#ever since he's *been* dying in disappointing ways and nobody cared including everyone freaking out rn lol

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

I don’t get why people got so dramatic about him dying dumb again, as if that is The™ thing that will have a major impact on the trajectory of his storyline or the quality of the future writing for his character

[minyoongleschimjoongles]

Preordained 10

Pairing(s):Poly!BTSxOC, Sub!BTSxOC,

Warnings: Implied sexual situations, Mentions of sexual situations, implications of Dom/sub relationships

Notes: I’ve been having so much trouble with Tumblr lately so I might end up posting on Ao3 from now on...

Masterlist

Jimin was the first to drop out.

The pressure of all his classes combined with the Idol training proved to be too much for him, and he found himself struggling to maintain a healthy mental outlook. Many of Zara’s nights were taken up with pulling Jimin out of his anxiety. When she gently brought up that maybe he should consider giving up either school or being an idol, he cried.

When he decided that he wanted to be an Idol full time, he cried.

When he came back from the enrollment office with his paperwork to drop, he cried.

And when he turned the papers in, called his parents and told them what he’d done, he cried.

The only thing that calmed him was Zara’s fingers running through his hair. 

Next was Yoongi. First he quit his job at the club, the hours and hours of practice and Idol classes making him even more tired than he usually was. Zara had lost count of how often he came home and just completely crashed on the couch.

Then he quit his job at the coffee shop, throwing himself into perfecting his rapping instead. He put in extra time with Hoseok and Jimin in an attempt to better his dancing.

And finally, he dropped his classes without even consulting anyone, secluding himself so that he could write song lyrics in peace. His mother was livid when she found out, but he ignored the anger, confiding in Zara one late night, “I just want to provide a good life for her, and this will be the way to do it. She just doesn't see it yet.”

After Yoongi, it was Jungkook, and he did so without any warning. Jungkook was good at everything he did, and that included balancing school and his duties as a trainee, so it really threw everyone for a loop when he came home way too early one day like it was nothing. He told them that while he didn’t have a problem maintaining the double life, he didn’t want it to get to the point where he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“It’s better for me to quit while I’m ahead, Noona,” he said, braiding a strand of her hair absently as she drew a picture of a sleeping Yoongi. “This way I can completely focus on becoming an Idol, and later, when I think I’m ready, I can go back.”

Then it was Hoseok, who had decided that learning the choreography and the songs had to take precedence over his studies. He had made the decision on his own, but the weight of it had forced him into Zara’s bed late one night for emergency cuddles. It had been a hard decision for him, knowing how badly dropping out would disappoint his parents, but he’d done what he’d thought was best at the moment.

Taehyung probably didn’t need to drop out but he did, claiming between Idol training and classes, he didn’t have any time for Zara. “I’m neglecting you,” he said, “and I don’t want to be the man that neglects his Soulmate.” It took Zara only two days to figure out he actually had been stressing over his workload, but he’d hidden it well so she wouldn’t notice. But when he no longer had to worry about school, Zara noticed a lot of tension had left his shoulders, and his smile started coming easily again.

The only ones to finish out the year were Zara, Jin and Namjoon. Zara, because she was stubborn, and Jin and Namjoon because it was their last semester, and therefore foolish for them to drop out when they were already almost done.

It wasn’t until a week after Namjoon and Jin’s graduation ceremony that Zara stood in the small kitchen, hands clutching a piece of paper tightly. The boys were all eating breakfast and preparing themselves for their day of training.

Namjoon was the first to notice.

“Not you, too.” He took the fact that everyone had dropped out almost personally. He felt he was failing as a leader because he couldn’t help them maintain balanced schedules.

Zara’s eyes widened slightly, and she shook her head. “No, I’m not dropping out. Not really.”

“Zara, that doesn’t sound like a straightforward answer.”

Zara handed him the paper and watched his face change with his emotions. He held a paper that stated Zara’s dual-citizenship of the United States and South Korea.

“Holy shit!” He stood up and dragged her into a hug. “Congratulations!”

“What?” Taehyung asked, trying to look at the paper still in Namjoon’s hands. Namjoon responded by turning Zara to face the group.

“Boys,” he said, “You’re looking at a new citizen of South Korea.”

A cheer went up as the boys jumped from their seats, showering Zara with affection. When they had settled she held her hands out.

“And about the college thing, I know you guys are debuting soon, and I know that means you’ll start touring. We all know I’ll end up coming with you or we’ll all get a case of Separation Syndrome again,” she paused for the collective hiss as the boys remembered the way they’d reacted to the winter vacation debacle.

“So...?” Hoseok leaned forward, smiling at her.

“So,” Zara smiled back at him, “I decided that I’m going to sign up for online classes next semester.”

“Well,” Namjoon sighed, “At least you’re not dropping out.”

xXx

Taehyung sat in his seat, twisting his hands in his lap. Zara stood behind him, running her fingers through his hair. On the counter sat several foul smelling concoctions in bowls. Strands of hair littered the kitchen floor around him, the others having already gotten the hair makeovers that BigHit had requested they get before their debut. 

The boys had kicked up a fuss when they’d found out about the makeovers until BangPD had told them Zara would do it, her first job as their hair and makeup stylist. Which is why Zara had the reference photos taped to the wall so she wouldn’t screw up.

“Ready, Baby Boy?”

“No,” Tae admitted.

Aside from perhaps Namjoon, whose hair had been shaved on the sides and then quaffed into a perfect Mohawk, Taehyung was about to have the most drastic change to his hair. Already the sides had been dyed black. Zara had the clippers ready, a pair of scissors dangerously tucked into the front pocket of her jeans.

“Okay,” she said, “tell me what I can do to help?”

“Just— can you keep—“

Zara knew exactly what he needed without him being able to say it. She brought her fingers to the hair at the side of his head, and Tae closed his eyes and tried to memorize that feeling. He wanted to remember what it felt like to have her play with his long hair because he wouldn’t be able to feel it for a while.

“Okay,” he said and Zara tugged gently at his hair before taking the scissors to it.

Like she had with the others, Zara lamented the loss of Taehyung’s hair, but did her job diligently nonetheless. When she was done, she carefully took bleach to the top part of his hair to dye it blonde, leaving the newly shaved sides black. Standing in front of the mirror when his hair had been washed out, Tae frowned, playing with the damp blonde strands.

“Noona...” his voice was very near to a whine. “You did a good job but...” He paused as Zara stood on tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the nape of his neck, “Are people really going to care what we look like?”

“Unfortunately, that is all some people are going to see, but there will be others that will see you, Baby Boy. And you are someone worth loving.”

He tipped his head back and sighed deeply.

“Well...Why does Kookie not get a makeover?!”

Zara laughed loudly, prompting Tae to smile.

At least he knew that Zara loved him for him.

xXx

The waiting room was filled with chatter, although none of the boys were really contributing. There was a cameraman floating around filming them, but over the months since Jin’s YouTube channel was made private, they’d all forgotten how to act around cameras.

Zara had Jin sitting in a chair in front of a mirror, her knee on the edge of the chair as she leaned over him to painstakingly tightline his eyes in black. Outwardly, Jin didn’t appear as nervous as the younger ones did; he wasn’t hiding in a corner “practicing” like Namjoon (now nicknamed Rap Monster by BangPD), and he wasn’t pointlessly wandering the waiting room like Jungkook. He wasn’t nervously chattering to the camera like Jimin. He just sat in the chair and let Zara work.

But Zara had already picked up on the truth; he was probably most nervous of them all. He told himself he couldn’t dance as well as Hoseok and he couldn’t sing as well as Jungkook and he was starting to really freak himself out. His hand, which rested on Zara’s jean-clad knee to steady her as she leaned over him, was opening and closing in a fist in time with his pounding heart.

“This brings back memories, huh?” Zara mused, trying to lighten the tension. Jin sighed contentedly.

“Do you think if I fail at this Idol thing I’ll be able to get a decent job or do you think I’ll never be able to show my face anywhere?”

Zara paused.

Not if we fail, but if I fail. 

“Zara-ssi?”

She looked down at Jin and tilted his chin up to get at his upper waterline.

“You won’t fail at this Idol thing, oppa.”

“How do you know?”

“A Soulmate knows these things.” She gently rubbed the frown lines out of his cheeks. “It’s all going to be okay.”

“What if I mess up?”

“If you mess up, it just means you’re human, Seokjinnie, and nobody will love you any less.”

Jin didn’t reply, as Zara finished lining his eyes. Behind them, they could hear Jungkook, Hoseok and Jimin teasing Namjoon about his warm up. Zara heaved a sigh and made to go scold them, but Jin’s hand came around her wrist, tugging her back.

“Thank you, Zara-ssi.”

Zara’s lips curved into a smile, and she did a quick glance of the room to make sure the cameras weren’t pointing at them. Then she leaned over him again, pressing a long kiss to his plump lips. She pulled away when his shoulders relaxed, his breath leaving him in a soft moan.

“You’re amazing, Seokjin. Just as amazing as the rest, please don’t ever forget that.”

Jin smiled at her, his cheeks tinting pink.

“Okay,” he agreed, “Now go, before Jungkook bullies Namjoon any more.”

Zara gave him another kiss before practically skipping away.

The pre-recording of the Boys’ debut, from Zara’s point of view, went off without a hitch. Jimin made a point of lifting his shirt to show off his abs to the camera (but especially Zara), Jungkook lifted Jimin without any issues, and Jin did an amazing job with both his singing and his dancing.

Jin, of course, didn’t think so. Zara only had to spend 5 minutes drying his tears and touching up his makeup. BangPD, lingering around in the background and simply observing, had to admit that Zara Underhill was excellent at talking these Boys off the ledge.

He watched as she gathered the Boys in a circle around her. She put her hand in the center of them and they all followed suit, placing hands on top of hers.

“You’ve only got We Are Bulletproof Pt. 2 left, and then the pre-recording is over. Seokjin oppa is feeling down right now, so I want you all to lend him your strength, and I’ll lend you my strength too. You’re a unit, my loves, and tomorrow you show the world how strong of a unit you really are. You just have to get through today, first. So, on the count of three, we say BangtanBangtan, okay? 1...2...3!”

“BangtanBangtan!”

They broke the circle, and when they went back onto the recording stage, their performance was beyond amazing, possibly the best they had ever performed. They made no mistakes, and BangPD realized, when Namjoon came off the stage and gathered Zara into a huge hug, how important the American girl really was to the Boys, and how important she would become to his company.

xXx

The next day, on the official debut, Zara once again painstakingly lined each boys with black liner and covered any blemishes on their face. Everyone that sat in her chair was nervous this time. They had already gone through a dry run of the performance, and nobody seemed pleased. Jimin had messed up on a small portion of the dance and he was spending the time until the debut practicing the part. Yoongi too, ran through the dance step by step, as well as Tae, who had done it in its entirety three times already. 

Jungkook showed his nerves through bugging the older members, spraying Namjoon’s throat spray and playing with Zara’s makeup kit as she worked on Hoseok. When he finally got into the seat himself, he immediately started dozing off as Zara played with his hair.

The camera caught a glimpse of her lightly tapping under his chin, which had him waking up with a smile and an adorable laugh.

“Noonaaaaa!”

Zara smiled, squeezing his shoulder lightly.

It wasn’t long before the director was calling them to perform, and Zara quickly made her way into the audience. She’d been informed already that the next time she’d be seeing her boys would be late that night. 

Ji-yoo was in the audience, practically bouncing in her seat. When Zara slid into the seat next to her, her best friend grabbed her arm with both hands.

“I can’t believe this! Kim Taehyung, an Idol. Where did I go wrong?”

Zara snorted, gripping Ji-yoo’s hand tightly.

“They’re so amazing, Ji-yoo, wait until you see them.”

Ji-yoo kept a tight grip on Zara throughout the entire performance, and whenever abs were revealed, screaming would fill the audience, Ji-yoo the loudest of them all. Zara’s face began to hurt from how long and how wide she was grinning. Her beautiful boys were dominating the stage and already stealing hearts.

Ji-yoo was shaking Zara with force by the time the boys were bowing and thanking the audience. Their eyes found Zara one by one, and they bowed again.

“Thank you all for being here,” Namjoon said, though his eyes were on Zara alone, “we will try our hardest. For you.”

Zara nodded to him, her heart soaring for her Boys.

It was particularly gratifying, after all the anxiety and nerves and sacrifices, seeing this dream come to fruition.

It was Ji-yoo, grabbing Zara by the shoulders and shaking her, that pulled her from her thoughts.

“Jungkookie has abs!”

The Boys could hear Zara’s replying laughter from backstage.

@snowythellama @babyboytae1 @stskpop @bewitch3dforivar @peachy---bangtan

[nellie-elizabeth]

Supernatural: Game Night (14x17)

Well, shit.

Cons:

Let's start with a small thing - the special effect for Lucifer isn't really doing it for me. I guess I appreciate that they're making a unique choice, but to me, that black morass of evil with the glowing red eyes is not Lucifer. It's not the Lucifer that we've come to know as a villain over the years in this show. I actually don't have that big of a problem with bringing him back into the show. Since we know Season Fifteen is the end of the road for Supernatural, the only appropriate end-game villain is Lucifer. But the way they're visualizing his return doesn't match for me the energy and essence of who the character is.

I really like it when a Winchester gets hurt and the other one is all worried and scared, obviously. But I do have to lodge a complaint about how contrived the fights in this show can be sometimes. Sam and Dean have been hit in the head so many times it's insane, and usually they're banged up enough to make them disoriented in a fight, but there does not appear to be any lasting effects. Now, because the plot needs Sam and Dean to be out for the count while Jack deals with Nick, suddenly Sam has a head injury and he's actually dying. I wish they could find a way to be a bit less obvious about it!

Pros:

Let's start with Cas' subplot. He and Anael are on the hunt for a way to contact God. Cas wants to talk to God to help Jack get his soul back, but ultimately they're unsuccessful. In terms of plot development, this little side-adventure doesn't add much of anything. Cas has an idea, but it goes nowhere. However, I actually really loved what they did here. Cas genuinely wants to help Jack, yes, but there's also the fact that he's in denial, and I think Anael picked up on the truth brilliantly. Cas knows deep down that Jack is walking around without a soul, but he doesn't want to admit how badly things are going. It makes sense. Everyone is tense, and nobody wants bad news. We all know how much Cas dreads disappointing the Winchesters.

Anael is a somewhat underutilized character, but I think Danneel Ackles does a great job with the material she's given. Specifically, she seems to understand how to play jaded, without being predictably pessimistic. She took her disenchantment with God and Heaven and turned it in to a spark of hope and helpfulness. Sure, she's a bit of a nihilist, but she'll use the power she has to help people when she can. And if she wants some material reward for that, then... well... so would I. I like exploring a character who has more than the average number of flaws, but who doesn't tip over into "anti-hero" territory either. Also, I like that Anael tries to deflect Cas' cheesiness about how we're not really alone, but Cas just sincerely confirms that they still have each other. The kinship between the angels has always fascinated me, so it was fun to see a bit of that explored here.

Then we've got the main plot. It's simple enough - Nick is on a mission to reunite with Lucifer, so he goes after Donatello to lure the Winchesters. It's all part of a plan to get some of Jack's blood, which is needed for his ritual. Along the way, we see that Jack is acting strangely, Sam is boiling with rage over Nick's behavior, Mary is being a mom to everyone, and Dean is just trying to hold it together. In the end, Nick gets the drop on Sam and badly injures him, and he also manages to summon Lucifer. Jack and Mary show up in time to stop Nick, but Jack goes way too far, using his powers to kill Nick horrifically. Jack is able to save Sam, but when Mary tries to talk to Jack about his behavior, Jack freaks out and loses control of his powers, ending the episode on something of a cliffhanger... did Jack just kill Mary?!

So, there's lots to unpack here. When the episode started and Mary was trying to be helpful to Jack, and then later had a nice chat with Dean, I got a little worried about her fate. Then, later, Mary also had a moment where she told Sam how proud of him she was, and I started to get really worried. I know we're not 100% certain that Mary is dead, but obviously Jack did something to her, and I'm actually really impressed with the dark turn the story is taking in this regard. We needed to see something to show that Jack has lost sight of himself. When Sam was soulless, things really hit rock bottom for us, the viewers, when Sam let Dean get bitten by a vampire when he could have intervened. Here, we see Jack doing plenty of immoral things, but we're not going to be completely convinced that he's lost his soul until he hurts someone who's completely innocent. That's not Nick, and that's not a snake, or his friend that he hurt on accident. But hurting Mary? Lashing out at her after everything they've been through? That's a pretty clear sign of how bad things have gotten.

I'm not convinced this show has ever quite known what to do with Mary Winchester, but if this is indeed the end for her character, it was a good way to go out. Obviously tragic, and unfair, but after struggling to adjust to her life back on earth, she spent her final hours being nothing but warm and encouraging and loving to her family, including Jack. Yikes, I'm really nervous about the fallout from this... as I think I should be...

So, Nick. Lucifer. As I said above, I actually don't have a big problem with Lucifer coming back. I think it's fascinating to see the parallel between Cas seeking God, and Nick seeking Lucifer, in this moment. God doesn't come through, at least not in an immediate, concrete way. Lucifer does. Lucifer appears directly. But that doesn't mean that he cares more for his followers. It means he's more selfish, more insidious. I'm excited to see what they do with Lucifer in the final season of this show, now that we know the end is arriving. But I'll be super upset if anyone other than Mark Pellegrino plays Lucifer at the end. The biggest "oh, shit" moment of the episode for me is when Nick asks to see Jack, and he calls him "my son." I genuinely got chills. We get all these little hints that Nick is so connected to Lucifer that the boundaries between them are hazy, and it's an incredibly compelling way to bring back Lucifer. Obviously a show like this ends up repeating itself a lot, but this is a cool and unique way to address a villain's impending return.

Sam's anger at Nick is so fascinating to me. Part of it feels like displaced rage for Lucifer, as would make sense. Nick is the face of Lucifer to Sam, so trauma is obviously playing a big role here. But I think it's a little bit more than that. Nick is a parallel to Sam himself. Both of them are vessels of Lucifer. Both of them have experienced the undivided attention of the Devil, and Sam sees in Nick the failure that he very well might have become. I love the way Jared is playing Sam's anger here, barely repressed, barely contained, but just a bit irrational. Sam knows it, but that doesn't mean he can stop it.

Oh man, Sam lying there with his head bleeding, trying to say goodbye to Dean... I don't care how many times they do scenes like this, it's always going to just gut me. Dean is trying to keep a positive spin on things, but you can just see that he's unraveling. The way his voice cracks when he's telling his mom that it's really bad, and the way he shushes Sam when Sam tries to say something to him... I think the best moment was when Jack heals Sam, and Dean just stands up and turns away to collect himself, overcome with relief, finally allowing himself to feel the full impact of what almost happened. I love me some angst.

I think I'll stop there for now. Just a few more episodes left of this season. You know, it hasn't fully sunk in for me that Season Fifteen will be the end, but I think it'll hit me the moment "Carry On Wayward Son" starts playing, and I realize that we'll only get one more finale after this...

9/10

[awed-frog]

Stuck in the Middle (with You)/Awesome Crowley

[For a meta about Reservoir Dogs and Tarantino’s use of gay subtext, click here.]

I don’t want to be the person who ruins everyone’s fun, so I’m saving my one big criticism of this episode for last. This meta is completely positive, even saccharine, until the very last paragraph. Also, I’m borrowing one of my favourite AO3 tags as a title because, let’s face it, Crowley was the real hero of this episode and where the action was, and that’s perfectly okay and long overdue. Crowley’s been around for years now, and he’s gone through huge bouts of character development, and yet we still know next to nothing about him and he’s often treated like an afterthought, both by our heroes and by the writers. This episode finally (finally!) corrected that, because no matter how intriguing and plain beautiful everyone was, Crowley was magnificent - as I fully expected him to be.

After all, they’re good - but he’s Crowley.

Like anyone with eyes, I loved everything about this episode, and especially how it was filmed. I have to say - this is the first episode in a long time that actually had me in tenterhooks about a possible character death, because you never know, right? Theoretically, Crowley could die, and so could Cas. Theoretically. And also the music, did I mention the music? I think that scene of Cas crawling away from Ramiel and the shot of Ramiel stabbing him - that’s just become my favourite Supernatural scene ever, bar none. It was so powerful and dramatic and visually magnificent and that damn music - wow. 

I adored that symbolism, because Cas’ been a Christ figure for a while now, and seeing him like that, on his back, defeated and stabbed by a lance - you can’t get more Golgotha than that. Beautiful stuff.

I also loved that this episode was, in a way - off-centre. Sam and Dean were there, of course, but the story was not focused around them. The real protagonist was the supernatural world itself - Cas, Crowley, Ramiel; even Lucifer, to me, was more present than he’s been in a while, what with this vague threat of his child hanging over the world, and him taunting Crowley and flashing his red eyes at this most undemonic demon in the very last scene. The truth is, I love everything about Sam and Dean, and that includes the incredibly talented actors who play them, but I feel the show could benefit greatly from approaching their story from a different perspective every once in a while. I’d love to know more about their childhood, for instance, or about this world of monsters and hunters around them; and a completely Outsider POV episode is, at this point, something I’d probably sell half my soul for.

Anyway - lately, this show reads like very good fanfiction, and considering how engaged, loving and talented this fandom is, this is high praise. I particularly appreciate the fact they’re going back to important plot points and filling them in with completely new details - after all, we’ve been wondering for years what’s up with demonic eyes, or how Crowley became king in the first place (or, at least, I know I did). This new class of demons appearing out of nowhere - creatures powerful enough to wield an archangel’s weapon - that’s incredible stuff. I’m guessing we’ll see more about them, and I can’t freaking wait.

So, yes - Ramiel was spot-on. Jerry Trimble managed just the right mixture of underwhelmingly normal and terrifyingly amoral - so much so I’m sort of sad we didn’t get to see more of this character, even if everything about him, including his death, was handled just right - there was no room for anything more.

My one slight criticism there would be the fizzling nature of Cas’ abilities. For instance, didn’t we establish that Cas can smell lies? So why couldn’t he guess Mary was hiding something? And what about demons’ true forms? I always assumed Cas could see that (was it ever stated in canon? it must have been), and I was therefore almost disappointed that Cas couldn’t recognize Ramiel for what he was. Maybe it can be explained away by him slowly becoming closer and closer to a human being - I don’t know. In any case, I’m truly appreciating how obsessed everyone seems to be with him lately. After years of taking angels for granted, we’ve got two characters in short succession fangirling over angels (in a creepy, murderous and definitely non-con way, but still) - and, yeah, I know that basically everyone spent the entirety of Supernatural pointing out how different and unique Cas is, and I’m grateful for that, but it’s also nice to get a reminder that angels are awesome (in the other sense of the word) in and of themselves.

(I’m still loving Mr Ketch, by the way. Aaaaaw.)

Let’s now come to our unsung hero: Mr Crowley.

Crowley was magnificent in all this. And we’ve now learned he never seriously planned to become King of Hell - my headcanon, which I’m considering confirmed, is that Crowley simply wants control. He’s been tortured for a century or more as some demon tore his human soul out of him, and he’s never putting himself in that position again, which is very sensible of him, and also very Scarlett O’Hara.

(Then again, he is his mother’s son.)

So, well, there he was, sort of loyal, licking the right boots, quietly ammassing a fortune in paintings and cursed objects and rumours and secrets on the side, when suddenly one of his craziest schemes actually works and Lucifer disappears and Ramiel doesn’t want the throne and Crowley realizes he’ll probably be safer sitting on it than he would be taking orders from some mindless, blood-thirsty underling who doesn’t know the first thing about governing a kingdom.

It breaks my heart, really.

And this is why I’m guessing, really, that the reason that demon was so gleeful about the possibility of killing Sam - I mean, sure, he’s Sam Winchester and all, but she had to know, because everyone does, that Sam and Dean are under Crowley’s protection. That no matter what he says, he considers them friends. And since he basically stole the throne from her (sort of), I’m thinking she was careless because this was a kill she was really relishing.

(Sigh.)

Also - look, as happy as I am with Cas finding his place - with his speech, with Dean’s soul-shattering Let’s go home, this dark side of the mirror is now hurting more than ever, because Crowley keeps risking everything so that Dean can live, and can keep choosing someone else over him. And I don’t think Dean is rude and obnoxious because he doesn’t notice - I think he’s rude and obnoxious because he does notice, and he doesn’t know what to make of it. Like Cas, Crowley sees right through him and loves him for who he is, and that’s something Dean just can’t accept.  

(“Your problem is that nobody hates you more than you hate yourself.”)

This doesn’t mean Crowley’s love isn’t skewered, borderline toxic and an enabling mess, but it’s still love, and it’s still directed at Dean’s true self, and it’s still - this is now definitely confirmed - completely selfless, like human love is supposed to be.

(Breaking the Lance of Michael to save Cas - that was -

Also: recognizing Dean’s impatience and anger for what they were, and choosing to do the right thing even against his own interests -

- because, of course, Dean’s got a history of saying the wrong thing when he can’t deal with reality and other people’s feelings. That We don’t have time for your - for you was Nobody cares you’re broken all over again, and Crowley already gave his answer to that when he pointed out the Winchesters - and especially Sam, of course - have got plenty of faults of their own: And yet, I endure.)

And maybe Lucifer’s still got it, or maybe he simply watches the show, because he knows exactly where it hurts: “Do you really think they care about you? I mean, think about it, Crowley. They kill your kind. And you know... you know...it's only a matter of time before they come for you.”

(What worries me the most about this statement is that there’s no traditional happy ending in sight for Crowley; there never was. The only question at this point is which way this is going to go. Will Dean be forced to kill Crowley? Will Crowley sacrifice himself for Dean? Or will he, finally, become human? After all, Lucifer’s right: no matter what Crowley does or doesn’t do - and saving Cas’ life by destroying the most powerful weapon left on Earth, that’s a big favour to pay back - as long as he’s a demon, the Winchesters will never fully trust him, or even accept him. But if he were to become human...

It’s a big gamble, sure. Then again, Crowley’s much less calculating than he’d like people to think.)

From a Destiel point of view, someone should probably look at that diner scene again and check how it was shot - because I’ve got this feeling that the first time, it was from Cas’ perspective, and we spent a lot of time learning about what Dean wants in his sexual partners - but the second time, we saw it from Mary’s perspective, which means we spent more time actually noticing the way Dean looked at Cas. Also hearing Dean describe Cas as ‘shy, but devastatingly handsome’. Mh.

Again, all the kudos to the title, which basically refers to everyone except Sam and Dean, because, as I said, this wasn’t about them and yay!

The weapons and the gadgets and the special effects! Heart-eyes and grabby hands over here. More, please.

(Though I’m slightly disappointed that the Lance didn’t break the shovel’s handle on impact, but whatever.)

Immortal creatures collecting paintings instead of repeating high school for all eternity - much love for that.

Crowley calling everyone out on their shit, including the screenwriters’ indulgence in silly rhymes - aaaaw. You do you, sweetheart.

(The fact Crowley was genuinely saddened by the prospect of Cas dying - *cries forever*.)

“I don’t have friends.”

Mary - Mary continues to be an interesting character and also someone I wouldn’t invite over for dinner, which is perfectly fine and much better than the alternative. Though I am slightly disappointed by the fact she didn’t even try to come clean about the Colt. Guess her brand of unhinged is the same as John’s, after all - birds of a feather and all that.

Finally: the big Destiel moment. Look, I have to say - I’m as excited as anyone that Cas was fully recognized as family (because, yeah, no matter what Dean said, this was like the first time they don’t leave Cas out somewhere to die?) and I’m ecstatic by this confirmation that Cas understands what love is and feels it himself -

- but one, I’m worried about the effect this will have on Dean and two, I’m getting really tired of the ambiguity.

Because, well - this is the first time Dean hears it flat-out: he changed Cas, he destroyed Cas in almost every way that matters, in fact, and Cas is grateful for it and considers him family. Will this lessen the guilt Dean’s been experiencing for years, or will it increase it? Knowing Dean, I’m not optimistic.

And as for the other thing - look, no way that I love you was a singular, and directed at Dean. I’m just thinking from a translator’s point of view here - if I had to dub or sub something like this in a language with normal pronouns, I’d never use a singular - not in a million years. Cas’ never said anything like this before, he wasn’t looking at anyone when he said it, the sentence was preceded and followed by plural yous, and imo the only reason they included it at all (instead of going directly from You’re my family - which was clearly a plural - to I love all of you) was the usual subtextual bs they’ve been having fun with for eight seasons. Because this episode, like so many other Supernatural episodes, could have been 10/10 TV instead of the 9.6 it got on IMDb if they’d only stopped being weird about this. Don’t get me wrong - I love the uncertainty and the drama and the UST and this classic I’m not good enough for you so I won’t even try trope - love them - but they could still make it textual without ruining any of that. One conversation between Sam and Mary would be plenty enough. Two sentences and a half, and it’s canon, and Dean and Cas are still oblivious, and we’ve still got everything - but BAM - it’s not possible or probable queerbaiting anymore, it’s not this thing that mostly makes me bitter and gives me anxiety - no, now it’s a beautiful love story and everything’s alright with the world. 

At this point, it’s incredible how little it would take, really. Or, well - not incredible: supernatural.

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (70/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Sixty Nine

Ned could count on one hand the number of times that Peter had come over since school started back up. During the summer, Ned had been gone on a family vacation but even for the few weeks that he’d had left when he returned he and Peter had barely seen each other. Ned had been hoping things would change once they were back in school but they seemed to only get worse.

It was the Stark Internship that was really doing it, Ned knew, because Peter seemed to be at it every day after school which really seemed a bit excessive. Ned hadn’t even gotten the full story out of Peter about how he had gotten the internship in the first place. Flash and some of his friends didn’t even seem to believe Peter when he told them that he had an internship with Stark Industries and it did seem a little bit far fetched but Ned knew that Peter wouldn’t lie about something like that even if Peter had always been a little bit obsessed with Iron Man. Although everyone was to an extent. Ned personally preferred Captain America.

So he wasn’t surprised when Peter said he was busy that afternoon even though he seemed excited about the LEGO Death Star. It just meant that Ned needed to try a little harder because he was tired of not seeing his best friend and he didn’t mind going over to Peter’s even if it meant going late.

“I’ll knock out the bones of the Death Star at my place. And then, I’ll come over afterwards. For the most part, the difficult thing is the base of it. The top half we can knock out in two hours, tops.”

Peter nodded distractedly as he looked after Liz who seemed to be talking about Homecoming again because it was all she ever talked about these days. Liz was the overachiever type who seemed to be as busy as Peter was these days but also managed to have an amazing social life going by all the friends she had and all the parties that were thrown at her house or that she attended. She was a senior which made her doubly unattainable and it was probably why Peter was so interested in the first place.  

The rest of the day was the usual. They went to class. Peter was distracted and managed to still answer when called upon. They went to lunch. Michelle sat near them with her nose buried in a book but somehow still listening in on conversations around her.

Then, Peter went and quit decathlon surprising everyone including Ned who really didn’t understand why Peter seemed to think it was a good idea. It had been one thing to get out of marching band because it really was pointless. Ned had even allowed that robotics could go but he had never expected for Peter to want to quit decathlon. Not when Flash had always been clearly jealous that Peter was probably the best they had and not an alternative like Flash. His spot was also going to go to Flash which was a disappointment. The rest of the team was not going to ever stop hearing about it.

After school, Peter disappeared before Ned could catch up to him, so Ned headed home with every intention of starting on the Death Star and then going over to Peter’s to catch him after he got back from the Stark Internship.

He actually ended up building most of it and it was dark by the time that he went over to Peter’s which hopefully meant that he would find him at home. Instead, May answered the door.

“Hey, Ned,” she said, “fancy seeing you here. How’s everything?”

“Good, good,” Ned said. “Is Peter home?”

May shrugged. “Likely not. Should be soon. You can wait in his room if you want.”

“Okay. Thanks, May.”

Ned had always liked May. She was easy going and nice and while there had been some bad months there right after the death of her husband, it was clear that she was slowly getting back to being herself again. She wasn’t as sad.

Peter’s room was a bit of a mess, but then it always had been. It just seemed messier somehow, like Peter really didn’t have the time to actually pick up after himself. Ned settled himself at Peter’s desk and started working on the rest of the Death Star while he waited. He almost had the whole thing completely done when May opened the door, bringing in a glass of water and a plate with store bought cookies which was a good thing because May really couldn’t bake.

“Thanks,” Ned said.

May nodded with a grin. “That looks pretty cool. Peter will be excited to see it.”

She left before he could respond and Ned just kept working. It was a good while before Ned was interrupted again but this time it wasn’t May. Instead, it was Peter’s window being pushed open and Ned just froze. Was someone breaking in? Ned looked around the room but there wasn’t anything he could use and either way, Ned knew he wouldn’t actually make a difference. A moment later, Spider-Man crawled in and Ned could only watch as Spider-Man climbed on to the ceiling and took off his mask and--

It was Peter. Peter was Spider-Man! Ned could barely believe it. He was frozen on the spot but he followed Peter’s movements with his eyes as Peter crawled on the ceiling across the room to the door and closed it using spider web and then he lowered himself to the floor and didn’t even notice that Ned was right there watching him. When Peter finally spotted him, Peter gasped and Ned finally moved only to dump the Death Star to the floor. He heard it break and fall apart but that didn’t matter. Peter was Spider-Man.

Peter turned to face him, moving faster than Ned had ever seen him move.

“What was that?” May called from the kitchen.

“Nothing, nothing,” Peter said quickly and then, “damn it, Karen, why didn’t you warn me?”

“You’re Spider-Man,” Ned said, still in shock. “From YouTube.”

“No. No, I’m not.”

Peter jumped to denying it even as he seemed to press on the chest of the suit and it just released and Peter stepped out of it.

“You were on the ceiling,” Ned said even as Peter kept trying to deny it.

“No, I wasn’t. Ned, what are you doing in my room?” Peter asked and he looked panicked more than anything else.

“May let me in. You said we were going to finish the Death Star,” Ned responded and he really should have known that Peter heard none of what he said earlier in the day.

“You can’t just be in my room when I’m not here,” Peter said and then the door was pushed open again and it was May who had gone and ruined dinner. They could actually see smoke coming from the kitchen.

“That turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster. Let’s go to dinner. Thai? Ned, you want Thai?” May asked. “Oh, when did you get in? I didn’t hear the door.”

“Must have snuck past you, I guess,” Peter said and then, “Ned’s got a thing.”

“Yeah,” Ned said even though he didn’t know why he was agreeing exactly.

May gave them both a look and then settled on Peter again. “Maybe put on some clothes,” she said. “What did you ruin what you were wearing at your -- um, at the internship?”

“Little bit,” Peter said with a shrug.

“Gotta be more careful, Peter,” May said as she walked away.

Peter closed the door behind May and he leaned into it for a moment.

“Oh, she doesn’t know,” Ned said and he was still in a state of shock. How had Peter been some sort of superhero and kept it from Ned? This had been going on for months even. Ned remembered all the times that he’d sent Peter links about Spider-Man and Peter hadn’t said a thing.

“Nobody knows! Well, To--Mr. Stark knows because he made my suit, but that’s it,” Peter said in a rush.

“Tony Stark made you that!” Ned gaped at him. Was Peter for real? Things could only get better and better. Ned couldn’t believe it. “Wait, does that mean -- are you an Avenger?”

Peter was getting a shirt on and he didn’t seem to know what to say which gave Ned some time to try and take it all in because this was crazy. His best friend was Spider-Man and not just that but Tony Stark himself had made him the suit and he spoke about it so casually as if everyone could get Tony freaking Stark to make them a suit. What was even Peter’s life?

“I don’t -- I wouldn’t say I’m an Avenger,” Peter said at long last and then in a more serious tone. “You can’t tell anybody about this. You have to keep it a secret.”

Ned didn’t understand. Why would he want to keep this secret? This was the coolest thing ever -- why wouldn’t Peter want everyone to know. None of the Avengers kept secret identities and it had worked well for them so he didn’t really get why Peter didn’t want to tell everyone that he was the guy under the red and blue suit. Didn’t he want the recognition? The admiration?

“A secret? Why?”

“You know what May’s like. If she finds out people try and kill me every night, she’s not gonna let me do this anymore. Come on, Ned, please?” There was something about the way that he said that, that made Ned wonder about just how dangerous things got for Peter. Was he in danger of actually dying every night or was he exaggerating?

“But I don’t think I can keep this a secret,” Ned said because this was exactly the kind of thing that would piss off Flash like nothing else not to mention how no one would try to mess with them if they knew. “This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, Peter!”

It really didn’t seem like Peter actually understood how much the secret could change things for them -- for Peter.

“Ned, May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now. You know? I mean, everything that’s happened with her. I -- please -- no one can know there’s just so many ways that that wouldn’t help right now.”

Ned could tell that Peter needed him to agree and even though he didn’t think it was the way to go, he had to respect that Peter had his reasons. May did seem better since Ben’s death but it hadn’t even been a full year yet and this would probably make a whole mess of things for Peter and her.

“Okay,” Ned said.

“Swear it, okay?”

“I swear.”

“Thank you,” Peter said and let out a sigh. “I can’t believe this is happening now.”

Ned nodded and then had a thought. “Can I try the suit on?”

“No,” Peter said at once.

Ned hadn’t even started to really think about the suit. The suit that Tony Stark had built for Peter! It brought up a whole lot of other questions to mind -- like how Peter had even gotten to meet Tony Stark in the first place and why Tony Stark had built him a suit. Because if he remembered correctly, Spider-Man had basically been in sweats the first few times he’d been spotted. The whole Internship had seemed unlikely enough and Peter had never explained it but maybe Tony Stark had noticed Spider-Man somehow and gotten involved. He really needed to get the full story out of Peter.

“How does it work? Is it magnets? How do you shoot the strings?”

Peter seemed to still be a bit on the agitated side. He grabbed Ned and walked him to the door of his bedroom. “I’m going to tell you about this at school tomorrow, okay?”

“Great. Okay, well --” he paused right at the door. “Wait, then, how do you do this and the Stark Internship?”

Peter sighed. “This is the Stark Internship.”

That certainly made sense. He said goodbye to May as he walked past her to the door still a little out of it and tried to really wrap his mind around all of it because he still couldn’t really believe it. How could this have even happened? He was definitely going to need to pester Peter for answers the next day. Nothing this exciting had happened ever. It didn’t even matter that the Death Star had gotten destroyed and that all the pieces were still scattered all over Peter’s bedroom floor.

Chapter Seventy One