#like them being the adult figures they would have needed when they were marcy“

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

nO but a human AU in which they're teachers at her school and they feel extremely protective of her precisely because she's clearly a baby lesbian with shitty parents and lots of internalized homophobia and and and

Marcy and her newt moms... baby lesbian adopted by older lesbians... do you see the vision

[milkywaydrinker]

One of the saddest things about how Marcy was handled in Amphibia is that her parents are never expected to explain themselves. The story never asks Mr. Wu why he needs to move away in the first place, if the family genuinely needs this job because they won't have one otherwise. But based on Matt's wording in interviews and the lack of mention in Marcy's Journal, it really seems like he just... wanted a job promotion. He only did it for himself and wasn't content with the pretty lofty house the family already had, and Mr. Wu does it at the expense of Marcy and gets away with it.

There's no calling out of him; Nor does the show even bother to clarify for the viewer that Marcy's parents "aren't bad", since Matt admitted they omitted the other girls' parents out of fear the viewers would excuse Sasha and Marcy after seeing their home lives. But unintentionally, it creates this twisted double-standard; It doesn't matter if Mr. Wu is a good parent, it doesn't matter if he's a bad one either.

The only thing that matters according to the show is that Marcy, the child, messed up; And so her arc consists solely of blaming herself for what happened, without giving Marcy the chance to at least speak for herself. She isn't allowed to be angry on her own behalf, Anne and Sasha figure out what went wrong with Marcy, without Marcy ever getting to tell them that. Marcy isn't allowed to work on her broken self-esteem.

All that matters is that Marcy is a good girl who obeys, regardless of whoever she's taking orders from. Which makes it hypocritical of the show to frame Marcy as bad for blindly trusting in Andrias' plans, but not ever questioning her father's. Both are paternal figures to Marcy. Likewise, Marcy is punished for being a disobedient child, but the adults in her life are utterly excused; The Wus are under no obligation to explain themselves, Olivia and Yunnan aren't called out for only using Marcy for their own ends. And Andrias?

The show doesn't want to show the girls' parental trauma out of fear it will 'excuse' them. Yet it has no qualms about Andrias' redemption hinging almost entirely on the audience pitying him because his father pressured and controlled him, even giving Andrias a triumphant moment where he stands up to his dad! The show expects you to feel bad for Andrias because some people in his life were a bit mean to him, it expects you to think he just needed to be told by Leif that she still loved him, when he went out of his way to create racism towards her species.

And Barrel! Just like Marcy, Wit is neglected. Andrias mourns Leif, claims she is the only one who called him by his nickname, but his cruelty towards Barrel is left unaddressed. Barrel is an afterthought and left unmourned, because like Marcy he doesn't matter, he's only as good as what he does for others.

Maybe it's a stretch, but with the way the show ended, the message of 'accepting change' just comes across as unintentionally authoritarian. Accept that a god will separate you from your friends, or your dad, it doesn't matter either way.

I have many complaints about the way Amphibia portrays the dynamics between the characters. It applies to both family and friendships and how each girl sees and interacts with the world.

You hit the nail on the head with the unintentionally authoritarian approach. I had trouble naming the aspect that bothered me, but this sounds right. There's an expectation of difference, to parents, to authority, and to culture.

Anne is a very sweet kid from the start but one of her main flaws is her lack of appreciation for her heritage and giving in to peer pressure more than giving in to what her parents expect from her. Sasha isn't a good influence on her, but teenage rebellion is natural, and going along with what your more charismatic peers want isn't a deadly sin that warrants the level of scrutiny and punishment she's received. She feels like she's the most mediocre out of the trio, it's a hard place to be when you're 14. In the end, she still does what she's always done, becomes the fall guy for her friends, and is expected to take on the burden of becoming the sole savior of the world. What meaningful difference does it make if she gets hurt by following what Sasha wants vs following some prophecy?

Sasha gets sidelined and we never see her home life which would have added so much depth to why she is the way she is. I have friends who went through a messy divorce of their parents and it did reflect in the way they behaved. Showing that on screen would make Sasha a way less polarizing character in the fandom, cutting that was a mistake. Her overly controlling behavior comes from abandonment issues and neglect but we are expected to see her as a villain that needs redemption.

Marcy is just a mess. I have no clue what they were thinking. Her on-screen growth is inconsistent and seems pointless by the end of the show. She's easily the biggest punching bag of the narrative. Pictured as selfish and with her head in the clouds, unable to distinguish what's real and what's just a game. What clearly reads as an escapist coping mechanism to almost everyone watching, is turned into her greatest flaw. She's punished for being a child and coping with pressure from her parents in maladaptive ways.

The show is afraid of showing parenting mistakes. We are told Anne's parents are hard on her, strict, and constantly nagging, but then when we meet them it's not even true? Her mom is a little overbearing but that's about it. As someone with strict parents myself, I felt slightly disappointed. Parents are just people too, it's okay to show them in an unflattering light sometimes, even if they're good overall. Bad parents aren't an excuse, they are an explanation. Showing that on screen would only improve the story.

I don't like Andrias. I don't like his story. It's discordant with everything else the show has been hammering in. He's a worse version of what She-ra did with Hordak and it's not like I liked that ending either.

You should defer to your parents because they know best unless they're evil. You should be able to tell right from wrong always. You shouldn't give to peer pressure unless your friends are right. You should give up your agency when necessary, for the greater good, but you shouldn't be a pushover.

You should know what you want to be at 14.

[casspurrjoybell-19]

Does it Matter? - Chapter 34 - Part 2

*Warning: Adult Content*   

"Well," Brayan said into the silence that followed.

"That certainly was something."

"You're a little scary, Dara," Maric said.

"But I won't deny I'm impressed. I thought you wanted to keep quiet about the fact that you're a healer, though?"

"Not nearly badly enough to let someone die," Dara said.

"Besides, I only wanted it to stay a secret because I didn't want to ever be put in a situation where someone came to me for help and I wasn't able to provide it but if I really can do this, perhaps it's time to be a healer again."

Maric smiled.

"Yes. No more hiding."

Dara returned his smile, though there was a hint of sadness in it.

"Not that, anyway."

Brayan looked down at Bug, who was halfway curled up on his side on the bed.

He seemed to be trying his hardest to stay silent and still.

"Do you have anything you want to say?"

Bug's eyes went wide.

"I, um... thank you, Sir. Do you call a healer, Sir? Uh..."

"I prefer you don't, thank you," Dara told him.

Bug nodded quickly.

"Um, thank you, I... uh..."

Brayan placed a hand on the top of Bug's head.

"I wasn't asking for manners. I was asking for your input. This situation is about you. If you have opinions or questions, you should voice them."

"I... oh, um."

Bug was silent for a moment, his teeth worrying at his lip and then he whispered...

"I don't have to go back to him?"

"You do not," Maric confirmed.

Bug's eyes darted to Maric.

He looked slightly panicked that Maric had been the one to answer his question.

He seemed intimidated by Maric's mere existence, though after Dara's display of dominance just now it was hard to feel like the most powerful person in the room.

"Then where, um, your Highness..."

"I don't have any specific plans for what to do with you but you'll come with us for now," Maric told him.

"We'll make sure you end up somewhere safe," Brayan assured him.

"Just focus on resting and recovering for now and we'll figure it out later."

"Which you will have to do in the back of a wagon, unfortunately," Maric said.

"Brayan, I want us ready to leave by the time Hudson gets back. I don't care if we have to travel by night and sleep by the side of the road. If Lord Nolen realises he's already pushed me too far for him to have any sort of long term future as a leader here, who knows what he might do."

"What are you planning?" Dara asked.

"Nothing specific, as of yet but he clearly lacks respect for the authority of the crown. That will be addressed."

"I'll get the men ready," Brayan said.

As Brayan climbed off the bed Bug started to follow, as though drawn to him like a magnet but Mathers placed a hand on his shoulder to halt him before he could try to stand.

Brayan turned back to look at him, his eyebrows lifting.

"I'll keep him company," Dara assured Brayan as he climbed onto the bed next to Bug.

He said something to Bug in a language Maric didn't understand and Bug immediately brightened and nodded.

Maric followed Brayan to the door and pulled Raedon, who was standing guard outside, aside.

"We'll be leaving early, as soon as Hudson is back. I need you to go and pick up my order."

"Your order... oh," Raedon said.

"Yes, Sir. Shall I bring it to the stables and wait for you there?"

"Yes, please, Raedon. Be quick."

When Maric turned back around, he found that Bug had tucked in against Dara's side and they were having a quiet, murmured conversation.

Maric started to move towards them but then Bug looked up, startled by his approach and Maric changed his path and sat back down in his chair on the other side of the room.

Being seen as a threat by someone like Bug didn't feel good but Maric certainly didn't blame him.

He had done little to earn Bug's trust, certainly not as much as Dara or Brayan and the power he held over him was immense.

Perhaps Bug would learn to trust him or perhaps he wouldn't be in their lives long enough for it to matter.

For now, Marci would just be content that Dara seemed happy to have someone he could talk to who he related to a little more.

[writterings]

In light of the new Owl House episode, I have some THOUGHTS about its excellent writing.

So, first things first, I wanna state something that everyone knows but we also kinda forget sometimes; TOH is a kid's show. Yeah, yeah, that's obvious. But also, that GREATLY impacts its writing. However, it also balances this type of writing PERFECTLY with the adult perspective on the world which ultimately does make it great for all ages. And "Yesterday's Lie" is the ULTIMATE example of this.

Luz's story fits the typical isekai plotline - but it also is an example of what real-life kids in Luz's positions want. Like think about her life in the first episode - she had no friends, she wanted adventure and fantasy and magic, and her mom and she weren't seeing eye to eye. She then got whisked away to a magical realm full of adventures, magic, friends (and a girlfriend!), and a mother figure who tries hard to understand her and loves the fact that they're both weirdos. The Boiling Isles is heaven for Luz, just because it's fulfilling all her wants and needs that she wasn't getting in the human world.

As someone who is going into the professional writing field and spends a lot of time in and out of class thinking about writing rhetoric, I've taken one or two classes about writing children's stories/media. And, obviously, children's media is written differently than adult media -- but specifically in the idea of values. Kids value different things than adults because of their perspectives on the world. Hell, the whole reason "whisked away to a magical fantasy world" is so popular in kids' media is because so many kids find themselves in that position in wanting that to happen to them. I sure as hell did when I was Luz's age.

Stories like these essentially are wish fulfillment for kids. And since they are wish fulfillment, that typically means that more real-life concepts such as abandoning family, missing the "real world", or any negative consequences are either conveniently written out in a satisfying way or are left out entirely. (Think how in Harry Potter, he's able to escape the "real" world without negative consequences because his family's abusive.)

(Also, fuck JKR btw but just using this example because this is the example we used in my one children's lit class.)

And what I'm about to say next also explains further how TOH is wish fulfillment, but it starts as a bit of tangent first. Just bear with me, it'll make sense.

Anyways, I've seen a few MP100 posts around that praise the show for having an adult "step in" and tell the child protag that they don't have to fight the villains because they're just a kid. And to me, that shows how MP100 is an adult-focused media -- because a piece of children's media would NEVER do something like that. That's not to say that children's media encourages kids to do dangerous stuff that harms themselves, but it's just not appealing to kids. Kids want to be the ones going on adventures and saving the day. They want to be treated with respect and be trusted as capable as the adults around them. And who can blame them? We all want that - it's just that kids hardly get ANY respect or autonomy. That's why kid's media where the kids are allowed to fight, be the chosen one, or go on adventures is so normal and popular: it's what kids want!

And that, again, is how TOH is wish fulfillment. Luz is allowed to go on adventures, do dangerous and stupid things, and she still kicks ass! Sure, Eda might express concern for her or say she doesn't want her doing something dangerous -- but Eda trusts Luz and is never angry when she goes someplace dangerous (think how she acted in "Separate Tides" when she found out Luz was also there in the cave).

So, ultimately, this is all how TOH's writing reflects its status as a children's show. Which is totally fine! And it's brilliantly written!

But as for the more adult-focused parts of its writing -

To state again, adults value different things in media than kids do. We (since I'm an adult) typically do want to see the more nuanced and darker side of things. We want the complexity. We want subversion of genre. We also want things that reflect our experiences. And TOH does this by addressing realistic negative consequences.

Camilla was upset that Luz left her. She cried and got mad, and even asked the questions of "Were you trying to live out some witch fantasy? Did you hate living with me that much?"

This is a genre subversion because we usually don't get this kind of confrontation in a kid's show. Typically, our plucky young protag who chooses to stay in another world faces no negative consequences for this choice (except for Marcy in Amphibia but for different reasons lol). But here Luz is, watching as her mother cries all because of her choices. It's not explicitly adult and tbh isn't mature - but it's still a level of nuance and character complexity we don't typically get in a kid's show/media. Honestly, it's most likely that adults are the ones identifying with Camilla instead of Luz in this situation - even if we don't have kids. Camilla, essentially, feels abandoned and rejected by her daughter. While some kids might be able to sympathize, it's probably mostly adults (and older teens) who have been through similar situations and emotions. And, in that, shows how TOH can also appeal to audiences in a more "adult" way as well.

But, despite that, it's still not a polarizing scene. It may frustrate some kids watching (or even teens/adults who identify strongly with Luz), but ultimately Camilla's words and actions are still understandable. She's not being evil or mean; she's just hurt. And that's clear! Even Luz sees it! But it doesn't harm the narrative appeal of the show being kids' wish fulfillment because Camilla can't do anything to take Luz away from her amazing life in the Boiling Isles. While she did make Luz promise to find a way back and to stay for good, she ultimately has no power to do anything. The status quo of the show is not changed and it is still wish fulfillment -- though, now, it just has some complexity added to the situation, plot, and characters.

In that sense, the scene where Camilla confronts Luz can still appeal to kids and doesn't make the show unenjoyable for them despite it being a more "adult-focused" scene. Sure, it adds complexity, but it's a type that kids can understand.

And that, basically, is just brilliant writing. It's such a perfect balance of adult and kid-focused,m and the writers definitely understand the values that both children and adults have when approaching media. TOH is definitely one of the best-written cartoons of this decade, and I'm so glad it exists.

Anyways, here's my essay. Thanks for reading if you got this far!

[wr3nns]

prev tags: #also dont ask me to elaborate on my character choices because I honestly have nothing to say #i do not think ever

May I. May I elaborate in your stead. I think all the time I have so many thoughts they are bouncing around in the corners of my brain.

MAJOR SPOILERS. Seriously Major Spoilers for The Owl House and Amphibia series finales ahead. Because you were right in more ways than you could have known when you first made this.

I started to write this out in the tags before I realized it would be much too long so now we're here. I'm a little Amphibia rusty but that's not going to stop me. Buckle up.

Amity and Sasha: Hands. Initially antagonistic, needing control in their lives. Has complicated friendship history with another main character (Willow; Anne). Has more than one confrontation with main (Luz; Anne) before "switching sides" (it's complicated) and becoming an ally & friend. Possibly more depending on your Amphibia interpretations (note Sasha is canonically bisexual, do with this information what you will) but Lumity is indubitable (regardless, ships don't have to line up exactly). Fire (Sasha's element; Amity's fire spell from Adventures in the Elements). Hair development mirroring character development. Was taken in/mentored by an early antagonist who goes after the main character and their found family, later becoming an ally & friend (Lilith; Grime). Fun coincidence: Blight and Waybright.

Luz and Anne: Heart. Oh, wow, sports. Dies and floats off in thematically appropriate particles after saving people from the big bad who had been possessing a major geographic entity. Reincarnated because god said so, and also gets magical girl powers to defeat the big bad (not necessarily in that order). Including, at one point, the power of god and K-pop anime (fun things like quoting her blorbo from her novels; also actual K-pop). Has a difficult time figuring out what they want in life, which is relevant to their character arcs. Gets adopted and finds a new little brother figure who they would die for, as well as an older, somewhat mysterious adult figure who is also a criminal (Listen. Listen. "Have you killed a man Hop Pop?") who can give many great life lessons but also has a bad habit of keeping secrets from them, which leads to conflict and falling-out at certain less-than-ideal moments. The parental hug and crying when she gets back home.

Hunter and Marcy: Head. Curious inquisitive booknerd with good intentions who can ramble about their interests if given the chance. "Betrays" the main cast at some point or another. Was manipulated by the lording entity. The lording entity who also happens to be an invader seeking destruction, and has horns, and a complicated backstory paralleling several things going on with the main character's current story. Gets possessed, very bad things happen as a result, death or near-death, longer hair, horns, glowing eyes, etc etc. At one point or another had a stick-type weapon with magic glowing red energy. Scared of being left behind (being abandoned/kicked out of the EC (which is as good as a death sentence in the BI society for Hunter); scared of losing friendships to distance). Does questionable things out of desperation bc of that fear (e.g. Eclipse Lake; True Colors). Works on their creative passion in the epilogue.

Miscellaneous, doesn't necessarily match up but I am thinking about things regardless:

The intent of 'I just got you back. I'm not losing you again. Let me protect you!' from Amity to Willow and Anne to Marcy. But I just realized if you think about this in the context of Luz to Hunter, there are actually a few distinguishable moments (COTH, for example).

Hunter and Anne both having the moment of 'I like who I am right now'. I'm not crying

"I'm sorry for everything" from the Collector and Marcy

Big blue antagonistic dragon creature. Andrias is much different from Belos, since he expressed an actual desire to change. But the parallel is still there

Foreshadowing for a major injury leads to a different character unexpectedly losing an arm

Found family

Isekai

These two shows canonically exist in the same universe (or universes, depending on how you want to think about it)

I know not how to incorporate Gus and Willow but I love them dearly and I am thinking about them

crossover brainrot mmmm

[sepublic]

True Colors

           …You know.

           When Sprig mentioned a content warning at the end of the episode, I figured it couldn’t be THAT bad, right? Like whatever happened… Even if someone DIED, it’d be an antagonist. An adult, at least.

           …But…

           Marcy…

           …What the fuck… What THE FUCKING FUCK…?!?!?!?

           Oh fuck it’s like… It’s like Agony of a Witch again… Where I feel like vomiting and I’m shaking and everything but it’s WORSE because… At least Eda… Eda didn’t DIE, there was still a chance she could come back!

           And Marcy… She could come back! Magic… Necromancy, thanks to her meeting with Maddie… But this is…

           THIS IS A KID.

           THIS IS A FUCKING KID.

           AND SHE FUCKING DIED!!!!

           AND NOT JUST ANY FUCKING KID BUT MARCY. MARCY A MAJOR CHARACTER WHOM WE LOVE AND GOT TO SEE HER BACKSTORY, who we saw mess up, but for a REASON, she was going to lose her friends, and now…

           Oh… OHHH MY GOD that’s fucking evil! That’s so damn evil I’m honestly hyperventilating. What the fuck. What the fucking fuck my hands are feeling numb. I thought… I thought we’d get a cut of Andrias being stabbed from behind by Marcy, not…

           Go to hell you fuckward. Go to hell Andrias, I’ll be glad to claw you to death there myself!

           Marcy! Mar-Mar! Oh no… Oh fucking NO, and Andrias… Andrias you son of a bitch, with your whole “I got betrayed by my friends” Oh SHUT UP your friends were right and YOU were the one who was wrong! You’re not Anne you ass, you’re SASHA, and I think having Sasha right in front of you should’ve clued you in on that! Yeah, methinks that Andrias is NOT getting a redemption at all… Because honestly, how do you come back from stabbing a CHILD?!? LETHALLY!!??? If not outright killing her!?

           THEY CAN’T FUCKING DO THIS TO ME THEY CAN’T LEAVE IT ON A CLIFFHANGER LIKE THAT!!!! This is… THE WORST… Cliffhanger I’ve ever dealt with, PERIOD, ever! Not just because it’s an actual death, but also… CHILD death. CHILD murder! I thought the content warning would be about the… About those toads getting Alderaan’d! HOLY SHIT no wonder this got pulled! I mean I’m glad it got released unedited but…

           FUCK YOU ANDRIAS!!!!!

           GOD and his master is right there, beneath the castle, and nobody has a clue?! Are they some sort of AI or superweapon, an all-powerful Frobo designed to head the invasion!? Sasha… Oh, SASHA, you realized, and you began to make up for it, you and Grime… And MARCY, GOD that flashback HURT, how her voice was cracking and she was so DESPERATE, and that line!!! That line of “I GAVE YOU” this! And how I’ve thought about that! She said it! Marcy fucking said it! That surely Anne doesn’t regret meeting the Plantars, is she really saying she wished she’d NEVER met them… That kind of lowkey guilt-tripping but for a reason and it’s a genuine dilemma?!

           And Anne… ANNE, your super saiyan mode! How you thought Sprig died, and for a moment I thought, OH SHIT are they killing off Sprig?! Surely not… SURELY NOT they wouldn’t kill a kid like that, and ON-SCREEN, full shot of the wound and everything!

           …What the fuck.

           Yunnan… And Olivia, those who ship them, you got your content at least! That gag about her being interrupted for the one person who asked, who is of course Hop Pop… It seems she might be against Andrias, but who knows, she might side with him, just so her and Olivia could stay safe!

           And Sasha! SASHA, don’t imagine Sasha watching Marcy die… CRADLING her best friend in her arms! Marcy just wanted to be with her friends, she didn’t want to be ALONE and how she almost cried, I FULLY UNDERSTOOD! And GOD that fucking dread as she realized Andrias was explaining it… And how she just NEEDED SOMEONE to understand, and Andrias, the bastard, took advantage of that! While she confessed over a game of Flipwart YOU FUCKING BASTARD I’LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!!!

           Marcy… No, that can’t be it! And Grime and his Toad allies! They NEED to reband and recuperate, will they escape or not!? Beatrix, Aldo, Bufo, HELP!!!

           Anne and the others back home! Polly’s legs… Oh god, imagine the dilemma! We’ll see what happened and… OH FUCK MARCY’S PARENTS ARE GOING TO HEAR SHE DIED BECAUSE OF THEM!!! Anne is going to say Marcy ran, went to Amphibia, and got MURDERED because of them, and god… It’s already one thing for a kid to think they got their child lost, but to have outright confirmation that they contributed to their demise WHAT THE FUCK ANNNNDDDRRRIIIIIAAAASSSS!!!!!

           I’m going to KILL a newt. I’ll never look at giant salamanders the same, EVER again… Holy shit I once joked about him and Belos being feral but Andrias got to KILL a kid, holy fucking shit! Holy fucking GOD shit! Mother fucking… Fuck! We’ll see Anne’s parents, Sasha’s parents… Marcy’s parents, HOLY SHIT they’re gonna instantly go mad with grief. They might genuinely become suicidal from hearing this, I know I would… And god imagine if they did die before they found out Marcy came back, if she ever does!

           …MATT BRALY YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING YOU SMUG LITTLE-

           I JOKED ABOUT IT BEING BAD BUT I DIDN’T THINK… Never would I have THOUGHT… I can’t imagine Disney EVER doing this before, holy fucking shit! I might vomit a bit… I feel sick. I’m sh-shivering, I’m in a cold sweat y’all.

           I gotta… I gotta take a moment you guys.

           I’m… I’m done for now. And why do I feel The Owl House Season 2 is just going to be even worse, or at least AS bad… Or at least, it DEFINITELY WON’T HELP!!! Just like Infinity Train Book 3 when I wanted levity and a protagonist ALSO died! And then another major character, two weeks later! What the FUCK is up with cartoons I like this more mature angle but also HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

           …I feel like Simon Laurent during THAT scene, but this is somehow even worse. And I’m gonna shove Andrias’ flaming sword right up his ass, let him see how it feels, hmm?

           And lastly; FUCK those end credits for rubbing it in my damn face how happy they were.

           …WHO THE FUCK WOULD BE PREPARED FOR THAT?!??!

[ramblingguy54]

You know, Marcy being stuck in the tube reminds me of jeri being trapped in the d-reaper(hell, marcy reminds me of jeri in someways)

     My apologies for not getting to this ask in awhile. I’ve been busy with stuff and also admittedly lazy to an extent in my free time, too.

     Anyways, this parallel you're presenting of Marcy & Jeri being similar is certainly something to consider. They're both kids who wanted to to a different world because they wanted to be stronger people in not just an emotional sense, but physically speaking too.

     Leomon commented on despite how tiny & frail Jeri looked, she had the spiritual strength of something greater than that or as he said in the English dub, "You're such a little thing, but you have a lion's heart.", which showed the underlying potential Jeri had in overcoming her serious demons, if she simply applied herself more in whatever the kid wanted to do in life. 

     Marcy has an arc of development in this same sense, due to wanting to travel to another reality where she could become stronger. She didn't want to be always seen as a clumsy know it all, who can’t fend for herself. Marcy did have Anne steal the Calamity Box in order to keep them together as friends in a different reality always, but it wasn’t just this reason alone. This girl has a defined low self-esteem, which she looked for validation in her friendship through Anne & Sasha. When Marcy’s parents dropped the news about moving away outta state she flipped out because if this girl can’t have the sense of validation, being two best friends for life, surrounding herself, than what does that make Marcy Wu, overall? You can apply this same mindset to Leomon as well, given how much Jeri admired, respected, and loved Leomon as the father she never had.

     This brings me into a more speculative territory, once again, when looking into the potential core dynamic Marcy Wu could have with her father, akin to Jeri’s complicated relationship against the other. I do believe there’s a good chance Marcy’s relationship with her father is the most problematic and not so much the mother, honestly. After all, who did Marcy put a shit ton of her trust into? King Andrias. Who crushed Marcy’s hopes, dreams, and plummeted her self-esteem to a greater level? King Motherfucking Andrias. Andrias presented himself as an outlet parental figure Marcy could put her faith into and so much more. Marcy didn’t feel like she had anyone to truly turn to after the actions this kid committed in having Anne & Sasha steal the Calamity Box for her as a last ditch resort to flee from their reality. 

     Marcy was riddled with guilt, so she thought this strong, authoritative, and seemingly compassionate adult, who lent her an open ear and shoulder to cry on, if need be, would give herself so much needed relief. Sadly, this wasn’t the case for Marcy’s faith in Andrias, or tragically Jeri’s short time spent with Leomon in Tamer’s run time. These two young girls looked for a sense of closure in these two respective adult male figures, who could’ve saved them from their inner demons. Andrias’ real intent was to only use her as a figurative chess piece then brutally toss the girl aside afterwards. Leomon’s unfortunate fate at Beelzemon’s hands was basically out of his control. Leomon wanted to prove to himself, Jeri, and most importantly Beelzemon that having serious strength isn’t “real power”, rather it’s the bonds you obviously form with other people making you so in the long run. This costed Leomon his life & Jeri’s little self-esteem she was barely holding onto, as long as he was apart of her life forever.

     These two young girl leads suffered greatly from putting their trust into who they thought were responsible adult fatherly role models, where one in relished deceitful manipulation of this kid’s heart and the other was killed unjustly by another emotional wreck of a Digimon named, Impmon. Jeri & Marcy were dealt serious low blows by their connections to these two respective figures. Their faith hadn’t been just shaken, but torn to pieces because said admiration led these two down a path of serious heartbreak. Marcy was given a brutal wake up call from Andrias having to realize he never truly loved, nor cared, about her well being. All he saw was some tool for a means to an end, nothing more or less. Jeri was sent into a broken state of depression from Leomon’s sudden murder at Beelzemon’s cold blooded slaying of him. Jeri had already lost her biological mother years ago and didn’t have a healthy relationship with her hard-lined father or new step mother either, which made Leomon’s passing all the more devastating for her.

     These respective heroine’s didn’t want to be alone, as it was anything far worse than the most unimaginable pain one could physically inflict upon somebody, period. Jeri resigned herself to viewing Leomon’s untimely death as, “Loneliness, is my destiny.”, which the D-Reaper feasted upon those feelings of dreadful heartbroken defeat. Andrias very much pulled a D-Reaper in calculating the reveal of Marcy’s hidden true colors, by laughing in front of the main trio of girls about how his most “favorite associate” brought them into Amphibia’s world to begin with all because she didn’t want to be forsaken to a life of solitude, based around wherever state her parents were going to move to. 

     Marcy’s optimism, pride, and hope in Andrias were shot down instantly by a malicious ruler, who didn’t care about what needed to be done for universal and dimensional conquest. Even if it meant absolutely shattering a child’s hope in finding an adult that finally understood her needs, basically. I still do firmly stand on the theory that Marcy’s father, while well intent, doesn’t know how to properly express his compassionate side. Much like Jeri’s father, it’s very likely he does care for Marcy, but had a hard time understanding the kid’s needs or how she emotionally differed from other children, possibly. Marcy’s father could indeed share the problem Jeri’s had of not being a good parent still very much wanting to change their ways, but not knowing how to go about doing it in the proper manner.      Whenever I think back to the father’s line, “Marcy, you have to understand. Come back here, young lady!”,  I’m under the impression he’s trying his hardest to connect with Marcy, though for whatever reasons we’ll find out in Season 3 soon enough doesn’t seem to get how being empathetic toward his daughter works. Jeri’s father had this exact same issue of empathy, where instead of trying to teach her daughter harsh lessons of responsibility, like say going from school and back home without vehicle transportation, he should’ve comforted his kid more about his previous wife’s passing.

     Throw in a mechanical menace taking advantage of their fragile state of mind and emotion giving us on Hell of an unsettling parallel between two kids, who’ve been dealt a seriously bad hand by their own separate series of events. If Marcy’s father turns out to be a problematic parent after all, then this detailed post of mine will age like a fine wine in how much Marcy & Jeri share as children with serious emotional baggage stemming from parental trust & affection. Season 3 has me legit scared for what could happen to Marcy in how Anne & Sasha will have to break Andrias’ master’s hold over their dear friend, if it goes the route people have been speculating about severe possession over her free will. It would make the ultimate tragedy for Marcy’s characterization, since she wanted to be free and now must suffer under an existence of control from a creature that feels no pain, remorse, or empathy for who it chooses to hurt.

     The parallels you can draw between Marcy & Jeri is so scary it aint even funny. This is like some serious uncanny valley territory shit right here.

[eclipsewarrior101]

Age Swamp Au One shot 2:

Au characters and au belong to @safetayy

To Tame an Overtired Prince:

It had been three weeks since ex queen marcy’s defeat. Newtopia was recovering and things were needed to be fixed. Andrias of course since he was the heir took the challenges head on. He spend at least a few weeks in meetings, looking at laws and trying to fix the mistakes of his mentor. it was all fine and dandy....

actually...it was NOT

he barely slept and was always swamped with work. he was always trying to keep everyone happy no matter what. Lady Olivia always told him to rest but he was a stubborn kid and said he was fine. He also was trying to avoid his friends...he felt horrible for what he had put them through...he felt guilt and thought work would help. BUT hes a young teen who has been through trauma and has NOT and refuses to recover or even acknowledge it.  He knew the newtopians and the others were not happy with him and his mentors deception so he vowed to make them all happy even if it cost him his sleep and health. 

So Lady Olivia did what any good lady in waiting would do....he secretly sent a letter to his friends.

 “dear friends of Andrais, andrias despite being a sweet and hard working heir is a being a stubborn brat and is refusing to sleep despite him being up for 3 weeks straight with only 5 hours of sleep with a day depending on the day. He is gonna drop dead if he doesn’t get sleep. so please...HELP”

A few days later Andrias is getting ready for another business day. he had at least 6 meetings and was trying to read the letters they sent to understand the problems. 

meanwhile grime and hop along with the adults travel to Newtopia. Grime is trying to figure out how to do this. they knew andrais was stubborn and they knew he would fight them. grime had mentioned breaking in

“grime NO...we were invited...we are not breaking in”

they get closer to the castle and when he sees a guard grime decide to just sock them. Hop freaks out 

“GRIME!!!!” 

Lady Olivia greets them with a relieved smile “thank you for coming boys. i really need- ugh....lazy sleeping guards....anyway this way, he has NO idea you are here...hes in the another room” they follow as they look around as they do. many of the old tapestries were taken down and replaced. it seemed more calm in here. grime had packed a bag with a smirk...and hop just hoped andy would listen. they goes to the room and adrias is just a mess.

His hair and clothes were unkept. his eyes were sunken and he just looked so dazed and tired. he was going through one of dozens of scrolls around him. he sounded so hoarse and exhausted “so....so this law....this law sounds a bit wrong...hmm...cant cant fix it without...without a....” Lady Olivia lets them go in 

“ANDRAIS!!!!!!!”

he jumps and freaks out as he looks up, he couldn’t believe it. his friends....were here.

“Hopediah...Grime...what...what are you-”

“YOU are in big trouble andy...a little butterfly told us you need to sleeep and you look like crap...you are resting”

Andrais gives lady olivia a look “You didn’t....”

she sighs “i had no choice...have fun” she leaves and his friends smile with a smile that only meant trouble. he gulps “come on guys...lets be reasonable here...i really need to get my work done...cant we just”

grime brings out a rope “its either the easy way...or MY way....you will rest....” andrias gulps and then just runs for it....sleep deprived runs and the other two run after him and the sound of the boys yells can be heard

“I DON’T NEED SLEEP”

“STOP BEING STUBBORN”

“GRIME DONT HURT HIM”

“LET GO...IM FINE...HELP ME HELP”

“GET OVER HERE”

Meanwhile:

Granne and Sasha are talking with Lady oliva and hear the sounds 

“how long you think they will be”

“oh those two will get him to rest...andrias may be strong but grime is stronger and more stubborn”

a few moments later they see grime and hop holding a tied up andrais who is whining. 

“you idiot, we had to come all this way just to drag you into bed....your a dummy...but your our dummy. we were worried”

“hey...i...i am not...i was working....”

“yah...working yourself to death....look we know you wanna be a good ruler but you need rest too. we care about you”

“yah....you cant rule right if your falling over. a healthy ruler is a happy one”

andrias grumbles but can’t do much with his tied up body. he looks to the adults with pleading looks they only smile

“Get some rest boys”

andrias grumbles “...traitors...”

He still complains and squirms as they take him to his room. it was very dark and a bit cold

“sheesh andy...its freezing”

they set him down on the bed under some covers. he squirms and tries to get out

“ as nice as this is...i really need....i have so many...meetings and”

“uh uh...nope...your staying right here”

grime unties him but grabs him before he can leave and hugs him 

“GRIME come on”

“NOPE..we aren’t leaving til you fall asleep....you need to rest...right Hop”

Hop nods “uh huh....sleep is good for you and it helps you think better and you really look like you need it andy...please...rest....”

andrias groans as Hop and Grime hug him in place. andrias whines but he kinda feels warm. he tries to stay awake but his eyes grow heavy

“i...i ...n-need to...this is....hmm...n-nice...i (yawns) hmm” 

Hop hums a song and Andrais soon is fast asleep. grime and hop soon fall asleep too. They were soon cuddling up like little caterpillars in a warm blanket

Sasha and Granne are smirking and taking pictures as they whisper

“they are so adorable....”

“yes they are...these are being used as blackmail later”

“agreed”

they shut the door to let the boys sleep

so i hope you enjoyed that. thank you to @safetayy for help and their au Age swamp is on their account. its really cool. i may do more of theses one shots when i get inspiration. 

[heyyyharry]

Chapter 9: Forever Childhood

(from the My Girl Trilogy: Stay Mine)

…in which childhood is not forever, but it doesn’t have to end.

Word count: 8k

AU: actor!Harry, childhood best friends, older!Harry, younger!Y/N, (4-year age gap).

Wattpad link (Thea as Y/N)

What to expect from this chapter: Many flashback scenes and LOTS LOTS LOTS of fluff.

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“Knock knock.”

“Dad, you don’t have to say knock knock while actually knocking,” Y/N said without taking her eyes off the laptop screen. The door closed behind her as her dad walked in, squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head twice.

“Why aren’t you with your friends in the backyard?”

“The treehouse’s gone; there’s nothing to do in the backyard,” she said, typing away. “And I’m sorry beforehand if Alice and Niall do something to Marcy’s flowers. Niall probably has never seen a garden as small as ours, and Alice is unpredictably crazy.”

“They’d make a good couple."

“Don’t tell Alice. She’d lose her mind,” Y/N said.

Feeling her dad peering at the screen, she tilted her head back to see his face. “What do you think?”

He leaned forward with both hands on the back of her chair, shaking his head. “A masterpiece. Shakespeare wished he’d come up with this.”

She snorted, leering at him. “From now on, all yours and Harry’s comments about my work are invalid.”

“We’re your biggest fans, Y/N.”

“That’s the problem. Love cancels honesty in this case.”

“Oh, God.”

Her dad spun her swivel chair around so they were face to face as he sat on the edge of her bed, his legs spread wide, elbows resting on his knees. He clasped his hands together in front and cocked his head. “Take a short break and talk to me, will you?”

She drummed her fingers on the armrests. “About my book?”

“Yeah, your book. And, well...boys.”

“Daaaad." She tossed her head back, groaning into her palms like an embarrassed teenager. “If this is about Blake and Harry–”

“Blake Roman,” her dad hissed as if the name was toxic. “I can’t believe you’re hanging out with him again. Is he still riding that stupid motorcycle from high school?”

“No. And Harry also owned a motorcycle, Dad.” He’d also crashed it and ended up in the hospital. There was no way she’d tell her dad about it.

“Well, I’m already biased, so Harry is good no matter what he does," her dad said. "I’m team Harry, by the way. That’s what you kids say, right? Team Edward. Team Jacob.”

Y/N dropped her face into her palms, shaking her head in defeat.

Her dad cleared his throat. “You and Harry are endgame, Y/N.”

“Oh my God, Dad!” She couldn’t help laughing as she looked up, smoothed her hair down and held it at her neck. “Marcy made you watch Riverdale again, didn’t she?”

“I kind of like it now,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s so dramatic. Everyone’s in love with everyone.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure the show writers are men your age.”

“That makes a lot more sense.”

“Anyway,” she giggled lightly. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m team Harry, too; I can’t believe you made me say that.” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Blake and I were a long time ago. I love Harry more than I can put into words.” She leaned back into her chair and puffed out her cheeks. “Though sometimes I feel like I can never be good enough. He’s just this wonderful person who does great things, and I’m just...I’m still trying to figure my life out.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

She bit a nail. “People don’t think we’re compatible.”

“Do Marcy and I seem compatible to you?”

“You and Marcy are different.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. You just are.”

No couple was like her and Harry, which could be a good thing sometimes. Just not recently. Their conversation last night had made her feel more assured, but there was still this unsettling feeling she couldn’t seem to shake off. She’d told herself it only mattered what Harry thought of her; who cared about the others? As it turned out, she cared. More than she wanted to.

“Your feelings are normal, darling,” her dad said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “To love is to set down your arrogance and allow yourself to be vulnerable. It proves that your love is worth it. Harry is worth it. And when something or someone is worth it, you have to hold onto them.”

“That’s beautiful, Dad," Y/N said, her eyebrows high. "Mind if I steal the quote for my book?”

“It’s not mine. It was your mother’s,” her dad answered.

A brief silence arose. The last time they’d talked about her mother had been a year ago. It wasn’t because they’d get awkward now that her dad had moved on; but because either one or both of them would get sad. She could deal with awkward. Sadness, however...

“I came to see her last night,” she said, pinching her lower lip.

“I know.”

“Harry told you?” When her dad nodded, a corner of her mouth turned up. “Are you like BFFs with my boyfriend now?”

Her dad let out a short breathy laugh as he rolled his shoulders. “I think I deserved to know when my adult daughter trespassed upon a cemetery.”

“I won’t do that again. Promise,” she said to her hands while picking at her nails. “I just...wanted to feel like a teenager again. Break the rules. Do crazy things without caring about the consequences. It’s dumb, I know. But being an adult has been hard lately.”

“Tell me about it,” he agreed with a growl, and they shared a laugh.

As silence sank in, her eyes darted to his face, considering his aging features. It wasn’t until today that she realised how much older he looked than he had when she moved to London; the wrinkles on his forehead and temples stood out much more; his eyes became wearier, his lips thinner. Those three years were evident on his kind face. It made her sad that he was growing old, and she hadn’t always been the best daughter to him since her mother had passed away.

She was getting older, too.

She pushed herself up, padded over to the bed, and sat down by his side. He folded her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“It feels good to be home,” she whispered, cheek against his chest. “I wish I was still a little girl.”

“You are,” he said, stroking her hair. “You’re my little girl. Always.”

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“Dad, where’s Mum?”

“She’s with Anne in the backyard.”

“Oh,” Y/N mumbled, frozen at the kitchen door like a Sim stuck in a glitch. It felt weird that her family still hung out with Harry’s now that she and Harry were no longer friends.

She shook her head to put aside the thoughts. “Well, I’m going out now.”

“With Celine and Amala?”

Her dad’s question stopped her before she turned. She leaned against the doorframe, one hand fumbling with the doorknob. “Why does it matter who I hang out with?”

“It matters if it’s that biker boy. What’s his name again?”

“Blake.”

“Yes.” Her dad crossed his arms, his eyes squinted. “The other parents aren’t very fond of him. I’ve heard stories about what he’s done to those girls.”

Blake had a bad reputation with the parents, mainly because he’d broken their daughters’ hearts.

“Well, he hasn’t done anything to me.”

“Yet,” her dad stated, his brows pinched together.

Y/N lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. “Maybe I’ll break his heart this time.”

“Y/N…”

“Bye!”

She zipped out of the kitchen just in time Blake’s motorcycle roared in the drive. He opened the visor, smiled at her with his eyes, and she mounted his vehicle and put on her helmet.

“As slow as you can,” she said, looking back at the house.

Her dad was watching from the living room window as the motorcycle rumbled to life and drove away.

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Y/N was helping Marcy in the kitchen when she looked out of the window and saw Blake’s car in front of their house. The doorbell rang. She cursed under her breath and told Marcy she’d be right back. As she scuttled out of the kitchen, her dad was heading to the front door. She slipped right past him and reached for the handle first.

"Hi, Y/N," Blake said as he greeted Y/N and her dad with a respectful smile. “Good morning, Mr Y/L/N.”

“It’s ‘sir’ to you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Y/N slapped her forehead as her dad gave Blake the firmest handshake she’d ever seen. If Blake had hands like Niall, he’d be in the hospital with broken fingers.

“What gave me the pleasure to finally see you on our doorsteps today?”

“Dad.”

Her dad ignored her when she nudged him with an elbow. “Funny how you’d dated my daughter for two years, and we’ve never had a proper conversation.”

“Forgive me, sir. I was a stupid teenager back then,” Blake said as he rubbed the back of his neck. It was only then that Y/N saw him holding a brown paper box in his left arm.

“Well, let’s put the past in the past,” her dad said, squeezing her shoulder as she shot him a glare.

Blake pointed to his car. “I’m going back to London now. I stopped by to see if Y/N needed a ride.”

Her dad pushed out his lower lip as he turned to her. “You’re going with Harry tonight, right?”

“Yes. But thank you for driving me home yesterday,” she said to Blake. “How’s your grandma?”

“Oh, she’s fine. Turned out she lied about being sick so I’d come home to see her,” he breathed out a laugh and cleared his throat as he held out the box. “She made cupcakes and asked me to bring some to you.”

Before Y/N could answer, her dad took the box and went back inside. She decided to ignore him.

“I can’t believe she remembers me,” she told Blake.

“You were the only girl I’ve brought to see her,” he said.

Not knowing how to reply, she shuffled from one foot to the other, hands clasped behind her back. Blake took it as a sign to end the conversation as he told her he’d see her in London, then returned to his car.

She waited until he started the engine to close the door and came back to the kitchen. Marcy was reorganising their fridge, while Y/N’s dad counted the cupcakes in the box.

“...ten, eleven, twelve.”

He picked one and looked at her. When she waved her hand for permission, he took a bite and released a satisfied hum. She knew Grandma Roman's cupcakes were good; she'd eaten them plenty of times before.

“Good morning!” Harry said like a game show host as he entered from their backdoor and grabbed her from behind. “Girlfriend.” He kissed her cheek before turning to her dad and Marcy. “Bradford. Marcy.”

“There’s my superstar!” Marcy said with a quick glance over her shoulder.

“Want one?” Y/N’s dad held the box toward Harry, who brightened like a kid in a candy store as he leaned forward to grab a cupcake.

“Blake just brought them here,” Y/N told him.

He froze for a second, then took a large bite and started chewing extravagantly. “I’ll eat all of these so you won’t get poisoned by another man's love," he said with his mouth full.

She looped an arm around his head from below and drew his face in so she could whisper in his ear, “Don’t be jealous. I swallow your love all the time.”

His hand instantly flew to her mouth to muffle her giggles when her dad stared at them questioningly. “What is it?”

“Y/N said a bad word," Harry said, his dimple growing.

Her dad jabbed at her with his finger, and she crossed her arms, scowling at Harry. “Teacher’s pet."

Once he finished the cupcake, she dragged him to the living room. Their mouths attached right as they were alone. She snogged him hungrily, back against the wall, fingers in his hair. His massive hands went under her velvet tennis skirt and caressed her arse, while his mouth trailed down her neck, sucking the sensitive spot below her ear. She loved when he paid attention to that spot; it made her toes tingle.

She could hear her dad talking to Marcy about building a birdhouse in their backyard. They’d spend at least an hour on any topic related to the garden, so Harry and Y/N could have sex right on the sofa in the middle of the living room without getting caught. She just didn’t want to risk it, even though that idea was pervertishly exciting.

“My room. Come on.”

“Can’t,” he groaned and held her back by the hips. Her fake shocked expression got him laughing as he kissed between her brows, the tip of her nose, her upper lip. “I miss you terribly, but I still need to talk to my mum.”

“You haven’t?”

“She’d gone out when I woke up,” he sighed and rubbed her pout with his thumb. “I’ll come back to play with you later. Promise.”

She stuck out her tongue, eyes rolled upward. As he kissed her neck and placed his hands on her bum, the sound of someone clearing their throat broke them apart. They saw Alice and Niall watching them judgingly from the kitchen door.

“I ate some of your Blake cupcakes. Hope you don’t mind,” Niall said with an apologetic grin.

“Told ya he was worse,” Y/N said to Harry, who arched his lips in a smirk and kissed her temple before he left. Niall raised his palm, expecting a high-five as Harry strutted by, but Harry high-fived Niall’s forehead instead and disappeared through the front door.

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Harry’s mum was crying.

He didn’t know what had happened as he’d just woken up and gone to the kitchen. Gemma had spent the night at her best friend’s place, so there were just him and his mum.

His mum wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jumper and poured black coffee into the ‘No. 1 MUM’ mug – a gift from Gemma on Mother’s Day. Harry stood like a ghost in the doorway, picking at his nails while holding his breath. Like observing a squirrel from a distance, if he made a sound or came too close, it would run away and find a place to hide. His mum wouldn’t run and hide, but she'd fake a smile and act like nothing was wrong. There was nothing worse than wanting to cry but couldn’t.

“Why are you standing there, dork?”

Gemma’s voice made him jump, and his mum shot her head up, looking straight at him like a deer in headlights. Gemma stopped beside him, her mouth formed a silent ‘o’ as she finally caught on to what was happening.

Gemma wasn’t like him. She was straightforward.

“Mum, are you crying?”

Their mum sighed. She gracefully slid into a chair, lifted the mug to her chapped lips with both hands, and blew into her coffee. Harry and Gemma exchanged worrying looks as they walked in. Harry sat on their mum’s left, Gemma on her right. Their mum put down her coffee without having taken a sip and wrapped each arm around each of them.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said, her voice too brittle, like it would break if she spoke any louder.

“Was it something Gemma did?” Harry asked, and Gemma swatted him on the arm.

“It’s ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’,” she said.

Harry’s heart jumped a little, then he saw the distress on his mum's and Gemma’s face, and his mouth clamped shut before he blurted out something stupid.

Gemma hated their dad. When she was in a good mood, she called him Winton. The other times, she’d refer to him as ‘that man’, ‘You-Know-Who’, or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’; she was obsessed with Harry Potter.

Harry felt wrong to still call their dad Dad inside his head. In front of Gemma and their mum, he wouldn’t mention Dad at all. The last time he’d done it, his mum had cried. She didn’t hate his dad; she loved him, which was much worse.

“You two don’t have to worry about me,” she said, looking out of the window by the sink. The sky was grey and turning dark. “This kind of weather makes me tired and moody.” Then she asked Harry, “what would you like for breakfast?”

As he opened his mouth to answer, Gemma interjected, “Is he coming back? Is that why you’re upset? Let me know and I won’t let him come near our house, I–”

“Gemma,” their mother cut her off. “He’s not coming back. He’s never coming back.” Then she paused for an indecisive moment. “A friend of mine saw him in Manchester last night; he was with someone else. His new wife. Maybe his girlfriend. But he’s never coming back.”

Harry didn’t know why she could say something in a matter-of-fact tone and still make it sound so sad. It must have taken her years of practice to act like she was fine when she wasn't.

Before he knew it, a tear had escaped the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped it off his cheek so his mum and sister couldn’t see him cry. He didn’t want to make this moment about him.

Gemma wrapped her arms around their mum’s waist, and he did it too, his arms over Gemma's. They both rested their head against their mother's chest. Being on her left, he could hear the beating of her heart so clearly as if it was his own. If hugs could heal all types of wounds, his mum's hugs could bring a dead person back to life. He would never tell her, though; stuff like this was too dark for her liking.

“We don’t need him; we’re fine the way we are. Just the three of us,” Gemma said. She sounded like she was going to cry, but Harry knew she’d never cry. At least not in front of him.

The last time he’d seen her cry had been a few weeks ago. This boy named Eli had just broken up with her. She’d been in her room. The door had been left unlocked (she must have forgotten to lock it). He’d burst in to prank her with a plastic snake when she shot her head up, mascara running down her face. He’d been frozen when she marched over and slammed the door in his face. They’d never talked about that.

“Just the three of us,” their mum repeated, sounding more cheerful than before as she squeezed them a little tighter. “Now I’m going to make you some eggs, and after breakfast, we’ll grow some new plants in our garden, yeah?”

“Can I use the shovel this time?” Gemma asked.

“She always gets to use the shovel!” Harry objected.

After breakfast, their mum went to the shop and brought home a new shovel.

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.

.

When Harry returned to the house, he found Gemma sitting with their mum in the kitchen.

With a twitch of her lips, which was meant to be a smile, his mother motioned to the chair beside her and told him to take a seat. His heart was losing its rhythm as he padded around the table to sit on her left.

“I’ve told her,” Gemma said right as he opened his mouth. Mouth still open, he glanced at his mum, who brought a hand to his face and cupped his cheek.

“You might think I’m angry at you, but I’m not, Harry,” she said. “I can’t stop you from wanting to take him back. He’s still your father.”

“He’s not our father. He’s Winton,” Gemma said, eyes piercing at Harry. “Tell her.”

He couldn’t. And his mum knew it. She batted Gemma’s request away with an easy wave of her hand and said, “Your brother is entitled to his own feelings, Gem. Besides, Winton–” it was the first time he’d heard her say that name “–has paid for our losses with his own. I don’t think I can ever forgive him for what he’s done to us, but I do feel sorry for him. And I think Harry has done the right thing by treating him and his daughter with kindness. And Gemma, you have also done the right thing by being protective of your brother.”

“I was protecting all three of us.” Gemma pouted like a little girl as she snuggled into their mother’s arm.

“It’s always gonna be the three of us, Gem,” their mother said, stroking their hair tenderly. “No matter who comes and goes in and out of our lives. We’re together forever. You’re always gonna be my babies. Nothing is going to change that.”

When Harry heard a sniffle, he almost didn’t pay attention, until he saw Gemma covering her eyes, her shoulders rising and falling unsteadily.

She was crying. What had happened? Was it because of him? Oh no, what had he done?

“Ashton broke up with me,” she muttered in sobs.

“Son of a bitch!” Harry half-shouted. Their mum shot him a disapproving glare, which he ignored as his hands squeezed into fists, clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. He felt like he could punch a hole in the wall or kick a chair to release his anger.

The last time he’d seen Gemma cry, she’d cried over an asshole. Now she was crying over another asshole. This time must be worse because she didn’t lock herself in a room. Her tears just came falling, and they didn’t stop.

Harry didn’t know much about Asher because Gemma barely talked about her relationships. But he’d always sensed something douchey about that rich bloke.

“Was he cheating on you?” he asked.

“No.” Gemma shook her head. “It’s nothing like that.” She kept her face down and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm. “It’s not an official break up. He asked for a short break…”

“Fucking asshole.” Harry exhaled sharply, his lip drawn back in a snarl. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No, Harry, please. I don’t want you to do anything. Just–” she halted to suck in a rapid breath “–I just want you to know. Please don’t do anything.”

His stomach twisted as he got up and wrapped his arms around his mum and Gemma. When he was small, he’d wished to be older and bigger, so he could hold them both at once and protect them from all the bad things in the world. Now that they fit so perfectly in his embrace, the best he could do was simply be their shoulder to cry on.

.

.

.

Isaac should have knocked.

Three sets of eyes fell on him like he’d committed a crime in broad daylight. He was about to apologise and return to the living room when he caught a glimpse of Gemma, and noticed the faint black smudges below her bottom lashes.

She’d been crying. Harry looked like he needed a punching bag. And Anne was staring blankly at her coffee cup.

It wasn’t because of Isaac, was it? Had Gemma told them what had happened that day outside the coffee shop? And yesterday in the car. And last night, when she brought him an extra blanket before bed. All they’d done was kiss, and yet he felt like he’d ruined her life. He wouldn’t be surprised if Harry tackled him to the floor right this instant.

It was Gemma who got up first. She blinked rapidly as if to hold back her tears and brushed past him out of the kitchen.

“There you are, Isaac,” Anne said as she pushed away from the table. “Sit. I’ll make you breakfast.”

“Thanks, Anne. You’re the best,” Isaac said and pulled up a seat across from Harry.

Isaac could see his snowball of lies rolling straight downhill at full speed, and right before it crashed down on him, Harry broke the silence.

“Did Gem say anything to you on the drive here?”

“No, she didn’t,” Isaac said. “Did something happen? Was she crying?”

Harry furiously raked his fingers through his hair. “That son of a bitch broke up with her.”

“Asher?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“Before she came here with you, I think. She didn’t say anything at all?”

“No.” Isaac shook his head, his right fist tightened on his knee under the table. They’d kissed three times, and she hadn’t bothered to tell him about the breakup.

At least now he knew the killer look on Harry’s face had been for Asher, not him. And only his first kiss with Gemma had been wrong; even when it had felt everything but.

“Mum, I’m going to Y/N’s,” Harry announced, then came to give Anne a kiss before he left.

.

.

.

Gemma knocked on the door of Harry’s dorm room, fingers clutching the hem of her shirt.

Maybe she should have let him know she’d come to London. She’d been afraid he’d say he was busy. She had to see him. Not to talk about her recent breakup, of course. Harry didn’t know about the guy because she never told him.

Her friends had warned her beforehand that this relationship was going to go sour, and as always, she hadn’t listened. She didn’t want to come to them and whine about it now; they’d punish her with endless I told you so’s.

When the door swung open, it wasn’t Harry.

A tall blond-haired lad asked Gemma whom she was looking for. He looked like a human Ken doll and smelt like a Calvin Klein holiday pop-up. Her mind stuttered for a whole second.

“Sorry, I must have come to the wrong room.”

“Wait. Gemma, right?” he asked, pointing a finger at her. “You’re Harry’s sister.”

“Does Harry live here?”

“Yes, I’m his roommate. Isaac.” He opened the door wider and nodded his head inside. “Come in. Harry will be back soon.”

She reluctantly entered. The room was neat and had a mild floral scent, which made her doubt her brother actually lived here; his room at home was always a pigsty. When she saw his guitar in the corner of the room, her shoulders rounded with relief.

Isaac sat on the bottom bunk and beckoned her over. She did as she was bid and took a seat in the chair across from him.

“He didn’t know you were coming?” he asked.

“No. I wanted to surprise him.” It didn’t matter if it wasn’t the truth. She barely knew this lad anyway.

Isaac looked away, his lips pressed together as he drummed his fingers on the mattress. The conversation turned sour. Neither knew what to say. Gemma scanned her eyes around the room, desperately wanting to find a topic to discuss so they wouldn’t have to stay silent until Harry returned. Fuck, she hated small talks.

“You’re a photographer?” she asked as soon as she spotted the expensive cameras displayed on the shelf by the bunk bed.

“I major in Photography.”

“Wicked.”

He chuckled at her awkward comment. His eyes were even bluer and clearer than the ocean. Was that a dimple she saw? Shit, had she been staring?

“What do you study, Gemma? You’re a student, right?”

“I major in Economics,” her voice was so soft it sounded like she was embarrassed by the answer. She wasn’t. This guy was just really attractive, and attractive people intimidated her.

“So you’re really smart,” he said, a line appeared between his perfectly even brows.

“People who do arts are really smart, too.”

“I never said we aren’t.” He lifted his shoulders. “But in my opinion, economists are up here on the 'really smart' scale.” He raised his hand above his head, which got her beaming. “I can’t deal with numbers. They make my head hurt,” he added. “Harry, on the other hand, is excellent at those sorts of things. And somehow he wants to become an actor.”

“I know right? I hate how almost perfect he is,” Gemma groaned. “But he’s a very messy person. Has he been a terrible roommate?”

“He’s actually pleasant to live with. My last roommate always had sex while I was in the room,” Isaac said with a look of disgust. “I used to have the upper bunk. One night I thought there was an earthquake until I heard them moaning.”

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, covering her mouth and giggling lightly.

Isaac pretended to shiver with his whole body. “I get goosebumps just thinking about it. When I moved to this room, I went straight to the bottom one,” he said, patting the empty spot beside him.

Another moment of awkward silence passed by.

“I’m just thankful that Harry doesn’t bring girls back here," Isaac said. "Some nights he doesn’t come back at all, so it’s like I’ve got this room all to myself.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “When he was at home, he always snuck out in the middle of the night. He was such a ladies man.”

“Still is.”

“Oh no!” Harry’s voice made their heads shoot to the door. “How long have you two been talking about me?”

“Not long enough,” Isaac answered as he pushed himself up and grabbed his black camera bag on the desk beside the bed. To Gemma, he said, “When we meet again, I expect more of his embarrassing stories.”

“Hurry the fuck up, Isaac.” Harry aggressively clapped his hands like Gordon Ramsay on those cooking shows. “Lindsey is waiting downstairs. And she told me to tell you to hurry the fuck up.”

Of course Isaac had a girlfriend. Gemma didn't expect anything and still, she was disappointed. She bet his girlfriend looked like a Barbie doll.

“Coming, coming.” Isaac threw the bag over his shoulder and saluted Gemma as he walked backwards toward the door. “Hope to see you again soon, Gemma,” he said, his little dimple popping again.

.

.

.

There must be something wrong with her. Gemma was sure of it.

She sat on her childhood bed, back against the headboard, chewing on her nail. Despite having stopped crying a while ago, her eyes still felt too heavy as more tears threatened to spill at any moment.

She heard a knock on the door, and assumed it was her mum because Harry never knocked (when he did, never so gently). Too bad, it wasn't her mum.

Isaac lifted a hand awkwardly to say hi when she opened the door, a boyish grin stretching his rosy lips. He had what she liked to call (in her head) ‘a secret dimple’. Hers and Harry’s dimples would go all out with only a slight twitch of their mouths, while Isaac’s dimple was reserved for certain people – those he cared a bit more than the others to smile a bit wider so his dimple became visible. It always was when he saw her.

She decided not to think too much about it.

“Your mum told me to tell you to come downstairs for breakfast,” he said.

Had anyone told him he looked like a Ken doll?

“I’ve already eaten with Harry this morning.” She rubbed her forearms while avoiding eye contact. “Anything else?”

God, she sounded like a bitch. It’d sounded less rude in her head.

“Are you okay?” he asked, unbothered by her obnoxious attitude. As she took too long to answer (she wasn’t going to, anyway), he went straight to the point. “Why didn’t you tell me that you and your boyfriend broke up?”

“We didn’t actually break up, he–” broke up with me “We took a short break.”

“After you’d told him about us?”

“No. I haven’t got a chance to.”

She couldn’t believe she was lying to Isaac. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise as she hadn’t been truthful to anyone since Winton had returned, not even to herself. She’d said she didn’t want to see him; she’d lied. She’d said she couldn’t understand why Harry could forgive Winton; she’d lied. She’d said she’d been in a happy relationship; she’d lied. She’d said she didn’t like Isaac, not like that; she’d lied.

She’d been lying so much it got easier and easier each time. Now it was impossible to stop.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Isaac repeated the question she’d tried to avoid.

“Didn’t feel like it was important,” she said to her feet.

“Wow, okay.”

She looked at him through her lashes. His secret dimple was gone. His jawline turned sharper as he tried not to frown.

“You know what? Forget it,” he sounded out of breath as he dropped his head and rubbed the corner of his eye with a finger. She pulled on his sleeve, and he backed away, still gazing at the floor.

“I’m done with whatever this is, Gem,” he said. “I’m tired of being somebody’s temporary something. Second choice, an opportunity, a rebound, whatever you call it.”

She knew what he meant. Y/N had chosen Harry over him. Gemma didn’t know much about his relationship with Emilia, but that girl had exploited Isaac’s kindness. He was too nice for everyone, especially Gemma.

“It’s me, Isaac. I’m the problem,” she said before he turned away, closing her eyes as it felt like she was talking to herself and not to him. “I think something’s wrong with me.”

“What are you saying?”

She allowed herself to look at him. His doll-like lips curved into a frown. All she could think about was how pretty he looked.

“I’m messed up,” she mumbled, pointing to the left side of her chest. “In here…

“I’ve spent my whole life chasing after men who reminded me of my dad. I throw myself into relationships in which I have to fight for a man’s love and attention. And when there’s someone who genuinely cares about me, I push him away because I don’t feel like I deserve it. I hurt people who love me and cry over the ones who don’t. And you’re the last person I want to hurt because…

“Because you’re the best of them all.”

After this, Isaac might never look at her the same way again. The last guy she’d opened up to had told her she’d had daddy issues and needed therapy, which wasn’t entirely wrong though he could have been nicer about it. Isaac, however, would never say such things.

“I also feel that way,” he said after a moment’s silence.

She nodded, biting her lower lip. She thought she knew what he meant, until he added, “You’re the best of them all, Gem.”

Her eyes shot at him, and his secret dimple reappeared. Before she could restart her brain, he took one large step, his long arms draped around her.

.

.

.

“Want some help with that?”

Harry’s head snapped up, his eyes widened at the man in his drive. He recognised the man right away. That was his neighbour. Y/N’s dad.

Harry had only talked to Y/N's mum because Y/N's dad – with a squared stern face and angry brows – reminded Harry of his Biology teacher. Mr Johnson hated Harry because Harry barely passed most of his exams. But Bradford barely knew Harry beside the fact that Harry lived next door and was friends with Y/N.

Harry shifted his eyes between his bicycle lying defeatedly on the lawn and back at Bradford, who was still waiting for an answer. Harry wanted to say he got this. But his hands were covered with the ‘black stuff’ from having spent the last hour trying to tighten the chain on his bicycle.

Bradford broke into a toothy smile – which changed his entire face (in a good way) – and walked across the yard toward Harry.

Harry stepped aside, hands in his trousers pockets as Bradford got down on one knee and observed the crime scene. Harry felt like he should report what had happened though it was obvious. “The chain is too loose. It keeps coming undone while I ride.”

“I see.” Bradford slapped his hands on his thighs and pushed himself upright. He mimicked Harry’s posture with both hands in his pockets as he cocked his head toward his house. “Bring it to my garage. I’ll fix it.”

Harry stumbled over the bicycle, picked it up and rolled it after Bradford.

Y/N had always complained about her dad and described him as somewhat apathetic and narcissistic. Now that Harry had interacted with Bradford, he thought Bradford was pretty cool. Probably because Harry didn’t know what it was like to have a dad who didn’t only fix his bicycle, but also taught him how to maintain and clean it.

He wished Bradford would play football with him and take him fishing, too.

“I admire you, Harry,” Bradford said as he sat on a tool and wiped his greasy hands with a tattered rag. “It’s Harry, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Call me Bradford.” Bradford smiled again. He looked like the Joker when he smiled. Not in a creepy way; his smile was just really wide and his teeth were really neat and white. Maybe he hated smiling because those teeth could blind people.

“I can’t. My mum would scold me.”

“You’re a good kid, Harry,” Bradford said as he clasped Harry’s bony shoulder with his large hand. “And I admire you because Y/N is really fond of you. It’s hard to get close to her, but you’re different. She never listens to me but would do anything you say.”

Bradford made it sound like Y/N was a little monster while she was the total opposite. When Harry thought of her, he thought of candy floss and daisies, and vanilla; she smelt like vanilla, and he loved vanilla.

“I really like Y/N,” he said, and when Bradford’s bright smile began to dim, Harry quickly added, “As a friend, sir. She’s like my little sister.”

To be honest, Harry didn’t think of Y/N as his little sister. She talked like a kid his age (only more naive), and he’d already got a sister. He and Gemma didn’t get along as well as he and Y/N did. He wasn’t sure what Y/N was to him. Definitely not a sister.

Bradford didn’t comment on what Harry had said. He patted Harry on the arm, got up and pointed to the bicycle. “If there’s any more problem, bring it to me.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, nodding quickly.

.

.

.

“I think it’s so cute that yours and Y/N’s family decided to build a gate between your backyards,” Alice said as soon as she saw Harry. She and Niall had brought the wooden chairs from the veranda outside to sit beside the tiny tree, which had grown about thirty centimetres since Harry’s mum had planted it.

Harry towered over to Niall and Alice while they sat like The Thinker, contemplating the plant as if it would grow legs and dance for them if they waited long enough.

“You really have nothing to do, huh?” he asked, holding back a laugh.

“Is this where you first met Y/N?” Alice asked him.

“Yeah.”

“You two should get married here,” Niall said.

“How tall will this tree be when you two finally get married?” Alice asked.

“Don’t know.”

“Ha!” Alice stabbed a finger at him. “You have thought about marrying Y/N.”

“Please let me know when you propose.”

Harry whipped around. It was a male voice so he didn’t know why his heart nearly burst through his chest thinking Y/N had heard the conversation.

Bradford stopped beside Harry and clasped Harry’s shoulder. “Got time? I need some help with the birdhouse.”

“Oh, you’re building it today?” Harry asked.

“Yup. You’re leaving tonight and I need help.”

They crossed the fence to the wooden shed in Bradford's backyard, which he’d built after the storm that had knocked down the tree.

There wasn’t a lot of work to do with the birdhouse. Harry had built one for an art project back in middle school; it was pretty simple. Bradford had only asked for his help so they’d finish quicker.

Harry cut the large piece of wood into different parts, and drilled holes into each of them so Bradford could sand the edges of the newly drilled holes.

“I can’t believe I used to fix your bicycle. Now you’re doing all the heavy work, and you’re dating my daughter," Bradford said.

“Dating Y/N is hard work, too, sir.”

“What?”

Harry stopped abruptly, his face pallid. “No, that was a joke, I–”

“Just messing with you.” Bradford laughed and motioned him to continue. “Y/N is hard work. So headstrong, just like her mother. But I think you’ll be fine with her. She’s different with you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Stop calling me sir. It’s Bradford.”

“Bradford,” Harry said.

“Good.” Bradford flashed his Joker smile, his teeth still as bright as they’d always been.

“So how’s the thing with your dad?” he asked while they were assembling the pieces together. Harry raised his brows, taken aback. “You don’t have to answer, by the way,” Bradford added. “Y/N didn’t tell me. Niall Horan did.”

Harry snorted. “You don’t have to call him Niall Horan. Just Niall.”

“Marcy kept calling him Niall Horan because she’s obsessed with him. I can’t just call him Niall.” Bradford stood straight and started stretching, his back made a pop. “Anyway, forget that I asked.” He stepped back, hands on his hips as he admired their finished work. “What do you think?”

“We should paint it,” Harry said.

Bradford stuck out his lower lip, rubbing his chin like an artist in a gallery. “Yeah. Maybe tomorrow. Y/N would kill me if I kept you here for too long.”

“Where is she?”

“Bedroom. Serious writer mode.”

Harry nodded understandingly as he wiped his dusty hands with a cloth. “I just told my mum about him. My dad."

“How did it go?”

“Better than I expected. She was fine with him coming back into our lives. I don’t know if she was just saying that or…”

“I think she meant it,” Bradford said. “It’s been twenty years, hasn’t it? And Anne is one of the most forgiving and loving people I know. You and Gemma are adults now; it’s fair that you get to make up your own mind.”

Harry pursed his lips. “You’re probably right."

“Anyway.” Bradford waved dismissively. “Thanks for your help. Now go check on Y/N.” Then he jabbed at Harry, his face stern again. “I trust you not to follow her into a cemetery again.”

“Never again, sir,” Harry said, straightened like a soldier.

.

.

.

Y/N stirred awake when she felt a warm body snuggling her from behind. She didn’t have to look to know it was Harry; his ‘Harry’ scent, which she was shamelessly addicted to, couldn’t be mistaken with anything else.

He held her waist tighter, pressed his face into her hair and said in a raspy voice, “Hi, baby. Sleep well?”

“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” she groaned and flipped over to face him, slipping her hands under the pillow. “How long have you been watching me sleep, Edward?”

A corner of his lips rose at the Twilight reference. He rubbed her stomach and trailed his hand under her shirt. His warmth against her cool skin made her shiver.

“Actually, your dad told me to go check on you.”

“Hmm. Did he give you shit for taking me to the cemetery last night?”

“Psst. He knew you forced me to go.”

“You’re trying to steal my dad. Not cool, Harry.” She scrunched up her nose which made him laugh. He brushed her hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Been writing?”

“I pulled an allnighter.”

“I knew it,” he said, probably to himself. “Why do you keep working on the story, though? I thought it’d been finished and sent.”

“Sent to Laura, who sent it right back.”

“Why?”

“Because it wasn’t good enough.”

“She said it was good,” Harry said.

Y/N flipped onto her back and placed her arm over her forehead as he propped his head up in his hand. “Not good good. Not ready-to-publish good,” she said tiredly.

“It’s the story of us. It’s good good.”

She squinted her eyes at him. “If you’re suggesting that I use your name for PR–”

“What? No. Why do you always think the worst of me?”

“You tell me.”

He rolled his eyes and snorted at her pouty face. “What I meant was, it’s a story about us, so it's good the way you wrote it.”

She flipped onto her stomach, cheek in her hand as she blew out her cheeks. “After all the changes I've made, it’s not the story of us anymore.”

“Is it supposed to be a good thing.”

“If I get published. Yeah.”

“Why do you want to get published?”

“Because I want to become a real writer?” She looked at him funny. Did he really ask her that?

“You are a real writer, Bambi,” he said softly and tucked a strand behind her ear. “So when you get published, it should be your original story. Childhood doesn’t last forever, but in your world…” he poked at her chest “...it does…

“And our childhood was too beautiful to be contaminated by those commercialised inputs. I want our children to read it and see us. Not some fictional characters who are nothing like us.”

“Our children?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“Our separate children because we’ll obviously marry other people,” he joked and she playfully shoved his head into the pillow.

She climbed on top of him to straddle his waist and brought his palm to her cheek. He stroked it with his thumb. “I love when you say things,” she said. “You should be a writer.”

“But I’m not.” He slipped his hand free to boop her nose. “You are. You’ve always been. And I’m your biggest fan.”

“You’ll have to compete with my dad for that position.”

“Oh?” He pretended to look worried. “Okay then, between you and me, I’m your biggest fan.”

.

.

.

Harry had fallen asleep with his head on Y/N's shoulder. He’d asked if he could stay and watch her write. “You look sexy when you momentarily forget I exist,” he’d joked. Fifteen minutes later, he was snoring.

She carefully propped his head on a pillow, put down her laptop, and slid out of bed, taking her phone with her. Once she was outside her room, she closed the door and called Laura.

“Yes, my favourite client of all time?” Laura said cheerfully. She always said that, but Y/N didn’t think she meant it.

“Hey, Laura. About my book, I...uhm...I was wondering if it’d be okay if we...you know...discuss the changes again? To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable with most of them.”

“Y/N,” Laura stressed the name like it was the hardest word in the dictionary. Y/N bit her lip as she braced herself for a long speech of ‘trust me, I’m your agent’. But then Laura said, “You’re the writer. I may have given you a bunch of notes, but they were just suggestions. You’re the decision-maker here. It’s your story, and it’s good. That’s why I wanted to work with you in the first place.”

Y/N’s heart leapt as she pressed a fist to her forehead.

“Send me an email of the changes you’d like to make. We’ll discuss when you get back to London, okay?”

“Thank you. Thank you so much!” Y/N brightened. She couldn’t wait to tell Harry and her dad. They would get so excited and smug and probably tell her, ‘I told you to believe in yourself’ or some cheesy shit like that.

She loved her goofy men.

“This is why you’re my favourite client, Y/N,” Laura said before they ended the call. “You always know what you want.”

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Becoming A Stark? (9)- Peter Parker x Stark!femReader

Word Count: 3037

Warnings: Swearing probably knowing me

Author Note: Lots of Peter, not as much Tony. Enjoy.

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List

Something had gone wrong. You’re not sure what because no one will give you an answer, but your dad got back three days ago from Germany and has been at the Compound for all of it, at least that’s what you’ve been told. Someone got hurt, badly, but besides that you don’t know who got hurt or what happened. You were stuck with Happy’s substitute for the past two days and it was awful because he didn’t talk to you like Happy does, but even with Happy back this morning, you haven’t gotten any answers. Pepper has been with you for the nights, but she doesn’t seem to have answers about what’s going on, or if she does, she’s not giving them to you. 

Natasha’s phone goes straight to voicemail whenever you try to get a hold of her. You even tried calling Clint, Wanda, and Steve, but none of them will take your calls either. You haven’t heard a word from your dad in the past three days, which almost makes his apology the other day feel like nothing. In the passing period between your last class and your final one for the day, you see if FRIDAY can work on your phone since she does at the tower. “FRIDAY?”

“Yes Y/N?” This is the one time you won’t be mad at your dad for forcing the AI into your tech. 

“Where’s my dad right now?”

“He just left the Compound on a chopper. Want me to call him for you?” You should say no, but it’s been three days with no contact and you're sick of it.

“Yes.” It rings once before the call connects.

“It’s not a good time Y/N.”

“You know how often you answer the phone like that? Too often.” Your voice is short, but you don’t have much time before the bell rings anyway. “It’d be nice for you to answer the phone like you like talking to me sometimes.”

“Aren’t you in class right now?” His voice comes out short and he doesn’t even address what you said.

“Passing period.”

“Meaning you should be heading to class.”

“I can talk and walk at the same time. I’m trying to figure out where my father is since he was supposed to be home three days ago.”

“Things came up.”

“They always seem to.”

“Y/N, I know I’m being shitty again, but if this was a big time movie we would be at a big reveal right now.”

“Yeah, but we’re not. Instead, I just am getting let down again.” You hit the end call before he can say anything else and turn the corner. Maybe missing a day of German wouldn’t be the worst. However, you don’t expect to run into Peter Parker at the end of the hallway again. 

“Fancy running into you again.” He says with a smirk.

“Yeah it’s crazy. Like we go to school together or something.” You mumble, not in the mood to deal with anyone right now. 

“You ok, Y/N?” You finally look at his face and notice a bruise across his face.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You look like you got sucker punched.”

He shrugs, “It was no big deal. You should have seen the other guy.”

“My dad’s not a huge fan of his interns getting into fights, so I’d be careful about it if I were you.” You mention.

“Yeah, I will.” He looks you over as the bell rings giving you the warning that classes are about to start. “Where you heading to?”

“I’m thinking classes aren’t going to hold my attention today. Really long story. I’ll see you around Parker.”

“Can I come with?”

“Excuse me?”

“Can I come with you? I don’t think classes will hold my attention either.” He says with a shrug.

“Sure. I don’t have a plan though.”

“That’s the best kind of day.” Peter looks around the corner for teachers before opening the side door for you to walk out. You almost expect him to stay behind, but he follows, closing the door softly as to not alert anyone who might walk by. 

“So I never would have thought Peter Parker to be a skipper.”

“Never thought Y/N Stark to be a skipper.” 

“Only when the time is right.” He goes to walk out onto the street and you grab his shoulder pulling him back towards the school. “Hold on.” You glance around the corner, looking to see if the paparazzi are waiting. The last thing you need is for your dad to find out you skipped school, with Peter nonetheless, through the gossip blogs. But seeing as it’s over an hour before school lets out, none of the usual suspects are there. “Ok, we’re in the clear.” You motion him forward.

“In the clear from what?”

“Paparazzi.” You say with a shrug.

“They stalk you at school?”

“You haven’t seen them? They’re there before and after school like every day hoping to see Pepper or Dad dropping me off or picking me up. But especially since Dad accidentally leaked my name online, it’s been a bit worse.”

“I guess I haven’t paid that much attention. Is that rough?”

“It was at first. Now I just kind of ignore it as much as possible.” You turn the corner towards the coffee shop where you used to grab coffee before all of the Tony stuff happened. “Coffee?”

“Uh, I don’t usually drink it, but I’ll come with you.” You both walk into the mom and pop shop and you wave to Marcie who seems so happy to see you.

“Oh I should text Happy.”

“He’s an interesting person.”

“You’ve met him?” You’re surprised since most of the time Happy shuttling you to and from school.

“He came with your dad when I got offered the uh internship.”

“Oh I guess that makes sense.” You say even though it doesn’t. Happy was with you the day that your dad said he spoke with Peter.

“Does Happy drive you to school often?” 

“Every day basically. And picks me up. But if I don’t text him now, he’ll be waiting for me the moment school is done and I don’t feel like being cooped up in the tower so soon.” You pull out your phone and send a text about a study group meeting at school. “That will give me at least a couple hours before I have to meet him.” You mention as you shove your phone in your pocket. “Are you interning today?”

“Uh sort of?” 

“I figure not with Dad since he’s off on Avengers duty.”

“Yeah uh, I’m waiting to hear with who.” Peter says as he crosses his arms across his chest. He knows he needs to change the subject or he might blow his cover story and then he won’t even get to pretend he’s an Avenger. “Can I ask, why cooped up in the tower? I feel like the Avengers Tower would be amazing.”

“Maybe it would be if I had a choice in all of it. But I also have like zero freedom. It’s literally, get driven to school, get driven home, and school in between. I can’t leave the tower unless I have Happy and another adult with me because of ‘safety’ reasons. And I just want some of my freedom back.”

“That does sound rough. If you weren’t living the life of Y/N Stark, what would you be doing on a day like today?”

“I’d…” You pause to think about it. What would you be doing? “I’d probably have a sleepover with Betty and Astrid. Watch movies and stay up way too late. Talk about things that have little meaning like trying to get a date to homecoming or the hot guy in our English class. I don’t know. Just be normal. Not have to worry about the Avengers getting in trouble or whether or not my dad is going to find out about me skipping school thanks to the paparazzi taking pictures of me.” 

“The normal?” Marcie asks as you get to the counter and you nod, feeling a little bit of normalcy fall into your life. You give her a ten dollar bill and drop the change in the tip jar. It wasn’t like Tony wasn’t giving you an allowance now, as much as it was weird every time he gave it to you. 

“What about you? When you’re not interning, what’s the normal life of Peter Parker like?”

“Uh, Ned and I build a lot of legos.” He admits as a pink flush rises to his cheeks. 

“Those like plastic building blocks?”

“Yeah, they have some really cool builds and stuff. We’re working on a Lego Death Star right now.”

“Lego Death Star? What’s that?” Peter’s jaw hits the floor.

“You don’t know what the Death Star is?” Peter pulls out his phone and pulls up a picture. Not a Stark Phone you note. “This is the Death Star.”

“Cool?” You shrug as Marcie puts your sugar free hazelnut latte with almond milk on the end of the counter. 

“Have you never watched Star Wars?” Peter asks, confusion lacing his words. You shake your head. “How have you lived without seeing Star Wars? It’s literally the greatest thing ever.”

“I bet I could find at least five space themed books that are better.” You tease, knowing how uptight Star Wars fans are about their genre usually.

“Ah a reader.” You walk over to but a couple equals into your coffee. “I should have known.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You tease back.

“You’re missing out on some of the best films ever made because you think the books are better. Well I’ll just have to find you some Star Wars books.”

“Fine but no Star Wars fanfiction. I’m not stooping to that level.”

“Like you would understand it.” Peter teases back. Your phone goes off in your back pocket.

H: What study group is happening on a Friday afternoon?

“Quick what study group would be happening on a Friday afternoon?”

“SAT prep group.” Peter throws out.

“You’re a genius!” You quickly type back to Happy as Peter can’t help but smile at the compliment that you gave him. He likes being out with Y/N. You’re different from the brief times he spent with Mr. Stark or Happy. You’re more relaxed. More down to earth, and he would be lying if he didn’t want to get to know you better. In the back of his head, Mr Stark’s don’t even think about dating my daughter reverberates, but he can shove it aside as he lets you ramble for a few minutes about some great space books and even about the time your Pops took you to see a space documentary at the planetarium when you were a kid. But then your phone goes off again and you can’t help but groan.

P: Since when did you join an SAT prep group?

“I can’t lie to Pepper too.”

“Pepper Potts? Like CEO of Star-” Your hand flies over his mouth.

“More like my dad’s girlfriend.” Even though you’re sitting outside the coffee shop, you don’t know who could be listening in. “And she’s asking me when I joined an SAT prep group, which means Happy texted her, and she texted me, which could mean she might text my dad.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Not touch it with a ten foot pole? If I lie to her and she catches me in it, it’ll just…” You mock an explosion with your hands.

“You could tell her you’re trying it out. Wouldn’t necessarily be a lie. You didn’t join it.”

“But she’ll want me to stay in it and the lie will just get bigger and bigger.” You leave Pepper’s message unread, knowing there’s nothing you can do with it right now. “When do you have to get to internship?”

“Not for a bit.” Swinging across Queens could wait especially since Peter didn’t know when he would get another chance to be with Y/N again. “What time is Happy coming to get you?”

“I’ll probably tell him to come in like an hour. I don’t want him to think I’m pushing this too much. Plus the longer I push it, the more of a chance that Pepper gets suspicious.” You take a sip of your coffee and then an idea comes to you. “Do you need a ride to the labs? Happy could drive you.”

“What, uh no, it’s fine. I’ll take the subway.”

“Right, yeah. I just figured we were heading into Manhattan so I’d offer.”

“No, yeah. I appreciate it, I just really like catching the train.” Peter admits, which is true, but also he’s not heading into Manhattan.

“I get that. The feeling of the train moving under you. One of the best feelings in the world.”

“Exactly.” Peter wishes he had bought a drink so he has something to sip on, but at the same time, he hates the taste of coffee. “Do you and your dad ever take the train and go places together?”

“Dad? Taking the subway? That sounds like the craziest thing that has ever come out of your mouth Parker. Dad doesn’t like taking things that people try to hand him. You think he would take the subway with me?” You can’t help but laugh. “He won’t even let me take the subway to school. I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve taken the train since I moved in with him. So to answer your question, no he does not take the train and he doesn’t let me take it either because it’s apparently a safety issue.” You roll your eyes.

“But you disagree.”

“I’ve been taking the subway since I was a baby and it only became a safety issue when I moved in with him. So no I don’t agree.”

“Have you talked with him about it?”

“Have you tried to ask him to consider anything? It’s like talking with a concrete wall. Unmovable and unchangeable. Hell, I can’t even get him to come home half the time.”

“That sounds lonely.”

“That’s the life of being a Stark.” You say with a shrug.

“That sounds unfair to you.”

“Yeah well he hasn’t really been home much for me to talk to him about it. Even if he had been, I doubt he’d listen to me.” Your eyes focus on the coffee cup in front of you, not sure why you’re admitting this to a boy you’ve only had a handful of conversations with. “I shouldn’t be dumping all of this on you. I’m sorry. I’m being a real buzzkill today.”

“I don’t mind it.” Peter reaches across the table to gently rub your hand. “That’s what friends are for. Listening to the hard stuff.”

“So we’re friends now Parker?”

“I’d like to think so. Friends skip class together.” He says with a shrug.

“Friends it is then.” You take a sip of the coffee in front of you and try to ignore the sparks that are sitting where Peter’s hand touched yours. 

You expect the tower to be empty like it has been the past few days when you get home, but instead Pepper’s waiting for you. “Oh, hi Pepper.”

“How was SAT Prep?” She asks.

“Fine. I was trying it out, but I don’t really like the group, so I don’t think I’ll be sticking with it.” You’re proud none of that lie got stuck in your throat.

“It wasn’t the fact that it interfered with your German class?” Pepper’s right eyebrow raises at you.

“Ah so you know about that.” You say, knowing that lying when she already knows about it isn’t going to fix anything.

“Yeah, funny the school calls when you miss a class. So want to try that again?”

“So I might not have been at a SAT prep course.”

“I had a feeling. Wanna sit down and talk?” She asks, patting the couch next to her and setting her files on the table in front of her. You set your book bag on the floor and sit down on the couch next to her. “Come here?” She opens her arms to you and you fall into them. “So, what made German not worth it today?”

“Do you ever feel like the Avengers are more important than you?”

“Ah so Tony Stark.” Pepper says as she rubs a hand up and down your shoulder lovingly. “The Avengers have a hard job, but I think you and I have a harder job.”

“Really?” 

“We are the ones that are stuck at home waiting for them to finish the battle and hopefully come home safe.” You lean into Pepper’s shoulder and nod- hammer meet nail.

“How do you deal with all of this? You’ve put up with him for so long? I’ve been dealing with him for a little over a month and I’m sick of feeling so angry at him every time he goes back on a promise.”

“I love him. Which is an awful reason to put up with it all, but at the same time I was there when he was originally kidnapped and I can’t put up with the idea of going through that again and not be waiting for him at the end of everything. We’ve been through so much and I know at the end of the day, he’s the person I want to be with at the end of it all. He’s impulsive and at times crazy, but he also is loving and wonderful.” Pepper places a kiss in your hair. “I’ll tell you a secret.” You peer up at her waiting to hear what she has to say. “I think you love him too.”

“That’s not much of a secret.”

“But that’s why you feel so angry every time he goes back on his word. Because you love him and you want him to be here when he’s not. He’s trying. It may not feel like it, but he is. He’ll figure out the way he’s supposed to do things eventually. He just might need a shove in the right direction first.”

Becoming A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway  @iamaunicorn4704  @furiouspockettoad  @daughter-of-stark  @eternalharry  @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff @sunnyoongles @cosmicqueenieb @sovereignparker @bbarnestan

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

[wild-aloof-rebel]

It’s chaos.

There are people everywhere, some calling for others to come help them grab the far end of a sofa or a table that’s too heavy or awkward to lift alone, others hauling all their carefully-labelled boxes through the front door with all the care typically afforded to things that aren’t theirs, which is to say practically none at all. The noise and the movement are overwhelming, and David stands in the middle of it all trying to catch his breath.

A hand finds its way to his back, settling in warm and steady against the stretch of his spine. “You okay?”

He blinks, and the memories of the CRA raid blur at the edges and fade. In their place is the same chaos, the same noise, but here there are no government agents in tacky windbreakers. Instead there’s Roland and Jocelyn, Ronnie, Jake, Stevie, Twyla, and what feels like practically half of the rest of the town. The boxes aren’t going out the door but coming in, each one being delivered to its appropriate room thanks to Patrick’s organized and efficient labeling system. Alexis is flitting about on the phone in a panic, her Miu Miu peep toes clacking loudly as she paces back and forth on the new hardwood floor David had asked Ronnie to install to match the one at the Apothecary, but it’s not Stavros on the line this time--it’s her assistant in New York, and she’s tittering on about deadlines and clickthrough rates. 

David looks down at the four gold rings on his hand, at the one on the hand Patrick holds out for him to take, and thinks for the millionth time about fate, about all the things that had to happen to lead him to this precise moment, standing hand-in-hand with his husband in their new house, surrounded by the suffocating goodwill of their friends and family and neighbors. Patrick’s fingers tighten around his, and David grounds himself in the feeling.

“Yeah. It’s just... a lot, you know?”

Patrick nods toward the living room at the back of the house, and David lets himself be pulled along in his wake. It’s quieter here, farther from the mess of an unloading zone out on the front lawn. Quieter still when Patrick wraps him in his arms and lets him breathe into the familiar curve of his neck. The twisted knot of worry and happiness and melancholy and overwhelming love that seems to have lodged itself beneath his breastbone these last few weeks loosens just enough that he can breathe through the tangled strands of it all. 

"’ms’ry,” he mumbles eventually against the smooth patch of skin in front of his lips, pressing a soft kiss there and leaning back just enough to be heard. “I know I should be more excited about this, and I am. Excited. But I—”

"You’re allowed to feel however you feel, David.”

“No, I know. I just...”

Somewhere down the hall, Alexis’s voice breaks through into their bubble of calm and quiet, and David turns toward the sound automatically, an old habit he isn’t sure will ever disappear. Her words get lost in the distance, but her tone is shrill and exasperated in a way it only ever is when dealing with their family. Usually it’s directed at him.

“You miss them already,” Patrick says, unfailingly understanding.

David does. He misses the bubble of the kettle when his mother makes her morning tea and the hum of her voice through the wall as she talks to her wigs. He misses the irritation of his father barging into the middle of a conversation and the secret joy of overhearing him talking business with Stevie. He misses the smell of Alexis’s perfume and the sound of her breath in the darkness and the softness of her hair between his fingers on the nights when she’s feeling unsettled and asks him to French braid it the same way she used to when they were kids. He misses them in a way he can’t possibly describe because they aren’t gone. They’re here, now, out front causing chaos that’s certain to have already made their new neighbors hate them, and David misses them so deep in the marrow of his bones he wonders how he had gone so long without knowing he needed this, without realizing that they’re as much a part of him as his lungs, his hands, his aching, tender heart.

But Alexis flies back to New York tomorrow, and next week his mother is off to start pre-production work on the fourth Crows film, which she’s not only starring in but also directing. And now that the last of his and Alexis’s things are out of the motel, his dad and Stevie will start the process of renovating their room, and soon enough it’ll be almost like none of this ever happened.

As much as David had wished and hoped and sometimes even prayed for that in their early days here, there’s not a single thing he would erase about it now.

He doesn’t bother wiping away his tears before he turns back to Patrick. “They’re my home,” he says with a shrug. “I mean, you are, too, but—”

“I know.” Patrick gives him a sliver of a smile, one of those looks that makes him feel all cracked open and raw, like Patrick can see right down inside to all the things he can’t manage to say. He leans in and brushes their lips briefly together, soft and gentle and sweet. “It just takes time,” he says. “To get used to missing them. To... figure out what home looks like now.”

David looks around at the afternoon sunlight dripping across the new, properly adult-sized sofa they’d picked out together at the furniture store in Elm Valley, the slate facade of their fireplace, the picture windows that peer out over their back lawn, the piano on the far wall he’d saved up to buy Patrick as a wedding gift. He can see them here, years and years on--the backyard barbecues and the snowy nights in. The lazy Sunday afternoons they gift themselves when they finally manage to find someone they trust to mind the store. The weekends he spends counting down the minutes until his parents are finally out of their guest room and back on their way to a house of their own. The holidays they celebrate with Roses and Brewers drifting in and out of all the rooms of this little house, filling it up with laughter and music and life. 

There’s a stack of boxes against the wall, and David shifts them until he can pull the tape open on one labelled photos in Patrick’s tidy handwriting. The one he wants is right on top, like Patrick had somehow known he’d come looking for it, and he unwraps it carefully, glad to find it’s survived the move intact. 

It’s a picture from their wedding day, and it’s an absolute mess. It was supposed to have been a posed shot, but somehow his dad is the only one actually looking at the camera. His mother is in mid-conversation with Marcy and Clint, who somehow look both delighted and baffled. Stevie and Alexis are laughing together beside them, his sister’s arm thrown across Stevie’s shoulders, and he and Patrick are too busy looking at each other to notice any of the rest. When they’d gotten the photos back from Ray last week, David had nearly dismissed this one as an obvious throwaway shot. But the more he’d looked at it, the more he’d come to love it, not unlike some of the art he’d once displayed in his gallery. It’s messy and unpolished, but it’s real and it’s honest and it’s bubbling with the kind of happiness he didn’t think actually existed before they’d found themselves in this town.

He crosses to the mantel, placing the small frame neatly at an angle, and feels his husbands arms slip around him from behind, his strong, steady hands smoothing across David’s belly. “Better?”

“I think it’s a pretty good start.”

Patrick presses a smile into his shoulder blade and holds him tighter. Down the hall, voices are rising again, and he knows they’re going to have to go break up whatever argument his family has inevitably caused now. God, he really is going to miss them. But for now he tips his head back to rest against Patrick’s, closing his eyes and listening to the torrent of noise that accompanies them wherever they go, trying his best to hold on to this feeling, to having all the people he loves together for just a little longer.

[sagesilentfire]

I'm looking for a trans sensitivity reader (for Marcie) and possibly a poc sensitivity reader (for the monsters vs mewmans plot), so if you're available, please tell me, and we'll figure something out.

Forgive my inability to draw humans, please.

I know this is a big departure from my usual content, so I'd like to make sure you know that watching SVTFOE is not necessary to enjoy this AU, as everything needed to understand the plot is explained in-story. In fact, I'd love to have someone who's never even heard of a svftoe to read it so I can make sure it makes its own logical sense.

Anyways... 

(putting this under a read more for your scrolling purposes)

Hi. I'm Sage, and I would like to talk about a show I really liked. The past tense being the operative, as it used to be good, but...

I started watching SVTFOE after watching the great Steven Universe, which meant I had high expectations for it. And it met those expectations! From the beginning I was hooked. It was a good show. But as the seasons went on, it started to... rot.

Now, something to know about me is that I do not invest myself wisely. I love the things I love deeply and with passion. I get attached easily, and I love to theorize about the things I love. So I was heartbroken when SVTFOE ended the way it did, with none of my questions answered.

And when my theories were better than canon, well, that meant I had a new project: a complete rewrite of Star vs. the Forces of Evil. This AU will start similar to canon, but gradually diverge from it until it's something completely new. It will also have five separate "seasons".

So here's my AU: Star and Marcie and The Forces Of Evil (aka samatfoe). This AU will tear apart the scraps of lore that we got from SVTFOE and expand on it and make new lore, all narrated by my lovely OC, Sílthéy. And I promise I will get to as much as possible. If you're worried, check the titles of all of the chapters, which will hopefully reassure you that, yes, I will get to everything (or at least everything I've thought of ;)).

Dramatis Personae:

Star: Star will mostly stay the same in the first few seasons, but I'll try to have her actually grow and mature while staying a good person in the later seasons. She'll also be a bit more fire-aligned, because I wanted to be able to tell my Star and the canon Star apart easily. (She also doesn't get those wings until Mewberty.)

Marcie: is a trans girl. The entire second "episode" will be about her being trans. And I will, again, try to not have her act like a jerk in later seasons. She also won't be an adult trapped in a teenager's body, as that was waaay too weird for me. Instead she won't age in the Neverzone, period, and there will be an episode dedicated to her re-adjusting to Earth and discussing what the whole "spent a decade and a half in eight minutes" thing means for her. And, of course, she'll be more involved with the Mewni plot, as she will be interested in learning the lore behind Mewni from the beginning and push Star to find out more about Mewni.

Ludo: Ludo's story will not effectively end with the Battle for Mewni. He will get a redemption arc, with all the pitfalls and trip-ups that come with that. And all of his flaws and issues will be brought up, now just forgiving him for everything he did because he had bad parents. And Dennis will continue to be a cinnamon roll. Some things never change.

Buff Frog/Yvgeny: will not change. He is good lad.

Toffee: This is the big one. Where to start, and how to start it without spoiling everything I have planned? Well, let me tell you this: Toffee is getting a complete overhaul. For one thing, I now made them agender for various complicated reasons that will be revealed in-story, eventually. And for another thing, they will get an actual backstory and personality! Isn't that a novel idea! And they will not die abruptly and nonsensically in Battle for Mewni, so don't worry about that.

Jackie: Oh, Jackie. You poor dear. Jackie will not be delegated to the role of "one-time love interest who just skateboards out of the plot". First of all, Marcie will only have a squish (a platonic crush) on her, because I don't trust my aro/ace self with the weird things people in romantic love do to get together, but I do know what it's like to desperately want to be friends with someone. Secondly, while she will be out of the spotlight in later seasons, it'll be because she's on an exchange trip to France, not because we're abandoning her character and her world for no good reason.

Janna: never changes. Pretty sure she's the one constant of the multiverse.

Tom: will have his redemption arc earlier in the story so I can use him for things, but other than that will not change much.

Moon: First of all, she will not betray everything her daughter stands for by siding with Mina this time. There are plenty of other ways Mina could rise to power, so there's no need to ruin her character by making her do a stupid, illogical thing that even a five-year-old would see was stupid. I mean, she's still going to be kind of racist, but she's well-established to be level-headed and even a little clever, so she will not do something that would so obviously blow up in her face. Secondly, she will be a bad ruler, hence why Mewni is a total mess, but she will learn and become better and help Star's efforts to improve Mewni.

Glossaryck: is... changing. He won't "lose" his sanity for season three, but he will also not be in a totally heroic role. It's a complicated thing and a bit of a spoiler, so I'll leave it at that. Also, he's a dragon now Because Reasons (no, seriously, I have a reason for it. It's also a spoiler).

River: River will be goofy, like usual, but he won't be plot-destroyingly stupid. I'll try my best to not make you question why he's even king while still making him a foil to Moon. It's the tightrope I must walk.

Angie and Raphael: Will not completely disappear from the plot in later seasons, but will instead be like a second family to Star and will be a refuge when her overbearing Butterfly side gets too much.

Kelly: Will not be involved in a stupid romantic subplot with Marcie. Sorry. Other than that, Kelly will remain pretty much the same, aside from now being tiny, because that's just how she came out in my art. She's pretty cool.

Miss Heinous: Will not be Meteora this time around. I disliked how Heinous hurt so many people and was a horrible person, but as soon as her Tragic Backstory™ was revealed, all that pain and suffering she caused was ignored in favor of making her Super Duper Tragic™. So I'm separating the characters. Don't worry, though, she'll get the backstory and character arc she deserves.

Saint Olga: Saint Olga will be the main motivator for Miss Heinous's actions, as she is desperate to please the robot. Other than that, Saint Olga won't actually get much character. She's a bad guy, pure and simple.

Meteora: will not turn into a baby. She will deal with the consequences of her actions like a mature, responsible sixteen-year-old. But because she's sixteen, things won't be too harsh when she does snap. She'll still have her mother and father to help her and guide her.

Eclipsa: Regarding Eclipsa's design, I tried to make her fat, but... I don't know if it translates well in my art. I'm just not that good at art yet. But aside from that, making her cheekmarks dark gray (spades are a black card, not a red card! That bugged me so unreasonably much), and giving her as much of a connection to Toffee as the show implied, I'm not changing much about her. She was one of the good characters.

Globgor: Will have fought against mewmans in the past, but not have eaten them (what were the writers thinking?! Making your metaphorical poc eat people is... not good). And it will be more of a case of Star and Eclipsa knowing he is good and should be released from the crystal, but the general mewman populace not accepting it, until Cornonation, where he proves he's a good guy.

Shinjai: Is a new character I am thrilled to introduce to you all! She came from me thinking that for someone who supposedly wants to end mewman-monster racism, Star sure doesn't have any monster friends (Buff Frog doesn't count. He's an adult, and they don't really hang out so much). So here's Shinjai! She's a septarian, and is introduced instead of Princess Smooshy in Sleep Spells. She's a very minor minor monster noble, and her family has about as much political power as your average worm on a sidewalk after it rains, but all noble monsters must go to Saint Olga's Reform School for Wayward Royalty, so she runs away and gets help from Star and Marcie. She's mostly made to replace Pony Head: she's spunky and... uh, actually she's nothing like Pony Head. She's also unafraid of asking difficult questions and knows more about the plot than she lets on.

Rasticore: is very different from his canon counterpart: he only allies with Heinous and Saint Olga to keep an eye on them for ~someone~, and thoroughly dislikes them, despite agreeing to their mission. He also can regenerate as quickly as Toffee, he just chooses not to for ~reasons~. He also has a mysterious partner, but we all know it's – *gets clubbed over the head by Síthéy*

Mina: Making fun of mental illnesses isn't funny kids. Therefore, Mina is the only neurotypical member of the cast. She does boring neurotypical things like... I dunno, cleaning? And she's still a threat: bigotry and hatred are not exclusive to people with mental illnesses, after all.

Lilacia: Now, Lilacia Pegasus, the horse formerly known as Pony Head, will... exist. She won't be as overwhelmingly annoying, hopefully, as she is in canon. And to make sure she feels consequences for her actions, there will be a subplot in season two about her and Star growing apart as Star grows and leaves Lilacia's annoying party girl antics behind. Lilacia will have to realize that her immature actions are making Star leave her behind, and she'll have to grow as a person because of it.

Then there's a mysterious character who is very mysterious and does mysterious things and has a mysterious personality and is generally mysterious... mysterious. She'll be introduced in the second season and will be as mysterious as promised, I swear.

And finally, of course, it will be narrated by Sílthéy. She will tell this story, and her part in it, for all to hear. Or read? It's a bit of a strange medium, storytelling on paper. Or on a screen, whatever.

Now, of course, by now you must be wondering: What about the shipping? The shipping's the most important part, right? Well, here is my answer: There will be no ship wars. There will be no love dodecahedrons. There will be no cheating, no lies, no throwing other characters under the bus for stupid romantic drama. Why? BECAUSE STAR AND MARCIE ARE BOTH ARO/ACE. Suck on that, Starco! I am the last person to trust romantic drama with, so all of the romantic relationships in this bandwagon will be established, healthy relationships that have decades of chosen love and appreciation for one another behind them. And past!Tomstar and brief, schoolchild-crush-esque Star/Oskar but that doesn't count.

So, I believe that about wraps things up for this post. I'll start posting chapters soon, and will post two chapters every other week, and I'll release the descriptions of them two weeks before I post them. If you have any questions, please ask them! I want to work on my drawing skills, so I might even draw something for them!

Description for next episodes:

Star's Birthday: Star is a young, wild princess who is about to receive her family's most precious heirlooms.

Trouble in Diazland: Star is put under the care of the Diaz family, but can't quite seem to connect with their son, Marco.

And, finally, I have thank yous! These are mostly people I watched but haven't really interacted with yet, so if you get tagged know that you don't know me, I just followed you for svtfoe content. And for, you know, your personality.

Thanks to ankle-beez for being hilarious and reminding me why I made this AU when you relentlessly drag svtfoe. Thank you to @full-moon-phoenix, @dappercritter, and the lizard squad for my regular dose of Toffee. Thank you morningmark and @jess-the-vampire for keeping me invested in svtfoe as a whole. Thanks to svtfoe-critical and @twinklecupcake for good ideas. Thank you to TBlofeld on AO3 for your amazing AU, Monsters, Mewmans, Magic, that, while we took things and ran in completely opposite directions, still inspired me to complete mine. And thank you to Blue Order, whose deeply hilarious and deeply accurate video "How Star Vs the Forces of Evil Fell From Grace" inspired me to create this story in the first place. And, of course, thank you to whoever on the svtfoe wiki writes down the transcripts to every episode. You've helped me so much. I admit that I didn't follow all of your guys' advice, but you did help me get here, every one of you. So thank you.

[80sstarfire]

title: throw it deep characters: Vic Stone & Gar Logan genre tag: hurt/comfort, light comedy, angst word count: 1300

He didn't watch a game for at least a year after the accident. The Superbowl happened when he was being put back together; whatever pieces his dad could salvage of him being integrated into a metal and electrical framework that anyone who had less than a doctorate in – at the very least – one field of engineering could barely understand at the time he was put out into the world. Who won that year? His dad couldn't tell him, he'd never cared for sports.

Vic was a freak that no one wanted to acknowledge. He was dead to Marcy for a while and Ron tried to use him for his own motivations; he had no friends left that could even tell him who won since he couldn't bring himself to watch anything that had to do with the sport. Commentary? Turn it off. Speculation on so-and-so's career? Smash the radio. If he couldn't play college ball, if he couldn't go pro, he didn't want to hear it. Didn't want to see it. Never wanted to feel the laces of a ball under his fingers again if he couldn't throw it deep.

He couldn't even hear a Jets game without that gut-deep urge to smash something.

Then one day, he felt the urge to dig through his parents' things. Find the box of his trophies and medals, all the things he took for granted when he was fully organic. They hung on his wall before, glinting in the slanting sunlight from his window, boasting his achievements to his disapproving father and his quietly approving mother. Then after the accident, they got boxed away. His dad couldn't look at them anymore. He probably knew Vic couldn't either. Until the day he went looking for them and found then neatly packed away, wrapped in newspaper and bubblewrap in boxes sitting on the rafters in their old house.

It was the first step back into what he loved. Sure, he was good at engineering. Good at inventing and taking his father's inventions further than Silas Stone could've ever imagined but he never loved it as much as he loved the physicality of running and throwing. The challenge that he had to work for instead of the non-challenge of academics.

He missed it. The fire in his gut that had come to life after he woke up had finally been extinguished; with his dad's death had come a sense of calm and rest that he hadn't known since he was a child. He regretted going to his old high school. Scaring the coach with what his new body could do. But it was done. There was no going back there now.

The silver of his hand flashed against the gold of an exposed trophy as he reached into the box to pull it out.

Most Valuable Player – Victor Stone. 1979.

His mom had been proud of that one. His dad's silent disapproval hadn't mattered to him when she put it on the mantel between their family pictures.

He pulled out another one. A little league first place trophy from 1975. It had been his last year in little league--he was on their majors team, just on the edge of high school. Lanky and full of life. It hurt to remember how happy he’d been. How full of promise. 

He set it aside and reached into the box to pull out a medal that had been tucked away inside of a smaller shadowbox that looked like Silas had bought for it especially. It certainly hadn't been that way the day he went to see his parents. He let the light catch the shine of the medal, glinting off of the letters of his name and place. It was first. It came after months of work and striving and competing against himself to get his best time. He set it down and sat back, staring into the box as a knock came from the doorway.

"Hey, Chrome Dome."

Vic rolled his eye and turned, his line of vision meeting with a short, green teenager.

"Did the leader man send you to check on me, Greenie?" He propped his elbow on his knee and stared at the Gar as the boy shrugged and weighed all the options in his mind, making his hands into a make-shift scale.

He gave one last shrug. "Yeah but I wanted to see how you were doing, anyway."

Vic's shoulders rolled, a half-shrug spurring him into movement as he dug into the box again to take out one of the smaller trophies. Another little league trophy, this time from the first year he'd been allowed to play sports; his mom thought that homeschooling him might stunt his social growth. Spending all that time around adults and not enough time around kids his own age.

He snorted. Hanging around Gar made up for a lost childhood.

"What's so funny?" Gar dropped to the floor next to him, never one to be left out of a joke.

"I was just thinking – don't worry about being left out."

"Whatever." Gar turned his attention to the scattered awards on Vic's bedroom carpet. "How many of these things do you have? This is like its own museum – 'the land of Vic Stone's lost history. Discover what the stone age was like.' Or--sorry, I guess it would be the chrome age, huh?"

Vic pulled out another trophy. "Funny. What are you doing here, again?"

He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Wanted to make sure you were okay." 

It'd been a week since the funeral, is what he meant. A week for Vic to settle into knowing Silas was dead, a week for him to come to terms with dealing with the will and his dad's plans for all of his possessions. But he wasn't going through his old trophies because of the will, he needed to find what he'd lost along the way.

Vic dug around in the bottom of the box as Gar watched, his elbows propped up on his knees. His metal fingers were still a little clumsy as they dug through the trophy box, some of his joints catching the wrappings. He'd have to fix that, make them more stream lined as he worked on future designs for his limbs.

He pulled out another trophy and shook the wrappings off of it.

"Ah, this is what I was looking for." Vic grinned, his teeth catching the light from the window and illuminating his face.

Gar's eyebrows rose and he looked over, his eyes running over the words engraved on the trophy.

"What's it from?"

"It's from my senior year," he paused and wiped the name plate with his sleeve. "We went to the state playoffs." 

He could smell the misty fog that had started to roll in around the third quarter. Feel the cold against his cheeks. His grin grew softer, dimpling his cheek. "We lost. Fucked up in the fourth quarter and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't come back from it. The score ended up being fifty-two to fifty and man, my coach was pissed at how close it was."

He sat back and set the trophy down to look at it. Gar was looking at him instead, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"And you got a trophy because?"

"I got a trophy because I kept the team together." He shrugged. "It was my responsibility as the quarterback and team captain, you know. I had to try and keep up morale and my team liked it so much that they made up an award to tell me how much it mattered."

"Sounds like a good memory." They were both staring at the figure on top of the trophy. Gold colored plastic in the shape of a man, an arm pulled back, fingers fitted over the laces of a football.

Vic rested his elbows on his knees again. "Yeah, I had some of the best times of my life on the field."

[dredreadsdrawing]

Day 2: 'Family', using the template created by @benjiweird

This one's gonna take a bit more context lol. So I've already posted a past Demonverse story concept named Tearduct Pact, right? Welp. Before I made those characters, I already had a few ogs in that universe that I never got to drawing. These are some of em.

And this is the story about a family created by a demon.

Florencia was a girl born from a rich invester and an immigrant maid. She was taken in by her father, but neglected by everyone.

One day, for a sister of Florencia's birthday, the family went to watch a circus. Florencia, of course, stayed behind. The family never returned in one piece.

Florencia was alone. Ten years old, she knew she was in trouble, but she could do nothing. Servants left, distant family members would come only to dispute over assets in the office. Though her father made it so his children would get all his possessions, she was never brought up as a candidate. She didn't want money or possessions, she just wanted a home. But knowing the adults, they would rather kick her out the second they claimed the house, than have to keep her around.

At night, she noticed a voice from the bottom of her bed. Always soothing her. Always making jokes. Always promising it would be okay. If only she made a deal. She was scared to even look down, and would largely ignore it. But one particular night, her uncles weren't leaving. They were coming to a conclusion, and she knew. She needed to act.

She gave into the deal, and the figure showed itself. It promised it would only take what could be spared. All it needed to seal the deal was a body. Being a lower level demon, the bear would do for now.

With the ritual done and his soul bound to stuffing, something peculiar occured. She couldn't let go of the bear. She couldn't move her body at all.

The demon had possessed her. And, using her, 'she' moved to barge in to the office and demand they leave. The men laughed.

'She' walked over to father's desk and took out the pistol from his top drawer.

'She' wouldn't ask nicely again.

They moved closer, trying to take it away. She shot an uncle's fingers off. That finally brought them to their senses. She wasn't going to leave.

"That was your second warning. You may not believe it because my father never mentioned me, but I am a quick shot with 100% accuracy. I will kill you. This is my property and you are no longer welcome."

They were outraged. The nerve of this girl, claiming this house! 'She' looked at the only lawyer in the room, straight into his eyes.

"I know my father's will like the back of my hand. You ingrates will destroy his legacy given the chance. This is why he never mentions any of you. Now leave, or else, by law." 'She' smiles. "I can commit murder."

They left but promised they would cost more me back for revenge. The uncle with his fingers offed took his threats personally. Finally, with everyone gone, the demon let go.

Florencia fell to the floor. She couldn't believe what had transpired. She was...

She was glad she made the deal.

This wasn't over, he assured her.

She needed allies. Staff. To continue her father's business. He would make sure she would thrive, and she eagerly held his body close. She welcomed all his promises.

~~~

I will get more in general because I don't have everything else as specifically planned. What transpires is her, the next day, going to town and walking through the streets with her demon, guided by his intuition on who to take in as a servant. Five people are chosen.

Lewis, a man trained for years as a butler by a prestigious family, recently fired after being caught with the master of the house. They had been secret lovers, but when push comes to shove, he was abandoned, left to rot in poverty and alcoholism.

Marcy, a sweet girl who had a life ahead of her. She was betrothed at an early age, promised a life in the city, but an accident with her lover left her short a leg. The financial burden that would come from a wife that can't work was too much, and she too was left behind.

Clara, the old widow and her two children. Her husband was her lifeline for most of her life, but his passing meant she had to step up. Working in a restaurant with her oldest son, they would get paid, but not a fair share. The tipping point was when her second child came to work as well, only to be mistreated by the owner. They quit, and were readying to move.

But Florencia found them all and tooke then in.

Brought together by a young girl, these strangers weren't sure what to make of their situation. The girl was odd, and the legal battles brutal, but she never faltered, and was quick to reassure them of their security under her home. She was earnest and kind. They loved her immediately.

They grew into a proper family, taking care of the house and one another. This was everything Florencia ever wanted, and she had her demon to thank.

She never would let go of his hand. Day and night, she kept him close, talking to him, squeezing him, always thanking him for everything he gave her.

He was amused by how easy getting a child's adoration was, and would revel in her sincerity, but he always kept a wall around her words. She only liked him now, without her knowing what he was really taking from her. Of course, once he revealed the truth, her tune would change.

More time went on, and the staff already caught on to the demon's presence. While they didn't believe in him at first, they've been proven time and time again that something supernatural was indeed going on. Still, they never were scared by it.

A tipping point came in the form of Clara. For a minute, Florencia let go of her beloved bear to help Marcy plant flowers. He sat alone in the shade and watched, when Clara came and sat beside him. She talked, venting about how great the year had been. She thanked him for it, telling him she was afraid for Florencia at first. But with how happy the child has always been, she could not reason that he was a bad spirit. She was grateful he found her.

This didn't sit well with him.

That night, for the very first time, he felt guilt. He slipped out of the bear and sat in bed, only gazing at Florencia's face.

Remembering all her kind words, and her love and laughter and how she has helped so many people inside and outside the house. She was a beacon, shining to make everyone's lives brighter. And, because of him, she would come to die at an early age.

He cried. He tried. He couldn't take back the years he's consumed from her life. All used as building blocks for his power and gain.

He checked her palm, reading her lines, hoping he was wrong when he first read them. But his eye was trained well.

Three more years. At the age of fourteen, she would be snuffed forever.

And it was all because of him.

~~~~

Dis is all I have so far lolol. In case it's not as clear as I wanted it to be, this demon's love for her is strictly platonic. While my first concept of this story was romantic, as I am a sucker for em, the more I kept thinking it through, the more I prefered keeping their relationship as a little sister and an older brother. He's looked after her and comforted her, and she's willingly dependent on him it.

Also, like in Tearduct Pact, his form changes the more he feeds off her life. He becomes bigger, bulkier. He gets his wings. Im not very satisfied with his form in this comic, so I may change it as a whole too but. Ye lol, I haven't planned his demon form very well.

Das all i can type lol. I. Have. WORK TO DOOOO.

[returnsandreturns]

If you're still taking prompts, how about Matt gets signed up to be a participant at a bachelor auction (for a good cause, obv)? I wonder who would bid for him...*suggestive eyebrow wiggle*

Foggy is in love with Matt. 

Like, gross, heart-pounding, weak in the knees first love and he has been since forever (or, like, two years but his entire adult life which seems like forever) and it lends itself to being a little dramatic sometimes even though he’s usually better at internalizing it, though. But Matt got guilt-tripped into being in this sorority bachelor auction for A Good Cause that Foggy’s forgotten entirely (puppies, maybe–or the children) because he came along for the free booze and has not restrained himself at all. 

This fact, the drunk thing, might be why he interrupts a bidding war between a set of two gorgeous, older alumna with clearly bad intentions and says, loudly from the back, “One thousand." 

Matt’s eyes get wide. 

"One thousand what?” he blurts out.

Foggy’s head catches up to his instincts. 

“Dollars,” he says, weakly. 

The two meticulously dressed, outrageously pretty potential cougars look surprised then annoyed, arms clad in clothes that are worth more than Foggy will probably ever be crossed over their chests. 

“He’s drunk,” Marci says, from the other side of the room, in her future lawyer voice. “Ignore him, Megan.”

“My name’s not Megan,” the girl hosting says, frowning. 

Marci’s technically a member of this sorority but she does the bare minimum because she’s just here to put it on her resume and potentially make frat guys more immediately accessible if she wants to hook up with someone who probably won’t want to cuddle. Foggy’s personal fatal flaw.

“You look like a Megan,” Marci says, sighing, “but you all look like Megans, so—I took a shot. Take back your offer, Nelson." 

"No,” Megan says, primly and with a terrifying smile, before Foggy can dig himself out.

“Sold.”

*

“What the fuck,” Matt whispers, as soon as he finds Foggy in the crowd, taking his arm and tugging gently so Foggy leaves the room with him. 

“I’ll pay them in an installment plan or something,” Foggy says, feeling on the verge of hysterical, because he doesn’t have an explanation for this. It’s just a joke, a laugh, a very, very expensive gag. 

“You’re not gonna pay them anything,” Matt says, laughing, “but why did you do it?" 

Foggy’s speechless. He’s never going to talk again. 

"Foggy,” Matt says, after a second, a weird smile on his face and voice a little softer as he repeats, “Why did you do it?" 

"Maybe I wanna go on a date with my smoking hot roommate,” Foggy says, like it’s a joke, fully willing to jump out of this situation with a parachute of pure denial. He reminds Matt he’s hot all the time like saying it gives him some kind of out. He wouldn’t joke if he actually felt like that.

“You don’t have to pay for that,” Matt says.

He’s not mad or freaked out or anything. His smile is a little brighter. Foggy’s pretty sure his heart stops. 

“Wait,” he says, slowly. “What?”

“…nothing,” Matt says, laughing and dropping his head, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Come on, let’s go get Marci to help get you out of this. You can’t afford any more debt." 

He starts to turn to walk in and Foggy starts to grab his arm, says, "Hold on, I’m about to dramatically grab your arm and ask you a question that I’m very nervous about,” to warn him before he does it, gently turning Matt back to him and asking, feeling absolutely terrified, “Matt, would you say yes if I asked you out? With no money on the table?" 

"I’ve had to figure a lot of shit out,” Matt says, after a second, “and–nobody has ever confused me like you have just by, like, existing and being so…" 

"Incredibly dashing,” Foggy offers, “and outrageously handsome?" 

"Sure,” Matt says, breathing out a laugh. “Close enough." 

"No, sorry,” Foggy says, shaking his head. “What were you going to say?" 

"I think I’m in love with you,” Matt says, kind of like he’s been waiting to say it, like it’s been on his tongue so long that he can’t help it. Which Foggy gets. “You’re the most important and just–the best person in my life and I hate that this could ruin everything but–that’s it. That’s all. I think you’re amazing and I really want to kiss you." 

"I can’t believe that I just spent $1000 for you,” Foggy says, slowly, “and you’re the one doing the big love confession." 

"I need you to be real with me now or I have to go—not be here immediately,” Matt says, seriously, raising his eyebrows.

“Can I kiss you?” Foggy asks. 

“I wish you would." 

He steps closer to slide fingers into the hair at Matt’s neck, pulling him into the sweetest, gentlest kiss that anybody has ever had but one that promises something more in the future. Like sweaty, no pants something more.

"I love you,” Foggy says, leaning back. 

“Cool,” Matt says, smiling before making a face. “Pretend I said something more suave. I’m just distracted by how much money you just gave to an endangered bird species." 

"Oh, I thought it was for the children,” Foggy says. 

“What children?” Matt asks, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together.

“I—don’t know,” Foggy admits. “The less fortunate ones.”

Marci steps out of the room and shuts the door behind her, stopping immediately when she sees them and sighing before she says, “Well, good to know Murdock has a price. It’s over—come back in with me so I can yell at Megan and fix this." 

”Thank you,“ Matt says. 

"I could pay them, like, five dollars a month,” Foggy says, but they both ignore him. 

Matt’s still holding his hand, though.

[the1rei]

Little Moments: Reboot Chapter Nineteen: Speaking my Language By  Ericobard and shadows59 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Fandom: Ben 10 Series Relationship: Ben Tennyson/Gwen Tennyson Some Additional Tags: Bullying, No proofreading, Family is Drama, Long burn

Summer’s over and school is in session, made worse as it is middle school.  Amidst the troubles of the new year Gwen finds something she’s always wanted and was beginning to fear she would never have, a friend.  Except Ben of course. 

Read my review below:

Why is Gwen still going to an elementary school?  It is directly stated in the story that Ben is in middle school, "Middle School blows. You're so lucky you don't have to deal."  They are identical ages, so they should be in the same grade as they were in the original, or an explanation should be given as to why they aren't in the same grade.  Gwen's school is a K-12 school; it wouldn't be called an elementary school.  

Gwen answering her phone in school and her receiving no repercussions for throwing away the note Mrs. Adams wrote to her mother shows that scene in chapter eleven was completely needless.  It should have ended after Gwen's viable scolding.  

" - even old Squid Face was this horrible!" I suspect Shadows59 meant to say 'wasn't' here.

The phone call in the middle of school and the deluge of texts that they exchange is supposed to show that they are a sweet couple that is very affectionate with each other.  But it ends up coming across as they are obsessed with each other in an unhealthy way, so much so that they can't go very long without contact of some form.  Even with young infatuation, couples need time apart so they can continue to be individuals, but Ben and Gwen come across as clingy and co-dependent.  She even calls the phone a 'lifeline' to Ben as if she'd die without him.  This wasn't the case in the original, and Shadows59 came across as a much more mature author in how he depicted a healthy but highly romantic love between two kids.  

Flint continues to be a caricature of a creepy guy.  He just says disgusting, hateful things so the reader will be disgusted by him and hate him, but any reader that understands this will just see him as a shallow character with no substance.  Antagonists need to have well-reasoned motivations behind their actions, and yet for all the times the story has brought up Flint, it never tells the reader why he is the way he is.  

Additionally, the things Flint, an eleven-year-old, says are highly sexual and complex suggestions.  It's not the mere perversions of a boy who would say something such as 'show me your panties.'  Instead, he suggests an advanced form of sexual degradation play, which further raises questions about why he is the way he is.  

Even non-prestigious schools had computer labs and teachers who were experts to deal with them long before 1999.  Even with her affinity for computers, it's unrealistic that Gwen would have then said teacher or would be called in to deal with an administrator's computer.  Said computer might even be too old for her to understand at all.  Honestly, I feel like I would let this pass if the story was more like the show and not trying to be a serious story.  

Gwen comparing the reactions she gets from kissing Ben, her love interest in the story, to the reaction a younger brother gives to his older sister when she kisses him is, odd to say, incestuous.  These two reactions should not be comparable because the reaction she should be getting from Ben is one of a peer who hasn't come around to discovering the romantic feels he has for another peer.  The other is the reaction of a younger sibling at getting a kiss from an older sibling who is, in this case, Gwen peer.  So not only does this compare Ben and Gwen as sister and brother but also Ben as being younger than Gwen, making their romance come across as highly inappropriate.

In the original, Gwen has social anxiety, which prevents her from talking to Michelle at first, and it's only when she thinks of Ben is she able to encourage herself to be open the new girl.  This is a very relatable problem, and Gwen displays her courage and willingness to follow another's example, like a hero, overcoming it.  In the reboot, Michelle asks one innocent question, the first thing she has ever said to Gwen, and Gwen is ready to judge her as being like Marci.  Prejudging anyone is a very unheroic act, and Gwen has to remind herself that Ben wouldn't do something like that to convince herself to give Michelle a chance.  

It's unclear why Michelle finds what Gwen says funny, why it makes Gwen "crazy," or why this makes Michelle like Gwen.  In the original, Michelle is shown to be as lost and alone as Gwen, so it's natural to her to like the person who reaches out to her, on Gwen's own accord, and offers to show her around.  In the Reboot, Gwen has been conscripted by the principle to interact with Michelle and show her around.  That can be a fine way to bring to people who will be friends together, but the story of the original is stronger.  

Having Ben's liberal parents protesting a new army base is a weak stereotype.  It is a stereotype as no reason is given for them not to want the base built.  

It makes no sense that Michelle, probably before she was 11, would be able to sneak out and go to a protest that turned violent given that when Gwen came near violence in this story, teenagers and adults treated her like a toddler.  

Gwen comes across as bad friend allowing Marci to pull Michelle away from her with putting up a fight to get her back even though she knows Marci is lying, and she is abandoning Michelle to Marci's lies and possible bullying.  Instead of doing anything to stop this, she just sits down and feels sorry for herself, thinking badly of other people, especially Ben.  Gwen isn't concerned with Michelle; she'd not watching the new girl make sure Macri's not making her feel uncomfortable or anything, instead just assuming that she would fall for Marci's corruptive influence.  

There is more overuse of italicized text in this chapter where it displays translated speech.  First, this visual clue that Gwen hears translated speech weakens the story, because in the original, where the speech was not emphasized, the reader is confused with Gwen as to what is happening, but because we already know or can guess that something is happening we're just waiting for Gwen to figure it out.  This distances the reader from the character's situation unnecessarily.  Second I am left wondering what would happen if Gwen was in her plumber suit, speaking to someone on the phone, in a different language, and emphasized what she was saying.  I assume the universe would implode, or explode, or both.

Marci's using the word cousin in place of boyfriend as a jab at Gwen's relationship with Ben would be good if it didn't require Gwen to understand french to be effective.  Marci has been established to be able to speak some french, but Gwen hasn't, so there is no way that Marci would know Gwen would understand her.  If Gwen couldn't understand what she said, then it would lose a lot of its punch.  It's a cause of the scene being written from the author's perspective instead of the character's.

"she was going to drive through a perfect little nose" Don't try to blame reflexes when there is clear intent on the part of the character.

Gwen anticipates that Michelle is going to leave her for Marci several times, and it's only after she refuses to several times that Gwen starts to trust her.  The foundation of their friendship is Gwen constantly mistrusting Michelle.

Every time Gwen nearly explodes on Marci, I'm just reminded of how much healthier she dealt with her anger in the original, channeling it into little pranks she pulled on Marci with her magic.  

"I kind of like the one I have - " Shadows59, you probably meant to say 'ones' here.

The previous chapters had Max leave and created a great deal of drama.  Erico even stated, "Grandpa is gone... They have nobody else they can turn to... They only have each other..."  Every indication in the story and the co-author indicate that Max is gone, and yet he just shows back up in the story like none of the drama of him leaving in the previous chapters occurred.  The original lacked that overly dramatic element, so when Gwen calls Max to find out why she can speak french, it makes sense they can just talk to him, whereas in the reboot, it doesn't.  There's no pay off for all that drama.

"Some part of her - most of her was sure it was Grandpa saying that something came up and she felt sick at the idea. She missed him. She'd been missing him since he disappeared and how could he? None of the eight weeks made that bit any smaller..."   Shadows59, you should consider revising this section.  It isn't clear what is meant by 'Some part of her-'  Because that is unclear the 'None of the eight weeks made that bit any smaller...' part isn't clear either.  Additionally, the sections are separated, but they feel like they are part of the same thought and are referring to one another without clarification.  

"No!" "No!" Shadows, you either repeated the "No!" accidentally here, or the two knows don't need two sets quotation marks.  

"He was just Ben and hers and she wasn't going to share him, not even with Michelle..." This shows that Gwen has a very unhealthy attachment to Ben that goes far beyond romance and young love.

"He was just Ben and hers and she..." There should probably be commas after 'Ben' and 'hers' as they are separate statements.

The added content for Michelle doesn't add much to the story of their friendship.  Some might have found it sudden that the pair met in this chapter, and one chapter later, we're best friends, but that at least was marked with a time jump, so the development of their friendship could take a mundane pace normally in the skipped time.  Here their transition from strangers to best friends really does seem sudden, and there's no real reason why these two because so attached after just a few hours.  There's no real reason for their closeness save on Gwen's part because she notices that Michelle is somewhat like Ben, an unsettling fact given how obsessed she is with the boy.  

Ben and Gwen sound like old people talking about 'kids fashion these days.'

"she was so much faster and back on her feet before she even got any water on her skirt." It's physically impossible to pour water all over someone's head while their head is in your lap and not get wet.  

I'll just say there is a big difference between Gwen staring a little because Ben is shirtless and her ogling him while describing droplets of water running down his muscles.  One is appropriate for an eleven-year-old, and the other is not.  Once more, I just think these characters are older in Shadows59's mind, not that he's trying to be inappropriate.  

That ending is so cute, I love it.

-Erico

"...carries much more depth and heart because Michelle's first day and Gwen's first day back address it from Gwen's perspective." This sentence makes no sense.

You make it sound like Gwen is taking advantage of Michelle's uncertainty.  

It makes no sense for Gwen's classmates to ostracize her for doing things for the school staff; all students get called to do such things.  So unless the faculty is ostracizing the other students and only calling on Gwen for help, the students' opinion of her shouldn't be affected by that.  You are also showing just as well as I that Gwen has an unhealthy attachment to Ben when her focus is getting the day to get back to him.  An attachment that again, goes far beyond healthy romantic attachment.  

So what I hear from you is that Michelle is guarded because the concern she sees from people is usually because she is her father's daughter, and its more their concern for him, or his opinion of them, then it is for Michelle herself.  This isn't expressed in the story, and while it would be difficult to do so while locked in Gwen's perspective without creating awkward dialogue, it is still possible to express it.  For instance, by Michelle extending her father's gratitude instead of her own, or assuring people that she will tell her father what a good job they did.  

You talk about Gwen and Michelle like they are going through the friendship equivalent of love-at-first-sight.  This is a trope that is used, most commonly, by poor writers to establish romance first and justify it later, but real friendship, like real love, is slow to start.  The original had that at least in feeling; the reboot has chosen to forgo it instead.

(As always, please go leave Shadows59 a nice positive review he won’t delete.)