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peachessndreamss · 2 days ago

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Home is You

Summery : Bob's home from a mission and he's got something he needs to share.

Characters : Robert "Bob" Floyd x GN!Reader (No use of Y/N)

Warnings : Mention of canon typical threat and injury

Word count : 1.6K

A/N : I watched Topgun Maverick because I was sad and then I found my old TGM google docs and, well, here we are. Also, pleased to see Lew getting so much love after Thunderbolts *

peachessndreamss Masterlist l peachessndreamss ask box

For the thousandth time that morning you checked your phone, sighing softly when there were no new notifications. With frustration, you flipped your phone over so you couldn't see the screen, hoping that would stop the constant anxious gnawing in your stomach.

You weren't usually one to stare longingly at your phone but today was different. Bob was due home, but he'd, and the rest of the returning service personnel, were put on no contact until they arrived back on the base, meaning, although you knew he would be home soon you had no way of knowing when that would be, and if he was still in one piece.

The minutes of that day seemed to crawl by as you waited, waited and waited some more to hear from him. Although you weren't in a romantic relationship with Bob he was still one of the most important people in your life. He was your best friend and your love for him was so deep that you never wanted to think of your life without him in it.

The morning had quickly flowed into the afternoon, and the hours of the afternoon were passing rapidly, every tick of the kitchen clock feeling like a hammer blow against your heart. You had been reading the fridge when his call finally came through, the vibration against the tabletop had you slamming the fridge door closed and dashing toward your phone.

You managed to answer after only a single ring, your whole body flooding with relief at the sound of his voice.

"Hey, it's me," he said when you answered the call.

"I know," you said softly, “I’ve got caller ID,”

"Yeah sorry, I know," he replied with a soft laugh.

A silence fell between the two of you as you struggled to work out what to say. Weeks of no contact always made space for a few awkward silences but it wouldn’t take long for the ice of time and distance to thaw and for things to be back to normal.

"Are you free to pick me up?" He asked after a few seconds.

"Of course,” you replied quickly, already moving toward the front door, car keys in hand, “I can be there in about 30 minutes,".

"Alrigh' I'll give the gate your details, see you soon,".

The call ended as you stepped out of the door, the anxious feeling in your stomach had turned into butterflies as you sped toward the base, your hands trembling with the surge of adrenaline now coursing through you. It seemed no matter how many times he went away and came home again, the effect on you was the same.

You managed to calm your breathing and your erratic heartbeat before you arrived at the main gates, you were let through the gate and drove up to the main block where you knew there would be others collecting loved ones.

You parked and got out of your car, all around you there were families being reunited, children being hugged and swung around, wife's, girlfriends, boyfriends and husband's being held and kissed by returning service personnel and you felt somewhat out of place as you stood, alone, looking for him.

You recognised a few faces from previous pickups, and you couldn’t stop the burn of tears in your eyes as you watched happy families coming together.

You fidgeted with the hem of your shirt as you scanned the crowd for him, finally catching sight of him, the late afternoon sun flashing off his glasses as he stepped out of a door off to the left hand side of the block, around his neck was the arm of a taller officer and the two of them were laughing.

He saw you and his smile broadened, he waved, pulling away from his friend and breaking into a slow jog toward you, as soon as he was close enough you threw yourself into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Hey," you said softly, taking a deep breath and drawing the smell of him deeply into your lungs.

"Hey yourself," Bob replied, giving you an extra squeeze.

He heard you sniff as you fought harder against the tears burning eyes and forcing your throat closed.

"No tears," he said softly as he released you from his embrace and looked at your face, noticing the wobble in your bottom lip and the glassy look in your eyes, "me being home is supposed to be a happy thing".

"I am happy,".

"Okay so no tears or I'll get a complex,".

You let your eyes roam over his face, each of his features as familiar to you as your own face in the mirror. You noticed a scar on his forehead that hadn’t been there when he’d left, you reached up and brushed your thumb over the mark.

"What happened?" You asked.

Bob laughed softly, "I, uh, got on the wrong side of some cables and ended up on my face on the flight deck," he said, touching the silvery mark on his forehead.

"As long as that's all it was," you replied, your whole body shivering at the idea of the type of risks he ran every time he went up in his jet.

"I'll tell you about the near miss over dinner huh?" He teased, elbowing you gently.

"No thank you," you replied with a smile as the two of you started to move in the direction of your car.

"Not even if I'm the hero of the story?" He asked as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"Especially then," you said, "I like to imagine all you do when you're away is sit about and take no risks,".

Bob laughed as you started the engine and pulled out of your parking space. On the drive back to your home you caught Bob up with anything and everything he missed while he'd been away and Bob told you a few things that he'd been up to, although a lot of details needed to be left out.

You asked if he wanted to get a drink in town which he declined, you knew the local town would be full that evening with the returning crew, and understandably, Bob wanted a quiet evening.

Once back at your home Bob stripped out of his boots and went to take a shower. The spare room of your home was always made up ready for him and a few comfortable outfits were hanging in the wardrobe. Once he’d changed into a faded blue t-shirt and grey sweatpants he came to find you in the kitchen.

"You want me to cook or shall we order?" You asked as you got two bottles of cola from your fridge.

"Uh, what would you cook?" He asked as you handed him a bottle and he popped the top off easily.

"Well you know me," you joked, "pasta or, uh, pasta?".

"I love pasta,".

Bob almost ate himself into a coma before curling up on your sofa and dozing off, his head cushioned by his hands. His eyes were closed and there was a small smile on his face.

"Can I tell you something?" He asked, not opening his eyes.

"Sure, knock yourself out," you replied from the other sofa where you were feeling sleepy after all the hours of worrying you'd done earlier in the day. You had your own eyes closed, your head propped up on your fist.

"We went down, me and my pilot, something went wrong and we lost control. We were crashing into the water so we ejected, it was pretty textbook stuff but in those few seconds when I wasn't acting on pure instinct I think I realised something,".

As he was talking you'd felt yourself getting more and more tense, each one of your muscles seizing up as you pictured him in a failing jet, working purely on instinct and adrenaline. Too scared to move but the only person who could do anything. Bob stifled a yawn before continuing.

"I was bobbing around in the water, waiting to get picked up, freezing cold but also getting burned by the sun and the only thing I could think about was you," Bob's eyes opened slowly and fixed his gaze on you.

Although your eyes remained closed, he could see the tension in your body.

"And then I thought to myself, if I died here, who would I leave behind? And it was you. You were the only thought I had out there, how much I wanted to see you one more time, tell you a joke and hear you laugh, that's all I could think about,"

Your heart was pounding in your chest and the sound of your blood pumping in your ears was almost deafening. Bob spotted the tremble in your hand that you wouldn’t have been able to hide if you’d tried.

You opened your eyes and met his gaze, finding it sleepy but also clear, like the exhaustion was giving him clarity of thought. And while Bob could still feel the sleep pulling on his mind, he needed to get his thoughts out while he had them in his head.

"Can you come here please?" He asked as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

With an uncertain step you stood and moved toward him, coming to stand directly in front of him, in between his knees. He placed his hands on your hips and you touched your hands to his cheeks.

"Out there I realised something," he said softly, looking deeply into your eyes, "I love you, and not just as my friend, as my everything,".

For the second time that day you felt your throat closing up as tears burned in your eyes and your bottom lip wobbled. Bob smiled as he reached up and touched his thumb to your trembling lip.

"Don't cry," he whispered, "you'll give me a complex,".

A/N : There's more where this came from, as well as some Rooster stuff if anyone still cares about Topgun 😆💀

#lewis pullman #topgun #topgun maverick #robert floyd #bob floyd #robert bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #bob floyd x you #bob floyd x gn!reader #topgun fanfic #topgun maverick fanfic #lewis pullman fanfic

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i-messed-up-big-time · 12 hours ago

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Someone Precious II

Caleb x Non MC Reader

a/n: seeing all of you guys really like the first part defo made me feel all warm and giggly! so thank you for all of your lovely comments! also i am not well versed in the realm of medicine/hospitals and stuff so please bear with me as i write the scenes dealing with those, i most likely will briefly touch on those and not go into too much detail. also i finally got a desk and a monitor so now i can do all my writing in comfort rather than hunched over on my bed! Also this part doesn't really have much Caleb unless you include reader thinking about him. another side note, this part will be short but i will write more for the other parts, i just needed this one to be on its own focusing on the pregnancy a bit so that in the other parts i can focus on the relationships with MC, Caleb etc.

also i dont think i mentioned this in my previous part but ill make sure to add it to my masterlist description, the setting of this series will be taking place in a world where ever, evols and wanderers do not exist. some aspects of the characters and how they met have been tweaked to fit with the plot, so pls dont come at me if something isnt how you remember it in the game.

Divider creds @/cafekitsune

tags: angst, hurt/comfort, reader is female and is AFAB, pregnancy,

word count: 1.7k

masterlist

series masterlist

taglist: @aneertawrites @eurydiceknowshesloved @angelichiaro @nommingonfood @ynovaes @animegamerfox @melonssoup @iamawkwardandshy @novthirty @rosevelt632 @sleepless-cloudy @justpassingdontworry @sleepykittyenergy @ijustwannabeyourmuse @iiyumii @eolivy @asakiyu

You sat there numb, your thoughts were a broken record.

'I'm pregnant.'

That's all your brain could handle at the moment. MC sat next to you in silence, rubbing a soothing hand on your back,

She knew that right now what you needed was comfort through gestures and not words, so she just waited patiently until you were ready to say something.

No matter what decision you made, she was ready to support you.

●・○・●・○・●・

A couple of hours had passed, you still hadn't spoken up but you had moved to lie in your bed.

MC had gone out to get some lunch, which left you alone with your thougthts.

If there was one thing you had come to a conclusion for, it was that you were going to keep the baby.

Call it a motherly instinct, but you didn't have the heart to abandon an innocent soul.

It wasn't long before MC came back, calling you to come to the dining room. She had gotten your favourite takeaway hoping that it would cheer you up a little bit, and it did.

You smiled as you helped her set the table. As you guys were unpacking the food you decided to finally tell her what was going through your head.

"I'm going to keep the baby. I don't want to abandon an innocent soul and I've always wanted a child, it just didn't happen the way I would have hoped."

You said with a sad smile as you placed a hand on your stomach.

You had dreamed of having a family, more specifically with Caleb. In a way you got your wish, but it felt like fate was cruel for granting it the way they did.

You're still young, you don't even know if you'll even be a good mother. But there's one thing for sure, you have the best possible support system you could ever ask for.

MC's smile mirrored your own.

Dinner was spent in silence, it was comfortable. MC didn't push you for a conversation and you were grateful for that.

●・○・●・○・●・

It had been a week since the news, and now you were here standing in front of Akso Hospital.

You were feeling nervous, a part of you felt like you would be judged for the reason of your visit, but you knew that was just the anxiety talking.

Taking a deep breath you walked in, it was now or never.

The nurse at the reception desk was sweet, her tone and gaze held no judgement as she guided me to the examination room.

You got settled and just laid there staring at the ceiling, you tried to keep your thoughts positive and light, but your thoughts kept drifting back to Caleb.

What it would be like to have him here with you. Would he reassure you? Would he be as nervous as you are?

All these 'what ifs' that'll never become a reality. You could only hope that you could be enough for your child.

●・○・●・○・●・

Your appointment confirmed exactly what those pregnancy tests said, you were six weeks pregnant.

You knew Caleb was the father. He was your first, and honestly your last.

At this moment in time your heart didn't have the ability to love another. He was everything you wanted in a man.

Maybe I should re-evaluate what a man is.

You thought bitterly, but you chided yourself just as quickly as that thought came.

You didn't want to think of him that way or think negatively at all, not wanting those feelings to affect your health and bring any complications for your child.

"It's ok my baby, mommy and Aunty MC will make sure you never feel insecure about not having a father."

Your words were not only to comfort your child, but also to comfort yourself.

●・○・●・○・●・

6 weeks later

You were back at Akso Hospital again, this time it was for a follow up appointment.

MC had taken time off work to come with you this time, saying how it's part of her aunty duties.

It was cute, and it never failed to put a smile on your face when she would talk excitedly about all the things she would do with her future niece or nephew.

You had assumed this check up would be the same as the first one, just a normal procedure to make sure that the baby and mum are doing ok.

Boy were you in for a treat.

As your doctor moved the wand around your growing belly you noticed something on the screen that you didn't see last time.

"Congratulations! It seems you'll be having twins."

MC let out the loudest squeal known to man at the news, you could practically feel her excitement radiating off of her.

You matched her energy with a smile on your face.

I guess my little family just grew by one.

You thought to yourself.

"Would you guys like to know the gender or do you want to keep it a surprise?"

Your doctor asked. You personally wanted to keep it as a surprise because you could already see the gears turning in MC's head.

You knew exactly what she was planning and in all honesty, you wanted to let her have her way.

She was your rock and sole supporter through all of this, you would feel bad if you didn't let her do what she wanted.

"I'd like for it to be kept a secret but by all means let her know, I can tell she's dying of curiosity."

You let out a soft laugh, your doctor cleaned up the gel and helped you up.

MC gave you a big hug before you made your way outside.

It didn't take long before MC came skipping out the room, her smile was so bright you thought you might go blind.

That night MC treated you to dinner and insane amount of sweets, which totally satiated the cravings you were having.

●・○・●・○・●・

6 months later

You were in your final trimester, it was a relatively easy going pregnancy, if you ignore the fact that you feel like a walking balloon.

Most of your days were spent in bed as the weight of your stomach made it hard to move around too much.

It was times like these that it made you think of Caleb. Even though you had promised yourself that you wouldn't, but at the end of the day you were still madly in love with a man who ghosted you after your first time.

Crazy isn't it? Your heart was a fool in love while your brain tried to be the rational one, but every now and then you would give in to the thoughts of what would have happened if he didn't run off.

Would he be here helping you through all of this? If he were to come back, how would you confront him?

You could only pray that he didn't show up in front of you any time soon, because the moment he did you would give him a beating of a lifetime.

Your due date was somewhat nearby but not close enough yet. You had your hospital bag packed and a baby carrier all ready to go right by the door. That way you and MC wouldn't be scrambling around last minute trying to find everything.

You were feeling nervous, you didn't know what the delivery would be like and you worried for your babies, wondering if you could make up for the lack of father figure they would have in their life.

You had taken a look at the time and had noticed it was quite late and MC had yet to come back from work. Just as you were about to give her a call, you heard the sound of the door being unlocked.

MC walked in holding a multitude of things, the most obvious one being balloons that read Boy or Girl?

"Surprise!"

MC exclaims, you don't know if it was just you or the hormones but you started bawling. The love that you felt was immense, no words could explain it.

You waddled over to MC to help her but she waved you off and told you to take a seat on the couch as she set things up.

You waddled back to the couch and settled in to the cushions as MC worked quick with her set up.

As soon as she was done she set up her phone so that it would capture the background and us.

"We're gonna do this trend I saw on social media, so just follow my lead."

MC gave a brief explanation and you nodded in understanding.

"Hi I'm your Aunt MC and I think you guys are gonna be two beautiful baby girls."

You giggled, you knew that she already knew the genders but thought it was cute that she wanted to at least pretend that she didn't know.

"Hi my babies, I'm your mommy and I think you guys will be beautiful boy and girl."

You always wanted a daughter and a son, but you also would be happy with either gender as long as they were healthy.

"Okay, now we're gonna do the gender reveal. Take this glass and close your eyes, on the count of three we'll push it into the cakes and see what the genders are."

MC pushed one cake towards you and placed the other one in front of her.

Following her instructions, you placed the glass over the cake and closed your eyes.

"One, two, three!"

You brought the glass down and prayed you actually got some cake in there and not just frosting.

"Ok open your eyes!"

You could hear the smile in her voice.

You opened your eyes and looked at your glass and then MC's, they were both blue.

You pulled MC into a hug, you don't know if it was the hormones or the situation but you started crying, they were happy tears.

You felt so happy that you had such an amazing friend by your side, you didn't even wanna think what life would've been like if she wasn't in it.

In the midst of all the emotions and excitement you didn't notice the seat under you getting wet until you started to feel like you may have peed your pants.

You pulled back from MC and said,

"I think my water just broke."

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luna-rainbow · 15 hours ago

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I wasn’t going to watch the Thunderbolts but I had a chance to get out of the house and took it.

It was good, as long as you’re not going in with the expectation that Bucky would be of any importance in the story. This is very much Yelena’s story, and to a smaller extent, Bob/Sentry’s. Bucky’s most kickass scenes were already in the trailers. It was fun seeing him play Congressman, if only because Sebastian played the “I’m dying inside while playing nice for the press” expression with perfection. I need to see the script again but it was implied that Bucky was quite a pull for voters so…that’s interesting. Him turning up the charm to try and get Val’s secretary on his side was a very nice detail, because I can see Bucky knowing he’s got the ability to do it but dying inside when he has to. It felt like they were going somewhere with Bucky’s involvement in the story but once he joined forces with the rest of the guys (which was like…end of Act One), he very much felt like a glorified cameo. And it would be nice if we could get one movie without Bucky’s prosthesis being removed for shock value 🙄

One tiny detail that made me smile was that Walker was a dick to Bob early on and in the final scene, he was the only one that got pinned by a knife while everyone else just got tied down. I liked how consistent Walker is with his previous appearance, the same blustering confidence, although just a little bit quicker to accept he’s wrong. Still very much white jock energy though.

The movie was a fine portrayal of mental health, personified mainly by Bob and his alter ego. This made the third act a bit heavy handed with the metaphors coming in thick, the “your greatest enemy is yourself”, and “it’s okay to not be okay”, and “you don’t have to get through a mental health crisis on your own”. And maybe also a side of “depression will make you feel deeply alone but people who care about you will be hurt if you hurt yourself” and “hurt people hurt people”. This also meant the action was far more interesting (and very well choreographed) in the first act compared to the latter half of the movie where a lot of it was wired superhero flying. The team dynamic was very enjoyable despite their frequent squabbling and I think we can thank the ensemble of excellent actors for making this group of highly flawed people likeable and funny.

It was a shame that the movie never delved deeper into any of the other characters outside of Yelena — whether that’s Walker grappling with his colossal failure (and I mean this seriously, I think Walker’s flaws were amplified by his fear of failing and not being the perfect high achiever he’s been all his life); how Alexei deals with his complex role for Yelena and Nat that’s both (deadbeat) father and abuser/child trafficker; whatever struggles Ava had to face trying to overcome her physical limitations and being forced to work for SHIELD; and Bucky…

I mean, Bucky’s whole history with trauma, abuse, loss of agency and guilt falls right in with this story but he doesn’t even get a flashback.

At least he got the line “(unlike me) you can choose who you work for” and that’s more acknowledgement than the entire 6 episodes of TFATWS, so that says something.

It’s nice seeing mental health so front and centre in the MCU but the story left a lot of the side characters under-utilised and the resolution is just a little too magical. But still one of the better post Endgame outings.

#bucky barnes #thunderbolts #spoilers #thunderbolts spoilers #movies

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imaginaryskeleton · 3 days ago

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Hey just wanted you to know that you're the sole reason I know two whole things about booster gold and those two things are 1) he exists and 2) he's a silly lil guy

I win!!! I love inflicting my special interest on people! He is soooo silly and now you've activated my infodump mode so you will now know more about him

Booster (a nickname he earned in school) is a disgraced footballer from 25th century Gotham. His real name is Michael Jon Carter but everyone calls him Booster. He was caught gambling on his own games and banned from football and expelled from college. Before that he had been projected to become rich and famous from being such a good player. He hated himself after all this because he grew up poor, and that was supposed to be his chance to make life better for his mom and twin sister

Booster moved to Metropolis and became a night security guard for a museum. He also went to Metropolis U and studied history (personally I like to think he specialised in the history of superheroics and that he found that being able to choose his course of study for fun rather than having no choice because he needed the career like with sports was really freeing for him). The museum is also where he met Skeets, a security robot he worked alongside

One night Booster just got frustrated with his life, tired of being a failure and loser, so he stole a ton of hero tech from the museum, stole Skeets, and stole a time machine, and went back in time to become a famous superhero

He originally wanted his name to be Goldstar but he got nervous when he was asked and he accidentally said Booster Gold and it stuck (Goldstar does end up being a name used by his friend Trixie and his sister Michelle)

He joins the Justice League International and has smth really fruity (and tragic - but I'll spare you those details rn) going on with Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) to the point where they are pretty much stated to be canon soulmates (Blue Beetle 2006 #25) and they're actually together in Teen Titans Go

He does a lot of ads and some endorsements and modelling to make money (and he and Ted also get caught up in some...we'll say ill advised schemes together) and it can make him come across as disingenuous and a few other heroes don't really like him and his show off for the cameras attitude (he and Superman have little history) but in the end he has a good heart and it makes for really interesting character development and you do see him again and again do the right thing and sacrificing the spotlight or good PR to do it

Anyway that's my crash course on Booster. I have a lot to say about him he's so special to me I'm so glad you found out he exists from me

#ask #booster gold #dc #dc comics

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creatingblackcharacters · 1 day ago

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Salutations! I hope you’re doing well and having a lovely day/night. I’ve been ruminating on this for a while and thought it would help to get some outside perspectives:

I’m writing a couple stories set in a distant future version of Earth, wherein portals have collapsed the concept of borders and colonial nations no longer exist. In the stories themselves, culture will be conveyed through context clues (knowledge, names, perspectives) and character design (details such as hair and clothes), but I want to specify characters’ ethnicities in separate character reference sheets.

For Black American characters, would it be better to clarify that they come from Turtle Island, as “America” no longer exists*?

*not on Earth, anyway; one human-alien space society has ascribed some national titles to the asteroids on which they live

Likewise, for African characters, is it better to refer to their nationality or tribe (I plan to do the latter, but would both be preferable?) when describing their ethnicity?

I’ve encountered similar questions with regards to every other character, as well as how some locations will be named/conveyed. At the end of the day I’m just not sure if I should approach this more informative aspect (external, yet adjacent, to these stories) through the lens of this future world or our present one. I don’t think there’s a single, or simple, answer, but I welcome numerous perspectives!!

Thank you so much for your time, and for all the work and love you put into this blog💚

Well, as I've learned, not every indigenous group calls this place "Turtle Island"! It depends on where those Black people are living, and who they are in community with, to determine what they would call the landmass once known as America. By denoting what they call it, we would be able to know what general area (or even what Indigenous community they are in) they're talking about. (And me personally, if readers are like "idk where that is" then they need to look it up!) So they would just be Black from "such and such" community.

If that's the pattern you're going by, then yeah you should also refer to African peoples by their community (I feel weird hearing "tribe" from white folk because like... It's not technically wrong but it's like... Mmmm). If you say that this person is Igbo, we know where they're from and how they identify (and again, if your readers don't know, look it up!).

#creatingblackcharacters #black character design #thatsjusttips

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secretgardensinmymindd13 · 13 hours ago

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eddie feeling broken, buck being a fixer and making him feel normal again and helping him find joy

buck feeling abandoned, eddie being a nester and building a home for him (and now he’s living in eddie’s home…)

buck wanting a family and a child, eddie already having that

eddie wanting a reliable partner, buck being exactly that

eddie thinking of himself as a failure, buck admiring him and seeing him as the greatest person alive - even knowing all his flaws (because eddie has what buck values but never had himself: he’s stoic, he’s reliable, he’s an amazing parent. and his imperfections make him even more human and beautiful in buck’s eyes)

buck thinking of himself as not good enough, eddie seeing him as an incredible work partner (“you’re badass under pressure,” “you can have my back any day”), co-parent (“no one will ever fight for my son as hard as you. that is what i want for him”), romantic partner (“once he gets to know you and learns you’re an idiot, he’ll love you, like we all do. and if he says no, then he’s an idiot”), and person (“you don’t have to be anything for anyone”)

eddie thinks he’s alone with his problems, that he needs to be strong and have it all together all the time. buck helps him be vulnerable and takes the load off

buck thinks he needs to be extraordinary and go the extra mile to deserve love and attention. eddie loves him unconditionally, exactly for who he is, and makes it feel like buck is easy to love

eddie being a sunshine trapped in a grumpy guy’s mask, but able to be his true silly self with buck

buck being a grumpy guy wearing a sunshine mask, and eddie seeing through him and taking him seriously

eddie being emotionally repressed, but buck teaching him to open up through pure acceptance and acts of service - showing him he doesn’t have to put on a brave face, and helping lift the weight off his shoulders

buck wearing his heart on his sleeve, emotionally reactive like a bare wire, but eddie calming and reassuring him with words of affirmation, consistency, and presence - healing his separation anxiety and self-worth issues

eddie is a repressed guy with a restrictive past that helps buck ground himself

buck is a free spirit with an adventurous past that helps eddie open up and let go

them finding freedom from their traumatic pasts and their true home in the 118

them meeting each other after being left behind by the people they loved (shannon and abby), and clinging and committing to one another because they know what it’s like to be abandoned - so they take their promise to have each other’s backs very seriously

they both tend to jump into relationships and try to make them work, but with each other, it doesn’t even feel like trying - it just comes naturally

like eddie not feeling ready for a “ready-made family” (not only with ana and marisol, but with shannon too, both in the flashbacks and season 2), but somehow doing it with buck without even realizing - because it comes so easily

and buck trying to “make it” with his romantic partners, because that’s what thomas told him love was about. but with eddie, he not only made it - he already “found it”

the moon and the sun. the yin and the yang. black cat and golden retriever. a listener and a yapper.

the more i think about them, the more soulmatism i discover. how can two characters complement each other SO MUCH and SO PERFECTLY?? this really is divine intervention and dumb luck, ‘cause i don’t think even the writers knew how beautifully interconnected these characters are in so many details

like, of course tim says the show feels worse without them together - look at what you all created

and ryan and oliver being giggly and touchy and looking at each other with heart eyes doesn’t help either

#buddie #it’s all their fault!!!#they can’t ruin it. they just can’t #pull the trigger on the gun i gave you when we met!!!#evan buckley #eddie diaz #bi buck #gay eddie diaz #buck x eddie #buddie canon #911 #911 abc #911 show #911 meta #they’re soulmates your honor #this not a rpf ryliver post by the way

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theongp · 1 day ago

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JJ Maybank/Rafe Cameron fics rec

*Note: My mind before I made this post was like, from "you don't need to it, they are rarepair RARE FREAKING PAIR no one care, especially on this platform" to "NO I have to, for the "paper ship" with almost 20 fics on my bookmark and so many good works on ao3, I am probably gonna explode if I can't get it out I don't even care if no one gives a shit" (to lovely people who care I love you), so here we are I guess 💀

No Murders, No Gold, Just Vibes (multi-chap, finished, rated E)

One of the first fics of this ship on ao3 and still lives up to its title as the most hits fic so far. It's the most read not only because it's one of the first but also because it's just TOO GOOD. It has angst, has hurt, it has fluff and comfort, all of them is so nicely balanced. The characters development is not too quick, it wasn't really feel like canon in the end but still not being ooc, and that has my deepest appreciation. Also the most important (to me at least lol) we have verse!Jafe, we even have the build up for Rafe to bottoming (the author is an angel my gawd), every fics that have bottom!Rafe is automatically good to me because it's rare af I need MORE. Oops it's gotten too long now but one last thing, there's one small part in the fic I really love related to their kiss, I will stop here to avoid spoiler so you should read it to know what i'm talking about yeah?

i'll take the risk if you are the reward (multi-chap, on hiatus (?), rated E)

The fic I talked about before, still one of the craziest, wildest fic i've read and i've read A LOT on ao3 for more than a decade. A thick book of spice is already unhinged enough? The plot has also the same level of craziness. Imagine The Bear tv show with all the screaming except the main couple is h0rny all the times and everybody always thinking about "dextering" everyone (I use the exact word the author used lol). Also why 180k words of corn is good? Because it still made me feel hot inside even tho there was no penetration for half of the fic (and that is almost 100k words, wild I know lol) 🔥

Lost at Sea (multi-chap, finished, no rating)

Best Jafe AU fic to me. Another nicely balanced hurt/comfort, and one of the most wholesome fic i've read of the pair. It's not fluffy but very lighthearted and emotional. The idea of JJ and Rafe becoming a team of two (forcefully lol) and slowly realizing their feelings for each other through hardship on an unknown place is sooo appealing. Only them, no other characters appeared for most of the fic, like a breath of flesh air I LOVE it. Now I'm having the feminine urge to translate this fic to my first language and haven't translate any fic for a very long time (when you love a fanfic too much *sob* 🥺)

The Enemy of My Friend Is My Lover (multi-chap, finished, rated T)

There it is my first ever rated T i've bookmarked. If you want to read a fic where therapy actually worked, it's the one for you (therapy session in fanfiction often treated like nothing yk, that's why this fic is important). The character development of all the characters is so good because the writer planned it out so well, so detailed, with structure. Rafe's relationship with all of them is so sweet especially with JJ and Sarah, made my heart melt <3

Sounds Good (oneshot, rated E)

This fic has 2 things I love most checked out: post canon?✔️ bottom!Rafe?✔️ Good freaking food 👏 Corn with plot more like delicious corn with delicious plot. I read many fics by the author and she can write really sexy pre slash and dialogues, and JJ in her fics is always so horny for Rafe, freaking LOVE that. And I have to point out that Rafe in this fic has hearing difficulty and has to use hearing aid, that made the plot so much more interesting to me.

All the fics's links will be in the comment, remember to check it out 🙏

Note 2: Phew, I still have more fics I want to recommend, blessed the fanfic God for bringing us a tiny ship with so many good fics. I definitely will be crazy about this couple for a long long time, bc they were nothing in the show (the reason why I don't watch and will never watch), are the smallest ship of the fandom, but still has quite good amount of great fanfics with talented writers, also seeing my dad Drew together with Rudy is really f-ing great for my poor eyes, gawd i'm such a pathetic masochist I should stop. Bye ✌️

#jj x rafe #outer banks #obx #rafe cameron #jj maybank #jafe #jj maybank x rafe cameron #jjrafe #jafe fic recs #ao3 fic recs #my hyperfixation for jafe is closed to a month now i can't believe it

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jungkoode · 5 hours ago

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5 SECONDS TO FREEDOM | prologue

˗ˏˋ debts unpaid ˎˊ˗

"In Tokyo's underground, there are only two currencies that matter—respect and reputation. When someone threatens to take both, you don't just race them. You destroy them."

next | index

⋆｡°✩ chapter details ✩°｡⋆

word count: 3.5k

content: street racing culture, debt collection, first meetings, midnight races, dangerous driving, Spanish endearments as provocation, the dynamics of Tokyo's underground scene, and your first defeat in nineteen months.

✧ author's note ✧

Soooo here we fucking go.

I've been obsessing over this story for months—I think we all know that lmaooo I think I posted the teaser like a couple months ago and I was devastated because it barely got 50 notes. But you know what, this was still in my head so I did write some drabbles—and I kind of shaped the prologue, which is what you’re gonna read below hahaha.

“But Kiki we just sent you 45 asks telling you to rest” AND I SAID SIKE??? No actually, I’m okay I promise! Usually writing different stories is what prevents me from burning out, because I get frustrated with the same storyline so it’s like… I write something else and my brain goes ‘yay thanks’. You know, ADHD—shiny new toy, mind dances to the music.

Anyways, so. I love this. I love this because as always I get to experiment with different personalities and psychological backgrounds and what I fucking love about these two is the masks they wear and how opposite they are. He’s cocky and arrogant, but in a different way FMU!jungkook is. She’s determined and ambitious, always pushing for more, but still very distinct from all my other Y/N’s because she’s handling different situations (you’ll see in later chapters).

And Hachiroku and Jaque aren't just racing personas—they're escapes. And what makes this delicious is that they're running from opposite lives. One from privilege, one from struggle. Both finding freedom in the same five seconds at the starting line.

And yes, the cars matter. They're not just vehicles; they're extensions of identity. The AE86 is legendary for a reason—not the most powerful, but perfectly balanced in the hands of someone who knows exactly what they're doing (sound familiar?). Meanwhile, the R34 Skyline is raw, unapologetic power held in check by someone who understands precisely when to unleash it.

AS ALWAYS—READ THE AUTHOR INTRO AND TW listed in the index post. This is a must before reading this story.

Fair warning: this isn't going to be a clean race. These characters are messy. They make decisions that will make you want to scream at them. They'll crash into each other's lives and leave debris everywhere, and the kind of attraction that feels like a guardrail giving way on a mountain pass.

But that's the point, isn't it? The most interesting stories happen in the dangerous curves.

So buckle up. We've got a long road ahead.

Ready? Light’s about to turn green.

Also. Notes for this one are pretty high, that’s intentional. Like I just wanted to post the prologue to have it out for a bit but I still need to work on the arcs and major plot points. So I don’t have the story fully shaped out for now, which is why I want this to rest and check for engagement and reactions. Seriously—don’t crash out, I know this one will take time and that’s absolutely my intention!

⋆｡°✩ read on✩°｡⋆

ao3

wattpad

Respect isn't given in Tokyo's underground—it's paid in cash or blood.

You roll the cherry lollipop against your teeth, counting seconds in your head like engine timing.

Two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty-six hours since you left Kalo and his overpriced Supra in your rearview on the Hakone downhill, his taillights disappearing around the corner while you took the perfect line through the hairpin that everyone else brakes too hard for.

It's nighttime at Daikoku.

You cross one leg over the other, letting your heeled boot dangle casually off the edge of your AE86's hood. The mini skirt wasn't a random choice. Neither was showing up without your racing gear.

Because tonight isn't about driving—it's about collecting.

"Kalo's nowhere to be seen," Maya says, leaning against your car's hood, arms crossed. "Dipped hard."

You don't bother looking at her, just shift the lollipop to the other side of your mouth with your tongue. The neon from nearby signs reflects off the polished black and white paint of your 86.

"What?" Maya catches your expression. "I'm just saying. Word is he's been avoiding this spot since you embarrassed him."

"While still flashing cash at that club in Roppongi," you add, voice flat. "Buying drinks for anyone who'll listen to his bullshit version of what happened on the mountain."

You tug at one of the layered chains around your neck, watching the crowd that's gathered tonight.

The usual suspects are here—wannabes with more money than skill taking photos of each other's cars, veterans huddled around hoods talking suspension setups, scouts looking for the next race.

Everyone except the one person who should be here with your money.

"So what's the plan?" Maya nudges your shoulder. "Just gonna sit here looking pretty until he magically appears?"

You roll your eyes. "Since when do I just sit and wait for anything?"

"Fair point." She grins that wolfish grin of hers. "So?"

"So I track his ass down." You twist the lollipop stick between your fingers. "He owes me fifty thousand yen. But more than that, he owes me the respect of paying up and admitting I smoked him fair and square."

Maya snorts, exactly as you expected. "Called it. Knew you wouldn't let this slide."

"It's not about the money." You straighten up, adjusting your cropped leather jacket. "It's about the principle. You lose a race, you pay your debts. That's how this works. You don't just disappear like some amateur who can't handle defeat."

"Especially not when he talked all that shit beforehand," Maya adds, picking at her black nail polish. "What was it he said again? Something about how no girl could ever handle his—"

"'No girl could handle my power on the downhill,'" you quote dryly. "Right before I passed him on the outside of that corner everyone brakes for."

The memory brings a slight smile to your face.

The shock in his eyes when you appeared in his side mirror where no car should have been able to fit.

The desperate overcorrection that sent him nearly scraping the guardrail while you smoothly accelerated away.

"Exactly." Maya pushes off your hood. "So what's the first move? Hit his usual spots?"

You pull the lollipop from your mouth with a pop. "Already did. Club Seventh in Roppongi. The garage where his uncle works in Setagaya. That ramen shop he's always at in Shibuya."

"Stalker much?" Maya raises an eyebrow.

"Thorough," you correct her. "There's a difference."

A brief silence falls between you as you both watch a metallic blue GT-R roll into the lot, bass thumping hard enough to vibrate the pavement.

Not Kalo's crowd—these guys run with the Yokohama crew.

"Kenji might know," you say finally, referring to your mutual friend who somehow knows everyone's business in Tokyo's racing scene. "He mentioned Kalo's been hanging around some new spot in Meguro the past week."

Maya pulls out her phone. "Want me to text him now?"

"Already did." You tap your boot against the bumper of your car. "He's supposed to meet us here in—" you check the time on your wrist "—fifteen minutes ago."

"Typical." Maya rolls her eyes. "That guy couldn't be on time if his life depended on it."

You're about to respond when you spot a familiar face weaving through the crowd. Kenji, with his signature sunglasses despite it being well past midnight, making his way toward you.

You straighten up slightly, not wanting to appear too eager for information.

"Ladies," he greets with that irritating smirk of his, adjusting his sunglasses even though there's absolutely no need. "Looking dangerous tonight, Y/N. Someone's not here to race."

"Just tell me what you know about Kalo," you say, cutting through his bullshit.

Kenji leans against your car without asking—a liberty you allow only because he's useful.

"Direct as always. That's what I like about you."

"Kenji," you warn, patience already wearing thin.

"Fine, fine." He holds up his hands in surrender. "Your boy's been hanging at this new garage in Meguro. Place called Midnight Rush. Trying to get in with that crew that runs the Wangan on weekends."

You raise an eyebrow. "The twins' territory? That's desperate even for him."

"After what you did to his reputation?" Kenji shrugs. "Man's gotta find somewhere to start over."

Maya laughs. "Not how this works. You don't just reset when you lose."

"Exactly." You shift your weight, boot heels clicking against the pavement. "So he's there tonight?"

"Should be. They're prepping for some big run tomorrow. Word is there's serious money changing hands. He's trying to buy his way in."

The conversation halts as the distinctive growl of an approaching engine cuts through the night.

Not just any engine—something with a tune you've never heard before.

Sharp. Aggressive. Perfectly balanced.

Heads turn as a midnight purple Skyline R34 GT-R glides into the parking area, before coming to a stop under the harsh parking lot lights.

"Who the hell is that?" Maya straightens up, suddenly alert.

Kenji's expression shifts from boredom to interest in an instant—a rare change for him. "New player. Goes by Jaque."

You study the car, assessing rather than admiring.

Aftermarket body kit, but tasteful. Custom wheels. The stance is aggressive but functional.

Whoever built this wasn't just throwing money at it—they knew exactly what they were doing.

"Jaque?" you repeat, keeping your voice neutral despite your curiosity. "What kind of name is that?"

"Latino guy. Showed up about a month ago." Kenji lowers his voice, shifting into the gossip mode he lives for. "Been cleaning up. Undefeated so far."

Your eyebrow rises slightly at that.

Undefeated is a bold claim in this scene.

"Never heard of him," Maya says, voicing what you're thinking.

"That's because he's been running mostly on the Wangan line. Outrunning cops, taking stupid risks. The kind of shit that gets you noticed fast." Kenji's eyes remain fixed on the car. "Word is he beat Hayato's record on the C1 loop last week."

That gets your attention, though you're careful not to show it.

Hayato's record has stood for three years.

This guy has broken it in a month.

Who the fuck is this?

Your question is answered when the driver's door opens, and the crowd's murmur intensifies. A figure emerges, oozing the confidence of someone who knows they belong anywhere they choose to be.

Not tall, but with a presence that fills the space around him. Dark hair, sharp jawline, and a smirk that suggests he's already three steps ahead of everyone else.

"He drives like he's got nothing to lose," Kenji adds, a note of genuine respect in his voice that you rarely hear. "Like he doesn't care if he crashes or dies. It's... I don’t know man. Something else."

You watch as the driver—Jaque, apparently—leans back against his Skyline, surveying the crowd like he's taking inventory.

His gaze sweeps across the parking lot, until it lands on your group.

Or more specifically, on you.

He gives you a small nod, as if acknowledging territory.

"Looks like you've got an admirer," Maya mutters, nudging your ribs.

You shrug, unimpressed. "Looks like another ego with a nice car."

But you don't look away, and neither does he. It's a standoff of sorts, neither willing to be the first to break eye contact.

You've played this game before with countless racers who thought they were hot shit.

You've never been the first to look away.

"Don't dismiss him so quickly," Kenji warns, surprising you. "I've seen him drive. I’m dead serious, it’s not normal."

"Nobody's unbeatable," you say, finally breaking the staring contest to look back at Kenji.

Just because you had to look back at Kenji.

"Maybe." Kenji shifts uncomfortably. "But this guy... he doesn't race like a normal person. It's like he's got some kind of death wish, but with the skill to back it up."

You scoff, though something about Kenji's tone—the genuine concern beneath his usual bullshit—gives you pause.

"Death wish or not, a car's a car, and physics is physics. There are rules to this game that nobody breaks."

Maya's watching you with that knowing look she gets when she can tell someone's gotten under your skin, even just a little.

"You want to find out, don't you?"

"I want to find Kalo and get my money," you correct her, though your eyes drift back to the Skyline against your will. "That's why we're here."

You scoff at Maya's knowing smirk, about to tell her to shut it when fragments of conversation float over from where the newcomer stands. One word cuts through the ambient noise of engines and chatter.

Kalo.

Your head snaps toward the source.

The Skyline guy—Jaque—leans against his car, talking to a small circle of racers. His hands move expressively as he speaks, gold bracelet catching the neon light.

"Kenji." You cut him off mid-sentence. "Who exactly is this guy talking to?"

Kenji follows your gaze. "Nobody important. Some Yokohama kids trying to get noticed." He adjusts those stupid sunglasses. "Why?"

"He just mentioned Kalo."

Maya straightens beside you. "You sure?"

No mistaking it. Not when you've been hunting that name for two weeks.

"Excuse me," you say, already moving.

Maya sighs behind you. "Here she goes again."

You don't look back. Your boots click purposefully across the pavement, moving slowly. Not rushing—you never rush. But determined.

Three guys surrounding Jaque glance up as you approach, their expressions shifting from interest to wariness. They know who you are.

He doesn't turn immediately. Keeps talking, voice carrying a rhythm unlike anything you've heard in Tokyo. An accent that doesn't belong here.

Only when you're close enough to count the stitches on his leather jacket does he acknowledge your presence.

And even then, it's just a partial turn. Forty-five degrees. Neck cradling slightly to look at you sideways.

Performative, if anything. Like he knew you were coming before you did.

You cross your arms, weight shifting to one hip. His mouth twitches upward at the corner, eyes traveling from your face down to your boots and back up again.

Not subtle about it at all.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this sight?" Velvet slides from his lips.

One eyebrow quirks upward, the slightest movement. His Japanese is fluent but different—consonants softened, vowels stretched in places they shouldn't be.

You narrow your eyes. "You mentioned Kalo. What do you know about him? What's your relationship?"

He studies you for two full seconds. Not answering. Just looking. Like he's trying to read something written in small print.

Then he chuckles, using two fingers to move a thin strand of dark hair that's fallen across his view. The movement is unnecessary. Theatrical. Done for effect.

"Why so serious, princesa?"

It’s Spanish, the last word. You know that much, know from the way the word rolls off his tongue, deliberate, inserted where it doesn't belong. Like he’s testing boundaries, hoping for a reaction.

"I asked you a question." You keep your voice unimpressed.

"And I asked you one too."

He turns to face you fully now, leaning back against his car with the casualness of someone who's never been afraid of anything.

"But since you came all this way... Kalo. The Supra guy, right? The one who races like he learned driving from a video game?"

The description is so accurate you almost smile.

Almost.

"I hear he owes someone money," he continues, watching your reaction carefully. "Someone who smoked him on the mountain course two weeks back. Embarrassed him so badly he's been hiding like a scared rabbit."

His three companions take subtle steps backward, no longer interested in being part of this conversation.

Smart.

Maya appears beside you, silent backup. Though her presence changes nothing in his demeanor.

"And how would you know about that?" you ask.

He shrugs one shoulder.

"People talk. I listen." His accent thickens when he adds, "Es lo que hago." (It’s what I do)

"Is that right?" You don't react to the Spanish. "Interesting that someone who just showed up knows so much about other people's business."

"I'm observant."

His eyes lock with yours.

"For example, I observe that you're not here to race tonight. That outfit? Those heels?" He clicks his tongue. "You're here to collect. To make a point."

Something cold slides down your spine. Not fear—you don't do fear. Something else.

Being read so easily isn't a sensation you're familiar with.

"What's your name again?" You ask it like you've already forgotten, though you haven't.

"Jaque." He says it with a slight emphasis on the second syllable. "And you're Y/N. The 86 driver who hasn't lost a mountain race in what, two years?"

"Nineteen months," Maya corrects automatically.

You shoot her a look.

Jaque's smile widens. "Nineteen months. Impressive."

"If you're done wasting my time," you say, turning slightly, "I have a debt to collect."

"From a guy who isn't here."

He pushes off his car, closing the distance between you by half a step. Not enough to be threatening. Just enough to make his presence unavoidable.

"And won't be. Not tonight," he adds.

"And you know that how?"

"Because I passed him on the expressway heading in the opposite direction. About twenty minutes ago." He taps his wrist where a watch would be. "Running scared, looked like."

You clench your jaw. If he's telling the truth, you've wasted your night. Another dead end in your hunt for the coward who owes you.

"So you just happened to recognize a stranger's car?" Maya asks, skepticism heavy in her voice.

"A white Supra with that terrible aftermarket body kit and the Rising Sun decal on the hood?" He makes a dismissive gesture. "Hard to miss. Hard to forget, unfortunately."

That description matches Kalo's car exactly; and the sick feeling in your stomach tells you he's not lying, as much as you'd like him to be.

"Well," you say, voice cooling by several degrees, "thanks for the information."

You turn to leave, disgusted at having your time wasted. First by Kalo's absence, now by this newcomer who clearly just wanted to get your attention. Another night, another waste.

"I'll pay you double what he owes you."

The words stop you mid-step.

You turn back slowly, measuring every movement.

"Excuse me?"

Jaque's expression hasn't changed, but something in his eyes has.

They’re gleaning.

"Fifty thousand yen, right? I'll make it a hundred." He says casually, like offering to buy a coffee. "If you beat me."

Maya makes a small sound beside you, something between a scoff and a laugh.

"And why would I race someone I don't know for money I don't need?"

You almost laugh. As if this is about the money. You were born into more yen than he’s ever seen—this is about respect. About principle. About owning your loss when someone beats you clean. No excuses. No saving face. Just bow your head and pay what you owe.

But he’s not done.

"Because you're curious." He says it like it's obvious. "Because you've been the best for nineteen months and you're bored. Because you want to know if I'm as good as they say."

"As good as who says?" You roll your eyes. "I've never heard of you before tonight."

"Then I must be doing something right." His smile shifts, becomes syrupy. "But if money doesn't motivate you, how about this—I win, I get to run with your crew. Race in your territory."

You can't help it—you laugh. Short and dismissive.

"That's not how this works. You don't just buy your way in." Your eyes flick to his car. "No matter how pretty your GT-R is."

"I'm not buying," he corrects, that accent slipping into his Japanese again. "I'm earning. Difference."

You narrow your eyes.

Maya leans close to your ear. "You're not seriously considering this?"

You should walk away. This guy is nobody. A newcomer with a nice car and too much confidence. The racing scene sees them every month. They come, they crash, they disappear.

But.

Something about the way he stands there, utterly certain of himself, gets under your skin.

Like he already knows your answer before you do.

And maybe it's the wasted night. Maybe it's two weeks of hunting Kalo with nothing to show for it. Maybe it's just the need to put someone in their place.

"One race," you hear yourself say.

Maya's head whips toward you in surprise.

"One race," you continue, "and when I win, you pay double what Kalo owes me, and you don't bother me again."

"And when I win," he counters, not missing a beat, "I race with your crew. Simple."

"If," you correct.

"When." He doesn't back down.

One calculated step closer brings his scent into focus. Leather, naturally, but beneath it something that doesn't compute. A scent that belongs to ryokan inns and meditation halls, not this arrogant foreigner.

Hinoki.

"You're awfully confident for someone who knows nothing about me or how I drive."

"And you're awfully defensive for someone who's supposedly unbeatable." His voice drops lower, meant for your ears only. "What are you afraid of, princesa?"

The Spanish word again. A barb. Challenging.

"Afraid?" You match his tone. "I'm trying to save you the embarrassment. And the money."

He laughs, so genuine that it catches you off guard. "So it's settled then. You and me. Tonight."

From the corner of your eye, you see Kenji approaching, drawn by the developing scene. Others are watching too.

Word travels fast in this world.

"Fine." You extend your hand, a formality in this world of verbal contracts. "My terms. My course."

He takes your hand. His grip is firm but not aggressive. Just right. His palm warm against yours.

"Your course," he agrees. "But I pick when."

You raise an eyebrow. "When, then?"

His smile widens, showing teeth. "Now."

Death has a rhythm.

Tonight, it sounds like Daddy Yankee.

The mountain is yours—every curve, every shadow, every inch of guardrail. You've memorized each crack in the asphalt like the lines on your palm.

Yet as you sit at the starting line, engine purring, the midnight purple Skyline beside you blasts "Gasolina" loud enough to vibrate your windows.

He's not even looking at the road.

Jaque's got hand on the wheel, the other tapping the window frame in rhythm.

Kenji stands between the cars, arms raised.

You grip your steering wheel tighter.

Focus. Calculate. This is your mountain. Your rules.

"Ready!" Kenji shouts.

You check your gauges, settle into position, drop your breath rate. Your 86 is an extension of your body.

"Set!"

Jaque turns to you—actually turns his head away from the road—and winks.

Winks.

What the fuck is his problem?

Your jaw clenches so hard you hear teeth grinding.

"GO!"

You snap into the first gear immediately, launching forward as your tires bite into asphalt. Perfect traction. Perfect release. Your 86 shoots ahead exactly as calculated, exactly as it always does.

The Skyline stays even.

First corner approaches—tight right-hander with a nasty camber that catches amateurs by surprise. You brake at the perfect moment, downshift, feel the weight transfer as you clip the apex.

Textbook. Flawless. The corner you've taken hundreds of times.

The Skyline mirrors you exactly, staying in your blind spot. The bass from his music is still thumping through the night air.

Second corner. Third. Fourth. Each attack perfect, each line immaculate. And still, he's there. Not gaining, not falling behind. Just... present. Like a shadow you can't shake.

"What the hell is this guy playing at?" You mutter, taking the next hairpin with a controlled aggression that should give you an advantage.

Should.

Doesn't.

The Skyline follows, its midnight paint swallowing the moonlight instead of reflecting it. Through the next three corners, it continues—you lead, he follows, neither gaining ground.

Until the straightaway.

The road opens up, and you floor it. The 86 responds instantly, pushing you back into your seat. This is where your lighter weight should shine.

But the Skyline surges forward, twin-turbo engine unleashing a growl that slices the night.

He passes you.

Not aggressively. Not dangerously.

Just... efficiently.

Like it's the most natural thing in the world.

For the first time in nineteen months, you're staring at someone else's taillights.

"No fucking way."

You push harder, finding speed you rarely tap into. The gap closes slightly on the approach to the next corner—a sharp left with a cliff drop on the outside.

No guardrail. No room for error.

Normal people brake early here.

Jaque, as it turns out, is not normal people.

You don't brake until the last possible microsecond, throwing the 86 into the corner. The tires scream, traction at its absolute limit. You can feel them searching for grip, dancing on the edge of adhesion.

You exit the corner a car length behind him.

"Come on!" You slam the gearshift, pushing for more.

The next section is technical—five corners in quick succession. Your territory.

It's where precision matters more than power.

You close the gap. Corner by corner, inch by inch. Three more and you're on his bumper. Close enough to see his fingers still tapping against the frame slightly to the rhythm.

The next hairpin is your chance. The inside line is risky—there's barely enough room—but it's your mountain.

You know exactly how much space you need.

You dive for the gap.

For one beautiful moment, you're alongside him. Equal. Your front bumper inches past his door.

Then he does something impossible.

Instead of defending the line—instead of doing what any rational driver would do—Jaque throws his car into a drift so aggressive it sends the back end swinging wide, nearly touching the guardrail.

The move creates an arc that cuts you off, forces you to brake or crash.

You brake.

The maneuver costs him speed, should give you another chance to pass on exit.

But before you can capitalize, he's already accelerating out of the drift, the Skyline's all-wheel drive finding traction where none should exist.

"What the actual—"

The move was insane. Suicidal. The kind of thing that ends with twisted metal and sirens.

And he pulled it off like he was parallel parking.

For the final stretch—three corners and the last straightaway—you throw caution aside. Push beyond limits you usually respect. The 86 responds, giving everything it has.

It's not enough.

The Skyline crosses the finish line two car lengths ahead. You slam your palm against the steering wheel.

The taste of defeat is metallic in your mouth, foreign and despised.

You bring the 86 to a hard stop, tires protesting at the sudden deceleration.

The music still pounds from his car. That same goddamn song.

You throw open your door, adrenaline and anger propelling you forward. The cool mountain air hits your flushed face as you storm toward his car.

Because that last move? It wasn't just reckless—it was deadly. The kind of stunt that gets people killed on these mountains.

Words build in your throat. Sharp words. Words about respect for the mountain and death wishes and arrogance.

His door swings open as you approach. The music blasts louder without the barrier of glass and metal. He slides out with that same casual grace you saw when he called you princesa, when he winked before accelerating.

And something stops the words in your throat.

He shakes his head slightly, dark hair falling across his eyes before he pushes it back with one smooth motion. His other hand remains on the Skyline's roof, some golden ring catching the moonlight.

When he turns to face you, there's no triumph in his expression. No arrogance.

Just... satisfaction.

Like he's found something he's been looking for.

His eyes meet yours across the short distance. That smile appears again—not the cocky smirk from earlier, but something more genuine. Lips curved just slightly at the corners.

"Thanks for the adrenaline rush, mami," he says, voice carrying over the pounding beat of Daddy Yankee.

You've never hated Spanish music more in your life.

goal: 500 notes

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bolddeducktionneverfails · 18 hours ago

Text

For years, I had been wanting to create an easier way to share my most recent basis for this couple. And since the Speculation Timeline I wanted to put together isn't going to be completed anywhere near now (and since I'm being indecisive about whether I'd want to post it on here), I thought putting several images together was a good option.

I've had a general idea of what people think about my artwork, and the ship itself, for a long time and I'm sure a lot of those sentiments haven't changed. The other major reason as to why I made this post, is because I wanted to show people that I'm not oblivious to how Launchpad and Della were portrayed in canon. That I'm not picking two random characters to ship out of boredom. I put a lot of thought into how their dynamic could be and why we ended up with what we got. I was hoping to see a build up to something more meaningful. And now that I've been made aware of the show not getting to follow its initial plan, I'm trying to figure out what that was going to be, while also putting my own spin on it.

______________________________________________________________

Ok, so, more on the basis details:

| Cover

Dunno if I made it clear enough, but just in case I confused anyone, this is meant to be set within the same timeline as the show. It just goes a little farther than where the show left off. When I was restructuring my ideas, I was going to make an alternative timeline where Season 3 would be closer to what Plan A could have been. (I wanted to see a season revision so bad, but I knew it would never actually happen. 😭) As time went on, I considered what show would be like if it was able to pick up after the finale and I think I might like this case a little more, due to it being the most believable scenario.

| Della's Pages

I undoubtedly believe that Della was supposed to have a turnaround with Launchpad and that "Trickening" was a strong indication of that. She doesn't know what LP is truly capable of because she's never around when he's at his best. And this feels very intentional because it's one of the biggest things that prevented their relationship from getting the development it needed. Keeping them stuck in this stage prevents anything...significant from happening.

There's not much of a reason for them to be kept here if there's nothing to hide...they're capable of getting along and Della's assumption about Scrooge hiring Launchpad, would have easily been settled if the characters were given a chance to talk it out.

In order for them to progress, Launchpad needs to do something amazing to catch her attention. I haven't come up with a solid answer to this in my personal timeline yet; it'll probably have something to do with saving Dewey, Della or both. But can you imagine what her reaction to Suavepad would have been like?! Or talking to Gosalyn about what it means to be a hero? The way she looked at Kit when he was cloud kicking could have definitely been giving us a good idea.

While not openly expressed in canon, perhaps another reason why Della is irritated with Launchpad is because there are things about him that remind her of HDL's Dad. Or maybe a bit more generally, how much she hates failure; I've been theorizing that Della had secret intentions of saving him when she headed into the cosmic storm. If this is true, she believes that she failed to save him. She could still be mourning that loss, so, if she began to have any feelings for Launchpad, there's bound to be a lot of resistance.

| Launchpad's Pages

In the alternate timeline, I was going to have him completely stuck in friend mode and not notice anything until Della finally got more comfortable about her feelings. But I think having them both silently struggling to conceal their feelings, is a lot more interesting. 😂

I always thought it was strange that he was never written to show a prior interest in her...or even prior knowledge about her at all. In earlier essays, I noted how odd it was for Launchpad to know who Scrooge was without knowing about The Duck Twins. They were only out of action for ten years. Launchpad was alive before this happened and being that close to someone as popular as Scrooge...he would have seen them from time to time.

I've also noted how LP was connected to Della from the first time we met him. His conversation about the snowstorm on the Drake Barrier Reef and the Atlantic trip as a whole, reflected the Spear incident. The way he was talking to Scrooge, sounded a lot like he wanted to encourage him to come out of retirement so he could be his pilot. That would mean that he did know something about Scrooge being an adventurer. So, how would he know about that without the Donald and Della portion?? It's the most recent part! He would have grown up with this! Either there's something up with him, or this is one serious plothole...

When Dewey and Webby started their investigation on Della, they never considered prying information from him...and after Scrooge shared his perspective on the Spear incident, Launchpad didn't have anything to say about Della's decision...(I'd expect someone who's supposedly a latchkey kid, to be...a little vocal about child abandonment...) and while his name carried over from original show, it's still very related to rockets. Why wouldn't the showrunners want to incorporate that into something bigger when the show has such a heavy space theme?! All this stuff feels a little too conveniently ignored...🤨

Speaking of the original, LP's family is full of pilots! If the reboot was going to borrow more from LP's history, that's yet ANOTHER way he should know who she is!! If one of your fellow aviators were related to the richest duck in the world, and they're travelling all over the place with him, surely their name and exploits would be brought up multiple times...Heh, if Della appeared in the original, I think it's safe to say he would immediately have a noticeable crush on her. 😂 The reboot hinted that Launchpad's romantic side is just about as active as it was in DT87, but it's a lot more private in comparison. It's really odd to have him dating around without extending any of that to Della...maybe there was something more subtle in "Coot" where he wanted to impress her...but c'mon, that's a fishy thing to do.

Anyway, I got the impression that LP found out about something having to do with Dad when the Timephoon sent him to the future. A lot of people took his delayed reaction to Louie's remark as taking too long to realize he was talking about Della. But I think it was because he wasn't initially thinking of her. The remark was said as if Louie's actions were hereditary. If not Della, then who else could Louie have "gotten" the idea of taking off with a powerful machine?

Della's recording in "GlomTales!", warned Louie that he needed to stop his plans and schemes if he wants to be a part of the family. Dad doesn't seem to be part of the family. Could he be missing due to a plan or a scheme in relation to the Spear and the cosmic storm? In "Coot", the characters discussed how something valuable was being sought after on the non-McDuck side of the family and how everyone related to the family were frauds and cheats. If Louie was after valuables in his situation, and his situation was compared to Della's, then couldn't Dad fall under both of these categories?

When thinking of what Launchpad could have seen during the end of the world, I amused myself with the thought of seeing them kiss, but it doesn't make sense for him to crush on someone else after that. If it was anything romantic, it would have to be a lot more subdued. (I still do believe they were supposed to share a kiss in the original finale plans...)

| Ages

When it comes to pairing the pilots, shippers tend to be met with comments about Launchpad being too young. This is largely because of some statements from one of the showrunners and how they were perceived.

When I had asked the showrunner on his blog about whether Launchpad was around the same age as Donald, the answer confirmed this, and that it may have been agreed amongst the writers that Donald was little older; thus making Della the same.

In the following year, someone else asked for exact ages on Drake and Launchpad and were told that both were in their late 20's to early 30's. It was also mentioned that the twins were in their mid 30's for comparison.

A month later, there was a question that mentioned the twins being a few years older than LP and Drake with no additional correction from the showrunner.

Later in that year, another fan asked for Donald and Della's ages and were given the answer "36".

The year after that, someone asked for the age difference between the twins and Launchpad. They were told "About seven years, I think.". 🤨

This was a really strange thing to say after the information I was given, but once I thought more about it, I realized that this was pretty much just another way to reiterate the late 20's to early 30's range that was said before. It does...not sound like Launchpad's age is set in stone. And even though we got a precise number for the twins, it may not have been chosen with sincerity. The same showrunner had said in another age-related answer regarding the kids, that he didn't want to give them canon ages, only age ranges. This might also extend to the other characters in the series. Maybe any number in the mid-30's could be correct for Della's age and 36 was chosen at random for that question...

Similarly, some fans are proclaiming that Launchpad was officially confirmed as 31 because of a "Duckburg Life" podcast episode. But this takes place during an earlier time in the show, that wouldn't be his current age. (I remember hearing things that implied the first season, while others say it takes place in the earlier half of the second. I don't feel like checking right now, lol) How do we know the writer for this ep also wasn't just picking any number within LP's age range? Because it isn't part of the main show, this audio series is either semi-canon or not canon at all. And it wasn't helmed by the regular showrunners, so, we can't take the events and mentions too seriously without their confirmation.

Whatever the matter is behind the confusion and hesitancy surrounding their ages, a three-year age gap between the pilots could still work with how I want to see them. Just because Launchpad could be several years younger than Della, doesn't automatically mean that his is. He could be a lot closer.

That window of possibility could have easily been shut. And what helps to keep it open, is that there are multiple characters who have been placed in...highly unusual situations, that affected the way they age. Dating a mermaid, all the way out in Mid-Atlantic Ridge somewhere, sounds pretty unusual...who's to say it's impossible for him to be part of this trend in some way?

I've been theorizing that he has amnesia. Maybe that caused him to get his age wrong. We've already seen him time travel, and timeless dimensions exist in the show. What if one of his adventures lead him to a place where the passage of time works differently? We've been given at least three examples of characters being frozen. What about that?

______________________________________________________________

I would have loved to see a natural progression for Delpad in the show, but now that it's over, I don't have the patience to completely follow this timeline in chronological order. I'm mostly just going to elaborate on whatever points I feel like and work on organizing them later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (🎶 can we skip to the good part 🎶 lol)

But don't worry, I'm not going to keep you too in the dark on this. I'm going to publish a light draft of my timeline...somewhere! Each section has been broken up into eras and will be tagged accordingly:

(PreSp-CE)

(PreSp-PDE)

(PreSp-DE)

(PreSp-SE)

(CSE)

(PostSp-SE)

(PostSp-UE)

(PostSp-FCE)

(PostSp-DE)

And I guess anything I'm not sure about adding to my headcanons in general, can be labeled "Up in The Air" (UiTA)

Will there be anything about my basis or these eras that are subject to change? Maybe. Will I create more "How I Ship" pages with other parts of timeline? There's a good chance! Did I purposely exclude an era somewhere in here for a secret reason? I'm not going to answer that. 😶

Whatever happens, I'll be sure to make an update about it! 😁

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dany36 · 2 days ago

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need to properly lay out my thoughts regarding xcxde + chapter 13 in order to fully heal and move on from the biggest mess and insult to a fandom i’ve ever had the displeasure to play. so, after 120 hours of gameplay, below are my very long messy thoughts about the good, the bad, and the ugly about xcxde+ch13 (obviously with spoilers).

never in my WILDEST dreams did i ever think the official expansion and “conclusion” to one of the most interesting and intriguing cliffhangers i’ve ever had the pleasure to experience in one of my all-time favorite video games would leave me beyond disappointed, disillusioned, bewildered, and just. angry. but before we get into what sucked about the whole experience, let’s start out with the good.

the many QOL updates. i only played the original xcx once (back when it first released) and i didn’t remember a lot of details about the game, so obviously when i booted up my wii u file while taking a break from xcxde to check on some stuff, i was honestly pleasantly surprised at all the little tweaks they made that just make experiencing the first 12 chapters a much more enjoyable/easier experience. being able to change the time from the main menu, quick cooldown, the new explanations given to overdrive, having to trigger the flight module by jumping in midair instead of automatically triggering when just jumping once, playable BLADEs leveling up with you even if you don’t have them in your party, being able to switch active party members with ease in the menu, they got rid of BLADE levels which in turn means you don’t have to level up your field skills to be able to discover certain treasures across the world, and i’m probably missing more but those are just some of the ones that immediately jumped out at me.

new “don’t worry” version. hey, if it wasn’t for xcxde we wouldn’t have the sick new improved version of don’t worry, so i’ll give it that. honestly can’t believe just how fucking good it is.

the graphics. xcx was already gorgeous to look at, but again, after going back to the wii u version briefly, it really does make certain environments even more stunning to look at, namely noctilum at night and sylvalum as a whole. planet mira is just a wonder to explore and the new graphics make it even more enjoyable to do so.

well, that was short, but honestly like 95% of xcx is so fucking good so i mean how much more could you improve upon perfection? :) so now for the bad:

hairstyles and some customizations for mims are still locked based on the base you choose. having played games like dragon’s dogma 2, monster hunter wilds, and baldur’s gate 3, the lack of customizations available was shocking but EVEN MORE so the fact that they’re further limited depending on the face base that you use. sure they added some hairstyles inspired by characters from xc2/xc3 but as far as i’m aware, that was the extent of the new “additions” made to the character customization. just…underwhelming to say the least.

armor is still gender-locked. again, it’s 2025, i know the game released almost 10 years ago but the fact that they didn’t think to remove this limitation is just….annoying. it was just disappointing to see how vastly different some of the fashion gear was between male/female characters, especially because a lot of the times i would see male gear that i would want to put on my female cross, but then i would try it on my cross and it would just look completely different both in styling and colors. eye-roll inducing.

you're still just a rookie. this isn't really something "bad" but just something i think it's kinda funny/weird that, even though your cross has helped save humanity twice over now and even was able to pilot the ares prime, the gang still call you "rook". like oh ok, if saving humanity twice isn't enough to gain a rank up from "rook" then idk what will lol. i know why they do it but i think of what they did with granblue fantasy relink in that they call your character "captain" no matter what gender you play as and i thought that worked well enough, so idk maybe it would have been cool if they could have come up with some gender-neutral/non-specific-name term to give you other than....rook. lol. anyways just nitpicking here.

and of course, i’ve bitched about this one so much in other posts but i have to mention my biggest disappointment when playing through chapters 1-12: the downgrade that was the face redesign of elma’s mim form. when the trailer for xcxde dropped, of course i was BEYOND thrilled that the moment xcx fans had been waiting for YEARS to come had FINALLY arrived, even if nintendo/monolith did it in a way that i thought was disrespectful in that it was just randomly dropped and not part of any nintendo direct. to my absolute horror, when they showed what elma looked like, it felt like i had been punched in the face. sure i was getting the xcx switch port/remake that i had been DYING to see and bitching about to anyone that would listen, but my excitement quickly turned into despair at seeing just what they had done to one of my all-time favorite characters ever. and thankfully judging from other people’s reactions with good taste, i was not the only that thought just how OFF and honestly at times even UGLY her new mim face looks compared to her wii u mim (thank you to those folks out there because i seriously thought i was just being my typical supreme hater self). and it’s just baffling because i thought everyone else’s redesign looked ok or even better than in the wii u version (minus the fact that they made celica’s ears waaaay smaller because monolith are fucking cowards and god forbid her long ears make her look unappealing), but they decided to fuck around with elma’s face/hair even more than others and just make her look so fucking unpleasing to look at.

and it might sound like i’m overreacting but honestly seeing elma’s face in some of the cutscenes was just painful to watch for me, it was the ONLY thing that was keeping me from enjoying this remake to its fullest, so much so that (and i’m not joking) after pretty much every cutscene that would heavily feature elma, i would go to youtube and look up the same cutscene but in the wii u version just so that i can cleanse my eyes and remember just how good she looked. because honestly her wii u mim form was and is STILL GOOD, but no of course they had to fuck up her face features to fit in that awful new style that they have been pushing since xc2 came out because god forbid they try to have a unique style like with xc1 and the original xcx.

so of course i was completely BAFFLED. SHOCKED. but pleasantly surprised!! when elma reveals her true form in chapter 12 and….she LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE WII U TRUE FORM ELMA. bro. WHAT???? WHAT??????? yeah i was beyond fucking THRILLED: the moment i had been dreading for the entire ch1-12 playthrough was that elma would reveal her true form and it would look just as fucked up as her mim version. but no, they THANKFULLY left it completely alone and just used the EXACT same face model as the wii u version but just upped the graphics a bit to fit with the remake. like, WHY. WHY couldn’t they do the same thing to her mim form?? the facial differences between her DE mim form and true form are just staggering when compared to the wii u. they just had to fuck up a perfectly good mim elma for no reason other than….i don’t fucking know honestly. even her xc2 form looks better than whatever the hell they decided to do for xcxde, and i HATE the styling direction they went with xc2 overall so that just says a lot that i’d be willing to take xc2 mim elma over xcxde mim elma.

but i was like ok, if my BIGGEST complaint with xcxde is the fact that her mim form is just terribly unpleasing to look at, i can live with that because now that i can use her true form in-game, i don’t have to want to cry out in despair every time a cutscene zooms up on elma’s face. i can now do chapter 13 and enjoy the cutscenes at least, and then, after that’s said and done, i could continue to 100% the exploration of my beautiful and beloved planet mira that i just love to no end. sure i had been hearing from two people thus far that the new chapter was bad, but really, how bad could it be? i felt nothing with xc2’s ending and honestly was ambivalent about xc3’s future redeemed as well. like i was just so over the connectivity between the games at that point and how they were doing some bullshit cinematic universe across all xenoblades instead of them being standalone games like the tales of series and to an extent the zelda games. all i wanted was to find out what they would do with the cliffhanger at the end of the original game and find out really truly what it was about this planet.

but man i was so wrong. so so so so so beyond wrong. because really the ugly about xcxde, a game in which 90% of it is so perfect and gorgeous to enjoy, is chapter 13. all of it, absolutely all of it, is just tedious, uninteresting, exhausting, eye-roll inducing, baffling, ANNOYING, and an absolute fucking pain to experience. if you’re an xc2/xc3 enjoyer, you might wanna stop reading here if anyone actually had the patience and interest in getting this far. :)

actually, before i dive in to everything that i absolutely despised about this sorry-excuse of a chapter that just seems to be a monolithsoft’s senior executive shitty ass fanfic that they forced upon everyone, let me talk about a few things that i DID enjoy

new true form elma artwork along with a glimpse at elma’s planet and origins. in act 1 when they’re talking about elma’s planet, we get some cool new artwork of true form elma that just honestly blew me away. i was like wow, ok, maybe ch13 won’t be so bad. i’m glad they talked about elma’s planet a little bit and how it is that she escaped, because although in the original xcx they talk about how elma comes to the planet to warn about the war that will come to destroy earth, it was interesting (and honestly sad) to learn that her planet had been destroyed and so was trying to avoid the humans from suffering the same fate as her people. cus honestly i just thought she was just some benevolent alien that had come to help the humans have a chance of survival. and i mean yeah she’s still all of that but now with the added fact that we get a further look into what she suffered through was just compelling and added a layer to a character i already deeply love.

hearing lin and elma again. hey i’ll take the small wins. hearing lin and elma’s original VAs come back and give a performance that honestly sounded like no time had passed between ch12 and ch13 was just so good and pleasing to hear. what a fantastic pair of characters with stellar VAs to match. #blessed

omomo makes an appearance in act 2. i ran into omomo in ch1-12 while exploring sylvalum and her dialogue, which briefly discusses who she is and why she is at the north delusion summit (one of the coolest places in sylvalum imo) captivated me. i was like wow, this is what i fucking love about xcx where even a random npc you bump into in the overworld is able to convey a short yet emotional story on their own. so it was really cool and satisfying to see that they used her in act 2 when you’re trying to evacuate all of the xenoforms into the manon ship.

absolutely no forced romance between elma and al. honestly what i was most afraid of when al first shows up and elma’s attitude towards him is that of a resentful partner that was abandoned by her significant other and thus has to continue the fight for humanity’s survival alone without their help. ever since xc2 this series has loved to push male and female protags together in a way that just feels unsatisfying and forced, so of course when i see this conventionally attractive joe shmoe come out of nowhere and elma is being so cold and resentful towards him, i immediately felt weirded out. elma isn’t a very emotional character to begin with, and even when the most crucial moment in the story comes where they find the lifehold core and have to fight a horde of ganglion to get to it, she remains as calm and collected as ever. i mean, we’re talking about the moment that she and humanity have been fighting for all this time: survival in planet mira. but she still stays level-headed, and i think the only moment in the game we briefly see her lose her cool is when she’s pointing the gun at lao and is telling lin to get out of the way.

i mean sure she later warms up to him and we get some flashback scenes of elma crying out in desperation trying to convince al to not sacrifice himself in the fight against the ghosts and so we see that she deeply cares for him. and then even in the ending when al is rescued from void’s clutches, we once again see elma (and lin) get very emotional and teary-eyed that he’s (to my despair) still alive. this is honestly the moment i thought she was gonna give him a kiss or even a hug, but to my delightful surprise, monolithsoft had the decency to just leave it at that. i was so worn out and fed up by having to slog through rex/pyra and mio/noah when playing through xc2/xc3 that i honestly would have fucking lost it and burned my copy of xcxde right then and there if they had decided to push their friendship (for my mental sake i will choose to read it that way) beyond that.

and thank fucking god that’s where the extent of the relationship between the two of them stopped, because, and to start getting into everything else that i despised about chapter 13, al is just one of the worst aspects of chapter 13. i have my problems with rex, but in the end to me he’s just a stupid annoying kid (and later an obnoxious man), and i didn’t like noah for several reasons but he was tolerable and i didn’t outright despise him when playing through xc3, just again felt annoyed at his interactions and reactions with the rest of the xc3 characters. but al? god where do i even begin with this insufferable excuse of a male protagonist that seems like that same senior executive at monolithsoft forced their own incredibly obnoxious, unappealing, condescending, unfunny, detestable OC to become a central point in this new chapter.

like do i even have to talk about how fucking annoying and not funny his whole “how’s it poppin’” act is or can we all agree that’s just a given? who the HELL thought giving such an aggravating catchphrase and “inside-joke” to the new guy was gonna go over well? actually what am i talking about, this is the same franchise whose fans loved xc2 so i’m sure there’s people out there who just find this whole terrible marvel-like humor so funny and is going to be such a great inside-joke for the xcxde community “har “har”. god it was especially so grating when the whole gang is just standing in a circle and they’re going around being like “oh! oh! ask ME the question so i can have my turn running this so-called joke fucking further into the ground!” and those forced laugh tracks after each one? what the hell? at least with lin’s tatsu jokes we would get them spaced out and it was just something between the two of them, they certainly weren’t having elma or hell even MY cross join in on the “joke” and forced to become a part of it.

like the fact that this whole rehearsed act becomes a central part of al’s interactions with others and actually builds up for it to be an attempted heartfelt moment when they give you no choice at the end but to fucking say the line in order to “bond” with al and have both of you pilot the ares prime to defeat the big evil baddie, is just…….bewildering. it took away any potential serious emotional impact that scene could have had and it was just in my personal opinion ruined by monolithsoft’s insistence in making this gag so relevant in the story. and having the colonel also join in on the whole thing? oh boy.

“oh but dany it’s just one silly recurring gag, al doesn’t sound that bad then!” i WAS trying to be more open to al’s character despite this annoying joke, but his first affinity mission just took away any possibility i had at even remotely liking his character. usually affinity missions would always make me go from being indifferent towards a character to getting to actually like that character and being like, ok, you know what, you’re pretty cool! happened with yelv, neilnail (i was a bit iffy towards her at first but grew to like her by her second affinity mission), hope, frye and phog, and even fucking hb who is even more arrogant than al! but fucking al’s affinity mission? first of all, the fact that he insists on calling elma, aka the fucking colonel that everyone rightfully respects because hello she’s the whole fucking reason they’ve managed to be alive so far, “princess” is just disgusting, condescending, patronizing, and just….what the fuck? might be a localization issue, but seriously, is no one else bothered by that?? what??? at first i thought i had missed something in elma’s backstory in act1 where she actually might have possibly mentioned that she was something of a royalty (because honestly just playing through chapter13 was giving me headache), but no, this fucking asshole really does call elma “princess” as an attempt to what? be funny? another one of his fucking annoying-ass jokes? like bro, just shut up. if there’s one way to make me hate a male character is by giving female characters patronizing nicknames like that. just fuck off.

and then the affinity mission actually consists in al being like, YO, prove yourself to me because i don’t actually believe you’re as good as elma says, as if we have anything to prove to this asshole. they really did manage to show his most insufferable and loathsome side instead of showing a side that would actually get you to warm up to him like many other affinity missions have. and then when you beat his stupid ass he’s like “actually no you still failed to pass my test by some arbitrary measure that only i know about”. like the whole affinity mission makes it seem like you’re going to be al’s successor, they talk about him needing someone to “take over his duty” as if he’s gonna somehow die or that cross actually needs to step it up to the plate (more than we already have? lol), but like no dude. you’re still alive at the end so what was even the point of making such a big deal about finding al’s successor?

and thank god i didn’t waste my time playing through chapter 13 by actually trying to raise his affinity to be able to do his second affinity mission, because i just looked it up some moments ago and oh boy. you mean to tell me that this guy, that supposedly everyone loves because he’s some bigshot hero who came from the army and is the “chosen one” to pilot the ares prime, actually becomes some tantrum-throwing big baby when poor little hero boy can’t get some pizza and so he decides to actually insult service workers and yells at them in the same condescending tone until he gets what he wants???? hooooow. how is this real. how is this a character my cross is supposed to grow close to. he tries to relay the job of gathering the ingredients for HIS pizza to you and even at the end tries to take credit for the whole thing even though you helped him with it. whatfucking ever. i know every “hero” character has his flaws but my god. just can’t believe this is the route they decided to go with in regards to his affinity missions. talk about wasted potential. yes he talks about how much love he has for humanity and how if he sets a goal he pursuits it to no end and all these other “hero” qualities but like…..ok cool talk bro, you’re still annoying to deal with.

one other thing i didn’t like about how the game approaches your interactions with him is that, the game choices really try to either really really get you to like him to the point of fawning over him, OR for some reason push you to glare at him with envy. like nah, i’m not envious of this obnoxious hero, i just find him fucking annoying lol. thanks though.

and speaking of hero, and this might just me being bitter at this point about this joe shmoe, but i thought it was….hmmm….actually kind of bothersome how everyone is hailing him as the big hero when…really if it wasn’t for elma and her efforts, all these people would be dead and there would be no humans to speak of. yes i know others recognize that even in act1 where doug says that if it weren’t for elma they wouldn’t be alive, but idk i always saw elma as the main protagonist of xcx and our cross just riding along so seeing this self-insert OC come in and take all the glory for something that’s mentioned in half a sentence in the original xcx intro (that i always imagined was elma tbh?) and thus become the new focal point of this new story (when again elma is the focal point in ch1-12) just rubbed me the wrong way and was just not a good start for me towards taking a liking towards al, so i guess he was doomed from the start for me. so actually you know what, maybe i AM envious of him, but of the screentime he took from elma lol.

anyway enough about that tiresome oc, i don’t know how much i wanna spend time talking about the new villain void. like his motivations was about wanting to find out what death really is because he was imprisoned by the samaar for fucking around with the conduit and bringing the ghosts to appear. lol ok i’m sorry am i supposed feel SORRY for him?? ch13 did something that i aaaaabsolutely despise in storytelling: waiting to tell you about a villain’s background and motivations after they’re dead in an attempt to humanize him. the last game i played that did this was tales of arise and i absolutely loathed it. what’s the point of you telling me what his origin was and where his motivations come from when i already killed him and he was fucking annoying to deal with the whole entire time. by this point i don’t care, he’s dead and i’m glad he’s gone. if you want to humanize a villain and make his death seem tragic, idk maybe try to do that THROUGHOUT the story’s arc so that his motivations aren’t a fucking afterthought??? it was so fucking when al is like “oh by the way i got this vision of void while i was trapped check it out” like monolith come the fuck onnnnnn you can do better than thaaaat.

his whole final form and fight was just stupid too, reminded me of xc3’s and how i was just so tired by the time it happened. i was so over void by that point that i didn’t find him scary or threatening at all, compared to what i felt when i first fought luxaar in his vita: this is the villain that really wants to end humanity at all costs. but void? just a bunch of big talk and taunting but just so overdone and childish. for being an all-powerful being or whateverthefuck he really was just standing there as he was being stabbed over and over by huge lances that were diminishing his power and going “oughh!!! my cores!!! :( “ each time he’d get hit. like. oh my god. i can’t believe i actually played through this.

honestly who cares about void, i don’t want to spend more than two paragraphs on him. i’ll just end it with saying that void was an overall unappealing, uninteresting, tedious villain, and yet another eyeroll-inducing aspect of ch13. execution just fell so flat for me. moving on!

and now for the pacing of it all. i don’t know how to even begin talking about this aspect because, while yes there were some bits that were interesting (elma’s backstory for example), even though the arcs themselves were long in comparison to ch1-12’s story missions, i felt like….there was barely even anything interesting or engaging going on most of the time? the arcs are so cutscene heavy because of course they have to set the stage of the new problem the gang is facing, and everyone is talking about oh we have to evacuate all the xenoforms onto the manon ship and also make preparations for the ship to be able to escape using ares’s cores, so there is very little if any gameplay in itself during acts 1 and 2. i just felt like the arcs just dragged on and on and on with just filler that ultimately provided very little satisfaction to the overall storytelling. maybe it’s so jarring because, like i mentioned, the original story missions aren’t THIS cutscene heavy, and they’re way shorter in comparison, but provide much more compelling content and interesting content in between, while all three acts are just filled with URGENT we have to save this manon! and now for some al hijinks :) and now for some backstory! hey now go rescue these two random NPCs! idk the whole thing just seemed off to me and i was just NOT enjoying the pacing of it all.

and i was just baffled by the whole thing because, of course the question that any original xenoblade x had in mind was, just WHAT is it about the planet? that’s what we had been waiting to find out since 2015 and….the fact we don’t see ch13 even start to address what could be done to find out more about this was just weird! are we ever gonna get to find out what makes mira so special?

oh right. there was no time to address the biggest aspect fans had been waiting for all this time of course. because right away, your main mission starting within one minute of act 1 starting is to get out of the fucking planet you’ve come to know and love since it’s about to fucking disappear.

sigh.

you know, i could have just accepted the new unlikable hero, i could have accepted the uninteresting and tiresome new villain and its poor way of talking about its motivations, i could have been fine with the new acts dragging on and on and on and just the weird pacing of it all, i could have been fine with of course them wanting to SOMEHOW tie xenoblade x to the numbered games because god knows everything has to be tied nowadays, but here’s the part that hurts the most as an original xcx fan and the part that finally put the nail on the coffin on chapter13:

planet mira’s fate. how. hooooow do you base an entire game’s premise (both story and gameplay) around such a beautiful, unique planet and decide, you know what, FUCK the fans and their affection towards this planet, mira needs to die because who gives a shit about finding more about its many mysteries we left unsolved in the original game. like, did this new monolithsoft senior executive come in and be like, you know what, my self-insert OC had no hand in helping humanity build a new life in mira and new la, so let’s just throw all of it away and make them move to a NEW planet! honestly i just have to make up some villain in my head at this point because how do i even begin to start making sense of it???

it’s honestly a fucking insult and a spit on every original xcx fan’s face. first of all, the whole game puts SOOOO much emphasis on exploring every single corner of mira and mapping it all out and discovering its secrets. it’s unreal seeing just how much love and care the original developers put into creating such a fantastic otherworldy environment, giving us an experience that i honestly think no other game has been able to even come CLOSE to replicating because let’s be honest, you just take one look at noctilum or sylvalum and you just fucking fall in love with the whole damn planet. the game is always boasting about mira being humanity’s new home and so of course you come to love it and grow fond of it. you WANT to explore every single corner and install all of those data probes! the game incites you to complete its exploration to 100% because this is your new home! you have to get to know it! even elma says she wants to take a vacation to explore mira on her own time because the planet fascinates her to no end!

and there’s so much mystery surrounding it too, even before you get to the infamous cliffhanger at the end. elma points out in an early chapter how it’s weird that you’re able to communicate with all sorts of different species in English even though obviously you all come from different places. other NPCs point this out as well. so what is in the planet that is able to translate their words? professor B’s sidequests also talk about him wanting to discover mira’s secrets and that’s why he stays in this…current time and doesn’t go back to the future or whatever. and of course elma’s now-famous quote of “something about this planet” that gets repeated at least three times throughout the whole game. like, there’s so much build up scattered through ch1-12 regarding mira that, when you finally get to the cliffhanger at the end and you find out that the whole database has been destroyed since they landed on mira and it makes absolutely no sense that they haven’t flopped over and died.

so yeah, so many interesting and compelling things about mira left to answer that it’s just INFURIATING and OUTRAGEOUS for monolithsoft to just ignore ALL of that buildup, all of that worldbuilding, to just come in and be like “yeah actually we’re not gonna answer ANY of that, we don’t know WHAT the fuck we were thinking when we kept emphasizing it was something about the planet mira itself and so we’re just gonna create these convoluted, unsatisfying, rushed acts to get you to come to terms that you need to forget all about that and blow up the planet ‘cus we sure as hell are not gonna expand properly on what actually was the biggest, most intriguing cliffhanger in the series”.

like. what. WHAT. seriously??? is this REALLY what the original xcx team had planned for mira’s fate all of those years ago when the cliffhanger first happened? i REFUSE to believe that the same team that worked on the original xcx is the same team that worked on this fucking mess of a poorly-written start-over fanfic bullshit. and if it is, maybe it’s time i stop giving this company my money because obviously after xcx, this company has just lost the charm and wonder that originally made me fall in love with the original xc1 and xcx. like haha yeah just kidding, there really was nothing about the planet and instead you all live on cus of the abyss…or the rift…or whatever the fuck holds all of your souls and that’s why you get to live on! like i think that was briefly talked about and then never touched again and i might have misunderstood but whatever, who gives a fuck? certainly not monolithsoft.

because WHAT is it with monolith’s obsession with going like “haha never mind! let’s just start over in a new world!” they did it with xc1 which fine whatever first game in the series, but then again in xc3, and now xcx?? the whole time playing chapter13 i kept foolishly thinking that somehow we would come back to mira cus it’s like lol, NO WAY they will do the whole “let’s start over!” for the THIRD time in the series and ruin one of THE most beautiful and unique aspects of the game. i even wasn’t making a big deal of omomo wanting to stay in mira and the other dude obsessed with mira’s lifeforms because i was like, haha no worries guy, somehow we will undo these dematerialization events and mira will be safe at last! ← not delusional at all. little did i know. little did i know that monolith has just gone off the deep end and they really would rather blow it all up than actually take some time to further elaborate on their original concept because god knows they’ve lost their magic touch for compelling storytelling/worldbuilding and can only think of one (1) way to end their games now apparently: just start over!

and it’s like, somehow they tried to have their cake and eat it too or at least (shittily) appease some of the fans with being like “haha no worries guys, we can find a way to preserve mira’s life and replicate it in the new world by just going over to each region and inspecting this one specific form to copy aaalllll of the lifeforms data!! haha isn’t that neat?” excuse me are you guys fucking dumb, what’s to say that they will even be able to survive in a new planet??? what the hell?? yeah just briefly inspect these datapoints and boom, problem solved!!! how fucking lazy could they have gotten with this? and that “new” planet that they find at the end? look i don’t know if it’s some planet that’s already established in the xeno series (i honestly don’t care), but how is it that they say hey look a new planet, that’s our new home :) ? like, yeah sure let me just go out into the universe and try to establish life in the first fucking random planet i find. jfc.

after SO MANY years of foolishly and anticipatedly waiting for a continuation to one of the most interesting cliffhangers i’ve ever had the pleasure to experience in a video game, monolith comes out and spits on, stomps on, and burns to ashes the world and lore the original xcx fans grew to love and care for all these years. and for what? to appeal to the horde of fans that came with xc2 onwards?? but of fucking course, they have no attachment to the game or the lore or the planet, so they're fine with just blowing it all up and pretending mira never existed. and i'm sorry but how are any new fans anyway enjoying this ending in any shape or form lol like what? just cus they got that fucking unnecessary tie-in to the numbered games? oh wow yay yippee they've connected dots that weren't originally meant to be connected anyway, time to eat this slop up!! i would be baffled to find out if there are any self-respecting original xcx fans out there who are actually okay with how things ended up for mira.

the one thing that had been nagging in the back of my mind the ENTIRE time that i was enjoying and having a blast with exploring mira again was that somehow, someway, ch13’s conclusion would take away my immense desire to finally 100% mira’s exploration. i didn’t even come close to it when i originally played in the wii u, and how could i call myself a huge xenoblade x fan if i have never even 100%’d mira? that’s why i was trying to take my sweet time with the original content, because it’s so fucking good and i didn’t want the new content to ruin it for me. but man, never did it even CROSS my mind that mira fucking disappearing would be something that monolith would even dare to do and call it a “conclusion” to one of the greatest mysteries in the series.

so yeah, last night when i completed ch13 i was fucking sad, i was DEVASTATED at what these idiots did to one of my ultimate favorite games and one of its unique aspects that i had come to love so much: planet mira itself. biggest "fuck you" i've ever seen to the original xcx fans that had just been waiting for a decent answer to "something about this planet" for all these years. but just like that monolithsoft senior executive can write his shitty little fanfic and call it a day, i am now choosing to ignore chapter 13 ever happened. to me, xenoblade x ends with chapter 12, just like it did originally all those years ago. ch13 talks about parallel universes? well, xenoblade x wii u lives in one of those parallel universes and the gang all lived happily ever after in planet mira, and elma finally got to take her long-awaited vacation to explore the world to her heart’s content.

i REFUSE to let a company’s fall from grace in my eyes destroy a game that i’ve come to love and treasure with all of my heart. i WILL 100% the game in the switch version, and then i will put it away and never touch it again. while playing and moaning about DE mim elma, i kept thinking that once i 100% the switch version, if i ever do want to replay xcx (which i will, because xcx is life), i will just do it in the wii u version. sure i will lose all of the QOL updates, but i will gain good mim elma, long-eared celica, and i will be able to continue post-chapter 12 knowing there isn’t any insulting additional story mission content waiting to be picked up. and i think that’s a fair exchange.

ok wow i need to wrap this up. i have other problems with ch13 that i could talk about but those were the major ones that made it a pain to get through and honestly i need to move on and forget it ever happened. if you somehow chose to read all of this, made it all the way through this rant and actually agreed with the points i made regarding ch13, then wow, thank you. i am hugging you and giving you a gentle kiss on the forehead.

so yeah, i still have a lot of love left to give to the original xcx fandom. there are still so many drawings i still want to do to pour out and express my love for the original game and world. i’m so tired of giving money to a company whose games and new content i haven’t enjoyed since the original xcx game released. they can continue down this unsatisfying and tiresome path of storytelling in their games as much as they want, i will just continue to be in that fun little corner of the original xc1/xcx fandom since those are the games that captured my heart all those years ago.

alright, that felt good to finally get it all out. now to start working on my next xcx piece. man i love xenoblade chronicles x so fucking much.

#xcxde dany thoughts #xenoblade chronicles x #xcx #xenoblade #character hate #xcxde criticism #junk #ch13 ceases to exist in my eyes starting....now 🫰✨#now the healing can truly begin 🧎‍♀️#xc2 criticism #xc3 criticism

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coffinclownery · 2 days ago

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Clinical Trial Impressions

Firstestly before spoiling the whole game here's my tl:dr

Unfortunately I think this is a great game. Like sorry, there's a lot of care and thought that's been put into this game that makes it difficult for me to dismiss it as simply a "barely disguised fetish" kind of game. There's a lot of details from the character-writing to the art to even the ways the dialogue works that's just...good. This is unfortunate because it means that instead of easily dismissing this and moving on with my life I'm left thinking about this game weeks after watching playthroughs and playing it myself. Lot of thoughts have been provoked out of me.

Is it perfect? No. There's things that definitely could have been changed and/or expanded upon. And I don't think it's for everyone. While nothing is shown or told in graphic detail there's things that happen to the characters that can be triggering because of how well-written it is and the events preceding it. And while I argue the endings both make sense for the most part I don't blame you for not vibing with them.

So yeah, need to stop checking out playthroughs from manlybadasshero because he keeps finding games to Haunt me and I don't appreciate it. I recommend playing it if you feel comfortable with the content warnings. It is a free game so the worst thing that can happen is that you'll be Haunted like I am without spending a dime.

The content warnings on the itchio page does not cover everything, so I'll put my list below under the cut before going into more spoilery opinions. A lot of the content warnings come from what happens at the last hour, so it's going to spoil you.

Content Warnings: Needles, Pixelated Gore, Mentions of SA, Mentions of Familial Abuse, Mental Health Struggles related to ADHD symptoms and trauma responses, Taxidermy, Stalking and Surveillance, Obsession, Theft of personal items, Mentions of Suicide, On-screen depiction of suicide in one ending.

If you think I missed any let me know. Now here's more spoilery opinions below the gif.

Hey here's a scorching hot take.

Stalking...

...

Is bad.

Thank you thank you I'll take my Nobel prize now.

This is still at the end of the day a free 3-4hr game, mainly made by one person. So I'm not going to dock points or demand an imaginary refund when I say it felt like there could have been more or things could have been slightly different. As a lot of folks mentioned this game starts at a nice slowburn but then things go at a breakneck pace right at the end. I myself think the pace is pretty good up until the big reveal. After that I think things get a little wonky.

I still think they have all the bones in the right place (which can't be said for Brandon huehuehue.) Both Lee's obsession with Angel and what he ultimately did for them needed to be revealed, and it makes sense that the shrine was revealed first. Because let's be honest here, in the realm of fiction killing a bastard is not that controversial. And here they made the bastard as unlikable as possible, where even the man about to kill him is uncomfortable touching him. Like he was such an unrepentant pathetic loser that it almost became comical. So if we discovered the body in the basement first I think it would have been very easy to go "good job!" and not really digest what else is going on here.

So having the shrine first is important, because it is an affront to Angel themself. He stole their jacket! He did something to it without their consent! Angel already went through a horrendous event, and now here's somebody they placed their trust in using them in another way. And even without the jacket it's creepy to collect someone else's body mass like hair or blood from tissues. It's up to Angel whether they can accept this, but it doesn't remove the fact that this is still A Crime done to Angel. It's what shaped why the murder was actually sorta bad? It's not the morality of it all, it's the repercussions Angel themselves might face because of what Lee's obsession led to.

So it's important for the shrine to be seen first so we know who we're dealing with. We might be cool with a bastard dying slowly in a dug-out basement (again in the realm of fiction blah blah blah) but not cool with someone stalking, stealing personal items, deifying someone and then no matter how unintentional incriminating someone for murder by not even cleaning up before inviting guests. Even if we somehow predicted this twist this is the creator's way of going "are you SURE you want to get down with this dude?" and I can respect that. Like yeah no Lee is unarguably a freak and ultimately you need to choose if you're cool with that before finding the body.

And I think the endings fit well enough. It's easy for folks to deem End 1 as the Bad Ending and End 2 as the Good Ending. And that fits if you think of Lee being the main character. Because he's ultimately the one who gets punished in End 1 for what he did to Angel. It's certainly his Bad Ending if he's rejected by the person he deified and obsessed over first and only later fell in love with. Things might have been easier for Angel if they cooperated with Lee, and it does look bleak if you believed everything Lee said. But that's the path Angel chose to take and I think the open-endedness of it is good. Neither us nor Angel know what'll happen when they leave, but that won't stop Angel from moving forward. No matter how bleak it is Angel still has a future, while Lee denied his.

And End 2 works as well, because it's still Angel making that choice to accept both his freak and his body count. Angel's the one who gets to choose what happens at that moment, with full* knowledge of what Lee's done. They're the one choosing to help cover up a murder, and they're the one who choosing to move in with Lee afterwards. Because Lee wasn't going to make Angel stay, he just needed Angel to cooperate so Angel themselves doesn't get into trouble. And even if they might live happily for awhile, I think the music at the end of End 2 hints at an eerie feeling. There's still a chance things can go very wrong down the line.

*Except maybe the jacket if you don't check the washing machine. I feel like that should have been discovered at the shrine before the choice.*

Although with End 2 I don't blame people for calling it the "canon" ending giving it has a more detailed cutscene. And if you look at the creator's game profiles you can tell they clearly care for the two as a couple, but they note anything they post that's not in the game is not canon so...there's that.

I still think the pacing could have been a little but different. Between the discovery of the shrine and the discovery of a basement there was a brief cooldown that I think messes with the tone. If the only two endings are going to be Accepting both discoveries or Rejecting both, I feel like this cooldown should be removed altogether. Have Lee only catch up with Angel after they discovered everything, then they can slowly digest wtf is happening and make a decision. Or make the gap between the shrine and the body wider.

I also feel like some of the dialogue could have been resorted. I think all the dialogue is important, and I'm against removing stuff that'd make Lee less of a freak (you cannot put the freak back inside the bottle once its out im sorry) but the order in which things are said felt a little off. It didn't cross my mind that Angel could be implicated until its stated after the choice to Accept or Reject, which is a weird priority when faced with a Body.

I feel like either:

A: The choice should have been about accepting or rejecting that Lee committed a murder first and foremost. The dialogue can stay roughly the same in the Reject, when Lee is trying to find a way to remain in Angel's life, but in Accept have Angel more blatantly offer to help cover up the murder themselves, since in this version Angel's priority is wanting to stay with Lee.

B: Angel should have had more time to process the body on the ground and come to the realization that they'd be a main suspect before Lee arrives, hear what Lee did and what steps he's already taken to avoid suspicion, and then make the choice. That way the choice is more focused on whether Angel cooperates with Lee or not.

Either way I also think in the Accept version of events there should have been a re-establishment of Angel's feelings. Like after Angel says they'd have to move of they stay will Lee have Lee go "wait, you still want to stay with me?"

Also, maybe in the Reject ending, have Angel call Adri. In week 5 Adri could have offered her number or Angel asked for theirs and let that be a Chekov's gun. You can still have Angel not receive messages (because Angel probably went awol on everything after what happened to them, so Adri assumed they weren't interested and gave up contacting) and make Angel choose to reach out to Adri. Angel refused Lee's help, so they're going to find help themselves. Would also give Adri's presence a more obvious purpose.

...But again this is a free game written by one person, so I'm not going to judge the creator too harshly for not doing things perfectly in a way that'd satisfy this specific stranger on the webs. Any of these changes would inevitability require more lines, more time, more programming, and maybe even more art be put into the game. Ultimately the creator put what was absolutely necessary for the story to work, which is what mattered.

This is all just me conjecturing on a remake in 5 years called Clinical Trial Ultra Mega Deluxe Remix 1.5 Medical Grade Edition you know?

I need to run errands so I'll be generous and let you be on your way here. On the next post I'll talk about the details I liked in this game and how it differentiates itself from other horror games featuring questionable and datable stalker killers.

#clinical trial game #clinical trial #indie games #games #horror games #indie horror game

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nanabansama · 2 days ago

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Amane's Death Date

So I recently made a post about character birthdays (see here) in which I mentioned that we know Mitsuba's death month, but soon after making it, I realized we kind of had the same (if not a closer) approximation for Amane and Tsukasa's date of death...?

This might not come as a very shocking post to some of you, and a lot of it is ultimately speculation, but I think I have some interesting evidence to back up what I'm saying!

So let's lay out some facts first:

Amane was last seen alive on July 22, 1969

Amane died in his summer uniform

Summer holiday at Kamome Academy starts after July 22

July 22 should be very close to the beginning of summer vacation, which is a very helpful time frame for us. And luckily, on July 22, we can see Amane's class schedule:

I go into more detail in another post on my blog (link), but we can actually use this class schedule to potentially tell us the start date for Amane's summer vacation. You'll notice that one of the day of the week columns is empty: Saturday.

While it's possible that Kamome simply has no classes on that day, or that students have other activities on that day unrelated to their main classroom, the presence of it on the class schedule itself seems to imply that they have a reason to go to school on Saturday, and that they simply have nothing scheduled that week.

Ergo... what if that's the start of their summer vacation?

Since July 22 is a Tuesday, that would mean Saturday is July 26. And if summer vacation started, then why would Amane need to wear his summer uniform anymore?

What I'm saying here is... what if Amane killed himself between the dates July 22-25, just before summer vacation started?

Now I realize my logic is a little flawed here; students continue wearing their summer uniforms after summer vacation until the weather cools and they switch to winter uniforms, and just because there are no classes marked on the class schedule for Saturday doesn't guarantee that summer vacation started that day.

This is also a minor background detail and it's totally possible that they didn't put much thought into it at all.

...Still, I have trouble imagining Amane waiting to kill himself much longer after giving away his most treasured possession, the moon rock, and he definitely killed himself in 1969 before he switched to his winter uniform at school. That would mean he killed himself anywhere between July 22 up to early autumn.

Ultimately, you can come to your own conclusions, but I personally like the idea that Amane giving Tsuchigomori the moon rock was one of the last memories he had of him alive, so him dying around that time feels appropriate to me.

Anyway, time to get more into speculatory territory...

Since I'm limiting the options to 22, 23, 24, and 25, we have a tantalizingly low selection. There's really no way to narrow it down, though, what with the limited information that we have... So I'll start by describing why each day could work, then declare my personal winner.

First, July 22. This day is pretty appealing as a choice because we see Amane on this day, and he's already acting very suicidal. However, I feel like that makes it a bad choice too... we already had a major event happen on the 22nd. I can't deny that it would be a fateful last meeting for him and Tsuchigomori, though.

July 23 is next, and I can't say I love this day... I do like how it's the day after July 22, so that giving away the moon rock isn't the same day that he killed himself, but otherwise it doesn't stand out too much. The most I can say is that 23 sounds like "ni san" which sounds like older brother in Japanese, and Amane is an older brother. Yeah, that's about it... *sigh*

July 24 is a better one. For this, I'm getting out my auspicious calendar:

As you can see, July 24 is 仏滅 which is the day of worst luck. You might remember this being the same type of day that Tsukasa sacrificed himself. Now, I know I have a bit of a tendency to over rely on the auspicious calendar... but 24 also just sounds like a good death day, you know? 2 twins die, 4 dead in all, 4 is a spooky death number in Japan, etc...

Anyway, July 25 is also a good day. According to my speculations, this would be the last day before summer vacation starts, and would mark both the end of that school trimester and the end of their lives. In addition, the 25th of November was both the day that they were born and the day that Tsukasa sacrificed himself. Also, 25 is goroawase for twins in Japanese.

So in the end, I'm a little torn... even the day I'm not all that jazzed about, July 23, makes some sense to me. I guess for now I'll lean towards July 24, partly because that's the date the Apollo 11 astronauts got back from the moon... but honestly, it's a toss up between all of them.

Considering we don't know the time of day it happened, it's possible that the twins died on different days... and that's not even getting into their parents. There's no guarantee that they even died on the same day that their sons did, only that all four bodies were eventually found in the house, and that it was ruled a family suicide...

Additionally, since this illustration of Amane stabbing Tsukasa has stars in the bg, I wonder if it happened at night time...? Not that it really matters... but if it was after school and Amane stayed late, it stands to reason that the murder could have happened at night. That does lend a bit of credit to it being July 22 as well: Amane definitely stayed late that day.

You might have also noticed a discrepancy between the first image in this post, where Amane is shown poised to stab himself, and the colored one above here where he's hunched over with the bloody knife. Well it might not mean anything, but in the more recent one, the first image, Amane has no visible wounds. It makes you wonder if that's an error, or if his wounds healed before he killed himself. This opens a few possibilities, either that AidaIro changed their minds about Amane having wounds when he died, or that Amane waited a few days after killing Tsukasa before killing himself. Both are interesting ideas, but for now, I'm not going to do anything with them.

Anyway, I hope this post was somewhat informative or at least entertaining. I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't the first person to talk about this detail, though. Thanks for reading!

#Jshk #Tbhk #tsukasa yugi #Amane yugi #Yugi twins

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masakuterarr · 2 days ago

Text

7DS : Mael & Saruman Refsheet - Masakuterarr

The boys are done, I am so happy 😭💚 Before I go into heavy detail about it, you're welcome to use this as a reference for Mael (and Saruman if you wanna make Fanart!) but I would be happy if you give some credits! I won't bite if you forget it, but do NOT steal it, claim it as your own, sell it or use it for AI. The same for Saruman; and don't steal/claim him as your own Character. (I know this should go without saying but for "legal" reasons I wanna say it again. Cuz I ain't gonna be nice to you if you break those rules 🙇 ) Also, heads up, if you're not interested in redesigns of Mael, then just don't interact 👍This is just MY version of him, how I prefer him. It's ofc okay to have different taste and opinions. AND this doesn't mean I don't like his canon design. I know i rant about it a lot but mostly bc it's funny. I fucking love Mael and I think he's such a great character that deserves hella more attention in the plot! His crocs are just silly LOL

・⋅⋯♱ ・ 𓆩♱𓆪 ・♱⋅⋯ ・

MAEL

[This redesign is based on my Mael HC version for my own Saruman Lore and Manga(soon). That's why the armor looks really similar to each other. It takes place after the end of 7DS and plays around the same time as 4KotA (status now. Might change depending on how I decide to write it.) So the armor is intended to match!]

The symbols are the ones of Ludociel's original Grand Cross Outfit. The only one I added it the Cross over the sunrise at the ocean (I am aware this is the symbol used by the NAC (new apostolic church), but I didn't feel comfortable using other ones cuz at least I know they're not weirdos there (i grew up with it so..))

The rest about his design choices are explained in the sheet, I don't think I need to write all that here again! Tho, I tried to keep a lot of his original design (from Manga/Anime and Grand Cross), because there were really cool parts about it! (The first Mael HC version I posted still goes in hand with this!)

・⋅⋯♱ ・ 𓆩♱𓆪 ・♱⋅⋯ ・

SARUMAN

I will put most stuff on his artfight file, but to give you a bit of an overview of Saru:

Age: 6,000 ; Species : ?? (for lore reasons, I'm gonna keep this off for now. Spoiler: I know he looks like a demon and has demon powers, but that's the plot point,,). Saru can be very protective and empathetic (despite not wanting to acknowledge this himself). Besides, his observation skills and charisma are quite remarkable. He is a smart man who observes everything and everyone without being noticed, which is what makes him so dangerous. Tho he can be very emotionally detached and lazy. On top, he's hot-headed, which makes his snapping very unpleasant.

Saruman likes beer and food and hates rain, while loving snow.

・⋅⋯♱ ・ 𓆩♱𓆪 ・♱⋅⋯ ・

Abilities:

Mael:

Ark ( Counteracts darkness by disintegrating it with light particles. The target is enveloped in a dazzling sphere of light that breaks apart their body)

Tensei no Izanai (A technique that makes a deceased soul reincarnate in a new life, conserving the memories of their past life.)

Killing Saucer (Mael creates blades of light in his hand that rotate at high speed, which he uses to slice his enemies.)

Vessel (Mael is able to make human bodies as vessels, to wield his divine power. The possession process, requiring the host's consent, grants Mael access to his full abilities while also causing changes to the host's body.)

Grace : Sunshine

(for Mael just so you guys have a little overview bc I like it organized~)

Saruman:

General Demon Powers:

Power of Darkness (Saruman can create and manipulate a mysterious dark substance to enhance both his offensive and defense abilities. He has been using it to protect himself from attacks that would otherwise cause serious injury. He can also morph it into various shapes)

Enhanced Regeneration (Saruman can use his darkness to piece together an injured body and mend gave wounds, but is unable to regenerate destroyed hearts and any damage sustained accumulates)

Poison Resistance (As he is naturally accustomed to miasma-rich environments, Saruman can more easily survive poisons and toxins than Humans or Giants. However, Saruman can easily be poisoned by the miasma of Purgatory or the excretions of an Indura of Resentment)

Possession (Saruman is able to make human bodies as vessels, and use them as his own. However, the vessel may have difficulty hosting him, leading their bodies to undergo transformations or some abilities that are left behind. Unlike Goddesses who possess someone by consensus and use their own abilities through the vessel, Saruman possess by force, and usually is unable to use his authentic power but that of the vessel)

Unique Abilities:

Black Snow (An ability that creates and scatters countless flakes of black “snow”. Anyone that comes into contact with the snow will be enveloped in darkness and dies instantly)

Dead End (Saruman raises his hand and materializes the same numerous tiny, black spheres that form Dark Snow. By clenching his hand, the tiny spheres merge into a large black sphere, causing surrounding plants to wither and die. Saruman points his fingers and the sphere is fired in the direction of his opponent. Upon impact, the sphere causes a large explosion. The target’s body is then completely enveloped by the sphere, and they are instantly killed)

Dark Nebula (A dark void expands outwards from Saruman, completely destroying anything caught within range)

Blackout (Saruman engulfs a specific target with his darkness)

Duo Abilities:

Dark Sun (Saruman can envelop Mael's sun in his Dark Nebula without extinguishing it. This allows him to protect the sun and control it's movement with his own hand. However, Mael must activate the trigger “Greatest Sun” himself.)

Burning Snow (Saruman can split the sun of Mael, which he has enveloped in his Dark Nebula, into endless tiny flakes, like his own Dark Snow. Anyone who comes into contact with the flakes triggers a widespread explosion. However, Mael can also trigger “Greatest Sun” himself, causing countless explosions.)

・⋅⋯♱ ・ 𓆩♱𓆪 ・♱⋅⋯ ・

Height Difference: Saruman - 2,26m (7'4.89 ft) / 110kg (242 lbs) Mael - 1,97m (6'5.56 ft) / 94kg (207 lbs)

・⋅⋯♱ ・ 𓆩♱𓆪 ・♱⋅⋯ ・

THIS IS IT ABOUT THE BOYS! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! 🙇💚

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finnlongman · 2 days ago

Note

I'm unsure if this is odd to tell you, but I've been following you for a few months now. This has had the recent result that, while reading Phillip Bernhardt-House's 'Land of saints and sadists: the S/M scene(s) in medieval Ireland', I got really excited that Cù Chulainn came up because he's the tumblr guy's blorbo! I also thought it was interesting because that makes a lot of queer readings for Cù Chulainn that I've encountered despite Irish mythology not being a particular focus of mine. (Though I suppose queer medievalist academia is a small enough circle that it makes sense.)

Thanks for telling me! I was actually unaware of this article, though I've read some of Bernhardt-House's other scholarship, so I just went and looked it up. I've only skimmed it so far; I suspect I probably won't agree with every detail, as we sometimes come at texts from a different angle, but it's welcome to see a discussion of Serglige Con Culainn through that lens. It's such an obvious one, on many levels, but scholarship to date seems rather puzzled about how a beating might relate to any conventional understanding of love-sickness. I mean, there's a reason we nicknamed it Birds, Dreams, Sickness & Magic...

I will say that this particular remark in theh endnotes dealt me a fair degree of psychic damage:

Because, of course, I am a Láeg expert, and have frequently found myself writing about Láeg's role in insulting and restraining Cú Chulainn (physically as well as verbally), as well as their complex power dynamics and Cú Chulainn's use of a phopa to address him (which the group chat does insist on translating as "daddy"). Add to that the fact that almost every detailed physical description of Láeg mentions the horsewhip he's holding -- for obvious charioteering purposes only, OF COURSE -- and so much of this article is focused on horsewhips... well. I'm not saying anything. My mum reads this blog. I'm just listing facts and things that happen in these texts. Obviously.

The way he talks about the masochism of medieval heroic masculinity also reminds me also of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen's notable article Masoch/Lancelotism. For years, I've been observing parallels and similarities between Cú Chulainn and Lancelot that I think would be worthy of more thorough examination and discussion (and for years I have been accepting that probably, if I want this to happen, I need to do it myself). Maybe that would be another aspect of that overlap in character dynamics...

#elderly-worm #there is probably more i could say on this topic but. as noted. my mum reads this blog sometimes #answered #cu chulainn #phillip bernhardt-house

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mandoalorian · 1 day ago

Text

oh my god oh my god oh my god — you posted it!!!! *screams* this was everything. my mouth hurts from grinning. i love a meet cute and you characterised bob so perfectly (which i had no doubt about, but still). at parts i was getting so excited i literally had tears in my eyes. this made me love bob 1000000x more. your power. >>>

of course, here is my live reaction under the cut:

"Thanks. I forgot to pack some," you said, passing him. You groaned and squeezed your eyes shut. That was dumb. All you needed to say was thanks.

EEEK, this is everything. i literally felt this in my heart. the embarrassed feeling of saying too much. so good. but thank GOD this happened to open up the conversation with mr cutie patootie !!!!

"Cool. Well, um. Good luck!" He said, and gave you two thumbs up.

my cheeks are hot; i’m blushing. this is so cute, you’ve charactered him soooo well. the double thumbs up. i can picture it so perfectly.

You looked up. The cute guy again.

IS HE FOLLOWING 🥹🥹🥹i’m gonna cry i can’t take this, he’s so awkward too

"Alright, just a guy," you said, and, on a whim, handed him one of your business cards. "Text me, maybe. If youre not a serial killer, or anything."

my reaction be like:

Of course you'd told them. They gushed and were so excited, happy to soak up every little detail that you could remember about the stranger.

THIS IS SO WHOLESOME I CANT🥹🥹

There was a moment of watching the little three dots appear and then disappear, then reappear.

i’m gonna cry

After they sent you a voice note screaming, they made you promise to share your location.

REAL, this is so us core

Either way, well worth it, especially to watch Bob get pizza grease down his chin.

OH WHAT AN IMAGE 🥹🥹

"I've just never, uh... ive never kissed anyone."

this entire fic has me just kicking my feet excitedly because this guy? — this guy is EVERYTHING to me, sweet sweet boy

"Can i have another?”

BOB🥹🥹🥹

He had a job? He hadnt seemed employed.

i laughed out loud

"You- youre an Avenger?" Your confusion quadrupled.

"Sorta! Im kinda their roommate."

the way my chest just tightened with excitement omfg this is EVERYTHING. “the new avengers and bob” for real!!!!!

"Well, they almost never do their dishes. But, hey, they save the world sometimes, so, thats cool! And we play video games. I beat Bucky all the time. Beats being high on meth, heh."

everything about this is *chefs kiss*

literally no pressure ofc but if you ever continued this please tag me🥹🥹i’d love to see if there’s a continuation; maybe reader meeting the new avengers & what that dynamic looks like? omfg maybe bob getting flustered and excited about the reader too because he’s crushing so hard 🥹🥹 but yeah it’s fine if not! i just think that’s so cute to think about

i enjoyed this so much!!!! i can’t wait to read it again over and over

Corner Store Sock Aisle Angel

Bob/Reader, post Thunderbolts* movie ending.

Summary: You met the cutest guy in New York City at a corner store while running an errand. And while he wouldn't call himself an angel, would you? Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that?

Warnings: none, just a TON of fluff. Spoilers for the movie's ending!!!! Do not read if you haven't watched! No Y/N usage or pronouns for reader.

Word count: 3.5k ish

Author's note: i watched Thunderbolts* in IMAX on Thursday with Rachie and left the theater incredibly compelled to write a fic where i got to kiss Bob. Now have this!

Thunderbolts* movie spoilers under the read more!!!

A week in New York City for work was only half ideal. Half, because you'd have to work, but half because when you werent working, you could explore one of the biggest and most iconic cities in the world.

You hit a couple museums, and then decided you wanted ramen in your hotel on the second night instead of eatting out. The day had been long and exhausting, with your co-workers and people you were meeting being demanding in the most classic office-job ways possible.

It paid well, and you had a nice hotel room, but really, you just wanted to cozy up for the night with something familiar and watch a movie.

But first, you needed ramen.

Of course, you could stop at an actual ramen place, get real noodles and a more authentic experience, but tonight, instant noodles was the desire. Plus, you wanted some candy, and maybe some new socks since you somehow forgot to pack some.

To the corner store it was! Or maybe it was called a bodega?

You pulled out your phone as you waited to cross the street and texted your friend.

"Wtf is a bodega" followed by "isnt it just... a corner store...???"

Your friend responded "how should i know? Im not from NYC!"

You laughed and crossed the street.

It didnt take you long to find a store that looked familiarly safe enough to venture in to. Plus, there were a couple other people in the store.

You walked in and found the instant noodles you were looking for.

Now just Sour Patch Kids candies and socks.

How the hell did you forget socks?

You sighed and turned a corner, nearly running right in to someone.

"Oh! Sorry!"

"Its no problem," he said.

He was *so* cute. And tall. And looked like a dork. He was in a sweashirt and jeans, with worn black converse. Oh, so cute.

"You looking for something?"

"Do- do they have socks here?"

"Yeah!" He said, smiling again, and gestured over to another aisle. "Over there."

"Thanks. I forgot to pack some," you said, passing him. You groaned and squeezed your eyes shut. That was dumb. All you needed to say was thanks.

"You from out of town?"

"Yeah," you turned back to face him, holding the noodle package awkwardly in your hand. "Here for work."

"Ah, not vacation."

"Not quite."

"Bummer. It's a great week for weather, you should try and get to a park or something at least!" His eyes lit up with an idea. "Maybe lunch, or something? Fresh air?"

You laughed. "Not sure how fresh the air of New York would be, but yeah, that sounds nice."

"Cool. Well, um. Good luck!" He said, and gave you two thumbs up.

Who the hell is this guy. Two thumbs up?? What a dork.

It was adorable.

You gave him a wave and nod, before saying thanks as you turned away, hoping he didnt see you blush, or heard you giggle.

You got over to the sock aisle safely and found a set of pairs that would just have to work.

Finally, you made your way to the candy aisle and saw there were more than one kind of Sour Patch Kids available. What kind of monster gives that many options of basic sour candies?

"Lots of options," a familiar voice said to your left.

You lookes up. The cute guy again.

"Pff. Yeah. For real," you sighed and looked at the options again. "Already a long day and now... more choices."

"These are my favorite," he said, reaching forward and picking up a package of gummy peach rings. He held it toward you. "If, yanno. You didnt want to choose."

"Definitely. Those would work great with my-" you checked the noodles in your hand. "Kung pao chicken instant noodles."

You laughed a little together as he handed you the package.

"Cool," he said. It was kind of pathetic. But also really cute. He offered you his favorite candies so you didnt have to decide. Absolutely adorable.

"Well, thats all I was looking for tonight," you said, looking up at him. "Thank you, corner store angel."

He laughed. "Oh, no, not an angel. Just a guy."

"Just a guy, huh?"

He shrugged, and shyly didnt look you in the eye. "Yeah."

"Alright, just a guy," you said, and, on a whim, handed him one of your business cards. "Text me, maybe. If youre not a serial killer, or anything."

"God, no," he laughed, and looked at the card as he took it in his hand. He smiled and then looked at you. "I like your name."

"Thanks," you said.

Just a moment later, you were walking back to your hotel, feeling like you were floating on a cloud.

You'd met the cutest guy New York City could have possible offered, and randomly gave him your business card.

Not something you usually do.

But how could you not?

~*~

The thought of his cute face and kind laugh diatracted you through the next few days on your work trip. But just as much as it distracted you, it softened the blow of the blunt demands and requests from your team and the business you were hosted by. You felt productive, even if your friend requested Corner Store Angel Boy requests every half hour.

Of course you'd told them. They gushed and were so excited, happy to soak up every little detail that you could remember about the stranger.

But you hadnt asked him what his name was. And you'd forgotten to get his number!

So you were just relying on hoping that he would actually text you. Before you left.

It was kind of hopeless, but at least you hadnt forgotten his face yet, and it kept you looking ahead instead of at the ground as you walked through the city.

On the fifth day, you got a text.

"How are those socks working out for you?"

You couldnt help but smile and swallow a squeal of excitement.

"You good?" One of your co-workers asked.

"Yep," you nodded, and quickly started typing back.

"They're doing the job!" And then "peach rings were the best choice."

"Nice! :D"

Of course.

"Work ok?"

"Would rather be at a park tbh"

There was a moment of watching the little three dots appear and then disappear, then reappear.

Finally, another message.

"There's plenty of parks by good dinner places."

Was- was he actually asking you out?

"Nothing too fancy?"

"Maybe just some pizza?"

You couldnt help the thought that flashed through your mind- *anything with you sounds amazing.* But you didnt type that.

"Send me the time and address"

He sent both a minute later and you could not believe your luck.

You immediately changed over to the chat you had with your friend and told them about the date.

After they sent you a voice note screaming, they made you promise to share your location.

~*~

You had a little time before meeting with the cute guy, so you got back to the hotel to freshen up a little.

Of course, you'd already been in work clothes when you met him, so he'd seen you when you looked pretty good, but at the end of the day.

At least now you could change into something a little more comfortable, and freshen up or touch up your hair. Anything to make you feel less anxious.

You got to the pizza place a little after the suggested time, but he was there, waiting.

You couldnt help but snap a picture before he looked up from his phone.

His face broke out into the biggest grin when he saw you coming. He waved at you, too.

"Hi!" You said, waving and smiling back.

"Hi!" He answered. "How's- how's your week been?"

"Its actually been ok!" You said. "Kept thinking about this reallg cute guy i met, hoping he'd text me." You looked at him, and couldnt help but laugh when he looked uncertain. "You, dude. Im talking about you."

"Oh, duh," he laughed. "Wasnt sure."

"Its not every day i meet corner store angels."

He laughed again, then the smile fell from his lips. "Oh, shit, i never told you my name!"

You laughed again, your hand landing on his forearm. "No, dude."

"Ive known your name and had your number! Im so sorry!"

"You know what'll make it up to me?"

"What?"

"Your name," you said.

"It's Bob."

"Bob?"

"Yeah. Yep," he nodded. "Mhm."

"Cute," you remarked, and looked toward the pizza place. "Well, Bob? Shall we get some slices?"

"Sure!" He agreed and followed behind you into the pizza place.

It still amazed you how the pizza could afford to be just a couple dollars and taste so good. Or maybe you were just hungry. Either way, well worth it, especially to watch Bob get pizza grease down his chin.

He was incredibly cute. Not that you hadnt not thought that before. It was just impossible for you to not think that. And he had the sweetest laugh, and nicest smile.

Maybe he was just new, and it was nice to start learning things about someone.

After finishing the pizza, you asked him about the park he was thinking of showing you.

He opened the door for you and held it as you left the pizza place, and only stared a little as you hooked your arm in his.

You realized as you walked to the park that maybe you shouldnt just walk arm-in-arm with a man you barely knew, at night.

But you also figured that if your friend saw your phone's location in one place for too long that she'd definitely call the cops. FBI, even. National Guard.

The stroll through the park was blessedly uneventful. Bob asked you questions about yourself, happy to listen and hear your stories. He asked clarifying questions and follow ups, and made you laugh with his reactions.

He didnt seem to want to talk about himself too much, but you werent going to press it- a guy who asked questions and was engaged in conversation? Crazy. You weren't going to change that if you could help it.

He also seemed like such a nice, genuine guy. He was sweet, and laughed at your bad jokes.

Part of your brain wanted to process the part that maybe he was still a serial killer, or at least an asshole, but when he smiled at you, you really couldnt see it.

Before you knew it, the time had flown. You checked the time on your phone and it was almost nine p.m.

"Oh, shit! Later than i thought it was," you remarked.

You were sitting with Bob on a park bench, watching the last of the Summer sunset.

"Do you need to go?" He asked.

"Yeah... one more day of work tomorrow, then heading out on Saturday."

"When?"

"The afternoon."

"Bummer."

You looked at him, leaning your arm on the back of the bench and head against your hand.

"I mean, well, i'd really like to see you again, before you go," he said. "Go home."

"Are you busy tomorrow?"

"I figured you'd be?"

"I was working today, Bob," you said. "But I was able to come meet up with you. You're worth that to me, at least right now. And i'd like to see you again, too."

He glanced at your lips before licking his and sighing, looking across the park's path. Then he looked at you again. "Do you think... we could meet up tomorrow?"

"Unless my boss drops a ton of work on me? Yeah, Bob, I'd love to!" You smiled. Your face was going to hurt tomorrow from how much you'd been smiling.

"Really?"

"Yeah, dude," you laughed, and caught him looking at your lips again. You hummed. "You look like you might want to kiss me."

He blushed and looked down at his hands in his lap.

"You can ask, you know," you offered. "Knowing me, I'd probably say yes."

"Ive, uh, just..." he mumbled something you couldnt hear, even though you were sitting right next to him.

"Didn't hear that," you leaned closer.

"I've just never, uh... ive never kissed anyone."

That broke your heart a little. Had no one given him a chance?

Was he a little slow? Yeah, maybe? But you barely knew him, and you couldnt help but like him. Besides, in this world, who isnt a little slow sometimes? He hadnt chosen to talk about any of his own passions, like he'd asked you. There's something that lights his fire, and you were going to find out what that was.

"That's ok," you said, gently. "It's been a long time for me."

"Really?" He scoffed- not in an assumption you were trying to be nice, but just in pure disbelief. "But you're... you."

You hummed and nodded. "Exactly what I thought about you."

He looked at your lips again.

"I'll warn you, my first kiss was not like the movies make it out to be," you said. "No pressure. And if you dont want to-"

"I do want to!"

"Then by all means, Bob, whenever you might be ready."

He couldnt stop looking between your eyes and your lips, and he moved closer to you on the bench.

You met him halfway, reaching over to put your hand over his.

He quickly took your hand in both of his, like he needed the grounding, and then he closed his eyes and leaned in.

You kissed him, just expecting a cute little peck.

But then you felt his warm hand on your cheek and he grew confident, like all he needed was a chance.

You hummed against him, smiling against his lips as he took your top lip between his.

"Woah, Bob," you said, your heart racing as he moved his face a centimeter away from yours. "That was kind of a movie kiss."

"Was it ok?"

"It was great!"

"Can i have another?"

"Well, sure," you agreed, and he enthusiastically kissed you again, his lips soft and touch gentle but curious.

After the second kiss, he looked bubbly.

You couldnt help but mess with his hair a little with your free hand. "Thank you."

"For- oh. Youre welcome. And thanks."

"My pleasure."

He smiled nervously, then glanced at his watch. "Oh, you- you needed to go, right?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. Well, I'll text you? Or should we walk to the train?"

"You can walk with me," you said, and stood up from the bench. You held out a hand, and he took it, standing with you.

~*~

You texted all day with him, and still managed to get the extra work your boss assigned to you that morning done.

Your friend didnt know about the kiss yet. They would have called every five seconds if they did.

But you had enough time to meet Bob for dinner again, this time at a sit down place, but still not too fancy.

He even paid.

He had a job? He hadnt seemed employed.

Bob opened up a little more at dinner, and you were happy to take your turn listening to him.

He avoided talking about a lot of things, but seemed to have a few interesting stories from his past.

You tried not to push anything, however much curiosity you felt. You didnt want to break the bubble that was forming around the two of you, hoping the dreamlike feelings of safety and luck and reality wouldnt burst and come raining down.

It seemed natural at this point to link your arm in his, and he didnt seem as startled about it as he had the night before.

You also secretly loved how solid he felt. As much as sometimes you were curious how his mind worked, he wouldnt blow over with a breeze. When you werent paying attention and stepped out onto the street too early, you were surprised to feel the strength he used to quickly pull you back against him as a car honked and passed by.

He was someone special. You hoped he would be someone significant to you.

After dinner and walking a little aimlessly around Manhattan, he said, "do you want to come over?"

For a guy who'd never kissed anyone before last night, that was awfully bold.

"For what?" You decided to ask.

"Oh, um, just to show you. Also, there's a bowling alley in- in the building."

"You remember that?" You had mentioned bowling when you were younger, and enjoying it even if you were bad at it.

"Yeah!"

"You know what? Sure, lets go bowling."

A few moments later, you could not believe where he stopped.

You looked up, feeling tiny in the building's reflections and it's iconic history. "This- this is the Avengers tower."

"Yeah. Cool, huh!"

"You- do you live here? I didnt know they have condos."

He squinted up at the building. "They have condos? Thats cool."

"Bob, where do you live?"

"Here."

"Like, where?"

"Oh! At the top!" He said, then looked concerned. "Are you ok with heights?"

"Th- the top? Thats where the Avengers live."

"Oooooh." He nodded, pointing at you as if he understood your confusion. "Yeah! Im one of them. Sorta?"

"You- youre an Avenger?" Your confusion quadrupled.

"Sorta! Im kinda their roommate."

You looked at him in disbelief. Then you smiled. "On a scale of one to ten, ten being the best, how good of roommates are they?"

He chuckled, then shrugged. "Well, they almost never do their dishes. But, hey, they save the world sometimes, so, thats cool! And we play video games. I beat Bucky all the time. Beats being high on meth, heh."

You laughed with him, head sort of spinning as you reached up and brushed hair out of his face. "That's good. That you're- You dont get high on meth anymore?"

"Oh, no. Nope! Ive been reading a lot."

"Like what?"

"I finally finished Pride and Prejudice. Ava really wants to watch Bridgerton and said i should read Jane Austen's books."

"Pride and Prejudice, huh," you smiled.

"Yeah! It was really good, have you read that?"

"I think so," you lowered your hand and entwined your fingers with Bob's. "You gonna take a girl inside? It's getting windy."

"Oh! Yeah, sure, of course," he nodded and opened the door for you, letting you go first.

He lead you to the elevator, waving at the security, who smiled and waved back at him.

"Who's this, Bob?" One asked. His nametag reads Bob, too.

"Oh this is a friend!" He said, and explained who you are and where you met.

"That sounds like a meet-cute," the older, Security Guard Bob smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you, honey."

"Nice to meet you too," you responded, smiling back at him.

"Go on up, kids," Security Bob said, and opened a gate for you to go to a special elevator.

As soon as the doors of the elevator closed, you turn to Bob.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"May i kiss you again?"

He smiled. "Yeah," and he leans close to kiss you as you cupped his cheek and moved in against him.

Your friend was *never* gonna believe this.

#lance 💌

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