#nor does it erase the fact that they're family

[corrodedseraphine]

easy | one shot

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

summary: "But Eddie has a girlfriend!" Dustin said first. "He does?" Adam asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I do?" Eddie muttered under his breath trying to understand what was going on. "Yeah, he is dating my sister y/n!" Will continued. "They're so in love with each other it's disgusting." Dustin rolled his eyes.

Everything would be fine if it weren't for the fact that neither you nor Eddie were informed in advance of the fact that you were a couple.

It promised to be a very interesting week. angst/fluff and almost smut (making out in the bathroom), friends to lovers

In this AU Joyce didn't move to California, but Argyle is there in Hawkins because he is too cool to erase him just like that.

TW: mention of injuries, blood, murder, drugs

the one shot is also avaliable on ao3

9 591 words

When I first got the idea, I thought it would be a very short and pleasant story. As standard, it turned out quite differently!

I know I said this fanfic wouldn't be related to any song, but as I was writing I was listening to one of my favorite songs about love Safari by Piotr Zioła on loop and couldn't resist adding elements of it in there.

eddie munson masterlist | general masterlist

"Here are my favorites!" Wayne said entering Eddie's room with a big cardboard box.

"Please let me tell Dustin that you called us that, this little shit will lose his mind." Robin grinned.

"He knows it. This is my uncle and sometimes he loves you guys more than he loves me." Eddie replied with a mouth full of pizza. 

You were sitting in the Munsons' new apartment. After the huge compensation Eddie got from the government, they decided to give up on the trailer park and find a place where power failure and lack of hot water would not be on the agenda. You, of course, helped them with the moving out. Unfortunately, Eddie's condition was not the best so with the carrying furniture and cardboard boxes Steve, Jonathan, Argyle and Hopper helped Wayne. You, Robin, Nancy and Joyce took care of painting the rooms, but now it was time to eat to strengthen yourselves before continuing. You sat in a circle on the floor, since you hadn't yet had time to assemble the table. Suddenly there was the sound of a telephone in the apartment. Wayne went to answer it and returned after about 10 minutes with a worried expression on his face.

"If it weren't for the fact that the police chief is now sitting across from me I'd think I'd messed something up again." the younger Munson joked, to which Jim just rolled his eyes.

"We'll have visitors next week." sighed the old man.

"Who?"

"Remember aunt Theresa and her son Adam?"

"Jesus, no!" his reaction spoke for itself.

"They want to come for a week."

"So at the moment when we live in a trailer and can barely afford anything they don't want to know us, but when we suddenly get a lot of money and a new apartment they feel like suddenly renewing family ties?" he asked with disgust in his voice.

"It's only a week Son, you'll survive."

"Nope. I won't survive. Hopper you don't have a free cell for a week? I'll be much better off there than in their company."

"Don't be dramatic, kid." he replied.

"Joyce! Have mercy on the victim, store me for this time in your basement, you won't even notice I'm there," he whined. "I just got you out of the hospital, the doctor said that I am categorically forbidden to do any extreme activities!"

"How can a family visit be extreme?" Steve asked.

"When you meet them you'll understand."

You finished eating and everyone went back to their duties, but you went to help Eddie with changing the bandages. From the very beginning you were the only person he allowed in, because you handled him most delicately of all. You knew that Wayne was trying his best, however, Eddie always dramatically confirmed that everyone else wanted him to die in pain.

He sat on the edge of the tub as you cleaned each wound in turn. He hissed in pain from time to time, each time you heard it you sent him a slight smile whispering that it would be over soon and everything will be fine. When each wound was thoroughly cleaned you moved on to applying the ointment.

"Why do you dislike your family so much?" you asked while rubbing the ointment into his cheek.

"They have always considered themselves the best of the family, just because they have money. They love to brag about it, if they could they would wear badges that say 'we're fabulously rich, sucker,'" he said rolling his eyes.

"That doesn't sound too good." You sighed.

"I'll be hearing all week about how worthless I am. Too stupid to graduate from high school on the first try, too controversial looking to get a good job... The list goes on, if I were to list everything we'd have to sit here until night."

"Hey, look at me." you said grabbing his chin and turning him so that he was looking straight into your eyes. "You're not worthless. You saved the world, Eddie. You saved us all. The only worthless thing that exists is your hopeless aunt's words, do you understand?"

"You saved me, too. More than once." he whispered surprised with your words.

"I would have done it a second time without hesitation."

When you found yourselves in the Upside Down after passing through the gate at Lover's Lake the Demobats took you as their target. Without a second thought, Eddie rushed to your rescue when one of them wrapped its tail around your neck. Later, while Steve, Nancy, Jonathan and Robin dealt with Vecna together the two of you and Dustin were supposed to distract the monsters. Unfortunately, Eddie had no intention of listening to Steve and feeling a surge of courage he cut the line when you and Dustin returned to the trailer on the good side. That didn't stop you from jumping after him. You don't know if it was the adrenaline or the despair that overwhelmed you when you saw him that made you and the others able to get him back out the other side. The option of getting out of hell without Eddie simply didn't exist for you.

"I just... I don't want Wayne to be ashamed of me. I don't want him to listen to all the crap they say about me because I know he cares. He tries not to show it but I can see it. And that's the worst part of it all."

"Wayne loves you. And I know he would do anything for you. It's normal that when someone talks nonsense about people we love it upsets us. Remember when you had to pull me forcibly away from Craver who was bullying Will? I thought I was going to tear him apart then. I probably would have if it hadn't been for you."

"To be honest, you were terrifying, I was scared as hell," he laughed.

"If necessary I'm ready to defend you from your crazy family too. I just need to grow my nails so I can claw out their eyes better." you answered. When you saw the smile light up his face as well, you felt your heart skipped a beat. You meant it in all honesty. You would do anything for the people you love. He didn't need to know that you loved him in a little different way than the rest.

When the ultimate day arrived Eddie was sitting in his room with Dustin and Will working on the details of the next D&D campaign. This was to be Will's first time as Dungeon Master for the whole group so Eddie, as always, eagerly offered to help. They were fiercely discussing the final boss fight when the door to his room swung open gently and Wayne showed up in it.

"Hi Uncle Wayne." Dustin and Will said simultaneously.

"Hi boys. Eddie? Our guests have arrived." As soon as the last word left his mouth the door swung open wider allowing his aunt inside. There was a look of displeasure on Wayne's face at the fact that she had walked in there as if it were her own room, but he didn't comment. Immediately after her, her son Adam walked in.

"Hello, Edward!" she said in an overly high tone, looking around the room with a judgmental gaze. "Why don't you give an old aunt a hug as a greeting?"

"I'd love to, but unfortunately the doctor has forbidden me to have close contact with other people." Eddie replied in a flat tone causing the younger boys to snort quietly with laughter.

"Hm... I see you still haven't grown up. Adam threw away all his toys the moment he started high school."

"These are not some toys, they are needed for our campaign." He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Are you still playing that satanic game?" interjected Adam.

"It's not- Yeah, you know what? Yes, I play the satanic game all the time. Actually, I'm the leader of the cult now, and these are its scary members Dustin and Will. Before you say anything, yes, I am bringing the Hawkins youth to the dark side of power to worship Satan with me." Their visit had so far lasted only five minutes and they had already made Eddie think about how much more fun it was to be ripped to shreds by demobats.

"Alright." Wayne interrupted his dramatic speech before things got too far. "Why don't I show you the rest of the house and the neighborhood?" Without a word they left closing the door behind them.

"Dude, they're awful." commented Dustin.

"Are you still playing this satanic game?" Will began to mock Adam.

"This is going to be the worst week of my life." The metalhead rubbed his face with his hands.

For the next few hours, Eddie didn't leave his room for a step, knowing that the enemy was sitting right behind the wall. He tried to focus on Will's campaign but anxiety and nerves didn't help him one bit. When the doorbell rang around the apartment all three of them left the room knowing it was Hopper. However, they didn't expect it was Aunt Theresa opening the door for him.

"Good evening officer!" she said. "My name is Theresa Munson, is something wrong?" A confused Hopper sent Eddie a questioning look, to which only the latter rolled his eyes.

"Nothing happened, I-"

"Did Eddie get into trouble again? I know he's been in trouble with the law several times before," she sighed. "Edward I'm sure what you did was not intentional right?" She didn't let him get a word in edgewise.

"What the fu-" Eddie didn't have time to finish when Wayne came out of the bathroom.

"Jim! How are you?" he said shaking Hopper's hand.

"Good." he replied still somewhat surprised. "I came to pick up the boys."

"Oh, so you're not here after because of Edward? What a relief!" his aunt interjected.

"Unbelievable!" Eddie exclaimed, banging his head against the wall.

"I'm just worried that you'll follow in your father's footsteps! Look at you, tattoos? torn clothes and that satanic music you listen to? That doesn't bode well, does it, officer? If you don't change something about yourself you'll never find any girlfriend or a good job."

It was a punch below the belt. Mentioning his father was crossing the line. Seeing Eddie clench his fists and the knuckles on his hands turn white Will and Dustin sent each other a communicative look.

"But Eddie has a girlfriend!" Dustin said first.

"He does?" Adam asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I do?" Eddie muttered under his breath trying to understand what was going on.

"Yeah, he is dating my sister y/n!" Will continued.

"They're so in love with each other it's disgusting." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Come on boys, we have to go." Hopper said, interrupting this bizarre exchange of words. "Your mother will kill me if we don't get back before dinner."

With that, the two teenagers left them all in shock, including Eddie. After they left, he quickly locked himself in his room thinking about the situation. Apparently you are a couple now. How should he behave around you now? He didn't know what to do with all this. These two little bastards had just put him in a game of pretend relationship with the girl he wrote all his love songs about. On the one hand, it was a great opportunity for him to finally make a move on you. On the other, he was paralyzed by the fear that nothing but rejection awaited him.

"You can pick the place." Hopper said as soon as they got into the car.

"What place?" asked a puzzled Will.

"Where I can bury your bodies when y/n finds out what you've done."

"Oh come on! Everyone knows very well that she has a crush on him!" Dustin exclaimed.

"They're both only have eyes for themselves, we're just helping them finally do something about it." Will tried to defend them. "Just helping!"

"Even if it's true what you're saying, they should come to it by themselves, not by your wild ideas," he sighed. "You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm not going to get involved."

And Jim was right. As soon as you found out what they had done you were furious, yelling at them that they had no right to decide for the two of you and put you in such a strange situation. However, it was too late. Locked in your room, you nervously played with your fingers while looking at the phone standing on the bedside table, not knowing whether you should dial the number to the Munson's house and explain the situation. Apologize for the behavior of these little shits and hope that your relationship will not worsen because of it. Plunged into your thoughts, you didn't even hear the knock at your door. After a moment of unresponsiveness on your part, Jonathan and El entered the room.

"Will told us what happened." began Jonathan slowly, sitting down next to you. El wordlessly followed him. "You know very well that they didn't mean a bad thing," he said.

"You can come in too." You sighed still looking at the door. After a moment, your younger brother emerged from behind the wall and, not knowing what to expect, walked slowly into the room.

"I know that a simple apology is not enough!" he began to defend himself. "But this aunt is really awful person! She started comparing him to his father, she thought Hopper had come to arrest him, or God knows what! She said he would never find a girlfriend, so we wanted to help him a-and then this idea came to our minds! At firs it didn't seem so bad. We thought...I am really sorry y/n."

"It's okay." you said quietly and you extended your hand towards him. "I forgive you." He ignored you hand and hugged you tightly with a relief. 

"Eddie didn't protest, I think he liked the idea." he said quietly and you smiled.

Despite the fact, that thinking that Eddie liked the idea of being your pretended boyfrend for a week made you feel very warm you weren't able to stop thinking about what Will have just told you about his aunt's behaviour. She compared him to his father? Your blood boiled inside you. No one had the right to say such a thing, and you set as your goal to make sure it wouldn't happen again. At least not on your watch.

All Tuesday from the very morning you could not sit still. Lessons went on mercilessly, still thinking about the situation into which you were embroiled. When you told Robin about it at lunch she looked quite excited saying that finally something would happen between you two. She was the only one who knew how you truly felt about him and from the very beginning, she was trying to persuade you to finally do something more than rambling to her about your feelings. In her opinion, Eddie should be the person to actually listen to it. The longer you thought about it the more you had to admit that the excitement was getting to you as well. Yet you still didn't know what Eddie thought about it.

When the final bell rang, you quickly ran out of the school, got on your bike and headed toward Munson's apartment, stopping by a bakery on the way. Once there, you took three deep breaths and knocked on the door, which Wayne opened a moment later.

"And who do we have here?" He asked with a smile.

"Hi Uncle Wayne." You said answering with the same. "Is Eddie home?"

"I don't know where else he could be, come in." He let you in. "This is my sister Theresa and her son Adam. And this is y/n," he said as you walked deeper into the apartment. They were both sitting on the living room couch watching TV.

"It's very nice to meet you!" you said in an over-sweetened tone.

"We are also pleased to meet you." Replied a somewhat puzzled aunt.

"Did I hear my favorite Bayers?" Eddie leaned out of the room with a broad smile. Seeing his reaction you took it as permission to take it a step further.

"It's good to know that my little brother hasn't stolen that title yet." you laughed walking up to him. "Hi, Teddy." You kissed him on his healthy cheek. Not expecting it, he fossilized for a few seconds but after a moment he woke up.

"Hi baby." he said, smacking you on the forehead. "I see you've already met my wonderful family?" he added with a hint of sacrasm.

"Yes, Wayne introduced me." you confirmed. "Did you change the bandages today?" you asked wanting to change the topic.

"Not yet." he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"So here's the plan: First we'll change your bandages, then we'll take care of the school notes I brought you." you announced "Ah! I almost forgot! I was also at the bakery on the way, and I brought your favorite doughnuts."

"I told you she was the best." he said proudly looking his aunt straight in the eyes. Wayne watched you from afar with a smile on his lips. Pretend or not - it was nice to see you in such a position.

When you disappeared behind the bathroom door, free from the prying eyes of his guests, you breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you..." he said quietly. "For playing along."

"Will told me about what you heard from her. I thought instead of clawing her eyes out right away we'd show her how wrong she is. If you don't mind, of course."

"Of course I don't. I was afraid it would be you who would mind. Those little shitheads hadn't decided anything about it with me before."

"So since neither of us has anything against it..." you said. "You told them I was the best?"

"Of course, and it wasn't even a lie!"

It took you more than two hours to come to grips with the notes. If Eddie had dispensed with his dramatic episodes the time would have been about half as short, but you were in no hurry. Sitting behind the closed door of his room nothing changed too much, your relationship from the very beginning was very good and full of laughter that reached the eavesdropper Theresa and her son. After finishing his study, Eddie played you some new songs he had written in his spare time. Three of them were related to each other telling the adventure of fighting the worst kind of evil, which was full of throwing fireballs, manipulating thoughts and knife-sharp fangs tearing skin. The fourth had no words yet. That, at least, was the version for you. The piece of paper with its words was tucked deep in the closet along with the rest he had written thinking of you. So that it would never see the light of day.

As dinner time approached Wayne called you into the living room where you helped set the table and get a few things ready. Eddie accompanied you, watching as you casually moved around the space talking and joking with his uncle. Feeling a pleasant warmth on his heart, he thought if it could stay like this forever. The way you jokingly patted his hand when he tried to snack, or when you pretended to be a princess in distress unable to open a jar, so he as a brave knight would come to your rescue. Such behavior was not something new for you, but this time as a wonderful addition, from time to time he could steal a little kiss from you on the cheek, forehead or tip of the nose, or without hesitation hug you from behind when you were standing at the counter cutting vegetables for a salad. You then leaned gently against his frame, creating an enclosure of safety around you. You both tried desperately to remember the feeling you had then if it was about to disappear as quickly as a soap bubble.

"So how did you two meet?" Theresa asked as you all sat down at the table.

"Eddie was friends with my twin brother, Jonathan, so it was only a matter of time before we met." you replied while putting food on your plate and then doing the same only with Eddie's portion. "I must admit that from the very beginning he had something about him that caught my attention." You continued.

"Interesting." she hummed. "Edward, how's the situation at school?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to finally get out of high school? You know you won't be young forever." she paused briefly. "Adam is studying in New York. He's one of the best, he's getting a scholarship."

"That's great." you commented, not wanting to drag the subject further.

"And what are your plans after graduation?" Adam turned to Eddie with a contemptous look.

"I don't know, at this point I'm just trying to get better." He shrugged his shoulders without taking his eyes off the food.

"Eddie is great with cars!" you blurted out. "Before the accident he used to work for a local mechanic, he really appreciated him." You placed your hand on his, which was lying on the table. When you squeezed it gently he looked at you and sent a slight smile showing a dimple in his cheek.

"Well, yes, but without education you can't find a good job," he said.

"I believe that if someone is good at their craft they don't need any high degree at all to succeed. And Eddie is the best, and I'm sure that as soon as he finishes high school this year he will be very successful." Your voice was still kind however this time a hint of firmness could be sensed in it.

The rest of dinner passed in silence. When you had finished eating you helped to clear the table and wash the dishes. Then it was time to go home.

"My mother and Jim are hosting an engagement party this Friday. She said to tell you that you and Adam can also feel invited. It's going to be great fun, right Eddie?" you said already standing at the door.

"Of course sweetheart." he replied with a fake smile hating the idea of them being there with all his heart.

For the last time that day you placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Although it was gentle Eddie felt as if your lips were leaving a permanent mark there, which imprinted all the way on his heart.

The rest of the week looked similar. Except for the day of Hellfire, you came to him after school bringing notes and spending the rest of the day together. You could get used to such a course of events, unfortunately, when Friday came you felt nostalgic about the fact that this could be the last of the days like this. Theresa and Adam were going home Sunday morning which meant that these were also the last days to enjoy Eddie's closeness. Feeling a weight in your chest, you got off the bike and headed toward the apartment. You didn't expect Adam to open the door for you. He was shirtless. You immediately felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to turn back but he stopped you.

"Wayne and Eddie went to get some groceries, you can wait for them inside." he said smiling broadly.

"Thanks." you muttered and squeezed past him in the doorway.

"I just finished doing my home workout. You know, we have a gym at the university, so I go there every day, I can't stop." He winked at you coming closer. Responding nothing with a quick step you walked to the living room and began to unpack the contents of your bag. In addition to your notes after school, you entered the store and bought the new figures for D&D that Will kept talking about that they would need for the new campaign. You carried the notes to Eddie's room, then sat down on the couch in the living room and began spreading out the figures and paints on the coffee table. Adam never took his eyes off you, watching your every move making you feel increasingly nervous.

"Do you play this stupid game too?" he asked, sitting down next to you.

"I participate in campaigns from time to time." You replied shrugging your shoulders. Not wanting to lean on the couch as his arm was stretched across the backrest, you aimlessly moved things from one place to another, making you not notice how close he was to you. It reached you when you felt his hand on your cheek. Surprised, you looked in his direction and immediately jumped away standing up on your feet.

"What the hell are you doing?" you shouted.

"Oh come on, don't you wanna mess around? It will be a while before they come back from the store." he said getting up from the couch.

"Jesus, no! Have you lost your mind? What made you even think that I might want something like that?" 

Adam was wrong. Eddie and Wayne returned from shopping, but you were so preoccupied with the situation, and your voice was so loud that you didn't hear the door open. Eddie, seeing you with his half-naked cousin in the living room, felt his heart suddenly get very heavy. He was just turning to leave the apartment and not look at it when Wayne grabbed him by the arm and with a hand gesture showed him to be quiet and watch what would happen next.

"So you're saying all this talk about having a crush on him when he was just your brother's friend is true? You fell in love with a trailer trash who worships Satan? The scars are turning you on?" he smirked. "A better Munson is now standing in front of you, baby, don't waste this opportunity."

"Don't you fucking dare to say one more word!" He crossed the line. It wasn't even about how he behaved toward you. You were too concerned about what he called Eddie. "I tolerated your and your mother's snarky behavior just so I wouldn't make Wayne uncomfortable. But since he's not here now I'm happy to answer your questions. Even homeless Eddie would be much better than you. You don't measure up to him you damn asshole! I don't care about your expensive car you are so enthusiastic about, I'd rather walk everywhere my whole life than get in it. I don't give a shit about your apartment in New York. I would have had a better life homeless under a bridge. And yes, I loved Eddie when he lived in the trailer, I loved that he made me feel at home there, trailer or not I fucking love him so you have to remember that the next time you talk shit about the person I love nothing will hold me back anymore. I will make you regret it for the rest of your miserable life. I'm disgusted with you. I'm disgusted by how self-absorbed idiot you are and how your ego blows the scale. And you are right. You're damn right that these wounds are incredibly attractive. Do you know why? Because they remind me that my Eddie is a fucking hero! You don't even realize how many lives he saved back then! So yes, he and his scars are the hottest in the world and definitely much more hotter than your pathetic gym routine." The words flew out of your mouth like bullets. The shock on his face encouraged you even more but then you heard the door slam.

"Adam?" the voice of Wayne made you tighten your lips into a thin line and take a deep breath.

"Y/n! Good to see you!" he said bringing in the shopping bags.

"Hi Wayne." you said getting the nicest and the calmest tone you could afford at that moment.

"Sweetheart!" before you had time to respond Eddie with a quick step and a wide smile on his lips was already at your side. What you didn't expect, however, was what came next. He cupped your face and kissed you. Eddie was kissing you. You experienced a three-second shock and then completely surrendered to the kiss by placing your hands on his chest. His nose gently touched your cheek, you felt its tip was cold. Yet his lips were burning. Even though the kiss was brief, you felt as if your soul had left your body and had travelled to a completely different dimension. Was it a dream? If so, you didn't want to wake up.

After Eddie heard what you were saying, he felt he had to do it. Many times he saw you defending your loved ones from all kinds of attacks. You weren't afraid to cover Will with your own body when Vecna tried to get him, so verbal attacks were not a problem for you. You also handled this one very well. More than once he had the opportunity to witness this. Now you were doing it for him. This awakened completely new feelings in him. He was sincerely touched and happy. In that moment you gave him something he had not felt since Wayne took him in. He felt wanted and loved. Even if it was pretended at that moment. Nothing could take that moment away from him, so he decided to take a risk. The risk definitely paid off. He enjoyed every second of it. The satisfaction was also a bonus. He wanted to show "the better Munson" that you were his. As if what you said wasn't enough. He wanted the kiss to be a seal saying she is perfect, and she is mine. Damn, he wanted you to be his so bad.

As if nothing ever happened, you sat down on the couch with Eddie and took up painting. You didn't say a word about your exchange with Adam, and Eddie pretended he hadn't witnessed one of the best moments in his life. Painting took you a lot longer than you expected. Plus more because every now and then you glanced in his direction focusing your attention on his mouth as he told you more details of the campaign. Could you have become addicted to something you had only tasted once?

"They are being chased by a pack of wild mutant lions so they run into an old hut where the master of nightmares is waiting for them." He tells you while gesturing with his hands. You're interested in what he's saying, but damn did his lips always look this beautiful? "Earth to y/n!" he yelled clapping his hands.

"Shit, sorry, I zooned out." you woke up suddenly. "So what exactly is it about the master of nightmares?"

"He throws you into a vision that replicates your greatest fears," he said.

"And what is Eddie the Banished's greatest fear?"

Losing you. That was his first thought. "Y'know it will probably be bats." he cuckled and winked at you.

"I am so sorry Eddie, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, clam down." he said, yawning.

"You're tired, I should go."

"No, stay." he grabbed your hand. "I mean... if you want to of course, I thought you'd wait until they're dry to take some home for Will."

"Oh, sure." a smile crept onto your lips on its own as you accepted the proposition. Lips. You had a feeling you never thought about that particular body part as often as you did today.

"We can chill a little in my room." he suggested. You knew perfectly well what he meant.

"You know very well that I won't agree to this kind of chilling." You crossed your arms over your chest. "Those strange doctors have made it very clear that until the traces of the Upside Down are out of your system for good, there is no question of smoking anything."

"But- please! Have mercy on my poor soul." fell to his knees in front of you making you giggle.

"Don't you dare use those puppy dog eyes on me Munson. It's for your own good." you said softly and tenderly stroked his cheek with your thumb.

"You heartless woman." he faltered, laying his head on your lap.

"Okay, I am able to bear the weight of those words." you chuckled. "There are many other ways to relax, you know? We can listen to music, or read."

"Will you read to me?" he asked raising his face toward you. Big chocolate button eyes glared at you. His face looked so innocent. Rarely did anyone get a chance to see it, since Eddie almost always wore his mask. The fact that he didn't have it with you made you feel very special.

"Come on, adventure awaits!" you helped him stand up and walked to his room. After a moment of deliberation and dithering about whether you should read The Hobbit for the millionth time, you decided that this time it would be some new fantasy book that Wayne had bought Eddie while he was still in the hospital.

"Wayne won't mind that I'm staying this long?"

"Of course not. Besides, we still have some time before they come back."

"We have plenty of time before a pack of wild lions reaches us?"

"And before one of your worst dreams hunts you down" He replied and patted the bed indicating for you to lie down next to him. With that, you began to read, but after a short time you both began to get sleepy. The dim light of the bedside lamp, the warmth that eminated from the two of you, the comfort and peace that you felt in each other's company succulently lulled you to sleep. When you heard a quiet snoring in mid-sentence you looked at its source with tenderness in your eyes. Feeling your own eyelids getting incredibly heavy you put the book aside. Just five minutes. You thought and, moving closer to the boy, allowed yourself a small nap.

It was not as small as you thought.

"Yes, Joyce, you have nothing to worry about." Wayne said. "They were already asleep when we got home, I don't want to wake them up. Yes, I'm sure. They will manage, they are adults. Yes, it won't be a problem for sure. Okay, bye. See you tomorrow." Eddie lazily opened his eyes and rubbed them with one hand. He listened to his uncle's words looking on in disbelief that you were still here. And much closer than before he fell asleep. He brushed your hair away from your face as gently as he could so as not to wake you up.

"Hey, kid." Wayne whispered. "I talked to Joyce, she can stay."

"Thanks, Wayne."

The man smiled and winked at him, closing the door behind him. Eddie took the blanket that lay at the other end of the bed and covered you. In your sleep you turned your back to him and he took the opportunity to embrace you becoming a big spoon. Feeling you move even closer and snuggle into him he thought his heart was about to explode. Your back touched his abdomen causing a slight pain in the areas of the still healing wounds, but this pain was bearable. Besides, it was nothing compared to the happiness he felt. 

As the first rays of sunlight broke through the cracks in his blinds and his watch indicated the unmercifully early hour Eddie sighed unhappily. He had never been one of the early birds, and there was no promise of change in that regard. When he opened his eyes he remembered why he was actually sleeping in his clothes. You must have turned in the night because now your face was facing his. You kept one hand under the pillow and the other lay on his side. He wanted to close the gap between you and wake you up with a kiss like in one of the cheap rom-coms, but he didn't know if he could let himself do that. Kissing you in front of his cousin was justified, since you were going to pretend to be a couple, you had to be convincing, but wouldn't doing it when it was just the two of you be too much? He was weighing all the pros and cons when he noticed your eyes slowly open.

"Good morning Eddie." you said stretching.

"Good morning, panda." he replied in a whisper. You looked at him questioningly, and with his thumb he lightly rubbed the black mascara marks under your eyes that must have formed there overnight.

"Oh, shit." you said while covering your face. "'m sorry." you muttered and sat down on the bed.

"Don't be, you look cute." So cute I want to kiss you again and again and... again. His brain didn't let go recalling these visions every now and then. Instead, he simply told you that if you wanted to dress up you could borrow something from his closet. Since your top was a bit sweaty after the sleep, you agreed by taking one of the Hellfire shirts and went to quickly get yourself cleaned up in the bathroom. Then you waited for Eddie to shower and get dressed and helped him with his bandages as you always do. You had seen him shirtless countless times, but now that he was sitting in front of you on the bathtub in only loose sweatpants you were overcome by a feeling that you only allowed yourself in the privacy of your room by fantasizing about your friend. You were afraid of the fact that these fantasies were now at your fingertips, and before you could stop yourself your hand actually moved toward him. Eddie, as if in a trance, equally enchanted by the moment, watched your every move. Your fingers gently traced a path on his body. Starting with a healthy cheek, continuing on his neck, shoulder and then chest.

"Do you like what you see, sweetheart?" he said, unable to catch his breath.

"Very," you whispered biting your lower lip.

"I like what I see, too." He confirmed by pushing your hair off your shoulder. He imitated your movements. Starting by gently brushing your face, neck and arm which was slightly exposed by the fact that his shirt was too big on you. Your breathing became faster and faster as you rested your forehead against his. His hands quickly found their way to your waist pulling you as close to him as he could. And then you kissed him. No matter how close you stood to each other until your lips were joined the gap was too huge. Initially shy and tentative sparks ignited a fire. The desire that had been bubbling inside you for a long time exploded. Still kissing you, he got up from the tub pushing you toward the wall so that you were trapped between it and him. Trapped? You were not going to escape even if you were to burn in this fire. As he laid wet marks on your neck you sank your hand into his curls. The temperature was hotter than hell when you felt his hands go under the shirt you were wearing. His lips returned to yours as he pressed his body against yours and you felt how hard he was. You thought you were going crazy.

"Eddie..." You didn't control the moan that spontaneously left your mouth.

"Yes, Angel?" he asked pulling away from you. His eyes were darker than usual but on his lips was the same smile as always. The same dimple-showing smile that made your knees weaken.

"Please." That was all you could get out of yourself before you put your hands on his neck pulling him close. This time he was the one who moaned right into your mouth and started to roll up your shirt to take it off. And then a fire truck arrived. A huge bucket of icy water to extinguish the big fire between you. A big downpour called Theresa.

"Hello? I think you've already finished changing the bandages! Some people need to use the restroom!" she shouted, knocking quickly and hard on the door. Of course she was eavesdropping. Of course she was doing her best to squeeze in where she wasn't needed. Eddie moved away from you and unlocked the bathroom door. Visibly angry, he passed his aunt without a word and went to his room to get dressed. He was definitely uncomfortable with the fact that they could see his wounds. When he returned, he noticed you in the hallway putting your shoes on. Seeing his sad expression you smiled slightly.

"I have to go help my mom get everything ready for tonight's party." You explained grabbing his hand. "But don't miss too much, we'll see each other in a few hours, right?"

"Yeah." one corner of his mouth lifted

"See you later." In farewell you kissed him on the cheek and left the apartment. Leaving him alone with thoughts of what the hell  just happened.

When you got home, you didn't have much of a chance or time to think about the morning's events. You and the rest of the household threw yourselves into the whirlwind of preparations. You sat with Mom and El in the kitchen while Jonathan and Will helped prepare the garden, carrying chairs and tables there. After some time, Steve and Eddie also came to help. Because of his condition, Eddie stayed close to you in the kitchen and Steve went to help set things up in the garden. There was a kind of tension between you and the metalhead, but it wasn't bad. All the time you were sending each other glances and smiles. When you handed him vegetables to cut, his fingers brushed yours. The tiny gestures created a kind of attraction between you, which was terribly hard to resist. Despite everything, you did not bring up the subject of what happened just a few hours ago in the bathroom.

The party was going on at its best, Hopper and Wayne were sipping beers while keeping an eye on the meat on the grill, and right next to them at the table sat Joyce, the Sinclairs, Mrs. Henderson, Jonathan, Will, Eddie, and Theresa with Adam, who today was being extraordinarily, suspiciously nice to Eddie. Shouts and laughter came from the other end of the garden. Together with Dustin, El, Robin, Argyle and Steve you were playing fresbee, while Lucas and Max cheered you on from the sidelines. The disc flew out of your hands almost every time though you didn't give up. Seeing your persistence Eddie couldn't hold back a smile.

"Eddie!" shouted Will. "Are you even listening to me?" he rolled his eyes.

"Of course! You were talking about the new campaign."

"Yeah! What exactly?" Silence and the Dungeon Master's reddened face was the only answer he got.

"Will give him a break, you can see that something else is on his mind." interjected Jonathan. "Or rather, someone?"

"Is that someone our sister?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." he muttered while covering his face with his hair.

"So, Theresa! How is life in New York for you, life in the city must be very interesting!" the voice of Joyce caught the attention of all three so they turned their heads towards the aunt.

"Oh, it is! It's also very hard. It's hard to maintain the role of the Munsons, who have not followed in the family footsteps." she laughed artfully. "Fortunately, we're doing great with Adam."

Eddie's leg began bouncing under the table at an incredibly fast pace.

"What does that mean?" Joyce asked a visibly confused.

"Our family doesn't have a very good reputation, as you well know. Not many of us are able to get out of a miserable life in a penny trailer or avoid owning a police cartorette." She sent Eddie a quick glance, through which he knew he was about to receive the final blow. As his aunt continued, his leg began to move even faster, which did not escape the Byers brothers' attention. They both sent each other somewhat frightened glances but did nothing, waiting for the situation to unfold. "When we found out that Eddie was wanted for murder we were immediately horrified that he had followed in his father's footsteps-" she didn't have time to finish when Eddie stood up abruptly looking at her. Father. A word that caused even more pain than the pack of demobats tearing through his body.

"Don't-" he began in a shaky voice. "Don't you dare mention him. Don't you dare call that man my father, you understand." he tried to be calm. In truth, with all his might he wanted to be self-controlled now, but it all seemed too much. All week he had bravely endured everything she said about him. But now when she did it in front of everyone he cared about, when she did it in front of your family, pulling the strongest card in the process he couldn't stand it. Wayne and Hopper became alarmed and walked closer to the table, but that didn't stop him. "This man is nobody to me. A stranger. A fucking sperm donor nothing more. He is a murderer. He killed my mother, and your sister. His last name is Davis. Not Munson." He felt something tighten in his throat. Something making it difficult for him to breathe. "My father's name is Wayne Munson. He raised me, he changed my last name, so don't you ever dare call that man my father again." Saying all this, he looked her straight in the eye. He wanted to make sure she understood every single word he said. Feeling tears come to his eyes and he quickly turned away walking into the house. He couldn't afford to cry in her presence. That's why it wasn't until he was in your room that everything he held inside gave vent. Angrily, he grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it with all his strength onto the floor then sat on it himself while leaning against the bed. He took the pillow cuddling his face into it. As the smell of your scent filled his nostrils even more tears flowed into his eyes. Like tentacles full of venom, thoughts of Aunt Theresa being right wrapped around his mind. He thought he wasn't worthy of you. Maybe she was right that he didn't have a good future ahead of him. If he couldn't provide it for himself how could he provide it for you as well? How could a freak hated by the whole city be worthy of someone as wonderful as you? He felt like screaming. At that moment he hated himself even more than his aunt.

"I thought I'd find you here." Hopper said as he entered the room and sat down next to him.

"Yeah?" Eddie earned a smile while wiping away tears.

"Actually, I think that would be everyone's first thought."

"So obvious."

"Listen... I shouldn't say this, but your aunt is really insufferable. Don't worry, okay? Everything she said was one big bullshit."

"Looking at how many times I rode with you in the police car I wouldn't agree," his words were bitter and full of sadness.

"I know you Eddie. I admit that at some point you were not on my list of favorites, but later I got to know you from a different side as well, and I have to admit that Wayne did a great job raising you."

"Wayne is a great guy," he said.

"So are you." Seeing Eddie only nodding in the negative, he sighed heavily and continued. "I know the man your aunt was talking about. And you are nothing like him. You almost died protecting my kids. You are a hero. And you make one of my daughters damn happy, so as far as I'm concerned you're one of the best people I've met in this messed up life."

"You think I make her happy?" the wall of sadness was shot through with tiny hope.

"Very happy. That's why I don't even want to dig into why she came home in your T-shirt today."

"That- it's not what you think," he began to explain.

"I said I don't want to hear about it. Besides, she came back today very smiling. I haven't seen her like that in a long time."

"Eddie what happened? Jim?" when you noticed that Eddie had disappeared from the table you asked Will where he had gone, and he only said that towards the house, without giving you any details. Moments later you found him sitting on the floor with Hopper. His eyes were a little puffy and red, and you knew he had been crying. You were afraid that Hopper might have said something that led to this, and as if reading your mind he raised his hands in a defensive gesture.

"I didn't do anything. Your boy just felt a little worse, you know yourself how wounds can sometimes give you a hard time."

Hearing this seconds later you were on your knees next to Eddie. "Do you need painkillers? Maybe you need to rest? You can stay here and sleep." With concern in your eyes, you watched his eyes become even glassier. "What can I do to help you, Eddie?" without a word he pulled you close with a hug. You were his safe heaven. He knew that with you he could be vulnerable. "Eddie, I don't want to hurt you, I don't want your wounds to hurt you even more." You said quietly scared that such closeness could inflict more pain on him.

"I don't care 'bout them," he muttered into your hair.

"Come down to us when you're feeling better, we'll be making a fire soon to toast marshmallows." Hopper said, leaving you alone.

The two of you sat cuddled together for some more time. When you returned to the rest of the party, you didn't leave his side for a moment, making sure he was feeling fine and everything was okay. The rest of the evening passed peacefully, especially when you all sat around the campfire listening to the melody of the acoustic guitar that "slays dragons."

When the day of salvation arrived and the intruders left the Munson kingdom Eddie could breathe a sigh of relief. Even Wayne admitted that their visit was too much to bear and they deserved a rest. Still, Eddie could not rest. Staring at the ceiling, he wondered what your relationship would look like now. Will you forget everything that happened? Such as how close you were to each other? He tried everything to clear his head. Playing his guitar, writing songs, planning campaigns, drawing- nothing. Completely nothing was able to pull his thoughts off track. Countless times he approached the phone and was already almost grabbing the receiver but chickened out at the last moment. At the point when he could no longer handle himself he sat down on the couch with Wayne and they watched TV in silence. But whatever was playing on it didn't help. Then he heard a knock on the door. The thought crossed his mind that maybe it was his aunt who had returned, which in itself made him feel sick. Fortunately, it was you. Although the look on your face didn't indicate that you just came here to hang out. You were nervously biting your lips and your eyebrows crinkled together as you played with your fingers.

"Eddie, we need to talk." you said when he let you in and without a word you went to his room.

"What's wrong? I know pretending to love me for a week was hard, but I didn't think it was that hard." he tried to joke.

"Shut up!" you exclaimed. Your lower lip began to shake and tears came to your eyes. You had thought about the course of this conversation many times before coming here, but you didn't expect to be so carried away by your emotions. Seeing his surprised and then somewhat hurt look made you feel terrible for having erupted like that. He deserved an explanation. He deserved the truth. He didn't deserve yelling at him, for sure.

"I'm sick of how badly you talk about yourself. I'm sick of how you think you're not worth loving, because- because loving you is easy, Eddie! The easiest." you began, feeling like you were about to die of nerves, but you came here with a purpose and you were going to fulfill it. "I want to love you the way you deserve it. And you deserve the purest, the most honest and the strongest kind of love in the whole world. And I know that if you only let me, I will be able to give it to you. But I want you to know that I will understand if you don't feel the same way about me," the last words passed through your throat with extreme difficulty. You were ready to take the risk. A broken heart was a better option than keeping your feelings for him hidden. Especially since you had the opportunity to see what life at his side might look like. It looked like a dream. And you have to fight for dreams.

"You know I'm not the best at talking about feelings." he sighed. "So I'll use a little help," he said taking a couple of D&D figures in his hand and sat down on the bed. You sat down across from him. "If this were one of the campaigns I would say that a very important part was when Eddie the Banished and Y/n Golden Heart had a battle that lasted a week with two, extremely nasty monsters," the figurines portrayed a small fight scene. " After the monsters were gone they both met, in King Harrington's palace in the lobby, just by the door. Not feeling like feasting, they sneaked out and climbed onto the roof of a small shed that was nearby. Under the cover of night, they felt like they were the only people in the world. The night was beautiful. And the fact that evil was not lurking just around the corner gave it an added charm. The wind gently rustled between the trees, the hushed sounds of the feast could be heard in the background, and they were so immersed in a conversation they had created that they forgot about everything else. They talked about comets, about the next adventure that awaited them, about anything they wanted to talk about. The stars in the sky shone brighter than usual. They heralded the beginning. A good beginning." He grabbed your hand. It was a little sweaty because he vas nervous but you didn't care about it at all.

"How do you know it's a good one?" you asked quietly sniffing and feeling that you were calming down. You've always known that Eddie is amazing at storytelling, but this was the first time it involved something so sensitive.

"As the first shades of orange appeared in the sky and the sun gently began to illuminate his companion's face, Eddie the Banished realized a very meaningful matter."

"What kind of matter?" you waited impatiently for the continuation.

"From the very beginning as soon as y/n Golden Heart appeared in his life he couldn't stop thinking about her. He couldn't remember anything because all his thoughts were directed only toward her. At first he thought she charmed him with a bunch of curses, after all she was the most powerful witch in the kingdom. Because of this, he thought, he felt a constant need and desire to always be by her side. Having once been under the influence of the fumes created by the powerful herbalist Argyle, he wondered what kind of magic it would take to reduce him to the size of a rat, so that he could hide in a pocket in her robe to be by her side for a few moments longer." He laughed, and you dreamily listened on. "His life was like a hurricane. It rushed dangerously with unimaginable speed bringing with it a lot of destruction and dangerous changes. But despite the hurricane, he waited for a warmer front. That morning when y/n the Golden Heart closed her eyes and smiled slightly feeling the warm rays of the sun surround her face, he realized that she was the warmer front. They had survived a lot, rescued each other by pulling out of fires and getting out of rivers, defeated the scariest monsters in the kingdom. And they were together. They never left each other's side. It reached him that his feelings were not caused by curses. What he felt was stronger than a curse. It was love. Simply put, he was in love with her, and to his last breath he wanted to be with her."

"Eddie..."

"Yeah?"

"How many points do I have to roll to kiss you right now?" hearing this sentence from your mouth he knew that nothing more was needed for his happiness, so without hesitation he joined your lips together.

Eddie was right that this was the beginning. A very good beginning.

taglist: @i-me-mine

[dairy-farmer]

Based on that dicktimbabs ask, but honestly after a few years of fucking Dick, when Tim is like 14 or 15, he decides he wants a baby with the man he loves. He assumes this won't be well received and so he simply. Sabotages his birth control

So when he turns up pregnant, it's a total surprise! An accident, completely unplanned. Babs is pissed at Dick more than anything, and Tim begs to keep his baby, to which the two adults quickly reassure him that he can keep the baby if he really wants to and they'll help him, ofc

(and if Tim sabotages his birth control a few more times throughout the years, who's gonna know? It's super easy to erase the suspicion of a young teen popping out so many babies by having Dick and Babs just adopt some of them, that way they all stay in the same home and Tim is able to raise all of his babies together! Shame he's so fertile tho, pregnant with baby 4 before he's 20)

!!!!! babs getting so mad that dick got her baby pregnant! of course that mostly fizzles away when tim begs to keep the baby and try as she might barbara can't help but feel so...pleased. part of the reason she'd adopted tim was that she'd long made peace with the fact that children weren't in the cards for her. it was just something she'd never shed her..squeamish over- the pregnancy, the birth, the changes her body would go through. but despite her feelings she still hadn't made plans for tim to get pregnant! he's too young! his teachers would have questions, cps might even be interested to find out why he young adopted child has fallen pregnant under her custody so soon after she'd gotten married.

but that's easily cleared away. she doesn't like using the sway of being the commissioners daughter nor does dick like using the wayne name but tim ending up in anyone else's home wouldn't be good for him! he's such a sweet and sensitive child and the gotham system would gobble him up. so barbara doesn't feel bad making sure they stay together.

maybe she does feel a smidge of guilt when she switches out tim's birth control after his first baby is born. they're so chubby and sweet and tim seems to be doing such a good job. and...he'd looked so cute waddling around the apartment.

she knows dick would be upset with her for planning to get tim pregnant again. he'd felt so guilty the first time, offering to start pulling out, to even start using condoms. but tim had begged him not to, said that it didn't feel as good and babs had seen how wavering his resolve was to use condoms anyway. he'd never complained to her about because its what they used the few times they fucked but barbara knew how much he disliked them.

maybe barbara is wrong for purposely trying to get her kid pregnant but she couldn't help it. her family was growing, who wouldn't be happy about that?

[legochaotixmechz]

lmk season 5 rambles !!!!

heads up that this is very rambly and makes no sense expect to me. Cuz I can only understand my yaps /hj [also gets kinda personal]

Watching everyone make genuine and logical interpretations and analysis feels like a bucket of ice being dumped on me .. like how do you yall cook so hard ??? Like me on the other hand could not take season 5 seriously the whole time i was like:

Nezha content ??? Nezha screentime when ???

DragonfuriAaaaa!!! wyyyyy

This season feels like filler

.. nezha content????????????

Tang means nothing now

MK.IS GOING EMO NOOOONKONPNO

Lol that was kinda sad

Idc for shadowpeach nor shadowpeach being mk parents

Like mk is my favorite thing ever and when I really thought of it omfg... it'd just I can't even put into words just so Damm tragic his situation..?? Like i almost cried ( dramtic I know) I couldn't even put it to words when I think abt

For almost whole life i viewed most of MY life and everything in it as a joke or couldn't really take anything serious- ofc I really didn't see things that way ONLY. I took passion in things and friends blah blah blah but i stilk had that idea that "this is so goofy lol this will end soon"

after watching lmk season 5 a bit discomfort loomed over me- that this does matter. all of it. Even if I am a presence for a short while I was still they're and will live on in memories even after is said and done and they will think about me later if i perished.

I feel like sacrificing yourself in media has often erased the fact that no matter what stage og life your at you would leave so much behind. Friends, passions, projects, clothing, family, grades, coworkers, a role in a work place, a seat in class, a bed, collections and so many other things that is held onto in life now left untoched and empty without you there. Yeah it's nobal but in giving up yourself for everyone those who where they're to experience [close or not] will still feel that void that you left once your gone for good with only memories to keep you alive. Im so glad lmk shined a light into that

But hey what do I know I'm just some lego person on the web :b

[umbreerie]

𝕺𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖚𝖑 ; Major headcanon drop.

Okay so gonna start this post off by saying I have no plans or intentions to erase anything unsavory about Kai's character or the things he's done because thats just not how I do. The atrocities are part of him and I've decided they're funny type shit yknow ? He's done some bad stuff. Most specifically he experimented on and tortured a child. Nothing I'm about to talk about is said to excuse his actions. He did that shit. I acknowledge it. But he's also a fictional character and its not that serious.

So anyway, before we get back to Eri I wanna talk about the fact that I noticed when comparing the Anime and the Manga things are a little different and I think the Anime maaay have butchered Kai slightly, and specifically I feel like it misinterpreted his whole thing with quirks and disease and his plan with Eri. But I think Kai made it very clear he doesn't hate quirks, nor did he want to wipe out all quirks. Kai's a guy who proudly named himself after his quirk and wanted to be known specifically by that name. Kai makes it very clear that his plan was to use Eri's quirk to essentially debilitate hero society and control the underworld. No part of this included wiping out all quirks. Totally the opposite. Part of his plan even included reverse engineering a serum that would RESTORE the erased quirks.

Again, I think this misinterpretation came from the Anime. When Kai is having his major villain meltdown the anime seems to put forth the idea that Kai wanted to "cure" the world of quirks in the sense that he wanted to "wipe out" quirks, this is done when he's explaining to Izuku what Eri is capable of. In the manga, however, its a little more clear that Kai is just trying to drive home what Eri is capable of ( Ie, rewinding quirks out of existence ) and how incapable Izuku is of appreciating such power, infected with "hero syndrome" as he is.

( Its also kinda clear here Kai views Eri as a tool/object, one that he possesses and he's clearly viewing Izuku's attempts to "save" her as stealing a valuable resource from him as opposed to trying to save a little girl. )

Which also brings me to what Kai's problem actually is and what he was actually trying to "cure". Hero syndrome. Just like the League of Villains, Kai himself possesses strong anti-establishment views and apperently recognizes hero society as a problem for the supernatural world. Sure, we can say Kai's criticism of Hero society comes from a much more selfish place than that of the LoV due to his gang ties and the fact that yes, heroes fucking over the Yukaza is a big part of his beef with them, but I can't discount any criticism of hero society from anyone with a quirk, especially a villain, because Hori would go on to point out the sheer amount of oppression of quirked individuals hero society is responsible for and the fact that oppression, discrimination and violence/hatred is a major obstacle people with quirks have faced since their dawn and that villains are quite often the people who have faced the most of it.

Putting this with the fact the Yakuza is kind of the original outcast found family of Japan I think this is an important part of Kai himself and a shame that it was muddied by the Anime's adaption of events because it does add more depth to Kai's character. Keep in mind, the Yakuza are traditionally and to this day, made up of the misfits of Japanese society who tended to face extreme oppression and ridicule due to being somehow "othered" by the mainstream. A big part of the Yakuza for example are made up of Korean-Japanese. TL;DR, Overhaul had way more in common with the League of Villains than I've ever seen anyone in the fandom acknowledge. And I know people might contend this with how Kai's canon ultimately went but I want to point out I think Hori completely fumbled Kai's character and any plans he had for Kai due to the fact it was early days of the manga when he was introduced and Hori was going through weird backlash from fans and his editors because a lot of people apperently didn't want villains in the MHA story at all, which also seems to be contributing factor in why it took Hori so long to expand on the League of Villain's backstory and, imo, probably also contributes to why he ended the story the way he did. Anyway, yeah, no, I think Kai was unfortunately a bit of a sacrificial lamb as far as characters go because it is obvious Kai was Hori's first attempt to explore a complicated villain in MHA and I feel like its obvious he was antsy about it by how a lot about Kai is presented vaguely and in such a minor way in comparison to what other villains characters would be given much later on. Like I think Hori had bigger plans for Kai but didn't have the nerve to go through with it at the time.

SO ANYWAY, all that aside, the less Hori did the more I get to play with stuff! So lets go back to Eri now and the experimentation. I personally headcanon that a lot of Kai's treatment of Eri comes from heavy self projection and simultaneous dehumanization of Eri.

I don't think it would be a stretch to say that Kai was likely experimented on in Garaki's orphanage. Personally, I'm going to rewrite the canon that Decay is a broken version of Overhaul because it genuinely makes no sense why, if AFO and Garaki were able to extract a copy of Kai's quirk from his body, that all they could think to do with it was break it and turn it into an inferior quirk. Overhaul as a quirk would have kind of fixed a lot of issues AFO ran up against, so yeah, I can't believe for one minute he had a quirk like overhaul in his arsenal and did absolutely fucking nothing with it. What I'm gonna say instead is that yes Kai was in one of Garaki's orphanages and yes Garaki experimented on him, in a way extremely reminiscent of the way Kai would go on to experiment on Eri and for very similar reasons: uncovering and studying Eris quirk and its capabilities. For Kai, I headcanon this was an incomplete process. Garaki knew Kai's quirk was something special but unlocking it and understanding it was a work in progress when the orphanage was destroyed by a villain attack when Kai was only 8. Kai was thought to have died in this destruction but actually, thanks to his quirk, he's the only one who made it out. Very soon after, however, Kai was found and adopted by the Shie Hassaikai's Oyabun, putting an end to Garaki's progress with him. AFO and Garaki would eventually find him again but never had an opportunity to get their hands back on him.

As for how Kai got to the orphanage in the first place I'm toying with the idea that his single mother died of an illness, which, yes, would have started Kai's germaphobia. Similarly, I'm also toying with the idea that Kai can, in a supernatural sense, perceive something as minuscule as microbes, given his quirk revolves around him being able to perceive and shape matter on a molecular level. Basically overhaul-vision is a terrifying thing and anyone might be a germaphobe if they saw the world the way he can. This could also kind of explain why Kai's mysophobia seems to greatly decrease after he lost access to his quirk. This filters from the idea that I think yes, Kai's germaphobia plays a part in his quirk and vice versa. None of this was helped by his mother's death or by Kai finding a book in the orphanage that detailed the theory that all quirks stem from a disease carried by rats.

Back to Kai's mother I'm also toying with the idea that he tried to fix her with his quirk but due to his complete inexperience with his quirk he was not successful. He didn't cause her death, however, she had died in her sleep the night before and he just wasn't aware of it given he would have only been around 4 when this occurred. This being said, I imagine it was speculated that he caused her death so when Kai says things to Eri such as she's a "cursed child" its coming from a personal place.

Kai doesn't remember his mother much at all. He does have vague memories of his childhood home and the squaller they lived in. I imagine his living situation was similar to Hawks in the sense his mom's house was a dump and she was extremely poor before falling ill. His father abandoned them before he was born. This plays into Kai's clean freak / anti clutter tendencies as though Kai was never abused by his mother he considered those conditions nightmarish.

Kai did incredibly well at school. Like. Incredibly well. He would have made a brilliant medicinal chemist and in fact chemistry is Kai's thing. He would have been able to get qualified and go to work in a state of the art lab but Kai has never officially finished his degree. Why ? Because to do so it was required he cut ties with the Yakuza and given Pops and the crew were his only family, that of which he is intensely loyal to, that was a complete no go for him so he dropped out instead. This man should be in the lab. Instead he's in the basement of a shady establishment making quirk destroying bullets out of a 6 year old cause such is life.

Speaking of family and Pops, no, I don't depict Kai as a psychopath. His antisocial tendencies come from his mysophobia (and ofc the Gangster lifestyle he was raised in), less from a genuine hatred of people. He's also extremely intelligent, genius level, and consciously makes a choice to dehumanize certain individuals, Eri included, specifically so they cant/don't weigh on his conscience. Like any good gangster, Kai is actually pretty damn good with people. He is charismatic and most people end up liking him. The parallels Kai has to AFO are striking to me and I intend to keep them as a thing, this said, no I don't portray Kai as a genuine psychopath.

There are people he deeply cares for like Pops and Chrono. This being said Kai is a control freak and due to his quirk he has a slight god-complex at times which can bring about a lot of restricted and inappropriate affect in how he reacts to violence and death. For Kai he's very desensitized. He's very used to pulling people apart and putting them back together. With his quirk he can, in fact, play god in a very real way and he's used to that. Seeing someone he cares about get hurt angers him but his approach to it is more "I'll just fix them" than despair about what has happened.

And yes, Kai is the kind of mysophobe that'll get trapped in a public bathroom because he'd rather wait for someone to open the door than touch the door handle himself and thats on the occasion he's forced to use a public bathroom because he'd rather avoid that at all costs anyway. He's the sort who showers multiple times a day, has weird rituals about it and is someone who washes his hands like three times over every time he washes them (which is already often) because he's full of anxiety and borderline OCD.

The only thing powerful enough to make Kai forget about his germaphobia is rage. He can be angered to the point where germs don't matter anymore. He can also be so compelled to use his quirk germs don't matter anymore. These are very temporary mindsets though, his default is clean freak weirdo.

Okay. Thats all for now. I'll likely add more things if/when I think of them !!

[aphelionsabyss]

I'm still killing my classmate even though their life is pathetic, AITA?

So I (20, almost 21) am a vampire.

So I was stalking this person named O for like 5 weeks because everyone on campus said that they were also a vampire. But when I finally doubt them I found out they're a human and they were rude as fuck to me!

So of course, I decided to make them pay for wasting my time! But unfortunately, they caught me right as I was going to eat them. And as a half vamp, I can't hypnotize people, nor can I erase their memory.

But then they like???? Don't even care I broke into their dorm room? And complain about coming to kill them so early??? And I'm like "Well maybe if you wouldn't have pretended to be a vampire-" but apparently O didn't even start the rumor and hated it!!!!

But I still had to kill them because of the risk they posed for Vampire Kind. But then??? They're just fine with that???? They willingly offer their neck and barely emote. And I'm really putting on my scariest face. Because part of the joy of the hunt is their fear. And, to be quite honest, O's scent was EXTREMELY enticing. So I was going feral. But O just doesn't give a fuck!

Bro is borderline suicidal, I swear. I try to ask O if they have any last wishes, or anyone they want me to call.

And get this, not only do they have no friends, not ONLY is O estranged from nearly everyone in their family, but they just ask for a fucking ice cream cake! AN ICE CREAM CAKE! Are you fucking kidding me? Apparently this human has never had one in their fucking life!

So I'm like "You know what, I'll pick you up later" because that's laughably bad. I'm hoping by the time I come back, O will have changed their mind but absolutely not. In fact, O is over here fuckin doodling my face in their sketch book? Bro is legit creepy as hell (they're really good tho.) And of course I have to take the sketches from them because HELLO!!! I'm about to kill them. I'd be the number one suspect. But I make them promise to sketch me before I kill them.

So then they almost trip cuz they're a fucking dumbass and I basically save their life, but then I'm hungry as fuck and freak the fuck out, almost killing them before I even get their their ice cream cake. And you know what this dumbass does? OFFER ME THEIR WRIST! and I almost take it but I end up finding a small meal to keep me going and we bounce. (Side note, there's suspiciously barely any rodents or birds around campus? Global warming?)

Well, a couple minutes ago, they just told me they have another request. Fucking FINALLY, right? Surely it's gotta be good.

I want you to guess what this STUPID fucking human said to me...

THEY WANT TO HELP ME MAKE A BUCKET LIST OF THINGS TO DO IN MY IMMORTAL LIFE?

And now I...I don't think I want to kill them? They're so pathetic. But also kind of sweet...? I just think I would feel so bad for killing them?

But I don't have a choice.

I mean, I have to though, right? Letting O live would be a risk...right?

[skelemoonz]

Okay.. Here's some facts about my transformers unicron trilogy ocs!!!

Meimei has two cats and they're named, 'Kumu' and 'Ai yoku' they're the formal raids they once were forgiven after the abandoned timeline that meimei failed to save lovely again, Kumu is mainly used as a weapon since he's a shapeshifter and ai yoku is a flyer he can't do anything to help meimei.

Optimus prime saw Meimei as a daughter figure but she always pushed him away and said that he's delusional for seeing her as his daughter figure, but he couldn't help..he may saw her from somewhere from his memory but he couldn't describe it either so..optimus just bother her less, but after devil meimei was defeated, optimus get the chance to see her again. Meimei was sentenced to be in stasis for an eternity, The two has a conversation..their last conversation with eachother as a father and a daughter.

"What is it that you want, meimei?" -Optimus prime

"i wanted to be with an autobot who treated me kindly." -Meimei

"I'm so sorry." -Optimus prime

meimei was displeased, but she didn't say anything. lovely is going to be reborn as a human, a real human and herself will be all alone in this void.

but hey, look! optimus has her doll when she was a child. her biological father gave it to her and then just left her to died alone in the past, but it's okay..her doll will be on her side forever.

"I'm the one who'll be watching you in your eternal sleep, you'll not be alone your doll will protect you. it's okay, now Lovely is okay everything is okay." -Optimus prime

"I'm sorry, if i have to leave you alone just like your father did to you." -Optimus prime

"It's fine, everything is fine..finally. i can rest, again. Thanks you, papa." -Meimei

When optimus heard her calling him 'papa' he then has a flashback of her when she was young and healthy, he hold back his tears and then left her like her father did.. but it's okay, now. Because her dolly, mary will always be with her and it will reminded her of optimus prime.

Optimus is a very tired dad.

Lovely saw megatron as a father and she always wanted attention from him but he never paid attention to her nor does he care, she doesn't even know why she's bothering him oh that's right..she just wanted to feel what's like to have a parents sure she have her 'biological' parents by her side but they are not even real when she learnt the truth about herself and her whole life. Although.. there's one time of megatron being a father figure to her.

"No, lovely you can't kiss a girl you are still young and you have to eat this energon pancakes." -Megatron

"but, I'm 15 yrs old :D" -Lovely

"shush.." -Megatron then fed pancakes to lovely

In transformers enegron, Lovely was going to make a wish to sideways (in a cutie fox disguise) and she made a wish to have the power to erased all raids and rewrite the laws of the universe. Her last words to her father figure, is..

"sure..i can be naive, and selfless and unbearable but i speak no lies. megatron, I'm grateful that you acted like a father figure to me even though..it hurts when you just wanted to use her powers. but, i promise..that i will come back safely!" -Lovely

but she never did. even though, she promised to her father figure that she will come back safely she never did and the universe has been rewritten.

Also here's her saying that the decepticons are her family.

I imagined her sleeping with MANY plushies of the decepticons.

Also she's called 2.0 unicron because she ate all the foods ‼️‼️‼️💥💥💥

THE MEIMEI AND OPTIMUS PARTT

But also, so I did see and read the other ask, and I had no idea how to respond to it, and same with this one sorry 😭 the information was very interesting tho!

But on top of that, I don’t really like posting too many long posts on my blog, so to also state for anyone reading this, if the ask is too long and I don’t know how to respond to it, big chance I won’t.

If you continue to send more of these I probably won’t be responding to them anymore, at least not publicly, if I feel like I can respond then I may respond privately, either way I will still be reading them

I don’t want to sound mean or anything and I don’t mean this in a rude way, keep having fun and I hope you understand 👍

[mikhardwheat]

I watched the show 7 times, but I see the point you're making. And I mentioned that I don't blame Scott, I blame bad writing that made his decisions questionable.

Theo didn't want to murder his pack. In fact, he resurrected them from the dead before they become his pack. Admittedly, because he knew they'd follow him - he just saved them, why wouldn't they? Later in the season Corey mentions that Theo isn't bad and we don't ever see him doing anything against other chimeras. He's having fun with Josh, he hangs out with Hayden, they seem to be on the safe ground with Tracy. He doesn't want to murder them.

Then there's Deucalion part, which we learn to be a negotiated plan. Now, you can say (and you did) that there wasn't anything about "manipulating Theo", not even a hint, but...

Below will be a short part I got from here:

One might argue that Deucalion just shared his knowledge, however, his past tells us otherwise. Did he change? Maybe. Does it erase the fact that he was the reason an Alpha pack came into existence? Nope. (Each member of the Alpha pack killed their previous close-than-family packs just so they can get power and be accepted under Deucalion's wing. Story sounds familiar, doesn't it? Power-seeking people, who are easy to manipulate? Are being manipulated by Deucalion to become the murderers even if they're attached to their loved ones; in Theo's case there was barely an attachment, but that's a bed story for another time.)

Now, there's thing that'll take slightly longer to read into, but oh well (Tumblr doesn't let me to upload videos, so we're taking the next best thing):

Season 5, episode 19:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYjoYrLe/

Look me in the eyes and tell me he wasn't manipulating him nor was he hinting at killing. I'll pay for our dinner just so you can do that.

Later, in s5 ep20 we learn that Deucalion and Scott worked together. He doesn't interrupt as Deucalion reveals their alliance and admits that they were lying to Theo this whole time. (Time-code is 26:40, I'm not linking another video).

Once again, I don't blame Scott for Theo's mistakes, I blame him for being inconsistent with his own ideology (which happens not once, but quite a handful of times and you don't even have to dig: Mr. Second Chance gave it to Jackson after he threatened him, Allison after she tried to kill Derek's pack, Peter after he did... everything he did, Deucalion with his messed up views, etc. But he decided to send a brainwashed 19yo to hell? And has never forgiven his father? The last one is understandable, but doesn't correlate with overall picture).

Scott is trustful and extremely easy to betray, but in season 5 he suddenly doesn't believe his best friend and takes a stranger's words over his? This was so out of character, it's laughable.

And, just to be clear: I never stated that he was responsible for Theo being braindead for the entirety of season 5. I do, however, keep him accountable for the whole "hell" situation and partly for elimination of Chimera pack. Why? He's the Alpha, as simple as that.

I respect him as an empathetic leader and, I assure you, I know for sure that hell wasn't his idea nor the killing. First part was planned by the whole pack and for the last one he probably just believed in Deucalion's judgement (sadly enough).

He let those things happen, he knew the risks and still let them happen. Personally, I consider it a writer's fault, because the image we should've get differs drastically from what we got.

I hope I made my point clear and there are no unfortunate misunderstanding left. Feel free to tell me what else I didn't understand or what I can do to be better.

Dread Doctors and Parenting: Opinions. Theo Reaken Character Analysis and (trigger warning) Scott Slander.

Dread Doctors ruined Theo's life, because he was easy to manipulate and was tend to be violent, making him value his self-worth based on their approval, screwing his brain over with untreatable damage, just to throw him out as soon as he got useless.

They haven't teached him basic human skills and raised a murderer, thinking it'll be easier for evil to grow inside of him instead of it taking over at once over a kind soul, which is messed up by itself, but…

Theo really believed that being evil was the one single thing he was capable of. He believed he was destined to gather an impossible power and then Doctors said it wasn't even an option? He couldn't do the only thing he was supposed to? Jeez, his head was a fucking mess.

And then the pack sends him to hell? To relive his biggest nightmare over and over? To the point where he thinks everything what's happening is purely his fault and he lets Tara tear him apart, because "you don't have to stop"?? Because now he's not only blaming himself for her death, he thinks he deserves the suffering and that's a price he's willing to pay???

Scott McCall is getting the dirtiest side-eye from me right now.

He convinced Deucalion to manipulate Theo into killing his own pack. The kid was mentally unstable and haven't got any real friends since he was 9, 10 years of brainwashing made him foget how valuable life actually was and he was going against the Doctors' orders for the first time in who-knows-how-long-its-been-since-his-last-rebelion. It was also around the time Doctors decided to ignore him completely? Let him do his little dumb thing, knowing it won't work out as he wants it to? Neglected child getting neglected even more and feeling emotionally vulnerable?

And Scott thought making him kill his first attempt at friendship was a good plan? This mf has a "no killing rule", but he allows others to do the dirty job and then it's fine. If they killed before, then there's nothing wrong with them killing again, especially if it benefits him, am I right?

To be fair, it's not completely Scott's fault, just poor writing doing him wrong for the umpteenth time. Both deserved better, both deserved to get back the friendship they once had.

Just a friendly reminder that TW's canon sucks.

[hello-nichya-here]

Are Iroh and Ursa indirectly responsible for the way Azula (and Zuko) "turned out"?

Ursa is literally their mother, and Iroh is their uncle and straight said he thinks of Zuko as his son. They both lived with said kids for years, had authority over them AND were on the list of people Zuko and Azula were expected to see as exemples.

The fact that they're not as bad as Ozai doesn't mean they're not flawed, nor does it erase the fact that they helped raise these kids and thus are DIRECTLY responsible for the way they both turned out.

Oh, and:

1 - No, the fact the Zuko clearly loves both his mom and his uncle doesn't mean they didn't make mistakes when it came to raising him and especially on handling the rivalry Ozai was forcing between him and Azula. Iroh even more so since he KNEW he was turning Zuko against his sister, and did so deliberately, which ended up with Zuko being put in a situation where he'd either be forced to capture/kill his own sister, or have her do that him instead.

2 - No, Iroh wrongfully believing Azula is not his responsibility just because he doesn't like her doesn't make it true, just like it wouldn't be true for Ozai to say none of Zuko's issues are his fault because he didn't really see him as his son and even banished him so they're not even living in the same house anymore.

Being neglectful is a choice, and it makes it your fault when said neglect puts a kid in danger or pushes them closer to their abuser. The fandom loses it shit over the fact that 8-year-old Azula talks shit about her uncle and grandpa, but thinks it's normal for Iroh, a fully grown adult to be okay with leaving his 11-year-old niece at the mercy of a man he knows has no problem disfiguring a child for speaking out of turn and refusing to fight their parent? Seriously?

The entire family was in a bad situation, and Ozai and Azulon were clearly the worst of the bunch. Iroh and Ursa were still adults who should have known better and should be held accountable for their mistakes. Zuko and Azula were the ONLY innocent ones in this situation BECAUSE THEY WERE KIDS!

It's time the fandom stops acting like Iroh and Ursa could do no wrong, and that Azula was either just born "broken" or that Ozai is the ONLY one responsible for how she turned out.

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

oh defo agreed on leonard, part of why viktor frustrates me sometimes much as i love him because it feels like the tua writers keep trying to make him *the* main character (despite it being a cast show) and they keep bringing up the fact that he has trauma, and they erase his flaw’s because they’re telling you more that he’s a dysfunctional and traumatized but sympathetic character without actually showing that

like viktor having what’s effectively a mental breakdown in s1 finale and deciding to cause the apocalypse (imo he was trying to cause the apocalypse ((esp since he literally killed a guy for honking at him and went to the concert knowing his powers feed on sound)) once his siblings started attacking him but the exact way he caused the apocalypse was an accident) but that’s not really brought up and when it os, they talk about it like he took his dad’s car and had a joyride and accidentally crashed it, not causing the literal apocalypse

Viktor’s trauma w leonard isn’t addressed, nor is him literally getting tortured by the fbi (absolutely not surprising given klaus’ torture not being addressed, but not any less frustrating), his anger issues and bit of a victim complex, and his years of anger and resentment towards his siblings are magically wiped away thx to the fact that he has powers now apparently

the latter bits are esp frustrating, bc y’know, wiping away his flaws is wiping away a good chunk of what makes him interesting. I feel like s2 really dropped the ball w the amnesia storyline bc it just served as a reason to not address s1. imo it could’ve been good, if they played into the “oh viktor’s amnesiac and all his problems are solved now” and have the siblings kind of think that when they see viktor happy w sissy and carl but then they slowly realize viktor defo vv much still has his resentment issues. the only reason they didn’t see it is bc who pr what does viktor have to be jealous of the farm (or maybe viktor could be jealous of carl not just bc of sissy but bc of him being important at his job but i digress)

like diego mentions having to save keneddy and viktor’s like “what so you can get patted on the back for being extraordinary for saving the day?” And instances like that which make the siblings realize that viktor’s issues defo aren’t a quick and simple fix, they’ve always been there and it’s not something they can blame solely on leonard. leonard was merely only the one who lit the match to the bomb, he didn’t create it. and if they really wanna address viktor’s issues they have to address their own and the family’s issues as a whole

You just outlined basically all of my issues w how Viktor is treated in the show.

It's like the showrunners have forgotten who he was in S1, tbh: Viktor is angry. He's angry, he's kind of ruthless, he's selfish. He destroys the world because he's angry at his siblings and doesn't give two shits about who he could hurt. Was part of that Leonard? Yeah, sure. Was it also years of repressed anger just bursting out? Yep.

He thinks he had it the worst out of his siblings, he thinks he was the only one who's trauma really matters and he's a victim, and like... the show never addresses or even contradicts this?? It's like they want us to think he's right, that Vik was the only one with trauma and it justifies everything he does.

The thing is- Viktor is kind. He's sweet, he's passionate when he finally gets off his pills, he's a good person. But he's not perfect. He's far from perfect. Those flaws I outlined above? They didn't make me hate him at all. They make him interesting. They make him realistic. Abuse isn't pretty, trauma isn't pretty - they're awful and people have to work to get away from the affects of them. That's what we saw with Allison in S1, what we should have seen with Viktor.

I've mentioned before that I think S2 and 3 sanitized a lot of the characters, and this is what I mean.

Look, Leonard was horrible for Viktor. He was manipulative and abusive and terrifying towards the end. How is he just... not affected by that? How does he not close himself off even more, even subconsciously, terrified and wary of someone treating him like a tool to manipulate and use again? Or maybe he does the opposite: throw himself into love just to try and get rid of it's association to him?

And for that matter: how is Viktor not affected by anything from S1?? Holy shit, he ended the season trying to murder his siblings!! And yet when he meets them again they're all... fine? No resentment? No anything?

I feel like S2 was trying to show us who Viktor could have been; the person he could've been without the abuse and trauma, and yk, I do appreciate it. But if that was the case, then S3 should've been when it all came back - all the resentment and anger and abuse. But it... wasn't?

The narrative treats him with kid gloves, ngl. And that's so, so bad for his character, bc it robs him of the complexity that made me love him. I love Viktor because he's angry and selfish and good anyway - because he has his flaws but he's kind, but he's patient, but he's trying to figure out this family with everyone else.

But the thing is, the show doesn't show that. Because Viktor's flaws are suddenly gone, his trauma isn't addressed, and everything is now a joke. His powers aren't explained or elaborated on, most of his development is just a suggestion.

I love the idea you had about the resentment that Viktor could show even with his amnesia, tbh. Small things here and there - easy enough to brush of but that could explode later, just to show us it's not gone, not (totally) healed, because you can't just fix trauma by ignoring it. That resentment is still there. That's fantastic.

Something interesting, imo, could have been that Viktor was faking his amnesia. Like, he's suddenly in the 1960s without any idea where anyone is, and now he's staying with a woman he's growing to love, and a kid he really, really cares about. There's no one to compete with or feel inferior to, no siblings he has to sort out his emotions about, and no one to hold him accountable for ending the world.

Why would he want to leave?

It could sort of be like what Allison learns pre-S1: you have to take responsibility for your actions, and if you want to make up with people, you have to take steps as well. You have to be the one who wants reconciliation, not just the other people, or else relationships can never fix.

Also Viktor Allison parallels did I mention how much I love them yet-

Anyway, yes, you're absolutely right. The show has watered down everyone ngl, and that very, very heavily includes Viktor.

[olimpias]

chazzawrites challenge #25 - share a snippet from your wip that you’re proud of

Sorry I haven’t done this for so long, camp nano has kept me pretty occupied for the last two weeks. But I thought hey! I have written so much, I might as well post some of it :)

soooo here’s some more dialogue, this time between Alex and his best friend Clarence, after he and Ivy had picked him up from the station.

"The good boy needs to be nursed up a bit," Ivy told Clarence, patting Alex on the shoulder. "It's bad with him. Yesterday he was worrying about morals. I've never had anything like that happen in my life. Members of our family don't have morals to worry about." She looked sternly at Alex. " What would become of us then. Imagine, all of us such terrible puritans. Morals are completely overrated anyway. Now have a cognac, it's getting close to noon already." She pressed a glass into his hand. "I'll leave you to it, you have a lot to talk about, don't you? Goodbye gentlemen," and with these words she threw the door swingingly shut behind her.

Clarence looked after her shaking his head. "She really hasn't changed. Got worse, if you ask me."

"It's all down to those darned schools for females only. But she's a great girl, isn't she?"

Alex wiggled his eyebrows in promise. "Well, how about it?"

" Please, Alexander. I think it's extremely kind of you to voluntarily let me have your cousin, you're undoubtedly a bit ahead of the other possessive, domineering upper-class youngsters, but you know I'm not the type for such passionate things as," he hesitated briefly, "love. Besides, Ivy and you know perfectly well that I have clockwork instead of a heart. How do you know Ivy would even want me?"

"Oh, I'm sure if it came to it, she wouldn't chase you out of bed."

"I'd appreciate it if you discussed this kind of lewdness with Alistair and not me," Clarence replied with dignity, but at the same time had to grin. "It's really touching how Ivy and you care for each other, but I think it's better for all concerned if neither I nor any of your other acquaintances have anything to do with her. Just imagine how embarrassing it would be if they broke up but still kept running into each other. You would be faced with the dilemma of who to show consideration for, and since, knowing you, you won't show consideration for anyone, I will gratefully decline your kind offer."

"I am glad to see that you are still in the habit of answering every question I ask you as verbosely and circumstantially as possible," said Alex. "Are you glad I'm back too?"

"Of course I am," Clarence replied. "I, as your best friend, and also your psychiatrist, can tell you that it fills me with the greatest joy to find you so safe and sound again."

"So safe and sound?" said Alex cheerlessly. "Do you really think so?"

"Don't you?"

"Oh, of course I do. I'm glad to see you again, too. I was afraid you had forgotten me."

"But how could I?" said Clarence, aghast. "Not even Alistair has forgotten you, which you should value, since he irrevocably erases from his memory anyone who hasn't made a special impression on him, especially if they've been away as long as you have."

Alex smiled. "I guess I must have made a special impression on him, huh?"

Clarence pretended not to hear Alex's interjection. "It's a good thing we're talking about Alistair," he said," because otherwise I would have forgotten that he invited us to London for the weekend."

"Aha, sounds interesting. Does he have anything in particular in mind?"

"He wanted to show us something, but didn't say what. Maybe we'd better not go. In fact, I already regret telling you. "

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Alex. "Out of the question. I haven't seen him in almost two years, besides, you know I'm his only friend. Aren't you curious what this could be that he wants to show us."

"Of course, but knowing him, it will be something indecent."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, if I should worry about morals again, I'll come to you, I know that now. I'll go there and you'll come with me."

"But-"

"Yes I do, don't you want me to get my mind off things after these dark, hard times?"

"All right," Clarence sighed. "But I'll tell you this: I don't want Ivy to come."

“Why not? I need her, She's my factotum."

"Your factotum, I see. But I still don't want her to come. She's spoilt enough as it is and your friends are unlikely to help her get better and certainly not Alistair, that blabbermouth."

"You might be right about that, but don't always talk about 'my friends'. They're just as much your friends, though I might get more out of them."

"As you like," said Clarence, "our friends then. Still, you can't say they're the most virtuous people you've ever met."

"Yes, but neither am I. That's the difference between you and me." Alex winked at him.

"Touché," Clarence replied.

taglist under the cut (ask to be +/-)

general taglist: @wherewindysurgeswend @buster-keaton @bookphobe @write-gallagher @sadsentinel @aphaimaniis @tragediesoftory @ortolon

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[mermaidsirennikita]

I know I'm pretty late with this but I just want to thank you for all the no-bullshit answers over Siena stans. At first I was actually pretty sympathetic towards them and could understand people being weird about her because she's fucking Anthony, but the blatant tone-deaf comparisons between her and ANY of the black characters, only being interested in Simon as a character when Siena should fuck him because Anthony "needs to suffer ;)" or when he refers to his affair with her OR acting like shipping the only two black characters that are male and female on the show is somehow them being better than any of the other fans while deliberately ignoring Kate being a dark-skinned Indian woman now and the context that could likely come with that, not to mention the insane notion that somehow, a white woman like Siena suffers JUST AS MUCH AND EVEN MORE as these black characters who we see suffer 10 times more on this show just broke the camel's back to me. Like complaining about ~classism and comparing it to racist writing while erasing a woc and placing Siena as some would-be daughter of her parents (which in this context would literally be them wanting Indian immigrants to care for a British white woman in the 19th century....) is not y'all being Aware, it's being blatantly tone-deaf and racist. No amount of "you guys just hate sex workers :,(" is gonna erase this. I hate how they think they're being So Smart with calling out the classism issues in the show while conveniently buying into the bullshit "~racism doesn't exist anymore sweeties~" argument that the narrative TRIED to sell to us while at the same time having some obvious issues with the characters of color and how they're focused on and even framed against the white ones. And even now, thinking that them obsessing over this white female character and considering it them being Different and Better than the rest of the fans? Nah y'all are just being terrible at this point. It's only gonna get worse once season 2 comes out and they'll only enforce the whole "~racism doesn't exist sweeties~" excuse in order to be blatantly racist in any of the Kate hate and comparisons they'll likely make in order to tear her down as a love interest and wife to Anthony in order to prop their white fave up. No matter how much they wanna pretend otherwise, Siena's role as a sex worker doesn't erase the fact that she's a conveniently attractive white thin woman that fans will sooner flock to ship with Anthony than with Kate now, given the casting.

One final complaint, but I also find it ironic how they wanna pretend that Kate is apparently gonna be some carbon-copy of Siena just because her character description and moments with Anthony will include her 'calling him out on his bs'. As if the book where she is a legitimate character didn't exist a full DECADE before Siena was created. Literally all the specific traits for their fave can be traced back to Kate and how they were sooner inspired BY Kate as a character in creating Siena than the other way around. Like calling Anthony out on his shit? Anthony having a thing for her hair? Those are canon stuff in the book where Kate is introduced. Their fave is neither original nor going to be the Staple for Kate, but they'll never admit this.

Sorry it’s taken me a moment to respond, I wanted to give this my attention and I’ve had an exceptionally busy week.

I agree with all of this.  To be honest, a lot of the obsession with Siena seems rooted in deep-seated racism and a preference for the precious white woman.  They are using the show to back this up, as you said, because the show handled race horribly.  But because the show handled race horribly and has widely been criticized by people of color on that front, it just reinforces my perception of the most intense stans as like.... deeply racist.  Coupled, of course, with the idea that Kate’s family would LOOOOOVEEEEEEE PORCELAIN SKINNED SIENA!!!!  WHOSE SKIN WE LOVE!!!!!  MILKY WHITE BABES!!!!  

These people of color, from Kate’s family (who by the way, most of these stans get wrong because they haven’t read the source material--I see a lot of references to Kate’s alive parents which uhhhhhhh not only are they both dead but they’re both dead in a PLOT IMPORTANT WAY lmao) to Simon to Kate herself are only used to prop up Siena.  Simon is used to make Anthony jealous, because to many white women watching this show, some supposed Simon/Daphne stans included, Simon does not exist as anything other than a sex object because he’s a hot black man.  Simon is literally reduced to a virtual sex toy or figure of animalistic sexual desire by so many people who watch this show, it’s INSANELY gross.  Called out for racism?  But we ship Simon and Marina together, so we can’t beeee!!!

I do disagree with you a bit on Siena’s personality, largely because I didn’t.... see much of one.  I don’t think the writers intentionally took anything from Kate there, I think they just were like “ah yes, a low-class sex worker, she’s gonna say ‘ell guvna fancy a fuck luv” but also argue with him because we can’t think of anything else for her to do or any other way to mine humor out of her.  

I also see a lot of conflation of racism and classism by these people, and... no.  Regardless of your class, if you are a person of color in the western world, you have probably experienced racism.  I mean, fuck, we just saw an entire expose about how you can enter the royal family in England and experience intense racism.  Regardless of whether or not Siena is lower class, she will never experience the type of adversity that people experience with racism.  There’s this desperate attempt to pretend that what Siena experiences is the same as racism, which is clearly an attempt to make an excuse to dog Kate.

But ultimately tbh none of this matters in terms of what will be ON THE SHOW (editing to clarify: of course it matters in terms of what it reflects re: racism and how harmful it is to people of color who have to see it).  Season 2 is going to happen.  I’ll hedge my bets now that it’ll be wildly popular.  Kate will be loved by the vast majority of people watching.  These people will have even less content than they do now and they’ll show their asses even more and get dog piled on or fade away.  Kate and Anthony are about as canon as it gets.  Anthony canonically says that she’s the best he’s ever had lmao, she is the love of his life, he marries her and she pops out several babies for him.  So I’m just getting ready to drink my Kate Sharma Stan Juice when that season releases, because racists are gonna be racist especially when they have a white woman to worship.  But I know what I know.

[queenaryastark]

George RR Martin: dragons are weapons of mass destruction, they're symbols of destruction and not of rebuilding, it's why the targaryens lost their power because their rule was built on fear and when the dragons died it only took a small spark to cause a rebellion, daenerys should read fire and blood so she can learn how not to use dragons daenerys herself: dragons plant no trees, If they are monsters than so am I Yall: i cant read suddenly i dont know

LMAO! I can’t even call that paraphrasing since this jumble of out of context gibberish completely misinterprets GRRM’s words and intent. 

First off, no one said dragons weren’t weapons of mass destruction. Them being powerful weapons is pretty obvious. Them being weapons does not erase the violence and cruelty of characters who do not have them. The mass destruction the Starks and Lannisters have wrought against the Riverlands and Westerlands was done without the aid of dragons. So was the mass destruction the Greyjoys and Boltons wrought on the North. The Tyrells were able to commit mass murder by cutting off food supplies, which led to mass starvation, which was their specific intent. 

Dragons are dangerous. Obviously. So are people, as George R. R. Martin goes out of his way to tell us in every chapter of his work. The man literally depicts Robb, Stannis, Balon, and Joffrey as equally as violent toward the common people and the land of Westeros. He even gives Dany this metaphoric image of the four of them:

“In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing.” -- A Clash Of Kings

And that is far from the only time he frames them in an equally negative light given their level of mass destruction.

when the dragons died it only took a small spark to cause a rebellion, daenerys should read fire and blood so she can learn how not to use dragons

You think Dany should read Fire and Blood? I agree. I hope she gets a copy once she arrives to save Westeros from the warlords, opportunistic politicians, and the Others. Though you should probably try to find someone who can read it to you and explain what all the big words mean. If you look in that book, you will see that the Targaryens became extremely popular and loved. They decreased the amount of war and destruction, they streamlined the laws, they established roads, and they removed a couple of the abuses that were the norm. They were far from perfect. But in that imperfection, Dany could learn from them too. 

As for a “small spark” causing a rebellion as soon as they didn’t have dragons... *sighs* If you don’t know about a topic, that’s fine. Not everyone can be an expert on every topic. But you Sansa stans (yes I know you’re a Sansa stan and you probably have that hideous image of ST with her trademark vacant expression and that ugly ferret crown as your icon) should actually fact check yourselves before trying and failing to present yourselves as an authority on anything. The last dragon died in 153 AC. The Targaryens were overthrown in 283 AC. Even before 153 AC, the dragons that lived either weren’t under their control, were pretty young, or were deformed. In other words, they continued to rule Westeros without dragons for a significant amount of time. In that time, not only did they rule, but they were able to bring Dorne into the realm peacefully. 

Even the wars they had were far fewer than the amount of constant wars that happened while the kingdoms were separate. The Blackfyre Rebellions were sparked by Westerosi racism and xenophobia against the Dornish, as well as the greed and opportunism from the Andal/First Men supporters of the Blackfyre claimant. Notice how in those rebellions the people of Westeros supported either the Targaryens or the Targaryen blooded Blackfyres? No matter which side the lords took, they were supporting a Targaryen because they support that family. Like in real life civil wars, they just supported different members of that same royal line. It wasn’t because they feared them. They wanted their rule. They just wanted the rule of a specific claimant over another based on their own values or what they thought they could gain from a change in Targaryen leadership.

Even with the Baratheon rebellions, they were still Targaryen blooded claimants. With Lyonel Baratheon, he felt his family was insulted when an engagement between the crown prince and his daughter was broken so the prince could marry a peasant. This might seem like a “small spark”, but this would have been considered hugely offensive by the classist nobility. Note how this rebellion was resolved incredibly easily to the point where I don’t even think it warrants being labeled an actual rebellion. It seems more like it was set up for the next Baratheon rebellion since it resulted in that House gaining even more Targaryen blood than it already had. That’s the thing, the nobility wanted their children to marry Targaryens. Doesn’t sound very fearful, does it?

Robert’s Rebellion wasn’t set off by a “small spark”. The kidnapping and rape of the Lord of Winterfell’s daughter and the betrothed of the Lord of Storm’s End is not insignificant. It also didn’t set off the rebellion. The murders of multiple lords and their heirs is also not a small thing. It didn’t set off the rebellion either. What set it off was the combination of those two events with the demand for the executions of the new Lord of Winterfell and the Lord of Storm’s End. Those events taken separately are not small sparks and they certainly aren’t small when put together. It took something HUGE to make a big part of the realm turn on the Targaryens. Even still, the rebels were in the minority since most of the other regions either stayed out of the conflict waiting to see how it played out or stayed loyal to the Targaryens. If Tywin had continued to stay out of the conflict, the Rebellion could have lasted indefinitely with either side winning since the Crown’s forces outnumbered them and occupied the Stormlands. 

You also seem to miss the fact that quite a few people in Westeros are still Targaryen Loyalists and want to restore them to the throne. You even miss the fact that Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen’s claim comes from their Targaryen blood. 

So no, the Targaryen rule was not based purely on fear. They clearly retained loyalty and love without the benefit of dragons as weapons.

daenerys herself: dragons plant no trees, If they are monsters than so am I

It’s funny how you can try to quote the book while having no understanding of the passage you’re quoting. Here’s the paragraph you’re referring to:

Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought.Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros?I am the blood of the dragon, she thought.If they are monsters, so am I. -- ADWD

This takes place in Dany’s second chapter of A Dance With Dragons after she has captured and chained two of her dragons and failed to capture the third. Why is she trying to chain them? Because Drogon killed one (1) child. That’s right. Not only is Dany compensating the people for the sheep her dragons were eating. She has no tolerance for them killing innocents. The quote above is not her glorying in the destructive power of the dragons. Nor is she going around without an ounce of guilt for terrorizing, maiming, and murdering innocents the way Robb, Balon, Stannis, Joffrey, Tyrion, Cersei, and every other leader in Westeros does. That is what this passage is PROVING. Seriously, using the “If they are monsters, so am I” quote is proving that Dany has guilt over the life her dragon has taken and that she has taken steps to prevent that from happening again. Compare that to Tyrion’s complete lack of care when it comes to the mass murder his family is causing:

"A lordling down from the Trident, says your father's men burned his keep, raped his wife, and killed all his peasants."

"I believe they call that war." -- Tyrion, ACOK

While Dany is trying to preserve lives, the mass murdering leaders of Westeros see murder and rape as the norm and completely acceptable. Even the noble Robb Stark tried to move the carnage that he and Tywin were inflicting on the Riverlands into the Westerlands and was upset that his plan to do so was partly thwarted by Edmure. His issue wasn’t with the common people suffering and dying. He just wanted the suffering and dying to happen to the common people of the Westerlands (the ones who hadn’t been forced into service as arrow fodder by the Lannisters yet) instead. Yet, you’re trying to use Dany’s guilt at one (1) child being killed by her dragon as proof of...something?

As for Dany not planting trees, yes, she fears that’s something Targaryens can’t do. But the text shows that her ancestors could and did. Dany is also planting trees in ADWD and was in the process of making Vaes Tolorro bloom in ACOK before she was invited to Qarth. The Golden Company (who wants to put her and Aegon on the Iron Throne as a pair) are even upset because they think she’s only interested in planting trees in Meereen.

When analyzing a literary work you have to understand that what the characters fear and the guilt they feel are not signs of their permanent situations. They’re signs of their internal obstacles that will be overcome in their arcs. Dany fears her dragons and fears herself and fears that she won’t be able to achieve peace and positive societal growth. Its good that she fears these things because this shows she acknowledges these issues so they can be overcome. The current Westeros leadership don’t see the issue in their mass murdering, which is an issue all on it’s own. 

Its alright if this series is above your comprehension level. There are books out there for you to read that are better suited for your capabilities, like Hop on Pop or Green Eggs and Ham. It’s probably best if you stick to those.

[a-sirens-spell]

Miwaku Fukukado-Yamada,

A living, loving accident.

Her parents? Pro Heroes Present Mic and Ms. Joke, when they were both young and stupid.

Her birth was kept hidden from her dad until she was 5, when her quirk showed up and both parents agreed to live close to each other, since Hizashi's dating Aizawa.

Lives with her dads, so it'll be easier to control her quirk.

Quirk: Charming Voice!

She's an enhanced version of Present Mic. She, just like her father, can scream absurdly loudly, whisper incredibly silently, mimic other people's voices and throw her voice. The main difference is that, whenever she sings, she can make others do what she wants, like a siren!

The singing works better if she has the instrumental harmony, though. If she doesn't have it, she'll just control anyone who listens, including allies.

Story:

She's a big, big mess.

And she's loud, to say the least.

She wants to be like her Mom and her Dad. Loud, funny, caring and powerful. It works, most of the time. It's who she likes to be, but sometimes... she realized that she's more of a copycat than Monoma. Why does she want to be like someone else? Why doesn't she want to be whatever she should be-, whoever she should be?

Is she just a Present Mic #2? Is that really who she is? Is that really who she wants to be? She's not Present Mic-- she'll never be, and she knows it. But... why does she want to be him so bad?

She'll have some existential crises every now and then.

Mostly, she'd force herself to be brave and be like her parents, always with a big, bright smile on her face, and be there for whoever needs her, like her two (former) best friends, Hitoshi Shinso and Neito Monoma.

She was happy, just... confused. She wasn't sure if that's who she was.

One day, after a talk with her friends, she decided that she wasn't just a female Present Mic. She decided that she was going to be better.

She took on parts of everyone she held dear, and blended all of those parts together to form... something.

She's a 5'5'' blonde girl with bright green eyes, who wears her short hair up like her Pa, with two bangs falling in the sides of her face like her "Uncle", wears a lot of black like her Dad, along with some shiny colours here and there like her Mom. She'll also use her body to her advantage, like her "Aunt."

That was, she decided, her "default form". She'd wear that big ass mask in front of other people - that is, the media, her fans, other celebrities, etc etc -, and would slowly start to be herself, experimenting and doing crazy stuff to find out who she's meant to be. And of course, her family's 100% supportive of her.

So don't worry if in one day she's dressing all "goth" and in the other she's dressing all "cutie". She's just doing Miwaku stuff.

She likes being Miwaku-y.

Jobs:

She's a celebrity at 16!

Started her singing career small, at 8 years old, in her Pa's radio station. Eventually she started embracing her siren side more and more, and combined with her popularity as the daughter of two Pros, a lot of people knew her name.

She started working at a studio (with her parents' supervision and consent) where she'd sing covers of reeeeeeally old songs, from the quirkless days, and she'd use both her lovely voice, convenient quirk and pretty face to make people love it.

She dragged Shinso and Monoma to it too, and soon they were known as an inseparable trio. The three of them are really famous, each with their own share of fans, with their own fanbase (can you believe it!?), and need to hide when going out in public. Monoma is the hardest to hide, though.

They use their fame to spread their stories, one with a "(mysterious) villain's quirk", other with a "useless quirk", and other with a "dangerous quirk". They want to be symbols, to make people realize those labels are stupid. They can't erase all quirk discrimination from the world, sure, but they're trying.

They're also in a polygamous relationship with each other <3. Their fanbase is actually really accepting of it, nerfing the assholes who said that was wrong. They love their fans.

Relationships:

- Emi Fukukado: Her mother. She calls her (O)"Kaa-san" or "Mom".

She loves her mom! She knows how hard she worked to raise her alone for 5 years. Although she's not so close to Kaa-san than she is to Tou-san, she loves Emi just as dearly and would fight to death for her Mom.

When she was younger, Emi used to sing her a song, a really old song to make her sleep. It's called Everything Stays. She knows that song by heart.

- Hizashi Yamada: Her (biological) father. She calls him (O)"Tou-san" or "Pa".

She loves him so much! He's just like Kaa-san said he was! He's fun and caring and loving and he's just so nice! He knows what is like to slip and scream a little bit too loud every now and then too. He's also really accepting of who she (thinks she) is, her sexuality, her general self, and she's very thankful for that.

- Shouta Aizawa: She can't decide if he's her second Mom or her second Dad. She calls him "Dad", but will tease him with "Mom".

He's her stone. He's the one that she relies on when she feels like she's gone a little too far. She likes how he shows how much he loves her constantly, just subtly. Almost every day she'll wake up with a few sets of clothes laying in her closet, waiting to see which one she'll choose. She never picks any of the sets he separates for her, but a part of each.

He's not the best with fashion, but he tries his hardest.

- Nemuri Kayama: Her Auntie <3

Oh really, she's the cliché Aunt that'll always ask, "Oi, when you gonna show me your boyfriend?", and Miwaku will answer laughing in polygamist.

She's really fun to hang out with, and Miwaku got some of her flirting techniques with Nemuri.

- Yagi Toshinori: Her caring Uncle <3

He's what she called a "plot convenience". He was her mom's neighbour, and one day when she really needed a babysitter for her 4-year-old kid and couldn't find one, she basically begged on her feet for him to do it for her.

They absolutely loved each other. Whenever he could, he'd offer to stay with her. Whenever he wasn't present, she'd ask her Mom if she could call him over. During this time, he was her biggest father figure, until her actual dads came and she ended up putting him in the "Uncle" segment.

He's already offered One for All to her, but she refused. She was already dying thinking she was supposed to be Present Mic or Ms. Joke or Eraserhead, she didn't need nor want another label to worry about.

- Neito Monoma: Former best friend, current boyfriend <3

They met by accident. But boy, what great an accident that was.

She met Neito first, when they were 6. They were classmates, and other kids didn't want to play with him because they thought he'd steal their quirks. She called bullshit on them and adopted him as her best friend.

They loved each other (as friends), they were inseparable. Eventually he was offered to train with her under Yagi's hero training, and they found out something amazing.

Neito's quirk analyzes a person's DNA factor via touch, and through that, it copies their quirk factor from the DNA. Therefore, by touching any DNA source from a person, Neito could copy it. In smaller words, he could copy a person's quirk by touching a strand of their hair (and other body fluids too, but that's too gross), and taking that hair to the battlefield grants him an enormous amount of quirks to choose from.

He's really smart, because if he wasn't, he probably would've died or become an accidental Noumu.

He trains speed and his quirk with Yagi, and always finds a way to get people's hair strands without them noticing, making them think he just straight up has dozens of quirks.

Also, he, Shinso and Miwaku are dating. He loves his two idiots. (Not that he isn't one, though...)

- Hitoshi Shinso: Former best friend, current boyfriend <3

Polygamy is a fucking dream.

They met when she and her Dad were walking to get an ice cream. A group of kids, clearly older than him, decided that they didn't wanna risk their leader's little brother's safety with his "villainous quirk", and were very close to cutting his tongue off.

Thankfully her Dad came and saved him. After the "kids" were sent to the police, she insisted that he should get an ice cream too. They didn't get ice cream. But she and 'Toshi did become friends. Inseparable, they'd learn overtime.

She wasn't even slightly afraid of his quirk. Hers was similar to his, anyway. They bonded over the fact that people were afraid of their voices. 'Toshi's parents are really nice, and you can't imagine how happy they were when they found out he made his very first friends.

They NEVER imagined what opportunities that one girl would bring. Because of her, Hitoshi was a celebrity! He had countless people who loved him! He trained with pro heroes!

He never showed anyone what his quirk is, so he's still set on becoming an underground hero. And thanks to her and her parents, he's sure he'll-- no, that they'll make it.

Curiosities:

Her favorite colors change everyday with her mood, but she definitely has a thing for pinks, yellows and blues.

Thanks to her Pa (and her work), she's already visited a good plenty of countries.

Her favorites were United States, Brazil and Portugal.

She'll usually sing in English or in Brazilian Portuguese thanks to that.

She has ear piercings! She also forced Shinso and Neito to get some too. Shinso was the hardest to convince, tho.

She loves sweets, especially ice cream.

Her favorite songs are the ones that allow her to scream reeeeeeally loud and still keep harmony.

She has a pet cat of her own! Cloud was chosen by her in the pet shop. She's a white cat with big ass blue eyes.

Her room is HUGE. Why wouldn't it be, after all? Basically her whole family are heroes and she even got a paying job at 8 years old. She's fucking rich.

She has a hell lot of plushies. Most were gifts from Toshi and Neito. <3

She wears a bright pink bow on her head when she's in a good mood.

She may or may not be aware of the existence of alternate universes.

Also, @boom-box-live and @cake4ninja owo

[the-moorephire-chronicles]

Nightmares

He's jolted from his dreams, the last wisps of their screams still echoing in his head. Kian swings his legs over the side of his cot and sits up. Forgetting where he is, his head impacts heavily with the bunk above. There's no one up there, but he grumbles an apology anyway. A hand through his hair and along his scalp to rub at the offended spot reveals sweat-soaked hair. He looks down. Everything is soaked in sweat; his t-shirt, the sheets. He lets his head fall forward.

The nightmares are getting worse. They're also different now. It's said this godforsaken section of space can mess with your mind. Kian has never put much stock in the rumors, but he's beginning to now. Ever since he left "civilized" space for the uncharted territories, the dreams have become more common and increasingly more vivid. Usually, it's memories of his family that haunt him and those desperate few seconds where he actually believed he'd be able to save them... His family is still in the dreams, only now they're accompanied by the handful of people who had been traveling with them in those last few days of armageddon.

The t-shirt Kian is wearing is one Caroline bought him. Some forgotten band no one will ever hear play again. He shivers as his perspiration begins to cool. Peeling the shirt away from his skin and up and over his head, he tosses it into one corner of the room with a squelching splat. An inspection of the watch on the bedside table informs him that he's gotten a little over 4 hours of sleep. Slipping out of bed, he changes the rest of his clothes quickly and leaves, chastising himself for leaving the ruined shirt bundled up in the corner of the room, but not caring enough to actually go back and lay it out to dry. The door to the bridge slides open at his approach and Meander looks up from the controls.

"I thought you were going to get some shut-eye," he says, the antenna sprouting from his forehead swaying ever so slightly as he moves his head.

"I did," Kian mumbles grumpily, plopping down into the co-pilot's chair.

Meander considers him sharply. His people, the Nomens, don't give their children names at birth. That comes later, at a naming ceremony when they come of age, and it's picked by the entire community. Meander does nothing fast. Well, except to criticize Kian that is. "Is it the dreams?"

"Yes," he says, scrubbing a hand across his face. "Where are we?"

Meander, contrary to his name, does not push for once, and Kian is grateful. His friend turns his large, cloudy eyes back to the stars streaking past their forward window. "Close. Perhaps 6 or 7 hours before we reach Porth.

"If we reach Porth," Kian corrects. Porth, like many of the places in these uncharted areas, is nothing more than a rumor.

Meander waves him off. "It'll be there."

"It better be."

Their ship is in desperate need of repairs. A lot of them. Starting with the jammed door to the captain's quarters that has been broken for a week. They've been sans an engineer for just as long, their last one hightailing it out of there as soon as he'd worked out the fact that Kian was from Earth.

"I ain't workin' for no Forsaken," the Oss had said. One of the less colorful names Earthlings had been given. Kian will not miss him, nor the trails of slime he would leave behind after his monthly secretions.

"I'll be in the back if you need me," he says and shuffles off towards the mess. The door opens for him and Kian is suddenly bathed in a pale blue light. He walks up to the huge stasis pod taking up much of the room and places a hand over the glass.

"Mornin' darlin'." The suspended, bobbing figure inside slumbers on, oblivious to the world outside, the lines of her face erased by the suspended animation, her hair a halo of orangish-red around her face. Caroline's mouth is covered by the breathing apparatus, but he can still imagine her smile.

"How're we doin' this mornin'?" he drawls, his accent as thick as his emotions. He won't allow himself to look down, just focuses his eyes on everything else above her waist, on that serene face of hers, ignoring the voices echoing around in his head.

"How did you even get her in there?" "She's too far gone." "Stop this, it's inhumane." "Look at her, Kian. It's time to let her go." "Where did you say you were from again?"

They're wrong, all of them, and he will keep searching every inch of uncharted space until he finds someone who will give him a different answer.

"Just hang in there, darlin'," he says, his voice cracking. "Don't give up."

His 'I sure won't' goes unspoken.

[jazztoons]

All though a agree with the sentiment that fandom is not a place to police people's interest and gatekeep. To say the exclusion of Duke, Stephanie, Cass and Harper is at least not partial to systemic biases is disingenuous. POC, women, and people with disability are constantly being excluded or othered in media including comics and fandom. There aren't that many characters like Cass or Duke or Harper in comics which is why their appearance is so vital. Representation matter, there are people like those four in question that read comics and need to feel like their existence is seen and welcomed.

Stephanie in the comic of recent only real tie to the Bat family is tim. Cass is no longer adopted by Bruce. I think Harper is erased from canon entirely. And hardly anyone knows who Duke is.

That's the comics erasing them but it is also reflecting in this fandom. The only people seem to really care about in this fandom as a whole are white/white passing, straight and male. I love Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian and there is nothing wrong with loving them and wanting to make art and fics about them. It's just that it often seems like they are the only ones who matter.

People aren't born child solider and murderers.

People are born POC, female, LGBTQ, and with disablities and they read comics and watch TV shows and engaged with fandom and these people are all to often over looked and pushed aside. It's not until recently they are given a voice.

I don't think that you meant anything malicious nor do I think it of anyone who make posts of only the four boys are but injustices aren't always violent but passive. Drawing attention to the problem like eraser of these people I think needs to be discussed in fandom and in industry.

Saying essentially shut up it's there just go find is dismissive. Often times it's pushed to the very bottom and there is not much there.

Let me be transparent I am a black woman and I loved superheroes growing up. The idea that one can make a difference in this world appealed to me. I looked up to batman I thought he was so cool because I loved dramatics. Robin was my favorite character growing up watching cartoons, but no ever looked like me in superhero shows, a black girl. If had known that there was a girl robin I would have been over the moon. Static and John Stewart GL were the only black superhero I new as a kid and I still to this day hold them close to me like a vice because thats all I had to say "Hey they're like me maybe I can be a superhero and do great things. Maybe I can be Robin!" It meant a lot to me that those two where there it felt less isolating and that I actually had a place somewhere in the DC universe. Later on I got into fandom and found there where even black nerds like me and that I a place here, at least on tumblr.

I'm sure that Duke, Cass, Steph, and Harper are like that for others too.

This may not be the most prevalent form of bigotry or even intentional on most people's part but it persists through inaction and shutting down discussion.

A girl robin matters. A bisexual superhero matters. A mentally disabled batgirl matters and so does a black superhero.

I honestly didn't mean to bit your head off and I hope it didn't come across that way. I just wanted to show some of my perspective on the issue. Often times the points you have made are used to shut down marginalized group for other things like jobs, schooling, and political representation.

We did this one thing, it's there, now be quiet.

Fandom is a place for escapism for most and when you kinda see it happening there too you want to speak up about it. Do you have to absolutely love a character based on any of these factors no but I bring up the fact that they are the ones most over looked is important. Let's make fandom fun for all.

Drawing the Robins? Include Steph.

Drawing the Wayne Kids? Include Cass.

Drawing the “Bat Boys”? Include Duke

Literally no reason to ever *just* have Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian. If you’re still only including those 4 in 2020…well we know how you think.

[deadendtracks]

The problem with the complexity of this show is that every response in this kind of discussion opens up several more roads of inquiry that require a lot of context to flesh out. I agree with some of what you've said here and disagree with (or just see differently) some of the other points. Thank you for thinking through your own views on the issues and responding! I don't think I misunderstood so much as I disagree with your conclusions, though, or am approaching the show from a very different angle.

One thing that I do want to point out is that pattern I have mentioned before in these discussions, where every single aspect of every character's behavior is ultimately brought back to Tommy, again and again, as if their decisions and actions can't stand on their own. This erases their responsibility for actions and choices that ultimately have consequences that come down on them as well as impact Tommy himself.

The road of negative consequences and danger is not a one-way street that only runs from Tommy to his family. Because Tommy is not the only one making decisions that impact everyone.

The example of John and the Changrettas is one -- John literally started the whole thing because he refused to just take a meeting like a responsible adult. None of this had anything to do with any danger that Tommy's choices had put the family in, until John makes it an issue. Then he escalated things, twice (I think?), by going after Angel because he was jealous of Lizzie dating someone else. By the time Tommy is even brought into the problem, it's escalated out of control and is already a war between the Changrettas and the Shelbys. The Changrettas are threatening to kill John. None of that had to do with Tommy, John started it all! Yes, Tommy's strategy of containing this by coming down hard contributed to escalating things further and to their attempt on his life that ultimately killed Grace. And of course Tommy feels guilty and responsible for that. This doesn't mean it's the unbiased truth about what happened. Because all of this was started and made worse by John!

I guess this tendency to ignore or downplay the very real responsibility of the other characters for these dire actions is what I get frustrated with. If John had just handled the meeting as Tommy had asked he and Arthur to, because Tommy couldn't be there (and as @merhige has pointed out before, Arthur too plays a role in the way that meeting went south) none of this would have happened. If he hadn't then escalated even further, Tommy wouldn't have had to step in. I'm not saying that Tommy has no responsibility for what happened, but completely erasing the fact that John created this situation and then made it worse to the point where Tommy had to step in doesn't do any of the characters, or the story, justice.

And then Polly blames it all on Tommy -- again, before he's even aware of what's happened! She says it's Tommy's fault for delegating the meeting and Lizzie's fault for dating Angel. She never calls any of this John's fault for being a jealous, violent, impulsive ass, or Arthur's for failing to smooth it over. No, Tommy is to blame by his very absence. And neither Arthur nor John counters that, because to do so would mean they would have had to take responsibility for their own actions for once.

This is a central part of why, as you pointed out in another post, Tommy does not trust his family. They complain in s3 about only being the bin men but when he asked them to take a simple meeting for him when he couldn't be there this was the result! And Polly in turn blames him for delegating! How is he supposed to trust them with anything more than being the muscle if this is how they're going to handle things?

To address your other points would require another essay (lol) so I will leave it for now, and keep them in mind for the larger meta I'm working on.

the thing about michael’s last speech to tommy is that while it illustrates his own resentment it shows a profound misunderstanding of what Tommy is to his family and why they stay with him.

and he showed that profound misunderstanding in s5 when he thought he could announce a hostile takeover of the company and that people would back him against Tommy.

he doesn’t see that tommy earned everyone’s loyalty even when they grouse about it or feel controlled, that Tommy provided for and protected his family. That they don’t stay because they have no choice and Tommy controls everything.

which is not me saying that Tommy’s treatment of his family was always right and healthy and correct. but it is me saying that Michael’s own resentments didn’t allow him to understand that family dynamic. That the family was making choices to stay because of their own self-interest as much as anything Tommy did to control them.

And some of Michael’s resentments come from a very valid place, having to do with being exiled in s4. And of course that fed into how he acted in s5.

But his choices being driven by that resentment made it so that he severely underestimated what Tommy actually was to his family and to the Peaky Blinders. He thought Tommy showing some weakness in s5 (he and Gina seemed to know about Tommy’s psychological problems, for example) would cause the family to fall into line with Michael’s proposed takeover. But he doesn’t know the history of the family, why they stay despite their own grievances. He just sees Tommy as the Big Bad.

And it was his fatal flaw.