#more or less that is the exact moment that spurred my life on a different path

[rattkachuk]

i tattooed 15:09 on myself the other night.

the time stamp that johnny scored in ot in game seven against the stars in 2022. the moment that hooked me on this sport, the moment i've felt the biggest sense of community and fun and joy...ever.

[exhuastedpigeon]

Buckxtommy? Eww 🤢🤢 tommy is racist

I wasn't going to answer this because you're clearly a child without the ability to understand that characters, like real people, can grow, but actually I'm going to answer it and it's going to be LONG.

This got really long so I'm putting it under the cut but if you don't want to read it there's the TLDR:

Tommy was, at best, a passive member of the boys club at the 118 when we first meet him and at worst an active member who made Chim and Hen's lives harder when they first joined, but as the shitty people left the 118 and were replaced with less shitty people, Tommy starts to become kinder and more accepting and less of a toxic macho man.

He's friends with Chim and Hen when he leaves the 118. He's been away from the 118 for probably 7-8 years at this point and in that time he has clearly continued to grow.

People can change. People do change. Sometimes it takes meeting new people to spur that change and sometimes it takes a change in scenery. For Tommy it seems to have taken a mix of both to get him to where he is today - a funny, sweet, kind, queer man who is willing to STEAL A HELICOPTER and FLY INTO A FUCKING HURRICANE because someone he worked with for a few years almost a decade ago had a hunch. He believed Hen and Chim. He trusts them and they trust him.

So here's my question anon? Why don't you?

And now for the very long part under the cut...

When we first meet Tommy Kinard in Chimney Begins he is a part of the old boys club that is the LAFD and the 118. He's a person surrounded by shitty people and he adapts and behaves like them.

We don't know much about Tommy, but by the end of the episode he accepts Chim as a teammate and friend because Chim proves himself to Tommy. Do I think you should have to prove yourself to be accepted? No. But i understand the thought process because you're relying on people to have your back and save your life. We also find out Tommy's favorite movie is a romcom - not your typical toxicly masculine answer.

He shows growth in Chimney Begins and I cannot stress this enough, at the end of that episode Chim and Tommy are friends. We don't have an exact date at the end of Chimney Begins, but we can assume based on when Bobby joins and when Hen joins that it was at least a decade prior, if not more to where we are currently in canon.

In Hen Begins Tommy is still a part of the boys club at the 118, but you can see that he (and a lot of the team) don't actually agree with Captain Gerard, but he's their boss. They can't exactly call him out because that puts their own job on the line. You can see Tommy look at Gerard like 'what the fuck' when he calls Hen a "diversity hire" but he doesn't say anything in that moment - Chim does and Gerard brushes him off.

Sal makes a gay joke about Tommy in this episode and Tommy plays it off as a joke because what else is he suppose to do? Tommy looks uncomfortable when Gerard starts going on about female recruitment in the LAFD and him saying/implying that female firefighters aren't as strong, etc. He doesn't say anything, but I ask? Would you be brave enough to risk your job for someone you just met a few months ago?

When Hen gives her big speech Tommy looks back at Chim and sees him nodding. He looks at Chim because (I think) he's reminded of how they treated Chim when he first started. It's Tommy that says Hen's instincts are good after she disobeys orders and goes looking for another victim (who would have died if she hadn't). Tommy and Sal shake her hand and then Tommy pats her on the shoulder and says 'you're good'.

This interaction is both similar to and different from Tommy's 'moment' with Chim. Similar because it seems like Tommy needs new firefighters to prove they can be there before he trusts them and different because the Chim and Tommy moment is framed as the start of a friendship and that moment with Hen and Tommy is framed as the start of a good working relationships.

The next scene is Hen talking to their new interim captain about how her colleagues are impressed with her and how they've filed complaints against Captain Gerard. We can assume that Tommy was one of those colleagues.

Then we get Bobby Begins Again - Tommy is laughing and joking with Hen about how long the new captain will last. Tommy even asks to place a bet on credit and Hen jokingly says he better pay because she knows the bookie.

Tommy is shown to be a part of the team - the Hen and Chim team - on calls. Yes, he's still friends with Sal but he's much less likely to be at Sal's side when Sal makes shitty comments. Tommy even tells Sal to stop when Sal starts going off on Bobby.

The next scene we see Tommy in is him hanging out with Hen and Chim at a bar - when Hen tells them that Bobby didn't fire Sal, he suspended him and found him a new spot, Tommy takes that information and accepts Bobby because he finds out he's a good man and a good captain.

Then we see Tommy, Chim, Hen, and Bobby hanging out, sharing war stories. We even hear Tommy talk about 'scars helping him get women' because he's still not out with the team yet - he's still hiding that part of himself because he isn't ready yet (and because that wasn't a part of the storyline for Tommy at the time).

The rest Tommy's part in Bobby Begins Again is just showing how the 118 is becoming more than just a team - family dinner for example. Tommy smiles and is excited at the idea of 'family dinner'.

When he leaves the 118 Hen and Chim are happy for him and celebrate the move because it's a good career move for him. They even smash his face into the cake!!!

AND THEN in Broken Chim calls Tommy to ask him for a favour. A favour that saves the 118s asses.

That doesn't even touch on the Tommy of today - the Tommy who is brave and kind and trusting and funny. The Tommy that Chim is friends with, that Eddie is now friends with, that Buck has a HUGE crush on.

If you like the Firefam (which I'm hoping you do since they're the main cast of the show) I would hope you also trust their judgement. If they like a character who wasn't great in the past but has grown, we should see that growth and hopefully like them too.

You can dislike Tommy all you want, but don't try to tell me it's because 'he's racist' because that isn't true. He's evolved like people do. We should want more characters like Tommy because they remind us that just because we've done something shitty in the past it doesn't mean we can't grow too.

Anyone who says OOH TOMMY IS A RACIST HOW CAN YOU LIKE HIM clearly doesn't watch the show. Just because his development happened off screen doesn't mean it didn't happen.

[puddlejumper38]

Seeing as I missed the spoiler stream, here’s a question for our resident Marsh expert instead: Sazed could, if he ever wanted to, take control of Marsh in the exact same way Ruin did (and as you mentioned before, he can hear Marsh’s thoughts via Preservation). I don’t think the original Sazed would have ever taken over Marsh, but Harmony is still distinctly different? Even if he’s Sazed, he’s not the person we knew in Era 1. Do you think, in an extreme situation, he WOULD go and grab Marsh and use him? They have to have extreme amounts of trust in each other for him not to do that, and it must be so hard for Marsh knowing that at any time, his control could be taken away again? How do you think he feels about Sazed, given that massive issue, and do you think Harmony would ever do it if he thought he had no other choice?

Oh man I wouldn't claim to be an expert but I do have so many thoughts on this one

I agree with you: Sazed wouldn't but we don't exactly have Sazed anymore. I'm so worried about the answer to this one. Because I'm seeing two answers to this.

Would Harmony ever control Marsh? Unlikely. Based on The Lost Metal, Harmony is becoming less active, caught between Preservation and Ruin and so doing nothing. Grabbing control of Marsh seems like an extreme measure (certainly in terms of consequences for Marsh himself), and also something that might be done in a split second in an emergency. Harmony isn't making those sort of decisions.

So another question then: is Marsh safe from control?

No.

I've said before: I think we're headed for Discord. Harmony is not the end result of Sazed holding those Shards, everything's pointing away from Harmony. At which point we get the more disturbing (in my opinion) question: Would Discord ever control Marsh? And... I just don't know. Maybe. The implications at the moment is that Discord would be more active, which is great for protecting Scadrial. Less good if you want to avoid extreme decisions made in the spur of the moment. So my opinion? It could happen.

From a story telling perspective, its a difficult one. Partly because its already happened once in era 1. But ultimately it depends what Branderson wants to do with Marsh, because if he takes that step that's the end of Marsh. I say this because I can't imagine Marsh sticking around afterwards, knowing it could happen at any time. And if Sazed/Discord doesn't release him.... equally the end of Marsh. (Option 2, Shatter The Shards would be where I would go with this because I personally would save Marsh at all costs, but unless the cosmere is headed for 100% shattered shards, I doubt this would happen).

As for Marsh, I can't imagine he's at all comfortable with anyone having that power. He's got to function regardless, because he's made the decision to extend his life and he can't actually change the situation, but I think there's some tension there. It may get worse as Scadrial becomes more cosmere aware and he learns what happens to Vessels. He might have convinced himself to trust Sazed, but heading back to point A, there will be a stage at which he's not recognisable as Sazed anymore.

Personally, I'm terrified.

[rayofsunas]

Hey so regarding inazuma and Baal I have some head cannons and your my favorite writer so I thought I’d just dump them all here.

Insazuma is the nation of eternity right? And Baal is basically the second archon after the original one died off somewhere presumably 500 years ago during the destruction of khaenri'ah.

The vision hunt decree was created for the Perdue of “eternity” and subsequently the people who’s visions were taken lost all their ambition. You get where I’m going here? Maybe Baal isn’t acting out of greed, but are justificing her actions to protect her people? The people of khaenri'ah had ambitions greater than anyone in that world could comprehend; they lived withought the guidance of a God, sought knowledge well beyond their limits and created destructive machines capable of “tilling” an enter battle field. Already we can see a shift in the archons perspective towards celestial- venti stated outright that he doesn’t like celestial, and Zhongli not only retired from his role as an archon but placed several meticulously planned tests to gouge his nations strength and stability in the face of a destructive god. Both nations, in a way, are becoming more similar to khaenri'ah in that they are both Godless, independent, and free from omnipotent influences.

Here’s my theory; The Goddess Baal, before inheriting the title of Archon, had witnessed the massacre and destruction of the khaenri'ah people and in order to prevent her nation from suffering the same fate she had launched the vision hunt decree to remove the people’s ambitions before it consumes them. She has witnessed the power of celestia, and in order to avoid the same fate she has made it her goal to separate Inazume from khaenri'ah in all forms and that’s why she continues on her role as archon instead of watching from the sides like venti or Zhongli.

Another thing, a small spoiler warning for those who haven’t finished the quest

I think people who are emotionless used to be the most emotional and heartfelt kind of individuals. Ayaka describes the Raiden Shogun as a cold and emotionless being, akin to a manager or something (I can’t remember her exact words) and I think that’s because Baal had been planning the decree for a long time now and had to steel her resolve knowing the impact it would have on the common folk. In her mind, what she is doing is better for the lo run and is necessary for the survival of her people.

This is just a theory, I haven’t finished the quest myself but it’s been weighing on me for quite sometime now. Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful day!

SPOILERS + be prepared for my declarations rambles.

YOU’RE SO SMART, AND YOU'VE SPURRED ON MY LOCKED AWAY THEORIES THANKS. and I thought similarly, though now that you mention it, baal behaving selfishly seems like she could be protecting her people. after all, the vision hunt decree only happened recently (I think months to a year before the traveler’s arrival in mondstadt), so something shifted dramatically between the archons and celestial for baal to do that in the first place.

me and my friends chat about theories like this all the time on discord and everything you said makes so much sense! I also thought zhongli stepping away from his role as an archon was not just his way of freeing himself, but his way of seeing how his people would fair without a god (this is legit confirmed i think); and they’ve done just fine, proving to celestia that they’re wrong in believing nations and people need a ruling governing body, like an archon. but I feel like baal is still just selfish, even if she’s doing this to protect her citizens, my gut is just telling me she could be both selfish and also be doing this to protect her people.

but about the archons; my friends and I have tied the archons to tons of real life lore and myths, and something that keeps popping up with all the archons is different types of religion and beliefs; we found out that they each represent or are similar to the seven princes of hell (and there’s something about them coming up in demonology a crap ton too, and the similarities are a bit too similar... PAIMON IS MENTIONED TOO AS A KING OF HELL IN DEMONOLOGY LORE AND THAT'S NOT VERY CUTE.... I HAVE SO MANY THEORIES FOR PAIMON YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!). but I think the archons are like 50/50 bad and good (like they’ve done bad things willingly or not before the travelers arrival aka destruction of khaenri’ah) but celestia is the main antagonist, I’m 100% positive of that.

the hydro archon is said to know not to make an enemy of celestia/the divine, so I feel if any of the gods were to back celestia, it would be the hydro archon. but, this leads me to my first question; what in the world does celestia think about the gnosis’ being taken? I’m gonna assume they may care a little less about venti and zhongli because they’ve basically retired, but the other archons? they’re still active and actively represent celestia, so I’m curious to know what celestia would do when baal’s is taken (we know that she’s the next target, because one of the tsaritsa’s goals is to take them all). will baal be punished since she’s still an active ruling archon, or not? something is telling me she will, but who knows...

and this may sound obvious, but i think the archons represent celestia’s own ideals, although over time with the change of archons and maybe shifted opinions in celestia, said archons have changed and now their actions contradict what their title is, I think the reason behind that is because they’re the original and last reigning archons over their respective nations, but the others? they represent ideals, and some of their actions or just people interfering (harbingers talking the gnosis') have contradicted what they stand for entirely.

for example,

venti (ideal is freedom): his is so ironically obvious, but his gnosis was taken from him, against his will; there's nothing free about that. and he also retired from being an archon, and because of that went into hiding, also nothing free about that either; yet he represents freedom. you see what i'm trying to say? lol.

zhongli (ideal is contracts): nothing for him because i don't know much, but i think it's funny how he represents contracts, which are usually very tedious and there's a lot of depth in them, and he just gave his gnosis up so easily and willlingly (even if he has his reasons) by creating a contract like ???? it's funny to me.

baal (ideal is eternity): I haven’t started the archon quest yet for her, but I know she says she is the most eternal of all and sees herself as everlasting, but she’s legit younger than a good few of the archons (venti and zhongli so far!). I also think the original archons ideal was eternity and that’s what they had hoped for their people, but after the fall of khaenri’ah, war, and their death, baal came into power and realized it would be a threat to celestia if the people believe in eternity (like I said, something shifted severely after the war, because a lot of the original archons died or disappeared and their ideals almost became shrewd and a thing of the past with the new ones who took their places) therefore creating the vision hunt decree to get rid of visions; with more people coming into contact with visions, or maybe even when they realized humanity would be fine without an archon ruling over them, war would break out again and this time celestia would be the target. speaking of targets, this is random, but there’s an overwhelming presence of military surrounding/in inazuma and maybe that’s not just to collect visions and because war broke out amongst the people there, but it’s for protection against celestia and the harbingers (I think the other archons know about venti and zhongli's gnosis' being taken, so they're all weary). if baal were to overthrow celestia or betray them somehow, I’m sure since she’s an active archon they would retaliate.

the dendro archon (ideal is wisdom): the dendro archon is way more obvious, as dainsleif says he’s less than wise, but that’s his ideal... he’s also the youngest, so that’s another contradicting fact; young people are often called unwise.

the hydro archon (ideal is justice): I know nothing about her, but she represents justice. I don’t have a solid explanation for her, but based off of theories and if for a moment we assume celestia is the main antagonist, she is said to be afraid of celestia but seemingly backs them by not leaving like venti and zhongli... considering what they’ve done, I’d say she can’t possibly represent the ideal of justice correctly if what had happened to khaenri’ah was far from just, especially since the archons and celestia were behind it but her ideal is justice?

murata (ideal is war): I have no idea about her at all either, there's not much... but considering vanessa was able to pass into celestia when she died and she's considered the children of murata, I think we'll get more info on celestia then too, and more about khaenri'ah, since she's the god of war. she's gonna have the DEETS I tell you!!

the tsaritsa (ideal is unknown): nothing contradicting for now! she is a bit confusing because of how little info we have, but I have reason to believe she's against celestia, hence her taking the gnosis'. for now, until confirmed, I think her ideal or rather goal is to get rid of celestia. i don't think she has a gnosis or vision tbh, maybe the archon before her did and she's assumed to have one as well or maybe it even got taken away... but, i think that's one of the reasons she's created delusions, they're said to be a lot more dangerous and powerful (i think) than visions too. there's also this thing I found out about the gnosis' being designed after chess pieces, and how although there are 7 archons, there are only 6 chess pieces (pawn, rook, bishop, knight, queen, and king)... meaning one of the archons (not venti or zhongli, because we know what their gnosis' look like) has a gnosis that isn't designed after a chess piece... or in my words, doesn't have one at all. aka the tsaritsa... I think the tsaritsa not having a gnosis fits too snugly with her actions so far. and don't get me wrong! if we assume she doesn't have a gnosis, I don't think she's retaliating because of that, i think she just wants to change or get rid of celestia entirely. like this makes perfect sense because the tsaritsa is the only active archon seemingly and openly going against celestia's ideals, whatever they may be...

and about me saying the archons are "evil" or in the wrong for what happened to khaenri'ah (even if they were forced by celestia), in the archaic petra set, ZHONGLI IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN AN EMOTIONLESS AND MERCILESS GOD WHEN HE SLAUGHTERED COUNTLESS OTHER GODS DURING THE ARCON WAR, in order to fulfill a contract of sorts. this is why I think there were ulterior motives during the war and although yes, for now, it seems the archons were forced into complying during the war, I really think they had some willingness too.

at the end of my ted talk I have come to the conclusion that we can't trust the archons until we know more or celestia like... ever AND I STAND WITH THE REGULAR DEGULAR PEOPLE!!!

[astraeagreengrass]

Blue

The Blue Henley™ and that’s it.

Word Count: 1.567

Warnings: Short and sweet. Mentions of sexy times (no actual sexy times though). English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

A/N: Did I just write something inspired by The Blue Henley™? You bet I did! This is my submission to @jalapenobarnes writing challenge. My prompt was “Basorexia - the overwhelming desire to kiss”. Thank you Saran for hosting this challenge and allowing me to participate!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Bucky Barnes. Unfortunately he is a fictional character and therefore is property of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. Sebastian Stan’s face belongs to himself. The plot is my own creation.

My masterlist

He is greeted at the threshold by the voices of John, Paul, George and Ringo. 

The Beatles were new to him - like online shopping and Nespresso machines. Maybe, if he’d gone home after ‘45, he’d have dragged Steve to one of their concerts or seen them at Ed Sullivan’s show. And his grandchildren would gawk at him and tell him how lucky he was to have seen the Beatles together.

Maybe.

He couldn’t help it sometimes - how his mind involuntarily drew intricate scenarios of “what ifs” and possibilities. Bucky supposed it was his curse for having lived so long and so hard. His atonement was the constant back and forth of then and now, dealing with the aftermath of everything he missed.

But at least he didn’t kill John Lennon.

The record player was a gift for his 102nd birthday. It resembled very little the one he had back home - his 1940s home. It was sleek, light and state-of-the-art, with that classic vintage look that people liked their electronics to have even if they were far from vintage. 

You’d been so nervous when you gave it to him you couldn’t even wait for the sun to be high in the sky and your lover to be out of the bed. Nervous hands twisted the duvet as Bucky opened the package, careful not to ruin the glitter wrapping paper. He loved it, even if it took him a while to learn how to use the record player. But, once he did, it made way for your favorite tradition: spring saturdays at the flea market, the one in DUMBO or maybe in Williamsburg, looking for old records.

The Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, The Doors, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Marvin Gaye and Queen to more recent acts: Nirvana, Guns and Roses, Pearl Jam, the pop groups from the early 2000’s and performers like Bruno Mars and Beyoncé.

Any decade, any rhythm - Bucky Barnes liked music. And you indulged him in his new-found passion, adding soundtrack to the most unexpected moments of his day and being his partner whenever he fancied a dance.

Like now. He found you in the kitchen counter, hips moving slowly as you chopped carrots for dinner.

“Hold me tight / And tell me I’m the only one / And then I might / Never be theAAAAAH” you yelled, half a scream, half a laugh when Bucky surprised you by tickling your sides.

“Holy shit, Barnes! I have a knife on my hands. I could’ve cut myself!” you exclaimed while Bucky doubled over with laughter. 

You threw the knife on the sink, fake pouting, as Bucky came over to you, laugh forgotten. He was all saunter and swagger now, hands reaching out to hold you hips.

“That would teach you not to make dinner while shaking this ass” as to qualify his point, he landed a sharp smack on your left butt cheek, causing you to jump. 

You narrowed your eyes, snark remark at the tip of your tongue when you noticed it.

Blue.

Light blue. Almost teal, but not quite, evenly spread across the expanse of his chest and arms. Blue like his eyes, like the sky on a summer day, like a perfect Caribbean sea.

Beautiful blue.

“Is that… new?” was all you could muster while your gaze roamed the cotton. Your hands left their resting place on the nape of his neck and slid down, as if they could grasp the magnificent color and cradle it.

“Yeah” Bucky said, confused by your reaction. “I bought it last week.”

Such a simple explanation for such a magnificent happenstance. You could picture him: self-conscious and a little overwhelmed as he browsed some fast-fashion looking for simple pieces that didn’t stand out much. Bucky stuck to the classic blacks, whites and grays. Their simplicity made him feel safe and your boyfriend’s comfort would always come before any fashion trend.

Oftentimes a navy color would make an appearance and the way it complimented his eyes made your heart speed up. But this blue... This blue was different. You couldn’t place what was so special about it – was it the shade? An almost exact match to his irises? Was it the contrast of índigo fabric and golden-black forearms?

Bucky watched with raised eyebrows and a confused frown as the tips of your fingers carefully roamed the expanse of his torso, as if you were touching a valuable art piece instead of a US$ 9.99 henley from H&M.

“You okay, doll?” he asked. 

“Yeah” you gawked. “I’m perfect, actually.”

Bucky liked to think he knew you better than he knew himself – your spontaneity, creativity and enthusiasm over the smallest things. Life with you was never dull: it was a collection of happy moments that pieced his broken soul back together. Bucky believed he was used to the spur-of-the-moment midnight walks or the impromptu dance offs in the kitchen, but apparently he wasn’t.

Not when you grabbed him by the collar of the blue henley and kissed him.

It wasn’t a gentle kiss, like the sweet pecks you usually showered him with when he arrived home.  And it wasn’t a violent kiss, like the ones he usually took from you, breath out of breath, in the sacred intimacy of your bedroom.

This kiss was urgent and needy, yet full of the same love he felt every time your mouth reached for his. It tasted like honey on his tongue and sounded like a symphony made of the tiny moans that escaped you when he pulled on your bottom lip with his teeth.

The hand on Bucky's collar moved to his hair. The silky soft brown strands were much shorter, but still long enough to grab them, making him to groan. You felt light-headed, your lungs burning for air and your calves worn out from the effort of standing on your tiptoes, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. The only thing that mattered was him and that blue shirt.

“What was that for?” Bucky whispered when you manage to disentangle yourself from him. Your breath was coming in short, uneven gasps that teased him to no end. His gaze involuntarily lowered from your flushed cheeks to your chest, and the rapid way it rose and fell made him uncomfortable in his pants.

“Nothing" you replied. “You just look really good.”

Bucky laughed - a deep, delicious sound deep from his stomach, echoing at the walls of your heart. You swore you could live in the crinkles of his eyes because Heaven couldn’t compare to this world whenever Bucky Barnes laughed.

Especially if he was wearing that blue henley.

Bucky’s laugh turned into a smirk when he tightened his hold on your hips - one hand was warm and the other a little colder, just the way you liked it and how you wanted it to be forever. Swiftly, he rose you on the counter and moved to stand between your legs. The familiarity and domesticity of it didn’t make it any less thrilling. On the contrary, knowing this love was a constant rather than a possibility caused the butterflies to flutter harder in the pit of your belly. 

His vibranium hand squeezed you thigh before hooking your leg around his waist. The friction of your sweatpants with his jeans was the torturous prelude before the chorus. Bucky grunted in your ear, low and deep and warm as his breath hit the shell of your ear, right before he sucked it.

Oh.

Your hand was twisted in the blue fabric, unsure if you wanted to rip if off him or be it - to hug him and envelop him so perfectly and never let him go. Your embrace was suffocating. A tangle of arms, legs and lips dancing to their own song, writing notes on your skin. It was so easy to get lost in him. To drown in the blissful feel of Bucky’s touch and ignore the revolving world around you

A loud noise startled you, pulling you both apart. Bucky quickly turned to the crash, shielding your body with his. There, in the corner of the living room, the record player - now silent - was on the floor. Standing above the wreckage, nonchalantly licking a white paw, was Alpine.

You sighed.

“Did you say hello to her when you arrived?"

“Nope” Bucky said, hiding his face in the crook of your neck. He chuckled.

You absentmindedly dragged your nails across the nape of his neck and he purred, much like his feline counterpart when he greeted her favorite human.

“That record player was so expensive” you grumbled, face tucked in the blissful blue henley. Damn Alpine for ruining the plans you had for that shirt.

“I know. I’ll buy you a new one.”

“It’s yours, actually.”

“You know what else is mine?”

“Huh?”

“You are.”

You looked up to find him grinning, mischief on the corner of his lips and a twinkle in his gaze. You barely had time to squeal when Bucky lifted you from the counter and over his shoulder and moved to the bedroom, making sure to shut the door. 

“What about Alpine? She’ll destroy the apartment” you asked, body bouncing on the mattress. 

Bucky shrugged then tugged on his henley, tossing the blue to the floor.

Yeah. He looked much better without it.

“It’ll be worth it.”

General taglist: @ivoryhazlewood​ @youclickedthislink​ 

[k1nky-fool]

In Loving Memory

Part 1/?

Shouta Aizawa x OC

Rating: Teen (this is subject to change chapter to chapter)

Warnings: not beta read, bad spur of the moment choices, one character's existential crisis seen from an outsider's point of view, and purposely bad fashion sense.

Taglist: I'm dropping this in a discord channel too, so hi my dudes! And if you want to be tagged in future chapters, feel free to send in an ask, or PM me!

Author's Note: I really just want to make sure I get this chapter out. Because I want to have a small platonic one-shot with my OC Shizune Kiokuro and Mirio Togata for his birthday tomorrow that's set after the Overhaul arc. For angsty bitter sweet reasons. I should have that out tomorrow.

He felt a little bad for it. To be fair she had walked in wearing something that just threw him into a fight or flight response. She looked absolutely unhinged and deranged. Shouta could relate, but it made him activate his quirk immediately. He thought he had better control than this, and he managed to catch himself before anything major happened and before anyone could notice. But the woman had frozen in place and looked around like she was trying to find the source of whatever had caused the strange feeling.

Her eyes caught Shouta's and she looked him up and down with tired eyes. She shrugged him off and sat down in a seat at the table. He figured she was the new hero course third year hire after the last Investigations teacher retired.

This new year would be quite a lot. Several new teachers were joining the UA staff this year, including but not limited to All Might, and whoever this jarring woman was. It was enough to have Hizashi here to fill the role of obnoxious staff, but now there would be All Might?

Then there was this woman with a neon green mohawk and she's wearing an orange, green, and purple bowling shirt tied into a crop top, hot pink jean shorts and… are those fucking Crocs? Shouta himself couldn't be bothered to care anymore, but it was unusual that he was the only one seeming to notice something this bizarre.

"As many of you have heard, we are welcoming Toshinori Yagi to our staff this year, but All Might is not our only new addition. We also have Kiokuro Shizune joining the third year staff." Nezu happily introduced.

Everyone turned to see Shizune and she smiled brightly. Now it finally seemed that everyone was noticing her. A few teachers looked at her with disgust. Some were staring in surprise. Others just weirded out. Shizune, for her part, just chuckled at the wide array of reactions until everyone had gotten their eyeful and looked away.

None of the previous reactions stayed on their faces. And nobody bothered to look back at her. That much was odd. At least Nemuri would look back a few times and whisper about it to whoever was sitting next to her.

For the rest of the meeting, nobody looked back at her, as though she had completely faded into the background of an arcade floor someone had vomited every slushie imaginable onto. There wasn't much meeting to focus on beyond the full class files that every teacher was given at the beginning of the year. Shouta wouldn't be bothered to read it. He didn't want to have any preconceived notions about any of his students before he met them. They would have to make their first impressions count.

Shouta kept finding his gaze back at Shizune. She just sat there like a clown, tilting her chair back with a bored expression on her face. She didn't seem to think anyone was paying her any attention.

The exact second Nezu dismissed the meeting, she was gone. He wasn't going to bother talking to her, but the speed in which she was already out the door was almost impressive. But the less time he had to spend getting to know her the better.

He had a lot of work to do before his students showed up in class next week. He got back to his computer and started up. He hated the paperwork, but he had known what he was in for when he started.

"Say, Aizawa." Fucking Nemuri. "How do you think All Might's gonna fit in here?"

"He can worry about that himself."

"Oh come on, you don't even wanna know why he's suddenly decided to teach classes?" She asked. "I mean, the number one hero suddenly settling down to teach some brats? Gotta be the most bizarre thing we've seen."

"He wasn't the most bizarre thing about that meeting." He sighed. "Go home, Kayama."

"Oh? What was the most bizarre thing about that meeting?" She asked.

"Either you're blind or just stupid. Go home." He said again.

Suddenly Nemuri was all the more confused. "What did I miss?"

"The clown in the corner." Shouta deadpanned. "You'll get along well."

"The hell are you talking about? Are you ok?" Nemuri reached for his forehead, but he leaned out of the way.

"I'm fine. You can leave."

"Alright, fine." She shrugged off. "I'm going."

Finally, quiet. He liked being the only one in the office no matter how late it was. Being the last one here was worth it.

At least he wished he was the last one here. Meandering steps that thudded ever so softly on the floor. He didn't even bother to look up, knowing the colors on their shirt would give him a headache.

"Evening, Kiokuro." He acknowledged. It would be worse if she didn't know he was here.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Not saying a word. A beat of silence went by before she said anything. "How the fuck did you do that?" Her voice quivered.

"Do what?" He still didn't bother to look up at her.

"How did you know it was me? You're not looking at me." She asked.

"Your crocs make a dumb swishing sound on the floor. Your steps are quick and soft because you don't weigh a whole lot. And you walk around like you're not heading anywhere in particular, so you make strange noises, but over a large surface area. Not in a straight line." He explained like she should already know this. "I remember how you walked into the meeting."

Shizune stomped over to the side of his desk and forced his chair toward her. Fine. Guess he's not getting any work done. He finally conceded to looking up at her.

She still wore the outrageous outfit from earlier. However, her expression was one of complete fear as her eyes frantically searched his face. "Are you fucking with me?"

"What?"

"People don't remember me, Aizawa." She said, "How the fuck did you know it was me without looking up and keeping me in your line of sight?"

"What are you talking about?"

She took a step back, seeming to think something over. "My quirk." She began. "When I'm in your line of sight, you know me, you see me. But the second I'm not in your line of sight, you forget me. It is impossible for people to remember me without looking at me. If I'm not being looked at, I don't exist to anyone but myself."

"You're a stealth hero." He noted.

"Yeah. I'm the perfect stealth hero." She snapped. "So how the hell do you remember me?"

Shouta stood up, glaring down at her. "My quirk is to erase quirks."

"Oh.. you're Eraserhead." She noted. "That must have been what I felt in the meeting room. Why did you feel the need to erase my quirk the second you saw me?"

"Your shirt gave me a headache. My first thought was that it was a threat." He deadpanned.

"Oh… well that's kind of the point… but that means that it never got the chance to lock onto you. Which means the next time you looked at me, there was nothing to remember, because you hadn't forgotten. Wait then that means…" Shizune paused.

"Yeah, good luck with that." Shouta shrugged off, leaving her staring off into space. "Go home, Kiokuro." He called back as he closed the door behind him.

-X-

It was another week and a half before he had seen her again. Only two days after classes had started. He didn't want to be here, especially not while there were still students in the classroom.

Shouta had come to collect the uniform reports that All Might had left behind. All he had to do was take them down to the support department, then he could go home. But Iida, Midoriya, and Ururaka were staying late on a Friday afternoon, cleaning the classroom. They were almost done by the looks of it.

"Hi, Mr. Aizawa!" Ururaka greeted. He gave her a wave, going straight to the podium where All Might said he left the reports.

His stomach jumped when a knife flew past his face. His scarf was activated immediately, and wrapped around the assailant's wrist. But it was in vain. They had taken his scarf in their grip and jumped into the air, spinning and pulling him toward them. In one move, they kicked him back into the wall.

He grunted in pain, but his eye caught the obnoxious colors of his attacker.

"Mr. Aizawa!" Midoriya was up and ready to fight, but Shouta held up a hand to stop any of the students from attacking her.

They all waited for him to do something, so he just stood against the wall as she held a knife to his neck, staring her in the eyes. "You kids can head out. Ms. Kiokuro and I have something to discuss."

"But Mr. Aizawa, sir…" Iida began to protest, but must have come to a different conclusion. "Of course. Let's go." The other two followed him out of the classroom. They wouldn't remember this, and Shizune would be safe.

"Alright… you got me alone, now what do you want, Kiokuro?" He grumbled.

She bit out a laugh. "Now, you see- hmm honestly I-" it took her a brief moment to gather herself, and he probably would be more comfortable without the knife at his neck. He lifted his hand to move it away, but she kept it in place. "Ah, yes." She nodded. "You are driving me insane."

"That's unfortunate. Can you get the knife out of my face?" He asked.

"No." She pushed him again back into the wall. "Listen here, fucker-"

"My name is Shouta."

"You are officially 'fucker' until we figure this out." She commanded.

"Great. I could think a lot better if you took the knife out of my face."

"Shut up." She ordered, but let out a breath in annoyance. Shizune resigned to putting the knife back on her belt. "Alright, look… I really want nothing more than to go on about my life and forget you exist, just like everyone does for me."

"Then do it."

"Now, that's the problem! I feel safe knowing that there is nobody that has any memory of me. But you-! You." She laughed, pulling the knife out of the wall and holding it back at his neck. "Every time I think I'm safe, I'm reminded that you remember me."

"Why the fuck-"

"I don't trust you, Shouta." She hissed. "I don't trust you with the memory of me."

"Why don't you?"

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because I don't know you? Or because there's no reason I should trust you?" Shizune argued. "Really it's because you're not special."

"Well clearly I am." He said. "Because whether you like it or not, I do remember you. And there's no way to fix that."

"Now, Shouta, that's the wrong answer. Because I can fix it by beating it out of your head, and I can then rest easy knowing that there's nobody in the world that will ever find out." She said.

"But you're not going to do that." He figured. "You could have killed me when you first attacked me. Even in front of the students, it wouldn't have mattered. But you're a pro-hero."

Shizune let out a sigh and took the second knife away from his face. "So what can I even do about you, Shouta?" She began pacing the floor, rubbing the buzzed sides of her head. "I can't just leave you with my memory because I tried that for a week and it's driven me insane. I can't sleep knowing someone could be thinking about me, even if you physically couldn't care less if you tried. It's not a matter of if you are or aren't, it's a problem that you can at all."

"Alright, calm down, Shizune." He noted that in this little squabble they had somehow come to a first name basis and that novelty wasn't wasted on him. Very few people got this far, let alone in such a short amount of time.

"It's not easy to calm down about this. It's been almost fifteen years since I've had to trust someone with the memory of me." She was going to start rambling if he let her keep going.

"It's ok. Don't worry about that yet. Now, tell me why again you don't trust me." He said.

"Because I never trust anyone. You're not different, you're not special. But as of a week ago, you are the only person on the planet that knows who I am." She explained.

"Alright, so we've established that you don't trust me any more than everyone else. Which is understandable. I met you a week ago." He followed along. "But since I do remember you, and we don't have a way to fix that beyond extreme violence, we need to figure something else out. You said there was no reason you should trust me. In the event of someone having memory of you, what would make you trust them with that information?'

Shizune thought for a second. "I need to know that person won't tell others about me. I need to be a complete secret."

"That's great, because I don't want to talk to anyone about you." He deadpanned.

"But how can I be sure that you won't be convinced by one of your friends to talk about me? How do I know that Yamada or Kayama can't ask the right question to get you to talk about me?"

"First, I'm an underground hero, just like you. If you don't want anyone to know about you, then nobody will know about you." He promised. "And second, I don't even want to tell them about myself, let alone make an effort to tell them about you."

"Fair enough…" She shrugged. "But I still don't know you. For all I know you could be lying about this."

"And for that, we'll have to trust each other." Shouta figured. "How about I give you a piece of information about me that I don't want people knowing?"

"You would do that?"

"I don't want to, but it's fair. I'd be essentially letting you hold me hostage." He explained. "If someone ends up knowing about you in any way that you haven't given them, then you have this information to do what you want with."

Shizune looked him up and down. "What makes you think I need something true to do that?"

"You don't, but this is supposed to be a gesture of trust."

"Oh yeah…." She remembered. "You do realize it'll have to be something genuinely secret. Something you would literally rather die than have other people know about."

"Which is the issue. I don't think there's anything I would have a problem with other people knowing."

Immediately Shizune lit up with a wicked smile across her face. His students should be glad he doesn't smile like that. "I bet I can find something."

"I will bet you can't." He deadpanned. "Not that I think your investigation skills are lacking, there's just nothing for you to find."

"More mysterious men than you have said that to me and been so. very. wrong." She chuckled, taking a step closer to him. He didn't like the sound of that, but if it meant she could find something that would make her less of a lunatic, then he would let her investigate.

"If you're that confident in yourself, then you have my permission to poke around in my life until you find something." Shouta allowed. "But I don't think you needed my permission in the first place."

"Eh, I don't stalk people unless I need to for work." She shrugged. "I'll see you around."

Shizune was gone, but once again, there was no change in Shouta's memory of her. If she could find something that he cared so heavily about, he wondered what it would be. What would an outside investigator determine to be the most important part of his life?

[jonathanrook]

legally i have to give you intern 2

em you have awoken an ungodly beast inside me so i need to warn everyone that this post is. incomprehensible. but so is mymusic so i guess we're all used to it.

How I feel about this character:

i watched mymusic as it was airing/running/coming out specifically bc i'm a jack stannie, and as a kid melvin was my second favorite character (w scene being in first, obvs) for mostly that reason. he basically hovered around this ranking until my most recent rewatch in the summer of 2020, which was actually spurred by some events in my personal life that vaguely reminded me of scene's season two arc w jeff, and i thought it'd been a funny/nostalgic way to get my mind off things.

(i want to side note here that -- i know you didn't ask, but -- i love jeff. i have since i was a kid. like, obviously not as a person but i think he's honestly the best written character in the series, w indie close in second. idk what it says about the f*nes that their most interesting and well rounded characters are the villains, but i digress. to this day i'm salty that jeff never got added to the theme song and wasn't really included in promotional merch.)

however, in said rewatch, certain things about how he was written started to really get under my skin, and certain moments in particular have really stuck out to me in a negative way. like, for the entirety of season one and a good chunk of season two he's one person, and then he leaves mymusic and we have an entirely different person, but not in a nuanced character building sort of way.

i've said a few of these points before but i'll repeat them here regardless. at the risk of sounding like i've put on a tin-foil hat, it's my sneaking suspicion that scindie was supposed to be endgame, but since fan reception to it was pretty neutral, and scenechart stans were, at the very least, more vocal, changes were made to the intended finale, which is why in the last scene he's basically just. indie. like, if everything about the show was exactly the same but indie was the one who had ended up w scene in the end that would have made so much more sense since a) scene had a crush on indie that he/everyone knew about and b) indie was kind of a dick despite the half-assed attempts at redemption, so both combined make it slightly less weird/out-of-nowhere that he kisses her w/o her consent (since, even though like. implied consent is not real at worst and a fuzzy subject at best but you could argue that scene would want indie to kiss her); and this isn't even taking into consideration that c) melvin is heavily queer-coded in both seasons, with his friendship with nerdcore being, dare i say, homoerotic at times, and his arc about leaving the company and changing his name mirroring nerdcore's almost perfectly (with nerdcore being a character who b*nny [at least] has all but confirmed is actually gay).

i've also been on the fence about melvin's behavior in that final scene making more sense for indie's character being an intentional decision as a way of shoe-horning in a theme about the lasting effects of abuse/cycles of abuse/the corruption of power but i also don't think the f*nes are smart enough for that. however, for the sake of defending my straw theory, i also point to the scene where indie comes to visit the acid factory after melvin told him to shut up, and we see melvin use reggie as a foot-stool, going as far as to say that it feels good to do so (which, in all honesty, i think is a bit that was entirely improvised, since the f*nes were "notorious for never saying cut" [paraphrased from a bts video], but work w me here). he's also given a seltzer mug that perfectly resembles indie's kombucha mug. in these moment melvin is directly emulating the behavior of his previous abuser, purposefully or not, literal moments after being promoted to an equal position of authority, which was totally just included as a joke, but could also be argued is meant to show that he's becoming indie; or, if we acknowledge that the f*nes have no fucking clue what they're doing and were just directing like chickens with their heads cut off, it at least shows that melvin's new position of power is leading him to understand where indie was coming from, which is supported by their conversation in the finale.

the following contains a couple brief mentions of irl sexual assault so if that's something you'd like to avoid skip to the next section!

HOWEVER, that alone isn't what i have a problem with, since i think melvin is completely justified in being a dick to indie (and also reggie enthusiastically consents to being used as an ottoman so good for him i guess). the issue comes completely in how he treats scene in the scenes where the f*nes clearly thought what they were writing was super romantic. like, the fact that the only thing he's got hung on his cubicle wall is a single picture of scene taken from the fucking opening credits (like. how hard would it have been to have. literally any other photo[s] esp since there's an abundance of cute bts pics of the cast in costume that could have been put there) and him scrolling through her twitter at work really creep me out (and at the risk of oversharing the weird, like, social media stalking angle really fucks w me bc that may or may not have been the exact fucking thing i was trying to escape in rewatching mymusic in the first place). also, having him sexually assault scene as a means of comforting her after she had just been sexually assaulted in the same way by someone else was... a choice (which is also, uh, personally familiar).

again, i recognize that demonizing melvin wasn't what the f*nes were trying to do here, and i perhaps seem hypocritical for opening liking jeff, but what makes jeff work is he's intentionally "the bad guy." having melvin do the same things as indie and jeff uncritically only proves further that the f*nes can't write for shit, and ruins his character which had, up until he quit mymusic, been unironically good. like, it's obviously not beneficial that the exact asshole things he does are personally triggering, but the character would still be a mess and i would still dislike him regardless.

i want to say though that jack delivers a surprisingly great performance despite how shoddily his character is constructed and how little experience he has as an actor. like, it's clear he was having a lot of fun on set and i would love to see him in something, like, good; i think he could pull off even like, guest television roles, which is a lot more than can be said for other youtubers.

-----

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

nerdchart should have been canon i'm sorry. i know that close, nonromantic male friendships are valuable, esp between queer men, but also gd wouldn't it have been baller to have a canon interracial mlm ship. like. c'mon. and they could have been such a good friends to lovers story! we already got to see how melvin was the only person nerdcore could really be himself around so it would have been so cool if melvin's self-advocacy arc/flowchart arc had revolved more around nerdcore with a little role-reversal! and then they kiss! like god intended!

also i ship him and indie bc i'm a grubby little gremlin man ohoho. enemies w weird sexual tension? sign me up. not even enemies to lovers i'm not saying this one should have been canon i just love the vibes. do you think melvin and indie ever explored each other's bod-- *gunshot*

-----

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

i wish him and scene had just been bros. god remember in season one when they were just bros that was the life.

alternatively, i wish we'd seen more bonding w him and metal, as a means of reconciling that. uh. moment from season one. along similar lines i would have loved to see him get closer w rayna in a similar way to how she bonded w nerdcore in season two. i think that could have also worked to show how she'd grown between the two seasons.

-----

My unpopular opinion about this character:

HIM. AND. SCENE. SHOULD. HAVE. JUST. BEEN. BROS. (though i think my general dislike of him is pretty unpopular, lmao).

when the show was coming out i don't think it's unfair to say that scenechart/scenetern 2 was the most popular ship (aside from potentially techstep whatever) but luckily we're all gay and have better taste now. unfortunately i totally fell into this camp and scenechart was even my otp for years (until it was arguably more unfortunately usurped by reddie in 2019) and i didn't even realise that it's a hot mess until, again, the summer of 2020.

when actually watching the show the choices the f*nes made in regards to how the ship actually became canon are so odd and out of place, too? okay, so, on one hand everyone just shipped scenechart bc it was the whitest hettiest ship in the show (esp in season two when idol left) aside from scindie (and we already discussed what's wrong w that). but, on the other hand, lainey and jack clearly also just got along? and i suspect that lainey probably also admired jack's work and was happy to be working with him bc we have so many shots throughout even the first season when the ship wasn't the intended endgame of lainey scene looking really fondly at jack melvin at times when it doesn't make much sense at all, esp since she's smitten w indie? this trend continues into the second season which arguably works but it still seems really out of place for him to be the one to ultimately make the first move on her since it's clear she was the one crushing this whole time and also he's gay! this bitch is gay what the fuck!!

-----

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

at this point i'm struggling to think of anything i haven't covered yet. oops.

i've talked at length before about how he should have been a woman/lesbian, but the tl;dr is that it would have solved a lot of the queer-coding "problems" that just didn't get resolved in the show. if he'd been a lesbian then not only would the friendship w nerdcore still made sense, but scenechart would have as well (not even mentioning that both of scene's other relationships w men make a lot of sense as comphet anyway).

[sincerelyreidburke]

15 for platonic nando and ben because its not gay to want to marry the homies

First of all, please forgive me. This is only the first sappy prompt, and while I will most definitely fill all of them, it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this that I’m being slow as I do that. Do not worry! I won’t let you down. I love every single one of these sappy-ass prompts.

Second: Percy, this one made me laugh. I hope you enjoy the bro time ficlet I created in response to your request. Featuring Chef Nando, the Beech Street kitchen, and Ben’s incessant chirping of Nando for being a huge simp. (Quinn is only an offscreen entity here, FWIW. It’s 100% Ben and Nando bro time.)

From this list of prompts!

15. “Please marry me.”

Nando is making a mess of the kitchen.

At least he knows it. And it’s definitely not the first time this has happened. He’s lived in his room at the house on Beech Street for almost an entire school year now, and he’s completely aware of his own tendency to turn cooking space into a war zone. He can’t help it! It’s the allure of a kitchen existing downstairs from him, and a kitchen he only has to share with five other people, no less. Yeah, the freshman boys’ dorm had a kitchen, but a gross communal kitchen in a dorm with 200 other guys is a lot different from a house kitchen he can utilize for hours at a time and not get any shit for it.

That’s why he makes a mess in here. And he knows it. Even if he weren’t aware of it, Quinn would have definitely brought it to his attention by this point, because Quinn will not hesitate to start a bickering argument about this exact type of thing as if they’ve been married for 40 years. (Which Nando loves.) He figures it’s better to know something like this about yourself than to live in total ignorance about it.

So, anyway: he’s making a mess of the kitchen. In his defense, he’s making a messy meal. It’s a Thursday afternoon, sunny and warm (or at least warm for March in New England), and the weather has spurred him into the exactly right mood to make a big dinner. There’s also maybe the added motivation of his one class tomorrow having been cancelled, so today is basically his Friday. And also, he was hungry.

Whatever. The point is, he’s making empanadas, and anybody who takes two steps through the front door of Beech right now would totally know it, because the evidence is everywhere.

There’s flour all over the counter from when he was making the dough. The three separate pans he used to make the filling are stacked up in the sink, yet to be washed. There’s a pan of oil getting ready to heat up on the stove, and just for good measure, as if this weren’t enough food, he’s even making beans and rice, which requires two more pots, both of which are in use right now on other stove burners.

The empanadas themselves, which have yet to be fried, are all on a cookie sheet, separated by wax paper. There are a lot of them, but Beech is home to six hungry athletes plus possibly one more if Remy comes over, which he almost definitely will. Nando wants to save at least a few of them for Quinn, too, even though he won’t be at dinner.

Who said you can’t have a big family dinner on a Thursday night? Nobody. Literally nobody. This is college, and he’s living his best life.

Beech is empty, at least for the moment, which is even more enabling. Nando has music on, as loud as he wants it to be. He thinks he knows where everybody is, too, which is helping him time dinner. Jordy has debate team on Thursdays, and Teegs said something about going to the gym. Remy’s in the library, and Ben and Sam both have classes that should be out soon. Marc is probably with that one girl he’s been trying to wheel lately.

So everybody is accounted for, and he has the house to himself, which is how he wound up cooking. Nando turns up the heat on the oil, and waits. His shuffle switches songs, and he bops around the disaster scene of a kitchen to the steady beat. The sun through the window, though it’s on its way to setting, still warms him up, brightens his mood.

It’s a good afternoon.

He’s not quite frying yet when the front door opens, but he is stirring the pot of beans, reaching over to the back burner on the stove to get to them. It’s starting to smell good— everything is. Beech Street smells like home right now.

Not that Beech isn’t home. It’s just not the same home where Mama and his sisters are. It’s a home away from home. And Nando really, really likes the way that feels.

The door is a distant sound, with his music playing. What actually gets his attention is the voice that comes from that direction; Ben, as usual, announces his own arrival before he actually comes into the kitchen. “Holy actual hell,” he calls, as his steps get closer. “You cooking, Nan?”

“You bet your ass I am,” Nando replies, with a laugh. He pauses his music, and then turns just in time to see Ben walk in. He has his backpack over one shoulder, and his jeans are cuffed, so you can see the rainbow socks that match his scrunchie. He puts a hand to his heart as he stops to survey the scene in the kitchen, and then drops his backpack.

“Duuuude,” he whispers, kind of reverently, and approaches the counter. He doesn’t actually comment on the mess in the kitchen, because Ben isn’t the tidiest person. He’s not the worst, but still. Rooming with him was an experience last year. “What’s this for? You got a hot date tonight?”

“No, not tonight,” Nando mumbles, turning the heat down on the beans. “He has rehearsal.”

“Then this is for us?” A gleeful grin crosses Ben’s face. “Like, this is dinner?”

“Uh, yeah?” Nando laughs. “I thought you guys might want a night off from, like, dining hall food.”

“Wow.” Ben puts his hand back on his heart, and sighs like a damsel in a sexist movie. “I feel so special.”

He grins at him. “I love that you assumed Quinn was coming over because I was cooking.”

“Well, yeah, because you’re a fucking simp,” Ben replies, and then walks over to his side of the counter and punches the side of his arm. “Everybody knows that.”

There’s no use defending himself in the face of Ben’s chirping, but he tries anyway. “I don’t cook every time Quinn comes over.”

“He’s gonna be jealous.” Ben pulls his phone from his pocket. “I’m gonna send him a pict— wait, dude, are those empanadas?”

“I still have to fry them.” Nando gestures to the pan of oil. “But yes.”

“Oh, my God.” Ben laughs and swoons. “Please marry me, dude. Like, what the fuck.”

Nando leans to the oven, to turn it on so it’ll keep the empanadas warm. “Well, now Quinn’s definitely gonna be jealous.”

“Seriously.” Ben arches an eyebrow, flashing his trademark smirk. “I’m sending him a picture. I’m gonna tell him I’m stealing his man and the food that comes with him.”

“I feel like you’re reducing me to my ability to cook.” Nando pauses, as he draws back from the buttons on the oven. He grabs a wooden spoon and turns it upside down, pressing it into the oil to test the temperature. It bubbles a little, but it’s definitely not hot enough yet. “Like a housewife?”

“You are a housewife.” Ben is typing on his phone— Snapchatting Quinn, by the looks of what Nando can see on the screen. There’s a black caption bar over a photo of the tray of empanadas. “You’re the Beech Street personal chef. And I love you for it.”

Nando grins. “I love you, too.”

Ben finishes his Snapchat, then puts his phone back into his pocket and declares, “C’mere, big man.” He hugs him from the side, and Nando pats him on the back with his free hand. “You’re a legend,” Ben announces. “Thanks for feeding our sorry asses.”

“Wow,” Nando chirps, raising an eyebrow at his best friend. “Is this you being actually sentimental? What’s your deal?”

“Fuck off.” Ben immediately punches his arm again, but stays in the hug for a second more before he lets him go. “Who says I can’t appreciate the homies?”

Nando snorts. “I know you’re just trying to get extra empanadas.”

“Not true,” Ben retorts, even though it totally is true. He tucks one of his stray hairs behind his ear, and then folds his arms, surveying the kitchen scene again. “Also, where is everybody?”

Nando rattles off the list of people’s locations he came up with in his own head a little while ago. Ben nods as he does it, then shrugs, walking over to a barstool and hopping up into it. “Looks like it’s just me and you, simp boy.”

“Looks like it is.” Nando knows Ben can’t see his face anymore, as he tests the oil again. He’s grinning anyway. “Do you care if I put my music back on?”

“Yes,” Ben replies. “Your music is trash.”

“Hey!” The oil is hot. Nando straightens and looks over his shoulder. “What’s wrong with my music?”

“I told you,” Ben says, simply. He’s scrolling through his phone at the counter. “It’s trash.” There’s a brief pause, and then Nando’s bluetooth speaker makes a little ping.

Connected to: Ben’s iPhone, says the robot voice, and Nando rolls his eyes. “Come into my kitchen,” he mumbles. “Chirp my ass. Disrespect my music.”

“Oh!” Ben completely ignores this, and grins at his phone. “Q Snapped me back.” He pauses, like he’s waiting for something to load, and then announces, “He says he’s jealous and to save him some.”

Nando turns back to his empanadas, so Ben won’t see the smile on his face as he remarks, “Tell him I was already going to.”

“Of course you were,” Ben mumbles. “You fucking simp ass.”

The oven beeps— it’s finished heating. Nando thinks it’s easier to just fry everything at once and leave it warm in the oven, rather than wait for people to be ready to eat and try to time it. He takes a second cookie sheet out, for as he finishes frying. The apron Quinn made him, tied tight around his waist right now, is about to get kind of greasy. Not that it hasn’t already been through hell and back. He’s had it for over a year.

Behind him, Ben is quiet for a second, and then he starts playing Bruno Mars at a respectable volume through the Bluetooth speaker. Nando grins, and sways his shoulders to the opening couple of beats of 24K Magic. “See,” Ben says, with a grin in his voice. “Don’t say I never did anything for you, Nanny. I know what you like.”

“This is a good song,” he replies, and then Ben immediately starts singing. Nando laughs, loud and long, with the sun warm on his face and a good feeling in his chest.

He drops the first empanada into the oil and sings along with his best friend. Together, they make the kitchen into their own little party. Ben is a bad dancer and Nando is a worse singer, but they vibe together in the kitchen anyway, between batches of frying and various chirps. Nando thinks, as he cooks, that he honestly couldn’t be having more fun.

So, yeah. It’s a really great afternoon.

[cascae]

I wonder what would have happened if casca and guts swapped places?

oh oh oh  . . .   firstly the thought of casca,  though strong as she is,  trying to lead this giant looming bastard of a man thru endless nights and attacks from demons is killing me,  but i do think she’d find a way to manage it in her own way  (i’m taking them swapping spots mostly as swapping fates in the eclipse,  so hopefully i’m understanding right –– and i could also look at this from more of a casca coming in as the outside in the hawks vs guts... let’s split this up hehe i like this question!)

1.  simply swapping fates during the eclipse  ––   i.e.  guts wakes up with his mind essentially locked off from him  &  casca wakes alone.

in this scenario, i think there’s two potential ways this might have played out  ––  for casca, she’s very much the type to focus on the external world. she often avoids introspection and instead relies on the steadiness of others (namely griffith’s leadership and the tangible/simultaneously intangible nature of being with him, which she didn’t have to analyze because at the very least she was useful to him and therefore there was always a reason to be beside him that she could cling to – even if she wasn’t with him “as a woman” as she puts it, she was irreplaceable to his goals).

upon the betrayal by griffith + in this case guts’ loss of memory/selfhood, i think she’d hold a similar rage as guts does canonically.  however, historically, her experience with rage and hurt has her responding by rallying behind someone. even in the year prior to the eclipse when she herself is leading the hawks in griffith’s absence, she’s still actively working to rescue him and subsequently be close to him. this isn’t to speak to her ability to split off  ––  when it comes down to it, and this is also something we do see with her as acting leader of the hawks, casca can and will survive above all.  she can rally behind herself in moments,  but a lot of times we see her relying on others when it comes to emotions / even her own understanding of self.

so, all that said, i think more than guts might’ve, casca would be tempted to stay with guts in the cave.  i think she would have a hard time leaving him because her rage and hurt would be placed differently than his is.  so my first answer is that she would stay with him,  and eventually they’d probably leave the cave and much of the conviction arc would play out in terms of what is “fated”.

alternatively, let’s say first and foremost she’s just angry, rageful, and wants to get back at griffith for what he did (essentially all in the same way as guts).  if she were to leave, i think similarly to guts she would leave him behind.  which i say only because i think if she were to go on the same sort of crusade against demonkind that guts does canonically, she would have a similar line of thought in terms of bringing someone defenseless / who makes her ache w regret every time she looks at him would make for a harder journey. 

2.  still following the above,  but focusing in on what casca as “the black swordsman” would look like.

so assuming she follows the latter theory from above,  casca on her own would be so interesting ... i’m going along, still, with the idea that the ‘demonified’ child of guts & casca’s was born. in her more full aware state, she’d have a similar reaction as guts did in canon, and wouldn’t trust it completely to begin with, but following the sort of innate connection they have in that arc, if it were to carry over, i think she wouldn’t necessarily try to kill it or anything. which leads me to the view of the black swordsman.

in her travels, looking so small and less threatening than guts might, i think her reputation would be different. perhaps even she wouldn’t garner the title he does  ––  alternatively, like we see in the conviction arc in casca’s own storyline, she might better suit “the black witch” title she temporarily holds. if the child is following her like it does in canon as opposed to focusing its attention moreso on guts, then i think similar events as in conviction would occur where we see evil spirits literally dispelled by her / avoiding her, because of the child’s protection. so all in all it would be a different experience  ––  she would still be fighting and killing every demon she came into contact with to fight her way to griffith himself, but i think the perspective of her and some of her fighting styles would be different. she relies on agility & strategy more than guts does, mostly.  

regarding her journey itself, though her motives would be similar to guts’ they certainly wouldn’t be exact. the brunt of her anger towards griffith would be the fact he used her (guts has the right to be angry on this count as well, but i think a lot of his anger centers around both the personal betrayal and what griffith does to casca in front of him  ––  so in casca’s case, assuming the eclipse functions similarly to canon, she’d be furious that she was considered a “pawn” in terms of griffith’s plan but also in terms of griffith’s torturing of guts, that he assaults her to spite guts particularly, i don’t think that would go unnoticed entirely by her) and the fact that she was never anything more to him than a tool, with even less merit than guts (re: i’ve never heard him say “i want you” until he said it to you, etc.)

SO, long words all to say i think following her as the black swordsman post-eclipse would be so wildly interesting because she would hold also that sort of eternal frustration of “i ought to be _____ as a woman”, so there’s the added idea that if she were to leave guts behind, her guilt would be a lot around shouldn’t she have been the one to nurse him back to normalcy? shouldn’t she be playing maternal & kind & loving? but then she’s spurred on by her anger, the rage she feels towards griffith and his lack of care towards her. she had based her entire life on him needing her, and at least holding platonic affection for her. when that crumbles ... she’s pissed! she’s hurt, certainly, but she’s absolutely enraged.

3.  swapping moreso their origin stories, or at least their initial entrance into the band of the hawk.

i won’t go into the eclipse as much here, but just the dynamics and how they’d shift were the trio shuffled emotionally. say guts is griffith’s right hand prior to casca showing up out of the blue and besting some of griffith’s best men  ––  griffith ultimately engaging her in battle and generating his little obsession that he has for guts for casca instead. i think... well, number one, the dynamic between guts and casca would be interesting. i think the idea of a man being threatened by the sudden appearance of a woman who is skillfully better than him is fundamentally different and more aggressively charged than vice versa. guts’ frustration with casca would likely show itself differently than hers with his,  but i would imagine it would still end similarly with a slow burn romance should she be the one to save him on multiple occasions on the field. 

(minor cw for manipulation of a sexual nature in this paragraph) regarding her position with griffith, i can’t think of too much else to say because it would be essentially the same as what his relationship with guts is. i was going to say possibly more manipulative but i think that’s mostly because i think griffith has a tendency in canon to utilize sexual situations as power plays (i.e. with charlotte, and then nearly with casca first in the cart right before the eclipse). and i don’t think that path was necessarily closed with guts, but with casca & the assumption that the struggles she holds with her identity as a “woman” and what determines “usefulness” in that position carry over, it could be more prevalent. plus guts actively rejects griffith even jokingly in terms of flirtatious advances, whereas i think there’s a possibility casca would be swayed by that and ultimately be manipulated into perceiving her and griffith’s relationship to go far past friends or comrades, making his eventual betrayal cruel. in this case, i think casca would most assuredly take on the same route of black swordsman as guts does and leave guts behind initially to get revenge on griffith.

further than that, i think if this particular swap happened, griffith might have, instead of doing what he did during the eclipse to casca in order to spite guts, killed him in front of casca to garner the same reaction. or would have found another route to break the pair of them, which could mean that casca would be journeying on her own as opposed to with guts by her side after the fact. though i’m not sure frankly, it could go either way!

anywho, those are my thoughts, apologies for how long this got... i think it’s such an interesting question because the implications in terms of gender especially would be entirely shaken up. it would be interesting also to see the way in which she carried herself afterwards and if she would have a similar resolute persona, so to speak. thank you so much for asking this it was fun to try and work through :-]

[risingsouls]

Recruited: Chapter 10

[I did another thing! This one is a lot shorter than the last several have been and a little more filler-y BUT we’re getting close to canon stuff (that I’m trying to figure out how I want to write and format still). SO here we gooooo!]

Vegeta

Any miniscule time he was forced to spend alone with Frieza aggravated the prince. Whether to bear the brunt of some reprimand, to listen to him discuss business to an audience of intergalactic dignitaries at a stupid feast he was dragged to and forced to endure like some pet, or to nod along with him prattling on about himself and insulting Vegeta or his race in a single breath, he preferred it when running an empire distracted Frieza from his existence. This rare occasion of the tyrant requesting his company on a special mission had the same effects: the usual rage of being helpless to end the emperor's life, the discomfort of watching his every step and word, the humiliation of bearing his belittling commentary and pretending to be his proud, obedient attack dog. It was maddening, and the only solace in the trip was that he left Dodoria and Zarbon both been behind to attend to other business.

Nappa, Raditz, and Nabooru had also been ordered to deal with another assignment while Vegeta accompanied Frieza. Disconcerting due to the fact that, in circumstances such as this, his cohorts would be ordered to remain on base until his return, placed on a schedule that included training and any other grunt work the commanders could find for them. However, he supposed Frieza wanted to keep his top teams busy conquering planets for him. Vegeta hadn't missed the increase in work they had been assigned, and even their latest three day reprieve had been cut short. He tried to convince himself it all meant nothing, that, even if Frieza noticed how the four of them trained more often than usual in their free time, his ego would keep him from getting too suspicious. But Vegeta couldn't deny the increase in his own paranoia with each passing day. Each day he stepped closer to exacting revenge and killing the bastard, and he constantly found himself dwelling on every possible scenario that could skew or outright obliterate his plot.

"It's almost a relief to have different company for once," Frieza mused, a wine glass held between his middle and index fingers. He nodded to the bottle, a silent insistence Vegeta top him off. The Saiyan swallowed his grimace and did as he was bade. Zarbon's or Dodoria’s usual task. He noted the shift of his crimson eyes to the still near full glass in his gloved hand, and took the hint to take another measured sip. "Zarbon and Dodoria tend to bore me after a while. And their bickering...if they weren't so loyal and useful, I may have offed them by now out of sheer annoyance."

Vegeta chuckled, practiced amusement and rehearsed reactions. "I can only imagine," he responded. Another glance spurred him to add, "I suffer the same with Raditz and Nappa. Though it's less their bickering than some inane, disgusting topic of conversation I don't care to hear in detail."

"Yes, I suppose that is an unfortunate vice of the lower classes, their obsessions with sating their lust." Frieza swirled the wine in his glass, black lips downturned in disgust. "A product of lower brain function, I suppose. They have little more than lewd absurdity to keep their minds occupied. Something the two of us fortunately don't suffer from."

The prince bowed his head, performing each gesture that appeased Frieza with loathing. He didn't care for his useless compliments. He found it hard to focus on them when all he could imagine was ripping those horns from his head and burying them in his eye sockets. Or shoving the wine glass into his mouth and forcing him to chew it up and swallow the shards to laugh as he watched him spit blood onto the pristine floor.  "Thank you, my lord. Your compliments are the highest honor."

"And they do not come lightly, Vegeta. You are an enigma of your kind. Had your race not perished, you would have made a fine ruler. Far better than your father." Vegeta ignored the twinge of rage his words plucked in favor of focusing on drinking the dry wine. "Yes, my tutelage has done wonders for you. Perhaps if my father had done the same with yours as I have done for you, perhaps he, too, could have evolved from a mere monkey playing court and dressed in regalia to a full-fledged ruler."

To keep his grip loose on the stem of his glass and not shatter it proved challenging in the face of his father's mockery. No matter his mixed feelings of the deceased Saiyan king, he did not take insults of his memory well. Especially from the likes of Frieza. He bit his tongue and once more drank to silence the blazing barrage of insults he wanted to sling in retort. 

"You are too kind, my lord." The words burned like acid on his tongue. "I agree that my growth under your watchful eye has favored me greatly. I thank you."

"Of course. I saw promise in you the moment I set eyes on you. However, there is always room to grow and learn, wouldn't you say?"

His tone, the smirk on his lips, ramped Vegeta's paranoia to near overload. Had Frieza found out about his plotting? Led him and his team straight into a trap of some sort?

He was given little time to consider as Frieza spoke up again. "Earlier you only mentioned your Saiyan comrades. It reminded me that you and I have never fully discussed the fourth I added to your team. How has she fared?"

"Nabooru is a competent warrior, well-versed in her craft and battle strategy. She fits in well, and, outside of being mouthy and questioning my authority once in a while, she's proven her worth." He glanced to the wide window before them, to the passing stars and junk, the endless void of space. "She learns quickly and strives to improve where she can. She was hesitant to carry out orders, but has grown out of it for the most part."

Frieza laughed. "Such a glowing report from the commander who pitched a fit over my decision." Vegeta's lips tightened to a thin line and his brows lowered ever further, only encouraging the emperor's delight. "I can't say I'm surprised she has a belligerent streak. Her former king said the same of her when I asked in one of our visits. Your temper must be improving if her first strike didn't convince you to kill her. I have seen you kill for less, after all, Vegeta."

Vegeta clicked his tongue. "She's simply lucky she figured out not to take her insubordination too far with me. Otherwise, I would have. Her power level and skill be damned."

"A lesson well-learned, it seems. I recall it took you some time to learn the same, but I suppose you had the excuse of being a mere child."

Vegeta merely nodded, the memories of the physical abuses doled out by Frieza's or one of his cohorts' hands when he rebelled and the scars left behind all too fresh despite their age. The mental mutilation of the mind games the tyrant played with him. Each had served their purpose because he vowed and showed respect to the bastard with little beckoning. It made him sick, clawed at his pride and convinced him death would be a more pleasant fate. But he wanted revenge more than anything, so survive he must. No matter the cost. It would be worth it someday.

"Sir, we are approaching our target," the captain announced. "T-minus five minutes."

"Excellent. Remember, there will be no need to land here." 

Vegeta glanced to Frieza when his scouter pinged. He pressed the button on the side. "Ah, what good timing, Nabooru. You have landed on Planet Noya and met with the other team there?"

Frieza cut the transmission and sighed dramatically. "Unfortunate, really." He finished off his wine and set the glass aside. "Shikoo and his team were quite the commodity. But one too many rumors about stoking rebellions and insubordination makes it difficult to keep such bad seeds among the loyal."

He waited for her reply, the smirk on his lips growing ever wider. "Yes, yes, I am aware of the success in purging the planet. The instructions to rendezvous with the soldiers sent to Noya were...purposefully vague. The task for you and the Saiyans is to kill that team. Don't worry your pretty head over why, dear. It's unbecoming of a soldier.. Their punishment has been a long time coming."

Vegeta's throat closed up and his mouth dried out. "The proper decision, it sounds like, sire," he managed, finishing his own glass and abandoning it. "Not to overstep my own boundaries, but I assumed we were purging this planet we're going to."

"We are. In a sense." He hoisted himself into his hover chair and propped his elbow on the edge, cheek resting in his palm. His crimson gaze rested on Vegeta, unblinking. "The denizens are...formidable enough, especially en masse, and intel suggests they wish to rebel against me. I have decided the time and potential casualties aren't worth the effort for what little the planet has to offer in the long run, so destroying it entirely will be a far better use for dealing with them. One and done, as they say."

A rare instance in which Vegeta agreed with Frieza’s methodology. He wished he would pass down such an order more often than he did, frankly. Putting down rebellions wasted time when they typically ended up murdering them all anyway. Any extra precautions and instructions usually forced them to hold back or went up in smoke not long after they landed. While he understood that some planets had more value than others, blowing up the planets and washing their hands of the business would allow them to take on more jobs. Send a team to gather whatever resources from the planet beforehand and then he and his team or one like his could destroy the place and move on. Not to mention he liked the thrill, the power behind destroying an entire world on his own.

A blue green planet slowly drifted into view, decent sized with a large landmass facing the ship in its current position in its rotation. Frieza waved for him to follow him to the center of the ship. "Come along. Vegeta. We will approach close enough that your ki will protect you from the lack of oxygen. I will allow you to do the honors." 

Vegeta took the blare of the signal for the opening of the uppermost hatch as his cue to surround himself in a protective barrier of energy. While he could not survive the void of space this way, it offered protection from suffocation for at least a few minutes. More than enough to obliterate the planet and retreat into the safety of the ship once more. He followed Frieza up and through the hatch, hovering over it and facing the planet.

Though only allowed the chance to destroy entire planets on a few occasions, he made a point to remember what it felt like. The exact amount of energy he needed to build in his palms, how to adjust for the size and density of the planet. Back of one hand pressed to his palm, he shifted his arms back behind his head. Violet energy surged around his hands, his body, the draw and thrill of powering up familiar and welcome. Up and up he allowed his energy to rise until he deemed it the perfect amount to accomplish the task at hand. He shoved his hands outward once more and the stored cache of energy fired from his palms and through space, surging through the planet's atmosphere and striking the surface within seconds. The blast drilled through the landmass toward the core, wide cracks and fiery splotches already spreading from the point of contact.

With another beckoning from Frieza, Vegeta lingered a moment longer to watch the spectacle of magma shooting upward and his blast rending the planet in twain before following him back into the ship. The hatch closed and they returned to the navigation deck.

"Not bad, prince," Frieza drawled, scarlet gaze locked on the demolition out the window. "A bit messy, but unfortunately we don't have time to witness the entire fireworks show." A nod to the captain. "To our next destination."

The captain bowed and turned back to the controls. Before they swiveled around fully, Vegeta caught a glimpse of the planet's final moments: a series of explosions peppering the surface as its stability caved. Within moments, it would be nothing but space dust floating among the stars. A mere memory until it faded from it. Would any of its race survive? Would they hear the news of their home's destruction immediately, or only find empty blackness when they return? Would they, too, be plucked from whatever refuge allowed their survival to serve the Cold Empire? Told that a meteor destroyed their planet and they really had little other choice left as the empire still technically owned them?

His jaw tightened. He couldn't dwell on such things. None of it mattered. It never did. I never would.

[cagestark]

WinterIronSpider Ch. 2

Read chapter one here. 

Story spurred by this prompt: There's a meme about a poor college student being robbed; the robber, upon learning just h o w poor, stopping and giving the (empty) wallet back and being sincerely concerned. "You... you live like this?" What if the winter soldier/bucky barnes breaks into struggling college student Peter parker's apt and all his pre-serum steve instincts are triggered by the state of the place and how /tiny/ Peter is. 

Chapter warnings: dubcon/noncon discussed, not between any of the OT3. 

A note: In the brief teaser I gave of this fic before I’d written chapter one, Steve had skipped timelines to live his life with Peggy. But that is no longer the case. 

-

Tony stands lounging against the back of the sofa, watching the elevator doors. FRIDAY alerted him moments ago that Bucky and his guest had entered the building—those are the exact words she used. Bucky and his guest. He finds himself drumming his fingers against his legs, filled to the brim with fizzing carbon bubbles of energy. They’ve been dating for two years now, and Bucky has never brought anyone back to the Tower. He’s tempted to ask FRIDAY to bring up video feed, to get a glimpse of whoever Bucky is bringing home, but the elevator is rising, rising.

“Here, boss,” FRIDAY warns, soft, redundant.

“Quiet from here on out, baby girl,” he reminds her. She doesn’t respond.

Then the doors open.

His eyes go to Bucky first. He can’t help that. Tony will never get enough of him, spends an embarrassing amount of time staring out of the corner of his eye (or unashamedly when the other man is sleeping). Bucky’s hair is past his chin, wind-swept and tangled. He’s dressed casually with his dark jeans and t-shirt—Tony’s, it’s Tony’s t-shirt, he notes with a burst of warmth in his chest—his gloves on, the soft leather ones that Tony had custom made. He stance is guarded, from the low eyebrows to the hunched shoulders.

Tony glances down to the figure at his side and sees why.

It’s a boy, man, maybe, anywhere from sixteen to twenty-six, if Tony had to take a guess. The sad, tired eyes belie the youthful features, so it’s difficult to tell a specific age. He’s petite to an extreme (sickness? Tony wonders. Cancer?), dressed in what appears to be the common man’s version of his Sunday best—dress slacks, a collared, long sleeve shirt with cuffs that gape around his tiny wrists. Paleness verges on sallowness, skin tinged faintly green, lips faint white. But he’s handsome: sharp features, if a little too gaunt, dark eyes and dark curls that are still damp from a shower, or maybe the rain on the way over.

Then he spots it: the hero worship. The kid has stars in his eyes. Tony can spot a fan at fifty paces, the slack mouths, the wide eyes, the oh my god, you’re Iron Man! And it gets him, gets him like a knife between the ribs. He loves the praise. It flatters him, it waters his ego (which isn’t ever flourishing the way the press makes it out to be).

Coming from the right person, it makes his cock hard.

Tony knows he cuts quite a figure, even in his sweatpants, socked-feet, and tee. His hair is un-styled, soft the way Bucky likes it. He’s wearing the blue-tinted glasses that contain his latest AI, his latest baby—but he’s always wearing those these days, even when he doesn’t have EDITH active. He must look soft, relaxed, alien, because the kid looks like he’s seeing something from outer space and not upper Manhattan.

“Hey, cupcake,” Tony says, hands in his pockets, watching Bucky nearly carry the kid out of the elevator. His face is white as a sheet, mouth quivering. “Who’s this?”

“This is—” That’s as far as Bucky makes it before the kid swoons. His eyes roll, body going lax, a puppet with the strings cut. Bucky, quicker reflexes, catches him before his head can hit the tiled floor. Kneeling with the boy in his arms, Bucky gives a tentative smile that looks more like a grimace. “—Peter. He’s sick.”

Tony clutches his heart. “And here I thought it was just my influence. FRIDAY, diagnostics please. Give me some biometrics.”

“Scanning, boss.” Peter’s eyelids flutter at the disembodied female voice, but even if he is regaining consciousness, Tony doesn’t think he’ll remember it.

“Send it to E, Fri.”

No response, but the words appear in front of his eyes. Sex: male presenting. BMI: 16. Which is—yeah, that’s too fucking low. Temperature: 102.8 degrees Fahrenheit. His girl manages to narrow the age from 20 to 24, and she has more. The information goes on and on: he’s sick with the flu, it looks like, but now it has blossomed into the beginnings of pneumonia. Evidence of long-term vitamin deficiencies. A heart murmur—probably benign.

Gonorrhea.

“I got medicine for him,” Bucky says, holding up the pharmacy bag. There’s where Bucky used his card, then. “He took some in the car on the way over, and didn’t cough so much after that.”

“He’s got pneumonia, cupcake. Nothing over the counter will help that. It won’t help his gonorrhea either.”

“He’s got VD?”

Tony hums. “Can I ask what he’s doing on my four-thousand dollar leather sofa?”

“He’s sick,” Bucky says. “I thought you could help.”

“How’d you two know each other?”

“We met today.”

“How?”

“I—don’t want to say.”

Tony softens. Bucky’s skills of deception are honed enough that he could have lied without Tony being the wiser. In the beginning of their relationship, it was a serious problem: Bucky hiding things from Tony that he was worried would upset him. It’s taken a long time for him to know that he can keep secrets if he wants to, that telling Tony I don’t want to say would, under most circumstances, be enough to end the line of questioning.

“Alright. But I feel obliged to say this: there’s no legal way you could have met that I would blink an eye at.”

It’s Bucky who blinks, once, long and slow.

“You met illegally?”

“You’re getting very good at reading me,” Bucky says. Which is nice of him, considering there are still days where his lover seems like a closed book to him. “Could we, like, get him a doctor? Do you have a doctor who makes house calls? Do doctors make those, these days?”

“I’m rich enough to afford one,” Tony says. “And luckily, I have a very discreet one on container. Fri, ask Bruce to come by. Tell him it’s an emergency and to bring whatever he needs to treat pneumonia and gonorrhea—God, I wish I could see the look on his face when you tell him that. FRIDAY, take an image capture of Bruce’s face. Don’t think I didn’t notice you sidestepping the question, either, mister. We talked about your extracurricular activities—”

“I couldn’t leave him there, Tony,” says Bucky, voice tortured. “He’s sick, and he’s got no food, no health insurance. I don’t want him to go back there.”

While they’re waiting for Bruce, Tony wets a rag to put on Peter’s burning forehead. His eyes flutter, and he is looking less pale—no chance he’ll be out much longer. “Here’s a list of things that are acceptable for you to bring home with you: stray dogs, some of those pastries from that cafe we love, a downright egregious number of sex toys–actually, a few of those things I would even encourage you to bring home. But Bucky, baby, a stray human is not on that list.”

“I know that, but he–” Bucky cuts off.

“Yes?” Tony prompts. He lifts a hand, slow, fingers still damp from the washrag to tuck some of Bucky’s hair behind his ear. It’s getting longer and longer these days, and the other man doesn’t trust any professional to cut it. That leaves Tony for the job: Bucky shirtless in their bathroom, hair damp, split ends being carefully trimmed to rain down around their bare feet.

“He reminds me of Steve,” Bucky admits. “Before the serum. Small, and sick, and with a heart bigger than his stomach. I didn’t turn away then, and I can’t turn away now.”

Steve isn’t a name they mention often, not since Thanos. For Bucky to bring it up now shows how serious he is for this. How much it means to him. That’s all Tony needs to hear to be sold. He’d give Bucky the moon, if he could.

“My sugar baby wants a sugar baby,” Tony sighs fondly. “What does that make me?”

Bucky’s lips twitch. “A sugar granddaddy?”

Peter stirs. His eyes open, bloodshot, tender, honey-tinted eyes. They get wide again when they see Tony kneeling by the couch he’s resting on. He holds out a shaking hand, palm down, like he wants Tony to kiss his knuckles. “Mr. Stark,” he breathes, tongue thick and clumsy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Behind him, Bucky snorts, the softest exhalation against his neck. Tony reaches out and takes the burning grip in both of his own hands. Peter is short for a man, certainly underweight, and though he has long fingers, they are thin and spindly, swallowed whole by Tony’s larger, tanned hands. The size difference between them makes him swallow—the size difference between Peter and Bucky? It’s—indecent. “The pleasure is mine, Mr. Parker.”

“Oh, call me Peter, please,” he says. The softness, the earnestness charms Tony.

“Peter, then.”

A coughing fit comes on, lasting until the younger man’s face is red and tears are at the corners of his eyes. Tony fetches him some water that he sips at. He blinks like he’s trying to focus his eyes. “Did I faint?”

“Gracefully, if it makes you feel any better. Welcome to Stark Tower, kid. Sorry the experience has been less than ideal.”

The younger man gives a dopey smile—more than likely high off of whatever he took in the car. “The only way it could have been better is if you’d caught me, sir.”

Tony fights to keep his twitching lips from blooming into a downright grin. Bucky’s face is red, the only indication that he’s holding back laughter. “I’m sorry to say that my days of being quick enough to catch damoiseaux in distress are about ten years behind me. Luckily, Bucky was here to act as my hands. Trust me, kid, he’s got nicer biceps to cling to anyway.”

“Oh, I noticed that when he helped me to the car,” Peter says, craning his head back to wave frailly at Bucky behind the couch. Seeing Bucky wave back, stiff and straight faced, is a sight Tony will cherish for many years to come.

The elevator opens. Bruce is there with his bag in hand. He looks like a man who is about to face the gallows—but at the sight of Peter sitting on the couch with the half-empty glass of water in his hands, his eyebrows raise. This could hardly be what he was expecting when FRIDAY told him to come to the penthouse floor.

“Hello,” he says carefully stepping into the room. “Someone rang?”

“Bruce!” Tony rises on creaking joints to greet the man. The warm hug takes the younger man by surprise based on the way he tenses, returning it hesitantly. Tony says under his breath: “He doesn’t know he has the clap, and he wouldn’t understand how I know. Proceed with caution.”

“What have you gotten yourself into?” Bruce mutters, patting Tony awkwardly.

“Oh, you know how it goes. In for a penny, in for a pound.” Then, louder: “Peter, this is Dr. Bruce Banner. Bruce, this is Peter Parker.”

“Pleased to meet you, Dr. Banner,” Peter slurs. He’s looking remarkably like a damsel with the way he’s lounging on the sofa, the back of his hand pressed to the cloth on his forehead. “Call me Pete.”

“You’re not looking well, Pete. Under the weather?”

“Uh-huh. ‘ve got the flu.”

Bucky and Tony stand back while Bruce pokes and prods the kid, taking his temperature, listening to his heart and lungs, interrogating him about his symptoms, medical history, and current medications. He examines the bottle of cold medicine that Peter drank from on the way over, face serious and stern. His diagnosis only backs up FRIDAY’s findings: atypical pneumonia, something most people Peter’s age would have been able to fight off alone.

“I’m prescribing an antibiotic to help you along,” Bruce says.

“Oh, I can’t afford that,” says Peter.

“It’s on the house,” Tony calls from where he and Bucky are setting the table for three. “Consider it complimentary—like the bottles of shampoos at hotels. Bruce, are you joining us? It’s Thai.”

“No, thank you,” Bruce says without offering an excuse. He packs up his back but leaves the antibiotic on the solid fiberglass coffee table. If Peter wonders why Bruce already had the antibiotic on him, he doesn’t question it, just stares at the bottle looking a little glossy-eyed. Bruce gives Tony a pointed glance. “That there is azithromycin, which could clear up a wide range of illnesses. But Peter should still be seen by a doctor who can perform a thorough examination. Understand?”

“Understood.” Tony salutes. He owes the younger man one; actually, a million ones, considering how many sticky situations Bruce has gotten him out of over the years. With nothing but a tense smile, Bruce sees himself to the elevator. Once he is gone, they turn their attention to the young man on the couch who is cradling the bottle of medicine to his chest like a drunkard might the bottle. “Hey Peter. Are you hungry? Do you like Thai?”

“Starving,” Peter says. “And I’m not picky, I’d eat anything. But you don’t have to go through any extra trouble for me, Mr. Stark. I’m just honored to be here.”

“No trouble at all,” Tony insists. “The food is already here. I hope that someone eats it, lest it go to waste. Need help making it to the table, kiddo? Bucky here makes an excellent chariot. Quite the ride.”

The look Bucky gives him might send a lesser man cowering: the perfect mixture of scathing and unamused. But when Peter does nothing but sigh and say, I’ll bet, the former assassin gets distinctly red around the ears. And that is an interesting development, in all of this. It isn’t a stretch that Peter would be attracted to Bucky (anyone with eyes would be), but for the first time, Tony wonders if Bucky’s interest in Peter isn’t entirely platonic.

Peter stumbles on the way to the table, giggles, buzzing off of the cough syrup he drank on the way over. Bucky is nothing short of a gentleman, stiffly helping Peter to a chair, offering him first servings from all of the boxes of takeout. Tony makes a note to himself: no funny business. The kid isn’t in his right mind—even on his best days, he’s obviously vulnerable. As cute as he is, the idea of the kid as prey turns Tony off entirely.

Over dinner, they make small talk. Peter and Tony do, that is. Bucky listens, thoughtful and solemn while he fills and clears his plate twice. A few times, he smiles, when Peter does something absolutely goofy—like missing his mouth with the fork and smearing food on his cheek—and the look he gives Tony is so fond, a shake of his head, like he’s known Peter all his life and is telling Tony, Get a load of this kid, always so silly.

“Bucky tells me money is tight for you,” Tony feels comfortable enough to bring up after the plates are cleared, boxes are emptied, all of them reclining back in their seats, bellies full and sated.

Peter looks sleepy, eyes half-closed. He nods. “It is. I applied to NYU when my aunt and uncle were still alive. They said they’d help me pay for it, since my parents weren’t alive to help themselves. I got a scholarship that was going to do the rest, and everything seemed great my first few semesters. Then they passed away. I tried the work-study program, but there are limits on how many hours they’ll work students. So I worked a few other jobs too—but it just made everything worse. My grades slipped and I lost my scholarship.”

“Jesus,” Bucky mutters. “You’re one unlucky kid.”

“Look—Peter. It’s no secret that I’ve got more money than I know what to do with. Bucky here has taken a liking to you—” Peter gives a soft aww, looking so tender and touched “—I hope that you’ll let me help you out with some expenses. Get you back on your feet and focusing on your studies. How does that sound?”

Peter hums, one hand resting on his rounded stomach. “Mr. Stark—it sounds like a dream. Honestly. I’ve had like, three different dreams with hot older—uh—wait—what was I saying—”

“No, please, go on.”

“I just mean—I want to say yes.” His face grows serious, the thin, pretty mouth down-turned, a furrow between his eyebrows. “Not having any money—being poor, I guess—it’s really hard. And I know that I’m luckier than a lot of people. At least I’m not sleeping on the street. At least I’ve got, got clothes and stuff, you know. At least Mr. Rumlow lets me suck him off in exchange for rent. But my aunt and uncle, they didn’t raise me to—”

“Sorry, Pete, let’s back up,” Tony says. On his respective side of the table, Bucky has stiffened. He sits, stoic, hands clenched into fists on his lap, staring down at his empty plate. His jaw is a sharp enough weapon without it being clenched tightly enough to grind his teeth. Tony works hard to keep his own expression neutral and unalarmed, even though he feels nothing short of horrified. “Who is Mr. Rumlow?”

“Mr. Rumlow is the super. He runs the Lafayette Hall.”

“And you’ve got an arrangement with him.”

Peter hums, nodding. He coughs a little, and they wait, still like statues for him to continue. “I was late one month with rent. Single room apartments are so expensive. Mr. Rumlow was real understanding, though.”

Bucky gets up, chair screeching against the floor. He mutters some excuse and stalks to the balcony, opening the doors and stepping out into the wind. It’s starting to mist, and Bucky looks like a phantom haunting the building, a handsome gargoyle dressed in black, hair dripping, standing perfectly still with his hands on the railing. No doubt with his enhanced senses, he can still hear their conversation, but at least with his face turned towards the city, he can react however he needs to.

“It sounds like it,” Tony says, heart clenching. “Is that—something you like?”

“What’s not to like?” Peter asks. Something about this must be reaching through his drug induced fog, because his eyes are a little wider and more alert; perhaps, the haze of the cough syrup is fading. He sits up a litter straighter in his chair. “Free rent, Mr. Stark.”

“I mean to ask (and forgive me, kid, tactfulness is not in my DNA) if you’d engage Mr. Rumlow that way without the—ah—benefits.”

“Probably not,” Peter says. He looks down at his dress pants. The knees of his khakis are faded, worn, and he rubs at the spot anxiously. “He’s not really my type. But sometimes it does make me feel less lonely. Is that bad?”

It’s terrible. It’s heartbreaking. It’s illegal in New York. It’s immoral—the nerve of a person to take advantage of another’s financial vulnerability and coax them into prostitution—it makes Tony want to explode. But that’s not going to benefit Peter.

And that’s certainly not how Tony is going to get even with this Mister Rumlow. “No,” Tony says, soft. “I don’t think that’s bad.”

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asks, blinking slowly. “Could you call me a cab? I’m—I think I’m about to fall asleep on your table. It’s a nice table though. I’m sure it’d be very comfortable.”

“I’m sure that it wouldn’t, kid. I could call you a cab if you want. We’ve also got spare rooms here at the Tower, though. Why don’t you stay here tonight, take your first round of antibiotics and stick around for Bruce to be close by in case you need him?”

Peter turns pink, tickled at the offer. “You’ve already been so nice—I couldn’t—"

“You could. Like the Thai food, kid—if you aren’t enjoying those organic cotton sheets, then no one is. In the morning, we can talk more over breakfast. How do you feel about waffles?”

That sells him. The kid already looks hungry. “Alright. If you insist. Is Mr. Bucky okay? He’s been gone for a minute.”

“Mr.—” Tony laughs long and loud, unable to stop himself even as Peter’s face turns red. Out on the balcony, Bucky hunches over, and Tony thinks that maybe he’s laughing too. Smiling at least. Because the kid really is too fucking cute. “You can just call him Bucky. Formalities make him nervous. How about we check out the meds Bruce set you up with and then find you a room?”

“Sounds great,” Peter says. He’s the picture of contentment. “But I don’t have any way to repay you for all this, Mr. Stark.”

“Tony, kid. And don’t worry about it; I’m not looking for reimbursement.”

“I could suck you off,” Peter says, a little breathless. Coy, looking up at Tony through his eyelashes—only, no, that’s not coyness, it’s shyness. And instead of turning him on, the offer makes his heart break. “It works for Mr. Rumlow.”

“That doesn’t work for me, kid. Thanks, but no thanks.” He helps Peter out the chair, but with food in him, still feeling the benefits of the medicine he took, he is much steadier. Once he’s sure that the kid won’t tip out, Tony gives him space. He feels like a creep, thinking how adorable the kid is when obviously other people have seen it to—and abused it.

“In the morning, can I put peanut butter on my waffles?” Peter asks.

“You can put caviar on your waffles for all I care, kid.”

“I’ll stick with the peanut butter, thanks.”

After Peter has taken his first dose of antibiotics (and spent several long minutes ooo-ing and aww-ing over the guest room), he asks if he could speak to Bucky for a moment. Bucky is still on the balcony, soaked and unmoving. If he hears Peter ask, he doesn’t show it. Tony waves him ahead, standing back far enough that he knows he’ll have no chance at overhearing. Let Pete have his privacy.

Bucky is pale and solemn when he turns, blinking rain out of his eyes. The railing is twisted where he hands have been, but Tony doesn’t think that Peter notices. They exchange brief words, and then Peter hugs Bucky, wrapping thin arms around Bucky’s waist, resting his head against Bucky’s broad chest. They look like yin and yang. It’s art, he thinks. FRIDAY, image capture, please. The tenderness with which Bucky lifts a hand to cradle the back of Peter’s head is—God. Tony loves him.

When Peter comes back in, Bucky is on his heels. Peter’s shirt is wet from where he pressed against Bucky, and his cheeks are flushed, maybe with returning fever. Maybe. “Goodnight, Mr. Stark,” Peter says.

“Goodnight, kid. You need anything, just step out of your room and shout. Bucky here is a light sleeper.”

That makes Peter’s face turn even pinker as he bobs a nod and then disappears into the guest room, closing the door behind him softly.

“Are we, like, fucked over this kid?” Tony asks, jerking a thumb towards the guest room.

Bucky just shakes his head, and that’s all the answer Tony needs.

-

Tips not required but very welcome. Leave behind a prompt and I’ll write you a drabble in exchange. <3 Ko-Fi is here. 

Tag list: @shinycreatoroafbonk @kkomusume @bound-vivisection @sorgmantel @phoenixwench @latenightsintherain @bros-before-ghosts @starkerthanreality @richieleeparker

If you want tagged please let me know. Not tagging my current starker taglist because since this is winterironspider, I wasn’t sure if you’re interested. <3

[repentantsky]

5 Unpopular JRPG’s Takes

I could probably make an entire career of my unpopular opinions, people seem to love to get angry about them, but seem to enjoy that anger. With that said, here are 5 unpopular takes on JRPG’s. Beware minor to major spoilers for every game mentioned on this list. 

5. Cloud, is an asshole, and he sure ain’t no hero - Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy 7 is often revered as the best story and game of not only Final Fantasy, but JRPG’s in general, and yet, even though it would have been a bit less dramatic, Cloud’s horrible decisions, led to even worse consequences. Cloud knew that Sephiroth could control him, hell he even suggested staying back because of what could happen. Regardless of this knowledge, he kept bringing the Black Materia and himself in close proximity to Sephiroth, and kind of just let things play out as they would. If he had stayed back, his party likely would have been able to beat Sephiroth on their own, and Tifa could have even had a dramatic highlighted moment where she beat Sephiroth to death for Cloud’s sake and hers, and all could have been right with the world. Instead, Cloud went with his party, got tricked again into giving the Black Materia to Sephiroth, thereby making Aerith’s death a required sacrifice to make the planet strong enough to withstand a meteor, but not strong enough to avoid essentially an apocalypse. 

4. Veronica didn’t have to die, and time didn’t have to be restarted to save her. Dragon Quest XI. 

It goes without saying that hindsight is 20/20, but that doesn’t mean something entirely stupid didn’t happen that led to the death of Veronica, and the subsequent restarting of time before her death that could have dammed the whole planet. When The Hero, or Eleven as he should be called by DQ cannon, found the Sword of light, he just sort of, stood there gawking at it for a while. In the long run, this hesitation led to Veronica sacrificing herself, and as we saw when time was put back to before her death, that lack of hesitation resulted in more shenanigans than should ever be needed to save one person’s life, when the rest of all non-monster life is at risk. Simply put, grabbing the sword faster might have led to the same results as restarting time, but they pulled through that just fine, so it could have all ended just as well. But no, we had several more hours of adventuring to do, only to erase all of that, start over, and basically end up at the same place, and some people, might have actually preferred the original ending, and having Serena, grow a strength both literally and in game, that she ended up not needing. 

3. Persona 5′s Social Links, are all kind of bad, and Persona 5 Royal proves it.

Yes I’m calling them social links. Excuse me for playing other Persona games first and not liking the changed name that means the exact same thing, but Persona 5′s attempt to flush out it’s characters via non-required story all sort of fall flat. In games past, the characters grew up by handling their issues head-on, and in Persona 5, they kind of just, work through them while a nothing character spurs on their changes. Almost every character in Persona 5 is either being pushed around by another character and getting past them as a way to develop, or they are trying to help another character, and doing so does it for them. While it’s not a bad idea to let some growth come from handling the adversity that comes with getting involved in someone else’s life, to do it so often, and even to have many of the characters that move everyone’s plots by at times, entirely off screen characters, was just a bad choice, and felt extremely lazy compared to Persona’s 3 and 4. Other characters in those games, sometimes on screen, and sometimes not, helped other people as a small bit of their development, or let themselves be helped by others as a part of it, but to have the same kinds of characters be driving forces to character development, even if they aren’t or are hardly ever on screen, took the focus away from the people you interact with, thereby diminishing their roles, in their own stories. The popularity of Kasumi, who did have a story focused on her character development, and how she develops by interacting with Ren, the protagonist, and Goro who’s roll changed in Royal, proves that fans wanted that, and for whatever reason, Atlus originally, dropped the ball in that regard, almost entirely. 

2. Hating Final Fantasy XIII, but not Final Fantasy X, is kind of stupid.

If you aren’t a fan of FFXIII and it’s endless corridors, but love FFX, you might have a taste of nostalgia blinding you, or you might not be paying attention. Both games rely on corridor’s with limited space to move, FFX just, sort of hides it better, sort of. They do manage to make it feel like your traveling towards an end goal that’s worth fighting for better than XIII does, but even with that, they used a pretty similar idea, corridors with one open space towards the end, and then back to corridors. The only really noticeable change is that it’s far easier to get back to the open area, The Clam Lands, than it is to get back to FFXIII’s open space as you can get the airship sooner in FFX, than you can get to the area before you take on what is basically the Pope in FFXIII. I can already hear some people saying it was mostly about a difference of hardware capabilities, but that’s obviously not true, as games ranging from The Simpsons Hit and Run, to Grand Theft Auto, to Jak 3, to even Shadow of the Colossus to Yakuza 2 proved there were plenty of ways to implement a more open world, and Final Fantasy’s past, absolutely had open worlds as a standard. 

1. Vivi not stopping, would have actually been sadder - Final Fantasy IX. 

At the end of the Final Fantasy IX, my personal favorite in the series, Vivi has stopped, and we learn that he spent the remainder of his time, building smaller versions of himself. The ending text by him is supposed to make the ending bittersweet, after all Garnet and Zidane end up together, and there’s all those small Vivi’s are there celebrating the reunion of the two lovers in place of their creator who didn’t live to see it. However, as far as we know, Vivi wasn’t the last Black Mage to stop, meaning he got to avoid seeing much worse happen to his home, Black Mage Village. Vivi obviously felt a huge connection with the other Black Mages, even to the point where he considered staying with them and leaving the party to handle Kuja on their own, and while he missed seeing his friends reunite, he also got to miss seeing all the other mages stop, which arguably would have been more heartbreaking, espeically since the future of the village could have been in dire straits if everyone but Vivi had stopped. 

And that’s my list, did I miss any of your unpopular JRPG’s opinions? Let me know in the notes below, feel free to reblog this if it interested you, and have a wonderful day. 

[danielsarmand]

ok i said i would do this and my body won’t let me go on with my life until i do but i feel like there’s so much to say about each episode that i cannot make a comprehensive post so i’ll just do separate ones for each one. i am only halfway through the show but here’s my absolutely not required opinions on tua 2x01

i have to say when i first started watching i wasn’t sure i liked any of the situations the guys were (are,) in and i am still not positive that i do? going by number order so it’s easier:

luther... well, actually not much to say about that, what a start. but him and five are probably the ones that left me the most neutral, in the sense that i was just happy to see him and i didn’t think much of anything — the situation he is in might be a bit weird but that’s obviously tied to his inability to exist without a father figure of sorts despite how fucked up said father figure might be so like... classic luther

diego... i mean. it’s just that i don’t really get it? like, not him being in a sanatorium — that, all things considered, i get — but his obsession with saving kennedy. okay, he has a hero complex and i always did know he’s a bit on the dumber side (sorry diego) but the volume of his idiocy is astronomical now like what does he expect to even do doesn’t he understand he should interfere as little as possible with historical events and why is he running around telling people kennedy is going to get shot i mean you’re just BEGGING to get hospitalised aren’t you,,, plus don’t uh... don’t sue me but i don’t really like the whole subplot with lila, she is an interesting character and i already have my theories about her so obviously she’s going to be more than just a possibly romantic plot for diego but at the same time way from the trailer they pushed so much on this and on them being sexually attracted to one another so there’s a lot of... unnecessary bits that honestly i would’ve lived without (especially considering patch existed and wasn’t this collective fever dream) but of course that’s how tv shows work so whatever

allison... yeah i mean. i don’t. i don’t really get her marriage as well, lmao. i like that she is a civil rights organiser and i do think what’s happening in her storyline is important and has to be shown in such a context but, even though she does explain she thought everyone was dead and that five would take years to get back to her, i have. so much trouble believing she would move on THAT quickly. not from luther i mean, just in general, from the fact that she has a daughter in another timeline and all. the LAST thing i would think of in her place would be marrying someone and possibly starting yet another family i won’t necessarily be able to keep and for some reason i have serious trouble believing anyone would think differently but i do get it’s subjective and she needed something to latch on so idk, i can’t really like this but i will try my best to understand it i suppose?

klaus is... a mess. that’s just. that’s just klaus for you,,, he is sober but he doesn’t seem to have changed much because his main problem is being a dickhead and he still hasn’t grown out of that phase so honestly i wasn’t expecting much from him and i can’t be disappointed if i wasn’t expecting anything (: NJFGESRGNESK i do love klaus a lot but what else is there to say

five is five and he’s doing his classic five thing so apart from him being a genius comedian which absolutely cracks me up i am just happy to see him in his little shorts again with his funny old man walk and his threats to anything that moves

 ben. ben. absolute love of my life light of my eyes my sweet baby angel... bitch. NFEJRNGJKSERG i knew that, since he’s going to have way more space this season, being a regular and all, his sassy remarks were going to multiply, and i do love that he gives shit to klaus all the time considering klaus has been doing the same exact thing AND WORSE for years on end but i have to admit when he told him “nobody wants your shit, klaus. that’s why you’re always alone.” that felt like a bit much to me. i know klaus deserves to be called out on his bullshit to hopefully grow a bit, and i know ben just said this as a spur-of-the-moment sentence and then they were back to being the funny bickering duo who hamster fights on the street, but i just... it hit me just how genuinely tired ben must be. because he’s always been nothing but supportive, and he did always call klaus out but he never went that far and always said the complete opposite actually, which is things like “there’s nothing luther wouldn’t do to save your scrawny little junkie ass” and “you can do it” and “you don’t have to do this alone, i know how important this is for you”. so, yeah. i felt a bit meh about it, i will admit this. i also felt like i was overreacting and got over it pretty quickly but it did sting, also because as much as i’m always on about klaus being an idiot i still do love him a lot and i was like okay... okay please settle down now,,, the “unfinished business” thing i’ll mention later on because there’s a whole paragraph i need to write about it

i absolutely love that vanya has lost her memory in a sense, because this does really give a blank slate to a character that was so far gone i’m not sure how recovery could’ve taken place. i do think when things will start to resurface we’ll have to deal with that, but also vanya seems so much more... at peace. and assertive. and sure of herself, or at least not so... i don’t know how to phrase it. not so much of a passive bystander. she doesn’t know who she was, she doesn’t know what happened, but she seems to know who she is now in a way and — even though no powers were used in episode one yet — the control this gives her over her powers is amazing. without even knowing she has them, she can control them better than she ever did, just because of how much more calmer she is in general. i love that for her. i love her so much ): she is the cutest bean ever i just want to kiss her on the nose i am In Love and i love that she’s so good with harlan and that harlan seems to get things about her she probably doesn’t even get herself yet. i am more invested in her bond with harlan than i am in her bond with sissy, if i have to be honest. i guess i just don’t care much about romantic relationships in this show lmao

yeah i? think episode one was pretty much it? just getting to know where the characters are at this moment in their lives and familiarising with new elements and as i said i expected to be a bit less... meh with it all but it’s episode one so it’s not a big deal

OH YEAH I AM so sorry for hazel i loved him so much and i had no idea this was going to happen so i was so shocked when he suddenly died feels like shit just want him back

i do love the swedes a lot i know they’re some of the bad guys (though honestly i doubt they’re the main villains) but as i mentioned already they’re just so interesting both visually and in how they operate and i wonder if they’re some of the other kids born the same way as the hargreeves because they call them twins later on but they look nothing like twins + one of them drinks this weird thing at some point which definitely wasn’t milk so i’m wondering what exactly are they but i’m sure there’s plenty to unpack there

[manjuhitorie]

Hitorie’s album ‘4′ - Interview via Natalie.com - English Translation

It all began from wowaka’s wish for people to perform his songs with.

　- Interviewer(森朋之): I gave 4, your first ever greatest hits album, a good listen. It truly ossifies the footprints Hitorie left, the marks Hitorie etched in the world, and the beauty of wowaka’s homemade music. May I ask the reason which spurred this endeavor?

ygarshy (Bassist): Now, at this juncture, do we find it fitting for people to look back at the music we 4 made.

Yumao (Drummer): Not to mention the urge to show everyone how we feel; to show those who’ve listened to Hitorie all this time and those who’ve just found us both. We’ve been performing as a trio for a while now, even before the release of this album, so in order to reach a broader range of ears a greatest hits album was a no-brainer.

Shinoda (Guitarist/Chorus): The title ‘4’ was my idea. We were discussing what to dub the title over a meal when this popped up in my head. It was like “This is it, nothing else”. The song selection was a group effort, in essence its designed around songs which felt indispensable. As Yumao said, we considered future new listeners as well.

　-     I’m sure it served as a trip down memory lane for you too, so in fact how did it unfold behind the curtains?


ygarshy: Hitorie originally started with wowaka as the core: wowaka served - we hit. Humans as his bolsters: including the complex songs practically unplayable by humans (laughs). We learned to tackle those songs more and more pragmatically, as in “How much expression can we uphold with just our mortal bodies“. The album’s track list is parallel with our timeline too, so you can feel our growth for yourself with a very listen.

   
-     The more music you make the more physical substance you assume, then in name and in form both do you truly become a band.
 
ygarshy: Yes. Through the trial and error of our early years did we puzzle out our own unique way of expression, as such, near the end of disc 2 you can see that a new world happens to open up. There’s more straightforward and honest expressions, wowaka begins to add more direct words to his lyrics. He’s always had originality to him, but through living life did he acquire more and more.
 Yumao: Speaking of... People told me this and I realized it’s true: Disc 1 and Disc 2 are in two different phases. Disc 1 gives the impression of wowaka expressing the imaginary world within himself only, while Disc 2 to seems to be conscious of other people as well. I think this was influenced by the time of writing plus the way we conversed as a band during production. At first we needed words to converse, but slowly did we transcend and become able to form a song without them. So in correspondence did the lyrics become more outwards reaching as well. As ygarshy said, near the end of Disc 2 the songs feel like they’re heading towards a “forward”. Hitorie’s music and messages, and everything included, there’s new ideas and experiments happening. Chronological order was the perfect way to roll Hitorie up in a single package, and it shows that Hitorie aren’t yet done with their journey.




wowaka was someone who believed “This feels good, so I’ve gotta do it.”

   
-     Shinoda do you also find this greatest hits album to be a model of Hitorie’s growth? 
Shinoda: Like, I’ve gotta. It’s our blood sweat and tears we’re talking about. How do I put this, over time our workplace gradually became a more comfortable space. Not in terms of our relationships as people, but our relationships musically. I hope this greatest album serves as a looking glass into that intimacy of ours.
 　  -  
When exactly did your musical relationship grow closer?
 Shinoda: Probably around when we were making ai/SOlate (Mini album released in December of 2017). Playing with all our might is always a must but, in our early years we would often put too much time and energy into fretting over the minor aspects. Like “Are you sure this is okay?” or “Is my guitar really recorded as cool as can be?”. Around ai/SOlate did those doubts begin to slip away, and then with HOWLS (Album released in February of 2019) were we able to let ourselves out, as frank as possible. Less weight on our shoulders = less unease and chips on our shoulders.
 　- I see. Listening really hammers in the originality and uniqueness of your band. Where do you think Hitorie’s musical personality fits in with wowaka’s realm of imagination?

 ygarshy: Excuse me if this is the improper choice of words, but, wowaka’s the type to thrust himself in to whatever he finds physically pleasing. You may find that even the highest tempo songs will have intricate phases, this is because wowaka, in pure innocence, believes that “It’s cooler this way!”. Lyrics are the same ordeal. He himself divulged this frequently in interviews and such as well.. that more than the dictionary definition of a word, he places importance in the way a word sounds when it hits the ear, there’s more definition and meaning to a word that way. His stance on this links to who he is as a person, how he lives and thinks. I always got the impression that he didn’t use his conscious mind when he wrote, rather he believed that “This feels good, so I’ve gotta do it.”.
 　  - When he found musical enjoyment, he didn’t falter and flung himself right in, I see.
 ygarshy: That and, because he’s so attuned to those nerves is he so unwavering. He has exact things which he will “refuse to give this up” or say “I need this” about. In being close to him I noticed this about him. Of course this applies outside of music as well. For example, at one point wowaka got really into cooking and really good at it. He possesses the ability to figure out the core essence of something, and visualize “If I add this here, this will happen”. It’s not as if he’s savvy, it’s more like he has keen sensors when it comes to pinpointing sweet spots. Yumao: One characteristic of wowaka’s music is the sheer volume of information. When I checked out the printed version of Senseless Wonder’s lyrics I was shitting myself, all over again. It boasts such capacity, and it feels like it's aaaall coming straight for you. I felt this when we made music together as well, in a way it’s a weapon of his. Not to mention that from ai/SOlate and onwards did our sound become legions better. Mixing and mastering play a role in this, along with wowaka’s efforts to spend time working with our engineer man-to-man. In regards to the music I felt a desire from him to go with the flow of his current trends. I think he probably felt “I’m wielding a whole new way of music”, it’s then in those moments when he will unleash a beastly level of focus. In line with what ygarshy said, he definitely isn’t savvy, it’s not as if he wrote these songs in a jiffy either. However he is capable of spending a long time span completely absorbed in a single objective until it takes full shape. It’s akin to building a plastic model: to gather small bits and pieces and piece them together. 　- So wowaka has a clear vision of what he wants to do in his head, he gathers all the necessary parts, then begins construction. ygarshy: That’s it. Say when you’re putting together a puzzle, say even if you couldn’t fit the pieces in, you could still make out the shape of the grid, right? I’m not him so I can’t say for certain but, I think maybe music writing was like that for him. 　- The guitar phrases seem to be constructed with perfect precision as well, what’s that like on your side Shinoda? Shinoda: The guitar parts were always a tug of war between wowaka and I. We‘re the only two who share the same role of instrument, wherein he has his guitar aesthetics while I have my own. We clashed so to speak. When I was to reenact a phrase he wrote I would propose my own saying “I have a better idea!”. Only to be shot down by wowaka. Or other times be recognized. When he would say “Your phase is better.”, I felt like I won the battle (laughing). We had a pretty fierce relationship, we clashed and we understood each other, we were always aiming higher, and the fruit of my victories can be heard in a few tens of the guitar on the album.

“How the hell did this guy manage to sing these wack-ass songs"

　- In June of 2019, Shinoda-san took on the role of main vocalist, and together to put on a hour-long show as a three piece. Furthermore in September to November did you tour the country. What are your thoughts on performing this way? ygarshy: Shinoda is the one to ask, he has the most to say on this subject.  Shinoda: Well I’m the only one taking on a completely different role. It makes me go “How the hell did this guy manage to sing these wack-ass songs. He’s fucking unbelievable.” I too have spent time writing and singing my own music, but in a million years I still would’ve never come up with the crazy concepts he did. Like, “If you consider the fact that you gotta sing these songs, no way would anyone in their right mind stuff this many words into the lyrics.”, right?! But, I’m singing ‘em now. ygarshy: Hahaha (laughs). 　- Is it possible that he didn’t consider concerts when he wrote?

 Shinoda: Probably. Of course he knows full well that he’s going to be singing them out there but, I think he was more fervent to bring his ideas to life.     - How about you, ygarshy? How do you fare? How do you feel about Hitorie’s current setup? ygarshy: Hitorie’s musical structure tends to treat the bass like an on/off switch. Conventional music structure has bass and drums as constants with guitar playing over them. With Hitorie however, our standard is to have 2 guitars going constantly, while the bass pops in and out at intervals. 

Such as the bass playing during the intro, but being silent during the first verse. That’s one of the unique aspects of wowaka’s songs. So when we try to play as only 3 people, there’s times when songs will seize to take shape. So I may have to cover the second guitar parts on bass, or we may have to even remold the structure itself. We’re still busy doing that even now. 　- I would like to ask Yumao as well, when you get up on stage as a trio, how has the view from the drummer’s seat changed? 
 Yumao: Quite much. I was beside myself at first. With wowaka gone the space in front of me is so barren and open that I lose my bearings. Albeit there may be no need for me to change anything I do but... Rather, the atmosphere of the livehall is changing bit by bit I suppose. When the 4 of us performed there always something.. tense about the atmosphere. The core essence of a concert may be all about hyping and having fun but, on the flip side, people may also get absorbed in the performance only to stand around utterly paralyzed. Hitorie were makers of the latter mood, I’ve felt it and seen it with my own eyes. Now, when we perform as a trio... Instead of worrying whether we can do it or not, we just say “We gotta try” and go... After getting through a tour and a festival, our approach as a whole has shifted. How do I say this.. Deep down I think that if we don’t put on more sociable open concerts we don’t stand a chance. I can tell by the audience’s faces that change is slowly but surely taking it’s course. Well I guess that’s only natural but y’know, it’s not as if we sat down together and decided “Let’s do more open concerts” or anything.   　 - I’m sure that the audience’s hearts are in different place as well. 
 Yumao: I think so. There may be people who come jumping with joy or people who come bearing heavy hearts. I myself see people crying so. We‘ve found balance amidst that storm and have forged our very own trio way, so our next concerts will be stronger than before. 




Going forward, I want to fling myself into whatever coolness and artistry we’re capable of expressing

    - Your national tour for 4 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so you’re to put on your first ever streamed concert on the 5th of October. In regards to this and to your musical innovations, what kind of future is in store for you?

 ygarshy: We haven’t been able to think far ahead in terms of music. Our minds were still in chaos just during our tour in 2019. For the time being we’re working off the feeling of “We want to create a gathering space for us and our audience”. Our performance is an afterthought, for now we’re focusing on emotions.

 Yumao: Yeah.

　 
ygarshy: On that same note, I have some insight… In the album we included the live version of Rollin’ Girl (2016.2.18 at Shimokitazawa GARDEN), and when I listened to that track I thought “Did we always sound this awesome!?”. I have zero recollection as to what I could’ve been doing while I played back then, because performing together as 4 was my everyday life at that point. I knew but I didn’t quite realize just how awesome Hitorie sounded. Now that we’re 3, I can’t reach that same level of emotion but, I do believe that I want to continue on creating heart-wrenchers. Going forward, I want to fling myself into whatever coolness and artistry we’re capable of expressing. Yumao: Up until 2019 we performed with such vigor that it’s hard to preserve that level of effectiveness with only the 3 of us, we need more, we can’t simply go in headstrong, we need time to recollect our thoughts. To that end I want to communicate among us and do it right.

 Shinoda: Well, y’know… Now that we’ve decided to continue, we’ve no choose but to move forward. Exactly what that entails though, I have not a good clue. We can’t slip and do something uncool, one of wowaka and our slogans was “Let’s constantly be doing cool things”, so I don’t want to drift astray from that. Such may seem obvious but... it’s all I have to say for now.

[thisgirl-writes]

The Perfect Tree - One Shot

Summary: You and Chris attempt to find the PERFECT Christmas tree, leading you to the ultimate surprise.

Word Count: 1,807

Warnings: All the fluff...

Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas time was your absolute favorite time of the year. The smells, the decorations, the snow and finding the perfect tree. Luckily for you, your boyfriend, Chris shared your love of Christmas, just not your love of hunting for the perfect tree.

“Babe, c’mon! We have to get to the lot and find our tree!” You shouted up the stairs at Chris.

“Don’t worry sweetie, we’re good!” he shouted back as he jogged down the stairs to where you were standing by the door. “Well, damn you’re ready to go, aren’t ya?” He jokingly asked as he saw you all bundled up already with your hand on the knob, ready to go.

“Of course! We are going to find the most perfect tree and it is going to be great and wonderful!” you exclaimed as you threw your arms around animatedly while you spoke. Causing a small chuckle to leave Chris’s mouth.

“I think you might have been born as an elf, because there is literally no one else that I know of who gets as excited about Christmas activities as you do” He teased you, quickly earning a playful smack on his shoulder.

“Hey now! You love Christmas too, ya jerk!”

“I do love Christmas, but I think you love it more.” He teased

“You’re probably right, I do love it more. I think I love it more than I love you!” You joke as you run out the door as you hear him laughing behind you. You stopped running once you got off the porch. You realized that it was snowing, which only made you more excited.

“SNOW! CHRIS IT’S SNOWING!!!!” You yelled as you started dancing in the snow.  You heard the sound of the car unlocking, but you didn’t care at the moment. You were too busy enjoying the soft snowfall and the cold weather.

You weren’t sure how long you had been dancing in the snow, but when it finally dawned on you that you had plans to go find a tree, you looked up to see Chris just leaning with his against the driver’s side of his car, just smiling at you.

“What?” You asked as you walked over to the passenger side of the car.

“Nothing. I just love you, that’s all” He said as he opened the door as he slides into his car. Every time those words left his mouth, you blushed. You never got tired of hearing him tell you that he loved you.

The drive to the Christmas tree farm was filled with singing Christmas songs and a stop for hot coffee before you actually started looking for a tree.

“Chris, it’s fine I don’t need a coffee. It won’t take us that long. Can we just go?” You protested.

“Babe, 2 things. 1) You love coffee, I know you do. And b) do I need to remind you what happened last year when you said those EXACT words of ‘It won’t take long’?” Chris shot back.

“It’s not my fault the first two lots didn’t have what I was picturing in my mind” You defended your actions from last year of making Chris drive you to a total of 3 different places in one night before you finally found the right tree. “Besides, you can shut your mouth because you loved that tree as much as I did once we brought it home!”

“Okay fine, I did love that tree, you really do know how to pick them” He gave in because he really did love that tree. Not only because it was beautiful, but because watching you go through every tree on 3 different lots, until you found your definition of “the perfect tree” made him fall even more in love with you than he even thought was possible.

“I mean I kinda do… I did pick you after all didn’t I?” You joked.

The drive-thru was empty and super close to the first and hopefully last stop of your tree shopping outing.

The two of you arrive at what you deem the first stop and what Chris deems the only stop. The lot is huge.

“So many choices, this is going to take hours to get through all of these” You say out loud

“Sweetie, you do realize that you don’t have to look at EVERY single tree, right?”

“If I don’t look at every tree, then how can I be sure that I found the PERFECT one?” You retort back as a matter of fact. Causing a sigh to Escape from Chris’s lips as he gives up the fight.

You walk around the lot, carefully inspecting every tree. Some you make Chris hold up so you can walk around them to make your decision. Others you can just tell by looking at them.

It had been at least an hour since you had arrived at the tree lot and you had yet to find one yet.

“Babe, I don’t know if we are gonna find on here or not.” You said to Chris

“Nah c’mon hun, we will find one.” He tried to reassure you. “Okay tell me what you want in a tree”

“I want something that symbolizes togetherness and family and the spirit of Christmas”

“Okay, well I am sure they have something here that has all of that” Chris tired to help you not get discouraged.

“I don’t know hun, I haven’t found it yet.”

“Well, not yet, but maybe we can ….” Chris didn’t get to finish his sentence, but you took off almost skipping to a tree at the end of the lot. He couldn’t help but shake his head as a smile appeared on his face.

“This is it! This is the perfect tree!” You started hollering back at Chris. Who was still planted in the spot where you had left him, just staring at you, smiling. “Christopher Robert Evans, get your ass over here now and look at this tree that will be coming home with us!”

“Alright I’m coming, I’m coming” He shouted back, causing a few laughs from other customers at the lot.

When Chris got to where you had ran off to, you started listing off all the reasons that the tree was the perfect tree for the house that the two of you shared. Chris, however, wasn’t listening to any of the words that were leaving your mouth.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about your reasons on why it was the perfect tree. It was that he was absolutely captivated by you in that moment. Everything about you in this exact moment in time was making him fall even more in love with you than he ever thought possible.

The way that you were excited about finding the tree in the back of the lot. The way the snow clung to the strands of your wavy hair, how the winter weather brought a rosy color to your cheeks and the tip of your nose. Everything about you was perfect. Even down to how you made sure to wear a red hat and green gloves to bring the extra Christmas spirit to what you had deemed an adventure.

“Christopher? Did you even listen to what I just said?” Your voice had snapped him out of his own head. “Of course you didn’t. You were lost in your own he-“ You started, but you were interrupted when Chris spoke.

“Marry me” Were the words that left Chris’s mouth, taking you by surprise.

“Did you just say what I think you said?” You questioned what he just said, not trusting that you heard what you thought you heard.

“Marry me. I love you more than life itself. I love everything about you. The way you dance around anytime it snows, and your love of finding the perfect tree, and how you turn every day into an adventure. So, go on the biggest adventure of life and marry me.”

By now tears are running down your face. Sure you had thought about spending the rest of your life with Chris, but this was not how you thought it would happen.

“I know this is probably not how you pictured this moment happening, hell this isn’t how I pictured this moment. But watching you today made me realize that every moment is with you is perfect.”

You don’t trust your own voice, with the tears still flowing, all you can do is nod your head yes.

“Is that a yes? Are you saying yes? Is that what the tears are for?” Chris asked, already knowing the answer.

“No, I’m crying because of the tree” You remarked back finally finding your voice. “Yes, you idiot. I’m saying yes to you!” Hearing that, Chris picked you up and spun you around, earning some cheers and applause from others watching the spur of the moment proposal.

“You just made me the happiest man on Earth” Chris exclaimed as he set you back down on your feet, only to bring his hands to either side of your face just before gently placing his lips on yours, causing fireworks to go off in your mind.

“It’s because I found the perfect tree isn’t it?” You joked, earning a big laugh from Chris. When his laughter started to quiet down you started to speak again. “Chris, this may not have been what I had imagined when I thought about this moment, but it was a perfect moment none the less”

“It is perfectly us, and perfectly you since you love Christmas tree shopping. Although I think this may mean we have to come back here every year now” Chris jokes as he rests his arm around your waist and pulls you close to him.

“Since this was a spur of the moment proposal, does this mean I get to pick out my own ring now?” You half-joked with Chris. He just smirked down at you.

“Nice try, but no.” he replied, causing you to pout a little bit. Your pout didn’t go unnoticed by Chris. “I only say no, because I already have your ring in a box at Ma’s house”

Hearing that caused you to stop in your tracks.

“Chris, you already have a ring? What?”

“I told you that this wasn’t how I had pictured it” He says with a shrug of his shoulders. Still trying to wrap your head around the fact that he already had a ring, you hear him start to speak again.

“I’ve got the perfect ring for the perfect girl who always finds the perfect tree” he says as he looks down at you causing you to sway up on your toes and give your newly appoint fiancé a kiss on the cheek. It really was the perfect moment complete with the perfect tree for a house filled with nothing but love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Tagged: @patzammit

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes Pt13:A Guest part2

Today has been a long day for Summer. School, people, robots, and now an unexpected guest on the first floor who was probably still watching her get owned in stunning high definition. ‘Stupid Veronica. Why can’t you mind your own business for once? I’d be talking out loud if your hearing wasn’t so sharp.’

Summer ran her shower extra hot and waited for the bathroom to steam. Before she would jump in. Summer walked over to the mirror and gently rubbed her makeup off, frowning at the scar right under her chin. It was faded but the sight still upset her. To think today would have added more if not Shiva was unsettling to say the least.

“What’s your angle? You never do anything without a reason.” Summer mumbled quietly to herself as she stared at the sink faucets. If she wanted answers then now was probably the safest time. Summer turned the cold water on and ran her head under it. The cold sensation running across her scalp before she looked back in the mirror to see her reflection smirking at her.

Shiva:Hey there loser. You know I’m starting to think you actually like seeing me. We never talk this much. Willingly anyways. Steaming the room, bravo.

Summer:You know why we’re talking.

Shiva:Of course, I’m in your head. Not that anyone would need it to figure out your simple little thoughts. It’s almost as sad as you not knowing the answer automa-

Summer:I’m three seconds away from just jumping into that hot water. Get on with it.

Shiva:Touchy. Someone needs a nap. The reason I intervened was because you would be no good to me crippled. See? Simple. Can’t move a broken body.

Summer:....

Shiva:What? Expecting more? Honestly you should be thankful, or at least counting your lucky stars. For once, being afraid and helpless saved your life. You let your guard down; fear and adrenaline might be your undoing before the actual cold.

Summer:Don’t get any ideas.

Shiva:Why would I waste time planning when you’re bound to screw up. Fear, cold, sleep, even immense mental fatigue. I’ll just chip away at all of these different avenues that lead to your eventual demise. I’ll give credit where it’s due. You’ve learned a few tricks around the cold through trial and error. It’s not enough though.

Summer:I’ll get stronger.

Shiva:No you won’t. Not as fast you need to be. I mean just look at today. Can you imagine the look on dear Nicholas’s face if he had woken up to see you in a hospital bed? Comatose again just like before. That pain of realizing he put his sweet baby sister in danger again. Hmm, maybe I should’ve let you gotten h-

Summer had enough and went right into the shower; clothes and all. The heat brought relief as well did her oncoming tears as she curled up and wept. Today has been a long day.

xxxx

The day was dragging on a bit for Veronica as well. The girl sat at a dinner table with her Yang, Jaune, and Weiss. Nick walked in a few minutes later wearing gray sweatpants and a blue tank top. Veronica couldn’t help but noticed he seemed a bit more toned than before. Combat school is serving him well.

Weiss:Where’s your sister?

Nick:Still showering. I wouldn’t be surprised if she went straight to bed.

Jaune:Aww she likes pasta.

Veronica:Gotta admit, it’s still weird seeing you in comfy clothes.

Nick:Do I look like a fashion disaster?

Veronica:Please, knowing this place you’d probably be trendsetting. Speaking of which, did you happen to check your closet?

Nick:I saw a suit bag hanging there but I didn’t open it.

Yang:Not a curious bone in your body huh?

Nick:Not true. I knew someone probably wanted to talk about her work.

Veronica:Indeed I do. *clears throat* Ahem, in that suit bag is what might be my finest work. I rewatched old tournament footage and made an outfit for you that’s guaranteed to help you in this one.

Nick:Really?

Veronica:Yep! It was pretty simple really.

Yang:She spent weeks working day and night. Poor girl nearly passed out when she finished.

Veronica:*red* Don’t tell him that!

Yang:What? You put a ton of effort in to help. Nothing wrong with that.

Nick:She’s right. Thank you Vee.

Veronica:Well...thank me after you try it on. Adjustments might need to happen. My measurements could be a little off.

Weiss:Did you happen to make one for Summer? There is a duo leader board you know?

Veronica:Sigh, yes I made her one as well. I’m not that petty. Though making something for her was far more irritating. I actually need her to try it on and see if it’ll hold up well with whatever thermals she might wear. Last thing you need is an overheated teammate or the clothes getting deformed.

Nick:Wait, is that why-

Veronica:Recent footage is always the most beneficial when designing something for any individual.

Nick:(You could’ve told her that. Even I thought you were watching her get hit for no reason.)

Veronica:Let me guess, thought I was goofing off earlier?

Nick:Somewhat…

Veronica:Heh, I suppose I made that reputation for myself.

Summer walked into the room moments later, wearing a black compression shirt and regular pajama pants with snowflakes on it. Everyone was glad to see her. Well, mostly everyone. Veronica was busy examining the slight redness under her eyes.

Yang:Hey Tiny Weiss.

Summer:We’re like the same size. I might be taller.

Weiss:Don’t remind me.

Nick:Guess what? Veronica made us outfits to help bring out our full potential!

Veronica:Not my exact words but more or less so.

Summer:....How much does it cost?

Veronica:What?

Summer:Nothing, I just can’t imagine a world where you did something for free in regards to me.

Jaune:Hey…

Veronica:You can talk to me as little as possible. That would be priceless.

Yang:Hey!

Veronica:She started it.

Weiss:Both of you behave. I enjoy getting to the point in my life where dinners are calm. Let me keep that please?

“Yes ma’am.” They said in unison, which only annoyed them. Summer was too tired bickering anyways. She wasn’t sure why she tried starting an argument. A thank you might’ve been in order. But she chose to stay quiet about the subject.

Yang:So you two think you’re ready?

Nick:I’m actually a bit nervous about the whole thing.

Summer:Not only are we fighting but now we’re performing as well.

Jaune:That’s news to us.

Weiss:Yeah what spurred this idea on?

Summer:I met this little girl the other day. She’s an orphan named Ruth and lives down in Mantle. I promised her I’d help raise money to make it a nice place so uncle Whitley will help me set up a fundraiser. Between that and Nick begging me to perform I thought the tournament would be a good way to advertise or maybe get some donations right there.

Nick:Sadly her terms of agreement involved me singing as well.

Veronica’s eyes lit up like a christmas tree. Did she hear that right?

Veronica:You are singing together at the tournament and didn’t tell me!? Why?!!!

Nick:It….just….sort of-

Veronica:Now everything has to go perfectly! Presentation, lighting, the seating, what song are you singing?

Summer:That’s uh, to be determined. It’ll be good though. Depending on the song we might be able to do multiple.

Veronica:I can’t believe this. A concert...

Jaune:Is that sparking an idea?

Veronica:Is it!? I expected tons of people to show up but now it’s a guarantee. There’s no way fiery inspiration won’t strike! Oh, the crowd should do the lighter thing. You know, where they wave it!?

Weiss:Yang, what exactly is your daughter pumped about?

Yang:She’s hoping while she’s here that she will find inspiration to create a dress that deals with fire. Warm colors, that sort of thing.

….

Jaune:Can’t you just-

Yang:Apparently I’m not inspiring!

Veronica:Oh don’t pout about it. I’m sure you’ll inspire me another day. We should check out the venue tomorrow morning and-

Nick:Woah, aren’t you forgetting something? Unlike you, we have school.

Veronica:Ugh, school. The worst place in any city.

Summer:Funny, you look like the type to revel in the environment.

Veronica:Dealing with fake people and idiots is never fun. I’d rather be in a jail cell. At least those people have interesting stories.

Summer:(Well she isn’t exactly wrong about that.)

Nick:Looks like you and Summer have something in common after all. A loathing of chalk and blackboards. Getting Summer to attend class is a struggle.

Yang:Veronica is the same way. Especially since she can phase through things.

Summer and Veronica:We’re right here you know?

Nick:We know. I couldn’t imagine teachers dealing with you both at once. I don’t think even I can manage honestly.

Yang:Oh I’m sure you can handle it. After all, Veronica is going to be there tomorrow.

….

Nothing was said. Nick blinked twice while what he just heard started turning gears in his head. He looked at Summer who was also processing. No way they heard the same thing right? Then he turned to Veronica who had been staring at her Mother like she had just spoken a different language. This was bad. They all heard the same thing didn’t they?

Veronica:I’m sorry ma, both pairs of ears must be clogged. For a second I could’ve sworn you said-

Yang:You’ll be going to their school tomorrow. Already filled out the guest forum.

Veronica:WHY!?

Yang:You can’t stay in the mansion all day and I don’t like the idea of you roaming around the kingdom. This place isn’t like home. Since you’re helping out for the tournament it’s a good idea to do most of the work where you can get resources and ask questions. It isn’t like you’re actually taking classes.

Veronica couldn’t believe what she was hearing. No one informed her of this. Had this been the plan all along? It had to be. Her body tensed up and her jaw clenched. This was going to be exactly like home. Veronica stood up as calmly as she could manage and proceeded to walk away.

Veronica:Excuse me. I’m going to lay down.

Yang wanted to say something but the girl took the fastest way possible out of the room; right through the floor.

Yang:Verona- and she’s gone. Guess that one is on me. Maybe I should’ve told her on the boat instead of springing it on her.

Nick:Want me to talk to her?

Yang:I appreciate it but when she’s like this it’s best to let her simmer down. There is something I would like for you to do though; both of you actually. Can you please stick by her? Veronica’s hardheaded, and quick to anger. I couldn’t tell you if it’s because of the way her traits manifested, or if it’s the fact she’s a lot like me. Maybe a bit of both. Either way, she’s a good kid behind that exterior. Keep her line please?

Nick:No problem. I probably would’ve done that anyways. We’ll keep an eye out, right Summer?

Summer:Yeah I’m gonna hard pass on that.

Weiss:Now I know you two aren’t exactly… compatible, but I think you should at the very least make sure nothing terrible happens to her.

Summer:What could happen? It’s school.

Yang:Honestly I’m more concerned about other people’s safety. I teach her boxing. Not to brag but I’m a good teacher.

Jaune:Oh boy, Summer it would be bad to not prevent that.

Summer:How would I even? *mumbles* I can’t even beat her.

Nick:...Oh! Let’s compromise! You don’t have to help her. But if I ask for help and it happens to be about her…

Summer:What stunt are you trying to pull?

Nick:You know me, I’m not going to abuse the power.

Weiss:I’ve seen your credit card receipts.

Nick:Financial power is meant to be expressed once in a while. This is different. I have way more restraint and consideration!

Weiss and Jaune:(He just admitted he sucks at conversing money...)

Nick:So what do I say, my dear sister that loves supporting me?

Summer:Uggghhh, fine. But only three times a day max.

Nick:Deal! Let’s start right now!

Summer:What? But we aren’t-

Nick:Veronica is going to need a uniform tomorrow. Seeing how you skipped a day that means you should have a spare this week right? We’ll get uniforms for her by the end of tomorrow.

Summer:Fine. That’s not so tough.

Nick watched Summer get up from the table and leave. No doubt to get things over with. He decided to get up and call the day early.

Nick:I’m going to shower then call it day. Nice seeing Yang. I’m guessing I’ll see you tomorrow?

Yang:You know we’re staying here right? I’ll see you bright and early.

Nick:….What?

xxxx

Knock Knock Knock

Summer:You in there Veronica? (She didn’t say what spare room she’d be in. Geez, we have too many rooms to search one by one) V-

Veronica:I’m in your room Einstein.

Summer:WHAT!? Why are-

The answer hit Summer like a freight train. Summer quickly sprinted towards her room and ran right in to find Veronica holding a school uniform. It was just as Summer feared.

Summer:Gee, that really is some hearing you got. It must be really hard not to snoop.

Veronica:Only when I know someone is bad mouthing me.And you’re right, I don’t need someone like you watching over me. Not that it’ll do me any good.

Summer:(I deserve that one.) I’m sor-

Veronica:Why is this your uniform?

Summer:What? It’s just the standard made uni-

Veronica:I know that. But why is it yours?

Raising it upwards, Veronica aimed the garb against Summer’s frame. The skirt covered most of her shins, the shirt might as well have been drabs on her, and the entire thing must’ve looked like the outfit was eating her.

Veronica:Our body types aren’t the same yet even these clothes would be way too big for me. You have to be swimming in all this excessive fabric. It should be uncomfortable and a waste.

Summer:It’s not that baggy. Besides I think it’s pretty comfortable.

Veronica:A Schnee should care about their appearance. More so than even someone like me.

Summer:I really don’t need a lecture right now. Just take it and go.

Veronica:I can’t wear this tomorrow. You may not care about the way you look but my look. Maybe if I just tuck the skirt in a few inches with thread…

Summer:Don’t make modifications to my clothes!

Veronica:They are only temporary.

Summer:Makes no difference. Just wear it as is.

Veronica:Mmmm hah.

Summer:Ugh! Why are you so- what’s your problem!?

Veronica:My problem? I’m not the one going to school in bed sheets. Honestly, who willingly does something like this?

Summer: I-

Veronica:What, can’t be bothered to-

Summer:I HATE MY SCARS!

The outburst was unexpected; even for Summer who had no intention of getting hostile. Veronica was just a person she couldn’t stand to look small around. Summer was ready for another argument to begin but no words came flying her way.

Instead, Summer saw Veronica wince in pain as if she had pricked her finger. The faunus flashed a glare of irritation that made Summer consider leaving. ‘What’s gotten into-‘ her internal question was cut off by Noticing Veronica’s cat ears. She had folded them down and was currently rubbing them gently. ‘Did I really scream that loud?’ Years of singing did mean Summer knew how to hit a high note fast. Perhaps she had gotten swept up in her emotions and shouted louder than she thought. Summer slowly opened up her mouth and gave a slight pause before gently speaking.

Summer:Are you okay?

Veronica:If you’re going to yell then at least gradually get louder. Screaming out of nowhere like that, you’re definitely a singer alright.

Summer:I wouldn’t be screaming if you weren’t so….extra all the time.

Veronica:Says the girl who just hit a high note like it’s a normal thing. Extra is what you’re really. I’m surprised you’re not breaking some dress code; pulled some strings no doubt.

Summer:*red* You don’t know me.

Veronica:Sadly, I do.

That stung a bit. Summer looked at the floor. Her spirit was reaching another low point for today. “Jerk…” Summer mumbled. Veronica watched the girl slowly start to retreat into herself. Almost like if she was a turtle going into its shell. The sight was a bit depressing. ‘Damnit, I gave my word to Nick but it’s not like it was just going to make things change.”

Veronica reached out to Summer’s chin and tilted the girl’s head up until they were staring at each other. Summer tried to look tough and stern but the way her eyes shifted ever so slightly gave away the tears she was trying to fight back. Veronica gave a look that was more than a bit unimpressed. “Quick to scream and quick to cry. You’re a little spoiled little princess, you know that?”

“You’re one to talk. Always ready to fight and walking around like you own the place. You’re just as spoiled as I am.” Summer said while trying to keep a hushed toned.

“I’ll give ya that one.” Veronica looked Summer up and down multiple times before letting go. She walked over to closet where all of Summer’s uniforms were and took them; even the one she wore today.

Summer:What are-

Veronica:Voice…

Summer:What are you doing with my stuff?

Veronica:Something you should’ve thought of. You’ll get these back before school tomorrow. I’ll be two rooms down the hall.

Without allowing further questions, Veronica left; closing the door with her tail. Summer wanted to press the issue but knew it would be hopeless. It was going to be a long day tomorrow though if she woke up to miniskirts. Hopefully Veronica wasn’t that cruel. There were a lot of pitfalls Summer would say Veronica had but she couldn’t think of a single time the blonde had actually insulted her body or looks for that matter. Maybe it would’ve been too easy of a thing to go after. Veronica was gorgeous after all in both departments; gaining a majority of her looks equally from both parents. Including assets, which made Summer fairly jealous. Combine that with her taste in fashion and it was impossible to find a time Veronica didn’t look awe inspiring. No wonder she acts like she can own anything.

‘I’d be confident too I guess if I looked like that.’ Summer thought as she finally laid down on her bed and let sleep take her.

xxxx

Jaune:Veronica’s gotten taller since last time she was over. I think her and Nick are the same height now.

Yang:I’m surprised she’s growing at all with that lame diet I keep trying to knock her off of. It takes a month's worth of nagging just to get her to eat a hamburger sometimes. Suppressing those instincts of hers constantly like that does way more harm than good. I wish she could understand that. Eventually she’ll just get cranky and be more aggressive than usual.

Weiss:Surly there’s a balance?

Yang:Yeah, it’s called living normally and having restraint. I mean I was hotheaded for sure but I mellowed out around this time right?

Jaune:No…

Weiss:Didn’t you destroy a nightclub? Wait, you did that right before Beacon. You were older than what Veronica was now; hell no you weren’t mellow! People got hurt the moment they touched your hair.

Yang:People shouldn’t touch other people without permission. Plain and simple.

Jaune:How’s school over there for her? Has it gotten better?

Yang:Less fights for sure. Practically zero now that I’m thinking about it. Boxing really helped with that but I can tell she still isn’t happy. Can’t really tell you what goes through her head daily or how she feels. Blake’s typically the only one to get her to open up but even that’s not much these days. No doubt she still can’t stand a majority of people in school.

Weiss:Still hasn’t made friends.

Yang:Nope...kids are cruel.

Weiss:They don’t starry that way. It’s learned behind closed doors. I know that better than most. Hate to say it but not much will be different here. Even Summer has problems with people in school. Albeit, for different reasons.

Yang:Blake and I just want Veronica to get some distance from home and school. Let her be around a couple more people besides us and her grandparents that love her to bits. You two, the twins, Ruby, Oscar-

Jaune:Does that really count?

Yang:Nick certainly lightens her up. He’s a real charmer. In a few years team RWBY might actually be sharing every part of the family tree. Wouldn’t that be pretty cool Weiss? Think of the fun family reunions.

Weiss:Are you forgetting your sister is married to my brother, genius? We are already connected.

Yang:Yeah but this way would be cuter.

Jaune:I’m telling Ruby you said that.

Yang:Please don’t.

Weiss:I’m hoping one day Nick’s feelings for Valerie are reached. He tries so hard.

Jaune:I think he should phone it in. Poor guy isn’t getting far.

Weiss:You never gave up on me.

Jaune:I know but I sort of took a break and focused on me and tried not to die while saving the world. Honestly I’m still surprised you found your way into my arms.

Weiss:I’m not. They loved me and let me know I was safe with you. It was only a matter of time before I found my way to them.

Yang:Ugh, get a room you lovebirds.

Weiss:This is our house!

Jaune:Also you act like you and Blake haven’t flirted in front of people or with us.

Yang:Jaune the four of us did more than flirt. Speaking of….

Weiss:No.

Yang:Not even when Blake gets here *winks*

Weiss:*red* We are grownups with children. Children with very good hearing and know when something is up.

Yang:Hmm, we’ll revisit this conversation later. So, Summer isn’t holding up at school either.

Weiss:Sigh...not really, no. She’s grown rather distant from us lately. Even Nick feels like she’s been building walls. Just the other day Winter caught her grinding on the chains to Mantle with her snowboard.

Yang:That sounds awesome!

Weiss:....

Yang:*sweats* But completely dangerous and not safe in the slightest.

Jaune:Oscar says her therapy sessions have been pretty slow the past few months in terms of progress but that’s all he’ll really tell us for now. Penny’s check ups show physically that she’s normal. Well, for the state she’s in.

Yang:No Shiva outbursts or. Confrontations lately.

Weiss:Not that we know of. It’s frustrating really. All this money and power to get the best resources to learn about diamond dust but none of it is getting us closer to learning anything substantial. Maybe if we can find a bit more or something. Then I could help my daughter through this.

Jaune reached across the table and held her hand gently.

Jaune:We’ve gotten this far. Summer has gotten this far; I got a feeling that we can handle anything at this point. One step at a time right?

Weiss:*smiles* One step at a time.

Yang:Don’t forget, you haven’t used all your resources. Whatever hurdle pops up I’ll be one call away from helping you over it. Spare no expense. You have more than enough people on your contact list willing to lend a hand. Don’t let them go to waste; sometimes you gotta ring every last one of them!

Weiss:Hmph, pretty bold to speak for everyone like that. I hope you’ll take the flack if they disagree.

Yang:Then they can call me personally!

xxxx

Veronica:Okay…

She looked at Summer’s uniforms that she put on some manicans. Veronica reached down in her bag and pulled out a sewing kit. She pulled out a needle and twirled it in between her fingers while pulling out spools of thread and juggling them with her tail. Her free hand tied her hair into a bun.

Veronica:Five outfits, I’m tired, headache, still need to unpack, still have sea legs, Summer gave me a headache, and I have to go to an Atlas school of all places tomorrow. Oh, not to mention what time it is now and when I gotta wake up. *smiles* better get to it then.

Part 12