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oneatlatime · 11 months ago

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Lake Laogai

This Lake had better have Appa in it. With little water wings on.

Skipping the commentary as usual.

The Previously On section suggests that a whole lot of plot threads are about to crash into each other. Strap in folks.

Lefty Sokka!

Beat up Sokka quota fulfilled by his sister's critique of his art skills. It's not like he had paper to practice with at the South Pole.

Sometimes I forget that Aang is 12, then he does something like attempt to rescue his pet from a nefarious city-wide conspiracy of silence with lost cat posters.

"Good tea is its own reward." That means no, he isn't paid enough.

Remember what I said in my last post about Iroh bringing too much attention to himself?

"senior executive assistant manager" someone on the writing team has worked retail I see. Nothing like meaningless promotions with no raise attached! It's right up there with employee pizza party.

I have to pause here and point something out. This whole scene with Iroh? This is an adult fantasy. I don't mean dirty, I mean this whole scene was put in specifically to appeal to the adults who got roped in to watching this kids' show by their children. A rich man walks through the door of your shitty retail job, immediately spots your natural greatness, and offers you a much better paying job with unlimited creative freedom and a better house to go with it? Find me a burnt out retail worker who hasn't conjured up this fantasy five times a shift.

And so the plots come crashing back together. This won't end badly.

"patience really pays off" I checked. He waited literally three seconds.

Shout out to Toph in the background playing catch with a ball she can't see. Casual flex of epic proportions.

Remind me never to go to Lake Laogai. Sounds like it's lousy with Ju Dees.

So the Ju Dees don't know about each other? Because she seems honestly confused. Does Ju Dee think she's the only Ju Dee? What happens if two Ju Dees run into each other in the street?

Posters are illegal but I haven't heard a peep about recarving a bunch of fields into a zoo.

This is maybe the second time Aang's blown up over Appa. Frankly he deserves more blow ups about the whole situation.

I don't think knocking down walls will help find Appa, but I applaud Toph's spirit.

They took out a whole wall and then exit by the door anyways. That's funny.

I really hate this guy, but I have to admit that he may be the first truly competent villain of the series.

'The Jasmine Dragon' also lets anyone with half a brain know that you're Fire Nation. Try the Jasmine Badgermole instead.

Zuko really can't catch a break, huh? He wasn't happy being a tea server, but at least he was resting. But every time he gets five minutes to himself, the main plot reappears to drag him back into the action, whether he wants to or not. Although he hasn't figured out that he doesn't want to be dragged back yet.

Every line of dialogue in this scene is a good point. Zuko's right, Iroh's right. The Zuko's right again, then Iroh's right again.

YES YES YES GET HIS ASS

That was satisfying!

I'm not understanding why Sokka is the voice of reason here. Is he incapable of holding a grudge? He's the one that had all the animosity with Jet to begin with. Shouldn't it be Aang who wants to hear him out?

Toph is a living lie detector now? I can't think of an example off the top of my head, but I'm sure that could have come in handy previously. Any other incredibly useful skills we should know about?

Jet is oddly defensive for someone who claims to know he did wrong.

Ever get so excited that your spine malfunctions?

Sokka just has a metre long map in his pocket. Good friend to have in a pinch.

Avatar first! Katara is rude to an old person!

I'm going to have fun with Toph's new ability.

Toph, you have never been more right. It is the worst city ever. You are really shining this episode.

I know this is a serious scene, but I need to point out that Jet's guyliner is on point.

This shot is jarringly out of place. I think it's because it both black and white, and live action. Those have to be real clouds.

So the Blue Spirit can talk after all. Careful, your Zuko is showing.

Wow Zuko is good at sewing. And fast too.

Sokka is having far too much fun with this whole 'prompt Jet's memory' thing. Maybe he does have a bit of a grudge after all.

Katara can reverse brainwashing now too? Everyone's levelling up this episode.

This scene with the planks is a very cool and disorienting visual.

Didn't have 'the gaang breaks into a brainwashing facility' on my ATLA bingo card.

Pretty.

OMIGOD IT'S AP- did Zuko just break the fourth wall?

Everyone always forgets to look up.

So this fight is going to be Toph v. all of the Dai Li while everyone else tries not to get in Toph's way.

That's a boat.

Toph could probably take all these guys out faster if she wasn't having to constantly break off to save everyone else from them.

The Dai Li prancing up walls is a really cool visual. It's very Ty Lee of them.

I love watching her work.

Why don't you let Long Feng escape? He's no longer threatening you, and you're down there to rescue Appa. Just let him go.

The security on Lake Laogai is a joke.

Big words from someone who also had no plan whatsoever at the North Pole.

Zuko knows that Iroh's right. He knows, and that's important. I don't think Iroh is saying anything that Zuko hasn't thought and then hurriedly pretended to have never thought about before. It's why he says 'stop it' rather than being completely confused as to what Iroh is referring to.

Poor Appa's like 'can you have a crisis of self after you free me please?'

'You've chosen your own demise." No. You chose it for him. That's some top tier deflection/victim blaming right there.

Longshot can talk!

That's one hell of a set up and pay off re: Toph's lie detecting abilities.

Poor Jet. A double tragedy: to be likeable only when you're brainwashed, and to dedicate your life to wiping out the Fire Nation yet being killed by the Earth Kingdom.

Hi Appa. It's about time buddy.

Shockingly in character for Appa's first actions to be to single handedly save the Gaang from a threat.

You skip that bastard like a stone.

Everyone go and listen to the sound Appa makes when he spits out Long Feng's shoe. It's delightful.

I am framing this.

And this too.

I can tell there's some shmymbolism here, but it's gone right over my head.

Final Thoughts

Appa is back. The Gaang has Appa back. I have Appa back. Ok. I can relax now. With any luck, this means we can leave Ba Sing Se.

This episode felt like City of Walls and Secrets, Part 2. I think it was a good decision to have a couple of episodes between the two, but I think there would be some tonal whiplash if you binged this section of season 2. Which wouldn't have been a problem for a show designed to air once a week, so it's a moot point.

So Zuko freed Appa from his chains, and presumably pointed him in the direction of a door or something. Or maybe not; Appa has a ridiculously hard head, he could have busted his way out. Either way, Zuko broke the chains. Thanks Zuko!

In season 1, Zuko finds the Avatar the world had lost. In season 2, Zuko finds the Sky Bison the Avatar had lost. So in season 3, Zuko will find something Appa has lost. I wonder what that will be?

Jet being killed by the Earth Kingdom is so deliciously ironic, and tragic, yet very in character for the Earth Kingdom's approach to this war. It's also literally this:

Smellerbee and Longshot have really gotten the short end of the stick over and over this season. They were the only ones to decide to stick with Jet. Presumably they were the only ones who believed that he had had a legitimate change of heart. And they were kind of wrong. They get to Ba Sing Se only for Jet to immediately backslide way past even where he was at his worst in Season 1. He completely discounts and dismisses their legitimate concerns for his methods and his overall health. Then Jet gets arrested and disappears for two (?) weeks. So what do they do now? Get jobs? Steal so they don't starve? Then suddenly Jet's back but he doesn't even remember them. Then suddenly Jet's dead. The whole point of coming to Ba Sing Se just died, in a way that shows very clearly that their desire to help with the war is not welcome at all in the city. So what now? Do they leave and try to fight in the war from outside the walls? Do they settle down and try to forget about the war? Things did spiral completely out of Jet's control once the Dai Li got involved, but you have to admit that he's left his only remaining friends up a creek.

Sokka had some good jokes but was oddly ok with this episode's events. Toph had some great lines and got to shine with a new skill that any writer with half a brain will bring back in future episodes. She felt like the audience substitute this episode, which is usually Sokka's role. Toph was episode MVP for sure. Poor Aang took a bit of a back seat this episode. Zuko finally hit the crisis point, and may well have made his first indisputably correct decision of the series. But, as previous episodes have gone out of their way to show me that Zuko being good always goes badly for Zuko, I'm sure freeing Appa will somehow come back to bite him.

Iroh's question of "who are you? And what do you want?" was Zuko's entire character arc this season. He took a shot at answering the "who are you?" portion in Zuko Alone, and sort of halfway got there before messing up at the end of the episode. As for the "what do you want?" Zuko will tell you (often and repeatedly) that he wants his honour back. But I think he just wants to go home. The thing is, I strongly suspect that the home Zuko wants to return to hasn't existed since his mother left, if it ever existed at all. Which means that while "who are you?" has an answer Zuko can work towards, "what do you want?" has an answer that is kind of impossible. So Zuko is going to have to learn to want something new.

RIP Jet. Your life was fucked to Hell long before you were old enough to try and salvage it. You'll probably be missed by more people than you strictly deserve. War sucks, amirite?

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #lake laogai

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spaceistheplaceart · 1 year ago

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Body Swap - How Do I Talk Like That? Part Three

Honestly, I'm not that happy with how this part went but after literally struggling with it for like. half a year. im just glad its done. let me know what you guys think!

masterpost

Summarized ID: Reigen tries to help Mob in the consultation by gesturing to him what he should do. Mob doesn't get the hint, and the client almost leaves before Reigen is able to somehow sway him with his over energetic sales pitch. They wait for a taxi, but Mob seems down.

FULL ID UNDER CUT:

(This is a body swap, so I'll be referring to the characters as who they actually are but keep in mind that Reigen is in Mob's body and vice versa.)

"I see..." Hiroto says. "Hmm..."

Mob glances over at Reigen, who is frantically pointing to the 'course options' sheet on the desk. Mob looks down at it and says, "oh!" before picking it up and reading it. "Let's see, the fees for the various course packages are listed here..." He slides it over to Hiroto, smiling. "Please, read it over. There seems to be a deal on the 'all-out' package this month."

Reigen grips his hair in distress, thinking to himself: "No! You're supposed to talk him through the process!"

We see Hiroto reading the sheet. Reigen is still thinking, "You can't let him read the whole thing, reel him in before he's got time to think!!!" Reigen leans over his desk, staring intensely at Mob and Hiroto. "Now would be a great time for some latent telepathic abilities to awaken!"

Hiroto hands the sheet back to Mob. "Hm. Well. Thank you for taking the time to see me. I'll keep you in mind." He stands up.

"Crap!" Reigen thinks to himself, standing up from his seat. "Sir!" He calls out to Hiroto, who is near the door and ready to leave. Reigen points to a poster behind him that says '3 Ghosts, One Free!'. He says, "Did you know that right now we have a special deal going on!? For the whole month, if you have three ghosts or more, we'll exorcise a third of them free!"

Hiroto looks at Reigen, bemused. A question mark is beside him. "Aha. Thanks, kid, but... I'm alright."

Reigen looks at him tensely, a sweatdrop on his cheek. He glances back at Mob, who is frozen and still holding the price sheet.

Reigen puts his hands on his hips and speaks out again, "Listen! My master is absolutely the real deal! Just look at all these satisfied customers!" He points to a corkboard behind him. On top of the corkboard is a label that says 'Our Customers' and there are many photos of customers on the board, pinned up. Reigen says, "Every single one of them! Spirit free! Whether it was a barrage of spirits or just one-"

He continues, pointing to himself with his thumb. "MY MASTER! Was able to help them all! So-"

He trails off as Hiroto begins to chuckle. He holds his hands over his stomach, his chuckling slowly trailing off. He sighs and smiles at Mob.

"Aha... Seems you've got yourself quite the little businessman, huh?"

Reigen, Mob, and Dimple, simply look at him, confused.

Hiroto runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Fine... Be over at 1 o'clock. Sharp."

He leans down to Reigen's height, smiling with sparkles around him. "That's thirty minutes from now, okay?"

Reigen forces a smile, sparkles around him too now. "Yep, sounds great! We'll see you then, sir!"

"Wonderful, see you then." Hiroto says. He leaves, disappearing behind the wall that seperates the entryway from the office. As he's leaving, he mutters to himself "Aha... kids..." Then the door closes with a chime.

Mob is sat at Reigen's desk, a shadow over his eyes and his hands clasped together. Reigen comes up and claps a hand on his shoulder, looking off to the side.

"Well! It's to be expected. You did the best you could, Mob.Though I do have a few pointers..." He waves his hand around dismissively. "We'll talk on the way."

"Sure." Mob says.

Two panels, both black with white text, say: PROGRESS TOWARDS EXPLOSION: 48%

We cut to outside the office, where Mob and Reigen are sitting on a curb. There's a text box above them that reads: "waiting for a taxi"

Dimple floats off to Mob's side. Mob looks a little sad. Dimple frowns and asks, "Why do you look so down? You got the job in the end. Don't tell me you're bummed just because it was little awkward."

END ID

#yes i misspelled towards dont worry a bout it #mp100 #mob psycho 100 #shigeo kageyama #reigen arataka #arataka reigen #dimple #kageyama shigeo #comic #mp100 comic #mp100 body swap #op art #legitimately i was struggling with this for so long. i dont know how to write the mp100 chars im SORRY #also just pretend his counters been going up the whole time ok i forgor 🤪

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opennwindows · 1 year ago

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HIII!!! Can you do masky as a father figure to emo/scene kid teens headcanons <33

A/N: OMG as i’m posting this i kinda realized i read the ask slightly wrong and wrote it as Dad!Masky with a emo/scene child and got carried away *sobs* but if this doesn’t hit the particular spot u need it to, i’ll totally rewrite it just for you!! just lmk and i’ll type away ( ◠‿◠ ) but i brought out my boy Suburban Dad Tim for this one.

Dad!Masky/Tim with a Emo/Scene kid hcs!

- tim’s a bit confused, but he’s got the spirit!!

- when he was in his teens he was around a bunch of trad-goth and punk friend groups, so he totally understands the importance of the alt community. i mean, dude was neck deep in mental trauma so he def wasn’t hanging out with the cheerleaders lol

“so i know this isn’t bring me the chemical romance or whatever, but this t-shirt is mine from highschool and i want you to have it. they’re called the cure-“

“dad i know who the cure is.”

“ohhh well aren’t you so dark and brooding.”

- will 110% pay for your hair dye and is always amazed with whatever styles you come up with.

- he can be quite sassy with his opinions though lol

“look, i’m just saying last time you did the blue roots with black hair it didn’t look like gerard way. it looked like gerard do not enter.”

“dad??????? what the hell”

- he’ll go to concerts with you pretending he’s just there to protect from a distance, but you both know he’s “secretly” vibing to the music. a true emo dad at heart.

- definitely will take vids to spam brian with.

- cannot understand scene genres like crunkcore to save his life though.

“why the fuck are they screaming over techno beats?????? put back on that pierce the veil band i like.”

- might have a mental breakdown when you ask him to take you to go get your first piercing though.

“YOU WANT A NEEDLE???? SHOVED THROUGH YOUR TONGUE???? slow down buddy, why don’t we start with a uhhh nostril or something.”

- he just wants to make sure that you can properly take care of it……. and he hates the thought of his little rockstar having to sit though any pain regardless of how small it is. will absolutely make fun of you if you cry after it though.

“haha you cried like a baby.”

“i got my septum pierced, it was a natural reaction”

“*already has brian on speaker phone* yeah dude they sobbed like a fucking LOSERRRR”

- you better pray no one dares to bully you at school, because masky and hoodie will be planning on scaring the compulsive normativity out of their boring teenage brains.

“dad why is brian by jacob’s car with a baseball bat?”

“don’t worry about it, he’s just gonna talk to him.”

“i’m literally watching him swing at the passenger side window-“

“it’s just a little chat, do you wanna go see a movie?”

- genuinely is invested in listening to all the emo band lore

“you can’t put the mcr poster next to your the used poster, why would you disrespect your wall like that?”

“i’m going to kidnap ryan ross and lock him in a studio myself if he doesn’t release some new music soon, i’m tired of hearing you cry about it every night.”

- tim knows how important it is to be fully accepted and loved for who you are growing up and he will fully embrace every part of it. he just really, truly loves you.

#masky headcanons #masky #creepypasta #creepypasta masky #masky x reader #creepypasta headcanon #tim wright #marble hornets #marble hornets headcanons #celia reqs #platonic #familial

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prismaticpichu · 4 months ago

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B, C, F!!

You got it!! 💕

Any of your stories inspired by personal experience? ~ Yes!!! One of my personal favorite fics, Lightning, has a huge focus on PTSD and the sense of confusion that comes with spontaneous triggers/episodes. For instance, (and without getting into too much detail) I myself have been able to handle being in a room full of drunk people just fine- while other times looking at a wine glass can cause my heart to pick up speed. Sephiroth in that fic is plagued by horrible memories of being electrocuted by Hojo as a child (triggered by a storm outside), yet is left confused and ashamed, claiming that he has been able to handle trekking through thunderstorms in the past without ever breaking a sweat. The point I was trying to get across there is that, sometimes- and as Zack puts it- PTSD episodes can be completely random, like “lightning having the chance to strike a tree.” Sometimes, we’re just hit by it when other times we’re not. And that’s okay <333 It’s absolutely okay.

What character do you identify with most? ~ ON A LIGHTER NOTE LOL I think I see a lot of parallels in myself to Zack!! It’s hard to always stay positive- especially when his world seems to be imploding- but the young First always tries his best to keep everyone’s spirits high!! I imagine he’s someone who genuinely finds catharsis in making others smile, even when he himself is having trouble doing so. He’s the exact kind of person I strive to be: kind, optimistic, and loyal until the very end!! <333

Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic? ~ Absolutely!!! How about I share a few?? <333 (and it doesn’t specify that they have to be MINE soooooo~)

• Warning: Flash Photography by @tardistype221b ~ absolutely ADORE this fic for its implementation of very realistic PTSD- with the flashbacks beautifully laced throughout!!- and Zack being there to comfort his best friend <333 ahhhhhh!!!

• A Haven of Hyacinths by @dyradoodles ~ Just PEAK catharsis wherein a Jenova-purified Seph is reunited with Zack in the Lifestream <333

• Footfalls by @altocat ~ another extremely cathartic ride, only it’s post-Nibelheim addition!! <333 Zack is essentially doing what he does best- carrying a delirious Sephiroth across the snowy mountains as they escape ShinRa’s clutches <333 All with the most beautiful writing you can imagine!!

• Poster Boy by copper_nights ~ Protective Angeal being the best friend on the face of Gaia <33333 Gahhhh I love this author sm!!! So many amazing fics in their arsenal!!

• When the Stars Shine Brightest by @lucky-ladybugs-lovelies (I believe this is the right blog??? Plz forgive me person I tag if it’s not!! 😂❤️) ~ anyway lol THIS FIC MADE ME CRY. LIKE… IT LEGITIMATELY DID. NO OTHER FIC HAS MADE ME CRY BEFORE OR SINCE. Fic follows an extremely shattered Sephiroth in the aftermath of Zack’s death- having been killed on a mission. That’s all I can say without spoiling the rest, bc it’s really worth going in blind <333 Do note that 1) this fic is on FF.Net and might need a little more digging to get to and 2) it is a sequel fic- but I promise you its predecessor, Shine Until Tomorrow, is worth the read itself <333 It’s really just an incredible story she tells, and i’ve always been such a HUGE fan of her worldbuilding <333 SOLDIER always feels so alive!!! As do the characters!!

(Side note- if you ever fsr wondered where my love for Zack & Seph came from, it started here 😂 With this wonderful author!!!)

#fanfics #pichu writing #fic recs #zackseph #sephiroth #zack fair #crisis core #angeal hewley #asks #ty!!

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analogboii · 11 months ago

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Y'ALL MY KILLER FIGURE CAME IN AND POSTER HIM ON MY STORY AND MY GRANDMA RESPONDED

she's a little confused on who he is (didn't become obsessed w him until more recently) but she's got the spirit 😭😭😭 this is the same grandma that lets me just talk about my hyperfixations for like hours and actually listens

#ambrose rambles #i love her sm #shes always so lost but she just lets me go on and on #one piece #killer one piece

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s10127470 · 7 months ago

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A response to myst1calx

So a few weeks ago, a made a post titled The MCU Synergy Problem.

In that post, I discussed how a lot of Marvel's projects during the 2010s and 2020s have been somewhat dragged down by being constantly forced to be adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

If you want to check it out for yourself, here's the link to it below.

As of right now, the post has gotten six likes and a reblog.

However, the reblog I got was essentially a written response.

And somewhat hostile one.

And weirdly enough, it was from one of the six people who liked the post.

So I'm not sure on whether or not they actually liked it or they hated it.

From the way the reblog was written, it seemed like they didn't really like it.

And in addition to that, they're also a sense of confusion as well.

So today, I decided to make a response to the person that did the reblog: myst1calx.

I'm going to respond to all the points they brought up in their reblog while trying to be as civil as possible.

Though there may be a point in this where I do seem pretty angry.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's get started.

"ok but the shows in the 2010s didnt suffer from mcu synergy because they activley fought against it"

This one is a both right and wrong.

Ultimate Spider-Man and Spider-Man (2017) are really the only shows that didn't suffer from MCU synergy.

Spidey hadn't been introduced into the MCU yet when Ultimate came out and when he was, it was during Ultimate's final season.

When Spidey wouldn't even get his own movie in the MCU until after Ultimate ended.

And Spider-Man '17 surprisingly didn't really have a whole lot of MCU influence despite lasting for most of Spidey's MCU trilogy.

It took more influence from Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and Dan Slott's run on Amazing Spider-Man.

Avengers Assemble, despite being created just to ride off the success of the first Avengers film, didn't really have a whole lot of MCU synergy at.....for the first two seasons.

But I'll touch on that a little later.

Guardians of the Galaxy.

Dude, out of all the Marvel shows of the 2010s, this one was undoubtedly the most blatant with the MCU synergy.

I mean, just look this promotional poster.

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. also has blatant case of MCU synergy, but in a more subtle and honestly, sinister way.

The show was about the titular Agents of S.M.A.S.H. learning how to be a family and fighting off bad guys with a variety of high-tech gadgets.

Not exactly something you would think of from a show about the Hulk of all characters.

But let's turn our attention to the villains of this show.

Out of all the villains, this show only really features 7 of the Hulk's foes.

The Leader, The Abomination, The Absorbing Man, Titania, Wendigo, Xemnu and Maestro.

Yeah! No Wrecking Crew, U-Foes, Zzzax, Madman, Bi-Beast, Gargoyle, Flux, Grey Gargoyle, Umar, Nightmare, Man-Beast, Ravage, or John Ryker.

Now compare this to the other villains included in the show.

Besides the Hulk associated villains, the other villains in show include the likes of Annihilus, Blastaar, Ego the Living Planet, Laufey, The Mole Man, Doctor Doom, Galactus and his heralds, Impossible Man, Loki, Malekith the Accursed, Dormammu, Sauron, Ronan the Accuser, The High Evolutionary, The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, Pluto, and The Supreme Intelligence.

Upon reading this, you probably that most the villains listed here are predominately connected to the Fantastic Four, not really Hulk himself.

This, along with the aforementioned focus on family and use of technology, has led many people to theorize that Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. was originally meant to be a new Fantastic Four cartoon, but was changed to be a Hulk cartoon at some point development.

The potential reason for this was that this show did come out right at the beginning of Marvel's "The Fantastic Four and X-Men don't matter anymore" phase because of the whole movie rights bullshit.

And while there hasn't been any official confirmation about this theory from any who has worked on the show, the connections are still quite apparent.

As for why they decided to make Hulk the star of the show instead if they couldn't use the Fantastic Four, I guess besides the fact he's among the most prominent allies of the Four, it was because he was the only other option that people could see working with this premise.

The other ones that could possibly fit this would be The Avengers and maybe Spider-Man, but they already had their own shows going on around that time.

So all in all, the MCU synergy did affect most of the 2010s shows.

Some were definitely more apparent than others, but still.

"if you wanna make the claim that its all mcu synergy, you can see it starting in 2017, not 13"

Now this one is weird because a good chunk of the MCU synergized elements that occured in the comics happened before 2017.

-The current, obviously MCU-inspired Loki was introduced in 2011

-Hawkeye with the tired dad energy was introduced in 2012

-The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver happened in 2015

-Literally everything with the Guardians of the Galaxy in 2015

I think maybe they were trying to say that the MCU synergy became more apparent starting in 2017, which.....yeah, they are kinda right about that.

But I reason I say this is a weird statement is because what myst1calx says later in their reblog.

Which I'll get to.

"also advertising doesnt always mean mcu syndication slop dude"

Dude, I never said anything about the advertisement for the MCU being the same as MCU synergy slock.

Advertising for the MCU is perfectly fine. I mean, Marvel would want their project to do well, right?

But the problem is using a piece of Marvel media that isn't connected to the MCU and having it resemble the MCU.

It just doesn't allow it the product to stand on it's own.

"like dont bring avengers assemble and aos and usm into this"

Why shouldn't?

Avengers Assemble does play a part in the MCU synergy problem.

I didn't even mention Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at all in my post.

And for Ultimate Spider-Man.....

I only brought up the comic for a point I was making about a weird similarity I noticed between most modern non-MCU projects and most recent Spider-Man media.

And if we're talking about the cartoon, I literally just said it didn't suffer from any MCU synergy at all.

"this is entierly a thing that started with the 2017 uni and it comics. just correcting because i'm tire dof the whole “ mcu syndication rhetoric” when talking about aa it's so fucking annoying"

The MCU synergy has been around before 2017, they think were just saying that it became before prominent and explicit than before.

But the whole "MCU syndication rhetoric" when about AA.....

While yes, Avengers Assemble may not have the most blatant case of MCU synergy out of the non-MCU TV shows of the 2010s (Guardians of the Galaxy say "hi" again.), it's hard not to mention it as it does play a big part in that show.

From the content within the show, to literally why the show was made in the first place.

"look at the comics or anything from like. idk 2017 onwards."

This one I do agree (sort of).

I don't what the comics have to do with AA (they're completely different continuities), but I do know that the MCU synergy has gotten worse with the comics since 2017.

I mean for God's sake, the latest case of this was just last year with Ms. Marvel being retconned into a mutant.

"like you COULD make a claim abt this but honestly i see it more as you guys just not liking new shit"

But I like some of the new Marvel shit.....

the Insomniac Spider-Man games, the Spider-Verse films, Midnight Suns, those Marvel animes, and that upcoming Marvel Rivals game.

Hell, I actually like Avengers Assemble as well.

I know I didn't mention it in my post, I actually do like this show a lot.

I know it's not as good as the show that came before it, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but I still acknowledge it merits and enjoy it as its own thing.

But most of the other non-MCU projects I'm just not that wild about.

Since let's be real, they're kinda just.....

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"like being fr, have you ever watched or played any of these games or do you see that at face value"

Yes, I have watched and played both Avengers and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.

And both of these are just not that good.

While they're definitely not the worst games ever, they're just nothing really home to write home about.

For Avengers, this game was pure wasted potential.

I mean, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics had access to an IP that at the time of acquiring it, had over 50 years worth of history!

That IP had hundreds of comics with numerous storylines worth adapting, an enormous roster of characters, a multitude of other iterations to easily take some influence from, and most of all, a movie franchise that helped make it into the powerhouse it is today.

But with all that, they found some way to screw it up!

The plot is nothing home to rave about. It's just you're standard "getting the band back together" plot.

The graphics are....passable. Just your standard very realistic-looking game.

The gameplay is repetitive as all hell and fails at making any of the characters feel distinct from one another.

The bonus content is a total joke. I mean putting aside the obvious micro-transactions, most of the purchasable costumes absolutely suck. They're either just half-assed attempts at recreating outfits from whatever source material they came from, or just recolors of each other.

And most of all, the game has some of the most pitiful representation of the Marvel Universe ever put to screen.

I mean, can you name any notable locations from the comics that was featured in the game?

The only one was Wakanda, but even that could've been done a little better.

There was no Asgard or any of the other Nine Realms, no Latveria, no Kamar-Taj, no Dark Dimension, no Atlantis, no Savage Land.

Hell, we don't even get to go to New York! Despite the fact that like 90% of the Marvel characters are based there.

All we got were primarily generic-looking bases, deserts and forests (occasionally with some snow).

And in my post, I mentioned that there was a list of playable characters planned to be in the game.

In addition to Spider-Man and Hawkeye, this list included the likes of Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Captain Mar-Vell, Daisy Johnson, Doctor Strange, The Falcon, Kate Bishop, Mockingbird, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, The Vision, The Wasp, War Machine, and the Winter Soldier.

But only five characters from that list made it into that game, plus the Jane Foster Thor, which let's be real, that was only done just to coincidence with the release of Thor: Love and Thunder.

You can't tell me that the roster we got by the time the game finished updating was better than the one that was initially planned.

And I reason I say this game was pure wasted potential was because.....look at who the Avengers have had as members over the decades!

People don't seem to know this a lot or ever really acknowledge it, but the Avengers are like a melting pot, as they've had members from basically every corner of the Marvel Universe!

Heroes from the mystical side like the aforementioned Doctor Strange, Hercules, Black Knight and White Tiger.

Heroes from the cosmic side like the aforementioned Captain Marvels, Monica Rambeau, Moondragon and Nova.

Several street-level heroes like the aforementioned Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Shang-Chi.

A couple of mutants have been members like Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch and even members of the X-Men, namely Wolverine, Beast and Storm.

Hell. Literally every member of the Fantastic Four has been a member of the Avengers at one point!

Like, does anyone else see the potential I'm bringing up?!

There could've easily been several DLCs that got to explore much greater Marvel Universe.

But alas, we never got that....

As for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite....

Jesus....

Apart from the admittedly decent gameplay, there's just nothing else good about this game.

The graphics totally suck. They threw away the gorgeous cel-shaded, comic book-inspired look from 3: Fate of Two Worlds for this bland, kinda ugly pseudo-realistic look for the sake of just like damn-near everything else in that game: MCU synergy.

Not to mention they look pretty cheap, especially in the cutscenes.

The reason being that this game had a pretty low budget.....and it really shows.

The music was mid, since, once again, they changed many of the characters themes in order to make it more MCU-inspired.

And while I do respect that this game is the first one in the series to have a story-mode, it's unfortunate that the story-mode sucks.

The plot was just so lame and was obviously riding the hype for the then-upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.

And I already brought up the absolute disgrace of a roster and the behind-the-scenes drama of this game in my poster.

All in all, these games may not be the worst games of all time, but they're just not worth anyone's time or money.

If you like these games, more power to ya.

"because i see more misconceptions about characters in deisgn and charaterizations in the 2010s morethan anything"

I'm not sure about this one.

Most of the stuff I said about the designs and characterizations in the comics is largely truly.

But maybe one of them was possibly exaggerated and not nearly as prevalent as most people make it out to be.

"and the thing is is that marvel will just keep doing this bullshit because you guys keep buying into it"

I just pointed it out that most of the stuff on the designs and characterizations is largely true.

It almost feels like they're trying to downplay just how prevalent the MCU synergy is in the comics.

Which is weird since they just admitted early with how prevalent the MCU synergy is in the comics!

And also.....

Fuck off with that bullshit.

Don't blame this on the fans.

They're (mostly) not the ones clamoring for this MCU synergy!

Marvel is doing this on their own term and are obviously doing this to appeal to more contemporary fans who got introduced to Marvel through the MCU.

And as I mentioned in my post, I'm convinced that the people at Marvel believe these guys have never heard of the word: adaptation.

Not only that, but they also seem to believe that these fans will get confused that the comics don't line-up with the movies 1-to-1.

And trust me, this isn't the first time something like this has happened with Marvel.

"this doesnt work for most of the shows pre 2016 in the 2010s marvel area because they didnt suffer from it until marvel started forcing it on them for maximum profits #which then ended up biting them in the ass when avengers assemble fans dropped the show after relazing that s5 became shitty mcu syndication"

Now this part is true.

The MCU synergy started to become much more prominent roughly around 2016/2017.

I already went into how this negatively affected stuff like Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, but let's head back to the main focus of this part, Avengers Assemble.

Although AA was created to obviously ride the wave of success caused by the first Avengers film, it surprisingly had very little MCU synergy....for, as I mentioned earlier, the first two seasons.

The only examples I can think of from the first two seasons was when they recreated the Chitauri in the Impossible Man, and a few references that got turned on their head like when Hulk tries to punch Thor, but he blocks it with Mjolnir.

But when season 3 came around....that's when everything changed.

During that season, it was pretty apparent they were really striving to be more like the MCU than in prior seasons.

The season featured Ultron as the main antagonist be he was in the latest Avengers movie at time, Age of Ultron.

Despite the fact that when the season premiered, Age of Ultron for almost a year at that point....

The Avengers got new outfits, pulled directly from the movies.

Hulk and Black Widow had something going on between them....like in the movies.

Klaw, who first appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man (which is connected to AA), receives a major redesign, looking like how he did in the movies, whereas before, he looked like how did in the comics.

The last four episodes were based off Civil War (I wonder why?).

They move their headquarters to a compound....once again, like in the movies.

And they predominately featured the Inhumans as recurring characters, since this was back when Marvel were trying to push them as the next big characters in order to replace the X-Men and promote their then-upcoming movie.

Which ended up getting cancelled and got replaced by a shitty TV show....which was cancelled after just one season.

In Season 4, this synergy was thankfully less present.

There was aforementioned Falcon redesign.

And Doctor Strange got one as well, to look more like how he did in the movies.

But then came along Season 5....

Dear God....

Not only was the MCU synergy just as prevalent as it was in Season 3 (maybe even more so, especially with the fact that it was heavily focused on Black Panther), but it even took place in a completely different continuity.

Yep! Season 5 was completely removed from the previous 4 seasons!

And to make matters worse, it was set in the same universe as Spider-Man 2017.....and Guardians of the Galaxy!

Which itself was connected to the first 4 seasons of AA.

HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?!

youtube

"this didnt START from the 2010s. it started midway throu"

Once again, the MCU synergy has been around since the early 2010s.

It was only at the midway point of that decade where started to become more prevalent than before.

And outside of the comics, the earliest case I think of for this was with EMH, which had Iron Man acting exactly like how he did in the movies.

Hell, even Hulk looked pretty similar to how he did in his solo film everybody forgot about.

"and creeped its way in because you guys LET IT HAPPEN"

Once again, fuck off with that bullshit.

"half of the things mentioned arent even mcu syndicationy they just suffer from current realisitc game trends that we are the norm"

I can definitely tell they're talking about Square Enix's Avengers.

But in all honesty, but game didn't really have a whole lot of MCU synergy.

It was still there, specifically with how the characters look.

I mean, everyone has said it before, but the Avengers looked like the stunt doubles for the MCU actors.

But it wasn't as prevalent as some of the other Marvel media to feature it.

Doesn't really make it much better though.

The game is honestly sort of a Schrodinger's video game, where doesn't take much from the comics or any other iterations of the Avengers, but doesn't take much from the MCU either.

"like what is your point here? “oh not every marvel property is the same is the comics” dude nobody buys comic shit because they arent as easy to get into the manga you guys perpetuate this shit and then wonder why cb fandoms are always filled with normies"

And here we are....

Now this is the last part of the reblog, and the one that really annoys me the most.

My point of that post was to show how not only was the constant MCU synergy incredibly tiring, but also been doing a lot of harm to their recent projects that aren't connected to the MCU.

Like, Avengers Assemble could've gone down as one of the greatest Marvel cartoons ever made!

But it got bogged down by the MCU synergy of the later seasons.

So much so that the final season wasn't even connected to the previous ones!

And now, it's usually just seen as the "we have the MCU at home" show.

And I do I even need to bring up Infinite into this?

And not only that, but it's also been bringing out the worst in Marvel.

I mean, just look at my post and read up on how much they made Capcom suffer during the production of Infinite.

But the synergy has not only harmed potentially good projects and lead to promising upcoming projects to be thrown to the Shadow Realm, but even good projects in unintentional ways.

The Guardians of the Galaxy video game was really good and the people who played it all agreed that this was what Avengers should've been!

But despite the positive reception, the game ended up flopping hard.

And while this was largely thanks to the failure of Avengers (since Guardians was also produced by Square Enix), I feel like the growing annoying towards MCU synergy may've played a part in this as well.

Since remember: out of all the characters of Marvel, the Guardians have been the ones undoubtedly changed by the MCU the most.

It's like....not even a contest.

And not only is this synergy doing harm to their non-MCU projects, but also gonna start (and it's possibly already has been) doing harm to the Marvel brand itself.

This is largely because of how homogenized they've made everything, which is not gonna be helping them because of rapidly declining interest in the MCU (aka Marvel Fatigue).

I mean, last year was just not a good year for them.

Besides Guardians of the Galaxy 3, two other films that released that year (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels).

Both those films were met critically with what could be described as a resounding "meh".

But the real damage came in their box office.

Quantumania was a box-office disappointment, grossing $476.1 million worldwide against a gross production budget of $326.6 million, being one of the few MCU films not to break even in its theatrical run.

And The Marvels.....

Oh man, The Marvels....

That film was a box-office bomb! Grossing $206 million worldwide against a gross production budget of $274.8 million. And it now holds the record for being the lowest-grossing film in the franchise's history!

That had to be hurting Marve!

And it seems so as just recently, Marvel Studios announced they would be limiting the amount of MCU projects they release a year.

And while Marvel largely targeted towards the MCU itself, I feel like could also potentially start harming non-MCU projects.

Since let's be real, one of the many issues people have had with the recent MCU is how formulaic and generic it's become.

From the trademark forced and frankly mediocre humor, to having damn-near every threat be potentially world-ending.

I'm pretty sure the same could be applied to what people usually expect from a modern non-MCU project.

It's gonna have a semi-realistic art-style.

It's gonna feature the big characters (Avengers, Guardians and Spider-Man) featured in the MCU and barely anyone else (Fantastic Four, X-Men, street-level heroes).

They're all gonna be wearing their MCU outfits.

Every character is gonna be a quippy asshole (expect the ones who are suppose to be quippy assholes like Hawkeye and Spider-Man).

And it's gonna have a world-ending threat, with either Loki or Thanos as the main villain.

(Maybe Ultron if you're lucky)

And if this keep going, I'm sure Kang the Conquerer will essentially become the next villain to always be the main villain.

Well, if he's still going to be used in the MCU....

On to the next point.

“oh not every marvel property is the same is the comics”

Okay.

This has been a topic of debate when it comes to comic book adaptations for years.

Whether or not all comic book adaptations should strive to be like, 100% faithful to the source material.

To me, I think the answer to this is, in the words of the Pirate Captain,....

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If this is for a series like Watchmen, 300 and Invincible, I feel like you should definitely make the adaptation as faithful as possible.

But even then, there would be definitely be some changes to the source material, since they would have story elements that were either weak or just plain bad.

Basically, maybe people's ideas on adaptations is to utilize what works, and either strengthen or get rid of what doesn't.

But when doing an adaptation for the big dogs like DC and Marvel.....this is where things get really tricky.

Because DC and Marvel have ongoing continuities with no end in sight, doing a largely faithful adaptation of any of their characters' stories would be an absolute nightmare since that characters will often have literal DECADES of history, plus hundreds to thousands of comics to read in order to understand said history.

If you've noticed, a lot of adaptations of DC and Marvel aren't exactly 1-to-1 adaptations of the stories from the comics.

But the reason why they're held in such high regard is because in spite of that, they manage to stay faithful to the spirit, tone and characterizations of the comics.

And even then, they will still adapt storylines and elements from the comics, but just little more streamlined.

Essentially, the best way I can describe how adaptations of DC and Marvel work is that they use the comics as a basis (along with other iterations) and essentially strive for something that's familiar while still being different.

For example, let's look at some of the Batman cartoons.

Although having some similarities, the three shows I'm about to bring up are still largely different from each other.

Batman: The Animated Series focused on the adventures of an already experienced Batman (having been at this gig for years and already knowing his villains) and his relationships with those around him.

The Batman, while somewhat similar to its predecessor, is focused on a younger and slightly-less experienced Batman learning to become a better hero.

And Batman: The Brave and Bold, is completely different from the prior two shows as it's focused on Batman's adventures interacting with the much greater DC Universe, specifically the lesser-known side.

But despite that, from watching these shows, you can still tell that they all used the comics (along with other iterations) as a basis and just built upon that in unique ways.

Contrast that with many of the non-MCU projects/products of the 2010s, which were obviously using the movies as a basis....and nothing really else.

And not only is this limiting to what these projects could do, but it's also kind of disingenuous.

Remember, the Marvel characters existed DECADES before the MCU even came around.

But to see Marvel not really even bothering to utilize said source material (in addition to constantly trying to alter it for the sake of brand synergy) is kind of a dick move.

And as I stated before, they're obviously doing to this to appeal to a certain demographic.

All companies have done this before.

And that certain demographic are the people who got into Marvel via the MCU.

And that leads us to the tail end of this part.

I get it.

It's REALLY hard to get into comics, specifically of the big two: DC and Marvel, especially the latter.

This is largely because of how long their characters have been around.

And if that wasn't intimidating enough, these characters will often have multiple runs (sometimes running at once) and that can last to hundreds, even thousands of issues!

Though not all comics books are like that.

Namely the limited series ones.

Hell, even franchises that have had multiple comic runs like Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Sonic the Hedgehog surprisingly don't have this issue.

In spite of having multiple comics runs, the reason they don't suffer is because each one (no matter how long they've ran for) usually takes place in a completely different continuity from the other.

And also, using the term "normies" is so lame and kind of insulting.

I mean, I thought that term died back in like 2016.

A better term for these people would be "contemporary fans".

But anyway, contemporary fans shouldn't be blamed for people not buying comics much anymore.

If anything, the blame should be more placed towards the companies themselves for not really having anything that could help ease them into the world of these characters and, as I mentioned before, constantly changing the continuity of the comics in order to make it easier for those fans to get into (which ironically I think actually makes it harder).

Like, remember back in the 2000s and the early 2010s, when Marvel used to have to storybooks, novels and encyclopedias that went into detail on the backgrounds of the Marvel characters.

I'm pretty sure that helped a lot of contemporary fans of that era get a good understanding of the Marvel characters.

And I'm sure it can work for the contemporary fans of today as well.

Well that's all I have to say.

This isn't meant be a call-out post, I just wanted to response to the points myst1calx brought up in their reblog.

And while writing for this, I kinda feel like I should've gone more in-depth on some of my points in the original post.

And even then, I do feel like they are confused on some points I made in the post.

But anyway, myst1calx, if you are reading this, I do hope we can reach a better understanding on this whole topic.

And if I sounded somewhat angry at some points, I do apologize for that.

But other than that, I'm gonna go eat something to eat.

Peace.

#response #rant post #personal rant #marvel cinematic universe #mcu synergy #marvel #marvel comics #avengers assemble #but seriously though #i am genuinely excited for marvel rivals!

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theflixdiary · 2 days ago

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Jersey Girl (2004) directed by Kevin Smith

age rating: PG-13 genre: romantic comedy, drama duration: 1h 42m country: United States language: English screenplay: Kevin Smith

major cast: Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro, George Carlin, Jennifer Lopez

plot summary: Oliver Trinke (Ben Affleck) is a successful Manhattan music publicist whose life is turned upside down when he loses his wife, Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez), shortly after their daughter, Gertie (Raquel Castro), is born. forced to move back to New Jersey and rebuild his life as a single father, Oliver struggles with his career ambitions and responsibilities at home. just when he thinks he has life figured out, he meets Maya (Liv Tyler), a spirited woman who makes him question what truly matters.

my thought on the movie below (may contains spoilers):

first question: why is this movie even called Jersey Girl? the film spends more time with Oliver’s work struggles and his romantic woes than it does developing his actual relationship with his daughter, Gertie (the supposed "Jersey girl" in question). Honestly, I kept waiting for Gertie to take the spotlight, but nope, we just see her pop in here and there between Oliver’s job drama and his occasional flirtations with Maya (Liv Tyler). it felt like the movie kept losing track of its own focus, which was a little frustrating. the movie kicks off with a lot of potential. the premise is touching, and the opening moments with Jennifer Lopez as Gertrude hint at a sweet family story. but then, after that initial setup, we’re just plunged into Oliver’s professional meltdown and, well, his, let’s say, somewhat needy romantic life. he’s clearly a guy who’s trying to juggle it all—grief, work, and parenthood—but it sometimes veers too much into him being self-absorbed, which makes it hard to truly root for him. and yes, while it’s nice to see a single dad struggling and trying to grow, it felt like Gertie’s storyline was pushed aside to focus on.. Ben Affleck figuring out about his love life. Liv Tyler as Maya? she brings this quirkiness that I honestly enjoyed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that her role was mostly about helping Oliver get his act together. and it’s almost ironic that she works at a VHS rental store—because this whole movie feels like something I’d stumble across while browsing through old DVDs, thinking if should I give it a go or just re-watch Good Will Hunting.

there’s even a funny moment that makes me wonder if I was supposed to believe Maya is the real Jersey girl here? it’s confusing at times! and don't get me started on the awkward way they throw her into Oliver’s life. it just felt like the story was trying to be a rom-com and a heartfelt family film at the same time but not quite hitting the mark on either. did it tug at my emotions? kind of, but not as much as I hoped. there were a few moments with Gertie and her grandpa that made me smile, and that added some charm. but for a movie that’s supposed to be about this cute father-daughter bond, it just didn’t dig deep enough. maybe if the film had focused more on that, it could’ve been something special. instead, it’s like we’re given a family drama that’s got more rom-com than family time, leaving us with mixed vibes by the end. I think Jersey Girl is okay if you’re looking for something light and don’t mind a meandering storyline. but if you’re in the mood for a really solid family drama, this may not be it.

poster credit: IMDb edited using canva

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kokomifan24 · 8 months ago

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Serizawa x reigen aladdin AU

Serizawa x Reigen Aladdin AU oneshot requested by @princeasimdiya12

word count: 1151

Note: tysm for requesting this fic!! it was amazing to work on!! also thank you @izakumai for proof reading this for me!

For the most of Serizawa’s life he’s been sheltered in his palace and his mother did everything in her power to cheer up her son. Nothing would work. Gifts, jesters, and she even introduced him to potential suitors. For being the prince of Agrabah, he’d seen little to none of the city itself. He was scared his people wouldn’t accept him because of his psychic powers and that he would hurt them. That was far from the truth. All he wanted was to find someone who understood him.

Until one day, he overheard the conversation of one of his guards talking about the many “psychic” services in the city and which ones were fake. That caught his attention

“If there're psychics services in the city, there could potentially be more people who understand and could help me”

He thought to himself as he went back to his room to get in disguise and head into the city. Because he never rarely showed his face to the public, nobody would recognize him. All he had to do was put on a more “common” attire and head out.

Before he could, he had to make sure his mother wouldn’t find him, so he put books about the neighboring city in his room to trick his mother and the guards into thinking he went there. Now that everything is in place, he went to the city; he got overwhelmed easily because of how busy everything is. People were bumping into him, so many voices started to get too much until he saw an empty alleyway and decided to go there.

He covered his ears in hope of quieting everything down. He started to curl up into a ball, regretting his decision of ever leaving the palace. He ended up falling asleep in the alley that night and woke up to the sound of people talking about the missing prince. News must have spread by now about his absence. Serizawa slowly stood up to go look around the city more.

As he left the alley, he saw a missing poster with an old picture of him on it. He took the poster and put it in his pocket. He started to walk until he saw a flashy sign reading “spirits and such consultation office” and a blonde-haired man accompanied by a little boy. His staring caught the eye of the blonde-haired man,

“YOU WITH THE DARK HAIR AND SHAGGY LOOK!” he screamed at Serizawa.

“M-Me?!” he says with a shaky tone to his voice and sweating vigorously

“YEAH YOU!,”

He slowly starts to walk up to Serizawa and gives him a sales pitch to try and sell his services. Serizawa was starting to get overwhelmed and freaked out until the little boy came up to them and said.

“Master, I think this guy is a psychic,” he says in a monotone voice. Suddenly the blonde's eyes lit up and said,

“Oh, never knew we had a fellow psychic in our mists.” He puts his hand on Serizawa’s shoulder,

“Y-yea I am! I wanted to know if you could help me understand my powers more,” he says with a nervous tone in his voice.

“Of course I REIGEN ARATAKA IS THE BEST PSYCHIC IN THE WORLD!” He goes on a rant about how much of a powerful psychic he is and that he can teach him everything he needs to know about his powers.

Reigen then takes Serizawa into his office and starts to tell him what he's going to do for work there.

“But first, before you start, we have to do something about how you look,” Reigen says in a serious tone.

“H-how I look?” Serizawa says with confusion.

Then Reigen takes out a razor and a brush and starts to change his hair.

“Mhm much better,” Reigen says with his usual proud tone to his voice as he gets a mirror for Serizawa. Serizawa was surprised at how different he looked now, the guards are for sure not to recognize him now.

He gives Reigen a thanks while he nervously smiles. After a while of him working at the office, he slowly started to get used to the place and develop feelings for Reigen. But because of how long he has gone, the city has become more worried and down because of the absence of the prince. He wanted to go back home because of how much his mother was worried, but he couldn’t because he didn’t want to leave Reigen.

It was a tough spot for him. He didn’t know what to do or who to go to. He didn’t want Reigen to hate him for his identity as the prince; he wanted to give Reigen everything. Reigen started to notice that Serizawa wasn’t feeling good and wanted to cheer him up, so he would always try to make his work days more exciting and fun. But it only seemed to make him more upset.

“Is it something with me? Does he not like me?” Reigen thought to himself while getting ready for the day. It made Reigen quite upset seeing him like this but he didn’t know what he could do to help him. He sucked it up and put the same smile on his face as he entered his office.

As the days went by, he got more worried for Serizawa and decided to talk to him about it.

“Hey Serizawa can I talk to you” he asks,

“S-sure what’s up?” Serizawa says nervously as he turns to Reigen. Reigen starts to signal for them both to sit down at the little table. Reigen then builds up the courage to tell Serizawa,

“Serizawa, is there something bothering you? You're really bringing down the workplace environment and it could push away potential customers.” Reigen tells Serizawa trying to act like a coworker to sound more professional to not worry about him. It ended up making him more worried.

“I uhm..” He starts to get overwhelmed and just blurbs out the truth. Reigens' eyes widen as he hears the truth.

“YOU'RE THE PRINCE?!” He says loudly while standing up in his seat.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he says while sitting back down.

“I was afraid…that, you would think of me differently,” Serizawa says

“Why would I think of you differently? You're still the same Serizawa I know… and love” He says while putting his hand on his own neck while blushing lightly. Serizawa smiles faintly and says.

“Thank you Reigen, I love you too,” He says.

Over the next few days, he asked Reigen to move in with him in the palace and become his prince along his side. He helped Reigen pack his stuff, and they went to the palace.

“Are you sure your mother will accept me?” Reigen asked nervously

“I’m sure of it.” Serizawa said with a smile as they went on a ride to the palace.

#mob psycho 100 #fan fiction #reigen arakata #mp100 serizawa #mp100 #mp100 fanfic #kokomifan24 #serirei #aladdin #mp100 au #shigeo kageyama #anime

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takeyourcyanide · 10 months ago

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Repulsion (original)

Chapter 2: Issues

Notes: I am just about done with the re-do, I just have to finish the second chapter of it. They both take very different approaches to this topic. Also, the very last portion of this was written days after the first half, just in case it seems a bit off in some way.

……

“You’ve got a nice little place here, Marie,” Stein complimented Marie’s quaint apartment, looking around.

The two had managed to make it back to her place by the time the sun had gone down, sleepily slipping out of the sky.

Marie had two small, white, and soft-looking loveseats placed opposite to one another and facing one another, separated by a coffee table. The little wooden table happened to of a lighter color, a cream sort of shade. Said table held a gold vase with a crimson rose nestled within it.

Marie also had a tiny, round dining table tucked away in a corner, the kitchen a few feet away from it. The walls of the apartment were white, an oddly specific white with a light pink tint to them. Stein wasn’t much of a pink kind of guy, but he did have to admit that it looked quite nice. Said walls were decorated with pleasing paintings, filling in some of the empty spaces rather nicely.

“Thanks. I tried my best,” Marie glanced over at Stein, looking around her own living space.

“Let’s head to what is now your room, I’m tired of caring this heavy computer.”

Marie walked quickly to the mostly empty bedroom, a mildly pained look on her face. Stein trudged closely behind the blonde, suitcase in hand.

Upon entering the bedroom, Stein noticed a few marks of both thumbtacks and tape on the wall, evident of old decor.

Marie, setting down the boy’s computer on the decently sized desk by the twin-sized bed, noticed Stein’s curious face, pointed directly at the residue on the walls.

“Oh, yeah, those are from my old meister’s poster,” Marie informed, swinging her finger quickly towards the unappealing residue.

“Figured. Still haven’t found another one?” Marie shook her head, appearing slightly disappointed.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, a fascinating twinkle in them as she audibly gasped.

Stein, taken aback, stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Why don’t you be my meister, Stein? We’ve both been ditched by our previous partners, we’re kindred souls!” Marie exclaimed, her last statement intended to be sarcastic. The girl exaggerated that element of sarcasm by theatrically flailing her arms outwards, grinning mischievously ear to ear.

“Are you sure about that, Marie? Do you really trust me? Personally, I thought you were pushing it by even letting me stay here,” Stein prodded the weapon in question, a confused expression painted across his tired face.

“Well, I can’t find another partner… And I have complete faith that you will not try anything funny. And I’m not as dumb as Spirit, I’ll beat the shit of you,” Marie playfully teased both Spirit and Stein, smiling. Stein chuckled in response, focusing on unpacking.

Stein lifted his head up, looking at Marie with a pitiful expression on his face, an over-exaggerated pout on his lips as he said, “You’re only settling for me, Marie?”

Stein purposefully began forcing his bottom lip to quiver, pretending to wipe tears.

Marie grabbed the square pillow on the bed, throwing it at Stein’s head.

The meister’s hand went to rub his head, feigning a glare at Marie as he laughed.

“I’ll let you unpack. If you need anything, just holler. Make yourself comfortable,” Marie said, leaving the room as she gave Stein a small smile.

“Thanks.”

Stein continued taking his clothing out of his suitcase, opening the teeny tiny closet by the door, and hanging them up.

Stein sighed to himself, about ready to collapse on the bed, of which was tucked away in the left corner of the room. It had a dark blue comforter and pillowcase set. The sheets were of a plain white.

Stein, after finishing with his clothes, bent down and picked up the soft pillow Marie had chucked at him, situating it nicely on the bed.

He looked around the humble room, questioning what he was even doing here.

So many years of learning the art of self control, only to end up kicked out and in Marie’s cutesy-ish apartment.

His impulsivity was one of his greatest weaknesses.

His hedonism was, too, one of his greatest weaknesses.

Stein was ripped away from his thoughts, focusing again on unpacking the rest of his items. There weren’t many, so it wouldn’t be too difficult.

He only needed to take out and organize his medical supplies and beakers and such. Then he’d take care of his computer.

It was as though Stein was starting all over again.

Time, yet again, to learn how to be a human.

———

Spirit laid painfully in his bed, staring up at the white, empty ceiling, the back of his hand resting upon his still pounding forehead.

His eyes hurt, exhausted and desperate to shut. Spirit frowned at seemingly nothing, recalling his memories of the past few hours.

He shook his head, sighing heavily.

What the hell even happened?

Spirit mind raced back and forth, from Stein to Kami, Stein to Kami, Stein to Kami.

Spirit felt utterly at a loss for what to do.

He wanted to speak to both of them, wanting to discuss with Stein about how to proceed forward, among other things. He wanted to apologize to Kami, and he trembled at the mere thought of it. She was undoubtedly furious with him, and if she found out that he was even considering speaking to Stein, she’d go ballistic.

Spirit hoped helplessly that Kami would cool off overnight, and that he could have a proper conversation with her. He wanted to explain his side, Stein’s side - listen to her side.

Spirit groaned, maneuvering his blanket out from underneath himself, wrapping himself up tightly. He rolled over on his side, long hair falling gently onto his nose.

He allowed for his eyes to shut gently, desperate for rest.

He figured that he deserved it.

——

Stein had long since finished unpacking, having left what had become his bedroom, moving to sit beside the reading Marie.

“What are you reading?” Stein inquired, Marie shifting her book up towards him in response.

The front cover read ‘What Evolution Is’ by Ernst Mayr. The book Marie had seen him reading.

“I didn’t know you were interested in evolutionary biology,” Stein raised an eyebrow, an amused grin on his face.

“Well, you seemed to enjoy it a lot, and I thought I’d give it a shot,” Marie smiled right back, attention soon returning to the book.

“You like it so far? What chapter are you on?” Stein asked, leaning a bit over in order to observe at the pages.

“I’m on chapter three, and yeah, it’s pretty interesting, actually,” Marie replied, nodding her head slightly, placing a floral bookmark inside of the book.

“You sound surprised,” Stein prodded in a teasing tone.

“Well, science is more of your thing,” she shrugged her shoulders, placing the book on the coffee table.

“Is there something you wanted?” Marie’s curious expression amused Stein as she stared at him expectantly.

“No, I was just bored.”

“Oh, okay, then.”

Stein leaned back onto the loveseat, a sigh once again rattling throughout his pale frame as he groaned in annoyance.

“Is something wrong?” Marie gently interrogated.

Stein’s head fell onto the back of the loveseat as he stretched out his lanky limbs.

He shook his head twice in disbelief, eyes narrow and almost confused-looking. His mouth repeatedly opened and closed, searching for a response.

“I’m not looking forward to this coming Monday. At all. What’s going to happen? What’s going to happen to me?” Stein contemplated aloud, staring thoughtfully at Marie.

“At least it’s still Saturday, I guess. You’ve got, like, another day or so,” Marie spoke, shaking her own head.

“God, I need a cigarette,” Stein huffed out, closing his eyes.

Marie rolled her eyes, slapping his playfully on the shoulder.

“That’s not good for you, you should stop that,” his apparent weapon scolded.

“Hopefully it’ll kill me by the time I’m thirty,” Stein smirked, knowing that would get under Marie’s skin. He knew she’d especially not like it because of the fact that she knew he meant it, even if only to a minuscule degree.

Marie slapped the back of his head, saying, “Don’t talk like that, Stein.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

Stein’s smirk never once faltered.

Marie sighed, rolling her eyes once more.

“I’m gonna go get some sleep. You coming?” Marie stated, standing up.

“Yeah, sure,” Stein followed suit.

The meister walked a few steps behind her, continuing to take in his new surroundings. It reminded Marie of a curious pet, discovering its new home and meeting its new owners.

Once Marie had made it to her bedroom, she stopped in her doorway, turning back towards Stein.

“You gonna be all right in there?” She asked, giving him a “tell me the truth” sort of look.

“Yeah, why?”

“Don’t experiment on yourself or anything - or me! I will end you,” Marie wagged her finger back in forth, narrowing her eyes in a playful, suspicious manner.

“But it’s my body,” Stein pouted, pout purposefully exaggerated.

“And you’re the one who didn’t stop me from bringing my supplies.”

“I wasn’t paying attention. And ff I even see even one new stitch or scar, I will harm you.”

“Sounds counterproductive.”

“Die.”

“Okay!” Stein beamed sarcastically.

Marie stared at him with a falsely annoyed expression, turning towards her bedroom as opposed to Stein.

“Goodnight, Stein,” she said, eyes softening.

“Goodnight, Marie.”

Stein entered his new bedroom, changing out of his day clothes and into pajamas.

After he finished changing, he tiredly walked towards the bed, lifting the blue blanket and slipping his body underneath it.

He laid on his back, staring intently at the ceiling.

He could hear every thought possible spiraling around inside of his head, so loud they were audible, detached from the confines of his brain, practically living their own little lives.

He, however, despite the sound of thinking within his skull, was not necessarily thinking about anything.

His head felt simultaneously empty and yet overcrowded.

His eyes assumed a twinkle of emptiness, his typical twinkle.

Was it all his fault? Was it Kami’s?

He couldn’t find it in himself to even care.

That’s what always gets him into trouble.

He is unable to care.

The only thing he truly cares about is science - what it stands for, what it is.

The only thing he cares about is satiating his curiosity - fulfilling his own desires.

Sometimes he wished so desperately - simply out of curiosity - to be normal for a day.

He wanted to see what it was like.

Perhaps his life would be easier.

No, not perhaps. It would definitely be much easier.

The lives of those around him would surely be easier as well.

——

Stein stirred, eyes begrudgingly opening at the loud disturbance that was the ringing of his cell phone.

He outstretched his sleepy arm, grabbing the phone and sitting up.

The caller ID read as “Spirit,” simultaneously confusing Stein and peaking his curiosity.

“Spirit?” Stein spoke groggily, not quite awake yet.

“Aren’t you mad? Why are you calling so early?” Stein looked over at the rectangular alarm clock sitting on the wooden bedside table. The large numbers ‘7:32’ flashed brightly, Stein squinted his eyes in response. He forgot to put on his glasses, ultimately exacerbating the spread of the red light, and making it mildly painful to look at.

“Yeah, I am. But I wanna speak to you, Stein. I have some stuff I need to talk with you about. Could you meet me at the park in like 15 minutes?” Spirit replied, sounding entirely exhausted.

“I mean, yeah, I guess. But won’t that make Kami even madder?”

“Probably. But she doesn’t need to know - at least not yet.

“Ok.”

“All right, then, thanks, Stein. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Stein put down the phone, staring at absolutely nothing within the dimly lit room. He shifted, placing his feet down onto the floor below, and putting on his glasses.

He grabbed his favorite turtleneck, pants, and shoes, changing out of his pajamas. He also grabbed his toothbrush from out of his suitcase, preparing to head to the bathroom.

He was curious as to what all they’d discuss, though he was able to guess some aspects of the upcoming conversation.

Stein promptly left his bedroom, entering the dark bathroom. He was attempting to remain quiet as to not disturb Marie, a small way of thanking her for giving him a place to stay. Maybe not the greatest way, but it was Stein, and he knew Marie would pick up on it and appreciate it.

Stein didn’t turn the bathroom light on, not wanting to be blinded at that moment. Even in the dark, he could appreciate Marie’s knack for decorating - something she clearly enjoyed. Everything was incredibly organized - another thing he could certainly praise her for. The shower curtain had a giant printed swan in the middle of it, causing Stein to grin in amusement. The hand towel by the sink was pleasingly soft, and seemingly of a yellow color from what he could see in the particularly dark room - the only light being what flooded in from his bedroom window, of which was covered by blinds, dark blue curtains having been pushed off to the side.

Her former partner really liked dark blue, evidently.

Stein placed his hand on the left handle of the faucet, sticking his electric toothbrush under said faucet. While soaking his toothbrush, he looked around for some toothpaste, eventually finding it in the top right drawer of the sink.

Stein observed his face as he brushed his teeth, staring intently and without hesitance. Even in the dark, he could see the bags resting underneath his eyes.

He heard Marie’s door open, as well as her light footsteps down the hall. She stopped directly in front of the bathroom door, rubbing her eyes and squinting.

Stein spit the toothpaste out of his mouth, cleaning his brush, as well as his mouth.

He glanced over at Marie, teasingly stating, “You’re hair’s a mess, Marie.”

And it most certainly was - various strands going every which way. She adorned a black, slip dress-like nightgown, and pink rabbit slippers.

Once Stein noticed the cute little slippers, he chuckled, pointing directly at him. Marie walked into the bathroom and nudged him away, taking out her hairbrush and running it through her hair.

“Your hair’s pretty messy, too, you know,” Marie sleepily responded, placing her hand in his hair and rustling it, making it look much worse than before.

Stein gave her a small pout, yanking her hairbrush out of her hands and running it mildly through his own hair.

He returned her hairbrush, leaning in front of her to grab some deodorant he spotted.

“You’re certainly borrowing all of my things,” Marie playfully teased the boy, smirking at him.

“You told me to make myself comfortable,” Stein shrugged his shoulders, returning the mocking smirk.

“Where’re you going? You’re already fully dressed,” Marie’s expression switched quickly to one of curiosity, similarly to the night before.

“Oh, why? Would you rather see me fully undressed?” Stein’s smirk grew exponentially larger as Marie slapped him on his shoulders.

“Just answer the question.”

Stein sighed, placing the deodorant on the counter as she shifted his body to fully face the girl beside him.

“Spirit called me actually,” his smirk was wiped off of his face, expression returning to his typical indifferent one.

“This early? And wait - why?”

“He has some stuff he wants to talk with me about, apparently. And yeah, he woke me up. He said we’d meet up at the park.”

“Oh, okay. Tell me what happens,” Marie said, staring up at Stein, of whom continued to simply stare at her right back.

“Is there something else?” Marie questioned, tilting her head.

“In order to leave and subsequently tell you what happens, I’m going to need you to move, Marie,” Stein plainly stated.

“Oh! Sorry!” She swiftly pushed herself up against the counter, giving him more than enough room to leave the bathroom.

——

The walk to the park was a rather peaceful one, though plagued with the screaming of Stein’s thoughts. They swirled in his head as incoherent ramblings, each attempting to get their own turn to make it to the forefront of Stein’s brain.

He peered up and admired the gray skies. It wasn’t sweltering like it typically was either. Stein preferred this sort of weather. It helped to clear his thoughts, even if only a tiny bit.

Stein fiddled with the ends of his soft, black turtleneck as he approached the park, walking upon his final cobblestone.

Spirit was already there, sitting on one of the brown benches by the entrance of the park, evidently a little nervous as he was biting incessantly at his nails, bouncing his leg repeatedly.

The redhead heard Stein enter the park, feeling his intimidating presence and just barely sensing his soul wavelength, whipping his head around to view the boy.

Stein noted how pale and exhausted Spirit looked, dark circles sleeping under his eyes where they usually were not.

“Did you get any sleep last night, Spirit?” Stein curiously inquired.

“Barely,” Spirit plainly answered, turning his head back to the ground.

Stein waltzed over to the bench, sitting down next to Spirit, being sure to maintain a safe and comfortable distance.

Stein sighed, moving to face the fire-haired male, just before asking the question of the hour:

“What did you want to talk about?”

“God, man… A lot of shit,” Spirit responded, fingers making circular patterns on his forehead.

“Still have a headache?”

“Unfortunately.”

The two were submerged in a brief silence, Spirit frantically grabbing at any semblance of coherent thought, attempting to put all he dragged Stein out here to discuss together in a cohesive manner.

“How are we gonna tell Lord Death that we are no longer partners, first of all? What’s the plan for Monday?” Stein broke the awkward silence, deciding upon a topic of which he figured Spirit wanted an answer to, as well.

“Wouldn’t Kami want in on that discussion?” Stein raised a valid question, a valid point.

“This is between us. Not us and Kami. She can stay out of it,” Spirit stared very seriously and determinedly at Stein.

“Good,” Stein replied, just as seriously as Spirit.

“So, I was thinking we can get to school early and head to the death room,” Spirit began.

“Yeah, obviously. But what are we going to tell him?” Stein wondered.

Spirit’s expression turned into one of simultaneous care, anger, and sorrow.

“Stein. I don’t want to get you jailed. We’re going to lie,” Spirit stated, staring intently into Stein’s confused eyes.

“You’re going to lie for me?”

“Stein, no matter how betrayed by you I feel…no - no matter how much you betrayed my trust, I still care about you. I don’t want to see you get severely punished. It doesn’t matter how furious at you I am.”

Stein’s eyes widened significantly. He could hardly speak. He didn’t understand it. But he appreciated it. It created a nice warm feeling within him - that feeling mixing with the confusion and the shock.

“Really?” Stein managed to choke out. He was utterly fascinated by this, obvious by the spark of childlike curiosity in his eyes.

Spirit had a sudden glint of pity in his own narrowed eyes.

“Stein, you live in an entirely different world than everyone else. And I’m sorry. I understand you do, I swear. But you can’t keep up with your behavior. It doesn’t only hurt others, it’s going to eventually screw you over, too.”

Stein averted his gaze, his whole body away from Spirit in response.

“I know. It already has, Spirit,” Stein emptily mumbled, sounding utterly pained and dead on the inside.

“Then why don’t you stop?” Spirit asked exasperatedly.

Stein looked up at him with shallow and miserable eyes.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Not at all, so, please! Explain it to me!”

Stein looked down at the ground, remaining silent.

Spirit tilted his head, exclaiming, “Stein, I know no one else wanted to hear you out, but I do! Tell me! I want to understand!”

“I can’t stop. And even when I try to, even when I attempt to be as sweet as everyone else, I am still miserable and unchanged. I’ve tried acting empathetically, but I don’t feel empathy. I’ve tried to have morality, but I failed each and every time. I’ve tried to be one of you, I’ve tried, Spirit. I was still miserable - possibly even more so, given the fact that I was unable to indulge in some of my few pleasures in life. Do you see now? I’m horribly miserable either way. But at least if indulge in my own sadistic hedonism, my own morbid curiosity, I’ll feel some sort of spark of something - it’s an addiction, it’s like a drug, because I never feel anything other than boredom. Don’t you understand how addictive curiosity is? How addictive sadistic pleasure is? Do you, Spirit? I can never be myself, I cannot exist, Spirit, I simply cannot,” Stein explained almost entirely with one breath, staring at Spirit with such wide eyes that it genuinely frightened Spirit. It felt as though he wasn’t speaking to something entirely human. Stein’s upper body leaned creepily closer to Spirit’s as he spoke, visibly passionate in what he was saying, despite sounding and appearing so utterly empty.

“Stein, you’re chasing after short bursts of fun. Ripping things apart won’t ever fill the void inside of you - that fucking black hole. It will always want more. If you choose to simply fulfill your desires, that’s your choice, but you’re only going to end up completely alone and probably on the run. You cannot run from yourself, Stein, nor can you ever hide,” Spirit replied, lifting his hand to pat Stein on his shoulder, leaving said hand resting upon his slumped shoulder.

“But I want..” Stein lifted his hands, staring down at them.

“What do you want, Stein?”

“I don’t know. But I want something. What do I want, Spirit? I can’t find it - the answer,” Stein sounded utterly breathless.

“I’m going to lie for you, Stein. Do not do some shit like you did to me to another student again - at least not until I’m not mad anymore. And scared, honestly.”

Stein only nodded his head, mouth slightly ajar, eyes like beady saucers.

“How will you lie? We worked well, so you can’t say that we didn’t,” Stein pointed out.

“I’ll tell him I want to partner with Kami. I’ll tel him Kami’s jealous, I’ll-I’ll tell him Kami’s moving in… Something like that,” Spirit responded, thinking on the fly.

“He’ll know something’s up.”

“We’ll deal with that when we get there.”

“What if Kami tells him out of spite?”

“I’ll let you dissect her,” Spirit grinned. Stein chuckled once in response, though he did not smile, his expression remaining disturbingly fixed.

“Stein, you mentioned psychiatrists and shit awhile back… Were you ever diagnosed with anything?” Spirit asked, sounding awfully genuine and sweeter than usual.

“I rarely spoke, and when I did, I either lied, said incredibly cryptic things, or turned their questions back onto them. They tried, but struggled significantly with the process of diagnosis.”

“Oh. Sounds like you,” Spirit nodded his head, seemingly in some sort of agreement.

“Why do you ask?” Stein tilted his head, eyes remaining large and aware.

“Just curious,” replied Spirit, shrugging his shoulders.

Spirit fixed his gaze onto the bench, seemingly lost in thought.

“What are you thinking about, Spirit?” Stein curiously interrogated.

“Where do we go from here?” Spirit responded, looking back upwards.

“We hardly even concocted a plan, Spirit. Shouldn’t we, as opposed to just letting it all happen?” Stein questioned.

“God, probably..” Spirit sighed, beginning to bite his short fingernails again.

“Lord Death is going to know something’s up… I think who we really need to worry about is Kami, though…” Spirit thought out loud, deep in his little planning mode, of which Stein found terribly amusing.

“You’re pretty damn good at coming up with things on the spot, Stein. We’ll worry about Lord Death tomorrow. Kami, however… Are we sure she’s going to keep her word and not say a word so long as we end our partnership?” Spirit peered up at Stein.

“You could try to hint at it whenever you meet up with her again. Ask her if she was serious or something. But she seemed serious. If she fucks me over, I’ll put her head on a stake, and place that stake right outside of her parents’ house,” Stein went on a brief homicidal rant.

Spirit sighed, saying, “I’ll hint at it. I planned on trying to speak with her after I got back from the park.”

“Oh, okay, good, we’re on the same page, then,” Stein said.

“Not with the decapitation, though, just to be clear,” Spirit spoke, waving his large hands in front of himself in disagreement.

“Yeah, I know, Spirit.”

“After I speak with Kami, I’ll tell you about whatever she says Monday - or tomorrow, rather,” Spirit planned. Stein nodded his head, flashing a thumbs up at the ginger.

“Stein, can I ask you question?” Spirit lowered his voice.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Why’d you perform little experiments on me? Were you curious?” Spirit tilted his head once more, long, silky strands of red hair swaying gently over to the side. Spirit always had wonderful hair, it was one of the many things that enabled him to be the little playboy he was.

“Yes, very. I find you very fascinating. I find all of you fascinating. It makes me want to open you up and see what makes you you. And because it was a good opportunity to sort of experiment on someone,” Stein responded, eyes growing impossibly larger as he was reminded of his pleasurable fascination with Spirit.

“I don’t know whether I should be flattered or freaked the fuck out,” Spirit huffed out a small chuckle, shaking his head back and forth.

“Actually, I feel a bit violated,” the red head widened his eyes, a twinge of disgust on his face.

Stein’s light pink lips stretched into a sadistic smirk as gave a small chuckle in response to Spirit’s struggle.

“Fuck you, Stein,” Spirit said, half-joking.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’d like to,” Stein glanced over at the blue-eyed weapon seated beside him, smirk not faltering.

“I’m scared you’d dissect me then, too,” Spirit gave a frightened look.

Yet another sigh racked the long, suit-covered body of Spirit as he said, “I need to leave before Kami sees us. She’s got me fucking paranoid.”

“Have you considered breaking up with her?”

Spirit appeared almost offended at that.

“Well… I love her..”

“Do you love paranoia?”

“No…”

Stein proceeded to flash him a “come on, Spirit” look.

“I don’t know what to do… That’s why I need to go ahead and talk to her,” Spirit spoke again, visibly dreading the future discussion.

Stein nodded in agreement, rising up from the bench, Spirit doing the same.

They stared into the eyes of another, practically saying a silent goodbye, despite the fact that they’d secretly speak again tomorrow.

“Bye, Stein,” Spirit said, walking away towards his apartment.

“Bye,” Stein mumbled back at Spirit, remaining still and watchful.

———

Spirit knocked on Kami’s door, anxious and even a bit afraid of what was to come - not necessarily with Kami, but rather, with everything.

“Yes, Spirit?” Kami spoke in an annoyed tone, still in her pajamas, as she swung the door open.

“Could I come in?” Spirit twiddles his thumbs, an air of genuineness about him.

Kami sighed harshly, stepping out of the way, saying, “Sure.”

“Look, Kami… I’d love to be your new weapon, but…. You’re really jealous and a little controlling,” Spirit got straight to the point, trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

“Excuse me?!” Kami shouted, taken aback. She placed her hand on her chest, fiery and expressive.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but-“

“How the fuck else am I supposed to take being called ‘jealous’ and ‘controlling’?!” She continued to wail, eyes wide and offended. Spirit held his hands out in front of himself in mock defense.

“I swear I’m not trying to insult you! It’s just - ever since we’ve started dating, you’ve been a little.. neurotic, and it’s caused me to feel very paranoid,” Spirit explained, tone kind in comparison to Kami’s.

Kami’s lips pursed, she took a step back and forwards again. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, at a loss for words. Her cheeks were flushed with fury, and her eyes were teary with hurt. It made Spirit feel an intense amount of guilt - the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

“I don’t know what to say, Spirit.. I’m sorry I’ve made you feel that way, but frankly, I’m hurt you’d say such cruel things about me,” Kami’s lower lip jutted out in a juvenile manner.

“Oh, please don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you upset,” Spirit began, hands outreaching towards Kami’s quivering figure.

“Well, you succeeded,” she interjected, a stray tear falling gracefully down her cheek. Spirit rushed quickly over to Kami, embracing her. She placed her hands on his chest, attempting to propel herself out of his arms.

“What are you doing, Kami?” Spirit rushed out, eyebrows furrowing.

“I don’t want to hug you. You’re the reason I’m upset in the first place,” Kami continued to pout, arms crossing in front of her as more tears fell.

Spirit suddenly became wise, questioning the possible ulterior motives behind these tears, asking, “Is this just a guilt trip?”

“How dare you assume that?!” She wailed, only sobbing harder.

Spirit sighed, at a loss for what to do.

“Come on, just… Sit on the couch with me, let’s talk, yeah?” Spirit spoke up, hoping they could simply have a calm discussion.

“Fine,” Kami gave in, moving towards her small couch.

They both sat down, Spirit grabbing her hands and holding them sweetly. He brushed his thumb repeatedly over the very top of her hands soothingly.

“I’m sorry I upset you, darling. That was not my intention. I just wanted to say that there are things we can both work on-“

“Like your proclivity towards other women?” Kami interrupted, voice laced with resentment.

“I told you, I only love you,” Spirit emphasized, his head bobbing along with his passionate declaration.

“You’re right, Spirit. I do have… certain issues. I’m sorry,” she begrudgingly admitted, face turned downwards in shame.

“And that’s okay! We can work through it!” Spirit encouraged jovially, beaming at his lover.

“Now I can see how you managed to be Spirit’s weapon for so many years,” Kami chuckled, lifting her hands from Spirit’s in order to wipe her wet eyes. Spirit laughed himself.

“Would you be willing to work through it with me, so we can become partners?” Spirit asked, eyes filling to the brim with simultaneous hope and sorrow.

“Yes, of course. And I know this must be hard for you,” she responded empathetically, catching Spirit off-guard.

“It is. I’ve been with Stein for so long, I don’t know how I’m going to go about not being his weapon anymore,” Spirit shook his head in disbelief. Kami took his hands in hers, soothingly rubbing over them as Spirit had done hers.

“It’s okay. You’ll be mine now, love,” she spoke, smiling victoriously. It almost disturbed Spirit.

All of the nice things Kami said had a disturbing twinge to them.

And Spirit couldn’t help but fall for it - fall for her.

#soul eater #franken stein #stein #stein soul eater #dr stein #marie mjolnir #dwma #spirit soul eater #fluff #hurt/no comfort #hurt/comfort

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tinalbion · 2 years ago

Text

A R E A L H E R O | e i g h t

You move to Evergreen for a fresh start, you’ve inherited your grandparents’ place, and then you meet the sweetest guy. But there’s a duality to him, something a bit darker. Then you meet Vigilante, a killer anti-hero who just looks out for the safety of Evergreen, but the dangerous side of him appeals to you more than you care to admit.

》MINORS, DO NOT INTERACT《

Pairing: Vigilante x f!Reader

Rating: Mature; Reader makes a brash decision, mention of murder, blood, the usual when it comes to this group.

Length: 6.2k

p a r t 8 | a m o u r

A/N: No smut in this chapter, only because it’s more story building time, and it’s important! But we may be graced in the next chapter~

You shouldn't have even THOUGHT of doing this in the emotional state you were in, it was wrong and ultimately went back on your conversation of trust, and yet you're the one who would break it first.

You tried to talk yourself out of this the further you walked up to the dirty glass of the abandoned movie store, but there you were as you cupped your hands over your face so you could peer into the setup, barely able to see anything through the random posters plastered all over the place. There had been a series of blurry figures you could make out until you stepped off to the side and found a peeling patch of newspaper that they hadn’t fixed just yet, so you squinted to make out whatever it was you were looking at.

You saw Vij, Peacemaker, and another man in the room, all chatting with one another as they had been packing things up like weapons and such. You were torn inside, wanting to get answers to what they were doing and why Adrian was distancing himself, or you could have relied on him to tell you in his own time. But with him, you never knew if the day you saw him would be your last to see him, you had always worried about his choice of pastime activities, especially last week when he came to you with a broken spirit and a damaged foot, you had an inkling of a hope that maybe he’d take it easy.

It only started to fester deep within you earlier this week, and despite the things you said to Adrian the last time you saw him and bandaged his foot up properly, he still hadn't confided in you much about anything. His texts were scattered and brief, but he still meant the sweet words he sent to you, but he was obviously distracted to the point there was very little interaction.

You had even tried to visit him during one of his shifts, but he'd apparently called in due to "having the flu", to which you covered for him immediately and then left the restaurant feeling confused and worried.

At one point in your deep thoughts and overthinking, you asked Adrian why he had to be dropped off by the blonde woman that night, to which he instantly tensed as you sat beside him on his sofa.

“Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad. The Seabring break down?”

He took a breath and shrugged uneasily. “Harcourt was nice enough to drive me home because I was thrown in jail, so I didn’t have the car.”

You turned to him and stared wide-eyed. “WHAT?”

“Look, it wasn’t THAT big of a deal! I just tried to throw a garbage can through the police station’s window.”

“Adrian, what the fuck, why?” Your voice raised and you didn’t mean for it to seem like you were yelling at him, but you were so shocked that you couldn’t understand what the hell went through his head.

He grumbled and sighed. “Leota, one of the people I work with, kept saying how bad Peacemaker’s dad is, how shitty Auggie is, and he IS. Racist piece of shit, he’s always making his life miserable. So she said she wished he was out of the picture so Chris could be happy… So I figured I could make him…go away. He was already in jail, so I figured I’d just deal with it there before he got out.”

“Adrian… you didn’t…”

“No, I didn’t, I fucked up and didn’t do it.”

You sat there and looked at him as he faced the television, the pain was apparent sketched into his features, so you placed your hand on his shoulder and offered him a smile. “I’m proud that you didn’t do it, babe, you wanted to help your friend and I respect that, but those are his demons to face and he needs to deal with them, no matter how much you wanna help.”

“Yeah, I know, but still…”

You chuckled and leaned your head on his shoulder as you sat in silence with him, but soon after, he said he had to go home, despite you offering him to stay the night. Adrian declined and said he had a lot on his mind that he needed to work on, so you nodded and watched from your window as he left.

Since that night, you worried for him so much that his friendship with Chris wasn’t exactly normal, though it wasn’t your business. He seemed to be incredibly dedicated, which was a valuable trait in a friend, but you hoped that wasn’t being exploited by the others in this group. As always, you worried, and in return, he worried about you.

But how could he involve you and sacrifice your safety with everything going on? Wouldn't that be absolutely selfish of him to do so? The more he thought about everything that was going on with what he was involved in, the more he wanted to tell you and express his worries, his thoughts, all of it. It ate away at him that he couldn't tell you, and despite his protests to Harcourt, she scolded him AND Adebayo about involving those closest to them, their safety was important despite how much they wanted to keep them close. Leota reluctantly agreed and felt guilty about sending her wife away, but Adrian almost brushed it under the rug and dealt with the growing dread that sat in the pit of his stomach. He sat in silence sometimes and his thoughts drifted to you and how you would be handling his distance, he knew it was wrong of him, but how else could he tell you to stay away from this whole butterfly ordeal without revealing too much?

But when he saw you burst through the door of the video shop with that look on your face, he knew something was going to happen and it wouldn’t end well, but he froze to the spot when you glared directly at him as he held a large black container.

"Adrian you absolute asshole," you spat as you flung the door open. Still, you couldn't get another word in until the man known to be Peacemaker stepped forward, his hand gripped onto a black duffle bag as he looked absolutely confused by your presence.

"Hey, lady, you got the wrong place of establishment," he said in a slightly raised tone.

"I don't think I do, because he–" you said while pointing at Adrian– "is just the man I need to talk to."

"You know this crazy chick?" Peacemaker turned to Adrian with a distasteful expression.

"Uh yeah, she's my girlfriend." Adrian looked over at you and gave you a meek smile and a half-hearted wave.

“No she’s not,” he argued, dismissing Adrain completely.

“Yes, I am.”

The room went silent for a moment. Both John and Peacemaker looked at the brunette man and just stared, mouths hanging open in disbelief.

"There's no way this fucking idiot has a girlfriend," Economos said.

"And one that hot," Peacemaker mentioned. “Oh, I get it, is she a nerd like you? Met her playing one of your fruity little dungeons and dragons games?” He turned to look over at Adrain, who seemed to be overwhelmed by everything going on.

You turned to look at the man with a scowl on your face. "First off, don't call my boyfriend an idiot," you snapped at the large, bearded man. "And second," you whipped your head toward Peacemaker, "watch your mouth, this isn’t your business."

"You're kinda making it our business when you're busting down the door and yelling at the only people in the room," Peacemaker stated.

You gave a sigh and shook your head, but you walked up to Adrian with your consistent glare, then pulled him off to the side. "Can I talk to you in private?"

“Vij, we don’t have TIME for this, we have a cow to– SHIT to do!”

"You shouldn't be here, babe, what if the others come back and see someone they’ve never seen before? They could freak out."

"People freaking out is only a problem for you when it's one of these members of the half-assed Justice League, but when I'm the one freaking out, it's not that bad, right?" Before he could speak, you cut him off. "I don't understand you, Adrian, you're distancing yourself from me and it's not like you at all! I don't mind supporting you with whatever is going on, but you're scaring me…" Your words trailed off and felt almost too embarrassed to admit it. “I don’t know what’s happening with you and I wanna know what’s going on.”

Adrian looked at you and stared, he couldn't come up with an excuse for how you'd been treated, but he also wasn't sure what to really say in front of the others in the room.

"Sounds like trouble in paradise over there, Vij, she ain't keeping you pussy whipped, is she?"

When your eyes met the man's, he seemed incredibly unbothered by your poor attempt at intimidation, but you couldn't help the intensity of your hatred after hearing this man only speak a handful of times.

"I wish Adrian would have warned me about how you can't seem to keep your mouth shut, but I guess I found out the hard way. Now can you shut the hell up?"

"Jeez, you really need to ease up," Peacemaker groaned as he shook his head. “Either way we gotta fuckin’ go and soon, guys, this place is gonna be swarmed any minute now.”

"Can you guys stop talking about me as if I'm not even here?" Adrian said, the tone in his voice conveying his frustration. "Look, I get that I fucked up and shouldn't have pushed you away, but I can't tell you what's going on here thanks to these guys telling me to keep my mouth shut." He offered you a calm expression and then turned to his friend, who he stared at with much more annoyance. “And can you at least try not to be a dick to her, I don’t care if it’s aimed at me, but fuck dude?”

You glared at Peacemaker and took a step closer to Adrian, feeling the distrust of everyone in the room except for your boyfriend, who just seemed to be wrapped up in all this shit without really knowing what he was getting into.

“He wouldn’t be in this shit if it weren’t for you,” you pointed at Peacemaker, “ever since you came back he was so happy that ‘his friend was back’, and now, he’s running off doing your bullshit for these clowns.”

“Hey!” Economos complained.

“Look, I don’t know you, for all I know you’re the reason he’s here.”

Peacemaker erupted into a fit of laughter. “Fuckin’ dye beard here couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag and you think he can conduct a mission to kill butterflies?”

Your brow furrowed. “Butterflies?”

Adrian’s eyes widened as he stared at Peacemaker. “Chris, shut UP. Don’t involve her.”

“Why?! What is so damn important that I can’t be involved to the point I don’t know if my boyfriend is alive or not?” You were getting way too worked up to think properly, but you had a suspecting feeling that there was more going on here. “This isn’t just a simple hit mission, is it?” You turned to Adrian and your pleading expression spoke volumes.

He sighed and looked down, but then leaned in and kissed you softly, one you didn’t want him to pull away from. “I promise you I’m gonna tell you everything, but you gotta trust me, okay? I don’t want shit happening to you… Not again."

How could you stay mad at him when all he wanted to do was keep you safe? It was once again falling under the entire identity thing and if they could use something or someone he loved against him, he'd never forgive himself if you were caught in the middle.

"Things are getting intense and we gotta go, but I promise I'll be back and we can talk about whatever you want, I swear. I just need you to lay low, the group’s head guy doesn’t want anyone on the outside involved just because it’s not safe. I want you to be safe,” his sentence trailed off and he smiled at you.

“Adi, please, I don’t want you doing this, what if–”

“Promise me. Promise me you won’t get involved in this right now and I’ll tell you everything.”

"Vigilante, you can't just–" Economos began, but Adrian cut him off.

"No, I owe her that much, you weren't there when she was taken! She needs to stay safe, but she's gotta know."

Peacemaker scoffed and began to shove his guns back into their holsters. "Your funeral."

You spun to face Peacemaker again and stepped up toward him. "What the fuck is your problem, huh? Are you so spineless that you must demean everyone in this room just to feel like the big tough badass? No one gives a shit, Chris," as you drew out his name, they could hear the venom in your voice. When you stormed off toward the door, Adrian called out to you. You stopped at the door and looked back.

"I promise." He seemed so sincere, and you wondered just how far that promise would come, so you offered him a small smile and left them in the shop.

Economos felt incredibly uneasy as he stared at the pair of friends as he shifted slightly, and decided he would go and check on Judo Master, their captive that knew about and willingly worked with the butterflies.

"Ahh shit, he's gone, he's gone! Judo Master is gone!"

Adrian peeked in and looked around, obviously confused. "Judo Master was in here?"

You walked to your car as cautiously as you always did, slid into the seat, and locked the doors as soon as you leaned back into the seat. Your hands rested on the steering wheel, but all you could do was stare out the windshield, your gaze set dead ahead as you tried to empty your head of all your thoughts. You trusted your boyfriend, you had even before you knew it, but you definitely didn't trust the people he hung around.

As you thought of his promise, you couldn't get the fact that Peacemaker had been absolutely shitty toward him regardless of the situation, was he like that all the time with Adrian? His presence made your blood boil as you thought of his smug look, looking down on Adrian in that short amount of time. Your attention was stolen by the sudden burst of the door being flung open with force, the three of them ran to the large RV and piled into it, you watched as they disappeared into the vehicle and closed the door, and your body lurched forward slightly as you couldn’t help but release a sob you’d been holding for some time now.

“Fuck,” you whispered to yourself in annoyance.

Whatever the case, you took his words into account and drove out of there as fast and legally as you could, because if the place was going to be surrounded, might as well get the hell out of the vicinity in case you got caught and questioned.

You figured you should get some lunch for home, get some paperwork done for work, and just keep yourself at home before anything got too bad.

As you pulled into the driveway, your food in hand as you went to unlock the front door, you couldn't help but feel a deep sinking feeling in your gut. You worried about Adrian all the time, but something about the urgency of today and hearing whatever the hell about the butterflies, you couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of dread.

You sat cross-legged on the sofa and flipped through channels as you ate your takeout, you stopped on a news channel that had the headline: Captain Locke Press Conference - possible link to Sturphausen and Goff murders. It stated that Christopher Smith, also known as Peacemaker, has the belief that aliens are posing as humans and it's his job to find and kill them.

"Find and stop the Peacemaker by whatever means necessary."

Your eyes bulged as you stared in disbelief at the fact there had been a 33-victim massacre at the Glan Tai Bottling Factory, all of which Adrian probably knew about and had possibly gotten his toe injury from all of this. You sat back and almost dropped the container of food as you lost all function of your limbs, you were dumbstruck.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK, this isn’t good.” You stood up from your seat and began to pace back and forth, your food was long forgotten as you wondered what you could do before anything had gotten too out of hand, but the real question was should you even get involved when Adrian specifically asked you not to?

You’d been captured and tortured, you had gone down that road and wanted nothing to do with getting caught again, mainly if Vigilante was too preoccupied to save your ass again, you needed to think of a way to help any way you could. The more he associated with Chris, the more danger he was in for getting caught in the crossfire, and if his identity was compromised… You scolded yourself and shook your head, what you were thinking was absolutely insane, you’d barely held a firearm except for the times you practiced with Adrian, but you knew that wouldn’t be enough to save you if things went south.

With a frustrated growl, your fingers slid across your hair as you thought until your head pounded and you couldn’t think straight, so you decided without much hesitation that you’d raid Adrian’s stash of guns and do what you could to make sure he’d live. You owed him that much.

As you drove to his place, you talked to yourself in the car, berating yourself for the choices you were making, you figured that if you went back now he wouldn’t hold it against you. He did his job of keeping things as silent as he could without involving you, despite how he’d gone about it, so he wouldn’t be upset that you wouldn’t be there. But even as you went inside his place, you rifled around his things and grabbed all you could as you strapped his holster to yourself, and you felt as if you could take on an army. You made sure everything was back in its place and properly put away until your eyes swept over the nightstand, where he kept the first photo of you and him that you took when you guys officially started dating. A smile crept across your face and you settled on your plan; you were going to help him no matter what.

It was a stupid idea to an outsider, sure, you were planning to burst into a facility with no way of knowing who or what you’d come across, but you knew the group Adrian was working with would be there, trained guns for hire, so you’d possibly get lucky and somehow manage to live.

You walked over to the police scanner, listening in on anything that you could pick up on the whereabouts of the Peacemaker, and with a bit of patience as you turned the dial as slowly as you could, you picked up on an intercepted conversation, the radio static barely allowed you to hear it until you finally set the dial and it was clear as day.

“-the Peacemaker was seen headed north-west down Highway 99 in a Burgundy 2016 Ford Fiesta, two other suspects in the vehicle, possibly Vigilante accompanying them. Calling in a 10-85 to follow to Coverdale Ranch.”

“10-04.”

“Shit,” you huffed and shut off the machine, then you headed out in your car and didn’t look back. You pulled out and began your lengthy drive to Coverdale Ranch, the infinite possibilities of the situation ran wild in your mind, but all you knew is that Adrian could be in heaps of trouble, and you wanted to help him as he had helped you.

Though you had trained with him in the basics of weaponry and self-defense, you couldn’t help but shake the feeling that you’d be more of a burden than an actual help to them, but if you died doing this, you had felt that you wouldn’t regret the choices you made. You’d loved him despite everything, you loved the times you shared, even loved the strange and wild way you both met. Your foot pushed down further onto the pedal, the speed picked up and you would make it, you had to.

The field was a bloodbath and you were out of your depth, your hands shaking as you ran past the dead group of people on the ground, blood splattered everywhere as you ran toward the center of the fighting, the gunshots rang louder than you expected and caused you to constantly flinch. You saw the familiar faces of Economos and Harcourt, Economos was on the ground, making his way to the firefight as the blonde woman was shot several times, then she fell to the ground and coughed up a large amount of blood.

Everyone was in a panic and yet they continued to fight until they couldn’t anymore, except you couldn’t see Adrian anywhere, and that’s when you began to panic. Your eyes searched for him frantically as you held your gun as you were taught, but you were pulled out of your search by the scream of a man who bolted right toward you.

You tensed but eagerly spun to have your barrel meet his face, and with a quick breath and a fast aim, you shot at him and braced for impact. None ever came. Blood spurted from his throat and he collapsed to the ground, his movements slowed until there were none at all, and you couldn’t get over the fact that you killed someone.

‘You knew this would happen if you interfered, there’s no reason to back out now, Adrian needs you. Keep going.’

A few more stragglers that made their way to you were easily taken care of, their movements were sporadic and sloppy, so you were able to dodge them by controlling the speed of your feet. You stopped quickly and allowed one of the attackers to swipe at nothing and you watched him tumble over almost comically, then you shot him square between the eyes. You were more confident in your abilities now, but you still wouldn't allow yourself to grow an ego, you needed to focus and be sure to keep yourself alive long enough.

Your feet took you as fast as they could go toward the group that was gathered in the center of the chaos, Ecomonos had finally reached the halfway point as you booked it past him, and he paid you no mind. Finally, you saw the suit you’d been so well acquainted with, and a wave of relief washed over you. Your feet carried you as quickly as you could manage and you were so close to reaching him, but a shot rang out and you saw that teal and black suit stained red with blood shortly after.

You couldn't hold back the blood-curdling scream you released as you raised your gun and shot at his attacker, all while Adrian still managed to throw a knife directly at the man at the same time your bullet luckily hit him dead in the eye.

The skin of your knees was now bruised and slightly bloody as you slid across the soil, rocks be damned, you wouldn't let something happen to him as you crawled to reach him. You could hear that he was still breathing but wasn't as strong as it could be, and when you rolled him over slightly to take a look at him, his suit was all but destroyed, there had been so much blood on your hands when you pulled them away. The sight of it had you almost to the point of hyperventilating because you were already thinking the worst, so you removed his visor and checked him as best as you could without moving him too much.

Leota had just finished saving Harcourt as she ripped out one of the butterflies from her mouth, and shot it before it could take over her body, then her attention was pulled toward you hovering over Adrian's body.

"Hey, is he alive?" She asked as she still remained at Emilia's side.

You looked up and stared at her through your teary eyes. "Yes, but barely. I don't know how long he'll be okay… Is she okay?"

Leota stood and looked down at Harcourt then back at you. "For now. We gotta get them out of here, though."

The blonde woman gripped Leota’s arm and shuttered. "Help… Chris," was all Harcourt could muster.

Leota looked terrified, scared of the fact that they could die at any point and yet they wanted her to leave them there.

"Go and help, I'll stay here and protect them if I need to."

The woman looked at you in confusion for a moment. "You're… Adrian's girlfriend, right?" You nodded. "He talks a lot about you, pretty ballsy you bein' here. But you're good people, so here, take this just in case."

She handed you one of her guns and you waved your hand in protest. "I got plenty, you need that, now go and do whatever you need to do."

"Leota!"

Ecomonos had suddenly appeared and rolled a silver Peacemaker helmet toward her, his body now weak as he collapsed onto the soil to rest. You watched them with curiosity as Leota suddenly left and made her way down an eerie-looking entranceway that led underground, leaving you with everyone in an uncomfortable silence.

You hadn't left Adrian's side as you stroked his hair while he slept, all you wanted was to make sure he continued to breathe, so you did what you could with his wounds and put pressure on them as you wrapped them up with whatever you could find. You only left his side long enough to tear off chunks of cloth from the bodies that were scattered around you, you helped out Economos as best as you could without fucking up his leg even further, to which he thanked you.

"Sorry we sorta ganged up on you back at the video store."

"It's fine," you replied coolly as you made your way back to Adrian's side. "Sorry I yelled at you."

He scoffed and shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose we deserved it. Why are you here though? Shouldn't you be staying as far away from this shit as you possibly can?"

You looked over your boyfriend's face and contemplated for a moment, not quite sure what went through your head while you did all of this. "Honestly, I did it for him. I didn't care what would have happened to me, I just wanted to help him. Even if it killed me."

John stared at you in what you would assume was awe and possibly even lunacy, but he gave you a small smile in return. "He's lucky to have someone like you. Why you came out here was fucking insane but really brave of you."

You chuckled. "Thanks, man."

You clung to Adrian and your mind was slightly more at ease, you wanted to believe that he would be okay and that everything would be as it was in a week or two, but you were scared shitless. With any luck, they would finish whatever mission this was and you could all escape the police before they came to collect Peacemaker and company. So long as his breathing continued to remain steady, you would feel okay, you wouldn’t be able to handle it if something went wrong.

A low rumble began steadily beneath your feet, both you and Economos stared at each other, unsure of what the sound was or what you should do, if anything. When the rumble became stronger and more violent, you got to your feet and scooped Adrian in your arms, pulling him from under his arms away from the danger, though you didn't get far. The man was already heavy with the muscle he gained, but with the suit on top of it, it was almost impossible, but you had your burst of adrenaline to thank. Economos crawled further away despite his leg protesting, the shooting pain he felt was unlike anything he'd felt before. When the rumbling slowed and came to a stop, you stood still and gently placed Adrian back down, which caused him to stir.

He grumbled and groaned as his eyes fluttered open, his brown pulled together while his eyesight tried to adjust with no glasses to peer through. But as he looked up, there you were with a smile on your face and worry in your eyes, your face splattered with droplets of blood.

"Wait, what happened? What are you doing here, babe?" His voice was hoarse and dry.

You knelt back down and placed several kisses on his forehead as you brushed his hair back. "Oh thank fuck, you're okay. Try not to move until we figure out what's going on, okay?"

"How are you here?"

You looked away sheepishly and hummed. "Well, I saw the news, so I went to your place and got some weapons, then overheard on the police scanner that you were spotted coming up this way. I came as fast as I could."

"Shoulda saw her in action, Vij, she was pretty crazy," Economos said matter-of-factly. "She's been by your side since she got here."

Adrian squinted and looked at you with concern, which wasn't a good look. "You coulda got hurt."

"And you could have died, but I don't care, Adrian. You saved me, I wanted to save you."

He was upset that you didn't listen, all he wanted was for you to be okay and safe, away from all of this nonsense. But overall, he did take Economos's words into consideration; he was pretty lucky to have someone like you.

A sound came from behind you and you all turned to see Peacemaker pulling himself from the wreckage that followed behind him, Leota right behind him. Economos sighed in relief and groaned.

"You guys are okay, holy shit."

"Get to Harcourt, she's not doing good," you said loudly as you pointed at her, and Chris followed your direction and immediately scooped her into his arms. "Come on, handsome, we gotta get you to the hospital." You stood up and pulled him to his feet gently, the groan that emerged was painful.

Adrian hobbled one step ahead and almost collapsed again, but you caught him in time. "Come on, I'll be fine, I just need a nap."

"Adrian, no, you're going into the hospital."

Peacemaker said nothing as he carried the blonde woman who lay unconscious, breathing, but alive. As if it were a cruel joke, several members of the Justice League came to greet them, but the entire group kept moving past them.

"You're late, you fucking dickheads," Chris complained with a sneer.

The members looked on in disbelief, but you didn't care, you just needed to get everyone to the hospital, especially before Harcourt didn't have a chance to make it.

Vigilante stood there, his hand placing pressure on the gunshot wounds beneath his ribcage, but the way he could barely stand was a cause for worry, yet he didn’t say a word and watched as Harcourt and Economos were carted off to be taken care of. Chris and Leota stood beside you two and it almost felt awkward as you all

Chris looked over at Vigilante as you continued to hold him up, but he swayed a bit too far and almost toppled over. “Dude, you’re shot. You gotta be admitted.”

Vigilante sighed and shook his head. “I’m fine, seriously. All I need is a good nap.” After a moment of silence, Vigilante fell to the floor with you trying your best to catch him before he did.

“Can someone help him, please?!” you called out desperately, and your call was answered almost immediately as a group of nurses and doctors swarmed around you both.

They picked him up and wheeled him into a room with you not far behind, but one of the nurses turned to you and placed a hand in front of you to stop you.

"I'm sorry, miss, you have to stay out here, okay? Please, we just need to get him into surgery as fast as we can, and as soon as it's finished, we'll call you in."

You wanted to protest, you wanted to be there for him and you wanted to keep that promise, but getting thrown out wouldn't do much good. So you sighed and nodded, then walked back to the waiting room where Peacemaker was sitting. His head was hung low as his elbows rested on his knees, and you had just caught a glimpse of Leota leaving through the front door.

As much as it pained you to be near him, you sat beside Chris and looked over silently, not wanting to force a conversation. You sighed as you leaned back in the chair and closed your eyes, all you wanted to do was take a breath and not have to worry about anything for at least twenty minutes. Your body relaxed and you felt yourself falling asleep, but Peacemaker looked over at you and cleared his throat.

"Hey uh, I know you didn't have to come to us at the ranch, but thanks for helping," he said gruffly. “Heard you took some guys down.”

Your eyes opened and you turned your head slightly to look at him. "Yeah well, I did it for Adrian, he did it for me." You turned your gaze back toward the help desk and stared at the constant movement until you heard your name called. Your head whipped up and stared at the doctor holding a clipboard as he made eye contact with you, then you made your way to him with a blatant expression of pure worry.

"Mr. Chase didn't need much done, he just had some sutures, the bullets were removed and everything seems to be going well. He's lost blood from the wounds, but his recovery is miraculous. Did you want to see him?"

"Yes, please." You followed quickly on his heels as he guided you to his room, and of course, he was already awake and moving around in his bed.

"Mr. Chase, could you please not remove the IV yet?"

His gaze rested on you and the smile that followed was one you wished to see for the rest of your days. "You're still here!" He said excitedly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" You turned around and looked over at the doctor. "Can he go home today?"

"Yes, so long as he waits patiently for us to discharge him," he said with emphasis on the last of the sentence. "But I'll come back in a bit once we initiate the paperwork." The doctor left and closed the door behind him, which left you both alone.

You turned back to him and he was already discarding the IV and the heart monitor, and all you could do was laugh. "Adi, calm down, he said to wait."

"And I did. I waited until he left the room," he said with a smirk.

You sucked your teeth and shook your head as you sat down on the edge of the bed beside him, and once you did that, he finally settled down a bit. He looked up at you, his face a tad bit bruised and puffy as he stared at you. When you looked over at him, he couldn't help but smile at you.

"What?" you asked.

"Nothing, just wish I coulda seen you in action, did those lessons I gave you pay off?" He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked.

You almost wanted to blush. "Shut up, Adrian. But yeah, gotta say, I was scared as hell, but that adrenaline? Woo boy, really paid off. But I was so fucking scared, Adrian…” You sighed as you reached out for his hand, which he allowed you to take, and you squeezed it gently. “I was so scared you weren’t gonna make it.”

The look of guilt seemed to sink into his features, but you placed your hand on his cheek to have him look at you. “Look, babe, I–”

“Ssh, I don’t care right now, I just wanna enjoy this win, okay? You’re alive and that’s all that matters.” You leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips, slowly being consumed by him until you felt him pushing back, his mouth opened to allow his tongue to caress your bottom lip. You pulled back with a smile. “Adrian, in the hospital room?” You asked, your voice light and playful.

“Sure, why not?”

“Because you just had bullets removed from your body,” you replied with an overwhelmed tone, but you barely fought back against his advances, his hand slid down the front of your shirt, and a small whimper escaped your lips. His devious smile made you want to rethink it, but you had a better idea. “How about,” you began as you pulled his hand down and placed it on your leg, “we get out of here and if you can make it from here to the house, I’ll change my mind.”

His smile only grew. “Deal.”

The television inside the room was on and as soon as Adrian looked up, he patted your arm and pointed. Your eyes followed and you saw Leota at a press conference.

‘A.R.G.U.S. Agent Speaks Out’, the prompt read. “–Which means Christopher Smith never wrote any diary. Both the Peacemaker and the costucrime-fighterhter Vigilante were working in a deep-cover operation for the U.S. government called “Project Butterfly”. This is all part of a black-ops program known as “Task Force X,” where convicted criminals are undertaking dangerous missions for the United States in exchange for time shaved off their sentences.”

You looked back over at Adrian, completely stunned. “Holy shit… that’s… that’s insane.”

Adrian only shrugged and nodded in agreement. “Well, what are you gonna do, a woman in power like that? Does whatever she wants. Glad Leota was on our side.”

“Yeah,” you breathed… “Hey, let’s go home, yeah?”

Adrian smiled and sighed in relief as he was already slipping out of the bed and across the room to grab his things. “I’d like nothing more. But we gotta go my way.”

“Adrian, you’re not–”

“Oh yes, I am.” He gathered all his things and slung them over his shoulder. “You comin’? I’ll catch you, promise.”

You looked over at the large open window and sighed, you shook your head in disbelief. “I guess so, let’s do this.” You walked over toward the window and looked down, the height wasn’t that bad, so you looked up at him and gave him a playful smirk. “You’re lucky I love you, Adrian Chase.” You placed a quick kiss on his lips and didn’t even give him time to process as you jumped from the window and screamed.

Adrian stood there for a moment in the room and looked back outside as you recovered quickly from the jump, and you stared up at him. “You what?!”

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