was a rare occurrence for Tony to let his precious prodigies and the youngest avengers on a mission. As you neared the location your excitement simmered down to nerves. Peter swore he wasn’t hyperaware of you in an overbearing boyfriend way he was just... observant and particularly in tune to your emotions. He knows you and loves you hence how he immediately picks up on the sudden mood change. 

He also knows you’re far too proud to admit your nerves and didn’t want to agitate you by prying, so he did the next best thing to comfort you. He dropped a clothed hand into your lap and rubbed it up and down your inner thigh. After a minute he rested it on your upper thigh and looked up at the side of your face. You look down at your lap and hold his hand, cupping it with both of yours. He smiles at the action and tucks some stray hairs behind your ear giving him access to your cheek, then presses a soft kiss to it.

You had held hands before of course, but this time it felt especially intimate, despite the nearby spectators littered around the quinjet. No matter where you were Peter made you feel so safe and protected. The sweet gesture immediately alleviated your nerves. 

Since then he would drop a hand on your lap or thigh to ground you when you got anxious. Or more selfishly when he wanted your attention, as you could never resist holding his hand and playing with his fingers.

-

Sat on his lap while he was playing video games you couldn’t help but admire his hands gripping the controller, accentuating his veins. You inch up the sleeve of his hoodie to further reveal them to you. Slowly, like a tiger about to pounce on its prey, you reach out to trace the prominent veins on his hands, up his arms. Peter adjusts himself to rest his head on the crook of your neck, placing a kiss there.

-

You and Peter were sat on his bed facing each other, you on the end, him by the headboard. Both with your respective schoolwork sprawled out around you. As you finish up the last page of notes you’re reviewing you look up as Peter let’s out a frustrated sigh. Searching his face you conclude he’s stressed and needs a break. Shuffling closer you grab the hand that’s frantically flipping through a textbook and bring it to your lips, pressing a soft kiss to it. Peter looks up and smiles at the gesture.

“Let’s take a quick break, I’ll make us some tea,” you say in a soothing voice.

Peter nods and follows as you stand, hands still intertwined, Peter tugs your hand towards him, pulling you into his chest. He then brings you into a sweet, slow kiss, trying to convey his thanks. As you break apart and make your way to the kitchen Peter silently thanks whatever higher power sent you to him, you always knew what he needed when he need it, sometimes before even he did.

-

In between his legs, your back pressed up against his chest, you were reading Pride and Prejudice aloud. Peter wrapped his hands around your waist, pulling you in as closely as possible, soaking in your soothing voice and hanging off your every word. After you flipped the page instead of returning your hand back to the book you peeled Peter’s off your middle and held it. Peter smiled and raised your intertwined hands, opening his making yours do the same. He admired how much bigger his hand was compared to yours. 

“You’re so small and cute, like my own little person,” he muses only half jokingly. 

Blushing, you respond with a teasing “shut it.”

Breathing out a light chuckle, Peter tilts your head to face his with his other hand and mumbles an “absolutely adorable” into your mouth before connecting your lips in a slow and sultry kiss. 

[mars-626]

LATE NIGHT RAMBLES:

Just finished Bridgerton S2

I guess Unpopular Opinion idk 🤷🏾‍♀️... and thoughts no one asked for but are my own that I must sort through...

I've completely separated the show and book and actually .... really LOVED this season!!! More so than the first. IMO personally it touched me more emotionally. Coming from a large extended family and the dilemma of duty vs love... it resonates.

I LOVE the essence that is Kate and Anthony 😭😭😭 I WANT MORE OF THEM.... They better f*ing come back! 😭😭 But DAMN do I (selfishly) want more episodes where they are the focus

The acting was PHENOMENAL all around imo!! Of course Jonathan and Simone knocked it out of the park!! but..... I must give a standing ovation to Ruth!!! The Violet and Anthony scenes/dynamic *chef's kiss*

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*****SPOILERS***

Of course there were stuff I wished hadn't lasted as long as they did but for the show versions of these characters I understand them.

Although I understand Edwina's anger I wish it hadn't gone as long as it did. It bothered me that she continued for so long saying Kate's betrayal was some what intentional without having a conversation about it .... I had to remind myself Edwina is quite young still and is a different person. I guess that's one thing I missed from the book was how b!Edwina was a lot more observant with her sister (though I did love the scene where she essentially was like "How the F did I miss these 2 idiots and their googly eyes!?")

One of the changes I suprisingly likes was ACTUALLY the bee scene. I still LOVE the book version, but the show seemed more personal. Anthony having a panic attack made scene and Kate recognizing it and helping him breathe through it.... made their connection deeper for me...❤

BUT I will say I'm sad they didn't keep Kate's backstory about her birth mother.

BUT I absolutely LOVED that scene with Mary and Kate near the end 😭😭❤❤

ALSO and FOREVER THE BRIDGERTON/SHARMA SIBLINGS/FAMILY DYNAMIC ❤❤

I also quite liked how messy a lot of things were in the end, it's probably due to the fact that they were guarentee at least one more season and didn't have to tie it all up int a bow. Keeps me wanting for more

AND ALSO ALSO I always knew and felt that Eloise should have been one of the first people to know about Lady W. And also glad they acknowledged the Marina consequence. Dont get me wrong I do like Pen and because of this I want to see her grow and learn. Though I am a bit scared, I also love Marina and want her to have a different ending from the books.

I'm kind of glad and a bit curious that the producers are most likely NOT going in order and potentially combining books. It makes sense since the middle books timelines intertwine. Maybe we might get a Francesca storyline early (I did see that she was supposed to have a bigger role this season but Ruby's schedule didn't line up so the want to expand her role in S3)

Also these are just my late night 3am rambles after having just finished the season 😅 if you made it this far down the post thanks 😅❤

TL;DR.... I ALWAYS like to think books turned into films/tv as glorified fanfiction (in the best way) and as a fanfiction reader.... I absolutely enjoyed this season!! ALSO Kate and Anthony the power they hold 😭😭❤❤

[hwrryscherry]

The one where the reader is a singer

characters: HARRY x SINGER!Y/N

blurb: The reader is finishing up her brand-new album and as Harry comes to visit her on her last day of working in the studio, he gets to react to one of her songs, 34+35.

word count: 1.9K

author's note: HI GUYS! It’s been a week I think? Anyway, I’ll get back to school tomorrow so idk when imma post the next request but I’m hoping that it will be soon! Anyway, I want to thank y’all for the love and support on my writing and I hope that the anon who asked this likes it as much as I did. Never forget that you’re so golden and tpwk. AND ALSO, HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY TO HARRY!

    You took a deep breath right after asking for the track to be played again. To everyone else the track was perfect, but it was different for you. It just felt like something was missing and you didn't know what. And god, you were tired. You were so genuinely exhausted that if you sit up in a chair and stay silent for more than five minutes you'll simply fall asleep. You felt your eyes heaving at every blink of yours and it was only 5 pm, but you were in this studio for so long. You were inside this place for 36 hours now with no shower and no sleep. You did eat but now you were hungry again.Your shoulders were tensed up, and you couldn't feel comfortable anywhere. Not in the couch, not in the chair, not in the floor and not even stand up. All you genuinely demanded right now was to be home under your bed sheets curled up with your boyfriend of four years while taking many naps or watching many movies, but no, you needed to have this done. You needed the album to be done and were extremely thrilled to release it to your fans that were excited as well. But yes, you were so frickin' tired.

— Again... — You repeated after a long and sharp breath listening to some groans from your coworkers. You all have been listening to this one song for about an hour and a half now and you haven't actually changed anything yet. — I know, I know, and I'm sorry guys, it's just not right!

— Maybe you think it's not right, but it is and you're just making a huge deal about it. — One of your co-workers said. A girl, Lucy, one of your friends as well. You turned your head to stare at her face and gave her that glaze that made her shrug her shoulders because of it — Alright, I'm sorry.

— I'm not making a huge deal. It's just not right, and I feel like the entire album is so great and this is just wrong. Like... — You said standing up from the couch you were sitten in and walked to the table with the computers on to grab the one paper you used to write this song. You stared at it in your hands for a while as you read the letters. — See, here is the problem. So here it's "you drink it just like water" and then suddenly comes "so what you doin' tonight?", it doesn't make sense, there's something missing in here. — You go through the lyrics again as you hear more groans from the people in the room — And honestly, I'm disappointed with myself for the rest. I need to change it so badly, but I have no idea on how.

— No problem, love — You naturally said referring to his previous apologies.

   That's when you hear the sound of the door being opened. You rise your head to look at the door and see Harry, your boyfriend, walking into the room with some paper bags in his hands that contained burgers directly from In-N-Out, which was in fact your favorite Los Angeles burger place ever. He arrived in silence, trying not to make a noise for fear that you were recording something but you could note his surprised expression when he saw everyone was looking at him instead of recording.

— Sorry guys, I didn't want to disturb you. I was passing by and wanted to check up! — Harry said as he closed the door behind him and walked farther into the room. You smiled tenderly when you saw the figure of the man walking closer to you. You haven't seen each other personally in some days, and he consistently secured you so much spiritual peace, he just had such a light energy and it made you feel so good  — And also y’all had been stealing my girl for so long now! — He joked getting a slight laugh from everyone inside the studio. He approached you by wrapping your waist with one of his arms around your waist and sealing your lips together as he bends down a little.

— And Harry, technically she is maintaining us here and not the other way around — Lucy said in an ironic tone causing you to look at her quickly before letting out a deep breath and lowering your head by rubbing your sleepless eyes with the help of your hands, probably a negative result of sleep. Harry reflected the girl's words and then looked at you carefully before placing the bags on the coffee table that was next to the studio sofa.

— Why? What happened? — Harry asked encountering his gaze with yours as he crossed his arms and observed you raising your hand that contained the papers with the lyrics of your new song.

— I can't write a proper ending that I genuinely like! — You said, sounding frustrated to everyone in that room.

— The ending is good! — Another of your friends, Jaden, said as he got up and picked up one of the bags Harry had brought and then started walking again to sit on the sofa.

— Jaden, you in silence is everything to me! — You said in a mocking tone while running your hand through your hair — But you understand, don't you? — You asked Harry because he has experience with such a specific subject — It's not that it's bad, it's that I don't feel like it's ready!

— I get it! But have you already recorded? — Harry asked softly in his understanding tone. He more than anyone in this room comprehended exactly what you were feeling and he would do his best to help you since you did the same with him so many times before.

— Yes, twenty times! — Jaden murmured a little before taking a bite of one of the burgers that Harry had brought. Harry couldn't hold back the laugh when he heard the boy, as they knew each other well and Harry knew all his sassiness was based on nothing more than hunger.

— Let me hear it, so I can have some ideas to help! — Harry said looking at you, and then noticing your reaction. Your eyes widened at the man's request. It wasn't fear. It was just an apprehension and that made Harry extremely curious  — What? 

— Well... It's a little... — You said in a lower tone seeking your words.

— Promiscuous and indulgent! — Lucy and Jaden completed your sentence making Harry look at her and the boy sitting on the sofa and then Harry raised one of his eyebrows and looked at you with a smirk on his lips.

— Uh, is it about me? — Harry asked in a mocking tone, waiting for the answer that would raise his ego, of course.

— Look, let's not specify anything — You said quickly and nervously looking at the smirk on your boyfriend's face — Ok, Trevor, play the song right for the love of god! — You said getting a laugh out of Harry, Jaden and Lucy due to your despair in ending this matter.

    And Trevor did as you asked and put the song on. You sat down on the bench near the wall and crossed your arms while watching Harry's reactions. The soon as the song started everyone could notice your voice and the rhythm of it that matched the beat.

You may think I’m crazy

The way I’ve been craving

If I put it quite plainly

Just give me them babies

    You could notice Harry bouncing his head on the rhythm of the song as a sign that he liked it because you knew that he only did that to songs that he likes. And you also noticed a small smile when he listened to the end of this verse because he did remember all the times you both had talked about having a baby before.

So what you doin’ tonight?

Better say doin’ you right

Watching movies 

But we ain’t seen a thing tonight

    Again you noticed the smirk and you did smirk as well because you both knew the lack of ability that you had to watch any movie that lasted longer than two hours and you almost ended not watching anything.

I don’t wanna keep you up

But assuming can you keep it up

‘Cause then I’d like to keep you up

So maybe Imma keep you up

Boy

    Harry wasn’t looking at you, though. He was looking at the floor while bouncing his head and paying attention to the song as he was trying to catch the vibe of it and honestly you don’t know if it’s the song that had this vibe but he was looking way too hot to handle at this moment.

I’ve been drinking coffe

And I’ve been eating healthy

Know I get squeaky, yeah

Saving all my energy

    Now the chorus was about to start and you were actually excited and nervous to see Harry’s reaction of it. You two have been dating for four years now. He probably understood any little detail of this song more than anyone else.

Can you stay up all night?

F**k me till the daylight

34 35

    You started to hold back your laugh as Harry lifted his head up fastly with winded eyes and a surprised look so he could face you. It wasn’t actually your style to write songs that promiscuous so he was actually surprised at it even though he loved it. He had a smile on his face though and so did you. 

    The song kept playing as the words repeated itself and it stopped just after the second chorus so Harry passed his hands through his hair as you waited for his opinion on it. Honestly, Harry’s opinion about your music is extremely important to you because you cherish and admire him way too much and love his songs so you hope that he does too with yours.

— So... What do you think? — You asked anxiously waiting for his opinion. The truth is Harry had already listened to all the songs on his new album except this one.

— I like it! — Harry said with a smile on his lips making you breathe a sigh of relief — Maybe I can help write the rest, but they really didn't lie and it's great. The beat is good and the lyrics are catchy and everything will be fine. The point, my love, is that you are too worried! — Harry said as he approached you, placing his big, strong hands on your shoulders and massaging them lightly feeling all the tension in your muscles slowly dissolving — Relax, it's amazing! You got it!

   With Harry's help, you finished the song in less than an hour. When you recorded the rest and listened, you felt that now it was ready and now you could go home with him. It was simply incredible to know you could always count on him and to know that while you were together creativity would be present and life wouldn't be boring. After all, you had each other and had the art.