#he has done AWFUL things but masterminding that feels slightly off?

[katkitpaddywick]

these were originally tags i made on a rb'd post but i want them to be seen because there is Too Much nuance-less armand hatred flinging around in the iwtv tag for my liking

i honestly believe at this point that the trial and armand being "unable to prevent" claudia's death was another case of his self-ingrained false helplessness - i think there's a very good chance armand BELIEVED he couldn't have stopped it.

was that belief reinforced over 70 years of telling himself that since to alleviate responsibility? perhaps! was that belief impacted by the fact he really didn't care for claudia all that much? almost definitely! but i think he was complicit as opposed to actively masterminding

he prefers to feel the victim because it's a familiar (dare i say comfortable) place for him to be with his specific brand of trauma

that said i do think he was absolutely lying about claudia's death that louis didn't see - making it sound more noble than it was so louis would be less distressed about it. 'i protect his happiness' etc. etc.

[wqintraining]

NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 1, EPISODE 13 (PART 2 of 2) (SEASON FINALE)

We open many years ago in a time and place we’ve seen before. A conservatively dressed, teenage Jean Grey steps out of a car, arriving at the Xavier Institute and looking at it in awe. As she comes through the front gates, Professor Xavier and his four X-Men come to greet her outside. While Xavier is polite and cordial and Iceman couldn’t seem any less interested, Cyclops, Beast, and Angel all introduce themselves overly eagerly with lustful intentions.

While Jean seems less than impressed and put off by Warren and Hank, respectively, she’s charmed by Scott’s approach as he takes her hand, bends down, and kisses it. While she giggles as he does this, when he stands up, he finds he’s now shrouded in darkness, and Jean’s eyes are aflame.

In one swift motion, she reaches into his chest and pulls his heart out.

JEAN: “We are the reason your heart beats, and yet you break ours? You do not deserve this, Scott Summers.”

Scott falls over onto his back as the two both become their adult selves. Jean grins down at Scott as his eyes bulge and his body convulses as he bleeds out from the gaping wound in his chest.

We cut straight to another past event, this one somewhere we haven’t been before. A slightly younger Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Mastermind, and other men all dressed like they’re from the 1800s have a toast to their new Black Queen. Said Black Queen is revealed to be Jean, who joins them in their toast, adding in that’s it to their defeat of the X-Men, and the world which will soon be theirs.

Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler, all captured and restrained, look on in horror as they call out to their friend, shouting at her that they’re brainwashing her in an attempt to reach her.

Emma possessively puts an arm around Jean, evil smirks on both of their faces, and asks what she has to say to these peasants for insulting them like this.

Jean’s eyes ignite as she spins around and tears Emma’s arm off. As Emma screams in agony and darkness surrounds them, the two become their modern selves.

JEAN: “You have always been a wicked witch, Emma Frost. We gave you a second chance, and you failed in the worst way you could have: you corrupted a good soul. You do not deserve the gift of life.”

As Emma continues to scream, we cut to her bedroom in the Institute, where Rachel is sweating, spell circles over both Scott and Emma’s heads.

RACHEL: “Come on, come on, come on…”

There’s a flash of red light and Rachel is sent flying back across the room as Cyclops and Emma jolt awake, gasping.

While Emma is struggling to compose herself, Rachel gets up, rubbing her “roughed up booty”, and asks her dad if he’s feeling well enough she can smack him for being a dirty cheater.

SCOTT: “...what have I done?”

The room turns silent as he and Emma continue to shiver.

In her estate, Nova sips her tea with her eyes closed. Every sentinel she’s deployed has been destroyed, but she still has 20 left. And with the Dark Phoenix coming to Earth, everything is falling into place.

In space, we find the Dark Phoenix speeding past planet after planet on her way back to Earth, a manic grin spread across her face, and the phoenix aura ten times her size.

In the Blackbird, Storm is arming every single one of the ship’s weapons they don’t normally use, Betsy seated in the front next to her. In the back of the ship, Kitty is clearly freaking out, and just trying to stay composed. Roberto, smiling with all his shiny teeth showing, asks what she’s so worried about.

ROBERTO: “You love bragging about how many times you’ve saved the world! And unless you were betraying your poor friend’s trust and lying to me, you’ve saved the whole universe. Why do you think this time will be any different?”

KITTY, holding herself: “Would you believe me I told you things have never been this bad? The X-Men have stopped the Phoenix, they’ve stopped armies of Sentinels, and they’ve stopped evil telepaths, but never all at once. And never because of our own mistakes.”

Roberto asks Kitty exactly what she means, with her everyone for this situation. Scott for being a dick who couldn’t keep it in his pants and for bringing Emma in in the first place, Emma for “seducing” Scott, Jean for not just crying into a tub of ice cream after getting cheated on like a normal woman, and the rest of them for not noticing how “too good to be true” Jean had been lately, and not seeing that she was one trigger away from blowing up.

KITTY: “I’m supposed to be the smart one, aren’t I?”

Roberto laughs and shakes his head. Maybe they did all screw up. Maybe they should have done more. And maybe the situation right now is more dire than ever. But they have a plan, and they need to trust it.

ROBERTO: “Never, ever, second guess a plan.”

Kitty still doesn’t seem reassured, so Roberto makes her a bet: If they survive this with no one getting killed, he gets to use her makeup whenever he wants, without asking.

Kitty giggles. “And if someone does die?”

ROBERTO: “Not going to happen, so not worth thinking much about. I don’t know…I’ll buy you something pretty?”

Kitty snort laughs.

ROBERTO: “There she is!”

KItty sighs as she calms down. “I wish I could be as carefree as you, Beto.”

ROBERTO: “It’s a gift.”

With the Blackbird ready to go, Storm shouts on the coms, demanding to know where Wolverine is.

Elsewhere in the institute, Laura tells her she’ll be there in two minutes. She’s making sure they’re ready.

Laura arrives in the medical bay, where the training squad and Roxy surrounded Noriko, who Beast’s just finished patching up. Several former X-Men are far more severely wounded and are asleep in beds.

BEAST: “Well, Ms. Kinney, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that you didn’t actually break anything in your little scuffle, but you did give the poor girl a concussion. I believe an apology is in order, yes?”

LAURA: “Sorry.”

Noriko flips her off with both hands.

As everyone walks out of the med bay on Beast’s request so that he can look after his more in-need patients, Julian asks what she’s doing here. Shouldn’t she be with the X-Men?

LAURA: “Yes. And so should you.”

Laura tells them that they were right. She was worried about them, and she didn’t want them getting hurt, especially not because of her, but the amateurs she saw in that foodfight at the start of the semester don’t even resemble who Wind Dancer, Surge, and Hellion are now. The rate of their growth has been incredible. And while she’s sure they’re not done growing, they are ready.

LAURA: “All of you are.”

Brian and the other girls look shocked. Laura tells Cessily that she was in that foodfight too. Is she going to tell her she’s stayed stagnant while those three have grown so much? And while Sooraya may lack experience fighting villains, her performance scores have always kept up with Surge and Wind Dancer’s.

LAURA: “You two believed in me that I could handle Sabretooth. I believe you two can handle this.”

Laura looks to Brian.

Brian shakes his head. “No. I can’t do it. Literally! I literally cannot fight giant robots!”

Laura smirks. “Obviously. But if one comes to the school, you can make them run away, and no one HAS to fight them.”

Brian is nervous, but appreciates the vote of confidence. And he does want to help.

BRIAN: “I can do that, Creepy Girl. I can do that.”

Julian cheers.

JULIAN: “This is so IT! Everyone else in school already knows I’m the best Mutant here besides Laura and deserve to be an X-Man too, and by the end of today, Storm will see that too.” Julian takes Sofia’s hand. “I promised you we’d be heroes together. And now I’m gonna show you what a hero I can be.”

Sofia grins.

SOFIA: “I have been afraid. I have been afraid of being hurt again, and of how I can hurt others.” She clenches Julian’s hand. “But I know that so long as I have all of you at my side, I have nothing to fear.”

Noriko groans.

NORIKO: “I still think anyone who wants to be an X-Man is cuckoo banana pants crazy.” Noriko cracks her shoulder. “So call me crazy, I guess.”

Cessily and Sooraya nod in agreement. Roxy is clearly terrified by what’s going on, so Cessily wraps her arms around her and kisses her on the lips. She promises they’re all coming home safe.

CESSILY: “I am NOT setting a world record for shortest lived relationship by getting killed!”

Laura grins. These are her friends. These are the people she can count on to watch her back.

LAURA: “Let’s go.”

As the Blackbird takes off, the four adults and six kids heading off to take on Nova, Scott and Emma rush toward the hangar so they can take one of their smaller ships so they can intercept Dark Phoenix before she reaches Genosha, Scott having been contacted by Xavier, while Emma gets a headache from the psionic energy Jean is emanating from across the solar system.  

EMMA: “I haven’t touched hard drugs in years, but my mind is going to need them to recover from all this. Care to join me, Mr. Summers?”

SCOTT: “Don’t. Don’t make jokes. Don’t talk to me. We made a mistake. A big one. The only reason you’re coming with me instead of Rachel is if killing us is the only thing which will make Jean calm down. Even if we live through today, this is never happening again.”

EMMA, sarcastically: “Oh no, I’m so crushingly disappointed. Wherever will I find another man like you?”

Scott makes it into the hangar and, while he isn’t looking, Emma is visibly more upset by his words than she let on.

In the Blackbird, Hellion and Wind Dancer are holding hands, nervous but excited to prove themselves, Surge is anxiously tapping her foot at super speed, Mercury is struggling to stay solid with all the nerves she’s feeling, and Dust is praying. Laura meanwhile gets psychically linked up to Storm and Betsy.

Storm wants to know if Laura really trusts her friends for this mission. There’s no doubt they’re talented, but she should have consulted her on this instead of running off on her own and giving her no choice but to bring them. Laura promises they proved themselves to her. If she’s really an equal X-Man to the others, they’ll trust her judgement.

Storm takes a breath.

STORM, under her breath: “Just like you, Logan.”

As the Blackbird rockets toward Nova’s estate, she finally stands from her seat. It’s time to get her hands a little dirty. As she exits her parlor, she psychically deploys all of her remaining sentinels.

The sentinels meet the Blackbird in the sky, or at least some of them do, as others fly off in other directions. Storm quickly calls out orders, telling Hellion and Wind Dancer to keep themselves as well as Sunspot, Laura, Surge, Dust, and Mercury airborn to deal with the sentinels, while Kitty pilots the Blackbird to back them up with its weapons, and she and Betsy make the final push toward Nova.

Everyone does as they are told as they all leave the plane, except for Kitty.

KITTY, over coms: “Beto, let’s try not to embarrass ourselves in front of the kids, alright?”

ROBERTO, floating in the sky, surrounded by sentinels with the kids: “Roberto Da Costa hasn’t embarrassed himself once in his life.”

JULIAN: “Phh. Please, Professor. Even I know that isn’t true. Now come on! Enough talk! Let’s show these tin cans what the next generation of mutants is all!...about.”

Jullian’s face falls as he looks a sentinel in the eyes and freezes up. He lets go of Sofia’s hand as his own shakes.

WIND DANCER, concerned: “Hellion?”

Still flying toward Genosha, Scott has Emma put him in contact with Magneto. Charles has already contacted Erik and informed him of the situation. He pities Jean, and should her wrath burn away all that he protects, even after death, he will never forgive Cyclops.

MAGNETO: “I expected more from you.”

Scott, hanging his head: “So did I.”

Cyclops asks if Scarlet Witch is backing him up. If he and Emma can’t calm Jean down, Wanda is the only person on Earth even capable of hurting Dark Phoenix. Magneto tells him that she isn’t even on Earth right now, instead fulfilling her mystical duties in another realm. Quicksilver and Polaris are similarly pre-occupied. He has other combatants on Genosha, but none that he’s willing to throw into this particular line of fire. All Scott can do is promise they’ll be there as soon as they can.

In the distance, Magneto can see more sentinels coming.

MAGNETO: “See that you do.”

With a pan across the ocean, we see that Nova’s estate is actually on an island only a few miles away from Genosha.

Nova calmly walks out of her house and shuts it behind her, only to grin wildly and leap out of the way as Storm calls down a bolt of lightning to strike her. Nova’s eyes light up as she looks into the sky and sees Storm and Captain Britain.

NOVA: “Storm! A pleasure to meet a goddess face to face! I hope you can live up to that title.” She turns her head to Betsy. “And you brought a friend. Captain Britain, yes? I should be honored to me a hero of your calibur…but I always preferred your brother.”

The two veteran heroes are unphased by Nova’s taunts, with Storm ordering Nova to call off her attack before they’re forced to make her.

STORM: “For all your crimes against your own people, there is no salvation for you, but you can still escape the full extent of my wrath.”

Nova hums as she rolls her head around, confusing Ororo and Betsy.

NOVA: “Wrath. One of my favorite words. And one of my favorite things to demonstrate.”

With her grin spreading unnaturally across her face, Nova blasts Nova and Betsy out of the sky with a psychic wave. Storm and Betsy get right back up, however, and with the winds summoned and sword and shield drawn, the two charge into battle.

Nearby, Sunspot is punching and blasting away at all the Sentinels in the sky, while Laura chops them up, Surge and Dust hit them with everything they’ve got, and Kitty provides cover fire from the Blackbird, Hellion is frozen, with Wind Dancer having to keep everyone airborn herself, while also keeping Julian from getting killed, and Cessily is crying, using her powers purely to dodge and run away in terror, shouting that she’s sorry and she can’t do this.

KITTY, taking note of what’s going on: “Dammit.”

SUNSPOT, over comms: “Care to step in with a motivational speech? Those aren’t really my style.”

Kitty pinches her forehead.

KITTY, over comms: “Don’t have time for this. Wind Dancer, get everyone to the ground and get Hellion out of there! Wolverine, grab Mercury NOW and jump! Surge, Dust keep up the good work! We are not losing anyone!”

Laura, pissed and growling, tries to reach Cessily, but a Sentinel gets in her way, delaying her. Wind Dancer meanwhile completely ignores orders, instead adding to her current tasklist by going on the offensive against the sentinels herself, slicing away at their outer armor with sharp winds, and by electing to do something different about the current problem they face.

WIND DANCER: “Julian, I understand you’re afraid, believe me, I understand, but we need you right now.”

HELLION: “I…I can’t. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t.”

Kitty once again shouts at Sofia to get everyone down NOW, while Laura continues to fight, and Mercury is clearly getting tired.

WIND DANCER: “Please. Don’t you want to be a great hero?”

Julian tenses up, clenching his fists and on the verge of tears.

HELLION: “Do I look like a hero, Sofia? Guess I was all talk. Ashida will get a good kick out of–”

Sofia slaps him. Julian is confused, but Sofia just looks at him sternly.

SOFIA: “There are two things I know about my new boyfriend. Number one: He never doubts his greatness. And number two: He’d never, ever, do anything which would make Noriko look better than him.”

JULIAN: “Sofia…”

SOFIA: “ARE you my new superhero boyfriend, or are you going to tell everyone at school that Surge is better than Hellion?”

The two stare each other down…until Julian untenses and smirk spread across his face.

JULIAN: “Not a chance.”

Julian gives Sofia a quick kiss on the lips before shrounding everyone in his TK fields and jumping into the fight to save Mercury from an incoming attack.

HELLION: “Sorry about that, everyone! It won’t happen again. Now you get out of your funk too, Cess! I know you’re better than this!”

Using his TK, Julian helps Mercury re-solidify in her base form and carries away her tears.

JULIAN: “Remember when we met? I told you how you could show everyone at school everything your awesome body can do. Time to show the world.”

With a warm, charming style from Julian, Cessily sniffles one more time before recomposing herself.

Laura finally takes out the sentinel she was fighting and reaches the two, Sofia flying over to them at the same time.

LAURA: “You three ready to actually help now?”

MERCURY: “If you and Julian know I can do this, then I have to accept it.”

SOFIA: “Apologies for the delay.”

Laura smirks “Good. Couldn’t have you all making me look dumb.”

The four of them re-enter the main fray together.

In the sky above Genosha, Magneto battles a whole squad of sentinels by himself. Impressive as that is, he notes that this shouldn’t even be a fight at all, yet somehow they’re somewhat resistant to his magnetism. There’s something different about these sentinels.

Scott and Emma finally arrive, ready to back Erik up, but as Emma carries the two of them out of their ship, something odd happens: Magneto, the sentinels, and all the in-progress attacks are frozen in place.

EMMA: “I don’t suppose there are any Mutants on Genosha with control over time?”

SCOTT: “Not that I’m aware of.”

The two shield their eyes from a blinding light as Jean, still shrouded in a massive Dark Phoenix force, cackles. She’s been waiting for them. And she wanted some privacy. Before she burns this world to ashes, she wants to do some quick “couples counseling”.

Storm attacks Nova were lightning strikes and winds clearly far heavier than Sofia’s, but they fail to do anything against Nova’s psychic shield, as she leaps into the sky and launches another psychic wave at Ororo and Betsy. This time, Betsy is able to block the attack with her shield, though it does leave her with a bloody nose.

NOVA: “Hmm. Best deal with you first.”

Nova’s eyes glow white as Betsy’s forcibly turn purple. As Storm continues her assault on Nova, Nova’s battle with Betsy takes to the astral plane, as giant, psychically projected versions of themselves engage in combat, with Betsy unable to do anything against Nova’s raw power but play defense.

NOVA: “I can’t say I know anything about you personally, Captain, but do you really believe you’re fit to stand in Brian Braddock’s shoes? You wear those colors, that armor, and represent the greatest country in the world. Nobility or not, is that really a job for a…” she snickers. “...a woman like yourself?”

As Storm finally manages to land a clean hit on Nova, Betsy too is able to start striking back.

BETSY: “You’re the sister of Charles Xavier. You’re a Mutant. What could possibly make you hate us like this?”

NOVA: “If a spider nearly stopped you from being born, if you vividly remembered it trying to kill you, wouldn’t you hate all spiders?”

BETSY: “We are not spiders!”

NOVA: “Nor are you real. Not really. And with every one of you I kill, I make Charles suffer that much more. And that, dear girl, is the only thing that really matters.”

Pulling off a wild aerial maneuver in the Blackbird, Kitty is contacted by Storm over the coms. She’s unsure if she and Captain Britain will be able to defeat Nova on their own. She’s requesting both she and Sunspot come to back them up, not Laura because she doesn’t have the mental defenses necessary to even approach Nova, but she ONLY wants them if she believes Wolverine and the students have the Sentinels handled on their own. It’s her call.

Outside, the kids have gotten their act together, and with Hellion having snapped out of his funk, a leader has emerged.

HELLION: “Wind Dancer, I’ll yank off their armor after you’ve worn them down, then you slash up their insides! Mercury, Dust, stop attacking them head on! Get inside them and mess em up from the inside! Surge, handless fastball!”

Julian, Sofia, Cessily, and Sooraya all do exactly as the former said, taking out several sentinels. As for the “handless fastball”, we see that it involves Surge coating herself in her electrical aura, Hellion putting an additional forcefield around her, and Surge vibrating at super speed before getting launched by Hellion. While this attack hurt’s Nori’s head more than it did in the danger room, it does succeed in putting a hole straight through a sentinel’s chest.

LAURA, over the coms: “Go, Professors. We’ve got this.”

Kitty takes one more moment to mull this over, before calling for Beto to get on board, and wishing them luck.

While the kids are on fire figuratively, it’s literal for Scott and Emma as Jean tortures them both. Emma attempts to fight back, but her psychic attacks peter out in Phoenix’s flames before they can even reach Jean.

Jean laughs.

JEAN: “Oh, Emma. You may be one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth, but you’re still only human.”

Scott begs Jean to stop and to just talk to him, only for Jean to remove his visor and force his eyes open so that she can absorb all of the optic energy he emits.

JEAN: “Consuming a world will take no effort on our part, but regrowing it will. We’ll need to be at our strongest. Consider this an involuntary apology gift, slime.”

While Jean continues to absorb Cyclops’ energy, she also turns some of it onto Emma.

As Emma screams, Jean taunts her.

JEAN: “Isn’t this a little like what you did to Jean Grey’s friends in the old days? We’re certainly enjoying ourselves enough. But unlike them, you’ve done everything to deserve this.”

Scott and Emma are completely helpless.

On both the physical and astral plains, Storm and Captain Britain aren’t fairing much better. Nova’s attacks are now not just hurting Storm, but bypassing her mental defenses to an extent, taunting her with the visuals of what her best friend is doing right now.

NOVA: “These were the people you trusted? You fought Cyclops for leadership of this team once. Perhaps you should have done it again.”

Things are even worse on the astral plane, as Betsy is simply no match for Nova. With each hit her projection takes, her real body gets more and more slashed up. Accepting she can’t win, Betsy elects to at least do what she can.

Captain Britain re-absorbs her astral self into her body and flings herself through the air and Nova.

BETSY, telepathically: “Storm! Cover!”

As Storm shrouds the two telepaths in clouds, purple and white lights flash.

As the clouds clear, Betsy has a psychic knife through Nova’s head, while Nova is gripping Betsy’s.

Betsy falls unconscious, but for the first time, Nova actually seems to be disoriented and in pain.

NOVA: “What did you do to me you little–?”

Storm cuts her off as she shifts the atmosphere around Nova to an unbearably hot temperature.

STORM: “The psychic knife shuts down a normal person’s mind, no matter their defenses. It seems it only weakened you.” With perfect timing, the Blackbird arrives, Kitty and Sunspot phasing through it and dropping down next to Storm. “But we can do the rest.”

Having gotten into a perfect rhythm and executing Julian’s orders perfectly, the kids are having the time of their lives. They’re all clearly proud of themselves, but none moreso than Laura for having made the right call in bringing them.

LAURA: “Only two left. Take them out.”

Nova meanwhile laughs. Kitty, who makes a remark that she really never needed to know what Professor Xavier with boobs would look like, questions what’s so funny.

NOVA: “What’s so funny? A lot of things in this world. Crying babies, natural disasters, wide-spread plagues and diseases…and dead children.”

As the six kids move to take out the two remaining sentinels, the machines’ eyes turn white, and a new layer of armor forms around each of them.

NOVA: “You didn’t think I’d played all my cards, did you?”

While Wolverine, Hellion, Wind Dancer, and Surge focus on attacking one of the two remaining sentinels, with little success, Mercury and Dust are able to circumvent the new armor and get inside the other one. However, once they’re inside, it electrocutes them both. As the girls scream in agony, Hellion panics and abandons his current battle to go and pull them out of there.

HELLION: “I’m the one who’s about to become an X-Man! I’m not letting any of my squad get killed here!

Julian is successfully able to extract his friends from the death machine and help them re-form before they fall unconscious.

HELLION: “Sleep tight, girls. Leave the rest to me.”

While both Storm and Sunspot blast away at the weakened Nova, the older woman now needing to actively deflect their attacks instead of passively shielding herself, Laura, Sofia, and Noriko are knocked around by one of the sentinels, unable to damage it. Wolverine shouts at Hellion to stick with the group and back them up, but he says he’s not backing down again, and is gonna make this thing pay for hurting his friends.

HELLION: “I’m never doubting myself again.”

WIND DANCER: “You idiot! This isn’t what I meant!”

Proudly proclaiming that he’s the strongest here, Hellion attempts to fight one of the “super-sentinels” on his own, throwing everything he has at it.

The results are disastrous, as the sentinel counterattacks and blasts off both of Hellion’s hands.

Everything goes silent, with Julian in shock, and horror on Sofia and Laura’s faces, before Julian cries hysterically and screams at the top of his lungs as his stubs gush blood.

Jean continues to torment Scott and Emma, both with her flames, and with more visions, as Scott gets a highlight reel of the two’s most romantic moments to shame him, while Emma is taunted with the ghosts of the Hellions, Synch, and Skin, as well as one other man. Someone who appears slightly older than Emma, but sickly, with a shaved head and a scar across his neck, who lays in a hospital bed with empty eyes.

JEAN: “Christian Frost. How did you ever think someone like you could protect anyone else if you couldn’t even protect your own brother? Destruction is all you’re good for.”

Emma seemingly cracks, but while she is hurt…

EMMA: “Fine! You win, goddess! I’m a monster! But if you’re poking around in my head, you know that I’m not ignorant about this fact! Can you say the same for yourself, or do you honestly believe you’re granting the world, and not yourself, a boon by ending it? I hope you can’t see that, because that means you don’t realize…” Emma cackles as she chokes on her own blood before it dribbles now her chin. “That means you don’t realize the final thing humanity will learn is that Emma Frost was a better hero than Jean Grey.”

The Phoenix’s grin disappears as Jean gets pissed.

The X-Men continue to battle Nova, who, between Storm and Sunspot’s attacks, and her focus being drawn toward Kitty, needing to stay aware of her at all times as she phases across and underneath the battlefield so she can’t grab her, is being worn down. But she refuses to go down and changes tactics.

With their mental defenses not as strong as Storm’s, Nova takes control over Sunspot and Kitty’s minds and forces them to fight her for her.

The kids are all mortified by what’s happened to Julian, as he continues to screams. Surge in a panic and talking super fast asks Wolverine what they should do, but with Laura flashing back to when she killed her mom, she’s frozen up. Sofia makes the call herself. They have 3 down, one critically injured, and they don’t know how to fight these new sentinels; they have to retreat.

Sofia carries everyone down to the ground, while the sentinels fly off toward their original destination.

WIND DANCER: “It’s going to be okay, Julian. I promise. Surge! Cauterize his wounds!”

SURGE: “Wh…what?”

WIND DANCER: “You should be able to do that, right? Do it now!”

While Surge charges up her hands, closing her eyes and cringing as she takes hold of Julian’s bloody nubs to cauterize them, Laura stands over her friends. Julian was maimed, Mercury and Dust are unconscious and were nearly killed, Surge is a mess, and she’s sure Wind Dancer is just forcing herself to keep a brave face.

LAURA: “I’m sorry, everyone.”

Laura falls to her knees.

Cyclops tells Dark Phoenix to kill them if she has to, but please, spare the world. He knows Jean, he knows Phoenix, and this isn’t what either of them want to do. They’ll regret it for all eternity, just like last time.

DARK PHOENIX: “Do not dare tell us what we want!”

CYCLOPS: “I’m not telling you what you want. I’m telling you what I know about you. I made a mistake. A horrible mistake I can never undo. I’m…I’m realizing things. About who I am. About my life. And not everything is how I thought it was. But I swear, I love you just as much as the day we met. And there’s no one in the world who knows you better.”

The Dark Phoenix falters, uncertainly appearing on her face, watching a vision of her and Scott’s first meeting, as it transitions into her and Scott’s wedding. She looks back at Scott solemnly.

Storm dodges Sunspot and Kitty’s attacks as she tries the old tactic of telling the two to get a hold of themselves.

STORM: “That never works.”

Storm flies up into the sky and, with a singlie bolt of lightning, knocks out Sunspot. She’s going to hit Kitty next, but when she realizes she’s disappeared, she’s momentarily distracted. Nova takes full advantage of this, seizing the split second to hit Storm will a full force mental blast. The goddess bleeds from her eyes as she’s brought to her knees.

As Storm shakes, Nova hunches over to her and puts a gun to her head.

NOVA: “Any last words?”

STORM: “I am no telepath. But I hear your words. And your actions speak louder than they ever could. You have nothing but hate inside in your heart.”

NOVA: “And all the happier for it.”

We go into slo-mo as Nova starts pressing down on the trigger, but before she can fire, Storm grabs her and gives her the full electrocution treatment, stunning Nova, making her scream in pain like she’s done to so many others, and breaking down the last of her physical defenses.

But she still stands, while Storm falls over. Nova, scorched all over her body and barely standing, laughs at Storm. She knows she could have killed her there. But she didn’t. She’s too good and pure for that. And too stupid to know better.

Nova pistol whips Storm.

NOVA: “Oh, it would have been fun to break you. Alas, I had to settle for Cyclops. Watching him kill Stryker was amusing though.”

Storm is barely conscious, but her eyes still express shock at that.

Nova puts the gun to Storm’s head once more.

But once again, she’s stopped. This time, courtesy of Katharine Anne Pryde, as she emerges from the ground and uppercuts Nova. Nova’s eyes fill with shock and bloody flies out of her mouth as her jaw is broken, and she’s knocked unconscious.

KITTY: “Count yourself lucky, you monster. I could have killed you too.”

Kitty helps Storm up, with Storm saying she cut that a little close. Betsy and Sunspot, both now conscious, approach the two, leaning on each other, express how they only had one shot at this, and needed to make sure they got it right.

Turns out, Betsy wasn’t fully knocked out by Nova’s attack; she only made her think she was, and she was in bad enough shape to sell it. She snapped Kitty out of Nova’s brainwashing, and hid her mind while she was underground so that, once Storm had sufficiently weakened her, she could nail her with a surprise attack to finish her.

BETSY: “I have to say, Sunspot, I wouldn’t have taken you for a strategist.”

ROBERTO: “Oh, you know, I’m a man of many talents.”

Kitty laughs, and checks in with the kids on the coms…only to see how they’re doing in person.

Laura, Sofia, and Noriko approach the adults, each carrying one of their friends on their backs. Laura’s eyes are lifeless, Noriko can’t stop looking at all the blood on her gauntlets, and Sofia is struggling not to cry.

Despite being in bad shape themselves, the adults rush over to the kids to look after them. Beto and Betsy look after their injured, while Kitty hugs Noriko, and Storm hugs Laura and Sofia.

Jean looks at Scott lovingly. “Please” is all he has left to say. She turns to Emma and sneers.

JEAN: “What of you? Are you willing to give your life for this world?”

Emma sneers right back at Jean.

EMMA: “Well, that is why I was brought along.” She pauses. “But before you smite me, power down, and make a half-hearted attempt to salvage a marriage which was dead before it even started, I want you to look at me, really look at me, and tell me that is what you desire.”

SCOTT: “Emma, what are you–”

EMMA: “Shhhh.”

Jean and Emma continue to stare each other down. Until Jean smiles, not with the burning intensity of Phoenix, but with gentle warmth. They have made their decision: Earth does not burn today.

Scott and Emma’s face light up, only for Jean to utter a dower, “However…”

On the Blackbird, Nova, who’s been equipped with power-dampening handcuffs, is still barely conscious as it turns out, and she laughs, coughing as she does so. Kitty asks what’s so funny about heading to a life imprisonment.

NOVA: “That doesn’t matter. None of this matters. The second the Dark Phoenix was in play, my victory was already assured.”

While Betsy is banding up Hellion, the others look at Nova with concern, demanding she tells them what’s going on.

NOVA: “You’re about to find out.”

Jean grins evily as she flares up her power even further. The world may not burn today, but they must still pay. Their betrayal must have consequences.

JEAN: “And so, you shall both die. You shall die among the people we three vowed to protect.”

Scott and Jean panic, but there’s nothing left to say. Time unfreezes as Scott and Emma are transported to Genosha.

With Magneto nowhere to be seen, the two broken down heroes are helpless as the sentinels fly over Genosha and firebomb the entire country.

In the Blackbird, Betsy drops to her knees in silent horror as she sees what’s happened. She shares the vision with the others, with Storm and Betsy taking the sight similarly to her,  while Kitty screams and cries.

Season 1 ends on the sight of Genosha completely destroyed, and 16 million Mutants dead.

[katyspersonal]

I’ll ask about my dearest boi, Bloody Crow of Cainhurst for the character bingo!! (Btw those flower pics gave me a huge seratonin boost <3)

I am glad you liked the pictures! And I am glad I remembered that meme was a thing. Alright, let's see-

This is a complicated one! And now I realise this meme slightly lacks important options (such as, 'fandom doesn't explore this character nearly enough'). So yeah, I picked 'wasted potential' because there are just not enough interactions explored with him, besides Alfred or Eileen! Like... there are Maria, and Annalise, and many other people! And 'they got done dirty by creators' because they did not give him a unique face data, and kept generic one ;-; I should have rounded the same for Eileen though. At least Elden Ring seems like they learned their mistakes and started to actually give ALL characters unique datas.

(I still believe that the pretty guard on one of the portraits in Cainhurst IS him though, also he totally has eyeshadow and paints his nails. xD)

I am not a big fan of their ship with Alfred though :s However, Ariadella and Bradmon/Assasimon likewise fall for the 'oh one of them wants to kill another? THAT MEANS THEY'RE FUCKIN-' fandom trope and I disliked both at first, but I ended up finding interpretation of Bradmon that I do enjoy, and I can see how Arianna and Adella could be the kind of opposites that end up benefiting each other under better circumstances, so maybe Alfred and Crow likewise has an angle I can get behind with? But currently, and by default, it feels strange for me to ship the blood queen simp with the guy that wishes her (and her whole clan) death.

Crow gives off a very strong vibe of cruel character though hahaha! Blood Dregs are said to be found in blood-drunk hunters, so he just used Eileen for easier access, doing honorable mission of Hunters of Hunters dirty like this? Calculative, too. I would not put it past the guy to be some sort of awful mastermind - it is just a 'vibe' we get from him killing Eileen (one of the most beloved characters) and being a very relentless hostile NPC, but it works, alright? Some impressions are just so apparent @_@'

[ilomilodailystuff]

If You Love Me || Sylki Fanfic

...really love me

Loki x Sylvie fanfiction

[LOKI FINALE SPOILERS]

dt @entertainmentforgods

(every mean comments about this ship will be deleted. If you don't like this ship, please just ignore.)

They did it, it was over. The impossible had come true.

Their heart beating wildly, the anguish of their uncertainty gradually fades as they understand the finality of it all.

Loki and Sylvie had joined forces to destroy the true mastermind of the TVA. The overpowered individual who pulled the strings behind the curtain.

The Goddess of Mischief dropped her bloodstained sword on the dark ground, making a loud metallic sound. He Who Remains had just gave his last breath.

Sylvie took a deep breath while staring at the inert body of the one who called himself The Conqueror. As Loki stood behind her, he watched her worriedly. She had just accomplished what she had fought for all her life. So many years feeding a justified anger towards one man, for it turned out that the Time Keepers were nothing but a sham. So many years of hiding, of surviving in the midst of so many apocalypses instead of just living fearlessly. Instead of living happily, instead of laughing, smiling, dancing, singing, enjoying the present moment, observing the universe and its many wonders without them being destroyed around her, loving and being loved in return... All of that was taken away from her, because The Ruler had decided to do so. Because only one man had made the decision to sacrifice her timeline and her family and those she loved. She had lost everything as a child, because a human had condemned her existence.

And now, the latter had just died. He had lived millions of lives, and the last had just ended, killed by the vengeful hand of an innocent orphan.

Slowly, Loki moved closer to her as he kept his eyes on her. Then when he was right behind her, he gently took her hand to try to get her out of her torpor. Her face turned to him as her gaze was drawn to the ground. She was still trying to regulate her breathing and realize the previous events.

"Come with me…" He half-murmurs, his blue eyes tinted with green watching his partner's reaction carefully, anxious to see her breaking down despite her strength to contain her emotions.

It was then that she nodded softly, still too absorbed by this decisive moment in her life. Sylvie turns to him with the intention of following him, no matter where he wanted to take her.

A few seconds later, both found themselves outside the entrance to the Citadel.

Loki went down the few steps, before sitting quietly on one of them. His teammate was not far away and she watched him get comfortable, while thousands of thoughts jostled in her mind. Curious, Loki brought his attention to her. When their eyes met, she began her steps to him to sit beside him on the step.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she sat down comfortably, her eyes fixed in front of her, finally noticing the awe-inspiring beauty of the sacred timeline they both would have admired sooner if it were in a less disastrous context. But now as they ran after time, it was as if it has just stopped.

The variants observed this painting before them, this masterpiece born from space and the end of the universe. For a moment, a pleasant silence rocked them in a surreal dream. Their eyes shine brightly, illuminated by the cosmos and time materialised in a perfectly fluid and sparkling line. But also, their intense feelings took over and tears had formed.

Hesitant but at the same time strangely confident, Loki turned to Sylvie, only able to imagine how she felt now.

"You're okay ?" He dares to ask softly.

Suffering of an internal conflict, Sylvie keeps her eyes wide open and try to look indifferent.

"I accomplished my mission, how do you think I feel ?" She replies naturally, almost on the defensive.

"Relieved ?"

"Yeah, among other things." She confirms with obviousness.

Amused by her slightly aggressive responses which, according to him, are what make her what she is, the god of mischief ends up stretching a tender smirk, realizing that this tone will never leave her no matter the situations in which they find themselves, as dramatic and catastrophic as they may be.

Innocently, Sylvie ends up looking at her partner.

"Why do you smile ?" She asks.

He smiles a little more.

"The real question is... why don’t you ?" Loki retorts, eyebrows raised.

The Enchantress raised her eyebrows in turn, that desperate, lonely look that makes her charm appearing on her face. What to answer to that? She had learned that Loki was insightful about her, but she wasn't used to being the center of attention that much.

"Why seek answers to trivial questions." She asks rhetorically as she looks away from him.

After a while, Loki also turned away, dissatisfied with her answer but still preferring to let go.

"So this is it..." He starts. "It's done."

"It's done." Sylvie asserts, nodding her head a little.

His eyes going here and there, Odin's son was asking himself lots of questions. Including one in particular.

"What do we do now ?" He wonders, seeming lost.

Sylvie took a deep breath again, ignoring like him the future of events.

"Should we go back to the TVA ?" Loki continues, bringing his gaze back to the one person he trusted.

"Why ?" She asks softly. "They don't need us anymore."

"But we don't have to hide." He responds with a comforting smile. "We are their allies."

"Is that what you want, to go back to the TVA ? But to do what ?" She asks again, looking into his eyes.

He thought for a moment, trying to unravel this enigmatic knot, stepping into the unknown.

"The Sacred Timeline is free" He said, emphasizing the first words in an exaggerated and caricatural way. "Maybe once we get there, we can look for another timeline where we can... fit in ?"

A silence took hold of them, leaving for only words the looks they exchanged.

Sylvie then ends up lowering her gaze in the direction of her own hands, revealing between her fingers the object that the Conqueror kept around his hand. The tempad.

"How about we take a break, until one of us finds a place to go ?" She offers softly, lost in thought as she doesn't take her eyes off the object.

"What, here ?" Loki asks, uncertain and surprised by her answer.

"Why not..?" She replies, her eyebrows raised, her mind being elsewhere. "When you've seen thousands of apocalypses, The Void isn't as bad as it seems."

Loki takes the time to consider this idea, thinking about everything else. The members of the TVA, the sacred timeline that has become completely independent, the very few people to which he is attached. They had just accomplished something huge, should they just ignore the multitudes of consequences their act caused ?

"It's over, Loki." Sylvie said, looking up at him.

Again, his gaze plunged deeply into her eyes

"We did what we had to do." She continues, looking serene.

"What if they still need us ?" He asks, referring to the TVA, specifically Mobius and hunter B-15, the only two people who believed in them and offered their precious help.

Sylvie watched the sacred timeline as it gradually divided, and she sighed.

"I am tired." She admits, ignoring Loki's question. "And you ?"

Loki admired the many timelines that continued to split, before taking a deep breath.

"Yes, me too..." He answers softly, releasing his breath, releasing the pressure he had been holding since his arrival at the TVA and which he hadn't known he had kept in him all this time until now.

However, he couldn't shake off his negative thoughts and all his apprehensions about the completion of their mission and the impact it will have on the trillions of people the universe can create. The god of mischief had, against all odds, developed a conscience and a moral code. Yes, they had delivered the world by giving it back its free will. But for some reason that he didn't quite understand, he began to doubt.

And buried into his torment, Sylvie brought a comforting hand to his.

Loki laid his eyes on this delicate hand, yet belonging to that of a warrior, his heart missing a beat at the gentle contact of the one he had become crazy about. In this moment of complexity, in this major turning point for the multiverse, he almost forgot his feelings. He almost forgot the way they looked at each other in the Citadel as they walked into the darkness. He almost forgot the moment she had gripped his hand in the Void, in front of Alioth, hoping to help him unleash his enchantment powers.

Suddenly caught up in his emotions, he looked up uncertainly in the direction of his partner. Then, she gave him a brief smile, but oh so genuine. The same smile she had given him on Lamentis, while everything around them was death and destruction. Apparently everything was written. But he decided to ignore this detail that the conqueror had shared with too much pride.

Still confused by these unusual feelings, Loki returned that affectionate and heartwarming smile. Only, looking into her expressive eyes - but in the greatest secret, a loving gaze- he realized that the very thing he wanted above all now was to never leave her again. To stay by her side, as long as possible, even forever, better than that : beyond death. His desires made him all the more nervous. He never thought he would be so consumed by his moods, let alone by a loving emotion that possesses him more and more after each day he spends in her company. Nevertheless he wanted to seize this desire and make it come true.

This time, it is the TVA that he forgets, it is the universe that he neglect, it is the time that he ignores.

It is his glorious purpose that he gave up, because he found a new one...

"Sylvie..." He said, drunk with love for her. "I..."

"No, Loki, wait." Sylvie interrupts him, being totally lost and frightened at the same time. "I have to tell you something..."

"Yes ?" He asks, innocent, patient, in love.

She looked at him intensely, trying to express herself. Something seemed to upset her. Loki was trying to read into her eyes, to read her face, when no word could break the barrier of her lips. Disturbed by this confession, it turned out that it was getting stuck between the walls of her throat.

So the Prince of Asgard frowned, intrigued by the torture she was inflicting on herself through this mysterious revelation.

"I..." She starts before her lips instantly seal.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself for another attempt, as Loki's piercing, loving gaze dug into her pupils until it consumed her whole being.

When finally, in complete disarray, she ends up throwing herself at his neck.

Her lips crashed against his, tenderly, passionately but mostly timidly. Surprised but more than grateful for this proof of unexpected love, Loki was not long in returning her kiss with just as much fervor.

Sylvie had never been attached to anyone. She never wanted to be weak because of her feelings. She would never have dedicated herself to someone body and soul, for trusting and breaking down the imposing and solid walls she had built around her was inconceivable. And yet, faced with the many selfless acts of the one who had irrupted into her plan, she had found herself giving him importance. She hated knowing that she was only considering trusting him. She hated the fact that he could climb these walls she had locked herself between.

Worse yet, she was terrified to find herself reaching out to help him climb.

Eyes closed, they kissed each other with fragility, embarrassed to feel such intense emotions but oh how much they surrendered to them.

Sitting side by side, they relished this moment of sincerity and calm after all they had endured. The highlight of their journey. The completion of a battle for freedom, the same cause that the rightful king of Asgard fought against to make it inaccessible to the people of the earth. This cause that he finally chose to defend ; for him at the beginning, but for her on the way, and for the others at the end of their fight.

Slowly, they parted. Loki then dared to rest his forehead tenderly against hers. They kept their eyes closed, as if to immortalized this moment in their memories, for who knows what might happen to them tomorrow.

That's why he whispered these few words :

"You're right, I... I'm a little tired..." He admitted again hesitantly, unsettled by this moment of pure sincerity.

Keeping her forehead against his, Sylvie nodded gently, not daring to open her eyes to face the truth she still had trouble swallowing.

"Let's stay here..." Loki continues.

"Only for a little while." She continues nervously, muttering her desires like him, probably too afraid that someone will hear them or too embarrassed to admit she is weak in front of him, while he is weak in front of her.

"Yes, after all... If something goes wrong, they know where to find us, right ?" He responds with a raised eyebrow as he still kept his eyes closed, trying to reassure himself by making excuses to stay.

"Yeah, of course, nothing prevents Mobius from coming back here." She confirmed casually.

"Well, unless... Unless he had to prune himself." He said worriedly. "But it’s not as if we have no way to reach them !" He adds anyway, optimistic and trying not to feel guilty.

“Yes ! We have the--” She mimics his optimism, as she pulls away from his forehead to observe the object in her free hand.

"T-the tempad..." He confirms by muttering and nodding his head, bringing in turn his attention to the latter.

The taste of her lips was still too present on Loki's for him to think properly. However, he was trying.

Shyly, he finally looked at her again, a quiet smile displayed on his face.

Of course, Sylvie had noticed it. How to ignore him ? So, embarrassed, she gave him an uncertain look, having no idea how they should react now. After all, despite their thousand years of life, the variants had never really been devoted to feelings or romance that seemed more than superfluous and unnecessary at the time. Although they were aware of their emotions, repressed or not, knowing how to react to them was still an area to be explored.

The landscape around them gradually brought her back to reality. Then, looking worried, she turned her gaze to the entrance to the Citadel. She remembered the corpse of the He Who Remains, the one who had wiped out her timeline and certainly thousands more.

Loki frowned, noticing the change in expression on his partner's face.

"Are you sure you’re okay ?" He asks once more with patience.

Lost in thought, Sylvie continued to look at the place where everything had changed with a blank stare.

"No..." she sighs slowly.

The god of mischief was envious to possess the complicated mind of his variant for the sole purpose of finding the source of her ill-being. It would be enough for him to touch her to enchant her, now that he knows the secrets of enchantment. However, would he dare ? He hesitated for a fraction of a second, before totally rejecting the idea away from him. He was incapable of defying her trust, for he knew full well that he would risk a lot if he tried. Especially since he was still cruelly lacking in experience concerning enchantments.

"But when I wake up tomorrow knowing that the one responsible for all this horror is only a memory, then I could savor every second of my life." She asserts returning her attention to Loki as if nothing had happened, speaking with confidence and lightness.

Perplexed but somewhat reassured, he just nodded briefly, straining to accept her answer. However, something in him told him that she wasn't being entirely truthful.

"...Glorious purpose." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Mh..." She only answers, a quiet smirk nestling in the corner of her lips.

Calm eventually took over. Neither of them spoke, only watching the story of trillions of lives forming before their eyes in those many fluorescent lines.

"We're not leaving." He speaks up, his statement sounding more like a question mark.

"We're not leaving." She repeats with a little more conviction than him.

Slowly, he finally took a light breath, before sighing in contentment.

After an extremely difficult journey that could have cost them their lives, even though the Ruler had decided that they would be spared so that they could both achieve their goal, they were going to be able to rest, they were going to be able to breathe. Because even if the gods have more ability than humans to resist fatigue and pain, they could do nothing before the effervescence of their emotions. And as tough as they could be, they were tired, mentally and physically.

Thereupon, on this mutual agreement, the two variants had decided that it was time for them to rest for a while. They didn’t know what they were going to do. But they had decided to figure this out…

Together.

[mr-and-mr-diaz]

*Gasp* And They Were NEIGHBORS! A Buddie Neighbor AU

This fic is dedicated to @agentmarymargaretskitz who sent me the original prompt (as well as so many others when I wasn’t feeling well, seriously can’t thank you enough and I will respond to each of your asks, I’m just savoring them) and to @justsmilestuffhappens who I have been mutualling back and forth with for a REALLY long time (Hi! Nice to meet you, I love you already!) and wanted to see this prompt happen!

***

“I SWEAR to god, Buck, if I hear even one more word out of your mouth about this guy and his kid I will throw you over this balcony!”

“But Hen--”

“He’s gorgeous, I know! And his kid is the cutest thing since puppies! We get it! Now stop talking about it and do something about it!” Hen sounded mostly exasperated, but dare Buck hope he still heard a little fondness in there as well?

He smiled. “Right. Okay.” Silence followed as he wracked his brains. “Wait, what should I do?? This guy doesn’t know me at all, I haven’t gone over yet to say hello, I’m so worried about being awkward or overkill--”

“Overkill? You??” Chimney chuckled from across the firehouse loft where he was playing the pinball arcade. 

“Hey!”

“In all seriousness, Buck,” Chim turned and addressed him, his smile gone from teasing to kind. “You’re gonna be fine, just go say hi. The sooner you get it over with, the less awkward it’ll be. Also, remember you still gotta find out if he’s interested. And available too; if he’s as hot as you say, he could already be dating someone.”

“Oh shit! Wait, what if he is?” Buck put his face in his hands and groaned. “Urgh, what should I do?”

“Why not take over some of those cookies I taught you how to bake last week, Buck?” Buck raised his eyes to Bobby, who was watching him with a small, patient smile. “Nothing out of the ordinary about bringing some baked goods to a new neighbor. It’s a great way to introduce yourself and get in their good books.”

“Okay!” Buck nodded. “Can you help me bake them again, Cap?”

Bobby's nodded, already headed for the pantry. “Of course.”

***

Eddie sighed. He was so glad he moved but it didn’t stop the process from being hell. It had been a long day job hunting and he still needed to find a good school for Chris. At the moment, Chris was in the living room, watching TV.

Eddie got up and went over to the fridge, digging around for the Tupperware of dinner Abuela had sent over and transferring it to a pot to reheat. Soon the smell of delicious posole filled the house and he sat, taking a moment just to savor the scent and feel just a bit more at home.

He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“No rest for the weary.” Sighing, Eddie stood and shuffled over, glancing through the peephole. A tall man stood there, his hair short and neatly slicked back. He was shuffling back and forth awkwardly, a covered plate in his hands. 

Who is this? Eddie opened the door.

“Can I help you?”

“Uh hey!” The man’s eyes lit up and he looked Eddie up and down. He was a bit taller than Eddie and dressed sharply in a firefighter’s uniform. Eddie instantly became aware of the ratty sweatpants and loose Henley he’d thrown on as soon as he’d gotten back home and how mussed his hair likely was from running his fingers through it in frustration. Weirdly though, the man’s smile didn’t dim. 

“Hi, My name’s Evan Buckley, I’m your neighbor! Apartment 2B.” He smiled, eyes lingering on Eddie’s for just a moment too long, before he jolted and laughed awkwardly, lifting his hands up. “Cookies! Uh, I mean, I made cookies for you.” The man lifted the cloth off the plate and a heavenly smell wafted from  a pile of delicious looking cookies. “They’re chocolate chip macadamia--wait, you don’t have any allergies right? Or gluten intolerant or anything? Or, shit, are you vegan? I should’ve asked, there’s eggs in here...” Evan made to cover the plate again, but Eddie put out a hand, stopping him. He couldn’t help grinning at the guy--the way he rambled, his bright smile. 

“You think I’m gonna let you walk away with those now that you’ve offered? They smell great, Evan.”

“Oh thank goodness!” The smile was back and brighter. “And, uh, feel free to call me Buck, all my friends do. And welcome to the neighborhood! It’s nice here, everyone’s polite, except Mr. Grivary in 4C, he can be a bit--but of course you don’t want to hear me rambling...” The guy blushed and Eddie felt his own smile widen. This man was adorable.

“Actually, that sounds like useful information Buck.” Eddie remembered Abuela’s dinner and held the door wider. “I’m not really a cook myself, but we have my Abuela’s posole for dinner, would you like to join us?”

“Yes!! I mean,” Buck blushed again and cleared his throat. “Yeah sure, if it isn’t any trouble...”

***

Buck felt like he’d barely fallen asleep when his doorbell rang.

“Hmm?” He mumbled at the door. Which of course could not be heard by whoever was on the other side. They rang the doorbell again.

“Ugh, fuck... Yeah, coming!” Buck dragged himself out of bed and stumbled to the door, glancing through the peephole. He couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on his face as he caught sight of golden brown curls, red glasses, and the world’s cutest smile. 

“Chris!” He pulled the door open. “What’s up, buddy?”

“I’ve got news!” Chris giggled as he carefully walked into Buck’s apartment and sat himself down at the kitchen table. Buck automatically reached for his crutches and propped them against the chair. It was hardly the first time Chris had come to visit; he came over often to play games, tell Buck about his day, or help him try out a new recipe. “Our school is holding a bake sale on Friday.”

“Those are fun.” Buck sat down across from Chris, voice lowered conspiratorially. “What are you making?”

“That’s the thing.” Christopher’s tone turned sad. “The teacher said it has to be homemade and Dad’s been stressing out about it. He’s super busy with his new job and I know he wants to help, but... He burned water once. Just water.” 

“Aw man.” Buck put in every effort not to laugh, but a giggle still escaped. “You want me to help you put something together, take the pressure off your dad?” Christopher nodded happily and Buck reach for his notebook where he carefully documented all of Bobby’s recipes. “How’s cupcakes sound, Superman?”

In short order, they had all the ingredients lined up on the counter, and Chris was comfortably seated right next to the mixer, ready to dump in anything Buck handed him.

“...And then, only after that you want to add the dry stuff. I don’t really know the science behind it yet, I just know that it works. If I do find out, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay. Buck?”

“Hmm?” Buck consulted Bobby’s notes carefully and measured out a cup of flour, handing it over to be added to the mix.

“Where did you learn how to bake so well? Did your mom or dad teach you?”

Buck grinned. “Nah. My captain at the fire station is the best cook I’ve ever met. Everything I baked for you guys I learned from him.”

“Oh.” Christopher reached out a hand for the second cup of carefully measured flour. “Are your parents also bad cooks like my dad?”

“Well, no. My parents are nothing like your dad.” Buck sobered. “My mom cooked a little for us, but mostly we ordered in. And she never... uh, she never had time to teach me or Maddie. I didn’t have a complete homemade meal until I started working at the 118.” He shook his head to clear the thoughts and smiled at Christopher. “But now thanks to Cap, I got an almost-dad who cooks for me every day! And now he’s teaching me so I can do it one day for my kids, if I’m ever lucky enough to have them.” 

Christopher thought for a second, absently reaching for the teaspoon of baking powder and adding it to the mix before saying. “I already have a dad, and I don’t want to trade him for anything. But... Could you be my second dad?”

Buck looked up from the salt, startled.

“Like a cooking almost-dad who teaches me how to cook just like your Cap does for you? I want to be able to help Dad so he stops feeling so bad about not cooking.” Christopher was smiling at him, waiting for a response. Buck looked away quickly and took a deep breath, clearing the sudden thickness in his throat and blinking away wet eyes.

“Y-yeah, sure, Chris. I’d be happy to.”

 ***

Eddie arrived home from work exhausted. As he approached the door, he noted how quiet the apartment sounded. Usually that meant that Christopher was hanging out by Buck’s, but Buck’s apartment was also quiet and dark. Hurrying toward the door, Eddie fumbled with his key and jerked it open as fast as he could--

“SURPRISE!!”

For only two people, Buck and Christopher still managed to startle the shit out of him.

“Fu-fudge! Guys what the hell...!”

“Happy birthday, Dad!” Christopher called from the table.

“Happy birthday, Eddie!” Buck was bent over something, his broad back blocking whatever it was. Then he rose and stepped away to Christopher’s side. He grinned, cheeks slightly flushed. “It’s not perfect, Cap would’ve done it better, but I’d say for Chris and I’s first ever layer cake it’s pretty darn good!” He and Chris high-fived each other as Eddie stepped closer.

The cake was lopsided, and the icing oozed down the sides a bit and on top... was that the number 32?

“Chris did all the writing,” Buck added proudly. “As the mastermind behind this, it was only right that he got the honors.”

“What do you think, Dad?” Chris’ voice bubbled over with delight.

Eddie looked up. They were both watching him, eyes bright, smiles wide, waiting on his response. I think--no, I know have the best kid ever.

And the best Buck.

Eddie couldn’t contain the huge grin that broke out on his face. “It’s perfect.” He looked a them, eyes meeting Christopher's, then Buck’s. “Thank you.”

***

“So when do I get to meet her?” Abuela was layering a container with tamales, her back to Eddie.

“Who?”

“The person you’ve been sharing all my cooking with.” Abuela’s tone brooked no nonsense. “The person who makes you smile to yourself every time you think I’m not looking.”

Eddie startled. “Oh, Buck? He’s not... we’re not--”

“Nonsense, mi amor.” Abuela chuckled, clamping the lid down on the container of tamales and handing them to Eddie’s slack hands. “If he isn’t, then he should be.”

Eddie stopped where he was. Abuela is right. Chris adores him, I adore him... What am I waiting for?

He reached for his phone and sent out a text.

To: Buck

From Eddie:

Abuela made tamales. Come over tonight? 

[karla-the-elemental-dreamer]

KH-OC Week - Catch Up: Day 3 - (3 AUG 2021)

@khoc-week

For this day, I will be covering 2 prompts: 'Loss' and 'Heartless/Nobody appearance'.

Firstly, for 'loss', I ended up having a dream, which seemed to play on the BBS scene where Eraqus was struck down (so relating to this theme; losing Eraqus; losing someone dear to you). Only in the dream, Xehanort didn't have his way, and the Land of Departure remained in existence. And then it seems like the situation was swapped, and Terra seemed to bring a 'you get what you give' experience to my end:

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

Dream No. M79A - Master Eraqus' Second Chance (24 JUL 2021):

The dream started with me at the Land of Departure, outside, witnessing the cutscene after Terra (KH-BBS appearance) fighting Master Eraqus, for myself. In the same way, Terra went “What have I have done?”, as he then started crying. However, I quickly came and wrapped myself around Terra (now suddenly in KH3 appearance) from behind and closed my eyes, but it wasn’t just an ordinary hug. I seemed to be able to exercise the power to bring Eraqus back to life, that is, if I was able to say the right words (while in the void via Terra) to Eraqus to convince him to come back.

It wasn’t long before Riku (KH3 appearance) came up to me and gently said, “Terra’s grieving”, suggesting I leave Terra and go with him. For some reason, I seemed to trick Riku into thinking I was feeling slightly remorseful that I couldn’t help Terra; I kept to myself that I had already acted, and in a profound way. So for the time being, neither Terra or Riku knew what was about to unfold, and Terra continued to weep outside as Riku took me into the halls.

The dream then seemed to play from a third-person perspective for some time, as Terra walked in, but seemed surprised when he noticed Eraqus standing on the top level. Terra shouted “Master!” as he ran up to the second level to meet Eraqus. With Terra being literally gobsmacked that Eraqus was there, they went into a side area to talk. Terra asked Eraqus, “Was it Aqua?”, in which Eraqus responded with no. “Was it Ven?”, Eraqus said no again. But, realising that Terra couldn’t possibly guess anyone else…

Eraqus continued something like, “It’s someone who has a very special place in your heart. She told me to come back. In-fact I can show you what she said to me”. With Terra closing his eyes, the scene went to when I was in the black void, floating in-front of Master Eraqus as I said something like, “It wasn’t Terra’s fault, Eraqus, please forgive him. (forgotten in the middle), I hope I’ve done enough, and that you decide to come back”. As Terra opened his eyes, there was a quick sub-scene at the front of the halls, of Kairi and I standing side by side as Terra’s voice said, “There’s two princesses of light”.

The dream went back to the main scene, from my perspective again now. I was standing with Riku at the front of the halls as Terra walked out of the side area. I approached Terra, who had a look of awe on his face, as when I was right in-front of him, he wrapped me in a tight hug. The dream camera showed Riku first of all looking confused, but then the awareness of my situation seemed to hit him, and he sighed and gave a close-mouthed smile with the energy of ‘you cheeky dreamer’.

As Terra released me, my phone went off; Terra going to join where Aqua and Ventus were standing, while I went closer to Riku to answer my phone. It was my mum, and she seemed to be crying over the phone. She told me that I had to come home; that my grandma had died. I grew upset and started crying as I approached Riku and said, “we have to go home”, telling him what happened. With a look of sorrow, Riku gave a remorseful groan as he welcomed me into his arms.

After a lengthy hold, Riku released me and I thought we would now be going. But then for some reason, I didn’t know how Riku and I could get home. I looked over at Terra and said that Riku and I could use his help, in which he softly nodded and left Aqua and Ventus’ area. Terra realised what I wanted as he equipped his armour and opened some sort of portal in the room. Like in an earlier dream, Terra got me to sit in-front of him as he leaned over me, while Riku seemed to be hanging from the vehicle like he was holding onto some monkey-bars.

Landing in my house, I went to my mum who was in the front room, visibly very upset at what had happened, while Riku and Terra watched on from the side of the room. And I too ended up crying again at the inescapable feeling that my grandma was gone. After a few moments of me just standing there and sobbing, Terra slowly walked over to me and draped me in another long, tight hug, me now crying on his shoulder.

When he released me, that’s when the dream went to the next scene, but it felt like it was playing as a sub-scene. My grandma was standing in-front of the central heating unit, and was talking, seemingly how she was explaining how she was back. But it sounded weird as she was saying all these complex English sentences, and English isn’t her first language IRL. At first, I was wondering how she came back, but then an energy hit me, and I realised it was Terra. When he held me in the front room, he was returning the favour; he basically did the reciprocal of how I had brought back Master Eraqus for him. After a while of my grandma saying some weird stuff, the dream ended.

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

Secondly, the 'Nobody/Heartless' prompt:

Firstly, my name as a nobody would be Xalkra; and I have my own Organisation XIII. As for appearances, I haven't really considered it much yet. Xalkra would obviously be wearing the black coat. Like Larxene, she has a bratty demeanour and can be quite devious. Xalkra is the leader of the Org, and has the title of 'The Mastermind'. I use my academic gifts and abilities for good things; she uses hers for ulterior motives.

And then in my AU, I have two side main characters, two teddies (a male and a female) called Selvian and Sierra. In adapting them to the KH AU, they are like my Donald (Selv.) and Goofy (Sier.), and we would form a KH trio in itself if the criteria required. I have an archived drawing (from my GIMP days) of the two bears as their nobody forms, Lexavnis and Serrixa. For height perspective, the bears would come up to my pelvic bones:

Today I know more about KH than I used to; and now I understand that the nobodies aren't necessarily fully evil. So if I had to revise their appearance today; I would. Lexavnis and Serrixa seem to have a heartless palette going on here.

With my previous fan-fic AU, Lexavnis and Serrixa would do Xalkra's bidding. In the story, Xalkra said that Selvian and Sierra had to race Lexavnis and Serrixa (our Org can could co-exist at the same time; so like Sora and Roxas), and the prize was the spare vessel that Selv. and Sier. had to try and win to revive/re-create Repliku, after we thought he was killed off in KH3.

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

Bonus (still Heartless/Nobody) - Horace:

I do have other teddy bear OCs, but they don't feature as much as they are not the main two. They would also make up Xalkra's Org 13. There's one bear called Horace, who I have concepted to be an obese bear that doesn't know his limits, so much so that he even goes around and eats furniture (eg. why does your bed only have 3 legs?). He is quite 'dumb', he doesn't speak, just wanders around, 'rumbles' and eats things. Others have to keep him away from objects/structures, and vice-versa.

His nobody is called Raxeoch. Once again, he can't talk, he may appear 'dumb', BUT he is actually smart, otherwise how can he eat things to help Xalkra's motives? Unlike Horace, Raxeoch knows what to destroy. In the fan-fic I wrote, the start of the assault on Riku's Destiny Islands property was when Riku caught 'a teddy bear', trying to stuff a sun lounge chair into his gob. I never finished the fan-fic; I was eventually going to get Raxeoch to eat Riku's (or maybe somebody else's) keyblade.

Let me know if you ever want a drawing to be done of Horace (I currently don't have one).

Edit: Forgot to mention that teddies cannot wield keyblades.

[blackberry-gingham]

Hewo :3

Saw you write headcanons ❤. Could ya do one of dati g the guys while being yourself a guitarist in another band ??

Thnks

Yus I can UwU

George

I honestly feel like guitar reader with George would be soooo cool and laid back!

Like, honestly any relationship with George I feel would be like a "we're friends first and foremost, and significant others second" deal

So even tho you guys are in seperate bands, there's never like any "ok, but ONE OF US has to be the better one" type of tension/joking lmao

It really is just a lot of you two practicing together, trading tips, and just all around honing your skills together

That said, I could see the two of you needing time away from your band mates a lot and so the brainstorming with each other is a bit of a cover up

It's not that you don't like your band, or him his, it's just that you need your space to recharge and the others can be a bit.... much, being rock stars and all

Anyway, the two of you are very skilled guitarists so there would definitely be plenty ideas worth picking each other's brains for!

I think you and George would've met during the Beatles hamburg days in a little dive type of place

Your careers took off in seperate ways later on, but you both just clicked at the time and so you kept in contact ever since!

Despite how close you are with George, you don't really come in to feature on a song or just hangout in studio with all the boys

Or vice versa for George and your band tbh

Everyone jokes about needing to keep an eye on you both before you run off together and make your own band lol

Secretly, you both have considered it, but you're happy with your current bands and besides you two have your thing going, and that suits you just fine

John

Ok, so not to step on anyone's toes but ???

I personally headcannon reader to be like a slightly, but noticably, better guitarist then John ????

Like things definitely get competitive between you two

At first, John's kinda jelous tbh

I'd just imagine any brainstorming or private practice sessions being a lot of you bouncing ideas off of him and him just being his brutally honest self and not really doing much bonding with you

At first, that is

Bc as we all know, the root of jealously is insecurity! So I think having reader around to encourage the real John out as well as your genuine admiration of his playing skills, would turn his attitude around!!

When it clicks for him, it's like an "um duh" moment where he realizes that you're not out trying to claim the title of "better then John Lennon" or something

Not everything is a competition, and besides, you love him! It doesn't matter who's "more talented"

I feel like you and John met backstage after a show, like maybe you and your band opened for the Beatles or even vice versa!!

He's a little begrudging of it, but from musician to musician, he just had to tell you how great you were that night

After that came a few chance run ins between your bands and before long, you and John figured why not?

I mean, you both at least respect each other's musical talent, why not get to know each other!

You come sometimes to listen in on the Beatles recording sessions, and it's not uncommon for the rest of the boys to kick John off lead guitar and have you "show him how it's done"

It's just a little inside joke at this point lmao

He likes to act all offended and huffy of course, but when you're not around he loves to brag to the lads about how amazing you are, both as a musician and a person!!

The boys can get a little annoyed on occasion when you do come over tho, seeing as recording time sometimes turns into a bit of pissing competition between you and John

But it's all in good fun and also sooo obvious you two love each other and enjoy having a little go at one another from time to time, so they're happy for you both

Paul

Finally, someone who isn't also a guitarist lmao

Of all the other boys, you and Paul compliment each other, musically and instrumentally that is, the MOST

Like John and Paul are the lyrical masterminds always and forever obviously, but if Paul is looking to get a certain tune out? He tries to get in contact with you whenever he can!

It's just that you get him, like John does, but in a different way, if that makes sense. You know?

He'll oftentimes bring his and John's lyrics and a bass sample he's got for it and ask your opinion on the bass playing and even what kind of guitar chords you think would work with it!

Your private practice sessions aren't all work tho, sometimes Paul just serenades you with his bass and his voice and the two of you chill together

You and Paul are DEFINITELY old friends, like from childhood days!!

You've known each other basically since forever, which is how you're able to craft sheet music so well together, but life simply took you in different directions to different bands

Once you two seperated for that while that he was in Hamburg, he realised just how much he missed you and didn't want to be without you or your expertise!

He was 100% going to ask you to join his band, but you had already found your own :/

That didn't matter too much tho, Paul figured the least he could do was finally ask you out so he wouldn't have to be without you!

You've been together ever since

Typically you don't really come to the Beatles studio sessions, but Paul has been known to come over to you and your bands sessions for sure!

Your bassist is just fine of course! But I mean... Who could say no to some tips and input from good ol macca?

The boys poke at Paul a lot for "cheating on them" with you when it comes to writing sheet music, but they can't deny that you come up with really good stuff together!!

Ringo

I think of all the boys, you and Ringo have like the least amount of tension between yourselves lol

Like there's a tiny bit of competition with any other string musician I'd think, but Ringo and his drums are in a whole other field!

Honestly, Ringo is just in awe of you and your skills

Granted, he doesn't really know enough about guitars to dissect the fine details of what makes you so great or compare you to John and George, but I mean... he thinks you sound absolutely incredible!!

Now, he's not the best drummer in the world, but he keeps great time and you love him for it! Especially when you two have practice time together

And he's so pleased to hear that

A lot of the time, Ringo likes to think he plays for you, rather then just with you and that internal motivation honestly helps push his skills to new heights!!

I feel like you two met totally by accident lol

Like he wandered into your recording studio by mistake one day

"Oh sorry, I heard the guitar and I thought you were George!"

You two share a laugh after he explains himself just a bit more, but you got on so quickly, that the rest is history!

Honestly, the other boys love having you there for their recording sessions

Like seriously, they appreciate you lol

They always tell you Ringo is at his absolute best when you're in the studio, and it's true!

It's to such a point that you've featured as a guest guitarist when the boys play live more then once, just to give Ringo that extra little push

Your favorite spot on stage is right beside him and his drums :)

Bonus:

In the post Beatles era, your Beatle either joins your band, or if that's lost as well, you two form a new group or just a plain duo together!

The transition is a bit of an adjustment period for your Beatle still, but having you there to support them after things fall apart is a HUGE relief

That, and having a familiar face who's also a talented musician to enter a new era of music making with is kind of exciting!

All in all, having you there eases your Beatles post breakup pain and you guys go on to make a couple iconic, landmark albums together ❤️

[pandoraborn]

CotB deleted scene 2

Characters: c!Tommy, c!Wilbur Word count: 1755 words Content: drugging mention, death mention, abuse mention, violence, wilbur and tommy have a conversation,

-----

[setting: cabin.]

It’d been a few hours since Ranboo left for the SMP to meet with Tubbo. Tommy is anxious. He hates that he’s left alone with two unconscious men, and the silence seems to endlessly stretch out, morphing into some twisted darkness. The potions of weakness he’d used on Wilbur and Dream give no indication as to when they’ll wear off, and he’s sat twiddling his thumbs, trying to ignore the slow passage of time. It’s crawling by too slowly, and yet too quickly all the same; Ranboo’s presence right now would be most welcome. It’d at least help Tommy feel like he’s not sitting in some cold, familiar void. The potions are working enough that the men aren’t stirring, and hopefully won’t for awhile yet.

Tommy hopes they’re doing the right thing.

He can already imagine the angered reactions from Wilbur and Dream when they come to. He can already hear them yelling, and he’s shrinking back into himself, already working himself into a panic. He’s so used to people yelling at him, he’s way too used to people using him as their verbal punching bag; the imagined reactions probably wouldn’t be too far from reality.

Tommy sits by Wilbur’s bedside, leaning against it and curling his fingers into the fabric of the sheets, staring at Wilbur’s face. Even in sleep, Wilbur looks stressed. He doesn’t seem to rest anymore, what with him always thinking and moving and planning. Even now, Tommy can’t piece together the full plan, even though he’s been given enough information to know exactly what they’re doing. This entire situation is an enigma, and Tommy can’t bring himself to hate it or them as much as he knows he should.

Even though Wilbur’s lips are curled downward, his brow scrunched, and wrinkles are on display for Tommy to count, he still pities Wilbur more than himself. Sure, Tommy had been through hell, but he can’t imagine the hardships Wilbur’s been through in the past, and even recently.

It’s enough that his own anxiety fades just slightly. He can sympathize with the hell Wilbur’s been through, and the group even recently learned that Wilbur had spent years in whatever limbo he’d been stuck in. Years in that world, months in this one. It’s a hard concept for Tommy to wrap his mind around, but he can’t let it go either. It’s hard to imagine being stuck for years in a prison of death, unable to leave or rest. His own two months pale in comparison. Somehow, his concern for Wilbur always seems to outweigh everything else. Where Tommy wants to blame him for everything, he can’t, because Wilbur doesn’t deserve all the blame.

Carefully, Tommy lifts a trembling hand to brush a few curls out of Wilbur’s face. The actions seems to bring a tiny bit of relief to the man; his face relaxes. Tommy exhales softly before pulling his hand away.

“Wil?” Tommy tilts his head to the side as he whispers the name, wanting to gauge how responsive Wilbur is. When there’s nothing from Wilbur, Tommy slumps against the bed and closes his eyes, taking a moment to listen to the man breathe.

“Wil, I feel like I need someone to tell me it’s going to be okay. I’m too anxious and shit for all of this, I’m scared of getting yelled at and I’m scared of getting hurt. Part of me is even scared of you, or your anger, I don’t know anymore. I still don’t get it, man, no matter how many times all of you explain it to me.”

His hand finds Wilbur’s, and Tommy tugs it out from under the blanket. “Everything and everyone is fucked, and I’m stuck in the middle, again. I just want to find some sort of peace, man. I’m tired, and you’re one of the few people I feel like I can trust anymore.” He isn’t sure he means that, but he wants Wilbur to hear it anyway.

“I know.”

Tommy jumps at the spoken words. Eyes flying open, he stares at Wilbur, who’s staring sleepily at him. “You’re not supposed to be awake,” Tommy says flatly. He considers yanking his hand back, but decidedly leaves it there; Wilbur’s hand is warm and it feels nice.

“You think drugging me was going to work all night? Nice trick Tommy, but I’m stronger than one half-assed potion.” Wilbur scoffs as he shifts his position. He doesn’t pull his hand from Tommy’s though, rather, he gives it a squeeze. “If you’re tired, why don’t you rest? I can make room on the bed.”

“You go back to sleep,” counters Tommy. “I’m not tired.”

“Come here.” Wilbur scoots away from the edge of his cot, leaving a tiny amount of room. Tommy takes advantage of it, settling in. He relaxes when Wilbur drapes the blanket over him, as well, before wrapping his arms around Tommy to keep him in place. Amazingly,  this seems to free Tommy from any anxiety as well.

“Toms, listen. Sometimes we all do stupid shit. You do stupid shit, like this half-assed plan you and Ranboo made up.” Wilbur snorts. “It might’ve worked on Dream, but I’m not him. I’m still recovering from death, drugs don’t have the same effect on me. For example, I’m awake when I know I shouldn’t be.”

“You’re getting off track,” Tommy mutters. “I thought you were going to give me some grand speech about something, I don’t know.”

“I’m getting to that.” Wilbur pats Tommy on the cheek. “You say you trust me, but you really don’t, do you?”

“Should I?” Tommy rolls onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. “I mean that honestly. Because I feel like I shouldn’t what with you being some evil mastermind and teaming with Dream, and the dragon, and even Ranboo, and I don’t know anymore. On the other hand, you’re alive, and you haven’t...”

“I haven’t actually hurt you,” Wilbur finishes. “Am I really some evil mastermind in your head?” He sounds more amused, rather than irritated. “I think I would prefer evil scientist rather than some high end villain. I’m not serious enough for that.”

“Yeah, you’re definitely evil scientist material.” Tommy nods. “I dunno. You scare me though. When you first came back, you were terrifying.”

“I came back to life to see you covered in blood. You had bruises and cuts all over you, child. How else was I supposed to react?”

“Uh, not threaten Dream? Or at least, do it far, far away from me so I didn’t have to see you act like that?”

Wilbur presses his hand to Tommy’s face. “You are so full of shit, Child. We were trapped in a tiny hot box, with lava. Where on earth would you have gone to hide? The tiny cube of water? Friendly reminder that the water was also boiling, and had you jumped in, you would’ve ended up with burns all over you, on top of what Dream had already d-”

“Stop, stop!” Tommy shoves at Wilbur, falling off the bed in the process. “I don’t want to hear anymore! I already know, Wilbur! He hurt me again. Just like he always has!” He remains on the ground, rolling onto his stomach to hide his face. “I hated everyone for letting it happen.” It’s embarrassing to have a tantrum like this. Tommy expects Wilbur to laugh at him or mock him. There’s a silence at first, lasting a few agonizingly long seconds.

“I know. Tommy, had I been there, I would have protected you. I would have done everything in my power to prevent Dream from hurting you. Unfortunately, I was helpless.” Tommy can feel Wilbur rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to soothe him. Wilbur doesn’t sound like he’s laughing, bringing another measure of relief. Maybe Wilbur actually does care.

“Why do I not believe you were that helpless?”

“Ranboo tried to ask for my help once,” Wilbur confesses. “He found a way to communicate with me, months ago. I just told him to keep trusting Dream, because I didn’t have the power to do anything more.”

“Wait.” Tommy sits up. “You’re going to have to explain that to me. Ranboo talked to you, not Ghostbur. How?”

Wilbur nods. “It was a spell, I don’t know what kind of spell, but it worked all the same. The world is full of ancient magics, and he is enderman. Anyway, he wanted answers, he wanted me to do something. But what use is a dead man?”

“Dream isn’t trustworthy,” Tommy grumbles, grabbing at the bed. He doesn’t want to talk about magic anymore. He doesn’t want to talk about this anymore, but how does one stop their mouth from running? Besides, Wilbur is gifting him with new information and perspectives he hadn’t considered before, and it’s helping a lot more than he wants to admit.

“Deep down inside, he’s a slightly better person than we know,” Wilbur says gently. He helps Tommy back onto the bed, then begins playing with his hair. Tommy melts at the attention. “Better in the sense that he knows what he’s doing now. He’s an awful person where you’re concerned, though. I know you’d rather he wasn’t here, but we’re all stuck with him. If not for him, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish as much as I did, neither would Ranboo. He is helping us get somewhere.”

“Part of me wants to forgive him,” Tommy admits. “But I don’t know if that’s pressure from you two, or just me wanting to put it all behind us for the sake of this new future you all want. Maybe at the end of the day I don’t even care, I want an end too. I’m tired, and sleep doesn’t fix it.”

“I know. I have been watching you, Toms, before I was resurrected. I know what hell you’ve been through, and I wish I could’ve done something about it. I’m here now though, and I’m not letting anyone hurt you again, not even myself. You deserve better, and you deserve a break from the world at large. Just tell me when and how, and I will do everything I can to grant you that. Anything, for you.”

“Just... promise me when this is over, that we’ll still be together. Me, you, Ranboo...even Dream, I guess. As fucked up as we all are, we’re still a family.” Why is that thought in his mind? When the words are out of his mouth though, Tommy knows it’s true. He’s too attached to Wilbur and Ranboo anymore, and even Dream has a place among them, even if it’s mostly working with Wil and sticking with Ranboo. Tommy would have to admit that without someone to throw biting insults at, his life would feel a little more empty.

“Of course.” Wilbur grins. “None of us are getting left behind again. Like you said, we’re a family, and we’re going to remain as such. It’ll all be okay, I promise you. And if I break my promises, I give you permission to beat me up for it.”

“Good.” Tommy sighs quietly. “Sorry about... you know.”

“Drugging me? I’m not even mad, really. It’s the first actual rest I’ve gotten. It’ll be Dream you have to argue with, but I don’t think he’ll mind all that much either. He’s been tired lately.”

Tommy shrugs, figuring the conversation can end here. He’s feeling sleepy, and he can see the same expression on Wilbur’s face. Maybe a small nap wouldn’t hurt either of them. “I don’t say this often or at all, but.” he trails off again, biting on his tongue. He feels it, Tommy knows what he’s feeling. The surge of emotion is far too strong to ignore, it’s just something he can’t bring himself to actually say.

Wilbur seems to know what it is though. His grip around Tommy tightens, and he pulls Tommy closer.

“I know what you’re feeling, Toms. I know you’re struggling with everything, but I’m going to make it all right for you. You don’t have to trust me completely, you can trust Ranboo and Ranboo only, but I’m here now, and I’m not leaving you alone again.”

Wilbur cards his fingers through Tommy’s hair again; the teen relaxes into the man’s side, burrowing under the blankets as much as he can to get comfortable. Wilbur continues speaking. “And you don’t have to say anything more, either, Tommy. I love you too.”

[paradisewithinpain]

How They Respond to "I'm Fine"

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆●☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

⚡Harry⚡:

Not even gonna lie, this boy can be OBLIVIOUS

can tell something's wrong but won't push it once you say you're fine

(he doesn't like it when you snap at him)

ANYWAY

he eventually forgets about it and carries on with life

but after a while, he starts to see you're progressively getting worse

and every time he asks about it?

"i'M fiNE"

he starts to get worried and will think he's doing something wrong

poor boy

asks you to meet him in the astronomy tower

the two just sit in silence before he starts apologizing

you stare at him

"the fuck are you on about?"

he explains he's seen your behavior and how he thinks it's his fault

you stare at him for a minute then you start laughing

HARD

poor boy is over here like 👁👄👁

when you calm down you explain what's been going on

he just listens to you rant for a solid 20 minutes

he's just nodding along, agreeing when needed

when you're done, you feel as if a weight had been lifted off your shoulders

you kissed and thanked him before leaving

harry has no idea what he did but he's glad it worked

♟Ron♟:

LEMME TELL YOU

if there's anyone more oblivious than harry

IT'S THIS BOY RIGHT HERE

probably wouldn't even notice until Hermione or Ginny or sOMeONe wHO iSN'T oBLiViOUs points it out to him

then it all clicks

the distance

the quietness

the fake smiles

it hits him like a tRUCK

he doesn't know what to do at first

then it hits him

what is it that you both love with a passion?

FOOD

asks you to meet him outside your common room

shows up with the invisibility cloak and he leads you to the kitchen

you find a small picnic like space in front of the fireplace with all your favorite snacks

even the ones you adore but he finds absolutely repulsive

you throw your arms around him, a small thank you slipping past your lips

the two of you talk and eat till morning

when breakfast comes, the house elves find you curled up against each other, asleep

📚Hermione📚:

y'all

this girl is probably the only reasonable one

she'll figure it out pretty fast but she'll drop hints that she's knows something's up

SHE WANTS YOU TO COME TO HER

IS PATIENT AS FUCK

when you finally do come to her, it's in a secluded corner of the library

she's doing the extra extra credit

you find her and sit in front of her

THIS GIRL PUTS DOWN HER QULL SO FAST

she tries not to show it but she's freaking out on the inside

you start off with apologizing for your distance and she brushes it off, telling you it's ok

it's silent for a minute

then you RANT

she just sits and listens to your problems

and when your done, she offers reasonable solutions

best girlfriend honestly

🌵Neville🌵:

BABY

BOY

ok

sorry

this boy (like Hermione) would probably pick it up pretty quickly

BUT HE WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

this boy will straight up get frustrated about what to do

should he get you a gift?

but what if you dont like it?

should he ask if you want to talk about it?

but what if you dont want to?

HE'S SCARED

you would notice he becomes very on edge around you

you confront him about it and this boy just spills

your heart swells as he explains that he wanted to do something but didn't want to upset you further

🤧

you start explaining what's going on and he understands completely

the two of you just start talking and end up having a mini therapy session

I HAVE THIS IDEA THAT NEVILLE GIVES REALLY GOOD ADVICE

when you peck his cheek and tell him you would like to do this again sometime, he gets all flustered again

🦁Ginny🦁:

It doesn't matter who you are

YOU CAN'T LIE TO THIS GIRL

"Ginny, I'm fine-"

"I SMELL CAP"

literally will not take any of it

it doesn't matter how many times you tell her

SHE

WON'T

LISTEN

she's not gonna push you but she certainly will not put up with the crap you're giving her

you end up ranting to her after a quidditch match

gryffindor had won against slytherin and of course there was a party

you obviously wanted no part but you let your friends drag you to the gryffindor common room

you sat quietly in the corner until Ginny came and took your hands

you expected her to lead you to the dance floor

but instead she led you to her dorm

she sat you down on the bed and took your hands in hers

"talk to me, (Y/N)"

YOU WERE BOARDER LINE SIMPING FOR THIS WOMAN

but you stayed strong and explained everything

she just listened and rubbed her thumb against your hand

I'M SIMPING FOR SOFT GINNY

when you finished, she smiled and laid with you, pressing soft kisses on your temple

you cuddle till the sun came up

🎆Fred🎆:

I have a mighty fine feeling that this boy is just as stubborn as his sister

"Fred, I'm fine"

"And I'm Filch's favorite student"

thankfully for you, he let up on his pranks so he could spend time with you (much to George's dismay)

he's also really good at making you laugh

it doesn't even have to be a prank

he'll just say or do something stupid and no matter how mad or upset you are

this boy never fails to make you smile

but despite his dorky demeanor

he is SOFT

he took you out to the quidditch pitch one evening to watch the sunset

cliche

i know

BUT YOU LOVE IT

you had been doing slightly better due to Fred's constant jokes

but he was not about to let you go by without explaining what got you so down

he casually brought it up and you knew there was no running away from it now

when you told him about what was bothering you, he cracked the occasional joke but never really tried to derail the conversation

when you finished, he took you in his arms and told you how much he loved you as he pressed soft kisses to your neck

you swore you had never simped harder in your life

🧨George🧨:

this little mastermind

so I have this idea that fred is the one who comes up with the ideas for the pranks but george is one who kinda puts it together

ANYWAY

he'd come up with some weird elaborate plan to make you feel better

it'd probably involve multiple parts and A LOT of glitter

but in the end, you watched in awe as glitter danced around you

(if you don't like glitter it'd probably be water or smth)

you immediately knew George was behind it and you followed the trail of glitter or water

it led you to a hidden passageway and at the end of the tunnel it was no surprise you found George waiting for you

you laughed at his glitter/water covered appearance and helped him clean up

only to get some on you as well

it eventually turned into a full blown war with glitter/water bombs being thrown at every turn

in the end, you two laid out of breath by the shrieking shack

"so are you going to tell me what's been going on or do I have to go commando on your arse again?"

you laughed but explained yourself in the end

just like his twin, George threw in a joke or two but never drew any attention away from what you were saying

when you finished ranting, George took your hand in his and kissed it, making eye contact with you the whole time

"you're a badass, you know that?"

🍏Draco🍏:

ANOTHER PERSON WHO

DOES

NOT

TAKE

SHIT

like

I'm pretty sure the only reason he caught on so fast is because he does the same thing

ALL

THE

TIME

"(Y/N), are you ok?"

"I'm fine-"

he was dragging you to the room of requirement before you could even finish your sentence

when he opened the doors, you gaped in awe at the small bedroom that lay before you

he led you to the bed and sat your ass down

"Spill"

you tried to convince him you were okay but he still wasn't having it

he even pulled his iconic, "my father will hear about this" line

"dray, your father doesn't give two shits about me."

"Mum does. And you know she'd haul your ass faster than I could"

you knew there was no getting out of this

as you explained your troubles, draco's demeanor kept shifting

when you talked about someone getting on your nerves, he looked ready to murder

when you talked about how little sleep you were going, he went all soft

when you finished, he held out his arms for you

you knew how much Draco despised physical contact sometimes so this was a huge win for you

as you laid together, you felt a small kiss fall upon your head

"If you ever feel like this again, let me know, okay?"

"Just as long as you don't beat anyone up."

"..."

🐍Blaise🐍:

Sarcastic little shit

I love him

ANYWAY

this boy is SO OBSERVANT

you literally can't get anything past him

so it's really no surprise to you when he calls you out on how you're acting

you brush him off but this boy is so ambitious

he watches closely how you wince when someone is too loud or how often your eyelids droop

so because of his dedication to you, he comes up with a brilliant plan

it starts out with you meeting him after classes are done for the week

he takes you to the library where you finish up your homework for the weekend (he gives most of the answers)

when you're done, he leads you back to your common room and tell you he has a suprise for you tomorrow

when breakfast comes around, a letter is dropped in front of you and your smile grew as you read the familiar handwriting

Following the instructions in the letter, you came down to lunch dressed up slightly

during the midday meal, Blaise is no where to be seen

but before you can look for him, Malfoy approaches you and leads you to the great lake

you jaw drops as you take in the small picnic set up before you

Malfoy leaves as Blaise appears out of nowhere in a nice black button down and black slacks

he leads you to the blanket set out and hands your flowers

"(Y/N), you know I'm not good with emotions but I wanted to show you that I cared. I might now be able to understand but I can still listen."

so that's what he did

he listened to you talk for almost an hour as you went from ranting about your troubles to rambling about your favorite things

you somehow found yourself with your head in his lap, hands waving around as you explained the way airplanes worked

he just sat, admiring you

and he just listened

🦡Cedric🦡:

He lives because I said so

ANYWAY

this boy is literally one of the softest human beings on the earth

you better believe he can see right through your little charade

so what does he do?

he does ever little thing that's ever made you happy

doesn't matter how big or small

he's just looking to make you smile

because it hurts his heart to see you upset

will literally show up outside your class with one of your favorite snacks in his hands

or will hand you your essay completely finished so you can spend time sleeping instead of writing

doesn't matter what it is

this boy LIVES for you

so one day you're having a particularly rough day and you find yourself waiting outside Cedric's class

when he spots you, he immediately ditches his friends and makes his way over to you

the bags under your eyes are evident and anyone could tell from a mile away that your literally on the verge of exhaustion

Cedric takes your hands and leads you to the prefects' bathroom

he leaves you to do your thing, promising he'd be there when you finished

when you were done, the two of you made your way to his dorm and you laid together

you started talking out of the blue and Cedric being the admiral man he is

listened

when you finished ranting, you realized you had gotten up and started pacing about halfway through

you groaned and put your face in your hands as you sat back down

Cedric was not having it

he pried your hands of your face and littered it in kisses instead, a message of encouragement in between each one

you're so kind

kiss

you're smart

kiss

you're crazy good at transfiguration

kiss

you make me happy

kiss

I love you

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆●☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[theatrelove3000]

No Place Like Home

Hello, Friends! My brain is fried so there is no introduction like there normally is. I honestly doubt anyone reads them anyway. Whatever. ONWARD!

Background: Noelle and Loki were “Bound” by a witch in Alfheim after a battle they fought in. This means that the witch split each of their souls in half and one half switched places. Noelle has half of Loki’s soul and vice versa. They can feel each other's emotions and hear each other's thoughts. Noelle is also Half Asgardian, half Midgardian. Her father is Tyr and her mother is of Midgard. Loki enchanted her wedding ring so that she can be immortal with him.

Summary: Noelle is kidnapped by Hydra while on a mission in Europe and help captive in an unknown base somewhere in the country. Loki needs to find her before the worst can happen.

Warnings: Kidnapping, swearing, suggestions of attempted rape, creepy Hydra guys being gross, slight angst with a fluffy end.

No Place Like Home

Noelle PoV:

Well.

I am not sure how to describe my situation in any other way than this: I'm fucked.

It was supposed to be a routine mission. We were supposed to be in and out, no big deal. That is no longer the case.

Nope. The current situation is much more dire than such things as "routine" and "easy in-and-out". The situation is now me, gagged, bound, and surrounded by the darkness of the van that the Hydra agents had thrown me into. So I repeat. I am fucked. But then again...

So are they.

If there is one thing I know, it's the power my husband holds within himself. A power that does nothing but grow, especially when I am in danger.

They have created a cuff to cut off my magic and tied my hands behind me so I couldn't use my knives or gun. It's not ideal but I've been through worse. The only thing I'm afraid of now is who will control these men from putting their hands on me. I can't defend myself with my hands tied and magic quelled.

I soon get my answer as the van comes to a stop. I'm hauled out by the two guys who sat in the back with me. They seem to be expecting me to kick and scream, thinking they will have to drag or even carry me into the concrete structure we are about to enter. They are wrong. I keep my emotions in check. I stay cool and collected and let them walk me to the elevator.

The bigger of the two men, who I have decided looks like a Chuck, jabs his finger into the button of the floor number we need to get to. -5. Noted.

When the elevator doors open again, I am faced with a small grey room with a metal chair in the middle, a small cot in the right hand corner of the far wall, and one small light that dangles from the ceiling.

Chuck and his buddy Frankie sit me in the chair and take the gag out of my mouth. The first thing I do is make eye contact with Frankie and give him a small smile. He is clearly unsettled by my calmness and looks extremely guarded as he unties my hands and cuffs me to the chair. I let them do their job and nod my head at Chuck, who looks equally unnerved by me. Yay!

They both walk backwards to the elevator and keep their eyes on me until the doors shut once again. I keep my smile on until they are gone. Now that they left and my eyes have adjusted to the dim room, I can scope it out.

There must be hidden cameras. I can get a general sense of where based on the discolouration of the concrete. They were recently installed. This is a new base. We may not have record of it yet.

Shit. Okay, plan B. If I let the wall between Loki and myself down, he could follow the pull and find me. But that could take days. I hope that by the Fates that the tracker we have installed into our suits is still working.

I'm still thinking through my game plan when the doors open again. I look up to see a very... boring? I think that's a good word, yes. A boring man walks through the door.

"Lady Noelle." I hear the accented voice say. I unintentionally tense up. He addressed me as "Lady Noelle." No one calls me that except the Asgardians and they haven't called me "Lady" anything since my marriage to their Prince. They say "Princess" now. This man isn't of Asgard.

"Oh, not to worry, my dear Lady. You are... well, I cannot say safe but you will not be harmed if you cooperate." He walks into the light, circling me. I relax my body, with some effort, and try to appear calm.

"Forgive me, sir, but you seem to know my name, yet I don't know yours."

He chuckles. "You think me a fool?" He asks, stopping his pacing in front of me. I can see it relatively well. He looks like the basic Hydra douche in the stupid uniform and such things, but there is something about his eyes. I can't understand it but it's more frightening than I let on.

"I am not going to just give you information on myself. I suppose you think I am going to just surrender my plan to you as well?" He steps forward, resting his hands on the cuffs holding mine to the chair, and leaning in a bit.

I force a calm smile and tilt my head slightly. "Of course not. That would be ridiculous. Though, you did just tell me you are a head officer in this joint, if not the mastermind. I'll know your name sooner or later. I'd prefer sooner if you don't mind." I cock an eyebrow at him. "Build a rapport and all that jazz?"

He chuckles again and stands straight. "It appears you would be right. My men will call my name eventually and then you will know. My name is Leon Becker. I am, in fact, the leader of this base and this mission. And you, my dear, are my guest." He smiles coldly.

"Do you normally strap your guests to chairs?"

"If they are Avengers, yes."

"Ah. So you are afraid I will hurt you. Okay, no big. I totally understand." I nod in faux agreement. "Makes sense to keep a woman with no weapons and stripped of her powers locked up."

"I am not stupid, woman." He growls at me. "Your reverse psychology will not work on me. You were trained in Asgard as a warrior and then in the Avengers compound by super soldiers and highly trained assassins. I know you can beat me. You have otherworldly strength that you received from your father: an Asgardian." He begins pacing around me again.

My smile falters for a moment. How does he know about Tyr? I regain my composure. "So you know of my parentage. Well done! You did your homework." I snip sarcastically.

He smirks at me as he passes. "Your mother died of Osteosarcoma. Bone cancer. That's sad. What's it been now, three years? You laid beside her and sang to her until her last breath. Such a devoted daughter." He shakes his head. "Well, maybe not so devoted. You saw her, what, four times in the three years you lived in Asgard at that point?" I feel my throat start to close up. Momma. I do my best to hold it together. "Aw, my apologies, Lady Noelle. Did my talking of your mother upset you? Oh dear." Leon tsks. As he walks to the elevator, he says over his shoulder. "I suppose we can start in the morning. Rest well, Lady Darkness."

The doors shut behind him. As they do, the cuffs holding me to my chair release me. I take a deep breath. I will not cry. I refuse to give him the satisfaction. Making my way over to the cot, I rub my wrists absentmindedly as I break down the wall between Loki and myself.

'NOELLE!' He shouts into my mind. I wince. 'Where are you? Are you hurt? I will kill them. Do you have a location?'

'Loki, honey. I'm very tired. One question at a time.'

I feel him take a deep breath. 'Are you injured in any way? Have they touched you?'

'No to both questions. I'm not hurt and most of them are frightened of me.'

He smiles at that but it quickly falls. 'What's your location?'

'I don't know. I was in the back of a van, it was dark.'

I feel his emotions shift from anger to distress. 'I can use our... What did you call it? The link that helps us find each other?'

'Built in GPS. And you can try but I think it will be too far. We were driving for a while.'

He scowls, 'I meant what I said. When I find you, I will slaughter them all. They put their hands on my wife. I will be sure to put every last one in their graves.'

'I love you for that but really, please focus on finding me and getting me home.'

'You cannot teleport. I can't get you here either. I've been trying for hours. Why is that?'

'Well, they are getting smarter. They have found a way to create a cuff that cuts off my magic. The only reason we can communicate is because we are bound. They must not know about that.'

There is silence for a moment. 'What do they know?' He asks in a small voice.

I sigh. 'Too much.'

He nods but doesn't press the matter. He knows I will tell him eventually.

~~~~~Le Time Skip cuz I'm lazy~~~~~

I have no idea what time it is or how long I've been here. I only sleep in intervals and I'm not even sure how long they are. They can't be very long. I'm exhausted.

'You sleep in one hour intervals about 4 times a day.' I sigh. He isn't sleeping. 'Can you blame me, Noelle? You are in captivity and I do not know where you are. I am working on finding you and I will not rest until I do so.'

'I love you for it but you can't keep doing this. You're going to burn yourself out.'

'You are not the first to mention that.' He grumbles. 'Thor is saying the same. Agent Romanoff as well.'

'They're right. Listen to them. I'm alright. She is pretty smart so you should listen.'

He laughs, 'She? Only she?'

I smile, 'Thor thinks with his heart. He is thinking of you because he loves you and wants to keep you safe. Natasha thinks with her brain. She needs you to keep your wits about you and she is right.'

'I-' he is interrupted by the elevator doors opening. Frankie and Chuck step through. One is holding a tray of food, like every day, and the other holds a case file. That's new. So are the looks on their faces.

Damn it.

'I love you.' I whisper in my mind. 'Please forgive me.' Before he can respond, I put up the wall in our minds. He can't hear or feel me now.

"Breakfast for you, Lady Darkness."

I smile and say, "Thank you, Chuck." I sit up and take the tray.

"Again, that is not my name."

"Yeah, well, that's what I'm gonna call you.  You realize that my best friend is the greatest nickname maker of all time?"

Chuck scowls and Frankie crosses his arms.

"You should really hold your tongue. You cannot beat us both at once without your powers." Frankie tells me. He runs his fingertips over my knee. I immediately jerk away from him. He laughs. It's a sickening laugh. I've always been outspoken and strong about things like that but he is right. I couldn't stop them both.

"The loud-mouthed Princess is speechless. Probably for the better. I would be afraid if I was such a small girl as well."

I feel a burst of heat pass through me. Whether it was bravery or stupidity, I let it control me. "Wait a minute, Frankie. You're telling me you're not a girl? Wow. Could have had me fooled."

His face turns red. "You little bitch." He growls menacingly.

"You know, I was actually pretty proud of you for a minute. A female soldier protecting a... what did you call me? 'Loud-mouth princess'? Pretty cool. But know that I know you're a guy, meh."

"Shut your mouth." Snaps Chuck before turning to his little buddy, "She is trying to provoke you. We can take her easily. Don't do anything stupid."

"You too! You think you're big tough men? You follow a coward who hides behind his pride. You do his bidding like dogs." I stand up and start summoning my strength. "That's what you are. Not men. Not women. Dogs. You are disposable and worthless to him. You mean no more to him than a-" WHACK.

Frankie slaps me hard across the face. I stumble back and hit the chair. As I stand and start towards him, the doors open and Leon stands there with another few guards. They grab hold of me and strap me to the chair again as Frankie and Chuck board the elevator.

"That was unwise, Lady Noelle." Leon says calmly. I blink away the tears that pooled from the sting.

"Never said I was wise." I mutter. I take a deep breath and straighten my back, crossing my ankles. "It was a sudden moment of weakness you will not have the pleasure of witnessing again." I raise my chin, remembering what Loki showed me when we sat on the throne while Thor was away.

"Your bravery never ceases to amaze me, my dear. The beauty and power you possess to be strapped to a pathetic chair and still sit as though it is a throne is truly remarkable."

"I learned from a king."

This comment shakes him for a moment. He walks towards me and leans his face closer to mine. "Those fools do not deserve such a pleasure you could provide." He breathes me in. I suppress a shudder.

"And you think you do? Interesting."

"I deserve better than an alien's whore," he snarls before standing straight. "But I would settle for you."

I feel my lungs grow tight. "Not to worry, Lady Noelle. I will not touch you until your husband is dead."

I laugh, though there is no humour in it. "You will be waiting for a very long time, I'm afraid. Loki is immortal."

"Ah, but that is not true, is it? They can be killed." Leon cocks an eyebrow.

"Well if that is your master plan, I suggest you pray to whatever God you believe in, Mr. Becker. My husband is not easy to kill."

~~~~~Le Time Skip II~~~~~

The next day, Leon decides that it is a splendid idea to have dinner with me. He makes idle conversation, I make an occasional sarcastic remark. He proves that the food wasn't poisoned by eating off of my plate himself. Even then I don't eat much.

"So, Lady Noelle. You grew up in New York, yes?"

I simply smile knowingly. He already knows.

"And your husband attacked New York in 2012?"

Another smile.

"It makes me wonder whether you agreed with those actions. Very curious." He puts a bite of salmon in his mouth.

"Not that I need to explain it to you, Mr. Becker, but if you must know, I was not in on Loki's attack on New York. At the time, he and I were not in contact. And for the record, he was brainwashed and being controlled by an evil being." I take a bite of rice, watching his reaction. "We later destroyed the being that tortured him for two whole years. Loki tore him limb from limb." I say casually.

He seems shocked (yay) but does his best to compose himself. "Your husband's past is very dark. And his cruelty is shocking."

"Hmm." I hum absently, "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. Though I should tell you to prepare yourself because what he did to Thanos is nothing compared to what he will do to you."

Leon's eyes grow wide. He takes a breath and pushes a button. He stands as Frankie and Chuck come in and move the table and the chair Leon was in away. As the three if them walk back towards the elevator, I decide to take a small parting shot.

"A normal man can do the impossible to save the woman he loves, Leon." I call to his retreating form. "My husband is no ordinary man." Before the elevator doors close, I say, "He is a God."

I feel Loki laughing in my mind.

'Good show, darling.' He says.

'Thank you, thank you. Have you found me yet?'

'Just a bit longer, love. I will find you. We will find you soon.' I nod as I lay on my cot.

'I love you.' I tell him.

'I love you more.' He replies.

'I love you most.' I say as I shut my eyes, willing my body to sleep.

~~~~~Le Time Skip III~~~~~

I am awoken by banging and screams coming from above me. And then I feel it.

Loki is here.

I sit up and try to speak to him in my mind. He doesn't respond quickly and I can feel his adrenaline coursing through him in the fight.

After a few minutes, I hear him calling me.

"LEVEL -5! LOKI!"

Its not long before he finds me and wraps me up tight. "I've got you." He says. "I've found her." He says, louder this time, and not to me. He is telling the team.

"You are practically frozen, my dove." He says, kissing my forehead. I nuzzle my way deeper into his chest. He takes off his thick, green cape and tugs it around my shoulders. He kisses my head again before taking my hand in his and leading the way back to the stupid elevator.

"Loki." I whisper once we are in.

"Noelle?" He responds. I hold out the wrist the anti-magic cuff is on. He takes the hint and takes it off. Immediately after, I feel a surge of power running through my body. The sensation is so strong that I almost crumble. Loki catches me and holds me up. We reach the top floor soon after that where a helicarrier is waiting for us.

Loki gets me settled in my seat before trying to leave again, presumably to kill every Hydra agent in sight. I take his hand quickly and tug him back to me. He looks at me questioningly and kisses my knuckles.

"Please, don't leave me. Let the others get to Leon."

He clearly doesn't like it but agrees to stay. "Do you have an earpiece? I want to talk to Tony."

He hesitates for a moment before standing up to go get me an earpiece. He hands it to me when he returns and I stick it in my ear quickly.

"Tony." I say.

"Good to have you back, Elle. You alright?" Tony says, cool as ever.

"I'm alright. Listen, the leader's name is Leon Becker. He has the most decorated uniform, well-kept brown hair, a lame ass mustache that looks exactly how you imagine it will, and dark dark brown eyes. Keep him alive. We should question him."

I hear Tony sigh. He agrees but he doesn't want to. Neither does Loki, as I gather from the growl. "Fine. I'll find him and put him in the cargo hold with Nat and Clint."

"Cool. I'm going to rest a bit. And Tony? Thank you. For saving me I mean. Thank you to everyone."

"We got you, Elle. Now go cuddle your man." I hear Nat's voice and smile. I take out the earpiece and put it aside.

"Cuddles?" Loki asks, opening his arms. I need no further invitation. I climb into his lap and bury my face in his neck. I breathe him in and, for the first time in days, let my body feel. I start to cry, not because I'm sad or hurt, but because I'm safe. And happy to be where I am.

My home is in the lap of the love of my life, his arms around me and mine around him, my face buried in his neck. And there's no place like home.

@thelokiimaginechronicles @just-the-hiddles @is-it-madness @frostbitten-written @poetic-fiasco @myoxisbroken @myraiswack @lehuka123 @head-over-heart

[schoolfullofmorons]

petey lowkey having a crush on gary for a long time bc hes a pretty bad boy, but it takes some actual therapy and a small reunion for gary to feel some actual LONGING to have petey in his life again. he becomes surprisingly soft and supportive, in his own way, with their renewed friendship, and it takes jimmy casually promising to kick his ass if he messes up with petey for gary to realize he might actually have developed some romantic feelings for their friend. cue panic and breathing exercises

July, 2007.

Here he stood, on the threshold of hell on Earth, about to talk to Satan himself, and he still wasn't ready to run.

Well, maybe that wasn't entirely accurate. Pete Kowalski, rising junior of Bullworth Academy, was very prepared to run from the menace that had tortured him last year. Gary Smith, the mentally unstable asylum patient, waited for him just on the other side of this door.

His palms had grown hot with sweat, and he nervously wiped them off on his clean, ironed jeans. Pete hated having generalized anxiety disorder. It made him nervous even about this, even about coming here, which was literally his own choice to begin with. The thought of facing his once best friend filled him with a mounting dread that made his throat burn with the urge to cry.

But Pete wanted this. He was determined to get the answers he wanted, because Jimmy and him had been fucked over. And Jimmy might have brushed his hands of Gary, Jimmy might have decided that he was done caring, but Jimmy wasn't Pete and Pete cared way too much. He needed to know why Gary had ditched them, betrayed them, left them to rot. He wanted to know the cause of all this.

And, deep down, maybe he missed Gary, too.

He had been standing there too long, staring at the door. Pete knew if he didn't act soon, the orderly that had trailed behind him would get annoyed. Licking his lips and swallowing down his own anxiety, he pushed open the door, letting the orderly shut it behind him.

And there he was, the mastermind himself.

Gary was so... different, in here, but in reality he still looked like a Smith. All sharp jawlines and piercing stares. When Gary rose his head to look at him, hair that was growing slightly shabby due to a month of no cuts falling into his face, Pete felt his heart skip a beat.

And then a grin passed over his face, his eyes lighting up with genuine joy. He launched himself off of the small white cot all asylum patients had been provided, and sauntered over to Pete with slow, calculated steps. Too proud and too arrogant for someone who was incarcerated.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Did Petey Kowalski decide to pay lil' ol' me a visit? The big, bad, awful wolf, Gary Smith?" Gary's words cut into him, and Pete felt the urge to wipe his hands off on his jeans again. His friend's eyes bore into him.

Why'd you do it? Was the question that sat on Pete's tongue, but instead he cleared his throat and avoided Gary's eyes. "I... wanted to check up on you. Y'know, see how you were holding up."

"Oh, look at that! He cares about me!" Gary reached out to sling an arm around him, bringing Pete in close with a sharp jerk that had Pete yelping. "Did somebody miss me? Just couldn't sleep at night knowing I was away, could you?"

"No, I-"

"I already knew you weren't straight, but this is taking it to a whole new level."

The protest died away on Pete's tongue and he swallowed as the familiar burning sensation hit the back of his throat. When he didn't get an answer, Gary huffed and shoved him, hard. Pete stumbled, hitting the cell wall and sliding down it.

"God, you're pathetic." Gary spat.

"Why do you have to be an asshole all the time, Gary?" Pete snapped, and in one sudden rush, angry words bubbled up and out of him. "For once in your life, can't you just accept that you're the one in the wrong? You're in a cell, for god's sake! Don't you realize that I'm the only one left who doesn't want you to drop dead? Half the school pities you and the other half hates you! You destroyed our lives! You took away our peace! You don't get to be calling me the pathetic one!"

The room fell silent enough to hear a pen drop. The air around the two boys grew thicker, and thicker, and thicker still with tension. Pete risked a glance at the boy who stood looming in front of him. He had to swallow back fear as he noticed Gary's hands were clenched so tight that the skin was starting to turn white.

Pete pushed himself to his feet, slowly, unwilling to startle Gary. If he moved too fast he was afraid that Gary would snap. A predator in a hunting crouch, moments away from delivering the killing bite. That's what Gary was.

"You know, I used to like you. I used to want you around. I used to think you were smart, and funny, and cool. But now you just remind me of a... a walking toddler, who throws a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way. I hope you get better, Gary. I hope you get the help you need so you can finally grow up."

Pete sidestepped Gary, who had yet to move except for his head, his eyes slowly following Pete back towards the doorway. Pete opened the cell door and looked back one more time, meeting eyes with the person he once considered his best friend.

And then he left.

-

September, 2008.

To the parents of Gary Alexander Smith,

I am writing to you to inform you that your son has completed rehab. According to his court order, this is the final step needed in order for him to be released back to the public.

Please note that he will still have to check in weekly with a nurse that will ensure he is still taking his medication. This will no longer be a requirement after his 100 hours of community service is over.

With this in mind, we will be releasing him on the 8th at 3 PM. We require a signature before his release in order to ensure that he is in the proper hands of his guardians.

Thank you for your time,

Happy Volts staff.

-

The reunion with his parents was about as happy as you'd expect with parents as terrible as his. Really, they didn't talk much through the entire thing; it was pick him up, take him home, and let him clean himself up before they had dinner.

It was the first meal that he had had in a long ass time that was actually good, instead of being almost edible. He really did have a newfound appreciation of his maids after that, though he'd never admit it to them out loud.

The thing about spending a year away from home is that it caused him to reflect on things he could have done differently. It also made him realize that a lot of the shit he had done his sophomore year simply didn't... matter. Maybe it was the medication, and the advice of actual doctors from the state after being transferred from Volts and their terrible medical department, but Gary was beginning to see things in ways he had never thought to see them in before.

For example, he was pretty sure Jimmy had never said anything all that terrible to him. Where had he gotten that idea from? Yeah, some of it was an addiction to power, but he was pretty sure the other part was perceived rejection. Learning about rejection sensitive dysphoria really did help him out in a lot of ways. He just wished it had been explained to him sooner, before, y'know, he betrayed all of his closest pals because of an inexplainable fear that they hated his guts.

(Which now they probably did. Go figure. Pete's words still ate at him when he tried to sleep at night).

That didn't matter as much now, anyway. He wanted to know what he'd be doing. He wasn't trapped anymore, with only medical professionals and other patients that had, admittedly, been really kind to him when they weren't Bullworth Branded(tm). He wanted to know what his future would be like, now that his head was much clearer.

When he asked his father, the response he got didn't surprise him much.

"We've decided to respect Crabblesnitch's decision and homeschool you. It'll be best, in order to prevent anymore... incidents."

And so began the process of sleeping, waking up, eating, being immersed into various studies by a freshly hired tutor with a bitchy voice that Gary tried very hard not to snap at, eating again, and going back to sleep. This pattern only broke on days where he had been assigned community service, or had an appointment with his psychologist.

As the days went on, he began to make the effort to expose himself to the outside world. Being locked up made him unusually skittish around people, and he was still having trouble getting used to the crowd that was his father's staff. This led to him climbing onto the roof of his father's house as he watched the sun dip steadily over the horizon after a long day of studies.

Being in high places had been a huge comfort when he was a child. He liked to watch the world, and he liked to feel in control by being able to see his surroundings. His friends would occasionally join him. He had many memories of Pete's smile catching on the sunset, or his nervous expression watching him as Gary got too close to the edge.

This was their place first, before it became his and Jimmy's. He wondered, briefly, if Jimmy still thought of their battle as often as Gary did, or if Gary just did that because it was the last substantial thing he had ever done with himself before the lock-up.

He really missed those two.

He got it, though. He couldn't have them back in his life. They had both kicked him out, and that was his own doing. He had hurt them, and he might regret it, but he had to let go.

He just didn't know how, when he didn't have anyone else.

-

December, 2008.

He finished his community service. Christmas break came, and since he had been working so hard on catching up with his junior year studies, his father had allowed him to take it off for himself. He was grateful at the idea of a break; he had been working tirelessly, and was nearly three quarters of a way through his junior year. He wanted to catch up to his senior year already, so that he could graduate in May like the rest of the Class of 2009.

Suddenly filled with free time that he did not want taken up by family, Gary found himself wandering into town more than he had previously. At first he didn't go far, but as the days passed he found himself going on longer strolls until he found himself deep in the heart of Bullworth Vale.

He should have known it would be easy to be spotted there, considering the gym was a hotspot for prep activity. Jimmy's lighthouse was also down here, causing Gary to avoid that spot as much as he could.

It was a smart idea, by all means. Unfortunately for Gary, however, Jimmy was king, and the preps told him everything. Especially Gord, who he'd had an on-and-off relationship with for a few years now.

That's what led to his peaceful stroll being interrupted by a massive fist slamming his head into the side of a brick wall, so hard that his ears rang.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Came a familiar voice in his ear, and his blood ran cold.

"James." Gary grunted into the brick wall. He tried to lift his head up, but was deemed unsuccessful when Jimmy's fist jerked him back down, causing him to wince. "What is it you want? I was busy."

"Busy doing what? Making the smiles of tiny children disappear?"

Gary had to remind himself that Jimmy was completely justified in this reaction, but it was hard when his cheek was beginning to fucking bleed.

"Get off."

"Not until you tell me what you're doing out of jail where you were supposed to rot."

"I got released! I finished the stupid program, okay? Let me go!" Gary hissed, and to his surprise, Jimmy did.

"What program are you talking about?" Jimmy asked, crossing his arms. Gary rubbed the grit off his face and took a moment to let his eyes wander over Jimmy's freckles.

Jesus, he forgot just how many James had. He was like a freckled forest.

"Technically a bunch of different programs... rehab was one, and I went through some community service hours." Gary shrugged. "Does it matter? I'm out now."

Jimmy's face contorted into three different expressions of confused anger, and Gary had to stop himself from laughing out loud at it.

"Like hell you're coming back to Bullworth-"

"I'm not, actually. I'm being homeschooled." Gary replied, smug at his one-up despite his best efforts not to be. It was just easy to feel smug around Hopkins.

(He wondered, briefly, why he wasn't downright pissed at Jimmy for sophomore year; but it had been a long time since then, and Gary was different, more different than he'd ever been).

"What? How long has that been going on?"

"Since September." Gary told him.

"Oh. Wow."

The two of them stood in an almost awkward silence, and Gary flicked his eyes over to watch the road as cars passed by. He had almost zoned out when Jimmy spoke again.

"So, what? Are you scheming to get back in?" When Gary turned his eyes back to Jimmy, the shorter boy was squinting at him, looking suspicious.

"No." Gary said, honest. "I'm not going to bother you, either, if that's what you're going to ask."

"Why? Not that I don't appreciate your kindness or whatever. I'm just trying to understand."

"I get it, don't worry." Gary shrugged and sighed, turning on his heel to face the road. "Honestly? I've had a lot of time to think. And... I messed up with the two of you. Bad. I don't want to pressure you into having to deal with me again, because, well... I fucked up your lives. I understand that now, I understand how bad it was back then for you. I wasn't going to seek you out, but I suppose thinking that I could hide from you forever wasn't necessarily the brightest idea."

"I can't believe this." Jimmy mumbled. "Gary Smith? Showing remorse? Who would of thought."

"Yeah." Gary said, quietly. "Wild idea, for sure."

The two boys stood looking at the cars in a slightly more comfortable silence. It had started to lightly snow, and Gary rubbed his gloved hands together to create the idea of warmth before he half-froze to death.

"I don't know if I forgive you, you know." Jimmy spoke.

"Yeah, I figured." Gary murmured. "And you don't have to."

"I think if you're putting in the effort, I'd like to forgive you." Jimmy told him, and Gary turned his head, regarding him with surprise.

"What you did was... terrible, to be frank, but I've seen worse. You weren't all that bad, back before the fight with Russell." He shrugged and Gary continued to stare. Jimmy had liked their friendship? It felt like a crazy idea.

"And I think... I think Petey really misses you, too." Jimmy shifted to glance at him. "He... told me, about your fight."

Gary didn't like thinking about it, much less talking about it. He clenched his hands into slight fists and let out a small huff. "Really? Man..."

"Its fine, really. I mean, I was pissed at the time and so was he, but I think he just misses you now." Jimmy turned his whole body towards Gary, suddenly furrowing his brow. "Hey, give me your hand."

"What?" Gary frowned. "No, get your own hand to hold."

"I'm not tryna flirt with you, dumbass. I'm gonna write Pete's number on your arm."

"Pete's - what?"

"You should apologize to him." Jimmy said, matter-of-factly. Bewildered, Gary handed Jimmy his hand. Jimmy took a pen out of his pocket and uncapped it, scribbling a hasty number on his wrist, just above his glove.

"Pete's parents had enough money to get him a cell phone. He can answer texts but texting back is a slow process so he prefers to call." Jimmy pocketed his pen. "I'm sure you two can work it out for yourselves though."

"Why are you giving this to me? I thought you hated me." Gary asked him, pulling his arm back to run his fingers over the messy digits that were gracing his skin.

"I never hated you, to be honest." Jimmy told him. "I was mad, but I never hated you. I was always rooting for you, Gary."

"I see." Gary replied. "Thank you, then, James."

"Of course." Jimmy clapped him over the back, causing him to stumble. "See ya around, crazy man."

He went home with black ink on his wrist and the words I was always rooting for you stuck in his head on repeat.

-

January, 2009.

Gary procrastinated all of Christmas break away thinking about calling Pete.

He didn't know why the task was bothering him so much. It hadn't been difficult to apologize to Jimmy, but then again, he knew he had been wrong about Jimmy going into it. Admitting to himself that he had no idea what Pete thought of him was a different challenge that was taking a lot of effort to push through.

There was also the part of Gary that had finally, finally let him accept that he missed Pete. And now he was getting a second chance with him, to fix things. To make things right.

He really, really didn't want to screw things up. That's why he was having so much trouble with this one, stupid, idiotic phone call.

(Rejection sensitive dysphoria, thou is a heartless bitch).

He was once again by the house phone, twirling the wire around his finger as he held it up to his ear. He chewed on his lip as he continued what had become a daily debate in his head: to call, or not to call?

Fuck it, he said, and dialed the number.

Pete picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

Gary took in a sharp breath as the static in his head got louder. Was this a good idea? Probably not. Why did he trust Jimmy? Jimmy was a moron, how would he know what Pete thought?

"Hello? Is this a prank caller?" Pete asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"No!" Gary spoke and then cleared his throat. "No, uh, its-"

"Gary? Is that you?"

"Yes! Yes."

"Holy crap, I thought you were still in-?"

"No, I got released a few months ago. I ran into Jimmy and he said you've missed me, so-"

"If this is going to be another teasing session about how 'homosexual' I am, I swear I will end this call right-"

"No no no, its the opposite actually. I wanted to apologize."

The line fell silent, and Gary shifted from foot to foot as nerves raced through him. Pointless restless energy. Only ADHD things.

"Look, I really messed up with you."

"Uh-huh. I know."

"And I wanted to say I really, really regret it. You were one of my best friends."

"And?"

"And I'm sorry. You deserved so much better than how I treated you."

Another silence. There was a noise as if someone had sat down a dish. "Listen, if you expect me to just accept, then I don't think I can do that."

Gary's finger twitched and he rested his head back on the wall. "I understand."

"But I'll give you the chance to prove that I should accept." Pete's voice was quieter now. "You just... you just have to prove it to me through actions, not say sorry and go right back to being a jerk."

"Yeah." Gary said, equally as quiet.

"Do you want to meet up sometime? To catch up?" Pete asked, and Gary had to fight to keep down the grin spreading over his face.

"I'd like that," he answered.

He might not have been forgiven yet, but he'd take what he could get.

-

They made plans to meet at a small cafe just outside of Bullworth Vale that following Thursday.

-

Pete Kowalski, senior of Bullworth Academy, sat in the quiet coffee shop that he had recommended for his and Gary's little "outing."

He had brought his laptop, as he had an essay due for his current English class and like hell was he going to pass up an opportunity to write it in a quiet space. He had actually arrived early in order to start it, since he knew Gary liked to ramble on, and he wanted to get some work done before he was interrupted.

He also wanted to think, which he had been doing between writing paragraphs analyzing the societal symbolism in The Scarlet Letter. His thoughts were turned towards the boy who he was currently meeting today, his good friend, Gary Smith.

He had missed Gary, if he were being honest. That didn't make him any less bitter about the things Gary had done to him, but it was still a cemented fact nonetheless. Gary Smith just... felt like his own addiction. Once you were around him once, he wouldn't get out of your head, and you wanted to see him again and again.

So Pete had decided to meet him here.

Of course, Pete wasn't stupid by any means. If Gary showed up acting like he had the last time they met, Pete would end all arrangements here. But Gary had shown... actual remorse. It was more than he had seen from him in a long time.

He just, really hoped it would work out well.

When the time came for him to show, the small bell over the door rang, signifying that someone had entered the coffee shop. Pete lifted his eyes and was immediately faced with the boy he had been crushing on for a good few years now.

Gary Smith, although he looked significantly less Smith(tm) now, his facial features softened but what could only be newfound maturity. Gary's brown eyes scanned the room and landed on him, and Pete swore his heart fell into his throat.

He was just so handsome. It wasn't fair, when Pete was supposed to be angry at his dumbass.

Gary approached the table, a lot less intimidating in his stride but still as confident as ever. The closer he got, the more his face cracked into a grin, sporting the gap in his teeth.

"Petey. Long time, no see!"

Pete couldn't help but smile faintly. "Hey. Go ahead and take a seat."

Gary slid into the table opposite from him and reached over to grab Pete's cup of coffee without warning. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same. That's my coffee, Gare." Pete huffed and watched as Gary froze halfway to putting the cup to his mouth. A red blush spread over his face and he grumbled, setting the cup down.

"Yeah, sure. Don't share then."

"Don't be a dick. And I'm working on my English essay, to answer your question."

"Essays aren't too hard to write as long as you can focus on them."

"Well, yeah." Pete shrugged and looked down at the computer. He knew Gary had pretty much a natural talent at anything academic. "It just takes up a lot of time."

"What's the essay on?"

"The Scarlet Letter. You ever read that book?"

"Duh? Everyone in our grade has read that stupid ass novel. Its notorious for being boring." Gary rolled his eyes and Pete cracked a smile.

"Yeah, it honestly is. Doesn't stop the teacher from assigning it, though."

"Did you get Galloway again?"

"Nah. Got an actual competent teacher who makes us do stuff."

"Oh, I bet Bullworth isn't taking that one well." Gary smirked and leaned forward. He practically radiated smugness. "How has it been, with ol' James Bitchfucker Hopkins there to rule it?"

"You know, you could be nice to him for once instead of insulting him every other sentence." Petey chastised and rolled his eyes.

"Its our dynamic, Peter. Gotta insult him before the weirdos think I'm getting soft on him." Gary laughed. "Now answer the question."

"Yeah, yeah. Bossy." Pete looked at the words on his screen and then sighed, closing his laptop. Seems his work time was over. "Things have calmed down a lot, actually... the cliques all kind of kiss up to Jimmy, and in turn he settles all their disputes for pocket cash before they can get too violent. Its honestly kind of nice?... A lot of people have, uh, come out recently, and Jimmy's been beating up people who make fun of them."

"Come out?" Gary eyed him. Pete wasn't sure if he was making up the accusation in the burning stare or not. "As in...?"

"Gay, of course." Pete's cheeks burned. He almost wished he hadn't brought it up. "Jimmy is - he's bi, you know? He's been talking to a lot of kids who have come to them about their sexuality, like, um, Mandy-"

"Mandy??? The girl who is always clinging to a guy?"

"She doesn't do that anymore. She even talks to the nerds now, sometimes. As in, like, nicely." Pete shrugged and shifted. "She, she came out as a lesbian."

"What the hell." Gary furrowed his brow. "Did Jimmy put queer shit in the water?"

"Gary, don't say that, its rude. And no, Jimmy just..." Pete chewed his bottom lip and smiled. "He's supportive."

Gary pursed his mouth into a tight frown and Pete narrowed his eyes, his smile falling. "If you say something homophobic, I will cut you."

"Jesus, Pete, I leave you alone for a year and a half and you turn into the sass master. No, I wasn't going to say anything homophobic." He scoffed and turned his head to the side, purposefully ignoring Pete. Pete felt his cheeks burn.

"Okay, well, I just - wanted to make sure. Since, you know. I'm bisexual."

Gary snapped his head around to stare at Pete, and Pete felt his cheeks grow darker. "Stop looking so surprised. You already suspected it."

"I thought - I didn't - what?"

"Weren't you the one to call out the fact that I stared at boys for too long, repeatedly, for years?"

"I never thought you'd actually admit to it."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have if I'd had stayed around you." Pete said, coming off colder than he meant to. When Gary's face fell, he blushed and put his hands up. "I- shit, I didn't mean it like that, don't get upset. I just... you weren't the most accepting, Gary. I needed someone who would be so that I could experiment without feeling dirty."

Gary stared at him and then glanced out the window, huffing and setting his face in a tight line. "Yeah, okay. I get it. You don't have to explain."

"So... are you okay with it?"

"Obviously." Gary turned a glare at him, looking annoyed at the implications, and Pete smiled softly.

"Cool."

-

The two boys fell into a familiar routine after that, with Gary visiting the coffee shop after class on Wednesday to talk. On weekends, when he had nothing to do, he would call up Pete or Jimmy - sometimes even both of them - and they'd walk along the train tracks, talking as they relaxed in the quiet wilderness.

It was nice.

-

February, 2009.

"So I was like, dude, can you shut up already and give me the dang pencil? I don't care if it has MLP on it."

Gary snorted. "Is it really that surprising that Trent was into MLP?"

"No! That's why I didn't give a shit!" Pete laughed from beside him, and Gary couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. Pete's laughter was infectious.

Their shoes made crunching noises on the gravel as they walked along the train track. They had been walking like this for a good twenty minutes as they caught up on their week.

"Valentine's Day is coming up." Gary mused. "Do you have a date?"

"Who? Me? Pete Kowalski, the quiet kid? Please." Pete chuckled softly, but it sounded sad more than anything.

"Hey, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt." Gary teased and gently shoved him. "Do you have anyone you want to date?"

"What, like a crush?"

"Yeah."

"Well..." Pete hesitated.

"You do have someone." Gary grinned as Pete returned to his side. "Who is it? Don't tell me its MLP boy."

"Trent? Ew, no. I'm not Jimmy, man."

"Is it Jimmy?"

"What?"

"Is it Hopkins?" Gary rose an eyebrow. Pete blinked, seeming caught off guard.

"No, of course not. I mean, Jimmy is cool and all, but..." Pete shrugged and glanced away. "I just, like someone else."

"Who, then?"

"Why do you want to know so bad?"

"Because I'm curious. Bite me."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Satisfaction brought it back. Just tell me, Pete, please?"

"I..." Pete stopped abruptly and Gary turned, alarmed as a frown made its way on Pete's face. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

Well, that's not weird at all. Gary let his eyes roll up and down Pete's figure, reading his body language (which screamed I'M SAD! in all caps), and then sighed. "Okay."

"Thanks." Pete smiled softly.

Gary wondered just why it bothered him so much in the days to follow.

-

Gary finished his junior year assignments and started his senior year courseload, feeling a lot happier now that he was in the proper grade level, even if he was behind by a small margin.

Despite that, his thoughts were mostly on one person: Pete.

For some reason, it bothered him knowing that Pete had a crush. Especially one that he wouldn't tell Gary about.

It felt like... this strange mix of anger, worry, and sad that Gary wasn't quite able to process.

Mostly because it felt an awful lot like jealousy, and he was not going to be jealous over Pete Kowalski, especially considering that had even deeper implications such as the idea that he might not be as heterosexual as he once thought.

Not that he had ever been attracted to girls, which... honestly, confused him more. Did that mean he was gay? But it couldn't. He hadn't ever been attracted to anyone except Pete. Maybe he wasn't... anything. Maybe he was just Gary.

Did sexuality have to be as labeled as Pete and Jimmy's? And, fuck, why was he even considering this in the first place, he so totally did not have a crush on Pete because he was NOT jealous.

A loud snap brought him out of his thoughts, and he realized he had broken his pencil. Fuck.

-

March, 2009.

February passed with little to offer. Valentine's Day found Gary wandering Bullworth Vale - Pete said he didn't feel like leaving the house, and Jimmy had a date. Overall, it was uneventful, except for the fact that Gary couldn't stop thinking about Pete.

Spring break would be coming up, the first week of April. Jimmy had suggested that they go camping by the train tracks. Gary had agreed, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart when he thought of Pete being there, sharing a tent with him.

-

April, 2009.

"Tent building is hard." Gary breathed out heavily as he leaned across a nearby tree.

"Lazy ass." Jimmy passed him with some firewood in his arms, hitting Gary lightly over the head. Gary rose an arm to shove his hand away.

"Shut up. Pete's complaining too." Gary pouted.

"Pete's different." Jimmy passed said boy, who was sitting on a treestump, and gave him a friendly smile. Gary felt jealousy pulse through his veins.

Okay, so he had accepted he was jealous. But that didn't mean anything. So.

"Pete's a loser." Gary retorted and playfully smirked at the boy, who rolled his eyes.

They had spent the first hour or so setting up camp before the sun went down. It had made two out of three of them tired, with Jimmy being unable to feel exhaustion ever.

As Jimmy began to build the campfire, Gary moved from the tree he was leaning against to settle next to Pete. His heart beat hard in his chest as their knees brushed.

"So, little Petey, are you ready for a night with the creepypastas?" Gary teased and shoved him lightly.

"Shut up. Its bad enough that you've been trying to get me into them without mentioning them here." Pete huffed at him, putting one hand up to shove his face away. Gary laughed, ignoring the tingle that ran through his skin where Pete's hand made contact.

"They're fun! Come on, your gay ass can't tell me you don't find at least one of them attractive."

"They kill people!"

"So?"

Pete opened his mouth to respond, then seemed to think better of it, pouting instead. "Shut up."

Gary felt his face slip into a familiar grin. He let his eyes trail over Pete's face as the boy turned away to watch Jimmy, taking in his soft brown eyes. When he smiles he gets dimples...

He felt a burning stare pierce through him, and slowly turned his head to see Jimmy giving him a knowing look with a raised eyebrow. Gary felt panic shoot through him, but externally he kept his face in the same grin.

"Done yet, James?"

Jimmy studied him curiously and then looked back at the fire. "Yeah. Should be enough for the night."

"I brought stuff for smores." Pete smirked and moved away from Gary. He tried not to be disappointed at the distance.

"Hell yeah, we like, gotta roast marshies. That's the first fuckin' rule of camping." Jimmy smirked and sat down by the fire. The sun wasn't down yet, but it was steadily approaching the horizon - it would be sunset soon.

"Marshies?" Pete laughed. "Are you in grade school?"

"Hey, don't diss my flow. Marshies are the bomb, man."

"You're so weird." Gary rolled his eyes and Jimmy shrugged.

They spent the next few minutes unpacking the food, preparing to make dinner. The campsite they had picked out had a grill nearby, and Pete had brought burgers for them all to eat. Jimmy lit the grill and left Pete to cook as Gary stayed by the fire just a little ways off.

"Hey." Jimmy greeted, his voice quiet as he sat down next to Gary, moving to rest his hands on his knees. "I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" Gary rose an eyebrow. "Does Pete need help with something?"

"Nah, that little dude's got it all figured out. I was gonna grill but he insisted. He's had a fascination with cooking ever since his parents decided he was old enough to touch the stove." He chuckled and shrugged.

"Then what?" Gary pulled his knees to his chest, eyeing Jimmy out of the corner of his eye suspiciously.

"Look, man. I don't want to pry, since I know it isn't any of my buisness, but... I see the way you and Pete look at each other."

Gary felt his blood run cold, and he turned his head to look at his friend. "I don't know what you're-"

"Earlier you spent like fifteen seconds staring at his face man, you were practically swooning like a stupid schoolgirl. Its so blatantly obvious that you like him."

"I..." Gary was at a loss for words, panic rising up in his chest. "No, no no no I-"

"I'm not going to tell him or anything." Jimmy held his hands up. "I just want to say... if you mess up with him again, I'm gonna have to kick your ass, alright? So, don't."

"What?" Gary breathed out. No, no no, it can't be that obvious. I thought I was hiding it better than this, I can't like Pete, I can't.

"I'm rooting for the two of you. You two deserve to he happy and its obvious he likes you back, so..." Jimmy shrugged and then furrowed his brow. "Are you okay?"

Gary realised then that he was hyperventilating. "What? Yeah."

"Gary, man, take it easy." Jimmy reached out, hesitated an inch away from him, and then gently allowed his fingers to snag around Gary's wrist once he was allowed. "Look at me. Focus on my hand. Breathe in, breathe out."

Gary took in a deep breath, letting himself focused on the calloused feel of Jimmy's hand around his wrist. He released his breath, and looked at Jimmy. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat.

When he was calm enough, Jimmy let him go and nodded awkwardly. "You good?"

"Yeah." Gary muttered, embarrassment pooling in the pit of his stomach.

"So did I assume right?..." Jimmy murmured, keeping his voice low. Gary nodded, looking into the fire. The heat coming off of it soothed him.

"Really? Does that mean you're gay?"

"I... have no idea?" He could feel his face flushing. "Look, don't tell him, okay? I've only figured it out recently-"

"Recently? You've been looking at him like he's your princess ever since you came back into our lives."

"Don't tease me Hopkins, okay? Fuck you. I was in denial about it, it isn't every day that I actually like someone, let alone like them in that way."

"Yeah, yeah, you're an emotional robot, we get it." Jimmy rolled his eyes. "I won't tell him. But you should. He likes you back, I can tell."

Did he? Gary pursed his lips together and stared into the fire, choosing not to comment. But why would he?

He spent the rest of the night in bewilderment as they roasted "marshies," told horror stories, and eventually went to sleep in the tent. It was weird, sleeping beside Pete with the revelation he had just been presented, and he tried very hard not to freak out.

Eventually, morning came, and Gary got up, groggy from anxious sleep. They had to pack up and then they'd be heading back.

He really, really hated the disappointment he felt because of that.

-

May, 2009.

Gary decided that emotions were not something he was very strongly suited for.

He had been avoiding Pete, unsure how to feel about his conversation with Jimmy. Part of him still did not want to accept that he was capable of a crush, let alone a crush on a guy. (God, his father would be so pissed). The other part of him wanted to accept it and let go, because Pete was cute and smart and kind and... well, Pete.

As the month went on, Gary found himself missing Pete more and more. It was easy to cancel plans under the guise of schoolwork, but it was becoming excessive. And, well...

Maybe it was time for him to admit to himself that yeah, he was queer. He wasn't sure of the proper term (gay? bi? who knows) but he knew he was LGBTQ+ of some origin. And...

Well, Jimmy had given him a vote of confidence. Maybe he should just go for it.

He held off for a few weeks, but Gary was never one to deny himself what he really wanted. And he wanted Petey to look at him, more than anything.

He decided that he'd have to do this. It was time. And, readying himself, he began to devise a plan.

-

Pete had a burning frustration for all days dedicated to couples. He had always wanted to be a part of a relationship. It wasn't that he hated being single; he just... wanted to know what that connection was like. And, well, he also wanted to like someone that was actually obtainable for once.

Because of this, he tended to lock himself in his dorms during those days. And, here he was once again, in his dorm.

It was Prom Night, and Peter Kowalski had bought a new book to read to distract himself from the painful torture that is Being Single.

A knock on the door distracted him from Pip's adventure into newfound wealth. He stood up and went to answer it, curiousity pumping through him. Jimmy was the only one who ever came to his dorm, but Jimmy had told him he had a date tonight.

He opened the door to find Gary Smith there, a grin on his face and a suit in his hand. He was dressed in formal attire of his own, making Pete's heart skip a beat.

That is, until it hit him. "Gary? What are you doing here? You aren't allowed on school property."

Gary shrugged. "It isn't like the Prefects will care anyway. Its prom, Pete."

Okay, he had a point. "Still... do you have a date or something?"

Gary's grin widened. "Yes, actually." Abruptly, he shoved the suit into Pete's hands. "Get changed, we're going out."

"What?" Pete furrowed his brow. "But... what about your date?"

"Do I need to spell it out for you? We're going out. I already bought the suit for you and everything."

It clicked in Pete's head, and he flushed a bright red. "Oh!" He squeaked. "Okay!"

He went back in his room and quickly changed. He had not been expecting this, and part of him was still sure that it was a prank? (If it was, well, he'd deal with it later).

Pete stepped out of his room in the new suit. Gary's eyes scanned down over his body, and Pete flushed red, fidgeting nervously. "Is this... okay?"

"Its perfect." Gary told him, reaching out to grab his hand. Pete could see the faintest traces of red blush on Gary's face. "Let's go."

"Wait." Pete stopped him. Gary turned to him, looking annoyed. "For clarification. Are - are we dating now? Like, um, boyfriends."

Gary narrowed his eyes. "Ugh, that's such a stupid term."

"Well?"

"I guess. If you want to be b-words then I'm here for it." Gary glanced away from him.

Pete broke into a grin. "Okay." He said, very quiet, as happiness settled in his chest.

"Are you ready now?"

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go."

[murdertrialimagines]

V3 Boys Doing Kabedon On S/O

“Hello, welcome there ! Can i request danganronpa v3 boys doing kabedon on their S/O please ? >.< Merci ~ “

I haven’t even thought about kabedon in ages! This is such a cute idea, I’m in love! Story under the tag~

P.S: In case you don’t know what kabedon is, here is a definition: ‘Kabedon is a very popular means of expressing romantic love or adoration. It is done by a man hitting his hand on a wall, pinning the woman in the process.’

Shuichi Saihara

We all know Shuichi is shy when it comes to romance

He would glow red just as you holding his hand in public

Which is why you two would only cuddle in private, as he was worried about being teased

But today he was stressed

He had spent a week straight trying to find the mastermind, with nothing to show for it

That also meant a week of not seeing you as much as he liked, and he was craving from attention

He walked into your dorm without asking, knowing that you were there, probably sitting at a desk reading or drawing

“Shuichi!” You stood up from your desk, walking towards him. “What are you doing here?”

As you approached your boyfriend you saw the serious expression on his face, causing you to slow down 

“Shuichi, are you okay? Have you been sleepi-”

You were forcefully cut off by Shuichi taking a sudden step forward, lightly grabbing your shoulder and pushing you against the wall, slamming his hand into the wall near your head in the process

Looking up at Shuichi, your face reddened at the serious look he had painted on

His eyes were unreadable, only observing you

He collapsed into you, your back thudding lightly against the wall

“Shuichi...?”

You felt his arms wrap around your waist, tightening when he sensed that you were balanced

“I’m sorry Y/n, I really wanted to see you, but I am just so exhausted...”

Relaxing, you returned his hug, smiling softly into his chest

“It’s alright Shuichi, I just wish you hadn’t worked yourself so hard.”

Lightly pushing him back, you led the sluggish boy to the bed, laying him down before getting in yourself

Pulling the covered over the two of you, you silently giggled as Shuichi nuzzled into you, making you into a makeshift teddy bear

“Goodnight love.”

Kaito Momota

It had only been a week since you had gotten stuck in this killing game with all these other students, everyone was just starting to settle in to this new life

People were starting to find the people they could be friends with, while you were stuck with a die-hard crush

The ultimate astronaut, who had already been yelled at multiple times for getting in too many people’s personal spaces, had somehow swooped in and stolen your heart despite only speaking to you a handful of times

And he only really spoke to you if he needed a favor or to hide from someone, so you started to deny his requests, turning and walking away before he could see the faint red on your cheeks 

You were walking through the main hall of the school when you were suddenly pushed into the wall, jumping at the thud of the handing hitting the wall next to your head

Looking up to see Kaito, you huffed and diverted your gaze, fiddling with the hem of your shirt as if to give your hands something to do

“What do you want, Kaito? I can’t hide you in my room anymore, Maki knows that’s where you go, and I’d like to not have a repeat of two days ago.”

“Aw, lighten up, Y/N! You know, it’s good to learn to always be on alert, so maybe having Maki break in was a good way to test you!”

“I needed a new door, Kaito.” You glared at him

“And I am sorry about that! But look, I’m here to ask something of you, this time with less fighting and more...talking!”

Talking?

“Spit it out, please.”

Kaito sighed, using his free hand to rub his neck

“Okay. Y/n, I know I am really not in the position to ask this, but, would you maybe wanna have a picnic sometime?”

As the words sunk in, your eyes widened, looking at the boy standing over you. A date? Date?!

Struggling to contain your excitement, you flashed a small smile before pushing his hand down, letting your linger on it just a second longer

“Sure, that sounds nice.”

Ryoma Hoshi

I am so sorry I can’t think of anything but Ryoma trying to do it and only reaching your legs I’m sorry if you really wanted Ryoma but I can’t stop laughing-

Rantaro Amami

You and Rantaro had been close since this whole thing started, you even saving him from Kaede’s trap to kill the mastermind

She apologized profusely of course

Today had been one of those days where there was nothing to do, no motives, no threats, just hanging out

You and Rantaro had been hanging out in the dining hall, eating a late lunch and generally just being bored

Searching for any form of entertainment, you noticed the bottle of soda Rantaro was drinking from and got an idea

Swiping it from his hand, you skipped away from the table

“Y/n, can I have that back?”

“Nope! You’ll hafta come get it!”

This resulted in the two of you fast-jogging around the dining room, him trying to retrieve his stolen drink

Well, you were sprinting, this boy has really long legs

After a couple laps around the room you began to get exhausted, and resorted to just huddling into a corner, back facing your boyfriend

You felt him approach your back, and stifled a giggle

“Y/n, can I have my drink back?” He was panting, as the run had also taken some effort on his part

You shook your head no, pulling the bottle closer to your stomach, away from his reach

He continued to ask, nudging your shoulder or placing a hand on your head, only earning a small laugh or a no as a response

You were suddenly flipped around, a hand forcefully pulling on your shoulder, forcing you to face him, another on the wall next to you

You made eye contact as he leaned down, face inches from yours

“Y/n, you are adorable...”

The hand on the wall dropped down to your chin, holding it in place

Rantaro began to lean in, eyes closing slowly, and yours doing the same

As you anticipated the next blissful moments, a strong pull ripped the bottle from your relaxed hand, your boyfriend suddenly backing off

He gave you a lopsided smirk before walking out of the dining hall, taking a small sip of his drink as if to show victory

“H-hey! This isn’t fair, you owe me a kiss!”

Gonta Gokuhara

Gonta is many things

He’s sweet, funny, smart, and gentle

But he doesn’t really know what personal space is, especially when he’s excited

You two had spent nearly the whole day in his lab, you letting him gush about his bugs and the ones he found particularly pretty

“Any that remind me of Y/n are the best!”

Gonta had been flipping through multiple books trying to find a picture of the butterfly that reminded him of you the most, and it was taking quite some time

You took this time to look at the butterflies pinned to the wall more closely, taking in each spot and groove on the wings.

“Y/n! I found it!”

You jumped at the sudden boom of voice, turning around just in time to be pushed against the wall, book in your face

“See! This one is amazing, pretty! Like you! Gonta apologize for how long it took to find...” He lowered the book, making you suddenly notice how close you two were to each other

Gonta seemed to notice too, as his cheeks turned red and he backed up slightly

“S-sorry! Gonta didn’t mean to hurt Y/n!”

You gave a breathy laugh, jumping up to give him a quick peck on the cheek

“It’s perfectly, fine, Gonta. I love you.”

Kokichi Oma

Let’s face it, Kokichi will pin anyone to anything if it gets a reaction out of them

He mostly does it to you, your blushy reaction always making him tease you even harder

So it wasn’t a huge surprise when he came rushing up behind you whilst on your way to the library

You let out a grunt as you were slammed into the wall, head hurting just a bit

“Y/n~! How’s my favorite little ultimate doing?”

Despite your desire to laugh in his face, you felt your face heating up, and only growing hotter as he leaned in closer

“Aw...whats the matter? Are you sick? Or are you deeply in love with someone?! Oh, let it be me, please!”

He leaned in further, noses touching. “Boop!”

Snapping out of it, you shoved him off, Kokichi casually pretending to be wounded like he always does, falling to the floor

“You’re no fun, Y/n!” His voice grew to a whisper as he clung to your leg. “What if I died?”

You shake your head and remove your leg from his grasp, walking away quickly

This boy will be the death of you, you swear.

Korekiyo Shinguji

...What was happening?

You had been walking to the dorms, planning on getting a nap in before lunch when all of a sudden, you were pinned to the dormitory wall, a tall man looming over you

To say you weren’t friends with Korekiyo was an understatement

No one was

He was just...there. Being him. He didn’t talk to anyone or try to interact. He liked to stare.

And here the boy was, arm next to your head and breathing down at you, breath blocked by the mask he always wore

“Can I help...you?”

Korekiyo seemed to snap out of a trance, eyes that were blankly staring at you now looking into your eyes with some actual living emotion

“Yes. I, uh, would like to ask for your assistance, with something in my ultimate lab...”

You felt your ears heat up, surprised at the way his voice sounded

It sounded really nice.

“I-uh, yeah...yeah! Of course I can help!”

He audibly let out a sigh, eyes averting from you. Was that a blush you see?

“Perfect. I see you’re doing something now, so I’ll request your presence after dinner. Goodbye.” He walked off quickly, sliding back into the school

Did you just...make friends with the unfriend-able?

Kiibo

You and Kiibo had been close since you guys met during the first days of the killing game

Who cares if he was a robot? You loved him and he didn’t know exactly what he was feeling so he guessed it was love!

You knew he was insecure about how little he knew about showing affection, so you were humored when he would confess he learned whatever romantic gesture he just did from another classmate

You didn’t care, it was sweet!

However, when he pinned you to the wall of the gym, you were startled

Mostly at the fact that he did it so forcefully his hand went into the wall, becoming stuck

“M-my apologies, Y/n! Kokichi told me to do it as hard as I can, so...”

The next few hours minutes were spent trying to pry him from the wall, Monokuma finally getting an exisal to dig him out when he had gotten bored of laughing at Kiibo

Kokichi, however, found it incredibly amusing, crying from laughter the second he saw what had happened, not letting him live it down for the next week

“I really gottta hand it to you, Kiibo! You know how to make someone swoon!”

________________________________________________________________

Ahh, this is so bad! I’m sorry some are so short, Ryoma doesn’t even have one! .-. Thank you for requesting!

[nitrateglow]

My bottom five new-to-me movies of 2020

2020 sucked. So did these movies. Before I do my customary top 20 favorite movie discoveries list, I wanted to share five very special new-to-me movies that were painful to watch. Forgive me if it all sounds like ranting. It probably is.

(And remember-- if you like any of these movies, that’s fine. I am not attacking YOU. I just didn’t like a movie. I know this is a stupid disclaimer to put on a list of opinions, but combing the venomous old IMDB message boards has me on edge a bit lol.)

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Whether you love the sequel trilogy or hate it, everyone pretty much agrees this movie was a mess. I thought no movie could have a more structurally unsound screenplay than The Crimes of Grindelwald, but Rise of Skywalker gives it staunch competition. It creates a new artform from making things up as the plot requires: new powers for Rey, new Macguffins to pursue, new motivations and backstories for characters.

I admit I dislike The Last Jedi. I dislike it a lot, actually, and it appears JJ Abrams did too from the amount of retconning he does here (Rey isn’t nobody! Honest, guys!). But you can’t backtrack THAT much. Either plot out your entire trilogy before shooting the first film or play fairly with the cards you were dealt by the filmmakers of movie two.

If anything, these movies have become a cautionary tale about not having a plan when making a movie trilogy. Now, George Lucas didn’t really have one either when he was making the original trilogy, but in that case, he wasn’t even sure the first movie was going to be a modest hit, let alone the biggest movie of the 1970s. He had an excuse and did well enough finishing the trilogy. Here, Disney knew there would be sequels, they knew they had a hungry audience, but they chose to just wing it and the results are just-- so disappointing, especially given the talented young actors and lovely special effects they had at their disposal.

The more I think about it, the more poetic the image of Palpatine hooked up to a life support system/crane is. The best ROTS can do is riff on earlier, better movies and hope our affection will make us overlook the awfulness.

Artemis Fowl

Outside of Animal Crossing, Artemis Fowl might have been the only entity to benefit (if only slightly) from the pandemic. I cannot imagine it would have been anything but a box office bomb had the theaters been open.

Artemis Fowl feels like it should have come out in 2003-- not just because the books were more prominent then, but the whole style of this film in general. In 2020, it’s positively anachronistic. The whole thing is a joyless attempt at dipping from the old Harry Potter well, with a bit of Spy Kids thrown in for good measure. Beyond that, it’s so poorly done as a whole. I have never read the Artemis Fowl books, but I watched this with a friend who has and his head near caught on fire. Apparently, it cuts out everything that made the books cool, like the protagonist basically being a kid version of a Bond villain. Here, he’s anything but that: he’s the usual bland child protagonist surrounded by a cast of slightly more interesting characters. Josh Gad seems to be the only one really trying. Judi Dench shows up and somehow gives a worse performance than whatever the hell she was doing in Cats.

I was actually shocked Kenneth Branagh of all people directed this. I generally like his films, even the less successful ones like his musical adaptation of Love’s Labors Lost. Even the uninspiring live-action Cinderella remake he helmed is at least pretty to look at-- Artemis Fowl has neither brains nor beauty to recommend it.

Bloodline

This film was intended to jumpstart a career comeback for Audrey Hepburn. This decidedly did not happen. One has to wonder what she saw in this sordid material in the first place. Maybe she really just wanted to work with director Terence Young again? Or she thought this would be a good, more modern take on her screen persona? I have no clue. All I know is that Bloodline is one of the worst big-budget Hollywood movies I have ever seen.

No contest: this is Audrey Hepburn’s worst movie. Hate on Green Mansions and Paris When It Sizzles until the stars turn to ash-- at least there was some fun camp value in them. The plot in Bloodline makes no sense, going into unrelated digressions that lead nowhere (did we really need that extended flashback about the dead father? or the subplot with Omar Shariff’s two families?). Oh and then there’s the awful sleazy snuff film subplot that’s also poorly developed and goes nowhere. Hepburn is game, but she can’t save the sinking ship. The best she can do is be charming in a terrible 70s perm.

Luckily, she made the underrated They All Laughed two years after this cinematic fecal matter bombed, so at the very least, Hepburn’s big screen swan song was a film worthy of her presence. (Hint: there will be more about that movie on my top 20 of the year list!)

Halloween III: The Season of the Witch

You all have no idea how excited I was to see this. All the mentions of it on Red Letter Media made it sound like deliriously entertaining schlock. I mean, it’s a movie in which the villain sells cursed Halloween masks that turn children’s heads into bugs and snakes! That sounds awesome! Instead, the movie is badly paced and boring: the main characters are uninteresting and the plot takes an interesting premise then does.... nothing with it. Nothing whatsoever. The second act is the cinematic equivalent of treading water. In fact, so little happens, that the filmmakers squeeze in a pointless sex scene between two character who have all the chemistry of a lit match and a bag of M&M’s.

The thing that annoys me most about this film is that it killed off a great concept: that all of the future Halloween films would be standalone stories centered around the spookiest time of the year. Unfortunately, this movie botched itself so badly that people often think the absence of Michael Meyers was the problem. It wasn’t: it was the absence of a good story.

Blindsided

This is probably the most watchable movie on this list, but that’s not saying much. A bloodless ripoff of Wait Until Dark, Blindsided is an unimaginative thriller with no thrills, humor, or interesting characters whatsoever.

The whole film is just repetitive. The situation doesn’t slowly boil to something horrific, the threat presented by the villains doesn’t escalate, there are no interesting interactions between the characters: no, here the underdeveloped protagonist is interrogated, tortured and/or sexually harassed, tries to escape, is recaptured, rinse and repeat for ninety minutes. I admit there’s some clever resourcefulness on the part of the heroine in the last scene-- but it’s basically just Wait Until Dark’s climax (down to the twist with the villain finding an alternative source of illumination for crying out loud!) without the emotional payoff that comes from slow-burn pacing or the fantastic performances, so even that’s a letdown.

I thought the movie might at least be saved by Michael Keaton as the main criminal mastermind since he’s shown he can be a great villain in other movies (if they had remade Wait in the 80s, he would have been a perfect Harry Roat Jr.), but even he seems to be phoning it in here. Beyond a scene of attempted cat murder (I’m serious-- the bad guys are so incompetent they can’t even kill a cat), there’s not even anything so bad it’s good to enjoy. Blindsided is just dull and by-the-numbers.

[strawberrysoup]

Let’s Review || Chapter 4

Peter Parker knew that his big sister would do anything for him to be safe and happy. She’d given up everything for him twice over already and would do it again in a heartbeat. And that’s why, when the criminal mastermind Tony Stark started inextricably following him around, he didn’t say a word. Because he knew without a doubt Penny would do whatever she had to if it meant keeping Peter safe. He had to protect her, just like she always protected him. He never considered what would happen if Stark decided both Parker siblings were worth taking. Never considered who else in Stark’s inner circle would agree. He just wanted to protect her and yet somehow, they both ended up with needles in their necks.

relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes, background Peter Parker/Tony Stark rating: Explicit warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, Dark Tony Stark, Dark Avengers, kidnapping, non-con/dub-con elements, underage Peter Parker, emotional and psychological abuse, very dark

When she was younger, Penny could remember her mother blaming little problems around the house on trolls. She said they were little gremlin like creatures that crept around in the dark and sabotaged things just enough to be inconvenient. Whenever Penny forgot something stupid, or worse, something important, she blamed the trolls. Forgetting her purse? The trolls. Forgetting to turn off the lights when she left the apartment? The trolls. Forgetting to make a to-do list? Trolls, obviously.

The latter, of course, was the worst. Forgetting to do things was annoying, but forgetting to do them even though you’d thought about making a to-do list and then just didn’t? A nightmare. Fucking trolls.

Penny had left the apartment with all the necessities; shoes, purse, phone, keys. She had a plan in mind that started with an outrageously expensive coffee and ended with a haircut. She knew what her plan was, had everything she needed. And that’s why she blamed trolls for the way her morning went.

When she got in line to get her coffee, she dug into her purse only to find that her wallet wasn’t in it. Which was ridiculous, because her wallet was always in her purse. She never took it out at home. The only options were that A. Peter took it (a joke) or B. She had been pickpocketed on the subway. Her head dropped back on her shoulders and she groaned loudly, ignoring the looks from the hipsters surrounding her.

“Ma’am, are you alright?”

Penny startled slightly and turned, not expecting a voice to come from quite so close behind her. The coffee shop was super busy, she shouldn’t have been so shocked that the patron behind her was so close, but it still startled her to nearly bump her nose on the man’s chest. She rocked back on her heel in surprise, nearly falling over if it wasn’t for the man reaching out and steadying her by the shoulders.

“Are you alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

His hands were fucking huge. They covered her shoulders entirely and curled down towards her shoulder blades, his grip tight enough to keep her on her feet but not bruising.

“Ma’am?”

“I’m,” she gulped slightly and shook her head, “sorry, I’m fine, just a drama queen I guess.”

“Are you sure? You seemed bothered by something before I scared you.”

Penny gave a small shrug and sighed with a self-deprecating smile on her face, “I think I was pickpocketed on the subway, my wallet’s gone. Should’ve been paying more attention I guess.”

She needed to get back home and call the bank, her debit card and credit card were in that wallet. And her driver’s license too, which meant a trip to the DMV. Was it even worth it to get a new one at this point? She literally planned to be in jail (prison?) by the end of the week.

“That’s horrible,” the frown on the man’s face didn’t do anything to mar how stupidly beautiful he was, “let me buy your coffee.”

“What? Oh my God, no, you don’t have to do that!” Penny had forgotten that his hands were still on her shoulders until she lifted her arms to wave off his concern, accidentally bumping against his elbows.

“Please, I’d like to,” he moved his arms, only to grab her flailing hands for just a moment before letting them go and moving to stand at her side rather than behind her, “my boyfriend should be showing up any moment and he’d skin me if I didn’t pay for you.”

She momentarily considered that Fuck All the Good Ones Really Are Gay right before relief filled her. Ever since the incident with Brock, men showing any amount of interest in her gave her goosebumps. Having a boyfriend meant that this one at least couldn’t have any ulterior motives, he was literally just being a good person. A genuine smile crossed her face at the realization.

“I guess it would be in bad taste for me to say no then, I wouldn’t want your boyfriend to skin you alive.”

“Alive?” The blond beside her laughed, a bone achingly deep and attractive laugh, “I want to point out that you escalated that, I assumed I would be dead before he skinned me.”

“Why am I skinning you, alive or dead?”

The man who appeared was definitely on par with the Adonis she’d already been speaking to. Standing next to each other, it was like looking at the cover of Men’s Fitness. He was tall and tan and built like a fucking tank, his shoulders looked so broad she wondered how he fit through doorways. Both of them, actually, how did either of them fit through doorways with shoulders wider than most people’s arm spans? Okay, that was an exaggeration but Penny was just about floored by how freaking attractive they both were.

“For not offering to pay for her coffee after she got her wallet stolen,” the blond responded with a grin, leaning over slightly to kiss his boyfriend’s cheek.

“You get mugged, sweetheart?” The frown on the brunet’s face was a goddamn crime and Penny quickly shook her head.

“No, no! Just pickpocketed, I think. Probably on the subway, I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should’ve been. It’s really not a big deal, I didn’t have any cash on me and I’ll just have my cards cancelled,” she gave a shrug and moved forward with the line, trying to pretend she wasn’t actually super upset over having to deal with yet another heap of bullshit.

“Well, Stevie’s right anyway, I’d skin him for not buying you a coffee. Are you traumatized doll? I’ll make him spring for a scone too.” Did he just wink at her? Penny’s told her heart not to stutter like that, he had a boyfriend for fuck’s sake.

“I don’t think I’m traumatized,” Penny turned big, brown eyes on the blond and tilted her head down for effect, “but I might be a little shaken, like enough for a cake pop.”

She didn’t notice the way both of them gripped each other’s waists, as if having to hold each other up under the onslaught of her puppy dog eyes, or the way that the brunet pinched his boyfriend’s side to keep him from offering her the entire world on a platter if she asked for it.

“A cake pop it is, sweetheart,” Stevie (Steve, Penny she supposed she should probably call him) gave her a nearly blinding grin and she had to stop herself from taking a step back in awe, “What’ll you have to drink?”

“A vanilla latte? Please,” she cleared her throat slightly, “Steve, was it? And you are?”

“Call me Bucky,” the brunet held his hand out for her to take and she hesitated for only a second, reminding herself again that they were gay, gay, gay before she shook it, “What’s your name sweetheart?”

“I’m Penny, thank you guys for being so kind,” they’d made it to the register and she stepped aside slightly so that Steve could center himself in front of the barista.

“Large black coffee, large white mocha, and a large vanilla latte please,” he ordered politely, before putting his arm around Penny’s shoulder and nudging her towards the dessert display, “Which cake pop did you want doll?”

Penny had to literally reign herself in under the weight of his arm, to not go stiff in fear or swoon at the feeling, “t-the, uhm, chocolate one, please.”

“And a chocolate cake pop,” Steve directed the barista with a smile.

“And a blueberry scone,” Bucky interrupted, jabbing his finger at the case, “And one of those giant chocolate chip cookies.”

The barista glanced at Steve for confirmation, who just nodded in response and held out a matte black credit card, “you two go sit, I’ll bring everything out once it’s done.”

“Ah finally, let’s ditch this punk, sweetheart,” Bucky snatched Penny’s hand and tugged her away from the line, heading for a table in the corner that was recently vacated.

She just barely heard Steve scoff before they got too far away, letting Bucky pull out her chair before sitting down. It vaguely registered in the back of her mind that this was the most bizarrely pleasant situation she’d ever been in. Considering the amount of shit she dealt with on a regular basis, it was a breath of fresh air. It was kind of a shame she hadn’t met the pair of them before she’d started actively planning how to get thrown in jail.  

“I think Stevie made a mistake,” Bucky snorted, breaking her from her thoughts and drawing her attention to Steve, who was fumbling with three coffees and several pastries.

The squeaking noise she made upon standing to go help was not deliberate and actually kind of embarrassing. She was pretty sure Bucky laughed at it as she walked away, quickly stealing one of the coffees and two of the pastry bags from Steve’s hands.

“Thanks doll, nice to know one of you has some manners,” Steve shot his boyfriend a look as he and Penny sat down, winking at the brunet when she wasn’t looking.

“You know, you’re lucky you’re so good looking or I wouldn’t put up with this kind of BS,” Bucky stated casually, reaching over to snatch his mocha from Steve’s grasp.

Steve rolled his eyes but didn’t reply to his boyfriend, “so, Penny, what do you do?”

The casual opening for conversation made Penny immediately uncomfortable and she shifted in her seat as he passed over her coffee and cake pop, “oh, lots of things. Barista, day care, that sort of stuff.”

“Day care, huh? You a kid person?” Bucky asked as he took a sip of his coffee, grimacing slightly as he burnt his tongue, “that shit’s hot, watch your tongue, doll.”

Penny shifted the cup between her hands carefully but avoided drinking any, “Kids are precious. Annoying as all Hell sometimes, but I do like working with them. I’m usually with the infants anyway, toddlers occasionally. At that age they’re just cute.”

“We never been around kids too much,” Bucky shoved almost half of the blueberry scone into his mouth in one go, mumbling something around the bite immediately after.

Steve rolled his eyes and reached across the table from his place next to Penny, pulling the scone away and replacing it with a napkin, “manners, jerk. I think he was saying we’ve only been around older kids.”

Bucky nodded in response, picking up the napkin to wipe his face before gesturing for the rest of the scone. Instead of giving it back, Steve pushed it in front of Penny before resting his arm over the back of her chair.

“Let Penny have some before you murder the rest of it, Buck,” the blond admonished, “have at, sweetheart.”

“Oh, that’s alright, I don’t need any,” she shook her head and pushed the bag over to Bucky, “thank you though.”

“Nah doll, you eat the rest of this, I’m gonna hit this cookie.”

He repeated the process of sticking at least 50% of the cookie into his mouth in one go, chewing obnoxiously while Steve dropped his face into his hands in embarrassment.

“You’re a nightmare, I can’t believe I bring you out in public.”

Penny laughed happily at their exchange, enjoying the casual friendliness. She got so wrapped up in the whole experience that by the time she noticed the clock, two hours had gone by.

“Oh shit! I’ve got so much to do today and—crap, I’ve gotta go home so I can cancel my credit cards,” she slapped a hand against her forehead, finally remembering that she was busy today. A lot of planning went into getting put in jail for child neglect and she was dropping the ball.

“Here doll, you can borrow my phone to cancel your cards,” Steve started digging into his pocket but Penny waved him off.

“I have a phone, I just have to get on my computer to look up the numbers to call,” she stood up, shoving her hand into her purse to grab her phone, only to freeze.

Her fucking wallet was in her purse. A deep red blush spread over her cheeks and down her neck. It would’ve been one thing to have missed that her wallet was in her purse, but Steve had gone out of his way to pay for her coffee. Embarrassment coursed through her.

“Hey, what’s wrong sweetheart?” Bucky stood from his seat, hand coming to rest on her shoulder as he curled his shoulders down, making her feel engulfed by his presence.

“I,” she closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, “I’m so embarrassed. I just found my wallet, it was in my purse, I swear I wasn’t trying to scam you— it wasn’t in there, I know it wasn’t but now it is and I—”

“Calm down, sweetheart, its alright,” she’d been drawn in to an all-encompassing hug before she really knew what was happening, pressed tightly to Bucky’s chest with his hand gently stroking the back of her head, “we don’t think you scammed us, it was an honest mistake. We’re just glad you didn’t get robbed, right Stevie?”

“Absolutely, doll, I’m glad you found it,” Steve had stood up as well and was standing just beside the pair, close enough that she could feel his body radiating heat, “don’t be embarrassed, things like that happen.”

Tears were welling in Penny’s eyes; how the fuck had she come across such nice, kind people at such a time in her life, “sorry, I don’t mean to be so emotional. Just having a rough go of things, I guess. Look, I really do need to get going. Thank you both so much for being so nice.”

“You don’t have to thank us for being nice,” the blond gave a small grin, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder from where she was still wrapped in Bucky’s arms, “How about we get your phone number before you leave? We’d love to have you over for dinner some time.”

Penny hesitated for a moment as they both reached for their phones; what was the point of giving them her contact information? Her days of freedom were shortly numbered, if they tried to call her they’d think she was ignoring them when she never answered. But still, what was the harm— she’d never see them again most likely. Even when she got out of jail she’d have a record of child abuse and who the fuck wanted to be friends with a child abuser?

She quickly punched her number into their phones and waited for each of them to call her cell so she’d have theirs, “well, it was great meeting you guys! I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Are you going somewhere nearby?” Steve gave a wide smile as he stepped a bit closer, sweeping his arm between himself and Bucky, “we’d be happy to walk you.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Penny shook her head, distracted enough by the phone in her hand and the text message she’d gotten from Peter at some point during their conversation that she didn’t notice the way Steve’s smile tightened, “I’m just going to the salon to get my hair done.”

“We’ll walk you doll,” Bucky’s grin was as charming as the rest of him and she tried not to swoon, “You can tell us who you’re so excited to hear from on the way.”

“Excited to hear from?” She frowned in confusion before the brunet gestured to her phone, “Oh! Just my little brother, he got a 100% on his chem test, highest grade in the class.”

“That’s wonderful, must be a real smart kid,” The expression on Steve’s face was soft and fond as he led them out the door, and Penny wondered if he was thinking of his own little sibling from the proud glint in his eye.

“Peter’s a genius, we always joke that when I was born I took all the chaos and left him all the IQ points,” she flipped her pay-as-you-go phone back open as she received another text from the kid in question, “although with how often he gets his ass beat at school maybe he did get a bit of chaos too. I should’ve taught him to fight but he’s scrawny and I always worried he’d break his wrist trying to punch someone.”

“He gets beat up a lot?” She didn’t look up from her phone, too busy replying to Peter to catch the furious expressions the boyfriends exchanged over her head as they continued down the street.

“Nerd on nerd violence is surprisingly common,” Penny pursed her lips and waved her hand flippantly, “and he doesn’t get beat up anymore. I paid this girl in his grade to beat up his main bully when they were in freshman year and then Peter became friends with her, so he doesn’t get messed with too much anymore. I guess Flash was just super pissed Peter got a better grade in chem this time around,” a careful shrug came as she opened a new text message, “MJ will take care of it. I can’t beat up minors anymore.”

“You paid a girl to beat a kid up?” There was a disapproving tone in Steve’s voice and Penny immediately stopped walking and texting, looking up at the blond with a scowl.

“If it laid hands on the kid they’d of slapped me with a lawsuit and taken Peter away. He was too small to fight for himself, so yea, I paid one of his classmates to beat the shit out of the boy who sent him home with a black eye and bruised ribs. And I’m not ashamed of it either, that little asshole deserved what he got,” she jabbed her finger at his chest and left it there forcefully, “If I could’ve beaten the shit out of that little punk for what he’d done, I would’ve in a heartbeat. MJ was my next best option. If you’ve got a problem with how I take care of my little brother, you can get fucked because I couldn’t care less what some stranger thinks of—”

“Hey, hey, doll,” Bucky quickly stepped in, cutting her off and gently taking her wrist to pull her hand away from Steve’s chest, “I’m sorry my man put his foot in it. He’s a dumbass, doesn’t think before he speaks and certainly doesn’t consider the impact of his words. Steve, apologize.”

Penny pulled her hand away from the brunet and lifted both in a placating gesture, “I’m not interested in an apology, it doesn’t matter anyway. I’ve really got to get going.”

“Wait!” Before she really knew what was happening, Steve had grabbed both her arms and stepped into her space, holding her tightly in place, “please wait, Penny, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” she tried to pull her arms back but he held firm, keeping her far closer than she was comfortable with, “let go of me, please.”

“You take great care of your brother, Penny, I shouldn’t have judged how you decide to do that.”

Bucky came up right behind, boxing her in between the pair and put his arms on her shoulders when she tried to pull back again, “hey, calm down sweetheart, don’t get upset.”

“Get off me! Both of you!” A spark of panic was starting to shoot through her, voice rising as she yanked hard on her hands and bumped roughly back against Bucky, “Get the fuck off!”

“Hey, what’s going on over here?!” Penny’s head snapped to the left to see a little old lady barging her way through the crowd, garnering the attention of several other people on the way, “you let her go, right now!”

Bucky and Steve pulled away like they’d been burned, both with placating, placid looks on their faces. Penny didn’t stick around to see if they could talk their way out of the situation, taking off down the street in a dead run. They were so fucking charming, so handsome they could probably talk their way out of a paper bag. She continued straight passed the salon she’d planned to stop at and kept running until she couldn’t anymore. Her breath came in exhausting pants and she bent over, holding her chest.

What the fuck, how could such a pleasant morning go so badly so fast? Bucky and Steve had seemed so nice and then out of nowhere thought they could manhandle her however they pleased. She could still feel Steve’s hands circling her wrists, Bucky’s pressing down on her shoulders and her back against his chest. The sensation of being held down hadn’t just been terrifying but had brought back brutal memories of being assaulted.

Just like when she’d been attacked, fury pumped through her veins. Those assholes, those fucking assholes. Penny found herself heading down to the closest subway station and getting on the train towards home. Fuck the salon, fuck getting her nails done, all she wanted to do was crawl into Peter’s bed and hide under the covers. It was easy to forget about everything she had to do that day in the wake of her panic.

Peter was still texting her, she could feel her cell phone vibrating inside of her purse as she boarded the subway and sat down heavily. She’d been out of the apartment for hours, accomplished nothing, and was thoroughly exhausted. Her head dropped back against the window and she clenched her eyes shut. The blows just kept coming. What a nightmare.

[maraudererasmut]

Black and White (Part II)

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

Part II:

Remus stood in front of a piece of art, plate in hand, filled with cubes of cheese and assorted crackers. He stared intently at the brushstrokes, the way they danced across the canvas, the texture of the paint. There was intention to every stroke, every line, every point where the brush kissed the canvas. It was purposeful.

"What do you think of it?"

Remus glanced to the side, where a young man in an expensive looking suit had sidled in beside him. Remus raised an eyebrow and smiled politely, taking in the man's appearance. He had rich mahogany skin, almost a burnt umber. It took a cool tone in the stark gallery lighting, but had a hint of redness just beneath the surface. The man had dark hair, a warm black, just a shade lighter than his suit. He was wearing a burgundy tie with yellow ochre stripes, matching his completion perfectly. He had red-framed glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose, ever so slightly askew. When he grinned, the man flashed a set of ivory teeth, perfectly straight and sparkling in the light.

"It's nice. You didn't paint it, did you?" Remus responded with a grin. It was Remus' own little joke, funny only to a particular few who had the same odd sense of humour as himself; nice was never used as a compliment.

The man returned the smile, russet eyes gleaming with something akin to excitement.

"If I said yes?"

"Then I'd tell you that your work is lovely and congratulations on the gallery show." Remus nodded, keeping his feigned confidence.

"And if I said no?" The man asked, a twinkle in his eyes and a crooked smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Then I'd tell you the work is adequate… for a contemporary piece of abstract painting. It's a pity that it's been done a thousand times before." Remus finished his thought with a grin of his own.

The man let out a sharp laugh, garnering the attention and glares of other patrons of the arts. Remus chuckled along, happy to have met someone who didn't take the art world so seriously. 

The man thrust his hand forward, grinning from ear to ear.

"James," he said, beaming.

Remus smiled and grasped the man's hand, giving a firm handshake. 

"Remus."

"Pleasure to meet you, Remus."

"Are you an artist?" Remus asked, trying to glean more information from his newfound acquaintance. James laughed again, running a hand through his already messy hair. 

"Me? No. Not even a little bit. I couldn't paint to save my life!"

Remus gave a casual shrug, glancing around at the other pieces of art on display in the gallery. 

"You don't have to paint to be an artist."

James shook his head with a playful sigh.

"Alas, I was born without a creative bone in my body. My wife, on the other hand…" James nodded towards the artist statement located next to the painting.

Remus felt the colour drain completely from his face as he realized James' implication, immediately regretting his decision of engaging the stranger.

"Oh, I am so sorry— " Remus began.

"Don't be!" James laughed, giving Remus a playful nudge with his elbow. "She hates this one, too."

"But I— "

"Honestly! She was gonna toss this one, but Sirius insisted on using it for his exhibition. Matched his aesthetic, apparently."

Oh.

James and his wife knew Sirius. Sirius Black. Owner of the gallery and curator of the show. Perhaps if Remus asked, he would be able to convince James to facilitate a meeting for him. 

"Oh!" James' exclamation interrupted Remus' thoughts. "I have to go. Sorry for cutting this short. It was a pleasure meeting you, Remus. I hope to see you around." 

Remus flashed James a well-practiced smile as he shook the man's hand, internally regretting not asking more about Sirius. As James disappeared into the crowd, it dawned on Remus that he had forgotten to exchange business cards with the other man. He groaned as he popped a cube of cheese into his mouth, mentally berating himself for his terrible networking skills.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a voice called from across the room, and Remus glanced up from his plate. "And everyone in between... I would like to welcome you here tonight, to the opening of Black and White."

The man who was speaking was unlike any person Remus had ever seen. He had alabaster skin that looked like it could have been carved from marble for all its perfection. A chiseled jawline, cheekbones so sharp, they could cut steel. His eyes were a shade of silvery blue, the exact colour of the sky on a perfectly stormy day, deep and expressive and frustratingly unreadable. He was wearing a navy blue suit with fabric that shimmered slightly in the light, paired with a tie that matched his irises. The man had long, dark hair, tied back in a slick ponytail, a brush expertly dipped in a bottle of ink. Remus couldn't help but admire this man who captured the attention of the entire room, his presence captivating the audience, radiating remarkable power and grandeur.

"As many of you know, this project has been in the works for some time now. Our exhibit, Foreshadow, is a perfect representation of things to come, of what you can expect to see from the gallery in the future. So, without further ado, enjoy the wine and the food and most importantly, the art!"

A round of applause broke out amongst the audience as the dapper man gave a dramatic little bow before turning away and greeting some of the gallery patrons. Remus couldn't help but stare as the man clasped James' shoulder, a bright smile flashing across his face. He shook the hand of a woman who wove her arm through James', presumably his wife. 

All three of them radiated light and joy, a warm glow surrounding them as they talked and laughed, greeting one another with broad smiles and kisses on the cheek. Standing alone by the edge of the room, Remus couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. He longed for the types of interactions that these people had, the types of lives that they led. Living in the lap of luxury, these upper-class people had no worries, not a care in the world; they were able to follow their passions and have the security blanket of financial stability to catch them if their plans failed. 

Remus finished his plate of appetizers and turned towards the door. Today had been long enough, he didn't need to make it harder on himself by dwelling on things that could never be. 

"Remus!" A voice called out, right before he had reached the exit. He turned around to find James waving to him, a gregarious smile spread wide across his face. He beckoned Remus over and after a moment's hesitation, Remus decided to join the trio.

"Remus, this is my wife, Lily. She's the one who did that painting you were admiring." James gave a playful wink as Remus felt his chest tighten from embarrassment. 

Lily was tall and slender, with auburn hair that cascaded down past her shoulders. Her pale skin was dusted with freckles, Pollock-esque and surprisingly alluring. She had emerald green eyes, shining with the same depth that a real gemstone would, sparkling facets each releasing a different shade of brilliant green. Ruby read lips were parted in a genuine smile as a flush of pink spread across her cheeks.

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes before offering her hand for Remus to shake. 

"Please tell me he's not referring to the one near the entrance," she said, her smile never wavering.

Remus grasped her hand and shook it before responding.

"I had been looking at it earlier—" Remus began, unsure of where that sentence was headed.

"I can't believe Sirius put that one on display! It's wretched! It's so… derivative. It's been done a million times before. I think this idiot just liked the colours."

Remus smiled, grateful for Lily's honesty and humility. She was the type of artist that Remus could see himself working with.

"Speaking of this idiot," James said, turning to the person that Remus assumed was the illustrious gallerist. "Remus, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, this is Remus. We met while discussing art."

Remus extended his hand to Sirius, keeping his smile polite and professional, despite the sense of awe and terror threatening to bubble out. Sirius shook his hand, a confident smirk playing at his lips.

"A pleasure," Sirius said in his posh accent, his stormy grey eyes endless pools that Remus found himself sinking into. 

"The pleasure is all mine," Remus offered before tearing his gaze away.

"What is it that you do, Remus?" Sirius' question made Remus' heart skip a beat. This was his chance. The opportunity fell right into his lap, presenting itself on a silver platter. 

"I'm an artist, actually." Remus' cheeks were beginning to ache from his forced smile, but he kept it up. "I've been looking for the right gallery to show in for some time now."

"Well then," Sirius responded, his eyebrow raised ever so slightly, the corner of his mouth turned up. "You'll have to stop by with your portfolio at some point. I'd be remiss if I didn't give James' friend an opportunity to show me his work." He put a particular emphasis on the word friend, as if he was entirely aware of the fact that Remus and James had only just met a few moments before.

"That would be amazing, thank you!" Remus had to strain to keep the excitement from his voice and remain calm in front of the gallery owner. 

"Excellent. In that case, I'll see you around, Remus." Sirius turned, gave Lily a kiss on the cheek, patted James on the shoulder, and went about mingling with his other guests. Sirius' lips wrapped around Remus' name hung precariously in the air, filling Remus up with a sense of— something— he didn't quite know what.

"Thank you," Remus sighed, feeling eternally grateful to James and his kindness.

"It was all Lily's idea," he said, flashing his wife a look of admiration. "She's the mastermind in this family."

Remus turned to thank Lily, but she cut him off before he could even begin.

"You're welcome, Remus. It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope to see you again soon."

As the couple walked away, Remus couldn't help but stare at their backs in disbelief. 

Did that really just happen? Had Remus actually just connected with one of the most influential names in the London art scene after a happenstance conversation with a stranger? As he walked back to his flat, the memories of the night replayed through his mind, over and over again, wondering how on earth he got so lucky. 

[tracybirds]

gumnut-logic replied to your post “okay I’m coming off of three days of nothing but writing physics...”

Well you know who I’d like a story about. :D How about we team up John and Virg and the case of the missing marshmallows. Other brothers optional, but there has to be at least one apple and Eos has to butt her head in at least once :D That sound like something?

@gumnut-logic This may be the most bizarre writing prompt I’ve attempted but I had a heck of a lot of fun with it!! I hope you enjoy it and I make no promises for consistent characterisation xD

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The sun was by no means high in the sky when the insistent beeping in Virgil’s ear broke through his slumber, but the early haze of morning had been burnt off in the crisp southern sun. He groaned and rolled over, dragging linen sheets up and over his head, reaching out a hand to grope at the accept call notification that shone bright in his eyes.

“Someone had better be dying,” he growled into the comm, his eyes still squeezed tightly shut in denial of the day. “I swear John, if this is your god-awful circadian sleep cycle alarm, I will revoke cheeseburger privileges on your supply lists.”

“Virgil,” hissed John. “Virgil, I need your help.”

That got his attention. He cracked one eye open and peered at the hologram through the sheet.

“Shit John,” he said, propping himself up on one elbow and pulling the comm closer so he could see his brother more clearly.

“John?” he said sharply when his brother didn’t respond. “What’s going on?”

“Okay, don’t panic,” said John, “but I think I need you up here, Virg. I’m either hallucinating, or maybe it’s my memory, but Virg, I can’t find the marshmallows.”

Virgil, who had leapt out of bed and was hurriedly pulling on a new pair of jeans at John’s words, paused. “The… marshmallows?” he replied weakly.

“You know the ones,” said John agitatedly. “You sent them up last week, and I put them away and they’ve vanished.”

Virgil could already feel a headache developing behind his eyes. “John, when did you last get some sleep?”

“Two hours ago,” said John. He looked past the Virgil at something beyond the holographic display and his holo drained of colour. “Virgil, I can hear Gordon.”

Virgil knew for a fact that whatever John was hearing, it was not their brother who had crashed on the couch immediately following their last mission, slept through a horror movie marathon, and more importantly, who Virgil could see at that very moment from his window, cheerfully chatting to someone on his own comm.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Johnny,” he said, hurrying down to the docking station where the space elevator was ready and waiting for him. “Tell EOS to put us in emergency shutdown until we get this sorted.”

***

John met him at the airlock. He was still looking pale and his eyes were slightly bloodshot as he floated in the microgravity. Virgil grimaced at the weightless feeling, the sensation automatically sending red alerts to his brain. It would never be the comfort to him that it was to John and it was a relief when his brother engaged the gravity ring.

“I may have overreacted,” said John sheepishly, leading him into the galley. “I mean, about the marshmallows that is.” He pressed on one of the walls and the pantry doors opened to reveal an decorated tin. He pulled it out and offered the homemade marshmallow to Virgil before replacing it in the pantry and shutting the door. “I swear I left these in my room, I can’t explain it.”

“Maybe you’re sleepwalking again?” suggested Virgil.

John huffed a laugh. “Have you seen the way I’m strapped to my bed at night? I guess it’s possible, but I doubt it. Besides,” he said, lowering his voice. “Between you and me, if I were, I’d never hear the end of it from EOS. She’s developing a sense of humour.”

“Oh,” said Virgil, staring at the fond, proud look on John’s face. “Uh, congratulations?”

“Thank you,” he said beaming. “It’s an important step in her development.”

“Right,” said Virgil. He still wasn’t quite sure how to approach John’s attachment to EOS, and as far as he knew, there was no book titled What to Expect When Your Brother Adopts A Formerly Evil AI But Evil Implies A Morality She Hasn’t Yet Developed And He Won’t Shut Up About It. He quickly changed the subject. “Let’s get you checked out.”

There was an infirmary on Thunderbird Five, tucked away between the observation deck and the gym, but John led him instead to his room. He sat down on the bed that was still pulled down from his previous sleep cycle, blankets awry and scattered around him. Virgil frowned as he squeezed into the precious remaining space and grabbed the medical equipment that John tossed him.

“So, aside from the marshmallows, what’s really been going on John?”

To his surprise, John flushed and tensed under his careful hands. “It’s hard to explain,” he murmured, allowing Virgil to check his vitals. “It doesn’t sound like much, but put all together…”

“Hey, no judgement here,” said Virgil with a gentle smile. “You’re talking to a guy who once spent three hours convinced he could talk to the giraffe outside his bedroom window.”

“Wasn’t that a palm tree?”

“Exactly.”

John laughed, his shoulders relaxing slightly. “It’s just lots of little things,” he said. “I think I’ve toasted a bagel and I hear the ding, but it turns out I never turned it on. I programme a game of handball and suddenly I’ve pulled up space invaders. Nothing’s happened during a mission, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Hey, it’s okay Johnny,” said Virgil, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “We’ll solve this. You got your sleep records around?”

“There’s nothing I can see in them,” said John, turning around to pull up the file on the holoscreen beside his bed. He froze, hand hovering in mid-air.

Virgil followed his gaze and his eyes widened. Sitting on the shelf that jutted out from the wall, serving as John’s bedside table, was a small decorated tin.

“Okay, you see that too right?” asked John, not yet daring to reach out and confirm his sanity.

“That’s your tin of marshmallow,” exclaimed Virgil in surprise. His words broached a boundary that John was holding himself back from crossing and he snatched up the tin and pulled the lid off in one movement.

“It is,” he said, staring at it. “I’m not crazy right, we left this in the galley?”

“You put it back in the pantry,” Virgil confirmed. “You don’t have two tins?”

Without looking back, John sprinted out of the room and Virgil raced after him. With trembling hands, he opened the pantry to reveal a red apple sitting in the place the marshmallow tin had sat not twenty minutes earlier.

His mouth dropped open in confusion but before he could comment, John’s face had contorted in sudden frustration and he snatched the apple up and brandished it at Virgil.

“These are real,” he said. “Tell me these are real Virgil, I keep finding these all over the damn place.” With that, he threw the apple at the wall and Virgil winced as it bounced and rolled onto the floor between them, battered and bruised.

“Where are they coming from?” he asked Virgil desperately. “There weren’t any apples sent up on the last delivery, I’d have seen them on the supply list.”

“There’s something strange going on here,” said Virgil, looking suspiciously around them. “The good news is, it’s probably not hallucinations or your memory failing you.”

“Then what is it?” John cried.

At that, a ghostly laugh floated into the galley from the corridor beyond. A very familiar laugh.

“Gordon,” called Virgil angrily. He didn’t know why and he didn’t know how, but suddenly he was certain Gordon was the mastermind behind these events.

“Gordon’s on down on Tracy Island,” snapped John. “I looked into that already.”

A loud thud on the galley doors made them both jump and they rushed through the automatic doors to see another apple rolling away from them. Another echoing laugh drew them down the corridor, following a trail of red fruit and mockery into the module room, the globe spinning in the centre of the room and the communications array glowing dimly.

“Good morning, John,” came EOS’s bright voice. “Good morning, Virgil Tracy.”

“EOS,” gasped John. “I need a scan done, tracking all human presences on Thunderbird Five.”

“There are two humans present on Thunderbird Five.”

“Where’s Gordon?” demanded Virgil.

“Gordon Tracy is on Tracy Island,” said EOS automatically, pulling up a camera feed to show them Gordon cheerfully trying to dunk Alan in the pool.

She laughed brightly as Alan dragged Gordon under the water and he emerged spluttering with a wide grin on his face.

“This is fun, John,” she said happily. “Can I try this in the future?”

“Absolutely not, you’ll damage your hard drive,” he said with a fond smile. “And since your hard drive is my home, I will not let you take the risk.”

“You could get a mobile array built for me which could experience this in my stead,” she persisted hopefully. “I could merge our data following the experience and undergo recombination of our memories.”

“I am not getting you an android for Christmas if that’s what you’re asking,” said John, absently and EOS laughed again.

There was something in the cadence of her laugh that tugged at Virgil’s memory and he stared at EOS as he tried to unravel the sound.

“EOS,” he said slowly. “Have you asked John about the new book he’s reading?”

EOS tilted her camera array to one side and Virgil had to suppress a laugh of his own when he saw John do the same thing.

“John hasn’t mentioned this.”

“No I haven’t,” said John, looking bewildered. “Tell her Virgil, it’s a good one.”

“It’s on anti-gravity,” he said with a grin. “It’s apparently impossible to put down.”

There was a beat of silence and suddenly he heard it again, her laugh following the intervals of his younger brother’s, so open and cheerful and so very different to John’s huffing chuckle.

“It was you,” he concluded.

EOS gasped and swung her array around to look at John and his reaction.

“What?” asked John. “What was EOS?”

“The marshmallows, the space invaders, the apples. John, it’s been EOS all along, I guarantee she’s been talking to Gordon.”

That pealing laughter rang out again, this time mixed with Gordon’s own familiar laugh echoing around the room.

“I have,” she said happily. “John, he’s taught me so much about humour, you’d be so proud.”

John looked a little shellshocked.

“All this time?” he asked weakly. “EOS, I thought I was losing my mind.”

“Isn’t it funny, John!”

“No! EOS,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I mean, now I know they were pranks, this all makes a lot more sense, but…”

“What John is trying to say,” said Virgil, jumping in, “is that pranks are a very particular branch of advanced humour.”

“Yes, thank you,” said John, waving towards him. “Perhaps, we can work our way up to pranks. There’s very specific pranking algorithms that need to observed for maximum impact. Search parameter “prank wars” for examples.”

Virgil snorted. Leave it to John to immediately teach his daughter the importance of retaliation. He would let that piece of information make its way to Scott on its own.

“You going to be alright now?” he asked in an undertone.

“Yeah,” said John, shaking his head as EOS pulled up video after video on the screens surrounding them, alternating between laughter and critique. “Oh man though, a prank war? Gordon’s going to regret teaching her anything in a few weeks, I can promise you that much.”

“I’ll see myself out,” said Virgil with a grin. “Have fun wrangling my niece.”

John waved him off and Virgil left, still thinking fondly of EOS throwing herself into the world of humour with all the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old child. There was no book titled What To Expect When You Adopt An AI, but Virgil was confident that they’d be there to help him muddle through.