#like SO comically hard the writers never show their faces in public again

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

oh my god they released the fucking renfield movie in brazil.fucking amazing now everyone here can know about pop psychology and start commiting even MORE hate crimes against the mentally ill

[nono-bunny]

When Eric Coleman, someone who worked closely on ATLA since its inception, understands that the biggest and most satisfying "hero's journey" of the show isn't even the hero's, I feel like that's kind of a clear indication not only of success with Zuko's character, but of failure with Aang's

I feel like as much as I came to hate Aang, I more than anyone would have been delighted to see him emerge triumphant after facing his issues, addressing them, and using what he learns to move on- but the one who ends up perfectly embodying that spirit of learning and growing from your mistakes is instead Zuko, while Aang sits on his ass, does jack-all, and gets all the credit! Aang NEVER grows as a person, both throughout the course of the show and through everything we know of him after it, and in perfect ironic contrast Zuko is ALWAYS growing, always working hard, always striving to do the right thing...

Like! I LOVE ATLA, I do! But it was NEVER because of Aang, and always because of the people around him. Even in the very beginning, I feel like I'm infinitely more interested in watching Sokka and Katara interact with each other and their tribe than I am with anything to do with him, and that's a problem!

When your main character only ever strives to be comic relief when the narrative needs him to be the hero, and he refuses to answer the call at every turn and has to be strong armed into doing his job both by other characters in universe and by the writers every time they need him to do his job... It's not good!!! He never gets past that!! He always has to have someone shove him towards being the hero, and his "reluctant hero" thing never stops! They previously talked about how sometimes the world needs the "reluctant hero", but that's like? A character archetype they should grow out of, that's the whole thing! They gain experience and confidence in themselves and their abilities, they become invested in the main conflicted and want to help resolve it, but??? Aang literally never does! He gets set up to start changing with Guru Pathik, his flightiness is addressed as an AWFUL thing by the other characters, but all of that flies out the window over and over and over again! He gets handed so many great scenarios where he SHOULD have chosen to step up, SHOULD have chosen to do the right thing, and he always chooses NOT to- because it's easier, because he knows others have grown used to picking up his slack... Because he ultimately doesn't care about anyone other than himself and his own self interests and his public image- those are canonical (even if not outright spoken like his flightiness) character flaws of his, and they're a great starting point for a hero to grow from.... But he never does, even when gives SO many perfect chances to, so he kinda just remains forever stuck as an asshole, entitled, brat.

[justmybookthots]

Caraval

Just finished my 50th book of the year and it's… Caraval.

Yes, by Stephanie Garber, who wrote the OUABH series, which I utterly despised. (I'd already forsaken this series by Book 2 and I'm just cackling people were disappointed by Book 3.) Caraval is claimed by many to be worse than OUABH, so I honestly was debating kicking it off my list or just ignoring it forever? But then I saw it in the library, and you must understand that it is NEVER in the library. It is always on loan for some godforsaken reason. So, I borrowed it, out of a scholarly curiosity, you can say.

I went into it expecting to hate it, and I… didn't. 

To me, this was more enjoyable than OUABH? At least, the first seventy-percent. I was really enjoying every page and wondering why the general public hated it? The premise was really fascinating—a girl trapped in some magical game with so many twists and turns—and I had soooooo many questions and… yeah.

Now…. spoilers.

The last thirty-percent kicked in and I went from intrigued to confused and not enjoying it anymore. The writing was so WEIRD when Julian 'died'. I couldn't feel anything at all while Scarlett wept in the most comical fashion for her man, lol. It's hard to put a finger as to what went wrong, but all  I can say is that the writing did not execute it properly. Lord, it was so over the top. Also, I just didn't care much for Julian and the plot twist about his identity came to no surprise to me. 

This man did the stupidest and most bewildering shit; why did he just stand there and let Scarlett's father slash his face? I swear to the heavens, Stephanie loves writing her men as martyrs, and the women their Bob the Builders. The whole "I'm bad and there's no redemption for me, I have secrets you should be afraid of so stay away" made me hurl. AND WHAT FOR? The ending reveals that none of his tragic backstory was real ANYWAY.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY JULIAN STAYED BEHIND TO STAY WITH SCARLETT WHEN HIS ROLE WAS APPARENTLY JUST TO BRING HER TO CARAVAL. You're telling me it was love at first sight? It was so confusing and unconvincing.

Also the last part where Tella introduces Scarlett to 'Daniel' and then Scarlett goes to the balcony and then 'Daniel' reveals himself followed by the sisters' father showing up and then Tella dramatically jumping off the balcony… I was actually laughing during this scene because it felt like I was reading a badly done play. It's supposed to be sad, intense and dramatic (I think?) but I was just like… "What is going on, why is everyone yelling" and when Scarlett wept again for her dead sister, I was on the floor.

It was so bad. 😭

And guess what? It turned out NONE OF THIS MATTERED ANYWAY. The whole play was Legend doing Tella a favour and pulling this whole charade so that they could escape their dad by having Tella fake her death in front of him. I……. WHAT. All this… when it was just to fake a death? Surely there were less dramatic ways than this? Julian's backstory was fake, Julian's death was fake, everything was a cop-out. Even him giving up one day of his life for her was… for what, exactly? I'm so lost. And Scarlett just went, "I FORGIVE YOU" and bats her lashes. I swear this happened twice. The man pulls something on her, she stews, then goes, "I fOrGiVe yOu". 

Seriously, how bored are Legend and his performers to pull this madness/rigmarole just for these two sisters to escape their dad? I understand he made a deal with Tella and now he wants her to give him something in exchange, but it felt so…. WEIRD. I cannot believe the first 70% of suspense and fun just got smashed into pieces by this horrible ending. 

That said, I really am curious as to Legend's identity, and I want to know more about what he wants in return from Tella. Stephanie Garber is definitely not for me as a writer (the way she writes her heroines is cringe as fuck, same as her heroes) but I still want to check this trainwreck out. I'll see how it goes. For the most part, I enjoyed this book more than I didn't. I'm GLAD Legend didn't show himself at the end. If the man that claimed to be Legend in the last couple of chapters had really been Legend, I'd have been so disappointed.

- 30 Oct

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, January 21, Part II

[Fandom Discussions]

The dynamic of their relationship is Addicting by watermelonrindsstuff

hey remember when kendra was born and bred for a role she didn’t inherit by automatonwithautonomy

but let me busy say… i understand fuffy completely by selkiemaidenfae

Bookshop AU: Where Willow and Tara meet at a bookshop instead of on campus at a Wiccan group. by

Dark Tillow, anyone? by magickinthewillows

buffy comes home from work and patrol with a doublemeat burger for dawn for dinner by mattholicguilt

i definitely appreciate the boom studios buffy comics for pairing up characters that weren’t a thing in the shows by xaeyrnofnbe

s6 buffy LOVES that she has such power over spike. by lesbianmarrow

i never understood the hate “go fish” gets by mousewithapencil

To me Faith was never evil or bad. by suiriswhite

The btvs Angelus arc changed me by goblins-riddles-or-frocks

Spike should have been friends with Tara and Anya as well as Dawn. by sparklyfaerie

buffyverse shipping drama is truly where nuance goes to die by all-seeing-ifer

actually thinking about it the weird in between space cangel are in by all-seeing-ifer

Wesley’s arc in the second half of Angel season 3 is so heartbreaking. by autumnknight

AtS's overarching villain and its themes by Stoney

Wolfram and Hart's organ-harvesting facility is one of the most terrifying moments in the show. by bringouttheolives

Implanted memories by Lookintomyhazeleyes

Anya had every right to sleep with Spike by Ok_Addendum_8115

If they made Dawn from Buffys Essence, then wouldn't that technically make Dawn, Buffys Daughter by letingsername

Season Six Buffy is a much better person than me... by HumanBeing182

Unpopular Opinion About the Trio by grxveyard_girl

How Did Amy Know Where to Find Rack and Who He Was? by Anna_Begins

Just a quick question on the novels by Getafix69

Unfair Treatment of Buffy in S6 by KookyChapter3208

WHY DIDN'T THEY CALL FOR HELP!?!?!?? by Goofy_ahh_cat_meme

Realizing Fred could have left by Erawk

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Giles deserved better by Zealousideal_Pie9102

That one episode by keli31

Are the Powers That Be ever a thing on Buffy (again)? by yeahitsme9

Missed opportunity of Marcie by DickJames19

Is Regular Gun the most powerful weapon in the Buffyverse? by charlespdk

What minor thing in a plot or subplot would you change? by jogaforacont

Wiilow and Gabrielle by not_firewood_yeti

I love this scene, the look on Oz’s face when he realizes it’s “that girl” by literary_freak

Buffy season 6 getting a job by Illustrious_Plate803

I can pinpoint the exact second I became a fan by WerdNerd88

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An apology to Angel fans by HockneysPool

Why this is too hard to watch by melbreddituser

In this scene, Robin looks at Spike in the MIRROR by Miwha_24

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Just caught this Alien Easter egg in Harms Way by Good_Ad3485

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Buffy novels by Realistic-Drama8463

Thoughts on Angel show. by SubjectTie6218

What Happened to the Box Spike Stole from Joel Grey that Was Going to Help Stop Glory? by Traditional-Sort2385

Weird, probably unimportant take: I've always wondered how Tara experienced Buffy during the moment by shukii89

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[hamburgerhelpersotherhand]

Infatuation P11

Joe Goldberg x Reader x Love Quinn

Warnings: Violent scene description, death.

Notes: Wow, this seems really out of nowhere to post. Anyway 🤪 I don’t want this sitting in my drafts anymore so I’m going to let you all know if I edit it before the next update. Just... take it.

I spent the better half of the day looking over my shoulder as I worked. Candace’s sudden reappearance isn’t going to be swept under the rug just like that... she’s a dead girl walking and I’ve never been a fan of the zombie genre.

By the time I was counting the money from the cash register, Love seemed to have grown a smile. Though, I could still see the sleep deprivation in her eyes.

“Will,” She leaned forward on the counter, perching her head up on her hand. “could we do something tonight?”

At that moment, I really wish I could’ve said yes. But... I couldn’t afford to get distracted.

“Maybe another night? I’m...” I thought quickly, placing coins down and counting.

“We need to talk.” She leans forward to catch my sight. About what exactly, I want to ask but before I can even get a word out, Forty walks in with his mouth open.

“Will, would you be a doll and help me with something.”

I don’t say anything, only thinking to myself: why here and now? Forty has some of the worst timing... and then I spot Candace. Right behind Forty, with a white smile I hated to see.

“Oh, Will. This is Amy.” Love gestures toward Candace and my stomach turns and probably does some flips while it’s at it. If I wasn’t so used to staring into the face of death, I would of probably thrown up by now.

But, there’s no way.

“She’s Y/N’s friend.” Forty finishes. I bite the inside of my cheek. No fucking way she’s here unprompted. I’ve been so incredibly meticulous about everything including my online presence.

I look to Love’s face and she seems to spot something.

“Are you okay? You look kind of pale.” What? She’s not going to ask if I’ve seen a ghost?

“Yeah— no, yeah. I’m alright.” I smile wide, wiping my brow as I do. “It’s just—“ I turn to ‘Amy’. “Is Y/N still in town?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here.” She looks me in the eye. For a moment, I feel myself crack under the pressure.

Hold me back, I might just kill her now.

“What do you mean?” Love looks to her.

“I was supposed to pick her up the other day, but she hasn’t responded to my messages since.” Candace looks at me with those dead soulless eyes of hers.

So, she’s the mysterious driver. When did she start driving that type of car? Since she’s decided to pursue a career in stealthily ruining my life?

What the fuck am I going to do about her and what the hell am I going to do about you?

“Will,” Love suddenly says, bringing the conversation back and snapping me out of my thoughts. “didn’t you see Y/N?”

“Y— no. No, I know it was late by the time I got there, but I passed a bus on my way.” I remember the way your soft face felt in my hand. “Could she have taken public transport? Maybe a cab?”

“I highly doubt it.” Candace replies immediately. I’m sweating, but I’m trying not to lose my cool.

I finally finish sorting through the change, no doubt making some mistakes. But with that done and out of my way, I need an excuse to slip through the cracks.

“Listen, I’m sure she’s just disappearing again. You’ve told me she’s done it before, I don’t see why she wouldn’t do it again.”

Love shifts around, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. “I’m calling Lucy.”

And there she goes. Love leaves the room after her statement, and I know she’s feeling worse. Why did you even bother coming back? You’ve literally disrupted everything in our lives... it’s going to be difficult to fix, Y/N. There’s no simple way around this, we just have to make it through alive.

~

Love remained in another room at Anavrin until it closed and the street lights turned on. She quietly spoke into her phone, observing the floor pathetically.

She spoke with Lucy openly, though she avoided the topic of your sudden disappearance.

The conversation eventually dies down, and she says her goodbyes.

“I need to show you something.”

Love sets down her phone and looks to Amy. She hadn’t noticed her enter the room.

“You surprised me. What is it?”

She continues once Love’s attention is on her. “I know we don’t know each other that well, but do you mind if we discuss it in the car?”

~

And just as expected, Forty’s one-off comment about needing help wasn’t easily forgotten by himself. I was dragged out of Anavrin rather quickly. Though, in a way, I appreciated the easy excuse to get away from such a venemous snake as Candace.

Forty never let up, no matter how obvious I made my lack of care, he remained just as motivated and just as annoying.

“Listen, this is probably my most prestigious and ambitious project to date.” Forty’s arm swings itself over my shoulder, bringing me in as he repeats the same garbage he always does. I’m glad to see that spirit remains.

“They’re wanting to make it into a movie, can you believe that?” Forty’s arm lifts itself, only to fall down on my shoulder like a pat on the back.

“I’d love it if you could... you know... help me out. A genius writer isn’t a genius without their ghost writers!”

That’s... not what that is, but I get his point.

When I looked at him, his eyes were wide and his bottom lip stuck out comically. He was pouting? No, it’s more of a puppy dog look. The lazy man’s pretty please.

I should have time for this, even if I’d rather stop by the nearest gas station and get you dinner.

“Earth to Will, I need you focused!”

~

Love wraps her arms around herself, feeling very out of place.

Amy continues to fumble with the lock, until she hears a click. She perks up and gives Love a nod.

The storage lockers were easy to access, surprisingly so. But none of this felt right.

“Wait.” Love says suddenly, halting all movement. “I don’t want to do this.”

“But you’re just a door away. Please, Love, you’ll want to see this side of him.” Amy pleas.

What side of him? The side that owns this locker she so happened to know about?

“No, I don’t. And I don’t care for it either.” Love says, though she looks unsure of herself as she fiddles with her bag. Perhaps a part of her would rather be unaware of something as vile as Any had dared describe in the car.

“Do you hear yourself? You sound ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous? Thats coming from someone with bold claims.” Love retorts. She catches herself for a moment, seeing a glimpse of someone she repressed long ago. She’s not that person anymore, she swore to herself she never would be.

Despite Love’s reluctance, Amy lifts the door up and pockets her bobby pin.

Hearing the doors roll up, you had expected Joe to step in. But he was nowhere in sight. Instead, you jumped at the image of Love and Amy, pinching yourself to truly believe they were really standing there.

You wanted to speak, to shout, to cry out... but your voice was far too gone. Your throat was hoarse and bone-dry.

“Oh my god.” Amy hurried, observing you inside the glass box. “You’re still alive— she’s still alive!”

Love remained silent, her jaw hung open in utter disbelief. Will... Will had told her you left.

He lied? Or Amy isn’t who she says she is.

But why would he? It... it must’ve been for a good reason, right? Will isn’t this kind of person, right? Maybe— maybe he got himself into something. Love clutched her keys between her fingers, her knuckles turning white as she focused her burning stare into the back of Amy’s head.

“Y/N. Can you hear me?” She says, hitting the glass.

You’re barely responsive, a mixture of dehydration and lack of nutrition hitting you all at once. The sheer excitement from seeing them took a lot out of you.

“We’ll get you out of there.” Amy states, turning her head to face Love.

Love jumps at her sudden movement, grip shaking as she stares into Amy’s eyes.

“Help me, would you?”

Love slashed her keys in Amy’s direction and she tumbles back. Without a second thought, Love does it again, this time catching her straight in the neck.

For a moment, Love realizes what she’s done. With the way you began to pound on the glass and the look of complete and utter fear Amy is giving her, it’s kind of hard not to. Love stares at her keys, stuck inside the side of Amy’s neck as a thick stream of blood flows downward. She grips her own neck, holding tightly as her mouth puckers like a fish out of water.

Amy doesn’t want her to pull them out—the keys- and Love notices that. But she does. She yanks the keys toward herself and watches Amy slap her hands down around her own throat.

She’s silent, surprisingly silent despite the gurgling.

Love watches Amy hit the ground and crawl toward her feet, all the while a pool of blood forms beneath herself.

When Love looks toward you, you’re curled up in the corner of your glass cage, arms covering your eyes as sobs shake you violently. She didn’t want you to witness this side of her, truly. But even more so, she had never wanted it to come out again.

However, Amy was a threat to the three of you. Love knew you were locked up somewhere, how could she not? She knew that Will— Joe- had done this in the past, but it could be different now— it could be better. A private detective isn’t just for show. But Amy didn’t have to get involved— didn’t have to go sniffing around and finding your location before she could.

When she notices you peek past your elbows, she feels her gut clench at the sight of the way you cower at the sight displayed by her feet. Watching someone bleed out is hardly a pretty sight and Love understands.

Knowing full well that she can’t turn back, Love wipes her keys and drops the rolled up door.

[skiyoosmi]

if fate permits

chapter twenty

a taste of his own medicine

previous < masterpost > next

“Hey… uhm… I’m sorry. I’m not sure where to start because I’ve been the worst friend to ya for the past weeks. But I want to start with an apology, I guess… yer probably tired of hearing it, right? … it’s something I’ll never gonna be proud of, my pettiness, I mean… but yeah… I’m sorry, YN. I hope ya believe me when I say yer impo–”

Beep! You sighed, ending yet another voicemail from Atsumu. It’s been almost a week since you and your brother moved out of the apartment and ever since the day after that, your soulmate has yet to cease dropping more than three voicemails every single day.

It wasn’t that you haven’t caught sight of him at school; in fact, you see him everywhere. It’s just so happens that you couldn’t help but avoid him like a plaque. You think he knows it though and you’re actually glad that he’s trying to respect your space (except for the endless ringing of your phone which only gets sent straight to voicemail every time, much like today). Which is why right now, you only stared at his contact, contemplating whether you will entertain his ‘apology.’ He sounds like he regrets it, after all and the fact that you only have less than 10 days before your flight wasn’t helping the situation.

“You know, if you keep having a soft heart like that, I’m betting a hundred bucks you won’t get too far once you become a famous writer. A lot of people will take advantage of you, you know. And don’t even get me started with those haters that disguise themselves as critiques,” Speaking of the devil, Kiyoomi suddenly spoke up, his figure leaning against the doorway of your room, much like the pose your father had when you were leaving your previous apartment.

Hundred bucks, you begin to think, where the hell would your jobless ass get a hundred bucks? You won’t tell him that verbally, of course; you value your life too much to even risk being strangled by your brother’s own hands.

“What do you mean soft heart? Where’d you even get the idea that I’m going to talk to him, doofus!? No way, he needs to learn his lesson,” You huffed, turning to him with an eyebrow raised, as if challenging him. He scoffed, entering your room, and sitting on your bed. You were kind of surprised he did given that your room was still messy as hell; but once again, you opted to keeping your mouth shut.

“It’s written all over your face, dear sister. Plus, you’ve said that a million times already I’m actually tired of hearing it now. After all these years, you think I don’t memorize every habit you have?” He replied, hands taking some of the clothes that were still stored in a brown carton and beginning to fold them neatly before standing up and putting it into your closet. He really does take after your father, from appearances to characteristics, “Your eyes, they speak to me the loudest, telling me every bit of your feelings. In fact, I’m kind of puzzled Atsumu never found out through them. But then again, it just supports the truth that he’s as dumb as he could get.”

This boy doesn’t really miss a chance to voice out his disfavor for your soulmate, huh? You wonder what is it that made him dislike… no, wait dislike was an underestimation… rather, loath Atsumu to the core. Bad first impression? No, your brother was not that petty. Did they have a fight you never knew about? If Atsumu and him ever fought, you were sure as hell you’d be the first one to know, seeing as your best friend practically whines and complains at you at every single thing in his life… so why?

“He hurt you and not just once. It’s not supposed to be my business but technically speaking, you are my sister before you were his soulmate and that’s all I needed to dislike him,” said Kiyoomi, continuing to fold your clothes as if what he said was practically nothing. Was he a mind-reader? You don’t know but perhaps, you could try to convince him to start up a fortune-telling business with you and earn millions.

“… You’re so creepy, ‘Yoomi,” You spoke up after a few moments of silence while he sneered, obviously not pleased with your comical reply, “Forget it! God, it’s so hard to have a serious talk with you.”

You only pursed your lips before bursting out into laughter, making him glare at you before his eyes softened. He hasn’t heard that pure laughter in a long time, after all. For some odd reason, he is proud that it was him that made you happy again like that, even for just a short while. After watching you work on something he doesn’t really know what, probably for the play, (it’s a relief you still have a smile on your face while you were on it though), he stands up, stopping by the doorway again when he heard you speak, “Thanks for being there, ‘Yoomi. Can’t imagine my life without my best brother.”

Kiyoomi knows he’s far from being the best brother in the world; he wasn’t expressive, sweet nor overprotective… but hearing those words from you means he’s at least good and somehow, he’s fine with that. He remains quiet before saying, “You know, your friend Hajime, I think he’s nice.”

He doesn’t say anything more, but he knows that his words reached you; he didn’t miss the way you blushed, after all. He takes note of making you flustered more often.

Osamu grumbles under his breath in annoyance, clenching then unclenching his hands as he watched Yui cling onto his brother’s arm like there was no tomorrow. Doesn’t this girl have any decency left in her blood? They were in the public cafeteria of the university, good heavens! And they haven’t even officially became soulmates AND a couple.

The last thing he wanted on his agenda today was to become a third wheel, much less to his brother; and the fact that it’s not even with you, the true soulmate, his favorite Sakusa (he won’t let Kiyoomi know that though), and best drinking buddy, makes it more unbearable for the gray-haired lad. He could only scowl so hard at his twin, who on the other hand, remained unmoved. At least that’s what Osamu sees but unbeknownst to him, Atsumu just wishes he could go and find you as soon as possible.

He has had enough of you averting your gaze each time you catch each other’s eyes at the theater room. According to his brother, your flight is in ten days which means he only had a few more days to make your friendship right; to make it up to you and prove that you are, indeed, an important figure in his life (cue Osamu’s mocking last night when they talked: “HAH!? You sure do have a peculiar way of showing her that she’s important. You’re making me want to laugh and choke you at the same time.”)

“Oh! Iwaizumi-kun, Tooru and… Sakusa YN?” Yui trails off, making the blonde perk up at the sound of your name, turning his body quickly only to find you already looking back at them with… disappointed eyes? As quickly as it came, it disappeared and soon, you were smiling and waving at Osamu, completely ignoring your “best” friend. Atsumu can only stare at you in disbelief; never, not even once, had you disregarded his existence like that before. Even when you had small arguments, you made sure to acknowledge him with a simple nod.

In addition to your indifference, Hajime only furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at Yui’s greeting, as if he doesn’t know Yui at all, not even as an acquaintance. Hence, the three of you only proceeded to the table Makki, Mattsun and your brother saved for you.

“Eh? Iwaizumi… ignored me?” Yui frowned, obviously not used to being disregarded by the boy who used to give her a greeting every time they come across each other. As far as she could remember, they ended their bond in good terms, without anyone having to feel angry at the other so why is it that he acted that way? Did he hold a grudge after all?

Meanwhile, Atsumu gazed into nothing, your sad eyes flashing into his mind and staying there. Have you given up on him already? Did his nightmare that day actually came true? His trail of thoughts was cut off with Osamu’s voice speaking with amusement plastered on his face, “ooh, a taste of his own medicine, huh YN?”

He smirks, finding his brother’s suffering oddly satisfying. He too, like Kiyoomi, has his limits as to Atsumu’s undesired talent of hurting you (he knows the blonde was also suffering but you know, it just really gets on his nerves how blind his twin could get). So right after saying that, he stands up, picking up his tray that holds his food and beginning to walk where your table was.

“Samu! Where are you going?” The said lad looks back at his blonde twin weirdly before shrugging, “YN and Kiyoomi’s table, where else? You can’t expect me to stay on the table with you two, it’s weird.”

“So… you really can’t remember anything about your soulmate? Like who it is or something?” Oikawa asked, staring at Hajime’s hands, as if he’d be able to see anything on his pinky. Unfortunately for him, the ex-captain was not given the ability to be a Moira so he wouldn’t be able to see any changes no matter how long or hard he looks. The spiky-haired lad merely groans, feeling a headache coming due to his dear friend’s pestering, “Yes. I told you that already. I just woke up, saw my thread black and now, I can’t remember anything about who it is.”

“But you can remember us? It’s just the soulmate stuff you forgot?”

“Well, I’m talking to you right now, am I not, you dumbass?” Hajime snarled; an inch close to punching his best friend in the face. Beside him, you look down, feeling the sadness and heartbreak for him because even those feelings were lost the moment he woke up. If you let go of Atsumu, will this also happen to you? You can only give a pathetic laugh at your silly question; of course, it will. You weren’t some kind of special Moira that will be exempted from that ‘curse.’ But you wonder, how would he react? Would he be sad? Or would he just forget about you too and just throw everything you had away? It seems so easy for him to do that, after all.

Now that you witness what’s gonna happen upon cutting the thread, a part of you somehow wishes you should’ve just told him when it was still early, when you were still young and problem-free. Maybe he would’ve given you a promise like those in the movies wherein he says he would marry you once you get older. Maybe he would’ve been able to love you if you could’ve just given him a chance to do so. But it’s your fault, isn’t it? Because you were a coward; you were so greedy for true love that you can no longer have it, you think to yourself.

In the midst of your rather negative thoughts, a warm hand pulls you away from mentally beating up yourself further. Looking up, you find Hajime looking at you with soft eyes, as if assuring your heart that: “You’ll be fine. I’m here. I’ll keep you safe.”

Maybe… just maybe, the universe has given you another chance for true love.

marga's notes. I HAVE FOUND A NEW HUSBAND AND HIS NAME'S BENIMARU SHINMON

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[usergreenpixel]

Frev prompts, Part 4! 🎉

21. The protagonist is a high school student with a knack for drawing comics but they’re also the favorite target of the bullies at school.

One day the bullying gets so bad that the protagonist is unable to cope with reality anymore and, as a means of escapism, writes themselves into their new comic about their favorite topic - The French Revolution. With their favorite pen they had inherited from their writer grandfather, no less.

However, what was supposed to be a harmless little self-insert quickly becomes a reality when the protagonist is magically transported into their comic book and now has to navigate their own story and finish it in order to return to the real world, as well as figure out the mysterious powers of the magical pen.

22. Despite the fact that the days when the Bastille used to be packed with prisoners are gone, a handful were still trapped inside its gloomy walls by the time the infamous prison was taken.

The protagonist is one of the few prisoners who are sentenced to imprisonment inside the Bastille until they and the rest of the prisoners are set free by the revolutionaries.

For the first time in a long while, the protagonist is free but not all is sunshine and butterflies because the revolution is only beginning to escalate and the protagonist has long forgotten how to function in the society outside the prison.

With no other options, the protagonist decides to try and rebuild their life from square one, all while the events of the revolution are unfolding in the city of Paris.

23. Two friends, the protagonists, were raised together by a noble family as adopted wards and used to be close as children, but drifted apart when one of the two went abroad to get a good education.

Nevertheless, the childhood friends find themselves reunited by a pure coincidence during a meeting in the Jacobin Club, which both of them joined mere days ago.

All seems well, until it becomes apparent that the protagonists don’t exactly see eye to eye when it comes to politics in France nor the methods of solving the multiple issues plaguing the country.

This new rift between the protagonists only widens as the revolution progresses and the Jacobin Club gets split into groups on the basis of shared political beliefs.

Will the two protagonists be able to restore the friendship they used to have or will their new differences prove that maybe friendship isn’t always as almighty as people say?

24. The protagonist is acutely aware of the multiple injustices of the French society but they are not too eager to change things personally, hoping that maybe the government will find a way to fix things.

The protagonist, meanwhile, would rather focus on keeping their small family business (a bookshop) afloat and renting out an apartment in the house to make ends meet.

Soon, however, the protagonist ends up getting roped into the events of the revolution regardless when they accidentally overhear their new tenant discuss his plans in a hushed tone with a few other people.

The protagonist has all the evidence that they had unwittingly rented out an apartment to a revolutionary and now they have the evidence to turn that rebellious youth from Blérancourt in along with his buddies.

At first, the best course of action seems fairly obvious. Just report them to the authorities and be done with it.

However, perhaps these youths are more than just stupid kids playing at freedom fighting and maybe they can actually help the country.

When faced with the dilemma of either ratting the young rebels out or joining their cause, the protagonist makes a choice that ends up changing their entire life.

25. The year is 1811. Located near Saint-Petersburg, The Imperial Lyceum is a place where boys from noble families of The Russian Empire live and study. Perhaps the most famous Lyceum of all, it was home to plenty of those who would become prominent in Russian society of the time.

This is where the protagonist, one David de Boudry, teaches French to these boys.

Monsieur de Boudry knows that most of his students are blissfully unaware of a certain secret of his and likes it that way. It is best if they don’t know that he happens to be a younger brother to Jean-Paul Marat himself but changed his last name to avoid the associations.

Keeping this particular tidbit of his biography secret used to be fairly easy, until his older brother, Jean-Paul Marat, appeared in David’s life again on a snowy and frosty January day.

Marat is inexplicably alive, but he is also half-frozen and extremely disheveled when he shows up, not to mention the fact that he arrives with his wife and a very young child in tow. They all need a place to hide from the authorities, and fast.

Being a loving brother, David de Boudry hides his family and is now determined to keep them safe for not even a new name can sever family ties.

But, having made this difficult choice, will Monsieur de Boudry be able to reconcile his love for his family and the devotion to his adoptive home country? And will Marat be able to keep his loved ones and himself safe from the agents of police who lurk nearby and are quite hellbent on proving that the man they are pursuing is indeed the infamous Jacobin?

26. The protagonist is a sophomore who became a member of a Drama Club during their freshman year of high school and they are quite happy to finally have a friend group where they belong. Here nobody judges them for their stutter, their crossdressing and their fear of dogs.The protagonist is even allowed to play roles that would be normally reserved for the opposite gender just so they have an excuse to crossdress.

The upcoming play about the French Revolution is no exception and the protagonist is quite overjoyed but also frustrated that something just doesn’t ring true whenever they read their lines. Frustrated, they sneak into a time machine built by their parents and transport themselves to Paris of 1794.

They soon see that the city is in chaos and rumors about a traitor who had supposedly escaped the guillotine and went on the run with his family spread like wildfire. Moreover, the protagonist soon finds themselves in a bit of a pickle because of their name and physical appearance.

Even a man whom the protagonist saves from a mob advises them not to reveal their name and to lay low as soon as the protagonist introduces themselves. The protagonist is naturally confused but they do want to stay alive and free.

In order to survive, the protagonist decides to do what actors do best - improvise. It’s not easy, of course, but the protagonist tries to stay optimistic.

They hope that they will make it. They know they will. Giving up is not an option. After all, a Desmoulins never gives up. Right?

27. The French Revolution is not an easy period in history. It should be fairly obvious why.

The country is drowning in chaos and the future is uncertain, no matter how hard The Committee of Public Safety tries to maintain at least some semblance of order.

Meanwhile, in the heart of Paris, lives our protagonist whose main concern was not the revolution, but rather the fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep their inn’s doors open.

And then, one day, the unthinkable happens. A guest is found murdered in their room. Naturally, all the other guests are now suspects, and so is the staff. A diverse bunch of people with their own agendas, secrets and ties to the victim has gathered in the inn.

Sensing that something isn’t right, the protagonist decides to become an amateur sleuth and get to the bottom of the situation.

A “whodunnit” murder mystery is about to take place in the inn and the protagonist is determined to solve it.

28. A few years passed after the betrayal of the Thermidorians. The Revolution is destroyed and all of the enemies of the new government are dead… Except for one.

The protagonist is a patient in a mental hospital on the outskirts of Paris. Here the treatment of the patients is becoming more and more humane than it used to be before. That being said, the living conditions still leave a lot to be desired. Moreover, the protagonist feels isolated and lonely due to their personal issues and the trauma that caused them to become basically imprisoned in the facility.

Luckily, the loneliness disappears when the protagonist secretly manages to befriend another patient, a mysterious young man who is kept in isolation from the rest of the people at the facility, is forced to wear a mask to hide his face and is treated far worse than the others.

Horrified by the extent of the abuse that their new friend has to endure, the protagonist teams up with him to escape to Avignon, where the protagonist’s relatives live.

Little do they know, their new friend and partner in crime is an outlaw and a Montagnard, the last of them all, so when the two finally escape the police quickly catch wind of the situation.

Can the duo get to Avignon and avoid recapture? Will this unlikely friendship help them heal from their respective trauma? And will the revolutionary’s plan to avenge his executed friends be successful?

29. (Crossover with Greek mythology) When Adrestia, a minor Greek goddess, is banished to Earth from Mount Olympus for causing too much trouble, she assumes a human disguise and travels to France of 1789, where great changes are just around the corner.

Finally finding herself in her own element once again, Adrestia (whose human name is Adrienne) decides that she has no right to miss all the fun and joins the forces of the revolution. She is a goddess of revolt and a daughter of Ares, after all.

One would think that having a goddess on your side will make fighting easier, but things are not that simple and the other gods don’t exactly take kindly to troublemakers who go against authority.

Nevertheless, Adrestia is more than willing to try and help her new allies to win in their fight for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

30. When the protagonists first meet up in real life, they’re ecstatic. After a few years of chatting on the Internet, the two French Revolution enthusiasts have finally met each other face to face and now they decide to set an old plan of theirs in motion.

The duo wants to perform a time travel spell invented by their witch ancestors and change the way the French Revolution ended. The spell is successfully cast, but in the process the warlocks run out of magic and are now forced to wait in the past until they are strong enough to cast the spell again to return home.

But hey, at least while they’re waiting they can do what they always wanted to do - prevent the Thermidorian Reaction, and they are going to try to do just that, even though preventing a coup d’état is far from easy, especially for two college kids from the future.

31. It’s 1815. Joseph Fouché is the Minister of Police but his days in office are numbered and he knows it.

What’s more, rumors spread about the incompetence of the police as nobody can catch the culprit behind a new string of murders. Fouché hopes that cracking the case would restore his reputation, but something isn’t right about these murders.

So far, every single victim was a participant of the Thermidorian Reaction and it simply cannot be a mere coincidence. This pattern makes Fouché fear for his life and his reputation, as in addition to the murders the sins that he and his allies had pinned on their enemies begin to resurface.

Fearing that he is next and that his own crimes are about to be exposed as well, Fouché becomes obsessed with catching this mysterious vigilante. He even has a prime suspect in mind, but he can neither track him down nor prove that it was him.

Meanwhile, the time Fouché has to rehabilitate the police force is running out. Soon he too might face the music at long last, as well as learn exactly why sparing one of your enemies while killing the rest is considered to be a classic mistake.

Will the vigilante get to Fouché? How much time does the Minister of Police actually have left before karma knocks on his door? And why does the youngest police inspector in history, who is Fouché’s beloved protégé, turn against his mentor?

32. When the protagonist decided to sneak into the Catacombs of Paris for “shits and giggles” with their buddies, the last thing they expected was a sudden time travel to a closet in an apartment of a prominent revolutionary, whose skull the protagonist was holding in their hands seconds ago.

Naturally, the protagonist gets caught by the housekeeper and promptly accused of breaking and entering at best, and an assasination attempt at worst. It doesn’t help that the protagonist has strange pills and a baseball bat on their person.

But when they’re about to get prosecuted, the inhabitant of that same apartment suddenly speaks up on their behalf and defends the protagonist, claiming that it was a mere misunderstanding. Later, that same revolutionary visits the protagonist, reveals that he knows about the existence of time travel and promises to help, as long as the protagonist goes along with his plan.

Despite suspecting that the revolutionary has an ulterior motive, the protagonist does want answers so they agree to play along...at least for a while.

33. After the Revolutionary War in America, the protagonist follows his friend and mentor, Marquis de Lafayette, to Paris as he is the only family the hero has at this point.

At first, when the French Revolution rolls around, the hero still stays by his mentor’s side, never questioning his opinions and decisions and admiring him as a hero.

But after the September Massacres reveal Lafayette’s...less heroic side the hero is utterly broken and disappointed that he trusted the wrong person yet again. This revelation prompts the hero to switch sides and become a double agent, working with the Jacobins while pretending that he is still loyal to Lafayette.

Is this the correct choice to make or will the hero’s naïveté and a simple desire to belong betray him once again?

34. Maximilien Robespierre finds himself in a difficult situation. Somehow, everyone who crosses his path keeps going missing, only to turn up brutally murdered.

Moreover, Robespierre keeps receiving notes with rather...stalkerish messages written by the culprit. The stress and the crippling paranoia are slowly taking a toll on his frail body and he collapses altogether after finding out that Camille Desmoulins and Antoine de Saint-Just got attacked as well.

Fortunately, Saint-Just and Desmoulins manage to survive the ordeal and decide that enough is enough. After a long recovery, the two men decide to set aside their differences and track down the mysterious stalker before other people close to Robespierre get hurt.

Who knows, perhaps this buddy cop-esque adventure will even help Saint-Just and Desmoulins resolve their rivalry once and for all, now that a mutual friend of theirs needs both of them.

35. An immigrant enrolls into a high school in the country where they live now, a country located on the other side of the planet, miles away from their homeland.

Isolated from the rest of the students, shunned for their Eastern European accent (feel free to pick the specific country) and their Socialist beliefs, the protagonist has very few friends and even they are imaginary - three French revolutionaries whom the protagonist admires the most.

However, things change when a classmate bonds with the protagonist over their fascination with the French Revolution and the two decide to team up and write a novel about their favorite topic, all while the three imaginary friends, who may or may not be something more than a simple product of imagination, are guiding these kids on their quest to rehabilitate the legacy of the revolution.

P. S. The Fouché tag has been graciously lent to me by @frevandrest , the tag’s inventor. This needs to become an official tag imo.

[picassho-18]

Art of Fire

Zuko x Reader; Part 1; 1.2k words

A/N: disclaimer! I have not read the comics set after the finale, but this is set a little after Zuko’s coronation

Summary: The recently crowned Fire Lord Zuko meets a new friend of his Uncle’s, a special fire bender that quickly grabs his interest over a cup of tea and the discussion of the arts. 

ALL CURRENTLY POSTED PARTS: Part 1   Part 2   Part 3    Part 4

Of course you had a favorite tea shop. What proper Fire Nation citizen didn’t? The place held a piece of your heart, the owner being a kind, wise man that immediately turned into a friend, by the name of Mushi.

You had met him when you were creating some artwork at your little studio, open to the public. You used your fire bending skills to burn images and create artwork onto panels of wood, and when walking by he became completely in awe, watching your process intently. He had told you that “Using fire to create is something truly marvelous” calling you a “true bender”. You weren’t really understanding him, but felt it was a nice complement. 

Afterwards, when you had finished he invited you to his tea shop just down the road, beginning a tradition of afternoon tea and conversation every day.

He would tell you stories of his travels, how he used to have a tea shop of his own in Ba Sing Se, then moved to the Fire Nation to follow his nephew. Oh how he always talked about his nephew.

You didn’t know who his nephew was, the man would never use names, only the stories, yet it felt like you knew him by association. The way the man spoke, he seems to love his nephew like a son. 

“Tell me more about Ba Sing Se?” you asked Mushi one day, sitting at your favorite table. The tea shop was slower then normal so he was able to sit and chat with you.

“It was a simple yet stressful time. My nephew was undergoing a troubling and harsh change that caused a lot of inner turmoil. He is about your age, and was facing his childhood that conflicted with his present. It was very sad for me to watch, but you can only lead a horse to water. But never could you force it to drink.”

You smiled, Mushi always liked sayings, he seemed like the wisest person you knew, a man that had undergone his own struggles and came out better. 

“I hope I can meet your nephew one day. I wonder what a man can become with you as his mentor.”

“Well thank you, that was very kind of you to say. But you are also in luck. I had asked him to visit me today and should be stopping by soon!” he said it excitedly, a proud smile on his face, like he was thinking of what his nephew had become.

“Ah, then I look forward to meeting him,” you said slightly shyly. You didn’t want to admit it to his uncle, but this mysterious man that he always discussed had always appeared intriguing to you.

Interrupting your thoughts, Mushi spoke, “Ah there he is!” right as the chimes on the door began to ring. You stood up from the table and turned towards the front. You gasped out loud, shocked to see the newly crowned Fire Lord Zuko, his armour and scar an immediate indicator to who it was.

You let out a quick “Oh my god” before quickly bowing, showing your respect while all the pieces clicked together. You side eyed Mushi, but realizing that wasn’t Mushi, it was the Dragon of the West, the great General Iroh.

You stood up right, watching as the Fire Lord walked up to his uncle, embracing him in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry it’s been so long Uncle! It has been very busy at the Capitol.”

Iroh just waved him off, “It is no worry. I have been keeping excellent company with Y/N, the fire-painter I have told you about.” Your face grew warm, seeing the Fire Lord’s dark eyes locked onto yours.

Iroh turned, addressing you, “This is my nephew, Zuko.”

“It is an honor to meet you, Fire Lord Zuko.” you bowed again slightly. You were slightly scared and very awkward; you have never been in front of actual royalty before. And really attractive royalty at that.

“No need for all the formalities. A friend of my Uncle is a friend to me. Just call me Zuko.” He sat down at the table, motioning for you to join him and his uncle. You smiled shyly, and sat, avoiding eye-contact with him. It seemed like his eyes never left your face, his gaze unwavering until his uncle cleared his throat.

“How is my lovely nephew doing?” Iroh asked, a knowing smirk appearing on his face when he noticed how Zuko was looking at you.

“I’m doing good. Aang has stayed in the capitol to help me gain contact with the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. Politics has become very slow and hard work, Uncle.”

Iroh chuckled, “Yes, Zuko. The unification after a war is always hard. But never impossible. I believe in you.” You nodded in agreement. Knowing the struggles he has had to face in his past due to his talkative Uncle, you had complete faith in his ruling.

“So Y/N, I have heard excellent things about your artwork” he began, nodding to his Uncle. “He has been practically gushing over you the past few months whenever I visit.”

“Why thank you” you beamed, the praise warming your heart, “It is a passion of mine. I was never taught how to fight with my fire bending, yet I loved creating so I turned toward what I call fire-painting.” A smile shined on your face, thinking about the pieces you have created, getting lost in thought. Little did you know that a certain Fire Lord was staring at you, taking in the soft expression on your face.

Iroh turned to Zuko, “Nephew, I was thinking it would be excellent  if you commissioned a piece for the Royal Palace. She had made that one for me!” he gestured to the wooden panel that had an elegant image of tea burned into it.

Zuko looked at the art appreciatively, “That is beautiful work. I would love it if you could come to the Palace and create one. But only if you want to, of course.”

You grinned, “It seems like your uncle is one of my biggest fans” you flashed a grateful smile at Iroh, “And of course, it would be my pleasure.”

A guard came into the store, alerting Zuko. “Fire Lord, there seems to be an urgent matter at the Royal Palace, and you are needed.”

Sadness flashed on his face, before he quickly stood up, “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Y/N, and promise I will visit more often, Uncle.”

As he began to walk out of the shop, he turned, a glint in his eyes, “Oh, Y/N, please come by the Palace whenever you have a chance, I would love to finalize a commission.”

“Of course. I look forward to it.” you said.

As he left, Iroh clapped a hand on your shoulder. You turned to him, a look of disbelief on your face, “Iroh! In all the amount of time that I knew you, not once did you ever mention that your nephew was the Fire Lord!”

“I didn’t think it was important.” he said, chuckling. “What I do think that’s important, is how much you like my nephew.”

You gasped slightly, “What no, not at all!” but failing miserably to sound convincing.

“Of course, Y.N. Of course.” he smirked knowing, as if a plan of his was finally coming together.

***

Read Part 2 HERE

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[ghosthan]

what would you say are the differences between 616 Tony and MCU Tony? 🤔

Hi anon! Many people have talked about this and I'm certainly not the authority on the topic, but I’ll try my best to explain some of the major differences that I have noticed! Thank you for asking and I’m sorry it took me so long to answer you.

Important to note: neither version of Tony has had a totally consistent characterization. Depending on who you ask and which comics/movies they've consumed, they might give you a different answer here and not be wrong.

616 Tony is even harder to put into one box because his character has been around since Tales of Suspense in the 1950s. That’s a long time. Things have changed over time, under different writers, changing political atmospheres, and outside pop culture influence (including influence from the MCU, unfortunately, in recent years.) You get the picture. So I’ll be making some generalizations and try to be clear about which eras I’m speaking when I make these comparisons, but ultimately, if someone wanted to be contrarian, you could probably refute a lot of what I say here if you cherry pick canon. Which is fair enough! That’s sort of the fun of comics, there’s so much to choose from and something for everyone.

So here are some observations from me, under the ‘read more’.

1. Physical Appearance

This is sort of an easy one, but worth mentioning!

MCU Tony does not look like 616 Tony. RDJ is great, but he would not be most 616 fans’ casting choice on looks alone. MCU Tony is tan, a Malibu man, with brown hair and brown eyes, and RDJ has sort of round facial features (a funny sloped nose, big, round eyes, round forehead, not a particularly sharp or classically “superhero masculine” face.) As you may know, this lends well to certain fanworks and tropes, such as Tony having Bambi eyes.

Or Tiny Tony. He is not actually canonically small, but he's smaller in the MCU than in 616 and from what I can tell, a portion of fandom has latched onto that. He’s a grown man, but RDJ is pretty short, and of slighter build than 616 Tony. RDJ is 5′9, but they make him act in heels, and I believe his canon MCU height is 5′11. Another popular trope I’ve seen is shrinking Tony in fanfic/fanart for a dramatized height difference with Steve, making him weak or fragile; this is fine because everyone has their own taste, but for the official record, he’s a capable, strong guy! Especially in earlier stages of the MCU, in which he’s a bit younger. Tony isn’t just a brain; he carries out his plans with his own two hands! He builds his armor, he remodels his lab, he survives hand to hand combat when he doesn’t have the armor. Muscles!

616 Tony is 6′1 without armor and 6′6 in armor (making him taller than his 616 Steve counterpart in armor and very close to the same height out of armor!) 616 Tony is generally paler with black hair (sometimes the classic blue-black I love so much) and blue eyes, and it obviously depends on the artist, but he has a pretty typically ‘masculine’ face and build. Generally he is drawn with a squared jaw and a high bridged nose (such as in the Extremis storyline, or drawn by Marquez), but again, this varies from artist to artist! Here's some examples of 616 Tonys.

Wait, you might be saying, but I have seen comic panels where Tony has brown hair/brown eyes!

Yep. Due to a combination of forgetfulness, inconsistency, and the MCU bleeding into the general consciousness of the comics, sometimes Tony is randomly depicted in the image of RDJ, or if not in his image, at least visually inspired by the MCU-- hair color and style, eye color, dialogue, etc.

616 fans don’t typically love this; he’s very handsome when drawn this way, of course, (look at him!) But it isn’t really the same character.

Also, MCU Tony has (at least for some of his movies) a reactor built into his chest. While 616 Tony has, at times, been more or less physically connected/dependent to his tech, he doesn’t have the built in reactor (most generally speaking, there are times in comics when he temporarily has the tech built in, but this isn’t really the status quo.)

2. Relationship with parents/ family history

While it is definitely implied in the MCU that Howard was not a good father to Tony, (such as in Iron Man 2 when Tony says “You're talking about a man whose happiest day of his life was shipping me off to boarding school” and “He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, never even told me he liked me”), Tony has a different sort of attitude toward Howard in MCU than in 616. It’s kind of weird, and hard to discuss. To me, it seems implied that MCU Howard was emotionally abusive to Tony based on what Tony does say about his childhood, and yet, the films kind of randomly give Howard weird moments of “Well, he tried his best and deep down he loved me the whole time!” forgiveness. MCU has a Howard kink and I'm very cringe-face emoji about it.

For example, Iron Man 2 shows that old film reel of Howard talking about how Tony is the greatest thing he ever created, and in Endgame, when Tony goes back in time, he meets Howard and has a very weird interaction with him in which Howard declares he would do anything for his son, (to his deeply damaged son who is a new father himself.) Yet, for all his talk, it's his actions that speak, and his actions left Tony damaged, traumatized, and emotionally inept at forming healthy relationships. So.

Sorry. I’m a little bitter. I'm just uncomfortable with how they sort of set up an abuse history but then treated it kind of lightly and Howard gets off the hook as "well, he tried his best" without really acknowledging the hurt he caused.

Avengers: Endgame 2019

I won't go super in depth into the abuse stuff because it's a little touchy and could take up a lot of this post. But.

I’m not against any reconciliation and I do appreciate the fact that a lot of times, victims of abuse feel a desire to forgive and reconnect with their abuser-- my issue with the MCU depiction of Tony and Howard is that Tony never really gets the vindication of his abuse being recognized for what it was before he forgives Howard. To me, that’s not forgiveness as kind of... gaslighting himself that it wasn't as bad as he remembered his own experience being, because of a sense of nostalgia and grief. It’s not the same, and I have issues with it.

However, a lot of my opinion is based on subtext and it is just my opinion; with depictions of abuse, different people are going to react differently, and other people may have found these scenes touching and gotten something positive out of them, and that's totally fine too!

It’s also a bit difficult to talk about Tony’s relationship with Howard in 616, for a few reasons: shifting timelines, lots of canon that I have not read all of, and the fact that it really is difficult to sum up such a complicated relationship.

Right off the bat, I’ll address the basics. I used the same scene in another ask, and I think it's frequently cited in any meta regarding Howard, but in Iron Man Vol. 1, we see more into Tony’s childhood and see Howard verbally abusing his family, drunk, at the dinner table.

Iron Man Vol. 1 #285

We get this scene with adult Tony’s retrospective commentary on how his own issues that he blamed himself for were actually a cycle starting with his father, the insecurity and abuse and alcohol, and that he realizes how much this has influenced him. Both MCU Tony and 616 Tony have some form of “stop the cycle of shame” arcs, but I don’t really see how this works narratively in the MCU because Tony makes excuses for Howard and continues to blame himself for a lot of his own personal struggles, whereas I think there’s just a bit more nuance in 616.

But uh. This isn’t totally true, and in recent years, things got real weird. I choose to ignore this chapter of canon, but in the Dan Slott run, Tony Stark: Iron Man, Tony’s whole backstory gets imploded. For one thing, the little of Tony’s childhood it shows in a flashback is uh. Uh. Well, it’s certainly out of character compared with previous 616 material, depicting Tony as an overly confident poor sport.

Basically, Tony is adopted. Tony has an evil brother. Tony’s biological parents make an appearance, as do his ‘classic’ parents, Howard and Maria. It’s just weird. It’s kind of out there. I’m honestly not a huge fan of this and ignore a lot of it, but it is certainly a difference between MCU and 616.

3. Personality

I’m going to be very general. Both Tony’s have an outer self which they present to the public and an inner self, but they’re a bit different. Both Tony’s have struggled with self loathing, but I think MCU Tony’s actual self worth is a bit higher, even just at some points in time. Even if his ego is part of his facade, I think he does believe some amount of the “I’m awesome”, even if just when it applies to his own work/inventions/saving people. Not to say that these moments of fluctuating self esteem make him egotistical, but this combined with his egotistical act and snarky, non-stop sassy dialogue, he’s quite different in general personality from 616 Tony, who is much more reserved.

Some more recent iterations of 616 Tony have been adapted to reflect the snark of the MCU, but he’s not so snarky and he tends to approach things more seriously. This is not a dis on MCU Tony; I think MCU Tony uses false ego and excessive sassy jokes as a means to deflect and control, which I think is very interesting and it’s nice to see this explored more in depth in fic where you get to see the thought process behind the bravado. MCU Tony is a partier, a good times guy, especially during Iron Man 2, in which he really does disregard consequences to have fun (driving his race car, partying drunk in his suit, letting pretty  girls play with the armor, shooting off repulsor blasts for fun in a crowded room); I’m not bashing MCU Tony-- I think he had psychologically understandable reasons for behaving this way, the man was dying-- but 616 Tony really doesn’t act this way generally, and I think it’s a personality difference more than a difference of one being “better.”

616 Tony handles his stress differently, and they just have different psychological patterns, I think. I’m coming up kind of blank trying to think of a good comparable 616 arc, (sorry, I’m brain dead) but a less-than-perfect  example might be Tony’s brain delete arc; he’s “dying”, like in Iron Man 2 he  knows his expiration date, (circumstances are quite  a bit different), but he throws himself more into work, into a cause, and as he really fall apart, we  see him spiral into self doubt, remorse, fear, and insecurity, sort of falling into  himself with lots of manly tears and calling himself pathetic.

(Some things happen in this arc that a lot of people find Gross. I also find these events gross. But. I don’t count the sex in “World’s Most Wanted” as partying to cope with personal mortality, because I think both character involved are in “end of the world” mode, and it’s more seeking intimacy for comfort than partying to numb the hurt. Does this distinction make sense? No? Perfect, moving on.) 616 Tony is generally much more humble.

Whereas MCU Tony, I think, tries to outrun those feelings via parties or making dozens of new suits, or seeking comfort by comforting others! Gifting things to people, building things for people, highly personalized individual living quarters, teaching Nebula games and trying to show her a fun time when they were in peril together.

They have some traits in common, for sure! But canon being inconsistent both in the MCU and in 616, my observations aren’t the rule, because I’m kind of cherry picking and going based on limited memory. But off the top of my head, they’re both extravagant gift givers! Recall Tony gifting Pepper the giant bunny in Iron Man 3, and compare this with Tony carrying a mile high pile of Christmas gifts after shopping with Rumiko in Iron Man Vol. #3.

I would say that while both Tony Starks are considered humanitarians, this is much more fleshed out and supported by canon in 616. Some examples of his philanthropy in the MCU: Tony makes charitable donations of art and money, Tony has an organization which provides disaster relief/cleanup which is referenced in Spider-Man Homecoming, Tony has an MIT grant for students and staff members. But to be honest, a lot of his MCU philanthropy is only mentioned in passing, or is largely handled by other people on his behalf and on his dollar.

In 616, we see Tony using charity almost as a means of therapy: it’s something he does very privately, not in the public eye (at least, not always), and it’s something deeply personal to him. One example that immediately comes to mind is Tony’s home for disadvantaged girls in Iron Man Vol. 3, and we see scenes of Tony basically driving the streets at night, picking up underage prostitutes, feeding them and listening to their stories before bringing them to a home he’s established where he knows all the residents, and provides educational opportunities and protection.

Another more recent example in canon that the Tony fandom loves is that Tony canonically holds babies at an orphanage. Sorry I don’t have panels for all of this, this section got long and I have been working on answering this ask in a very scattered way for a very long time.

Both Tony’s are romantics, I literally could write a whole other post about their canon love life similarities and differences, but I will briefly say that while MCU Tony does the long on and off, and eventual ultimate commitment, to Pepper Potts, 616 Tony is a serial monogamist; he is always falling in love, and he’s definitely not a playboy, but the hero-ing, self loathing, and lifestyle make it very hard for him to keep anyone in his life, and most of his partners fuck his life up and betray him. Needless to say, 616 Tony is not married, and certainly not to Pepper Potts.

Oh, and I guess this is so obvious I almost forgot to include it, but a huge similarity between both iterations of Tony is that they both constantly use their own life as a bargaining chip, and will pretty much die for anything. Or be the bad guy for a good reason (at least, in his own mind... see Civil War, or Hickmanvengers; 616 Tony, especially, does not shy away from making the hard decisions, and this leads to a lot of guilt and tension in his  relationships-- often with Steve because 616 Steve/Tony angst fans are well fed, I guess)

Remember that time Tony had Steve’s mind wiped because Tony felt that Steve’s inflexible morality might hinder the Illuminati’s ability to save the world? And it eats Tony up inside and erupts into a homicidal fight when Steve finally gets his memory back? Me too.

Tony Stark as a character is defined by sacrifice, both of his own life but also of his own happiness and reputation and conscience, I think, in a lot of ways, and we see this in many universes. I could go on about Tony’s propensity for sacrifice in the less obvious ways, because I think in terms of heroic sacrifice, Tony has done a lot that other heroes wouldn’t be able to do because of moral inflexibility and conflicting philosophical schools of thought; Tony really is the “whatever it takes” type, and often believes the ends justify the means if he deems a threat worse than the potential wrong that could be done in preventing the threat. We see this a little bit in the MCU in the creation of Ultron, and in Civil War with the Accords. But there’s a whole lot more going on there I don’t want to get into.

4. Alcohol

MCU Tony’s alcoholism is never really explicitly explored. He is shown drinking in Iron Man 1, and in Iron Man 2 he drinks a lot and makes a fool of himself publicly, but MCU Tony doesn’t get any specific narrative arc focused on his drinking, and if I recall correctly, I don’t think he ever refers to his drinking as alcoholism in the movies? Also, while his binge drinking and embarrassing behaviors ostensibly stop after the events of Iron Man 2, he is shown drinking on screen at least one other time after that which I can remember, and it wasn’t a “falling off the wagon” moment, and an alcoholic in recovery such as 616 Tony would not take a drink casually. This article sheds a little light on some decisions made about Tony and alcohol in the MCU.

Alcoholism is a huge part of 616 Tony’s personality, which I went a bit more into depth about in this post, so I won’t repeat myself too much.

5. Their relationships with the Iron Man armor

A few points here: MCU Tony is famous for the “I am Iron Man” line being repeated throughout the franchise after he blows his own secret in the end of the first movie. MCU Tony sees himself as one with Iron Man, and the suit is the tech that enables him to be this version of himself. He sees Tony Stark and Iron Man as inextricable: you cannot separate them, and his identity is public. He, as Tony Stark, is an Avenger.

You may remember MCU Tony’s induction into the Avengers; in Iron Man 2, Nick Fury is forming the Avengers and tasks the Black Widow with going undercover to assess Tony to be a part of a hypothetical initiative. “Iron Man yes, Tony Stark no” and the comments about Tony as a narcissist may be funny, but the fact is, the snark and erratic personality of MCU Tony at the time of the formation of the Avengers in the movies is not at all like the Tony of the comics, at the time of the Avengers being formed. 

In 616, things are quite a bit different! Tony invents the Iron man armor to save himself (like in the MCU) and uses it for hero-ing, but in secret. He works very hard to protect his identity as Iron Man, and for a long time, as far as the world is concerned, Iron man is a mystery man piloting armor built by Tony, hired as Tony’s personal body guard, (hence the 616 Steve/Tony fandom’s proclivity for identity porn as a trope!) When the Avengers form, Iron Man is the Avenger, close friends with the Avengers, (particularly Steve!) and Tony Stark is just the benefactor of the Avengers, providing them with a place to live and finances with which to operate.

In the very early days, Tony did not have the “reactor” like in the MCU, but his chest plate did keep him alive, leading to some very dramatic shots of Tony charging up using a wall socket, lamenting the plight of a secret hero.

616 Tony, generally, and especially in some of these earlier comics, was quite reserved, rather serious, and very angsty, (in private of course.) He may be wealthy, but speaking generally, he’s much less ostentatious than MCU Tony, less of a show off, less into flashy things and grand gestures. Of course, this isn’t always true in the comics, and some iterations of Tony are more like this than others, but MCU Tony is showier, sillier, and more of a fun-times guy. Any MCU fan would find those panels quite contrary to the Tony Stark you know:

Iron Man 1

Iron Man 2

I think I would say that while MCU Tony sees himself and the Iron Man identity and the  armor as all being inextricably connected, we see a bit more compartmentalization with 616 Tony, who pretends that the armor is a whole separate person for years when his identity was private, and we see instances in older and newer comics, in which Tony  is uncomfortable with some aspect of himself as Iron Man (for instance, during the second drinking arc, Tony temporarily swears off being Iron Man entirely, or for another example, when Tony is in a comma and Tony AI exists during Secret Empire, Tony “lives” in the Iron Man suit, and I think this could be interpreted as a meta parallel to Steve during this arc; Steve has had some core aspect of his character inverted, Captain America becoming Captain Hydra, so Tony experiences a similar inversion-- Tony Stark and Iron Man are forcibly merged, in a way that Tony seems deeply uncomfortable with, if his digital drinking relapse is any indication. But I digress; sorry for the tangent.)

Okay this post is inexcusable long, and very, very tangential, and I don’t feel like I’ve really covered everything I wanted to. But it has been sitting in my inbox for too long and if I don’t post it now I never will, so I hope this long, rambling thing has been a little bit helpful to you! Thank you so much for asking, I had a lot of fun rambling about this.

If you want to read a similar post, but well written and organized, with other insights, this post by Sineala answers a similar question!

[thevioletjones]

31, because I can’t see it fitting Ian/Mickey easily and know you’re a good enough writer to prove me wrong ☺️

Thanks! I tried. 🙂

Prompt 6: “I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you.”

Ian’s Box of Crap

Being currently unemployed, Mickey didn’t have much of a leg to stand on when attempting to deflect Ian’s demands that he get chores and household tasks done while his husband was out earning an honest paycheck. He wasn’t even allowed to shake people down anymore, let alone pull robberies, or get back into the drug trade. Ian had made it clear that divorce wasn't off the table if Mickey deliberately did something stupid that got him thrown back in prison for a long stretch.

He didn’t much like being told what to do, but what he liked even less was not having Ian in his life. He’d had to go too many years without him in the past, and nothing good ever came during those times. Unfortunately, Ian Gallagher was it for Mickey Milkovich. That meant that he actually had to stay in line and put in the work if he didn’t want to lose him again. Ian wasn’t as soft as he used to be. Never really had been at his core, but the maturity of age had cemented his backbone rather rigidly, and Mickey was actually loathe to piss him off too badly these days.

So he did the bullshit grunt work requested of him, just to keep the peace. He was tired of fighting every day of his life, and what was the point of marrying Ian if they weren’t going to try and make each other happy?

In the past couple weeks, Mickey had done everything from laundry and dishes, to vacuuming and mopping. He’d patched up a couple of big holes in the wall that Frank had made, and fixed the loose parts of the wooden outdoor steps and banisters, both front and back. He’d even gone so far as to babysit the tiny, helpless Gallagher spawn a few times, which had been interesting and somewhat terrifying. Then Ian had given him this look when he caught the scene one afternoon, eyes shining, smile beaming. It reminded him of that brief time they’d helped take care of Yevgeny, which made Mickey’s head spin. He didn’t need Gallagher getting the whole ‘having kids’ thing back in his head right now. Mickey was in no way ready for all that. Hadn’t been the first time, and they’d all seen how that turned out.

Today, he was supposed to clean out the attic. He told Ian that asking someone outside the family to do it sounded like a bad idea. How was he supposed to know what shit the Gallaghers wanted to keep, and what they wanted to get rid of? What if he made a mistake? If anyone had asked him what to keep from the hoarded piles of shit in the Milkovich house, he would’ve laughed in their face, then set everything on fire. Mickey wasn’t the sentimental type. So did Ian want him to just toss everything?

Ian had rolled his eyes, clarified that Mickey was a Gallagher now, and given him a run-down. Anything that had obviously been made or cherished by a Gallagher kid, any family photos and albums, or small boxes of keepsakes, those stayed. Anything that wasn’t being used by anyone, but could be of use and handed down to the youngest or recently shacked up of them, set them aside to be put in rotation. Anything that worked, but they already had one of or didn’t need, donation box (because apparently they actually sometimes donated shit to the local shelter). And anything that looked completely unnecessary for anyone, throw it in a Best Choice trash bag, but don't take them to the curb yet. Ian would go over everything when he got home to make sure it was sorted correctly.

“So you’re gettin' me to do all this boring-ass grunt work, then you’re gonna have to go through it anyway? What the fuck, man?” he’d asked.

“It'll make the whole thing way easier on me, so can you just shut the fuck up and do me the favor? I’ll blow you later for your trouble.”

“Like you wouldn’t be doin’ that anyway.”

Ian had shrugged. “If you don’t, I won’t.”

“Threatening to withhold sex? That’s a bitch move if I ever heard one.”

“Whatever, deadbeat. You want me to support you, gotta help out when I ask. A blowjob would just be a bonus, because I’m generous of spirit.”

“I’m not gonna forget this hardcore manipulation, Firecrotch. I’ll get my revenge eventually.”

Ian merely kissed him on the nose. “Sounds like a plan. See ya.”

And he was out the door.

“Asshole,” Mickey’d muttered under his breath.

And now, a few hours later, here he was; sitting on the dusty, hard planks of the weird-smelling Gallagher attic, sorting through the memories and forgotten things of the family he’d married into less than six months ago. He’d dawdled as long as he could on the couch, eating junk food and watching his favorite daytime game shows, judge shows, and salacious ‘who’s the baby daddy?’ shows. The only hint of fun left in the remainder of his day was in the bong and the beer he’d brought with him up the rickety ladder. After every box sorted, he’d take a rip or two and chase the smoke with a long swig of cheap alcohol.

The most interesting things he’d found so far were some old pictures of Ian when he was little, his hair a curly mess, and his pale skin covered in dark freckles. His smile was too big for his face, and he looked goofy as all hell. Nothing like the hot hunk of man he was today. It was the Ian Mickey remembered from Little League a million years ago. And maybe he’d set one of the photos aside to keep for himself and taken some pics of others with his phone, so what?

Mostly he’d had to sift through little Debbie’s ridiculous girly shit, and Frank’s completely random assortment of insignificant trinkets with a side of what looked like bondage gear. He’d since moved on to a group of boxes obviously labeled by Carl when he was younger. He recognized the scrawl, occasional backwards lettering, and lack of possessive apostrophes. The words were short enough not to be atrociously misspelled, and consisted of a Gallagher first name in plural, followed by: ‘box of crap.’

Everybody had one, including Fiona, who hadn’t taken it with her when she’d left Chicago, and the kids she’d raised as her own, behind. The most scandalous item in there was a dildo of decent size that Mickey definitely would’ve packed in his suitcase if he’d been the one moving away as a single chick. The thought crossed his mind to pilfer it for his own collection, but he figured that Ian would be weirded out by the association. Sex toys were probably the only thing Gallaghers never shared between them.

Carl had a box of his own, semi-well-hidden compared to the others, and Mickey discovered why when he’d managed to get the copious amount of packing tape off. It was full of straight porn mags with big-tittied women and shaved pussies, underneath an array of dangerous weapons the family had forbidden him to have when he was underaged. He found everything from nunchucks, to throwing stars, to switchblades, to brass knuckles. No guns or attempted homemade bombs, thank fuck. He chucked the porn in the trash pile, cuz nobody needed to see that shit, and set the switchblade aside for himself, deciding to give the rest to Ian to sort out.

He saved Ian’s box for last, opening it up to find a grab bag of old army decorations, tattered paperbacks, comics, a bunch of loose paper covered in scribbles, and a stack of notebooks.

Mickey didn’t realize Ian was such a huge nerd that he’d kept his high school notebooks, but giving a quick flip through the first two revealed they weren’t school-related at all. He remembered Ian going through a phase when he was always writing shit down, ranting about having great ideas he needed to save for posterity. Before he went to the hospital. A manic phase. Probably one of many he’d cycled through, yet Mickey had missed some of those extremes.

Everything had been so chaotic then. He’d pushed Ian away, then gotten the same treatment in return. Their typical messiness pervaded everything back then. And now, he had in his hands Ian’s unfiltered thoughts about what happened back then.

“Fuck,” he said to himself, setting the notebooks down and going for the beer/weed combo again.

There were exactly two ways to go about this: he could put the notebooks back into the Ian box and not invade his privacy, or he could skim through them and hone in on the interesting relevant bits and maybe get a few long-pondered answers. On the one hand, Ian would probably get pissed if Mickey read them. On the other hand, Ian never had to know about it, did he?

It really wasn’t much of a choice… he’d always been curious as to what the hell was going through Ian’s head back in the day. They’d never exactly been great at talking things out, and he didn’t have it in him to try and make Ian relive some of the lowest moments of his life just to give Mickey some peace of mind. Plus, they were always facing some new bullshit obstacle head-on, so the past always just kind of got lost in the shuffle of their present difficulties.

Mickey took a deep breath and opened one of the notebooks again. The pages weren’t dated, and a lot of it didn’t make much sense. There were many lists with lines crossed out, but they didn’t describe things ‘to do,’ more like an endless inventory of concepts and feelings. The thought patterns were totally abstract, and Mickey couldn’t really make heads or tails of them. It hit him sharply in the chest when he realized that when Ian had been out of it, he’d really and truly been fucking out of it. These seemed like the crazed rantings of an unmedicated schizophrenic babbling on public transportation. It pained Mickey to the core, and it scared the shit out of him too.

He flipped through it fairly quickly, then opened the next one. It seemed to be calmer, more legible, and less unintelligible. It was more like a diary with bad poetry sprinkled in, and it only took a few pages for Mickey’s own name to jump out at him among the wall of words. It must have been written during Ian’s lost months, after going AWOL from the Army when he was 17.

He described running away from Chicago, scamming his early enlistment, crashing and burning his way out of bootcamp, shaking and selling his ass as a club boy, snorting, smoking, and swallowing all manner of substances, and crashing anywhere from penthouses to flophouses with sexual favors sprinkled in liberally. It was like the chronicle of a person going mad and coping in all the wrong ways. It surprised Mickey how emotional it made him to read these things in vivid detail. He’d completely forgotten how worried he used to be about Ian. When he was gone, when he went missing again, and when he started doing irrational things that could’ve ended so much worse than they did.

Ian was the one that had to live out all the drama and trauma of his disorder, but Mickey was the one caught on the sidelines, not having a single clue what to do or how to fix it. He’d never felt so useless or helpless in his entire life, even through all the bullshit he’d suffered growing up with Terry as a father. Maybe it was because of his age, or how Ian made him feel a certain way he’d never felt before. He just remembered hating it, and being so fucking sad.

These pages reminded him that through the mania, Ian was a bottomless well of sadness himself.

It was tough text to get through, and more than once, he felt like maybe he shouldn’t be reading it at all. Ian had never intended for other people to see his innermost thoughts, even Mickey. But it was impossible to stop now that he’d opened that floodgate. It was like reliving a part of their shared history through the eyes of his partner in crime. It was too fascinating.

After countless pages of dark tales from the void, Mickey came upon a page that was actually addressed to him. Surely, Ian had never intended to hand it over, but it was his nonetheless.

Mickey— I never had the balls to tell you this, But you’re the only boy I’ve ever loved. I thought you loved me too, But now I’m not so sure. I’m so confused and I go back and forth, Never really knowing what to actually think, Or what the truth is. All I really realize now is that I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you. It took you forever to let me, And now I just do it with anyone, Cuz I don’t fucking care. I just miss you, And I wish you were here. But also, I don’t, Cuz I don’t want you to see me like this. I’m having a great time on my own adventure, But also not. You shouldn’t be a part of it right now. You’re on your own strange journey, I guess. Maybe one day we’ll be on the same road together again, And also for the first time, since we never really were.

Mickey barely had enough time to sniff and wipe away the stray tear that had fallen, when his husband’s voice startled him out of his reverie.

“You’re still up here?”

“Jesus Christ!” he cried out with a visible jolt of his body.

His head snapped toward the attic hatch, where Ian’s dumb red head was surveying the musty space. Mickey let the notebook fall from his grasp, but Ian was already climbing the rest of the way in before it occurred to him that he was about to be caught red-handed with journals that were supposed to be deeply private. He could only flip it closed and grab his beer to polish it off, before Ian was crouching in front of him and taking a seat.

“Can’t believe you actually did this for me, to be honest,” Ian said with a chuckle, glancing at the bong. “Anything left?”

“Baggie’s right there,” Mickey replied nodding his head to the left.

“Nice.”

Ian got distracted with loading a bowl, so Mickey very subtly tried to nudge Ian's notebooks aside with his foot, like maybe if they were slightly farther away, he could claim complete innocence as to knowing what they were.

He watched Ian take a couple hits before passing it to him, and Mickey welcomed the opportunity to temper his suddenly sullen mood.

“How was work?” he asked between hits, before passing back to Ian.

Ian snickered and furrowed his brow. “You never ask me about work.”

Mickey shrugged. “Don’t mean I don’t care.”

“Uh huh.” Ian looked even more skeptical, and finally glanced around at what Mickey had in his vicinity. That sent his brow up high, in a decent imitation of Mickey’s usual expressiveness. “Oh. That my box?”

Mickey gulped and nodded. “Yeah. Just sorting it out. Should’ve just left the whole thing for ya. Sorry.”

Ian’s gaze snapped to his face. “You read stuff.”

It was a statement rather than a question.

“Just a little,” Mickey admitted. “I shouldn’t have. Fuck, I’m an asshole.”

But Ian only shook his head. “Nah, it’s okay.”

“You don’t have to say that. I’d be pissed.”

“I’m not. I promise.”

“Really? You’re not mad?”

Ian shook his head again. “No. Actually, I’m kinda relieved.”

“How the fuck so?”

“It's all stuff I wanted you to know. I mean, part of me used to be really ashamed, maybe still is, but… another part of me always just wanted to be totally honest with you. In a way I haven’t ever been with anyone. Even Lip. But I didn’t have the words to say it, you know? And I know a lot of it is just scary rambling. I don’t even understand what some of it means, but the stuff that’s real… the lucid stuff… it’s depressing as fuck, but it’s the truth. We didn’t always tell each other the truth, but we showed each other. And this was something I couldn’t really show you. So maybe you were meant to find these. Do my dirty work for me.”

“Damn, Gallagher, that’s kinda heavy. These were… kinda heavy. Made me feel shit I’d forgotten about, you know?”

Ian nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t read ‘em in years, but I remember. It’s why I wanted to put ‘em away, I guess. Plus, I didn’t want someone else snooping around and finding out too much. I mean, you never know in this house. It’s possible every fucking Gallagher already read them, but I hope not.”

“Ian…” Mickey started, but didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say. Words of reassurance? It was all in the past, and Ian was doing so well now. He was diligent about his medication, and he hadn’t spun out of control since before prison. Anything Mickey said now would just be cold comfort, since that notebook version of Ian barely existed anymore. Ian was always afraid that it would recur, but Mickey wasn’t. They were truly in it together now, and he’d never let Ian cross the threshold into the uncontrollable. “I wish I coulda been what you needed me to be back then. However impossible it was. Some of it was my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t even my fault, really. It was some shitty shit that happened to me. I reacted the only way I thought I could. There’s no use in either of us wishing we’d done things differently now. At least we got the right outcome, right? We’re together.” He clasped their left hands so that their wedding rings touched. “Forever.”

Mickey couldn’t help but snort. “Okay, you didn’t have to get that gay about it. I already had to suffer through a buncha your faggy teen poetry. I deserve a break from the high drama of it all.”

Ian laughed, kissed his hand, dropped it, then smacked him on the cheek. “Fuck you.”

“Just say when,” Mickey responded with a smile.

“After we go through all this shit, Romeo. Explain the piles.”

“Well,” said Mickey, pointing to the nearby corner, “Carl has a shitload of contraband in there. Weapons, not drugs. Frank has some shit that might be S&M gear, not sure, then aside from your lunatic journal ramblings, everything else is boring as shit. Oh, and Fiona left a big blue dildo.”

[toughguywithbossygirlfriend]

Superman : Heroes #1 ... Diana and Bruce

In “Superman(2018) #18″ Superman revealed to the World that his name was “Clark Kent” and the comic book “Superman:Heroes #1″ presents the immediate aftermaths.

(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Superman(2018) #18 and Superman:Heroes #1)

This Issue had a unique and delightful little story with Diana and Bruce, 0% Action, only talking,.. a dance between two people caring for each other ... It revealed a bit of the real man behind the “Bat” and the “Playboy”. I loved Diana’s wisdom in this, especially when she compared Bruce to Clark.

As a first result, not every one in the Justice league looked happy about that “Scoop”..

(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Superman(2018)  #18)

Batman’s POV about secrecy shouldn’t be a surprise, ... but Diana’s behavior seemed rather unsettling... First I thought she was still angry after her speech about the loss of trust during their last exchange in DC Comics “Batman/Superman (2019) #6.

(Edit from DC Comics Batman/Superman (2019) #6)

Her whole speech was about the morality of keeping secrets ... Diana’s speech may have encouraged Clark to go Public with his Identity ... but after he’d done it her comment shows she didn’t seem so sure about that part ... Why would she be unsatisfied if Clark just followed her theory about secrecy ?

(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Superman(2018) #18)

Revealing everything to the world wasn’t what she meant ... She’s a diplomat, she understands that there is an “in between”,  a compromise to make ... not all truths can be thrown around without care... Diana was making them a lecture about “keeping secrets” earlier, Yes, but... it was mostly about “keeping secrets from each other” ... so this new “secret” Clark had kept again from them was actually what she was complaining about previously and had to hurt both, Diana and Bruce,... once again one of them took a secret decision without sharing it with the others. Leaving them to face the consequences once everything was done ... Bruce is so angry that he ironically tells Clark that the Kents are completely “off the grid” (something he surely invested some hard work and a lot of time to achieve) because Clark just busted all of his hard work in a second... Yeah, Clark, how should he feel about that ?... XD

(edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League(2018) #47)

Finally Clark understands how much he hurt Bruce later and apologizes (see “Justice League(2018) #47″)... He may now have understood what Diana talked about earlier...

But lets get back to our subject “Superman : Heroes #1″

The stories of DC Comics “Superman : Heroes #1″ have been written by Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction and Greg Rucka.

Greg Rucka is one of the best writers of the pairing Wonder Woman/Batman (“Blackest Night : Wonder Woman”, “The Hiketeia”, “The Solstice”, ...) he has usually a great touch when it comes to tell in a more subtle way how much Diana and Bruce care for each other.

(Edits from Some of Greg Rucka’s Work for DC comics)

 In the comic “Superman:Heroes”, Greg Rucka is behind these 8 Panels out of the 35 that the comic contains, pretty much one quarter of the whole book about Superman, and his story is only about Diana and Bruce ... already a message in itself ... and he did an amazing work again. Few words but so much was said (pretty much the opposite of what I am doing right now ! XD )

The Art is amazing as well.

It happens shortly after Superman’s meeting with the JL, and starts with Bruce standing alone in front of his Parents grave. Lost silently in his thoughts.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Suddenly a well known voice breaks him out of his reverie. Diana is here. Bruce is Classy as always, while Diana wears more casual clothing ... I think Rucka chose on purpose to drop the uniforms for this exchange ... because the uniforms are not really “them”. This is not really about Batman and Wonder Woman but about the people behind those masks.

.(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

She came to look after him. She could have gone anywhere, with anyone. She could have celebrated with Clark and the rest of the league this unique moment, this huge step Superman made... but she choose to go to a most lonely and sad place for one of her closest friends : Wayne Manor’s graveyard.... and she knew she would find him there... She knows his reaction was excessive ... there is something hurting him hard and she needs to know what...

“Thought I would find you here ... How are you doing ?” A useless question because Diana already knows the answer to her question ... otherwise she wouldn’t be there, she wouldn’t have come directly to the graves...

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Bruce turns around and walks away ...then, in the distance, just says “Fine.”. Diana stands silently while he flees into loneliness again... Bruce knows she won’t go away after just a “Fine”, he knows the truth, she will dig further, so he retreats from the battlefield because she won’t leave him to his dark mood...

3 sentences, 11 Words, that's all you get for a full page with 5 great pictures...

All 8 panels of that story are really wonderful. They are made like a movie, using silences to show the depth, the seriousness of the subject, the loneliness, sadness and deep closeness of both characters. Pictures with perspectives, enhance the effect of their loneliness ... Diana and Bruce may be in their home world but it is as if they were both still with only each other in the plane of Gehenna ... Diana and Bruce ... all alone.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Second panel ... Bruce stops somewhere facing in silence a magic sunset matching his current mood ... Diana follows until she stands next to him.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Again he tells her he doesn’t want company ... “mhm”, she acknowledges ... the wind blows in her hair, she tries to fix it ... silence ...

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

The wind blows, she gives up, letting her hair flow around her face... A little chat ... Bruce turns around, fleeing the battlefield again ...

Third panel ... Hell ... a full page , 7 pictures, only two sentences, 8 little words...  pure magic from G. Rucka and the other artists.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

This time Diana is inside Wayne Manor ... looking at the giant painting of Bruce’s Parents... deep in thoughts ... wondering what exactly pushed Bruce to their graves after Superman’s revelation.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Bruce is in the kitchen ... Diana enters as if she was at home and drops her jacket ... approaching the table, they exchange a look ... She takes a seat, her usual seat? then Diana waits for him to make his move ... She smiles ... She just owns the place ... Bruce isn’t surprised, he expected her, he waited for her, even made some tea in the meantime... did he flee earlier ? or did he just want to get them a comfortable place to be and talk ? ... He probably wouldn’t have made tea “for two” if he wanted to be left alone ... He knew she wouldn’t give up on him no matter how strong he would push her away, so there was no need to put more conviction in the game ... that’s what they learned in Gehenna ... they may both give up the fight for their mission, but they never ever give up on each other... Bruce knew he wouldn’t win that battle. Not with Diana, so he didn’t really try. Actually Bruce needed her and she came ...

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

And the only sentences exchanged between the two in the whole panel are so domestic ... “Tea ?” ... ”That would be lovely, Bruce.” ... That bright, sly, smile on Diana’s face reveals everything  ... she knows she was right and won their little fight ... he won’t push her away again, he doesn’t even want her away ... they are going to talk. But she needs to let him space ... Diana just has to let him lead the way now.

Is it even possible to make it more obvious how much they know each other, care for each other ... those two don’t even need J’onn J’ozz to communicate without speaking ... they only need an brief eye contact.

Fourth panel ... more silence ...

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Bruce needs to collect his thoughts ... Diana sips her tea ...

Then he talks, but Diana plays dumb ... she wants him to express his problem, to name it... Diana is very smart here ... because she cannot really get a grip on what is hurting him so hard. She needs to get it out of him ... she knows the real problem is hidden deep under layers and layers ... and this isn’t really about Clark keeping a secret from him ... from them.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Of course they talk about Superman revealing that he was “Clark Kent” and even if Diana plays dumb, she still says something very interesting here ... she calls him “KAL” while Bruce is upset because of “Clark” ... I think this way Diana tells him that Superman still didn’t tell the truth ... because “Clark Kent” is just another identity ... “KAL” is the kryptonian man who lives on earth under the disguise of “Clark Kent” and who is called “Superman” when he plays Superhero... just like Bruce is a human who lives a fake life as a Playboy and CEO when he is not playing Superhero and called “Batman” otherwise ... I think it is her way to say the Superman is still Lying even if it is to himself. Still she can give “Superman/Clark Kent” a name describing the real him “KAL”... while “Bruce” uses his own birthname for a partly faked persona ...

In “Superman : Villains #1″, Supergirl, still under the effect of the Batman Who Laughts Toxin tells pretty much the same as what I think Diana tries to convey here.

But Bruce is too upset to listen to her ... So he gives her a list of reasons why this is bad, partly accurate partly disputable ... so she counters him even if her own arguments is accurate/disputable as well ... nothing is simple ... but this isn’t about “Superman”, something Diana understood quickly ... if it was only about “Clark” or “Kal”, Bruce wouldn’t be this upset... How long have Diana and Bruce been married again ?... Yeah, Right,.. something like 37 years in Hell ...

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Several millennia and all the Wisdom of Athena speaks thru Diana while she harbors that sly smile. Bruce gets silent again, Diana saw right thru him, maybe better than he did himself.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Bruce flees again ... but does he really ? Since the beginning he doesn’t really push hard and Diana knows it ... You just get the feeling he wants her to follow him ... maybe he needs her to help him figure out why he really is that upset..

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

The Batcave ... it looks as if they were getting more and more deeper, more personal ... First the world outside, then inside his home, and now his most secret part... maybe another symbolic meaning ... to show how Diana is getting closer to the real hidden reason.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

By the look of Bruce’s sneer, you can tell he is angry, hateful even... but Diana never feels threatened in any way, she feels safe, even “Poking the Bear” a little as shown by her mischievous look... until it suddenly downs on her !! ...

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Can we just relish in that view for a moment ? ... Perfect female body meets perfect male body .... Aargh !! ... can’t they just go down on it ! ... OK ! I need to get some self control back ... sorry !

What Diana sees... is Bruce staring at his suits, his disguises, his secrets, his ... enemy ? ... Batman ? ... now she can SEE what hurts him so hard !

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

Diana figured out the truth ! ... Bruce is first in denial, then thinking and accepting it ... Bruce goes from angry, to sad and beaten...

One part of the amazing points of this story is Diana’s statement when she compares “Bruce” and “Kal”.  Whoever thought Wonder Woman wouldn’t value the “powerless” Bat when compared to the “godlike” Superman is going to wake up with a serious headache ... For Diana, the only thing Clark can do, that Bruce can’t, is what we all do ... “live without a secret identity” ... anything else she considers Bruce does at least as good as Clark if not better ... BAM ! ... I honestly didn’t expect to read that in a comic about Superman ! ... And this coming from non other then Powerhouse number two Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazon, daughter of Zeus gifted with the Wisdom of Athena ... that was mind-blowing !!

But to be honest such appreciative comments from Diana, somewhere in between admiration and adoration, happen more and more often lately in different DC comics.

(Edit from several DC Comics books)

I would say we’ve gone back when Diana considered Clark as “Good husband material” for Lois, while “Bruce” was “Fast, Dangerous, the thrill ride..” ... back then, even Clark understood who Diana’s heart would settled with...

(Edit from several DC Comics Trinity(2008) #6 and Blackest Night:WW(2010) )

This was of course before the New52 nonsense hit the fan...

 (Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

The other great point is that “Bruce” ... is jealous of “Kal” ... What !? how is that great ?

For the Dark Knight, admitting this kind of weakness to anyone is pretty much unthinkable ... unless it is to Diana. I think Bruce and Diana are now closer than Bruce and Clark ever were. But this jealousy is as well the proof that there is a man behind the Batman, behind the Playboy ... someone who doesn’t really like either of them, someone who dreams of family, home, of the freedom to live a normal happy life. The Princess of Themyscira is one of the only women (if not the only one) to have access to that man, the real “Bruce”.

Bruce is someone who can’t be reduced to “the Batman” as often said. He is a man, a Hero who decided to play that role, a man who made it his duty to fight crime and to protect those who can’t do it for themselves. Just like Diana did when she chose to become “Wonder Woman” and leave the paradise island of  Themyscira for Men’s world. He is jealous, and is ashamed of it, because he should grant it to his best friend Clark/Kal. It is his dream to have that kind life, a dream Diana shares as well ... but both have decided long ago that their Duties were more important and had to be done at any personal cost.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman:Heroes #1)

But there is another message in this Jealousy ...

Over the last 50 years, it had been explained several times that Bruce Wayne chooses his romantic partners with a purpose as described in the story with Bekka (in January 2008): Relationships must fail.

(Edit from DC Comics Superman Batman(2003) #42 - story with Bekka)

If Bruce is Jealous about Clark’s “Home, Family” life this means he is now ready to a real longtime commitment with a woman. He wants that now. Over the years he matured (just like “Batfleck” in the DCEU). Keeping his distance with Diana because of their friendship all those years was only part of the excuse. He always chose his partners to fail ... and with Diana he knew a relationship would have a high risk of succeding. I think Diana was always more ready to start something with him at least judging by the way she smiled when she woke up from the “Transconciousness Articulator”, but she changed her mind once he told her he didn’t want to know what was “lurking in his mind” ... Back then Diana knew he wasn’t ready.

Bruce Wayne is ready now ... Is this what Tom King meant when he said he changed Batman for the Decade to come, that he put his “Mark” on Bruce Wayne ?  His Batman/Catwoman run proved one thing to the shareholders... the Batman fans are ready to have their Hero seriously committed to a Woman. In fact the love story didn’t drop the sales but supported them. Tom King showed Batman sells better as a “Man in love” then as a lone Wolf ...

Still a lot of fans understand that an untrustworthy and still active criminal like Selina can’t possibly be the best match for the crusader of Justice ... and while Diana seems still to adore him, after that little chat in the Cave and the 37 years in Gehenna, she should have understood by now that he is ready for something really serious ... So ... “Perhaps ....” hopefully in the near future ...

[mattelektras]

how do u feel about falcon and winter soldier so far??

i don’t appreciate them trying to make me lick boots every 5 seconds n sam’s general origin in the mcu being military based as opposed to his actual origin which was either kid led down the mob path because he had a shitty unfortunate upbringing or social worker. both technically because cosmic cube nonsense but that’s been a problem since cap 2 i still love mcu sam very much. i am not immune to the anthony mackie charm

but as for the content of the actual show i’m glad he rejected the shield because the mcu isn’t very nuanced at the best of times and it’s not a ‘pick up this huge dinner plate and throw it around’ thing for sam like it is for anyone else and showing how quickly military poster boy was accepted by the general public highlights that because that’s NOT how it would be for sam. and him rejecting it is like.... super hard for him because it’s what steve wanted and knew he deserved it but he’s also protecting himself and dealing w the whole Being Worthy thing. and as someone who couldn’t give a shit about captain america, they got even me w that one like that’s SAM’S huge dinner plate not yours get off

someone’s already said this but mr mackie sir your ACTING....... when he’s watching tv and sees the new guy w the shield his face does So Much. like he knew it and was expecting it but u can see it still hurt a lot. that shit doesn’t exist in the mcu!!! in the mcu we say things!!! mcu bitches love verbal exposition but not anthony mackie!!!!!! we ACT!!!

again someone’s already said this better than me but the concept for the villains is like??? ok?? a world without borders??? say less do what you gotta

getting more of sam’s background finally!!!!!!!! i love his sister so much and their relationship is so fun whilst also like. adding to sam’s character and why he is who he is

great lying to your therapist rep from bucky. finally a character i can relate to

as much as i’m fine w bucky being miserable and trying to repent or whatever it makes sense but.... get this bitch some knives i wanna see some cool shit. in comics even when he was captain america he still used guns and stabbed people

we got a sharon mention boys she’s coming

on like. a serious note, i didn’t expect marvel to be quite so upfront w the experiences sam still has as a black man (credit less to marvel and more to the show’s writers) even though he’s a superhero even though he’s captain america and to their credit i think they did it well.if people watch it and don’t register what they’re trying to say then they’re choosing that shit. the bank scene with his sister??? UNDENIABLY a commentary on how black people experience things differently even when they’ve checked all the boxes they’re expected to check. and isiah’s scene was heartbreaking, especially w the knowledge of comics isiah and his experiences, how they affected eli etc. i hope that with the knowledge of isiah we can kind of.... move away from the military side of things since sam knows how people like him have been treated in the military and was clearly fucking shaken by it, on top of taking his goodwill gesture of giving up the shield to a museum and giving it to whiteboy #7 so for him to carry on as he was now having that knowledge would be kind of regressive

SPEAKING OF. ELI BRADLEY???? GLOBAL TREASURE???? MR PATRIOT HIMSELF??? his lil freckles he is so handsome i can’t wait to see what happens with him

the sambucky dynamic is chef kiss as always. they never miss. they’d stopped rolling in that field bucky chose to end up on top. homoerotic behaviour quite frankly

that being said i’m glad the story so far is giving sam a lot of focus because a lot of people seem to think of sambucky as sam being bucky’s caretaker when a) black guy running after sad white man all the time isn’t a good look and b) bucky is a grown ass man mcu fans baby him so much it’s annoying

tl;dr i’m really enjoying it!!! the episodes feel so short because i would happily watch 2 hour long instalments. the mouse is pulling my strings and dangling the sambucky carrot right in front of my face but i’m dancing baby

[thecanadianowl]

Batman: Death in the Family Review (SPOILERS)

 This is going to be long.

I originally had no interest in watching this mainly because it's based off a story where its only significance is Jason's death. The thing that won me over was the "choose your adventure" type which is an interesting style to do for this particular event. The three main selections are Jason cheats death, Robin dies and Batman saves Robin. Of those 3, only 1 of them was the most interesting. But before I do that, let me go over why the other 2 were disappointing.

 Robin dies choice is basically a rehash of the Under the Red Hood animated movie only its shortened and narrated by Bruce as he is speaking to Clark Kent at a diner. All it is a repeat of shit we knew. Bruce blames himself for the path he set Jason on and Clark giving a hopeful message of finding Jason. All this choice does is add an extended ending.

Robin cheats death one puts Jason having gone through surgery, having his skin grafted and stitched up from the explosion. The trauma and pain has Jason resent Bruce for the life he been put into and basically becomes Hush. He goes after criminals (btw decapitating Nygma, waay too much) which gets the attention of of Talia Al Ghul where she proposes an alliance with Jason while also taking in baby Damian under his tutelage. The problem isnt the story itself bit that it had so much potential. Seriously it could have been Batman:Hush as well as seeing where this conflict between Bruce and Jason will end now that Talia and Damian are in the equation. Btw Talia fans, this is probably the only ending with the character you are gonna like.

Batman saves Robin okay this is the one with multiple choices involved and goes down interesting paths for some of them. So Batman saves Robin but in doing so, he dies and Robin lives, and Nightwing becomes Batman (cool I guess, too bad they never gave him any dialogue). The first choice given is whether Jason chases/arrests the Joker or Kills him.

Kill Joker option where Jason is at a Diner and talks with this stranger who is revealed to be Joker who is now given up being the Joker because “his” Batman is gone. He recites the ‘2 inmates escape an asylum’ joke that he said in the Killing Joke allowing for Jason to put it together and kill him right there in front of 2 cops who are also in the diner.Immediately after you are given the choice to turn yourself in or run. The run option is the one that matters because Jason becomes Red Robin and begins his killing spree. Which Btw is just recycled footage they used in the Robin cheats death option just with the Red Robin edited over Hush. Really? Was budget that low? But what makes this ending good is that RR is later pinned down by Two Face and given the clean/scratched coin option, Jason is saved by Tim Drake (with a taser) and is reminded of Batman’s code and its importance not only to himself but to the people of Gotham. In doing so Jason stops killing and takes Tim in as a sidekick: BatKid. Seriously, that is the name you chose? Why not have Jason be Nightwing (which he was for short while, albeit to ruin Dick’s reputation) and Tim be Robin? Batkid :Great name for a kid’s Make-A -Wish dream, not so great if you want to use it in more serious context . This is one of the better endings as Jason becomes a better person in the end and the type of hero Bruce would have wanted but at the same time shows that Jason’s past habits were hard to get rid of especially with his father gone.

Arrest Joker has Jason become Redhood to lure Joker out in public. When he does that and unveils his true identity to him, the Joker brags about how he created him and how his rage has lead him down a murderous path, reinforcing the jokers belief of "one bad day". The next decision to be made is whether Jason should kill Joker or not. This decision ultimately has no impact as both decision lead to the same concluding decision set. I chose to kill him because let's be honestly this the path set by Jason really compliments the 2 choice options you have to make in the final one. Where Jason is confronted by Talia with a resurrected Batman who only says “Zur-en-arrh” trying to get Jason to join them but later results in a fight.

Okay there is a lot to unpack here. First: Did Grant Morrison write this? I’m asking because of how he has written Talia during his run on Batman (and how it upsets a lot of fans). You would think Talia knowing first hand what the effects of the Lazarus pit are, would she actually risk it turning the man she loves into a husk of his former self? Yes she would want Bruce to join her on their crusade against the corruption of the modern world but not if it meant Bruce wasn’t in a rational state of mind. Secondly, of all the possible Batman personas/iterations why this one?

I know they give some sort of reason near the end, but it just seemed so out of nowhere. Maybe I am looking too much into this, but if they were going to go this route, I feel like it would have been cooler to see Bruce in the Knightfall suit or have him wear a similar Batsuit that Damian wore in Batman 666.

And thirdly, you would think a fight between Jason and Bruce (where the roles are reversed, sorta) would be the most epic shit ever, but it doesn’t even last a minute it ends with either Bruce getting stabbed or knocked out (depending on which you choose). Before I go with why I think letting Bruce live is the better ending, I would like to say that when Jason kills him, Bruce sets off a bomb killing all three of them and the final shot  of Jason’s corpse is very reminiscence of that comic cover of Jason caught in the explosion. I thought it was cool.

Now the reason why, I liked the save ending (and find it to be the definitive ending for this movie)   is that Jason gives up being Redhood and works with Babs, Dick and Alfred in helping Bruce gain back his sanity.  This  ending encompasses all that was needed for Jason’s arc from becoming Redhood, to killing Joker, to his realization how wrong his methods were to being part of the Batfamily again and finally to save his father. It encompasses the idea that being Batman is more than just pain and suffering, its about hope and being able to become a better person, that your pain/anger doesn’t define who you are/can be.

Overall, I feel that this movie is a disappointing as both a prequel/sequel to Under the Red Hood. Unless you are a huge fan of Jason Todd, wait for a sale or when they release this in a collection with their other movies. The letdown for me is that certain choices have better writing than others and supporting characters aren’t used to their full potential. That being said, the idea of having different choices and giving the audience the chance to explore each of them. I hope they do this with other pivotal moments in DC’s history.

Also do the writers hate Black Mask? I get he isn’t the most popular Bat-villain but damn Sionis gets the short end of the stick in every timeline especially in the first ending of Robin Cheating death, it was so ridiculous that it is borderline hilarious

[walkwithheroes84]

The Boys: Season 2 Thoughts

I had to wait eight weeks (though I’ve been checking out the tags and reposting gif sets), but I was finally able to sit down and binge season two of The Boys. I have to be honest: I’m not sure I loved - or even liked - the directions they went with certain characters/stories. However, it was a solid season and it felt like the closing on an arc in a comic. It felt complete enough that we could end there - at least for a year or so - and still have plenty to come back to in 2022/2023.

Spoilers for Season Two Follow!

The Seven:

-I have to start with Stormfront. I have never read the comics, but I have read the Wikipedia, so I went in knowing that - despite the changes - Stormfront is a Nazi in the comics. And, she was a Nazi in the show. She (smartly) changed with the times - building social media followers, playing on the weakness of others, using an ‘us vs. them’ story for almost everything. She was savvy. I’m 100% sure she was using Homelander and that her plan was to use Ryan and all her lab!Supes to form a new Nazi party. When Maeve (a bi woman), Kimiko (a WOC), and Annie (a woman whose assault she mocked) ganged up to beat the shit out of her? Poetic Justice. Only made better by the fact that it was Ryan, her “White Savior” who basically destroyed her. (I don’t want to say kill, because I think she could be alive.) The only thing that would have made it better is if someone in that group was Jewish. (Side note: The fact that Aya Cash is Jewish, but played such a convincing Nazi - that speaks to her talent.)

-We can’t talk about Stormfront without bringing in Homelander. We know he craves love above all else. He wants to be worshipped. He feels he deserves it. In many ways he is a spoiled child. Stormfront played him like a fiddle, in my opinion. Do I think he cared for Ryan? Uh, only because Ryan is his son and appears to have his powers - Ryan is someone he could have molded to be a Homelander 2.0. But, I don’t think Homelander is capable of real - selfless - love. I just don’t. 

- I can be totally honest. . . as much as I love Antony Starr and Aya Cash - there was just way too much Homelander and Stormfront this season. I understand why their stories took up so much screen time, but I didn’t care for their characters and I actually am starting to find Homelander a little one note. He wants to be loved and will do anything to be loved. He also feels that he can do anything he wants. Again, he’s a child. I feel they will need to do something fresh with him in season three or give him less screen time to keep him from getting stale.  

-Let me briefly touch on  the Church of the Collective. I suppose, in the end, it was a season-long set up to explain how the Boys got the Nazi information on Stormfront. Though, woman is keeping her memorable and photos in her room...so, it didn’t really seem like she was trying super hard to hide her past. I thought they might be being set up to be some kind of major player in season three - they do have dirt on Supes and they work with Vought International  and the government - but,  Alastair Adana is dead and the Deep is there. . .so, unless the plan is for the Deep to take over the church...? 

-Speaking of The Deep, in my overview/review of last season, I mentioned that the show could either try to redeem him or have him go fully dark. And, the show surprised me by having him go in-between. Like, he still knows he’s a screwup and he still wants back in The Seven. He’ll do anything to get back in. However, I don’t seem him redeemed in any major way nor do I think he’s intelligent enough to be considered a dark character. Guy is just a mess. I have to be honest - I do wonder if the writers know what to do with the character. 

-A-Train may have only helped Annie and Hughie for selfish reasons, but he still helped. . . so, okay. I’ll give it a bit of a pass. As he said: Hugh saved him in season 1 and he gave them information in season 2 - they are even and it goes back to square one. They aren’t enemies, but they aren’t friends. I liked A-Train more during this season, but he really wasn’t given too much to do. 

- Maeve got more screen time! Her relationship with Elena was explored! She, as a person, was explored!  I understand that she isn’t going to suddenly become a true hero. She’s become too jaded for that. However, she will still try and do the right thing and I love that about her. 

-I really grew to love Annie this season. That is all. I still am not a huge shipper of Annie/Hugh, but they are very sweet together. 

- Lamplighter should not have been killed off so soon. I would have liked to his his guilt and his character explored more. 

-This truly was the season of The Seven with Homelander, Stormfront, Maeve, and Annie being moved to the front of the storylines. I liked it, but I REALLY missed....

The Boys:

-I’m sorry, but  Marvin T. "Mother's" Milk (MM) is a wonderful human being. He still needs more screen time and a bit more development, but I love that they used him a bit more this season. When he went home to his daughter? Please let him be with his family until the end of 3.01/middle of 3.02. Just let the man watch his shows and make his dollhouses and be happy. 

- Hugh came into his own this season, and that was wonderful. I am interested to see where his working for his working for Victoria Neuman will go. Especially as he is trying to take down Vought in a legal way, but his new boss is secretly exploding heads.

-Kimiko! My heart ached for her so much this season. She found her brother and found that he had become so brainwashed and full of hate and than she lost him. She pushed Frenchie away and became an assassin for the mob. Her truest friend, Frenchie, pulled away from her. But, in the end she helped take down Stormfront and she and Frenchie literally danced off together. Kimiko didn’t get that much screen time after 2.03, but what she did get -  Karen Fukuhara used. 

-Frenchie also got some great development this season. I’m still going to call him Frenchie, even if his name is  Serge. It was great that he realized that a part of the reason he focused in on protecting Kimiko was because he has failed to protect others. When he told her he would leave her alone? Aw, no - just back off a bit. And he did, and she taught him her language! 

-Frenchie x Kimiko are my couple on this show and they need to dive into that “It’s not sexual and it’s not quite romantic, but it’s way more than friendship/family” thing they have going on. 

-Let’s talk Butcher. He’s selfish. He is. He was willing to give up Ryan to get Becca back. But, he’s not heartless. He couldn’t separate his wife from her son. And, while I think he might have killed Ryan if Homelander hadn’t shown up - he gave Ryan to people who will try and keep him safe and shape him into a good person. Do I think he’ll go dark because of Becca’s death? Probably. If they follow the comics (which they aren’t anymore, but they may want to follow overall character stories), he’ll have to go dark.  I’m sad they killed Becca - she could have just gone with Ryan. But, it will be interesting to see if Butcher takes up the offer to work secretly for the government. 

Season Three Predictions/Hopes:

- I think the show will fast forward a bit. We’ll see The Seven as heroes in public, but all facing their own issues in private. We may see other Supe teams. 

- I think The Boys will be separated for a bit: Hughie working for Neuman, MM with his family, Frenchie and Kimiko off on their own, Butcher doing his own thing. And something will happen that will cause them all to come back together. 

[mrsgreenworld]

Okay, here we go: my first attempt at writing a Son Yaz and Akmur fic!

I'm both excited and nervous. Nervous because I'm not sure I managed to write Akgün and Yağmur in character. Moreover, I have zero knowledge about the way legal procedures work in Turkey and I also started writing this before the second fragman, where we saw Akgün in prison. So in my imagination it happens like this: before Akgün is taken to prison, he has to spend the night in a detention cell at the police precinct.

I don't own any of the characters or the show. They belong to the writers, the production company and FOX channel. This is only fanfiction.

___________________________________________

The Way We Love Each Other

Yağmur knew that Akgün would freak out when he saw her there. She could clearly picture how his eyes would go big and that particular crazed glint would appear in them, the one his eyes always held, when he was scared or worried about her. Yağmur could see in her mind's eye how he would jump to his feet or start pacing, like a caged animal, raising his voice and demanding to know what she was doing there.

Akgün's reaction didn't disappoint and was exactly what Yağmur knew it would be.

When a police officer brought her to detention cells, Yağmur saw Akgün in one of them, sitting alone on a bench at the far wall. The moment Akgün's eyes landed on her, they got comically wide. The next second he was on his feet, moving on his ridiculously long legs to the bars of his cell.

"Yağ... Yağmur??? Hey, arkadaşım, why is this girl here? Why have you brought her with you?"

"Akgün, I'm right here, you can ask me. Why are you asking an officer?" Yağmur huffed in annoyance.

Meanwhile, the officer, who had brought her there, opened a cell next to the one where Akgün was. The officer silently motioned for Yağmur to step inside.

If it was possible, Akgün's eyes got even bigger.

"Yağmur, what is this? Are you under arrest? Hey, arkadaşım, what has this girl done so that you put her here? Do you know who she is? Why is she here? Do you understand that you've put into a prison cell a daughter of the public prosecutor Selim Kara?"

"I know who this young lady is. But she knocked out a lawyer, attacked him right here, at the precinct. Daughter of the prosecutor or not, everyone has to abide the law. She'll stay here until the situation is resolved".

With this the officer locked Yağmur's cell and walked away, leaving Yağmur and Akgün alone.

Yağmur turned to look at Akgün, who was already staring at her in disbelief, through the bars separating their cells.

"What has this man just told me, Yağmur?? What has he said? Have you... Have you really attacked someone? A lawyer???? What is this? What are you doing?"

Yağmur sighed in frustration.

"First of all, lower your voice. I'm not talking to you when you're like this. Calm down".

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? You're in a prison cell!!! Why are you here? Have you gone mad???"

"Well, given that we've been hanging out together lately, might have caught something from you".

"Very funny. You think it's a good time to make jokes, Yağmur? This isn't a game!"

"Oh, stop, for god's sake! My parents are enough, I don't need you lecturing me as well!"

"They're right! What are you doing, Yağmur? Have you thought about the consequences?"

"I have! I don't need you to tell me about the consequences. I'm well aware of them. And I'll face them. I own my choices. And it was my choice, my desicion that led me here".

"Why would you want to end up in a prison cell?"

"Because you're here!" Yağmur suddenly yelled and Akgün fell silent.

"You're here. And tomorrow they're transferring you into prison for god knows how long. I needed to see you, to be with you these last fews hours".

Yağmur confessed everything in a rush and saw familiar guilt cloud Akgün's eyes. She sighed in frustration and moved to sit on a bench. Akgün silently lowered himself on a bench in his own cell. They sat next to each other, only metal bars separating them.

"So you're here because of me. Like all the danger and mess that I've brought into your life wasn't enough, you had to end up in a prison cell because of me too", Akgün said in a low voice, full of self-loathing.

"Akgün, stop this! Why do you always do this? Why do you always blame yourself? You cannot take responsibility for other people's actions. I did this. This was my choice. And I don't regret it. So, if you love me, you have to learn to respect my choices. Even if you don't agree with them".

"But..."

"No buts. I don't like and don't agree with what you've done to Kaan. It was stupid and reckless. But I understand why you did it. That's who you are, that's how you react. And I accept that. So you have to accept that I'm here".

Yağmur saw struggle in Akgün's eyes. She knew it was hard for him. She was well aware that he would keep blaming himself, no matter what she said. She was ready for more protests and self-deprecating speeches, but Akgün surprised her by letting out a long breath and giving her a small nod. Then, reaching out through the metal bars, he grabbed Yağmur's hand in his. He entwined their fingers and brought their now joined hands back through the bars, resting them on his lap.

The next few minutes were quiet, with Yağmur just observing Akgün, who lowered his head and eyes, staring at their joined hands and running his thumb over the back of her hand. There was so much reverence in the small movement, that it melted Yağmur's heart. Her heart, however, also ached, because she knew that the reverence of Akgün's touch was deeply rooted in his fears and insecurities. That's why, after a few more minutes of silence, Yağmur broke it, saying in a gentle and quiet voice:

"You have no idea, do you?"

Akgün's brows furrowed together in confusion and he lifted his head to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You have no idea how much I love you", Yağmur said, looking straight into his eyes.

She saw how they overflowed with all sort of emotions, as well as tears. He shook his head slightly, as if he wanted to say "No, it cannot be true". Akgün looked at their joined hands again and Yağmur felt how a few tear drops landed on the back of her hand.

"Hey! Look at me, my love", Yağmur whispered gently.

Akgün all but whimpered upon hearing her words.

"Please, look at me".

When Akgün finally lifted his wet eyes, Yağmur gave him a small smile.

"I love you. Not because of something, not for something. I just love you. So, so much".

Akgün's lips trembled when he said:

"I love you more".

Yağmur let out a chuckle at that.

"You need to have the upper hand even in this, don't you?"

Akgün gave her a one-shoulder shrug and a small smile pulled at his lips. Yağmur was also relieved to see a subtle playfulness in his eyes.

"Why don't we agree that we have equally strong feelings? Rather than one of us dominating, I would much prefer us loving each other equally. Me, loving you with everything I have. And you, loving me the same way".

Akgün brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of Yağmur's hand, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Everything in me loves everything in you", he whispered, his lips moving against Yağmur's hand.

Warmth bloomed in Yağmur's chest and she knew that, at least for those few hours till the morning, they were going to be okay.

[mere-mortifer]

Valentine’s Day Exchange  🎈 Masterlist

Thank you to everyone who took part in the exchange! Some works are still being updated, and others will be posted in the next few days, but I didn’t want to post this too long after Valentine’s day itself. 

❧  Ships: 

Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak

Richie Tozier/Stanley Uris

Richie Tozier/Mike Hanlon

Mike Hanlon/Stanley Uris

Stanely Uris/Bill Denbrough

Bill Denbrough/Ben Hanscom

Beverly Marsh/Stanley Uris/Richie Tozier 

🎈 Ao3 collection 🎈 | Links and summaries after the cut! 

Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak

❧  by @illwriteyouatragedy

1. cherry cordial | E | 1/1 He’s staring down hard at his phone, scrolling aimlessly through Facebook without reading anything, when someone bumps into him. Whoever it is grabs the pole, their hands brushing against each other’s. Right in his ear, the guy says, “Fucking shit, you’re hot.” Eddie’s head jerks up, startled, and he meets the bright blue eyes of a man at least eight inches taller than him. The guy’s got a pink knit cap tugged down over his head and a spill of curls falling down from it, his glasses fogging up in the warmth of the train car. “What?” Eddie demands.

2. dark chocolate strawberries | T | 1/1 The way Eddie's looking at Stan— Richie’s been on the receiving end of enough of Eddie’s playfully-mad looks to know this isn’t one of them. His heart starts pounding again. He has to be overthinking things. There’s no fucking way he’s not. After all this time, how could he not be, since— Well. Then again, what the fuck does he have to lose? Maybe it’s the boxed wine talking, or the fact that his ability to keep in his own secret is hanging on by a fucking thread, or the way Eddie truly seems pissed that other people are kissing Richie like this, but— Regardless. Regardless, Richie wants to keep testing this theory.

❧ We reconnected by @kaspbrak-tozier-reddie | T | 1/1 Eddie had unexpectedly arranged a date for valentine's day with a guy who he had met online just to get over his nemesis, Richie. Richie owns a tattoo parlour right by Eddie's innocent flower shop but with Richie's loud music, Eddie is at a constant battle to keep his customers in the shop rather them leaving.

No matter how obnoxious and frustrating Richie is, Eddie can't help but wonder if the boy he knew before high school is still in there. Especially when he loses a fight with his store gate and Richie patches him up. If only Eddie could love his online friend as much as he loves Richie.

❧ You Don’t Even Like Boys by @tinyangryeddie | E | 1/1 The sign for the event looks significantly different than the invitation. “A Valentine’s dance?” Eddie squeaks at him, grinding his rolly suitcase to a halt. Sure enough, a loopy red cursive “after-auction Valentine’s Day dance” accompanies the ridiculous imagery. Richie wants to laugh - or maybe cry - it’s hard to tell the difference with Eddie staring at him like he personally assigned the theme and bought the tacky heart-shaped balloons to pile into the lobby. “I didn’t… know,” is all Richie can come up with.

❧ One for the money, two for the show by @mere-mortifer-writing | E | 1/3 Richie's not sure if he's about to get punched or something more pleasant, and as he's placing a bet with himself on which option is more likely, the stranger surges up to close the distance between them, and suddenly they're kissing. Or: Richie is a famous actor, and Eddie a college student who has never hear of him before. When they get papped arguing in public about a bad parking job, the media spins to story to make Richie seem like an homophobic asshole-nevermind that Eddie and him were already making out minutes after the photos were taken. There's one obvious way to clear Richie's name: pretend that Eddie and him had been dating all along.

❧ Sweet Like Sugar Venom by @sippingonsouthernrains | M | 1/1 Being Eddie’s sugar baby was nice. Being Richie’s was fun. Being both? Fucking exhausting. Or, the thrilling tale of one Stanley Uris acting as the human-embodiment of an eye roll as Richie and Eddie claim to compete for his affections. Of course, Stan recognizes that they’re only competing for each other’s affections, and it takes about two minutes for him to get completely tired of being in the middle of it.

❧ It’s not gay if you’re practicing to kiss girls! by @space-is-out-there | G | 1/1 Richie gets the losers invited to one of the biggest parties of the year! They’re prepared for booze, music, and lots of spin the bottle. The only issue? Eddie and Richie have never kissed anyone before and wouldn’t know where to start! Haha... unless 😳

❧ little pieces of nothing that fall by @spunknbite | E | 1/1 Eddie shook his head, lips quirking upwards in a confused half-smile that Richie was immediately drawn to. “You seem stupid familiar,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t think we know each other,” Richie replied, then added, like the moron he was, “I’d remember you.” This guy wasn’t the sort you forgot. Or, the one where it's 1998 and Richie sits down at the bar next to an asshole with a Palm Pilot.

❧ He loves me, he loves me not by Sirius_1910 | T | 1/1 With Valentine's Day coming and the Losers getting together to celebrate at the clubhouse, two boys try speaking feelings, but forget how messy they are on a daily basis. 

❧ Red washcloths and Bloody knuckles. by @toziersspaghettihead | T | 3/3 This shit should’ve been easy, y’know? You pretend to date your best friend so everyone else thinks you have found your soulmate. Richie had been praying for years that he would find the person made specifically for him. However at seventeen and he had yet to have his soulmark- It was concerning, He was starting to think that.. Maybe, Well maybe he was just one of the unlucky few that never found their other half. So the plan came along easily, One day- He was sprawled out on his bed, His best friend. It was late August and he was fucking melting in the heat, Eddie had his legs on top of Richie’s just laid out trying to cool off, With a Comic held above his face. Richie wasn’t as easily distracted that day, He was lost in thought, His music blaring- He prefered loud obnoxious songs any day compared to silence. Yet, His thoughts were running rampant. “Eds, Do you think I’ll ever find my soulmate?” The question had Eddie seizing. “Yeah, Obviously..Everyone has them.” He dropped his comic down onto the bed and sat himself up.

❧ simple words by @birightsrichie | T | 1/1 Eddie had spent his entire life dreading meeting his soulmate. Mainly because the first thing said soulmate was going to say to him was, "Do you come here often?" and Eddie did not want to spend his life with the type of person that would say something like that. He figured they would be extremely annoying and cheesy and probably a bit of an asshole, too. 

❧ Bolt by Satanders | T | 1/1 It's their first Valentine's day together and Eddie wants to surprise Richie, but Richie is not easily romanceable... 

❧ Fake It ‘Till You Make It by Jojosugay | G | 1/1 Richie takes Eddie to his managers valentine's day party pretending to be married.

❧  Welcome to the losers club by jack05writes | T | 1/1  Since bill had quit as the bassist of the losers club, he desperately needed replacing... Enter eddie kaspbrak.

❧  the townhouse by uhohcanteen | E | 1/1 richie snaps out of it faster than pennywise had anticipated. now, as richie rolls them both out of the way and start running away, they have got a lot ahead of them, including a night to remember. 

❧  Just Another Coffee Shop AU by @stardust-writer | T | 1/1 “You’re just jealous,” his friend Beverly would say. “You wish your lonely ass had someone to make out with today, but you’re stuck with me, a strictly platonic best friend.” “Correction, I was stuck with you,” Eddie says, holding up a finger. “Now that you’re dating Ben, I am, as you put it, a lonely ass.” Beverly laughs and then pulls him along, trying to appease her friend. And it’s not like she was wrong, Eddie just didn’t like to admit she was right. Because she tended to get smug when she was right and that was almost all the time. He already had to put up with it on a daily basis, he would rather it didn’t double on this godforsaken holiday. Or: It's Valentine's Day and Eddie is single.

❧  Illegal Moves by @northwindscookie | T | 1/1 Pizza plus beer plus our two favorite gay dumbasses equals a recipe for a Reddie's Valentine's Day. 

Bill Denbrough/Ben Hanscom

❧  butterflies and storms and ooey-gooey feelings by @lo-v-ers | T | 1/1 Ben Hanscom is the human definition of sunshine weaved into a warm heart and a generous soul and everything good that a person could possibly be. They met in their English 101 class freshman year, and they just clicked, and Bill has never felt as understood as he did when Ben looked him in the eyes and smiled and nodded and spoke with wisdom that an eighteen year old shouldn’t have. (Ben looks at Bill and sees the stars, glimmering and beautiful and breathtaking. He looks when Bill isn’t looking and he smiles and feels his heart flutter with joy and something else, but Bill doesn’t know that.) (At least, he doesn’t know it yet.)

Mike Hanlon/Richie Tozier

❧  head in the clouds but my gravity's centered by @queermccoy | G | 1/1 “There’s a situation,” he tells Eddie, who is sitting at his desk surrounded by textbooks and yellow legal pads filled with drawings of complex chemical and Matchbox 20 lyrics. “What is it?” Eddie asks, dropping his pen and turning in his rickety chair. There’s an edge of panic in his tone, like he isn’t there yet but could be in no time at all. “Mike Hanlon asked me to go see a movie!” Richie practically yells, hands in the air. He’s still huffing and puffing from running through campus and up the stairs. “So?” Eddie blinks, “We see movies with Mikey all the time. How is that a situation?” “Because he asked me to go out on Valentine’s Day!” Richie says and falls on his bed dramatically.

Richie Tozier/Stanley Uris

❧ making out is hard to do by winkyjinki | T | 1/1 With Valentine's Day coming up, Stanley Uris faces his biggest challenge since defeating an evil clown: getting his first kiss. 

❧ The Truth Is That I Think I've Had Enough by @reddie4thesinbin | E | 1/1 For the first time since Stan developed feelings for his best friend, Richie was finally single on Valentine’s Day, and Stan was fully planning on taking advantage of it. He invited Richie on a camping trip, just wanting one night where he could pretend, but Richie had different plans. 

❧  Moon Secrets by @the-ben-handsome | T | 1/1 When it gets to be a certain hour of the night is when everything gets all weird; truth or dare reveals secrets shared under the moonlight. 

Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris 

❧  The Bluejay In The Corner by  @adore-affection | T | 1/? He couldn’t keep it in any longer, but he couldn’t just tell someone, it was too dangerous. When he got up to his room he pulled out a thick page of blue stationery and began to write. 

❧ Reasons Why I Want To Fuck My Student's Brother by @aleckisverygay​ | Not rated  | 4/4 When Richie and Stanley find themselves hard-pressed for money, they decide to go job hunting in order to afford their bills and keep from being thrown onto the street in the middle of January. Little does Stanley know, a tutoring job quickly turns to something more when he meets Bill Denbrough, his student’s charming brother. Shenanigans ensue, Stanley has a sexual awakening and Georgie is hell-bent on hooking his brother up with the cute tutor.

Who knew a story about rampant libidos could be so emotionally fulfilling and have, like, meaning?

Mike Hanlon/Stanley Uris

❧  Happiness and Love Revolve Around You by CoolestLemon | M | 1/1 A cute little peek into Mike and Stan's relationship, especially as they try to buy their dream home. 

Beverly Marsh/Richie Tozier/Stanley Uris

❧  Our Man-At-Arms by SevlinRipley | T | 1/1 Beverly is often the one to pull the trigger.