#first non chuck post in a while

[mondodisco]

Sometimes I feel good and then I remember that a new world awaits us, Curt. A world without agencies, a world without spies, a world without secrets.

Some secrets aren’t yours to share. What about our secret? The time we shared. The feelings we had. For each other. Are you ready to share that with the world?

That secret died the night you left me for dead.

Clearly.

[yinyuedijun]

SINCERITY

Flirting with Suo is never a good idea—you can never tell whether he means to charm you or make fun of you when you do it. Sometimes it feels like both. Occasionally it feels mean. More often than not, you like to entertain it. But you can't right now, not when his blood is all over the washroom sink. Your manager will be furious about the mess, and also about the fact that you're giving first aid to three delinquents while you're on the clock. If Suo makes one more joke about marrying you, you'll probably throw up and cry. (Or: Suo, Nirei, and Sakura get into a fight in the red light district and go to you to get patched up. Suo takes the opportunity to tease you mercilessly.)

4.5k words, suo x reader with implied one-sided sakura x reader, sfw with mature themes. set post-canon (they are all 18-19 years old), non-canon backstory details for suo and sakura (speculative as of ch. 146). fem reader – references to gendered professions, e.g. hostessing; reader wears a dress for her job in a girls’ bar. warning for inaccurate depictions of first aid! dividers by @/cafekitsune.

Suo’s never liked your job.

You suppose this is fair. The feeling is mutual. You’ve never liked the fact that Suo chose to go to a delinquent school rather than a proper high school, and he’s never liked the fact that you chose to drop out of your proper high school to go work in the red light district—first at a kyabakura, and now at a girls’ bar. His master, who also happens to be your master, has always told you that this was a natural reaction on his part. Having a secondary school certificate is important, after all. But Suo’s disapproval of your income sources, no matter how politely or subtly phrased, has always felt like it runs deeper than simple concern for your education.

Still, this has never stopped him from visiting you at your place of work, though he only tends to come by under the worst possible circumstances—tonight worse than any other.

When you see the three of them limping through the clamour and heat of the red light district—the neon glow of the street making the blood smeared across Suo’s face shine vibrantly—you entirely forget that you're on the clock. You chuck your sign onto the ground (3000¥ per hour! it reads) as you cut a path toward them, almost tripping in your stiletto heels. Your customer service voice gives way to your regular one, which is so outraged that it startles everyone around you.

“Suo, you motherfucker—are you trying to lose the only eye you have left?!”

Suo is unbothered. His smile is calm and deeply shameless as you approach him. It’s nothing like Nirei, who cringes at the furious look you give him, or Sakura, who looks like a deer caught in headlights when you round on him instead. Like he doesn’t know what to do at the fact that someone is worrying over him, and especially not when that person is wearing an extremely revealing evening gown. For a minute, you think he's going to bolt.

But Suo keeps him there, grip tight on his arm.

“Hi,” he says brightly, like there isn't blood all over his face and shoulder. “Are you busy? We might need to trouble you.”

“Of course I'm busy! I'm in the middle of a shift!” you fume at him. But you still extract Sakura from him, scruffing him by the neck before he can clam up and run. You pull him in the direction of your bar, and gesture for the other two to follow. “Hurry up before my manager sees you.”

Smuggling three delinquents into the washroom of a girls’ bar is not a skill you thought you'd ever need, but it is one that you've become an expert in. This is at least the third time you've done it. The Furin trio rarely ever loses fights, but they occasionally slip up in the part of the red light district that isn't controlled by Roppo-Ichiza. This is somewhat unavoidable, as Keyaki Street is a different beast from Keisei Street. It isn't just delinquents here, but bona fide criminals. “Like, actual fucking Yakuza,” you grouse at Suo for the millionth time. You wipe at the blood remaining on his face—most of it you've already rinsed off, staining the melamine sink with iron—and the paper towel in your hand blooms red.

“But these guys weren't Yakuza,” he says cheerfully.

“They still pulled weapons on you! Bladed weapons!”

“Mm… well, that's true. I'm sorry.”

You scowl at him. “No, you're not.”

“No, I'm not.” He’s still smiling. “In our defense, we didn't have much of a choice. They were about to do something terrible to an innocent person,” he says, and you deflate a little, because you know Suo can't stand to see injustice. This is something you love very dearly about him, and also a quality of his that constantly raises your blood pressure. But then you roll your eyes when he happily adds, “And in my defense, it’s all our Captain’s fault!”

“Oi!” Sakura yells from one of the stalls, where he’s sitting and holding a bag of ice to a knot on his head. “Wasn’t my fault we ended up fighting. They were practically beggin’ to have their asses kicked.”

“You did provoke them, Sakura,” Nirei says. He's in the other stall, trying to stay off his sprained ankle.

“Well, they were dangerous! Not like you wanted to just leave them alone either,” Sakura grumbles, and Nirei apologises, though Suo accurately points out there is no need for him to. After hearing this story, you can't help but agree, and you suppose you shouldn't have expected any differently. After three years at Furin, Sakura is no longer the type to pick fights for no reason. Whatever those guys were up to must have been pretty bad for him to start shit in unfamiliar territory.

Still. The red light district is what it is. Touts, street gangs, and Yakuza are constantly causing problems here, with violence of a scale and nature that Bofurin simply don't see on their own turf. Your street in particular makes someone like Endo look like a joke. “You should still learn to exercise some restraint,” you say to Sakura. “And you”—you give Suo a miserable look—“you know the area. You should have known better. At the very least, you should have called me for backup.”

“But you were on the clock,” Suo points out, and you frown. Despite having absolutely no need, you take out an alcohol wipe and swipe it over his cut. He winces.

“I'm still on the clock now,” you reply, voice dry, “and here you are, distracting me anyway. My boss is going to be on my ass about it if I don't bring in any customers tonight, you know.”

“We can be your customers,” Suo offers.

“You aren't old enough to drink!”

“Neither are you, yet you work here.” His gaze has turned a little sharp. His voice too. You blink, suddenly mollified.

“...okay. If each of you buys a drink after this, I’ll call us even.” Then you glance down at his changshan, which is sliced through, the pearly silk stained red at the shoulder. He’s insisted that the wound is unserious and said that he'd rather clean up his face first, and you're starting to question his priorities. “That is, if you don't have to go to the hospital after this.”

“I don't.”

“I don't know if I believe you.” You pull out some polysporin. “Come closer.”

Suo could do this on his own. His hands aren't incapacitated. But he humours you, as he's always humoured you, and allows you dab his cut with the antibiotic. You feel a little sentimental as you do it, and almost a little sad. Doing this reminds you of when he was a kid who had just started learning martial arts. Granted, he never got any real cuts back then, but sometimes he’d scrape his knees or his elbows or—god forbid—his face, and you would plaster bandaids all over him when he did. But none of those were real injuries.

More than anything, doing this reminds you of when he lost his eye. The state that he was in after the accident. The way his face was bandaged after the surgery. The texture of the gauze against your fingers when you asked to try swapping out the dressings for him.

If Suo notices the way your lip is trembling, he doesn't comment on it.

“You’re so mean—how come you never believe anything I say?” he asks. You press the gauze to his cut with more pressure than necessary, and he blinks. He opens his mouth again, but then the door rattles violently.

“Sorry!” you yell. “Washroom’s closed for cleaning!” You wince as you hear complaints in reply—you’ve been closed for half an hour!—and shoot Suo a sour look as the customer leaves. “I’m really risking it all for you three,” you remark.

“I'll make it up to you,” Suo says. “I'll stick around the whole night and buy as many drinks as you want. Your manager won't be able to hassle you about anything then.”

“No way. You're not wasting that much money on the red light district.” You frown. “Master will kill me if I let you piss away your inheritance like that.”

“I’m not wasting my money on the red light district. I'm wasting it on you.”

“Well, I'm employed at a girls’ bar, so when you waste money on me, you are in fact spending it on the red light district.”

“Then you should quit so I can spend as much money on you as I want.”

“Quit and then live on what income?” You set aside the first aid kit and grab some more paper towel. “Take off your shirt.”

“Oh? Right here? Right now?” His eye goes wide. “How forward.”

Sakura coughs very, very loudly from the stall. If you weren't so used to Suo saying this kind of thing just to mess with you, you'd probably do the same. In fact, you'd probably choke on your spit and die on the spot. But as it is, you only sigh and start unbuttoning Suo’s changshan, starting at the high collar. Any sentimentality or concern you previously felt is quickly drowned out by annoyance.

“Suo.”

“Don’t worry—I don't mind,” he adds. “I thought you'd never ask. I just didn't think it’d happen here. And so suddenly.”

“Don’t do that. I can't do this today.”

“Don’t do what?” he says innocently. He lets you slip his changshan off one shoulder. To your relief, the cut does look very shallow—he’s too quick for anything other than a bullet to land a serious hit on him, you guess—but you still swallow when you see it. It looks like he's bled a lot more than he probably actually has.

Or you hope so, anyway.

“Joke like that,” you reply after a moment. “It's very mean.”

“I’m not joking about anything.” You feel his eye on you as you start dabbing at all the red on his skin, the paper towel in your hands blotting crimson as if with ink. Your breath shakes as you study the wound. He lifts his hand, his knuckle brushing against your cheek. You smack it away, but he doesn't seem bothered. “I was being very serious,” he continues. “Quit working in the red light district and let me support you instead.”

“Suo,” you say, your voice flat, “there is no job you could qualify for on this planet that will let you earn more than what I'm making now. If anything, you should let me support you.”

“Ah,” he says brightly. “I get it now—you want me to be your trophy husband!”

Now you are choking on your spit and you do think you're dying. Sakura sounds like he's not doing much better—something bangs loudly against the washroom stall, and you assume it’s his forehead. Even Nirei is affected, not-so-subtly clearing his throat.

“I do not want you to be my trophy husband.”

“Just a regular husband, then?” he asks. “That’s alright. If I joined the Yakuza, I could make plenty of money. You could even stay at home if you wanted.”

“Suo you motherfucker you are not joining the fucking Yakuza! And I wouldn't be a stay at home wife!”

“Oh? You wouldn't want to be?”

“No, god! Do you know how much I could make if I scored a hostess gig at a high-end place? Why would I ever turn down that kind of money?!”

“Ah, so you want us to be dual income?”

“Of course I would want us to be dual income!”

“You could get a different job and we could still be dual income.”

“There’s no other job that would pay as well.”

Suo sighs, and your brow twitches. You've always been suspicious about why he disapproves of your choice in career. It’s not in his disposition to judge people, but sometimes you still worry that he's doing it to you.

“What,” you ask, “would you be so against marrying a hostess?”

“No, not at all. But I'd be worried if my spouse worked somewhere unsafe. What if you end up at a Yakuza-owned club?”

You pause, startled at the abruptly earnest tone of his voice. Suddenly you feel guilty.

“Oh… well, I wouldn’t work at a Yakuza-owned club.”

“Hm… then I guess it's fine.” Suo nods, as if arriving at a decision. “We’ll get married, we’ll be dual income, and neither of us will work for the Yakuza.”

“Yes, exactly. We’ll get married, we’ll be dual income, and neither of us—” Your eyes go wide as you realize what you're saying. You feel yourself flushing. “Wait.”

“What? Is there a problem?”

“Suo.”

“Don’t tell me you're going to change your mind now. That would just be mean.”

“I'm being mean?” you ask, flabbergasted.

“Well, yes. You don't think it would hurt if you changed your mind about marrying me? And so soon after agreeing, too.”

You stare at him in disbelief. You have a number of possible retorts that cross your mind, and somehow you pick the least relevant one: “You can't trick someone into marrying you.”

“Then can I trick you into dating me?”

“Suo! I said don't do that!”

“Don’t do what?”

“Joke about that kind of thing!”

“I'm not joking about anything.”

“Yes you are? You don't actually want to date me. Stop saying that you do!”

Suo leans in. He stares at you, his gaze distinctly vulpine. It's very attractive, and also intimidating, and you should be used to it by now, but your heart rate ticks up anyway. You swallow thickly as his thumb glides along your cheek again, your skin scorching beneath his fingertips. You forget to bat his hand away this time.

“You’re so mean,” he repeats, voice lilting, “how come you never believe anything I say?”

He's baiting you. He's obviously baiting you, and you consider for a moment whether you want to bite.

Flirting with Suo is never a good idea—you can never tell whether he means to charm you or make fun of you when you do it. Sometimes it feels like both. Occasionally it feels mean. More often than not, you like to entertain it. But you can't right now. His shirt’s stained with such a bright red that it keeps distracting you, just like the blood he's left all over the washroom sink. Your manager will be furious about the mess, and also about the fact that you're giving first aid to three delinquents while you're on the clock. You think they'd go broke before they could spend enough money here to appease her, were she to discover the four of you. You might even lose your job. Then you wouldn't be able to support yourself anymore, let alone Suo, who cracks jokes as easily about being your trophy husband as he does about being Leonardo DiCaprio.

If he makes one more joke about marrying you, you'll probably throw up and cry.

“You're not being very gentlemanly right now,” you finally point out. He raises a brow.

“No?”

“No. I'd even say you're being a menace, actually. Doing a very bad job of”—you almost laugh as you say this, because you've heard this speech so many times—“engaging with my feelings. Not being supportive at all. Really falling off the staircase to adulthood, you know.”

Suo studies you. Something complicated passes through his eye before he pulls away, his expression now back to normal. It's deceptive how innocent he looks.

“Sorry,” he says. “You’re right. I’ll play nice.”

“No, you won't,” you retort, and Suo smiles at you, not replying. But he does give you a break. You finish cleaning up the cut without incident, although you do get flecks of blood on your evening gown, which you hope won't be too noticeable against the black satin. You bemoan the lost cause of Suo's changshan too—made of Suzhou silk, a gift from your master—and silently make a note to buy him a replacement sometime.

You're in the middle of buttoning up his shirt when the door clicks and swings open. Met face to face with your coworker, you freeze up.

Your stage name leaves her mouth in an angry bark. “What are you doing? I told you you're not supposed to be having sex with customers here, you should be doing that someplace—” She stops, evidently spotting the blood on Suo’s shirt, and then the other two individuals locked up in here with you, one of whom is blushing violently and looks to be on the verge of dying from embarrassment. Beneath your hands, you feel Suo’s body go stiff too.

“Oh,” she says before either of them can comment. “It’s just your delinquent boyfriend and his buddies.” Suo waves at her, and she nods back before squinting at the sink. “Are you going to clean that up?”

“Yes,” you say quickly. “Please don't tell our boss.”

“Have I ever ratted you out?” she asks. “Just get out of here soon. People do have to piss, you know.” Then she stops, looking at Suo with a dubious expression. “And make sure your boyfriend doesn't die.”

You're too tired to correct her on the nature of your relationship. “I've been trying,” you say, and she gives you a sympathetic look before retreating. You hear her laughing with a customer about people fooling around in the washroom, and I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, sir, and could you please go downstairs while I clean up. You’re so relieved, you nearly fall to your knees. A calloused hand touches your back as you rub your temples.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Suo says quietly—sincerely—and instead of saying no, you're not, you reply, “I know. I’m sorry too.”

Suo’s always hated your job.

He’s always hated your job, your boyfriends, your apartment, and a lot of other things about your life that Sakura doesn’t have any business prying into. And it's just as well. Sakura also hates your shitty job, and your shitty boyfriends, and considering that you live in the same shitty building as him, he isn't a fan of your rental situation either. Nirei’s too polite to say anything about it, but Sakura can tell that he disapproves as well. It’s not like any of them are living the most comfortable lives either—Sakura has personally been living from shithole to shithole, mostly alone, ever since his parents passed—but your lifestyle does make them all feel poorly.

You're just a very easy person to like. And it's very easy to want nice things for you. So Sakura gets it, how Suo feels about you.

What he doesn't quite get is how Suo acts about you.

One thing he’s learned over the years is that Suo is very good at reading people. Sometimes he understands Sakura better than Sakura understands himself, and he can convince Sakura to do things which he himself didn't think were possible for him to do. He's done the same with Nirei, and about half the other people in their grade, and at least a third of the guys in Bofurin. It’s frankly a terrifying skill. But Suo never uses it with you—not to get you to change jobs, or boyfriends, or even apartments.

At first Sakura thought that you were just immune to Suo’s tactics, but he's recently come to realise that Suo simply gets too emotional about you to know how to convince you of anything. He’s even emotional enough to get kind of petty and a little mean with you, which is something that Sakura has only witnessed from Suo during fights. Really bad fights.

It’s terribly uncomfortable, especially when you’re clearly head over heels for Suo.

Sakura doesn't have any business prying into your personal problems. Though truthfully, he’d be happy to thrash some random assholes for you anyway, if that would fix your heartbreak. (He's already done this to at least one of your exes, and it worked shockingly well.) The problem is, Suo is not a random asshole and Sakura isn't sure that you'd want him thrashed in the first place. But it's just fucking painful watching the two of you act like this around each other, so he ends up pulling Suo aside after you kick them out of the girls’ bar, scowling.

Suo looks at him, surprised. “Sakura? What's the matter?”

He doesn't mince words. “How come you were being such a dick to your friend?”

Nirei goes stiff. “Sakura,” he says in his panicked ‘why are you trying to pick a fight now’ voice, “where is this coming from? I don't think Suo was being rude…” But Sakura can tell, as Nirei’s finishing his own sentence, that he's second-guessing himself.

“No,” Suo replies. “I was being a bit terrible, wasn't I?” There’s no humour in either his words or his face, but the corner of his mouth lifts. He actually looks endeared. “I'm surprised you noticed, Sakura.”

“I mean”—Sakura feels himself going red, embarrassed at just the memory of how you looked at Suo; first so worried, then painfully fond, and then like you were going to burst into tears right there in the washroom and ask him to hold you, as if you were in a horrible getsuku drama—“it was kinda hard not to.”

Suo nods. “I suppose it’s natural to be sensitive to the feelings of someone you like.”

Heat floods his face. “I don't like her!”

“Did I say you did?” Suo’s mouth curls when Sakura can't answer. “Don’t be embarrassed. She's a very easy person to like.”

Sakura tries his hardest to ignore Suo—which should be easy, because Suo lies randomly and pointlessly all the time, whenever he thinks it's funny—and says, “If she's an easy person to like, how come you act like you don't like her at all?”

“Was I acting like that? Or was she acting like it was impossible for someone to like her?” Sakura stops. Suo gives him a long look, then smiles. “You would know how difficult it can be to accept being liked, Sakura. And how long it can take to understand that there are people who want to support you unconditionally.”

Sakura opens his mouth once, twice. A third time. Nirei sighs. The two of them watch as Suo—rather than walking in the direction of the subway—steps over to a vending machine and buys a bottle of oolong tea.

“Are you going to wait for her shift to finish?” Nirei asks.

“Mm, I think so.” Suo glances down at his ankle. “But you should go home, Nire-kun. You can’t fight like that. In case those guys come back here, I mean.” He opens the bottle, takes a sip. “They had bladed weapons. It would be bad if you risked it.”

Nirei glances at the entrance to your bar, worried. “But…”

Sakura understands without Nirei finishing his sentence. The security at your bar is terrible, and plenty of people like to exploit that. It was Nirei who noticed a group men eyeing you before anyone else did, following you all the way from Keisei Street to your place of work. And sure, Suo kicked the shit out of them in the end, did much worse to them than vice versa—but who knows if there aren't more of them.

Suo hates your job. All three of them do.

“It’s okay,” Sakura says. “I'm sure the two of us will be enough.”

“...I'll ask Tsubaki if he's free,” Nirei finally relents. “And I'll text Kiryu and Tsugeura too.”

“Thanks, Nire-kun.”

Suo gets a bottle of ramune after Nirei leaves, passes it to Sakura. Tsubaki comes by later, still in his pole outfit, with several pieces of taiyaki for them to share—I’m always snacky after dancing, he explains—and the three of them loiter in front of your bar until four in the morning. Tsubaki asks questions about you in a tone that has Sakura wanting to crawl into an alleyway just to hide, and Suo deflects masterfully with questions about Tsubaki’s new boyfriend. The guys from earlier don't show up. Maybe the sight of Roppo-Ichiza’s top fighter scares them off.

You're surprised to see them there when you emerge a little later. You give Tsubaki a happy but perplexed look as he hugs you.

“Tsubaki? What are you doing here?”

“Keeping these two company,” he replies. “And I wanted to say hi, of course. You should come by the club sometime, you know! I haven't seen you in forever.”

“Sure! That would be nice, but…” You turn to Sakura and Suo, puzzled. “Why are you guys still here?”

Sakura, on instinct, nearly recounts the whole evening to you—about the men tailing you, about how they got into a fight, about the kind of things they said they'd do once they caught you—but Suo answers first.

“Troubling you again,” is all he says. “It’s fine since your shift is over now, right?”

You give the two of them a long, curious look. For a moment, you look worried, but you're eventually disarmed by Suo’s expression.

“I guess it's fine,” you reply. You sound so happy. Suo’s gaze goes soft, and Sakura has to force himself not to look away. “Let's hurry up and go home.”

You smile at them, and it's the kind of smile that makes it very easy to like you. The kind of smile that makes it natural to want nice things for you. The kind of smile that would make anyone emotional, even if they're normally very controlled. It makes something in Sakura squeeze tightly, all knotted up and painful.

He’s starting to understand why Suo acts the way he does around you.

END

this wasn't meant to be a love triangle, my apologies…

this was also meant to be a very short piece (like 500w lol), but I kept thinking about what suo’s backstory might be, and why he was so comfortable in the red light district in the manga, and what these guys might realistically act like in an aged up, romantic context. that all coalesced into this very bizarre fic LOL. I'm not sure how it'll land, but I hope someone out here enjoyed it! I would like to write more about this triangle (+ nirei) but I'm not sure what the level of interest would be, or if it'll even make sense with the manga. I guess we’ll see eventually!

in any case, thank you for reading!! <3

[pfhwrittes]

have a tradie!141 thing that i wrote straight into my tumblr drafts to feel a rush of adrenaline.

tags/warnings: brief allusions to past transphobia (non explicit), food mention, smoking.

pairing: none

characters: kyle "gaz" garrick, john "soap" mactavish, simon "ghost" riley, john price, transmasc!reader.

summary: you're the new guy on site figuring out where you fit with your new work crew Tradie Force 141.

--

"not to be rude, but aren't you a bit old to be an apprentice?"

it's a phrase that's haunted you for the last year on every job site you've ever been on with your previous company. you're aware that you're at least 10 years older than the other apprentices on site at the best of times but there's no easy way to explain why you're such a late bloomer. not that you'll be spilling your guts to any of the blokes you work with. you'd learned that lesson early on.

you won't lie, you're a bit disappointed that even after joining Tradie Force 141 you're still getting asked that question so you flash a tight smile at the handsome plasterer - kyle - and mutter something about being a late bloomer around the mouthful of sandwich you're eating on your break.

"sorry mate, i don't mean it like that. 's just usually our apprentices are a bit younger than you. proper wet behind the ears y'know? can't find the business end of a trowel and all that." kyle explains before taking a slurp out of his mug of tea.

"aye, they're deid keen an' aw. practically jizz their wee pants when they see their first wage packet." johnny adds with a chuckle from where he's sprawled on one of the three uncomfortable chairs around the tiny table. "i know i definitely did when i was 16."

"mate, you still do!" kyle laughs "oi! mind my tea!"

you shake your head as kyle nimbly dodges johnny's poorly thrown empty bottle saving his tea from spilling on the grimy lino of the portakabin price had designated as the break room for the site.

"i'm gonna go see what price wants." you say after you swallow your last bite and chuck your rubbish in the bin next to you.

"aye, nae bother."

"see you in a bit mate."

you step out of the relative cool of the cabin and you pull your hi-vis over your shoulders so you can quite literally follow your nose to search out either price or simon where you know they'll be smoking near the site manager's office.

"reckon the lad needs a proper nickname, ye ken?" you hear johnny say before the door swings shut behind you. you try ignore the way your stomach lurches as you recall some of the more awful nicknames you'd endured before joining this crew as you cross the flattened dirt to join the pair huddled around a sand filled bucket.

"olright?"

simon's the first to greet you as price has his mobile jammed up to his ear and he's scowling at whatever the poor sod at the end of the phone is saying.

you nod in greeting and price rolls his eyes and mouths "twat" before humming briefly to show he's still listening to his phone call. simon offers you his half smoked cigarette and you shake your head to decline.

"suit y'self." simon says with a shrug before taking a last drag and flicking the still lit cigarette into the bucket of butts. "gonna take a slash." he announces before wandering around the corner of the portakabin that houses price's office.

you fiddle on your phone watching kyle's new tiktok he posted on the Tradie Force account while you wait for price to wrap up his phone call. it takes a few minutes before price's voice interrupts your endless scrolling, who knew reading all the thirsty comments would be so entertaining.

"need something?" price asks around a cigarette, his shrewd blue gaze watching as you scuff the toe of your steel toes on the ground.

"just want to know where you want me next." you shrug casually making sure to shove your phone back in the pocket of your trousers.

"is that right?" price sounds amused and you enjoy the way his eyes crinkle briefly before his phone starts ringing again and he groans. "fucks sake. go find simon while i take this, there's a good lad."

you nod at him and tamp down on a grin as you hear him answer with an exasperated "what now?! can't a man have a fucking cigarette in peace?!" as you turn away to start hunting down the resident plumber.

[destielbeatlesminibang]

Title: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Author: eyesofatragedy67

Artist: witchy-worm

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary: Cas's deal with the Empty broke Dean's heart. And no matter what they tried, they couldn't get him out.

They did manage to take care of Chuck, though, and with him out of the picture, Dean finally hung up his gear and built a life for himself. Or whatever passes for life when the one person you want to share it with most is out of reach.

But Dean's got his bar, Charlie at his side, and his guitar to keep him company on the nights memories pull him under.

And he hopes against hope that someday Cas will return to him.

Tags: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Charlie Bradbury, Dean Winchester & Original Female Character, Past Major Character Death, Temporary Character Death, Canon Divergent After Episode 15x18, Fix It Fic, No Rebar Was Used In the Making of This Fic, The Empty Deal, Songfic, Dean Winchester POV, Non-linear Storytelling, Flashbacks, Nightmare Containing Non-Graphic Suicide, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dean Winchester Needs a Hug, Dean Winchester/Castiel First Kiss, Cas Gets By With A Little Help From His Friends, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Castiel/Dean Winchester, Loosely Inspired By Across the Universe, Finale What Finale

Posting on June 26

Keep reading for a short excerpt.

Arms laden with bags, Dean carefully closes the hood of Baby's trunk and makes his way to the bunker entrance. The lock sticks a little as he turns his key, and he makes a mental note to get some lead shavings so he can loosen it back up.

As he steps inside, he hears laughter echoing off the walls and quietly sets the bags down so he can have a moment to himself, a moment to just enjoy his loved ones taking a well-deserved break after the insanity of Michael and Belphegor and a fucking zombie apocalypse.

He can see Sam's mane of L’oréal commercial hair tossing as he uproariously laughs at something Cas said. Dean doesn't catch it, but whatever it is probably isn't meant to have Sam giggling like the teenage girl he is.

The look on Cas's face is one Dean has a strong affection for. That confused puppy head tilt that is sometimes genuine bafflement, but other times his way of indulging his favorite humans. Dean would give a lot to keep looks like that on Cas's face. Fuck knows he's been the cause of enough sadness and disappointment for the guy. Seeing him happy, at home, is everything to Dean.

But he can't tell Cas that. He can never tell Cas that he wants him to have every ounce of happiness he deserves.

Because he can't lose him. Dean can't lose the goddamn love of his life to happiness. And how fucked up is that?

So he takes these moments as he gets them. He treasures every single fucking smile, every small laugh, every gentle touch… and he doesn't say the words that have been scorching him from the inside for so damn long.

Some day that deal Cas made – the one Dean isn't supposed to know about – is going to come out in the wash, and Dean is going to lose one of the most vitally important people in his life.

But not today, dammit.

Dean smiles down at them, quietly chuckling as Jack walks into the room with a look so similar to Cas's that it's hard to see Lucifer in the kid now.

Leaning on the banister railing, Dean just watches them for a bit. There's nothing perishable in the bags, so there's no reason he can't just sit back and soak in this scene of his chosen family doing normal family shit.

The love he sees there, and the love he's hiding, are weights in his chest that he's not willing to give up. He'll fucking fight for them; he'll blow up the goddamn world if it means he gets to hold onto this.

He swipes away the stupid man tear that’s trailing down his face and focuses on the now. Because moments like this are what keep him going. This ragtag bunch of idiots are his motivation.

He'll be damned if he's gonna lose them. Even if it means he loses a bit of his heart in the process.

[spnangelbang]

doors unlocked and open

Author: sidewinder (@hawkland) Artist: fluffsnake (@fluffsnake) Rating: Teen and Up Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Featured characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, The Empty, Jack Kline, Benjamin, Meg Masters, Chuck Shurley, Death Featured relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Castiel & Jack Kline, Castiel & Meg Masters, Dean Winchester & Death Length: 12,000 words Tags:  Post-Episode: s01e13 Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye, Episode Fix-It: s15e20 Carry On, Post-Canon Fix-It, First Kiss, Jack Kline as God, The Empty just wants a nap, Non-Linear Narrative

Summary:  While Jack is now God, revamping Heaven for the human souls under his care, Cas has become the new ruler and embodiment of the Empty. He is content with this fate until Jack brings upsetting news: Dean has passed away unexpectedly.

And Dean is not finding peace, not even in Jack’s improved afterlife.

Instead, Dean has discovered a way to traverse the Axis Mundi to visit other universes, alternative Earths, and has been meddling in their fates. Dean tells Jack that it’s because he’s looking for his “family,” but Jack feels he’s really just looking for one individual: Castiel.

Castiel must confront Dean and the consequences of his confession, or else Jack may need to take corrective actions. But will their reunion be enough to bring Dean peace? Or is there still some greater destiny the hunter must fulfill, even in death…

Or perhaps, through death itself.

Link to Fic | Link to Art

[bobwess]

AMA (Down to Agincourt addition) I am once again bored, so here are some more (aka many) questions. As that anon from last year who asked for the elevator pitch, I am so glad I did and gave DtA another shot!!! When did you first start reading it?

When did you first realize how hooked you where with DtA? Was it from moment one? Was there a spesific scene?

Fav of the original side characters?

Fav the original main characters?

Coolest concept that DtA introduced into the SPN world?

If there could be a in-depth prequel written for any of the characters, who's past would you be the most interested in exploring?

If you had to, what would you ranking be of the books?

How many times have you read it all the way through?

What bit of foreshadowing (if any) did you miss the first time around that really jumped out at you on a reread?

Did reading DtA help inspire your own The End fic?

What of the many burning questions currently unanswered do you want answered first?

What's the most interesting non-SPN related fact that DtA taught you?

If normal SPN team free will read/watch/found out about the DtA what do you think their reactions would be?

What's a scene/interaction that still scratches the brain itch?

Have you read The Forever King spin-off series? If so, what are your thoughts?

Yes!! Muahahahaha. Changing the order a bit.

Coolest concept that DtA introduced into the SPN world?

The Winchester House, everything about it, and its entire relationship to Nate. 

The complex rules and magical constraints/potential of metaphysical contamination.

Honorable mention: Lucifer’s plans with the Gods.

But also actually: The Winchester House.

What bit of foreshadowing (if any) did you miss the first time around that really jumped out at you on a reread?

(spoilers) 

The set up for the church paradox. 

Cas, post fall, fever dream, almost dying locked in that cabin bedroom, the unnamed goddess calling him in spirit yet somehow physically into that Church.

Dean, post infection, fever dream, almost dying locked in that cabin bedroom, Cas accidentally calling him in spirit yet somehow physically into that Church. 

All of time and space converging. Dean is the impossible, he was never supposed to be in this universe, Cas accidentally binding them together with those sigils, allowing Cas to connect with Dean in the first place, and also making Dean invisible to Lucifer while he’s physically in that cabin, which he technically is, thus allowing him to shield Lia and thus her able to get him into that church where he and Cas manage to do something and erase the kids' (and both of their) minds. 

There is so much meat there, and every time you re-read there is more. There is so much cool foreshadowing with ALL the players involved, and I literally put together another thread in that during EVERY read-through. 

Someone once asked me my thoughts on what we know happened in the church and it got to 19 pages in google before I had to cut it off pending another re-read of book 4. 

Fav of the original side characters?

I can not separate Nate and the Winchester House, so--

Fav the original main characters?

Vera by a slim margin over Joe.

When did you first start reading it?

It’s hard to remember just because the last three years are a fuzzy mess, but I’m pretty sure I started reading it late 2021/early 2022. I am a fast reader so I demolished it VERY fast. 

When did you first realize how hooked you where with DtA? Was it from moment one? Was there a specific scene? 

After Cas and Dean started properly working together in book 1 I was pretty on board, but once they told Chuck and started their trips into Kansas City, that was when it really settled in and I knew I was about to read the entire thing.

If there could be a in-depth prequel written for any of the characters, who's past would you be the most interested in exploring?

Joe or Teresa. Honestly though I’d really like to see the case Dean worked down by the border. 

If you had to, what would you ranking be of the books?

This is a slim AF margin too, because they’re all so good. But I think it’d be 3,1,4,2 So “A Thousand Lights in Space” “Map of the World” “Game of God” “It’s the Stars That Lie” But it's real neck and neck for the last three.

How many times have you read it all the way through?

Books one and two I have read cover to cover 6 or 7 times, three I probably read a couple more. Book four I’ve actually only read completely cover to cover once, but I have read a lot of it out of order a couple more times. I’m trying to get my fics to a bit more of a stable point so I can re-read it again in case I go off the rails hyper-fixation on it again. I’ll probably read it twice in a row when I read it this next time.

Did reading DtA help inspire your own The End fic?

No, it hindered it greatly. The world building in DtA is very contrary to the plot I have for my endverse fic, and it took a while for my brain to reset and be like “Nope, this is what I’m doing, put that out of your mind.” If I hadn’t read DtA, you’d already have my Endverse fic, because I started writing it before reading that, and had to stop work for straight up like a year. 

What of the many burning questions currently unanswered do you want answered first?

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED INSIDE THE DAMN CHURCH!?!?!?

What's the most interesting non-SPN related fact that DtA taught you?

Graphene and everything about it.

If normal SPN team free will read/watch/found out about the DtA what do you think their reactions would be?

I think none of them would have any idea what to do with it. Cas would therefore not have much outward expression, Sam would be incredibly awkward and only a little insulted he isn’t in it, and Dean would be 10/10 defensive AF. 

What's a scene/interaction that still scratches the brain itch?

The Winchester Hou- Cas accidentally calling Dean when he’s using Allison as a conduit for the kids in Ichabod, and subsequently their interactions after Cas figures out what happened. 

Close seconds are Cas and Dean’s interaction after Dean gets bit in the courtyard, Cas searching Kansas City with his mind after Dean touched The Ick™. 

And yes actually the retelling of Nate’s interactions with The Winchester House.

Have you read The Forever King spin-off series? If so, what are your thoughts?

I have not read it yet, I must at some point. I know I’ll like it.

-

Also I'm glad my pitch worked and you ended up giving it another go!!

[girlcrushart]

I recently saw a collection of great pics of Jessie Andrews that were part of a piece about her success and career. In it, she says "You can come from anywhere and do anything you want (if you want it bad enough)." And it seems like she did just that. From pornstar to model to DJ to designer, and now CEO of 4 different brands, she's definitely doing whatever she wants. And while she has definitely moved on from her days in porn, it's not something she avoids talking about—all seems like part of her journey. So, I don't feel guilty about also posting her on @katrotica today, because there really are lots of really excellent nude pics of Jessie available on the internet, so I just had to take advantage of that. There's also plenty of non-nude ones, including this one which obviously had to be the first choice because chucks. I've got more saved up as well, as I have a feeling this won't be the last you'll see of Jessie on my blog. Today's girlcrushart guardian is Jessie Andrews.

[destieltaggedfic]

Canon Divergence - Part 13

I'm back from my mini-holiday and I haven't had a lot of time to read new fic so its back to regular posting.

virga(e) – shineforthee   Ao3

Canonverse AU.  Drifting after John died on a hunt and with Sam still at college, Dean feels the need to go to Death Valley, expecting plenty of ghosts that will need to be dealt with.  Instead, he meets something that is not a ghost.  Castiel doesn’t know what he is, all he knows is that he hasn’t been able to leave the desert since he appeared there 26 years ago.

Word Count: 72k                              Graphic Sexual Acts

Windows – someonetoanyone   Ao3

Set S12 AU.  In the aftermath of Dean’s death with Amara, Cas is taking care of Sam and sometimes that is the only thing holding the angel together, but occasionally he slips and unleashes destruction in his grief, especially as Sam slowly starts to heal over the months.  Meanwhile Amara has Dean visiting people in heaven until it’s the right time for him to go back to earth.

Word Count: 20k                              No Sex

Do I Have To Say The Words - Tess_Lucetram   Ao3

Set S6 AU.  After an alternate civil war NOT involving Crowley, Dean and Cas slip into a relationship.  Sam lets slip that he worked out the handprint was actually an angelic mating claim and that the 2 are married in the eyes of heaven.  Just for a bit extra, while consummating their bond Dean gets some shiny new wings.

Word Count: 23k                              Non-Graphic Sex

One Drop, when What You Need is the Ocean – Baileys   Ao3

Set S12 AU.  Cas at first was missing for a few weeks and then Jimmy’s corpse was found, leaving Dean a wreck until Eileen happens to find him.  Now his grace is practically non-existent and both he and Dean are having strange dreams, which is making Cas remember the things that Naomi had wiped from his brain so many times.

Word Count: 47k                              Non-Graphic Sex

Chuck’s Vision - TheWritingPrisoner AO3

Set S15ish and S12. Chuck wakes up Sam and Dean from a vision of a possible future. A future where because they all didn’t stick together Jack was able to manipulate people and events from his birth in order to become god. Chuck also takes the time to point out a few characters flaws in the Winchesters and how they should fix them.

Word Count: 13k                                              No Sex

[tookishcombeferre]

I give you three mini-sodes from each of the three Winslow children in one chapter! I have no particular bond to James and Clio as being crush buddies. But, I love Clio, and I wanted to feature her for a moment. So, she is briefly mentioned in a flashback in this chapter. However, as I mention in the author's note, I do love the idea of these two having a wee little middle school crush on each other. They've known each other a long time. I think it's cute. I also just really love Clio, Zooey, Zandar, and Vivian so expect me to make any excuse to have them show up in my stories. Of the RPA specific friends, they're my favorite. Don't have any particular reason why, but I do like them.

These are super random tangents. XD Lots more bits and bobs of backstory and lore that I've chucked in in various places throughout the chapter. It gets mostly(?) tied up at the end of the fic. But, bare in mind, this is also a prequel for a story that I have drafted to be, I think now, 40 chapters and counting. So, I can't solve everything for you yet. I've had to edit a few things on and off here for the last couple of days. I have the ending of this whole fic like almost completely done, but the chapter in between this and the ending is non-existent. So ... you will likely be waiting a while for the ending. But, I promise! I promise it will be worth it!

Also, much thanks for your grace with my author's note and my delays in posting. This Christmas is not one free of grief for me. And, I may or may not have been channeling some of that into my writing. I'd kindly ask that people refrain from projecting weird intentions on the characters that simply aren't there because a solid lot of this chapter was me reflecting on how I cared for my late grandfather into the end of his life despite the fact that no one is dying in the chapter. My grandfather was *my* Cedric, and really more my Fionn, in many ways. He was my second father. So, please, don't make it weird. I'm like begging y'all don't make it weird. Thanks y'all. You're the best. Cheers, Pip💚💜

[wildglitch]

A long Side tangent for the WIZ!Spidey x DCU AU

A longish post on what I think happened to the other dimension travelers. This is gonna be semi canon with the other heros! Timeline I sometimes mention. This means some of what I say is canon, some might be subject to change, while others I have decided to write total bs for.

And YK what the best part is? You get to figure out which one is which :D

Since this is gonna be focusing on a lot of other characters that aren't Peter, this is gonna be a bit longer so the characters can get at least one paragraph to them.

This is mostly gonna be off the top of my head since I only know what happens to Loki, T'challa and Bruce. The others I'm gonna figure out as we go, so we are doing this together

Anyways- let's start.

-Ok so lets break this into sections

Main canon: the one every post is talking about unless I say otherwise. Yk, the main au

Other Heros: the au where I add characters that didn't show up in the show, but canonically they do exist in the main MCU timeline so theoretically they could also survive. Yk, the Daredevil au I wrote a bit about where everyone dies, this is if they live

Absolut BS: Is there gonna be bs in the other sections? Yes. Is there gonna be anything serious in this one? Absolutely not. This is for those sweet non canon MCU characters. I try to stick to canon as much as possible, but sometimes I get an idea so good I wanna add it, but refuses cause I gotta lay in the bed I made for myself (it's fine lol). This is for stuff we know aren't canon or are very heavily implied not to be in the MCU. Yk, for funsies, (and cause team red is missing its degenerate, yes Im weak Im sorry! Deadpool you still aint canon to this until your movie comes out! You too Logan!)

With those out of the way, lets start of with the

Main Canon

-So, starting off simple are the people on the ship. T'achalla in my opinion, looking at the movies, is weaker than Peter. And since Peter dies in most of his crashes if there is no interference, the answer is clear to see. After all, the black guy always dies first :^

...MOVING ON-

No, uhh, to not just leave it like that cause, yes, it's sad- I like to think that if he dies then his ancestors and powers let him transcend a bit to the point of minor godhood. Meaning that if there were ever a godly meeting the avatars had to attend to, Peter would be in for a big surprise

-Scott, wtf happened to you bro-

He survives due to the fact he had the cloak of levitation, he has no clue what happened and due to his lower weight, gets blown away by the wind, never to be seen again. So sad

...anyways he ended up in a box-

No clue how he got there. He just knows that one minute he was disoriented as hell in the sky, the next he's stuck in some crate in some magic labyrinth with no hope of rescue. Long story short, he's stuck there for many, many months.

Scott: How Am I Still Alive!?

-Bruce is the Hulk when he gets chucked into the DCU, he's also at an old abandoned military base...why are there people here?

Ya so, apparently the abandoned base he was Hulking out at against a bunch of Zombies, wasn't so abandoned in the DCU. In Fact it's one of, if not the most top secret base there is in the U.S military. So imagine with me, this X foot tall green beast appears out of nowhere and is in some sort of rampage at this super secure military base. You're welcome, I just put Bruce on the Villains list. I can see a few JL members or maybe some YJ kids showing up and dealing with him. And since we know that Hulk is sentient enough to make friends and enemies, Hulk is sent to some top of the line prison while Bruce is unconscious in the back seat. The JL try to interrogate him, but they only get vage half formed sentences about being weak (not a good look) people (Valkyrie, his best bro, is very much missed) and a mission (protect spider...Batman filed that one away for later)

-Bucky...Ha! No

I've proven to myself that I like his character enough to make him important to Peter's Character and the Plot (since when is there plot-) so Ima save him for another post.

-Thor (+Rocket and Groot)

These 3 didn't get split up, Surprisingly. They end up traveling through Africa (yes, the whole thing) trying to find their way back. Thor in his depressive state, keeps fighting and trying to find a way to his brother, since he could tell that whatever happened to them, it happened because of Loki.

Rocket and Groot are just there, since they're aliens who have never been to Earth before, they are just treating it like that. Though they do know something happened and they aren't really in the same place as before, they aren't struggling as much as the Earth natives. Thor is also having an easier time, but he keeps forgetting he isn't well known here. It's actually a bit refreshing.

Think of it like a road trip DnD adventure as they travel through Africa then Europe then Asia, trying to find his brother but having no clue where to go. Saving people and gaining a sort of reputation as “That nice aussie that saves people'' alongside “The raccoon and Groot” (Everyone loves Groot)

Rocket Is a good dad and is just there protecting Groot and scamming people. And Groot discovers the internet. They continue to save people because that's what they did with their family, so they will continue to do that even if they can tell it's just the two of them again.

-Loki, my God…you sneaky shit-

When I tell you, Loki dropped in the middle of a league meeting. Im telling you, he dropped in the MIDDLE OF A LEAGUE MEETING! JL Light, JL Dark, YJ, the Titans, literally everyone was there! Why? 1. The league has a yearly meeting where they try to get every superhero team and hero esc people in the room so they can touch base. 2. Loki's magic…scared the hell out of them. The meeting was really soon and all of a sudden they get a really strong magic signature tearing reality apart? Yeah, they are gonna move the meeting up by a week to see what the heck is going on. Only for this British fuck to drop onto the table just ozzing out the energy they where Looking for. Yeah, you can bet all hell broke loose. 

Loki gets locked in a cell on the tower as they try to figure out who he is, but they have absolutely no experience with his realitys magic so they can't get anything off of him. Some of the more godly inclined (Captain Marvel) can tell that he's a god from another universe, but comes to the conclusion that it's best to just let things play out. 

Loki:...

CM:...

Loki: you’re quite the interesting child

CM: nOPE! You’re on your own. Good luck with that.

The hero's try interrogating him, trying to find out what he wants, and Loki is just like “nuh uh” and is just enjoying his time in his cell like the chaos god he is. Obviously he's playing all of them and getting info off of every single one of them, figuring out slowly where the other people could be and sending Peter to investigate the leads. Could he escape? Absolutely, he has walked to the kitchen more times than he cares to mention. Will he leave? No, he is in the most strategically useful place at the moment so he will stay there screwing with Batman until the League get bored of interrogating him. There are moments where they think he means no harm, and while that is true, it also means they might kick him from the tower, and he can't have that. Besides, scaring the Flash in front of everyone to keep his danger status is just so much fun.

And that everyone that should be in the Main Canon, onto

Canon Divergents: Other Heros.

Ok, so I like to think, personally, that everyone on this list died a horrible gruesome death before the episode started. But I can tell that some people like to keep them alive, and what is this if not just us having fun right? So this is a little “what if '' of the “what if ''. I don't know why they weren't in the episode, maybe they left, maybe they thought they were dead, maybe they were on another mission, who knows, you choose. But like I said, this is for fun so I’ll let you lil’ brains figure it out.

Lets start of with

-Kamala Khan. Ok so with this, Ima play with the timeline again. We never get confirmation if she blipped or not, but I don't think so(correct me if I'm wrong). So looking at her age I’d say she's around 16? In the year 2024 (holy shit thats this year-) so in 2018 when the blip/ the episode happened she would have been 10-11

You see my vision? Little 10 year old Kamala was possibly one of the youngest kids of the group, so her getting chucked into the DCU can only land her in one place. Foster care. You can make the argument that months of zombies made her jaded and able to survive the apocalypse and thus the streets considering I gave her the bangles. But I honestly think she was found right away and protected by everyone because of her age no matter the fact she has the bangle. She’s so small, it doesn't even fit her right. I think she's still a sweet, excitable little girl that is traumatized, but spent most of her time at the base being protected and cheering the others up.

 So, her being this excitable and happy gets placed into many foster homes. But she also has trauma and issues so the family realizing she's not an “easy” kid sends her back, moving her around a lot. I can totally see Peter actually finding her but the only thing keeping him from getting to her is the constant address changes and his lack of funds. 

-Darcy Lewis is truly in her 2 broke girls era as she takes the Identity of “Max” and starts working at a shitty Cafe.

-Moon Knight system

Remember how I said that only Jake was present for the Zombie Apocalypse? Well-

M: 8 MONTHS!?

S: Where are we!

M: 8 months!

S: What happened?

M: 8. Months.

S: Why weren't we here! Wait as second we- who are you 2?!

M: 8. Months…

S: Ahhhhhhhhh

J: *end me now* ( o_o)

Ya so instead of them trying to find the others, the 3 of them are actually trying to learn how to live with each other. The multiple Identities and accents are throwing Peter off

-Barton children

Ok Ima rapid fire this

Lila: somehow ends up with the arrows and being her fathers daughter, shows them up. Artimist likes her a lot

Cooper: He ends up in (you decide) city, and being his mothers son, starts doing some spy shit trying to find the others.

Nathen: lil’ baby somehow showed up at the Kents farm instead of his, and they sort of just …*adopt*. He's good friends with Jon.

Bonus points: Pizza dog is found as a Puppy by the kid and adopted as “emotional support” and “I must protect this poor dog, he doesn't have an eye for pete's sake!”

(These can not all happen, you gotta pick one kid for your hc cause I refuse to let all of the kids live no matter the au. The angst potential is the best part people)

-Last but not least Matt

He was found by a Church, the church sent him to the hospital, the hospital called him insane and sent by a psych ward, the psych ward said nope and sent him to arkham. He's pissed about it but like the reasonable guy he is, understands. Lots of the guys in there call him a “wanna be batman”.

He has no clue who that is but he is deeply offended.

I can totally see Peter finding him within a few days of looking and just going to visit him under the guise that he's his son. 

Peter:...

Matt: …

Peter: *glare*

Matt: soooo, how have you been?

Peter: I Thought You Were Dead!

Peter cant get Matt out cause Matt keeps beating the other rouges up. Peter is so done with his shit and Matt regrets nothing. That 2 face piece of shit had it coming.

Bonus point for the Batfam finding out Peter’s “Father” is in arkham. Just Bruce and Matt having the most awkward silent meeting. Neither talk for like 15 minutes at first. It's glorious.

+Miles morales. Oh you thought I was done? Tf I am! He's canon to the MCU so I’m rolling with it. Timeline wise, I’d say he's about 6-8 years old give or take. He can either A: get the spider powers and survives just like Peter until they find him, and Peter taking him under his wing, or B: im being the only person Peter could save because…idk, maybe he was having a confrontation with Aaron at his apartment and it turns out Miles was there cause he wanted to go trick or treating with him and is wearing a spiderman custom, awww, and kinda awkward for the two (mostly Aaron). Zombies come in, and Aaron sends Miles with Peter because yk, good Uncle. Yeah that works-

Miles' face is planted right in the center of brooklyn and like the good boy he is, waits for someone he knows to find him, (if lost, wait at the spot you are until they find you). He tells people his guardian is Peter Parker, but since Peter is going under a different allies, they can't find him. But Miles is determined and decides that he needs to stay In Queens so that Peter can find him, he knows he will.

And that wraps up that part which leads us to

Total Bull Shit

Yep, this is for those sweet non MCU canon characters. (No other fandom ones though, I haven't fallen that far from grace) (with this au at leasts)

These are just for the sillies and won't be canon unless they somehow become canon to the MCU (*stares intensely at Deadpool and Wolverine* sooooon)

-Wade Wilson

We all have seen the trailers ok, I see him, he's coming, we have all waited for this. And not only is he coming to the MCU but his reasoning works really well with this fic. He's crossing dimensions to fix the timeline and shit and he somehow gets chucked into this storyline as he's doing it. With his awesome fourth wall breaks, I can just see him showing up in Gotham for a bit, causing shit, and breaking Matt out of Arkham because he wants to do the Team Red thing. I can totally see him being super excited about meeting his first spidey lol. And Peter and Matt are just in a constant state of “wtf” as they deal with this guy that is apparently from the same multiverse and Universe(?) as them. Also, apparently it shouldn't even be possible for them to be in this universe, so that's fun

They warm up to each other and end up having a bit of fun I swear. He wont stay for long cause I can see this as being like a quick side plot in both the AU and the movie as he tries to get back to whatever he's doing.

-Logan. He's there for like a Minute, he gets there trying to get wade back to whatever they are doing, and ends up getting stuck too. Peter and Matt help them get back to whatever they were doing and when they offer a way back to their home, they say no for a number of reasons. Logan still ends up giving them a dimension hopping thing just in case.

-Andrew!Spidey from the main timeline NWH. Techincally hes canon, but hes also kinda owned by Sony so ima let this slide. Hes there for like just a minunte ok- he gets pulled into Deadpools And Wolverings Shit and decides “Fuck it, we ball” and helps the out. He sees little WIZ!Peter and thinks, “Holy shit, I just saw you!” and tells Peter about the weird shit he just went through with the other version of him and Peter is just amazed. Like “wow, a world where my friends are alive, a world where no Zombies came and destroyed the lives of the people I love. A world where I got to have more time with aunt May….must be nice”

Sorry-

Also- *has flashbacks to Andrew Garfield and Ryan Renolds kissing and the canonical list of people Deadpool is allowed to cheat with. ( o_o)

DP: heya hot stuff

A!S: No.

DP: yes

Wiz!P: Wtf is happening

DD: Look away kid

*Deadpool and Spidey comic dynamic of full display*

-Harry Osborn.

Peter: Hey Harry, who are those guys?

Harry: idk, my dad is working with these biochemists for a company from Russia. I think the name was some Greek monster? I don't really care. 

Peter: Oh ok, I'm gonna say hi to them

Harry: Sure, but be mindful of the creatures they’re working on

Peter: Got it!

Boom there’s your origin story. Peter just wanted to say hi to the nice looking Hydra agent and Harry let him.

Could we have him be hobgoblin alongside Peter when they are in gotham? Sure. Have it be like a nice spider that does no harm and his mean goblin bodyguard. Except it's the spider who can truly kick your ass. Also, just the absolut drama these 2 can have with each other is just *chefs kiss*

-Gwen Stacy

Just- just Gwen dude. Maybe she's from the DCU and they have a meet cute at a coffee shop. Maybe Peter Meets this super cute girl hiding out in a lab in the middle of the apocalypse. Maybe she's dead. Idk, idc, I love Gwen’s and Peter’s dynamic in TASM movies and I can see a traumatized dark humor version with these 2. Just give Peter his Girlfriend pls 

-Johnny Storm is one of Peter's best superhero friends in the comics. Spidey's first appearance is also in a FF comic, so it just feels right. Just integrate that into the story and you're golden. I can see them having inside jokes and stuff no one will ever get cause “you had to be there”.

-Nova, because I'm pulling from my experience with the 2012 show. No, I bring him in because I think it could add not only to Peter's character but also rockets and groots, considering they just heard the Xandar was destroyed, and all of a sudden they find this kid with an old bucket. They’re gonna get some feels, small as they might be.

Also, the ultimate 2012 team may have treated Peter like shite, but with better writing and stuff, these 2 could have been good friends. Sadly that doesn't really translate that well in the show imo.

Uhhhhh, anyone else for this monster of a post? No. Ok cool-

Idk when I'm gonna post the next part of the main lore stuff, but I'm gonna post this and some DC p.o.v's to flesh out some stuff. I might also post a bit of art and another fic in between the posts.

This is too long- have fun with this while I go pass out for a bit lol

[southern-belle-outcasts]

SHIPPING INFO:// Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog

REPOST. DON'T REBLOG

(Including Remy in this for the sake of simplicity)

What’s your OTP for your Muse(s)?

I don't have many because I'm a multishipper. For like, fandom, non-rp content, you have R.omy and A.nidala. That's it. A better question is notp and that's r.ogueneto, I will not be writing it, I filter it to keep it off my dash. But there's all kinds of options for shipping with my muses because I don't have a 'i will only write this one ship' for any one character.

What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

A lot. It really just depends on how comfy I am with the mun and how much we've developed our muses' relationship. Sometimes the muns I've known for a while can just chuck new ideas at me and we just go head first without development but that's a case by case kind of deal. Brakes start pumping for pregnancy stuff mainly because I don't do fetish content for free, that's a paid service you will not find here- long time partners only. Cheating is a nope, just have no desire to write it. I don't mind other toxic situations, or messy open situationships, but flat out cheating just rubs me wrong. And nothing involving a.b.o. Just, no thank you.

How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

I ship r.ogan, so clearly age gaps don't bother me lmao. It's more power dynamics, and it's all fake anyways, just depends on the situation. Most of the muses aren't going for anyone much younger than them anyways, it's more older where they might raise eyebrows.

Are you selective when shipping?

A little bit yes, a little bit no? So I do like my ships of all types, not just romantic, but the ones that tend to the more steamy I am most comfy with established with for a variety of reasons. That's not to say sometimes I can't plot for more specific ship types early on with the right person, it just very much depends. Like, Sara/Warren with @wingedwarren was literally started off by a smut meme out the gate. I have never claimed there aren't exceptions they are just Rare AF and Highly Conditional.

How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

I tag consertatively. Meaning if someone's boss or mom were to peep over their shoulder and might be scandalized, I've probably already tagged it as 'nsfw ish' unless we're talking Prude of the Year levels. Usually once things underneath clothes are being given attention, whether or not said clothes have hit the floor. I don't use the rating toggle because it can shadowban your blog and/or make it impossible to cut the thread. But I do tag.

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

Oh dear. There's so many. If I missed someone I swear it wasn't on purpose. These are all the ships be it familial, friend, hate, romantic, we don't fucking know yet cuz we're still writing it out, you name it. There is no rhyme or reason to the order so do not read into any of that.

Rogue- @meretrixious, @ifyoucatchacriminal, @suffcring, @iomadachd, @revenantinflames, @thefastestaround, @bothsidesofaquestion, @fatummortem

Gabriel- @nacreousxhearts

Sara- @wingedwarren, @meretrixious, @shizumaikushima

Cisco- @brooklynislandgirl, @meretrixious, @morgansmornings

Farrar- @nacreousxhearts, @iomadachd

Nilza- @iomadachd, @suffcring, @meretrixious, @kylo-wrecked, @bothsidesofaquestion, @brooklynislandgirl, @astral-athame, @halliwellauto

Harry- @reallifejedi, @brooklynislandgirl

Kaylee- @nacreousxhearts, @meretrixous, @arthurthefaceless

Padmé- @mynameisanakin, @brooklynislandgirl

Remy- @brooklynislandgirl, @ifyoucatchacriminal, @nacreousxhearts, @abrushwithdeath, @fatummortem, @bothsidesofaquestion, @down-home-charm, @suffcring

Does one have to ask to ship with you?

At least with a small check-in. A fast way to get blocked is start reblogging my fc posts 'xyz's girlfriend' before we've ever started a thread (yes that's happened in the past).

How often do you like to ship?

Shrug, -waves vaguely at the replies that occasionally grace the dash-

Are you multiship?

I am the captain of an armada, and the ships do not ever cross paths unless there's a lot of chit chat between all muns. Which apart from Armin and some other xpeople has been...never. Namely because once I do a three mun polycule ship, someone blows it up. I've learned it's best not to lmao.

Are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

More-or-less. I’m here for juicy writing of all types. {<-stolen}

What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

Uh...most of my ships are crossover or oc. Current implies I would ever leave X-Men, which...no. Obvs r.omy. I don't much engage with the a.rrowverse fandom anymore. D.resden files would probably be Susan/Harry. That's about it for canon stuff. If this question meant rp stuff, I don't feel like listing favorites there.

Finally, how does one ship with you?

Send memes, signal flares, a chancla. Some amount of ooc chitchat is usually helpful (by that i mean about the muses, if there's one thing I don't like doing it's delving into the question "how are you" from someone i barely know cuz it's usually uh...well...it's my life)

tagged by: Taken from @kylo-wrecked and there was probably many others at the time but it's been a minute

tagging: be gay, do crime

[willowisapillow]

🍭🍬 Candy Collecting 🍬 🍭

🎃 Hope you guys had a great Halloween! 🎃

How did your Halloween go? For me, it was honestly a whole lotta fun. Yeah, it did get kinda boring after a while once 9 o’clock rolled around, because a lot of people either went home or to a different part of my neighborhood.

I had a blast, though, I was the one passing out candy, and if you didn’t see my previous post on here, I dressed up as Tiffany AKA, the Bride of Chucky, and I had my talking Chucky doll on my lap while I was passing out candy. A lot of people really loved my Chucky doll and costume, I even met someone who was also dressed up as Chucky, and we both just started fangirling 😭

Though there were some little kids who were absolutely terrified of my Chucky doll that they didn’t even want to get the candy, so I just passed it off to their parents instead, so they could give it to their kids. Honestly, I don’t blame those kids at all whatsoever, if I was their age, I would have been scared too 💀

Speaking of costumes, I saw a lot of really cool horror costumes, I saw some Wednesdays, Moritias, Chuckys, Jasons, and a lot of Freddy Kruegers and Michael Myers. Though funnily enough, I didn’t see any Ghostfaces or Megans. I also saw a lot of cool non-horror costumes, I saw some Disney Princesses, Marios, and Sonics, and I even saw a few dressed people dressed up as Glamrock Freddy, Huggy Wuggy, Patrick, and motherfreaking Barney, so uh yeah that was a thing lol

And there was this one family that was all dressed up as Demon Slayer characters, and it was pretty wholesome 💕

As for my art, this is a follow-up of my silly little AU that I posted a while ago, and if you haven’t seen it, here’s the TL;DR version of it; it’s an AU that takes place in the very first Child’s Play movie, Chucky is not a serial killer (but he’s still a major douchebag), and still lives with the Barclays (Andy and his mom, Karen).

This picture was also made as a (belated) birthday gift to one of my closest online friends, RobTheAlien on Amino, Deviantart, and Twitter. I made her a Chucky-related gift for her last year, so why not make another one for her, we both really love the series <3

For the context of the art, Halloween started rolling around, and both Andy and Chucky were super hyped to dress up and get some candy, mostly Chucky because he had a little plan up his sleeve. Basically, since Chucky is well, y’know… a doll, he looked to be around the average height of a toddler.

So, his plan was that while they were trick-or-treating, he could get Andy to tell the neighbors that he was bringing along his, “baby brother, Tommy”, and that it was his first time going trick-or-treating. The neighbors would give the both of them candy, thinking that Chucky was his, “brother”, and thus, they would get double the candy (and double the diabetes as well 😋).

At first, Andy was against the idea, since it didn’t feel right to trick the neighbors in a selfish way to get some sweets, but Chucky managed to convince him that they could have the biggest candy collection in the entire neighborhood, with all of the candy a kid his age could ever want and eventually gave in to the idea. He also decided to dress Chucky up as a ghost to make the whole thing look more convincing.

Oh Chuck, such a good role model and influence on little Andy/j

At first, I wanted to draw Andy alongside Chucky but didn’t feel like it because A. I wanted to make the art less time-consuming, and B. I ain’t very good at drawing little kid characters. But I will say that he did dress up as a vampire, complete with fake fangs and everything, and maybe I might make fanart with the both of them together in their costumes in the future.

As for the art itself, I really loved how it turned out. I was farting around with the filters on IbisPaint X, and I eventually chose the exclusion filter, and I felt like it was perfect for this art, ‘cause I wanted to go for an indie kidcore-type vibe for it. And as for the candies I chose for the picture, I basically just googled, “What types of candy were popular in the 80s?”, and I eventually went with the three candies you’re currently seeing in the picture.

Honestly, the only candy I really like out of the three are Skittles, I don’t think I’ve ever tried a Charleston Chew or Baby Ruth before. But what’s your guys' favorite candy? 👀

🍭 🍬 👻

[kingmaxstatic]

🥀Platymalion [ Starline.Exe / AU]🥀

⚠️The Post Features The Following!⚠️

Flower Gore

Eye Imagery (Ommetaphobia)

Bleeding from eye/mouth

talks of parasites/sickness

metamorphosis

HELLO! So this is something I've been working on a while! SO confession time, I fucking LOVE exes and sonic horror. And for a while I've really wanted to write a Starline Exe. AND I finally finalized him!

Platymalion's Toyhouse! [Currently a WIP]

Introducing Platymalion!

Platymalion's lore starts post the metal virus after Eggman chucks Starline into the portal. Starline, instead of the Bad Guys arc happening, he decides instead to break into the remains of the Faceship. He manages to steal some failed test vials of the metal virus.. he really didn't know what game over him. Maybe it was an act of petty revenge, maybe he was desperate for Eggman's attention, but regardless he let himself succumb.

What Starline wasn't aware of was the fact this was a failed variant of the virus and instead of making him less organic.. made him more organic. His body was no longer his own.. his body was now a garden for the plant that was growing within.

Okay so it's kinda weird because, plot twist he actually sorta has TWO sets of lore? The first being his in-universe lore and his second being EXE lore. Basically the non in-universe lore is that there's a weird Sonic Comic that's floating around the internet. Some claiming it was scrapped pages, others claiming it's a fucked up joke. But regardless there's a comic that goes in detail about Starline's transformation. It's grueling, it's awful and it is BLOODY.

The only place you can find this file is on a dark corner of the internet in a zip file. [You gotta be the stupid horror protag to get it]

I gave him two sets of lore because I AM AUTISTIC!! GRAHHH!! anyways here's some Platymalion concept art! As a treat for you reader!

[macolethings]

Sonraun Rein Kiken Snippet

Apologies to followers of my Clexa story, "Sonraun." I'm about a month away from having a baby and the tiredness of both my brain and body have finally affected the posting of a new chapter. Only two small sections to write before I do my own editing and have it beta checked, so hopefully it will be out within the next few days!

In the mean time, here is a snippet from the upcoming Chapter 7 (untitled so far). It hasn't been edited, but I want to get something out to you all. Pretty sure there is another small trope in here...

- - -  ∞ - - - 

An eight-foot wall and wrought iron gate separated the common grounds of the tower to Lexa’s training grounds. Lexa fished a key from around her neck, unlocking the gate, and allowing them both entrance. Clarke took in her surroundings. The space was mainly grass, most of it having browned with the winter cold. Workout equipment was placed around the perimeter, leaving a large space in the middle for sparring. Clarke could find similarities in the equipment here to that of the ark thanks to her many days trailing her mother while she walked through physical therapy workouts for her patients. There was a bench with weights, bars for pullups, some weights from the old world, and a punching bag. 

“How often do you come here?” Clarke asked.

“It depends on what training I want to do that day. I come here to build my strength a few times a week, spar with Kensie, or to just practice on my own. The other days I like to run, or fight with the gona (warriors) at the training grounds.” 

After taking time to fully take in all the equipment, Lexa started Clarke off with some warmup movements to get “the blood flowing and muscles lose.” Apparently, Lexa’s warmup was an actual workout for the non-athletic types such as herself. While Lexa acted no different than they had after walking down to the space, Clarke was a different story. Her breath was harsh and fast, her body already quite warm, with flushed cheeks to prove it. 

“First, we will go over assorted defensive moves to get out the most common ways someone may try to take you. We will practice each several times, but I want to focus on introducing them all today, and we can move to memorizing next time.” 

Lexa started simple with wrist and arm grabs, explaining to Clarke that the thumb is a weak point and if she turned up towards her attacker’s thumb, they would not be able keep their hold on her. The two went back and forth, Clarke practicing to free herself from Lexa’s hold, and attempting to keep hold of Lexa in different places to view how she handled the different holds. 

Next, Lexa turned Clarke’s attention on what to do if she’s grabbed from behind. Lexa clamped both of Clarke’s arms to her own side with one arm and wrapped the other around her throat. Unfortunately for Clarke, her body was not ready to have Lexa wrapped so closely around her, and was most definitely not ready for Lexa’s whispered instruction on how to remove herself from the precarious situation. Surely, the lower octave whispers Lexa was using weren’t necessary. 

Lexa chucked. “Clarke? Did you hear me?”

She cleared her throat as best she could before muttering a simple “no,” not daring to turn her face towards Lexa when they were this close. 

Fortunately, Lexa separated her body from Clarkes before discussing, again, how to use her opponents’ weak spots to break free or cause enough pain to bring attention to herself and her attacker. It took a few more attempts before Clarke understood the mechanics of the moves, but she blamed that on Lexa and the fogginess that had taken over her mind. Especially since she was sure the Commander was doing it on purpose. 

[bbcphile]

More Ask Memes Answered!

Thanks, @fealiniel, for asking for #29 from this list:

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic.

I sadly don't have any other deleted scenes I can share for MLC stuff, but maybe you'll accept the opening of my abandoned modern AU (summer music camp edition) for The Untamed?

Cw/tw: allusions to physical abuse

**

“Wei Ying, I swear to God, if you play one more note on that fucking thing, I’m chucking it out the window,” Jiang Cheng growled, gripping the steering wheel like he wanted to wring its non-existent neck.

“You’d have to catch it first,” Wei Ying laughed, flinging himself as far from his brother as the seatbelt of the front passenger seat would allow, and clutching his bright red slide whistle to his chest.

“A-Ying, no antagonizing the driver,” Jiang Yanli laughed from the backseat.

“But A-Cheng’s being mean, jiejie! He’s not appreciating my skills!” Wei Ying whined.

“You can’t be skilled at slide whistle, idiot,” Jiang Cheng snapped. “It’s not a real instrument.”

“Don’t listen to the cruel man, babe,” Wei Ying cooed at the slide whistle while stroking it gently, barely avoiding calling it ‘my precious.’ “He’s just jealous of what you and I can do together.”

“No one could be jealous of that racket. It makes me want to claw my eardrums out. What are you trying to do, raise the dead?”

“It’s not a racket! It’s “Flight of the Bumblebee!”” A piece Wei Ying happened to have one or two pretty fucking fantastic memories of from a summer orchestra camp not too unlike the summer festival they were headed to, as it happened. “And anyway, I’d like to see you try to play it.”

“Hand it over and I’ll show you what I can do--”

“--by tossing it out the window? Yeah, no thanks.”

“Boys,” Jiang Yanli said, laughing and leaning forward from the backseat to put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Enough. A-Ying, it’s very impressive but also very loud and probably distracting for A-Cheng. If you want to play, why don’t you get out your flute and go through the fingering for your audition pieces?”

“Jiejieeee,” Wei Ying whined, then flipped the reclining switch for the seat and flopped back until he was practically lying down and staring up at his sister where she was sitting behind their brother. “I’ve already practiced the fingering for each piece twice AND listened to them each on my headphones. I can’t do it again. I will literally die of boredom. And then fucking Su She will get all my solos—

“—They’re not your solos, jackass! You haven’t done your seating audition yet.”

“—No, but they will be, because I’m better than he is.”

“Ugh. You are so full of yourself!” 

“I am not! I’m just being realistic. Anyway, as I was saying: if I die of boredom, then Su She will get my—yes, MY—solos, and that can just never happen. It would be so wrong it would destroy the universe.”

Jiang Yanli smiled and shook her head. “So the fate of the universe depends on your playing slide whistle, then?”

“Exactly. Jiejie’s so smart. Why can’t you be more like her, A-Cheng?” He reached out and lightly bopped Jiang Cheng’s leg with his knee. 

“No hitting the driver!” his brother yelled.

Wei Ying stifled a giggle. It wasn’t very successful. “Now, see, that’s louder than my slide whistle playing. I really think there’s an unfair double standard here, and--”

“--Will you shut the fuck up?” Jiang Cheng bellowed. “I’m trying to pay attention to the goddamn road”

“Ok, ok! Man, someone’s grouchy. Why—Oh!“ Wei Ying’s mind ran ahead of his mouth for a change, supplying him the answer to the question before he could even ask it. He popped his seat back to an upright position and whipped around to look at his brother. “Is it because you’re nervous about doing the conductor program this summer?”

“Of course I’m not nervous,” Jiang Cheng snapped, his fingers tightening on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“Good. You shouldn’t be. I saw you practicing in front of the mirror last night--”

His brother turned red and glowered at the road. “--I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t --”

“--Yeah you did. It was around three this morning. You were standing there, in your purple pjs in front of the mirror on the bathroom door, practicing--I’m guessing 4th movement of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” given the opening syncopation--”

“--why the hell were you spying on me?”

“It’s not like I meant to! I just started packing late and then I heard movement so I went to check it out, and you’d left your door open! But anyway, it was awesome. Totally professional and confident.” The energy that had been coursing through him all night until he gave up on sleep and had him bouncing his leg against the footwell of the car flared with a potential outlet. “Ooh, I’ve got an idea! Did you want to try conducting with one hand while driving and I’ll play along and try to follow your cues?”

“No, because I’m DRIVING, and because you’d be BLASTING YOUR GODDAMN FLUTE IN MY EAR. Do you have a single fucking brain cell, or did they get fried by playing too many high notes on the piccolo?”

“A-Cheng, be nice,” Jiang Yanli said. “You know how he gets before auditions.”

“Yeah, A-Cheng, be nice,” Wei Ying pouted at his brother. “You -- wait, what do you mean, ‘how I get before auditions’?”

Jiang Cheng snorted. “Like you don’t know.”

“I literally just asked. Why would I ask if I already knew?”

“To hear the sound of your own voice? Why else do you normally talk?”

“Ok, you two. That’s enough,” Jiang Yanli said. “A-Ying, I just meant that you tend to  . . . have more energy before auditions. Or concerts.”

“It’s like you revert back to you at age ten. Pre-Ritalin. You’re impossible to be around. No wonder Wen Qing isn’t coming to the summer orchestra festival this year. Probably couldn’t wait to be rid of you.”

“Very funny. You were on the text thread when she said she was doing the MGH research internship instead. It has nothing to do with her being my stand partner.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Hey! Come on, she thinks I’m great!”

“She insults you in every other sentence.”

“Exactly! It’s how she shows affection.”

“That’s not a thing.”

Wei Ying laughed. “Ok, didi. If that’s how you want to play it. Anyway, if Wen Qing hated me, then why would she ask me to look after her younger brother, huh?”

Jiang Cheng jerked his head to look at Wei Ying, before scowling back at the road. “She did what?”

“It’s his first year at Tanglewood. I guess he’s kind of shy. So she asked me to introduce him to people and make sure he made friends, didn’t have too hard a time, that sort of thing.”

“Why the hell would she ask you? You’re the least responsible person there.”

“Come on, I’m a GREAT big brother,” Wei Ying said, leaning over into his brother’s space so the dyed red steak in his ink black hair flopped onto Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “I’m gonna mentor him so hard he won’t know what hit him.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes so hard it was a miracle he didn’t sprain anything. “Yeah, right.”

Something about his tone sounded off. It wasn’t the normal type of grouchiness. He was genuinely pissed at something. “What does that mean?”

“What, you don’t remember how well you mentored me, my first summer at orchestra camp?”

Wei Ying scrabbled around in his memory banks, but there was a huge blank spot where the data should be. He huffed out a nervous laugh to hide a sinking feeling worse than when Ms. Yu brought her palm back to strike with all her considerable force. Wei Ying hid a wince behind a chuckle and twirled his slide whistle between his fingers. “Um. Did it involve my pointing out the best waffle iron at the buffet and which shower runs out of hot water first?”

Jiang Cheng glared at the road so hard Wei Ying was surprised it didn’t cower in fear. “You got fucking expelled, asshole. Ringing any bells now?”

Wei Ying winced and looked out the window. Apart for some soup-related memories and a few vignettes with an uptight violinist, most of the year he’d turned 14 and the eight years before that were shut behind a door in his mind labeled “Do Not Enter” with several padlocks, deadbolts, and a retina and fingerprint scanner for good measure. Thank fuck for containment strategies and good trauma therapists. Not that he’d found a way to tell his family about the reason for the gaping holes in his threadbare memory. Well, maybe one day. Just . . . . not this one.

He peeked in the peephole of the forbidden door and reached for a memory. There was a faded one, almost in black and white, of him music dueling a kid his own age who seemed determined to win ‘stick in the mud of the year,” some snatches of him getting bored and improvising flute parts instead of observing a 50 measure-long rest, and— “Ah. Right. That was the summer conductor Lan Qiren threw a baton at me, wasn’t it?”

“Of course that’s what you remember. I still can’t believe how fucking proud of it you were. As though that were anything to be proud of. You better not try that shit here, ok? You know what Mom said.”

Wei Ying forced himself not to grip the slide whistle too tightly. Ms. Yu had said that if he made a nuisance of himself, then she and Mr. Jiang wouldn’t pay the room and board for the Berklee School of Music next year. He’d gotten full tuition covered with his music scholarship, but even the two jobs he had lined up wouldn’t cover his share of the apartment he was sharing with his brother or all of the scores he needed to buy. “Oh come on. I haven't done stuff like that in years,” he insisted.

His brother gave him a doubtful look.

“Aiya, everyone’s so suspicious. Fine, fine. I’ll be on my best behavior. Scouts honor.” He lifted three fingers up to his forehead in a mock salute.

Jiang Cheng scoffed. “You were kicked out of the boy scouts.”

“Because they didn’t like that I protested their exclusionary practices!” Wei Ying said, waving his slide whistle at his brother to punctuate each word.

“It’s not like you’re trans! Why do you have to fight other people’s battles? Can’t you just not make a mess, for once? Fuck, it’ll be a nice change to not room with you.”

Here, at least, they were on solid, familiar ground. Wei Ying had memorized the notes to this piece within a year of being taken in as a foster kid. He started twirling the slide whistle between his fingers and gave his brother his most charming expression. “Aww, Jiang Cheng, don’t be like that. Come on, admit it, you’ll miss me.”

“Bullshit. How could I miss you? Or your piles of sheet music with illegible scribbles you scatter on the floor instead of keeping them in a notebook like a reasonable person? Or practicing at 3 in the morning?”

“What else am I supposed to do? Not write down or try out the melodies when they come to me? Now who’s ridiculous.”

“Well, they better give your roommate a refund. Or at least cover his therapy bills. God knows he’ll need it after he’s done with you.”

The only evidence of Wei Ying’s wince was the sixteenth-note hesitation that interrupted the otherwise rhythmic twirling of the slide whistle. “What are you talking about? I’m a fucking delight,” he said, pasting on a bright grin.

[pixelgrotto]

Karate History & Box Art Redemption

About a year and a half ago, I mentioned Jordan Mechner's seminal 1984 game Karateka in a post about Sifu, a newly-released beat ‘em up with a similar martial arts theme and tough-as-nails difficulty level. Sifu's a good game that garnered a certain amount of scrutiny from people who pointed out that it was an interactive experience steeped in Chinese culture but developed by a predominantly white team. This is not inherently a bad thing (Sifu’s devs did a respectful job), but considering Western media’s track record of misrepresenting Asia as an exotic place full of Fu Manchu-mustachioed bad guys and subservient women, it’s always worthwhile to be cautious. At any rate, Sifu reminded me a lot of Karateka, another game by a non-Asian creator that owed its lifeblood to Asian culture...and even featured the main protagonist and his love interest as white on the box art, despite the fact that the game clearly takes place in medieval Japan.

The Making of Karateka, a just-released interactive documentary by Digital Eclipse, explains the logic behind this decision via extensive notes that detail every step of the game's creation. From what I can discern, the box art design doesn’t appear to have been Jordan Mechner’s call. (Though the playable Karateka beta included in this package reveals that Mechner had some wacky non-Japanese names in mind for the game’s villain and damsel in distress... Akuma and Mariko were once dubbed “Kratang” and “Tiger Lily.” Yikes!) Rather, publisher Brøderbund’s marketing team seems to have been the division that assigned artist Thomas Blackshear II to paint the cover, instructing him that the titular Karateka was supposed to look like "a young Chuck Norris" or "Luke Skywalker" while Mariko should resemble an "American blonde." Meanwhile, only Akuma was specified as "Japanese."

Brøderbund’s promotional strategy followed the typical American metality of the era: it's okay to portray a bad guy as a foreign race, but leading men and ladies should be white and ideally blonde. It didn't have to be this way, since Bruce Lee had dominated cinemas with Enter the Dragon only a decade earlier and proved that audiences could accept an Asian hero. But Brøderbund decided to go the safe route, despite the fact that Thomas Blackshear is a person of color renowned for his Black and American Indian paintings. (He also portrayed a decidedly unblonde and possibly Asian main character in his early cover sketches.)

My intention here is not to hate on Karateka or any of the individuals involved. The original Karateka game for the Apple II did, after all, feature white hair for its leading man's sprite that could easily be interpreted as blonde (though that was likely due to hardware color limitations more than anything else), and Brøderbund justified their decision by claiming they were inspired by the multicolored hair of Japanese manga characters. (Eh, sure.) Also, if we're being honest about it, Blackshear's final art is a beautiful composition even with the questionable racial depictions.

Rather, I'm fascinated with Karateka's box as an example of mildly problematic '80s promotion, and I love how we gain insight into its development thanks to Digital Eclipse' painstaking efforts with what they call the first in their "Gold Master Series" of playable documentaries. Aside from these marketing details, The Making of Karateka delves into Jordan Mechner's early life in precise timeline fashion, letting us explore planning documents, early rotoscoping footage and prototypes of not only Karateka, but the games that preceded it, including Mechner's take on Asteroids and a shooter he was trying to develop called Deathbounce. There's even glimpses at the bones of a platforming puzzle game that started out as Karateka II and would later evolve into Prince of Persia.

Just about every review of The Making of Karateka stresses how this package sets a new standard for preservation in the video game industry, a business that is terrible at chronicling its own past. I won't repeat these arguments too much other than to say that I fullheartedly agree. Behind the scenes featurettes used to be a thing when it came to games — as a kid, I remember being utterly absorbed with the "Making of King's Quest VI" footage that came included on the CD-ROM — but these days you're unlikely to see too many of them, especially for titles that were released decades ago. In a world where Nintendo has yet to localize Mother 3 and customers need to rely on emulation and all types of hacks to revisit old games, Digital Eclipse's commitment to curating digital museums dedicated to works like Karateka is an incredible worthy goal — possibly one of the most important goals that a video game company has ever embarked upon. I can't wait to see more volumes in the Gold Master Series, and can think of many potential entries off the top of my head. Pitfall! Ultima! Doom! Maybe even one day...Sifu? (Likely a stretch, but stranger things have happened.)

But going back to the discusson of art for a moment, one of the most monumental things that The Making of Karateka does is offer a "remastered" version of its title game, complete with impressive graphical flairs, a more managable difficulty level, and even...revised box art. While Thomas Blackshear's original Karateka painting is still displayed prominently throughout the package, when you go to select Karateka Remastered under the list of playable games, you'll see a new mockup box. No longer is Akuma a dehumanized Japanese baddie, no longer is Mariko an all-American girl, no longer is the titular Karateka Luke Skywalker. All three characters are Asian...and get this, the central Karateka is not only Asian, but blonde too.

In one swift stroke, The Making of Karateka not only captures history and chronicles its mistakes, but also revises them for a bright future. Take that, 1984 marketing.

Update: An earlier version of this article stated that the new mockup cover art was illustrated by Digital Eclipse in-house artist Mae Livingston. Mike Mika, the president of Digital Eclipse, reached out to me on Twitter to explain that while Mae was responsible for Karateka Remastered's in-game artwork, the actual box image was made via Midjourney, and the characters were tweaked multiple times to look more culturally appropriate. He added that this methodology was an experiment that Digital Eclipse does not intend to rely on in the future.

I have very mixed opinions on AI art, and I do wish this box had been created by a human. I don't know if I would've written this piece if I'd known that the artwork was made by Midjourney, frankly. Nevertheless, I appreciate Mike actually reaching out to me, and the ultimate message of this article still stands. I hope Digital Eclipse considers the power that an image like this holds — especially for multiracial people like myself — and chooses human artists in the future.