#like holy fuck my life has been completely changed because of these four dudes? like genuinely alive because of them

[blue-lollipops-and-ice-clouds]

A group photo of four incredible human beings being taken.

The O2 December 3rd, 2024

(Source - the incredible VICE0FEDEN, courtesy nicholslisa86)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 322: IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME

Previously on BnHA: Endeavor was all, “Kirishima please take Hagakure and Aoyama and put them away somewhere out of sight until we’re finally ready for the U.A. Traitor Plot.” Shouto was all “HEY DEKU DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT MAYBE YOU WANDERING THE STREETS LOOKING LIKE A GOTH PRAYING MANTIS IS EXACTLY WHAT AFO WANTS.” Deku was all “I’M SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY CRUSHING MARTYR COMPLEX AND ACCUMULATED TRAUMA.” Mineta was all “HEY DEKU YOU SWEET THANG, IF I COULD REARRANGE THE ALPHABET I’D PUT ‘U’ AND ‘I’ TOGETHER, ANYWAYS HMU 💖”, or at least that’s what fandom apparently thought he said. Everyone was all “WELL SINCE WE’RE BACK HERE IN KAMINO WE SHOULD DO THE THING” and did the whole “launching someone into the air to save someone by dramatically grabbing their hand” thing that everybody fucking loves to do in Kamino so damn much. Iida was all “[bombards me and Deku with feels].” Deku was all, “ू(ʚ̴̶̷́ .̠ ʚ̴̶̷̥̀ ू).” I was all, “(;*△*;).” Horikoshi was all, “my work here is done.”

Today on BnHA: 

oh my god.

so I finally went back to look at what I wrote up for 321 last week, and it’s a hot fucking mess lol, and I really don’t want to deal with that right now, so we’re just gonna skip it and go back sometime in the next few days or something because I really want to read the new chapter and I have no self control. I’M SORRY IIDA

oh my god he’s breaking out the narration word bubbles oh my god. shit is about to get epic isn’t it

has there ever been a chapter that opened with these that WASN’T epic? serious question. anyways all aboard the Feels Express I guess

YEP

I saved a bunch of other crying kaomojis when I was looking for ones to use in the “previously on” summary, and right now it’s looking like that was a good fucking decision you guys. if I’m going to be an emotional wreck I might as well do it in style ʕ ಡ ﹏ ಡ ʔ

AND BY THE WAY!!

SHOULD I JUST THANK HORIKOSHI NOW AND SAVE MYSELF SOME TIME LATER. THE MAN ALWAYS FUCKING DELIVERS WHAT ELSE CAN I FUCKING SAY GODDAMN. IS IT TOO EARLY TO DECLARE THIS MY NEW FAVORITE CHAPTER? I SHOULD PROBABLY READ FURTHER THAN ONE PAGE BUT I’VE JUST GOT A FEELING

(ETA: it’s like. maybe my second favorite lol. A HUG WOULD HAVE PUT IT IN FIRST, I’M JUST SAYING.)

anyway so Ochako is releasing Iida, which is actually hilarious, because idk if you all know this but Iida can’t fucking fly you guys

like, I assume Ochako released him because she already knew that Kirishima was in place to catch him, but I really love this split-second of panic on Iida’s part where he’s all “HMM, IS OCHAKO TRYING TO KILL ME, ACTUALLY”

LOL THERE’S A THOOM AND EVERYTHING

that’s some plus fucking ultra on Ochako’s part right there. “IF THEY DIE THEY DIE” goddamn girl did you leave your chill in the same locker as Momo or what

now poor Kiri is all “DAMMIT DEKU ARE YOU PASSED OUT OR WHAT, I DIDN’T GET TO TELL YOU MY THING GODDAMMIT”

oh my gosh he is curled up so small you guys oh my fucking lord

RESIDUAL “LOST CHILD” FEELS FROM LAST WEEK COMING IN FOR A LANDING!! PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SEATBACKS AND TRAY TABLES ARE IN THEIR UPRIGHT POSITIONS OMG ( ˚͈͈͈͈̥̆ ₍₎ ˚͈͈͈͈̥̆ )

LMAO IIDA IS TRYING TO CONFIRM THAT OCHAKO PLANNED FOR KIRISHIMA TO CATCH HIM, AND KIRISHIMA IS ALL “NOPE I’M JUST HERE BY CHANCE BRO”

Ochako is the U.A. Traitor confirmed. Hagakure I am so sorry I doubted you. Ochako get over here. so are you Toga now or what

anyway so now everyone is running over before Iida can react to this casual announcement of his attempted murder. and now Mina is taking her turn, and Horikoshi is all “HEY BTW IS MINA CRYING ON THE LIST OF THINGS THAT MAKE YOU CRY?” and of fucking course it is, you bastard. I’m not made of stone

( ɵ̥̥ ˑ̫ ɵ̥̥)

SLDKFJLSDKJ:LKWEJ

IS THIS THE PART WHERE I JUST START SCREAMING INCOHERENTLY FOR THE REST OF THE CHAPTER LOL. SURE FEELS LIKE WE ARE GETTING TO THAT TIME

OH MY GOD KACCHAN AHHHHH

I CAN’T OMG LOL I ALREADY GLANCED AT THE NEXT COUPLE OF PANELS, AND HE’S STARTING A WHOLEASS MONOLOGUE ABOUT ALL OF HIS DEKU FEELS AND OH MY GOD

“HERE YOU GO MAKESTE, A WHOLE CHAPTER OF ALL YOUR FAVORITE META TOPICS JUST THE WAY YOU LIKE THEM” THANK YOU HORIKOSHI YOU’RE A BRO (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

SLKASODIFALWKFLKJ

THEY’RE JUST DEKU AND KACCHAN. holy shit you guys. because oh my god, but it’s like when Deku was talking to the Vestiges about saving Tomura, and he turned into his little child self because his heart and intentions were so pure?? and it’s like that again, except that we’re seeing them as their child selves because that’s who they are to each other?? like, not that they actually see each other as children, but just, they can see past all of the stuff on the outside and see each other to their cores, to who they are inside, and when they look at each other they each simply see the other boy that they’ve known their whole entire life. idk?? does that make sense??? DOES ANY OF THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE I DON’T KNOW WHAT WORDS ARE ANYMORE I’M JUST SWIMMING IN FEELS OKAY. I’M TRYING HERE

they’re just boys, is what I’m trying to say, I guess. just Deku and Kacchan. all the walls are down, all the gaps are bridged, and all it is is the one boy reaching out and connecting with the other, and just,,, (꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)

OH MY GOD [GRABBING YOUR SHOULDERS AND POINTING WORDLESSLY] !!!1LK1

DO YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THIS IS YOU GUYS

HOW PERFECTLY FUCKING RAD. WELL LET ME JUST ENJOY THESE LAST FEW SECONDS BEFORE MY LIFE IS FOREVER CHANGED, I GUESS

OH

MY

GOD

CAN HE EVEN SAY THAT??? IS THAT EVEN LEGAL??? IS HE EVEN FUCKING ALLOWED TO SAY THAT. WHAT IS HAPPENING

OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!

─=≡Σ((( つ ◕o◕ )つ

GET IN HERE, EVERYONE!!

Y’ALL HE REALLY DID IT. “BAKUGOU IS SUCH AN ASSHOLE HE HASN’T EVEN APOLOGIZED” WELL GUESS FUCKING WHAT. GUESS FUCKING WHAT, YOU GUYS!! LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO ((((／￣∇￣)／＼(￣∇￣＼)))) AHHHHHHHHHH

OHHHHHHHH

HEH. I’M ALREADY DEAD, HORIKOSHI, YOU BASTARD. DO YOUR WORST. GO ON

YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON “US”, HE SAYS. ALONG WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF OMG. KACCHAN, YOU STUDIED!! YOU UNDERSTAND!! PREACH!!

OH NO!!

OH WAIT!!!!

LOL I GOT SCARED THERE FOR A SECOND BUT ANYWAY! EVERYONE GET IN HERE!!! GROUP HUG!!! OR WAIT, NO, WHAT ABOUT -- [GRABS YOUR COLLAR URGENTLY] YOU DON’T THINK -- COULD THEY POSSIBLY -- !!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ARE YOU GONNA HUG!??!?!?!?! I AM NOT OKAY!!!!!!! !!!hgk

REACTION PANELS LOL EVERYONE ELSE IS ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS TOO WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

LOL OCHAKO

I KNOW THAT IN REALITY THIS FACE IS JUST BECAUSE SHE’S CONCERNED ABOUT DEKU’S FRAGILE STATE RN, BUT I KEEP THINKING ABOUT THE WAY SHE JUST DROPPED IIDA COLD THOUGH, AND I CAN’T HELP BUT FEAR FOR KACCHAN’S SAFETY LMAO. THAT FEELING WHEN THE CLASS PERV AND THE CLASS BULLY BOTH BEAT YOU TO THE LOVE CONFESSION. KACCHAN WATCH YOUR SIX

OKAY BUT LOOK, IT’S NOT THAT I DON’T LOVE ALL OF THE OTHER KIDS, OKAY, BUT CAN WE PLEASE!??!?! HELLO?!?!? MOMO, JUST -- COULD YOU JUST FOR A MINUTE --

NOOOOOOOOOOO

“DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, I HAVE TO SAVE SOMETHING FOR THE FINALE” HORIKOSHI YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, I’M COMING FOR YOU WITH A TWO BY FOUR!! NOT THAT I’M UNGRATEFUL!! BUT JESUS CHRIST, YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT, AND THEN ALMOST DO THAT, AND THEN NOT!! OMG I HATE YOU

sure let’s cut to Thirteen then, yay. I mean I’m glad they’re alive lol, don’t get me wrong

(ETA: I think that might have sounded a bit sarcastic so I just want to clarify that I really am happy Thirteen is alive and on the job again lol.)

it’s just that if your name doesn’t begin with Baku or Deku I honestly am not interested for just these next five minutes okay lol. like I’m just gonna be completely honest. I am too invested lol, please, they were having a moment, JUST LET ME HAVE THIS PLEASE

OH DAMN U.A. GOT SWOLE AF

THIS SCHOOL HAS BEEN JUICING WTF. I THOUGHT YOU WERE TARTARUS LOL

I’m literally not even reading the speech bubbles though omg I’m so sorry. I really hope there is not a quiz, I promise I will come back to it later scroll scroll scroll

okay so they brought him back to U.A. and he’s all tired and out of it yes

oh goody Hagakure knows all about the security system

(ETA: is it just me or is Horikoshi really laying it on thick with the hints about these two guys lately? I’m on to you sir.)

THAT’S WONDERFUL NEWS. GLAD THIS CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE IS SAFE IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE THAT WE TRUST

ffs Deku

WHAT WILL IT EVEN TAKE TO CONVINCE YOU THEN?? SWEET JESUS

-- holy shit, what??!

they know?? how did they find out??! holy shit???

I’m about to cancel the whole of Japan lmao. fucking try me dudes

-- THE PRINCIPAL!?

NEZU GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!! WHAT THE FUCK

“a ticking time bomb” tell you what, this man is just asking to be punched in the face. literally begging for it omg

(ETA: I have been advised that I misread this part; Rat Principal told everyone how safe U.A. was, but he’s not the one who ratted out Deku; that was “the rumors”, apparently. which, if I had to guess, were probably started by AFO.)

oh I see, so it’s to be Feels, Part II then

he looks so sad and tired and lonely and she goes right for the hand, god bless. though if Kacchan’s not gonna hug him, you’d think someone would at least. or is it because he still smells bad. hmm

AND THE CHAPTER’S ENDING ON HER LOL WELL OKAY THEN

I MEAN IT’S GREAT AND ALL, I LOVE OCHAKO REALLY I DO, BUT WE WERE PROMISED GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GODS, WHAT GIVES SOB. I WAS ALL READY TO BREAK OUT INTO SONG AND EVERYTHING. SURE, HE DID THE APOLOGY, BUT WHERE IS THE FOLLOW-UP GODDAMMIT

(ETA: just to clarify the reason for my rambling here, I was really waiting for the hero name reveal and the presumed deeper meaning behind it lol. but I guess that is a conversation still to come! and we still need Deku’s response to the apology too for that matter. lots to look forward to still.)

WELL WHATEVER, SO THAT IS THE END OF THE CHAPTER! SHOUT OUT TO MY BOY RAT “LET ME JUST TELL EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD ABOUT DEKU’S SUPER SECRET IDENTITY, I GUESS THAT’S ALL RIGHT NOW, NOTHING BAD COULD POSSIBLY COME OF THIS” PRINCIPAL. listen here you little shit

anyway but if you’ll excuse me... IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME. IF I COULD FIND A WAY. I’D TAKE BACK THOSE WORDS THAT HAVE HURT YOU, AND YOU’D STAY. I DON’T KNOW WHY I DID THE THINGS I DID. I DON’T KNOW WHY I SAID THE THINGS I SAID. PRIDE’S LIKE A KNIFE, IT CAN CUT DEEP INSIDE. WORDS ARE LIKE WEAPONS, THEY WOUND SOMETIMES. BUM~ BUM~ BUM~, I DIDN’T REALLY MEAN TO HURT YOU. BUM~ BUM~ BUM~, I DIDN’T WANNA SEE YOU GO. I KNOW I MADE YOU CRY, BUT BABAY, IF I COULD TUUUUURN BACK TIIIIIIIIIIIME...

[watchmegetobsessed]

Never Have I Ever - Harry Styles (part 8)

a/n: oh my! we have finally reached the end of this story and I never thought it would turn out to be this long but im happy it did! thank you for reading and loving it, and now, enjoy the last part!

pairing: Harry x actress!reader

word count: 4k

warning: just pure fluff

SERIES MASTERPOST

masterlist

“Girl, even if you don’t win, you’ll surely take the title of the hottest woman on the red carpet tonight.”

Florence’s words make you chuckle, but you try not to move your lips too much as the makeup artist finishes up the last touches on them, using a nude shade.

“Stop, my head is big enough already,” you tell her, giving her a look through the mirror. She is standing a few feet behind you, already wearing her beautiful, golden Versace gown that hugs her perfectly. Her hair is up in a neat bun so her back can be on full display and the diamonds in her ears can also shine brightly. She looks amazing while she is the opposite of what you’ll look like tonight.

Rhonda, the makeup artist has an amazing notion about your look when you showed her the gown you’d be wearing tonight and since the dress is not the sparkly kind, like Florence’s, she went a little heavier with the glitter on your eyes, using mostly whitish-silver colors, creating rosy cheeks and topping it with nude, glossy lips. Your hair is in loose curls with a bunch of extension, creating the illusion that you might as well be Rapunzel herself tonight. But you are the most excited about the gown that’s already waiting for you to be finally put on.

“What time is it?” you ask Florence as you don’t have your phone on you, but she has hers in her hands already.

“We still have half an hour before we have to leave. Dude, I can’t believe you are an Oscar nominee and might turn into a winner tonight!” she sighs, eyes shining bright with excitement. She hasn’t come off of this high for days, so over the Moon that you get to walk the red carpet tonight as a nominee.

“Don’t jinx it, Flo,” you warn her.

There’s a knock on the door of the hotel suit you’ve occupied for the glamming and Florence is quick to rush to it answering, but you both know who it is. As she throws the door open Harry comes to your sight, looking  as handsome as ever, wearing his custom made Gucci suit with a pink dress shirt underneath that matches your gown perfectly.

“Florence, you look wonderful!” his british accent fills the room, making you smile. Rhonda sets your makeup with some spray and you’re finally done. Standing up you move your legs around a bit as they went a little numb from all the sitting.

“Thank you! Pink suits you well, Harry,” your friend compliments your man and you watch them smiling.

When Harry’s eyes set on you, the light up, his smile widening from ear to ear. He looks spotless, freshly shaved, his hair recently cut and combed into place for a change. Not that you don’t like it when it’s all tousled and messy, especially when it’s because of your fingers.

“Angel, wow!” he breathes out as he walks up to you, taking your hands in his. You know he wants to kiss you, but doesn’t want to risk messing your lips up, so he is left with admiring you with only his eyes.

“Just wait until you see her in the dress!” Florence chimes in making you chuckle. You kept your dress a secret, wanting to surprise him with the first look. You gave out only the most necessary details for Lambert so the two of you could match.

“You’d be great like this too,” he teases, taking a look at your fluffy robe.

“I’m not going to the Oscars in a robe,” you tell him with a narrow-eyed look.

“I know, I’m just saying that you’d still be stunning,” he mumbles with a boyish smirk.

“Y/N? Time to choose a necklace!” Your stylist, Rupert appears from the room where your gown is hanging. He has a few jewelry boxes in his hands and he sets them all to the coffee table, opening up you are met with four breathtakingly beautiful diamond necklaces, each of them different yet so magical looking, you can’t decide which one you like the most.

“Harry, which one do you like the most?” you ask, kneeling down next to the table, mesmerized by the jewelries in front of you. Harry leans down and inspects them one by one before poking on the last one in the row. It has three rows of diamonds, not too big, the stones in the last row are shaped like water droplets, it’s such an elegant looking piece, it surely caught your eyes as well and you think it would be perfect with the dress.

“This one,” he tells you and you nod, shutting the other boxes, satisfied with the choice.

“Alright, time to get you into the gown, girl,” Rupert winks, gesturing at you to follow him into the room.

“I’ll be right back,” you tell Harry, risking a quick peck on his lips before you disappear in your temporary dressing room.

You fell in love with the gown on the first fitting when Rupert pulled it out, still in the finishing phase. It still has pins in it, but it already took your breath away. It has a massive A-line skirt and a tight upper part that hugs your body perfectly, a row of buttons running down the middle of it. The sleeves are puffy, but then end in a tight run from a little above your wrists, the same set of buttons appearing like on your chest. It’s giving out some Victorian style vibes in a more sophisticated and simpler way, but it’s by far your favorite dress you’ve ever worn to any event.

It surely needs the extra pair of hands from Rupert to put it on, but once you are secured in it, you feel like a princess straight out of a fairytale and surely, your prince is standing on the other side of the double doors.

“Alright! Everyone get ready for the big reveal!” Rupert announces, sneaking out the room so he can open the door for you. He waits a few moments as you hear everyone shuffle around outside, probably lining up to see you walk out in your finished state. “Okay, three! Two! One! Welcome our Oscar nominee!” he cheers, a round of applause is heard before you even appear, but it’s quickly replaced with gasps when Rupert pulls the doors open and they get the first glimpse of you in your gown.

“Holy fuck!” Florence gasps, mouth hanging open as she keeps raking your form up and down. Your eyes find Harry’s gaze and you see him in a state you haven’t often found him in the past almost two years you’ve been dating. He is completely speechless, eyes glued to you in awe as if he just saw an angel in real life.

“Y/N, I—wow,” he breathes out, still at a loss of words.

“You like it?” you ask with a shy smile.

“I fucking love it, baby. You look… You really are an angel,” he tells you, making you chuckle at his words.

“Would you please help me put on the necklace?” you ask him and he nods eagerly, carefully taking the jewelry out of its box and walking behind you, he brings it around your neck, his fingers delicately working on the clasp. Once it’s all set, you step to the floor to ceiling mirror, taking in the final look.

“There won’t be a straight woman left on Earth once you step on the red carpet,” Florence bluntly comments, making everyone in the room laugh.

“Let’s take some photos, I need to immortalize this masterpiece,” Rupert gestures around, already grabbing his camera.

The next ten minutes you take hundreds of photos, alone, with Florence and then with Harry. He still seems a little stunned by your look, feeling shy when he circles his arm around your waist, but it’s cute that you can still have such an effect on him after being together for almost two years.

Florence snaps some with your phone as well, your favorite is when he held your waist and leant you back, making you arch backwards as your noses touched since he couldn’t kiss you. You already know it’ll end up as your lockscreen, replacing the selfie the two of you took on your latest trip to Hawaii.

When it’s time to leave you grab your little purse with your phone and other necessities and the three of you pile up in a minivan, since your dress needs all the space so it doesn’t get wrinkled before you step out to the red carpet.

As you sit in the car and watch the buildings pass by, your nerves start to rise in you. When the nominations came out a month ago it seemed so far, you couldn’t imagine yourself actually attending the Academy Awards, but now here you are, on your way to find out if you’ve been good enough to be the best.

Your role in Sinful Heaven has brought a lot to your life aside from the nomination. The three months of filming was one of the hardest times in your life you’ve ever worked through and at some points, you didn’t even think you’d get through it. Working so closely with Levi took a toll on you while you were trying to prove in such a heavy and serious role. It was a mess especially at the beginning when you and Harry were still in this weird phase, but that eventually turned right when he literally punched Levi in the face and ten minutes later asked you to be his girlfriend. It’s a badass way to start a relationship and you wouldn’t trade it for anything, especially because it put Levi into place or at least scared him enough to get off your back for the rest of the filming.

When Harry left following that visit, you couldn’t see each other until filming wrapped and you flew straight to him and travelled with him for the next two weeks, hopping from one city to the other, watching him perform every other night and spending all your time with him.

When the movie premiered eight months later, you didn’t appear with Harry by your side, Maya was your date for the evening, but by that time everyone knew you and Harry are an official couple. Neither of you felt like hiding it or caring about what others would think and you were able to focus on each other and rely on the strong foundation you’ve built for your relationship.

He was there with you when the nominations came out and probably screamed louder when your name appeared in the list. With tearing eyes and choked out sobs you jumped into his arms as he mumbled into your ear.

“I’m so proud of you, Angel. So, so proud!”

And now you are on your way to the show, only hours away from finding out if your dreams will come true tonight. Harry squeezes your hand and you turn to face him, his soft eyes meeting yours.

“Nervous?” he asks with a small smile.

“Very,” you admit with an airy chuckle.

“Whatever happens tonight, I’m very proud of you. Don’t forget that.”

“Thank you,” you whisper, giving his hand a squeeze back.

Since it’s the first time you and Harry appear on the red carpet as a couple, once you set your feet out of the car, everyone goes nuts. He helps you out and even fixes your dress so it falls just perfectly around your frame before he offers his arm. You link your through it, taking a deep breath as the two of you start walking down the carpet, posing for the photographers.

You feel powerful and strong, like it’s the peak of your career, but you also feel that it wouldn’t be the same without Harry by your side even though he is making sure to let you shine tonight. At one point he even steps back for a moment so photographers can snap you alone and you think it’s such a caring move from him.

You feel a little dizzy from all the flashlights by the time you walk into the theater, Harry holding your hand tightly as he leads you to your seats.

You’ve been to plenty award shows and it’s not even your first Academy Awards appearance either, but for obvious reasons, it’s the most important. Sitting in your plush chair, you can barely stop yourself from continuously fidgeting as one category follows the other and it’s still not yours.

Then following a jaw-dropping performance from Dua Lipa, Chris Evans walks out with a golden statue and an envelope in his hands and your heart skips a beat, but not because of the man himself, but because you know he is the presenter of the Best Actress category.

Your hold on Harry’s hand on your lap tightens and you glue your eyes to the big screens behind Chris as he smiles around.

“Good evening. It’s a pleasure to be here and to present the award for Best Actress. The theater tonight is filled with exceptional talents, but let’s see the nominees,” he speaks into the microphone and then he starts listing the names.

Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie and Rooney Mara are called and a camera fixates on each of them when Chris says their names, all smiling brightly and waving around before your name is called at the end. Taking a deep breath you plaster your most wonderful smile across your face, waving around like the other nominees did before the big screen splits, showing the five of you simultaneously.

“We’ve seen some spectacular performances from these ladies and now let’s see who proved herself to be the best this year.”

Chris flips the envelope open and pulls the little paper out that has the winner’s name written on it and for a moment you’re convinced you’ll pass out. You’ve never felt this anxious before and you’re gripping Harry’s hand so tightly you’re surprised he hasn’t pulled it back, but he is patiently putting up with your nerves, his eyes glued to the man on the stage as well.

“And the Academy Award for Best Actress goes to…” Chris starts with a charming smile, holding a short pause before he finally says the name. “Y/N Y/L/N for her role as Marie Davidson in Sinful Heaven!”

Your mouth hangs open, ears ringing as you process that your name was called. Everyone around you jumps up, including Harry, who is screaming just like when the nominations came out, while you are completely blank. It takes you a couple of moments to realize that you in fact just won your first Oscar and everyone is waiting for you to go and get your little statue.

“Baby! Baby you won!” Harry cheers as he helps you up from your seat and you throw yourself into his arms as reality sets in. “I fucking love you, Angel. Go and get your Oscar!” he laughs, pride all over his face as he urges you to walk up to the stage.

“Walk me up, please!” you stammer, not trusting yourself with walking in this fragile state. He offers his hand without a second thought, walking you to the stage where Chris is politely waiting for you to help you up on the stairs.

“Thank you,” you breathe out once you’re finally up on the stage, every set of eyes on you as Chris hands you the little statue.

“Congratulations,” he smiles as the two of you exchange two kisses on the cheeks before he steps aside and lets you give a speech.

You thought about writing a few words beforehand, but you figured if you end up being the winner you’d forget the whole thing, so there would be no use and that’s the case. Your mind is still blank as you look down at the award in your hands, the crowd still cheering on you, giving you a few extra moments to figure out what to say.

“I uhh—I don’t even know what to say, this feels like a dream,” you admit talking into the microphone, the clapping dying down so that everyone can hear your words. “I want to thank to everyone who worked on Sinful Heaven, because I wouldn’t be here without them. To my wonderful director and amazing costars, it’s been such a wonderful journey with you all. Thank you to my friends and family who were there with me from the very start, believing in me when I was losing faith in myself, thank you for never giving up on me. To my parents who I assume are now crying in front of the TV,” you add chuckling softly, imagining your mom and dad in tears as they listen to your words. “This is a wonderful sign to me that I am where I need to be and that I’m on the right path, so thank you for giving me even more motivation to keep me going on my way.”

Your eyes roam around all the guests until they fall on one proud man staring at you in his Gucci suit and pink dress shirt, his green eyes looking glossy as he listens to your words.

“And last but not least, thank you to one special person, because I’m convinced I wouldn’t be here tonight without him. I have one thing to tell you.” Forgetting about everyone in the theater you hold up the Oscar in your hand as you finish your speech: “Never have I ever loved someone like I love you.”

The crowd starts cheering again as you step away from the microphone and Chris is quick to jog up to you and help you down the stairs, Harry rushing back to take your hand once Chris lets go of it.

You catch him wipe a tear off his cheek as the two of you walk back to your seats hand in hand. Once you are settled, you take a deep breath and turn to Harry who is already looking at you, the same proud smile you saw from the stage still on his handsome face.

“I have never,” he tells you as his answer to the last line of your speech and you chuckle as your free hand finds the back of his neck, pulling him close. The lipstick on your lips long forgotten as you finally kiss him for the first time tonight.

“I have never either,” you whisper against his lips before kissing him again and again.

***

  Smiling around you wait for the audience to quiet down as you make yourself comfortable in the familiar armchair. It’s such a nostalgic feeling to sit here again.

“Y/N, it’s so nice to have you here again,” Ellen greets you once the clapping has stopped.

“Thank you for inviting me.”

“Of course. A lot has happened since the last time you were here, you won an Oscar just a few weeks ago, congratulations!”

The cheering starts again as a picture of you appears on the screen behind you, wearing your iconic pink gown, holding your Oscar in your hands.

“Thank you,” you shyly smile, still not entirely in peace with the fact that you are now an Oscar winning actress.

“Such a major thing, congrats.”

“Thank you, it is a huge thing, yes.”

“Do you already have a spot for the award? Does it have a designated place?”

“Well, for now it is in my study along with some more mementos, but I’m planning to have a little stand made in the living room,” you share your plans.

“Surely, I would want to show it off if I had an Oscar,” Ellen chuckles. “You have such a busy time behind you, have you been up to something new lately?”

“We finished filming the third season of The Umbrella Academy, so now I’m having a little break before I jump into anything new.”

“Sounds nice, you deserve all the relaxing. Anything planned while you’re on a break? A new book to read, or maybe a concert to go to?” she asks and you already know where this is heading.

“You know you can just ask if I’m planning to attend a Harry Styles concert,” you bluntly tell her, making the audience and Ellen laugh.

“Well, I was just asking around about your plans, but I’m happy you plan to visit Harry’s concert! It’s also good to know that the situation has changed since the last time you were here, you definitely have been to one of his concerts since then.”

“I have been, yes,” you admit smirking.

“And I assume the two of you are now very close, am I right?” she asks and suddenly a paparazzi photo of the two of you appears where you’re walking down the street hand in hand just a couple of weeks ago.

“You could say that,” you nod, biting into your bottom lip.

“Amazing, because he is going to join us now. Everyone, please welcome Harry Styles!” Ellen announces and turning around you spot Harry walking out from backstage, the audience screaming for him. He shyly waves around walking up to the center, greeting Ellen with a kiss on the cheek before he turns to you, pecking your lips shortly as he sits down next to you.

“Harry, so good to see you again,” Ellen smiles at him.

“Good t’ see you as well,” he nods.

“So, the last time you two were sitting here, you—it was the first time you ever met, right?”

“Right,” you nod with Harry.

“And now you are…” she gestures at the two of you, not finishing the sentence, but everyone knows what she meant by that.

“And now we are… not strangers anymore,” Harry says chuckling, making everyone in the studio laugh.

“Certainly,” Ellen nods. “Alright, I thought that we could play another game, just to bring back some nice memories,” she explains, reaching behind her armchair, grabbing the familiar board from her, flipping it in your hands with a nostalgic smile.

“Can we keep it PG rated though?” Harry asks, examining his board before looking up at Ellen.

“No,” she simply answers, reaching for her cards as the audience starts laughing. “Okay, you know how to play it, no need for explanation. Here is the first one: Never have I ever used my fame to get in somewhere.”

Ellen is quick to show the I HAVE side of her board and you slowly do the same while Harry thinks to himself.

“Oh come on, you surely have,” you elbow him playfully as he smirks in your way, holding up the same side as you and Ellen.

“We all have, it’s not a shame,” Ellen shrugs. “Next one. Never have I ever forgotten the name of someone right after they introduced themselves.”

Ellen holds up the I HAVE side and you do the same again while this time Harry flips it over to I HAVE NEVER confidently.

“Really?” Ellen asks him, surprised at his answer.

“I’m good with names,” he simply shrugs.

“That’s a good trait. Alright, let’s move on. Never have I ever punched someone in the face.”

It’s a sneaky and very shady statement. Just a few days after the incident with Levi, word got out that he was punched, a few blurry pictures floating around the internet of his bruise, then fans figured out it had to happen around the time Harry visited set and people were quick to put the picture together and assume that Harry was the one who hit Levi, but it was never confirmed.

Glancing at your boyfriend you are fighting your smile back, holding up the I HAVE NEVER side as he is looking back at you slyly, continuously flipping his board before it finally lands on I HAVE, the audience immediately rumbling at the partial confirmation and seemingly Ellen is also amazed by Harry’s honesty.

“Alright, interesting. Love that for you, Harry,” he comments making everyone laugh as you reach over and give Harry’s hand a squeeze. “Last one,” Ellen announces, reading the last statement from her cards. “Never have I ever fallen in love with someone I played never have I ever with.”

Ellen quickly shows her I HAVE NEVER side as you suck your lips into your mouth, glancing at Harry again. You share a look before you both slowly raise your boards, both reading the same sign on them: I HAVE.

[discotreque]

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

[daimonhalos]

More Badlands headcanons: the prequel

I return from the grave to lay upon ye my newfound knowledge: so I was just doodling a sad bbh, then he started looking more like child bbh and it turned into a comic of Bad meeting the other three for the first time and eventually I came up with a sort of backstory for bbh and some initial bonding for the badlands LET'S GET INTO IT

(this is all /rp)

So life in the nether certainly wasn't easy and bad's childhood was definitely fucked up.

One day he had walked away for five minutes from home and returns to it being burnt down and his parents on the ground, stabbed to death.

Baby Bad did n ot have the same attire. His current scarf, he took it from his mom when she died, whilst the sword comes from his dad. That's why he never upgraded from a diamond sword to a netherite one.

Before they died, he had 3 halos, two disappeared after they did and one remained broken until he got over them passing away.

As a kid he had more devilish wings, which became normal angel/feathered wings a little after his parents' death. It had been said that his family had a toll on their heads and only once someone else's vengeance was completed (killing said family), his features would've gone back to the way his species used to be. He wasn't sure much had changed.

(Also sidenote, for once he's on the other side: literally every bad thing reminds him of his childhood in the nether so at least for the first few centuries he's always absolutely nice to people)

Then he goes wild with chaos when hes more comfy and has friends ♥

Once grown up and confident, despite everything he'd heard about the overworld, he decides to find a portal and cross it.

Of course, when he crosses, he is immediately met with three complete strangers staring right back at him, entirely different from what people had told him: there's a biped cat, a diamond person and a creeper hybrid, still staring and blinking at him, quite surprised.

The three immediately notice how he's immediately on the defensive, guarding instead of attacking them immediately

So they understand he doesn't mean bad and they also understand it's his first time out of the nether because of the way he needs to adjust to the sunlight which is the same skeppy had the first time out of the underground (he only ever lived in caves so underground, max/min y levels where u find diamonds.

They take o n e look at bad and go "holy shit. We need to adopt this guy quick"

Bonus: "okay. GOTTA protect this dude at a l l costs. He might be 3 meters tall demon, but he looks sad so he needs to be PROTECTED RIGHT NOW-"

Sam ant and skeppy are in fact together already which means they already are found family tm so they already got each other and helped each other in the past.

Hold the fuck up this is beautiful because. Creepers can spawn or stay in mines WHERE DIAMONDS ARE

creepers can be on the ground as well where CATS ARE BUT THEY'RE AFRAID OF CATS THIS IS ACTUALLY SO GOOD pardon my enthusiasm i had an epiphany

Hence their small backstory: Sam finds skeppy first, then he loses skeppy as the latter freaking bolts around in the overworld for the first time.

Skeppy finds ant and brings him to Sam and Sam is like Oh GOD PLEASE NONONO "Can we keep him" "NO." "Im right here" "he TALKS?"And transforms to his humanoid vers

Actually they keep Ant for a week before he speaks for real because skeppy wants to prank sam

One night a skelly shoots an arrow at ant and Sam has been protective over the two ever since (they are brothers your honor)

Sam stopped sizzling everytime ant is nearby ♡

Skeppy does not feel hot nor cold

He's simply an unbothered king about temperatures ♡

Thats why he wears a crop top anything for fashion,,,/hj (granted to u guys by the great @azaethal)

"We're in a snow biome at least pretend you're cold"" f a s h u n "

"Hey Sam do u think ants like. Constantly naked" "Skeppy it's Four IN THE MORNING. GO. TO sleep" "He has fur in his cat form I know but like. He's basically naked right" "For fucks sake-"

Lol get skepped

It's a blessing when they adopt bad in their friend group cause skeppy finally has a new victim and Sam and ant have some rest. Bad falls for every single prank of skeppy.

The moment skeppy finds out he doesn't swear it's over for you bitches

Then the next problem is when they get into fights and become petty and don't talk to each other like literal kids

Ant and Sam stand there like how does this diamond block fuckin have the guts to yell at a 9 feet tall demon what the f u ck

Is anyone going to make fun of this demon?? Bet. (courtesy of @azaethal)

And that's how our boys know. They just know bad and skeppy are gonna be loooong time friends

ONE DAY THEY'RE LIKE

"YO GUESS WHAT WE JUST DID SOMETHING S I C K"

"WE JUST LINKED OUR SOULS TOGETHER"

"What the ACTUAL F-"

They say it was just for the meme

Deep down they know it's because they got an unbreakable bond

When he joins his soul with skeppy's, the second halo comes back to him. The third will when he finds sapnap and decides to make him his son and take him away from there.

Don't have anything else yet but will add up as soon as I do owo

[everybodyscupoftea]

the breakup

pike jj x reader (ft. cody, tyler, and zach)

the long awaited moment :)

warnings: cursing, light editing

Seeing one of his best friends thriving with a guy, a guy who’d fully replaced him in her life, really fucking hurt JJ. He was sitting in his room one afternoon, door shut, listening to the whole group of them bickering over what movie to watch. Brooke was sitting at his desk, typing something on her laptop, JJ couldn’t remember what, and he couldn’t help but notice that when Brooke was over, he had to keep his door shut.

He wasn’t sure if it was something he did intentionally or just reflexively. He knew Brooke wasn’t welcome, hell, Brooke knew she wasn’t welcome. The damage had been done and there was no replacing the bitterness the others felt toward her.

JJ wasn’t an idiot, he saw how fucked up the way Brooke treated his friends was. He noticed her cruel remarks behind her friends’ backs, and it made him wonder exactly what she said when he wasn’t around. 

It hadn’t always been like that, at first, Brooke was sweet, wanting to meet his friends and get along with them. They were standoffish first, and maybe that’s the reason JJ was hesitant to give it up. Technically, he had the moral high ground here.

Plus, Brooke was an excellent distraction. She was attractive, she liked him, and she was always willing to hang out, great for helping him avoid addressing his true feelings and why he felt so hurt about Zach.

He really thought it would get better after the talk he had with her. She crashed their anniversary, and that was admittedly not his best move, but they talked it out and she agreed to be less confrontational and more friendly. Which backfired the second the boys found out he was still dating her. They’d been pissed.

JJ often thought about Cody’s hissed, “You finally realize how she treats us but refuse to break up with her, I see where your priorities really lie.” It didn’t seem fair. Why should he be miserable and alone just because they didn’t like the girl he was dating.

What he was failing to realize, or maybe he had deep down but was avoiding it, was that he’d get his friends back, he wouldn’t be alone. Sure they’d make him grovel, and he’d probably have to pay for a lot of lunches and dinners before they fully forgave him, but he’d never be alone.

Until he realized that, though, he would. JJ would never really get his friends back as long as Brooke was involved, and if Brooke wasn’t out of the picture soon, he’d really damage the relationship beyond repair. Tyler words echoed frequently, “If you choose Brooke over your best friends, the ones here for you since day one, you’re not the guy I thought you were.”

-

Zach was getting ready to head to the fieldhouse, zipping up his team jacket in your room before he had to head out, and he gently suggested, “Maybe you should invite JJ to the game.” 

Immediately you were shaking your head, “Absolutely not, this game is important to you, I know pro scouts are going to be there. I don’t want to ruin it.”

He smiled softly, “I just want you to be happy.”

“And I want you to be supported without distraction. Cody, Tyler, and I will be there, front row, cheering you on.”

Zach bent down to kiss your forehead, “Fine, but the scouts aren’t even there for me, I’m not a senior yet.”

“But they’ll notice you, I’m sure of that.”

With a shrug, he inhaled deeply, “Maybe, but it’s not my place yet.”

Shoving him gently toward the door, you waved, a proud smile on your face, “Knock ‘em dead, tiger.”

“Love you,” he answered, wiggling his fingers in a wave goodbye.

“Love you more,” you responded, not letting him get the last word as the door swung shut behind him.

When it was finally time for you to head to the field, you were pretty sure you were more nervous than Zach was. Rubbing your thighs in an anxious gesture, you sighed, ready for the game to be over.

Tyler grabbed both of your hands, stopping you and catching your attention. He squeezed them with a smile, “Zach will be fine.”

“I know, I’m not sure why I’m so nervous.”

“Because you want him to succeed. That’s love, bitch.”

You snorted, “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

“Now, stop stressing, How many times has he told you you’re his good luck charm?”

“Many.”

“Mhmm. And you’re here, so everything will be fine.”

And Tyler was right of course, Zach played an excellent game, one of his best of the season. You were bouncing up and down, waiting for him to finish showering and find you in the parking lot. Cody and Tyler had driven, but you wanted to ride back with Zach.

He grinned widely when he saw you waiting by his truck and sped up. You ran the last few steps when he got close, launching yourself into his arms. Zach’s happy laugh made you smile as he spun you around a few times before setting you down.

“Holy shit, Zach. You were on fire today.”

He blushed, “Well, what can I say, I was trying to impress my favorite girl in the stands.”

Rolling your eyes, you tugged him down by his jacket to kiss him. Zach immediately returned the kiss, and when you broke away, you whispered, “Cheesy,” to him with a soft smile.

“Only for you.”

-

Cody and Tyler got back to the dorm and were a little shocked to see JJ sitting at his desk, door wide open. Thankfully Brooke was nowhere in sight. He glanced up to see them standing there and took in their Duke baseball sweatshirts, a dark look crossing his face.

“So, baseball fans now, huh?”

“Gotta support our bro,” Tyler answered, unfazed.

“Thought you liked basketball.”

He shrugged, “I’m multifaceted. I know you wouldn’t understand.”

JJ huffed indignantly, “At least I’m not bending over backwards for a dude I barely know.”

“You barely know him, sure, but we’re friends with him.”

“He’ll drop you so fast if he goes pro. And that’s even if he’s good enough to go pro, which I doubt.”

Cody and Tyler weren’t fully aware of Zach’s situation and the lack of real support he received from his family, but they’d noticed you make a point to remind him how well he’s doing and how good he is. It didn’t sit well with them that a guy who’d never played baseball competitively in his life was criticizing their friend.

“Have you ever seen him play?” Tyler asked incredulously, “he’s so good so you can fuck off with that nonsense.”

JJ rolled his eyes, “Bias.”

And this time Zach wasn’t there. Tyler felt the rage running through him at JJ’s dismissal and before Cody realized what was happening, he was striding across the room. JJ’s eyes widened and he started to back away, but it was too late.

Tyler swung, landing a solid hit right on his mouth, busting his lip instantly. JJ’s hand flew to his shirt, pulling it over his bleeding lip. Tyler was breathing heavily, hand still clenched by his side in case he needed to hit again.

“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth, Maybank,” and then he was gone.

Cody stared wide eyed at JJ before turning and running to their room to shut the door. Tyler was pacing, running a hand repeatedly through his hair, and he looked up when Cody locked the door. He smiled, “How’d that feel.”

“Really good,” Tyler admitted, “very cathartic. You should try.”

Cody snorted, “I’ll let you handle the hitting, Rocky. I’d probably break my knuckles.”

Tyler laughed and the tension broke. He sniffed and sat on his bed, “Should we sent it in the groupchat or keep it to ourselves.”

“I’m willing to take this one to the grave if you are.”

Spitting in his hand, Cody offered it to Tyler. In turn, Tyler spit in his hand and they shook. No one would ever know.

-

Except you knew immediately when you saw JJ’s busted lip. Your eyebrows shot up and you glanced at the two boys who were smiling innocently and shook your head, “I won’t ask.”

“Thanks,” Tyler responded, “but trust me, you would’ve hit him too.”

Which you quickly interpreted that he’d said something insulting about either you or Zach. Exhaling once, you nodded, “Fine, I’m not here for him anyway, I’m here to remind the two of you about the baseball party we’re leaving for in ten minutes that you clearly forgot about.”

“Oh fuck,” Cody winced, “that’s tonight?”

“It is, you guys still coming?”

“Absolutely,” Tyler answered, “let me get dressed real quick.”

You sat on his bed while the two of them scrambled to find something acceptable to wear. It took Tyler changing his shirt for the fourth time for you to speak up, “Hey, y’all look fine. Let’s go.”

He rolled his eyes, “If we’re showing up with the prettiest girl at the party, we have to look the part.”

“Oh hush,” you pushed him away, “you looked really good in the first sweater.”

Tyler laughed, “You couldn’t have told me that before I changed four times?”

“Nope, now come on, we’re going to lose Cody if we don’t get moving soon.”

He sighed and pulled the first sweater back on before grabbing a pair of shoes and heading to the door where Cody had been standing for the past 10 minutes. Cody looked up from his phone, “Don’t you look hot, Ty.”

Tyler rolled his eyes, “Shut up.”

Cody reached over to ruffle his hair, Tyler squawking indignantly when he did so, slapping his hand away. You sighed, stepping between them, “Children, let’s go.” 

“You’re driving?” Cody asked as the three of you got on the elevator.

“Yep, my turn to DD.”

“Shotgun,” Tyler called.

“Hey,” Cody protested, “you can’t call it if you can’t even see the car.”

“I can and I did. Fuck you.”

Sighing again, you told Tyler, “We both know that’s not how it works.”

With a shit eating grin, he answered, “I know. I’m messing with him since he fucked up my hair.”

“Hair looks great,” Cody reassured, “as always.”

-

JJ was completely unsure how Brooke managed to pull an invite to a baseball party. They were notoriously exclusive on campus, not letting many people without a direct connection to a player in. But she had.

“How the fuck did you manage this?” he finally muttered as they walked to the door.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, “Don’t you listen to me when I talk? My cousin plays.”

So apparently he didn’t listen to her much. She showed the guy at the door the text from her cousin and they walked right in, music playing loudly through the house. Brooke grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the kitchen, and JJ looked around, not recognizing a single person.

And then Zach came downstairs. JJ’s gut twisted and he looked away, trying to avoid the boy who likely hated him. Brooke noticed and huffed, “Literally he’s so harmless, babe. Remember he stopped Tyler from punching you.”

Which was true. Zach caught his eye and nodded at him in greeting. JJ nodded back and kept moving until they reached the drinks. He drove, so Brooke grabbed a drink and he grabbed a water bottle out of the cooler shoved in the corner.

Brooke gave him a weird look, “Not even one beer?”

“Not really feeling up to a party.”

She rolled her eyes, “Then why the fuck did you come?”

JJ furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “Because I’m your boyfriend.”

“So you think I need supervision? You don’t trust me?”

“I, no-” he tried to come up with an acceptable answer, “it’s just in case something goes wrong to keep you safe. And I’m always your plus one, figured I could just come to drive.”

With a scoff, she answered, “Could’ve just dropped me off. Now you’re going to keep me from having fun, stick in the mud.”

JJ was a little hurt, but he chose not to answer, not wanting to start yet another fight with her. He nodded and let it go. Brooke rolled her eyes again and JJ couldn’t help but take note that she’d been doing it a lot lately. He wasn’t sure what that meant.

That’s when he saw you, Cody, and Tyler walk through the door, not even needing to show the guy an invite. The player at the door yelled out, “Davis, your girl’s here!” JJ wasn’t sure how he heard over the music, but Zach’s head whipped around and a grin lit up his face.

You waved and made your way to the crowd to kiss him. JJ watched, a weird feeling in his chest, and rubbed over his heart when your group didn’t even look his way. He heard a rushing sound in his ears and went lightheaded. Fuck, he realized, the three of you wanted nothing to do with him.

The startling realization left him cold as Brooke waved at who he assumed was her cousin. He walked over and greeted JJ, “Sup, dude. Nice to meet you. Andy right?”

JJ froze, head whipping over to stare at Brooke. She had gone pale and his jaw dropped, “Nah, dude, I’m JJ.”

The boy’s eyes narrowed and he frowned, “I- my bad. Must’ve gotten you confused with someone else.” Before JJ could respond, he was gone, clearly not ready to face the fallout of his careless words.

Clearing his throat in an attempt to get rid of the knot, JJ turned to Brooke, “Who’s Andy?”

“He’s my partner in geology, you know that.”

“Oh, the boy who flirts with you all the time?”

Her smile looked forced, “That’s the one.”

“Mhmm, and why did your cousin seem to know his name but not mine?”

“I’ve complained about him and his flirting before to my cousin.”

“Right,” JJ wasn’t sure if he should believe her or not, “I think we need to have a talk.” Standing up, he pulled her behind him to the bathroom downstairs. Not wanting to make a scene in the living room.

Brooke’s eyes narrowed, “You’re going to do this right now, embarrass me at this party?”

“Are you cheating on me?” he asked once the door was finally shut.

“No! I’m not that kind of person,” she defended.

JJ scoffed, “Why don’t I believe you right now?”

Hands thrown up, she yelled, “I don’t know, but that’s a you problem.”

“Being cheated on is not a me problem. It’s a you being an asshole problem.”

“JJ,” she said lowly, “I didn’t cheat on you, honestly. I-” she paused, biting her lip, “I thought about it, but nothing happened.”

Blinking a few times to process, JJ managed to croak out a disbelieving, “What?”

Brooke, clearly fed up, scoffed, “Don’t act like that, do you even realize how painful it is to watch your boyfriend pine after a girl who clearly knows him better. God she won’t even give you the time of day that way and you still watch her.”

His eyebrows shot up, “That’s so untrue. I’ve almost ruined those relationships forever because I stood up for you.”

“Thanks for doing the bare minimum,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“No,” he pointed at her, “you don’t get to take the moral high ground when you literally considered cheating on me.”

“But I didn’t!”

“Brooke, you didn’t physically cheat on me, but by considering it, I’d say you did.”

“Come on,” she started, fully turning to face him, “we can work through this.”

“I think,” he paused, trying to stop the shake in his voice, “I think we should break up.”

Brooke shook her head fiercely, “No, no. We’re solid, we can get through this.”

JJ sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Come on, Brooke, the writing’s been on the wall for weeks.”

She couldn’t argue with that. Before she could respond someone was pulling at the doorknob trying to get in. JJ cleared his throat, “Occupied.”

“Hurry up!” a familiar voice yelled, and he heard your giggle.

Brooke’s eyes hardened and she threw the door open, startling you, “Fuck you and fuck your stupid friends.”

You blinked, stunned, and turned to JJ for an explanation. He looked sad and resigned, “Sorry. She’s a little upset.”

Zach caught his eye and looked sympathetic, “Sorry man, I know you liked her.”

Cody’s head swiveled back and forth between him and Zach, “Wait what, what’s going on?”

Your jaw dropped as you put the pieces together, “Holy fuck, you did it?”

“Did what?” Cody whined, tired of being left out.

“I, uh, I broke up with her,” JJ answered, voice a little shaky.

Cody beamed and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking a little, “Tonight we drink to celebrate!” 

You laughed, leaning back into Zach, “Congrats, Maybank. Knew you could do it.”

Tyler reached out, offering his fist for JJ to bump for the first time in months. JJ did cautiously before stepping fully out of the bathroom, following Cody and Tyler to the kitchen.

He felt light and heavy at the same time, and Brooke was nowhere to be found. For the first time in a while, he felt like he could breathe.

You and Zach joined the three of them soon after and JJ relished the feeling. Turns out he’d really missed you guys.

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (5/19/2021)?

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #6: Feels like a second book in a series that feels like a near-complete departure at first from the original volume in the best way, and the reveal about the giant we saw on the last page of the previous issue knocked my socks off.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #2: Hit me harder than the first issue, really well-done melancholy fairy tale stuff.

Ultramega #3: Still so dang goooood

Radian Black #4: Huh. Well color me intrigued.

Stillwater #7: Hahahahaha holy shit, of course

Daredevil #30: Breaking, Zdarsky hasn’t suddenly started to suck at writing superhero comics in the past week

Shang-Chi #1: I liked Yang and Ruan’s previous mini well enough but wasn’t blown away and might have skipped this if not for the high concept, but Yang’s already making the most of the grand tour aspect of this and I’m looking forward to where it goes.

The Mighty Valkyries #2: Not a book I have a ton to say on, it’s still pretty dang good though. Glad Gronbekk is getting opportunities off of this with that new Warhammer book, even if I’ll probably pass on that since it took a Gillen to get me onboard at all.

Fantastic Four: Life Story #1: ...this kinda stunk? It reads for all the world like Russell has a big FF vs. Galactus story he wants to tell and he’s phoning in the entire Life Story superstructure surrounding it to have an excuse to get there. There’s room for improvement in subsequent issues and I like Izaakse’s art but this is a stunning disappointment by the standards of both its predecessor and Russell’s oeuvre.

Heroes Reborn: Peter Parker The Amazing Shutterbug #1: There’s some alright storytelling here but the entire thing feels perfunctory, I’m not crushed or anything but there’s just enough potential glimmering through for me to feel let down.

Heroes Reborn #3: Hey so this issue is pretty good? Still the same flavor as my beloved Aaron Avengers trash, but the actually solidly done version of that rather than one that bypasses any good taste of mine to appeal to some kind of weird hindbrain enjoyment. Maybe the guy’s got a Flash run in him, this is the most inspired he’s felt in a hot minute.

Way of X #2: So this issue rules and the last page had me howling, but it extremely threw me when it was brought to my attention that there’s a character in here whose entire facial structure has basically been changed from a nonwhite person in her original appearance to pretty dang white. Initially flipped out Bob Quinn did this, turns out intermediate appearances between the image I saw and this changed her appearance bit-by-bit and this was just going off her most recent appearances so it’s not really his fault, it’s still not great.

The Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1: Paknadel’s a name I’ve seen bandied around as a promising fresh talent for a few years who whenever I’ve encountered him usually just made me go “that was okay”, but this was damn excellent and whether it represents a level-up or a niche he fits in if he and Ferreyra took over Hulk after Ewing leaves I’d be all about it.

Catwoman #31: Still a really good run! Running out of ways to say it!

Justice League #61: There is a way that one moment could have worked but as played it’s the dopiest, tweeist kind of Bendisism. I’m gonna give this run some time to breathe because I’ve enjoyed most of his other DC work but this is starting to feel like the Bad version of Bendis we saw until recently coming back.

Superman: Red and Blue #3: Was already hoping to get the John Paul Leon cover as soon as it was solicited, especially glad now. The last two issues but this is a proper all-killer no-filler:

Holland/Braga/Sharpe: I was expecting this to be the forgettable installment of the bunch but this was a really fun little Trinity story.

Fiffe: I took a look at Copra in the past and thought it looked neat but wasn’t drawn in, revealing myself as a plebian once more. Loved this though, a fun, gorgeous adventure with an enjoyably personable take on Clark.

Thomas/Pekmezci/Sharpe: Brandon Thomas: a dude who’s been writing quite a bit of Superman lately, but still definitely isn’t writing nearly enough Superman.

Spencer/Ward/Sharpe: This pains me to admit, but even without the crutch of having Ward doing the absolutely fucking imperial work here you’d expect? Nick Spencer writes a really fun, sweet little Superman story here. Between this and that Jimmy Olsen story he did a long time ago I guess Metropolis just draws out his better instincts.

Stokoe: Stokoe doing a fun l’il Superman space adventure! What more could you ask for?

[troop-scoop]

Mistakes & Regrets XXI

Summary: When a trip to your Dad’s hometown of Hawkins goes wrong, you end up in the year 1983, and have to learn how to cope with being stuck in the past.

Pairing: Steve Harrington / Future!Reader (like, a really slow burn)

Warnings: Swearing, violence

A/N: Definetaly not my favorite chapter, but we need to keep moving and i was having writer’s block :/

• • • 

Your dad and pa always said to stay yourself.

There was always something about the exact words they used. About never changing who you were for others that always stayed in your head, repeating itself occasionally. But you hadn’t thought about them in a long time. 

You changed for a lot of people since you got here. You’d gone from the very loud outspoken girl in all of your classes who cracked jokes and got in trouble frequently to a quiet and reserved shy girl now. Except for around Steve. You weren’t afraid to be annoying around him. And others picked up on it. 

So then came the question, was everyone else like the kids you went to school with most of your life except for Steve, or was there something else more there? 

Well, you’d cried in front of Joyce, and Jonathan, and even Nancy in the past year. Yet, you kept your composure around Steve. He made you feel stronger than you really were. Like he boosted your confidence or something. 

Hearing the kitchen door open, you were up on your feet and heading to the kitchen table, where everyone else was already beginning to gather. 

Hopper had a pen and a ripped piece of paper. 

You were looking over Lucas and Dustin’s shoulders. “I think he’s talking, just not with words.” He began to draw small circles and a long line. Morse code. You only knew it because for some reason your dad had wall art in the house, showing it for each letter. And while you never memorized it, you knew what it looked like. 

“What is that?” Steve asked from beside you. 

The boys and you all answered.

“H-E-R-E” 

“Here.” You repeated it as a word, everyone else doing the same. Everyone knowing the simple four letters. 

“Will’s still in there. He’s talking to us.” Hopper came to the conclusion. 

Soon enough they were back in there, leaving Steve, Nancy, you and all of the kids but Mike in the house. 

Hopper had his walkie in the shed, repeating back the code that Will was tapping on the side of his chair, letting the kids figure it out, while Nancy wrote it. You had a terrible feeling, and kpt exchanging looks with Steve every few seconds. 

“Close gate.” You finished as Nancy wrote the last letter. “He wants us to close the gate.” 

It was an obvious fix. But to do so, you probably needed Eleven. And if done so, you’d never see home again. You’d never graduate in the year you were supposed to. But you’d only resigned yourself to that fact. So while it still hurt, you knew it needed to be done. 

The kids and nancy all looked at you, Lucas and Nancy by far having the saddest looks on their faces, but Steve looked at everyone, seeing their gaze was fixed on you, and he too, saw how your arms were crossed and how you looked at nothing in particular. 

But the phone rang. 

“Shit!” You turned on the ball of your foot, rushing to the phone. It was loud. And you knew that if you couldn’t fall asleep because the one in your apartment was too loud to drown out even with three pillows pushed against your ears, that they could hear it from the shed. 

Dustin passed you, grabbing the phone from the receiver and putting it back on. 

You stopped next to the phone, looking back and seeing everyone staring with wide eyes, Nancy still holding the notepad and red crayon. 

The very beginning of the next ring, you grabbed the receiver, tearing it off the wall and holding it to your chest like you would with an infant you were trying to shush. 

“Do you think he heard that?” Max inquired. 

“It’s just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?” 

Shrugging, you looked down at the blue phone. “How many phones is that now? Four?” You questioned, looking at Nancy. Who only shrugged and shook her head, a silent ‘why does it matter?’ 

But you heard that noise. It was in the distance but you still heard it. “Fuck.” You murmured. You tossed the phone to the ground watching as everyone from the shed ran back, Jonathan carrying Will and running to one of the bedrooms to set him down. 

“What happened?” 

“He heard the ringing.” He explained as the kids looked out the window.

“Hey! Away from the windows!” Hopper bellowed. Walking into the living room. He looked at Jonathan, holding up a hunting rifle. “You know how to use this?”

Without a word, Steve grabbed your hand, taking you a few steps further into the living room with him, letting you go while Hopper tossed the rifle to Nancy instead.

Pulling the pistol from your jeans, you turned the safety off, already knowing you’d reloaded it when you got to the house. 

The kids stayed behind most of you, and Hopper had a rifle. The kind police or military would use. An automatic, you were pretty sure. 

“Stay behind me.” Steve told you, swinging the bat around in a brief circle. 

Nodding, you took a step back, holding your gun up and aiming towards the door as the screeching from the creatures outside got louder. 

You heard another one come from the other side of the house, and in a split second, you all turned to it, still holding your weapons. You couldn’t hear anything now except for your own heartbeat and drowned out thoughts.

You all turned back to the front of the house again, you did it because you were following their every move, but something kept you from being completely alert, like you weren’t completely in danger. Like you were somehow safe. “Don’t be scared.” It was Anne’s voice in your head.

You took her word, and felt your ears toon back into what was being heard by everyone else from outside. Those things screeching, but what also sounded like crashing. As if they were being thrown into things. And one completely stopped. Before the window shattered, and it seemed to be thrown in. 

Grabbing onto Steve’s arm, but ending up with a firm grip on his shirt, you aimed the gun over his shoulder, looking at the creature that was laying on the hardwood, limb and unmoving. You knew that everyone was on edge, and scared, but just by looking at it, you knew it was dead. 

“Holy shit.” Dustin mumbled.

“Is it dead?” Hopper pushed it’s head back with his foot, and nothing happened but the creaking of the front door, which had everyone turning back to the front. 

You lowered your gun when the bolt turned, even though everyone else who had weapons, brought them back up. The door’s chain latch was undone as well, and slowly it opened, and in came a very familiar face, in very unfamiliar clothing and makeup. 

“Jesus christ, El.” You murmured to yourself. 

You watched with a small smile on your face as Mike and Eleven hugged each other, after almost a year of being apart, after a year of Mike thinking she was dead. 

“Is that the girl-”

“Yeah,” You interrupted Steve, in a hushed whisper. Turning the safety back on of the pistol and putting it back, looking down at the crayon drawings under your feet. 

You were happy, and a little envious. But you knew that they hadn’t made their peace with being apart. You’d made yours with being apart from your family. 

“That you were okay?” Looking back up to the scene in front of you, you saw Hopper take a step forward. 

“Because we wouldn’t let her.” Hopper gave you a quick glance, before turning back to Mike who turned to him at that point. It was true that you were partly responsible for telling he she shouldn’t contact Mike at any point. 

“El, where have you been?” You questioned, walking over, not caring if any one of the kids were mad at you. You only really socialized with them when you took Will to the arcade or one of these events happened. 

She allowed you to embrace her for a split second before she looked at Hopper. “Where has he been?” Her voice was laced with venom, but the only thing you could really think was that her hair smelled of heavy duty hair gel. The kind girls used in ROTC. 

But she still allowed Hopper to pull her out your arms and into his. 

“You two have been hiding her.” Mike sounded angry, and because you weren’t the one facing away he came over and shoved you. 

“What the fuck, Mike? Wanna fucking go?” Before you could approach the 13 year old, Steve had come over, and Hopper’s attention was taken away from El. Steve was facing you and had an arm against your torso, hand on your side, keeping you from getting closer to Mike. 

“Y/n, you’re not going to fight-”

“I will throw fucking hands, Steven, I will beat this scrawny little asshole to a fucking pulp!” You were exhausted, and already agitated and overthinking about everything, and Mike shoving you? Everything felt like coming to a breaking point. 

Hopper grabbed Mike, and took him away, while Steve took you further from the two, closer to the door than anything else. “Stop picking fights with people.” He told you, his hand still on your side, thumb against your ribcage from over the t-shirt you’d worn. 

“What?”

He gave a look, eyebrows raised and head tilted. “You’ve gotten into fights with a few teachers, me, one other student last year, Kieth earlier this week, and now you’re trying to fight a kid-”

“Who told you about my fights with Mrs. Jensen and Mr. Larn?” 

The look only got worse. “Stop trying to pick fights.” He said again, still fully knowing that he deserved the punch the year before, and the tiny little scar on the side of his nostril from it. “I get we’re all a little on edge, You’re tired, I can tell. Just… don’t fight literal children.”

“They’re only two years younger than me, Steve.”

“Dude-”

“Okay!” You said in a defensive tone, finally relenting. 

You looked behind Steve, and saw how Eleven and the two other boys reunited as well. But quickly your gaze shifted to Jonathan and Nancy who were staring at both of you. But not at either one of you in particular. Which was when you realize that while this position with STeve didn’t feel unusual, or weird, or anything other than friendly to you, it wasn’t to others.

He still had his hand on your side, which is also when you noticed that while over your shirt, as it should be, it was under the jacket he’d lent to you. And you had a hand on his arm,  more specifically right under his elbow.

In a split second it became very overwhelming and very obvious to you how close he was, just like when you were in the apartment. And even though the smell of detergent on his clothes was still faint, it was mostly gone. Instead he smelled like deodorant and dirt. 

Maybe Jonathan was onto something. 

“What’s wrong?” 

You were snapped out of your thoughts, and your eyes focused on Steve’s face. His brows were furrowed and the question hung shallowly in the air around you. 

“Nothing.” You lied.

Jonathan was onto something. And it terrified you.

• • •

It was bittersweet in a sense. Knowing how this would turn out. Knowing that everyone in the long run would be fine, but also knowing everyone would be traumatized, even just a little. 

You could barely cope with what happened over a year ago when you were in the Upside Down, and you couldn’t even remember most of it. Just bits and pieces. Feelings. 

“Y/n.” 

Looking at Eleven you watched as she took a step away from Mike, and toward you, reaching into her jacket and pulling a small box out, handing it to you. 

“What is this?” You asked, hearing Jonathan and Nancy get into the car, while Hopper opened the driver’s door to his own car. 

“Someone told me to give it to you.” It didn’t clear anything up, even as she walked away to Hopper’s car getting into the passenger side. 

The box looked like a ring box you’d see in jewelry stores, but it was far lighter. And you could hear a rattling of the expensive cardboard. 

The two vehicles drove off. Leaving you and Steve with the kids. All except for Will and Eleven. 

You put the box in the jacket pocket, not wanting to open it right then and there. “We should head back in.” You reached out to Mike, grabbing his shoulder, and to your surprise, he stepped back into your arm, letting you rest it on his shoulders. 

Even though you’d threatened to beat him into a pulp.

And while you didn’t quite know how, with in ten minutes of getting back into the house, you were advocating for interdimensional arson. 

“Y/n,” Mike tried, while you stood next to Steve, hands on your hips and eyes trains on the point where the tunnels all met. “What do you think?”

“Y/n, we promised to keep them safe-”

“I’ve always wanted to set something on fire.” You shrugged. “Besides this thing?” Turning to Steve you pointed at the meeting point. “Kinda deserves it!” 

“What?”

“She was in the Upside Down.” Dustin clarified. Your eyes snapped over to Dustin. You hadn’t shared that with Steve for very specific reasons

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, why do you think I was always being picked up by the chief from school, dude? We were going to the lab with Mrs. Byers and Will.”

“You never mentioned it before-”

“It was never brought up before. I’m all for setting this bitch on fire.” You quickly defended.

“No! We’re not doing this! We’re waiting for the starting team to do their job-”

“This isn’t a stupid sports game-” Mike interrupted. 

“We’re not doing this! Does everybody understand that?” 

No one could answer before the sound of an engine revving and coming towards the house was heard. Max left the hall, going towards to window and looking through it, with Lucas going right up next to her. “It’s my brother.” The way she said it made you feel cold. Like he wasn’t a good person. “He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.” 

“Steve. . .”

“I’ll handle it, you guys stay here.” He told you, heading for the door. He was out of the house within seconds, but something about the situation made you feel wrong. You’d never even heard your aunt Maxine ever talk about a brother. 

“Guys, get away from the window.” You told the group of kids, who had gathered after Steve left. But the second you said that, the kids all jumped away. 

“Shit! Did he see us?” 

“Guys! Get over here!” You told them, gesturing towards yourself. They all came over like ducklings and stood behind you, which only made you more nervous, especially from how Max stood right behind you, almost as if you were a great hiding spot. 

The door slammed open, and an older boy walked through, his hair permed and cut into a mullet. He looked like the kind of person who would have made fun of you in school. His red button down almost all the way undone and tucked into his jeans. 

“Well, well, well.” Behind him, you could barely see Steve on the ground, clutching his stomach before the door was slammed shut. 

You understood why Max was so afraid the moment you laid eyes on him. He smelled like beer, cologne, and cigarettes. 

Lucas got behind you as well, and almost instinctively you had an arm to the side covering him. 

“Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise.” He took long yet slow strides toward you, not giving you much space, and towering over you. He looked over your shoulder. “I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max.” 

It wasn’t hard to put together that this was the new guy every girl at school was swooning over. And you couldn’t understand why. He was terrifying. 

“Back off, prick.” You told him. 

It seemed as if he only registered your presence then. He eyed you for a second before turning his attention back to his sister. “You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me.”

“Billy. . .” Max’s voice was afraid and cautious. 

“I break things.” 

You didn’t have time to process anything before Billy shoved you away and grabbed Lucas by the collar of his jacket. Shoving him into the kitchen and slamming his body against a shelf. 

Max, Mike, and Dustin all started yelling and you moved after them in a heartbeat. Trying to grab onto Billy’s arm to get him to let go of Lucas. 

“Get off of me!” Lucas shouted. 

“Since Maxine won’t listen to me, maybe you will-” 

You tried to pull him off, but he shoved you into the kitchen table, your hip slamming up against it, and surprisingly the table was far heavier than you imagined, and far more sturdier as well, because you landed against it harshly, and the pain shot through your hip. 

“Stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?” It wasn’t hard to tell that Billy’s motive wasn’t to protect Max. You’d seen protective siblings, you’d been one for Daniel, this was racially motivated. And from how he’d completely ignored Mike and Dustin gave it away. 

“I said get off of me!” Lucas brought his knee up and against Billy’s groin, stunning Billy and making him let go of him. Billy took a few steps back before looking back up at Lucas. “You’re so dead, Sinclair! You’re dead!” 

You saw the familiar figure coming in from the living room and you grabbed Lucas’ arm, pulling him towards you. 

Steve grabbed Billy by the shoulder while you took Lucas over to his friends, with you once again acting as a shield in case Billy got the upper hand and tried to get any of them again. 

You could hear the punch before you even turned around, but when you did, you saw how amused Billy was and when he started laughing was when you were confused. He looked insane. 

“Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody’s been telling me so much about.” He had a drop of blood on his upperlip from his nose as he spoke. 

And Steve wasn’t into the games he wanted to play. “Get out.” 

Billy swung and Steve dodged. “Steve!”

“Kick his ass, Steve!” Dustin encouraged. 

“Get him!”

Both Mike and Dustin were acting as hype men while Steve got Billy further into your grandmother’s kitchen, eventually with Billy landing against the sink, 

“Steve!” Was all you could get out when the plate shattered over his head, the shards of ceramic on the floor

Steve was trying to find his balance, backing up and needing a moment, You back the kids against a wall as Billy continued to follow him. 

Billy grabbed him by the shirt. “No one tells me what to do!” You’d never actually seen someone head butt someone else in a fight, this was a first. And Steve was now on the ground by the couch, with Billy still going after him. Just by how enraged Billy was and how out of it your best friend was, you knew Billy wouldn’t stop until he was dead. 

“Stop it!” You yelled, going over to the two teenage boys, trying to grab Billy and get him off of Steve, but to no avail. All he did was push you off of him again. 

You were on the ground now as well, but against the a wall, you could see the blood coming from both Steve’s mouth and nose. Small cuts around his face from where the plate shattered and cut him. 

You jumped a little when Max stabbed her brother in the neck. But when she stepped back, you could see the syringe sticking out. 

That was enough to stop him, and have him off of Steve, and the second he was on his feet and facing her, you made your move over to Steve. 

It was all becoming very real within a matter of seconds. His eyes were closed and he was completely limb on the ground. 

“Steve.” You mumbled to him, grabbing his cheeks and making him look at you. At least his body wasn’t stiff. 

Tears were welling up in your eyes as you looked down at him. Sure, you’d seen him with blood on his face before, but it was never this bad. The last time he deserved it.for being an asshole. All he’d done this time was try to protect everyone. He was always doing that, wasn’t he?

“Steve, Steven- wake up.” Your voice cracked, and you didn’t even flinch when Billy collapsed only a few feet away. 

But you did flinch at the sound of metal digging into the hardwood. Looking over you saw Max with the nail bat, between Billy’s legs. “Say you understand! Say it! Say it!”  She screamed at him. 

He mumbled it under his breath. “What?” Maxine demanded.

“I understand.”

• • •

@disneyprincessbuffyannesummers @nxncywheeler @yllwtaxi @songofcosplay @potatopooper05 @cheesecakeisapie @robinsdolan @yall-wildin-like-siriusly  @bisexualpears @ilovebucketbarnes @random-thoughts-003 @mochminnie  @abbyg217 @stevexscoops @cashmereandtears @iris-suoh @supred12 @ohmyitsfaith @beyond-the-gone​

[greasepaint-and-glitter]

The futures priceless babe

TW: alcoholism, abusive parenting, panic attack

Ethan Green was 16 the first time Lex put eyeliner on them. It had always been a long running joke between the two of them that Lex would have been a hot dude and Ethan the prettiest girl. So they had put Lex's hair in a ponytail under a hat and given her a fake emo dude fringe. She'd laughed her ass off and taken a whole bunch of shitty pictures before turning to Ethan and saying "Your turn". 

They'd protested and tried to wiggle away but Lex, not one to give up easily, had pinned them down and to the best of her ability drawn shaky eyeliner on them. They'd complained the whole time but then something on Lex's face changed and they stopped. 

"Holy shit Ethan, I know this was a joke but you look really good" 

"You're kidding me. Me? Look good? In makeup?" 

"See for yourself" 

Lex pointed at the small mirror above the sink and Ethan went to look. 

"Holy shit". Lex was right, they did look really good in makeup. They looked different. But a good different. And it made them happy in a way they couldn't explain. 

Later that night, when they were back in their own house and the eyeliner had been safely washed off to avoid endless questions from their dad, they did some googling. They learned a lot that night and fell asleep happier than they had in weeks. 

They come out as non binary a week later.

--- 

The second time was different. It had been about 6 months since then and nothing had changed. Lex and Hannah came round a lot, school was boring, they smoked, they laughed, things were normal. Ethan pretended not to notice that both of them were getting thinner. They pretended not to see the bruises in the places Lex would only show to them. It was an unspoken rule between them that no one talked specifically about what was going on with their parents. It was always "mum's a bitch" or "dad's being difficult". But they couldn't ignore it when Lex and Hannah showed up at their place at 3 am in the pouring rain. 

Ethan had smuggled them inside, being careful not to wake their dad and sat them down in their room. Lex was frantic. She was all over the place, not speaking in full sentences and pacing around Ethan's room like she was trapped. 

"Lex. Lex. Lex!" She spun round to look at them. "We don't have to tell me what's going on if you don't want to but please calm down. Come sit on the bed, I'll get you and Hannah some clean clothes and then we can talk, yeah?" 

She just stared at them. Hannah was sat in the corner biting on her chewy necklace harder than they'd ever seen, staring into space with tears rolling silently down her face.

They didn't know what to do.

Luckily for them, Lex still had half a brain so she got Hannah her blanket and a pillow from Ethan's bed and laid her down on the floor where she was. Hannahs sniffles quickly turned to snores and that seemed to settle Lex a bit. She turned back to Ethan. 

"I'm so sorry" She came over to sit next to him on the bed. "Mum.. she.. I thought she was going to try and kill us E. She was so angry. I've never seen her like that before. She's usually... well she's usually a dick." Lex gave a sad laugh before continuing "But tonight was something different. She accused Hannah of stealing her vodka and I just couldn't stay there with her yelling and throwing shit and I had nowhere else to go and I'm so so sorry" 

Ethan stared at her. "You have no reason to be sorry. That's.. god Lex I don't even know what to say. How can I help?" 

"Hug me? Please?" 

So they hug. And the hug turned into cuddling, which turned into spooning and Ethan was almost asleep when Lex says 

"Ethan. Is that an eyeliner pencil?" 

That woke them up like nobody's business. They'd completely forgotten about it amongst all the chaos but they'd bought it yesterday and had been wanting to try it for themselves. 

"Um.. yes?"

"Why?"

"Why what?" 

"Why is the sky blue. What d'you think? Why do you have an eyeliner pencil?" 

Usually Ethan would be embarrassed beyond belief but Lex is smiling and after today that's such a relief that they just go along with it. 

"..to do eyeliner"

"On you?"

"Yeah" 

"Oh. Okay"

There's a moment of silence before Lex speaks again. 

"Do it for me?"

"What?"

"Put it on. I wanna see you in it." 

Something about that gives Ethan butterflies, though they'd never ever admit it. So they do. It's their first time putting it on so they're shaky and it comes out wonky but the look on Lex's face is worth it. For a split second she absolutely melts, her face just lights up and she looks at Ethan like they're the prettiest person on the planet. They feel their face go red and suddenly feel very exposed and awkward. They laugh through it and call her a dumbass for wanting to see them in eyeliner at a time like this but deep down they're so happy.

Lex pulls them onto the bed and their heart is racing but she just says "I may be an idiot but you do look good in eyeliner". They fall asleep cuddling and Ethan wakes up the next morning with panda eyes and (after much teasing from Hannah) learns the importance of makeup remover.

--- 

It's been a year since Lex and Hannah moved in with Paul and Emma. Emma teaches Lex how to cook something that isn't pot noodle and Paul and Hannah just seem to get each other. It's basically the perfect life for them. Ethan is trying very hard not to be jealous but it's really hard when at the end of a day of being part of a happy family, they have to come back to a quiet house that smells of dust and is full of anger and fear. 

That's when they start drinking. They know it's wrong. They know but they can't help it. It starts off as a one off thing. One evening they've just had enough of everything. They know they should call Lex but it just hurts to see her living the life that they so desperately want. It's selfish. It's ridiculous. They don't care. So they drink. And it helps. To start with it really helps. They're a lot happier because they know they have an out. If things get too much they'll have a few (or more than a few) beers and it goes away. But then they start to want it more. It's almost constant. The need is just sitting there at the back of their brain. 'This would be more fun drunk' 'god this class is so boring, gin would help you make it through' 'ugh god Paul shut up and let me get home so I can get blackout'. That's when they know it's out of their control. And it freaks them the fuck out. But it's okay because they can still hide it. 

Until one day Lex shows up unexpectedly. She lets herself in as usual and comes up to Ethan's room. She knows something's off as soon as she walks in. The lights are off, the curtains are shut and Ethan is lying on their bed. To start with she thinks they must have just been tired and fallen asleep until she steps further into the room and trips over a bottle. Her heart stops. 

"Lex" 

"Ethan" her voice is shaky "What is going on here"

" 'm sorry lex. 'm not your mum, promise" 

She turns the light on. Their room is a tip. The floor is covered in dirty clothes, the underneath of their bed is full of bottles and their bed clearly hasn't been changed in months. But it's how Ethan looks that scares her the most. They're lying almost fully naked in their bed. Their skin is pale and their hair is greasy but that's not what's making Lex tear up right now. They've taken their eyeliner pencil and drawn all over themselves. Circled ever scar, every bruise, every place that they've been hit. They're covered.

The rest of that day moves like clockwork, robotic and stiff and uncomfortable. Ethan doesn't remember any of it but they're later told by Lex that Paul and Emma came over. They took them back to their house and sat them in the shower. Lex says that they tried to drag them to bed but they kept wanting to apologise to Hannah. They cried the whole time. 

--- 

Ethan has been sober for 3 months and every day they are more like their old self. Lex and Hannah start to trust them again and it feels good. They have bad days of course but on the whole they're doing a lot better. 

One day Lex invites them over to hers and the whole family sit them down. Paul speaks first. 

"Ethan. We know you've struggled in the past but you've been doing really well as of recently. We're all very proud of you." Everyone agrees and Ethan starts to tear up. "We've discussed it as a family and we want to adopt you" 

"What Paul is trying to say" Emma chips in "is that if you want to move in with us you're more than welcome to. We can't officially adopt you because you're 18 but if you want to get out of your house, god knows I'd want to, you can do that here."

"You're serious?" Ethan looks at Lex in disbelief but she just grins and nods at them. "Absolutely"

"Holy shit. Holy shit! Yes oh my god yes, please!" 

Lex leaps at Ethan and tackles them into a hug. "You don't have to say please you dumbass" 

Over the next couple of weeks they slowly sneak Ethan's stuff out and move it into Lex's room. The night they officially move in, Hannah gives Ethan a makeover to celebrate. 

---

They woke with a start. Rain was hammering against the window and the thunder was almost constant. Ethan froze. They'd always hated storms ever since they were a little kid. Something about them just made them stressed. Now they're shaking in fear at this fucking storm and Lex is right there. She's never seen them like this before. They start to panic. There's so much happening and the storm is outside and they don't want Lex to wake up and what if Hannah hears them crying and- 

They feel Lex's hand on their shoulder. Without meaning to, they curl into an even tighter ball and start sobbing. They'd hoped Lex would never see them like this, it's so fucking embarrassing.

"Ethan" 

They can't even look at her. She pauses, figuring out what to do.

"E, please, focus on your breathing. In for four, hold for four, out for four. Like you do with Hannah when she's struggling. Can you do that for me?" 

Ethan still doesn't move but they do what she's saying and soon they've calmed down a bit. 

"There we go that's better. Can you look at me?" 

They shake their head. Thunder crashes again outside and they flinch. It clicks in Lex's head. 

"Oh! Is it the storm that's bothering you?" 

Ethan almost starts crying again but nods. "I'm sorry" he mutters "it's stupid"

"Hey" Lex laughs gently "It's not stupid at all. C'mere, lie down. It's just a storm it's not gonna hurt you" 

Lex grabs Ethan's new eyeliner and doodles on their arms to calm them down like Emma does for her when she's having a bad night. Later on, Ethan will remember what it was she drew and get a tattoo of a tiny little hand drawn house with two little stick figures in the garden.

They lie together in the dark for a while. Every time there's a roll of thunder Ethan scootches closer to Lex until they're basically spooning her. She turns round so they're face to face and even though the storm hasn't calmed outside, all Ethan can think about is how close she is and the feel of her breath on their neck and they want to kiss her so badly it hurts. So they do. And she kisses back. And it's not perfect because Ethan is still half crying and Lex is way too eager but they're both so happy. They fall asleep that night with Ethan's head on Lex's chest, listening to her heartbeat. Ethan never worries about another storm again.

---

The day they move into their own apartment makes them both cry. Emma tells them about a thing her sister used to do whenever she moved house and they decide to do it together, the whole family. They get out sharpies and Ethan uses their eyeliner and they write on the walls of the living room. Dreams, hopes, wishes, memories they never want to forget and moments they want to last forever. They all cry and laugh and at the end of the day they sit on the floor and eat cake in a room full of boxes and love. Ethan draws a love heart on each of them with the eyeliner and none of them rub it off. 

One day Lex will put eyeliner on Ethan on their wedding day and Hannah will call them both pretty. It will be one of their favourite memories, but that night, falling asleep with each other in their new apartment. That's the happiest they've ever been.

[deans-baby-momma]

The Padackles Link-Chapter 97

Jared's POV

‘Today's outing was fun,’ I think as I watch my extended family enter into the rental. The kids enjoyed the boat ride and seeing my oldest son get excited when he spotted the manta ray made my heart soar. 

The kids were all excited even after we disembarked from the boat, wanting to try and see everything. Even while we were eating, their eyes were taking as much in as they could.

It didn't take much persuasion to get them changed and bedded down so when Drea suggested we test out the hot tub, who was I to refuse? But there was only one problem.

"Pregnant women are advised not to get in one," I tell her but she just smiles that gorgeous smile of hers.

"So," she shrugs. "I won't submerge my whole body. Just me feet…..doesn't stop you all from enjoying it."

I swear the woman has an answer for everything! My heart swells at knowing the mother of my third child is so smart, so knowledgeable and can resolve any problems. 

I watch as Gen strips from her clothes and walks across the room in her birthday suit and I have to admit, my wife is sexy as hell! She is exactly who I dreamed of when I thought of who I would marry and spend my life with.

She has given me two handsome sons and I couldn't be more grateful. After Shep was born though and she developed the bleeding disorder, I know she was scared I would leave her, that she was inferior as a woman because part of her was missing.

But that was the furthest thing from the truth. She is the love of my life and I don't think any less of her. We had two sons, who said we needed more?

But of course, after Danneel gave birth to her and Jay's daughter and then Drea gave birth to Jackson, that baby fever bug bit into Genevieve.

Many nights I comforted her cries as she sobbed for another chance, another shot at being a mother. 

When Gen had first brought up the idea of asking Drea to be a surrogate for us, I was against it. Yes, we'd have another child but she wouldn't be the one carrying it and nurturing it as he or she grew. 

But my wife assured me she didn't have a problem of missing out on those aspects. "Padaleckis are big babies and I really am not going to miss pushing another out of my vagina." She told me.

So we decided to broach the subject with Drea and Jensen. Of course at first he was totally abhorred at the idea until once again, my beautiful wife explained the more clinical side of the procedures of in vitro fertilization.

At that original meeting, none of us were wise to the fact that the injections would fail and now here we are almost a year later, with Drea impregnated by me and the four of us are what is considered swingers. 

My, how life can throw curve balls out of nowhere. But I wouldn't change a single thing. I have my gorgeous wife, my best friend and his...well, she might as well be his wife if he'd just man up and ask her, are all in a committed, sexual relationship. 

"You ready?" Gen breaks into my train of thought. She dons the same yellow string bikini from a few days ago; the one that makes my dick twitch at the sight. A towel lays over her arm as she opens the bedroom door and sashays out. 

"Down boy," I chastise my responsive cock as I watch her hips swing. "Later, we'll pound that pussy good."

The situation in my trunks isn't helped any when we get outside and Drea is sitting there, kicking her feet through the water while talking to Jay. 

Have her boobs grown overnight? They look to be almost overflowing the cups of her swimsuit. And that bump! Her one-piece fits snug against it, making evident that she is pregnant.  She is carrying my child.

Gen and I both slip into the jacuzzi opposite her and Jay.

"Oh my god." I say as the jets begin drumming against my muscles. "Wow,  this is amazing.  We need to look into getting one."

Silence follows as we all enjoy the reverberations against our tired and sore bodies. 

I lift my head and smirk at Jensen. "So 'cheeseburger'?"

I can tell by his smirk in response that he knows exactly what I'm referring to.

“Like I don’t know where ‘salad’ came from? Yea, that’s right. I know what your safe word is too. Got some Sammy Winchester vibes going on in the bedroom huh?”

“So do you Dean. I can’t believe you picked cheeseburger as a safe word,” Jared shakes his head at the absurdity of the subject.

We all take a moment to laugh and then I remember something I'd been meaning to bring up to my co-star since we filmed the final episode.

“Speaking of the Winchesters, I've been thinking. How are they going to explain that Dean actually killed Death? Death is death, you know." I slide away from Gen and closer to Jay.

We discuss the show for a while when something catches my attention. I look from my friend across the water to see the girls caught up in a sensual kiss.

“Holy shit. Looks like we’re going to get a show.” I say, smacking my hand on Jay's chest.

But before it goes any further, Gen pulls away and turns to stare at me. There is an agitation in her glare. 

She turns back to Drea and speaks, “Sorry Drea. Just not in the mood tonight. I’m tired.”

I watch in shock as she climbs out of the water, wraps a towel around her and walks into the bungalow.

“What the fuck was that about? Man, what did you do?” Jay asks, looking at me. “If looks could kill….”

“Nothing that I know of,” I shrug but then it dawns on me. “Shit, what date is it?”

Drea tells me and I nod. “I think it would be almost time for Aunt Flo. She always gets bitchy around then.”

“I’ll go talk to her. Woman to woman," Drea says as she stands up and follows her inside.

"Dude, if I didn't know better,  I'd think Gen despised you. Man, the fire in her eyes," Jay says as he shakes his head and chuckles. "I'm just glad I wasn't on the receiving end of that."

"Yea. Since she had Shep and all that happened, her periods are harder on her. Just give her some space for a little while is what I've learned."

"Are we seriously sitting here talking about menstrual cycles?" Jay laughs out. "Want a beer?"

"Sure."

Gen is sitting up in bed when I walk into the room. She's changed into her pjs but still looking sexy and beautiful. 

Her dark hair is loose around her shoulders and is just a picture of perfection in my eyes.

I, as well as the monster in my shorts, am really hoping she doesn't refuse me like she did Drea. 

"Hey baby," I say as I pull my swim trunks off, my hard cock slapping against my belly. I've always slept in the nude so I climb into bed and go to cuddle against her.

Gen moves and slips out of bed before I can get a good grip on her lithe body.

Ok, surprising but maybe she's cramping. But when she turns toward me I can tell something is bothering her.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

"Why don't you just go kick Jensen out of bed and fuck Drea? She's who you want!"

"What?!" I am dazed. Where is this coming from? "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb Jared Tristan!" She yells. "I'm not stupid. You want Drea! You've always wanted Drea. Man, I should've seen it. You were so willing to fuck a kid into her. Maybe I am the idiot. I played right into it. 

"Oh I bet you just loved that threesome we had. You had her and me there willing to let you fuck us both."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I yelled, pissed that she was not only belittling herself but making what we were doing into some torrid affair. "YOU WANTED DREA TOO ! I take a breathe and lower my voice, although I'm still radiating with anger. “If anyone should be upset, it’s me! You fucking Drea isn’t a means to an end! No, that is just for your pleasure!

 "You wanted another baby and you were the one to choose Drea, not me. When we started this, it was the only way to get her pregnant Nothing else was working so I fucked a baby into her, FOR YOU! 

“Sex with Drea was just to give you what you wanted, what you desired. IT had to happen to get a baby. But you and her fucking didn’t have to happen. Rubbing your pussies together isn’t going to put a baby in her. Not that was for your gratification.This-" I point to my now flaccid dick. "-was needed. "

She opens her mouth to respond but there is a knock on the door. Gen moves to open the door and I jump into the ensuite to pull on a pair of shorts. Sure Drea has seen me naked and I'm positive Jensen has but right now didn't call for that.

Zipping them up over my now completely flaccid member, I can hear Jay's voice.  "It is her business,  he said. "You guys are fighting and her name was brought up so I think it the fuck is her-our- business. 

"Now what the hell is going on?" The tone of his voice tells me there is no getting out of this. What was once an argument between two people now involves four.

I walk back into the room and step up behind Gen. 

"Let's take it outside so we don't wake the kids."

I follow as Drea, Jensen then Gen head toward the back patio. I can't help but stare at the back of Gen's head,  trying to figure out how in the world I'd want Drea over her.

As soon as everyone is settled around the table, Jay runs his hands through his hair.

"So this isn't going to work. I thought we were all in agreement; no one would feel betrayed or left out. What happened?" 

All eyes turn toward me and I shrug. I glance Gen's way and she is sitting there silently scowling at the whole situation.

"We each said that feelings wouldn't get hurt and no one would feel betrayed and left out when we starting fucking each other separately. So, I don't understand what happened. Can someone please explain it?" Drea pleads.

That's all it takes for Gen to explode. She is practically vibrating as she sneers. "What happened?! Like you don't fucking know!" 

Drea looks taken aback and hurt by Gen's accusation. "What are you talking about?" I ask, honestly confused. "What did I do?"

But what Gen accuses of happening leaves me speechless. And when she pulls out her phone and shows us the social media post, I am appalled. 

Gen knows that the media and some fans like to stir up conflict and we've always known not to take anything that is put online to heart. No one knows our lives,  they can only speculate and guess.

It is Jensen who speaks and reminds her not to pay attention to the shit put on the internet. He reminds her that he himself has hugged on her in public.

He also gives his point of view on how I acted today, treating Drea with kid gloves.

I take her hand and thankfully she doesn't pull away. 

"He's right babe," I tell her, gently squeezing  her hand. "I love you so much. I would never do anything to ruin what we've worked so hard for. You are my wife and I love that you are the one I get to grow old with."

Gen looks around the table at each of us and the sighs. "I just think we all need to consider everyone's feelings when we're out in public. But I'm done with this. I'm going to bed."

Once again I watch as my wife leaves me behind with our friends as I try to figure out what she means by being 'done with this'. 

Is she calling the whole swinging relationship off? Are we supposed to go back to just being friends? What about the baby in Drea's womb? 

Jay and Drea head off to bed not long after and leave me on the back patio, contemplating how life got so fucked up.

END JARED'S POV

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[jovialecho]

Comeuppance

Rahzel decides to hit Troy up, telling him to head to the bar tonight rather than Sunday. He asks why it even matters what day, bringing up how eager and impatient Rahzel is to collect a soul.

“You might not even win the games.”

So sure of himself. It makes Rahzel’s blood boil and his eyes roll involuntarily. He urges the other to meet him at the corner of it anyway, and with enough fussing, Troy teleports over.

“Tonight,” The demon starts, walking over to Troy, grabbing his shoulder. “because tomorrow, they ain’t stay open as late. Drinks ain’t up and handed out as late either.”

Troy peels Rahzel’s hand off him, shaking his head. “We came to play, not get drunk. Stupid shit happens when you drink-”

“When I drink???” Rahzel guffaws and puts his hand on Troy’s shoulder again, leading him to the building, “Don’t be acting all innocent. You just as dumb when you blitzed.”

The other doesn’t bother with taking the hand off, walking past the double doors, immediately greeted with laughter and music. The pair head off to the new gaming side.

“Ah sick.” Rahzel latches onto an air hockey table, grinning wide. He looks up at Troy when he follows close by him.

“Been a hot fuckin’ minute since i done played this-” Troy finishes his sentence for him. “-Since the one in your room quit worker? Yeah. Funny how that one doesn’t work anymore. I don’t think we should play this one. I don’t think I’m for seeing the rage you’re always talking about.”

Rahzel watches Troy slip towards the nearest billiards table, instead.

“So we immediately going in, no drinks? No funny shit? No games for the fuck of it?” He watches Troy as he pays for the balls and places them into the rack. It doesn’t take long at all for him to get bored, “Aight, well. I’m gonna go get us some sodas or something, dude, just get the game set up.”

As Rahzel heads to the bar, he listens to passing conversations from the other few people in the booths. He heads for the barkeep, listening out the snacks and drinks he wants, taking a seat so he can wait for them.

His phone vibrates in his pocket, so he pulls it out to have a quick look, turning his head to see if Troy was texting from the pool table. Nope. Once in his device, he opens the texts, seeing it’s from...Rudy. Great. His favorite guy! What overrated nonsense is he going to spill? Deep breath, Rahzel. Alright, he’s ready for the headache.

With another roll of his eyes, Rahzel pockets his phone and collects the food he paid for, making his way back towards Troy, though now he finds himself looking around for anyone paying him any attention. Luckily, nobody has the guts to look his way, so he carries on, ready to try to win a soul, MAYBE fair and square.

~~~~~

From one game to 4, Rahzel found himself on the losing end far too many times to accept. He’s never been one to swallow his pride in anything, let alone gambling, or games in general. 

Yet, as he leans against the bar, scowling, he can’t help but find a hint of amusement in the fact Troy bested him more times than not at a game Rahzel had to help him be better at. Maybe the kid his destined for something great-- Yes, Rahzel picks that up just from playing pool, because that’s definitely a useful life skill.

A hand on his shoulder pulls him out of his grouchy headspace and he turns his attention back to Troy. He’s surprised to see he isn’t smiling.

“What’s up? You won? Ain’t that enough?”

Troy pats him on the back, “As long as you aren’t going to hole up in your room for a week because of it, sure. It’s enough. I’m sure you’ll find someone better to make your first deal with. ...Maybe I’ll even change my mind down the road. Who knows, man. Just figure out what you’re best at offering first before making a mess with your words.”

Rahzel downs the last of his rum and coke before slipping off the barstool.

“Let’s go get some ice cream or something.” He walks right for the doors, ignoring whatever logic Troy decides to spew his way.

“Rahzel there’s no place open!” The brunette follows the lanky troll out of the bar, doing his best to keep up with the pace, “Dude. No place! There is noooo place!”

Rahzel stretches, groaning, “There’s ALWAYS a place, dude. Don’t worry. We going on a motherfuckin journey, dogg.”

Before he gets much further, a voice stops him. He looks ahead of himself to see a familiar face. Oh, it’s that biker again. Time for eye roll number 4 tonight...or was it 5. Rahzel puts his arms down and sighs, hearing Troy stop behind him.

He notices there are three others behind the familiar biker and he scoffs. Is this really happening?

“’ey. What’s good, man? You still pissed about that shit I TRIED to fix?”

The only response he gets at first is a scowl before the bearded biker takes a step forward, the others following in a synchronized fashion. Ew. It’s a posse.

“Yeah, I am. But this is strictly business, mostly.”

Rahzel puts a hand on his hip, raising an eyebrow to emphasize how little he cared, but also prompted him to continue, “Aight?”

He’s quick to notice any movement the biker makes and sees him pull out a handgun. Two of his lackeys follow suit, three guns aimed directly at him.

The demon can’t help but let out a laugh, both of surprise and fresh amusement. The lost deal completely forgotten now.

“Holy shit you really ain’t smart at ALL.” Rahzel can’t tell if he’s goading them or not at this point, though he surely is annoyed but what he perceives as an inconvenience more than anything else at this point.

“You’re gonna shoot me? You do. All four of ya are dead. You don’t know what the fuck ya dealing with, dude.

The lackey in the back starts to look between everyone, seemingly uncertain about what’s transpiring in front of him.

“Even one of ya own ain’t solid on this shit. Grow the fuck up.” Rahzel takes a step forward to further show his lack of concern for his own safety. “You ain’t big. You ain’t tough. You full of shit if you think you can take me on with a gun. I’ll get the fuck back up and find ya ass and rip you a new asshole. Ugly ass bitches you think-”

The leader aims, getting heated faster than Rahzel anticipated.

“I bet you goddamn drunk as shit, too. Put your gun down motherfucker. You’ll regret this shit, for sure.” Casually he reaches for the gun, only to have it immediately discharge into his arm. The sound startles him more than the actual bullet in his arm. “Gh-!”

Troy pushes himself in front of Rahzel, arms up.

“Stop! Stop! We don’t have to do this. Whoa-”

Rahzel reaches for Troy’s shoulder, hissing. “Troy st-”

The next gunshot makes Rahzel’s ears ring worse than before,  but his focus is on how Troy’s head jerks back, and it’s immediately obvious where the shot landed as blood, not his own color, lands on his shirt. As if time itself slowed down, Rahzel watches as Troy drops to the ground like a ragdoll, partially falling against him.

He doesn’t breathe in that moment, the reality not quite setting in. It all happened too fast. What the Hell is even actually happening. Shot. Troy. Troy’s been shot. Rahzel glances down some, seeing the bullet hole in Troy’s forehead.

Dead? Killed.

A hue of purple colors his vision as he looks upward at the group, the lackey on the right looking the most guilty. Yet, his attention falls on the leader as his gun raises again, no remorse on his face.

Rahzel’s mouth opens and all that comes out is screaming. From being frozen in place to suddenly lunging forward, nobody suspected the guy to just fling himself right at the biker. He knocks him to his back, growling and screaming at him, another gunshot hitting him in the chest, then another. He doesn’t let that stop him as he spits out honks and drool at the same instance, face diving right into the biker’s throat. The tendons and cords don’t stand a chance against his teeth and he sinks in, ripping out flesh, muscle. A mess of red cascades down his face and chin.

It’s immediately spat back out, and another shot, though ignored again, is sent into Rahzel’s back.  He stops himself from going back in for another bite, letting the shell of a man bleed out slowly, or suffocate on blood. A quick turn sends him in the direction of the next two. He gives zero fucks with how scared they look, he’s off his shit. All he can think about is Troy. How dead he is.

The demon’s running leaves the two to back away, still taking aim and firing, missing only a few times, though it doesn’t seem to slow Rahzel down at all.

“HOOOONK!”

With a quick burst of flashstepping, he ends up right in front of the two, still running. His hands grab at both of their faces,throwing them down into the asphalt at the same time.

A few more bullets are sent into him, his neck catches one for dinner later. All the pain is set aside as he kneels down with the lackeys’ heads in his hands. Simultaneously, he lifts and bashes the back of their heads into the pavement, listening to their muffled pleas and threats. He keeps going, unable to parse the difference of the bashing with the heartbeat in his ears.

Dead. Dead. He wants them all just as dead as--

He drops the two when there is no more sign of life left in them. Rahzel stands up slowly, bringing the two guns from the corpses with him as he searches for the last one. Down the street, he can see him running away, and Rahzel also notices a crowd gathering around to observe this spectacle.

He doesn’t give a fuck. He takes off running, using his flashstepping until he’s close enough to stop and aim, using a gun for the first time in either lives he recalls. He closes one eye and starts shooting, missing once with one gun and finally hitting the guy in the back with the second gun. He tosses the useless hunks of metal away, making his way over to the squirming lackey.

His hearing is coming back and he listens to the pleading and crying through the faded ringing in his ears.

“I didn’t want a- FFuuck I DIdn’T WANT ANY PART OF THIS! Please don’t. I don’t wanna die. Not like this. Not this young.”

Rahzel kneels and turns the man on his back, reveling in his scream of pain. With his claws he swipes his hand across his throat, successfully slitting it, but not enough blood comes out, so he does it once more, before standing up and hobbling over towards the pile that is Troy.

He has to be careful- He could still be- He sees Troy’s eyes open and his chest tightens.

Fuck.

He kneels, the pain starting to make its way past the numbing rage. He gently closes Troy’s eyes, noticing how bad his own hand is shaking. No, no. no. He scoops him up slowly, taking him in his arms bridal style.

No.

No, no.

He can’t decide which pain is worse, the ones in his body or the one in his heart.

Heart. He decides it’s his heart as his eyes well up with tears. The dead weight in his arms only amplifies the pain.

Distant sounds of sirens pulls his eyes off Troy for a moment. The crowd outside has grown larger, shocked faces staring at him. At what he's done. What about what they did?

Rahzel stumbles away towards an alleyway, but he doesn't fall. He can't. There's no way he can drop Troy. He has to take him home.

Troy.

He never got his soul. It's gone.

Rahzel drops to his knees, sobbing in both anger and despair, lungs fighting against this action thanks to the new holes in them.

"FF-Hhhghk!"

He gurgles on the blood coming up from his lungs, looking down at Troy again. "Mh.."

His captchalogue modus opens and he looks up at it. Troy would fit perfectly in the free slot. He looks from the slot down to Troy’s face, past the blood. He has to go in there.

Just for a while, okay?

He’s captchalogued in an instant, leaving Rahzel freedom to pull out the portable transportalizer, his vision darkening at the corners of his eyes. His focus fades in and out as he slaps the button to the last location on the device. He’s sent into another world, another universe and spat out right in front of his cave’s entrance.

Dropping to his knees in the sand, Rahzel looks around at the familiar territory, then up towards the house, Simon’s house. He crawls that way, every movement causing him to wheeze and ache. Sand sticks to his pants thanks to the collection of blood on his clothes. His lungs, filled with blood instead of air, makes it hard to really breathe, doesn’t it?

“Ghk..kkh.”

As his vision continues to darken, Rahzel becomes more frantic to get to the house. He can’t pass out, not now- No, this isn’t passing out. He knows the difference and this is most certainly dying. No way can he die on this fucking sandy hill. Pathetic. Though, seeing how he’s crying and bleeding everywhere on his way up, it’s hard not to be seen as pathetic.

C’mon Rahzel, you’re only thirty feet from the door. Twenty. Ten.

He uses the doorknob to push himself to his feet, wheezing again from the sheer effort. With his fading strength, he slaps his palm against the door repeatedly, moving to lean on the frame instead of the doorknob. Wouldn’t want to just fall right into someone, right?

Rahzel’s legs feel like rubber as he keeps himself standing for as long as he can. His ears twitch as he hears the doorknob turn. When he sees Simon, he notices the face journey she has as she looks him over. He heaves out another cry, shuddering weakly as he brings himself to stand up straighter.

His voice, hoarse and scratching from the bullet that tore into his throat as well as from the blood making its way up it, comes out barely above a whisper, and he can only push out one word, his consciousness fading in and out.

“M.. mom..?”

Everything goes black for him as he falls forward almost right on top of Simon.

Good job dropping dead in front of your mom, asshole.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #1- Meeting All Our New Friends

Okay, let’s see what happens when you give one man way too much power over a franchise, and he doesn’t use it for evil.

Before we get into the story, let’s take a look at the cover art! MTMTE, as well as its sister series, Robots in Disguise, started off IDW Phase Two, a brand new run of main comics to replace the by-then completed The Transformers (2009). To celebrate this momentous occasion, each comic’s first issue got FOUR separate covers, which could be combined to create a large, overarching image. MTMTE’s looked like this when all the covers were put together.

The cover art here is by Alex Milne, who is on as the main artist for the series, but he’s not on issue #1- no, for our foray into this comic run, we see the return of Nick Roche.

The last time Roche and Roberts worked together was on Last Stand of the Wreckers, and other than MTMTE #6 and the Revolution one-shot, they won’t be teaming up again within the IDW run.

On a potentially-related-but-more-of-just-a-humorous note, it seems that Roberts is a huge stickler with his scripts, going into what sounds like an honestly horrific amount of detail for each individual panel. The average comic script is either between 20-23 or 28-30 pages long, not counting title and credit pages. Roberts has been cited as sending in comic scripts that approached 50 pages.

Which, if you know anything about the scriptwriting process, is a little… yeah. It’s a very good thing Roberts seems to be able to take criticism.

ANYWAY.

IT’S TIME.

The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye- Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It- holy fucking shit that’s a long title- starts off with the Story So Far, a comic book classic to catch readers up on what’s happened prior to the issue. The very nature of a Story So Far will become plot-relevant much later down the line, but as is, it’s just reminding us what happened during Phase One, in as basic a point as it can.

And then the credits are right underneath.

I can’t even imagine how friggin’ good seeing this printed must have felt.

So, what’s going on in the premiere of the sad, gay, space comic?

Not my phrasing, by the way, but the Wiki’s.

So, the war’s over. What does that mean? Well, a lot of things, honestly, but the first thing we’re given in terms of what changes to expect with everyone’s favorite space robots is in relation to their wardrobes. Yeah, without a war to fight, what’s the point in having relatively identical blocky armor that protects all your insides? It’s time to get skimpy.

Rodimus has switched out his toned calves and discernible ankles for the Uggs that are now positively iconic to his character. Drift’s mass has almost completely gravitated to his thighs, making him the curviest thing this side of the Milky Way. Ultra Magnus didn’t get the memo about not needing to be in uniform anymore, I guess, but somehow I doubt he owns anything casual.

Rodimus, Drift, and Magnus are holding a rally to invite Autobots to come on their party-barge to find the Knights of Cybertron, in an effort to heal the planet, because Rodimus took one look at post-war Cybertron and said “no thanks.” Honestly, I think most would, if these properly colored characters are any indication.  

Just the Autobots, by the way. We aren’t ready to be friends with the ‘Cons just yet. Swindle did some major damage on that front.

Prowl and Wheeljack are off to the side discussing this turn of events, and while Wheeljack seems to think that a lot of folks will be boarding the ship and getting the hell out of dodge, Prowl’s expecting nothing to come of it.

So, that was yesterday. What’s going on today?

Inside Kimia, there’s a dead guy. He wasn’t dead when he was brought in, but he is now. Who is he, anyway?

Oh, he’s one of the NAIL protesters, and he died because he was protesting by way of transforming on the steps of Autobot HQ, until his transformation cog burn out. Yep, that can kill you. Ratchet’s the one who performed the autopsy, as per Metalhawk’s request- he only wanted the best of the best on this.

Too bad the best of the best is starting to slump. After a brief scare with Rigor Morphis- the stiffening of the corpse into the body’s preferred mode- Ratchet explains to Bumblebee that his hands have started seizing up, and that’s why he’ll be leaving on the Lost Light with Rodimus. He just can’t do the work anymore.

This news is not well received by Bumblebee, who’s just about had it with everyone up and leaving him all by himself with the mess that is Cybertron.

Phase Two will not be kind to Bumblebee.

Bumblebee accuses Ratchet of having been insnared in Rodimus’ siren song of reclaiming the Golden Age, but c’mon, this is Ratchet! He’s too cynical to fall for that. He’s more interested in finding the Autobots who’ve been lost over the millennia to the war. Ratchet’s already well aware of the true purposes of this little galactic road trip, almost like he’s read the plot outline.

It’s about helping people, and adventure, and being unapologetically gay and sad in equal measures.

Up in the sky, Cyclonus is displeased. He spent six million years in the Dead Universe, under the control of a madman, waiting for the moment he could return to his beloved homeworld, and what does he get? A ball of half-baked primordial cookie-dough, and it’s not even chocolate-chip like he was expecting; it’s fucking oatmeal raisin.

Mmm, that is some tasty panel-breaking right there.

Of course, the I/D chip might not have worked anyway, seeing as Cyclonus got a little bit of a boost when Vector Sigma ejected everyone during the Matrix incident. It’s doing some weird stuff to his body, on top of whatever nonsense existing inside the Dead Universe does to a person.

Cyclonus is about to head over to the Lost Light- apparently he and Rodimus made a little deal off-panel- when he detects a familiar life sign and decides to see what that’s all about.

Over in Prowl’s office, things are tense. He and Chromedome can’t even look at each other, as Chromedome reveals that both he and Rewind are jumping on the Lost Light. Prowl doesn’t like this, not one bit. He needs Chromedome, needs his skills, his expertise. He tries to appeal to Rewind, knowing who wears the pants in this relationship.

Or, well, he tries.

Prowl, they’ve been married for over 250,000 years.

In all seriousness, this is slightly before the first tentative steps Roberts took towards making the franchise as gay as he possibly could, at least when going by the story’s chronology. The thing about professional comic script writing is that plotting/planning goes for a ways beyond the current script one’s working on, so that everyone knows where everyone else is. Considering the somewhat congruent nature between MTMTE and RiD, planning ahead was especially important.

Chromedome and Rewind were originally (like, first draft originally) meant to be best friends. This was to fill a void in the department of close relationships Roberts felt within the Transformers franchise. Then Roberts saw how handsy he’d been writing them during plotting and realized he’d made something a little different happen. Which still sort of went with what he was going for, just in a slightly different fashion. Chromedome and Rewind are a rare case of a writer NOT leaning into the “they’re just bros, bro” mentality and just letting the characters be together as romantic partners.

Also keep in mind that it would be another three fucking years before the United States would legalize same-sex marriage, which is where the IDW offices are located. You gotta ease that sort of change in, that way nobody realizes what you’re doing until it’s already been done, then you can go hog-wild. We won’t be hitting critical mass on the homonormative civilization that is IDW1 Cybertron for a solid year or so.

So this bit of dialogue is just the start of the setup, and the “best friend” line is either a leftover from earlier versions of the script, or Prowl really just is that big of an asshole.

Rewind is, of course, recording everything taking place on his handy-dandy little head-mounted camera, because history is his business, and he’s not going to stop recording for the likes of Prowl.

Rewind doesn’t like Prowl very much.

It would seem that the feeling is mutual.

Chromedome suddenly remembers that trying to reason with Prowl is like talking to a brick wall, and the two of them leave. Prowl responds to this slight by yelling in the hallway and then flipping a table.

I sure hope y’all like running gags.

Of course, Prowl wouldn’t be Prowl without having a few contingency plans in place for when things don’t go his way, and he makes a call to his inside guys to “load the cargo.”

That’s not ominous in the slightest.

Six million years prior to all this nonsense, a tiny little dude fell in a hole and broke his legs trying to get to work.

This is Tailgate, and he’s seen better days. Not many, mind you, but at least a couple. He was making his way to the launch of the original Ark, when he decided to take a shortcut that would change the course of his life forever. Hence the whole “stuck in a hole” thing. Still, he’s got to get out of here, because without him, the entire expedition is doomed!

For being an idiot, Tailgate’s pretty smart- he figures that if he sets off his energon rations, it’ll blast up through the roof of the cavern he’s in and someone will be able to find him. Good thing energon’s so incredibly volatile.

Speaking of volatile, let’s jump back to the present and check on our buddy Whirl.

It looks like Whirl also got a makeover between series, because he’s now sporting a much sleeker, angular frame, complete with long, tapered head.

Whirl’s currently busy thanking his new friends for spending so much time with him. It really meant a lot to him, their patience. Not many folks have been patient with him before.

Of course, it probably helps that all these guys are dead as hell.

It’s time for another Roberts’ staple- the suicide attempt. We won’t be using the robot-equivalent to Multiple Sclerosis though. This go around, we’ll be using a classic: self immolation!

Title drop! Bet you weren’t expecting it to have such a dark connotation, huh?

Cyclonus interrupts Whirl’s monologue and suicide attempt. He thought he’d seen his best buddy, Scourge, on his tracker, and his immediate response is to lurk in the shadows looking like a night demon wearing a party hat.

Fun fact: a group of Sweeps is called a Spring Cleaning.

Scourge isn’t here, and he won’t ever be. Scourge most likely died off-panel, never to be seen again, assumedly because nobody wanted to write for him. I think it’s the nails, puts people off.

Whirl doesn’t take kindly to the intrusion, and responds the only way he knows how.

It’s always embarrassing when your self-immolation gets interrupted, but maybe try taking a first deep breaths before committing to more war crimes, Whirlybird.

While these two morons fill the post-Bay movie explosion quota, Red Alert’s hard at work screening the passengers on the Lost Light. Currently, he’s checking Brainstorm, who’s making it as difficult as possible, both legally and emotionally. Red Alert waves him on with a grumble, without even getting a peek at what’s inside his mysterious briefcase.

Up next is Swerve.

His legs are so jacked, it makes me a little uncomfortable. Glad to see Swerve’s body reformat went swimmingly- seems he went for the classic “tires in the shoulders and ankles” model.

Oh hey, it’s Rung! Hi Rung!

This series will not be kind to Rung.

While Cyclonus and Whirl terrorize the folks just trying to get on board the dang ship, Rodimus is feeling rather pleased with himself with the turnout. Drift strokes his ego a bit, because they support each other, but things are still weird because Drift doesn’t know who he is as a person anymore, and Rodimus has a guilty conscience mixed with being the Matrix’s golden child, which really fucks with a guy’s head.

Ultra Magnus goes through the list of the folks joining their quest, and starts running through all their demerits and crimes like it’s his job, because it is. We get a little peek into Magnus’ world view and then it’s back to the Whirl and Cyclonus show.

Also, Drift doens’t have a nose right now. He’ll get it back in time for the next issue, don’t worry.

Over with the flyboys, Cyclonus has decided to land and attempt to reason with Whirl. Not that he couldn’t totally kill Whirl if he wanted to.

He just doesn’t want to.

No, Cyclonus is far more concerned with his meeting with Rodimus, the one that he’s already friggin’ late for thanks to the detour he took checking that life signature. Whirl doesn’t care, far more worried about the fact that Cyclonus saw him talking to desecrated corpses and, far more importantly, vulnerable.

Look at this jackass’ ensemble- demon helmet, a crop top, a skirt and bellbottom pants. What an icon. He and Eugenesis Wheeljack should trade fashion tips.

Whirl still isn’t done with him, even after scraping him across the side of a mountain. Feeling especially artsy, he scoops Cyclonus up and jumps into the air, since he apparently has a hundred-foot vertical leap.

Back in the past, things aren’t going so well for Tailgate.

More cool panel stuff going on here- every time the panels have had rounded corners, it’s been when the scene takes place in the past. Now that the last panel has proper right angles to it, Tailgate’s in the present with everyone else. That middle panel probably covers a couple million years, at least. Poor guy.

Up on the surface, Ratchet’s met up with Chromedome and Rewind, and they’re all walking over to the launch site, Chromedome bitching all the while about how they’ve got to use their legs since Rewind’s alt-mode isn’t a vehicle, but a USB.

Chromedome seems to have forgotten that his tiny husband is small enough to probably just ride on top of his alt-mode, if not directly inside, most likely due to his larger-than-life personality.

Whirl and Cyclonus fall out of the sky before Chromedome can say something that’ll get his ass divorced. Cyclonus gets knocked out cold, having taken the brunt of the impact. Unfortunate, seeing as Whirl’s taking the time to make up lies about him.

You thought I was kidding when I said the armor was skimpy, but here we are, with a shot of Whirl’s battle thong.

Ratchet, who knows Whirl, because he knows everybody, tries to talk him out of straight up murdering Cyclonus. Whirl doesn’t like it when people try to talk him down, and is about to turn on the good doctor, when Tailgate enters the scene, by way of explosion.

Whirl doesn’t handle explosions terribly well. Probably why he was going to use one to kill himself.

With Whirl knocked out, Ratchet and the power couple pull Tailgate out of his hole, where he manages to ask about the launch before freaking the fuck out and fainting at the sight of a rather dead-looking Whirl. To be fair, I can’t think of a whole lot of folks who’d survive getting their tits blown off with enough force to clear a tunnel in solid rock.

You said it, Rewind.

Ratchet grabs Tailgate and Whirl and brings them onboard the ship, seeing as Tailgate seems to want to be there, and Whirl’s too dangerous to be out of sight. They just kinda leave Cyclonus on the ground. I doubt the two guys who were on Kimia last month really want to deal with him.

Rewind breaks off from the group to see his dealer. This dealer isn’t selling the good kush though. He’s got something far more incriminating to offer.

But we don’t get to find out what the fuck Rewind just bought from Swindle for a few more issues. Rest assured, it’s nothing good.

On the bridge, Rodimus is in his captain’s chair, ready to captain it up. The Lost Light raises into the air, as Bumblebee and Prowl watch on, about to exit the atmosphere and begin a adventure filled with hijinks and mild peril.

And that’s a series wrap on everyone! I hope you enjoyed this wonderful one-shot written by James Roberts.

What do you mean there’s 56 more issues?

Alright, let’s see where this goes.

Back on the bridge, there’s alarms and sirens out the wazoo, as things have pretty much immediately gone to shit. The quantum engine the Lost Light’s outfitted with apparently went off prematurely, rocketing them into a completely random quadrant of space.

Also, there’s a hole in the ship, and vacuum physics are doing their thing.

This series will not be kind to Rodimus.

The Lost Light touches down on the planet they popped back into existence over to start looking for all the guys who got sucked out of the ship. They don’t have to look long, seeing as they’re all burning up in the atmosphere.

Welcome to the Lost Light. It’s a friggin’ mess.

Back on Cybertron, the aftermath of the explosion is seen, as Bumblebee and Prowl listen to a message that seems to imply a lot more heartache in the future.

Prowl, you could at least pretend to give a shit.

That’s the end of the story, but not the end of the issue. In the back of the book, we get a welcome letter from James Roberts himself, thanking the reader for taking the time to read the beginning of MTMTE, and holy shit does he really try to sell it to you. This is a guy who wants you to be excited about the story that’s coming your way, because he’s excited about it. He’s a big dork who loves Transformers, and he gets to write about them for the next six years! That’s awesome. 

[poinsettiaatnight]

alright I just decided to look up an episode of the TMNT 2012 series because I vaguely remembered there being an episode with the baby turtles & I need me some cute found family feels in my life right now

then I just see this

so now I’m just sitting here like “hey I’ve actually watched the movie Yojimbo a while back & that’s a pretty neat reference to make” & I find out this is also a crossover episode with another comic character so now I’m intrigued because I didn’t realize this show did stuff like this (the fact that I’ve only watched a few episodes of season 1 might explain it)

and let me tell you, I was not prepared for how much this show had changed

first of all, rabbit samurai? hell yeah. he looks pretty badass

the wolf guy has way too many teeth

(not gonna lie, this shot is pretty creepy)

also they changed the theme song?! 

i see the boys have gone all james bond on us

(i’m getting some cowboy bebop vibes from this intro too)

and it looks like my girl April took a level in badass over the seasons but i’m going to take a wild guess and say she’s not actually in this episode

also, is this an official 5th season or some pseudo-spinoff thing they tacked on as a sort of final season?

this title kind of threw me off. is season 5 just a bunch of canon AU episodes or something?

that’s a really nice background tho

...is that a severed hand? in my ninja turtles cartoon? maybe i’m just not used to the cartoon fandoms because i thought this show did that thing where they use robots & stuff in place of real people to get around censorship rules (& all that jazz)

jesus christ, this kid’s a spoiled little shit isn’t he? i hate excessively bratty children like this. kudos to the VA for perfectly portraying that whiny tone

i really love it whenever heroes get those white Batman eyes when they’re in a serious fight. and the group full on showing off their ninja skills is so fun to watch. it’s weirdly easy to forget that they’re ninjas when you mainly think of them as just huge anthropomorphic turtles also have they been called kappa before in the show? i don’t know but i’m loving that nod to folklore/mythology

i don’t know anything about cinematography or scene composition but i just really love this shot   

Usagi’s a pretty cool character so far

first of all, this next scene? loving the change in art style

second of all, HOLY SHIT! HE DEAD! someone actually died in this kid’s show. that’s pretty brutal. how long have the TMNT been full on killing people in this show? go hard or go home, i guess (or maybe it’s like One Piece where any death goes as long as it’s in a flashback)

is this Usagi’s background story from the comics too or has it been completely changed for this show? just curious

and again, i am loving this art so much!

now where the fuck was he keeping that pizza all this time?!

Mikey being all supportive when Donnie says it’ll take decades to send them back home & Donnie clearly appreciating the positive response is exactly the kind of family moment that gives me life they’re so adorable here look at Donnie’s little smile

Usagi just straight up sliced a dude. i mean, there wasn’t any blood but still that guy fell from his horse & hit the ground pretty hard. 

another guy got knocked off a horse then got trampled by another horse, so he’s definitely horribly injured if not dead. holy shit, the kill count just keeps rising 

and how did armor for wolves (or whatever those soldiers are) fit four giant turtles? and how did they learn to ride horses? have they done it before?

i can’t get good screenshots of the action scenes but Mikey straight up kills 3 more wolves with his shuriken and honestly i was not expecting that from him

Usagi staring down the villain while standing on a moving horse is such a badass move

i know is should be more concerned about the protagonists possibly-but-not-really falling to their deaths but i’m more worried about the horses. those animals are crazy delicate, man. i’m pretty sure if a horse’s leg gets injured they’re pretty much ruined for life or something. and they’re falling off a cliff. those horses are fucked

i didn’t expect a lot of this from this show going back to it. i definitely need to finish these crossover episodes in addition to the Lone Rat episode. maybe i’ll watch the whole series. eventually. after i watch ROTTMNT.

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 126 Poll Results

The chapter 126 poll closed with 1,647 responses. Thank you for your support! This month’s poll results were compiled by @shifter-lines​ , /u/alooulla,   /u/_Puppet_, @manerein and @momtaku.

  RATE THE CHAPTER 1,514 responses

“Rate the Chapter” is a genuine bell curve this month instead of having its more typical overwhelmingly positive skew. While not terrible by any means, the response to chapter 126 was the most lukewarm since chapter 107, and it was the second worse performing chapter since we started the poll.

(Kazoo Avengers theme)

By far, this was the chapter I enjoyed the least, I just hope that the ending feels realistic

Definitely fast paced, but definitely needed to finally kick things into high gear. The Calm Before The Storm…

it was pretty disappointing by aot standards, but the last 15 chapters were amazing, so what am i even complaining for.... i just hope that isayama can write a decent ending.

I feel like this is either one of those chapters that will be more rewarding in hindsight when we have more info or was just straight up moving forward so we can get to the good stuff faster and we will have to suck it up and move on. All in all I think it was a good chapter even if a little rushed.

Easily the worst chapter in years due to the fast pacing, convenient plot developments and cliche and very cheesy and cringey ending page quote.

In the anime they could make a whole episode out this single chapter instead of using two chapters to make a single episode

ISAYAMA GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!! THE SAUNA AINT RUNNING AWAY FROM YOU

Haha pie

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,519 responses

After nearly a year of absence Levi and Hange were finally back in the story so it’s no surprise that “Everything with Levi and Hange” topped the list of favorite moments with 22.1%. “Avengers Assemble” was a distant second with 10.6%. Confirmation that Levi was alive came in third (10.2%).

ONYANKOPON CALLYING JAEGERISTS A BUNCH OF CHAUVINISTS

Pieck and Hange teaming up? Eren better watch out because those two together are gonna KICK SOME ASS!

Hange needs so much more appreciation, she is such a good person. I hope she and Levi both survive this shit.

I loved everything that happened, it just desperately needs some more detail filled in.

I loved Levi and Hange interactions

Annie eating pie is just perfect

It was so good to see Levi and Hanji again and together. They suffered so much, i need an end where they both survive and can have a restful retirement

Glad to see that Connie is still a good guy. Also that he is trying his best becouse of his Mother.

But what Pieck Pieck? The greatest tragedy is that Isayama took that from us, y'know not that Eren is destroying the world or something...

I really loved to see Armin and Annie together!

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,507 responses

Talk about polarity. “Avengers Assemble” may have been the second most popular “Favorite Moment” but it was also  the landslide winner for “Least Favorite” with nearly 22% of the fandom selected it as the worst moment of the chapter. “Floch’s Speech” (13.8%) and “The Ragako Subplot” (13.5%) rounded out the top 3.

everyone called them the avengers but lets get real they are a fuckin Suicide Squad

Why are we wasting time on Louise

Avengers Lowcost version

Didn't understand Magath reasons to join forces with his enemys. It felt like some story in between was missing.

Can I just say I hate what Isayama did with Connie's character? I've never seen a character as bipolar in his development

Floch was the only good part....

  WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,503 responses

Hange (23%), Jean (16.2%) and Armin (13.4%) were our top three favorite characters this month. It needs to be said that “Pie” came in at number four with nearly 10% of the fandom selecting it.

it WAS nice to see characters choosing to be their best selves for the sake of others. For that reason, it was difficult to pick an MVP -- but I gave it to Onyankopon because he crystallized so eloquently exactly what I had been thinking since Eren started the Rumbling.

Levi and hange tho

So much Erwin nods!  Yesss <333

Still love my boy Jean!

Some characters are still acting consistent: Jean, Magath, Levi (still not over killing the BT and that's good), Onyankopon and Floch.

Connies growth, Jean's motivation, I'm glad these boys are reclaiming their almost-lost humanity!

Levi. That is all.

Oh, also, I want pie.

  WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HANGE AND LEVI CAMPSITE MOMENT? 1,494 responses

“Hange suggesting that they live in the woods together” (27.2%) was the favorite campsite moment, followed by “Levi’s words upon waking up” (23.3%).  “Hange sniping while shedding a tear” was third (19.6%))

I'm giving this 5/5 solely for Yams finally feeding the LeviHan shippers some good fucking food after so long.

I ship Levi and Hange. It's so cute when Hange realized that Levi was listening to her/him while pretending to sleep.

Shirtless Levi round two! Wit, you better do the job correctly this time!

We need a Historia chapter but it’s great to see Hange and Levi being back.

  PIECK… FINGER? 1,492 responses

Pieck Finger. Pieck Finger everybody. You know how a common response to trauma or awkwardness is humor? Well 42.6% of you are primarily concerned with how “Pieck Finger” will be memed. 24.7% of you accept the trauma and say you wish she would’ve just stayed “Pieck”, and 20.6% of you are glad she has a last name, but did it really have to end like this? 6.5% of you think it’s a “cool and realistic last name”, and I think you guys scare me more than the people who vote “Snapchat” on the last question every month. More on that later.

"pekfinger" is swedish for "pointer finger" too. oh lord

Back when Pieck was supposed to be a dude, the working name was "Oliver Pieck", at least from what I read on the AoT wiki. I feel like Isayama could have just switched the first and last name around to make it "Pieck Oliver." That would've sounded far less weird.

I know a guy named Buck Ramming. Pieck Finger is fine by me lol

It's an instruction not a name.

Levi sure could use a couple of Piecks right about now heyoooooo

the fact that she got the worst titan and now also the worst name it’s so funny

What kind of a first name is Pieck?

  AS PREDICTED, CONNIE’S ROADTRIP WITH FALCO ENDED AMICABLY. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT? 1,498 responses

The Ragako subplot did little for the readers with nearly one-third of the fandom calling it a complete waste of time. The majority (46.2%) were slightly more charitable selecting “It was ok. I’m glad it wrapped up quickly”. Only 17.5% loved the moment. The write-ins were pretty damning.

Good plotpoint, really bad execution

I cringed the whole time.

I liked the outcome, but it was handled too quickly

A complete waste of time: Connie's arc? Sharted over. The consequences about Falco? Sharted over. Possibility to exploit serumbowl or Ymir's memories? Glossed over.

All of this made no sense and it was solved so quickly it seemed unrealistic. YAMS WE NEED PROPER CLOSURE PLS DON'T WASTE MORE INK

Connie changed his mind a bit too quickly, but it was good nevertheless

Connie deserved better writing.

Felt too shallow for how quick it sprung up, needed more development. As it is now, it could've just not happened

I'm glad that Connie hasn't died yet because I appreciate him, but there's been wasted potential. Ymir's memories and Porco and Colt's deaths have been reduced to a single vignette where we can only speculate and write fics.

Missed opportunity to actually develop Connie's character. We didn't learn anything we didn't already know about Connie.

This feels like what the anime did to the Uprising Arc. It happened way too fast and honestly felt like Isayama was just checking it off a list, so to say. Which is honeslty a bit uncharactieristic of his writing. I really hope this doesn't start, or continue, a trend...

  WHICH DENTAL HYGIENE MOMENT DID YOU ENJOY MORE? 1,494 responses

Before I talk about the numbers, I just want to shout out the one guy who responded “Other” and just said “why”. Anyway, a solid majority of you guys’ favorite dental hygiene moment was Hange asking Pieck rude lady questions, which frankly sounds much worse than it actually is. The next most common answer, getting just over 25% of the votes, was Connie’s Master Plan™, followed by “Both”, followed by “Neither!” I still like the guy who just said “why”.

I didn't mind it, but I heard that Isayama did this so he could get a toothbrush merch campaign going lol

Isayama has a teeth fetish confirmed

Holy Fuck what was Connies face doing when he was talking about titan teeth brushing.

Why, just why

Pie

  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HOW MIKASA ACTED TOWARDS LOUISE? 1,457 responses

The fandom is almost evenly divided over Mikasa’s actions towards Louise. By the narrowest of margins, Mikasa’s compassionate nature took the majority (26.8%). The other extreme, “Mikasa should’ve sucked it up and let the girl be happy”, was second with 26.2%. A quarter of the fandom instead chose to focus on Louise. “Louise was crazy and deserves the cold shoulder” was third (23.9%).

It's not surprising that Mikasa ran out of f*cks to give. There are only so many lives she can value, and right now she doesn't have the time to spare, or room in her heart.  

I don't think Mikasa had any responsibility there, and the scarf is hers. Given its significance, and that she owes Louise nothing, it seemed like the moment was morally neutral.

I really didn't care. Louise is barely a character, and Mikasa had no duty to be nice to a person who enabled and supported a bloody coup just because she saved her life once.

I don’t blame Mikasa. I don’t like and want to spend time with my stalkers either

I felt bad for Louise. She’s dying, let her think you care about her, Mikasa

I felt like Louise is completely obsessional but Mikasa is just as much. To me these kinds of moments show that Mikasa has completely lost it recently

I'm concerned about what this says for Mikasa's character development thus far, and I felt kind of bad for Louise

I'm sick of the scarf back and forth

It actually seems quite obvious to me that Mikasa pitied the poor girl, but there was nothing she could have done for her. Because she simply lacks the time necessary to care for Luise, or change her mind or make sure that she's ok.

That this is about Mikasa’s compassion or lack thereof I think says more about how we feel women should feel. I think it was fine, she barely knows Louise and there is a lot more going on. Louise is a grown woman that made her own decisions.

the most interesting part about it is that Eren asked Louise to throw the scarf away. that's it.

Mikasa already did a good gesture by visiting Louise, no one would ask Jean to do the same with Floch, so I don't see the big deal. Both cases are "protagonist sees themselves in antagonist, and realise how they mustn't become like them".

  WHY DID MIKASA DECIDE TO TAKE HER SCARF BACK? 1,482 responses

“Mikasa wants it back for other reasons” was the selection of nearly half of respondents, since “wearing it” and vague malice towards Louise were the other two options.

Eren wants her to throw it away, so she's making her own decision and going against his wishes on purpose.

I don’t know if she’ll wear it again, but it’s always been her scarf and she’ll decide it’s fate when she’s ready

I think she wants to give it back to Eren.

It's still important to her. She may let go of Eren but the scarf is always gonna be there to remind her of what was and the family she once had.

It’s just simply that it’s hard to throw away a possession you held dear for most of your life. It’d be more out of character for her to throw it away. I don’t think she ever planned on abandoning the scarf—setting it aside was rather Isayama’s way of showing Mikasa’s conflicted thoughts on her relationship with Eren.

Ultimately, Mikasa's the authority on the scarf and it's emotional weight, while Louise was trying to squeeze her own meaning out of it. It wasn't Louise's place to do so, and it wasn't her scarf to take. Whatever is to be done with it, to see it used again, given to someone else, or see it thrown out or destroyed, is a choice only the scarf's real owner, Mikasa, should make.

  THEY FOUND ANNIE BY SITTING NEXT TO HER WHILE SHE WAS EATING PIE, THOUGHTS? 1,497 responses

The reunion with Annie was another chapter moment that fell flat for the majority with only 21.8% expressing approval with it. The majority (31.8%) thought it would’ve been ok if there was more time for conversation and reaction and 22% were primarily bothered by the coincidence involved in the reunion. The remaining 20% found the lazy writing unforgivable.

*sigh*

There was way too much build up just to have it end in a gag. It was cute, but it... just doesn't work?

Are you telling me that every time you talk about Robert Downey Jr. he doesn't just appear right next to you?

Humor was not appropriate in this situation

I fucking loved it

I think it's lazy writing but it made me laugh pretty hard so I'll give it a pass

It was a funny moment but definitely not how I had imagined nor hoped Armin/Annie's reunion would happen

Sitting together like nothing happened before and eat and laugh… are you serious?!! It’s not funny

SNK has always had funny moments like this woven into it, especially when the 104th were still trainee's, and it's nice to see a tonal flashback to the past like this.

Stranger things have happened. Floch's hair, for example.

  WHAT SORT OF PIES DO YOU THINK THEY WERE EATING? 1,469 responses

Fruit. Definitely fruit.

...

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

What's the point of this question?? I'm confused

What the fuck is a meat pie?

We're missing PIEces of the puzzle still

  WHAT PIE WOULD YOU SCARF DOWN THAT FAST IF YOU WERE ANNIE? 1,459 responses

Apple (23.9%), and chocolate (16.2%) are our favorite pies, with Meat and “I don’t like pie” tying for third (11.4%). Several respondents were rather vocal about this even being asked. To them I say Isayama is the one who started this :P 

Apricot, you American heathens

Duh. Pineapple of course

I'd be more worried about getting home to my dad before he's crushed by a psycho

Marleyan organ pie made by the Usurper Chad himself!

nectarine pie.... you should try it

Rhubarb pie. Best Pie Ever.

Sweet Potato Pie!

There are so many interesting questions you could have asked in this poll yet didn't, but you're asking about pie?  (A/N: There are so many interesting things Isayama could have drawn in this chapter yet didn't, but he's drawing about pie? )

  HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT HITCH BEING LEFT BEHIND? 1,479 responses

While the majority thought it was a good way to write her out (36.3%), there was plenty of disappointment (26.2%) and many who thought it could’ve been handled better (16.6%). A segment of the fandom (18.5%) thinks she’ll be back since there is more she has yet to do.  

Perfect. She is always left behind throughout the series. The continuation of this makes sense.

Does the lack of Hitch means the lack of pies? Because this is unacceptable.

Glad that she'll survive probably, but she was such an interesting character

Annie and Hitch were my new otp, so just sad feels

Hitch is safe from now on. Ok for me.

I felt so sorry for her, because Annie's disappearance reminded me a bit of Hitch's relationship with Marlowe. Once more it seemed like the Survey Corps was taking someone precious away from her, off to an unknown and risky fate

I never had pie so Idk.

  WERE YOU WORRIED THAT JEAN WOULD JOIN THE JAEGERISTS? 1,480 responses

For this question, 21.5% of you were a little nervous that Jean might join the Jaegerists, but a much more significant 69.2% understood the implied fact that the Jaegerists only accept humans, and Jean is a horse, and therefore there was never any threat of him allying with them. You’d think that with like four hundred years of this series being out, I’d think of a better way to make that joke, but here we are. Anyway, the last 9.3% of you think Jean would do more to help Paradis if he joined the Ab Church, which is an excellent parallel to the Wall Church in the beginning of the series, I might add.

I still wish more time was given to the subplots such as more time to stew on Jean joining the Yaegarists

  LAST MONTH 75% OF THE FANDOM THOUGHT JEAN WOULD BE THE PERSON TO TAKE DOWN FLOCH. DO YOU STILL THINK THE HAIRBOWL WILL HAPPEN? 1,463 responses

Remaining in the strong majority, 72.6% of you guys think there will be some sort of confrontation between Jean and Floch, though whether that means you think Jean will be the person to “take down” Floch or not is beyond me. I don’t know. I didn’t write this question, I’m just writing the blurb for it.

I'm still betting on Floch shooting Jean in the head as a punishment for not going along with the flow

take down Floch please!!!! ..

  FINAL WORDS. WHO DID IT BETTER? 1,479 responses

With 43% of the vote, Onyankopon’s... several... words? beat out Yelena’s strong and (mostly) silent type response (which got 33.1% of the vote, by the way) at their “execution''. 23.9% of respondents said “Both”, and while technically “both” couldn’t have done it “better”, I’ll let it slide, because they were both pretty cool, and semantics don’t matter.

Best boy was Onyankopon. We only used to get glimpses of him and finally he has rebelled, showing that he has more guts than some of our main characters.

  JEAN AND HANGE’S PLAN TO ESCAPE SHIGANSHINA HAPPENED OFFSCREEN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? 1,473 responses

Three-fourths of the fandom expressed some disapproval of how the offscreen planning of the escape from Shinganshina went down calling it sloppy(18.1%) and confusing (13.9%). Of those, the majority (39%) will be ok with it if a future chapter provides more details. Only a quarter of the fandom completely loved the handling of this.

Even if flashbacks fill the gaps later, they won't make 126 a better chapter.

How did they even communicate? I thought it was all planned between Jean and Mikasa

on the page with the titans marching at night, you can see a figure standing outside jean's window. could be hange coming to discuss plans

I liked it, but I think I like it even more if it's explained in the next chapter(s).

I think he did it that way to add surprise. I feel like lately he has been in general illustrating with a more cinematic eye and by writing the scene this way it will play better in visual media. Lately I feel like he has been thinking this way, it’s been a trend for a while now.

This is why you shouldn't cram up 3 chapters worth of content into one. I don't care if Isayama has to end his volume on some goddamn awful page. You don't mess with certain parts of the narrative.

It was fine, it wasn't necessarily a scene that needed to be included so I'm fine with it.

  WHO WAS THE PERSON IN THE WINDOW? 1,456 responses

Who was the person in the window? Was Chapter 116 the last time we’ll ever see Eren transform into his Attack Titan? How to turn into a titan without alerting the military police??? When will I stop asking questions? Right now!

Just under two-thirds of the votes for this question went to Shadis. Following Shadis at a clean 10% is Zeke, trailed by Zombie Erwin at 9.6%. Given the theories about Eren’s body at the end of 117 being a Warhammer clone, I never thought I’d see the day when Zombie Erwin beats Eren in a “who is the mysterious character who is not inside Eren’s Titan” question, but here we are!

CHADIS

Keith Lurkdis

Erwin never died! What even is that option 'zombie Erwin'???

Farmer-kun

Idk but whomever it is I hope they're a good guy.

Male adult figure... Must be my man Shadis. There's no way Zeke would wear so many clothes.

Ugh I have no idea. I’m not going to pretend I can predict anything anymore.

2Pac

  WHY DO YOU THINK MAGATH DEMANDED THEY CAPTURE YELENA? 1,465 responses

Why did Magath bring Yelena back with Jean and Onomatopoeia? ~20% of you thought it was because she’s need for a plan involving Zeke, ~17% think he wants the details of Zeke’s plan from her, just over 14% said  he wants information about Eren, 4.4% of you think he wants her as a prisoner, and the overwhelming majority, at 44.6%, think it’s all of the above.

My theory is that Yelena is Magath's daughter

  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FINAL PANEL? 1,478 responses

Another close one. If we disregard those who selected “Avengers Assemble”, which even though we added it I have no idea if it’s meant “Hell yes, can’t wait to see the Hulk and Black Widow together again” or “Please let Tony Stark’s legacy RIP.”, The “I didn’t like it” beat out the “I liked it” by 0.3%. However you look at the data, it’s astonishing that essentially one-third of the fandom did not like this ending.

*sigh*

Get in loser, we're going to save the world

A nice cringe to start my day with :)

The old gangs back together but with ADDITIONAL TRAUMA

I think it was supposed to be satirical. A lot of us expected that the warriors and the 104th would unite again so I think Isayama made it as cliché as possible to 1)offer the readers some comic relief, 2)maybe mock his own plot and show that he's aware that this alliance is kind of cliché.

At what point did Annie and Reiner deserve to be forgiven and taken in by the SC? And why do they think they actually can (or even should) stop the Rumbling?

Marvel copied the last panel

It is a reference to Reiner’s long time ambition, and an indication to his next role. Helos perhap. But I don't think isayama would let him save the world happily. Maybe he will save the world in an ironic and tragic way.

Brilliant !!! Finally it's Connie's turn to shine.

Can't wait to see this optimism crushed. Great moment, though.

I don't understand why people think it's such a cheap cheesy ploy when it's honestly kinda obvious that they're being set up for a fall. Optimism almost always meets at the very least a bittersweet reality in this story.

It's cheesy, but people don't consider it's Connie who's saying this who is an idiot

  REGARDING THE LAST PANEL, DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE A PLAN? 1,475 responses

Nearly 70% of you believe that Final Panel Gang have a plan, while just over 30% think they’re just gonna wing it. Get it? “Wing it”?

For more serious commentary, we’re normally used to seeing “Yes/No” questions a little more perfectly split, especially the ones that involve Eren. It’s interesting to see a more unified response, even if it means that SOMEBODY on Reddit is going to say “Nice.” about the Yes vote.

Isayama will probably do a flashback of the plan, he likes doing this sort of thing lol. It was fine.

It's fine IF the planning is shown in the following chapters, but if not then it'll feel like Isayama couldn't come up with solutions and did everything off screen just because of that.

Telling the plan to the reader only works, if the plan fails.

I feel like the pacing of the chapter was this fast so that Isayama could end with the "Avengers Assemble" scene as the big volume cliffhanger for the next one, so he tried to get through the events quickly to give it that poetic ending. In that case, it's possible Isayama might show how some of these events unfolded in the next chapter or two; he usually does that kind of thing when showing big events for the first time. If the next chapter fleshes some of the scenes from this chapter more like showing Jean discussing the Avengers' plan with Mikasa and Armin, I think that could make this chapter better when we look back on it.

  WOULD YOU RATHER THIS CHAPTER HAVE BEEN SPLIT INTO TWO? 1,468 responses

Remember what I said about being accustomed to more split votes? Well, 39.5% of you said that you would prefer this chapter have been split into two, citing a lack of development, while 39.2% of you said that you’re glad Isayama is, *ahem*, moving forward with the plot. The near-perfect divisions breaks off a little bit when we consider that another ~12% said no, blaming the plots themselves for the problems with chapter, and 6% effectively voting yes, saying that the chapter should’ve been split into three.

Ask me again in a few months when we see how the whole plot wraps up and if Isayama adds any additional details via flashback.

Honestly all of these plot points could have been arcs within themselves and i wish it had been given enough time to become that

I like that the plot is progressing but i don't like the subplots being rushed

I'm happy it's going forward and not dragging on, but I would've loved more of an interaction between the scouts and annie/reiner.

One and a half

𝜋

There are various holes (lack of reaction during Annie's appearance, poor coherency of when Eren managed to speak with many people) but Isayama is giving us cool alliances, so it's half okay.

  IF YOU COULD DROP A SUBPLOT, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE? 1,463 responses

A fairly close call here, with the trip to Ragako Village being out in front with 42.6 percent of you claiming this is the subplot you would drop; Louise and Mikasa’s plot about the scarf is close behind on 36.2 percent. Perhaps readers feel the time for small subplots is done, since there’s so much still to do with the main plot we do not understand? A lot of responses indicated Mikasa’s perceived ‘cruelty’ (you’re all wrong, just so you know!) towards Louise, so perhaps this is indicative of why so many people would choose this event to be the subplot to drop.

Mikasa is just dead inside atm, but i feel bad for Louise

Mikasa knew Louise wanted that scarf, but she knew she needed it more. Plus I can barely remember Louise lol

Mikasa's behavior isn't good, but it's understandable---there are numerous mentally taxing events occurring.

Ragako stuff kinda sucked.

Goddamnit, this chapter was smelly poo. Not only we spent 3 months for nothing with that stupid Ragako plot and now everybody is holding hands just like that. If you're bringing an alliance you're not gonna make it happen offscreen with no detail whatsoever?

Ah and the Ragako subplot missed addressing the serumbowl as well: all we got is Armin whining about not being like Erwin and that's it. No Bert, no Ymir being addressed.

  IF YOU COULD HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ONE SUBPLOT IN THIS CHAPTER, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? 1,466 responses

Another close one! “The Armin and Annie reunion” is the subplot the majority wished for more information about with nearly 30% selecting it. “The conversation with Hange and Magath” was second (25.2%) and “Escape from Shiganshina” (17.7%) was third.

I was just expecting Levi, Hange and the corps interaction would be more surprising. The same goes for Annie and Armin's convo.

The mikasa scarf submit definitely could’ve happened in another chapter. This was too rushed and I really hope no other chapters feel this way. This chapter should’ve just been the Tagalog subplot, and then Annie and armin reunion. Then another chapter with hange/levi, Jean/flock and how they all came together to join forces.

It's so obvious this mad lad Isayama wanted to break the tension from the Armin / Annie reunion scene. We never know where he's going to trick us, do we ?

I do think that many things were kind of glossed over to save time. I'd prefer that things slow down a bit, just so we can soak up all that context. For example, the conversation between Hange and Magath, Annie and Armin's reunion and others.

  WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HOW EASILY THE ALLIANCES WERE FORMED? 1,474 responses

A mere 17.5% enjoyed how easily the alliances were formed. The majority (43%) called it “OK” while a more than a third of the fandom (36.2%) hated it. Some folks seem to indicate it was expected and just needed to happen quickly so the story could move along. However, the amount of people who hated it was too large to ignore; and largely for similar reasons, that it appeared too easy. Maybe the mistrust and emotion will come as the story moves along? Some of your responses indicate trouble ahead, if not behind.

Also Hanji sides too many times with "benefactors". I'm expecting the alliance to be shaky, with probably backstabbings and double-crossings. They seemed to make an agreement over killing Zeke (since no side likes him), and I doubt characters like Mikasa, Armin or Jean would be ok with killing Eren.

I don't get all the madness over the alliance, It was obvious it would happen. Also it's obvious all the things glossed this chapter will be shown in Flashback if important, like what lead Annie join them, on how Hanji contacted Jean (although i think a lot of people didn't notice the shadow in the window on that panel of Jean in the bed).

It was warm and fuzzy and I really needed that, but the actual details of the new alliance will absolutely need to be expounded upon soon.

it wouldve been better if connie's mom plot didn't exist we could've got a better build up to the alliance

Overall, things were way too rushed, as if Isayama just wanted to get to the last page.  I'm expecting to see how this alliance was made in flashback form, as is typical for Isayama, but that won't fix the inherent issues of this specific chapter.

Hange getting so along with Pieck, who fought against them when Erwin was killed, was a complete joke.

I don't get all the madness over the alliance, It's was obvious it would happen. Also it's obvious all the things glossed this chapter will be shown in Flashback if important, like what lead Annie join them, on how Hanji contacted Jean (although i think a lot of people didn't noticed the shadow in the window on that panel of Jean in the bed).

I love seeing them all but oh heckin it was just a little too fast

  WHICH THROWBACK DID YOU ENJOY MOST CHAPTER? 1,465 responses

“Jean remembering Marco” (31.9%) narrowly edged out “Annie kicking Reiner”(30.3%) as our favorite throwback. Levi remembering his promise was a distant third (16.2%).

That Marco’s  throwback really hit me . *SOB*

I didn't like the Erwin reference when Armin tried to sacrafice himself for connies mother, instead of falco being eaten.

Armin recognized a very important thing to himself (he can't stay trying to Erwin, he suck on that, he needs to do what he is good on it, but as his own person and not shadow of Erwin)

Where was Jean at the end there? I want him to confront Annie over Marco. Poor guy had the worst death in the series. He was murder in cold blood and then it got covered up. Plus, the only person trying to solve the mystery is Jean. Bless Jean he is such a good friend

It makes sense that Connie would say that to Reiner of all people (that line come back to his childhood trauma). Fandom freaking out and fearing a cheesy happy ending is ridiculous.

I didn’t think it was cheesy at all. It circles back to Reiner’s declaration to Keith back during the training arc.

I'm kinda sick of Reiner's Kick The Dog treatment too. I know Annie hates him but still...

  REGARDING HOW THE AVENGER'S MISSION AND THE ENDING WILL GO, WHICH OF THESE IS PREFERABLE/ACCEPTABLE TO YOU? 1,465 responses

Fans proving as ever, that they are a divisive bunch! However, it's clear that the smallest amount of responses favour the rumbling being stopped and world peace occuring (hippies!). Some responses indicate that this chapter made them nervous for the ending being overly optimistic, even with Eren as the apparent antagonist. Endings where Eren achieves an extreme form of Brexit (Paradexit?) with a victory over the armies of the world have a fairly even spread of positive responses, proving that he still has a lot of fans on his side. However, most of you responded in the vague sense of feeling like Isayama knows best and at this point, just seeing where this wild ride takes us.

I keep seeing this popular prediction on almost every platform: Eren destroys the world outside Paradise, goes back to Historia and her newborn kid (in this sort of prediction it is always assumed that he's the father), tells his kid (who is also thought to be reborn Ymir) "you're free" and goes on to be a good dad - End of story. Honestly the thought of this type of ending pisses me off so much. Not only because its reeks of typical shonen ending, but because it goes against all the themes and ideas that Isayama has written into the story over the years.

I would not be upset with a 'golden' ending. Some part of me wants that to happen.

It setup the shonen cliche route and can ruin the ending

It was very unusual for this manga. I hope that the author will come to the most logical ending and will not use the power of friendship.

Least exciting chapter I can remember; it has me apprehensive about the ending.

I hope Eren's conclusion will end with him winning, however I do not him accepting his morality and to be shocked at what he's done but to come to terms with what he's done.

While I'm more supportive of Eren, I'm fine with whichever side comes out on top of this as long as it doesn't involve Eren being stopped through Power of Friendship or Talk no Jutsu. That would feel too cheap.

  WHICH RALLYING CRY DID YOU PREFER? 1,445 responses

While the Ragako subplot wasn’t exactly loved, Connie’s rallying cry was the fandom favorite (28.4%). Hange’s plea to Magath was a close second (26%) while Floch’s message of freedom was third (25%).

  AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,472 responses

The pacing of this chapter and the way its implications relate to the entire manga was, if I may be so bold, one of the more talked about meta points this month, from what I’ve seen. Maybe that was the thought process behind this question. I don’t know. I didn’t write this one either. That’s a good thought process though.

Anyway, a borderline overwhelming majority of you said that the manga will end around Chapter 134 (48.4% of you). The next most common answer was Chapter 138, which would give us 12 more chapters. Chapter 130 got the least amount of votes, at 7.3%. The remaining votes went to Chapter 142+, and I appreciate that optimism, because I for one hate thinking about this question.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,475 responses

“Historia when?” (26%) tops the list followed by the long awaited Eren POV (23.5%). “Details on things glossed over this chapter” was the third pick (22.7%) followed by “Zeke, Eren and OG Ymir” (11.6%).

I can't wait to see Zeke's reaction at seeing Levi AGAIN ready to fuck him up.

Historia when?? Also, Hange needs a hug, Levi needs sleep, Armin and Annie need to talk, Falco needs to deal with his brother's death some more, and we all need Erwin to come back :(

I hope we get flashbacks to explain all this off screen development.

Isayama please for the love of god remember that Historia exists.

Where is HISTORIA

where is zeke?

  WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,401 responses

Reddit continues to dominate this question, pulling 44.9% of the vote. “I don’t” actually takes second place this month, with Tumblr coming next, followed very closely by Twitter, which is in turn followed closely by Discord. In descending order from there, we have real life, 4chan, Youtube, a two-way tie between Instagram and Facebook, and everything else has less than 10 votes.

Before I move on though, it’s absolutely critical that I draw your attention to last month’s poll. Last month, I said, and I quote,

“Lastly, something ominous is going on in the Snapchat cult, because there were only two of you this month, down from five last month. That’s still enough to reproduce though and it makes me uneasy.“

“Why are you bringing that up?” you may be asking yourself. I’m bringing it up because Snapchat got SIX votes this time. “Why does that matter?” you ask yourself next. I’m glad you asked. That’s a 300% increase. If that rate continues, in just five month’s time, there will be more members of the Snapchat cult than the rest of you COMBINED.

That’s not to say anything more than it says, but I should add that I was totally vindicated on the Snapchat cult reproduction theory. Having done the math, you guys DEFINITELY scare me more than the people who liked “Pieck Finger”.

  ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 375 responses

Remember kids, the world is currently supposed to be ending

I know most people hated how rushed it felt, but honestly, I'm glad this wasn't split into 2 months. This leaves more time for the conclusion, and would much rather the alliances be rushed rather than the ending.

While it's certainly sad that Louise may not be long for this world, I also don't think Mikasa owes her anything. Mikasa seems to see a lot of traits she dislikes about herself cranked up to 11 in Louise, and I think it's understandable to need to distance oneself from toxic ideas or people. Mikasa and Louise were never friends, they never really knew each other, and never really cared about each other. Sure, Louise idolized an idea of Mikasa, but she put herself as separate from the real Mikasa, lesser. These two strangers never had a real chance to truly know each other, and that's okay, sad but okay.

While the panel of Annie with a face stuffed with pie is a gem, I think it seemed almost too good a coincidence. Both parties (Armin, Connie and the kids and Hitch & Annie) happen to be taking a break from their travels at the same time in the same city at the same festival. Seemed a bit too lucky.

Isayama has a bias against the yeagerists too. Portraying them as mindless dumbasses that are evil for no reason. Look at Floch everytime he has a moment it gets cut short for a "oh look at this dumbass" type of conclusion like him missing the shot at Shadis and getting duped by Jean and the 104th.

my dumb shipper’s heart wants Pieck’s reaction to Porco’s death.

this chapter felt too 'super hero movie' to me, in the sense that it was way too optimistic and cheesy, nothing like the Attack on Titan I know and love. Isayama's been watching too much Marvel.

A rushed chapter, Isayama may have messed up some timelines (e.g. Louise's talk with Eren, the changes in day and night), maybe Isayama was too focused on SAUNA SAUNA SAUNA when he was drawing the chapter but anyway, if the chapter was rushed because he wants to move to next plots (eee....east...eeeek...Ki....), I'm fine with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chapter Would've been terrific if it weren't for the rushed forced alliance. Mikasa's character also seemed out of place this chapter.

is not a bad chapter but at the same time is not a godly chapter like others but i have faith on isayama that he will blow our minds

Felt very disappointed and it is as if this story is moving to black and white territory again.

Good fast development, optimistic that what was glossed over will be addressed. A bit antsy that this is a setup for some tragedy but I don’t expect total senseless ruin for the characters.

I don't really see where all the complaints are coming from, to me the chapter must be one of my all time favorites ever since I've started reading the manga at the regular monthly pace. I think the build up and the tension have been steadily increasing slowly enough up to this point, and now we've finally reached the top of the roller coaster tracks, and it's time for the ride to the conclusion. I loved the mysterious plan, it reminds me of the uprising arc (ah the good old times).

I hope the author just got a bit lost and had to put things back on track quickly. I want to feel for these characters, not find out that I followed their struggles for chapters to see them dissolve for the sake of the plot.

Eren has suffered a lot over the years and a lot of things have been TAKEN from him - but do you remember "In order to achieve something, you have to give up something important"? I don't think Eren has ever GIVEN up something of his. He's always been a little maniac intent on killing the enemy (which is what he is doing right now). There have been so many characters in the story that have given up their dreams and finally their lives, why is Eren the one that gets to have his cake and eat it too?

I love it cause we need some time of just relax and be happy before the sad ending

I’m hoping the next chapter will make this one better by fleshing things out. Also seeing Annie and Reiner reunite made me deeply miss Bertolt this month.

JE VEUX PAS QUE CE MANGA FINISSE OMG

Reiner getting kicked in the face to wake up and understanding nothing is all of us

The more things don't seem to add up, the more you have to pay attention, that's what I learnt reading this series. And a whole lot didn't seem to add up in this chapter so I'm super hyped!

This is easily one of the weakest chapters Isayama has ever written. After creating all of these subplots that we were expecting to go somewhere and hold emotional weight for the characters were written off into cheap one-liners, off screen reactions and discussion, and just overall completely weak subplots that left us with no emotional payoff.

Boii I'm glad the development on the characters matters only when its relevant to the plot, I almost forget that I used to like them. If Reiner of all people doesn't point out how creepy and disgusting it all is I don't know what to say, what a waste of time of a series.

Connie mentioning Sasha made me cry! Actually makes me wish Eren pulls some time travel shit so that we can have our girl back.

Can I just say I find it funny, and I really love Pieck regardless, it is just a last name after all.

Good, but the former-enemy to friendly-pie-eating turnover rate was wayyyyy too fast!

I thought this chapter was it for Connie, who has been one of my favorites since the beginning. It was a bit sudden but I'm glad him not feeding Falco to his mom is Canon AND that it strengthened his bond with Armin.

It feels like none of the Jeagerists really see clearly what the situation is, or at least don't have an ounce of understanding or sympathy why everyone else is scared and freaked out by what has happened. That in turn makes it harder for non-Jeagerists to act with sympathy, what a vicious cycle.

What bothers me the most is not the way Mikasa interacted with Louise, but the fact that she wanted the scarf back. On a symbolic level, she left it behind a few chapters ago, which meant that she no longer put Eren first and started thinking about herself. She recognized that her bond with Eren was severed. So why take that scarf back now, when it's not supposed to have that much importance anymore?

I can see either the next chapter or the one after showing a flashback of Jean, Armin, and Mikasa discussing that plan. Cutting some parts of a scene and showing it in the following chapter or two is usually an Isayama thing to do.

I don't know why everyone's expecting every single piece of exposition to be laid out for them like meeting minutes. This isn't the first time we've understood what's been going on behind the scenes after the fact.

At the start Connie struggles to hold his emotions, and suddenly he's a hero, cheesy and cliche

Excuse me but can we stop making Gabi involved in everything? Shes so OP at this point

I loved the mockery of the cliche superhero assemble bullshit

STARDUST CRUSADERS

The cringe made me develop a permanent seizure. Also both my eyeballs are still stuck in the back of my head because of the excessive force I used trying to roll my eyes.

The team-up should have been given more time to develop. It wasn’t all bad though.

X-Men on their way to stop Magneto (Eren)

The problem does not lie so much in the pace as in the script tension, which Isayama killed a little in this chapter but intentionally I think. I mean the guys are literally sleeping and eating like it was a party during the freaking end of the world, do you really think he would have let such a thing slip out of clumsiness?

I'm pretty sure that Levi will have the role of "Helos", and Hange his 'Tybur' collaborator, because she's holding a hammer like the guy/girl next to Helos during the play (ch99).

Not the usual quality.

8/10. I liked annie's reunion the best, but wish that hitch had more characterization and wasn't written out so quickly. Ragako subplot was fine but predictable. Louise subplot kinda boring. Avengers assemble at the end was very anime and I liked it.

A peaceful chapter before the storm

A thought: What if Ackermans are the only ones able to actually kill off the Nine Titans? We know they’re byproducts of titan science, maybe they were created to annihilate them? That’d be devastating to see Levi or Mikasa kill Eren and Armin. I’d love it. 😂

Annie is the best girl

Anyone pretending this chapter wasn't utter shit is in hardcore denial.

Did not like the assemble. Nobody can forget what happened in the recent past of Paradis and what the warriors did. But have hope in Isayama

Do Gabi and Falco know that Armin is the Collosal Titan? I thought Connie might let that slip to them and it might create tension between Gabi and Armin but.... No. Everything about that subplot was insanely rushed, there were a lot of ways it could have played out.

Aforementioned last page quote that is so unlike SnK up to this point. Cringey and straight out of an Avengers movie, I can't believe there are people who actually like this development.

I hope Isayama isn't overworking and rushing himself to finish the manga just for the sake of finishing it this year, but I still believe he will finish SnK in a satisfactory manner that will be memorable for decades. However, this chapter as well as 125 were very disappointing and lowered my expectations considering how good the entire final arc had been up to this point.

Errrwiiiiiiiinnnn!!!!!

game of thrones level of trash, i hope for god that the aot ending isn't as bad as final season game of thrones

I didn’t like the Ragako subplot, but I did like Connie saving Armin and their heart-to/heart afterwards.

I don’t think the chapter was rushed. Glad to see Armin finally doing SOMETHING, and I hope it was more a gamble than him wanting to die. Hange’s monologue was so out of character, everyone knows Hange would never want to live in the woods, yet it looks like Hange always  gets discouraged and needs encouragement from somebody else. Seriously, that’s not the Hange we all know. Where’s the ‘defeat is all the Survey Corps ever knew, let’s kick asses!!’ Hange?? that interaction with Pieck brought some of it back thankfully

I don’t understand why everyone is complaining lol

I enjoyed how quickly it moved. We’ve been down in the doldrums since December, so I’m glad to see the characters & the pace picking back up again.

I hate how quickly Hanji becomes depressed. Armin, Jean - they overcame their doubts by themselves. Yet Hanji always needs someone else to tell them to stop being ridiculous. It’s like Levi is babysitting Hanji :/ I miss good, old, badass Hanji

I miss hitch already

I noticed that the way Floch gesticulates during his speech was very reminiscent of how Hitler gave his speeches

I really like Hanji and Levi’s friendship and how Levi always knows what to say to encourage his friends but can we please stop with Hanji being so emotionally weak? I love Hanji, but c’mon- Levi was seriously injured and still needs to treat Hanji like she’s a wounded kid. Jean came to his senses on his own, same for Armin and Mikasa. All they needed was to remember people who died, did Hanji not lose enough comrades to find her strength from? Hanji is one of two veterans left and the commander(!), it really hurts to see her so pathetic, that was hard to read. Glad she looks more like old Hanji at the end of the chapter

I wanted more Annie and Hitch adventures and feel deprived.

i wish there was more to the reunion of Annie & co, but whatever, let’s just move on with this plot.

I'm in the minority here, but I actually liked the chapter. Sure the pacing was a bit off, but this may be because we're getting a detailed explanation for it in an upcoming chapter. Other than that I find it somewhat amusing that so many people that a team-up wasn't happening. Like there was so much goddamned FORESHADOWING about it. Plus the fact that Isayama basically flat-out admitted that he was going to create a team-up a-la Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not expecting roses and fluffiness at the end of the road, I see a lot of people dying. And I still don't know who's gonna be the victor at the end. It just seemed really clear to me where these character arcs were/are heading. I still have faith in Yams. He hasn't disappointed me yet, so let's just see what he has in store for us.

It feels like Isayama is rushing to finish it off just like Kishimoto did with Naruto Shippuuden and that makes me very sad. I'm worried he'll destroy everything he did until now.

It felt incredibly unrealistic. What I have appreciated most about SnK is its narrative integrity and ability to produce results proportional to the protagonists' abilities. Currently, this feels rather forced. When did they come up with these plans? How could they possibly have alerted Jean ahead of time without anything being shown? It feels like a cheat. Also, I don't like that its just them going after Eren. Realistically, in SnK, a small group of characters, even with their level of power, shouldn't consider going after him how they have. If anything they need to face reality and prepare for the world to come after the rumbling, since if I think anybody in their position would think it is utterly impossible to stop it.

I feel like the pacing of the chapter was this fast so that Isayama could end with the "Avengers Assemble" scene as the big volume cliffhanger for the next one, so he tried to get through the events quickly to give it that poetic ending. In that case, it's possible Isayama might show how some of these events unfolded in the next chapter or two; he usually does that kind of thing when showing big events for the first time. If the next chapter fleshes some of the scenes from this chapter more like showing Jean discussing the Avengers' plan with Mikasa and Armin, I think that could make this chapter better when we look back on it.

It was warm and fuzzy and I really needed that, but the actual details of the new alliance will absolutely need to be expounded upon soon.

It was...fine.

It wasn’t so bad, the hate is really annoying.

It's clear SNK is ending soon so before we see Eren and what else is going on with the rumbling Hisayama wants to close plots with other characters BUT IMO the price of this is giving us less hyped chapters since the walls broke and we still have to see the new Eren titan form…

Just to clarify, "Which throwback did you enjoy most chapter" is intended to be an English sentence, yes? Quality work here as usual, tumblr/reddit big-shots. I hope no one lets you guys near an actual workplace where what you do matters. (A/N: Well you didn't capitalise Tumblr or Reddit so who is the real villain here?)

Let Levi kill that ape. Please. He’s gone through so much and lost everything. Give him just this one little thing

Let's say we generally agreed that this chapter is bad.

Not nearly as bad as people say it was like Jesus heck calm down. I mostly feel bad for isayama tbh he’s probably being pressured to wrap it up and he’s not usually one to not give moments like this chapter proper time.

It's hard to say why Isayama decided to wrap up things fairly quickly, whether he has later flashbacks planned or whether he was overwhelmed with time pressure/suffered a writer's block of whatever. I think, in the end, if the rest of the story wraps up strong, it doesn't matter much.

I'm happy with what happened in this chapter, except the fact that it was rushed and Levi's plot armor, I mean Ackermann blood. He should have lost at least a leg...

The only solace I take in all of this is that the plot can finally move forward. This has been an entire volume of seemingly pointless side quests and I'm ready to focus again on the main story. Frankly, I'm exhausted. I just want answers and I want to know how the story finds resolution.

We had several excellent chapters recently, a subpar one is understandable. Hopefully the Anime will expand on it a bit

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #238

Tues May 05 2020 [02:04 AM] Wack'd: Have some Wolverine publicity

[02:05 AM] maxwellelvis: It BEGINS [02:06 AM] maxwellelvis: THERE's the John Byrne we know and... sigh because the guy who comes up with great covers like these is still the guy who sabotaged Jean Grey's spinoff attempt. [02:06 AM] Wack'd: John Bryne: fun dude but still a friggin dude [02:07 AM] Wack'd: So here we go. The secret story of Frankie Raye [02:08 AM] Wack'd: Turns out this is naturally what she looks like naked, plus a spiffy pair of elbow-length gold gloves

[02:08 AM] Bocaj: He didn't notice the gold gloves at any point? [02:08 AM] Wack'd: All this stuff just...vanishes when she puts clothes on [02:08 AM] Wack'd: Yeah no Johnny is like "I've seen you in a bikini" and she puts her robe back on and the gold clothes vanish [02:09 AM] Bocaj: "My terrible secret is that I'm a never nude" [02:09 AM] Bocaj: "There are dozens of us. Dozens" [02:09 AM] Wack'd: I understood that reference [02:09 AM] Wack'd: So anyway Frankie has been somehow psychologically conditioned to never notice that a superhero outfit appears on her whenever she's naked [02:10 AM] Wack'd: As well as not to think too hard about the fact that she has no memories before age 14 [02:10 AM] Bocaj: Uh. [02:10 AM] Bocaj: Well y'know what fair enough. I try not to think about that stretch of time either [02:11 AM] Wack'd: Her earliest memory is waking up in a dingy warehouse under an old labcoat [02:11 AM] Wack'd: She lived alone in a deserted apartment and got checks for a thousand bucks in the mail every week [02:11 AM] Wack'd: And was psychologically conditioned not to think about how off-spec that was for a teenager as well [02:12 AM] Wack'd: A lot of nonsense here resting on, essentially, a Somebody Else's Problem Field [02:12 AM] Wack'd: Whoever set all this up probably would've had a lot easier of a time if they just...gave her a normal life? [02:12 AM] Bocaj: I feel that however this explains her fear of fire from earlier on, this cannot have been what the original plan was even a little [02:13 AM] Wack'd: Anyway somehow meeting Johnny started to make the conditioning decay [02:13 AM] Wack'd: She freaked out when Johnny flamed on because it made her think too hard about things, but she was attracted to him in part because of that [02:14 AM] Bocaj: uh [02:14 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Johnny pushes her to explore this whole ordeal further, because she feels like the dam is finally about to break [02:14 AM] Bocaj: I have a dumb thought [02:14 AM] Wack'd: And break it does

[02:14 AM] Bocaj: She was completely naked in that- HOLY BEANS [02:15 AM] Bocaj: she was completely naked in that scene where she had the breakdown in that other issue and she didn't get the gold booties there [02:15 AM] Wack'd: She didn't but also because up until that point she was Somebody Else's Probemed into not seeing them, remember? [02:15 AM] Wack'd: And so we the audience didn't either [02:16 AM] maxwellelvis: Like the clown graffiti all over John's house [02:16 AM] Wack'd: Johnny uses his fire absorption powers to keep the building from burning down and gives chase [02:18 AM] Wack'd: He catches up to Frankie and gives her a crash course in steering and pacing herself before she and her new ecstasy for life burns down New York [02:18 AM] Wack'd: And she explains Frankie Backstory 2.0 [02:19 AM] Wack'd: She was raised by a simple repairman, a good man, who suddenly lost his friggin composure when the Fantastic Four arrived [02:19 AM] Wack'd: Ranting about how dare Johnny call himself the Human Torch, he dragged her to an old warehouse and began raving about old experiments [02:20 AM] Wack'd: Frankie humors him for a bit but while carrying an old oil drum it bursts into flames, leaving her miraculously unharmed [02:20 AM] Bocaj: Simple repairman has a point. Kind of rude, Johnny [02:20 AM] Bocaj: Jim was a war hero, ya dink [02:21 AM] Wack'd: And then dear old stepdad hypnotized her and abandoned her [02:21 AM] Bocaj: 😐 [02:22 AM] Wack'd: A year later a package arrived with a tape recorder and a gold costume. The tape recorder hypnotized her into putting on the costume and then erased her memories [02:22 AM] maxwellelvis: What a drip [02:22 AM] Wack'd: Anyway from all this Johnny deduces her stepdad was Phineas Horton [02:22 AM] Wack'd: But you guys already figured that out, I bet [02:23 AM] maxwellelvis: I forgot who he was. [02:23 AM] Wack'd: Jim Hammond's dad [02:23 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh [02:24 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Johnny decides to become her mentor and, after she tries to fly as high as possible and runs into that pesky atmosphere problem, takes her back to the Baxter to have Reed run some tests and figure out what her limits are [02:24 AM] Bocaj: I'm for once not sad that Ultron killed him after forcing him to turn the original human torch into the Vision [02:25 AM] Bocaj: Until Byrne retcons that to not be the case because dude loves him some jim hammond [02:26 AM] Wack'd: Anyway I misremembered what Frankie's deal was. I assumed android [02:26 AM] Wack'd: But Reed thinks that whatever was in that fateful oil drum was some sort of superscience chemical that mutated her [02:26 AM] Wack'd: Not sure what the point of her being a nevernude was [02:27 AM] Wack'd: Or why Phineas Horton brainwashed his fourteen year old daughter into wearing a strapless bathing suit at all times [02:28 AM] maxwellelvis: The guy labeled Jim a renegade when he showed the first signs of not being completely under his command [02:28 AM] Wack'd: It sure is a good thing this teenager with no parental guidance never did anything where that bathing suit might've become a problem! [02:28 AM] maxwellelvis: guy's a drip [02:29 AM] Wack'd: Reed has proven his hypothesis that biological sex determines how flame powers work I guess??!?!?

[02:29 AM] Wack'd: What sort of cis nonsense is this [02:30 AM] maxwellelvis: Johnny speaks for us all [02:30 AM] Wack'd: What all that means is "after a period of suitable training, we may be calling our friends at Marvel Comics and telling them to start publishing the Fantastic Five!" [02:31 AM] Bocaj: This is a thing that marvel does sometimes [02:31 AM] Wack'd: Good news for all those Spider-Girl fans I guess [02:31 AM] Bocaj: They've decided that Laura Kinney's foot claw is what girl wolverines be like [02:31 AM] Wack'd: *sigh* [02:33 AM] Bocaj: I'll say that Spider-Girl did it better by not saying, as far as I recall, that the difference was because man vs woman. [02:34 AM] Wack'd: Okay so we have another story in this issue [02:34 AM] Wack'd: Well, two, kind of [02:35 AM] Wack'd: First a brief interlude in which it is established at some point the Four will be going to the tiny town of Benson, Arizona to investigate cases of people being "frightened to death" [02:36 AM] maxwellelvis: @Wack'd My primary suspect is this man [02:37 AM] Bocaj: Put those tingles away [02:37 AM] Wack'd: Here's a Sue pinup which I'm mostly crossposting to see if I can wrangle a coherent set of interests out of her bookshelf

[02:38 AM] Wack'd: Pogo's on there. Sue has good taste in comics [02:38 AM] Bocaj: I was about to say [02:38 AM] Wack'd: And now on to our second feature [02:38 AM] maxwellelvis: She's got a copy of Shogun in there [02:39 AM] maxwellelvis: Dangerous Visions, a sci-fi anthology [02:39 AM] Wack'd: Meet Crow T. Rob--I mean, HERBIE 2.0

[02:40 AM] maxwellelvis: "You listen to me, 'Mr. Fantastic', you are NOT my real father!" [02:40 AM] Wack'd: "I want to decide who lives and who dies!" "So long as Franklin is in the 'lives' category I'm strangely okay with that" [02:41 AM] maxwellelvis: "Hey, Franklin, the secret word for today is 'booger'! Booger booger booger booger-AAAUGH!" [02:41 AM] Wack'd: Anyway this is not the only surprise Reed has in store today! [02:42 AM] Wack'd: He also has A Cure for Being the Thing Number Fucktillion [02:42 AM] Bocaj: Panel 2 Franklin does not look like a child [02:42 AM] Wack'd: He looks like a 1950s Western bit player [02:43 AM] maxwellelvis: "Oh great, another cure! How does this one work, and where can I hide when it backfires?" [02:43 AM] Wack'd: Ben is skeptical but as Reed points out science is always marching on [02:44 AM] Wack'd: He has more data than he's ever had [02:44 AM] Wack'd: Ben you've never asked her that before because it's literally never come up before. Fuck she's dated you while you were cured! Remember when you were riding around in that robot suit?

[02:45 AM] Wack'd: Anyway [02:45 AM] Wack'd: The machine blows up [02:46 AM] Wack'd: Welp

[02:47 AM] Bocaj: Could be worse [02:47 AM] Bocaj: At least its not pinecone grimm [02:47 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh that's coming [02:47 AM] Wack'd: Could be covered in bees. That'd be pretty bad [02:47 AM] maxwellelvis: Not for Ben it wouldn't. [02:47 AM] maxwellelvis: Unless they flew into his mouth. [02:47 AM] Bocaj: "Hahah sting you fuckers" [02:48 AM] Bocaj: "This time it is permanent!" Reed shut up [02:48 AM] Wack'd: Anyway this sure is weird nostalgia baiting [02:49 AM] Wack'd: Folks have done plenty of Lee/Kirby throwback stuff but was anyone nostalgic for this, like, at all [02:50 AM] Wack'd: Also like. C'mon Bryne, integrate your story developments naturally. You shouldn't need an entire issue where all that happens is status quo changes [02:50 AM] maxwellelvis: @Bocaj You might know, had Byrne ever written a comic book before his FF run? [02:51 AM] Wack'd: I guess Frankie was integrated a little naturally (even if she went from recent love interest to team member in no time flat) but the Ben is fairly hamfisted [02:51 AM] Wack'd: You can just check Marvel Wiki [02:51 AM] Bocaj: He co-plotted with Claremont I know [02:51 AM] Bocaj: And Claremont was big on the idea of co-plotting. [02:51 AM] maxwellelvis: But this would be his first, like, his first time flying solo? [02:52 AM] Wack'd: Dude has a lot of X-Men credits and some Captain Americas [02:52 AM] Bocaj: His first writing credit was on Iron Fist apparently [02:52 AM] Bocaj: at Marvel [02:54 AM] Bocaj: But from a skim of wikipedia fantastic four was his first extended solo writing thing

[midzelink]

Well, this is certainly something that happened.  

In response to a post I made stating the various reasons I don’t like the Twilight Princess manga (which was in and of itself a response to some replies I got on this other post), I got a barrage of replies from a user (who will go unnamed, they’ve already been blocked) in defense of the thing - which, ordinarily, wouldn’t be a big deal!  People are allowed to have different opinions and I never once stated anyone who liked it should feel bad!  I started writing up a reply to them in the middle of this barrage, but their replies just kept coming and got subsequently worse, yet it was all...so bizarre to the point that it would feel weird to not address that it happened.  I’m putting all of this under a read more, because wow this is a wall of text, but also this is the kind of nonsense I want people to avoid having to read if it can be helped.  At any rate, this is what they had to say:

I don’t know, this really honestly feels like reaching. It feels like criticism for the sake of criticism without actual narrative flaws being shown, but your anger seems to stem from “This interpretation is different from what I thought even though I admit all official art shows the charachter this way” and “Link HAD to be raised in ordon because of one quote from the enclosed instruction book”. Twilight Princess was literally made to be “the edgy zelda” in reponse to fan overreaction to wind waker. This is undeniable. All official art depicts link this way. He turned into a freaking wolf in the middle of the twilight craze! but no, he *can’t* be like that because of random expressions he makes when holding pets or items? First of all, even in the manga he isn’t an edgeboy all the time.

Secondly, it feels like you're merely glossing over all that was added in terms of charachterization! In the original game, I felt nothing for Ilia. She showed up, yelled at link for maybe getting epona slightly hurt, and then got kidnapped. Maybe a bit of tsundere stuff, but seriously, Midna is literally the best tsundere ever. You can't out midna-minda in her own damn game. XD In the manga, Ilia and Link actually have a warm and very close relationship, you can see them through all the slice of life in the first volume. I really grew to like her and truly felt sorry for her when bad things happened to her. She actually gets far, FAR more respect as a person and charachter in the manga than merely a trophy for link to get back. But no, you're far too focused on subtle expressions and insinuations because that is literally all anyone had to go on for the longest time. In reality, Link, as has been said many times, is an avatar as much as he is a charachter. You can't gloss over his official art depicitons any more than I can random expressions he makes when finding a heart piece.

Not to mention, you call the blog midzelink yet you make zero mention of the super obvious wlw-as-fuck zelda flashback in volume 5? It's a sad thing that Shad being straight is something I have seen people complain about, yet Zelda and Midna's relationship getting such a huge focus passes without a peep. It's a disturbing trend I see in my fellow Fujoshi. And on the subject of Shad, his relationship with Ilia is far more likely something included to give her a happy ending, rather than just seeing link off into the sunset to try to find midna and live forever alone in ordon. On that note as well, Link not being from Ordon fits PERFECTLY with the ending, Link being the only hylian, link being from there, all of this is SCREAMING that that is the place he never truly belonged, the manga simply takes it one step further and in this version says he was never from there any way, cementing that. It gives the concept that Link was using Ordon as a place to avoid being who he was extra weight. And Honestly, it makes him less of a jerk in the end for leaving ordon, as he never truly belonged.  

And It's actually a narrative flaw in the original for Lanaryu to make mention of misusing the power of the master sword and then having nothing come of that warning later. If you're going to set chekov's gun down on the table, you better use it by the end of the play. It's simply capitalzing on something that the story actually set up, and playing into the tone of the story nintendo marketed it. But really, most of my annoyance dosen't come from the fact that you don't like the manga. People can dislike what they want. It's that all your grievances seem to come from stuff at the very beginning, and you liked it for so long, when they were there just as much as they are now. This kinda reeks of someone else slowly influencing you over time, rather than your own thoughts.

Phew.  

Okay.  

First of all, what the f**k, dude.  Who leaves this kind of essay in the replies of someone else’s post?

Secondly,

(Note: a “fujoshi” is a woman who likes yaoi, usually used in a derogatory manner, but it seems to be self-proclaimed in this case.  That is to say, this person proudly announced they fetishized MLM relationships, and then proceeded to tell me my opinion was Bad and Wrong because I didn’t praise Himekawa for a scene that ultimately wasn’t WLW at all, even though I and a lot of other people liked to interpret it that way.  Do not give Himekawa credit for gay rep, ever.)

Again, I was going to reply to this person civilly...up until I read the Midzel/Fujoshi reply, which decimated me on impact. There’s a heckuva lot I could say in response to, well...everything else, but in the interest of making this post shorter, I’ll break it down into a bulleted list:

Link being raised in Ordon is not based on “one quote from the enclosed instruction book” - Ilia specifically states when she gets her memory back, “When we were young, you and I... You were always there... You were always beside me... Link.” (I already mentioned this in my original post, which they evidently neglected to read properly.) And this is to speak nothing of the familial bond between Link and all of the Ordonians that is fairly evident within the context of the game, i.e. Rusl trusting him to deliver a very important gift to the Royal Family, or all the children looking up to him as much as they do.

Saying “all official art depicts Link this way” in defense of his characterization in the manga being edgy (when his in-game persona is far-flung from that) is pretty shaky when you realize that the same can be said for Skyward Sword, which arguably has the most emotive and happy Link of any game. In all of SS Link’s official art, he is angry, mid-yell, or stone-faced.  That’s how character art works.  That’s how marketing works.  They wanted to market TP especially as a darker game, yes, in response to the critiques of The Wind Waker, but this is literally a man who smiles softly every time he picks up a dog or a cat. You can pet the goats.  You get excited about fishing.  If TP Link should be “edgy” because of his official art and no other reason, then SS Link should be, too.

it’s your own damn fault you felt nothing for Ilia, Ilia owns, suck it

MIDNA IS NOT A TSUNDERE, HOLY SHIT.  SHE’S NOT.  I WILL NEVER CONCEDE THIS. She doesn’t mistreat Link because she likes him, she mistreats him because he is nothing to her when they first meet, and this is a stance that slowly changes as they get to know each other!  She stops treating him like garbage when she stops seeing him as such, and her behavior throughout the game post-Zelda is a mixed bag of shame over how she treated him previously and a longing to make up for it.  How anyone can construe that as tsundere I will never, ever understand.

the Midzel comment is so wack I really can’t believe I had to read that shit with my own two eyes

no, Link likely isn’t from Ordon (again, already addressed in my original post, but again, I guess this person can’t read), but he was certainly raised there, see: the first bullet point

Lanayru never once mentions ANYTHING about misusing the power of the Master Sword, so that entire point is completely invalid.  I literally have no idea what they’re talking about here. Lanayru does have the famous line, “Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it,” but that’s in reference to the Fused Shadows, not the Master Sword.  Which, you know, you would know if you actually knew the source material as well as you claim to, dude.

Lastly, yes, I did like the manga when I first read it, but as I already stated, that was because I blasted through all four (available at the time) volumes in one sitting, and it was immediately after my hyperfixation for this game resurfaced (about a week or so before I made this blog!).  I was Starved For Content, and the manga was Content.  Now I’m not Starved, and two more volumes have released since, and guess what!  People’s opinions can change!  And my opinion is that the manga isn’t for me, and this entire, extremely accusatory essay of yours in the replies of a post I made stating my own opinion was entirely uncalled for and rather intrusive.  So, yeah.  Blocked.

This has certainly been a trip.