#i'm not complaining but it would've been very interesting y'know

[amoneki-ramblings]

some random doodles that have been sitting on my computer 👍

[sixstepsaway]

i've had some thoughts bouncing around for a while about ofmd s2, and in light of the news, i'm going to brain dump some of them. if you don't feel like listening to me complain about HBO and would rather just go cry about OFMD not getting season 3, that's chill, go ahead, no hard feelings

so.

season 1 was absolutely the definition of lightning in a bottle. it had great acting, great writing, gorgeous set and costume design, it was great, and not only that but it was unabashedly queer

jim had a whole episode dedicated to "actually i'm not a woman i'm just jim" and then everyone - even the bad guys, even the antagonists, even their nun nana, everyone - referred to them as they/them after that, no questions asked

the main character went through an arc that was basically figuring out his sexuality and going "oh shit, i love a man" on a show that was not directly advertised as "OUR QUEER MEANS DEATH" like a, y'know, Queer Show would be

and stede and ed's romance felt like it was important. It felt like the pirates of it all was mostly incidental, background, filler, just fun to pad out the situation and give them things to be challenged by (the badmintons!) while also being fun on its own. it's the kind of show where if you pulled all the characters out and slapped them into a whole other situation like space agents or time travellers or everyone lives together in a loft runs a bakery... it'd still work. sure, the badmintons would be less murderous and run a competing bakery or something, but it'd still work, because the focus was on the characters, and on the romance between stede and ed

the first three episodes of season 3 felt that way too. the love between stede and ed was paramount and if you swapped to a mafia au or a bakery au it'd still work (with some gentle adjustments for ed's Behavior™ to be fair)

but.

season 1, they kept saying it was a rom com, and it felt like one. it was just a rom com that was set at sea! how fun!

now, rom coms have tropes. they have genre-specific things that you kind of expect from, well, a rom com. you expect mess. you expect things like ed fucking off with jack because he doesn't feel good enough

(i've recently been rewatching new girl and although some of the humor makes me cringe, it's still a great show, and one of the main things about it is that everyone is messy. no matter how much schmitt loves cece, he's going to make mistakes. no matter how obviously nick and jess are going to end up together and belong together, they're going to sleep with the wrong people, make mistakes, break up etc. it's as much a rom com as ofmd.

one of the things that makes new girl so good and makes me love the main couples so much is how hard they work to be together, how they fight adversity and the mess of their own flaws and toxicity and still get together because they love each other most, in the end)

i remember in s1 thinking how if stede had been a woman, jack would have been too, and ed would've had at least one romantic/sexual scene with jack when he ran away with him

but i also remember thinking, "yeah, but the show hadn't explicitly done the his name is ed reveal and the kiss on the beach yet, and the reveal hits so hard, it makes sense not to do that earlier", and tbh i stand by that

which brings me to s2, after the first three eps, where they tried to go back to rom com and it just felt... forced.

rom coms usually have adversity. they have other characters that directly and truly threaten the main pairing by being interesting to those characters! no matter how you feel about izzy, he was framed as a love interest or as an ex that was still complicated, but the show very much tiptoed around that

does "i have love for you" and "i loved you best i could" make sense for the characters? yeah.

do i feel like if ed was a woman, she and izzy would've had a messy rebound relationship for stede to have to contend with, for the two of them to come out the other side of wanting each other from? yeah.

ofmd s1 felt unabashedly queer. s2 felt like they didn't want to be too gay.

they put olu with a Woman™, they put jim with a woman almost like it was less queer and more acceptable this way than queering olu, they completely waved off olu and jim's relationship and dropped any concept of polyamory because that would've made it even queerer, not less queer

(i'm using queer here as a definition more of breaking boundaries and being outside of the norm to the extent it makes cishets deeply uncomfortable and the queer in question aren't conforming to society's standards. and this reading of s2 (and s1) is entirely subjective, it's just what's been bubbling here for me)

pete and lucius went from "we don't own each other" to marriage, with no footnotes of what marriage meant to them specifically, whether they were, in fact, conforming with the 'norm' of marriage (exclusivity, labels, definitions etc) or whether they were still chill about these things or whether this now meant no more penis drawings

the queerest episode was probably the party episode (which was so good), but even that was especially queer because some cast members fought to make it so (con wanting izzy's drag to be beautiful not funny has HAUNTED ME, because that means it was originally supposed to be played for laughs!!) not because it was that way naturally

the fact i read somewhere that the party and the drag was originally lupete's wedding makes so much more sense to me because yeah, they WOULD have a wedding like that, but instead they got a lame final episode wedding because it would have been way too queer to do it at calypso's birthday with drag and queer joy everywhere

it also would have been more realistic to the lucius and pete we got in season 1.

there were a lot of things in season 2 that felt... weird. we've talked about it. we have all talked about it.

the final episode, even outside of the thing i hated most, was just horribly written imo. there's big sweeping gestures and no kind of real emotional pay off for the main relationships (lupete included), and everything got tied with a neat little bow at the end

i remember when we were told s2 was 8 episodes and how much the budget had been chopped thinking, "ha, we're so not getting a season 3"

i remember when i realized how weirdly rewritten most of season 2 had been thinking, "yeah, there's not going to be a season 3"

i remember when bitching about ed's arc being totally truncated and handwaved thinking, "mm, we're not getting a season 3"

and i remember when the Revenge sailed off into the sunset with everyone but ed and stede on board thinking, "oh yeah, we're done."

just enough was left open that a season 3 could happen.

just enough was left open that if a miracle happened, there'd be something to do with season 3.

but i genuinely, 100%, hand on my heart, think djenks knew he wasn't getting a season 3

and don't get me wrong, i'm not absolving him of the poor writing choices he made in season 2, but i am saying it makes a lot more sense if you think of it from the perspective of corporate meddling and having everything taken away while he was actively trying to make season 2

we already know HBO cut the budget a ridiculous amount so they just had to make everything work with what they had. we already know HBO cut the episode number.

season 2 plays out like they prepped a good chunk of it, ready for 10 episodes, and then HBO cut the budget and cut the episodes

and so things had to be changed and chopped about. ed's arc got lots of screen time and focus for three episodes (before the cuts) and then things got quicker, and fast

characters were cut for time and for budget reasons.

and then i think towards the end of production and the end of writing, djenks learned the odds of season 3 were minimal at best, and he panicked

i think the original plan was probably for ed's arc to go for the majority of season 2. maybe a middle piece where he and stede tried but it still wasn't Right (last night was a mistake) because ed had so much to work on and so much to heal

i genuinely wonder if the finale was completely rewritten at the last minute because to me it makes way, way more sense from a narrative standpoint for things to have been more staggered out. let's consider ten episodes instead of 8:

episodes 1-5: same as they were when aired, including the gravy basket giving us set-up for what ed's dealing with internally, giving us something to latch onto and prepare for his redemption. NO KISS AT THE END OF EPISODE 5. episode 6: ed is still wearing the bell. he's sort of done his amends with lucius, but now he needs to do amends with the rest of the ship. stede is still learning his piratey ways, so there's hijinks in the background. jim and archie and olu try to decide what their relationship is after the garlic and all, and debate room arrangements. lucius and pete announce their engagement. stede and ed nearly kiss. episode 7: more ed redemption arc. he's still working at things, he's shying away from violence because violence is what took him down this dark path to begin with. maybe we get some discussion of his father. stede, blind to ed's flaws, insists he's nothing like his father! ed tries to make amends with izzy but somehow this is the hardest of all because he hurt him the most of all. izzy gets chance to apologize for what he now sees as his part in pushing ed down into the darkness (trying to drag blackbeard back) and izzy's apology makes ed feel worse somehow and gives him some absolution when he finally figures out how to return his own. ed kisses stede but says he wants to take it slow. episode 8: wedding episode!! calypso's birthday!! ed uses his loot to bankroll lupete's wedding. stede reacts with violence to ned and we know from everything before that ed is actively trying to distance himself from the violence of piracy because, yeah, of course he is. is it a good idea? nope. does it make sense to his character for him to still be putting a good chunk of the blame on piracy for his actions, rather than accepting the parts of his whole and learning how to regulate those parts healthily? yes. anyway, stede reacts to his own violence by clutching for ed, ed feels after like his boundaries were pushed. same as show. episode 9: ed is having a meltdown. he and izzy have started to heal, so izzy watching him stare at fishing boats and just chatting to him like nothing happened actually makes a lick of sense. lupete are on their honeymoon at jackie's. olu gets to hook back up with zheng and archie and jim want to go along because they're not super happy on the ship still because although ed is doing better, the past of what he does still hangs over everyone. olu, zheng, jim and archie do not discuss the poly of it all properly, and it's hilarious and a mess, and gives us something to look forward to handling in season 3. ed freaks out about stede being violent when he's the one thing he felt like wasn't violent (and thus safe for him to be with), and about taking it not at all slow, breaks things off and runs away. izzy gets stede to come back to the ship. stede gets into a fight with zheng, the bombs go off, whatever (not a fan of this for her sake but if it has to happen, it can happen) episode 10: ed is off fishing but it's not going well and he's pissing pop-pop off all the time because he's not good at fishing. stede and co are handling the ricky of it all. the episode is mostly the same at the start, but instead of ed immediately going "omg, i gotta save bae" he doesn't find out about the attack until right at the end of the episode. stede and co make it back to the revenge and escape safely, and when ed retrieves his leathers and returns he thinks they're dead! he threatens/tortures/whatever some english and they say no, stede escaped! they all escaped! the season ends with ed, all decked out in his leathers, with his sword, now in the position stede was last season: staring out over the water, planning to find the man he loves.

this sets season 3 up for ed to be on his own for a little while, for him to handle and figure out how to channel his violence into something 'good' (wanting to find his love, wanting to protect his crew etc).

maybe season 3 flashes back to baby!ed again and the fact his first act of violence against his father wasn't motivated by anger or spite, it was motivated by wanting to protect someone he loved: his mum.

then season 3 they find each other again, and maybe they meet in the moonlight for the parallel to hit even better, they finally get back together properly, for good, with maybe some comedic issues along the way, and ed finds his place in the world to be less "blackbeard, the terror of the seas" and more "ed protects those he loves."

i honestly think this is probably how the show was originally meant to go, or at least something close.

i think midway through season 2, djenks heard it was over and he (rightfully) panicked and threw together a finale that tied up as many loose ends as he could because he knew.

and i dont think there's anything that could've been done about it. i think it was dead in the water (no pun intended) the moment all the MAX/HBO/whatever reshuffles happened, I think it was too queer and I genuinely think executive meddling made a lot of the more queer elements go away, possibly right down to trying to wipe away the exes/love interests of it all with that whole father figure thing

and, again, i'm not absolving djenks of some of his more baffling writing decisions. he's a grown man and he makes his own choices. but i am saying i think it explains a LOT about why the finale we got is what we got, and i'm not sorry stede and ed ended the show together rather than apart or with their lives hanging in the balance or something

anyway these are just a bunch of thoughts i've been having, tied together by the cancellation.

[moonlightperseus]

I was a classic girly girl as a kid so I wasn't watching any of the animated shows. I got into superheroes after watching the 2012 Avengers movie (which I still refused to watch for years) and I finally like really liked superheroes but it was a very fake, dabbling interest, and then my brother started sending me screenshots of injustice panels and now I don't shut up. 

I also primarily am a DC girlie, most Marvel I've read is either for specific Characters (Black widow, mostly) or because my eighth grade teacher lent me the comics. 

It's so annoying to have to find them, and worse when it's like random issues? So you're like "oh is this the new issue of (comic)? Well,,, it is *an* issue." And then you click on it and have to get like halfway through to know if you've read it or not. 

And some of them really are *so* long and that's so much to keep track of- I used to just have like 100 open tabs on my phone and they were all just different comics I was reading. Then I made a list just to remember what still running comics I was even reading so I'd remember to read new issues and that didn't even work. 

I loved BOP don't get me wrong! (Especially since I don't know if I already said that) but I am also the type of person who will complain about every little thing. (not all the time, and usually just inside my head, but like one thing I usually bring up with the movie is the way it's kind of weird that they like? Smashed Black Canary's two backstories together to make one? It's just a weird choice to me so I'll talk about that but it doesn't ruin the movie for me) Cass However is a big thing Im not a fan of. They didn't even make her a better character she's just lame. 

And in movies generally it's kind of annoying how studies and other movies can dictate things. I don't know if that makes sense, but how like in Marvel Spiderman was owned by someone else so he could never be in the main timeline. I understand why but it's still? Sad I guess? I don't think any of that made sense I am so sorry. 

I'm also sad that the DCEU is just non existent now. They're fumbling that ball so hard. I feel like they finally got somewhere? Like BOP was a very good movie (granted, it didn't get good reviews because women aren't allowed to exist, so I don't know how good it was for the studio's) and wonder woman was doing good. They had a lot of hype. And they just? Threw it away. Gal Gadot was loved as Diana but they threw that out. Same with Henry Cavill. They're making a mistake, I think. 

(I personally would probably consume little DCEU content anyway, because I don't like tv or movies, buy I 100% would've watched the Jurnee Smollet black canary show that was rumored to be in the works and am sad that has been thrown out) 

I've never heard of Luke Mitchell but I just googled him and that's not a bad fancast tbh. I personally am I did hard for Charlie Hunnam's fan cast though I think he's probably too rugged for Ollie. And all of that aside it still would've been really great to get any black canary or black canary and Green Arrow content. 

I bought a new comic today (Batgirl #1, rebirth) and found out I already owned it because my comic collection is such a mess since it's all from the dollarstore :(  I own the first Bombshells United, and other than that I haven't read any. I wanted it to be like, a comic I owned all of and read in person but I don't have the funds for that. 

I might use that site I appreciate that. I do the same thing but what I use is covered in bad pop ups and continuously opens new tabs I have ti be careful to delete and not open (I don't know how I still have a phone, but they almost certainly have all of my personal information). 

I don't know how comics heavy of a mood I'm in ATM (it's one of those things y'know, where you're like !! This is my main hobby!! And then you start it and you're like "I would literally rather die then do this hobby right now." ) but I will try to read the bombshells runs- I went as Bombshell Black Canary for Halloween a few years ago, so I AM a fan. And I'll try to finish secret six (do I know where I am? No. But I think it'll be worth it) 

​​​​​​​Also I'm so sorry that it took me this long I forgot I was doing this and got really distracted trying to see how likely id be to die if I broke into SeaWorld I did not mean to forget to send this 

no need to apologize on timing! i completely understand both life being busy and also being easily distracted & forgetting things. (for example, i started responding to this ask, and then very suddenly decided i needed to finish reading the batgirl 2000 run so that i could start on injustice bc my curiosity for it has been mounting, and now its almost 3am and i really should go to sleep so i might have to draft this to finish responding to hopefully tomorrow, but i’ve got a drive to do tomorrow so it may end up being a bit and now i’m going to apologize for the delay in my response and i do see the irony in that)

i have to ask, are you looking into breaking into seaworld to help the animals or more so just to see thats something you can do (no judgement either way im just genuinely very fascinated by that sentence)

okay under the cut i got ramble again

nothing wrong with being a classy girly girl! i was definitely inbetween being a tomboy and a girly girl personally. i didnt get into the superhero animated shows until i was like, 11? i didnt really have much exposure to superheroes much before finding the shows, but i got my little sibling to watch some of the shows with me

i remember watching the avengers (2012) maybe like a year or so after it came out (it was on netflix at the time) but im pretty sure i started by watching the shows (i remember being disappointed bc the wasp wasnt in the movie even tho in the show she was one of the founding members, which i believe is the same in the comics, and i really liked wasp from the show. i did enjoy the movie, but i never watched any of the sequels until endgame, which at that point i watched solely bc i was promised captain marvel and then they only gave me like 5 minutes of her.

as for marvel comics i’ve mostly read young avengers & runaways stuff. i can’t remember if i got around to any captain marvel comics but i was gifted the novelization that came out after the movie that was like an (unofficial?) prequel to it and i did enjoy reading that.

on the note of random comic issues i literally bought a like 50 pack of random comics that was like idk some kinda deal and that is most of my comic collection which is just literally random issues, i think its all dc stuff but it could be a mix of dc and marvel? i'm back at my parents now so i'll have to dig out the box to take home with me before i leave so i can go through it. another thing thats frustrating with comics is when theres like a uhh like story that spans across multiple different comic runs? like i was reading the 2000 batgirl run as previously mentioned (i have finished it now) but i did ended up just skimming a few issues bc they were a part of some bigger batfam plot that was spanning across other comics and i could not be bothered to go find the issues that that particular story continued through.

totally fair to be the person who likes to complain about every little thing, and super valid to like a movie and also have some issues with it! i can totally respect peoples hangups about the bop movie not being a perfect comic adaptation and i would agree, but to me being a perfect adaptation and being a perfect movie are not mutually exclusive and i will hold it in my heart as a perfect movie aksdjglk (its right up there with the old guard in my personal movie rankings) my problem is when people hate it for stupid reasons (i still remember seeing a post hating on the movie for how it killed black mask ((it wasn't a good enough death for him)) like this movie isn't about him!! hes a loser! the only "better" option for his death is if harley ran him over with a combine tractor bc i think that would be funny as hell. but i dont think gotham is the type of city that has a lot of combine tractors.)

yeah as far as the dceu goes i didnt have any attachment to the batman or superman films (i only watched bvs for wonder woman lajdfkjladf) but like the 1st wonder woman was really good! (didnt watch the second one bc i heard poor reviews of it ((and not just from fanboys who can't take a female centric superhero movie))), i enjoyed the aquaman movie and the 1st shazam (still need to watch the 2nd one) and obviously i loved bop. i was super excited for the batgirl film and the casting of supergirl (would LOVE to see her get a movie!!) i guess we'll just have to see where things go now. alas. i’m more of a tv show guy anyways. (not that there’s the best history for live action dc tv shows either…but they sure do. exist! and i sure have consumed a large quantity!)

yeah i’m also so mad about the BC show being thrown out i was sooo excited for it :(((

god super valid re buying a comic you already have. i lowkey wanna find out if there is a nice comic book store near where im living rn bc at the very least it could be a nice way to force myself to get out for reasons other than to go to work and to grocery stores (though idk if it’s a good idea financially but it could be a cool. occasional treat)

also SUPER valid w the not being in a heavy comic mood, it really is smth that comes n goes like the tide and it’s like a big mental investment (at least in my opinion) to delve into the comics world and sometimes there’s just not enough brain to spare! no worries/pressure on picking it back up. (but if you do, and check out bombshells, united comes after the original run so i would rec starting w the originals first!)

also :O going as bombshells bc for halloween is SO cool mad respect (i loveeeee her bombshells design. which. i love MOST of the bombshells designs but. y’know) i tried to go as black canary for halloween one year i got leather boots and a leather jacket and maybe leather pants and a blonde wig. i was aiming for an arrowverse black canary (e1 laurel lance) but i didn’t really match even that well lol. oh well.

okay i am gonna wrap up this reply bc i do feel like i could ramble literally forever and i already feel bad about the late response but i do have a question regarding injustice. as far as where to start, i looked up the reading order and there’s like the prequel (year zero?) which the article i found said you don’t have to start with or even read at all so i was wondering what your thoughts were on the best place to start/if the prequel is any good

hope you’re having a lovely day!!

[giddleford]

Now that this has gotten an influx of notes I've been thinking that making Quark a writer would've been very interesting for several reasons.

For starters he'd have a creative hobby which y'know, we love to see it. But also he wouldn't be the only writer in the station. Imagine Quark giving Jake some pointers on the book he was writing not just on realism. Now wouldn't that be interesting?

And then there's the whole matter of Far Beyond the Stars. Herbert Rossoff is a writer. And Douglas Pabst, as his editor, reads everything he writes. He evaluates it, critiques it, has it put in the magazine. And look we don't know much about those characters but we do know the following:

1. Herb complains a lot but never leaves.

2. Herb is the best paid writer in the whole bunch.

Tell me Herb isn't Pabst's favorite, tell me that Herb doesn't write for Pabst. Now change their names around, make it Odo and Quark instead. Y'see what I'm getting at? I'm going insane.

Concept: Quark has been writing Bajoran erotica on the side now for years. It started with a script heavy holonovel commission that got published in writing and got more fame than he'd been expecting. So he continued with his writing, making a name for himself always in the comfort of anonymity.

Now here's the real meat of this: While on his flight to the trial in the beginning of the Ascent what Quark starts reading out loud from Odo's PADD is no other but one of his best selling novels. Add onto it the fact that Odo expressed in passing that it happened to be his favorite author and now Quark has to deal with several facts:

1. Odo reads Bajoran erotica, and a lot of it.

2. Odo has read his erotica.

3. Odo thinks of him as his favorite author.

[seabreezeraincloud]

I'm a big fan of the Tangled series' animation style too! I'll admit by saying that it may not as appealing looking in comparison to shows like Gravity Falls & Owl House, but being a huge fan of the Disney animation studio films, the art style in the series works very well for me. I'm hoping they'll continue to use that art style for their upcoming Tiana & Moana series.

It's ironic that you mention Gravity Falls, because that's a show whose style actually was an acquired taste for me. When I began watching it for the first time, I did not like the art style going in. That's right; I used to be a "bean mouth" hater. Obviously this was like 10 years ago and I grew to like it eventually (and become more open-minded on art in general), but even now I wouldn't say the style is amazing or anything, and I certainly wouldn't say it's better than Tangled's. The animation itself is very high quality, and the backgrounds are gorgeous and really bring out the atmosphere the show is aiming for. It's undeniably a very good-looking show; I just prefer big colored eyes over tiny black dot eyes, I guess.

And like...as much as I now disagree with what I thought of the style back in 2012, I think it's good to remind myself that I did hold that opinion and I almost didn't watch the show because of it. I almost missed out on Gravity Falls because I didn't like how it looked. I'm so glad I gave it a chance anyway because it ended up being an amazing experience that I'll look back on fondly for the rest of my life. It just goes to show that I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss an animated series just for its visual style.

Now, The Owl House definitely has a style that appeals more to my personal tastes. I feel like if it came out 10 years ago, I probably would've been less hesitant to watch it than Gravity Falls. Back in 2019, while the cartoon community was raving over Amphibia - a show I was pretty "meh" on at the time - this was the "Gravity Falls successor" show I was really looking forward to (it's probably my biggest "I liked it before it was cool" flex lol), and I really do think that was not only because of the premise and setting seeming more interesting to me, but because of the art style being a bit more distinct from Gravity Falls'. That's not even to mention how great the animation is in the show. I'd probably rank it right below Tangled in terms of my favorite DTVA visuals.

When it comes to how Tiana and Moana will be animated...eh, I don't know. Part of me would be happy to see them take inspiration from Tangled because it's a style that I love so much, but another part of me likes that it's a style unique to Tangled that gives the series its own identity and doesn't really want it just copy-and-pasted onto other Disney Princess shows. I know Disney Princess properties borrowing heavily from each other's styles is nothing new, but still, they don't have to all look alike, y'know? That said, I certainly can't see myself complaining if they did decide to make them look similar to Tangled. I kind of doubt Tiana will get this treatment since The Princess and the Frog is already a 2D-animated property, but I can see Moana potentially going this route (unless they decide to take the path of "noticeably lower quality 3D", which I would be a bit disappointed by). I guess it partially depends on whether the animation for these shows will be done at WDAS or outsourced to another studio like Mercury, which I haven't seen any confirmation for, but...I'm assuming it will probably be outsourced since that's what Disney usually does for their animated TV shows. I haven't been following the updates that closely though. It'll be easier to form an opinion when they get closer to release, but regardless, I am looking forward to these shows.

Anyway...yup, I am a Tangled series art and animation lover through and through. It was the right call to go for a unique style instead of trying to replicate the movie's or even a more traditional WDAS style. It's so pleasing to look at and I will always be salty that Disney never gave us an art book or at least a physical version of Rapunzel's journal.

[orange-waterfalls]

Feelings? No. Never.

Illinois x gender neutral!reader

@edgynoise ty for the request!

A/N: Illinois falling in love and not knowing what to do with it. I loved writing this lol. There's a dog, and I chose a hypoallergenic dog bc... Y'know... Uh, Illinois being big dumb. Real men don't have FEELINGS. Rated T for cursing and hurt pupper. Don't worry, she gets better. Fluffy. Enjoy.

Word Count: 2.1k

--

Illinois was a bit intimidated by you. You two had a lot in common. You both loved adventure, you both were fearless, and you both could be too arrogant at times. The difference was you were more aggressive about it. He wouldn't lie, he got worried when you asked him if he dared you to jump over a pit of snakes.

Another difference was you were softer than him. You loved children and animals, and were very kind and caring. Illinois didn't really like kids and most animals just annoyed him. He wasn't the caring type. You two complimented each other well.

One problem.

Illinois had fallen in love with you.

He wasn't sure when or how it happened, but all he knew was that whenever he saw you playing with a baby or a dog or something like that, he couldn't help smiling.

Illinois had fallen in love before. At least, he was pretty sure he had. It had been a while. But the overwhelming desire to see you happy may have tipped him off a bit.

But he was honestly a bit scared.

Feelings were nothing but trouble. They had no place in his line of work. You risked your lives every day, there was no room for a relationship. Besides, he wasn't the relationship type. He was married to his job! The only thing he loved was adventure! And now, apparently, you. What was he supposed to do with that? Ask you out? No. He couldn't. He wouldn't. He'd get over this soon enough.

Then a week passed. Then two weeks. Then two months. And that mushy, touchy-feely, butterflies-in-your-stomach emotion he felt towards you hadn't faded a bit. In fact, it may have just gotten bigger.

He would sit with you while you did absolutely anything, just wanting to be around you. He would watch you from across the room, adoration visible in his eyes. Whenever he talked to you, love and affection dripped from his voice.

He hated it.

He couldn't control it! His face started heating whenever you touched him, and he started giggling like a schoolgirl when he thought of you. This wasn't like him. He needed to stop. But he wasn't sure how to stop.

And he didn't need to.

You two had discovered some temple ruins and Illinois decided to explore. He had hoped some adventure would take his mind off of things.

As it turns out, going on an adventure with the person you are in love with will not help you get over the person you are in love with.

You decided to walk through town on the way over instead of driving, just because. He thought it was a waste of time, but you wanted to see everything. So, you walked.

While walking you froze as you heard a small whine from an alleyway.

"Illinois," you called so he'd stop. He turned to you.

"What's wrong?" He asked. You didn't answer as you spun towards the alley and went in. Illinois followed you, curious in what you were doing. You slowly stepped through the alley, keeping your ears open, until both of you heard another whine. You rush towards the source of the noise and find a Portuguese Water-Dog puppy. Its fur was black, so you barely saw that its leg was bleeding. You gasped and laid your hand on the pup.

"Aw, Illinois! Look at it!" You said sadly. Illinois rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, great. Drop it at the vet so we can go." You turned to him and frowned. He suddenly felt guilty.

"No! I can't just abandon it! I found it and now it's my responsibility," you claimed. Illinois sighed in annoyance. He didn't even try to argue because he knew he couldn't change your mind.

You lifted up the small pup and cradled it in your arms, shushing it gently. Illinois tried to look annoyed, but his brain decided to make a ton of serotonin in that exact moment and he smiled at you. You two stood for a moment, you cradling the dog, Illinois smiling at you lovingly. You looked up at him and smirked.

"There a problem, Illy?" You chuckled. Illinois snapped out of his trance and widened his eyes at you. He cleared his throat.

"Uh, no. Let's just… let's just go," he said and turned around, walking back to where you came from. You jogged to catch up to him, staring at the puppy in adoration.

"I'm gonna call them… Indiana," you said. Illinois turned to you.

"Really?" He asked, offended. You laughed.

"Yeah, really! It'll be too confusing to name you both Illinois," you explained. He turned away from you, his face flushing.

"Yeah… okay," he mumbled.

--

A couple days after you nursed the puppy back to health, you made Illinois go with you to buy stuff for it. You held his hand as you dragged him around the pet store, holding the puppy in your arms as well. You repeatedly referred to her as your daughter, and told him he was her parent as well. Not to mention, a bunch of people walking around were whispering you two looked cute together.

This was not at all helping with Illinois' feelings for you. He wanted them to leave, not for other people to know about it.

"Y/N can you… not hold my hand and… stop calling me its dad?" He asked, sounding annoyed. Your happy face dropped a bit, but you nodded and let go of his hand. He immediately regretted his decision after 5 minutes of missing your hand in his. You had bought the puppy a collar, a leash, a bed, bowls, food, and a couple of toys. You forced Illinois to pick the toys out, since he was going to be living with the dog too. You wanted him and the pup to get along. He groaned but picked out five, and complained when you told him that was enough. You could tell he was having fun.

You drove the puppy back to you and Illinois' house. You both had thought it made more sense for you to live together, since you started adventuring together.

Yep. That was the only reason, alright.

You set the puppy's bed next to yours and set her on the floor.

"Go on, Indiana!" You urged. The pup wobbled over to the bed, her leg wrapped in bandages. She circled for a minute before laying down on it and soon falling asleep. You stared at her for a while before Illinois tapped you on the shoulder. You turned to him, wondering what he wanted. He held up the newspaper article about the cursed treasure that had originally made you two go on your adventure.

Well, before you found the puppy and forgot about adventure altogether.

You called a doggy daycare so you could drop Indiana off and go on the adventure. You anticipated you'd be away for the entire weekend, so you asked one of your friends to pick her up and drop her off each day. Once they agreed, you and Illinois packed your stuff.

Well, you packed your stuff. Illinois still had his bag from the first time you went.

You two tossed your bags in the backseat and sat in the car, ready for danger.

--

You two had been walking inside the actual ruins for 2 hours. There were so many different pathways you could go, and somehow, none of the ones you chose so far were correct. You had found plenty of rooms with treasure in them, but every time you took one, something went wrong.

First there was a golden statue that he'd replaced with a rock, and a boulder began to chase you both. You ended up back where you started, unhurt but very annoyed.

Then, a golden lamp sitting in the middle of a room. When Illinois grabbed it, the walls started to close in on you two. There wasn't enough time to run out, so you shot your grappling hook at the door and swung your way out. Illinois' hat almost got crushed. It wouldn't have been bad, but he would've complained to you until he eventually bought a new one.

Another memorable one was when the ground closed in under you and you fell into a pit of vipers. Before Illinois could even ask if you were ok, you climbed up the walls with two knives, smiling and saying you were good. Illinois thought it was impossible to fall more in love with you, yet here we are.

You were on your fourth pathway, and there wasn't anything interesting so far. You two normally just walked in comfortable silence, but Illinois initiated conversation.

"So, partner," he called. You turned towards him with a small smile.

"Hm?" You asked.

"Why do you like adventuring so much?" Your eyes widened as you laughed at the question.

"Well, uh… that's a long story…"

"We got time, don't we?"

You were quiet for a moment before you started telling your entire life story.

--

Half an hour into you talking and Illinois' smile hadn't faltered a bit. He loved your voice oh, so much. You had gone from talking about your childhood to what you did last week, and he listened to everything. You sped up as you talked so Illinois, with his slow saunter, fell a bit behind. He began to zone out and think.

He loved you… at this point, he knew he did. You were amazing… he loved you so much… What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to kiss you… well, he did. But not yet. He didn't know if you'd want to. He didn't know if you liked him. He had no way of figuring that out without telling you he liked you. And what if you didn't? Your friendship could be ruined! He didn't want that… he wouldn't survive. It's not like he could just… pin you up against the wall and hope you kissed him… could he? Well, he didn't have much to lose. If you didn't like him, maybe he could beg you to be friends with him again. Worth a shot.

"Y/N?" He called. He held your hand, stopping you from going farther. You turned towards him.

"What is it?" You asked.

He grabbed your shoulders and gently pinned you against the wall. Your eyes widened as you looked at him. One hand moved to the side of your neck, and he moved his other hand against the wall, straightening his arm. He was absently rubbing his thumb over your jaw, staring at your lips. He stepped closer to you, moving the hand against the wall to the other side of your neck. You held your breath as he stood dangerously close to you, your bodies almost touching.

"You're… so wonderful…" he whispered. One hand moved to your chin as he stared at your lips. You weren't smiling.

That was bad.

He worriedly looked at your eyes, seeing only confusion. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Just… kiss me if you like me back…" he begged. After a few seconds of nothing, he began moving away from you. "I'm so--" you grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him into a kiss. Illinois, caught off guard, buckled a bit. You pulled him back up and he started kissing back. Your bodies were up against each other and he wasn't sure if he could handle anymore. If he'd ascended into heaven right then and there, he wouldn't be surprised. You ran your fingers through his hair and tugged, pulling him impossibly closer to you. He whined and mentally beat himself up for it. He was supposed to make you make those noises. He reluctantly pulled away for breath.

"What the hell are you doing to me?" He murmured. You chuckled.

"I don't know. What am I doing?"

"You're throwing off my entire vibe is what you're doing," You both laughed and he watched you in awe. "I love you…" you stopped laughing and looked at him. Shit, shit, shit. Too soon… he scolded himself. You smiled at him and softly pecked him on the lips again.

"I love you too…" you mumbled. You both gaze adoringly at each other before you wiggled out from your spot between him and the wall, continuing down the pathway. "Come on! I'm not leaving without some sort of reward!" You yelled. He smirked.

"What? Ain't I enough reward, darlin'?" He asked. You rolled your eyes.

"You're good, but love won't pay the bills. Besides, we have a daughter now!"

"Right…"

"Well… I guess you're technically her step-dad, but you can still form a relationship!"

"Oh, shut up." You snickered at him and kept walking. He sighed.

Feelings could be good sometimes.