#i think he might act a little crazy! and do some pretty insane things

[junkangelic]

can i write a super super super ultra angstified fucked up teenage twinyards fic or. should i keep it in my head. and write the less fucked up version. i need answers please

[purinfelix]

just for the weekend ᯓᡣ𐭩.ᐟ - franco colapinto

summary: your teammate has an absolutely ridiculous plan to bring your team back from the dead - but it might be just crazy enough to work w/c: 5.5k + some smau style tweets warnings: a little angst, some uncomfortable touching/kissing since it's fake dating (not too bad but better safe than sorry), some miscommunication - just two idiots in love i fear

a/n: WOW it's finally here, fake dating is literally a guilty pleasure trope for me so i hope yall enjoy this HAHA - also sorry to Williams fans bc there's a lot of slander in this but trust its all for the plot <333 (also holy shit this is the longest fic I've ever written WOW)

"You're actually insane."

"Oh c'mon, at least think about it for a minute, it's perfect!"

You fold your arms over your chest and try your best to look uninterested in whatever it is your teammate has to say. The two of you had been racing together for a little over half a year now, and you had witnessed him make (at least in your opinion) a grand fool of himself. Flirting with interviewers, winking at cameras, having absolutely no filter during press conferences - but this, this was by far the craziest thing you had heard come out of his mouth.

"A fake relationship?"

"Ah ah ah," he tuts, jutting a finger in your face, "a media relationship, one that will draw the attention away from how crap we're doing and onto the personalities of the team. Think about it, McLaren has whatever Oscar and Lando have got going on and Ferrari basically has two models for drivers. We need something to put us on the map, to make people care about us!"

You pause, and for a minute you seriously consider his outrageous proposition - he isn't completely wrong. For the two of you, making it into the points range was a rare occurrence, and even though the team always made sure to celebrate it like a podium there was something that stung about constantly being at the bottom.

"Do you realise how much trouble we could get into?"

"Ah," he sighs, and it's starting to annoy you how lightly he's talking about this, "ever the pragmatist."

"Well one of us has to be if the other's going to keep saying stupid shit," you huff before turning around and beelining out of his driver's room.

Seriously, a fake relationship? Had he lost his mind? Maybe if he focused more on his racing you wouldn't be constantly outperforming him.

"At least think about it, okay?" You hear him call out from behind you, and consider yourself lucky to be facing the other way so that he doesn't catch your obnoxious eye roll. Surely he had to be kidding because there was no way you were going to devote any amount of time to this ridiculous thought.

God fucking damnit.

It was frustratingly confusing, the kind of power Franco had. You had witnessed it first hand with how smoothly he spoke to anyone and managed to get his way almost instantly - but this was your first time experiencing it first-hand. It was another weekend, another country, another race, but the only thing you could think of was his stupid consideration - which, with each passing moment, seemed increasingly genius.

You had almost a year of experience with the team over your teammate, and with that, your fair share of embarrassment and disappointment. Sure, his idea was a little out there but you were close to being at your wits end and if nothing else, you hoped this would at least be a little fun. Plus you were pretty sure at this point if you didn't act on this thought soon, it would start interfering with your performance.

"Fine," you said a little breathlessly as you burst into his driver's room ahead of a race.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, looking at you with a shocked look, "whatever happened to knocking? I could've been naked in here!"

You roll your eyes before continuing, "You still up to the ..." You pause, thinking of how best to word it, "Fake relationship thing?"

His eyes light up immediately, "Ah, I knew you'd come around eventually."

Letting out a soft huff, just to let him know that you still aren't fully convinced this will work, you sit down on his couch. "I think we should lay down some ground rules first."

"Yes ma'am." He nods, straightening up and forcing a serious expression you can only assume is mocking yours.

"Firstly, no kissing."

"Understood."

"Actually no public affection at all, holding hands, hugging, nothing."

"Oh sure and how exactly are we going to convince people then?"

You pause, thinking for a little, "Okay maybe hand-holding and hugs are fine, but you better not push it - that goes for the pet names as well." He nods with a satisfied smile.

"And no one other than us two can know this is fake, alright? Otherwise, it'll spoil the plan."

"Trust me, I don't need anyone knowing I'm going along with something as ridiculous as this. It'll be our little secret."

"Our little secret," he repeats with a hum, a sly sort of smile spreading across his face as he gets up from his spot. "See you after the race, my love."

You sighed in exasperation, tossing your phone to the side of the couch in your driver's room where it fell with a light thud. You had about a thousand other things to be worrying about - your pretty disappointing result in qualifying for one - but for some reason, the main thing on your mind was your 'relationship' with Franco. Somehow, it had proved even more intense than you had expected, which planted a seed of worry in your mind as you realised how hard this was actually going to be to pull off. Since his not-so-subtle announcement to a hoard of hungry press members at last week's race, the media had managed up a flurry about the two of you.

There were supportive fans who liked you both enough not to see any problem with two teammates dating, as well as others who were more sceptical about how it might impact your performance. However, what really seemed to get to you were those who doubted you more than the relationship.

Your social media had been bombarded with comments and theories about the reason behind your relationship, doubting your place on the grid, and calling you names that - after shedding the status of 'first girl rookie', you thought you had left behind. Regardless, you feel a little stupid for being so unprepared for all this - not just the tweets but the harsh articles, the questions during press interviews and even shouting fans. Maybe if you had done a little more thinking about it first, you would've realised this was a stupid idea that should've been left at just that.

Throwing your head back you let out an exasperated sigh, trying to clear your head so that you could move on and focus on the race that was happening tomorrow. The last thing you wanted was for this plan to start impacting your driving. But Franco always seemed to have the worst timing - or best, depending on who you asked.

"Hello?" A couple quick knocks alert you of his presence before he cracks the door just wide enough to peek in. "There's my beautiful girlfriend." The way the pet names and affection seem to come to him so easily makes you simultaneously impressed and concerned, unsure of whether it's an indication of his great acting or flirting skills.

"What do you want?" You try to make it as obvious as you can that you're not in the mood, and he realises this right away.

"Oh, nothing, I just wanted to ask if you were free after this."

"You know I'm not really a huge fan of the big team dinners, especially not when we have a race tomorrow."

"Oh it's not like that, I was just going to go check out a restaurant near our hotel and wondered if you wanted to join me."

When you finally speak it's just above a whisper, "Is this a part of the fake dating thing?"

He laughs softly, his ability to find everything entertaining has always amazed you. "If you want to, it can be. If that gives you a reason to come hang out with me, though if you don't it's totally fine."

"No, I'll come, not like I've got anything better to do." You hate how every word you've said so far has sounded so pathetic.

"Great, I'll meet you by the paddock entry in ten?"

"See you then."

The street lights were dim, just bright enough to illuminate the street the two of you were walking down. The night was cool and still, and there were barely any people out other than you. You weren't sure why, but you had ended up telling Franco a lot more than you had expected. Maybe it was the extremely fancy restaurant you had initially gone to or the local one the two of you agreed to ditch it for instead, or maybe it was just the freeing feeling of being in another country.

The two of you had talked before, of course - as teammates it was difficult to avoid. But beyond the casual small talk, discussions about strategies or banter during challenges your relationship never extended beyond casual co-existence. It was one of the reasons you were glad your higher-ups had never tried to force the two of you into a professional friendship. There was something about Franco, his ability to strike up a conversation and maintain it even when the topic clearly strayed far beyond his interests, that made him so likeable, so easy to get along with. And the support he got from fans and the media reflected this well. You just never felt like there was any room for you in that equation.

But here, away from the cameras and shedding the roles of drivers, the two of you became normal people. You spoke, you laughed, you vented to him everything that worried you about your 'relationship' and he listened throughout all of it - all the while the two of you shared the biggest, best, pizza you had ever had.

"I have to say, I don't know if our engineers will appreciate the extra weight I've just put on," he jokes, breaking the comfortable silence that had been lingering around you two as you walked.

"Me neither, they might have to roll me into the car at this rate."

"You know, I think this is the first time the two of us have hung out, just us two."

You think for a little before answering, "You're right."

"Do you think there's a reason for that?"

"You mean besides us both being extremely busy people and already seeing each other pretty often? Not really, no."

"Good point, though with our little plan, we're definitely going to be seeing each other a lot more."

There's a beat of silence. "This is nice though, right?" He asks, and his voice is so tentative you almost find it endearing.

"It is nice, this was fun." You try not to think too much about the fact the two of you could be mistaken by any passer-by as a couple of lovebirds on a first date - or that fact that even to those who knew you, you were.

"I appreciate you telling me all that stuff, you know, about what people are saying about you."

"Oh, if anything I should be thanking you for listening to me vent about it."

"It is serious though, I'm so stupid for not even thinking about what you'd have to deal with."

"Well I don't think either of us gave it enough thought but," you pause and look up at him, "we're too far in to back out now."

He shoots you a comforting smile, one that shows how reassured he feels that you seem to finally be coming around to his idea. That is, at least, before his face morphs into one of discomfort.

"God, I'm so full."

"We're almost back at the hotel now, let's just sleep and then we can wake up early tomorrow morning to-"

"Wait, is that ice cream?" Franco interrupts you to point out a street vendor who's about to pack up for the night, and before you know it he's running up to the man eagerly. You can only follow suit with a sigh, knowing full well you wouldn't mind some dessert either.

"You two are lucky, you'll be my last customers for the night," the moustachioed owner of the cart says with a warm smile.

"Thanks," you reply kindly, before turning to Franco, "what flavour do you think you'll get."

"Hm, not sure, maybe chocolate?"

"Wow, boring."

He scoffs, "Oh yeah? And what exotic flavour are you going to get then?"

"Mint choc," you smile, but your face drops once you see your teammate's disgusted expression.

"You've got to be kidding me, that's like the worst choice."

You feign offence, "How dare you insult the best ice cream flavour of all time?"

"Ah, you two are quite the couple," the man laughs and you watch as Franco's eyes widen in embarrassment.

"Oh we're not-"

"Thank you," it's your turn to interrupt him, turning to the man with a smile. "One chocolate and one mint choc chip please."

You go to reach for your wallet to pay but you feel a hand on yours, stopping you.

"No, it's okay, I got this."

"Wh- Franco c'mon you know full well both of us could afford about a thousand of these ice cream cones don't be ridiculous."

"I know," he smiles and even though he's trying to be serious you know he's also trying not to laugh, "but I just figured you know, I'm the one who dragged you out here and like, got you into this whole fake dating mess."

You furrow your brows, a little confused at what exactly he's getting at.

"I guess I just want to say thank you, you know?"

"Alright, alright," you laugh softly, watching as he pays and takes both of the cones, handing you yours. Once you grab yours, you instinctively loop your arm around his, pulling him close and resting your head against his shoulder. The ice cream man laughs endearingly at the two of you.

"You're the best boyfriend ever!" you say in as high and cute a voice you can manage, cringing a little but determined to keep up the bit - you don't even bother to think about how fast you can feel Franco's heart race when you do.

Last night was really nice. You're sitting next to your race engineer, nodding along as she points to various multi-coloured dots and lines on the screen. You hear yourself agreeing with a couple quick "mhms", "of course" and "yep"s even though you can barely hear what she's saying. You're mere minutes away from getting in your car for a race, getting briefed on your strategy, and the only thing you can think of is the 'date' you had with Franco last night - if you can even call it that.

You had thought that getting everything off your chest, the hate comments, the doubt you had, would help you feel better and relieve any worries you had. And it did, at least until you got back to your hotel room alone and caught yourself smiling at the thought of seeing your teammate again the next day. How, even as you washed up and got ready for bed, you found yourself thinking - pizza, ice cream, walking at night together, isn't that something a real couple would do?

"Are you listening to me?" your race engineer's voice cuts through the haze of your thoughts, causing you to straighten up immediately.

"Yes! Sorry," you mumble, but just at that moment, you see him walk into the garage, greeting a couple of the mechanics warmly. Before you realise it, he's beelining straight for you, his arm coming around your waist as he leans in close to your ear.

"There's a ton of cameras, I just wanted to be believable," he whispers, and when he pulls back you can see the smile on his face. You nod curtly, fully aware of how red your face feels over such a small interaction as he waltzes away.

"Okay, so as I was saying," your race engineer pipes up again, though you couldn't be paying her less of your attention - watching as your 'boyfriend' walks off, his brown hair illuminating in the afternoon light. For a fake relationship, the quickening pace of your heart felt far too real.

"Well you two have been teammates since the beginning of this year, can you tell us a little about when you realised you might be more?"

Your struggle was never-ending - or at least, that's what it felt like, finding yourself at the centre of an impromptu interview with Franco. Around you, the other drivers were getting questions about their place in their teams, how they felt about their current strategy and about their racing futures. And there the two of you were, getting thrown question after question about your 'relationship'.

"Well," you begin, before being saved by your teammate. You had to give it to him - he was great at making stuff up on the spot.

"Well, I think it was somewhere around a month after I first joined the team, and met her. It was just something about her, she's sort of electric in this almost untouchable way, you know?"

You try not to look too awkward standing next to him as he talks, feigning your best-interested smile - though a part of you is extremely intrigued by this fake story he's creating.

"At first I thought I just wanted to be like her, her passion and talent were just so respectable, but the more time I spent with her the more I realised it was something completely different."

He turns to look at you, his arm wrapping around your waist and pulling you close to him. Your expression falters a little as you're caught off guard by the sudden contact and as you turn away from the journalists and towards him, your eyes widen in shock at the sight of his pursed lips nearing yours. Before you realise it, his lips are against yours and you're pulling away as quickly as possible, face bright red. You're just barely aware of the thousands of flashing camera lights as you turn to quickly excuse yourself.

"Thank you all for coming, it was nice talking to you but, uhm, I have to go!" You hurriedly blurt out before slipping out of Franco's grip and darting off to your driver's room.

You hear his footsteps following closely behind you, as well as the sound of him calling out your name. When you near the door of your room, you turn around and grab his wrist to yank him in before you shut the door.

"What the hell was that?" is all you can muster out, "I thought we agreed no kissing?"

"Look, I can explain!"

You cross your arms with a huff, looking at him expectedly.

"I was just going to peck you quickly on the cheek, you know because we were getting all romantic and I wanted it to be believable! B-but then you turned, and then we," he's struggling not to ramble and his quickly moving hands do little to help. That's when you also realise his face is bright red as well, and he doesn't seem any less flustered by it than you do. "I'm really, really sorry I really shouldn't have done that."

You'd be lying if you said his explanation didn't make you feel any better. You're not actually upset about the kiss itself though, in fact, it's the opposite - actually, the grudge you're holding is doing little to help the internal struggle going on in your head. The kiss didn't make you angry, but the realisation that you wanted it to be real, did.

You sigh, rubbing your temples as you slump down in the nearest chair. Franco does the same on the adjacent couch, though his gaze stays carefully on you, almost afraid of what you might say next.

"It's fine, I think we just need to coordinate our PDA a little better then."

"Yes, of course," he nods quickly.

There's a beat of silence. "You're really good at acting though."

"What?"

"That whole story you made up about how you fell in love with me, it was really believable." You laugh lightheartedly trying to lighten the situation and alleviate the awkwardness that's settled between you two.

"Well it's pretty easy, I didn't need to make up much of it," his eyes catch yours and his gaze is soft when he smiles at you.

"What?" you're confused.

"Never mind," he scoffs lightly, his gaze dropping to the floor as he rubs the back of his neck. He looks almost disappointed at something, though you can't realise what. "Well, I'll leave you alone now. I really am sorry about what happened before." You watch as he pushes himself up from the couch, his head hanging guiltily - looking almost like a scolded puppy.

"It's fine Franco, really, please don't feel too bad about it." He nods thankfully before slipping out the door, leaving you alone.

Being a driver, hotel rooms had come to be a companion you knew far too familiarly. Their high ceilings, plush sterile white bedsheets, the empty bathroom - almost everything about them felt a sign of loneliness, of temporality, a house that never felt like home. Even though you knew how ridiculous it would be to complain about something that others would see as a privilege, it was hard to deny the isolation you felt whenever in a new country, away from most of your family or friends.

Maybe that's why you had been so eager to latch onto Franco's idea - it made sense, he had become the person you spent the most time with so why not give yourself some ridiculous reason to be around him even more? However somewhere along the way you stopped needing the reason of fake dating, somewhere in between hushed conversations, planned posts and candid photos - and instead found yourself genuinely enjoying his company. It was a little strange and sometimes acted as a sour reminder of how lonely you'd become but more than anything it felt like a blessing in disguise.

You were reminded of this fact as you lay, wrapped in a plush white hotel robe, across your messy bedsheets - laughing to yourself at the tweets your boyfriend had sent you. They were all about you, or the two of you, of course. Comments on the tiniest things, the way the two of you looked at each other, the way Franco held your hand, the way you worried about him.

"I feel a little bad, they're all so gullible," you typed quickly.

"Oh, so now you feel bad?" His response was almost instant.

"Don't you?"

"It's fun, isn't it? All this playing pretend."

Right, pretend. You rolled onto your back with a deep sigh, staring up at the tall hotel ceiling. All of this was just so confusing - as if figuring out how you felt about someone wasn't difficult enough, the two of you had complicated it by tricking the entire world into thinking you were in love. Whether you truly liked him or not, the idea was doomed for failure - and the more you thought about it, the more it seemed like the former.

"You're right," you typed back, watching intently as the three tiny dots appeared, disappeared then reappeared. What could he be saying that would need so much thinking?

"Can we talk tomorrow, after the race?"

You felt your stomach drop, had he finally caught on to how obvious you were being about how you truly felt, and decided that actually it might be better to just drop this whole act and go on as just teammates? With trembling hands, you typed back.

"Sure, what about?"

"I'll tell you then, for now, we should sleep."

"Goodnight Franco."

"Goodnight mi amor." You laughed softly to yourself at the nickname he had given you, though a small part of you took it as salt to the wound - almost as if he was dangling the possibility of something that could never happen right in front of your desperate little face.

However, not like you had a choice - all you could do now was get ready for bed and brace yourself for whatever tomorrow brought.

You couldn't believe it. The sounds of celebration erupted around you, but you sat completely still in your car, silent, attempting to process what had just happened. Your first win, and, your first double podium, with Franco. Your head was spinning as the never-ending stream of thoughts raced through your mind. Suddenly, you heard a voice coming from above your car's halo, muffled by your helmet. You flick the visor up, lifting your head as highly as you could - locking eyes with your teammate.

"We did it! Oh my god!" The excitement on his face is enough to send a slight surge of energy through you as he offers you his hand, helping you out of the car. When you do though, you stumble a little - the nerves are almost too much for you.

"Woah, you alright?" Even through the fog clouding your mind you can make out the concern in Franco's voice and feel his arms steadying you.

"Yeah, just-" you mumble, gesturing to your helmet and making weak attempts to undo the clasps underneath it. It's almost suffocating you, and the chaos going on around you isn't helping the pounding headache.

"Oh, let me," he reacts immediately, dropping his own helmet and bringing his hands below your chin to swiftly undo the clasps and pull the helmet off of you. You take a deep breath of air as you pull off your fireproof mask, though it sounds more like a desperate gasp.

Around you, the crowds roar with excitement, both your team and others as they make attempts to gesture at the two of you to join them. Your head spins though, and you wobble backwards into Franco.

"It's too loud," is all you can stutter out, though he understands you almost immediately, a strong hand gripping your wrist and pulling you away from the noise and somewhere quieter. You're not entirely sure where he's taking you but at that moment you feel as though you'd follow him just about anywhere.

Luckily though, when your eyes refocus you're in his driver's room, and even though outside you can hear the cheers continuing, you're offered some solace here, the walls muffling the sound. You sigh, sinking into his couch as you throw your head back, panting still.

You feel like it's all just too much - not just the physicality of the race, but the feeling of winning it, winning it with Franco, just Franco himself. When you finally manage to catch your breath you lift your head to see him standing over you, watching intently.

"Better?"

"Much better, thank you." You smile earnestly, "Though I don't think we'll be able to hide in here much longer, there is a cooldown room for this exact reason."

"Oh, I mentioned it to someone, not sure who but he looked important, and he said it would be okay."

You laugh softly, amazed at how he can seem so calm even at a moment like this.

"We did it," you say, still not being able to believe it.

"We did," he smiles, sitting on the couch next to you, "a couples podium."

You feel your heart skip a beat at the sudden reminder of your conversation last night, him mentioning he had something to tell you. Was this it? The two of you had achieved what you had been wanting this entire time, and there was no better time to let this ridiculous bit go than now.

You stare at the wall of his room, the gigantic flag of his home country, and let out a shaky breath, mustering up the courage to break the silence. "So..."

He turns to you, one eyebrow raised in interest.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" You're trying your best to keep your voice lighthearted, "it sounded serious."

"Oh, well about that," he seems to have forgotten it temporarily as well, but the fact that he turns to look at the flag as well, almost unable to maintain eye contact with you, isn't a good sign.

Maybe it's the adrenaline from the race, maybe it's the fact that both of you are going to be needed out on the podium in about ten minutes - or maybe it's the fact that you're so desperate to get out these feelings and make him understand how you feel, but you start talking before you even realise it.

"Look, Franco, I," you start, not entirely sure of where you're going to end up, "I know you asked me to do this whole fake dating thing with you and I completely understand if you want to end it now, I mean why wouldn't we? It's perfect!"

He looks at you confused, lips parted as if about to interrupt you but you continue anyway, stupidly.

"But, look, here's the thing," you turn to him now, and you're sure your face is bright red, "I don't want this to end!"

You let out a deep sigh, and clutch your hands together to stop them from shaking, though it doesn't help that Franco looks even more confused now.

"What?" he says, and your heart drops.

"I," you pause, struggling to find the right words, and struggling to get them out, "I think I like you, like, for real." Okay, not exactly the best choice of words but it'll do.

"Like, not for the whole fake relationship thing?" his tone is still concerned and he leans in a little for clarification.

"Yes! Okay, I know it's not exactly what we thought would happen and it'll probably jeopardise our relationship as teammates but there, I like you okay."

"When did you realise?"

"A couple days ago, I'm sorry."

There's a beat of silence, and you're left with the agonising feeling of your heart racing in your chest, waiting eagerly for his response - for him to laugh in your face, for him to get mad, for him to reject you.

But instead, you watch as Franco's confused expression melts into one of pure relief as he sinks back into the couch with a sigh. "Oh, thank God."

It's your turn to be confused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that," he says, eyes fixed on the ceiling with the widest smile you've ever seen.

"Wait you mean you-"

"I win!"

You're absolutely speechless, not a single coherent thought on what is going on or how to respond. All you can get out is a confused sort of grunt.

"I win, I've liked you for longer!" he laughs, sitting up and grabbing your hands in his.

You feel as though your jaw is going to dislocate at how fast it drops, "I'm sorry?"

"Oh c'mon, we've been teammates for a year I know you're not that oblivious."

"Well, apparently I am because I'm really confused."

"I've liked you since the moment I met you, you idiot."

"Wh-" You're about to be offended at the name-calling until what he says finally hits you. He likes you. He has liked you. For ages. You idiot.

"Even when you proposed this to me?"

"Yep."

"Even when we went to get ice cream?"

"Yep."

"Even when you kissed me?"

"Y- well wait no that was completely unintentional," he holds his hands out in defence. You slump back, trying your best to process everything today has entailed, it's almost too much. That is until you feel Franco move a little closer to you, his arm stretching around your shoulders and gently moving your head to lay on his. At that moment, it all becomes clear, and you're suddenly unsure about why you ever felt confused about any of this.

"What now?" You say, barely above a whisper.

"We go and get our trophies," even though you're not looking you can hear the smile in his voice. "Though, before then."

You lift your head up off his shoulder to turn to him with raised brows. "Hm?"

"Now that we aren't fake dating, do the rules still apply?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'd really like to kiss you right now," he whispers, and there's a hint of nerves as you watch his eyes dart in between yours and your lips.

"Really can't wait can you," you tease, though you still move to close the space in between you to. But just before your lips can touch his there's a knock at the door, causing you both to slump back with a sigh.

"Hey, are you two in there?" it's your race mechanic, "you're needed, you know, on the podium."

You roll your eyes to show your obvious disappointment at being interrupted, though Franco just watches you with an endeared smile.

"What are you thinking about?" you ask, not being able to hide your own smile.

"I'm just thinking about how beautiful you're going to look up on that podium, and how I won't have to pretend not to be in love with you anymore."

Taglist : @spreadyourwings-my-smiling-angel @cinderellawithashoe @vanicogh @taasgirl @claudiajacobs

@dripostsstuff @boiolay @earth-to-lottie @dejavuontrack @dudududu-fangirl

@kravitzwhore @gavisuntiedboot @reiofsuns2001 @musicmie @danielle12002x-blog

@alelo23 @corrodeddeadlydoll @aliwritex @nina-or-anna-or-nora

@5sospenguinqueen @araunahj @sbrn0905 @halleest @lottieliveslife

@lovestruck-sky @im-an-op81-fan @blubra @vienoiserieetc

(don't ask me why it's formatted so weird, tumblr hates me)

[wonuwrites]

Seventeen In The Beginning Stages Of A New Relationship x

saw someone do an ask in someone elses inbox and thought this would be fun to write about. Especially since I've been writing SO much angst lately. It would be nice to have some teeth rotting fluff :)

Prompt: How would Seventeen Members be in the beginning stages of a new relationship?

Warnings: really fluffy, sfw version so sorry no horny time, minors still don't interact tho~, pet names, potentially cussing because that's the person I am. idk if you like cute shit you might not like this.

ღ S Coups: super soft, complete opposite of how he usually is.

Almost all of them are the type to be "down bad" but holy shit Seungcheol is on another level.

Thinks that you are royalty and treats you that way.

He holds the door for you.

Opens the car door for you and puts his hand above your head so you wont bang your head.

He will be the best bag and umbrella holder.

He always walks to your front door with fresh flowers before each date.

Has a million compliments running through his mind but too shy to admit them all because he's afraid you will run away.

The first time you interlocked your fingers with his, he almost died.

Like his heart almost backflipped out of his chest and he just felt electrified.

He has a list of things you like saved to his phone so he can 'surprise' you out of the blue.

I can see him thinking long term pretty early on in your relationship.

You just are so important to him as he is to you.

ღ Jeonghan: super shy but can't help but tease still.

Jeonghan would act like it was the other way around but he was SO wrapped around your finger.

When you weren't looking he would be sending you the biggest heart eyes.

He'd constantly wonder how the hell he got so lucky to have someone like you.

He would want to be next to you all the time.

Sometimes he'd forget time was a thing and would send "goodnight" texts after practice or schedules.

Sometimes that would be like 3 in the morning and then he'd triple text an apology.

Luckily you would find it precious.

But not as precious as he thought YOU were.

He would always have a smile plastered on his face when he was around you.

He just thought you were so neat.

ღ Joshua: insane yet a gentleman

Listen, Joshua is insane but he's a gentleman. Especially to his baby.

When you agreed to be his, he felt like he won the lotto.

He would so mindful of you.

He would want to know everything about you.

As long as you were comfortable with it though.

TBH he would either do big gestures or little ones. No in between.

He would make you a bracelet with both of your favorite colors.

He would love to talk on the phone with you.

Especially at night after a long day of practices.

Even though he MUCH rather be with you in person, your voice is music to him.

You are his peace.

Overtime, you become apart of the 'evil twin' chaos with him and Jeonghan.

Seventeen would call you three the 'evil triplets'

If you are crazy as well, you get bonus points.

ღ Jun: shy giggly mess but would do anything for you.

If you were to tell Jun to jump, he'd ask how high.

Similarly to Seungcheol, he'd be extremely down bad.

He would constantly smile at you no matter what.

Like, you could sneeze and he would find it adorable.

At the beginning before he was 1000% comfortable, he would giggle a lot and overthink everything.

Hell, he over thought whether or not it was too soon to hold your hand.

YOU had to be the one to grab his hand and swing it back and forth.

(That action alone gave him butterflies for 7 business days btw.)

The more comfortable he got, the more silly he got which made you giggle and become the shy giggly mess.

He would send you random pictures throughout the day of things that made him think of you.

TBH I can see him bringing you random things that made him think of you.

like a cool ass rock? Totally would bring it to you because the color of the rock reminded him of your eye color or whatever LOL.

He just wanted to show you how much he liked you.

ღ Hoshi: pretty much what you would expect

Soonyoung wore a smile whenever you were around and even strangers could see how whipped he was.

Do you rememember Loco and Hwasa's interaction on "Hyena's on The Keyboard?" Yeah basically, Soonyoung would be like Loco toward you. Especially the car scene when he bought Hwasa a lipstick LMFAO

You would make him so flustered most days and it was honestly so cute.

The days he was a bit more confident would make you so flustered but unlike you where it was unintentional his was intentional.

Cuddly lil tiger... rawr (I'm so sorry)

Honestly, just being near you was all he needed for a good day.

When you both were busy with various schedules, he would send you texts throughout the day and send you pictures and videos of things that made him think of you.

Which would honestly be basically everything because you were ALWAYS on his mind.

Basically just a cuddly lil simp that was so happy to be yours.

ღ Wonwoo: the biggest cheerleader tbh

All members would be hella supportive of their significant others but I feel like Wonwoo would be the most supportive.

Not in a way that would be overly shown but would bring you flower after big projects and things like that.

Loves to listen to you talk about projects, aspirations, and all at.

He is all smiles whenever you talk about things you are SUPER passionate about.

His love language would be acts of service so he would do his best to do things that would make your life a bit more easier.

Also would be a subtle romantic. He would take you on casual but meaningful dates.

If you went to an arcade he would make sure he won you a plushie.

Also, if you thought you were paying for anything, that would be cute.

Also, if you were also a gamer and wanted to play minecraft, he would put your beds next to each other in your shared house.

Just the best cheerleader <3

ღ Woozi: feels like he won the lottery

Jihoon feels like he won the lottery when it comes to you.

He found someone that liked him for Jihoon and not just because he was Woozi?!

He would constantly be shocked that you were so supportive of him and vice versa.

After like the second date, he already felt like you were going to be a muse for him.

Writes the cutest love songs for your ears only.

They would be some of the most vulnerable lyrics that would make you just cry because they were so beautiful.

He isn't a very touchy guy but he would hold your hands often.

Is a homebody mostly but would step out of his comfort zone to go on an adventure with you.

You both have 'secret gestures' when out in public. If you are nervous or want him to know you are thinking of him, you tug at your left ear twice. For him, he will rub the top of his nose bridge twice.

It gives him butterflies if you do it in front of y'all's friends.

He's honestly so down bad for you and just constantly grateful for you.

ღ DK: down bad, comfortable, your new best friend.

Seokmin had the biggest crush on you before you started dating. When you both got together he felt like the luckiest son of a bitch ever.

The other members would tease him constantly because he was so down bad and such a simp for you.

But hey, you weren't complaining because you also were down bad and a simp for him lol.

You both skipped the "awkward" parts of the beginning of a relationship and it just always felt so comfortable.

Even when it was learning about what you both liked and disliked.

You both just fit together like a puzzle piece.

You both were head over heels for each other super quick.

He just was your best friend and vise versa.

ღ Mingyu: 25/8 heart eyes and so thankful for you.

Mingyu was super emotional when it came to you.

He was a mix of Seungcheol and Seokmin where he was just so down bad for you and just so comfortable around you.

Similarly to Seungcheol, he would also think long term.

He just loved and craved doing domestic things with you.

He loved cooking, he loved movie nights, he loved late night drives where you were the best passenger princess.

Shit, he even loved folding laundry with you which he helped you do when it was pouring rain and y'all had to cancel reservations because the rain was so bad.

He just was so enchanted to be with you and love you.

Oh also, he is such a clingy man and would always want to hold your hand or be touching you in some way.

ღ Minghao: the moment when the anti-delulu becomes delulu for his baby

Minghao would find you to be the most precious person in the world.

He would want to do everything and anything for you.

He would constantly look at you with heart eyes.

He would be constantly flustered because of your antics.

He would think you were the most precious-est person to ever ever exist.

You would be a muse for him and his paintings.

Omg, if you both did paint dates, his heart would explode because you were both doing something he loved together.

If you were someone that likes to read, you both would cuddle and get lost in your books while near each other.

To him, you are perfect.

And to you, he is perfect.

ღ Seungkwan: he would want to be perfect because you deserve it

Seungkwan is very cautious about his image with him being an idol and doing variety shows often.

For first bit of the relationship, I can see him trying to prove something to you.

He would try his best to be perfect for you that you would have to sit him down and tell him that you like him for him. That him being an idol is just a lil bonus.

This would hard rewire his brain and he would learn how to be himself with you.

He is very vulnerable with you.

A lot of the members love that you bring a more casual side to him.

However, he would love if you were sassy and would be side eyeing people with him.

Imagine a lot of self care days with him. Like face masks while eating take out.

He just loves being around you because he feels safe.

You become his safe place <33333

ღ Vernon: partners in crime and just so thankful for you.

Hansol finding you was a dream come true and he often thanked the stars for finding you.

You both spoke in movie, vine, and tiktok quotes.

Most of your text convos are of random memes.

Some of the older members look at your relationship and just think "?????"

However, Hansol and you don't give a rats ass because you both understand and that is what matters.

He would match clothes with you.

He would often let you borrow his clothes because he thinks they looked way better on you then him.

He would show you his solo stuff before he showed anyone else.

He is just so in love with you awww.

ღ Dino: Down bad doesn't even cover it

I know I said Seungcheol was the ultimate when it came to being "down bad" but holy shit Lee Chan.

He would be a mix of all of his hyungs tbh

However, he would be so down bad that his hyungs would tease him.

He would bring you up ALL the time.

He had you as his wallpaper and even had a polaroid picture of you both in his wallet.

He would be your biggest fan and he just loved you so much.

He would do tiktok dance challenges with you all the time.

He also would try to find things cool things to do on dates with you.

[damianwaynerocks]

the funniest thing about the batfamily is that they're so smart but they all have zero introspection skills.

the batfamily is smart. so smart. and they deal with the mentally ill population all the time. and most of the time they treat them good! they help them!

i find it absolutely impossible that bruce isn't educated on psychology. there's no way he isn't. no way he hasn't studied psychology, whether it was to understand the joker or any other villains, whether it was to learn how to instill fear, practice for going undercover, hostage negotiation, how to tell the difference between mental health issues and just violent criminals (because he wouldn't know which ones he could talk sense into without understanding why they were doing it), whether it was to learn better methods of interrogation, or even just an interest in how the brain works.

and i guarantee most of the other batkids are too. bruce had to have taught them that so they could learn how to go undercover or how to tell whenever violence is necessary or if you can just talk them down.

dick has a law degree, which means he had to do undergrad. i think it's insane to think that he wouldn't have taken a psychology class. he also was able to understand damian and how to handle him, and he wouldn't be able to do that if he wasn't aware of how his upbringing would've shaped his neural pathways.

tim has a genius level iq. no way he doesn't understand how the brain works. also, he was able to tell that bruce was in a terrible mental state just by observing him as batman, where bruce does everything in his power to hide his emotions. he's also, several times, shown to be one of the only if the not the only batfamily member to understand why jason acts the way he does.

damian likely isn't terribly empathetic to mental health issues. probably a little more now, but not very. but like. he might not be empathetic to it but there's no way he doesn't understand how it works. how the frontal lobe works. how the amygdala works. how to manipulate someone.

stephanie was in college, and just like i said with dick, i find it hard to believe she wouldn't have taken a psychology class.

cass is cass. enough said.

also!! they all have a pretty good relationship with leslia thompkins!! a psychologist!!

all this to say: how on God's green earth do none of them realize they need therapy.

and like i get why. bruce has suppressed his emotions so much that he genuinely think he's fine. dick is too focused on being a support for everyone to worry about himself. jason and stephanie push it all down. cass, and this is not a diss because i love her, would realistically be very emotionally stunted. damian wasn't raised to be empathetic to the mentally ill and even if he was, he's 15. his frontal lobe is so not developed. plus the trauma they've all endured? the training they've had from bruce, who probably wasn't that concerned about teaching them self care and most definitely taught them to put their emotions aside. so like i get it. but also.

they know all this stuff and??? don't for a single second (except for tim that one time) be like "hmmm i could benefit from CBT and EMDR"

except duke.

how is duke the only one who's like "yeah. you guys aren't okay." duke knows. he tries to reason with them and has several times been like "you guys are crazy. why are you chill with this."

which is all to say. i'm convinced that at some point duke is going to try to sit them all down and be like "you guys need therapy. please go to therapy. I'm begging you."

[steifel]

The Outsiders as dads because i think it will be cute

Sodapop:

-The type of dad to have princess tea party's with his kids

-for sure a girl dad

-he will not put his baby down no matter what (he properly got one of those baby carriers)

-teaches his daughters how to fight

-his kids are spoiled af he is quite literally in capepable of telling them no

-wants 12 kids....gets 3 (one set of twins though)

-he's the dad that you can go to about anything (some of the gangs kids even go to him with there problems because they know he won't judge)

Ponyboy:

-i feel like if pony had kids he would have them super young like 18 to 21

-truly has no clue what to do with a small child

-tries to play lego's with his infint and is sad when the kid cant play back

-he reads giant books to his kids before bed instead of those bord books

-his kids are little gremlens (just like him fr)

-always upset at his kids for doing shit he used to do (with his daughter its mainly braking cerfew and his son just talks back like crazy)

-he's always complaining to Darry about how his kids act.... Darry is just sitting there like this🙄🤦🏻‍♂

-had 2 kids a boy and a girl

Johhny:

-absolutely terrified to have kids he's scared to end up like his parents

-but his fear is gon the SECOND he holds that little baby and realises it has his eyes

-reads all of the parenting books (he just wants to be the best dad he can be)

-refuses to let his parents meet his baby the baby is way too perfect to be anywhere near that kind of abuse

-insanely over protective

-no sleepovers at other people's houses

-lo key won't let his kids hang out with Ponys kids he thinks they're a bad influence

-has one kid and is completely happy with that

Dally:

-surprisingly he's actually a pretty good dad

-him and his spawn are a menace to society though

-teaches his kids how to drive at 13

-i feel like he only has one kid as well

-i can see him as a single dad i image that it was an accidental pregnancy after a one night stand or something

-at first the gang kind of made him stick around but then his son (i hc him as a boy dad obv) grabbed onto Pony's hair and started pulling and would not let go. It was at that moment that dallas started to appreciate fatherhood

-fatherhood actually softens him just a little bit

-if you mention him going soft however he will punch you in the face

-he's that "my baby can do no wrong" type of dad

I have so many HCs of dally being a dad though so lmk if you want more

TwoBit:

-he is actually the best dad in the gang

-he doesn't take things to seriously but hes still really strong and supportive

-i feel like this man has an absurd number of children

-and they're all girls

-hosts sleepovers for all of the gangs kids (these are the only sleepovers Johnny lets his kid go to)

Darry:

-takes him a while to warm up to the idea of having kids

-i mean he practically became a dad to two teenagers overnight at 20

-i feel like he would be a good dad though

-the kind if dad to take his kids to work

-he has 2 kids btw

-i feel like he's an anxious dad... After everything he's been through /lost he's terrified to lose them

-definitely the kind of guy to get up in the middle of the night to do feeds

-will wait up for his kids if they're out late

-lord help them if they break curfew

Steve:

-like Johnny he was scared to have kids because of what his dad was like

-i feel like it took him longer than it took Johnny to get over that fear though

-it took a lot of reassurance from the gang/his partner for him to believe that he was a good parent

-he has 1 boy

-once his son shows an interest in cars thats when he starts to believe that he might be a good father

-takes his kid go drag races and auto shows

[the-fo0l]

Micheal Scofield dating hcs

notes: it's criminal crazy kooky insane how little content there is for this show

warnings: gn reader, s1 lore, super soft fluff!!!! also idc if u think its out of charater let me be delulu

he's so babygirl

a very devoted boyfriend (im pretty sure i say that in all my hcs but its true!!)

just so soft and polite and gentle with you aaaaa

doesn't notice just how hard he's fallen for you until he has to be apart from you a long while

such a gentleman, his intentions towards you are always respectful

before you we're offical he had quite the crush on you

sometimes you could notice that cool, calm, witty demeanor of his becoming more bashful and jittery around you

daydreamed a lot about you and your potential future together. what it'd be like to live with you, to start the day by your side, how you'd show affection, how you'd express diffrent emotions, what you'd talk about, your niche interests and quirks— etc

slightly creepy but he did do a bit of research on you to make sure he hit it off with you as best as he could

always says good night and good morning, over text if not in person

just imagine waking up, still cuddling, but with a little distance so he can properly take in your sleepy morning face

him just gazing at you so lovingly, his gentle smile growing a little bigger seeing you open your eyes, then moving one hand from your waist to caress your cheek and murmur "good morning" with his sultry morning voice

GOOD LORDDD

he developed a new-found love for his job when you two started dating cause thanks to it he can properly provide for you

and provide he does

doesn't think you should have to work a day in your life (unless you wanted to)

he'd hate for you to stay at a job you're miserable at

super proud of you for all your accomplishments

when you have to seperate while walking to avoid something in the street, be immediately reaches back to interwine your fingers again

expresses all love languages in some way but 'acts of service' is his main one

amazing at gift giving and romantic gestures

just when you think he can't possibly out-do last year's anniversary/birthday gift he suprises you with something super elaborate and meaningful

absent-mindedly makes origami flowers for you at work. you'll also find them all over your apartment, some hidden, some in plain sight

at some point he started writing messages on them. some with the most loving praise you've ever heard and some w cheesy pickup lines

p.s. he grins ear to ear when he finds out you've got a special box for them all instead of throwing them away

when you're both still a little tired in the morning, or when either of you comes home after a long day, he peppers delicate kisses all over your face, ending with a deeper kiss to your lips

your touch just makes all the headaches of his day-to-day melt away

also takes both your hands and kisses your knuckles while looking at you with all the love and admiration in the world god lord

okay enough with the kissing!

always opens doors for you

compliments you often, and always uses words like stunning or beautiful instead of "hot

loves making you flustered with praise

he's an amazing listener, and he looooves listening to you talk

also, he's quite intense with the eye-contact

he thinks you're the most gorgeos person in the world what can i say

it might seem like he's not paying attention sometimes cause of how lost-in-your-eyes he seems but i assure you he remembers every little thing you say

nods along and hums a little to let you know he's listening

"i remember you said you liked this, so i got it for you" typa guy

you're happy = he's happy

will often sometimes call you to talk about nothing really important, more just for the sake of hearing your voice

and if you're not much of a talker that's fine too, the silent moments you share are never awkward

he's canonically super observant, so if you changed anything about your apperance or if you were in a bad mood he'd notice right away, even if you tried to hide it

great at comfort too, that silky-smooth voice of his knows exactly what to say

he's a very handsome guy (i mean cmon just look at him) so he tends to get hit-on quite a bit

he'd always brushed it off before but ever since he set his sights on you he's been very adamant on very clearly and quickly rejecting others' attempts

when he was making plans to break linc out of prison, a huge amount of his focus went to making sure you were kept safe during the whole process

having you be there from him after news broke and after linc got the death sentence already meant so much to him

so when he trusted you the broad strokes of his plan, and you supported him??? ohmygod this man fell in love with you all over again

yes, he was worried, but he had to tell you, spending days obsessing over prison schematics and getting full body tattoos is rather hard to hide from the love of your life after all

granted, he could have broken up with you and tried to rekindle after he'd escaped, but be fr he could never bring himself to dump you

you never know what may go wrong, and his love for you wasn't exactly a secret, so he took every precaution he could (as in like if someone wanted to harm you cause of your association with him)

he was still super anxious to let go of you

gave you the most passionate and desperate kiss before he went to prison

gets really really homesick for you

calls you whenever he can

would sometimes get teary-eyed from how hard he misses you before falling asleep in his bunk

would lose his mind if something didn't go according to his carefully constructed plan and put you at risk, cause there's not much he can do to control what happens outside foxriver. if t-bag ever found out about you he'd. freak. out.

he's willing to go to great lengths for the people he cares about (it's like the whole plot of the show), so you'd better not play w his beloved

on the rare occasions he has down-time in prison his thoughts always go to you and what you might be up to

he's surrounded by murderers daily and has the gall to be worried about you

sucre would pester him about his love-life a lot. insisting that he recognized yearning in michael's distant expression and saying that no single man could've helped him woo maricruz with that letter (michael writes love letters for you too)

sucre does eventually pull it out of michael and becomes just the biggest supporter of your relationship

this was kinda messy huh

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 9/24/2024

you might be wondering “is my dear friend tumblr user girlfriendsofthegalaxy still unemployed?” the answer is yes. take this cat off my hands please i don’t think he’s causing the unemployment but he certainly isn’t helping

listening

via Wendy @dying-suffering-french-stalkers, Huoy Meas' ប្រគល់ក្ដីស្នេហ៍មកខ្ញុំវិញ. figuring out what this incredibly zippy Cambodian rock song is named and what it's about was really difficult bc spotify is a bane upon this earth and won't let you fucking copy-paste and OCR was not working on the Khmer script. i ended up listening to the first couple seconds of each of her songs on apple music, and finally figured out this roughly translates to Give Me Back My Love and is about begging a fuckboy for closure.

via the spotify discover weekly, Night Club's Pretty Girls Do Ugly Things. all Night Club's songs sound the same so if you like one, great news! i had this song on for a full gregorian hour bc, i am only a tiny bit ashamed to say, i was storyboarding a The Man With No Name fancam to this. i think it would go pretty hard.

Smoke you like a cigarette Choke you like a lariat Fatalistic tourniquet Do you want more?

-

reading

thank you mackintosh.

i did not Adore any of these comics from the library. i sort of enjoyed Night of the Ghoul, a one-volume TPB by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla. i think ive blogged about this before but every once in a while i'll get a bee in my bonnet to read some horror comics even though i am a giant baby about horror movies.

Night of the Ghoul is about how you can't save your dad from PTSD but also about a lost horror film and also about the extremely dad behavior of tracking down every scrap of info about an auteur. there's also a monster.

the subtle art changes from present day to the remains of the film to the non-film flashbacks are well done, imo. the cover screams mignola but the inside pages are really fun pulp nonsense. i love a piece of genre writing that rolls around and delights in being a piece of genre writing.

im doing my level best not to get sucked into tiktok but i DO love watching this lady revive antique nail polish and look for dupes for shades from like the 20s. she found an almost exact dupe for a shade produced during wwii which is crazy insane to me!!!

-

watching

The Asphalt Jungle (1950, dir. Huston), it's a very painterly heist noir. i even like Sterling Hayden in one of the more prominent roles, even though i think he generally has the appeal of undercooked dough.

much like Fritz Lang's M, it presents the criminal element of the city as its own class with its own reputation and reference systems. it got in some trouble with the censors for having a VERY clearly laid out heist plan and execution. it's also got the babiest Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest roles

this was such a gloriously messy movie. everyone is such a fucking mess. this woman only known as Doll is heartbreakingly, head over heels in love with Sterling Hayden's character. she's a little flighty and bumbling and silly, but determined! they're constantly orbiting the gravitational weight of her desire for this man and desire for a real life with this man. and that's just one subplot! she has maybe five minutes total screentime! she should have gotten a supporting actress oscar!!! everyone acted their fucking hearts out and it was so much fun to watch!

-

playing

monument valley is in the netflix games library this month (i don't actually know what their liscencing agreements would even look like, they and the studios they worked with were very tightlipped about that when they were rolling this out three years ago) but i assume it's going to be on the service for a while. i have never played this game, which makes me feel a little bit like a bad gamer. you can tell it's ten years old from some of the color and texture choices, but WOW did literally everyone take inspiration from this game.

this is the platonic ideal of a phone game. i get why everyone went insane about it and there was a brief boom of geometry-based puzzle mobile games. it is MUCH much harder now to get people to pay money to play a game that has a planned endpoint and planned number of levels, so netflix is a good home for it.

i was often frustrated but always delighted. the level below involves making something happening that made me genuinely gasp out loud in glee. well worth the annoyance of downloading the netflix app and scrolling through the poorly labeled and poorly sorted carousel of games.

great retrospective, a bit about how you need to have tiny teams go off and just kind of fuck around and bring weird stuff back, and a lot about how they actually designed the levels

The end result had a pixel-perfect axonometric aesthetic that not only went hard on its references to Dutch master artist and printmaker Maurits Cornelis Escher, but also dug deep into classic video game design, going right back to early arcade machines and 8-bit titles. Each of the ten levels is like a piece of fine furniture, built with invisible dovetail joints and inlaid with marquetry, stuffed with secret compartments and little design flourishes. Gray cites the world of theatre and stage design, as well as graphics, as important keystones in the way the levels were constructed. ‘Ken would always talk about flower arranging, and how you frame a silhouette of a level on the screen,’ he says.

-

making

update on the Phantom Menace fabric: pinked the raw edges and threw it in the laundry again with a very large quantity of vinegar. 50% poly was too high for it to really do anything, which is interesting. it didn’t lessen the seam edge effects either, which is a little annoying bc the seams were so gigantic and that’s a good chunk of fabric to lose. i am going to buy a camp shirt pattern at some point when i have money again but for now it goes in The Box

also! thrifted a pack of o-rings for jars for a dollar and finally put my grains etc in my pretty jars. they’re going to live in the pantry but today they live out on the countertop

[impactrueno]

I don't think the crew's comments about Lydia and Beetlejuice being endgame should be taken seriously. If that was seriously considered I feel like the movie would have gone on a different direction, they were pretty consistent with Lydia being disgusted by Beetlejuice and he's the villain all the way to the end

yeah that's kiiind of how i feel too. i would not say he's the villain though? i think he's more of an anti-hero type of character in this one. definitely not a good guy though lol not by a long shot

ultimately the cast isn't the one who's making the story here, however they do have some insight the audience might not have. like i feel like they know something we don't and that's why they feel that way, because they were all VERY sure about it.

this is just my guess so take this with a grain of salt, but i feel like the cast might be a little biased because they know michael personally and he's nice to everyone behind the scenes, you can tell everyone has a lot of love for him. i don't like assuming stuff like this so AGAIN don't take this as fact, but i remember winona saying something along the lines of like, him making sure she wasn't uncomfortable while filming the first movie, so maybe that kinda stuck with her and she conflated it with beetlejuice's character. she speaks of the whole thing in a very shy fangirl manner (which is honestly kind of adorable winona youre 52 and acting like this) like she knows it's silly and she knows she shouldn't want them to be endgame but she does anyway. so THAT feels like it really is her own personal opinion that hasn't much to do with what's planned for them (if there's anything planned at all because we don't know anything for sure, we can only guess and hope there'll be a third one)

tim burton has talked about how he wanted the whole macarthur park scene to be straightforwardly romantic and emotionally intimate, in its own fucked up beetlejuicey way of course. i think it can be all that and still be pretty one-sided idk i personally enjoy the one-sided aspect? macarthur park IS a breakup song after all. so i think i kinda see where he was going with that. it's uh. kind of an enigmatic scene once you stop laughing at the ridiculousness of it all and try to analyze it lol

sorry i lost my train of thought there i got interrupted many times while typing this

i think what i was trying to say is that, even with the one-sidedness and breakup song and all that, there could still be a possibility that things take a strange turn in a third movie if it happens. it's just. wow. how would they even make THAT work, you know? because this movie didn't push hard enough in that direction. it's not impossible but if they do go for it, it will be insanely hard to pull off successfully. fics are one thing, you can do whatever you want in fanfiction, but canon can't be approached like that.

who knows man. lately i've been thinking about how i would've reacted to learning about the events of the sequel if i hadn't been eased into it with trailers and promos and through the movie and its storytelling, and i just know i would've thought "that's insane and would not happen, ever, come on" and now here i am. accepting it. breaking it down and analyzing it. enjoying it! i love this crazy ass movie.

at this point i think anything could happen even if i'm also very skeptic about everything. i won't believe anything until i see it.

[thecoolerliauditore]

I remember last year finally watching Pearl and Scott's last life and. I think I experienced... the same thing that people who dislike FH did in 3L but with Pearl? I was encouraged to watch it by a friend because they said that gaslight gatekeep girlboss was super wholesome and loyal to each other, and that Scott even turned red rather than hurt either of them. But when I watched it, idk it wasn't as bad as I've seen some people describe FH but I was just struck by how often Scott calls Pearl insane or crazy or unhinged just for... existing? Playing the game? Being just a little bit silly sometimes no more than anyone else? He acted like she was a wild animal he had to reign in even though she didn't do anything crazier than what he did. Sometimes he would just randomly call her insane it felt like. It made me finally understand what people meant by those words being ableist with how often he threw them around! It got really uncomfortable!

I got sold GGG as a very cute wholesome winners POV, and I guess compared to everyone else in LL it was, but only if you compare it to other LL teams. People said he was suddenly mean to Pearl in DL, but he mostly repeated a lot of the things he already said about her in LL! I was expecting there to be some shift in how he treated her. Makes me scared to watch Jimmy and Scott's 3L POV if this is what people consider Scott being wholesome!

FASCINATING. this might be my cue to go rewatch GGG Last Life.

I'll be very open and say it's been a fair amount of time since I've sat down to rewatch LL, so I might be looking back at Scott and Pearls relationship with rose tinted glasses -- I spoke a little bit on the soft manipulation that existed between them still, like when Scott yelled at Pearl to kill Joel, but my impression of them is fairly wholesome. Then again I watched LL first and didn't have the context from 3L so the first time I watched their POV it was just. Haha funny blue man cute accent.

So take the rest of this with a grain of salt, at this point I'm fully prepared to say something like "Scott never hit Pearl" and someone will link me their equivalent of the sugar cane scene from 3L lmao.

So I can offer up some semblance of an explanation, if that helps at all to explain the perception gap. One thing is like you said, they were wholesome in comparison to the rest of the teams in LL, which I'd argue were the most disastrous in the series with the damage the "reds can't team with non-reds" rule did to them.

3L teams were also pretty bad, but when you went to compare FH to other teams you had other duos like DD and Renchantyn that had their own issues but served as a very solid point of reference for how they seemed to genuinely respect their partners. Thinking about the clip where Grian and Scott leave Scar and Jimmy to pull the lever on exploding Monopoly Mountain and Grian is trying his best to say he's worried for Scar through gritted teeth because he's Grian and Scotts just like. Well Jimmys probably gonna screw this one up 🙄 A very one to one comparison point presented directly for the viewer.

Scott and Pearl, on the other hand, were the only duo in LL amongst a bunch of massive teams that were falling apart all around them. It gave them this "us against the world" feeling, so to speak.

Maybe if Team BEST was more honest about being Teams BE and ST then we would've had a better comparison point and Scott and Pearl would've seemed way more insane, but then again I've had people vague to me that LL Ethubs is their 3L FH so I'm biting my tongue on this one.

Another thing that I think is more poignant is the factor of hindsight. Scott calling Pearl insane Now is horrifying because of what he did in DL and his calling her that being very much more serious.

In LL Pearl really didn't have any baggage attached to the word "insane" afaik? Unless she got upset at him and I've just forgotten cus it's been too long which is a very likely possibility.

So at the time it just seemed like. Pearl being Pearl and Scott gripping his head in stress and going aughhhhhhhhh ahhhhhh. Which is like. Fine at least to me. Her antics made his blood pressure go but he still went along with them more often than not and stuck by her side.

"She didn't do anything crazier than he did" is SUPER true btw LL Scott is a menace but I also must point out this is a point in hypocrisy but also a point in Pearls personality rubbing off on Scott that season. He was always a crazy arsonist but now he's a crazy arsonist without the angst.

Like the POV is haunting to me now that I have the context of DL and beyond and Scott being serious about the "insane" thing but before I got that context it really did just look like. Pearl being some sort of animal that has wandered into Scott's base and started gnawing at the curtains and Scott trying to scare her away with a broom yelling at the top of his lungs YOURE INSANE. YOURE INSANE. But also the creature if it leaves will Take All of His Lives Away so he has to learn to live with her and through her learn to be a little more chill. Which is the main appeal of that POV, to me at least.

compare say. The part in LL where Pearl steals one of Scars crystals and is genuinely being silly and antagonistic by running around giggling. And Scott's thrown his hands up and going "I DONT APPROVE THIS BUT IM NOT HER BOSS DONT LOOK AT ME". To Episode 2 of WL where Pearl is like? A little bit cheeky to Gem and Gem literally scolds Scott for not "controlling" her well enough and Scott apologises and promises he'll do better. <- ?????? Everything I type out this interaction I have to remind myself it's real btw like what.

and I must say they do have a lot of really genuinely cute moments that season that might be blinding me shoujo sparkle style to the horrors. Like their staring into each others eyes ritual thing for boogeyman assignments, for example. Compare that to the um. Axe crits.

ANYWAY. fascinating insight. To rewatch Pearls POV I go (<- clown makeup is locked and loaded)

[vigilskeep]

i am soo fascinated with your rook and viago's relationship and would love to hear more of your thoughts on their dynamic. How long do you think they have known each other? And do you have any ideas how Sol became a crow?

thank you!!

all of the below is a work-in-progress in case the game drops anything startling or i get a new idea for sol, but they’ve known each other basically forever. like, since scrappy little kid sol said very cheerfully “i’ll protect you and you’ll protect me. that’s an allegiance.” and a very skeptical friendless teenager viago said “you mean an alliance?”

house de riva never knew what hit it.

(admittedly taking over house de riva took a couple decades, but hey, viago got there eventually, and neither of them even died. win!)

i think sol had been increasingly unreliable + erratic for several years before the antaam debacle, with viago unable to do anything about it because he apparently canonically can’t express genuine emotions to them face to face or do anything harsher than write them a letter addressed “idiot”. that behaviour might have just been because when viago finally took power, sol was thus in a significantly more stable less dangerous position day to day than they had been accustomed to their whole life, and also no longer had a clear purpose to claw towards, which meant the trauma of everything prior finally landed. or maybe there was some other trigger, i haven’t decided. i’ve been throwing around some elaborate plots to set things off. because i can.

sol’s been with the crows since they were very young. i haven’t settled on an origin story entirely but my brother had a very compelling prompt about them being a fifth blight refugee from the south—they would have been four or five at the time, isn’t that crazy—that i’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of. it adds a lot of flavour to the blight plot and to sol taking up the champion spec, for sure! i came up with something about antiva not accepting refugees off the boats but the crows then coming and offering to give some children a “safe” place (and even compensate the families with a handful of gold for their loss! how altruistic), which feels very real to me as a thedas-esque thing to happen

so sol’s life before the crows doesn’t really mean anything to them—pretty dismissive about their birth family, if you really cared about something you would figure out how to keep hold of it—and they don’t have anyone except viago. these days they know deep down they want out of the crows, but they still couldn’t bear to try cutting ties to the one person they invested two decades of blood into, even if they get very little back from him, emotionally speaking. (please use your WORDS, viago, the NICE ones, everyone with eyes already knows you care.) the world outside is comparatively a big old void they has no connections to, and the crows aren’t the kind of lifestyle that lets you go halfway and visit on weekends. it’s the sort of mindset that might make someone act out in a way that would get most crows killed, then jump on an insane quest of heroism just because some dwarf expressed belief in them while calling them “kid” encouragingly. not that sol’s ever done anything like that!

[moxielynx]

@whatudottu hihihihiiiii so ur ramblings about tetrax has me wanting to talk about tetrax cause i will take any opportunity to talk about him

d-23 tetrax is cool even if he didnt speak much in the episode, honestly d-23 ben deserved to be smacked around a little (/J /J that kid is like 13 😭), the twist that they were actually the good guys this whole time was great, especially since sixsix was also working with azmuth, which was a nice perspective

i like to imagine that d-23 tetrax is actually a total sweetheart and didnt actually like fighting ben since ben is just a dumb kid who doesnt know any better (even if he is a stubborn brat)

im pretty certain that petropia in the reboot is perfectly fine because for a while Vilgax wasnt. Vilgax, so he couldn't have hired Tetrax to steal whatever that crystal was from petropia then destroy it, so reboot tetrax is just what happens as a result of Tetrax not facing the consequences of his actions so now he's a MEANIE!!! but the dad instinct is still there judging from the way he interacts with Ben in "Mutiny for the Bounty"

as much as i prefer classic tetrax i really like that they went with a completely different approach with reboot tetrax, and like it makes sense too considering theres no way petropia would be destroyed in the reboot as well if vilgax couldnt do it (if petropia were to also get destroyed in the reboot then that would be so funny cause that basically means the planet is fucked no matter what 💀💀), its really cool to see that this might be what tetrax was like before working for vilgax and makes me really think about how different each version of tetrax is, and only makes me even more depressed that we never got prime tetrax in Omniverse, especially since there could've been so many moments where tetrax could've showed up

classic tetrax obviously isnt as cruel and uncaring as we see in the reboot or as he said when he was telling ben about his backstory because if he really didn't care as much but was like "okay this is fucked up i need to get my act together" then he wouldn't have looked so distraught watching his planet fall

i refuse to acknowledge the change in reaction in uaf tho cause it fucking SUCKED they cant just turn him into this stoic fucking guy after he literally shows up and shakes ben like a rattle, that and also they obviously didnt gaf about his backstory cause in the og backstory you can tell petropia's destruction was YEARS, probably decades ago cause he had those back spikes and even a different outfit but in the uaf version its just the same exact model THEY DONT CARE ABOUT TETRAX LIKE I DO!!!!!!

uaf tetrax made me so sad because i was already insane about the idea of dadtrax because of Secret of the Omnitrix, but when tetrax first showed up in uaf he picked up ben and for some reason my first thought was "omg is he going in for a hug" only to have that ripped away from me when he just straight up starts shaking ben around like a ragdoll 😭like imagine you dont see a guy for like 6 years, last time you saw him he helped you save the world/galaxy, and the first thing he does is fucking shatter you for no reason (or at least appears to be no reason), and all you get from it is a "sorry but i had no time to explain", like thats crazy, the REAL tetrax would never harm ben that is his SON !!!!!!!! and then after the single episode we had of tetrax and even petropia we just. never see him or the planet ever again. like we could've had so much world building for petropia and they decided to just throw it out like it was nothing

tetrax is genuinely such a cool character and its horrible how underutilized he is in every show, like yeah he was in 2 (technically 3 counting the reboot) movies but that doesnt really make up for how little we really saw him, especially since like i mentioned earlier prime tetrax wasnt even in OV which is probably the biggest missed opportunity in history, and the strangest part about it is that we got plenty of episodes exploring different planets and even a whole other system (galactic monsters special) so it was literally the perfect opportunity to write an episode about petropia and how its holding up

also never apologize 2 me about rambles, especially rambles about tetrax, i fucking LOVE reading people's silly little thoughts on things they like :3

[gyllenhaalstories]

Laurie!! 💛 (sorry, I just live in your inbox now 💖)

I'm back on duty and I'm here to tickle the collective fandom brain.

With Presumed Innocent coming out soon (aaaah), I would just like to hear all your thoughts on Rusty. 

Is he guilty? If so, would we still do unholy things with him (duh, obviously)? Or is he just an innocent little guy and only guilty of cheating and murdering pussy? He obviously likes being choked and I'm not complaining. What else might he like? Is he a pancakes or bacon/scrambled egg breakfast kinda guy? He does need his protein tho, for several reasons... 👀

Please let me/us know all your thoughts and hopes for the new show and the character we're blessed with this summer, thank youuuu.

Paying my Rusty tax for inspiration ✨ (again)

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! 💖 it's so good to see you in my asks again, daphne! thank you for the rusty tax (and the painful reminder that i wish this was ME) and the great questions! i've thought about that man A LOT but the majority of those thoughts are just about how badly i need him so... they're not too constructive... let's see what my -1 brain cell comes up with pretty much on the spot! 🤭

i don't think he's guilty. since the first teaser, i just had the feeling that he's innocent and his wife killed carolyn. clearly he has a talent for lying and manipulating facts (isn't it essentially his job?), he even lied to his therapist in one of the recent clips i saw! trying to lie to the human equivalent of a lie detector is both bold and dumb. he's clearly not completely innocent. cheating on your wife is bad but when your wife is ruth negga it's DOUBLE bad! i watched a quick interview of the woman who plays carolyn and oof. renate has something special. so i kind of get it <3 but i am better than a man and i would not ruin my marriage! the text messages and calls he's sending her are also very bold and dumb. he should know better than anyone how to avoid looking guilty. the dna, the messages, the stalking, the affair that was not so hidden since they were going out together and everything, this is just so stupid! he'd probably be so mad if he defended a client who basically did everything he shouldn't do and now tries to plead for innocence. i'm interested to see if we get an insight on how an attorney of his prestige and of his rank can turn into the most stupid person you've ever met. i mean, we know how, he's desperate to get his dick wet. but still, maybe there's more to it. maybe carolyn isn't that sweet, smart, picture perfect girl either. i'm giving her the side eye too.

i'm soooo excited for the show!!! my only point of reference is defending jacob so i like to compare both series. defending jacob had some really good twists so i expect the same from presumed innocent. in my opinion, one of the most powerful plot twists in defending jacob included the mother, laurie (i can still hear chris evans saying i love you laurie it was an amazing moment <3). so maybe that's why i focused on barbara sabich right away. i don't know, i'm so curious to see. i want to watch the original movie after the series, just to compare as well. i might never do it but at least i'm planning on it! anyway. can we just take a moment to appreciate how crazy it is to have this kind of show as your first television project? jake really popped off with this and his acting is absolutely insane in what we've seen so far! everyone in the cast seems solid. i'm guessing they showed most of the freaky sexy scenes in the trailers already to tease the audience, but i'm curious to know if there is more of that good stuff that they're hiding! i'm also looking forward to watch jake and peter saarsgard on screen again! and the glasses. i can't word vomit all of this and not bring up the glasses. now that we know jake is practically legally blind, i proclaim myself the protector of his corneas and i demand that he wears glasses more often. my motivation is purely selfless and it's not because i fold like a folding chair at the sight of jake with glasses (vision pun intended).

i saved the best stuff for last apparently! but mmm. what is that man into? i can't cook to save my life so he's eating cereals for breakfast. i'm kidding! (well not really but still). we know he's into choking, finger sucking, doggy style, public sex/sneaking away in a public setting, he loves the thrill of forbidden things and we see how touchy he is with carolyn so i'm guessing he's into marking because it's like a proof of something that is happening in secret of others? idk, just thinking. i don't know if his stalking habits fall into kinky or just regular obsession over the one thing he can't have under his total control, but i'd lowkey like it if he extended his stalking with some spicy elements. the way he holds on to carolyn, touches her everywhere, it's giving possessive and i love it. the ring though. oh the ring. why doesn't he take it off? does carolyn like it, does she get off knowing she has a taken man under her spell, that this greek god of a man prefers her to his wife? does rusty like the reminder of his cheating? does he like the self-inflicted guilt and pain of being reminded of his horrible and immoral actions? i think there's definitely some masochist tendencies in him. he's so quick to apologize for everything like oh no i might have killed a woman but i'm sorry tho </3 he might loooove the fake pity and fake apologies. whether he uses this tactic or if it's used on him does not really matter. to put it briefly: rusty is a FREAK and i want to be the somebody who matches his freak!

thank you for doing this, daphne! it was so fun to ramble pure nonsense fuelled by the sad 2 hours of sleep i've gotten last night 😭 i can't wait to read this tomorrow and be weirded out by how little sense it makes. i especially can't wait to read this after watching the entire series and seeing how wrongggg i was. it will be just as much fun as writing all of this! mwah mwah ily! 💖💖💖

[merakiui]

Omg that incel idia brat tamer 😳 it made me think if he found out innocent, naive mc was crossdressing in a boys academy and he blackmails them to fuck him but then mc goes “pls don’t! I’m a virgin 🥺” and little do they know that’s the worst thing they could say because now he HAS to take their virginity, like incel idia thinks he found a SSR card and he’s not about to throw it away lol he’s just so lucky that he found innocent mc before any of those nrc boys could corrupt them and now he can turn them into the perfect waifu :)

Also, thoughts on incel azul finding virgin mc and auctioning off their virginity? Would he go for the money or would he decide to keep it for himself? Tough choices, he better figure it out before floyd finds out because Floyd would def ruin his plot haha

( sorry if this has already been asked before, I couldn’t find anything similar on your blog)

(cw: yandere, nsfw, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, incel behaviors, captivity)

Idia really was blessed with this godly luck to have you, the cutest virgin kitty, all to himself. You and your virginity are indeed SSR-tier. And after he’s molded you into his obedient waifu who only ever thinks of him, he’ll get to break you in until your hole welcomes his dick with ease. But the tight fit is what makes you so irresistible!

Azul would absolutely auction your virginity off. He’ll have one or both of the twins spread your pretty, little hole so that everyone in the audience can see how it barely stretches, still tight as a virgin. You’re dressed in the skimpiest outfit ever, courtesy of Azul’s tastes, though the twins definitely influenced his decisions. You’ll be blindfolded and bound in the prettiest of ways (it’s more art than anything), vision obscured with cloth that’s nearly silken in quality and your restraints are shackles in the design of twisted corals.

Incel Azul doesn’t really see you as a person. You’re more of an object in his eyes. A thing to own. A toy to be used. Something that will inevitably be his. He might have one of the twins bid against the others in the audience solely for the sake of raising the price far past what the normal student can afford until it’s really just rich kid versus rich kid. The twins can afford any price because their family is rich beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, so prices mean nothing to them. Floyd bids haphazardly; he has way too much fun cutting other bidders off with insanely high prices. It’s Jade who’s more meticulous. He’ll wait for the right moments to bring out crazy numbers, smiling covertly when the audience tries and fails to hide both their surprise and contempt.

It really feels like a bunch of animals competing to get out of the slaughterhouse, what with how tense everything is. Fights are forbidden, but it’s so obvious that so many students are ready to have the others’ throats for raising the price.

The twin bidding against the others will win no matter what, and per the contract Azul gets to have you first. Afterwards, the twins are free to take you in whatever form they wish. You become the trio’s personal stress relief, and you’re kept in Azul’s VIP room, where they use you whenever they feel like (which is quite often, nearly every day). Azul’s stare is never sincere, though it might be during sex (it’s hard to tell with someone so deceptive). It’s always so lecherous. His eyes practically stick to you like barnacles on a whale’s back. You feel so gross and dehumanized when the trio refer to you in the most sexual of ways, whether jokingly or cruelly. Floyd calls you a cumdump and Jade’s quietly echoed this sentiment. He’s strange because some days he really does act like a gentleman when he cleans you and bandages any deep bites left by Floyd, but just as kind as he is he’s ten times more wicked.

[themostlesbianever]

- dont fight pls babies😔

- YAY

- oh wow athena

- rude girls

- sigmas😧

- athena doesnt speak sigma

- corpse

- VAMPIRE BOBBY

- silly guy

- omg eddie😭😭😭

- chimney man

- howey partners

- im loving the outfit buck

- OH

- BYE BYE ARM

- ITS A REAL BODY AAAAH

- they all look so silly

- moustache buck lol

- OMG PUMPKIN MAN

- uh oh now hen is being worried about mara being angry

- LUBE FLYIN IN

- "help him please" WHAT DO YOU THINK THEYRE DOING

- come on franklin

- OW

- that was very funny tho

- HELLO TOMMY

- tommy coming as soon as he could like the good boyfriend he is

- tommy is so confused

- EDDIE AND TOMMY FRIENSHIP🥳

- uh oh

- uh oh

- hen and karen are gonna fight i think

- i mean karen is in the right, and so is hen. Because those kids want their mama but hen cant just get off work

- can we just let my babies be happy

- BUCK HAS A COUCH

- look at tommy taking care of buck like the good boyfriend he is

- hihi tommy is being so unserious omg

-(also dont say eddie would be better because he also does NOT believe in curses)

- tommy has every right to react like this to that tbh

- also makes sense eddie came because eddie is literally a medic, tommy is not specifically a medic

- see even tommy is saying it, eddie is a MEDIC

- yes hen teach denny some important lessons

- karen you look adorable

- no karen☹️

- i dont want them to fight anymore, theyre both in the right

- EDDIE HAD THE SAME REACTION

- WHATS WITH ALL THESE MOUSTACHED MEN

- HELLO MOUSTACHE JOSH

- the crazies are out🥳

- omg the thousand clowns in car gag

- this is hilarious i love it

- uh oh angry man

- UH OH THATS THE CAR

- NO PLEASE STOP

- PLS STOP RN

- THIS IS THE CAR THAT HITS MY BOY DENNY

- STOP

- AAAAA

- DENNY MY BOY

- YES DENNY LITTLE LIFE SAVER BOY

- oh god

- youre gonna be okay baby

- hen you shouldn't be working on him

- GIVE HEN THE DAMN MORPHINE

- oh baby

- I CANT DO THIS

- is there something IN HIS STOMACH

- OH FUCK

- Oh aisha the woman you are, fucking hell i might die this acting is so good

- DENNY I LOVE YOU TOO

- NO

- NOPE

- FUCK

- FUCK

- OMG FIELD TRANSFUSION

- istg if this boy dies i am not watching the rest of this show

- fucking hell

- HES DEAD

- CAN YALL FIREFIGHTERS HURRY THR FUCK UP THE BOY IS DEAD

- the music stopped, that either means hes gonna wake up and there will be like a burst of loud music or its over

- YES I WAS RIGHT

- IT WAS THE FIRST THING

- GOD I AM SO SMART

- DENNY BABY

- you know damn well hen aint never working on halloween again

- karen still looks adorable in her costume

- poor buck

- TOMMYS HERE🥳

- YES DENNY IS FINE🥳🥳

- i love how tommy and eddie both have the same reaction and opinion on bucks talk about curses

- karen is so pretty omg

- hen too omfg

- hottest couple in the show fr

- oh babies

- pls dont be angry at eachother

- be sad together about ur son being hurt

- YES KAREN NO ANGRY

- theyre so cute stop

- next episode is them on a date🤞

- okay buck what the fuck are you doing

- omg tommy is there, thats adorable

- hes is a good boyfriend

- ahw he looked at tommy when he said people make life worth living

- OMG THAT IS NO CAP

- IS CRHIS COMING HOME

- PLS CHRIS COME HOME

- tommy is thinking something, i wanna know what

- buck that was insanely adorable and ur such a good man

- i love the amount of tommy screentime we got because i wanna see buck actually be with the boyfriend he has

[random-little-gal]

Mercs relationship with Airman

Scout

At first, Scout would think that Airman is a bit of an idiot. Mostly due to the fact that she likes to crash her plane into things just for the hell of it. Scout would say that she's crazy, half-witted, and suicidal because of her tendency to crash her plane into places. But he finds Airman a mother figure, due to the fact she acts like his mother but also make some dad jokes which annoys Scout.

Soldier

Soldier is trying to be somewhat of an older brother figure towards Airman however due to his childish behaviour and nature. Airman is annoyed by him as he acts like an overgrown child but she also can’t help but like his positive attitude. Soldier friendship with Airman is almost like with Demoman, cause he thinks Ireland and Scotland is the same country. So I guess they just kinda have a platonic sibling relationship where they don’t always agree on things but she appreciates the support he gives her and she supports him despite him being a complete dumbass.

Pyro

Pyro and Airman might get along well, due to Airman's daredevil nature. Since Pyro has an affinity for other mercs who enjoy putting their lives on the line to take on opponents, so they would likely respect Airman for her courageous personality and determination. She would probably find Pyro's childlike, playful attitude a little amusing, even if he is a tad bit creepy..

Demoman

He’ll be surprised that someone who is Irish and almost the same accent as him so they both love a blast, she’s probably the only crazy person that he can respect, because if you are like him, he would love to do crazy stuff with you, they probably wouldn’t talk much, they even go drink together and end up drunk as hell, but he admires her courage, and ability to do the right thing in the end.

Engineer

Engineer feels like he should just give up on fixing Airman’s helicopter, but doesn’t have it in him to do so. He’s very annoyed with Airman cause her damaging her flying vehicles and her corny jokes. He’s got a big soft spot for her, and it is really cute. When she isn’t crashing her helicopter he takes her to have some tea, and listens to her rambling. All that aside, he doesn’t really know what to do about her constant, insane crashes.

Heavy

Heavy and Airman would have been friends. Even though sometimes she can be a little annoying or insane for a grown woman, Heavy still has a soft spot for Airman. They have bonded over the time they have worked together, and Heavy sees Airman as a little sister. Although Heavy has never been rude or aggressive to Airman, he does speak his mind to her.

Medic

As teammates, Medic will be pretty excited to work with the Airman as he sees potential in Airman and her recklessness. But they both are good friends, they would have conversations about their families and their old jobs they got fired from. Medic wants to help Airman, but also satisfy his experimental needs so he experiments on her and the others.

Sniper

At first Airman and Sniper were suspicious of each other. One being half-witted, adrenaline junkie and the other being a reserved man who was afraid of getting close to people. But after a while they learned to appreciate each other's work, as working together was a lot more effective than working separately. So to say, they eventually became close friends.

Spy

Spy would always feel nervous whenever Airman was in the field with him. Although they were on the same team, he was always worried that Airman would crash her helicopter into him. Despite their trust issues, Spy always admired Airman's courage and loyalty to the team, along with her charm and friendliness. They could be seen together as friends, or just two mercenaries working the same side.

[revenant-ao3]

The Hounds of Fate - Ch: 3

Read on Ao3: Here

Since he ran away, Shoto grew amiable to the idea that fate was fucking with him around the third time he encountered a random mugging while just walking down the street.

Now he’s positive there’s some higher being pulling the strings to give him a headache. Only, this time it’s not because he walked into an on-going turf war or anything of such nature. Rather, he hasn’t seen a single illegal act since leaving his hideout. No shady drug dealers trying to peddle to middle schoolers. No tweaked-out carjackers. Not even a jaywalker. (Not that he’d do anything about that particular crime. If he called Eraserhead over for that, he’s pretty sure the hero would arrest him on the spot purely on principle.)

For once, he’s looking for crime.

For once, he can’t find any.

He’d say it’s fate’s fickle whims, but he’s pretty sure fate just wants to see him suffer in whatever mild and unobtrusive way it can.

In theory, it was a simple idea. He'll walk around downtown Shinjuku and wait for one of the criminals that like honing in on him like heat-seeking missiles to find him. Then, he'll radio over to Eraserhead that he has a situation on his hands. The pro will show up. The trash will be taken out. Then, he can corner the hero and make his absolutely insane request. An easy night of non-work.

In practice? Well, that's an entirely different story.

The veritable conga line of crooks that felt like testing themselves against his skill has all but vanished tonight. It's a little frustrating. He's pretty sure he hasn't knocked the crime rate down to zero around here. Must be a slow night, he supposes. Of all times, this is perhaps the most inconvenient. Appropriate, given his luck.

Twilight stretches closer and closer to dawn as he prowls across blackened rooftops. He stopped actively looking for crime just after midnight and instead took to the high ground in search of the hero. Far easier said than done. Eraserhead chose wisely with his uniform as spotting him from a distance in the dark is nigh impossible without the help of gadgets or enhanced vision. He feels like he’s playing hide-and-seek with a shadow.

Shoto leans wearily against a large neon sign that’s barely hanging on to life. It advertises a pawn shop that looks more suited for money laundering than any legitimate business, but maybe Shoto's just judgmental. He hadn't spent much time outside of Musutafu's upper-end district. Living in Shinjuku's equivalent of a slum has been eye-opening. A sigh escapes his lips as he gazes fruitlessly across the horizon again, hoping for a glimpse of the lithe hero but knowing he’d sooner see a shooting star through all the smog and light pollution.

Maybe this is a sign. Some divine intervention.

The odds of Eraserhead agreeing to this proposal are so astronomically low that Shoto should consider checking himself into the same hospital his mother’s in for even thinking it might work. Insanity is the only plausible reason he finds himself now sitting on that roof, looking for the hero who threatened to arrest him for vigilantism. Asking said hero for help furthering his not-vigilante career? Absolutely crazy.

And yet, here he is.

Maybe he well and truly cracked from those minor displays of human decency, like the inverse of his mom. Maybe it’s genetic. If he looks into the Himura medical history, he wonders if he'll find a predisposition to lapses in sanity or psychiatric concerns. It'd certainly explain a lot. He finds himself touching the mask where his scar is hidden. With an annoyed sigh, he lets his head fall heavily back against the sign. That momentary burst of inspiration and starry-eyed belief wanes.

“Why am I even here?” he muses aloud to the night sky. Predictably, there is no answer.

I should leave. Go back to the store and mind my own business.

It’d be the smart thing to do; the safe thing. But dissatisfaction curdles his blood at the idea. It reeks of cowardice.

How many other Ishikawa’s are out there, crying for help? How many people can he be saving? How many kids could he protect? If the number is even one, then he has to keep pushing forward regardless of the risk. Becoming sedentary and hiding like a frightened little rat for the rest of his miserable life isn’t an option. When he looks into the future and sees that, he sees someone so pathetic, so worthless that he might as well have never left home.

He’ll just have to be smart about this. Somehow. He’s still ironing out the finer details of his plan, but he’ll need help first.

Help from a hero. Shoto doesn’t even try to contain the derisive scoff. He’d been so confident earlier, but as time ticked by and the night stretched on, he felt less and less certain. Eraserhead has been the exception to the rule so far, but how far does the exception reach? How much faith can he reasonably put in the man before he gets hurt?

The only way to find that out, unfortunately, is to keep testing his luck.

He gets to his feet with a huff and tries to stop overthinking. What he needs is action, not introspection. He has plenty of time to deal with his complicated feelings later.

---

Much to his mounting frustration and uncertainty, he can’t find a convenient reason to call Eraserhead to him. To make things more complicated he doesn’t actually know Eraserhead’s patrol route well enough to find him himself, either. Though, he's also not certain the hero would appreciate him popping up on him uninvited. It feels a bit like crossing an unspoken line, like entering into someone's house uninvited. So, he figures he’ll do the next best thing: Sit in a very obvious location and wait.

It’s not his greatest plan, he admits, but it’s what he’s going with. 

He ends up on the same rooftop they met last time. This is the most logical method he can think of to find the man, not counting just calling him on the earpiece, but he doesn’t want to annoy the hero if he’s busy for something trivial. The comm is for emergencies and he’ll respect that. If Eraserhead showed up here the night he fought those goons, then odds are this is in his path. It's unlikely anyone had reported that initial fight, otherwise authorities would have arrived sooner. Or, rather, he hopes that's the case. The more time he spends doing their job for them, the less certain he is about the police's efficiency. Given that he had minimal expectations of them to begin with, they miraculously still managed to limbo under that bar.

Shoto paces atop the roof, eyes darting across the bleak horizon like he'll suddenly develop the ability to see in the dark. The night remains quiet, almost eerily so. He's grown accustomed to falling into near-nightly brawls and listening to the city's raucous residents. They have a degree of life and vigor he's unused to. Music blares from cars with enough bass to rattle the windows of the buildings they pass. People out at all hours, boisterous and chatty. It's so unlike the suburb he comes from. Everything there is neat and quiet and pointedly tame, especially with the hero Endeavor around. Shoto wonders fleetingly if their neighborhood associations are just as exuberant. His own family never bothered to take part. Endeavor hadn't seen a point. All of that's moot now, he guesses. It's not like he'd be able to join even if he wanted to. His residency isn't exactly fixed and he certainly couldn't afford the fee.

He wants to groan, long and loud, at his trailing thoughts. They're useless musings. He should be fine-tuning his talking points that he hopes will convince Eraserhead of the value of his plan. But, it seems like whenever he tries to focus on it, his mind wanders again, too busy looking into the distance for a sign of life to hold on to any actually important thoughts.

There’s still no sign of the hero. Shoto, much to his own surprise and chagrin, is a little worried. It’s ridiculous, he knows. Eraserhead is plenty skilled and experienced. The man took him down with barely a scratch on him. The odds of the crooks in this city besting him are quite low. He’s likely busy or they might be moving parallel to each other. Shinjuku is large enough for Shoto to skate its entire length and never see the hero. 

All those reassurances can’t keep a pit from forming in his gut.

For a moment, he bounces on his toes and shakes out his hands to release some of the nervous tension brewing in his chest. Then, he resumes his stride.

Three laps across the roof later and there’s still no sign of Eraserhead. Shoto sighs and settles against the access door, sliding down to sit on the gravelly roof. He hopes the hero shows up soon. 

Shoto really would prefer not to be stuck on this roof all night. That’d be an unfortunate use of his time when he could be spending it with Soba or finding a secluded place to practice his quirk. A very secluded, very private, very far-from-Endeavor place. The little bits of training he’s done pale in comparison to what he’s used to. It makes him feel stagnant; like he’s weakening. But, he doesn’t have much choice until he finds said place. It’s not like he can make a glacier in the middle of the city. That’d be a little conspicuous.

Hopefully, Eraserhead will be kind enough to point me in the right direction.

He’s not confident in that, but it’s worth a shot. It’s one reason he wants to speak to the hero. If anyone would know of such a location, it’d be the man who patrols the city for a living.

While he waits, he starts to count the stars. Maybe he’ll find his lucky one.

---

Shoto startles severely when a boot nudges him.

He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep waiting on that roof until a pressure taps on his calf, jolting him like a bolt of lightning. Being stuck somewhere in the liminal space of dreaming and wakefulness turns him into a creature of pure instinct. For a moment, he doesn't remember where he is or what's going on. All he knows is that he's vulnerable and someone is over him. Like an animal backed into a corner, he lashes out.

He rolls out of the way and smashes a hand against the gravel to throw up a burst of piercing ice.

Nothing comes.

Panic slams into his chest before his sleep-heavy eyes land on the slouching figure before him. Eraserhead’s hair is on end, but his hands are in his pockets. He looks entirely unbothered, as if this is a normal occurrence for him.

Right. Eraserhead.

Shoto breathes heavily for a moment to get his heartbeat under control. Somewhere, in the further reaches of his mind, it occurs to him how very odd it is that he should relax so quickly in the presence of the hero. That goes against his very nature. Like a feral dog being weened into domesticity, repeated and pleasant exposure has been turning him docile. Shoto isn't sure if he's happy about that. It makes him feel exposed. Unsafe. A thought to chew on, he supposes.

Then, once he sludges past that odd tangent and through his sleep-addled fog, it hits him that Eraserhead is here.

He jumps to his feet with fresh determination and takes two steps closer to the hero.

“Train me,” he says, blunt as a brick to the head.

The hero’s hair falls back into place. From the way his goggles shift, Shoto’s pretty sure he raised his eyebrows.

“Hello to you too,” the hero says archly.

Ah, right.

“Hello.” Shoto gives a polite little bow as he speaks. It’s entirely unnecessary and just this side of over-the-top as neither has been formal so far. It gets a snort from the hero. When he straightens up, he speaks in a voice just as demanding as before. “Train me.”

Eraserhead stares at him with a flat look. Shoto stares back, blank mask doing well in depicting his own non-expression. Silence stretches on. If it had been any other duo, Shoto imagines someone would have started feeling awkward at this point. Between them, however, he wouldn’t be surprised if they stood here for hours. Awkward silences didn’t exactly work on either party.

He starts to think that maybe something is wrong when realization hits him.

Right. Manners.

“Please,” he finally adds on. It sounds less like a request and more like a command. Too late to fix his tone, he just grimaces and hopes the hero won't be affronted. There might be weight to some of those passing remarks on his spoiled nature after all. It's something he'd thought was beneath him, but now he's not so sure.

Somehow, that 'request' still prompts Eraserhead into action. The hero just sighs and rolls his shoulder.

“And why would I do that?”

As lackluster as the question comes out, there’s just a mild hint of curiosity lying underneath. Shoto hopes that’s a promising sign. He latches onto it like a lifeline.

One thing he’s noticed about the hero is his concise and brusque disposition. So far, in their interactions, there’s been no social padding or meager attempts at small talk. Every conversation has been practical exchanges, save a few bits of snark. It’s something that Shoto appreciates, as he’s of a similar nature. Though, his side can potentially be attributed to his stunted social life. Regardless of the origin, he likes that he can speak plainly with the hero and not be chided for his lack of awareness. So, he thinks the hero will appreciate his succinct explanations and reasoning.

“Well, it would be the most efficient way for me to get better,” he starts, posture mirroring the other’s easy stance. Old habits keep his spine straight, like his former etiquette teacher is hiding somewhere nearby with a ruler, ready to reprimand him. “You excel in close-quarters combat in a way that I lack. You can also help me deal with my over-reliance on my quirk.”

After he finishes he stares expectantly at the pro. It's always like biting into lemon when he has to ask for help or confront his imperfect nature. Admitting his shortcomings is like taking a direct jab to his pride, but that’s something he can get over. Growth is more important.

Eraserhead tilts his head a little, expression impassive. It’d make Shoto nervous if he weren’t well accustomed to hiding his own thoughts behind a vacant expression. (That’s a lie, he’s still a little on edge.)

“You seem to have been doing just fine without your quirk,” Eraserhead points out, breezing by the other particulars and request.

The hero isn’t wrong by any stretch. Shoto’s been handling himself admirably, given the situation, but he still isn’t satisfied. Anyone with half-decent reflexes and a good enough right hook could have done what he has. After a lifetime of expectations, he can’t let them go so easily. It’s like when he flew from his cage, he dragged it along right behind him.

That's not even to mention that encounter with that group of well-organized thugs that had him on the ropes and a breath away from using his quirk. He wasn’t ready for them or how much better they were than the rest of the rabble he's dealt with. It unnerved him to even think about it. How long can he keep going at this pace before his skills are dulled to blunt edges?

“I’d rather not let myself become complacent,” he says tersely.

Eraserhead examines him for another stretch before huffing.

“You’ve given reasons why you want me to train you. You still haven’t answered why I should.”

That, Shoto fears, is a much harder question to answer. He’s spent scarce enough time around the pro to come up with a concise and compelling argument. The truth of the matter is that he doesn't have a particularly good reason, not one worth the risk to Eraserhead's career. It's a blatantly self-serving proposal. The best he can do is appeal to the man's better nature, whatever that may be. As stated, he knows the man prefers curt answers and direct information. Beyond that, there’s little else he can conjure. The man likes cats and he keeps his word. Not exactly a riveting amount of information to go on. He’s also shown to be more sarcastic than Shoto expected. 

While he isn't exactly a paragon of social grace, he knows he's capable of his own brand of sarcasm. It's something that's gotten him into plenty of trouble before. And isn't it common for others to bond over wit and similar senses of humor? Hmm...

“...Because you’re a kind and benevolent hero.”

It comes out so uninspired that it almost impresses Shoto himself. He can’t tell if it amused Eraserhead like he was aiming for, but the man tucks his face further in his scarf for a moment before pushing his goggles up to his forehead and shooting him a look. It's hard to decipher, as most expressions on the hero are. Somewhere between exasperated and just barely homicidal. Shoto is not what one can call an 'Eraserhead Whisperer' but he thinks that might mean Eraserhead found it a little amusing. It's like the man gets annoyed at his own funny bone when it gets hit.

“I’m going to push you off this roof.”

Shoto remains still, relatively certain this is one of those sarcastic moments he was just pondering about.

“That would be illegal,” Shoto says, managing to make the monotone phrase still sound a little cheeky.

That gets him a withering glare.

Shoto is slightly less convinced this is sarcasm now.

“Do you know what else is illegal?” Eraserhead asks. He slows his speech so each word is pulled out and pointed like a knife aiming at the vigilante.

Is this a trick question? 

“Murder…?” he states more like a question, as if he's uncertain that murder is really illegal. The look he gets for his less-than-stellar answer has him shuffling a step away from the hero.

“Vigilantism.”

Oh, that again. Shoto rolls his eyes. He is starting to have trouble seeing what the deal is. It’s not like he’s causing any harm. To his knowledge, all those criminals he put down made fine recoveries. Being pushed off a three-story roof seems like the more egregious offense, in his opinion. Heroes and their hypocrisies, he thinks with no real heat. Eraserhead gets a pass this time because Shoto is self-aware enough to know he's being intentionally annoying now.

“...Murder is also illegal,” he says and it comes out both utterly bland and blatantly petulant at the same time. 

The man’s eye twitches just a little. He holds up his hand and pinches his fingers together.

“This close. This. Close.”

Shoto squints and leans forward a little to inspect the hand, like he can see his expected lifespan threaded between those calloused fingertips. He frowns.

“...Your fingers are touching, though?”

Eraserhead stares with bloodshot eyes like he can’t believe his absolute misfortune to be stuck in this conversation. He drops his head in his hand and groans. If Shoto listens closely enough, he can almost hear the man grumbling to himself.

Must’ve been a long night. Weird, I thought it was calm.

“Are you still on patrol?” Shoto asks, voice back to politely flat. He's willing to step back from his unfortunate attempts at teasing. The hero doesn't look really up for it at the moment, not that he ever does. His head tilts in concern.

Eraserhead glances up, looking nothing short of haggard. Perhaps he's been assigned a rough case or had a grotesque amount of paperwork to do.

“Shift already ended,” he says roughly.

Then, he does something so unexpected, that Shoto can do nothing but stare in silence.

He sits down.

Eraserhead sits on the roof, leaning against the access door like he had done earlier, and relaxes. It’s a show of trust that has Shoto’s stomach flipping. No hero, especially one as vigilant as Eraserhead, would ever put himself in such a disadvantageous position unless they were sure they're safe. He trusts that Shoto wouldn’t hurt him. Not that he couldn’t, that he wouldn’t. Something warm and kind unfurls in his chest.

“So, you’re interested in heroics now,” Eraserhead finally asks, tilting his head back to look up at Shoto.

The vulnerability of the position makes Shoto almost as uncomfortable as the question. Feeling like he has a station of power over the other makes his skin crawl for some odd reason. So, he sits down too.

He thinks over the inquiry for a moment and frowns a little. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume he does have a renewed interest in heroics, but the truth of the matter is far too complicated for a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Yes, he wants to help others and be a hero. No, he doesn’t want to be a licensed pro. Something more like a— 

Shoto cuts off that train of thought and mentally groans. Eraserhead is going to give me so much shit for this.

“In a manner of speaking,” he says instead because finding the right words is difficult.

Eraserhead just stares at him, dissecting him as well as he can.

“Clarify,” he commands. It’s calm but forceful. He needs an appropriate response before he’s willing to even consider Shoto’s request.

Words and reasons roll around like loose marbles in Shoto’s head. He struggles to catch them all and place them in order. It’d be so nice if he could look at heroics with the pure, untainted enthusiasm that most civilians have. If he didn’t have memories wrapped in barbed wire strangling each interaction with the profession, things would be so much easier. He tips his head back and looks at the sky as he thinks it over.

“I don’t like the hero commission or how it’s run,” he starts conversationally. “I don’t like most aspects of current hero society, to be quite frank.”

His attention is momentarily caught by the huff that comes from Eraserhead. He tilts his head a bit to look at the hero. There’s no judgment on the man’s face. In fact, he seems to have a sliver of understanding. Somehow, Shoto figured he would. Eraserhead didn’t seem like a conventional hero, avoiding the spotlight and peacocking that most get into the profession for.

“Admittedly, I never gave a fair, unbiased thought to underground heroics.” And isn’t that embarrassing? All his life, Shoto’s been surrounded by nothing but heroics. His entire birth and life revolves around the concept. He’s been taught what it takes to get his license and run an agency. But, in all his years, the very concept of going underground just slipped right by him. The brilliant blaze of Endeavor blinded him and burned the idea of ‘heroes’ into ash for the teen. To see someone new, someone who challenges his entire life’s perspective, is greatly humbling.

“It seems...different. Better,” he decides after a moment of thought.

The him from years ago would balk at the idea of ever admitting that any type of professional heroism is anything but vile. It’s a concept he’s still struggling with, but a small weight drops off his shoulders as he finally speaks his belief into existence.

Eraserhead is quiet as he examines Shoto, sleepy eyes far sharper than they have any right to be.

“Didn’t expect to hear that from you,” he says without any heat. 

Shoto hums and looks back at the man who’s given him a reason to start believing that good might still exist in these dreadful times. It's almost unfathomable to acknowledge, but he concedes that maybe, just maybe, the path of heroes isn't beyond saving. It has a long, hard road to go until it's back on track, but Shoto doesn't think the nuclear option is the only option anymore. Just...mostly. Hope is a rare commodity he barely ever got to experience but it seemed to crop up in bundles when he talks to Eraserhead.

“I’ve been given a reason to reconsider my stance as of late,” he says. Then, because he doesn’t want to give the hero too much expectation on how far his perceptions have changed, he tacks on a curt, “At least a little.”

He'd hate for Eraserhead to think that Shoto is suddenly okay with the concept of hero society as a whole or the atrocious way the HPSC is run. That's a can of worms he isn't going to bother touching just yet. It's doubtful the hero wants to hear his particularly sharp take on all of that.

Eraserhead just stares for a moment longer before grunting and looking away. It takes a second but Shoto quickly realizes he never really answered his question.

“What I mean is that, despite my hangups, I want to help people. Properly.” His voice is strong, unwavering. This is a point he isn’t willing to back down from. If Eraserhead declines, he'll be more than disappointed. It'll actually hurt in that softening part of him, but it certainly won't stop him. He'll just have to be craftier. It could be another form of training to get around the erasure hero. If he fails, then he'll know for certain he isn't good enough. But, he isn't going to give up the ghost yet. He isn't down and out until they drag him away.

Shoto didn’t want to be a hero, not since he was a toddler. He didn’t want to follow Endeavor’s plan and give in to that monster. Every little appeasement and concession felt like he was crawling further and further under Endeavor's boot. He’s been so blinded by his hate and hurt that he’s missed the smaller, less-trodden path. The one that can lead him to helping like he wants without giving in to his father’s demands.

“You already know something of agency work. How much do you know about the actual process of getting licensed?” Eraserhead asks, following his train of thought.

The question sends him back to his home where he’d have to sit for droning lessons on the procedures involved with entering the workforce. It's one of his earliest and most oft repeated lessons. He sighs deeply.

“One must obtain a provisional license and graduate from an accredited heroics school with a minimum number of work-study hours completed to be eligible to enter into the profession,” he states blandly as if reading off of a script. This has been drilled into his head so many times he could likely recite the process in his sleep. He stares off into the distance as he drones on, “After both steps are completed, two exams are given: a physical one to test the abilities of the aspiring hero, and a written one to test their knowledge of foundational laws and procedure. A score of eighty-five percent is necessary to pass and obtain an official hero license.”

He finishes and looks back at Eraserhead with an empty expression – not that the hero can see it, but Shoto feels it might be a bit obvious from the absolutely unenthusiastic recount.

The hero stares at him, somewhere between tired and barely impressed.

“I see you’ve done your homework.”

Shoto snorts indelicately. That’s one way of putting it.

“I take it you don’t have a provisional license,” Eraserhead says once it’s clear Shoto isn’t going to say anything.

“No.” Then, after a pause, he continues, “I didn’t go to heroics school either.”

That gets a visibly surprised face from Eraserhead. The hero’s brows climb to his hairline as he looks at Shoto.

“Really?” he asks, not even bothering to mask his disbelief.

It’s understandable, Shoto supposes. He hasn’t exactly given the hero any reason not to think he’s had a formal education in the subject. It's not everyday a random civilian can recite the tenets of procedural justice off the top of their head. (Not that Shoto showed him that particular trick yet, but it can be inferred.)

“Yes,” he confirms.

Eraserhead hums then looks off to the skyline, scratching his chin in thought.

“You can take the equivalency test and get a diploma that way. The test is long, though. About five hundred questions.” The hero grimaces as he finishes, no doubt thinking over how obnoxiously large the test packet must be. 

Shoto stares at him for a moment, utterly confused. He’d have to be at least eighteen to take the equivalency test or have an approved age waiver, and even then he’d have to wait until he’s sixteen. Why...

Then, it dawns on him.

Eraserhead thinks I’m older than I am. Oh. Oh, no.

He feels bad, like he’s been purposefully lying to the hero this whole time. Would the hero treat him differently if he knew the truth? The thought makes him grimace and a sick feeling starts roiling inside him. The deception wasn't intentional, honestly. Now that he realizes it, though, he'll have to keep up the ruse. It's the only thing that'll keep him safe. If the hero knew his age - his identity - then Shoto is almost positive the man would turn him over, if not for clout then because it's the 'right thing to do' since he's a minor. He doesn't like lying. He isn't good at lying. If he's lucky, and history shows he's not, then he can just keep on acting the same and Eraserhead simply won't catch on. If there comes a moment where he's compromised, he'll have to make a run for it. Go to another prefecture. Maybe Toyama, there doesn't appear to be any super high-profile or particularly threatening heroes there.

Oh, he hopes it doesn't come to that. Odd as it is to admit, he's grown sort of attached to this shithole of an area. The whole of Shinjuku is quite nice, but Shoto settled into a rather ugly side. He found it has its charms. It'd be a shame to abandon it now. 

What is he going to do? Eraserhead thinks he wants to get a license. That...is a safe assumption to have made, given the progress of the conversation, but Shoto can’t for several reasons he would prefer not to divulge. That small weight that fell away is replaced by an overpowering guilt. He tilts his head down, the largest admission of discontent he's willing to give, and thinks. 

What the hell do I do?

He doesn’t want to fuck up whatever tentative truce the two have. Eraserhead, Shoto is abashed to say, has become someone he’s started to look up to. There has to be a solution. I just need enough time. A few years and I'll be free of Endeavor. Perhaps I can give him reason enough to believe I can't take the test. I can’t tell him the whole truth but maybe just a little? Just enough.

And so, Shoto, with all the verbal grace and tact bestowed upon him by his father, starts to talk.

“I’m the product of a eugenics project meant to create the perfect quirk,” he says apropos of nothing.

Eraserhead does a violent double-take that’d be funny in any other context. The conversation whiplash hits the hero like several fully loaded freight trains. How it went from a chat about the licensing process to that is well beyond his understanding.

“What?”

It's as articulate as he can manage at the moment. The contrast between his bewildered tone and Shoto's underwhelming inflection is stark.

“My father bought my mother for her quirk. He wanted to create the ultimate quirk; one with no downsides and great power,” he says as if talking about the weather. There's a low undercurrent of anger that bites at the end. Subtlety isn’t a learned skill of his, so he lays his trauma across the table like a losing hand.

The hero opens his mouth and closes it. His brows pinch in thought. Somehow, he looks significantly more tired and yet more awake than moments ago. The reality of this situation finally seems to set in as he sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“There is a lot to unpack here." 

Shoto gives him a moment to gather himself. Eraserhead huffs and sits up properly. He’d been tired enough to slide down, nearly laying on the roof, but this info dump straightened him into an alert posture.

“Why did he do that?” he asks, his focus entirely on Shoto.

He can imagine this is what Eraserhead looks like when starting a new case file; intense and completely engaged. This new scrutiny is nearly overwhelming. Shoto imagines the next answer will be sufficiently surprising.

“To beat All Might,” he says, still as indifferent as if making idle smalltalk.

Eraserhead stares at him with an expression so vacant it’s a little worrying. Shoto remains silent and watches as the hero clicks the pieces of his past into place.

“You were created to beat All Might?” he asks incredulously.

Shoto sighs but nods. “That sums it up, yes.”

The hero rubs his hand down his face before looking properly at Shoto, as if trying to see just what it is about him that can possibly compete with the number one hero. He is left severely wanting.

“That is easily one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard,” Eraserhead says with exactly zero delicacy. Shoto would laugh if his life weren't so shit because of it, because he agrees. It is. It's the most idiotic, harebrained scheme his father could have cooked up. He would have had better luck trying to create the future president.

“Tell me about it,” he grouses. The idea that anyone can even touch the hero’s legacy let alone beat him is absurd. He’s more myth than man, at this point. “I’ve spent my entire life being trained for it because I’m ‘the Masterpiece.’”

He spits the title out like it's a piece of rancid meat. If Eraserhead could see his face, he’d see it twisted into absolute contempt. Shoto can't even enjoy a damn museum trip - not that he's allowed to go on them - because just hearing that phrase in the context of a painting triggers a deep-seated anger response. No part of his life was his until he ran away. It was all for Endeavor. All for his goal to surpass All Might. He was nothing more than an object, a means to an end, to the man that should have been his father. But Endeavor didn’t want a son, he wanted a tool. The thought hurt so deeply when it first came to him, that he doubted he’d ever fully recover from it. Being raised as a thing instead of a child ruined him in ways he isn’t sure he can fix.

“I never wanted to be a weapon for him,” he says spitefully, desperately, like he's trying to convince Eraserhead. His fingers claw at the gravel on the roof and his limbs quake with the urge to let his anger and pain explode out in a torrent of ice. “Once I realized that I’d lose my humanity if I stayed, I left.”

He had to. He had to. If he stayed, who knows what would have become of him? How much more dehumanization could he take? How much longer could he handle being a vessel for another man’s dreams before there’s nothing left of himself? Or would he end up just another photo on their shrine? Another broken, failed arts-and-crafts project.

Once he started, it’s like he can’t stop. All this has been building in him, like water against a failing dam. Just a tiny crack and it comes rushing out. His grievances hit the air and it's less about explaining his motives now. He needs understanding.

“My brother died and my mother was driven insane for his ambition,” he says. It comes out angry and flat but there’s a wetness in his eyes that he can do nothing about. He takes a deep breath and forces away that urge.

Eraserhead is silent as a the grave now. His expression is empty but his eyes hold such intensity, they seem but a moment away from glowing. Shoto can't meet that look. He stares at fixed point in the distance, well beyond reality and down the halls of history. The doors there are battered and closed off with police tape.

“I resent him. I resent him and his ego and this damn quirk he gave me. It’s all I am in his eyes,” he finishes, hands shaking in anger and hurt. It's sickly thick, leaving him nearly breathless. The gravel in his right hand is stuck together from the thin layer of ice he accidentally coated them with.

Shoto hates him. He hates him so fucking much that it burns away any good he feels. It’s like an inferno that he can’t escape. He shouldn’t have brought this up because now all he can think of is his father and those hateful blue eyes that look through him like he’s not real. He thinks of his mother and the tears she couldn’t stop shedding. The sobs and screams. The scalding water. He has to pace his breathing before he begins to hyperventilate.

“Is that why you wear that mask everywhere, so he can’t find you?” Eraserhead finally asks. He’d been so quiet that Shoto nearly forgot he was there, too stuck in his thorny thoughts.

Shoto blinks at him, takes a deep breath, counts to four, and lets it out. He slowly unclenches his aching fists, relishing in the slight sting of pain echoing from his abused joints. It helps ground him in the moment.

“Yes,” he says, far calmer sounding than he feels. “I’d rather die than end up back in his clutches. If I have to live in this mask to be free, then I will.”

And he means it. Oh, does he mean it. Suicidal ideation isn't a new concept to him. The thought of what it must be like to die, how pleasant it would be. How he wouldn't mind a beam in the house falling, bringing the roof down on his head. How he sometimes thinks about crossing the rode without looking and hoping. It's always there, in the back of his mind, like a pervasive demon on his shoulder. Even miles and miles away from the hell, it's still there, urging him toward the edges of roofs and giving into l'appel du vide. It isn't rational nor is it healthy, he understands. It's the only thing that kept him from acting on these wretched impulses. Logic dictates that he is suffering from some type of mental disturbance. Therefore, he will not entertain these thoughts, even if every impulse in his body demands otherwise.

He is thankful once more for his mask and disturbingly monotonous voice, because he would rather if Eraserhead didn't realize the depths of that statement. Becoming intimately familiar with the process of involuntary hospitalization isn't on his bucket list. Having a secondhand experience was more than enough for him.

Eraserhead stares at him, searching for something, face still pointedly blank. If he's frustrated at not being able to read Shoto, then he does well in hiding it. He looks away after a moment and rubs his tired eyes.

“Why tell me?” he asks. His voice sounds rough around the edges, worn in a way that goes beyond sleep deprivation.

He looks away, not wanting to see if the hero is disappointed by this admission.

“So you understand why I can’t take that test or get my license,” he says.

There is no response. Shoto isn't sure if that's good or bad yet.

“I...I used to want to be a hero. It was my dream,” he admits softly. It hurts to confront that childish fantasy of his and see where he is now, homeless and on the run with an anger in him that he can't suffocate. “If I take that test, my identity will be revealed and it’ll only be a matter of time until he comes for me.”

He stares into the horizon and tries not to get swallowed by the ghosts of his past. Maybe Eraserhead would reconsider shoving him off the roof. That seems preferable to dealing with all of this. He thinks of asking, maybe phrasing it as a joke, but eventually decides against it. It likely wouldn't be well received.

“And I take it you won’t tell me who your father is?” Eraserhead asks, even though he knows the answer. Shoto just shakes his head. The hero sighs.

“So, you want me to train you so you can continue vigilante-ing.”

Shoto looks at him from the corner of his eye and sees the hero watching him carefully. And here it is.

“That’s not a word,” Shoto points out.

The hero very maturily throws a piece of gravel at him. Shoto dodges and huffs, chest feeling a little less like it’s getting stepped on by an elephant. He isn't sure if that was the planned effect, but he appreciates that casualness regardless. Big emotions and big responses never really sat right with him. “And I’m not—”

“—A vigilante. So you’ve mentioned,” Eraserhead cuts him off with a glance that gave the distinct impression he was rolling his eyes without actually doing so. Shoto takes the opportunity to fling a piece of gravel back at the hero, who catches it without batting an eye. “But you want to become one.”

If it weren’t for the multiple bombshells Shoto just dropped on him, he imagines that the hero would look obnoxiously smug right now. Unfortunately for him, Shoto excels in exceeding social expectations in the most awkward and inconvenient ways possible. It’s hard to say, ‘I was right,’ to the guy who just revealed his horrific childhood trauma to you.

“Possibly,” Shoto reluctantly concedes, because he does not want to give the hero the satisfaction of a full ‘yes’.

Eraserhead still manages a scoff, smirk tucked away behind his scarf.

“Still illegal,” he points out.

Shoto flicks another piece of gravel at him childishly. Eraserhead catches it without even looking.

“So is aiding and abetting an alleged vigilante,” he says, stressing the word to annoy the hero. It’s his turn to catch the gravel that gets flung at his face.

“Don’t you have a random crime to stumble into?” Eraserhead asks, sounding much less serious than he’d like his grumpy face to convey. Definitely sarcasm.

“If you did your job today, then no, I don’t,” Shoto retorts nonchalantly.

It's impressive just how much emotion the hero is capable of putting into the tiniest shifts of his features. With just the slightest slant of his brows and narrowing of his eyes, he levels Shoto with a look that can rival Endeavor's most venomous of glares.

"Don't think I can't strangle you from this distance," Eraserhead says as he lifts his scarf.

Blessed with a brief moment of wisdom, Shoto decides it's time to stop prodding the exhausted man. He raises his hands in surrender like some sort of white flag. As much as he trusts Eraserhead - and that is strange enough for him to admit, trusting a pro - he doesn't want to push his luck too far and genuinely anger the man. Based on their previous encounters, Shoto believes pride isn't a sore point of his, but there are only so many friendly jabs one can take before that spot gets sensitive. The idea of pissing the man off is frightening for several reasons, only some he can equate to Endeavor.

They lapse into familiar silence. Shoto sits for a few moments longer, just enjoying the cool morning air. It's not something he'd ever really been able to do before: stop and smell the roses, so to speak. His life had been scheduled all the way down to what he was allowed to eat. Sitting around and doing nothing is a bizarre luxury, one he thinks many people take for granted. It's...nice. He's still getting used to it, the lack of responsibilities and expectations. There's still a small, waspish voice in the back of his mind that tells him he should be doing something. Time is precious and should not be wasted lazing about. It's gotten easier to quiet that voice, but after a few minutes, he can't keep the anxiety at bay any longer. 

He's had his downtime, now he can go do...something. Clean his hideout, maybe. Keep scouting training locations. Exercise. He'd passed some cinderblocks behind a decrepit garage before that he could use as makeshift weights.

With a sigh, he gets up and pats down his clothes. Another habit he hasn't quite broken yet, presentability is fundamental to establishing a strong first impression. As if there's anyone around who'd care that my pants are wrinkled.

As if that were some cue, Eraserhead gets up as well. He's slower to rise, pressing a hand on his knee as he stands up with a grunt, clearly still tired from his shift. Shoto feels bad keeping him here so long when he could be sleeping.

They look at each other for a moment, neither particularly inclined to pleasantries but they've reached the point where it feels a little odd not to at least acknowledge one another upon arrival or departure. Or, it could just be the awkward bonding moment Shoto foisted upon the poor, socially drained man.

“Think it over,” he says as a way of a goodbye. “Please.”

Eraserhead grunts ambiguously, which doesn't raise Shoto's hopes too high. Then something over Shoto’s shoulder catches his attention. His brows knit in concentration.

Shoto turns to look behind him. Nothing is obvious until he looks down. On the sidewalk, just in view of them, is a woman staring up at them. Her expression is hard to make out but it’s very clear she’s looking at them. When she realizes they're looking directly at her, she startles, attention bouncing between the two like a ping pong ball. She seems drawn back to Shoto over and over, like a moth to a light, but glances nervously back at Eraserhead every few moments. A man is beside her, gesturing, but his back is to them so Shoto can’t even begin to guess what he’s saying.

“What?” he asks as he watches the two. Her behavior is odd, yes, but not entirely unexpected from a civilian looking at a hero – even an underground one - and spotting a supposed vigilante is a rare spectacle. It could explain the staring. But, it still rubs Shoto the wrong way. Has he seen her before? He feels like he has.

“I recognize her,” Eraserhead says. From his tone, it’s not entirely good. The fact he hasn’t descended to apprehend her means she isn’t a villain on the loose, but something is still off.

What is it?

“From where?”

Eraserhead grimaces and fixes his goggles into place. Gone is his relaxed slouch and abrasively amicable expression. He's shifted back into 'on duty' mode. It's an almost surprising contrast as Shoto hadn't initially noticed a change in his demeanor until this very moment. “I saved her from a mugging the other day.”

That weird feeling clicks into place.

Wide, amazed eyes flash in his memories.

“That’s why she looks familiar,” he says to himself.

Eraserhead tilts his head questioningly at him.

“I also saved her,” he explains. “A purse snatcher targeted her.”

He remembers how odd it was that she seemed so awed by his simple act, like there was something decidedly divine about him. Thinking back on it now and seeing the way she's staring at him like a hawk makes his skin crawl. The fact that they both saved her doesn’t sit right with him, especially now that she’s here.

“Odd coincidence,” he says in a way that makes it clear he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence at all.

Eraserhead snorts. Shoto gets that familiar feeling the man is judging him again.

“I want to say you’re the last person who should be talking about ‘odd coincidences’, but I agree this time,” he says, almost begrudgingly.

He'd like to defend himself from the toothless jab, but there isn't much he can feasibly say in his defense, so he focuses on the more important part of the situation.

“Think it was a setup?” Shoto asks.

That notion makes him grimace. If it's true then there's something dangerous at play here. It'd be one thing if it only happened to Shoto, but Eraserhead is a pro hero. Involving him adds so many different layers and stakes to the situation that it nearly gives him a headache just thinking about it.

The hero hums in thought.

“Potentially,” Eraserhead says, not wanting to commit to the answer but believing it’s the most likely option.

“But what’s the goal? To get close to us? She isn’t exactly hiding now,” Shoto muses aloud. It doesn’t make sense. If she has an ulterior motive, why end up here? Why risk being seen?

“She do anything to hint at her quirk when you encountered her?” Eraserhead asks, formulating his own theories.

Shoto recounts the moment. She’d been enthusiastic, yes, but that’s it. He hasn’t felt any lingering effects from any type of quirk. There have been no odd symptoms he can recall. Usually, there'd be some sort of sign that he's been affected by a quirk by now. It's been days since their encounter.

“No. She just thanked me,” he finally says after running through the mental checklist of potential signs.

Eraserhead hums, lips downturned in a slight grimace.

“I’ll be back,” he says and launches himself from the roof to swing down in front of her.

Shoto watches from the edge of the building on high alert. That man she’d been talking to is gone. He’d left while they were theorizing, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hiding just out of sight, waiting to ambush them. If she tries anything, I'll turn her into an ice cube, warrant be damned. Granted, he knows Eraserhead doesn't exactly need the backup for one target, but he'd rather be safe than sorry in this unknown situation.

From his angle, it looks like a simple conversation. The woman is wringing her hands and her attention keeps darting up to Shoto. It’s making him exceptionally uneasy. There’s something about her that lights a warning sign in the back of his mind. What does she want with me? And he's certain there's something she wants. He can't imagine she'd be eyeing him up so fervently if there wasn't.

As quickly as the conversation started, it ends and Eraserhead is back on the roof. His expression is grim, displeased with whatever they spoke about.

“She said she noticed us here and wanted to thank us for helping her,” he says blandly, not believing it for a second.

Shoto raises a brow at that. How very convenient that she just so happened to spot them on this roof.

“I’m not very good at reading emotions,” he starts tentatively, “but she seems especially nervous for someone so thankful.”

“Yeah, she does,” Eraserhead says as he eyes the direction the woman hurried off in. Any trace of exhaustion that weighed the pro down evaporated the moment he noticed her. Then, he looks back at Shoto. “I didn’t get a good look at who she was talking to, but I think I can identify her later.”

Either he has a fantastic memory or... Shoto looks more closely at Eraserhead, namely his gear. Does he have cameras in his goggles? 

“Those aren’t basic goggles, are they?”

A sly smirk pulls at the hero's lips.

“Wouldn’t be very effective at night if they were.”

Very true. He isn’t sure what sort of support gear he has, especially since his quirk leaves him little in the way of offensive or defensive capabilities. He imagines there must be even more supplementary tools on him.

“Keep your comm on. If you encounter her again, let me know,” Eraserhead says, turning on his heel and heading toward the edge of the roof. This new mystery has lit a fire under him, it seems. Shoto wishes he could help him investigate, but there isn’t much he can offer that wouldn’t hinder the hero’s progress. He'd only just started shadowing his father and begin learning about investigative procedures when he ran away. He'd be about as useful as a wet-nosed intern.

“Alright,” he says, already fitting the piece into his ear. “Stay safe.”

Eraserhead just raises a hand in an unspoken, You too. Then, he’s off.

Shoto turns and starts on his way back to his hideout. It feels like eyes are following him, so he takes a convoluted route that stretches his path out half an hour past his usual time. A little disappointing since he wasn't able to grab those cinderblocks. Ah well, next time, he thinks dryly as he dodges into a crowded street market. It isn't until he slips into a particularly dirty konbini and darts out the employee exit in the back that the feeling of being watched disappears. His hands buzz with nerves.

He checks again to make sure the comm is on, just in case.