#i just don't wanna see the delivery person and have them ask me for my id alfjslj

[autobahnmp3]

i feel like im preparing for lockdown bc i need to get groceries for the time im working 5 12h shifts in 6 days

[mazzystar24]

I hope I can ask you this because I don't want to ask in the tags, I'm scared 🥹 but I've seen a lot of discourse about why tommy isn't good for buck, he's cold, the relationship is toxic etc and I was wondering why people think that? Is there anything specific that started it?

I fully believe eddie is buck's true love, endgame, whatever we want to call it and I'm sad we don't have that (yet) but I thought bucktommy was kinda fun in the meantime. I just want to understand 🫶🏻

Oh hey darling! you were so sweet and genuine in your response so please know I’m just answering what I’m asked and if you wanna enjoy and have fun with bt that is completely your prerogative but I’m just offering my perspective on it

And i am warning you this is gonna be long because I feel a constant need to go really in depth in my thoughts

Okay so idk how I’m gonna break this down but maybe I’ll do it in like main points?

Also if you’re new here whenever I use bullet points I’m just doing it cos I find it easier to chunk up my thoughts not cos I’m being curt or anything with you

1. The chimney and hen begins episodes

He wasnt just passive in the episodes and letting Gerard get away with his racist and misogynistic behaviour he ACTIVELY participated in it

This includes:

• Asking if they forgot to tip the delivery guy WHILE THEY WERE EATING CHINESE FOOD when chimney first comes up despite the fact that 1. Chimney had a big ass lafd bag 2. They were probably already told a probie would be coming 3. Probably would’ve seen the actual delivery guy 4. I would bet my absolute life that question would not have been asked if buck or bobby had walked up those stairs this wasn’t an innocent comment it WAS RACIST intentionally like the entire point of the episode was to show how bad they had it

• the New York bitchiness comment

• throwing his tools down along for hen to clean up

• going out of his way to treat them like outcasts and hating chimney before he even knew him despite chimneys efforts

• the way each of them had to “earn his respect” in some way before he acted like a normal coworker to them and this was never in the typical ‘oh it’s a new person’ type of way it always had to do with their race or in hen’s case her gender too

A defence I see a lot for this is “oh he was closeted” and honestly to me that is such bullshit because 1. Eli was perfectly capable of not participating in the racism and taking chimney under his wing without getting any shit for it and chimney is quite literally a Korean man (something he literally can’t hide) and he had just got his head above water with Gerard’s racism when hen came and he STILL was a friend to her 2. Again tommy wasn’t passive in it and just letting Gerrard be racist (which would’ve been one thing) no he actively participated in it to be part of the boys club 3. Let’s say that somehow not being a dick would’ve meant that that was a threat to the closet he was in- that is still in my opinion a fucked up sense of preservation if you spare yourself the possibility of bigotry (despite having inherent social capital by being a white man in that job) by inflicting others to bigotry

Now when Tommy was first reintroduced I was like keeping an open mind and saying okay it’s been a lot of time and maybe he has genuinely made amends because I do believe in redemption but imo they have made no attempt to show us that and had him honestly put more of the blame on Gerrard for his behaviour or the writers flat out avoiding mentioning it to retcon tommy a little and hope we forget

Another defence I see is “oh chimney and hen became friends with him so they must’ve forgave him”, hen went no contact the moment he left (something the writers went out of their way to include that line) and chimney didn’t even invite him to his wedding which was quite big after the Buckley parents got involved so it’s not like it was cos it was such a small and intimate wedding and he only called him as far as we know in those years when he needed a favor, which all means that most likely they had kinda just put it behind them and kept up a coworker relationship with him, but no actual friendship or actual forgiveness or redemption had taken place

Oh wow all that was just point one and I can probably talk more on it but I’ll just leave it with saying that Lou’s comments about it being teasing or how Tommy genuinely didn’t know hen or chimney were capable etc just makes for a worse case than saying it’s cos of being in the closet (and that is genuinely a large part of why idk much abt Lou but those comments are enough to make me hate him) and I’ll also say that poc (myself included in that) have these situations so often- situations even as specific as gay men being racist to them to fit in - and we understand the nuance and shit to it but we also understand on a deep level how it feels to be on the other side of that

And getting toxic bt fans try to come up with ways to downplay or minimise racism honestly pisses me off so much cos believe you me we have heard every excuse and downplay under the sun and I for one am sick and tired of it

2. Why he’s viewed as cold and his jokes

• literally from the small parts we saw of him and Eddie hanging out we have seen the man is in fact capable of joking and being light and having fun but around buck in particular he’s like 🧍‍♂️😐 and the occasional 🙂 like it just feels very stiff and just plain in a way

• his humour consistently falls flat and feels passive aggressive more than anything like blunt or sardonic humour DOES work like I personally love it but it’s not being written OR executed right

A. It’s always in response to genuine moments or questions such as buck talking abt the award or the daddy kink joke or henren questioning him

B. It’s the the majority of what we see from him, there is not enough balance for it

C. Lack of rapport, when friends or couples make jokes that can come off the wrong way if said to anyone else it’s cos of the rapport built already, this rapport is not established with the characters OR with the audience for these jokes to come off right

D. I gotta say this one too but the execution just isn’t right from writing to acting, it’s the same reason sardonic humour lines from Sandra oh as Cristina Yang or hugh Laurie as house still lets you like the characters and find them funny but Tommys lines come off as annoying to a lot of people

3. I think fandom discourse probably has something to do with it but not in the way you think

I’m not saying like oh ppl who ship buddie just hate him cos of the ship no I’m saying that like what takes him from an annoying disliked character to a hated character is most likely the fact that his role stirred so much drama and caused so much damage to how the fandom used to be that its turned the dial up

4. A lot of his development, lore or redeemable factors or cute things are just not canon

This may be blunt and I am sorry for that but I think his character has been blown up to such a degree that it’s genuinely shocking

Like I look at posts or get sent hate and I’m like where did any of this happen this is just not canon this is just not a show like at times I’m genuinely convinced it’s a social experiment where different ppl saw a different show like some spiderman multiverse situation

Listen I’m all for headcanons genuinely like if you wanna take extra number three and make a whole backstory and lore and cute stuff abt her I’m all for it but it’s when it’s said as if it’s fact or canon that I’m like hold up a second rewind

I think this is kinda a result of Lou’s cameos (which honestly deserves its own post but you asked why the tommy hate so imma stay on topic) and also this like need to defend the character but not having much material to work with

Like if we look at canon we can literally break down the entirety of Tommys appearances this far in the show and what we learn about him:

• chimney begins- he makes a racist comment and he tries to suck up to Gerard, there is a little hint abt his gayness with the gf comment, Eli says to chimney that’s just how they are and tries to reason it could be fear of losing friends but we see tommy having friends in the firehouse while eli says this, chimney tries to make friends with him and tommy makes no attempt to get to know him and says he’d hate him anyways, chimney saves Tommys life thus earning his respect

• hen begins- she’s met with the same racism chimney is but also met with misogyny (and homophobia but that’s not relevant to the tommy of it all), we find out chimney is still isolated from the rest despite having earnt that respect, chimney befriends hen and again tommy still doesn’t try anything like that until hen proves herself and earns his respect, ppl reported Gerard but it’s never actually stated tommy was one of those ppl so again that’s not canon that’s speculated

• bobby begins- chimney and hen both seem to be like coworker friends with tommy and Sal, Sal throws hissy fit bobby “fires” him tommy says it’s an overreaction bobby reveals it was a transfer, they all seem to make nice, tommy leaves to 217

• chimney calls tommy for help and tommy helps

• we see nothing from tommy,then cruise ship he helps the team but also in this we find out hen cut off all contact since he left

• buck takes tour of harbour, Eddie and tommy have a friendship and we find out some of Tommys interests and that he was in the army, basketball scene and the subsequent apology and kiss

• dinner date, Tommy explains how he was in the closet, Buck has his little awkward moment (which will be elaborated on in my next point) , Tommy says nothing abt it till the Uber arrives and he leaves buck

• buck reaches out and apologises and asks for a second chance inviting tommy to the madney wedding

• bachelor party and the issue of the lack of costume and not just taking the day off for neither wedding nor bachelor party (which you can reason is reasonable but also I feel like this deserves its point for the narrative choices)

• tommy shows up straight outta work they kiss buck has the soot coming out award ceremony - buck being happy abt the reward to which tommy sardonically says enjoy it while it lasts enter bigoted cunt gerard then chimney comes and insults gerard and they walk away

• we don’t see tommy again till the dinner date after Bobby nearly died and when buck tries to explain Bobbys significance to his life tommy throws the your dad is still alive which is just honestly one of his worst moments imo and I made a whole post abt it but can’t find it and then we all know the rest of that convo and I could make a bullet point for it but actually I made a whole post before so I’ll link it: here

AND THATS IT

Like all this comes down to what maybe like 30 mins screentime? If that?

5. The leaving buck on their first date

The defences people use for this are:

• buck was trying to shove him back in the closet

• buck was obviously not ready

• people angry abt this are just babying buck like he can find his own way home it’s not that big of a deal

• buck was at fault there and tommy would’ve been justified in being angry and not giving him a second chance

And honestly every last one of these are bullshit imo and lemme go point by point

• buck panicked, I don’t think that what buck was feeling in that moment can be properly described because unless you’re a queer person and you’ve experienced that like bone deep panic that like brain overload then you won’t get it

Like one it’s his first queer date

Two he doesn’t even understand his own sexuality atp

Three his closest friend just walked in in a situation that’s already putting him on edge

So he’s not only panicking he’s not understanding why he’s panicking he’s trying to make excuses eventhough part of him knows he doesn’t need one but also he doesn’t even understand this side of himself yet so he doesn’t want to have to potentially explain it

Like it’s a million things and a million emotions and no one can claim they would behave rationally or appropriately in that situation and if you say that you would you’re lying simple as that

Also then we find out that Eddie thought tommy was straight anyways

• the reason I love the buddie coming out scene is because of Eddie’s “and what do you think” line because it’s not up to tommy or anyone else whether a person is “ready” enough in their queerness to date. Full stop.

Also tommy knew it was Buck’s first date with a man and was still down so why is he using that as some sort of out

•it’s not about babying buck and it’s not about him finding his own way home it’s the fact that Tommy could’ve done it with much more grace and he could’ve been a lot nicer with it but he wasn’t, and this is again bucks first date with a man even if it doesn’t end with a second date it should at the very least not end up with him feeling like a screw up on the side of the road

• to the ppl who say that- kindly shut up cos again see the first point but also I wanna point out that somehow the ppl saying this are also the same ones saying that Tommy was justified to be RACIST for a prolonged period of time due to being in the closet yet Buck what? Panicking for a few seconds and being a little awkward? is somehow this giant inexcusable thing

5. The narrative choices with him have been reasonably clear and tbh if they had been made with a woman it would not be up for debate:

• tommy leaves buck on their first date then he comes back and gives buck a chance- we as a fandom have been unanimous in saying for years that Buck’s endgame would be the one that doesn’t leave him cos this pattern has been something we saw over and over with him

• tommy not dressing up- again you can rationalise it but it’s a narrative choice and it’s glaring when contrasted with Eddie suggesting the duo costume

And if we had this scene with Taylor so many ppl would be saying that it’s once again showing that her and Buck’s personalities don’t align

• him being on standby for the wedding and bachelor party- again you can say oh buck invited him last minute or oh he couldn’t taken the day off (which lbr he could’ve he’s not the only firefighter pilot in la) - but again narrative choice

If it was Taylor everyone would’ve been like SEE? Again they’re showing the audience that her work is this looming presence in their relationship

Anyway I’m gonna shut up now cos this is A LOT

I’m so sorry it took me so long to respond tho and sending flowers in apology💐💐💐💐💐💐

Love ya for being so genuine when asking and hope all this didn’t come off too strong and that it was idk helpful?🫶🫶

I realise my response is abt to have toxic bt fans scurry to my inbox like rats to send hate and to that I say go fuck yourselves I’m responding to a question here

[footballfanficwriter]

Absent Father

Summary:where the reader is about to give birth and Jude is not home

"When are you going to be back?" I ask as I watch him pack his bag

"In a couple of months Love" he says

"Oh"

"But don't worry it'll be over before we know it"

"Can't you pull out of the squad and say you've got an injury or something"

"You know I can't do that, they'll examine my body to check my story out"

I sigh

"Hey, it's not that bad, we'll call eachother and face time, we're gonna be ok"

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself"

"I'm trying to convince the both of us"

"Jude you know that I'm due any day now right"

"I know"

"And you won't be there by my side holding my hand or getting to witness the birth of your child" I say trying to hold back my tears

"I know baby, and I'm sorry"

"Sometimes I wish you were Just Jude Bellingham, not Jude Bellingham the Real Madrid and England Star

He stops packing and looks at me

"Sometimes I wish that as well darling, but that's not how it is"

"Yeah, I'm going to the kitchen to make a snack"

"Ok"

I leave the room and walk to the kitchen to make something to eat

As I'm busy I hear Jude come down the stairs with his bag

He places it down and walks up to me and towers over me, places a kiss on my forehead and bends down to kiss my belly

"I have to go" he says as he stands up

I come in for a hug and hug him very tightly as if by doing so I can just pause time and stop it from moving

He hugs me tightly as well indicating he doesn't wanna let go

As we're hugging the tears start coming out and I don't even try to fight them this time, i'm silently crying, and pretty sure my tears have now stained his shirt

He pulls away, looks me in the eyes and wipes the tears from my face

"I love you"

"I love you"

He kisses my forehead one more time walks to his bag and heads for the door where his driver waits for him

A week later:

I'm lying on the sofa watching a series that I'm not really paying attention to, all I'm thinking about is how scared I am and how I won't have anyone in the delivery room with me, and the person that I do want to be there is in another country

It's been difficult to talk and Face time with Jude, because he's either very busy or he's too tired to talk, if he's not training, he's doing press, if it's not press it's games, if it's not games he's out with his teammates, there's just always something happening and it makes me wonder if he's  trying to avoid me, because if he wasn't ignoring me then he would at least make the time to try and talk to me, it's always me reaching out and calling him but he never does the same

The only interactions we have nowadays is when he posts something and I like and comment under his post and he'll just reply to my comment

I honestly don't know what to do but I just keep telling myself that he's busy and can't talk

I stand up and walk upstairs to get my phone to check if I've gotten any call from Jude

The minute I grab my phone from my bed there's a warm liquid that I feel on my legs

I look down and see water on the floor

I start freaking out a bit but then compose myself and walk to my wardrobe to grab my bag

And walk downstairs and get into the car and start driving to the hospital

When I arrive at the hospital I ask the receptionist for my doctor, but she tells me that in order to see her I have to have an appointment

"Lady listen to me, I'm a Pregnant Woman that's about to give birth, are you really gonna tell me to wait to see my Doctor?"

"I'm sorry I was not aware, I'll go get her"

She walks down a passage and makes a left knocking on a door, 2 minutes later she returns with Doctor Ashley Johnson

"Mrs. Bellingham, what are you doing here?, Where's is your Husband?"

"On a business Trip" I say breathing heavily

"Can someone get this woman a wheelchair?"

A few minutes later I'm in a hospital gown and walking around my hospital room trying to Dilate myself enough to give birth to this baby and Doctor Johnson holding my hand

"So where is your husband?"

"He's away, on a Business trip"

"Your Mother?"

"We don't really get along, let's just say she's not happy with the decisions I made in my life"

"Like?"

"Marring my Husband"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing, she just didn't want me to marry someone who is from a different country number one and from a different culture"

"Your mother in law?"

"She moved back to England to be with my Father in law and brother in law"

"Siblings?"

"They are all married and even if I were to call them they are too far away"

"So I guess it's just you and me then" she says

I nod my head realizing that no one from my family is actually coming

"Yep"

After 10 hours of walking around and trying to Dilate Doctor Johnson informs me that I'm ready to give birth

She calls the rest of her team to come and assist and after two hours

A baby Boy is born

My body is tired and I just feel absolutely exhausted

"Mrs. Bellingham, we're going to clean your baby boy, you just get some rest we'll bring him right back"

"Ok" I say falling asleep

The next day I wake up feeling much better than the previous day, I turn my head to see my baby sleeping peacefully and Doctor Johnson walks into the room

"Hi, how are we doing in here?"

"We're ok, he's asleep"

"Have you spoken to your family yet?"

"No, I haven't, I'll wait for him to wake up first, then I'll make calls"

"And a name, have you decided on a name yet?"

"No I wanna call my husband first then we'll discuss it"

"Ok"

Doctor Johnson stays with me for some time until the baby wakes up

"I'll leave you to it then"

"Thank you"

I grab my phone and the first people I call are my Four sisters

They all get excited and squeal as they see the baby for the first time

"What's his name?" One of them ask

"I don't know, I'm gonna call Jude and we'll talk about it"

"Aww, he's so cute"

"Thank you"

"Congratulations sis, we're so proud of you, we wish we could be there"

I shed some tears and tell them it's fine and that we'll all meet up eventually

The next person I call is Denise.

"Hello love"

"Hi Mom, you alright?"

"Yeah, how are you"

"Oh we're fine, but I have something to show you"

I slightly turn the phone to Show her the baby and she looks in shock

"Mark, Jobe come look"

After some time Mark and Jobe appear on the screen

"Oh God he's so adorable"

"Are you ok though love"

"Yeah, I will be" I say

"What's his name?"

"I still need to call Jude, then we'll discuss it, and then we'll let everyone know

"Ok love, take care of yourself ok"

"Ok"

"We love you"

"Love you too"

The next person I call is Jude, hoping he'll pick up but he doesn't instead he sends a text

Hubby: what's up?

Me: can you call, it's important

Hubby: what is it?

Me: Jude can you pls just answer your phone it's really important

Hubby: just text me, I'm busy rn

Me: with what?

Hubby: With Trent, Madders and Hendo

Me: so you can't just excuse yourself for some time, I'm telling you that this is important why are you being difficult?"

Hubby: no actually I can't excuse myself, we're playing UNO, and I'm losing like hell

Me: oh so you would rather play a game of UNO than to hear what I have to say?

Hubby: just text it to me, I'm sure it's not a big deal

Me: if you consider the fact that you have a son not important then Yeah, it's not important

Hubby: what 🤯 are you being serious, you game birth?

Me: yeah but don't let me stop you from your game, it's most definitely more important than the birth of your son

                           Hubby ❤

                            Calling...

I decline the call

Hubby: babe answer the phone

Me: The baby is asleep, I'll call you when he wakes up, if I answer it'll wake him up

Hubby: oh c'mon don't be like that

Me: I'll call you later, get back to your game

I place my phone next to me and admire my newly born baby boy who is fully awake

"Hey Babe, welcome to the world, I'm gonna love you so much more than anything in the world"

He only giggles and cuddles further into my arms and it makes me Coo

2 months later:

Today is the day Jude comes back and to say I'm excited is an understatement we never had the discussion of the Baby's name so I just decided it Myself

And I Decided on Jamie

Ever since Jamie's birth Jude has been calling a lot more often and calling to check on us every day, which is good because then he won't miss that many Moments

Jamie is growing so fast it feels like it was just yesterday when it was just the two of us cuddling in a hospital bed, now he can crawl

Jude should be landing in a few hours and Jamie and I are preparing something to have for dinner, hopefully Jude will be here in time for dinner

Jamie however is on top of the counter grabbing things and putting them in his mouth while I prepare dinner

After making dinner, I get Jamie cleaned up and into his pajamas

And I carry him downstairs where we'll sit and wait for Jude

I'm so excited because we're about to have our first dinner as a family also adding the fact that I haven't seen Jude in almost three months

20:00( 8pm)

Jamie and I are sitting in the dinning room waiting for Jude to come home

21:00( 9pm)

Jamie has fallen asleep on my chest

22:00 ( 10pm)

Jamie is now asleep in this crib and I'm waiting for Jude while doing the dishes and packing away all the table decor that I've put out

23:00 (11:00 pm)

Fast asleep in bed

00:00 ( 12:00pm)

01:00 am

The door to the house opens and I hear Jude walk up the stairs and towards our room, the door opens and I hear him sigh and take his clothes off leaving him in his trunks

He gets into bed and kisses my shoulder

"Hello my love" he says in a husky voice

"I know you're awake, you're a light sleeper, I know you heard me come in"

I shrug him off and try to make myself comfortable on the bed

"What's wrong, are you not going to greet back"

"Hi"

"Is that all I get?"

"Yeah"

"Why are you upset i haven't seen you in 2 months and the first time I come back you give me a cold shoulder?"

"Exactly we haven't seen eachother in 2 months, and you couldn't even get home on time for dinner like you promised"

"Oh, you know I thought I told you that I was gonna be late, because Trent wanted to party for a bit before we were all headed home because we wouldn't see eachother in a long time"

"Does Trent have a two month old  baby boy who he hasn't seen ever since his birth and a wife who gave birth on her own  waiting for him at home?"

"No"

"Do you?"

"Yes"

"So please explain to me because I must be losing my mind, you had two months, two months with these people "your sheriffs" to laugh and share moments, yet your two month old son has not even shared a single moment with you and you still put your teammates before him to make moments with them and you don't even have one with your son"

He is quiet

"So is it wrong for me to assume that from now on your international teammates and club teammates will forever be the first choice no matter what?"

"No babe, you and James are the most important thing in my life and will forever be my first"

"I can't even look at you right now"

"You were not there when he was born, when we were suppose to name him , i ended up naming him myself because I had to put something on the birth certificate, you weren't there when he started crawling and now you said the wrong name yet he's your son"

"Is his name not James?"

"If you had answered your phone on that day we would have named him together" I say getting out of bed and grabbing my gown

"And his name is Jamie" I say walking out of the room and walking to Jamie's room to sleep there

The next morning I'm woken up by Jamie's cries

I walk to him and pick him out of his crib and walk to the Kitchen to find Jude making Breakfast

"Morning babe"

"What are you doing?"

"Making breakfast, I'm making French toast, still your favorite right?"

"Yeah"

"Great, have a seat it'll be ready in just a few minutes"

Jamie lays his head on my shoulder as he looks at Jude almost as if he's asking who is the guy in our Kitchen making food

He's uncomfortable

"Hey it's ok, that's your dad" I whisper into his ear and kiss his head

I walk to the dinning table and put Jamie on my lap where he stares at me and shows his gums that are without teeth

I smile down at him and shower him with kisses and he giggles

In that moment Jude walks to us and almost  immediately Jamie's head goes on my chest and he stops giggling

"Here you are"

"Thanks" I say

He takes a seat across me and looks at Jamie and sends him a small wave, but it only makes Jamie force himself further into my chest

Jude gives me a sad look and I look back at him

He clears his throat and breaks the uncomfortable silence

"So how have you been?"

"Fine, yeah I've been fine, you?"

"Yep same just really tired"

"Yeah"

The awkward silence is among us again and we eat in silence

"Fuck" he says under his breath

"How much have I missed?" He asks

"A lot more than you can imagine" I reply

"Baby, I am so sorry, when you said that I missed so much I didn't know you meant it like that to the point where my own son doesn't recognize me"

"Yeah"

"How can I make up for it?"

"I wouldn't know either Jude, Jamie is a baby, he doesn't comprehend what's happening, it not like you can just throw the words I'm sorry to him and he'll forgive you just like that"

"You're not helping, I'm asking for solutions not for you to make me feel worse than I already do"

"Well you wouldn't be feeling like this if you had been there number 1, if you had answered your phone so we could name him together and if you had made more time to talk to us"

"I called you every day"

"Did you call me when I was a week from giving birth, huh, when our only interaction would be on Social media where I was liking pictures and commenting and you were liking or replying to my comments"

"I called you guys every day, to find out how you were doing"

"For five minutes, you can't really say anything in five minutes"

"I was tired"

"But you were never too tired to go out with your teammates, right?, all that time you spent with them, could have been used to get to know your son, given how difficult it was to be there for him when he was born"

"So what, you wanted me to stay in my hotel room and be left out while everyone was enjoying themselves?"

"If you couldn't do it for me then you could have at least done it for Jamie, you were an absent father, and it's not my fault that after I tried to get you involved in his life and you refused and now he doesn't even know you"

He's quiet and just continues eating his food

After having breakfast Jamie and i walk to the Kitchen and i get started on the dishes while He sits next me with his favorite chew toy that keeps him behaving

Jude walks in

"Let me take him" he says

He goes to pick Jamie up and Jamie starts crying

I immediately leave the dishes and walk to them

"Here take over the dishes, I'll take him

"No it's fine, he'll be fine"

"No Jude let go of him, I need to feed him he hasn't been fed yet"

He let's go of Jamie and I walk to his room to feed him

After 2 hours Jamie falls asleep for his afternoon nap

And I walk to the living room to watch some TV only to find Jude watching TV

I take a seat and Jude pauses his show

"Is he ok?"

"Yeah, he's asleep"

"That's good"

"Mhm"

"Y/n, I'm sorry, I know that the past 2 months have not been easy for you and that you were scared when you had to give birth to Jamie, because I wasn't there for you both"

"It's fine, you were working"

"Yeah but that's not an excuse, I feel horrible, I feel like I'll never get to have a relationship with my son if things go on like this"

"Don't say that Jude, Jamie will get use to you, eventually, maybe not tomorrow or next week, but eventually"

"You were right, if I made the time then we wouldn't be here right now having this conversation"

"True, but you made a mistake and you are rectifying it, now you know what to do and what not to next time"

He smiles at me and I return the smile

"Thank you"

"You're welcome"

He scoots closer to me and places his arm around my shoulder and I lay my head on his

"I've missed you so much"

"I've missed you as well"

"Can you believe it, we're actually Parents now"

"Right, times like these are gonna be fewer, where it's just the two of us bringe watching Movies and series"

"That's true, we're gonna be so occupied, it's crazy"

"Yep"

"I love you"

"I love you too"

He kisses my forehead and unpause the show he was watching.

[blicketdabest33]

Y'all remember that MCYT PJO au I asked for help with awhile ago? WELL HERE'S THE CABINS AND MY EXPLINATIONS BEHIND THEM!!

#1 Zeus Cabin: Jimmy, Joel Jimmy: He's a Zeus kid, but everyone somehow forgets about it. Joel: He's competitive and strong. Also, because Jimmy is his half brother through godly parent, i get to make a fun bit about him dating Lizzie. And one of his origins in Afterlife SMP was a thunderborn

#2 Hera Cabin: Scott Scott: Scott's whole thing is loyalty. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is insanely loyal to Zeus. However, I feel like Hera should get at least one affair. So now Scott can use peacocks as weapons.

#3 Poseidon Cabin: Skizz Skizz: Poseidon kids tend to be really, really loyal to a fault and heroic, both qualities I think Skizz possesses.

#4 Demeter Cabin: Sausage, Shelby, Bdubs, Stress Sausage: This man built Sanctuary in a jungle and has flowers in his hair. He sells wood. There is no other place to put him. Shelby: Mushroom gnome, spooky mangrove witch, powerful storm witch, i need not continue. Bdubs: Moss man. Stress: SHE HAS FLOWERS

#5 Ares Cabin: Martyn, False Martyn: His planet is Mars, which is the roman version of Ares. He ended Limited Life in such a violent way, i can't help it. He was also red for the majority of Secret Life. False: I just feel like False should get to kill people more often.

#6 Athena Cabin: Grian, Pix, Owen, Xisuma Grian: This sums it up pretty well

Pix: Smart man. Archeologist and definitely a nerd. I wanna see him skipping out on training just so he can read history books. Owen: He likes to explore and discover new things in Pirates. In Rats, he's a tinkerer. In New Life, he's an explorer who wants to study hybrids. In Empires, he's a Llama who's curious about how humans work. Just a very curious character overall. Xisuma: Admin. I'm not elaborating.

#7 Apollo Cabin: Gem, Oli, Lyarrah Gem: She is an Apollo kid because of her Empire in S2. She's the sunlight princess. Apollo kid. Oli: MUSIC. MAN. Lyarrah: She writes the captions for the hermitcraft recap.

#8 Artemis Cabin: Pearl Pearl: Y'know, Artemis could've just like... had a kid, even though she took that oath. It wouldn't even have to be with a guy. Gods can change to whatever gender they want. Anyway, Pearl gets to be an Artemis kid because her symbolism is moon, she loves dogs, and will commit murder and hunt at night.

#9 Hephaestus Cabin: Doc, Mumbo, Tango, Impulse, Cub, Zedaph, Fwhip, Iskall Doc: Redstone Mumbo: Redstone Tango: Redstone Impulse: Redstone Cub: Redstone Zedaph: Redstone Fwhip: Redstone AND has a red scarf (don't ask me how that's relevant) Iskall: Redstone

#10 Aphrodite Cabin: Keralis Keralis: Okay, I don't know why, but Keralis gives me the vibes of a very charming person. His voice is nice to listen to, so imagine how useful it'd be if I gave him charm speak.

#11 Hermes Cabin: Scar, Etho, Joe Scar: Trader Scar, scammer extraordinar. Etho: All i must say is Shady-E's. I get "jack-of-all-trades, master of none, often better than master of one" vibes from him. He's funny, he's mischievous, it just works. Joe: Comedy man. Excellent delivery. And, yet again, i look at this man and go "That right there is a multi-talented man with a habit for mischief."

#12 Dionysus Cabin: Joey, Beef Joey: *points at his season one empires theme* i need not say more Beef: Idk, food. I don't really have a reason. I don't know too much about Beef.

#13 Hades Cabin: Zloy Zloy: Zombie man. He writes the Hermitcraft recaps in the dark at 2am with nothing but pure spite.

#14 Iris Cabin: Katherine Katherine: SHE. HAS. COLORS. and also I couldn't put her in Demeter cabin because Shelby is already there and i am NOT excluding Nature Wives from this au

#15 Hypnos Cabin: Bigb, XB, Wels Bigb: Sleepy stuff, right? WRONG. Gaslight. Go in everyones dreams, make fake prophecies, peace out, and cause chaos. XB: I look at his fanon design, I see an alien, and I go "aha he sleeps" Wels: This guy (@dingdinghq) said so and i completely agree. Something about sleeping in S6.

#16 Nemesis Cabin: Edit: wels not here no more

#17 Nike Cabin: Ren Ren: VICTORY. I don't know much about Ren's story in the Life Series, but I look at this man and see someone who has won a lot.

#18 Hebe Cabin: 

#19 Tyche Cabin: TFC TFC: Man goes mining and gets really lucky. That's it.

#20 Hecate Cabin: Lizzie, Cleo, Jevin Lizzie: Witchy vibes. Also, Arson. Cleo: Arson. She uses her magic for Arson. Jevin: He's a magic slime. Also, Arson. All Hecate kids love Arson.

[skruttet]

What are your thoughts on Moominvalley's comet special?

I talked a little about it in this other ask response, but overall I was disappointed. I think it's quite telling that the part of it that made me the most emotional was the opening credits 😅

Someone else said it was "underwhelming" and I think that's a good descriptor for it. The rest of the season as a whole already didn't really feel final enough to me, and you'd expect the finale to make up for that and give you that big feeling of wrapping up the whole series in a satisfying way, but it just didn't hit that mark for me.

The actual journey in the first half just wasn't as epic and exciting as I was hoping it'd be, and I think that's partially due to them using elements from Comet in previous episodes so they didn't wanna reuse them again, like the stilts (though surely they could've brought them back...). The cave Moomintroll and Snufkin end up in also feels like a missed opportunity - it's such a beautiful setting, but all they do there is panic, then see the Hemulen, then he leads them out. Idk what exactly they could've done instead, but surely there was something interesting the writers could've come up with to utilise that space more.

The way Snufkin brought up the sun oil was so awkward and forced; I know it was to establish it so that Sniff could have his whole stinky salesman arc in the latter half, but it's really weird how he explains its origin to his friends again even though all of them apart from Snork were there in Fire Spirit! Speaking of, that was a real step down for Sniff, and I would've preferred him to have an arc surrounding the kitten instead. Maybe he spends the time trying to gain its trust or something, and then at the end, finally manages to do so and rescues it to bring it back to the cave.

And speaking of the cave, I didn't like that change, either (honestly I just think I disliked most of the changes they made from the novel tbh lol. like I get they don't just wanna rehash it and want this to be new and original to an extent, but sometimes that can go too far, or just in the wrong direction). It's just really stupid for them to be like "we need to face our fear and face the comet!" it's a COMET! It's not a mysterious noise you hear in the middle of the night that you can investigate, it's a big hot rock that'll kill you all!! And then Groke moves towards it, and ~something~ happens, but this is a family show so they have her moan again at the end to show she's still alive and I love Jack but his delivery of "I'm so relieved" is so weirdly flat that it doesn't help how awkward and unnatural this ending is lmao.

Now this is more of a personal gripe, but I don't like how Snufkin is positioned at the end. When they're facing the Groke, he's right next to Moomintroll, which I like (and also brings to mind Night of the Groke when they faced her together), but then after the white flash, he's not only nowhere near Moomintroll, but not even near their friends? And he walks away WITH THE POLICE INSPECTOR?! Like thank god Joxter doesn't know he's his dad he'd have a heart attack if he found out his son was so chummy with the cops smh. You could maybe argue this isn't even just a personal complaint, and that Snufkin has objectively been one of Moomintroll's most important relationships in this series, so for them to not have some kind of moment or interaction at the end feels wrong.

Something I was going to discuss in that other ask reply but I ultimately deleted because I couldn't find the words at the time was Little My's characterisation. This season in particular made me feel as though she's so, like, mad all the time. And I understand that anger is her thing, but it's usually a cheery kind of angry, you know? But in this series she sometimes just seems so frustrated and upset and although I like that it explores the more emotionally dramatic side of her, I was hoping that by this final season at least she'd be in a more comfortable and happy place. But in this Comet special she's so exasperated and moody with Moominpappa and I wish they just made it feel more like daughter-light-heartedly-poking-fun-at-her-dad, I guess?

Snork is interesting in this special because he plays quite a big role in it, but I also feel so sorry for him cause he's always getting cut off or used by Pappa and Sniff who don't properly listen to him and I just want to give him a big (figurative bc he hates hugs) hug my poor smart boy let him infodump. There's also a moment where he says "I can explain-" and his sister says "Thanks, Snork, but we really need to carry on!" which is so obviously the writers trying to squeeze in Snorkmaiden's characterisation from the book where she's practical in the face of her brother's long-winded meetings, and is a great example of the feminism of her character there, but it just doesn't quite work the same here. Once again just not as natural as it should feel.

On a positive note, I LOVED the look of the comet itself - every shot of it looked so cool and it changed the lighting of the valley in a fun and interesting way. I also liked how Jarmo and Samuli gave the score of the episode a funky sci-fi sound, which helped set it apart as something special for the series. And despite all my negatives, it's still entertaining! It's enjoyable to watch! Just, for someone who had expectations based on the whole series and the novel, underwhelming.

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

Another yandere set 2 ask, from yours truly! This is another one inspired by the yandere set 1 asks regarding fatherhood…

How would each of the yanderes’ react/behave during their darling’s labor and post-labor?

I wanna know who’s panicking, composed, excited, etc.

Sorry I got baby fever right now…

Yandere men and their darling in labor and post-labor

Assuming the reader this time is AFAB, or is in an A/B/O situation! By the way, i'm so sorry if i'm moving so slow with the requests! I've been busy lately so i'm trying my best to write.

"Why don't you just close the requests?" True, but some people use the ask box to talk and chat to me without compromising their anonymity. So, I hope you can be patient! I don't really like rejecting asks, so I probably will answer all of them. I know, I can reject them or not answer. I'm working on it lol. Especially that there's a lot of asks like these, which includes all the yandere OCs in a set... It's a bit exhausting. I kind of regret it, but hey, we're here already lol.

I added a section of... You'll know if you read HAHA

YAN! DELINQUENT

Liam will definitely panic. He's sweaty, he's smiling, he's about to blow off his top from the way the nurses were so nonchalant with your labor (It's normal). Can't they see you're about to die (You're contracting)?! Oh god, you can't voice out your pain without you talking (The midwives are not dumb enough to not read body language)! He will swear up and down that no more babies. NO MORE! It's already painful enough seeing you get swarmed by other people, let alone touch you.

Post labor Liam will be calm, fussy, and overprotective. Well, more overprotective than usual. He has a 70/30 chance of fainting, and will praise the gods if you delivered safely.

But, if you died... He will let out a gut wrenching cry by the foot of your bed. The baby won't even be noticed by him as he clenches his chest, sobbing and heaving his heart out. It will take more than days to calm him down, and have the heart to take care of your child. He will love the child, since he knows the child is innocent. But a big, gaping you-shaped hole in his heart is carved painfully in place.

YAN! BULLY

Uno will be the quiet panic-type. He sure is calm... On the inside. He's about to scream and rip the heads off of everyone who's touching you even a smidge wrong. NO MALE HANDS! NEVER! He's never been like this, ever. Even in your wedding, pregnancy, he never panicked. So why now? He's biting his cheeks to the point it bled, and you swore every single nurse and midwife in the delivery ward were yelled at by Uno.

Post-delivery Uno will calm down and act like nothing happened. "See? I know you can do it, nerd." Yeah sure. As if you can't see the blood stained teeth from him biting his cheeks. For the first time, he'll cherish a person other than you. He's so soft that it's new to you too.

If you died, Uno will turn the whole hospital up and down. He'll ruin everything, blame the midwives and nurses for not taking care of you enough, the hospital for lacking the resources to make a safe delivery.... And unfortunately, your child for killing you off. I'm gonna be honest, Uno will be the type to blame the child for your death. So, be healthy, darling!

YAN! NSFW ASMRTIST

Rose would be composed. He knew you were gonna be fine. Of course, nervousness will still be there, but he had enough trust in this hospital that he hopes you and your baby will be fine. That, and all of those breeding roleplays was his fault so he had to be composed since he brought it upon himself.

Post-delivery Rose would be relieved. He's right. And the cute little bugger is so small. He fits just by 3/4's of his arm. Wait, why is the baby so small? Are they really this small? But you were eating quite a lot... He's also a big guy, so the genes..? Is it from you? Or just recessive? He will have many questions. All those pregnancy asmr roleplays didn't really help.

If you died, Rose would feel like the whole world collapsed on his feet. What do you mean you died? He swears you would be okay. That you will be alive and well. He suddenly feels an immense guilt eating him up. Should he have panicked more? Should he have ensured the personnel that you're going to be alright? He sinks to his knees, weeping. He will swear on your body to take care of the baby well.

YAN! ISEKAI'ED ADVENTURER

Aeron is definitely skeptical. Sure, this world has magic, but it doesn't have the technological advancement of the modern world. It's also a world where he can't be with you in the delivery room. So all he could do is pace around the hall as he hears your cries of pain. He'll also cry with you if the delivery was too long for both of your likings.

Post-delivery Aeron will burst through the door and will go to you first. "Are you fine? Do you feel lethargic? Do you feel weak?!" The nurses have to pull him off of you so you can have the baby latch on you. He'll pout, but grips his arm as he watches you and the baby with a fond smile.

If you died... Aeron will regret everything. He knew he should have found a way back to the modern world. Maybe you could have delivered safely. He shouldn't have had a baby with you. A demon king's child will be too much on a mage's body, with all of those mana mixing. The whole hospital will be engulfed in demonic power as he suffocated everyone except his kid. He'll disappear with the child, forever retreating to the Demon realm to raise the kid alone.

YAN! PLAYER

Amor would be excited. He never thought he'll finally get a kid of his own after years and his past life. His parents spoiled him a lot, his guardian angels (gods) spoil him too. And this kid? A product of you and him?! Gods above! That's like, such a blessing! He'll be persistent in asking the nurses and midwives if the kid is there, if you're alright... OH god are you okay? All of these other people touching you... He feels the bile rising up to his mouth. But he knew these people are just doing their job, and then--

Post delivery Amor would be all over you. He'll kiss your face, your lips, your forehead, immediately buy you food you cannot have, and spoil you rotten as you recover. And his kid? Oh his kid is so cute! Look at them. So pretty and small... Is that his nose? Oh they got your eyes! His hair color and your hair texture... Oh they're the perfect mix!

This is one of the rare times were you are guaranteed on not dying... In the backstage, Amor shook the gods on putting so many blessings on your body to make sure your delivery will be safe and easy. That the child will be healthy. So, no deaths at all.

YAN! PARASITE

Acheron will be overly cautious one. He will have you deliver in your home, in his lab, where he transformed it to a delivery ward. He trained in birthing too, so he's as good as professional midwives too. He will be there for you, ensuring that the pregnancy will end well. Because honestly, technically speaking, this child is from this body of his and yours. Not your original body. So he's a bit conflicted.

Post-delivery Acheron is smug. He knew he could handle the delivery well. The baby is healthy, and he's planning on how to make the kid a parasite too. Which can earn your ire or approval, depending on what you want. But now, he's content, and actually loved this little kid, despite knowing the biological composition of the kid.

If you "died", Acheron will be filled with regret too. He wasn't skilled enough. He should've listened and admitted you to a hospital. He'll have to extract the parasite from your body and dump the body, and then find another body for you to inhabit. He'll have to nurse your parasite form to healthy levels first before letting you wriggle into a body. He will be a bit cold to the child though, but a bit more time with him will calm him down.

YAN! EMPEROR

Callisto will only have the best midwives. He'll be overbearing, making sure you WILL be alright. He will, for the first time, be religious and pass by the church to pray that your delivery will be safe. He will force himself in the delivery room. No matter what anyone says. He's the nervous type, biting his nail and barking orders if something even went wrong just a bit.

Post-delivery Callisto will be proud. He's not the type to freak out, he'll just feel the calm washing over him as he showers you with kisses, saying "you did so well", "thank you so much", "Take your time recovering", etc. The baby, he's more or less concerned since he knew the baby will be fine.

If you died though, he'll storm out of the palace, then to the church, and blasphemize the whole place. If he's the chosen one, then why did you die? Why did the love of his life slip past him? After hours of desecrating the church, he will be hell bent on revenge, making the church the enemy. His kid will be not loved, unfortunately. He will neglect them, only providing the bare minimum. Don't get him wrong, the kid will be the heir, but they have to prove himself.

YAN! COLLEGE STUDENT

Alpheus would be the type to be suddenly so overwhelmed with worry. Since he's never been one to feel, the sudden feeling of panic, dread, and worry settled in his stomach. He would probably lay down on the hospital floor, clutching his belly as he rocks back and forth. The nurses and midwives would have to fuss over him before you to the point that you're getting annoyed. He will have to be separated from you, or else he'll probably goes to shock when he hears your pained cries.

When you're done, he goes to your side, crawls beside you, and becomes a clingy mess. He'll apologize, kiss and nuzzle you. He can't believe he subjected you to such a painful ordeal. One child. Just one is enough. He can't have you (and himself) be in this situation again. But the baby is worth it.

When you die, Alpheus will for the first time, cry from grief. It's his first time experiencing something like this, that it overwhelms him. He CANNOT father your child. Unless some divine intervention happens and he'll be fine again. The child will go to his parents, and they'll hope that he'll recover, for the baby's sake and yours up in heaven.

YAN! DEEP SEA CREATURE

Viper's not a worrywart. Since you can't exactly go to the civilization to deliver your eggs safely in time, he would have to let you birth on what's akin to a nest. He'll be there with you, his hands all over your body as he whispers encouraging words to your ears. use his tail as a pillow, who cares. As long as you're comfortable and safe, everything will be fine.

Post-delivery will have Viper give one of his rare smiles. He massages you gently, telling you that you did great, feeding you food, and then fixing the clutch of eggs you birthed. He will have you asleep in no time to rest your weary body as he fusses over the eggs and making sure none of them are wrong.

If you actually died during the birthing process, there will be only two outcomes. If you came to him willingly and you weren't forced to love him, he would take care of the eggs diligently, not wanting to waste your life. If you didn't, let's just say a little cannibalism goes a long way with eggs. Viperfish caviar, anyone?

YAN! HUNTER

Orion will panic throughout your pregnancy. He really thought that he's gonna be the laidback type, knowing you'll be fine and whatnot. But noooo. Now he's here, pacing back and forth in the delivery room as he watches your face wince and cry from the pain. Oh, he almost can't take it anymore. He's begging you to get an epidural. He's really doing it. If you refused, he would shut up and look at you like a puppy kicked. But who cares about him rn? You're giving birth!

Post-delivery Orion will have him faint lol. He'll already wake up when you are cleaned up with the baby also cleaned up. He'll zoom past the nurses and midwives then go to you, where you held the baby up to your breasts to feed. He'll feel a much more overwhelming love in his heart, and he cries his heart out. If it's a clutch of eggs, he'll be starry eyed as he watched the eggs float in an egg incubator, eyes filled with adoration and gratefulness to you.

If you died, he'll be more or less in denial. No way, right? No way you just died like that after giving birth to your precious child/children. You just left them like that? You're so heartless. But deep down, he knew it wasn't your fault. And he goes home that day, eyes hollow, but filled with grief and love for your baby/ies.

YAN! KING

Soma would be pissy. Nobody should talk to him, or he'll blow his top off to them. You were giving birth! Can nobody understand that?! This is a crucial time that it needs his 101%, no, infinity percentage of his attention if that makes sense. He'll also break the rules and be inside the delivery room, letting you hold his hand and even break it. May it be from the pain or from you wanting to exact revenge. Who cares? He'll let you break it if it meant your comfort.

post-delivery Soma would be a lot calmer, and he'll immediately order the people to make you more comfortable, and treat you to make your recovery as fast as possible. Your kid will be given the best amenities, and made sure to have the best upbringing. Hell, he'll have the kid enrolled already and they only got birthed lol.

If you died, he'll be in a stormy mix of emotions. First, grief, second, denial, third, anger, and fourth, relief. Soma knew that what he did to you was wrong and not normal. He doesn't regret it at all. But now that you died when he himself did this to you... As he carries your baby in his arms, he somehow felt relief that you're gone from his clutches, and probably off to somewhere safer than by his side. He will take care of the baby, and he will slowly turn to normal.

YAN! GOD

Technically speaking, Liviticus can just spawn a kid. With the right genetic mix, etc. So it's up to you if you want to go with the nuances of pregnancy. He will be calm. Like, calm calm. It's almost unnerving how he smiles and leads you to an almost fantasy like ward (a forest) laid you down on the delivery bed (a comfortable circle mattress by the foot of a gigantic tree trunk) with helpers in tow (fantastical beasts), and guides you to a safe delivery. You weren't in pain, just a dull ache in your system as you push your child.

Post-delivery Liviticus will have him shower you with the most dazzling display of flowers and sprites dancing around you. The whole forest, and somehow the whole world feeling festive as they made this day a celebration, getting a divine message that the God's child is born. Everyone is ecstatic as they gave thanks to you, and worship you, and give blessings to you.

Again, unlikely to die. Considering your mortal body is dead, and now you're a goddess/god, you cannot die no matter what.

YAN! PROSECUTOR

Yuta was a nervous soon to be father, but he's more or less calm. He's following procedures to a tee, almost robot like. But in reality, he's on autopilot. He already panicked enough internally that he's robotic in your delivery day. You're already worried enough, why would he burden you with his whims and wiles too? He can't afford you getting your mind off of the baby at all. So, he's acting all calm and collected as he held your hand, wishing for everything to be over.

Post-birth Yuta will have him finally break down. At first, all of the personnel around him and you will be shocked as he slumps down to his knees. He doesn't even know why too. Until the tears fell, one by one and he's sobbing from relief. He'll thank you a thousand times, prostrate in front of you, and be spoiling you once you're good to eat. He's truly grateful.

If you die, Yuta will also fall to his knees and sob, but this time from grief as he lost his trusty partner, his true love. Why did he kill all of those people for? Just for you to die? He misses you a lot. He wants to hold you, kiss you again... But all for naught. Mysteriously, the people who helped you give birth died in random patterns. He'll also include others to put the suspicion off of him. But who cares right now? As he cradles your baby and watches the whole midwifery section burn and ensure that no mother dies from giving birth, he sighs, and wishes you were there with him.

[meraki-yao]

RWRB: A list of thoughts on the Campfire Scene

Ok I went to sleep for another hour to calm myself down and now I can form coherent thoughts about the scene and not just scream and squeal

It's a three-minute scene with two shots. The first shot is a little over two minutes

When Alex asks his question, Henry, who was looking into the fire, tilts his head towards Alex as if to listen better. After Alex finishes, Henry looks up towards the sky, like he's wondering how to answer

Alex doesn't really react to Henry's "Once upon a time" even though he's not directly answering Alex's question. He just listens, and that's such a beautiful thing

Nick deserves a round of applause for this scene, his monologue was two minutes long, and monologues are really hard to perform because it's just you who keeps talking, you don't really get to react to other things or people, it's just you, so Nick is a fantastic job

Nick's delivery and tone, and the way he sometimes ends a sentence a bit like a question (ex: "acutely") makes it sound like Henry's been thinking about this story/ metaphor for a while but this is the first time he ever verbalizes it, so while he knows what he wants to talk about thus he doesn't need to pause a lot to think of the story, he does occasionally need to think of the next word or line because again, he never actually said any of this out loud before, and Nick does that so well

@pippin-katz pointed out that Nick misspoke and said "sent the suit a prince of armour" which is hilarious, and while because movie, this shouldn't happen, realistically we all have moments where we mix words up so it almost feels more... authentic? Also, I didn't pick it up but now that Pippin mentioned it I'm really aware of it lmao

Also Henry/Nick's voice here is so soothing? I can almost imagine him telling bedtime stories to his and Alex's kids like this in the future. I wonder if Henry would write children's books because it feels like it'd be something he do and something he could write really well, if this clip is anything to go by. Plus I stumbled across an audio of Nick reading "The Emperor's New Clothes" before (I literally have no context of why he was reading that and it was literally just audio, not sure if I can find it anymore) and it was so soothing and calming that I fell asleep to it one night. Besides the full-cast RWRB audiobook that I'm practically demanding at this point, I wonder if he would be interested in doing more audiobook/narration stuff. He's really got the voice for it

The King sending a suit of armour to protect the prince's heart kind of further proves my point of the King being a much more loving grandparent to Henry than the queen in the book, and him worrying more about Henry himself than the image of the crown. He noticed that 1, Henry is an emotionally sensitive person, 2, Henry is gay, and both of those things could be turned against him easily, and he will get hurt. He does love Henry, just not in a way that's good for Henry. If we get a sequel I do hope we can see them reconcile in one way or another. It'd be a nice example for people in the same positions.

The "Nothing will ever happen to him" line!!!! I wrote a whole essay about Kensington and this line because somehow this line was one of the most powerful ones to me, but to know that it was originally Henry's word just adds another level of pain to the Kensington scene

You can see Henry's face light up when he starts talking about the peasant boy. And Alex's quick eyebrow raise and deep chuckle. It's so beautiful, I wanna cry

We talk about Alex's heart eyes, which, yes, but Henry's look of pure adoration and love at Alex when he says "Truly Alive" makes me want to melt

I yelled a little at Alex when he started to lay back down (as in I verbally shouted "DAMMIT ALEX LOOK AT YOUR MAN") because I felt like if Alex saw Henry's face in the following lines he'd figure out Henry has issues earlier? But then I saw a take saying the shot was framed like theatre where Henry's both centre stage and in the spotlight so the focus is on him, so Alex was designed to lay back down on the timber bench to make the entire space for Henry

Henry's look of sad longing when he talks about the peasant boy pulling apart his armor is heartbreaking

I wonder if this was originally planned to be the changing point from Alex's POV to Henry's POV? Because in that case I do think the lake scene worked better as a changing point

I also wonder how did Henry end the story in his head up to this point? Because as hopefully as the last line is, at this point in the story, Henry still doesn't believe he can keep this

I get why scenes are cut because when you're putting together a movie, there are a lot of things you don't see for individual scenes until you put them together. This is why as much as I want the cast and crew to get the premiere they deserve to have, I don't really want an extended cut of the movie, because things were cut for a good reason

That being said, if the cornetto scene and this scene proved anything, is that the scenes themselves are fascinating, and I WANT THEM ALL

[gyubaseone]

kim taerae. lovestruck

❛ i would do anything for you, always. ❜

pairing — kim taerae x f!reader

genre — fluff, just taerae being the best bf EVER

synopsis — taerae grew up with so much love surrounding him, he had to share that love somehow. of course, it had to be with his favorite human being.

warning — none! third person pov, lowercase intended, not proofread thoroughly.

word count — 1,126

notes — kind of went off from the request but i hope the anon who requested this enjoys still 😭 i was actually planning to do something similar so i mixed my idea with the request .. not really happy with it but 💧

★ ( please fill out this form to be on my taglist ) ❕

kim taerae was probably the kindest and sweetest soul that y/n has ever met. even after months of them being in a relationship, it seemed like nothing changed. he was still the charming dork that she fell for ; he was perfect in every way.

now imagine, if she thought that he was perfect then how would he feel? the answer is: he's absolutely smitten. since the moment they became a couple, he was always with her. even when he wasn't, he wanted to be with y/n or would be texting her about how much he wanted to be with her. taerae was so lovestruck.

every moment they spent together, all their date nights whether it was eating out or a movie night at his apartment — he was always his happiest when he was with y/n. there was nothing she could do wrong in his eyes.

taerae could literally stare into her eyes for days on end if nobody stopped him. his eyes were definitely heart-shaped whenever he looked at her with such fondness while smiling brightly.

growing up in a loved family, taerae had to be the best boyfriend anyone could ask for. he was definitely the best boyfriend y/n could have asked for. it's like he always knew what to say or do when he was with her.

whenever y/n was down, he was the first and only person she talked to ; taerae would be at her front door in a matter of 10 minutes. whenever y/n wanted to have a late night snack, he would sleep over at her apartment while they munched on the things he bought for them.

he just loved seeing her happy and he was the reason she was so happy. it's like taerae was her comfort place whenever she was sad or stressed about life. so when y/n suddenly shows up at his front door with a sullen look, of course, he had to take care of his favorite person.

taerae was heating up some leftovers in his kitchen when there was a subtle knock at his door followed by a louder one. "i'm coming, one second!" he yelled, putting his phone on the granite counter before walking over to the door.

once he opened it, taerae was met with y/n who embraced him immediately. he almost fell back due to the impact, not expecting his girlfriend to be over or to be hugged so quickly right after opening the door. nonetheless, his arms landed on her back as he regained balance.

"bad day, hm?" he inquired, only to be met with a nod as she still rested on his shoulde, "don't worry.. i know what'll make you feel better."

leftovers? they didn't exist anymore. taerae ended up putting them back into the fridge after settling y/n onto the couch and ordering food delivery for the two. maybe he could've taken her out to eat so that she could forget whatever was on her mind, but he knew her. she wouldn't want to go outside on a day she was sad.

"food will be here in 15 minutes," taerae informed, falling into the couch and laying down so his head would be on y/n's lap. he looked up, seeing her smile slightly just having him with her. "there's that smile that i love so much.." his hands ended up cupping her face, pinching her cheeks while she whined in protest. "wanna tell me what happened today?"

and so, y/n began ranting about how her boss had yelled at her for the whole morning even though she had done nothing wrong. "i just felt like breaking down in the bathroom by then but there were 3 hours left of my shift," she let out a sigh exasperated, "i'm so tired, taerae. i shouldn't be treated like this right?"

"you shouldn't, you don't deserve that," taerae agreed, changing into a sitting position to put his head on her shoulder. "i would hit your boss if it wasn't considered assault."

the two stayed in the same position the entire time they waited for the food, not doing anything but basking in each other's presence. it was nice ; peaceful. it was exactly what y/n needed after a day where she was constantly yelled at.

after finishing their food, taerae and y/n ended up in his bedroom to take a nap since they were stuffed from their meal. he was sitting down at the end of his bed, waiting for y/n to come back while passing time on his phone. but once she came back, he was in for a surprise.

y/n was wearing a different shirt, his shirt. in some way, taerae might've just fallen in love with her all over again. "is that my shirt?" he asked, a bright smile on his face as y/n walked closer to the bed and sat down beside him.

"yeah, i didn't want to sleep in my clothes.. they were too rough," y/n explained, looking over at taerae while fixing her hair, "is that okay?"

"okay? it's more than okay! maybe you should just keep the shirt, it looks better on you anyways," taerae placed his hands on her thigh slowly, patting her leg while he admired her.

"okay— well, let's go to bed! i'm tired," y/n looked away from taerae while pretending to yawn, feeling her cheeks burn up at his words.

the two got situated in taerae's bed, facing each other in silence. "did i do a good job at making you feel better?" taerae asked, running his hand through her hair.

"you did, just like always," y/n gave him a soft smile, nodding her head while she started becoming drowsy, "thank you for always being there for me."

"what can i say? i love seeing you happy," taerae smiled as he stared into her eyes, slightly tilting her chin while he suppressed a kiss onto her nose, "i would do anything for you, always."

before he knew it, y/n had leaned in for a kiss on his lips after he pulled away ; she could feel him smiling through their kiss. it started with small pecks, slowly progressing into a longer one before they parted and stared into each other's eyes for a moment. the moment was perfect.

taerae wrapped his arms around y/n's waist, pulling her closer to him as she rested her head on his chest ; nuzzling her head to be even closer if she could. but of course, taerae couldn't go to bed without peppering her forehead with more fluttery kisses ; making sure he didn't miss a spot. the two slowly drifted off into a slumber, holding each other close.

© gyubaseone — please refrain from copying, translating, reposting, or claiming my work as your own.

[heavenlyhoundoom]

Sun and Moon show incorrect quotes.

1.Eclipse: I’m totally useless. Moon: You’re not totally useless. Moon: You can be used as a bad example.

2.Ruin: Don't have a bookmark? Try ketchup instead!! Bloodmoon: What makes you think I read?

3.Lunar: I am very small and I have no money, so you can imagine the kind of stress that I'm under.

4.Ruin: Watcha doin? Bloodmoon: Stealing my neighbour’s cat. Ruin: Scandalous. Ruin: Can I help?

5.Bloodmoon: Who wants to make fifty bucks? Eclipse: How? Bloodmoon: I need someone to take the fall. Eclipse: What did you do? Bloodmoon: I can't tell you. Yes or no, no questions asked. Sun, from the other room: Oh my god. Bloodmoon: … Sun: OH MY GOD! Eclipse: Make it a hundred. Bloodmoon: Deal.

6.Earth: Do you know a turtles only weakness? Moon: No… well, their slowness. Earth: Their weaknesss is they can't roll over when they are on their backs. Earth: Now I have a plan. Earth: If I duct tape two turtles together, they'll be unstoppable.

7.Bloodmoon: You're a lying piece of shit! Eclipse: Oh yeah? You're the idiot that thinks you can get away with everything you do, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD! Earth: I'm leaving and I'm taking Lunar with me! Sun, gathering cards: Aaaaand that's enough Monopoly for today.

8.Ruin: I wanna sleep for 40 hours. Eclipse: You know that's called a coma, right? Ruin: Ruin: That sounds so refreshing, I could totally go for a light coma right now.

9.Eclipse: When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Eclipse lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the person who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

10.Moon: So, Bloodmoon and Ruin. Moon: According to this, you two are being accused of: Armed Robbery, Vandalism, Drug Abuse, Grand Theft Auto… Bloodmoon: We had a bad day. Moon: And… MURDER?! Ruin: It was a pretty bad day…

11.after the Squad has been separated for a few years Eclipse: So what have you been up to recently? Lunar: Leading a revolution with Earth. Eclipse: Good for you two! Me, I've joined the mob. Lunar: nods Oh, how cool! That's awesome! Eclipse: I know! Anyway, have you heard from the others? Ruin? Lunar: Happily living as a hermit in the woods. Moon? Eclipse: Wrongfully locked up in an asylum, which reminds me, we need to break him out later. Bloodmoon? Lunar: Cult leader. Eclipse: Yeah, that sounds about right.

12.The Squad is playing Chess Ruin: easily beats everyone because they know how to play Bloodmoon: doesn’t know the rules, but wins anyway Lunar: doesn’t know the rules, and loses Moon: knows the rules, but still loses to those who don’t Eclipse: Actually, you can’t do that, because I said so. Earth: They named a board game after cheese?

13.Eclispe: It’s illegal to look better than me. Bloodmoon: I guess we’re all going to jail then.

14.Ruin: When I get Doordash I order 20 Cheeseburgers at a time and heat them up throughout the week so that I don’t have to pay the delivery fee multiple times. Moon: I hope you understand how food poisoning works. Ruin: I hope food poisoning understands how I work. I never met a burger i couldn’t eat.

15.Eclipse: I’m telling you, my team is competent. Ruin, rushing in: Eclipse! Bloodmoon tried to make pasta in the coffee pot and now it's broken!

16.Ruin: I’ve only ever said ‘I love you’ to two people in my entire life: Bloodmoon and a guy in a dark club who I mistook for Bloodmoon.

17.Bloodmoon, after sneaking into Lunar’s bedroom: Hey, wake up! Lunar, half awake: Huh!? Bloodmoon: I just murdered your entire family! Lunar: …But I live alone. Bloodmoon: Huh? Then who are these people in your house??? Lunar: There’s people in my house? Bloodmoon: Well not anymore! Dumb bitch! You could’ve died! You’re welcome!

18.Sun: I want to be like a caterpillar. Lunar: Explain. Sun: Eat a lot, sleep for a while, wake up beautiful. Earth: You know they have a lifespan of a week, right? Sun: Sun: That's just another highlight!

19.Eclipse: I need some help with my homework, Earth. Earth: What’s the assignment? Eclipse: I’m supposed to write a paper that presents both sides of an issue and then defends one of the arguments. Earth: What’s your issue? Eclipse: That’s the problem. I can’t think of anything to argue. Earth: That’s hard to believe. Eclipse: I’m always right and everybody else is always wrong! What’s to argue about?!

20.Bloodmoon: Who else is hiding in the laundry room trying to listen to Eclipse and Lunar's convo? Moon: Me. I'm in the laundry basket. Earth: I'm in the washing machine. Sun: I'm in the closet. Moon: We accept you Sun. <3 Sun: No I'm literally in the closet. Moon: Love is love. <3

[karlachismylife]

character thing with the pookie Gale, please and thank you luv

Yay, finally got my hands on this one, thank you for asking! Don't talk much about him here either, but that doesn't mean I don't love him dearly ^^

Here's Gale of Waterdeep, the autistic wizard that somehow has captured hearts of all lesbians I know. I'll get to the bottom of it one day, I swear.

favorite thing about them

Easy, it's Tara :D On the serious note, though, I think it's his sense of humour. I swear, I wanted to dislike him, but he's fucking hilarious, smart, snarky, sarcastic and sometimes so cleverly subtle. It is so easy to fall in love with peopl that make you laugh, and boy does Gale make me laugh a lot. I do think that it's his smarts and knowledge showing themselves through other means than just magic mastery and trivia knowledge. It takes brains to be that kind of funny. Also this makes him so human, how could that man ever think he can detach himself to the point of godhood?

least favorite thing about them

He seems to have a hard time of letting go of toxic things, and I'm not just talking about Mystra, but also his ambitions that showed several times that they don't always bring him the best. It's just frustrating to watch when you see such a smart person be so stupidly stubborn.

favorite line

"Stop licking the damn thing!"

He's got many great lines, but the delivery of this one is just. Impeccable.

brOTP

Gale x Karlach. They sure do roast each other, but perhaps the overall lack of sass and also her cinnamon roll friendliness help Gale showcase he isn't an unbearable ass all the time. Also I just always love a dynamic of two characters with some vivid gaps in erudition and knowledge (don't wanna say "intelligence", because they both are adorably dumb sometimes, but yeah). The book smarts VS street smarts, you know? I think they take great care of each other as friends.

OTP

Gale x Lae'zel. Hands down. They are so fucking different (apart from the fact that they're both potentially autistic, lol), and no one can understand how the fuck they ended up together, and that's the best part. Hell, even they do not understand. Even putting my absolute favourite "a strong woman that hides her cheering supportuve man behind her back as she slices through 200 enemies" dynamic aside, they have a lot to bond over (you know. awful exes. seeking your own path after leaving them.), plus a lot to learn from each other. She never stops being an exciting wonder and a source of strength to him, he never ceases to inspire her curiousity and appreciation for things outside her warrior path. And they're the weirdest, embarassing, most accepting parents ever. Their kiddo's gonna be teased, but will deliver the nastiest verbal and physical burns. They're so proud of their child.

Gale wants at least two more.

Also Lae'zel would think it's hot that he likes her musk :D

nOTP

Yada yada, I reject the concept of nOTPs, but toxic stuff upsets me, so Gale x Mystra and such won't do.

random headcanon

He has easily irritable skin, prone to rashes and acne, and sometimes forgets to take care of himself and suffers from that ouchie itching for days. Tara usually reminds him to use them herbal remedies and do some clay face masks twice a week :3 His hair, on the other hand, stays model perfect in any circumstances. Maybe there's some magic sprinkled in, hm...

unpopular opinion

Man, I don't even know... I guess it's not as much an opinion, but even despite the fact that he grew on me so fast and strong, he's still among my least preferred to romance companions? He's just a little too frustrating for me to be able to stay with him constantly, and the fact that he's monogamous and pretty clingy in general just is not the most attractive to me. So like. My unpopular opinion is that he's not that hot. I guess.

song i associate with them

Queen's "Princes of the Universe". I think it's between the whole universe/weave/stars imagery and Gale's clear ambition to be a god (which is kinda being a prince/king/ruler of the universe, right?). Also zap zap lightning bolts (in Highlander, I mean).

favorite picture of them

Hm. That's a tough one. He does look real good almost all the time. I guess I'll take the one scene where he first shares about the orb, it glows so beautiful... poor baby.

Thank you for asking about him :3 He's a good guy, I know that. He just needs to know that too.

[rhythmic-idealist]

The shorter (better) version of this post that contains every detail ever— Some of you know my partner @crimeronan.

(This is the part where I gush about my partner. You can skip down a few paragraphs if you wanna.)

If you do know—or know of—Kitkat, you might know them as a resource, or as a writer, or as that person who has been known to sit down and write six paragraphs of advice to the scared young person in their inbox.

Watching their blog I see people trading autoimmune stories, younger queer and polyamorous people asking questions about what it's like to be in your mid twenties and settled into those things, and people who found stories who resonated in ways stories don't always succeed at.

Or maybe not! That’s my platonic partner of four years. Happy to introduce u.

(This is the part you can skip forward to.)

If you ARE aware of Kitkat, you might know a little about their running 2+ year health mystery, and about the recent updates that it is FINALLY starting to be solved. Kitkat has been too sick to work consistently for a very long time, has lost multiple freelance writing clients to ChatGPT, and has been doing physical gig delivery work to try to make up the gap—while remaining too sick to work a majority of the time.

This post exists because their car broke down.

To say the money situation is already tight would be, though I’m sorry to put it like this, understated. Basically: because of this auto repair bill, they’re not going to be able to make rent.

A little info about what we're doing moving forward: I'm gonna be moving in next month, finding a job that will train me instead of the original plan of finishing trade school first (I'm happy about this turn of events for many reasons! Just explaining where I fit in the whole financial constellation). And at that point, I'm gonna be helping with bills, since Kitkat's entire focus right now should be on getting well again. I expect we as a group will probably be okay once I’m in Oregon and more established/able to help out with the household income.

The problem is just that things aren’t there yet, and this isn't money we're going to be able to make back later. Kitkat has been too sick to work consistently for much too long, and that's just untenable without looking for community support right now.

Kitkat has limited mobility and is going to need to get to upcoming appointments, and speaking honestly, also just really needs access to a car to make things like groceries feasible. She’s not the only one in the apartment with limited mobility or chronic pain.

The bill has come out to $717.80.

As of now, rent money has been used to pay it—the car has been repaired now, but that money was for rent and daily expenses. There is already financial assistance in play, particularly Medicaid. As it stands, because of this bill, they're not going to make rent.

To account for GoFundMe's fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, the goal has been set to $750.

If you’re in any way able to give, the link is here: https://gofund.me/c0f9d7fe

Otherwise, a share goes a really long way.

Thank you a ton for reading this far. Please know: this post is an appeal to those among us who have disposable income and are looking to donate some of it. Take care.

Thank you.

$1,478/750

Date posted: July 27th, 2023 Updated: August 10th, 2023 because I noticed donations are still trickling in wah??????? 🥹😭

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 9: Birthday Girl Down

~Henry's house~

Henry, Charlotte, Jasper and one of their other friends from school were all sat on Henry's couch, studying the periodic table.

"Okay..." Charlotte showed her PearPad to Jasper, which had a 'B' symbol on it.

"Boron, okay....atomic number five, category metalloid." He recalled, feeling proud that his chemistry revision was finally sinking in.

"Doesn't your grandfather have metalloids?" Henry looked at Charlotte, thinking that it was a disease.

"Yeah, he can't sit down." She replied without looking up from her tablet. This time, it was Jasper's turn to test Henry, showing him a 'Cd' symbol.

"Canadium, a person from Canada...mium. Personality, Canadian-ish." He guessed incorrectly.

"It's cadmium. Atomic number 48. Category, transition metal." Charlotte answered for him, being right, of course, because it was Charlotte.

"Ohhhh, and once again Charlotte gets the answer right." They all started to clap sarcastically, laughing with each other.

"Yeah..too bad I don't know the atomic number for idiot boys." She sassed, not letting them get her down. They all shouted again at her burn, as she put her PearPad back in her bag.

"So, hey, what are we all doing Saturday night?" Henry asked his friends. They all looked around awkwardly, giving him the suspicion that they knew something he didn't.

"You guys wanna play miniature golf?" He asked enthusiastically.

"No." Was the answer he got from all of them.

"You wanna play enormous golf?" He said as a joke, but they still gave no answer.

"Hello?" He looked at them, wondering why they were so quiet.

"He's gonna find out." Charlotte sighed to Jasper.

"Well, I'm not telling him." He told her, putting his hands in the air.

"What? Come on, no secrets. Flashback?" Henry was eager to know what was going on, so he looked to the boy sat quietly on the end of the sofa.

"Why you asking me? This is the first time I've even been invited to your house." He said as an excuse.

"Ugh, alright." Charlotte gave in when Henry looked at her, so she returned to her seat next to him.

"Henry... We're all going to Debbie Putch's birthday party." She revealed to the blond boy, making him look around in confusion, only to see them nod in confirmation.

"But... I didn't get an invitation." He said, making them feel awkward.

"Is that a big surprise?" Jasper asked his best friend, who looked back at him, offended.

"You know why," Flashback added. Henry got up from his seat in frustration.

"It's not fair!" He said to his friends.

"You almost killed her." Jasper reminded him.

"No, I didn't." Henry insisted as the doorbell rang.

"Who's here?" Flashback asked.

"Our food," Henry told him in an annoyed tone and he went to see the delivery guy.

"Sushi Dushi!" The man said in a cheery voice, holding out a large platter of sushi to Henry.

"Here's my mom's credit card." He gave the piece of plastic to the guy and accepted the food from him. 

"Don't be mad." Charlotte tried to calm him down, as he brought it over to the coffee table.

"I am mad." He snapped back.

"Well, you can't blame Debbie," Jasper told him.

"I blame Debbie. I blame her parents and I blame anyone else who thinks it was my fault." Henry exclaimed in anger.

"Hey." The sushi guy interrupted.

"Yeah?" 

"What are you so ticked off about?" The dude asked.

"Why do you wanna know?" They all looked at him with weirded-out expressions.

"Hey man, just because I deliver sushi, doesn't mean I don't have curiosities." The man whined back.

"Tell him what happened." Charlotte looked to her friend.

"No, I've already told the story, like, a thousand times." Henry didn't want to remember that unfortunate night.

"Flashback? Tell the guy how Henry almost killed Debbie." Jasper asked the boy on his right.

'All right. It all went down at Debbie's last birthday party. And it almost was her last." He smirked and leaned forward, making the delivery man sit down in amazement.

"Tell me more."

"Okay, try to visualise this. Debbie was turning 13 years old, and she was getting everything ready for her party, way up on the roof of her parent's condo." 

~Flashback~

"It looked like it was going to be the best birthday party ever."

"Mom, this is going to be the best birthday party ever," Debbie said to her mom in excitement.

"It will be if we get everything ready." Her mom put her hands on her daughter's arms.

"Excuse me, I'd like to get some pics of the kids helping me set up?" She said, grabbing the party photographer, who quickly started taking photos of everyone on the roof.

"Okay, all the balloons have been blown up. What else can we do?" Charlotte came over to her and reported how everything was going.

"Uh... let's see. Oooh, why don't you and the boys check out the ball machine and make sure it works?" She suggested, pointing at the machine by the doors.

"Sure. You guys, let's make sure this ball thing works!" Charlotte yelled to Jasper and Oliver Pook. They grabbed a bat and Charlotte put a ball into the tube.

"Set the ball speed nice and slow. Level two." Jasper told her, not wanting the ball to injure someone. The machine fired, but Oliver didn't even swing. Sydney clapped excitedly though.

"Anyone see where it went?" Oliver said. Jasper ran over to the edge of the roof snd saw the ball hit a car, which then hit another car.

"You hit that Prius!" He yelled in horror, watching the accident unfold. The door opened and in came Henry, dragging a whiny Piper behind him.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." He greeted the rooftop.

"I wanna go to the Pear store!" Piper screamed at her brother, who turned to Debbie.

"Later. This is my little sister, Piper." He introduced them.

"Oh, hi, Piper." The teen girl smiled at her, but Piper just pulled a face at her.

"Sorry I brought her, but I had to babysit tonight." He explained to Debbie.

"Like I wanna be here?" His sister retorted at him. 

"Aw, I'm sure you'll have a--" Debbie's mom was interrupted as Piper shoved her phone into her face.

"Look at my phone!" 

"The screen's broken." Debbie immediately noticed.

"No kidding, girl." Piper said sarcastically.

"Hey Debbie, want to come hit a ball?" Jasper butted in and the birthday girl happily accepted. Mrs Putch called Charlotte to help her with the gift bags, leaving Henry with his sister.

"Henry, go work the ball machine," Charlotte told him.

"Okay, I'm just going to grab a chip." Henry agreed as Piper struggled with her phone.

"I can't read my stupid screen!" She yelled, flicking the cracked screen and squinting at it.

"Okay, get ready, birthday girl." Jasper smiled at Debbie, who was preparing to swing the bat in her hand.

"Do it, Henry." The curly-haired boy called to his friend, who ran back to the ball machine.

"All right, here it comes!" He pressed the button and the ball flew it at lightning speed.

"And that's when things went real bad for Debbie." The ball hit Debbie square in her chest, forcing her backwards and over the edge of the roof. Screaming on the way down, she landed on a dog, as her friends and mother ran to the ledge. They looked down and saw Debbie groaning in pain, a dog walker looking up at them in horror and confusion.

"Stop taking pictures and call 9-1-1!" Mrs Putch yelled at the photography, who quickly ran off. She looked at Henry.

"How did this happen?" She asked him in a shrill voice.

"Henry made the ball go at like, 90 miles an hour." Jasper pointed at the ball machine.

"What...me?" Henry looked flabbergasted at the accusations.

"Henry, you set the ball speed to 11." The distraught mother said to him after checking the machine.

"No, I didn't!" The blond boy insisted.

"Henry, why would you do that?" Oliver Pook blamed him.

"Charlotte?" Henry looked to his friend for support.

"I set it to two." She explained, which didn't help Henry's case.

"And you were the only one standing near the machine," Sydney added. 

"But I..." Henry stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"Security!" Debbie's mother called the guards, wanting the teen gone.

"I didn't do anything!" Was all Henry could protest, as two men came and dragged him out of the building, kicking and screaming.

~End of flashback~

"And then ol' Henry got kicked out of the party before it ever got started." Flashback finished the story for the Sushi Dushi guy, who had now sat down at the coffee table and was eating with the kids.

"'Cause Henry's the one who set the ball machine to 11. Amen." Flashback looked back down to his sushi, as Henry protested.

"It wasn't me." He tried to tell them.

"He says it was you." The delivery man said.

"Are you meant to be eating our sushi?" Henry looked at him confused.

"No, I'm not supposed to be." The dude just shrugged with his mouth full.

"Henry, you might feel better if you just admit that you did it," Jasper said to the boy on his left. Henry grabbed his chopsticks and snapped them in half with a scowl on his face.

"You guys see the rage in this kid?" Jasper said to the group.

"Where I come from, a man who knocks a pretty girl off a roof, on her birthday, is no man." The sushi man said, which made Henry feel even worse.

"Will you tell these guys that I didn't set the machine to 11?" He tried to get Charlotte on his side.

"I can't." She told him.

"Why not?"

"'Cause, you did it." Charlotte looked at the sushi guy, so Henry broke her chopsticks too.

~The Man Cave~

Henry stumbled from the elevator, seeing Ray at the back of the Man Cave and (y/n) sat on the couch. 

"Hey, you called me?" The boy looked at his boss.

"Yeah, check out what's in that bin." Ray pointed to a black box on top of a table near the elevator.

"Okay." Henry opened the lid and saw that the box was full of underwear, shirts, pants, but mainly underwear. 

"What is..." Henry looked at him in disgust, as (y/n) looked over from where she was sat.

"I want you to do my laundry." The man said in a pleasant voice, making Henry immediately drop the underwear back in the bin. Okay, he was gonna have to bleach his fingers after this. 

"Ew, no!" 

"Raymond! Why would you do that to him?" (y/n) threw her head back in annoyance. Suddenly, a beeping noise went off, only Henry had never heard it before.

"What does that sound mean?" The boy asked his boss.

"That we have a delivery," Ray told him, as a pizza box came down the tube.

"Huh." Ray went to pick up the food, as (y/n) came over, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Did you order a pizza?" She asked Henry, knowing that Ray hadn't as they had been together all morning and she'd had rather a heavy lunch so the fact that they now had unknown food deliveries was odd. 

"No." Henry denied. Opening the box, Ray smiled at the two and started to read the note written on the box.

"Hey, get this. "Dear Captain Man, our daughter, Debbie, is having her birthday party Saturday night."" Henry groaned at the mention of the party, feeling like it was following him everywhere he went. 

"Oh no, Debbie?" He complained, groaning at the thought of the girl and how she and her parents hated his guts. 

"Shhh. "We're inviting some of Debbie's favourite celebrities, including you and Miss Swellview." Ohhhh, she's so hot." Ray squealed looking at his friends, but he failed to see how dejected (y/n) looked at the mention of the beauty queen. The thought of Ray spending an entire evening with the beautiful woman made her feel small and inferior, like she was at the bottom of the pile, the last person he'd ever want to go out with since he had models and pageant wives throwing themselves at his feet. 

"Will you please stop reading the box?" Henry asked him, not wanting to hear more about Debbie, or see the woman next to him sad.

"No. So, if you'll agree to come to Debbie's party, you may cash the enclosed check for twelve thousand dollars. Whoa, look at this check!" He said holding it out, but (y/n) was too upset to care about the injection of cash into their bank account, so she didn't share his happiness nor did she give the cheque much attention. 

"It has pizza grease on it." She said in a monotone voice.

"I know." Ray smiled back, not realising she was in a bad mood.

"Fine, go to her party with every other kid in my class except me," Henry whined.

"Why aren't you invited?" (y/n) put her hand on his shoulder.

"'Cause I was at Debbie's birthday party last year and everyone thinks I shot her in the face with a rubber ball and knocked her off the roof. Onto a dog." He explained and the young woman looked at him with sympathy whilst Ray munched on a pizza slice.

"Oh, yeah. I remember hearing about that on the news. You did that?" Ray asked him, his best friend frowning at how happy he seemed.

"No! Everyone just thinks it was me." He insisted on his innocence.

"Henry, it's just me, (y/n) and you here." Ray walked towards the kid.

"So?" The boy asked confused.

"Why'd you shoot Debbie in the face?" Ray wanted to know, putting the pizza in his mouth. (y/n) and Henry groaned together.

"I didn't. Man, even you don't believe me." Henry couldn't believe that his boss didn't think he was telling the truth, the guy counted on him in life or death situations.

"I believe you." (y/n) told him, which made him feel slightly better.

"Do you want me to believe you?" Ray asked the boy.

"Yeah," Henry replied.

"Can I feel your head with my truth fingers?" The man questioned him.

"Sure you can-- feel my what with your what?" The teen looked extremely weirded out.

"Does this mean I have to go in the back and get everything ready?" (y/n) looked at Ray in annoyance.

"Yeah." He smiled at her, but she just glared back. He was really ticking her off today.

~

Having set the machine up, (y/n) motioned for Henry to sit down in the red spongy chair, as Ray pulled on the special gloves.

"Is this gonna be weird?" Henry asked as the woman pressed a few settings on the screen.

"No," Ray said from behind him.

"Yes, it is." (y/n) deadpanned.

"No, it's not," Ray said in an unusually stern tone, at which (y/n) tutted. Henry could feel the tension between them, and it wasn't comfortable to sit in-between.

"Okay." Ray lifted up his gloved hands, the fingertips covered in glowing censors. He moved past (y/n) without a word.

"Now, I'm going to rub my finger nodules all over your head and face," Ray said, as the woman did some final checks.

"So, what would be weird to you?" She said with an irritated voice, but the man just ignored her. Henry decided that he hated it when they fought. He wanted them to go back to their silly, oblivious selves who were hopelessly in love with each other, even if they'd never admit it to themselves, let alone each other.

"See, these blinky things read human brainwaves, like a lie detector but way more sophisticated," Ray explained how it worked to Henry.

"Whatever, just do it." Henry settled back into his chair, ready for the test to begin.

"All right, we're ready." (y/n) pressed the go button and Ray placed his hands on Henry's head, rubbing them over his scalp.

"Think about Debbie's birthday party," Ray said, working his fingers on the boy's head.

"Debbie's birthday party," Henry repeated slowly, his brainwaves picking up on the machine.

"One year ago." Ray carried on.

"One year ago," Henry repeated.

"When a ball knocked her off the roof." (y/n) scanned his results, and so far everything was normal.

"His heart rate is spiking." She reported.

"Off the roof." 

"Because you changed the ball speed from 2 to 11." Ray looked at his friend's back. He hated it when they weren't on good terms, even though he didn't know why she was so upset.

"No, I did not," Henry said truthfully. 

"Why do you tell lies?" Ray rubbed his hands faster over the teen's hair.

"I don't tell lies." Henry insisted.

"Brainwaves say he's telling the truth." (y/n) said over her shoulder.

"Do you feel pretty when you tell lies?" Ray asked him, and the woman furrowed her eyebrows at his odd question, but she remained quiet.

"You said this wouldn't get weird." Henry's humour wasn't prohibited by the machine, and Ray quickly ended the test, leaning over (y/n)'s shoulder to see the results.

"I believe you." He said to Henry.

"Really?" The boy asked with a joyful voice.

"Yeah." His boss smiled.

"Told you he was telling the truth." (y/n) piped up, but Ray still wasn't talking to her. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of her sharp tongue, so he thought it would be best to just say nothing.

"But that doesn't mean everyone will." Ray continued.

"So you felt my face for nothing," Henry complained.

"No. Now, we're going to find out the truth." (y/n) said, walking over to them after turning off the machine.

"But you both know already that I didn't do it," Henry replied.

"Yeah, but to know the full truth we've got to find out who did do it. That's the key slice of truth we need to complete the entire truth pie." Ray said, looking thoughtful.

"Ooooh, can we get some actual pie?" Henry asked, smiling up at his boss.

"I like the way you think about pie." Ray pointed a finger at him, as (y/n) felt her annoyance building again. Man, she was having just one of those days.

"Focus." She slapped both of them on the shoulder, bringing them back onto the problem at hand.

"So, how do we find out who really did change the ball speed from 2 to 11?" Henry looked at them both, the adults thinking over the situation.

"Easy. We're gonna dress up like foreign filmmakers and interview everyone on that roof when Debbie's face got smacked by the ball."

"And then we eat pie," Henry commented.

And then we eat pie." Ray nodded with him.

"Wow, Holmes, how do you come up with these brilliant plans?" (y/n) said in passing, as she walked away from the two and went through the sprocket, needing the comfort of her bed.

"What's up with her?" Ray looked at Henry with a perplexed face.

"Dude, you're so stupid." Henry just looked at him in disbelief.

~The next day, Swellview high~

Henry and Ray had donned ridiculous disguises. Wearing dark hats and tinted glasses, they had taken to speaking in strange, German accents. Charlotte looked at them with a bored expression.

"And vhere vere you vhen Debbie flew off zhe roof-us? Ray asked her.

"Yah, vhere vere you?" Henry repeated, his accent not as good but the effort was there. 

"VHERE?" Ray shouted through his megaphone.

"I know it's you, guys" She sighed at them, seeing through their pathetic costumes.

"Vhat guys?" Henry asked her.

"Ve are German filmmakers." Ray tried to say, but it didn't convince her.

"Yah, ve German." Henry nodded with his boss.

"Ve like veiner schnitzel." The man spoke.

"We also like to say veiner schnitzel." Henry joked.

"Veiner schnitzel." Ray let the words roll off his tongue.

"Yah, veiner schnitzel." Henry loved that phrase.

"I know, you're Henry and Ray. P.S, your accents are terrible. Does (y/n) know you're doing this?" She asked the two. 

"They're fighting, will you just answer our questions?" Henry took off his glasses, as Ray's stomach dropped at the mention of (y/n). She hadn't spoken to him last night when he got back from his crime fighting, and he was missing the familiarity of his best friend.

"We have a lot of these interviews to do." He snapped.

"Go ahead." Charlotte felt the need to drop the subject of the young woman, sensing it was a touchy subject.

~Back to the Man Cave~

"Okay, vhere vere you vhen Debbie flew off zhe roof-us?" Ray interviewed her.

"Well, Henry and Ray..." Charlotte's interview was one of several on the monitors inside the Man Cave.

"I was helping Debbie's mom with the gift bags, I was nowhere near the ball machine." Her voice came through the speakers.

"Do you think ve can believe her?" Ray said to Henry, using his German accent.

"Dude, it's just us and (y/n) here. You can drop the accent." Henry smiled at him, and the woman looked at the boy when she heard her name. 

"Geez, ma, why you always got to pee in my skeezits?" Ray whined at him, making (y/n) smile behind his back. She'd calmed down in the time they had been to the school and come back, but Ray still seemed to be on edge around her. She just needed the right time to apologise.

"I'm trying to prove I'm innocent." Henry reminded him.

"All right. Play the section from video four again." Ray replied, getting ready to write ideas down.

"Vhere vere you vhen Debbie vas knocked off the roof?" German Ray said onscreen to Jasper.

"Yah, vere youuuu?" Jasper looked at them weirdly but answered the question anyway.

"I was on the roof." He stated.

"Achtung!"

"Gesundheit!" The superhero duo exclaimed in frustration. 

"Video three," Ray said to Henry, having seen enough of Jasper.

"Yeah, I've always like Debbie. Except for one time in fourth grade, she told on a teacher that me and Sydney were eating bugs. That made me feel hatred." Ray and (y/n) screwed their faces up in disgust, as the older man wrote down a few notes about Oliver Pook.

"Okay, first, I only chewed the bugs. I did not swallow. And anyway, Henry's the one who changed the ball speed." Sydney Birnbaum said, following up on what Oliver said.

"No, I didn't!" The teen piped up, shouting at his classmate onscreen.

"Video six." (y/n) made him move on before he could get any angrier.

"NO, I DIDN'T CHANGE THE STUPID BALL SPEED!" Piper yelled at the camera, making the woman wince. Taking the pen off of Ray, she noted down 'Brat' under Piper's name, making him smile. Finally, things were beginning to calm down between them.

"Get out of my face!" Piper slammed the door, so Henry swiped to the next clip.

"Look, I felt really bad when Debbie fell off the roof, even though she used to make fun of my bucket collection. I'm a bucketeer!" Jasper flashed his badge at the camera, and Ray made sure to write 'bucket' on the board.

"Okay, I guess I felt a little bit jealous when Debbie won the spelling bee last year. But I'm over it. That should have been my trophy!" Charlotte revealed her anger to the camera.

"Is that vhy you changed zhe ball speed?" Ray quizzed the screen back on Oliver.

"I wanna talk to a lawyer." He said in his usual flat tone.

"Video 15," Ray called out.

"I... I know nothing about any of this. Can someone get my manager, please? I don't think these guys are even German." Some mystery guy called Nathan stuttered as he came on screen.

"Hey, he's cute." (y/n) smiled at the screen, checking the guy out. Ray angrily wrote an exclamation mark on the board, not liking how (y/n) looked at him.

"Oh please, he's a foetus." Ray scoffed, but Henry quickly switched off the screen. Ray realised what time it was and quickly came up with a lie that would allow him to leave. 

"So I'm going to... I got to go buy some socks." Ray checked his watch, trying to sneak off to the party.

"Socks? Right now?" (y/n) asked him, she wanted to make up with him and she couldn't do that if he was buying socks. 

"Yeah, it's an emergency." Ray slowly started walking backwards.

"But we still haven't figured out who made Debbie fly off the roof." Henry pointed out, not understanding why Ray wanted to leave so urgently.

"But, hey! You still got that thumb drive with all the pics from the party. Check those for evidence." Ray hoped that would make him feel better, but it didn't.

"Are you going to the party?" (y/n) questioned him, putting the pieces together when she remembered that it was Saturday evening.

"No, check the pics." Ray laughed off her question.

"Okay." She and Henry didn't sound too convinced, but they started to flick through the photos. Whilst they were preoccupied, Ray took his gum tube out and popped a gumball. Putting it into his mouth, he began to blow and then sneaked towards the tube once he had transformed.

"HEY!" (y/n) shouted at him as she turned around, knowing the only time he was quiet was when he was up to no good.

"I knew it. I knew you were going to Debbie's party." Henry yelled at him too, and they stalked towards Ray.

"Miss Swellview's gonna be there!" Ray wailed. He wanted to be around other girls, so he could take his mind off how (y/n) would never go out with a guy like him. The friendzone was where he lived and he hated it, so he might as well knock on other doors. 

"You better not go! Think of Henry's feelings." (y/n) warned him with a pointed finger, still hating the idea of him being all over the beauty queen.

"Okay, I won't go," Ray mumbled and shuffled his feet.

"Good." Henry dragged (y/n) back to the computer by her wrist. With their backs turned again, Ray stepped back into place and hit his belt, causing the tube to come down.

"Up the tube." He whispered as the two looked at him again in horror.

"RAYMOND!" (y/n) shouted after him, but it was no use.

"Hey! Where I come from, a man who lies about socks is no man!" Henry yelled too, but he just let out a sigh when he knew that Ray was long gone.

"He really pisses me off sometimes." (y/n) grumbled under her breath, as she and Henry plodded back to the computer.

"I suppose we should check the pics." He said to her in a bored tone and plopped down into the computer chair. He scrolled through the photos, most of them just selfies, but then something caught (y/n)'s eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait! Go back to that last one!" She said, and Henry flicked backwards, not seeing what she saw.

"What?" He asked with his eyes squinted.

"Look, those two pictures. See something peculiar?" She smirked down at him and pointed at the screen. Henry's eye's widened in realisation and he smiled up at her.

"Oh my god, we got to get to that party." He said, swiftly getting up from his chair.

"We?" The young woman's eyebrows rose.

"Yeah, you gotta talk to Ray. Straighten things out." He said as he downloaded the photos to his phone.

"Like he'll be able to hear me over Miss Swellview's giggling." She said bitterly.

"You're his best friend, he'll listen to you." Henry insisted, and they walked to the tubes.

"He irritates the hell outta me." She told him as the tubes fell down.

"You love him," Henry smirked at her.

"Shut up!" (y/n) blushed and tried to deny it, but Henry just gave her a coy grin.

"Up the tube!" They shot upwards, with the hope that they could prove Henry's innocence and patch up a friendship.

~Debbie's party~

The party was buzzing, as Ray posed for photos with all the kids. There was a trampoline at the back of the floor, with Jasper and Charlotte bouncing on it. It was a dangerous spot to leave it, so close to the edge, but no one seemed to care.

"Excuse me, Captain Man?" Mr and Mrs Putch walked up to the superhero.

"Yes, hello, citizens." He greeted them.

"We're Debbie's parents." Mr Putch introduced them.

"And this is Debbie, our birthday girl. She's so excited that you're here." The young girl rushed over, excited to meet her idol.

"Well, it's great to meet you, Debbie, and your wealthy parents." Ray smiled, knowing that his appearance tonight meant that he was in line for $12,000.

"Oh, don't you remember? You and I...We met a long time ago." The blonde lady smirked at him, her husband frowning at the new knowledge.

"We did?" Ray had flirted and gone out with so many women in his 33 years of living, he wasn't sure which one Debbie's mom was.

"What?" Mr Putch looked at his wife with a frown, the information apparently being a surprise to him.

"Yeah, remember the Swellview rodeo? I was a waitress and after the rodeo, you invited me back to--" Her story made the memory click together in Ray's mind.

"Ohhhh, yes. It's so great to see you again, here with your husband." The superhero felt awkward, but suddenly, everyone's eyes were on Henry and (y/n) as they came through the door. Ray's smile fell when he saw the two asking the DJ for the mic. He recalled how he left them in the Man Cave to come party, and how distraught the girl's face was as he went up the tube.

Henry snatched the mic from the DJ's hand, after (y/n) gave him some very select words.

"Hey! Everyone! Over here! Hello?" The teen called out to the crowd, and everyone looked at the two colleagues. For once in her life, (y/n) didn't feel nervous in front of the crowd. She knew she and Henry were in the right, and they were in the wrong.

"That's Henry Hart."

"Why is he here? And who's that girl?" Debbie and her mother objected.

"What happened with you and Captain Man after the rodeo?" Mr Putch asked his wife, wanting to know just how far they'd gone.

"Okay, I know everyone's freaked out to see me here 'cause of what happened last year." Henry started off.

"Sing Wrecking Ball!" Oliver Pook shouted at him, and (y/n) looked at him with a weirded-out face.

"No, we're not here to sing." (y/n) told him, pulling the microphone in Henry's hands to her lips.

"Yeah, we're here 'cause you all think I did something that I didn't do." The boy carried on from her.

"You were the only one standing by the ball machine!" Debbie yelled at him, and the people around her vocally agreed her.

"Hey, Henry! You got to try some of these meatballs!" Jasper said to him through a mouthful of food.

"Look, I get why you all thought I was the one who turned up the ball speed, but maybe it wasn't me. Maybe it was someone else. Like Charlotte." The crowd gasp at the accusation.

"She was always jealous ever since Debbie beat her in the Swellview spelling bee." (y/n) told them.

"Well, you all know that trophy should've been mine." Charlotte hissed to the crowd.

"Or, it could've been Jasper." Henry pointed to the boy who was still preoccupied with the meatballs.

"Who's never forgotten that Debbie used to mock his buckets." (y/n) decided she was the one who got to spill the tea.

"Never forget," Jasper said to Debbie as he ate another ball.

"Or maybe, it could've been Piper." Henry wasn't beneath accusing his own sister.

"Hey, I didn't even want to come to this party last year. Or this year. What am I doing here?" The little girl complained.

"Or maybe, it was Sydney or Oliver." The boys looked petrified at the allegation.

"They got detention after Debbie told the teacher that they were eating bugs." (y/n) looked to the crowd, who then stared at the gross boys.

"The point is, we know who really changed the ball speed and knocked Debbie off the roof. And we have proof!" The two smiled at the crowd and gave each other a high five when the crowd burst into a gossiping chatter.

"Then show us!" Debbie snapped.

"We will, girl, chill!" (y/n) growled back, not liking how bratty the birthday was being.

"But first, we're gonna go get ourselves a meatball. We'll be back after a short break. And then, everybody's going to know the truth!" Henry shouted into the mic, wanting to keep them all in suspense.

"Sing Call Me Maybe, lady!" Oliver yelled to (y/n).

"I'M NOT SINGING!" She screamed, making Henry grabbed her wrist and drag her to the snack table. Stuffing a few meatballs in his mouth, he looked up at the young woman and wondering why she wasn't eating. Following her eyes across the busy floor, he saw Ray talking to Miss Swellview.

"How can I apologise when all he can focus on is her?" She mumbled with glossy eyes.

"Just go up to him and say "Hey Captain Man! Can I bask in your awesomeness and speak with you for a moment?". And then he'll be all yours!" Henry joked at her, and she took in a deep breath.

"Are you sure he doesn't hate me?" he looked at the boy in his eyes.

"Yeah! He lo--knows you care about him and that you were having a rough day." Henry corrected himself before (y/n) could hear his mistake. Whilst she was mulling over his words, the teen blew out his cheeks, stressed that he nearly gave away Ray's biggest secret to the one person he wouldn't let find out.

"Okay, I'll do it. I'll go over and tell him I'm sorry and we can be friends again." She said, more to herself than anyone else, trying to gather her courage.

With a final nod to Henry, she worked her way through the crowd, dodging dancing kids and various staff members. Seeing Ray through the sea of people, she timidly walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around, still smiling from his conversation with Miss Swellview, but when he saw who wanted him, it dropped. His stomach felt queasy, wondering if she was here to argue with him.

"Captain Man, can I speak with you?" She said to him as softly as she could. He saw how clammy her hands were and how she'd them tangled together to stop them from shaking with nerves. 

"Of course, citizen, please excuse me, Miss Swellview." Ray gave a dashing smile to the young girl, who promptly went off to talk to the birthday girl, leaving the two alone.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" His voice was more like his normal one since it was just the two of them. He no longer needed to be a superhero despite the uniform he was wearing. When he was with her, it was like everyone else in the room disappeared and he was no longer Captain Man, just Ray and his (y/n).

"I---" Her voice broke, and her face crumpled as two days worth of tears broke free of her emotional dam. Ray reacted instantaneously, grabbing her elbows and taking her further into the shady corner. Seeing that no one was paying them any mind, for the time being, he brushed the tears off her cheeks with gloved fingers and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I'm so sorry for being m-mean to you these past couple days, I'm s-sorry." She managed to say through her hiccups. Ray didn't reply, just gathered her in his arms and curled her into his chest. Nuzzling to his shoulder, they stayed like that for a couple minutes, just holding each other in a silent apology. Her sobbing eventually came to a stop and she pulled back with a sad smile.

"I got your shoulder wet." She said, gesturing to the dark stain on his costume.

"It's worth it to have my friend back." He smiled at her, and she giggled, everything falling back into place for them. They gave each other one final hug when she saw that Henry was ready to reveal the real culprit behind Debbie's fall.

"I should go wrap this thing up." She said to Ray and he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, the kid needs you." She gave him one last smile and walked over to Henry by the door.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Henry asked her with a smirk. In truth, he'd watched the whole thing from across the room and saw how Ray clung to her like he was afraid she would disappear if he let go.

"Good, everything's fine." She grinned at him.

"Then let's do this thing." He lifted the microphone and addressed the crowd.

"Okay, first I'd like to say... Great meatballs." He said looking at the Putch family, who all had their arms crossed.

"And now the proof that one year ago today I was not the person responsible for Debbie being knocked off the roof." Henry carried on.

"Using this phone, we will now show you actual photos taken just before Debbie's party last year." Everyone mumbled amongst themselves at (y/n)'s words as she pointed to the phone Henry was holding up. She noticed that Ray was with Miss Swellview again, but for now, she was just happy to not be fighting with him. 

"Pic one. Here you see Jasper wiping his sweaty hand on Charlotte." Henry described the picture that he mirrored on a large monitor. Charlotte turned around and looked at a guilty Jasper.

"And to the left, you can see Sydney and Oliver eating bugs. No surprise there." (y/n) pointed at the boys in the photo.

"I haven't eaten a bug since Passover!" Sydney protested, even though his words didn't help his case.

"I'm eating a bug right now," Oliver said in his monotone voice, crushing the insect between his teeth. Everyone stared in repulsion.

"But look closer and...what's that we see in the background? Hmm?" Henry refocused the group, zooming in on the picture, so they could see Piper.

""It's Henry's little sister Piper upset about something as usual," Piper said nothing but bit her lip in irritation.

"Pic two. Here we have a clearer image of Piper. And as you can see, she's really mad about her broken phone. So she's throwing it." Henry flicked to the next image, one where Piper was launching her phone across the floor, a deep scowl etched on her face.

"So what?" She yelled, starting to get nervous.

"We're glad you asked. Pic three!" Henry put up the final photo, the one with the revelation.

"Here, we can see Henry, standing innocently by the ball machine. And when we zoom in..." (y/n) had butterflies in her stomach, ready for what was coming next.

"You can see Piper's phone hitting the 11 button," Henry said. The truth was out. 

Everyone's mouths fell open in shock and Henry and (y/n) shook their hands in success, glad they had each other for support.

"Oh my god!"

"Piper did it!" Charlotte cried.

"Security!" Debbie called for the men on the doors to come and take Piper away.

"But--but...it wasn't my fault! I didn't know my phone would hit the button! I'm a victim! I'm a victim! I want to talk to a lawyer!" She shrieked as the men picked her up and dragged her through the door kicking and screaming. Once she was gone, the party resumed and Ray turned to the woman beside him.

"So, Miss Swellview, since I assume there isn't a Mr Swellview, I was wondering if you might want to..." Ray was cut off as a man came next to the beauty queen and put his arm around her.

"Walk away." He said, knowing that his status as Captain Man was imposing. With the man backing off, Ray smiled and put his arm around the girl's waist.

~

"Hey, ignore him and come party with us," Henry said, noticing that (y/n) was watching them with a downcast expression.

"I'm not so bad that I need to party with teenagers to get over how stupid I am." She chuckled, her heart softening at how sweet the kid was.

"When was the last time you just let go and had some real fun?" Henry put his hands on his hips.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm a real party animal under this sensible exterior. But when you run a superhero's secret hideout, your fun side falls to the back burner." She said to the boy, a hand on his shoulder.

"So let the animal out! Just come and have a good time!" She looked at Henry, then at Ray who was cuddling up to Miss Swellview and finally at the joyful kids dancing and eating their hearts out.

"Fine, but don't hold me to anything I do from here on out!" She laughed and they mixed into the crowd. 

(y/n) hadn't danced like that in ages and Henry could see the young woman in her bursting out. Her job was stressful and it meant that she often pushed the youth in her heart out of the way, so her logic and rational brain could take the reins. The kids didn't seem to mind the age gap, her bubbly and exuberant personality making her seem so much younger.

"Henry, we are so sorry we blamed you." Mrs Putch pulled them out from the dancing and Debbie looked at them with an apologetic face.

"Especially me." The girl said, but Henry and (y/n) weren't going to be angry on her birthday.

"Well, I'm sorry that my little sister almost killed you," Henry said back.

"Hey... things happen." (y/n) settled between the teens and Mrs Putch nodded at her words.

"Absolutely. Sorry I don't believe I got your name?" The blonde woman held out her hand for (y/n) to shake.

"Oh right, I'm (y/n). Henry works for me and my friend. We worked together to figure everything out." She quickly explained as she shook her hand with a smile.

"Then you're welcome to stay." Debbie smiled at the older girl.

"Mom, I'm going to jump on the trampoline right by the edge of the roof," Debbie said, turning to her mother. (y/n) thought about how bad of an idea it was but, Debbie was off before she could mention it.

"Hey, Mrs Putch?" Sydney approached her.

"Yeah?" 

"A balloon got stuck up there by that light." He pointed to the ceiling, drawing their attention to the trapped balloon.

"That could start a fire." (y/n) pointed out and Mrs Putch looked worried.

"Hey, no worries, I'll climb up there and get it." Henry offered, but (y/n) looked at him in concern.

"Woah, woah, woah, that sounds dangerous." She said, stopping Henry before he could dash off.

"Eh, this kid can handle danger. Hold my meatball." He smirked at her with a knowing look and passed her the snack. 

The two adults watched as he climbed up the lighting rig, Debbie still jumping on the trampoline.

"Yay! This is my best birthday ever." She exclaimed. Henry dislodged the balloon and threw it back onto the floor.

"I fixed it!" He yelled.

"Thank you!" Mrs Putch beamed back.

"Hey, Henry! Jump down!" Sydney shouted at his friend.

"Wait, Henry, no!" (y/n) saw what was about to happen, seeing the physics that revolved around two people jumping on a trampoline at that same time. Sadly, Henry had already let go by the time she cried out, leaving her to just what the disaster that unfolded.

The rebound from Henry hitting the opposite end of the trampoline forced Debbie over the side of the roof, echoing what happened one year ago. Everyone rushed to the side of the ledge, as Debbie screamed and Henry looked horrified. 

The poor girl was laying on top of a puppy, groaning in pain.

"Whiskers? Whiskers, are you okay?" The dog walker tugged on the leash, but the dog had been squashed by the impact of Debbie's fall.

"My name is not Whiskers." She grumbled as Mrs Putch phoned for an ambulance. Looking at Henry, (y/n) shook her head, joining him on the trampoline. 

"You really know how to find trouble, don't you?" She said to the cringing boy, who looked at her in despair.

"Oh boy, am I gonna get in trouble?" He panicked.

"Ehhh, maybe, I don't know. Technically, it was Sydney's idea, so Mrs Putch might forgive you." The woman reasoned.

"And Debbie?" They both looked down at the girl.

"Yeah, no. She's gonna hate you forever." All Henry could do was throw his head back and groan.

[bonsaiiiiiii-fics]

Eggs

Is it destiny? Is it a coincidence? But especially, What should she do now that the person she has been looking for doesn’t exist anymore?

Words: 5300-ish

Genre: fluff, slice of life. a bit of angst too? cos memories and stuff…no trigger warnings mentionable.

Fandom: Thunderbirds are go!2015

Characters: boi, all of ‘em! We also have Lucille, and I sprinkled in some oc’s!

Special mention: thank you to @louthestarspeaker for lending me her Laurie, your girl has been an absolute delight to write!

This story is kinda weird, and I don’t know if there’s gonna be a continuation or not. I just had an idea, wrote it down and here we are! Nothing serious, just for fun/writing again/passing the time. Don’t @ me, if you read it and discover you don’t like it, leave it where it is and back tf away slowly. (just for precaution. moots i don’t wanna bite ur ass <3)

Ao3 link

"...Is it too late to back up now?" She asks timidly, grimacing and taking a small step away from the door. Gran Roca Ranch. At least that's what it says on the billboard at the entrance. "Probably she isn't even here anymore!" 

"Nope." Laurie answers her first question, a haunting hand hovering on the door. "This is the time to act like that amazing, confident, person that you are, no ifs, ands or buts about it." She tries to fight her best friend when she gets a grip of her hand, forcing her to depart it from the door the farthest possible. "And you- ugh!, you won't know if you don't knock!" She grunts, noticing just how strong Quinn can be. Seriously, she eats tacos and smoothies all day, how the hell does she manage to keep it if she's as slim as a twig? Genes? 

"Well I need a reinforcement taco before this!" Quinn forces through gritted teeth. "And what do you think I'm going to tell her, hey! I'm your donor baby and I'm here to flip your life upside down?" She rolls her eyes, adjusting her sunglasses. "What if she doesn't even want to see me?" 

"If she left you her address in the envelope, then I think she wanted you to find her." 

"Well, I'm not ready to find out just yet!" 

"Not that you can help it, you know. You're screeching so loud I think all the neighborhood heard you." Laurie says, hands on her hips and a false innocent smile on her face, the plan morphed into her mind taking action. "And if she hasn't heard you before, she surely will hear this now!" And with that awful sentence she rings on the doorbell, doing what Quinn tried stopping her from doing until now. 

The blonde girl, in return, starts by gawking at her with her eyes almost out of their sockets and a jaw so low you could store an entire cake inside her mouth, then punches her -not so lightly- on a shoulder, making Laurie gasp at the pain and the sudden movement. "Traitor!" She spits, just seconds before the door opens, revealing... 

"Uh..." Kayo falters, taking in the scene in front of her very eyes upon opening the door. There's two women, soft blonde waves and some midnight black locs, arms tangled in each other, more like the blonde is trying to strangle her friend and the latter is trying to defend herself, both looking awkwardly at her. "Can I...help you?" She asks tentatively, her eyebrow raised, studying them intently. The blonde is holding an envelope in her hand, and now that she looks at her...the resemblance is dangerously familiar to someone... 

"Uh!" Quinn gasps, detangling from her best friend and just smiling broadly, as if nothing happened. "Hi, my name is Quinn, and this is Laurie." 

"Hi, Quinn and Laurie. So, what can I help you with?" Kayo repeats, her patience wearing thin. Who are these two strangers? This isn't pizza delivery! She mentally prays that it’s not another string of paparazzi striving to secure an interview, them being the first two of a long queue. Even if the Tracy’s like to be reserved about their whereabouts, the paps’ job is to unveil, tell and write as many tales as possible, and this requires some great investigative skills, for example finding Jeff Tracy’s old house. It’s not the first time paparazzi are at their door, and it certainly won’t be the last.

"Um," Quinn clears her throat, shifting from embarrassed to confident, again, that spark in her eye that looks dangerously familiar. Now that Kayo thinks about it, if Gordon was to have a female counterpart, Quinn would be embodying it. "I'm looking for Lucille Collins. Does she, um, live here?" 

Now this leaves Kayo dumbfounded. 

And with a lot of questions. 

How does she know? Why is she looking for her? Could it be...? 

"Um. Excuse me." Is all Kayo can say to excuse herself and close the door in their faces, now leaving both girls with a fish out of water face. 

"What was that?" Quinn asks, her cordial smile still plastered on her face, but one eye twitching in incredulousness. 

"I don't...know?" Laurie is smiling too, holding her still painful shoulder. They both look at each other, and this is the moment when Laurie knows Quinn's about to lose control. 

"So who was it at the door? Did the pizza delivery read our minds before we could place the order?" Gordon asks smugly, a note of curiosity in his voice. 

"That would be so dope!" Alan adds, leaning forward in his chair so his arms come to rest on his lap. 

Kayo, however, doesn't seem to hear them as she clears her throat, ready to drop whatever bomb this is on them.

"Are you okay, Kayo? You look like you've seen a ghost." Virgil butts in, obviously concerned about her losing all the color in her face. 

"There's two women at the door, they're looking for Mrs. Tracy, and I don’t mean Grandma." She says as neutrally as possible, not seeming to avoid massaging her arm awkwardly in the process. "What am I supposed to do?" 

Nobody answers her, and the silence is so audible you can hear the indistinct chatting of the women still at the door, probably debating on whether to stay and just vanish from the premises from the heat of it. 

"Huh." Jeff mutters, taking the situation in his own hands. "I think I know what this is about. Help me up, please." He asks no one in particular, Scott jumping up from his armchair like it's on fire, instantly by his father's side. "Thank you, son. Take me to the door." 

"If we disappear silently, she probably won't even know we were there! We can say she just imagined it! Or that I'm the, uh, mailman?" Quinn tries, shrugging her shoulders in the process. 

"I don't think she would believe you, you're not exactly dressed up as one." Laurie counters, eyeing her short romper. 

"Gasp," she audibly gasps. "Are you trying to say I look ugly?" 

"If the shoe fits." She winks at her bestie, earning a glare from her. 

"I hate you." 

"No you don't." 

A sound near the front door, like a crane tapping on the floor, makes both straighten their backs up, standing like soldiers in wait for their general. Moments later, Jeff Tracy himself, accompanied by his son, opens the door, and the girls just...stare. 

"Uh, Quinn? I think we got the wrong house..." Laurie recognizes immediately the man standing in front of her, seemingly unlike Quinn, that flashes him and his exact same, younger copy, her dimpled smile. 

"Hiiiii!" She tries a more energetic approach. "I'm Quinn, and this is Laurie." She gestures to her bestie, who is looking mildly uncomfortable, deeming it necessary to introduce themselves again. "We're looking for-" 

"I know." Jeff nods. "You must be her daughter. Co-" 

"HUH!?" Scott gasps, involuntarily interrupting his dad who side looks at him. "What!? Her what??" He looks wide eyed at her, then at his dad, then back again at her. 

She seems to ignore his apparent outburst. "Yeah, something like that. So, does she live here?" If there's one thing to know about Quinn Prescott is that she gets straight to the point. And eats tacos nonstop, apparently. 

Jeff is silent, a pang of sadness visible on his face. "Come in." He replies to her question, stepping aside - and forcing Scott, as still as a statue, to do the same - and welcoming them in what used to be Luci's house. Scott disappears right back in, probably to warn everyone of the unexpected new visitor invading their home, or to prepare them psychologically for this, leaving the girls to let themselves in without too many ceremonies, Quinn taking off her paperboy hat and just holding it in her hand as Jeff slowly accompanies them to the living room, where everyone is gathered. 

"Holy shmeesus!" Is the first thing she mutters to Laurie upon seeing all these people, wondering just now that maybe she got the wrong house. But if she did, the man living inside it wouldn't let them in, right? She's probably not home at the moment, yeah, that's it. One thing for sure, the room is loaded with people and every single one of them seem to be looking- no, gawking, at her. Expecting her to be joking about the matter. There's the woman that opened the door the first time, the man that opened it the second, 5 other men and a old lady. And not to mention this house is gigantic. Dam, egg mama's loaded! 

Everyone is so still, the silence is so deafening, like they can't believe their eyes; she manages to get a sound from them all, a collective general gasp, after her sunglass lenses fade back to clear, not sensing any sunlight inside, revealing her warm brown eyes. 

"It's uncanny." Scott mutters, breaking the silence. 

"It's mom." Virgil backs him up, just gaping at her. She shares his same eyes, and, well, mom's. Come to think about it, she is mom, just a different smile, skin tone, and some round glasses added.

"What is this, dad?" Scott confronts their dad, wanting, needing, to know more. A perfect stranger, with the same appearance as their mother, comes at their door, searches for her, and apparently she's her daughter? And seemingly, Jeff knows about it all. 

Jeff in reply looks at Quinn, holding out a hand towards her as if to show she's there. "Want to do the honors?" 

She nods, taking in a deep breath. "So...I'm Lucille's donor baby, and I'm invading your lives!" She jokes, to then immediately facepalm, followed by a nervous chuckle from Laurie, accompanied by a head shake. "Hehe, sorry...I always joke when I'm nervous, I don't know why I do that." She first scratches her jaw, then behind her ear, handing Jeff the envelope she carried until now, covering her lap with her checkered white and brown hat. "But that's about it. The address listed in her description was this one." 

"Yeah, I know who you are already." Despite this statement, he still opens the envelope, suddenly invaded by his eldest three sons that read over his shoulder too, reading indeed his late wife's name, but another as well. "I just didn't think you'd even show up, even if she hoped to see you." 

"She does?" She smiles, her dimples showing. She unconsciously side glances at Laurie, which shoots her a timid thumbs up. 

"She did." He corrects her, the pain in his words leading her to lose the dimples she shares with Scott. 

"Um, care to explain for those who can't understand the situation?" Alan butts in, knowing the heaviness of the situation but now how to decipher it. 

"Yeah, like, we just got mom's clone and then what?" Gordon counters. 

Just when she wants to speak, Jeff looks again at her, prodding her silently to explain herself. It's her situation, and she gets to take it into her own hands as she wants. 

"So, from what my parents told me, they weren't able to conceive, so they picked out donors from both sides; Lucille was my egg donor, while Clinton was my sperm donor. I don't really know anything about them, my parents told me about it just recently and recommended that I speak personally with them first, but without them I wouldn't exist, so...ta-daaa!" She slightly enlarges her hands, waving her open hands up and down. 

"Well, you surely took your time." Jeff comments sarcastically, loosening her stiff shoulders a little. 

"That's cool! Is it something like out of a lab?" Alan asks, earning a side glare from Virgil. 

"Egg and sperm donors have existed for a long time, you know?" The second eldest points out to him in a scolding tone. 

"I didn't know about the egg ones, Virg!" 

"Me either Virg! We're not all medical like you." Gordon, as always, speaks as if he and Allie are the same. 

"Pardon my sons," this sentence from Jeff seems to override their sons'. "They're just curious about you, she never spoke to them about you." 

"How to blame her?" Grandma says, laughing gently. "She didn't expect the gal to even show up. She just did a good deed." She gets up, sitting on an armrest of the armchair Virgil sat back on, patting gently his shoulder. 

"That she did." Jeff looks at her, drinks her in with those silver eyes of his. Yep, she's Lucille's spitting image: long blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes, same nose, same lips. The only thing changing is a golden skin tone, complimenting perfectly her eyes and hair and making her look like a golden ember, and the way she smiles; even if she has Luci's lips and dimples, she smiles differently, a charming and 'I'm sexy and I know it' kind of smile instead of Luci's warm and harmless one. "You look a lot like her." He says after a long while, in which she seems content basking in the attention. She knows she's beautiful, she probably has an overly big ego, and the fact this family is feeding it is rather nice to her. 

"Yeah, Laurie says I'm her spitting image. Uh, from the pictures I found in the envelope." 

"I'm sorry, but you won't be able to see her anytime, I'm afraid." He says.

She doesn't seem to read between the lines. "Oh, yeah, I totally get it! She has another family now, not that I was her family before, but I get it, no worries. Just tell her I've been here." She gets up, dusting absent-mindedly her dress and hat. 

"No, you don't get it." Jeff is finding all the strength in himself to say the words long dreaded in the Tracy household. "She passed some time ago." He lets out after a long, painful, sigh. 

"Oh." She mutters, to then plop back down. "Can I ask for how long?" 

"Almost 20 years." 

She gets silent, a lot of thoughts whirling in her brain, but she pushes them aside for her to think about them later. "I'm sorry for your loss." 

"I'm sorry too." He raises his eyes to look at her. "She wanted to meet you, she really did." 

"Well...I wouldn't be me if I didn't keep my always being late rap, right?" She tries to crack a joke, earning a cheeky smile from everyone, even a tiny laugh from the tinies. 

"Oh, preach!" Laurie exclaims, happy that her friend finally noticed. 

"So, what is it you do in life, Quinn?" Jeff changes subject after she so helpfully contributed in raising the spirits back up; unfortunately, Lucille has always been a tough topic to talk about after her passing, and probably this is just what they needed now that they're all back together. 

"Oh, I just got into college, Columbia." 

"Ah, Ivy League! Impressive! Major?" 

"Programming." 

"I see. Well, I wish you best of luck on your journey." 

"Thank you, um, Mr..." She just now realizes she never properly caught his name, nor the others'; it sure looks like a wide family, though. 

"Oh! We didn't introduce ourselves, sorry! We were just so caught by everything..." He immediately apologizes, getting up not without any help from his second eldest. "I'm Jeff Tracy." Once in front of Quinn, who just got up too, he extends his hand for her to shake it, and notices she has a very tight grip, too. 

"Huh, Tracy you say?" Quinn is silent for a second, an eyebrow raised to try and remember when she heard that name before, while Laurie, once her suspicions (that weren't so suspicious) got confirmed, draws in a shaky breath, not understanding why in the Heavens her bestie doesn't realize how lucky she is to even breathe the same expensive air as these business tycoons. And, yeah, International Rescue themselves. "I like it. I assume you are- uh, were..." 

"Yeah, her husband. These are our kids. Boys?" He calls out for them to get up and present themselves, to which they oblige dutifully. 

Scott is the first one to present himself, his grip somewhat strong, but not menacing. He saw the description, everything true to the minimal detail, and the fact she's their mom's spitting image contributes greatly to the cause, as if she was cloned, and their dad seems to know and support of this situation; however, he still doesn't know if she's lying, faking it all, and found sensible information, touched a nerve who could bring them down, his Commander brain gearing up for action. He, alas, has complete faith in dad, and in John, who didn't go unnoticed by Scott as he briefly excused himself to go to the bathroom, secretly fulfilling the eldest' order to run a background check on her. He notices her firm grip too, complete with the fact she either doesn't seem to care, or is oblivious to the pinning, calculating stare he's giving her, flashing him a taste of his own medicine, killer dimples. Yep, truly mom's child. 

The next in line is Virgil, who takes her hand softly and shakes it gently, and she swears he's like massaging it or something, because she finds instantly relief from a throbbing she didn't even notice until it passed, truly magical. They both get lost in the eyes they both share the color of, mom's color, and both wonder how one could be a spitting image of the other. Virgil is calm, trusting, not wanting to start any rumors or thoughts, just trusting what the person in front of him is saying. Like, how could she lie with those eyes? He swears he's looking at mom who came back to life and waltzed back into their lives.

Gordon pops up next, and damn! If she thought to be Lucille's spitting image, from that little description pic, then this man is taking it up a notch! Same features, different gender. It's almost frightening. Gordon, on the other hand, is totally unaffected by any negative thoughts and emotions, just excited to hear about this new, strange thing, egg donation, and the fact that a new sibling is added to their family, even if she's just a half-sibling. It's still something from mom, and everything from mom is precious right now. 

Alan is quick in presenting himself with a fist bump, a gesture that Quinn loves gladly, evolving it into a weird bro hand salute Alan seems to be on board with, professionalism not necessary right now. After all, if she’s in college right now…same as him! They’re college buddies!

Last but not least brother, John, shaking briefly her hand and directing a hidden thumbs up at Scott, who nods and exhales briefly, his worries dissolving temporarily. 

Kayo is up, her way of shaking hands translated into shoving a tablet into Quinn's face, that shrugs and places her thumb on it, more than calm about the fact that they can't get money from her as she's broker than a broken record, having invested her last savings in...tacos. Kayo swiftly nods, and Quinn just shrugs, before she gets presented to the next person.

A sweet old lady, who seems very spirited. “Hello, gal! Well, I’ll be damned, you’re her spitting image!” This makes Quinn crack a wide smile, the girl identical in her biological mother even in these simple gestures. "I'm Sally, but you can call me Grandma. I'm the boys' grandmother and Jeff's mother. It's nice you finally joined us." To unknot her nerves, Grandma gently squeezes Quinn's shoulder, to which the girl looks at her warmly. This woman, this part of her newfound family, has this capacity to melt her worries and insecurities away in a way...familiar to her, like it's been done to her since she was born. 

"Don't blame her too much, she has this knack for always showing up late." Laurie butts in the conversation after being presented too to the boys, daring to see if a joke can fix up the mood. 

"I call it being fashionably late." Quinn replies, swooshing a strand of hair behind her shoulder smugly. 

Grandma laughs heartily. "I know a thing or two about it. Between us, but...your mother was always fashionably late too." She confesses to the girls, Quinn gaping a little. 

"See?" She triumphantly points out. "It's all in the genes!"

Laurie laughs too, looking at her bestie. “Don’t give her excuses now, or it’ll get to her head!”

Quinn is about to counterattack with a not too ladylike answer, when another voice joins in the conversation again. "Clinton Smith?" She turns to look at Jeff, which looks at the envelope then at her.

“Oh, yeah, that’s my donor dad. Or at least that’s all I know about him, I haven’t visited him yet.” She replies, looking somewhere else with a bitter smile, that doesn’t go unnoticed by Jeff.

“Is he…unavailable too?” He tries this word, not having enough guts built up to say that word, that nefarious word he wishes he never had to say to describe his wife.

“Actually…I don’t know?” She replies questionably back, scratching her neck in the process. “I haven’t been able to find him at all. Either he vanished, or he doesn’t want to be found, or…yeah.”

“Doesn’t want to be found…why is that?” Jeff asks back, trying to understand more from that situation; maybe he can help, he can ‘rescue’ her if she wants to.

“Well, there’s his name, but no address. But I suppose if he didn’t want to be found, then he wouldn’t have wanted his name to be added to that document, because it’s supposed to be for me to read once I came of age.” She plops down to her previous seat, crossing her arms with a focused frown painted on her face, the upper lip touching her nose septum, her dimples visible and her eyes looking upwards, painting Lucille’s face with an almost childish and exaggerated undertone. “I know I’m very late in searching for them since I got the documents, but if you don’t want your child to know anything about you, then…you cancel everything they might know about you, right?”

“I don’t know exactly, it never happened to me…” He replies ironically, earning a broad smile from his boys, a sign that they had a father from the start that cared about them and loved them deeply. “But if you want to get to know him, we can help you out.”

She widens her eyes slightly. “Really? You don’t have to…”

“Yeah, of course! Family is important, and if you want to know exactly who both of your biological parents are it’s perfectly normal! I just happen to know a detective that can help you out on this, that is if you accept our help.” He states tentatively, knowing he doesn’t have any ‘power’ over her, despite her being Lucille’s first child and only daughter, her only female lineage, making her very precious; but at the same time he knows that he can’t force her to be a part of their lives just because she’s family by blood, she has another adoptive family that love her and raised her to be the woman she is now. The decision to be a Tracy must belong to Quinn and Quinn only. “And, of course, I’ll tell you more about your biological mother as well.”

“Well…” Quinn takes it all in, pondering deeply which answer she should give in return and moving her gaze to the floor. She knows that if she replies positively, this means she’ll come in contact with part of her biological family again, but she also knows that this decision is totally up to her, just like before when Jeff allowed her to explain who she was and why she was connected with this family. The question is, does she want to be part of this family? She already has another one, the one that has been there with her from the start, waiting for her at home. Can she replace them so easily? Being part of more than a family at once, even her biological dad’s side, is it possible? Does it mean that if she chooses to do this, she’ll have to leave her ‘old’ family behind, or can she rotate between one family and the other on random days?

“I’m sorry…” She finally comes up with an answer. “...but I have to think about it. This thing about Lucille has been a huge blow for me, and I’m not saying this because she…well, passed, but I think it would have been a blow even if today I would’ve gotten to talk to her. I received the document just recently…and…you guys…”

“Don’t apologize at all, Quinn, it’s understandable.” This is the first time that man calls her by her name. it’s…strange. “You have yet to elaborate all of this, and we’re here when, if, you’ll be ready to talk to us again.”

“Thank you.” Quinn smiles fondly at Jeff, and for the first time since she smiled at him, it seems like Lucille is smiling at him again after 19 long years where the world has been deprived of his wife’s warm and innocent smile. Another person notices, and where Jeff forces himself to keep the tears in, Virgil can’t manage to, a single, lonely, tear leaving a trail down his cheek but a happy smile painted on his chiseled face, Scott and John reaching out to place a hand on each of his shoulders, sharing the same emotion he’s feeling in seeing that smile, happy that they got the wish to see their mother’s smile one last time, even if it’s not their mother that’s in front of them right now. She captivated with that dimpled smile of hers everyone in the room, not just Jeff and his second eldest, and she doesn’t even notice it, how similar but how different she is from her biological mother. She glimmers with that smile.

“So…I’ll go home now, I think I already spent too much of your time.”

“Believe me,” Jeff starts, raising himself up to his feet and prompting his eldest and Quinn to do the same. “This time has been very well spent.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” Alan, surprisingly, asks, like it’s not the first time he makes this question. Surprisingly, because he doesn’t feel the same way as his brothers and dad; sure, he saw mom’s photos, but she unfortunately doesn’t have the same place in his heart like it does for everyone else of them, since he didn’t have the opportunity to grow up with her, leaving the surprisingly vivid picture of her with an eerie heaviness over it, almost as if, everytime he looks at his mom, it’s like he’s worshiping a Goddess. It used to be like this with his dad too, before he returned from the deserted and secluded place he was left in for all these years, just after mom’s death…for as long as he can remember before things changed, his dad disappeared, his mom left them, and he was essentially an orphan growing up with his brothers, under Scott’s guardianship over nothing more than a toddler. But now that he looks at things under another perspective…it’s bad to say, but she also will never get the chance to meet her, didn’t get the chance to grow up with her either, and will always look at her photo to remember where she came from…they’re similar, if not the same, in this. Maybe they can help each other.

“Yeah, we have pizza!” Gordon butts in too, visibly perturbed by her departure.

“If you remember to place the call to order it.” John points out like usual with a raised eyebrow, earning an eye roll from his younger pufferfish sibling.

“I’d love to, but my parents are waiting for me at home.” Quinn turns towards Jeff, as if to seek some approbation from the Commander Supreme. “Another time, maybe?”

He nods, waiting for his two youngest sons’ faint oh’s to dissipate before speaking again. “We are more than happy to welcome you again. You can take my contact or one of my sons’, so that you can have your way of reaching out when you’re ready to.” He offers, glancing at his sons that all nod.

“Yeah, that would be a great idea. I hope you won’t mind if I take my time in…”

“Ah, no worries! We’re more than happy to help.” Jeff replies while he scribbles something on a paper, probably his comm link or his number; once he’s finished, instead of passing it to Quinn he raises it somewhere on his right, Virgil taking the paper and scribbling something on it too. “Once you’re ready, reach out to us, here’s our contacts.” Once the paper is in Jeff’s hands again, after it being passed through some brothers, he hands it over to Quinn, who takes it gladly, folding it and tucking it into her romper’s pockets.

“Well, then, I’ll leave you to your dinner. Thank you for everything, and it’s been a pleasure meeting you.” Quinn bows her head slightly, smiling warmly to everyone.

“It’s a pleasure for us too, and it was nice meeting you too, Laurie.”

“Are you living far from here? Do you need one of us to accompany you?” Virgil asks, his ever caring spirit always present.

Quinn shoots a quick glance to Laurie, which in the meantime has almost teleported to her side; in exchange, Laurie raises her eyebrows and glances to the side, Quinn responding to her by shrugging slightly, and this ‘conversation’ goes on for a bit, all the while Virgil looks confused at them, then at his father.

“It’s a girl’s way of communicating, boys. You wouldn’t know.” Grandma intercepts the question marks in Virgil’s mind, talking to everyone.

“Well,” Quinn’s voice makes them all turn towards her and her bestie, who is smiling. “She’s coming back home with me, and we live just here across the neighborhood, so we’ll manage on our own, thank you anyways.”

“Perfect then. We hope to see you soon again, and I wish you good luck again on your journey. Please say hi to Bentley from me, and tell her I’m sorry I didn’t get to visit her and Charlie.” The procession has finally arrived at the door, escorting warmly their newfound family member out.

Quinn smiles as a sign of gratitude, before dropping her jaw to the floor and widen her eyes. “You know my parents?”

“Of course! Me and Luci have known them for a very long time now, we’ve been to school together, but we lost contact after we started working and had our children.”

“Oh…!” Quinn replies, then looks at the floor and smiles. “Sure, I’ll let them know.” She looks at Jeff with that smile on again. That warm smile that makes her dangerously familiar in his eyes.

“Well then, thank you for coming by. It was truly needed.”

“You’re kidding me? Thank you for having me!”

Once they finish bidding their farewells and the door closes, making them depart from the ranch, she turns towards her bestie, her smile radiant. “Girl, that was…”

“I’d say it was a success, but you didn’t find your mom.” Laurie counters, matching her newfound speed towards Quinn’s home. “Why are we running?”

“Well, but my parents are supposed to know her well, and I have all these step-brothers. And…oh, don’t brag.”

“We have no reason for running!” Laurie hisses, out of breath, her long locs whirling in the wind. “They can help you find your biological father too. Maybe you have some brothers or sisters from there too.”

“Well…” They both pant profusely, finally arriving at their destination; Quinn also lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t know…I gotta talk to my parents. I want to know them, but…having them in my life…ugh! I need tacos.”

“Nu-huh. We’re home now and we’re eating what your parents made. Stop spending your life savings on tacos, bestie.” Laurie ushers Quinn towards the entrance door, forcing the latter to get the keys out to open it with another deep sigh. “And if talking with your parents is what you need…just, think about it. They are pretty important after all.”

“Hm?” Quinn says after greeting her parents loudly, announcing them she’s back home. “They’re just my biological half-brothers and their dad. Yeah, they’re important, but-” “Girl,” Laurie interrupts her with a serious face, making Quinn furrow her eyebrows in confusion. “You have no idea who they are, do you?”

[petruchio]

i was lowkey tumblr stalking asks you’ve answered before (i apologize i just love how in depth u answer) and now i wanna know your tierlist (A/B/C/D/F) for the songs on GUTS. include deluxe pls bc imo the deluxe tracks are better than many main album tracks hehe

well first off you can ALWAYS stalk me and never apologize for it, i love answering stuff and i love that people actually read it HAHA! so please <3 stalk away <3 i love it

i LOVE this question. i was going to make one of those images like the youtubers do for tier lists but then i realized i would have to explain myself anyway so im just going to give each song a letter grade and a little blurb about why i think this... so here goes 🤓

i actually have to put this under a cut because it got so long that i am not going to clog up people's dash with my long and way too detailed thoughts on GUTS but please read this if it is of interest bc i would love to continue discussing haha

so first i'm going to say to me overall guts is like a solid A-/A for a sophomore album. i don't think it's perfect but i think as far as showing growth from the first album, expanding on themes and sounds that were explored in sour, and just maturing while still feeling like a natural progression -- i think it does all of that really nicely while also managing to carve out a unique niche for olivia in the industry. so like. YES! great. (i have been saying that while i see olivia compared to taylor swift a lot, i think it's actually a much better comparison to compare her to avril lavigne in the early 2000s -- avril was originally "discovered" via performing with shania twain (which in some ways we could argue for being a taylor/olivia situation but in the 90s) and a lot of her early work and songwriting is influenced by the country music scene, but, just like olivia, her first album smashed onto the scene and captured the teenage zeitgeist in a really unique and special that was really of the moment it was released and dug into rock inspired hooks and sounds that resonated with the audience of young teens. if "driver's license" is olivia's "complicated," i think we can easily argue that "good 4 u" is her sk8r boi. (and deja vu is her i'm with you, the best single and best song in both of their discographies I SAID WHAT I SAID!) anyway all that is to say i think that GUTS and under my skin ALSO share a lot of parallels both in how they were marketed and the way they dive deeper into darker themes while expanding on a lot of what made the first album great, if perhaps not spawning the level of radio hits as the first album. anyway it's just something i think about that i don't see talked about all that much and i find it really interesting. i could keep going but i know that was an insane digression so let's get to the grades.)

all american bitch - B+ i think this song is a great opener and it has some really great lines in it -- the sarcasm makes it so fun and tongue in cheek and i actually like the scream, my reason for not being able to give it an A is just that i do feel like it's very much "putting on a persona" of being a rock punk chick, which is absolutely cool and is extremely well done, it just doesn't feel 100% authentic to me. like, i like the scream but it feels more like an acting performance than a genuine scream of anguish, but olivia is such an appealing actress that i'm like, yeah girl go off

bad idea right? - A+ this is the deja vu of the album for me. it is SUCH A GOOD SONG and it has the best video by far of any of the singles, it's so clever and creative and i actually really love her vocal delivery, it's bratty and obnoxious but for some reason it DOES feel authentic to me in a way AAB doesn't, i think it takes its influences and manages to reinterpret and transform them into something totally unique and personal to olivia and it's just GREAT. (i think a great example of how good this song is is honestly the kelly clarkson cover she did, it was a really fun cover but you could just tell that olivia's version works better, it's a song that feels like it could only be done by her and i love it for that.)

vampire - B i actually thought i'd rate this lower bc it is my least favorite song on the album but like, okay it's FINE. my issue with vampire is that 1) it feels like the label said "write another ballad that sounds like drivers license and we'll use that as the lead single" which i don't like, and 2) i've written before that my main issue with vampire is that it DOES NOT COMMIT to the genuinely cool metaphor that it attempts. i actually love the line "you only come out at night" because i think it's really clever and creative to extend the "sucking me dry" metaphor of a vampire. i think following that up with "i used to think i was smart but you made me look so naive" is such a let down and so cliche that it annoys me every time i hear the song. like, if the song instead was like "i should have known it was strange, you only come out at night/you said i tasted so sweet til nothing was left in my veins" or something i would think it was a great song. but instead we get that clunky cliche of a line and it irritates me. the song has potential but it just doesn't deliver.

lacy - A- (tw: ed) so i think that this song is about struggling with an ed and i think it is really amazing if you read it through that lens. i don't even really want to say that much more about it because when i saw someone say that on twitter and i listened to the song thinking about that, it hit me really hard and i think it's brilliantly done but it's intense. i think olivia said that it came out of a poem she wrote and i think that lacy is the personification of that really personal struggle and i think it's a beautiful and deeply sad metaphor and the song actually does it really well. i also really love her vocal delivery on the recording and i think it's beautifully produced, the layered vocals at the end are really gorgeous.

ballad of a homeschooled girl - A- honestly i have the same comments as i do about all american bitch except i just think this song is slightly better and feels a little more authentic. i think the lyrics on this one are really clever as well and i love the little production quirks like "how to flirt" and the outro is SO FUN and i love the sort of fourth wall break of "can't think of a third line" and the la la la that just kind of smashes into the end of the song, i think it works so well with the concept of the song so yeah. great.

making the bed - B+ this is a song where i'm like, there's nothing WRONG with it i just don't think it's particularly special, like it's a good song and it has some really great lyrics i just think it's a decent song that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. it's good. no real notes. my favorite lyric is "they tell me that they love me like i'm some tourist attraction" -- i love when the pop girls talk about the complexities of fame, and olivia seems strikingly self aware in a lot of her lyrics and that one is really a hard hitter. (it reminds me of billie's getting older song, "the things i once enjoyed just keep me employed now" and "another thing i ruined i used to do for fun" which are both lines that i feel like really do a nice job of exploring how it feels when your art and artistic expression becomes a job and a persona. i think billie and olivia are doing so much cool stuff and they both just seem like such cool and interesting girls. they just give the vibe that it would be so fun to get dinner with them and talk about their experience of teenage fame because they both seem to have some really interesting and complex insights about it.)

logical - B- tbh this song is kinda boring to me. it's fine but i just think it's a theme that is explored better in other songs. the one line i really like is "if rain don't pour and sun don't shine" because i like to imagine that it's a reference to taming of the shrew act iv scene v.

get him back! - A+ SO GOOD COME ON GET HIM BACK IS SO GOOD AHHHHHH i get mad thinking about the music video bc the iphone lens makes it so weird and i think this could've had an even better video without the iphone gimmick but holy cow this song is so good. it's so clever, it's so fun, it ROCKS. (though this is the point on the album where i start to get annoyed by all the production quirks, i think they are fun on a couple songs but we don't need the "is this the song with drums" thing, just play the song. there's only so much studio chatter that makes a song fun before it gets a little grating to listen to every time i want to play the song.) but this is a brilliant song. I WANNA MEET HIS MOM AND TELL HER HER SON SUCKS. has anyone ever more perfectly captured how it feels to be nineteen. ugh this song is so good.

love is embarrassing - A i actually really like this song and i think it's a really nice spiritual closer to sour. it does such a nice job of reflecting but in a funny, tongue-in-cheek, self aware way that i think is so appealing and cute. i love "you found a new version of me and i damn near started world war three" as a callback to "another actress i hate to think that i was just your type" and i LOOOVE the outro with "i'm planning out my wedding with some guy i'm never marrying" which i think is a fantastic line. i love the vocal delivery on the outro as well. (also this is an example for me of a song with no studio chatter or production gimmicks, and it's GOOD bc it's like, it doesn't need that! it's just a fun song! and i like it for that!!)

the grudge - A- honestly a beautiful song that captures a very specific feeling. i love the melody and the way she delivers "how could anybody do the things you did so easily?" the second verse is an absolute gut punch of what it feels like to come away from a toxic love. it has a couple clunkers (i'm not a fan of "trust that you betrayed, confusion that still lingers" which i think is just a bit awkward) but overall it's a lovely song and so raw.

pretty isn't pretty - A again just a really solid work. i love the guitar sound on it. and i think it does a really nice job of capturing another specific teenage emotion. one thing i love on GUTS is that it feels legitimately balanced between songs about heartbreak and songs about personal feelings and this song is one that i think does that second part very well. i really love the second prechorus line "it's in my phone it's in my head it's in the boys i bring to bed" and i think this song is really insightful and personal.

teenage dream - B my issue with this song is my same issue with hope ur ok which is that it just feels so aware of itself as AN ALBUM CLOSER and i find it a bit cloying. i think the theme is interesting and has potential but the song just annoys me because it feels kind of overdone. idk. i just don't love it. i get it and i get why it's there but i think there was a better way of closing the album in a more genuine way.

BONUS TRACKS RANKING LINK (i have to link a new post here since i hit the character limit on this post. geez lol)

[missamyshay]

You don't even have to post this but I was the person who maybe 6 (or more) months ago told you about the possibility of ATH: the outtakes. A few years ago, I was into this one movie (a chick flick set in HS) and a wonderful writer created a whole future for these two characters when the movie ended. She sent them to college, broke them up, had them date different people and then reunited them in the most beautiful and amazing way. Like Across the Hall, that story had a lot of followers and, just like you, that writer, really felt for the version of those characters she had created but couldn't see herself ever writing another full 30 chapter story again. But she did these short one-shots. Not connected between each other time-wise, with time lapses. From time to time, without agenda or spectations she would post random one-shots, little stories about these couple. How he proposed, their wedding night, how she told him she was pregnant, the day of the delivery, their first fight and make up. And it was so sweet. It was like visiting good friends, checking in on them, knowing what they'd been up to. So, yeah, if you ever feel inclined, please post the ATH: outtakes. I really wanna know how MJ and Peter celebrated their wedding or if Gwen finally proposed to Harry. Or just random idle Tuesdays stories too. Always loved ATH and I visit that story often. The chapter where he does that origami dahlia for her on Valentines Day has to be the softest chapter ever, I also remember CRYING in that chapter where she tells him he has to promise not to pursue her anymore. A wild ride, heatbreaking sometimes too.

But yeah, that group still lives in my heart. I hope they are all doing alright.

Firstly, hi! I remember you! And I remember that very sweet message, and I want to let you know that it definitely inspired me to create the ‘outtakes’ doc, so thank you!

This is so lovely and heartwarming. Thanks for taking the time to share it with me. I’m so happy that the group still lives in your heart. I have it on good authority that they’re all doing really well—Ned might just have found himself another whirlwind romance, Betty and her gf are still going strong, Harry is unsure whether Gwen asked him to get married (they’re still working it out), MJ is writing her second book, and she and Peter are having the most fun being aunt and uncle to two adorable kids that they can give back whenever they want. 😂

Seriously though, this means a lot. And I can’t wait to share some little tidbits with you here and there ❤️

[wayslidecool]

top 10 best spongebob episodes?

okay, so i'll come forward and say i probably can't give you a top 10. i haven't been caught up with the show for a few years now, and it's been a long while since i've seen most of the episodes, even the ones i do enjoy. so instead what i'm gonna do is give more of a generalized "i remember these episodes being pretty damn good". will probably go out of my way to highlight more niche picks. so uh, these aren't my top 10, just ten episodes i like that i felt like talking about.

all this is under the cut because i don't wanna flood peoples' dashboards talking about Sponge Bob lmao

so first thing first, let's get some of the obvious picks out of the way: i think pretty much everyone knows that pizza delivery (s1, ep 5a), band geeks (s2, ep 35b), graveyard shift (s2, ep 36a), krusty krab training video (s3, ep 50b), and chocolate with nuts (s3, ep 52a) are some of the series' best. probably others i'm missing but like. everyone loves those episodes, countless people have talked about why they're great, i don't think there's much i could say that hasn't been said by other people and said better.

so let's highlight some others that i personally found really good that i probably can say more about!

tea at the treedome (s1, ep 1c)

man, talk about coming out swinging. this episode is part of the very first block and i think it is so, so strong. i think what makes this episode work so well for me is how they handle spongebob, how he so badly doesn't want to disturb his new friend that he becomes completely passive and can't even ask for water is so good, feels very relatable. i love the way this episode handles his internal monologue, showing his increasing desperation up until he inevitably snaps. ("I NEED IT!") it's so so good, such a good showcase of his character.

patrick's also great here! he hits such that nice balance of "well-intentioned stupidity" that defines all his best appearances. the way he sees spongebob slowly breaking down and tries to remind him to stay classy ("when in doubt, pinky out!"), eventually coming in himself to show spongebob things aren't so bad and immediately being proven wrong, it's all just so good.

my only real knock against this one is that for sandy's debut episode, i feel like she doesn't really get to do a lot. which is definitely a pity, but i dunno, i don't wanna hold it against this episode too much because they definitely give her some great episodes later on, and this episode otherwise nails the character writing.

sb-129 (s1, ep 14a)

this is a really high-concept episode to put in the show's first season, don't you think? honestly i think this is an episode worth checking out for the spectacle more than anything. don't get me wrong there's some killer jokes, the joke about everything being chrome in the future, the way squidward inadvertently ends up inventing jellyfishing, there's some good stuff, but let's face it. the real reason you come to this episode is for its sheer scale. idk about you, but i can sort of give or take "caveman humor".

but man, this is an episode that goes places. i mean, in eleven minutes, we get a snippet of the future, the past, and the nowhere dimension (the last of which i'll go over a bit later on). on one hand, it kinda feels like the episode has to rush through them all, but on the other hand, it doesn't feel like any of these time periods are meant to be all that fleshed out. they mostly exist to provide an interesting setpiece, deliver a few jokes, and then move the story to the next place. i could see an alternate longer version of this episode feeling like it drags on a bit too much.

and man, that nowhere dimension. i love that scene so, so much. it's surreal, it's memorable, it's a bit unnerving, and it adds so much to this already high-concept episode. that scene's probably the highlight of the whole thing to me (and MIGHT be what elevates it to a personal favorite) but i'd definitely say the whole thing is worth your time.

dying for pie (s2, ep 24a)

i think this is another of those episodes everyone can sorta agree is one of the best, but eh. i wanted to talk about it anyway because yeah it's just that good. i think spongebob and squidward are probably the best character duo in the entire show, and this is probably the best example of said dynamic. i really like how the plot is set in motion by squidward's carelessness, how his apathy is what forces him to realize how much he actually cares about his neighbor. what i love even more is the balancing act they play with the spongebob-squidward dynamic, the way they're still able to keep spongebob a bit annoying to squidward while still letting squidward genuinely care.

besides all the character stuff, man is this episode just funny. the absurdity of the pirates selling pies that are actually bombs, spongebob's sweater of tears, "Eleven times?!", spongebob's bucket list including showing squidward to everyone wearing a salmon suit and open heart surgery? yeah this episode has a lot of heart (hehe!) but never is it at the expense of the episode's comedy.

the only thing i could maybe see someone holding against this episode is that spongebob having not eaten the pie is kind of an ass pull but like. the writers aren't gonna kill off the main character, come on. and besides, i think the twist ultimately serves the episode well, i think getting that scene of squidward expressing his exasperation over everything he had to go through really reminds us why we love this dynamic: no matter how much squidward secretly cares about spongebob, spongebob's always gonna be a little bit annoying to him. d'awwwww.

squid on strike (s2, ep 40a)

speaking of good spongebob/squidward episodes! this one is so, so underrated i think. it's not really one of the show's most quotable episodes, but at the same time, i kinda think that works in its favor, if that makes any sense. jokes aren't as good if you know they're coming, so an episode filled to the brim with really good jokes that aren't especially quotable ends up hitting just as hard on rewatches. it might not have the same staying power as something like band geeks or chocolate with nuts, but because of that it manages to always surprise you with just how funny it is.

and to make it clear: this episode is hilarious. mr. krabs trying to charge his employees for things like "existing" and "breathing", spongebob's idea of getting more from his job just being getting to wear a comically oversized hat, the general cluelessness of both spongebob and the population, spongebob taking squidward's anticapitalist metaphors a bit too literally, there's a lot of good material here. probably also helps that this is the episode where squidward says "Nobody gives a care about the fate of labor as long as they can get their instant gratification." so true bestie.

i think what buoys this episode beyond just its great jokes is once again how it nails the characters. spongebob loves his job, sure, but the only thing he loves even more is his good friend squidward, so of course spongebob will become more passionate about the strike when mr. krabs insults squidward! so much so, that he's willing to dismantle the establishment, board by board! and conversely, the one thing that could make squidward give in is the idea that he might be on strike with spongebob forever. as i've said. spongebob and squidward are the best dynamic on this show.

nasty patty (s3, ep 44a)

this is probably the darkest episode of the entire series, and i love it SO much for that. like, i wouldn't say it's unreasonably dark, they make it apparent from the very first line of the episode that the health inspector doesn't actually die, but we are still looking at an episode of a children's cartoon where the main characters are thoroughly convinced they've murdered an innocent bystander and spend the whole episode trying to cover it up. and it's hilarious.

i think the juxtaposition of such a storyline with a character as innocent as spongebob is what really elevates this episode for me. ("The dark deed you requested is done, sir.") the whole episode ends up becoming this exercise in just how long they can keep up the central joke before the characters inevitably find out what's going on, especially with the multiple fake-outs! i love how there's multiple instances where the health inspector briefly regains consciousness, only to be immediately knocked out again. so good.

and as a result of that structure, it manages to escalate so well, with how they bring in the police and manage to keep coming up with situations where they have to keep the not-so-dead body just barely out of view. the scene where spongebob stuffs the health inspector in his hat (pictured above) is probably the highlight of the episode to me, it just so perfectly illustrates how silly this story manages to get.

fear of a krabby patty (s4, ep 61a)

so most people agree that the series went downhill after the first three seasons. and they'd be right! the first three seasons are absolutely the show at its peak and the show never managed to recapture its glory days in the seasons that followed. but it's not like they flipped some switch and the show was suddenly bad. hell, if anything, "fear of a krabby patty" (the very first episode after the movie!) might be one of my all-time favorites. in fact, and this statement may sound treasonous, but i think i like this one more than their other 24-hour adventure in "graveyard shift". yeah, i said it! bite me!

of course, the krusty krab being open for 24 hours with spongebob and squidward being forced to work the full shift is about all this episode has in common with that one, as the stories go in pretty wildly different directions from there. i love the way plankton is integrated into this episode. his "dr. peter lankton" schtick is so funny in how obvious his intentions are, leading to some killer therapy jokes and a couple instances of being crushed by a piano.

another highlight of this episode is its distinctive animation style! c.h. greenblatt has a very recognizable art style, you can usually easily tell which episodes he boarded (like dying for pie up above!) but you can especially tell with this one. actually, between its loose, expressive animation and its zippier pacing compared to the classic seasons, this almost feels like sort of like a post-sequel episode? i wonder if this episode would be all that different if they made it in season 11. i don't mean this in a bad way, for the record -- i think this episode manages those traits really well.

mermaid man & barnacle boy vi: the motion picture (s4, ep 67b)

i don't really have much to say here i just think this one's funny as hell. it's not like it thrives off these intricate character dynamics, or this elaborate well-plotted story, its plot is just a vehicle for a flurry of ridiculous jokes that all end up hitting for me. you know that thing where you see some bad movie and are like, "i could do better than that!" despite having no filmmaking experience? that's the central conceit of this episode, and it works to hilarious effect.

this episode may not thrive off of intricate character dynamics sure, but i still think it uses its characters very well. it does a good job finding everyone's role in making the movie, from spongebob as director, squidward as the makeup artiste, sandy as the pyrotechnician ("Did somebody say BOOM?!"), plankton as the boom operator ("Did somebody say BOOM?!") and of course, pearl as the boatmobile. it does such a good job putting every character in a position where they have extremely high, extremely unearned confidence.

and that's really just where this episode succeeds! it's not complicated, you throw dynamic characters in a ridiculous situation and mine the comedy gold. helps that this episode has some killer running gags.

boating buddies (s6, ep 109a)

yeah, let's throw a controversial pick on here, why the hell not. so to make things abundantly clear: i do not in the slightest think this is one of the best spongebob episodes ever written. i also totally get why most people hate this one, and i don't think it's unjustified! that being said, when i was watching through season 6, i found this one of the funniest episodes of that season, and after thinking it through a bit, i think i understand why.

i'm not gonna try and dance around the argument that this episode ramps up spongebob's creepiness to absurd levels, or that it's unreasonably cruel to squidward, because it does and it is! HOWEVER. a lot of those criticisms seem to be under the assumption that, like most episodes, we're supposed to root against squidward and for spongebob. and like, that is clearly not the case here. this is very much an episode told from squidward's point of view. squidward doesn't like spongebob, so this episode will show us spongebob's worst side. squidward can't catch a break, because we've all had those days, right? this is an episode that puts the audience in squidward's shoes, and shows us why he's the way he is.

and i dunno, i think when you watch the episode under that pretense, it ends up working! or, at least it does for me. again, i can totally get why someone wouldn't like that characterization even if they understand the perspective this episode is written from. but to me, it ends up making gags like spongebob being able to hear squidward breathing from his house, or the drawn-out blackboard gag set to an orchestral score work that much better. throw in a frenetic boating scene towards the end with that surreal laboratory sequence for a bit of extra energy, and ultimately it ends up being an episode i enjoy. it's definitely not gonna be for everyone, i wouldn't necessarily highly recommend this one, but if you're gonna watch it, at least try to do so with the writers' intentions in mind.

planet of the jellyfish (s8, ep 169b)

you know, for as long as the show's been on the air, it doesn't feel like you really get those big, outside-the-box episodes all that often. spongebob is a show with a comfortable status quo, rarely deviating from its usual character dynamics, locations, and stock stories, so when we get something like this "invasion of the body snatchers" pastiche, it ends up standing out a lot more among its peers.

i think they made a good decision with this episode to keep spongebob oblivious about what's going on just long enough to mine that for its comedic potential, and no longer. if you had that eat away at much more of the episode, i think it could've dragged, but we get the best material of spongebob's obliviousness (like his awkward conversation with the jelly squidward, or seeing the jellien attempting to bite him and assuming it just wants popcorn), and after that the story lets spongebob find out, lets the story move on, and start building the suspense

i think that the monster movie pastiche does a good job giving this episode a unique flavor, it ends up feeling a bit higher stakes than a lot of spongebob episode, while also using this opportunity to riff on the genre and make a lot of silly and offbeat jokes, like the jellies kidnapping spongebob's spatula for some reason, spongebob freaking out about all his friends being kidnapped... and some random incidental, all the jelly clones hissing at a dude for ordering a patty with mayo (which turns out to be their weakness!), it feels like it does a good job making the most of its genre parody.

krabby patty creature feature (s11, ep 222a)

oh hey, another b-movie monster movie pastiche. look, i'm not gonna beat around the bush. i'm a sucker for these things, okay? in general, season 11 is probably one of my favorite seasons of the later part of the show's run, i think it generally does a good job feeling fresh with a mix of new character pairings, offbeat story concepts, and a handful of genre pastiches. like this one! truth be told there's absolutely other S11 episodes i could've picked that'd give this list more variety (squid noir would probably be my next choice, consider that an honorable mention) but listen. monster movie episodes are fun, okay?

compared to planet of the jellyfish, i think creature feature is generally a bit more frantic, really thriving from the sense of urgency the story concept provides. less suspense, more action! unlike the previous episode, this episode puts spongebob at the center of the action right from the start, letting him see the situation unfold and ultimately become the one tasked with stopping it. perhaps you miss out on some of the jokes about spongebob's naivety, but the increased tension more than makes up for it. plus we can now use that time to show how the mayhem is effecting people around town, get gags where bubble bass complains about the cheap promotional stunt, or a cop complaining about the zombie apocalypse interrupting his break. good stuff!

this is another episode where i think i have to give a shout out to the animation. i know some people complain about the recent seasons being overanimated, which is a complaint i definitely feel for some episodes, but i think this episode uses its really expressive, really fluid animation to great effect, really selling us on spongebob's terror with these big expressions. i also gotta shoutout some of the character designs for the patty monster versions of the characters, you can tell the animators working on this episode had to have a blast with it, and i feel like the end result really pays off.

and... that's it for the episodes i feel like talking about right now! is this the Cream of the Crop? probably not, but they're all episodes i've enjoyed, and it's nice getting to sit back, elaborate why i like these episodes so much (even if it's been pretty time-consuming LMAO). thanks for asking!