#i feel like i never grew out of the little kid phase where no one actually cares about my odd interests

[anxiously-going]

.

[steddieas-shegoes]

A little thing based on this post because it wouldn’t leave my brain:

“I just don’t understand why you won’t try to read it.”

Steve had heard Dustin say this exact sentence hundreds of times at this point.

“I mean, do you know how to read?”

Mike was an asshole. Steve loved him because he was part of the group and he’d been through the same things, but he was such a dick.

“Yes, I know how to read. I just don’t.”

Dustin rolled his eyes.

“If you don’t wanna read nerd shit just say so.”

Steve threw his arms up in frustration.

Steve was a nerd at heart. As a child, he would beg the nanny to take him to the library and the science museum that had real dinosaur fossils. There was something about the peace of exiting his reality and finding a new one among fantasy and history that was indescribable, even to this day.

But as he grew into his looks, he grew out of that phase. At least around others.

And with no nanny around to take him places, he settled for just being the popular guy who hung out with his friends after practice and threw parties at his forever empty house on Saturdays.

But secretly, he still found himself enjoying books late into the night. Never school books, or his grades would’ve been good enough for college, but always incredible novels that took him to other worlds with the most impressively brave people.

And then he lived a nightmare. A few times over. With concussions at every turn.

Now, anytime he tried to read, his head started pounding, his vision got blurry, and ears would start ringing. He stopped trying altogether after Starcourt, but he’d never really let go his love of books.

He occasionally let Robin read to him, but she would get distracted by a plot or character and go on a tangent, leaving Steve confused about what the actual story was. He hated being confused.

“Stevie, you got a minute?”

Eddie had been watching from his spot at the end of the table, where he’d been cleaning up the mess of D&D. He usually made the kids do it, but he’d let them off the hook tonight when they beat the monster and escaped his trap.

Steve and Eddie were friends, definitely. Maybe not close ones, but friends.

Steve had a little crush, definitely. Or a big one. Maybe.

So when Eddie shows him attention, he somewhat shamefully receives it like he’s dying of thirst in a desert.

Robin is the only one who’s noticed so far, but if he keeps acting like a dog being called by his master anytime Eddie talks to him, someone else will comment on it.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Steve asked as he made his way to Eddie.

The kids took this time to talk amongst themselves about the game and what they think will happen next week, and Steve couldn’t have been more grateful.

“You don’t have to tell me, but.” Eddie was tapping his fingers nervously against his leg. “Do you not know how to read?”

“Uh. No I do. I mean I graduated high school. I know it’s hard to believe.”

“Not judging if you can’t, man. I mean, I took three senior years. I’m the last person who can judge.”

“Yeah, but you’re smart. You just didn’t like school,” Steve replied with a pat to his shoulder.

Eddie glanced down at the contact, eyebrow raising and then falling back to normal quickly.

“Just seems like you’d have read something by now to get them off your ass.”

And that’s a really good point. Maybe he should’ve just suffered through a migraine so they’d leave him alone about it.

But migraines left him out for days sometimes, and he couldn’t exactly afford that right now.

“I guess it’s just not worth the migraine.”

He hadn’t meant to actually say it. He didn’t want Eddie to feel bad or for him to try to make him feel better about it or ask questions or talk about the concussion thing.

Actually, did he even know about the concussion thing? Things?

“You get migraines when you try to read?” Then realization hit Eddie hard. “Steve. Do you like reading?”

Something about the way Eddie was looking at him, like he was sad for him but not pitying him, made Steve want to cry.

“I used to, yeah.”

“Everyone out! Your parents are gonna have to come get you! No questions, no explanations, go!” Eddie yelled to the room.

Everyone stared blankly at him before they started protesting, Dustin loudest of all.

“Steve’s my ride!”

“Not anymore. Hitch a ride with Lucas.”

“But Lucas’ mom always squeezes my cheeks and tells me she hopes I never lose my baby fat.”

“She speaks for all of us. Get the hell out of here!”

Steve was actually impressed. Maybe a little turned on? God, he was a disaster.

As everyone cleared out of the room, Eddie patted the seat next to him. When Steve sat down, Eddie scooted his chair so close to him, his knees were touching Steve’s.

“Alright, so you’re gonna tell me about what books you like and what books you want to read and we’re gonna get started.”

Steve blinked at him. “Huh?”

“You have a list I’m sure.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Okay, then we better get started.”

“I mean, I’ve tried. I appreciate it, but even focusing on one page makes my eyes burn and my head hurt.”

“Got that. I’m not asking you to read.”

Sometimes Steve was worried the concussions had actually knocked some screws loose. He wasn’t getting it.

“I’m gonna read to you, Stevie.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’m sure a lot of them will be movies and I can just watch them.”

“It’s not the same. You know it’s not.”

He was right. Steve didn’t have much patience for movies. And sometimes even those gave him migraines if there were a lot of bright lights and explosions.

“Yeah. But still. You don’t have to do that. You might not even like the books.”

“Ah, this isn’t a completely free service, my liege.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I don’t have extra money to pay you, dude.”

“Not money. I get to pick a book to read to you when we finish the first book you pick.”

“Is it The Hobbit?”

“It is,” Eddie looked so smug.

“Well, that was my first choice,” Steve stared back, equally as smug.

“So, your house is empty.”

“Yep.”

“And I’m assuming you own this book.”

“I do.”

“And it’s getting late.”

Steve looked out the window at the pitch black skies.

“It’s late.”

“So I could stay and read you to sleep.”

“Won’t I miss some of the book?”

“I’ll stop when you’re asleep.”

Steve��s heart was practically begging him to say yes. Eddie reading to him in his bed? Possibly falling asleep together? Maybe even waking up together? It couldn’t be a better proposition. Well. It could.

“Will you stay even if I fall asleep?”

Eddie smirked. “If that’s what you want, sweetheart.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d called Steve that, but it was the first time it felt like he meant it in a non-teasing way.

“Okay.”

So they both changed into some of Steve’s comfy clothes, got into his bed, and Eddie started reading The Hobbit.

Just as he was during D&D and real life, Eddie was animated, providing different voices for different characters and often giving long pauses to let Steve soak in what the words meant.

Steve didn’t even have to ask him to do that. He just did.

Steve fell asleep somewhere between halfway and the end of chapter two, but Eddie stayed.

And they woke up the next day with Steve’s head resting on Eddie’s chest, Eddie’s arms wrapped around him to keep him as close as possible.

They finished the The Hobbit in a week, and because Eddie was now committed to making sure Steve was well-read, they started moving through his list rapidly, falling for each other in new ways every time Eddie turned a page.

Part 2 (Angst)  / Part 2 (Fluffy) /  Part 2 (Explicit)

[nervoushottee]

it happened quiet | daryl dixon x fem!reader

Summary: [1.5k] What you and Daryl have is a soft quiet love.

Big Bald Ass Note: I’ve always had a love for Daryl Dixon. He was one of the first “older man” crushes I ever had many years ago. I’ve always loved his character and the way Norman Reedus has and still does portray this character is like no other. My favorite thing about him that I didn’t understand when I watched twd when I was young but grew into adulthood was his introverted character. And how his care for others was soft, quiet and subtle yet strong and profound all at the same time. As a person who has a quiet love, personally prefers it and deeply cherishes that quiet love. I had the sudden urge to write this. I’ve been getting back into my Daryl Dixon phase recently and I just couldn’t get this out of my head. Thank you to @moonpascal for giving me that little push I needed to just go for it while the juices were flowing despite my other fic waiting outside waving her hands hoping to be seen, This is a long author’s note but this piece is truly something that means a lot to me. Which is funny because this is literally fanfiction but it's still writing and it's still art and it's mine. 

Enjoy.

Daryl wasn’t an affectionate person. It’s never been something that just came easy to him. He never received it as a child and didn’t think anything of it once he got older. 

There was one time when he was really really young. He was waiting for Merle after school, his older brother’s school building a few blocks away, and he watched his classmates greet their parents. He saw the parents with bright eyes and wide smiles. Mothers kissing their sons on the cheeks and fathers rubbing the top of their heads.

 A strong deep feeling within his belly grew from the sight of it and it got bigger and bigger as the two Dixon brothers walked back home.

And when they got to their home, Daryl saw their mom had been exactly in the same spot where the two boys had left her. Face down into the pillow, an arm hanging off the side of the bed where a spilled bottle of Jack Daniels had stained seeped into the carpet. 

Daryl cried for the first time ever. He cried for something he never had. 

He didn’t cry when he saw kids on the streets with new bikes and scooters. Didn’t cry when his mom and dad would yell until the sun went down. But he cried for this. That deep strong feeling that he couldn’t name poured out of him and he cried. Standing in the hallway as he watched his mother sleep. 

Merle, barely a teen and was bitching about spilled liquor, thought he was crying because mom looked too still. His older brother checked her pulse and felt the faint thump, thump, thump. “She’s jus sleepin’ Daryl.”, he explained to him. But Daryl didn’t stop crying. He hunched over, clutched his chest like his heart had been twisted and shoved down into his stomach and cried.

When Merle finally found out why he was crying, the older brother placed his hands on each of Daryl’s shoulders, stooped to his level and looked directly into his eyes. 

“Dixons don’t cry. Not over that or anything else. We just weren’t made for that stuff.” 

Daryl never cried or wanted it again. 

Until now. 

Until you. 

When the world’s gone to shit and the dead are walking. You gotta learn how to start trusting the living. Well,  to learn how to trust your group. They don’t just become a group of people you survive with. They become your family whether you like it or not. 

And in the beginning, Daryl sure as hell didn’t like it. 

He tried to force it away. To keep himself on the outside like he’s always done. Still did even when his brother went missing when they went back for him on that roof. But when time goes on and people die you build something, you find something and you learn something. He warmed into being more into the group. To being something of importance to Rick and the others. More than just Merle’s younger brother.  

He remembers Carol telling him that he was meant for a leadership role but he’s never thought that about himself. And never will.

And getting closer to them came with affection. Came with a bond. With awkward hugs from Carol when he had spent day and night looking for Sophia. Her cropped hair pressed against his bandaged ear. It came with pats on the back from Rick and looks that meant something a lot more brotherly than he’s ever felt with Merle. With you and your small smiles and lingering eyes. 

He had to learn to accept it. To learn that it was okay and wasn’t out of pity. That it was something he was actually allowed to have. It took him a long time to and he still only takes it in doses. Giving Carol a Cherokee Rose or the brief massage of her sore shoulder. Patting Rick’s shoulder,  hoping he knows how much his brotherly bond means to him through it. Nodding his head at you with the tip of his ears a bit red as he turns his head away from you. 

You’ve been a part of the group for as long as he could remember. And the two of you didn’t become something immediately. Daryl was an ass to you when all of this first started. He was an ass to everyone. But when he would small smiles from the courtyard, he would feel something that had never stirred inside of him before.

You were a touchy person. 

Always within arms reach of someone. Giving Lori a reassuring squeeze of the hand or hug when she seemed like she would just break down in tears from the stress of being pregnant in this world. Kissing the top of Beth's head when she came to you with her anxieties over the group's safety. Or playfully slapping T-Dog’s shoulder when he used to make you laugh.

But when it came to Daryl you never touched him. And he felt off about it. Thankful but off.

 When the two of you were starting to become something more, he had subtly brought it up when the two of you were on watch. It felt like pulling teeth when he asked you. And he would rather have done that with a rusted wrench than do this.

“I know you Daryl.” you said to him with a shrug. 

That was the only thing that you said to him when he had asked but it was all that he needed. As your eyes never left his, he watched you smile softly. The moon giving your skin a light glow. You knew that he doesn’t respond well to physical affection. To hugs or kisses on the cheek (except from Carol who does it despite the awkwardness she laughs through). You knew it was something he just wasn’t used to. Or even maybe never had.  It was only four words but it meant more to Darly than he could even say in a lifetime. 

And if you ever told anyone that he was the one that made the first move and kissed you at the top of the prison tower. He will lie until he’s blue in the face and say he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. 

After that you became more affectionate with each other. More touchy than before. Not touchy like Glenn and Maggie. Kissing each other goodbye when the other would go on a run or a quick kiss good morning. Or hugging after a run gone bad and they almost lost the other. Public display of affection to his partner, to you, is something Daryl could never really get on with. 

But what the two of you had was a quiet love. A word Daryl still had a hard time saying and rarely ever said but knew deep in his heart that he felt it whenever he looked at you. 

It was a quiet love filled with small glances and innocent touches. His hand against the small of your back or a quick tap on your arm or thigh. Your small smile to greet him and the nods that greets you.  Holding his hand underneath the table. Feeling his calloused thumb rub against your hand once or twice. Checking on eachother during the other’s watch shift. Him adding some of his food on your plate as he walks past you. You giving him a snack of whatever random thing you have on hand in the evening. Placing your head on his shoulder very briefly when there's not many people around. A mutual meaning of a hug when it's late at night and you won’t see him for a while.   

It was a silent bond the others knew about by name(ish) and feeling  but not as much by action. Those actions were yours and yours alone. And you both preferred it that way. 

Tender kisses and tight hugs. Soft caresses on the cheek and tracing fingers across bare chests. Whispered stories of childhood that turn into bedtime stories throughout the night. Expressing moments of doubt, fear or anger. Tears that would fall on your face and the feeling of his lips pressed against the top of your head.  

Even in moments when you were sleeping next to him. Your head on top of his chest or his arm curled around your stomach. Daryl would feel your wrist, his thumb against your pulse to make sure it's still beating. Or hold as still as he can like he’s tracking a buck in the forest to feel the up and down of your body to ensure you’re breathing. 

You became a big part of his life. This group (his family)  became a big part of his life. Who knew that it would only take the end of the world for him to feel something more than just anger for the first time in his entire life.  

Daryl wasn’t an affectionate person. But he learned how to be. For the good of the group, for himself and for you. 

dividers by @saradika

[damned-punk]

Could you do a story where the reader comes accidently in when Kid and Killer take a bath and stays with them because Kid calls her prudent 👀🙏😋

Bath Time (Kidd x Reader x Killer)

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Content Warning: suggestive language ♡

Content Description: gn!reader stumbles upon Kidd and Killer taking a bath

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Things had been unusually quiet on the ship for an uncomfortable amount of time, an embarrassing feeling of longing washing over you as the Captain and his First Mate had been tucked away for the majority of the day. You’d recently exchanged your mutual affections for one another, but the awkward phase of the blossoming relationship hadn’t yet subsided. A few of your crewmates trekked here and there, but each of them were wrapped up in their own responsibilities.

Your duties had already been completed and your cabin was immaculately organized, nothing else seemed to require your attention or assistance. You’d tried to spend some time with Kidd in his workshop after breakfast, but it didn’t last long as the music was so ear-splittingly loud that you couldn’t focus long enough to enjoy it or him. Killer had been busy in the kitchen prepping meals for the week and the last thing you wanted was to get in his way or annoy him, especially considering your crewmates on dish duty had likely been talking his ear off.

Resolving to take yet another lap around the ship to occupy yourself with some kind of activity, you took notice that the kitchen was now empty. Similarly, Kidd’s workshop was dark and eerily silent. This meant that they were either dwelling in one of the common areas or they’d snuck back to their shared cabin to relax. You’d tried not to be so overtly clingy but as you rounded the stairs leading to yet another empty common area, the urge to trail to their cabin overtook your thoughts. The space had only recently become freely accessible to you so there was still come uncertainty about the parameters of intrusion but against your initial anxieties, you approached their door.

You took a few deep breaths to calm your growing anticipation before knocking against the painted wood. Hearing Kidd yell for you to come in, you swung the door open and let them know that it was only you. You expected them to be lounging on the couch or resting in the bed but the room was empty apart from their boots by the door. You removed your own shoes and placed them in their designated spot, trailing to the door of the bathroom where the two men must’ve been congregating. You were not prepared to see them fully nude, leant back in the massive bathtub and chatting about nothing in particular.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in the tub.”, you said, not specifying the phrase to either of them while backing away from the door, the embarrassment materializing across your deeply reddened cheeks and ears.

You could hear very faint laughter, unlikely of Kidd and an evident slip up from Killer. When the sound of splashing and footsteps began, you stumbled to a seat to try and make yourself look somewhat natural. The two of them were not phased by each others nudity at all but it was a skill that you’d yet to manage. Much to your shock and surprise, Kidd stepped out from around the corner with nothing covering himself. You hid your face in your hands and he bellowed out at how shy his little partner was proving to be. He’d likely never say it, but messing with you like this had become one of his favorite things. He and Killer had been hoping that you’d seek them out at this time of the day, especially considering they’d been so busy earlier on.

His footsteps halted in front of you and the room grew silent for a few seconds too long. When you spread your fingers just enough to look up at him, he leant down and effortlessly gathered you in his arm. He took off back to the bath and the realization of what was going to happen dawned on you.

“I don’t need a bath.”, you pleaded, looking anywhere but Killer’s naked self giving you a knowing smile as Kidd began stepping back into the water, “I still have my clothes on and I really don’t need a bath.”

“I know you won’t strip and get in with us already in here.”, he sunk into the still steaming water, positioning you between he and Killer, “You’re so nervous and for what exactly?”

“Don’t lay it on too thick, Kidd.”, Killer put his hand on your back and started ruffling up the wet fabric, taunting you in his own way, “This is supposed to be relaxing, remember?”

“Yeah, I know but you have to admit it’s cute seeing (Y/N) all flustered like this.”, Kidd played into Killer’s hand, reaching at the waistband of your pants which caused you to jolt.

“I can do it!”, you squeaked out, keeping your eyes completely forward, “Can we have some bubbles or something?”

“Why? So you can hide?”, Kidd leant deathly close to your ear which prompted you to lean closer to Killer, “Or maybe so you don’t accidentally look at my big-”

“THAT’S IT!”, you raised your voice above his to stop whatever depraved sentence he was about to finish, “I am so out of here.”

You attempted to stand only to be pinned against Killer’s chest, the violent splashing of the water causing you to giggle as Kidd took the opportunity to shed your bottoms. He launched them into the sink across the room as Killer helped you peel off your top, throwing it to the rest of your drenched garments. You did your best to allow yourself to relax despite the crippling nerves that were eating away at how vulnerable and close the three of you were in this moment. You’d closed your eyes to afford yourself some kind of emotional support, the contentment shared between your lovers slowly starting to envelop you as well.

“Want me to wash your hair sweetheart?”, Killer’s sudden words next to your other ear caused you to flinch, Kidd once again amused by your reaction and lamenting that they’d have to do this more often.

As intimate and sweet as the gesture was, this was beginning to look like a long evening of uncomfortable but embraced experiences shared between the three of you.

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[sassypantsjaxon]

Okay, quick disclaimers: 1. I know some people don't like Horikoshi's worldbuilding, would say there's a lack of depth, etc, etc. I'm not one of those people, I just see it as my chance to overanalyze and fill in the gaps myself for these kind of headcanon/theory/whatever you want to call this post. 2. This post will briefly touch on my own personal headcanons of Mic being an orphan and Aizawa being a rich kid.

Okay! all that being said, I'm just going to throw some things at the wall about my own thoughts/headcanons about the world Mic and Aizawa grew up in, and you guys can let me know if anything sticks.

You ever think about how All Might is around 25 years older than Mic and Aizawa?

Given that he left Japan as a teenager and went to college in America, he probably came back and started becoming the Symbol of Peace in Japan in his early-mid twenties.

Mic and Aizawa would have been part of the first generation of kids who have never known a world without All Might

Like. Think about that. They would have grown up in a world that is just beginning to recover from the horrors (as compared to the relatively deceptively safe society we see at the beginning of the series)

Hizashi grows up in an orphanage with a lot of older kids who were orphaned by villain attacks and...not so many kids younger than him. Which is good for them, but kind of lonely for a kid like Zashi

There's a wall around the orphanage that is supposed to be for protecting them, but as villain activity decreases, it just starts to feel like it's keeping the kids in

Hizashi becomes a hero because he knows nobody else is going to save him

Shouta grows up in a high security gated community

He's always wanted to be a hero, and he's always been told it's pointless, because All Might will have eradicated villainy by the time Shouta's an adult this is of course a lie

part of the tragedy of Oboro's death is that they've heard their whole lives how large scale villain attacks like that are a thing of the past

They would have had drills for what to do in case of villain attacks when they were little kids starting school. These would have slowly been phased out by the time they were in middle school

Another thing that's changed since they were kids is the architecture

No more burned down, bombed out buildings that just sit around because there's no point rebuilding something that will just be destroyed again in a few weeks. No more business that are still open, but the windows are boarded up because they can't afford to keep replacing the glass

No more graffitied walls and fences and gates. No more anti-villain spikes on top of buildings and around cities

And all of these things disappeared so slowly that it's like one day when they're in highschool, they just look around and realize they don't exist anymore and wonder where it all went and when it happened

There was probably a population boom as All Might started to cement his place as the Symbol of Peace. People realizing their kids would have a safer world to grow up in and they didn't have to fear dying every other minute

People moving out of the safety of the cities back into more rural areas

actually hang on. that would kind of explain the racism and bigotry we know exists in the rural regions

this was supposed to be more about mic and aizawa and now i'm just spitballing worldbuilding sorry.

Mic and Aizawa are kind of in this weird inbetween of the fourth generation of quirk users, who grew up fully in the horrors of quirk wars, and the fifth generation, who grew up in the era of All Might and it's all just the past to them

Because even though they didn't exactly live it themselves, they did still see the direct effects of it

And that's the horror of this new war, because their students had been living the peace Mic and Aizawa were promised as children

[wolfesona]

LORE SPOILERS FOR TIMELINE CLASH PT 2

Mod notes are in Green

For @ask-elliot-doorman-fam Timeline clash RP

Shuriken's solver form...

So the story about how Shuriken got his wicked solver form? Surprisingly it's not from Uzi, though she and N did help.

Of course we all know that Uzi has the solver while N just has a base program of the solver, hence his need for oil, animalistic attitude, etc. So they passed it down, on to Shuriken and Terra. Though Shuriken has a more "volatile" version of the solver (aka more suitable for the Absolute Solver to enter the host's mind). While Terra just has the regular base program.

But here is where things get interesting... ( sorry for all the J fans out there TwT):

When Shuriken was only a wee little six year old, he wanted to explore outside. But because Terra was a newborn, Uzi nor N could go so Shuriken snuck out ( classic Doorman sneaking out). He explored to the corpse spire, and he was scared by the dead bodies (as a normal six year old is?). But a voice inside his head was telling him to go inside, that it will keep him safe. This voice is the AS (Absolute Solver), preying on Shuriken's curiosity. And because he was a kid, he trusted the AS to keep him safe.

Wrong move. As it turns out, the AS was luring the boy to J, who has gone insane after her fall in the EP8 battle. Since J worked with the AS, in my AU they came up with a backup plan before the aforementioned battle to use if Cyn were to have her heart taken out (which obviously she did). So J and the AS created a virus for the next potential host if the drone who got captured by was suitable enough (which Shuriken was).

And so Shuriken got attacked by J, with J implanting the virus in his chest, infecting him with the AS completely. He haphazardly flies away to a nearby cave and basically has a seizure as the AS begins manifesting in his mind.

As he is writhing and screaming in pain on the floor, the former other hosts of the Solver are dumped in his head as voices, such as Doll, Yeva, Cyn, and Tessa ( though Tessa wasn't a host, her spirit got trapped in the AS metaverse, a universe where the AS controls everything).

After the pain settles down, He hears from the AS that it can help him use his newfound powers and become a god, but Shuriken refused (bro you lured him into a trap and now you want to take over??). Instead, he makes a deal with the AS to only possess and use his body at night so no one gets hurt ( in theory...). So, the AS reluctantly agrees to his terms.

After ten minutes Uzi flies in worried sick, searching for her son for hours and finds a now exhausted and almost knocked out Shuriken. She is extremely worried, checking out all the bloody wounds and scratch marks on his body, wondering who did this to him. Then she sees the solver symbol flicker on his visor, giving her the impression that he inherited her curse. Uzi breaks down, crying in the cave, hugging her now AS- infected son blaming herself for "giving him" the AS and for not finding him sooner.

Uzi carries her son home, and N learns about the incident. He also blames himself for not being there for Shuriken when he needed him most, wondering "what kind of a dad does that make me?".

Shuriken wakes up to his crying mother and father, and feels guilty for everything that happened. So he tells them that it's not their fault, and he should have never snuck out in the first place. (then they have a big hug fest to bury yet another trauma.)

And so ten years go by without an incident. Shuriken starts high school with good grades, but his is a loner like Uzi ( there is just something off about him I guess. DW he has friends tho), and somehow lands Lizzy and Thad's daughter, Brianna as his girlfriend. He gets into his "angsty teen phase" and gets into music ( EDM loverr).

But recently the AS grew stronger. His changing body, teenage hormones ( lol, how can drones have hormones? whaat?), and his past trauma is giving him a weaker resolve on who he is as a person. So the AS takes it's chance to possess him more, but so far only when there are dead bodies or spilled oil from a wound.

And that's where we are at right now. Feel free to comment!

[kimbapisnotsushi]

hi! please share your headcanons about jay. thanks!

ooooooooh sure thing let's get it!!

(also please keep in mind that soke was literally my first time dipping back into dc after a LONG while, so i have a bit of catch-up to do in terms of characters and stories, and thus some of my knowledge might be outdated!!! also i love jay but i do consider myself still very new to understanding him and thus most of these will be silly fun :333)

damian makes fun of him for that all-black ninja-esque stealth suit he wore to sneak into star labs because there was literally NO POINT in jay trying to disguise himself like that when he didn't bother covering up his BRIGHT FUCKING PINK hair

yes i'm still mad about yes i would like to know his thought process

is it natural btw??? i've seen different takes around where people think it's dyed bc of his other version in aos:jk, but i feel like that's pretty unlikely considering it was shaved all the way down when he got taken prisoner and experimented on and it grew back exactly like that

for the record i'm not a hater i'm just saying 1) it made him a walking beacon and 2) it being natural is so fucking funny to me since he clearly didn't inherit it from his mom, which begs the question:

who the fuck is jay's dad

while jay does care for all of the revolutionaries as their ally and everyone at the truth as their boss, and as an overall friend, i think that wink and the aerie are especially close to him and they consider each other family. they were pretty much the closest thing to adult supervision jay had for a while, and he relied on them a lot when he was settling down in metropolis and figuring out how to live alone

this meant that he called them for stupid things like "if something explodes in your microwave do you call the fire department", and not-stupid things like "help me open a bank account because metropolis bank has laws that won't let me do it by myself as a minor"

they were also the first people he came out to

jay loves them even if they CAN be really annoying

jay: "are you—are you guys ACTUALLY planning on shovel-talking superman" wink: "technically, he's superman's son" the aerie: "and if he's late to the coffee shop, i'm taking points off"

i think jay would get along with tim actually

the dude is an underground hacktivist refugee, investigative journalist, and a former president's son. he's probably used to always looking over his shoulder, ready to be jumped at a moment's notice. he's got a plan for everything but the plans only exist inside his head because he can't risk hard copies being found or digital ones being hacked. he's memorized them all. they're either alphabetized or mentally color-coded. we're talking levels of elaborate just-in-case getaways and meticulously planned investigations that would get a normal reporter killed if they asked the wrong question. it's dedication to a terrifying degree

yeah tim would definitely rock with him

jay has this neat little trick where if he's in a situation in which someone's poisoned his food and he has to eat it/can't let them know he knows, he just partially phases his organs so that the food falls through his body a little bit at a time and never enters his digestive system

jon is HORRIFIED when he finds out. damian is really fucking impressed

does gamorra have its own language???? i feel like jay would be fluent in it if so. of course he would be. he'd do anything to keep part of home as close to his chest as possible

oh that's another thing i'll probs mess up on btw i am legit so confused on gamorra considering it's apparently in asia and i would assume has its own distinct culture? but jay's surname is japanese and that random kid on the boat has a japanese name so are they like. japanese-adjacent??? or is gamorra made up of multiple asian identities blended into one (read tags for clarification)

i should probably read absolute power shouldn't i

okay sorry that got WAY off topic but yeah jay is definitely someone who loved his home despite not being able to go back and did everything he could to maintain his ties

ALSO can we talk about jay being a student at metropolis college at seventeen???? did he skip a year of school when he got to the u.s.??? did he lie on forms or something??

like i don't think he's taking extra credit classes as a high school student because he was also advertising the media department when we saw him, and i don't think he'd be doing that if he was in high school

jon makes sense because he had a fake identity which COULD put him in college. but jay???

honestly lying on paper is such a jay nakamura thing to do if he doesn't want people tracking him down by cross-referencing his birthday with government records

jay nakamura's number-one tip of running an anonymous underground activist stream: hide all identifiable information from the government

(this does not work when you are widely recognized as superman's boyfriend)

also now that dick is backing the truth can we PLEASE get tim in on it. i think it'd be so fucking funny. i think he and jay would have a grand old time breaking into firewalls and digging through internet archives and exposing corrupt people

tim is like "FINALLY i have something fun to do at all those fucking galas bruce makes me go to" because jay needs some rich guy's vacation itinerary so he knows the prime time to break into his house and gather evidence for something

i just have so much appreciation for jay nakamura you guys i love him so much

[invisibleraven]

"Let's burn it down." for Willex, please and thank you

"Do you ever wonder about where your parents are?"

Alex looked over to Willie who was still gazing up at the clouds, trying to find weird shapes in them. Meaning the question caught hima little off guard since the last one involved if he saw the bunny or not. He rumenanted on it for a moment. "Not really. My parents were... less than supportive once I came out. They made it very clear that if I didn't change I would be on my own."

"Man they suck," Willie spat. "You deserved better."

Alex shrugged at that-for how full of homophobia his parents were they never denied him his meds and his drums like Luke's parents or beat him up like Reggie's folks. And up until he came out they were pretty good parents-cool with nearly everything as long as he kept his grades up and went to church every week.

"I don't really think about them much. The guys and Julie are my family now, and they're all I need," Alex hummed. "What about yours?"

"I never knew my parents," Willie admitted. "Grew up in group homes, went from foster to foster, then ran away before I aged out and then well...you know the rest. I figured they wanted better for me or didn't have a choice in giving me up."

"I'm sorry," Alex said quietly.

"Don't be," Willie shook his head with a smile. "I had a kickass childhood full of fun people and seeing the country, it's all good. Might have been nice to have one home though. Guess I wanted to see yours."

"I mean, I don't think my folks are there any more, but I can show you where I grew up," Alex offered, giving Willie a hand with a grin.

"Cool beans."

They poofed to the manicured little subdivision that Alex knew like the back of his hand. The same familiar identical lawns, the same pastel siding, the same rows of trees that were allowed by the HOA. It was like nothing had changed in 25 years-like it was stuck in time.

He and Willie held hands as he showed him the houses that belonged to his neighbours, none of whom had kids his own age. Then the butter yellow house that had been his. The mailbox at the end still bore the name Mercer-but that didn't mean anything, it was a common last name.

"Let's go inside," Willie suggested.

A niggling feeling climbed Alex's spine as they phased through the door. The reason why became immediately apparent as he took in the decor. Sure, some of had been updated, but he knew that crucifix affixed to the wall, the needlepoint pillows, the wedding photo of stern, taciturn faces.

"They're still here," he breathed out.

He let go of Willie's hand, wandering the halls. New paint adorned the walls, the couch was updated, but the knick-knacks that littered the mantlepiece were the same, down to the crystal duck with the chipped beak that he had broken when he was seven.

He looked at what was missing though-the pictures of him. There was no evidence he ever lived here. No baby albums, no photos on the wall. Even his room was a by the numbers guest room.

"They erased me."

"Let's burn it down," Willie said.

"What?" Alex exclaimed, too startled to wipe away the stray tear. "We're not burning it down!"

"Why not?' Willie asked, fully sincere. "They made it so their only child never existed, even after he died just because he was gay. Why not send them a little reminder?"

"Oh yeah, a big 'Alex was here and queer' right on the lawn," Alex joked.

"Now you get it!" Willie giggled,

"I'm good without the arson," Alex admitted. "I left here long before I died. And you were right-I deserved better. So they deserve to live without my memory. Fuck 'em."

"Fuck 'em," Willie agreed, offering him his hand. "You wanna go watch me do ollies in Beiber's pool?"

"Only if you don't try and make me do them with you again," Alex replied, taking his hand.

"No promises," Willie grinned and they poofed away, haunting the Mercer house no more.

[2stepadmiral]

So I’ve been getting back into Bionicle lately, I loved it as a kid and I’m on a whole nostalgia trip right now, rebuilding my Toa and Bohrok and rereading the comics/watching the movies, and as much as I still love it, it makes me sad for anyone who didn’t get to experience it as it was coming out.

Like take the MCU, for example. If you weren’t old enough to start watching the MCU before the first Avengers came out, you could still experience the MCU in its golden times. And if you have young kids, who are just getting to the age, where they can start the MCU, they can still kind of experience that by watching the movies in order and building up to Endgame. It obviously won’t be the same, but I feel like if you do it the right way and paste it right, you can kind of re-create that experience in a reasonable proximity.

The same goes for Star Wars, you can have your kids, watch the original trilogy, then show them trailers for each of the prequels before letting them watch those to get them. Excited, then let them go back and watch clone wars and rebels, and let them read the expanded universe books at their own pace. It won’t be the same as growing up with the prequels coming out and being excited to see new Star Wars movies after seeing the original trilogy when you were little, but it’s still a fairly decent facsimile.

But with Bionicle, that feeling cannot possibly be re-created.

You can’t recreate the feeling of being 11 years old and finding out that Mata Nui is dying, and that the Toa Nuva, your traditional heroes, were defeated by the new villains, and that the six Matoran you grew up with since the franchise started are the new Toa who have to pick up where the Nuva left off.

You can’t recreate the shock of finding out that the eccentric village elders who have advised your heroes for three years were once Matoran themselves who became a team of Toa a thousand years earlier, defeated the main antagonist, went through a Jekyll and Hyde mutant phase, and then turned into the Yoda type elders.

You can’t recreate the horror at finding out that Makuta won in the end, his convoluted, millennia long plot resulting in himself gaining control of the universe. You can’t recreate the disbelief that the story abandoned the Matoran on that dark note to explore an entirely new planet with entirely different characters, species, and culture. You can’t recreate the relief when Mata Nui showed up, his presence, carrying the promise that the original storyline would tie into the new one sooner later, and the grim ending was only a temporary pause. You cannot re-create the excitement at seeing the story climax with the final showdown between Mata Nui and Makuta. A final battle that you had never imagined possible, but one that only feels right and full circle.

You cannot re-create the horror and sorrow when Matoro failed to reach Mata Nui with the Mask of Life in time to save him. You can’t re-create the disbelief and terror at wondering where the story can possibly go after that point. You can’t re-create the disbelief and sorrow and morning as you read the pages of that comic, as you see Matoro put on the mask and start to become part of its energy. You can’t re-create the stunned, heartbreaking silence that you felt as the death of Matoro, who you would known for six years, who you had at least peripherally grown up with, whose journey you had watched unfold as he went from a simple but well-known and even iconic Matoran, to a new Toa of Ice, unfolded on the pages of that comic in that curious new art style that you would never quite gotten used to. You can’t recreate the feeling of mourning you share with his friends as they learn that Matoro has died, that feeling of almost being part of this universe as you share in the sorrow of the characters (Matoro’s sacrifice was way better than Tony Stark’s, sorry but not sorry).

And above all, you can’t re-create the feeling of having to wait two months for the next comic or the next book, or the movie to find out what happens next, and filling that time by making up your own storyline, and acting it out with your own toys.

Largely because the story unfolded through books and comics, and through the new wave of toys, and through the movies in some years, trying to re-create, even a close facsimile of that feeling just isn’t possible. And it breaks my heart for any kids I might have one day that I’ll never truly get to share this wonderful franchise with them.

[liannelara-dracula]

Can I get the mukami's for this prompt?

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 What their family is like, like the household and number of kids.

Hi love,

Good question, sorry it took so long and that some are short but I did my best. Hope you like it. :)

Mukami Boys Family + Household hcs

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Prompt

Requests are open

Rules

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Ruki:

Family + Background:

Ruki wasn't focused on marrying, he just wants to spend his life with you and you wanted the same.

You two were unsure of what that had in store for you.

So you weren't even thinking about marriage or having kids.

Your main focus was just being together.

The marriage just came along the way because Ruki loves you and thought the time was right. Although he honestly feels like he's already married to you.

Number of kids:

Two! A boy and a girl.

You had your kids before you were married.

This is mostly because he can never keep his hands off you and you have a hard time saying no, you eventually had a baby.

You started off as a family of three and lived in the Mukami mansion because you too were just starting out.

The both of you were trying to figure things out so Ruki figured it was best to just stay at the mansion at first.

Plus, there was plenty of room.

And his brothers don't really mind, they are actually excited.

Especially Kou, he can't wait to babysit and help with baby showers or whatever.

Of course your pregnancy was an adventure for you both because you were clueless about caring a supernatural baby and so was he.

And being parents wasn't something you to were planning or expecting.

You both wanted to stick to the lover phase for a while but things happened so fast and you to did like the idea of baby.

It's also cause Ruki is old-fashioned, I highly doubt he'd let you get rid of it. Whatever the case you don't want to.

In terms of giving birth Ruki would just take you to the hospital

Your first child was definitely a boy and looked exactly like Ruki.

When you had this little one it took some time of getting used to and you eventually worked out who would do what.

Ruki is pretty involved as a parent as are you and he does a fair amount for you and the your first kid.

He will get up for you at night if you are too tired.

Made sure you had a nursery for your firstborn.

And he was pretty attentive to what you needed.

He was honestly great about everything.

And the best part had to be when he'd interact with his mini-self.

As you too were getting comfortable with the new baby, within a year or two there was baby two.

Which was a girl!

And Ruki really grew to have a soft spot here. I mean this was a mini you, even though she had his eyes.

His daughter is someone he cannot say no to.

He finds her so cute, he just can't tell her no.

Ruki tends to worry about her a lot so he's a bit over protective.

But he also worries about his son equally.

He loves both of his kids and after being with you long enough and seeing the family he had created he thought it was now a good time to propose to you. (Let me be clear you where a young adult when he met you so that's why you weren't marrying and the relationship was one of many years).

It was cute though because he asked his kids first if he should marry you.

"What do you guys think? Should daddy marry mommy?" He'd grin seeing his kids get excited.

"YEAH!" They'd cheer.

Household:

He cooks, you don't, because he doesn't think you're good enough.

The kids even think that Dad is a better cook.

There isn't too much difference in your role as a parent, you too typically share an equal amount of the work.

He might be the one to teach them academically.

I think he is also a bit better at being strict than you.

Its something about his tone that gets his kids to listen if they're not listening to you.

Kou:

Family + Background

You two got married and you were expecting and he thought it would be nice to have two surprises in one.

He wouldn't stay with his brothers.

After all he is an idol so he would just move out into another house.

This way you two have the place to yourself and you two even have a little bit more privacy.

Of course, it is hard to do with his idol life but you both manage.

if you want me to be really honest I don't see that he'd ever have kids.

Household

You are the one who stays at home considering that he works.

So you usually take care of things.

And the kids

But he appreciates it and when he can stay home he makes sure to spend time with everyone.

He plays with his kids a lot.

Especially when you want to get things done around the house.

I swear he is too lazy to clean and leaves that to you.

But you then leave him to watch the kids for when you go out.

He is usually the one who incorporates fun time for his kids.

He is known to be the more “fun” parent.

Mostly cause he says yes to like everything they ask.

Number of Kids

Two twin boys

He got more than he could ask for.

Sometimes wonders what it would be like if he had girls.

He is also training them to be idols.

It's mostly for fun, so they are his studio a lot.

He sometimes gets inspo from them.

And he dresses them on to.

They surprisingly don’t look like him, they resemble you but they have his social personality.

Yuma:

Family

You’re known as the big family.

He married you before starting a family though.

And even though having kids was on his list.

I don’t think he was planning on having them right away but it sorta ended up being that way.

When you two first got married you stayed at the mansion because you were still working things out.

And his brothers didn’t mind it.

They actually like having you two around.

Seeing Yuma smile is also rare for them too so they are glad you're around.

Although privacy can sometimes be an issue for Yuma.

Especially when arguing, although his brothers don't mind it too much.

In fact, Ruki finds it amusing hearing you two argue.

It's mostly because you and Yuma argue over silly things so it can be funny.

But not to you two.

Household

You and Yuma both stay at home for the most part.

He spends most of his time in the garden.

And his brothers play as babysitters.

There is also a lot of noise and movement thanks to the kids.

And he is also involved in that.

Number of Kids

A lot, honestly it’s over ten.

This man makes you have too many babies.

If you thought you didn’t have it in you, you thought wrong.

So it’s probably 14 kids and probably one by one

So you were pregnant every year practically.

All of them were boys except the last one.

He had one little girl who looked exactly like him.

And most of the boys are mixes of you two.

Although your first looks like him too.

The kids climb all over him.

He yells at the boys if they run around in the garden.

Like he’s strict about that.

Although he carries his little girl when he’s in the garden.

He prefers it’s just her since she stays put in his arms and doesn’t complain. She just watches him but if a bug lands on her she’d probably start to cry.

It’s cause she’s still a baby

Although with his boys he’s good at playing with them and chasing them on the field.

He gets too rambunctious with them you end up scolding him.

He's pretty easy going but sometimes the kids scream too much and don't listen so he sometimes gets serious and then they stop.

Azusa:

Family

The quiet but sweet family.

You two were together for a while and when he proposed to you, you were also pregnant.

So it was two surprises wrapped up in one.

he was really excited.

And he was more than ready to start a family.

He probably lives with his bros but eventually wanted to move out and so he got a place for the both of you.

Household

He does everything for you. Or whatever you need and vice versa.

He stays at home with the kids if you want too.

Azusa is happy to be at home with you and whatever you to do, you do together.

Whether it's cleaning, cooking, baking, watching tv, etc.

Although with one kid he finds the place empty and would like some more.

Number of Kids

Three, two boys and a girl.

They are all quiet and soft-spoken like him.

But they are all very sweet.

Except for when the screaming starts

Azusa usually gets them to settle down.

He reads them bedtime stories and he tucks them in.

He also plays with them a lot.

but overall you are a happy bunch.

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˗ˏˋ 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 ˎˊ˗ ©𝟐𝟎𝟏����~Present

[rhondafromhr]

So I started writing that Max and Steph roleswap AU and I wanted to post this little snippet I have so far and hear everyone’s thoughts because I’m not 100% happy with it yet…idk i feel like it might be too exposition heavy if that makes sense?? Like the backstory is important but idk I feel like I just kind of dumped it and maybe could weave it throughout the story better?? Lmk if you have any thoughts :)

Also Max and Richie’s relationship is going to be platonic in this (bc once again I’m weak for aroace Richie and the power of friendship being treated with the same narrative weight as romantic relationships).

Finally shoutout to tumblr user @idk-imrambling-idk who said in the tags of the original post that Max and Steph give sibling vibes in this au because I was like you know what, I love that, yes they do!! And it really inspired their dynamic and relationship in this

Here it is :)

Stephanie learned what it meant to be powerless at the ripe old age of nine. She sat next to her father in the crowd, watching the blindingly bright spotlight shine down upon her mother and beaming with pride as she was crowned Honey Queen. The applause was uproarious, every last townsperson’s gaze fixed solely on her. She’d always known her mom was the sweetest woman in Hatchetfield, but now it was official. Now she had the beautiful, ornate crown upon her head to prove it. As her mother was whisked away to what she assumed was some sort of super special, secret ceremony, her father insisted over her protests that no, they couldn’t go with her, she needed to go home and get to bed. It was a school night, after all, and she’d see her mother soon enough. She didn’t. Her mother never came home that night and with each passing day, Stephanie’s hope that she ever would dwindled even further.

Every woman who’s ever won that pageant has left Hatchetfield and never looked back, but back then, she didn’t know that. She just knew that one day, her mom was there to fawn over her drawings and point out all the little details she liked and put her spelling test up on the fridge and say how proud she was that Steph worked so hard and got more words right than last time and the next day, she wasn’t and there was nothing Stephanie could do about it. She wondered what she did wrong that her mom was so eager to get away from her. To this day, Stephanie doesn’t know where she ended up. She went through a brief phase where she spent hours a day fervently researching online and following every crumb of information she could find, desperate for any answers, but the very few flimsy leads she was able to find turned out to be dead ends. Not long after her twelfth birthday, Solomon told her she really ought to stop digging, because she wasn’t going to find the answers she was looking for and if she did, she wouldn’t be able to handle them. She rolled her eyes at his usual weird, cryptic nonsense, but for once, she didn’t argue with him. She never did figure out how he knew what she was doing. She only did her sleuthing when she was home alone and always made sure to use incognito mode.

As she got older, the list of things she had to do and wasn’t allowed to do and people she couldn’t hang out with grew exponentially. Everything always came back to the next election and how her behavior might reflect on her father. There was to be no hanging out with the smoke club kids, because he didn’t want the public thinking she was some kind of drug fiend (as if they were doing actual drugs. They were seventh graders. They may have upgraded to the real stuff now, but back then, Stephanie’s confident their vices of choice were, in fact, cloves and oregano, whether or not they were aware of it). If there was an option for honors or AP in a given subject, she had to take it, regardless of her interest or aptitude. He didn’t want her looking like some kind of slacker. Ironically, she credits that with how she became one. It was embarrassing trying so hard, only to still struggle to understand the material and receive abysmal grades in return, but it was equally embarrassing to admit to this and ask for help, so she figured the easiest route would be to stop trying. She made sure to keep her grades just barely high enough to keep her dad off of her case, but refused to do anything more. These days, she doesn’t have to sweat it. If she’s really in a pinch, she can just threaten some nerd into doing her homework for her.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the summer before Freshman year, one Greg Jägerman followed in his wife’s footsteps and vanished without a trace. That in itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but it did raise the question of what to do with the son he left behind. Solomon wasn’t doing so hot in the polls and Miss Tessburger decided that taking in the guy’s now-orphaned kid would make Solomon look kind and charitable, two of the last descriptors most voters would apply to him. Of course, nobody asked Steph her opinion. She was just stuck with this annoying pseudo-adopted brother one day and expected to be cool with it. Well, more accurately, nobody cared whether she was cool with it or not. The worst part was that he totally bought into this stupid fake family thing. He still won’t stop calling her sis.

What really infuriates her is that he gets the freedom she’s long been denied. Solomon truly couldn't care less what he does as long as he stays out of major trouble, doesn’t completely flunk his classes and shows up for all the public appearances and family photo ops. To this day, he still calls Solomon Dad as if he has any right to, as if Solomon sees him as anything more than an unfortunate consequence of a bold PR stunt, as if he’s had to put up with a fraction of what Stephanie’s endured from him. Solomon is not his dad and he is not a Lauter, no matter how many people mistakenly call him that. Solomon even praised him once. He came home from his latest lacrosse match and proudly said that they’d creamed Sycamore or whoever. Solomon, nose-deep in the latest poll and survey results Miss Tessburger had sent him, absently said, “that’s nice, son,” and waved him off. Sure, it was insincere. Sure, it was dismissive. But it was still far more than Stephanie had gotten since she was literally nine years old and more than she’s gotten since. It made her blood boil. She’d been jumping through hoops like some kind of goddamn show dog for her father for years and never got so much as one half-hearted compliment. It was just expected of her.

Still, she continued to jump through those hoops. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice and at this point, it was all she really knew, anyway. Unsurprisingly, Solomon still demanded more and just before she went into high school, he decided she was going to do sports. If there’s one defining trait that all of his constituents in town share, it’s their bizarre obsession with high school football, so this was a surefire way to impress them.

“Why do I have to?” she’d protested “Max already plays volleyball and lacrosse, doesn’t that satisfy the sports kid requirement?”

“Stephanie, I’d like to have an intelligent conversation with you. In other words, shut up. You know as well as I do that nobody cares about either of those sports. Clivesdale doesn’t even have a lacrosse or volleyball team and beating them is all these simple-minded hicks seem to care about. If you refuse to bring up your mediocre grades or put your time into any useful extracurriculars or bettering yourself in any way, the least you can do is join the cheer squad. How hard can it be to jump around and do some silly little chants?”

Max was there, too. Of course he was. On the increasingly rare occasions where Solomon was actually home, he was sure to be right there at his side, telling him about his day as if he fucking cared. Calling him Dad as if he had any fucking right to. She didn’t miss the way his face fell ever so slightly when Solomon said that nobody cared about his stupid sports and she couldn’t help but feel smug about it.

“Ha, yeah,” she said with a smirk “volleyball and lacrosse are dumb.”

The brief satisfaction was quickly overshadowed by a more pressing matter. Hell no, she was not going to join cheer. Pep, enthusiasm and silly dance routines aren’t really her style. She wasn’t sure she could do it if she wanted to and she really, really didn’t.

“Well, figure it out,” Solomon told her, looking at her with the usual disdain “it’s either that or football.” He may have said it mockingly, but she decided to take it as a challenge. She breached her own “no putting in more effort than necessary” policy and spent hours a day on the empty football field practicing plays. She’d usually drag Max along with her if he didn’t have practice for whichever one of his unimportant non-sports was in season.

“Hey,” he said during one of these practice sessions as he threw an admittedly decent spiral, his signature dumb, goofy grin on his face “I’ve been thinking about trying out, too. It might be kinda fun to be on the team together.”

She scowled. “No,” was her only response “just shut up and throw the ball, okay?” This was going to be her thing, damnit. He wasn’t going to invade it like he did everything else in her life. He did as she asked and never brought it up again.

She spent hours more at the gym, doing hard cardio until she was as sweat-soaked as that annoying weeb kid she saw around school sometimes and pushing herself to her limits strength training. It all paid off when the day of tryouts arrived and she blew everyone away with her athletic prowess, earning the position of star quarterback. That alone would have been great publicity and the fact that she was a freshman and the first girl ever to make the team in any position were the cherry on top. It spoke volumes that Solomon didn’t have anything negative to say, although he didn’t offer any praise, either.

If nobody could stand up to her before, they really couldn’t now. She wasn’t just the mayor’s daughter anymore. She was the star football player and with every victory she helped them score, especially against Clivesdale, the teachers and the principal became less and less likely to discipline her if anyone complained of her so-called bullying. It wasn’t as if they could do much before, but now they didn’t even care to try. With that, her iron grip over the school was secured and she’s thoroughly enjoyed it ever since. She still can’t do anything about her mom walking away or her dad treating her like some kind of accessory whose only use is to make him look good to potential voters or her stupid not-brother encroaching on her life and taking everything that’s rightfully hers, but she can maintain the delicate balance that is the high school hierarchy she’s created and bring order to Hatchetfield High. Really, she’s doing them all a favor. They don’t know what’s good for them and without her, it would descend into chaos.

Max slides into his seat in AP Calc with seconds to spare before the bell rings. He’s slammed two of those vile tasting sugar free energy drinks and he’s praying they’ll kick in soon.

“Alright, we’re going to have a pop quiz today. Hope you’ve been hitting the books, Mr. Lauter,” Miss Mulberry says. He doesn’t bother correcting her. Maybe if he could wear his letterman that has “Jägerman” embroidered on it, people wouldn’t make that mistake so often, but he’s not allowed to. The letterman jacket is Steph’s signature look. Not even Kyle and Jason get to wear theirs unless it’s a game day and they’re her closest friends. Max doesn’t even get that privilege, so he settled for a navy blue flannel with a tiny nighthawk patch poorly sewn into the pocket and his letterman hangs untouched in his closet. Sometimes, he doesn’t mind being called Max Lauter, even if it sounds a little off. Sometimes, he wants to believe that’s what he is. Other times, he wishes people would get it right. That’s the least of his worries right now, though. His chest feels so, so tight and a wave of nausea overtakes him and makes him wonder if ingesting so much caffeine and chemicals was a wise idea. He’s screwed. He can barely pass a test in this class when he has time to prepare and sacrifices several nights’ worth of sleep to study. He shouldn’t even be here. He knows he’s kind of dumb. Stephanie gleefully reminds him on a regular basis. Solomon doesn’t vocalize it, but sometimes Max will say something to him and he’ll just give him this look as if he’s just uttered the stupidest, most incomprehensible words ever spoken, then shake his head and go back to ignoring him. He’s always had a lot of trouble in most subjects, but math is by far the worst. Realistically, remedial algebra would be more his speed, but it wouldn’t be very becoming of a sort-of Lauter. Solomon took him in when he had nowhere else to go. He’s been a lot nicer to him than his own father ever was. He figured the least he could do is make him proud, but so far, that plan has backfired tremendously. Nobody’s going to be impressed with the D plus that he’s clinging to for dear life and can still feel slipping through his grasp.

He glances to his left and sees his neighbor calmly reach into his backpack and pull out his pen and calculator. The sheen of sweat on his forehead would suggest that he’s almost as nervous as Max is, but his demeanor radiates confidence and excitement. Max wonders why that guy wears so many layers if he’s always so sweaty. They’ve been in classes together since the first grade, but they’ve hardly spoken two words to each other. Max has, however, watched his hand eagerly shoot up whenever Miss Mulberry asks a question. He has watched him answer every equation with ease, solving them without fail, even when it all looks like gibberish to Max. If anyone can help Max out of this jam, it’s this guy. He has no real reason to, but Max supposes it can’t hurt to ask. What’s the worst that could happen?

“Hey,” he whispers “Shitlips, right?” He immediately winces. Fuck, he did not mean to say that. That’s how Steph and her friends always refer to him and he let it slip without thinking. Richie turns to glare at Max, clearly not amused.

“Sorry,” he says sheepishly “I meant Lipschitz. Richie Lipschitz, right?”

“Yeah,” he says, still a little irritated “what is it? We’re about to take a test.”

“It’s just that, uh, we’ve been in school together for, like, ages and I just realized I’ve never introduced myself. I’m Max.”

“Yeah, I know, Max Jägerman. The mayor’s kid. Stephanie Lauter’s brother.”

“She doesn’t like me reminding people, but yeah,” Max replies with a self-deprecating chuckle “I feel kinda bad now. I called you Shitlips and you got my name right on the first try. A lot of people think it’s Lauter.”

This gets Richie to crack a faint smile. “Yeah, I always remembered it because it sounds like Eren Yeager.”

“So, you ready for this test?” says Max with a sheepish grin “‘Cause I’m really, really not. Like, nothing in this class makes even a little bit of sense to me. I’m one hundred percent going to fail. Unless you help a bro out.”

“Oh, we’re bros now?” Richie says with a raised eyebrow.

“Sure,” Max says “we’re Nighthawks, right? We gotta stick together.”

“But won’t we get in trouble?”

“Not if we don’t get caught,” Max says “rules were made to be broken.”

“Fine,” says Richie “I’m willing to tilt my paper slightly so you can see it better. Try to keep up, though, I’m not waiting to turn in my test so you can finish copying. That’ll look suspicious.” That much is true. Richie’s always the first person to turn in his test in this class, usually by a substantial amount of time. “And don’t be super obvious about it,” he adds.

“Really?” Max says, his face lighting up in a way that he rarely allows it to “thanks, dude, I owe you one!”

[starlightshadowsworld]

Characters I headcanon as Pakistani because I am Pakistani.

Jason and Thalia Grace.

Beryl was on popular Pakistani Dramas in her hay day and made sure both her kids were fluent in Urdu.

Jason ended up forgetting it when he was taken by Lupa who spoke to him in Latin. And then Camp Jupiter demanded he speak English.

But then he lost his memories and could only speak his mother tongue. And only Thalia, Annabeth and Grover could understand him. Urdu was Thalia’s first language too. She knows enough English to get by and can’t be arsed learning any more.

Annabeth because she demanded Thalia teach her and began doing her own learning. And Grover because he’s Indian in the to series and I head canon speaks Hindi, which is very similar to Urdu.

Steve Harrington.

Parents tried to assimilate and outside the home just try and hide their heritage. His grandparents spoke to him in Urdu as a child but he didn’t retain much of it. Definitely had a “wish I was white” phase (and probably had fair and lovely pushed on him as child.)

As he began to grow and accept himself, he desperately tried to reach his roots. Got in touch with his grandparents again and began to heal.

Ain’t no Farah Fawcett here we be oiling that hair. Cooks recipes his grandmother used to make him (which the kids demand more of once they get a taste.) Re-learning Urdu with his grandparents and Robin.

He’s done the kurta over jeans look.

(Probably very much watched over by Lucas’s parents after they find out because he’s one of the only other people of colour in this white ass town.)

2012 Casey Jones.

Grew up in New York with an American father and Pakistani mother. Even after her mysterious death he’s still beloved by his family and goes to all the events.

He’s the cool cousin.

He’s always had a deep love for his culture and his city. And always been unapologetically himself no matter what. He has won over Splinter with karak (desi) tea. Has also definitely worn a kurta over jeans and trainers.

Bought mithai as an apology gift after bringing a footbot to the turtles lair and became Mikey’s best friend.

Blake Belladonna

Loved her culture, her home still ran off with a white man Blake tried to leave it all behind and assimilate to life in Vale. But she never felt like she belonged, but also believed she’d changed too much to belong back home.

But as she grew to accept herself and all that made her Blake Belladonna, that feeling begin to lessen. It’s still there, but maybe she can exist in two worlds instead of one. She shares stories with her friends, practices and teaches them (particularly Weiss) her mother tongue and traditions.

And they embrace her just like they always will.

Ozma

He assimilates to each new life but he’s still him under it all. It’s under lock and key, who he was but in the quiet moments he shares those little things. He’s not a fan off tea, he drinks only coffee and yet there’s a certain pink tea that he will always accept.

He and Salem smh ran off with a white woman had a grand wedding, there were no attendants but they more than made up for it. His girls all had bangles around their wrists and there was a once a time where wrapping them in his mother’s dupatta was the most magical thing of them all.

He’d leave a plate off apple slices in their rooms and smile as they happily ate them. The old men at the market would gently pat him on the head when they meet. Some of them still do, as if they know and maybe they do.

Things from the past hurt so much now, and yet he loves them.

[ciaossu-imagines]

I fricking hope that neither of these have been taken yet because I’m late to the party. Could you do Samon from Nanbaka with the soulmate AU? Your choice in what kind of AU specifically because I can’t come up with anything.

You might have been late to the party, but neither was taken! I'm sorry for taking so long to get this out to you but I hope you'll enjoy the headcanons and the soulmate AU! I came up with!

Okay, so in the soulmate AU I have set up, the way it works with soulmates is that every day since the day you're born, you get some kind of clue as to your soulmate's identity, location, personality, or interests. These clues can come in dreams, in noises or sounds only you hear, in quick flashes of visions, in the sudden urge to do something…really, there's a wide range of ways these clues come is the point I'm getting at.

While the existence of soulmates and the way they work are widely known and accepted in this universe, the truth is that during childhood, a lot of kids don't really take the idea of soulmates really seriously. They're not yet at the phase where finding their other half or the very notion of romance really matters much to them and you're not really all that different. For most of your childhood, it's more along the lines of having an imaginary friend that you learn more and more about each day.

You grow up getting hints of mountains, little bits of Samon's laugh, the image sometimes of Enki or Mao or such. You get the urge to train often, and throughout a lot of these urges, dreams, and other hints, you learn martial arts right alongside Samon throughout your childhood.

Samon, meanwhile, grows up with the same hints - vague landscapes, sounds of your laughter or your voice here or there, dreams about people you're close with, the urge to do or learn about the things you're passionate about but he really doesn't understand it at all and writes it off to his head playing tricks on him. Growing up secluded like he has in the mountains, throughout all of his childhood, he never really learns about the existence or purpose of soulmates. That's not something that he really even hears tell of or learns about until he's almost an adult and has moved into society itself.

It's at that point that he tries to recall any of those clues from his childhood but unlike you, he hadn't known their importance and a lot of those clues had been buried deep in his mind or quickly forgotten about and he remembers next to none of it, something that frustrates him deeply at times. He feels kind of like he'll always be missing his other half, that the opportunity might have already passed by, especially given the life he's built for himself as a prison guard, a life that comes with strict responsibilities and little time to actually live a life outside of training, working, and growing as a person. He devotes himself to his job and his family, even as each day he gets little hints about your existence.

It's a good thing, honestly, that as you grew into an adult, you began to take the importance of your soulmate seriously. Once you were grown, out of school, and independant, you worked hard, yes, but you also made it your mission in life to find that soulmate of yours. You analyzed and kept track of each day's new clue, trying to put together a picture of who your soulmate was as a person, what they might look like, what they sound like, what the people in their lives look like, where they might possibly be at any given moment.

However, despite how hard you worked at it, you never could seem to figure it out, not completely. It wasn't until one day, as a full grown adult, that the clue came that you needed to really catch that break. It was just one word, echoing in your head, spoken in Samon's voice.

Nanba.

Such a distinctive word, but one you didn't recognize right away. After all, why should you? But thank god Google exists, because you put it to great use. You quickly figured out that Nanba was the name of a prison and you remained sure, day after day, that Nanba prison was where your soulmate was at that point and where they continued to be. As guard or prisoner, you did not know.

Multiple telephone calls, gathering intelligence from other channels, doing everything you could and you came to realize that knowing that Samon was at Nanba Prison really didn't help anything. The restrictions for visitors were extreme and you could never get clearance to go visit, especially since you didn't know exactly who you wanted to visit, since the clues had never actually given you Samon's name, though it had once given Samon yours.

Did that stop you though? Fuck no. You trained harder, learned new skills, worked as hard as you could. You visited places you shouldn't be, talked to people you would rather never have met until you learned the name of at least one prisoner being kept at Nanba Prison. It was then that your request for visitation was accepted and you booked your flight and then boarded the boat to the island Nanba is located on.

Once inside was where you really put those skills to use. I'm imagining this happening really around the time of the Enki breakout and Samon's big arc, so I'm seeing you using all this craziness happening as a good diversion to give the guards who had come to meet the boat the slip.

Once inside Nanba, it became a game, a really crazy and insanely hard game, but a game nonetheless. Hide and seek, with the guards the seekers you were trying to evade as you tried to find your soulmate, hoping and praying that the flash of the day's clue would come at any moment.

Anyway, after a lot of fun and hijinks and some really angsty moments and hard battles, I do see you finally stumbling across Samon. There's, of course, some more angst because the man looks so rough and he's so badly hurt and beaten and you are so angry at that. Not that he looks rough - he's the most beautiful thing to you, even as he stares at you with his jaw hanging open, not quite believing that you really exist and that he's actually gotten the chance to meet you, even if it's right before he's sure he's going to die. You're pissed because he's in danger.

Of course, given that the impossible has now happened in Samon's mind, given that he's finally found his soulmate and the two of you have this instant, really sweet and almost heart-breakingly beautiful moment of just pure connection with each other, Samon's not going to just go out and put his life on the line. Not anymore. He's going to do anything and everything he can to ensure the both of you make it out of this situation alive and well…he'll fill you in on the specifics of what's happening later, he assures you. And it's a promise he does keep.

[frankencanon]

I saw someone's modern AU fanart of some Naruto characters and when I saw Gaara it made me wonder...

How might we adapt Gaara's canon backstory into a modern no-powers AU so that he goes through a fairly similar character arc, with his relationships with his siblings and other characters being as faithful as possible to the original series...?

And I'm tentatively leaning towards untreated schizophrenia and subsequent insomnia to explain the lack of sleep and other characters' fear of him, followed later by his improved mental health and social relationships.

The insomnia would of course be caused by the schizophrenia (Shukaku won't stop screaming), and as for the schizophrenia...

In addition to the the obvious (talking to people who aren't there, etc)—I know television isn't the best source, but...

From what I remember of Fight Club and Mr Robot, from the outside the schizophrenia would sometimes appear like Dissociative Identity Disorder instead, where actions taken by the hallucination (Shukaku) would in reality be performed by the individual who is hallucinating (Gaara).

So Shukaku attacking people or saying creepy shit would manifest as little Gaara doing that instead—hence his siblings', father's, and the other townspeople's fear of him.

The only issue would be Gaara's Sand Defense...

Part of what made him so scary to everyone was that he was untouchable. Nothing you did would ever phase him; there was way for you to hurt him.

And for that, I am also tentatively considering giving him congenital insensitivity to pain—also known as CIP.

Something you've probably heard of before, CIP is when a person is unable to feel pain.

It's actually incredibly dangerous—imagine having appendicitis but not realizing until it's already too late because you're unable to feel it—but the reason I'm considering giving it to Gaara is because while it would not make him invincible—far from it, actually—it would instead give him the appearance of invulnerability.

Can you imagine seeing a kid get stabbed or break an arm or something, and he just stands there, completely unaffected, completely unfazed...

A little kid, just five years old or something, and he just looks down at the knife in his wherever and just...pulls it out. Without blinking.

An adult would find that creepy. But a kid, the same age as him? They would probably think him immortal or something. Invincible. Unkillable.

Little baby Gaara, unable to feel pain and suffering from untreated schizophrenia and subsequent insomnia... Why is it untreated? Because his father's an asshole, that's why.

Luckily when he's twelve his father gets murdered and him and his siblings are taken in by family friend Baki.

In the wake of the murder and subsequent scandel, Baki ends up deciding that it'd be a good idea for them to move—to get away from all of this.

They go to a new school where no one knows Gaara but they quickly become wary of him anyway because of his behavior...

Enter Naruto.

Naruto, who was put on medication for schizophrenia just a few months ago or so.

Naruto, who grew up hated by those around him because his similarly schizophrenic mother killed his father and herself after someone snuck into the hospital, into the private VIP section reserved for the president's wife (this is going a bit off the rails, whoops), and slipped some strong drugs into her IV which induced severe hallucinations and caused her paranoia to skyrocket—

(She was already at risk because she temporarily had to go off her meds since they would mess with the pregnancy and put both her and the baby at risk, but it should've never gotten to that point, it never should've gotten that bad, that out of hand—it was entirely That Man's fault, not that anyone acknowledged that afterwards...

Damnit, Obito.

No, they found out Kushina was schizophrenic and they all automatically blamed her, assumed that her being schizophrenic made her dangerous and unsafe to be around, and that her son would be just like her...)

Naruto, who grew up with the adults around him constantly expecting him to snap—their wariness causing a similar wariness (distrust, distaste, avoidance) in their children.

Naruto notices Gaara, and he gets him help—tells Kakashi-sensei who tells Baki who had up till now had been warily avoiding the child, taking notes from Gaara's shitty father, and not bothering to consider why Gaara behaved the way he did...

Gaara is taken to get help. He's prescribed medication and eventually starts to get better, bit by bit. Shukaku quiets and Gaara is finally able to sleep—which surprisingly (it really shouldn't be surprising) does wonders for his mental health.

And throughout all of this, Naruto is an invaluable presence—the wonder that is having a friend who understands, and who isn't afraid of him...

Anyway, yeah. That's how I think it could work—just replace jinchūriki with schizophrenia basically... Plus some other stuff.

—

※ Quick reminder: I do not have any of the disorders listed—schizophrenia, insomnia, or congenital insensitivity to pain.

My knowledge of these conditions mostly comes from television and the internet; please take it with a grain of salt.

I repeat:

I am not a reliable source of information for any of this.

Thank you for your time.

[shsunderland]

wntv hcs meooww

hii wntv hcs im sobored and umm im not sleeping

kevin !!

i hc with black hair and it used to be super long and he was super proud of it b4 strex made him cut it off cus they thought it would get in the way of his work (its ok now kevin grew his hair out again in the dow)

he goes crazyyyy whenever he sees smiley face stickers or whatever he starts going HOORAY! and "oo so joyus.."

he is such a weirdo he prolly sucked on his finger for an hour after he got a cut

kevin either dresses like its winter or like he just got back from a rave and is wearing the last amount of clothing without being naked

he likes fishnets

he has soo many centipede tattoos and after a while they started to move on their own and do centipede things soo silly

he has piercings, like a lottt of them. most of them he let lauren and daniel do at strex when they had their scheduled sleepovers

kevin is also NOT white please...

laurennn

idc what the public says she is bisexual

she prolly kissed kevin or daniel at least once cus she thought it would be kinda funny as a prank but they ended up going "huh?" and werent even mad

she is bffs with daniel they do everything together they have days where they go shopping at the mall

she likes funky patterned shirts and pants and chunky earrings

her lipstick is actually just blood

shes a hair nerd and has a 10 step hair routine

she wakes up like "yawnnn such a lovely day to be alive" and then acts like a mom that was forced to get out of bed cus her kid peed the bed and she needs to change the sheets

lauren has eyes kind of

she gets her lashes done and her nails done sometimes if she feels nice

she is a little bit french

her heels are suppperr pointy so she likes to step on ppls toes with them

daniel hooray!!

he is like those dbh robots so he has like fake skin and hair but u can see a bit of robot on him

he dresses a bit like someone who just found the whole gothic scene going on in the 80s or whatever which goes against strex dress code but they cant do much cus hes a robot

i like to think he used to be human at some point

daniel also had a like new wave goth phase idk what it is called when he was a human and it carried on to his robot self

he lets kevin and lauren dress him up and do his makeup like he is a doll lol

he lays on top of kevin during the scheduled sleepovers

daniel likes cheesy romcoms

he cries a bit during the super sweet romantic scenes

"i wish that was me" "stfu get over it that will never happen oml"

he has blonde curly-ish hair

he meows on occasion, it got programmed into his system after trying to take a pic of khoshekh, no one rlly knows how

he has freckles cus strex wanted to make him more inclusive so their employees didnt get scared off by some picture perfect dude robot guy

he can open up his back and the reason as to why it wasnt his chest is cus it would be inconvenient

charlesss

he is 100 percent a southern goth dont even argue with me

the trad goth look with huge clunky cowboy boots

charles used to work as a grave digger in pine cliff cus it payed well since everyone died and became a ghost

when he wasn't doing that he was working as a bartender near the outer edge of town

he has a bit of a southern accent from cactus park

he had a bunch of old cactus park shirts and saved them all for donny when he found out he was having a kid

charles was the pregnant one he is sooo transgender

he never got any surgeries cus he did not care about having tits

and a vag was more convinent (totallyyy not projecting)

he got his uterus removeda after donny tho so no siblings for donny ig

he was a smoker at some point

he hatess wine so much

charles is hispanic in some way cus yk carlos charles ykkk

he likes to braid kevins hair in fancy ways and then started to give kevin and donovan matching hairstyles every morning

he has a home depot 12ft skeleton in his classroom

and lewis the pumpkin from target

he loves halloween even tho most ppl of the dow have never even heard of it

he eventually moved in with kevin or vice versa and has his own room and office despite also sharing one with kevin

charles just likes to sleep alone some nights or needs a place to chill out by himself

charles is also def somewhat a ghost

vanessa

she loves 80's fashion

the silly earrings and neon colors

she also made kevin do karaoke nights with her

shes kevins niece i think

her parents kicked her out and so kevin let her work at the station to earn money

they aren't biologically related but vanessa sees kevin as the cool uncle

she died and came back as a ghost and kevin isnt hallucinating and some people can see her and she actually still does stuff

she loves depeche mode and got kevin into it (totally not cus i just saw depeche mode live the other day nuh uh uh uh uh) (i did it was fire)

she likes to ride in shopping carts

vanessa also loves skunks even tho she never saw one irl

she sees them online and forces kevin to look at the cute pictures

she has a hugeee cd and vinyl collection its crazy

she has a whole room stacked to the brim with them

kevin regularly goes out to get her more

he also bought her her first record player

it had sunflower patterns

strex destroyed it but she was able to keep the remains and use them to get a new record player with some of the original sunflower pattern

ok thats all i just did desert bluffs ill prolly do night vale tmrrw even tho i like db more..

[kayzero]

For the ideas wanted post, I always find people's different interpretations of how Quark functions after different endings in VLR so so interesting, since they're a character i've analyzed so so much. so a Quark-centric writing of them after one of the endings in which they're alive and get out?

This takes place during/after Luna END.

Weeks and months and years ago, when Quark was little, littler than he is now, he would sometimes wake up without Grandpa. He would panic, he would cry, he would be convinced that this was it, Grandpa finally got tired of having a little kid around, he’s gone and never coming back. And always, without fail, Grandpa would come back, see his sorry state, and calm him down, explaining that he just had to get an early start on work, and Quark looked too comfortable to disturb.

He grew out of that phase when he started helping Grandpa out with scavenging in earnest. He started to understand why it was so important that he get up early, get to the good stuff before anyone else. The memories fell to the back of his mind, like baby teeth from his mouth.

When Quark wakes up after being sedated in Rhizome-9, he knows for a fact that Grandpa is dead.

The surety comes from the same place that screams for freedom, howls at being chained up in this flesh prison where he could die at any moment. The visions he’d been having in the first round of the AB Game with Dio and Grandpa crop back up. He could be sliced with a scalpel, buried under trash, killed by a cultist — and even if he could avoid all the ugly, violent deaths, he couldn’t avoid death by sickness or old age.

But the sedative still floating around in his system combined with the shock of his Grandpa’s death make him numb, and let him see the tantrum he threw objectively — and it was a tantrum, albeit one over his very life instead of some toy he wanted — but more than that, it reminded him of something he had seen on the streets with Grandpa.

The people who got infected with Radical-6. The Cultists and the Damned. They ranted about the state of the world being divine judgement, that humanity would shrivel up and die out eventually, that there was no point in struggling because they would do it to themselves.

The Cultists grew in fervor, shifted to talking about the world that would rise from the rubble that the world was covered in. The Damned all ended up dead by their own hands.

Quark had almost joined them.

Might still. Grandpa’s dead, what’s the point?

Quark put his hands on the ground and pushed himself so that he was sitting against the wall instead of laying on the hard metal floor.

“Oh good, you’re awake. I didn’t wanna have to struggle to get you into this suit.”

He tilts his head up and sees Miss Phi, dressed in a spacesuit but missing the helmet. Looks at her with dead eyes that were still too alive because his body is still moving while his soul is screaming that Grandpa is dead—

He tries to tune out the howling. “Why do you want me to get in the suit, Miss Phi?”

“There’s some sort of pressure difference between this room and the outside world, and the suit’s what we need to survive it.”

“But what about the AB Game?”

The flinty, cool look Miss Phi usually wears gives way to something close to what the people Grandpa used to talk to wear when they look at him. Kinda sad, kinda frustrated.

“You’ve been asleep for a while. The AB Game’s over. We won.”

He doesn’t feel like a winner. He doesn’t say that out loud.

Instead he goes, “So you want to leave?”

“Yeah, and I have to bring you with me because you’re too young to be on your—“ She stops herself with wide eyes and a hand that stops halfway up to cover her mouth, because—

Because Miss Phi knows. She knows Grandpa is dead, she thinks that Quark doesn’t know, she doesn’t want to tell him (right now? ever?). The howling starts snarling at her now, his mind starts whirling with mean things and bad words to say to her, things he said when the adults wouldn’t let him—

Well. He doesn’t feel like being mean, but he doesn’t feel like being nice either. He settles for polite and factual.

“You know there’s nothing out there, right?”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

He doesn’t have a bracelet on, and Grandpa’s already dead, so nothing stops him from saying, “We’re on the moon.”

“…What?”

“We’re in a research base on the moon. Grandpa told me before we got on the ship. But the pilot knocked us out, so it was probably a one-way trip.”

As he talks, Miss Phi backs up until her back hits the wall, slowly sliding down until she’s sitting on the floor like he is. She doesn’t move, except to wrap her arms around her shins and bury her face into the collar of the space suit.

They stay like that for a while.