#not actually hitting the guy but hitting things around him (aka more store damage) to scare him off

[kata-loging]

William Zabka as Scott McCall in The Equalizer (1985): season 2 episode 20: First Light

[weeb-writor]

Meeting Shouta’s parents on Christmas

Hello all you beautiful people! So here is the last part in the Aizawa mini series. I fell in love with all these Characters and this head cannon so I will probably revisit them! As usually the reader is neutral in every since of the word! I hope you guys enjoyed this series. 

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Aizawa Shouta x Reader

After a month of preparation you meet Aizawa’s Parent over the course of a week

Words: 3,098

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five

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“Ooh my goodness what are we gonna do!?” You said pacing around your living room. Shouta looked at you and chuckled at your frazzled state.

“We get in my car and drive to my family house as planned, pretend to enjoy ourselves so we can come home and cuddle with my fat cats.” He said, pulling you into a hug. 

“You want me to show up to meet your parents without the gift I ordered for you dad? Shouta are you outta your mind.” You said to him with a pout.

“Well that's debatable but I do know my parents and they aren't even expecting anything so it's fine. You can just tell them we’ll get it to him when we get it. Now let's go!” He said trying to drag you to the car.

“Aizawa Shouta! I am not going anywhere unless it's to a store to buy your Dad a gift.” You said giving him a glare. He stared back as if to question if you were being serious. You cocked an eyebrow at him, challenging him to disagree.

“Were gonna be late to get there, do you want that?”

“Better to be late than to show empty handed especially when everyone else has gifts.” You said with a shrug. Aizawa laughed but nodded as you both went to the store. You wandered around the place for an hour before you found something you actually liked. Now you were in the car messily wrapping in as you pulled into the driveway of your destination.

“Okay goodness gracious we barely made it but we're here and I have gifts for all your siblings and their lovers and their kids! Didn't think I would pull it off but here we are in one piece.” You said mostly to yourself.

“Kitty Cat you start talking to yourself and I might leave you to enter the den of wolves by yourself.” Aizawa said as you both got out of the car. You let him take in your overnight bags and get help for the millions of presents somehow packed into your small car you didn't wait long as you felt as presence behind you.

“Hello you, perfect example of a gorgeous human being!” The voice said from behind you.

“Shinji, how nice to see you.” You said with a sigh.

“You know if you’re tired of sighing that way… I have a better way to make you sigh.” He said winking at you. You had to push back all the thoughts of murdering him and just smiled but before you could say anything another voice interjected.

“See I told you we had to come out here! Shinji stop hitting on y/n their dating our little brother you snake.” Saika said, hitting him over the head.

“Can't help it, sis!” He said with a laugh.

“Well for this week you absolutely will have better control overself or so help me God Shinji! Anyway y/n you’ve got me, Shinji and sora at your beck and call, what do you need help with?” Saika said with her graceful smile.

“Oh just this.” You said pointing to the car packed with presents. Sora seemed to choke on air at the amount of gifts.

“God, didn't Shouta tell you didn't have to buy everyone a gift, you poor thing!” Saika said hugging you.

“Well he did but I just really like you guys and loved getting to know you this past month so I wanted to.” You said waving her off.

“More like you wanted to impress our parents, huh cutie?” Shinji said teasing you before he started to grab presents as to avoid his sister wacks.

“Ignore him! My mom is dying to meet you, Shouta’s never brought anyone home.” She said as her and Sora grabbed some more presents. As they went in you pulled out the last two rounds of presents and waited for Aizawa who wasn't far behind.

“Hey love are you ready?” Aizawa said, picking up the presents you set out.

“I am totally not!! I barely remember everyone's name! We should just slip away right now!” You said beginning to pace some more.

“Babe i'm gonna go inside and wait on you, come in whenever you want but remember we are late.” He said with a light chuckle.

“Sho!! don't you go into your house without me!” You said picking up the gifts and following him like a lost puppy. That was that and soon you were inside the house with a lot of eyes on you. You followed aizawa while bowing and placed the toys underneath the huge tree.

“Alright now that that’s done let me meet the one whose stolen my baby’s heart so effortlessly!” A woman said coming over to you. You bowed deeply to her and she let out a melodious laugh.

“How cute, no need to bow so deep! I should be bowing to you, you who is able to make my stoic Shouta blush, giggle and pout!” She says grabbing your face and pulling it around as if to inspect it.

“Oh Honey, you stop it! They are just being polite, you know like Japanese culture requires them to be.” A tall man said coming over to you.

“I'm just saying! Anyway you can call me Mina and this is my parasite of 41 years Hirohito! Nice to meet you!” She said hugging you, you were a bit surprised by how informal and kind they were.

“Excuse my parents, they were born and raised in America! No less Japanese but they are a bit more informal and that does shock a lot of people.” Shojiro said scratching his neck. 

“Oh hush boy! Don’t put a warning label on me and your mom as if we are damaged goods.” Hirohito said, knocking him over the head.

“Now it’s getting later we should all wash up and get ready to eat! I made something special for you all. And Sho I put a king size bed in your room since you’ve finally brought someone home. If you want to take advantage of that and make me some grandchildren then don’t worry we will hold up dinner for you!” His mom said kissing his cheek. He groaned and grabbed your hand and pulled you away and soon you were in his room.

“See, was that so hard?” Aizawa said with a flushed face.

“Ehh you look like it was, tomato paste! But I think it went okay! I can do this!!” You said hyping yourself up.

“Yes you can, kitty cat. After dinner only 6 more days to go.”

“WHY do you guys do Christmas gatherings for a week!” You whisper yelled at him.

“Because we have a doting mother who wants to smother us every chance she gets and a father who would do anything for her.” He said serious, you laughed and got ready for dinner. When you and Aizawa made it to the dining room, you were met with three huge dining tables. Almost every seat filled.

“Sweetheart, you and y/n come sit right here! I’ve got so many things to ask you!” His mom said waving you over.

“Thank you… Mina. Your way to kind!” You said with another bow. Dinner was pretty quiet at first but how quiet can you be with like 30 people in one room.

“Saika, dear, you were in charge of the schedule this year can you read it off for everyone.” Mina said.

“Of course! So on the 20th aka tomorrow it’s all about decorations and the tree! 21st is all about taking the kids to see Santa! 22nd is Family photo day! 23 is the gingerbread houses contest and reindeer games! 24th is sugar cookie making and movies! 25th is a grand breakfast and present opening! Bring forth the cup of straws!” Saika said giggling. Sora rolled his eyes but got the cup and passed it around, everyone taking a straw. 

“Okay now blow into if red dust comes out you’re in charge of taking the kids to see Santa!” She announced and everyone did. Of fucking course red dust billowed from you straw. You looked at Shouta and he shook his head at you and your heart dropped.

“So then it’s me and you, how fortunate!” Shinji said waving at you. You couldn’t control yourself and your head dropped onto the table dramatically.

“Haha, Shinji y/n already knows what a pain in the ass you are! you must be losing your style dear! Not to worry y/n, Shinji will be on his best behavior won’t you?” Mina said as an ominous silence fell over the room. Shinji didn’t hesitate to nod.

“Okay then! Y/n, welcome to the Aizawa family. I hope you enjoy your first Christmas with us! With that let us begin the 6 days of chaos!” Mina said laughing lifting her glass, everyone joined laughing. Okay maybe this won’t be so bad you thought for a brief second.

20th - 5 Days till Christmas

“Dad I understand you like to hang lights up dangerously but do you have to drag y/n into it.” Aizawa said as he watched you nervously. You were on the roof helping his dad put up a few decorations and lights.

“Of course I did, if they’re gonna be an Aizawa one day they gotta learn all our trade secrets.” He retorted as if it was common knowledge.

“I’ve never seen my little Sho so worried. I can’t figure out if it’s because your kind and you love him so much or if you’ve got him by the balls or maybe even both.” Mina said with a slight chuckle. This made you warm in embarrassment and you lost your footing and began to fall, of course taking the old man with you.

“Shit!” Aizawa said as he quickly used his capture weapon to grab both you and stop your impact from being damaging.

“Yeah alright, me and y/n are opting out of decorations this year.” He said dragging you who was still in his captured weapon toward the door.

“Oh honey calm down it would have just been a small bump and maybe a sprain. Would you at least help Shinji and Sora with the kids, decorating the tree?” She said with a kind yet manipulative smile. Before either of you could respond yelling was heard from inside

“Damn it, Yukio stop breaking the glass ornaments and Maki stop recording and help me!” Shinji yelled. 

21st- 4 Days till Christmas 

“Shinji what the hell do we do!” You said pacing.

“Hold on stop talking I’m thinking.”

“Like hell I’m trusting your brain! We just have to ask them to let us take pictures anyway.” You said with determination. You see everything was going well until and elf said something to Haru that Jun took as bullying. A fire light in that boy like you had never seen he was on top of the elf giving him the business in seconds. After he just mumbled things like ‘Bakugou said you can’t let people bully you.’ And ‘gotta put bullies in their place.’. Then when you tried to get him to apologize he glared and said ‘no, I can’t let that bully win’ and just like that y’all were kicked out.

“No look let’s just disguise them! Tetsuya and Haru stitch clothing and Haru and Umi switch! Then Maki will take them and her pictures with them.

“What about Maki though they saw her!” You said not believing you were actually going along with his crazy plan.

“Oh I have a change of clothes, gotta be prepared when you’re going out with uncle Shinji!”  She said cheerfully.

“That’s my girl! Now go do this thing!” He said giving her and high five. Someone how Shinji’s ridiculous plan worked and the parents didn’t even notice, they were all too drunk or tired. 

22nd - 3 Days until Christmas 

“There is no way I'm taking pictures wearing this.” Sora said as he pulled the clothes from the box.

“Yeah mom, why did you make Sho pick clothes this year you know he cant even dress himself! It’s because you babied him so much, you know.” Shojiro said, looking as equally as disgusted at the clothing.

“Hey now! I put my baby in charge of the clothing and you all are gonna wear it, end of discussion. Also if anyone babied him it was all of you so blame yourself.” Mina said, ending the discussion as Shouta wore a crazed grin.

“I like the clothes Uncle sho’ta.” Nozomi said rocking on her heels.

“They are pretty cute huh?” He said ruffing her hair.

“Ah ah ah! Don't you go infecting my kids with your bad fashion sense!.” Saika said, covering Nozomi's ears. At this you all broke out into laughs before heading to put on the outfits and prepare for maybe the most embarrassing photos known to man.

23rd - 2 days till Christmas

You were not an artist by any means but when you heard the winner got the honor of passing out presents you were purposely trying to lose. You knew them apart mostly but if they were all wearing the same pajamas with their hair tied back it was going to be a stuttering mess. However your plan of making a 3 out of 10 gingerbread house was foiled quickly. Aizawa wasn't really a competitive man or so you thought but when you to were paired against Shinji and Shojiro he went berserk! You looked at the gingerbread MANSION with a sigh.

“Shouta i’ve never seen you so invested! It's amazing.” Said Shizumi the resident artist in the house.

“Yeah uncle Shouta and L/N! You definitely got my vote!” Daisuke said smiling at you, you smiled back at him warily. The family all wrote down the people of their choosing and put it into the Santa hat. Now as names were being drawn you were biting your nails.

“Shouta and Y/n will be our Clauses this year.” Hirohito said with a small smile.

“Yay y/n wins.” Haru and Jun danced around you. You giggled before glaring at Aizawa in a way that said when we get home your sleeping on the couch, he just kissed you sweetly.

24th - 1 Day till Christmas

“Uncle Shouta stopped making so many cat cookies! Santa wants other shapes too!” Tetsuya said, hitting Shouta repeatedly on his legs. You laughed evilly as you formed another cat cookie and wrote Shouta’s name on the corner.

“I like your cat cookies.” Nozomi said, playing with her hair. Aizawa picked her up and spun her around.

“Okay, yep that's weird Baby brother! Why is Nozomi clinging to you? What did you do?” Shiori said looking back and forth from you and Shouta.

“Nothing.” Shouta said with a smirk. The family then looked at you hopeful.

“Well would you look at that! It's about time to watch the Grinch isn't it, Rei?” You asked the young boy. He eagerly nodded wanting to escape the situation. 

“You got Rei too? What is happening!” Saika said as she grabbed Rei bringing him to her chest.

“Huh where is your DVD player? I got to put the disk in.” You said completely ignoring her.

25th - Christmas Day

The gift giving had been going pretty successfully. You only Stuttered a few times but you hadn't given anyone the wrong present and let Shouta take the ones with Nicknames you didn't know. But this right here was the moment of truth, the moment you had been preparing for. In your right hand you had a gift for Shizumi and in your left one for Saika. You looked at the two twin like sisters and handed the gifts to each respectful sister hoping you were right. They opened the gifts and smiled so you guessed you were correct had everyone's eyes not been on you, you would have done a happy dance.

“Alright last gift before Mom and Dads are for Miss Nozomi!” Shouta said signaling you to get the present you and him picked out for the young girl.

“Alright this is from me and Uncle Shouta!” You said to the girl handing her the blue box. She said a quiet thank you before tearing into the box. Inside the box was a note which she took out.

“Look at your favorite uncle.” She said before looking straight at Shouta making all the other brothers gasp. In Shouta’s arm was a cute 3 legged kitten which had the girl darting toward him but slowed when she got to him so as not to scare the cat.

“Thank you!” The girl said, rubbing at her teary eyes. You and Aizawa had been teaching her how to care for cats knowing she wanted one. In all honesty she knew she was getting a cat she just didn't know when. You had asked her parents as well but didn't tell then when either so as to have a bigger reaction from the family.

“No need to thank me! Just promise me to take care of him real well.” Aizawa thumbed away the last of her tears. She nodded rapidly before snuggling the kitten who seemed to enjoy the attention. The last arc of gift giving went well as did the extravagant breakfast you had all prepared together. Now you were all saying goodbye.

“Y/n dear I do have one last parting gift for you.” Mina said as you rounded the corner with your bags. You placed down your bags and went to her side.

“I know you and Shouta haven't been together too long but I want to thank you. He acts tougher than he is. He would rather bear all the responsibility and pain and suffer alone. Not to mention the way he puts himself in danger rather than ask for help. With you he seems different, and you put him in his place. You’ve made me feel at ease for the first time since he entered UA as a student. So welcome to the family, we're so glad to have you.” She said putting something into your hands. You bowed at her and opened your palm to see a key to this house and a few pictures taken over the course of the week. You waved goodbye to them all and got your bags and made the short trip to your car where Shouta was waiting.

“Why do you look like you're going to cry.” He said worried.

“Because there are 365 days till next Christmas.” You said to him smiling.

~~~~~~~~~~~

MHA Masterlist

[jadedxrealityw]

-Mind Stone- Peter Parker x Female Reader Part 1

    ☼-☪-☼

   Kody: Awkward Peter Parker for the win. By the way both Peter and you will be 17 in this fic. K, thanks. Also reminder that Engame is set in 2023

   Movie/Show: After Endgame, but no one died because ignorance is bliss. 

   Summary: In the attack of 2012, you were given powers that you couldn’t understand at such a young age. 

   Possible Triggers / Warnings: Cursing, Mentions of blood and harm, Loki having a Thanos moment, Vision and Wanda being your new parents- but not really, slight OP reader- but only because i am dumb

    ☼-☪-☼

   highschool sucked, well that’s a given but what sucked even more was going to highschool in New York where the Avengers usually fought their battles. In 2012 when the first major attack happened. When Loki, the god of mischief used the tesseract to bring the Chitauri to Earth.

    you remember it vividly for a 6 year old child. Your mother and you had decided to go school shopping since you’d be starting kindergarten. You would have gone when you turned five, but you had a late birthday. After shopping for nearly an hour your mother decided to get you a donut from a local bakery.

   you had both walked in and your mother sat you at a booth with your bag of supplies. She walked to the counter and began to order what she wanted along with your favorite kind of donut. The shop had a glass wall in the front so you could see outside, you thought it looked pretty cool.

   at one point you looked up from the piece of paper you had been drawing on and towards your mother. She had just turned around holding a paper bag and a cup of coffee. She gave you a warm smile as she walked towards you. She looked at the window behind you and her face suddenly turned pale.

   she dropped the cup and bag onto the ground. You watched as coffee spilled all over the tile floor, but had no time to say something as your mother ran over to you and grabbed you from the seat. She held you close to her chest and ran out the store, not bothering to grab the items she left. 

   you were so confused on what was happening until you saw a tall unhuman like creature with grey skin and gold headpieces. The Chitauri. Your mother ran down the sidewalk as large ships flew through the sky. Buildings were being shot through and debris was falling from above.

   being just a little girl made the whole ordeal much worse. Your mother ended up running into an alleyway. She went behind a dumpster and crouched down, placing you on the ground. “Alright- it’s going to be alright” she grabbed your face and planted a kiss on your forehead. 

   the dumpster that you both were behind flew into the air and you were face to face with a Chitauri. It raised it’s gun and shot at your mother. It hit her in the middle of the back, causing her to fall to the ground. You watched as your mom fell to the ground and blood began to pour from her back.

   she slowly lifted her head and reached to touch your face “You have to run Y/n! Go!” she yelled as the Chitauri drew closer. You turned to look behind you. Run. That’s what she wanted you to do, but you didn’t want to leave your mom. She was hurt and was the only family you had. 

   ever watch those youtube videos of children trying to be protective and everyone finding it cute? Yeah those. Well this would have been cuter if you weren’t facing an alien that could shoot you in the face with it’s out of world technology. 

   your tiny 6 year old hands lifted up a piece of plywood from the ground and began to swing it around yelling at them to “Get away from my mom!” thinking back on it, you thought the Chitauri was more confused than threatened. It still walked towards you, raising it’s weapon. 

   that’s when something- someone dropped in the middle of both you and the Chitauri. It was a man with shoulder length black hair that was slicked back. He was wearing strange clothing that was dark green and black with some gold lining. 

   he turned to the Chitauri and waved his hand “Run along creature” he said in a formal tone. You kept the plywood in your hands as you didn’t know if this strange man was a threat or not. The Chitauri nods to him once before turning away and running out the alley, probably to terrorize other people. 

   the man turned on his heels and faced you. You had now noticed the golden scepter in his hands. It was curved at the top which was silver with a sharp edge and bottom and hand a bright blue stone in the middle, encased within the gold. He stalked towards you with an overly sweet grin.

   (cue Thanos moment) 

   “You’re just adorable aren’t you?” he spoke, mostly to himself rather than you. He crouched down to meet your gaze, his eyes an icy blue color. “Were you just about to challenge that Chitauri?” he asked, a slightly amused tone lacing within his words. You nod once, being the shy kid you were and stranger danger. duh

   he nods along with you before looking behind you to see your mother unconscious and on the floor. He doesn’t say anything involving her and looks back towards you “How old are you?” he questions. Your hesitant at first, but tell him “6...and a half” one of his eyebrows go up slightly in shock. 

   “Children who are willing to stand up to a creature much bigger than them are what we call little warriors. It’s honorable. If only you weren’t a mortal, so feeble and fragile” he spoke so formaly that your child mind was finding it hard to keep up with him. 

   his icy blue eyes slowly moved away from you at at his scepter “Hm” he hums before holding his staff up to you. You take a small step back, reasonably scared of the silver blade it had. How else did he think a kid would react. You weren’t quite sure why you hadn’t run away by now honestly.

   “Do not show fear. That is what will get you killed. Now little warrior. If you wish to protect the ones you care most for. Place your hand on the stone” he spoke, pointing towards the blue gem on his scepter. In other circumstances you would have ran away, but your eager child mild thought about your mother. 

   so you touched it

   you felt a swirling and painful feeling shooting through every inch of your body, causing you to left out a harsh scream. Your vision was covered in a blue like storm. Like a tornado that formed around you. You could no longer see the mystery man and could no longer feel your feet on the ground. 

   but just as fast as the feeling came it left and began to see black spots cloud every inch of your vision. You felt yourself drift out of consciousness and you black out. The man- Loki watched as you fell to the ground. He reached down and felt for a pulse. Still alive. 

   he got up and walked over to your mother, waving his hand over her wound and watched it disappear. He places a illusion and a type of force field over the alleyway and leaves to be his freaky weird self at Stark tower. 

    ☼-☪-☼

   2023 

   (Aka Kody’s version of Endgame that makes no logical sense)

   after being ‘blipped’ out of existence for five years you were still adjusting to the change. Your school- Midtown High School had created a program for kids how still needed to finish there senior year. You were placed in a new classroom with a couple of kids you knew and didn’t

   the only names you could remember was Ned, Mj, Flash- he was a dick, Betty, Liz, Brad, and Peter. You didn’t know any of them personally but had heard thee names enough to look at their faces and remember them. You all were in a class together all day except for lunch and a free period. 

   you didn’t really care much for making friends because you never had the time. After being blipped back you found out your mother wasn’t and she had been put in a home. You took care of her for a couple years until she died in her sleep from a stroke. 

   once you got back you took on a couple jobs to try and raise enough money to buy a small apartment for you. One job was a checking books for damages at a library and the other was stocking shelves at a supermarket along with the occasional dog walking and errand running.

   needless to say you were busy and guilty for what had happen that day to your mother. You tried telling her about the man that had talked to you which you later found out was Loki the god of mischief and he wasn’t the greatest of people, but he hadn’t been back to earth since. 

   the powers he gave you were more of a burden then blessing at most times. With the ability you could now throw energy projectile blasts, manipulate others minds, use telepathy, astral project and teleport. It was a lot for a six year old so you ended up never using it.

   that was until you were thirteen and walking to school. You saw a cat in the road laying down. The worst part was a car was coming quickly, speeding actually down the road and the cat was not moving. Your poor animal heart couldn’t take it and in an instant you teleported in front of the cat. 

   you picked it up and teleported back on the sidewalk. You weren’t quite sure how you did it, so chalked it up to spur of the moment thing. You ended up keeping the all black cat and naming it Snape. He turned out to be a little shit so it fits.

   after that you started practicing and developing your abilities. Your logic was if you have them at least learn how to use them even if you don’t want them. You had refused to use them unless absolutely necessary though. You didn’t want to draw attention towards yourself. 

    ☼-☪-☼

   6 months later

   outfit

   you pushed open the door to the classroom with one hand and a box of donuts in the other. “Is Mr. Harrington here yet?” you ask out loud earning a couple no’s in return from what you assumed was Mj and Betty. You nod once and shut the door. You look up and walk towards the table your friends were at

   yeah yeah, you decided to finally get close to these people you were stuck with. Some a bit more than others....Anyway, you took a seat next to Mj and place the box on the table “All your guys favorites. I know i’m amazing- hold your applause please” you say, holding up your hand.

   Mj rolls her eyes and slides a coffee cup towards you “Here, since you got donuts” she shrugs before reaching into the box. You smile and grab the cup. It was still hot. You hear the door open again and turn your head to see Peter and Ned walking “Hey guys! Y/n got us donuts!” Betty exclaimed. 

   they both look up. Peter looks at you and you both lock eyes for a moment before he adverts his gaze quickly. Imagine having a crush on a guy who is a nervous wreck? You found it cute though- in a non weird way. “Oh! cool. Thanks Y/n” Ned says and takes a seat next to Betty

   you give him a half smile as Peter takes a seat next to him. All of you grab a donut and begin to eat. After a couple minutes you hear Peter yelp and look towards him. He reached under the table and rubbed his leg, giving Mj a glare, who gave him one right back. 

   “So Y/n. Since midterms is coming up and we've all stuck together this year Peter was thinking of having a small get together at his house while his Aunt is out of town” Ned suddenly spoke up, taking your attention away from Peter and Mj’s death stares. Your face twinges a bit “When is it?” you ask. 

   “This Tomorrow” he says. You had always turn down offers like this because you feel guilty going out while your mother was stuck in a home unable to walk even though she told you to be a teenager multiple times and to stop worrying over her so much, but alas you were a stubborn one. 

   “I’m working that day-”

   “No your not. I have your work schedule, both of them” Mj cut in with her emotionless smile as she took a bite of her donut. How did she know your work- nevermind. You forgot Mj was a genius sometimes and a class A weirdo, but she was your weirdo. “I have to ask Nancy then-”

   “I called her. She said it was okay”

   you blink mindlessly for a moment before Betty spoke up “You have Nancy’s number?” she asked, leaning into the table. Mj shrugs her shoulders “She’s a nice conversationalist” she says vaguely. You all stare at her for a couple seconds before you think of another excuse. 

   “It’s Peters party thing.” You say and looked towards the brown haired boy who had been just listening to the chaos “Do you even want me there?” you ask him. Peter’s eyes widen briefly “Of course i want you there!- I- uh i mean yeah your my friend” he sputters slightly, Ned facepalming behind him.

   Mj grins as she finished her nice fried treat “I win” she says and you exhale “Fine i’ll go. It would actually be nice to get out the girls home” you admit, leaning back into the chair “Nancy still a raging bitch?” Ned said, making Peter and Betty chuckle. His laugh was nice- so was Betty’s of course eh ha. 

   “Mr. harrington is coming! Hide the box!” Brad yells as he peaks out the door. You all quickly scramble to shove the box in your bag.

   ☼-☪-☼

   at the end of class while you were packing your things when you feel a tap on your shoulder. You place your notebook back down and  turn behind you. There stood Peter Parker staring back at you nervously “Um- Hi” he says and you smile lightly “Hi” you say back to him.

   he reached behind and scratched the back of his neck “So uh- about my party thing tonight” he starts. You nod slowly “Yeah the party thing” you repeat. “Ned’s thinking about bringing Betty as his date” Peter sputters out. You purse your lips together into an emotionless smile.

   “Okay...” you trail before going to grab your notebook again when Peter slides it off the table and into his hand. You slowly turn and raise a brow “Thank you?” you say and hold out your hand. “Would you like to be my Betty?- Date! i mean date. Would you, Y/n be my date to my party thing”

   a smile formed on your lips. Not in a million years did you think Peter Parker would break from his shell to finally say something to you. In all honestly you would have made the first move if he didn’t make it so damn hard to figure out if he actually liked you. 

   “I’d like that very much. As long as i get to see your lego death star” you say. His face goes from nervous and fearing rejection to slight confusion. He lets out a small laugh “Are you using me for my death star?” he asked, his tone a bit more confident than before.

   you gasp, your mouth agape in mock offense “How dare you accuse me of such things Peter Parker- but yeah your right.” you say jokingly. His smile turns into a wide grin that he is unable to control. You held out your hand again and Peter gives you the notebook.

   “I’ll see you tomorrow then?” he asked as you open your bag to place the notebook next to your folder before zipping it up. You look at him and nod “Yeah you will. Who knows, maybe i’ll wear something nice” shrugging, you turn around and head out the door. 

   as soon as you walk out all of that cool and collected confidence melted away and you were left smiling and laughing like a giddy school girl all by yourself. 

    ☼-☪-☼

   Peter Parker asked you out. Peter Parker asked you out

   you were walking home, humming along to the music blasting through your earbuds. You couldn’t hear any of the loud ass lovely sounds of Queens. You reach into your jeans back pocket to grab your phone when someone shoulder checks you hard. 

   you went to curse out this rude stranger when you realize they were running with a worried look. You take out the earbuds and your ears are instantly filled with cracking noises and peoples screaming. You look up and the building next to the one you were standing next to was on fire. 

   it was an apartment building and the top floors were engulfed in flames. You saw a crowd forming outside of the lobby and cue into there conversation. A woman was crying on the ground while another woman held her “Our sons are still in there! There on the top floor! Please you have to get them!”

   the woman seemed to be pleading to a officer who was keeping people from going inside along with multiple other police men and woman. “Ma’am the fire department is on there way. There is a delay due to traffic. You’ll just have to wait” he says which just makes her cry out, her wife grabbing her tighter. 

   “Where’s Spiderman!”

   “Spiderman isn’t fireproof!”

   you felt your hands shake a bit. Those boys were stuck up there and you could do something. So why were you standing still? You could help, but you were so scared of losing control and causing more harm then good. All reasoning went out the window when you heard a boy cry for his mom.

   you duck into an alleyway and dig through your bag. You grab your black hoodie and face mask you had always carried for some reason. You just needed something to cover your skin. You take off your flannel sweater and shove it in your bag before slipping the hoodie on. 

   you take the face mask and put the elastic bands behind your ears and press the metal bar against your nose so it molds against your face. You take a deep breath and pull the hood over your head. Inhaling deeply, you thought about being on the floor and in a blink of an eye, you were gone. 

   once you open your eyes you see flames licking up the walls and it instantly feels a million times hotter. “So this is what a rotisserie chicken feels like” you mumble. “Mommy!” a boy yells and a cry of another one follows. You walk down the hall avoiding the wall with flames.

   you make it down the hall and go to reach for the door handle. As soon as your palm touched it, it seared your skin. You hiss and pull back your hand quickly. Looking at your palm you saw the red skin. “Shit. Why didn’t i just teleport in?” you thought aloud before poof you were in. You see two boys huddled together.

   you walk towards them “Hey! Are you two okay?!” you call out. The older one, around ten maybe looks away from his younger brother who looked a little over three and at you “Help please. My brother fell asleep and woke wake up!” he cried before bursting into a coughing fit. 

   “I’m here to help. Just be calm okay? I’ll get you both out of here” you say to try and sooth the boy. He nods and tries to stand up with his brother. You step towards him and lift the little boy in your arms. You use your free hand to take the mask off your face and hand it to the boy “Put this on”

   he takes it from your hands and puts it on his face. You hold out your hand and he grabs it. You give him a quick smile beforeing teleporting back onto the sidewalk. The fire department and paramedics were already at the lobby, getting ready to go in. 

   the boy lets go of your hand and runs towards his mothers “Mommy!” he yells and the two woman look up. “Georgie?!” the crying woman yells before they both run towards him. You look at the crowd and realize that people had just saw you poof into existence. You quickly look down before anyone can see your face. 

   shit shit shit shit 

   in a haste you walk over to the paramedics who were already walking towards you and hand them the little boy “he inhaled to much smoke” you spit out and turn around. Before you could take another step fucking Spiderman just drops down. This couldn’t get any worse.

   “Hey- person! How did you do that!?” he yells but you teleport into the ally. You lift the hoodie from your body and drop it into your bag. You needed to go home before anyone came around. 

    ☼-☪-☼

   the next day

   Peter had dealt with the situation and avoided press about who the mysterious teleporter was. Mostly because he didn’t know and didn’t want to spread panic amongst the public. So he decided to contact Tony the next day out of all people, cause duh. He was driven by Happy to the Avengers base.

   once he got out he was waiting in the main area where they had there meetings, which is where we start off. Tony walks through the door followed by Natasha and Steve. Clint was with family at the moment and Tony just gathered who was here at the moment. 

   “So kid. No pressure, but if this isn’t serious as you say i will revoke your suit privileges for a week” Tony threatens making Peter smile nervously. “It is i swear. So i was walking home from school right? Yeah and this building was on fire so of course i’m the friendly neighborhood Spiderman so i went to go save them-”

   “-skip ahead” Tony cuts in, Natasha rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. Peter nods fast and coughs a bit before continuing “Anyway this random person in a hoodie like pops out of nowhere- like teleported into the building and saved these two kids and-” 

   Natasha raises her hand “This person you say saved kids? Why are we talking about this again?” she asked. Suddenly the door opens again revealing Wanda and Vision “Well this place needs tighter security” Steve says. Tony sighs and looks at them “No please come in were not busy or anything”

   Vision steps towards the group along with Wanda “There’s an infinity stone on earth” he spoke rather vaguely. “Yeah it’s in your head and the other is with the Wizard- We’ve gone over this people! You need to read your debriefings” Tony points at Vision before leaning against the long table. 

   Peter just sighed as he knew he would be ignored for the next few minutes “I am aware of the of the Time and Mind stone location. There is something with the same signature as the mind stone on earth. Like Wanda’s but weaker and more docile.” he explains. 

   both Steve and Natasha give him terrified looks “Could it be a mishap from the time traveling? Wanda was anyone else given powers like you?” Steve asked. Wanda shook her head “Me and Pietro were the only people who survived, but they could have continued there experiments?” she suggests. 

   Tony shakes his head “Strucker was killed by Ultron and anyone who knew about it is the same way or locked up in federal prison. This is something different- wait kid” he says and turns to Peter “You said you saw somebody with powers today right?” 

   Peter nods to Tony “Yeah- i couldn’t really tell there face, but i’m pretty sure it was a girl?” he said, quite unsure of his own words. Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a dry erase market before walking over to the clear board that was set up in the room. 

   he uses his mouth to bite off the cap of the marker and turns to Steve to spit it out at him. The cap bounces of...well cap. His chest to be more specific and drops to the ground. Steve narrows his eyes, shaking his head slightly at Tony’s behaviour, but that was normal. 

   Tony draws a quick messed up bean shape and labels it the Mind Stone “So what we know is that the mind stone is stuck in ‘Not Jarvis’ over there” he says and draws a short line from the stone drawing to the words ‘Not Jarvis’ “Now for the people with the mind stone power. Go!” he points randomly behind him.

   Wanda spoke up “Pietro and i” she says, her expression faltering a bit. Vision wraps his arm around her side and pulls her into him. He looked down at her and gave her a loving smile, one that she returned. Peter watched them for a moment. They had such natural love for two unnatural people. 

   he wondered if he would ever find something similar to what they had. When he thought about it hard enough his mind went to you. You had both gone to school together since you were kids, but were never close or talked in general. That was until junior year when you were placed in his english class.

   Peter took into the fact that you were much quieter then you had been before. You would gaze off into the window and go unnoticed by anyone. You were never really there, just existing in the background. No romantic feelings were involved at the point just curiosity. 

   then both of you were placed in the program and he got to finally talk to you. Or so he thought. You were still the same, sat in the back, dozing off, but still managing to pass every paper with a C or higher. Peter found it strange that you had not changed one bit.

   ever since the population was ‘blipped’ back people had been more daring and taking risks, claiming it was there second chance at doing what you really dreamed of and such, but you were just there....existence again. Still the same old girl.

   could you be so content with your life that you would make no change? or was there something in your way, stopping from evolving in life? As you can imagine these thoughts filled Peter’s brain to the point that it physically hurt. Still no feelings at this point, just frustration. 

   that’s when Mj noticed his infatuation with you and she decided to take matters into her own hands, per usual. She talked to you after class and invited you to sit with them at their table. Peter thought there was no way you’d take the offer, but you did? Mj was either really convincing or God

   the world will never know

   that’s when romantic feelings were involved. Peter thought that you would act the same, but just around a group of people but he was so wrong. You actually engaged in conversation. Maybe that’s what was keeping you from making friends, being scared of making the first move.

   he would always remember the day he saw you smile. It was like it lit up the whole room. All his senses were heightened- more then they already were as Spiderman and it was so weird. Everytime he was around you he felt euphoric in a way.

   he fell hard

   the next six months were spent obsessing over what to say, do, wear, even eat around you even though he knew you weren't the judgy kind of person. It wasn’t long until everyone around him except for you knew he had a crush on you, but you just thought he was a nervous guy. 

    oh god- he asked you out and you said yes. It was almost like he couldn’t believe you had actually said yes. Peter didn’t think he was a bad looking guy, just that you were so out of his league it was almost comical. What should he wear? What if you both got alone at some point during the party thing?

   “Kid!”

   Peter’s eyes averted from the floor and towards the small group. All of them were looking at him with concerned expressions He smiled sheepishly, reaching behind to scratch the back of his neck “Sorry- sir” he says. Tony exhales dramatically “Oh i’m sorry are we boring you?” 

   Steve shakes his head “He’s probably thinking about school or something. He’s still a kid Tony” he says giving Peter a nod- yeah school. Totally. Tony waves him away “Whatever. Now that your back on planet earth kid go suit up. Not Jarvis over her can track our mystery chick”

   Peter’s face lights up “Yes Mr. Stark- i can use the bathroom first right?” he says. Tony blinked mindlessly for a couple seconds “Yes.....go” he waved him away. Peter smiles before waving to the rest of them politely. Natasha gave him a warm smile along with Vision and Wanda. Steve was scolding Tony.

    ☼-☪-☼

   Peter had his suit on and made his way to the front where Wanda, Vision, and, Tony. “Where’s everyone else?” Peter asked, walking towards them “We want to keep a low radar” Tony said, adjusting some tech on his arm. Peter tilts his head and points at Vision “but he’s red- no offense!” he says. 

   Vision looked at his body for a moment “Oh yes. One moment please” he spoke and in a way of yellow magic his body switched from it’s natural red form to a human one. Peter’s eyes widened under his mask, taking a step forward “That. Is. So. Cool!” he shouts going over to spoke Vision’s arm.

   Vision lifted his arm out for Peter to touch, finding it amusing. Wanda snickered to herself at Peter’s child like wonder. “Alright let's head out before the Kid starts drooling” Tony interrupts as Happy pulls up in front of the base. Peter quickly snapped his head towards Tony’s direction. 

   “If were trying to keep a low profile. Why am i here in my suit?” Peter questions, crossing his arms. “You are going to be on a building watching and observing. I signal you if i need you” Tony explains. Peter sighs in defeat, he was backup....again. At least it was something.

   “Okay” Peter says. Vision faces Wanda and opens his mouth to speak, but before he could Wanda does “I know, you want me to stay here in case it’s dangerous” she spoke. Vision let out a small snort, holding back a smile. Did she know him that well?

   duh. I want what they have

   “Actually, quite the opposite. I think you coming is a great idea” he said, stunning Wanda into silence for a couple seconds “What?-” she looks up at him. Vision reaches down and takes his hand into hers. Peter watched, wonderly if he should give them a moment or not.

   “If this person really has the same powers you then they are just as scared and confused as you were. They might find comfort in knowing they are not alone” Vision spoke, Wanda nodding along with him. She understood what he meant and she was glad to help them- the stranger. 

   “Okay”

   “Already love birds and backup into the car. No flying or swinging today. Good old fashion driving” Tony ushered everyone out the building. 

    ☼-☪-☼

   outfit

   you were holding a white tote bag full of groceries since you didn’t like the plastic ones, walking to the group home. You usually bought non-refrigeratable items every week to keep in your room since the other girls in the home like to steal food that wasn’t there's. It sucked, but you had no other options. 

   turning the corner, you started to walk down a pretty empty backway street. One hand on your bag and another on a switchblade in your brown jacket. A girl needs to protect herself in this day and age with perverted super straight men. More like super small. 

   you feel your phone buzz in your back pocket and reach behind to grab it. You tap the screen and notice a familiar contact ‘My Wife’ oh it was Mj. She had sent a text ‘Yo, for the thing tomorrow can you bring me that bread from the corner store around your place?’

   did she just text you....for bread? My kind of woman. 

   you snicker to yourself and drop the handle down your arm and so you could use both hands to text her back ‘Yeah sure. I think you have a problem though. This is your fourth loaf this month’ you sent the text and shove your phone into your pocket. 

   looking up you see a woman with long reddish brown hair and a tall man with blond hair. They looked like a couple and were walking towards you. Out of pure social anxiety you were going to put your head down, but were stopped when the man spoke.

   “Excuse me miss” he spoke, very formally and had an accent of some sorts. You stop a few feet in front of the couple. They probably wanted directions. They didn’t really look like new yorkers in your opinion. “Um yes?” you say with a polite smile. 

   in an instant a yellow color enveloped his body and he switched from the normal man to- to- The Vision!? You took a step back The Vision calling out to you “Please wait!”, turning on your heels to run away. You instantly hit some kind of hard metal, causing you to fall back onto your butt.

   “Not so fast kid”

   once you look up you see the one and only Tony Stark in his suit- so Iron Man actually. What the fuck was happening? Your heart rate began to speed up. Shit. “I haven’t done anything” you say quickly. This time the woman with reddish hair spoke- oh shit isn’t that the war criminal turned hero?

    “We know you have some kind of ability, correct?” she asked. She had a slovakian accent. How did they know? Should you tell the truth? You didn’t like that Stark was in his suit, it just had ‘i already see you as a threat’ written all over it, but the woman seemed so kind and gentle with her words. 

   looking up at her, you nod slowly. The woman offers her hand for you to take and you do. She pulls you off the ground. Once your up she seems to study you “I’m Wanda, you are so young. How old are you?” you look down for a second before back at her. She was so nice “I’m 17″

   The Vision- or just Vision stood next to Wanda “How long have you had these abilities?” he asked you, gesturing for you to walk with them “Since i was six, it happened in the 2012 attack” you explained. Wanda’s eyes widen a bit “Six years old? What monster would give a child that power?” 

   “Were walking now, great” Stark says and is ignored

   you gulp as you walked alongside them, gathering up your courage to speak. It was still a touchy subject “The mind stone was in Loki, the god of mischiefs possession at the time, but i cannot see him sharing power with another person let alone a human” Vision but in. 

   “It’s a long story” you say, your face cringing slightly as the memories flooded “Do you wish to speak with us in a more private place?” Vision asked. Wanda gave you a warm smile as well. You nod once “Yeah that be great.” you say.

   “Alright let’s roll out. The kid is dealing with a bank robbery a couple blocks away, but he’ll meet up with us once he’s finished. You two take her back i have to pick up Morgan from school or Pepper is putting me in the doghouse” Stark said before he flies up into the air.  

    ☼-☪-☼

   Peter had just swung down into the base through the opening in a skylight that Tony installed for quick access. Once he landed on the ground he pulled his mask off and pat the metal spider symbol on his chest. The suit folded into itself until all was left was the metal spider. 

   he turns into the hallway and makes his way to lab, figuring Tony would have resided there after there encounter with the person. As he walked he felt the hair on his arms and neck stand up in attention. Peter tingle. Peter reached behind him a grabbed an arrow mid air, turning on heels. 

   he turns around and sees Morgan with her training bow, giggling to herself “Hi” she says with a small smile. Peter smiled and looked at the arrow, the tip was dull so it wouldn’t have done any damage “Hi” he says back to her “Nice shot by the way” he adds.

   Morgan giggles, pushing some of her brown hair from her face. Peter crouches down and hands her the arrow. She doesn’t take it and turns around so he could place it in her quiver. It was clearly made my Tony and had her name in red rhinestones. Super techy and cute. 

   Peter place the arrow in with the rest of them and Morgan turns back around “Do you know where your dad is?” Peter asked and she nods, not saying anything “What do you want for the information?” he questions with a mock serious tone. 

   Morgan’s face scrunched up, trying to make it look like she was thinking. After half a second shes smiling brightly again “Up!” she exclaims. Peter chuckles to himself before scooping Morgan up in his arms. He lifts her up and she points down the hall. “To the lab!” she shouts.

   “Yes ma’am” he replies and began to walk down with her. While they walked Morgan began to tell Peter about her day at school and how Tony picked her up in his suit and everyone thought it was super cool. Seems like something Tony would do. 

   when he made it towards the lab entrance he spotted Wanda and Vision staring into the window that looked into the lab. Peter places Morgan down and she fists bump him before running into the lab. That seemed safe. “Peter your back, are you alright?” Wanda spoke. Peter looked away from Morgan.

   Peter nods “Yeah nothing i can handle. Sorry i wasn’t there” he apologized. Wanda shook her head with a smile “The situation never escalated. We were able to take her in willingly. Mr. Stark is with her now” Vision explained. Peter raised a brow “So it was a girl?” 

   “She’s only 17. She got her powers when she was only 6. We haven’t noticed her because she never uses them” Wanda says. Peter’s brown eyes widen in size “Six years old?” he mumbled to himself. Wanda gestures to the window they were looking out of.

   Peter steps towards them and turns his head to look into the window. He spots a girl propped up in a tube and unconscious. H/L H/c hair and- oh shit. Peter’s mouth fell open as he now processed what he was seeing in all of it’s reality. “Y/n?” he said to himself. 

   both Wanda and Vision look at Peter “Do you know her?” Wanda asked since before you went into the lab you told them your name and Tony had yet to pull up your name in the database. Peter nods and just watches in shock as Tony stands in front of the tube analyzing your DNA. 

   “Yeah- she’s in my class. I’ve known her a long time, but we only got close like 6 months ago” he explains, reaching up to run a hand through his hair “Shit” he huffs out. Wanda looked confused “How close?” she asked, sensing they were a bit closer then he said. 

   “i asked her out yesterday. I planned it for weeks just for this to happen” Peter sighs. Wanda places a hand on his shoulder “Does the fact that she has powers change the way you feel about her?” she asked. Peter shook his head “No- i just wish she told me”

   “Fear takes over the mind. As well as rejection over something you cannot control” Vision says, tilting his head slightly “But sometimes you have to take risks. I was made without emotion, but i grew to love” he explains. “Her having such abilities should only bring you closer”

   “but she doesn’t know i’m spiderman” Peter says with a nervous laugh “Well i think it’s time you tell her, but i can not tell you what to do just advise” Vision smiles politely and takes Wanda’s hand into his, placing a kiss on her knuckles. Peter watched for a moment before sighing.

   what to do

    ☼-☪-☼

   after tony took all the tests he could do he called up Strange to contact Thor since the god of thunder did not have a phone. They needed to get Loki to earth to explain how he gave a child such powers and/or kill him. That was mostly Tony’s idea. 

   Tony got real sensitive when he figured out a child- a girl his daughters age was given such an ability and it suddenly got personal. You were put into a guest room so when you woke up it wouldn’t be such a surprise and more cozy then a hospital bed. 

   your eyes open slowly and your met with a ceiling fan, which is slightly strange. Your room didn’t have a fan? You slowly sat up. “I wouldn’t move much” your head snaps in the direction of the voice and you see..Peter?! sitting in a loveseat next to the bed you were laying on. 

   “Peter? What are you?- Oh your internship right. I-” shit how were you going to explain to him why you were there. Peter shakes his head “I know why your here” he says. This whole demour was different. He didn’t seem nervous at all. You exhale deeply “Well shit”

   “Yeah-” Peter raises his arm and a web shoots out from his wrist, grabbing onto the glass of water that was on the nightstand. He pulls it into his hand and hands it to you “Oh shit” you repeated “Your um- What!?” you were in complete shock. Why did he have to this after you just woke up?

   he nods “Yeah- i’m Spiderman” he says, looking down for a moment before back at you. "You aren’t weirded out?” he asked. Your face dropped to a deadpan look “I can create portals and teleport. I’m surprised your not weirded out” you say back. 

   “You can teleport that’s like- so cool!” and there goes the geek in him. You chuckle to yourself as you take the water from his hand, taking a sip “Yeah” you say. “You don’t seem to like it do you? Wanda told me what happened” he asked. You shake your head.

   “I never have. I thought i was weird. I never even told my mom” you say. Peter looked like he didn’t know what to say for a moment “Yeah i didn’t tell anyone either. Then Ned caught me, then May. Mj kinda found out on her own actually” he says, looking like he was thinking back on it. 

   “They all know!” you exclaim and he looked taken aback “They caught me when i flew into my window! Mj is just- Mj” he throws his hands in the air for a moment. You stifle laughter at his reaction “Okay okay. So the Stark internship is like a coverup?” you ask.

   “Yeah. He tracked me down when i first started being Spiderman. Gave me a cool suit- multiple cool suits in exchange that i fight with him against Captain America. That was so long ago now that i think about it” he says. You nod along. Jeez this was a lot. 

   once he finished speaking you both sat there in silence for a minute or so “So-“ you start, putting the glass down “I might not be able to go to the party thing.” you say with a laugh. Peter laughs as well “Yeah i figured you couldn’t. Mr. Stark wants to keep you overnight” 

   you sigh. You didn’t really want to be stuck in a random place at night with being you didn’t know. Even if they were nice, they were still strangers. Peter notices the change in your expression and reaches to grab your hand. You feel your heart race abit as he does. 

   “I already cancelled the party. I told Ned and Mj the truth, minus the you part and they made up some excuse on how they would move it somewhere else and i wouldn’t be coming” he rubs his thumb over your hand. You look up at him “You didn’t- why would you do that?”

   Peter inhales before speaking “Because you shouldn’t be alone right now and- and because i really like you Y/n. Like a lot- i have for awhile” he says. Is he confessing right now? Weird timing, but you’ll roll with it. “I really like you too Peter”

   his face lit up like fireworks, you swore you could see an actual sparkle in his eye. He goes quiet again as his eyes slowly move down to your lips. He doesn’t say anything, but it is very obvious of what he wants “Peter” you say and he breaks out of his trance “huh?- yeah!?” he says with a nervous laugh. 

   “Kiss me”

   he froze for a second before sputtering “Really?! because i don’t want to make you uncomfortable because i really like you and Steve said i should always respect women and their decisions ‘cause-” you grab the collar of his sweater and plant your lips on his. 

   you thought he wasn’t going to kiss back since he was just frozen. So, you went to pull away but were pleasantly surprised when he grabbed the side of your face, pulling you into a deeper kiss. Holy shit- the nerd had game. Peter must have been really into the kiss because he forgot that air was a thing. 

   you pulled away and he rests his forehead on yours, smiling like an idiot “I’m sorry i just-” “It’s okay Peter” you say before he could stumble over his words more. He smiles again and goes to kiss you again but as you go to lean in yo see a little girl in the doorway.

   “Shit!” you jump back and Peter looks at you weirdly before you point at the doorway. Peter turns around and his face drops “Morgan. Shouldn’t you be waiting in the conference room for Pepper to pick you up?” he says. Morgan giggles and walks over to the bed.

   she looks at you then Peter “She’s pretty” she says making you smile a little. Peter chuckles to himself “Yeah i know” Morgan giggles again before nodding “I approve” and with that she walked out the room, shutting it behind her. You blinked mindlessly for a couple seconds 

   “I feel honored” you say and Peter chuckles 

    ☼-☪-☼

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    ☼-☪-☼

   Kody- there will be a part two to this story if it is so desired.

[theycallmebecca]

February Ice Storm

It just occurred to me that I hadn’t really told you guys about the experience I had back in February with the ice storm that nailed us and knocked out power for us for 3 days but people in my city for up to 10 days.

Originally, I had planned to turn it into a drabble and I actually started it, but it wasn’t exactly something I wanted to revisit. Mentally, I wasn’t in a good place thanks to anxiety and an emotional rollercoaster of what’s going to happen.

I know I shared bits and pieces of what had gone down, but this a more in-depth account of my experience from the ice storm that hit Oregon Valentine’s weekend of this year.

Let me preface this by saying that we knew that we were going to get an ice storm... but it was the worst ice storm we’ve had in a long time. And it did an astonishing amount of damage that we are still trying to recover from a month and a half later. Driving around, it looked like a tornado had ripped through and knocked down trees randomly. With as many trees that fell, it’s shocking how many didn’t.

The storm hit Friday night, February 12th, and it was just cold. Then about 3 am, the power went out. I know this because that’s when I suddenly found myself in the complete dark (no alarm clock, etc.) I didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep.

I was rudely awaken a few hours later by the sound of trees cracking and crashing to the ground. Let me tell you, that is a terrifying experience.

Knowing I still didn’t have power, I put on multiple layers and tried to make myself comfortable. However, by this time, it had started to warm up so there was lots of trees cracking all around me. Which was great for my anxiety.

Neither was the fact that the power outage had taken out the cell phone networks in my area. More on that in a moment.

Then I heard some neighbors outside, so I went out to talk to them and saw that a large limb from the pine tree by my building, was practically laying on my car. Some guys walking past, assured me that it was just on my car and not in my car.

It was cold, so I went back inside and tried to distract myself. But my main source of distraction, aka my phone, wasn’t really an option to me. And I could not access any of the music I would normally use to help myself relax when my anxiety is acting up.

I finally found a place in my apartment where I got good reception... by the sliding glass door that over looks the backyard where one tree had already uprooted itself and where more trees could easily come crashing down.

Anxiety is being amazing at this point. I’m sure you can tell.

Especially when on top of the trees cracking... I got the beautiful thunking of ice dropping out of trees as it warmed up. And we’re talking like chunks of ice as big as baseballs!

It was about that time that I heard a crack that was too close for comfort and knew, without a shadow of a doubt that the limb had broken and it was on my car. Two steps out my front door confirmed my fear, but when I tried to go see how bad it was, I heard the cracking of limbs and had to run back to the safety of my apartment as more limbs and ice baseballs dropped.

I was able to text my parents and asked if someone could try and come get me. They live parallel to me across two major roads, so it wouldn’t be a long trip if they could make it a little later once it had warmed up some more.

While I waited, I packed some stuff and tried to read, but it honestly was just too much.

And as annoying and little brother like as my brother-in-law can be, I have never been so happy to see him as I was that day when he and my mom showed up to get me.

By that time, I was flinching at every little noise that seemed to echo through my small apartment. And it was just becoming way too much. Even as I write this, the memory of that morning has me crying because I was too scared to cry on that day.

While he was waiting for me, my brother in law looked at my car and saw that the branches were resting on it, but the car looked ok.

The short drive to my parents house was shocking with the number of trees and power lines that were down. Also shocking was how many trees that didn’t land on houses. We did see a couple of cars smashed by trees though. And street lights were out every where.

I was very happy when we got to my parents house which is bigger than the building with 8 apartments that I live in. Their backyard is full of pine trees and they had lost a lot of limbs and stuff, but with everyone else there, you couldn’t hear the noises that had ramped up my anxiety.

Once I was there, the rest of the day passed relatively easy. I was with my family and that helped calm my anxiety because I knew I was in a safe place. We ordered pizza from a place that still had power. My brother in law built fires my parents fire places and my mom and I played dominos by flashlight. I also got some reading done.

Then I slept in my parents guest room... and the bed isn’t comfortable and the house was probably in the 45F range.

Sunday morning aka Valentine’s Day was warmer than the day before and my mom and I drove to my apartment to see what we could do about the limb on my car... only to find that someone had already pulled it off and chopped it up. We confirmed that my car was ok and the only damage to it was that my $5 license plate frame had been broken and the corner of my license plate was bent.

After that, we drove out to a grocery store that had power for some food, more logs for the fireplace and coffee... that my mom had to stand in line for 20+ mins to get.

When we got back to their house, we found a flurry of activity happening as my parents next door neighbor had rented a giant generator the day before to keep his house going and offered to let us plug some extension cords in so we could charge stuff, use small appliances and use a small heater.

So our Sunday afternoon was spent with our phones plugged in and a small space heater barely keeping us warm. But it was an improvement from the day before.

Then my uncle showed up. He’s been going back and forth between living with his ex girlfriend and living with my parents. With him at my parents house and knowing that my own apartment was still above 50F and therefore warmer than my parents house, I opted to sleep in my own bed that night.

So after getting pizza for dinner again (🤢) my mom dropped me off at my apartment for a cool night.

I started in my living room knowing that my back wouldn’t like 10+ hours in my bed and I actually got some light from a lamp by plugging it into my computer’s battery backup, which really did raise my spirits a bit.

But eventually I ended up in my room with the door closed, knowing I’d be able to lock in more heat that way. And it did work... but it was still a long night.

Because of no power and the fact that I’ve been working from home since March 2020, I told my boss I was taking the day off. At that time, the power company still still quoting power back on Monday. For me, they were even saying early Monday.

But my apartment was still cold and dark when I woke up. Which meant I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and then took my laundry out to the laundromat by my mom’s office that had power and heat.

So I took care of my laundry and then was going to head back to my parents, until I decided to see if Office Depot had any sales going on with laptops. And I ended up driving across town to buy one in case I needed to find some place to work other than my apartment for a couple days.

After that, I went to my parents house and watched a movie with my niece while power crews worked outside. I was still hoping they’d be able to get the power and internet back up so I wouldn’t have to drive to work Tuesday, but it wasn’t looking good.

By 5:30, I knew even if the power did some how come back on, I was still going to be without internet, so I left my parents and went to the grocery store for things to make a lunch that didn’t require a fridge since I still didn’t have that. And they were operating on their backup generators and actually stopped letting people into the store as I was checking out.

That evening, I played on my new laptop a bit and chatted with friends since my cell network was almost back up to speed, but I was in bed when the power came back on around 10 pm. And you sure as hell know I got out of bed and turned on every light switch just because I could!

I slept much better than night and did end up going into the office the next day for a partial day, but when I got home I had internet again.

For me and my family, we were without power for some 56 hours or so. But we had family friends and coworkers who went a good 10 days without power.

We don’t get storms like this and we were not prepared for it to be as bad as it was.

But the biggest take away for me is now necessarily how dependent I am on technology to entertain me... but for how to help me get through a rough situation.

Other than seeing a few members of my family once a week, I’ve been relatively on my own for the last year. And it’s been my “pocket friends” that have been my saving grace, my connection with the outside world. They’re the people that I turn to when I’m having a problem. And I was almost completely cut off from them for two whole days.

Add to that the rain storms and other anxiety reducing sounds that I’ve come to depend on. With the networks down, I couldn’t access any of those coping tools either.

My anxiety was the worst that Saturday morning than it has been in a long time. But by Monday evening, I was so tired emotionally and physically that I was just a mess. The roller coaster of the unknown was the worst part. You could make plans... but without power, there were things you just couldn’t do.

All in all, it was a once in a life time experience. As in, I don’t want to experience it again. Ever.

I think it will be a long time before a power outage doesn’t trigger anxiety within me. Because this last one was rough.

And now that I’ve relived this all in hopes that it might help me recover a little from what happened, it’s time for me to try and get some sleep. Probably shouldn’t have written this at night.. but oh well.

[opinionsandfeelings]

The Wandering Earth Review

My rating: 4.5/5

Best quote: Let’s light Jupiter up.

Man, what a fantastic film.

Here’s the setup: our sun is expanding and within a hundred years it’s going to swallow the whole solar system. Earth’s global community somehow puts its differences behind them and comes up with a comprehensive plan move, MOVE, the earth from its current orbit to another system. This comes in the form of giant rockets propelling earth from orbit and everyone living in underground cities to compensate the ecological effects of said move. Ambitious AF this movie is.

So we’re introduced to our main characters, the handsome Liu Qi and his sidekick kid sister Han Duoduo. Mm, Liu Qi’s actor, Qu Chuxiao, is beautiful and I hope he’s in many more films. I digress.

Liu Qi is apparently a genius, he seems more like a moody teenage protagonist than anything at the beginning but calls himself a ‘genius’ enough you get the idea it’s probably mentioned for a reason. Kid sister on the other hand is basically there for cute support, I don’t consider that a bad thing since it helps humanize the cast.

Mr. Genius and his sidekick live with their grandpa in underground Beijing since their dad is an important astronaut on the global space station (in this universe there’s a United Global Government but countries still, I think, have some sort of autonomy? Film didn’t get much into that but everyone’s got a state flag on their uniforms). Genius decides to steal his grandpa’s vehicle pass and since kid sister wants to see the earth’s surface she comes with.

Genius is not the best at driving grandpa’s rig but he manages and they head out, kid sister’s amazed by all the ice and snow aaaand then they’re arrested for stealing a rig. They meet Tim in jail, a white chinese native. There’s a reason for this person, he literally does nothing useful but you’ll see why he’s there as they go along.

Grandpa’s called, he comes and gets the kids but in a convenient twist there’s a massive earthquake that breaks open their jail cell. Out of pity/human duty Liu Qi frees Tim and they hustle out of there and back to there rig where grandpa hauls ass back toward home.

At this time time we learn a bit about Liu Qi’s dad who is up in the space station observing all this and also learning that, as they’re passing Jupiter, there’s a very real chance Jupiter’s gravitational pull will drag earth in and bam, we’re all dead. Hey guess what, it’s happening!

Back on earth Team Get-Home-Now is accosted by the military because, for some reason, the grandpa is the best driver they could think of and they need him to deliver a ‘lighter cord’ which is what will relight Beijing’s rocket. When the earthquake happened it knocked out basically majority of the earth’s rockets and that isn’t helping the Jupiter situation. The Military, and all it’s counterparts around the world, are all trying to get these fuses to said rockets ASAP. “Why aren’t they stored right next to each thruster?” is a question I would say you’re not going to get an answer to so, don’t worry about it.

Team Military and Team Get-Home don’t particularly enjoy each other’s company but do their best to get the lighter cord to the nearest rocket. This involves driving rigs through an icy canyon of Shanghai which is definitely not a good idea. They barely make it through but grandpa dies in the process. Liu Qi and Han Duoduo are understandably upset. In grandpa’s final flashback we learn money is evil and he adopted Han Duoduo who was orphaned around the time Shanghai was swallowed by massive tsunamis (see consequences of stopping earth’s orbit).

Up at the space station everyone’s been forced into hibernation to save energy but Liu Qi’s dad thinks something’s wrong and breaks out of his hibernation chamber. The rest of his part basically deals with him battling an out of control space station AI and showing how friendly China and Russia are. Honestly, it works and I wish more propaganda was handled in this fashion. More on that later.

Back on earth Liu Qi and Duoduo (and Tim, yes Tim’s still there) head off on their own because um, Team Military basically helped kill grandpa. They end up tracking down a rig that sent out a distress call and it turns out it was another military team taking their own lighter cord to another rocket. Their rig crashed during the earthquake and only one person survived, the resident genius thankfully. Team Get-Home hop on board and decide to swing back to the military team.

Whoo boy, Team Military had a moment once Team Get-Home left. They’re fighting amongst themselves about the lighter cord and one of them, the girl of course, shoots the lighter cord dead because, in her words, ‘no more deaths’. Aka, she’s certain this cord is doing more damage than not. Everyone’s at their wit’s end about what to do.

Then Liu Qi shows up with a rig, they hash it out and mash into one super team. I’ll call them the Team Danger. Team Danger has to get the last lighter cord to the nearest rocket and now, but, word gets out that the rocket has had a meltdown and the entire city beneath it is gone, as is the rocket. It looks like a volcano. Team Danger doesn’t give up hope yet tho, they just change their destination to the Philippines because there’s a rocket base there that still needs a lighter cord. Cool!

They head there and fuel up at a supply station near Sulewasi (the base in the Philippines) and learn a few things: One, most rockets have already been turned back on (great!) but two, earth is definitely about to crash into Jupiter so hug your loved ones and say goodnight, no one apparently has hope anymore. In this moment there’s a lovely scene with Liu Qi, pissed off, looking up to the sky and seeing Jupiter’s looming presence. He hones in on the planet’s famous ‘eye’, a massive eternal storm, and has his genius moment: if we shoot into Jupiter’s atmosphere we can cause an explosion that will propel us away from Jupiter! I’m not a scientist but the idea sounds alright. I mean, it’s the end of the freaking world, let’s try any and all options.

Team Danger hashes out the logistics: they’ll still head to Sulewasi and use that rocket as their weapon, turn off the rocket to do some manual overrides, shove the lighter cord in and see what happens.

They get to Sulewasi and while everyone else is sad it’s the end of the world Team Danger is rushing in put their plan into motion. Han Duoduo gets on the global broadcast asking for help but nobody is listening, Liu Qi and Tim drive into the rocket’s reactor to deliver the lighter cord, Team Military is using all their manpower to pull the reactor’s ‘pin’ (but failing), and the rest are busy downloading new override commands. Liu Qi can’t get the reactor to open and take the cord, the override commands aren’t working, everything is at a halt. Another earthquake happens causing even more panic.

At a loss Han Duoduo calls the space station and reaches the only person on board not in hibernation—Liu Qi’s dad. She tells him the plan, he tells the United World Government and they’re like “yeah no, we already thought of this plan and it’s not gonna work”. He’s like *sigh*  “it’s the end of the world, we have to try something” and government still won’t budge, but it does say they’ll broadcast Duoduo’s message. So, a tearful Duoduo pleads out to the world for help and wouldn’t you know it, helps finally arrives from all walks of life. See? She is the humanity piece of Team Danger.

Team Military receives help and can pull the pin, Liu Qi manages to unstick the reactor, Tim pulls him out just in time before he’s crushed, and the rest of Team Danger manages to load the override system. Everything’s shoved into motion, the rocket blasts out at Jupiter aaaand….

Is a couple thousand kilometers short of it’s target. So basically they just wasted all that time and effort to shoot at Jupiter and nothing’s happening. Up in the space station Liu Qi’s dad realizes there’s over a hundred thousand tons of fuel on board, detaches the fuel holding part from the rest of the station and dives head in to the storm. He and Liu Qi have a heartfelt conversation and he sacrifices himself for the greater good of humanity.

Surprisingly, this works. The beam from both the rockets and the space station exploding are enough to react with Jupiter’s atmosphere and cause a massive, I mean MASSIVE, explosion that propels a shockwave  back toward earth. Everyone scrambles to hide underground, Liu Qi and his sister (and Tim) don’t quite make it but survive when the blast hits thanks to some handy tools.

Cut to three years later where things are just about the same as the beginning of the movie except Liu Qi is now a real driver, not just a moody kid, his sister is his driving partner, and one of the guys from the Military team is their new third wheel BFF. Tim and everyone else is seen living out their lives both in the underground city and above ground and it looks like we’re going to survive after all. The Wandering Earth plan is repeated and you have hope that maybe, just maybe, after a hundred generations the earth will settle at its new location.

First thought though: pretty sure we’ll run out of fuel before that happens, just from what we see of the rocket at Beijing it’s like they’re mining the majority of the earth around them just to keep it running. If there are thousands of these rockets and they all need that much earth to be powered, my assumption is we’d scrape the earth all the way down to it’s core before actually making it to our destination. Despite that, maybe along the way we’d come up with better ideas along the way?

Second thought: this film is produced, directed, and financed from China/Chinese backed companies. There’s nothing wrong with this, but I just find it interesting since it does it’s own propaganda in very different ways from what you would find in a US-backed project. While it’s very Chinese-centric it still portrays the whole world as working together and in doing so still manages to push a lot of diversity into its background plots. I highly appreciate that.

Beyond that, there’s never a point in the film where a single person carries the entire plot. The story only works with teamwork as its core value, everyone has to pitch in or else the world’s fucked. The only time it comes close to doing so is when Liu Qi’s dad flies into the beam to Jupiter. He only manages to do this however by killing the station’s AI and can only do this with help from his Russian friend on board who died in the process of figuring out what was going on with the hibernation. No one is a single hero, everyone is. That’s propaganda in itself but it’s also true: one single person is not enough to do everything.

Then there’s Tim. Why is Tim in this movie? At first I assumed he was the token white guy to appeal to an abroad audience but you begin to see through the film he serves two purposes: one, yes, to appeal to the abroad audience, but also to further that Teamwork-is-Everything point. He’s totally useless on his own but he never once abandons the team. Furthermore, he does add diversity to the team.

Overall I greatly enjoyed the film. I thought it was very unique and had many actually plausible ideas and concepts in terms of the whole Wandering Earth project. Again, I’m not a scientist but some of the ideas seemed at least reasonable. What did make me sad however is I’m very, very sure none of this would ever happen. No, not the part about the sun expanding and such, that part’s true and it will happen in several million years (very slowly, don’t worry). The sun’s expansion parallels with a lot of issues that surround climate change to explain why earth had to move. What’s unrealistic however, in my opinion, is the fact that the entire world decided to work together to actually pull this project off.

Maybe I’m cynical but you can’t convince me at this point that the human race didn’t just spend over a thousand years grouping themselves off and hating anyone that wasn’t part of their own group , only to suddenly change their minds when faced with the threat of total extinction. Do I wish that would be the case and everyone would set aside their manufactured differences? Hell yes, my hope would be to be proven wrong and see everyone suddenly working together for the race to save our own planet.

But…I mean, we can’t even slow climate change. We’ve known about climate change for over a hundred years and have done, essentially, nothing to curb it. Instead we’ve decided to be in denial and focus more on becoming nationalistic entities that would like to point out our differences more than point out the million more things in common.

So, I very badly wish The Wandering Earth universe existed in our own, maybe not the Wandering part, but the part where people would get along enough for a common cause to do what’s necessary to survive, not just for ourselves but for our planet and the other billions of organisms that live here.

To conclude, again, I loved this film. It made me cry several times and was so worth seeing. It has a lot of fantastical ideas and executes them on screen very well. Would recommend to anyone who likes sci-fi stuff, apocalyptic stuff, or just action/adventure in general.

Also, Qu Chuxiao is pretty handsome. He (and his dad, who’s actor is Wu Jing) are solid hunks. That’s just me though :)

[fanficparker]

My Home (Part 18)

Peter Parker x Reader

Part 18… Y/n Y/ln

Word count: 2.1 k words

Warnings: *MENTIONS OF FLASHBACKS IN ITALICS* Some action, some fantasy stuff, swearing

A/n: Tell me if you want to get added to the TAGLIST of My Home! For more parts see ‘MASTERLIST’ in my profile description! Taglist in the reblogged post. Tell me if you wanna get added :) PS: IF YOU COULD REBLOG IT, THE FIC ISN’T GETTING MUST ATTENTION ON TUMBLR….

Reader’s POV:

"It's a long story." "You tricked me into thinking you were dead. Of course I have time." "I think we gotta keep a check on the third person first", I said pointing at his shoulder as Dorothea stood up, red from anger.

"You go get those people away from here, meanwhile I will try to stop this bitch!" I pointed Peter towards the people stuck in the cafe as I moved forward to face Dorothea.

When I first came to Earth, I thought that school was my biggest enemy, then being treated as a personal secretary to Liz. My fosters were like my arch nemesis. Me unable to keep my room tidy was another big problem... And now we are all stuck with this evil bitchy witch!...

Like a flame thrower, she directed flames towards me and I directed high-speed wind on her, making the flames turn towards her. She winced as the flame touched her skin.

"How are you using powers without the ring?!" She yelled, touching her lightly burned skin. I giggled lightly.

"The ring isn't designed to give powers, it's designed to store them!" I said simply as she glanced over the rings she was wearing in question. I took it as an opportunity to attack her with another strong wave of water, and therefore I summoned large waves of water, splashing it at her, making her a mess again.

*** When I was thrown deep down in the Atlantic Ocean in that compartment, I thought I would die. But when I woke up and saw the compartment was already damaged, I was completely dry! First I couldn't understand what was happening, I thought I was a ghost or it was a dream, until I realized I was surrounded in a ring of water. It took me at least half an hour to figure out, that I was the one controlling the ocean water. I clenched my fists trying to bring water closer to me and the waves danced in my control. I remember, even though I didn't wear the ring earlier, I could control wind and water. The training made me better, not the ring. The ring never made me use the powers, it was me, myself.

"Exactly! That's what it is!" I heard an unfamiliar voice. I tried to see in the direction of that voice but I couldn't. "You can't see me. You can't see someone who is dead," the voice echoed. "Who are you?" I asked. "The man responsible for the death of Atlantis. The person that made humans destroy our beautiful city, the person because of whom, every one of our community was abandoned from Earth." It said. "Kaius? Are you Kaius?" I asked, in disbelief. "Yes. The former king of Atlantis. After my death, my soul could never escape this place, never. And now I know why I was meant to be here, even after my death. I was here to meet you." "Meet me? It's very weird I'm talking to ghosts..., but I’ve seen worst. So carry on!" "I never deserved the rings, never! But I was greedy, I wanted to rule the world. The rings were just like a container in which my brother Enoch, the real owner of the rings stored some of his powers in, just so that we could use them in an emergency, but we actually used them for our greed. He died because he lost hope when Dorothea stole the rings, repeating the history. But as I said, the rings are just five percent of the complete powers and if you could use powers without the ring then you are the only one who could stop her. You are blessed with Enoch's powers. You need to stop her before history repeats itself... or even worse!" He concluded, his voice shrill in the end. "That's too much to take in. How can I---" "You can't waste more time. Just leave!" "King Kaius? Kaius?" And then he didn't answer back and I was left with no choice, but facing Dorothea.***

"Look out!" Peter screamed getting me back to the present, Dorothea was throwing bricks at me. Peter was right, I suck at dodging. There was no way my reflexes will get me out of danger in a matter of seconds. There is just one thing I was capable of doing in such a short period of time - shut my eyes tight, and wait for a severe head injury. And so I did. Something hit me, but it was definitely not bricks or debris... Before I could react, I was pulled through the thing that hit me and that's when common sense hit the darkest parts of my brain - It was web, of course, it was Spiderman's web. And he pulled me till I was in his arms. The crashing sound of bricks falling on the ground made me open my eyes. Being close to him just feels so good.

"Uh! We are in the middle of the fight, so I think... " I heard Peter's voice, realizing I was a little lost in cuddling with him. I cleared my throat in embarrassment pulling apart, but the very next moment I was pushed to the ground by him, the crashing sound of another bundle of debris falling on the ground behind us.

"I think you are even worse in dodging skills than I scored, " he grunted inside the mask, falling on top of me.

"I would have kissed you right now if you weren't wearing a mask!" I didn't realize what I said until he made an 'Uhhh' sound.

"You would---" He said embarrassed and queer. Of course, how can I forget he's Peter Benjamin Parker... He isn't like those heroes who would say, 'Hey Chika, no time for that in the middle of the fight', he's my dumbo, he would definitely say something nervous and cute. And from 'middle of the fight' I realized, we can't stay like this forever. That's when Dorothea threw a flame of fire, like a flame thrower, but this time I was prepared to fight back. I pushed Peter off and blew high-speed stormy wind towards her, extinguishing the fire. I let out a hand, giving Peter support to stand up.

"You think you can win using just that water and air manipulation power and with your boyfriend in an insect costume---"

"Arachnid... "  I cut in Dorothea. And she breathes in a frustrated sigh.

"I have the power of all three rings, of all elements - air, earth, water, fire and even objects. You can't win me. Especially when I use the power of all 3 rings at the same time!" She sounded confident and scary and actually made me feel threatened. Maybe she's right, maybe I can't defeat her when she's in her full power.

"She can defeat you and she will," Peter's voice echoes through the whole scene. I look back at him in disbelief, swallowing a rock forming in my throat. "You will. If you can use those powers without those Gothic rings, then why not all of them? You don't need them. You can," he says, directly addressing me.

She clenched her fists, dramatically bringing her hand out as all three of her rings glowed. Oh god, she's my doom.

"If we die, we die together" I heard Peter's voice, it seems to light up confidence, but I don't want anyone to die, except Dorothea aka. my doom. Repeated falling on the ground had already made me taste my own blood, it's faint taste is still on my tongue.

'I can do this. Just I need to concentrate. Kauis said we don't need rings for powers, it's just 5 percent of the true power. I can do this. Peter fought his own teammates for me, he believes in me, I can't let him down and I won't.' I tell myself, shutting my eyes, straightening my posture, clenching my jaws. 'Concentrate'.

I could already feel her powers around me. She is successfully guiding all her powers towards me. "Concentrate," I screamed on the top of the voice and for the first time I could feel the fire burning inside me. I could feel the power inside me. I can do this. I will do this.

"Yes!" I heard Peter's voice as I flick open my eyes. I was in the air, my fists were on fire, but I wasn't burning. My hair was floating, the debris was surrounding me like a shield, water swirling around me. I bet I was looking like the guy from Dragon Ball Z. She looked even angrier, but she looked frightened too. She was afraid of me. She shook her hands forcefully as she threw a wave of water on me, but the debris blocked it. She got angrier, ready to attack again. But this is my turn. This is my chance and I won't let her take it. With a swift hand movement, I guide all the debris, all of it at once on her, caging her between rocks. But she comes out flying.

"If I could throw that much of debris, I would have smashed you, not created a boundary with it, especially when we both can levitate!" She grins like she's telling me how dumb I am.

"Fine!" I say and shoot flames at her, and she extinguishes it with water. There's no way I could stop her without doing something big, I have to destroy the rings.

Yes, exactly! I have to destroy the rings. There's no point in fighting her, and as the rings would be destroyed her plans would automatically fail.

Change of plans. Concentrate on the rings not her. And so I do. Her hands are now my target and I don't waste another moment to think any further. With my fire manipulation, I set all the 3 rings on fire. And she was screaming with the burning sensation on her fingers.

"If you don't wanna burn yourself just remove the rings," I alarmed. "I... Aaaaaaa..." She was screaming on top of her voice. The metal rim of the rings was already red hot and still on fire and the burning skin of her fingers was already peeling. She fell on her knees, the pain must be unbearable. The pain made her incapable of using the powers any further. I could see Peter analysing my plan. He was standing there, safeguarding any citizens left in this area.

"Just remove it! You will die already!" I warned again. And she finally gave up, she managed to remove the burning rings with her other hand, her fingertips scarlet, due to touching the hot metal and she threw all 3 rings on the ground, still holding her burned hand. She was covered in sweat and tears. I lifted all the 3 rings, in the air. All the 3 of them started glowing immensely. I will destroy them. With all my strength I focused all my power on all the 3 rings.

"Nooooo!" Dorothea screamed as the stones in the rings started to crack and out of the blue, she ran near it. She will kill herself. Before I could even think anything, she was just an inch apart when all the 3 rings burst to release a large amount of energy blinding my vision.

••• "Y/n... Y/n..." I could hear faint voices, amplifying every second. "P-Peter?" I managed to slowly open my eyes as my vision slowly restored. I was lying on Peter's lap. He took a sigh seeing me awake. "You’re alright!" He said hugging me tightly. "Ow oww," I think I had some minor injuries on my body and this bone crushing hug is really painful, so he pulled away. "You did it," he smiled. "We did it!" I smiled back.

I could hear loud sounds of clapping. Peter and I shifted our vision to the citizens surrounding us, expressing gratitude in form of claps. Dorothea was no where to be seen. She must have destroyed herself along with the rings.

That's what feels like to be a hero! But wait, it's over, we won! So I can go back to my planet, to my home!

Leaving Peter behind?

(TBC) Taglist in the reblogged post. Tell me if you wanna get added :)

PS: IF YOU COULD REBLOG IT, THE FIC ISN’T GETTING MUST ATTENTION ON TUMBLR….

[onlytbz]

Casual (Kevin)

You and Kevin have been friends for years, but you two slowly drifted apart as Kevin went on his way to becoming an idol. That one random day, you suddenly hear some voices in your head, and it’s been giving you a headache since.

words: 1628

A/N: this is half serious and half not, WE’LL SEE. i also haven't’ done bullets in awhile, but i might just continue writing narratives bc i feel like i’m being too serious when i do bullet points.

also i’m sorry that i haven’t been posting any writings, and thank you for being patient!

You and kevin have been friends for years, yes

BUT

Kevin left and went on his way to be an idol

You ended up being in a band with a group of people that ended up being your friends

You played guitar

And let’s say you’re tiny

Bc i like tiny people

They’re the reason that you know about this soulmate thing

But you didn’t care

That might explain why you hear random noises

Sometimes screaming at like 3 in the morning

Sometimes it sounds like they’re yelling for their mom

Let’s say you’re fluent in korean

Thanks to family visits to kevin’s place and your bandmates

And let’s be real

You sorta forgot about kevin bc he’s gone for years

So you feel like the voice seems familiar but at the same time it’s not

You know?

You were just practicing one time and your head just

“CAN I GET A HOYAA!?”

You accidentally did a wrong note and it killed everyone’s ears

“ARE YOU GOOD?” your bandmates said

“NO.”

NOW TO KEVIN’S SIDE OF THE STORY

He’s was doing the flower snack thing

He was yelling so much

Whenever he does something, he yells for his mom

You know, the usual

Then he just yelled “CAN I GET A HOYAA!?”

And Hwall just answered

Dude

Then a random “NO.” popped up in his head

AND HE YELLED LIKE HE’S IN PAIN

“KEVIN WHAT THE HECK!?” New yelled

“SOMEONE JUST YELLED IN MY HEAD!”

“HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?”

“I DON’T KNOW, TELEPATHY!?”

It took awhile until he started to work and get ready for the little restaurant

He ended up bobbing his head while no music is playing

Why?

Good question

“Why are you bobbing your head?” juyeon asked while laughing

“Is there no music playing?”

“No?”

“Guess it’s just me.”

He finds out about the soulmate thing after his first fansign after debut and everything makes more sense

But he also things it’s hella weird

A couple months later and you guys have done some performances

Most famous one ends up being ft island’s summer night’s dream

Which is a bop by the way

Highly recommend

Your long note is what EVERYONE LOVES

Even your bandmates make you do it bc of how much they love it

With time went by, your group slowly got popular, mainly for your covers

Whenever you do a busking, everyone’s literally waiting for you guys

Sometimes your fans get their before you do

And they’re really nice that they let you through to get to your spot

Also you’re the only one with a natural hair color bc you don’t want to destroy your scalp

Everyone likes to watch your group tune their instruments

The fact that you guys tune your instruments by ear and that’s amazing

You accidentally sang a note and everyone’s all

“WHOA.”

You’re just sitting there all confused

Little did you know that you’re singing Giddy Up by The Boyz

And that Kevin is in the group

Bc you’re not into kpop and your friends just wanted to do the song

And it fits with the instruments in a way

When you started, everyone was already cheering, even before the first line even started

Little did you know that the group itself was cruising along and ends up hearing a familiar tune

“What is that?” one of the members ask

“It’s a different song, jacob, don’t worry.” another said

Sangyeon of course

Then they see a giant crowd

Like what?

When the first line was sung, they were all shocked bc it was their songs

Like

SOMEONE KNOWS ABOUT US?

THEY LIKE OUR SONGS?

Ok maybe not like that but they would be surprised

Kevin heard it in his head too and he was confused

So they went to check it out

Which startled the fans, but they managed to get to the front and see who it was

They didn’t know you guys

Kevin’s head didn’t even click on who you were

They stayed there until their song ended

Then the bop played

Aka summer night’s dream

They seemed to like the song and the beat and they even clapped with the fans

Your group looked and noticed them and almost had a heart attack

But they kept playing

Bc you gotta continue with the performance until you’re done

You’re not nervous though, bc you didn’t even notice them

You did that long note and kevin just seems shocked

But then he realized it was your voice that’s been in his head

Still didn’t know that it was you though

After you’re done, they all cheered

Of course you hear a mix of voices, but that one voice sticks out to you the most

You just continue waving to your fans

“Y/N, how do you tune by ear?” a fan asked

“Just practice until you can memorize the tuned notes. Took me so long, but it’s worth it.” you smiled.

Kevin immediately dropped his jaw when he heard your name

“Y/N!?”

You looked over to his direction

Where did that come from?

Then you see someone waving his hands in the air

But at the same time how come they haven’t been trampled over

But also your fans are nice, they wouldn’t do that

You were confused on who it was

He ended up smiling at you and YOU INSTANTLY KNEW WHO IT WAS

Now you’re wondering

How did you forget about him?

Oh wait, because of practice

After you cleaned up, you immediately went to him

“HOLY HECK I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN YEARS!”

“SAME WITH YOU!”

“Dude, you left me though.”

“I’M SORRY!”

Then you guys talked non stop

“Also, do you know about the soulmate thing?” kevin suddenly asks

“What.”

“Soulmates.”

“What about them?”

“I think we’re soulmates.”

“Were you the one asking for a ‘hoya’?”

“M-Maybe…”

“Then we are.”

“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?”

“YOU’RE THE ONLY PERSON WHO WOULD LITERALLY DO THAT.”

“You’re not wrong…”

Now let’s skip to the part where you two are actually a thing

Ok so we all know you two are a thing

But you two more act like you’re best friends

You guys play fight

Then you guys would just chill

Cuddles?

Casual

Kisses?

No thanks

Kevin’s too awkward for kisses and so are you

When both of your groups hang out, they’re mainly focused on your instruments

And you two are only interested in chilling together

The only person you trust with your guitar is jacob bc he wouldn’t do anything that will damage it

Honestly, you two look like parents watching over kids

Too many kids

Whenever jacob was done, he would return it to you and you would play some notes

Kevin would touch some of the strings

Sometimes you would hit him because you were afraid that he’s going to break one

“Do you not trust me with your guitar?”

“No.”

“Y/N PLEASE.”

Of course you were only kidding

Both of your groups would ask the same question

“Did you guys kiss yet?”

“No???”

“??????? why haven’t you guys?”

“We don’t want to????”

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH KISSING?”

“IT’S G R O S S”

Honestly you guys are just being kids

You guys even treat kissing on the cheek as if you’re kissing another member

Everyone literally tried to get you two to act like a couple

BUT YOU JUST CAN’T

Insert the moment you kissed him on the cheek

CUE THE HIGH PITCH SCREAMING

HIGH AND LOUD ENOUGH THAT YOUR BANDMATES COVERED THEIR EARS

“SHUT UP YOU GUYS ARE LITERALLY DATING?”

“SHUT UP YOU’RE LITERALLY SINGLE??”

“SHUT UP??????”

Literally when are you guys ever serious about dating

To be real, kevin would probably follow you everywhere

But he knows his limits of course

Why hold hands when he can just cling onto your arm?

Why do just that when he can also hold your hand?

He also seems like the type to go to the arcade but watch you play the games instead

Seeing you happy and excited is the best thing that he had dealt with

When you win something, you’d give it to him

“But you won it?”

“But you didn’t do anything?”

“But you deserve it?”

“But I got it for you?”

“But-”

“Just take it”

“Ok”

To be honest, people wouldn’t even know you guys are dating

They just think you guys are just idol friends

You guys would go on night walks, possibly with a camera to video you both

But also an actual camera bc you love taking pictures

Sometimes kevin will just look at the sky and you would just take a picture

And BOY DOES HE LOOK STUNNING

Kevin would also take selfies on both of your phones

Since he’s the taller one and he purposely makes you look short as hell

That’s when you kill him

After your walk, you would go to the cafe

Those that are somehow still open

He’d call you basic for ordering a simple drink

You’d call him a coffee addict and he wouldn’t be sorry about it

Let’s be real, if beyonce was played in a store, he would start dancing

And you would just leave him

Especially in a store

Whether it’s a grocery store or a mall

He’d just yell your name

And you just raise your hand and in an instant he’s already clinging onto your torso

Like d u d e

He’d buy you lots of gifts and take you anywhere

Or let’s you drag him around places

You guys holding hands will probably be the most romantic thing you guys have done without screaming

Sometimes he kisses the back of your hand aka the only affection that you guys don’t scream at

Just

You guys are hella adorable

[steroidusr]

etrian odyssey III part 1: prologue

holy shit, it's eo3

As if tacitly admitting it, the Senatus ruling over Armoroad have invited explorers to their city. The invitation drew throngs of eager explorers who gathered to traverse the undersea maze. But none of the throngs who came to challenge that maze were strong enough to master it. The impenetrable ruins came to be known as the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, and its legend spread further... You yourself are an explorer who has heard its legend and now sail to Armoroad to investigate. Your only objective: to challenge the Labyrinth and win fame and fortune. Your hour is at hand!

i love that the whole plot of eo games is "explore this, get rich and famous"

so the first place we can go is the explorers guild and-- ok that looks a little glitchy nds emulation is hard

"I'm here to supervise all the explorers who find themselves in our fair burg. Here's a little something I give every new guild for signing up."

the gradient text box looks cool (he also gives us a cross script, a resolve script, and an offense script. i'll get into what those are for later)

"Think hard, because that name may be known someday across the seven seas. It all depends on you."

HELL YEAH

[i held a vote on our guild name and the channel chose “The Troll Slaiyers”, but that’s too long so i went with just “Slaiyers”]

absolutely not but the people have spoken

"Well then, step two is registering explorers in your guild. You'll need to hire a few folks, but it's up to you whether or not you want to become a member too." At the Explorers Guild, you can register explorers and organize your party. Choose your favored classes from the list and form a party of up to five explorers.

you can talk to npcs in town too

"Even experienced warriors get swallowed up by that Labyrinth every day... If you've come here as weekend warriors, I'll be straight with you: hit the beach instead."

we can choose up to five characters to bring along at a time i should add: characters in the front row take more damage from phys attacks and are more likely to be targeted, so it's better to put characters with high defense/vitality there

[and this is the party the channel voted on]

"Oh, but before you go, let me explain one more thing. It’s about the documents I just gave you along with the guild certificate... Smart explorers actually read them carefully. If you don’t feel like it, just throw them away... But if you hope to go all the way in the Labyrinth, you’d be well-served giving them a look."

In this game, powerful abilities called Limit Skills can be used by up to five party members. Limit Skills can be learned by obtaining documents with the skill details written in them. Gather various Limit Skills and use them well to make your time in the Labyrinth easier.

and then we're sent back to the main town screen, only now all the facilities are available to us. we could go to the senatus first like the guildmaster suggested, or we could check out the other places in town...

ONWARD

FIFTH STRATUM

...and then youre immediately kicked back to the town screen. >:(

FINE

"Then you’d best remember this: You stand in an assembly hall of the Senatus, Armoroad’s government. And I am she who wields the Senatus’ authority to manage explorers such as yourselves. This is where so-called explorers’ skills are tested to sort the true warriors from the cowards. If you want to be recognized as true Armoroad explorers, accept the mission I issue you now."

Carry out these missions to gain various rewards and advance the game’s storyline. Select ”Accept mission” from the menu to see the details.

so there are a few things we can do here. "accept mission", like the game said, lets us accept missions from the senatus. "report results" is how we report completed missions

"report discoveries" lets us log monsters we've encountered and item drops we've won from battles. materials we get from gathering points are logged in the item compendium too. "talk" is self-explanatory:

"Just don’t get lost in the assembly hall on your way here!"

anyway, you have to accept the senatus' mission before you can go into the labyrinth, so let's do that

"The guard there will have more details for you. Look to him before you proceed. Ah, but you must have parchment first, eh? Here is the blank map given to explorers. Use it well."

when she said we have to draw our own map, she wasnt kidding--a big part of the game is drawing a map of each floor on the bottom screen (...uh, i guess it's the "right screen" here) floor tiles are filled out automatically, but you have to draw in the walls and other details yourself

NOW we're free to go into the labyrinth ...but we're not going to yet. actually, doing so now would be a really bad idea

......because we still need to buy equipment

"In that case, welcome to Napier’s Firm. We carry all the weapons, armor, and tools you’ll require. Here at our Firm, the customer is God. We’ll spare no expense for those who line our coffers. Though that is conditional on you participating in a transaction. No window shoppers, please."

you start out with 500en (short for "ental"), which is just barely enough to get your party equipped

(i start by buying shuro's sandals for everyone) ...it says theyre made of shuro tree leaf, so i have a feeling the name shouldve just been "shuro sandals", as opposed to implying there's a dude named Shuro or whatever

i also buy an absurdly expensive shield for homare, because she needs a shield to use her tanky skills, and this is the only one available

aaand we're broke

"Skilled explorers have few qualms at parting with their money. Stinginess never saved a life. All things depend upon money. Your finances dictate whether you master Yggdrasil or die penniless. Remember that. So then, what can I get for you?"

alright, everyone's all equipped. we could go into the labyrinth now, but im gonna check out the rest of town first just to get it out of the way

"Not only can you spend the night here, we have doctors to treat your wounds, too! So, is this your first time in Armoroad? Isn’t it awesome? Those clear seas! Those blue skies!"

we're gonna be seeing a lot of this place

"stay" lets us, obviously, stay at the inn. this fully heals the hp/tp of all (alive) party members. it also passes the time a bit, allowing you to stay at the inn until either the next morning or until nightfall

"treatment" lets us revive dead or petrified party members (later games had dead/petrified party members heal automatically when staying at the inn)

"store" lets us put excess items in storage. this can be pretty useful because we have limited inventory space (and multiples of the same kind of item dont stack)

and "save" is, of course, the most important option of all:

anyway, we're not actually gonna stay here, because there's no need to. also we're totally fucking broke, in case anyone forgot i mean, we WILL stay here, eventually. but not right now.

ah, so youve heard about us...

"They call this the ocean city, ’cuz so many people from across the seas wind up here. I bet you’d enjoy taking a walk around town before you go down into the Labyrinth."

good idea! let's do that

"Well, welcomes to you! This is the Butterfly Bistro, and I am the owner here! Once you finish the mission that the old lady gives all the newbies, I can give you work. ...Until the then time, have some drinkings and chattings with the other explorers here!"

this is where you can accept quests, which are sort of like... mini-missions. tbh there wasnt much reason to do these in eo1 and eo2, cuz the rewards werent too great, but in eo3 they give you exp too, so it's worth it to do as many quests as you can

anyway, let's talk to this dude

(bar patrons dont have character portraits, unfortunately)

"I’m Wolfram, a troubadour. I’ve wended my way from the far north all the way to this ocean city. I’ve been here a long time... I may have a few words of advice about challenging that place."

(troubadours were a class in eo1/eo2. theyre bards, basically)

what should we ask him about first?

"Her sobriquet of the Porcelain Princess comes from her pure, white shining skin... Her voice is like music from the harps of the goddesses; radiant enough to tame monsters! But even the goddesses wouldn’t linger in her presence for having to compete with her face... She is Princess Gutrune, a lovely goddess of Armoroad in her own right! Her visage is the stuff dreams are made of... Though, mind you, I’ve never seen her in person. Each successive princess in Armoroad is named Gutrune. I’ll tell you the reason... later."

what should we ask next?

"A free city of clear skies and white clouds, an endless sea, and a vibrant, eclectic culture!

"...But freedom can’t exist without order. This country does have a royal family. Sadly, the modern royal family has been reduced to mere figureheads... Ah, but who then governs Armoroad? The aristocrats of the Senatus, led by a fearsome old crone! Consider her to be the true power behind Armoroad. You’ll most certainly meet her yourselves. There’s more to Armoroad’s royal family than that, but... Let’s leave that for another time, hm?"

the calamity, AKA the backstory

"But around 100 years ago, the center of Armoroad was suddenly swallowed by the ocean! Afterwards, the rippling waters became tidal waves... The gentle breeze gave way to earthquakes. Armoroad’s advanced technology was sunk, which ended diplomatic relations with nearby countries. It’s been a long road to recovery for Armoroad, but even today, it’s nowhere near what it once was... Not since the Calamity. If you ask anyone here, you’ll get nothing but a stony silence. Then again, that’s just because no one knows exactly what went on 100 years ago! It wasn’t all bad, mind you. After the Calamity, a Labyrinth was revealed, drawing explorers here. Though the Senatus had other reasons for gathering explorers... But that tale can wait for now."

I've Had Enough Of This Guy

"...Ah, but I jest, I jest. Come again, explorers, if you wish to hear my stories."

we have better things to do..... such as talking to the barkeep instead

uh... we're... working on it...

"...Ah, you are just heading out? You may want to gather info before you go in there. Oh, by the by the way, what’s the name of your guild? ...Slaiyers? That’s cool! I will make sure to be remembering it. I am hoping to do a lot of business with you, Slaiyers!"

u///u

alright, there's just one last place i want to check out before the FIFTH STRATUM

"You’ll need permission from the Senatus to go on voyages, so you should seek that out first."

...well, that was pointless

time to FINALLY get this show on the road

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

Mumps, Shattenkirk and Lightning sell-off (Puck Daddy Countdown)

(In which Ryan Lambert takes a look at some of the biggest issues and stories in the NHL, and counts them down.)

7 – Crying poor

While it is, let’s say, interesting that the NHL’s revenues are expected to remain flat for what is effectively three straight years now, it’s just sad the extent to which the CHL works against its players.

Just read this whole thing. I understand hockey is a business but, like, pay the players. Literally any amount of money beyond a very small stipend. Like the minimum wage, that would be a good starting point.

But alas:

The Niagara Ice Dogs say they can’t afford to pay players min. wage. Their tax return shows the team leases 4 BMWs, inc. a $121K BMW X6 M. pic.twitter.com/xP7BPgc6D2

— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) February 28, 2017

Wow, cool.

6 – Ottawa in ‘Going For It’ mode

Maybe it’s just me but I really don’t get why Alex Burrows is a guy you give up one of your four or five best prospects for. Burrows has 20 points in 55 games this year, and while he’s well on his way to surpassing last year’s output (22 points in 79) that’s still not very good. Even if he improves on this current pace, which I’m not counting on, the odds that he gets anywhere close to 40 points are slim.

Even beyond the low production numbers — not surprising for a guy in his age-36 season, quite frankly — this is also a guy who hurt the Canucks in possession and had a very, very marginal goals impact. So to give up a well-regarded (albeit not deal-breaking) prospect for him is a little bizarre.

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But then to also say, “And you know what, Alex, we’re gonna sign you for two more years to boot,” is just silly, right?

Are there people defending this deal on any level outside the Ottawa front office?

Now, to be fair, the extension screams, “Please take this guy in the expansion draft,” and that’s something you can say of a lot of recent signings (see also: Tootoo, Jordin; Roszival, Michal). But still, there’s a difference between exposing Roszival or Tootoo, who you don’t care about and have been in the organization for a while, and trading for then re-signing Burrows, who’s old as hell and not very good.

Let’s put it this way: If you’re even thinking of pushing in your chips soon, and you start by giving away that kind of a prospect for a guy like Alex Burrows, you’re gonna have to sign the deed to the rink over to the Avalanche if you still want Duchene or Landeskog.

And that Stalberg-for-a-third trade? Well, that’s fine I guess. Doesn’t make much difference one way or another, except to say that’s one extra third you can’t trade for something that’s actually gonna help you win a playoff round.

Stalberg and Burrows are your opening volleys here? Good luck with that.

5 – Reviewing your options

Antoine Vermette slashed an official. That can’t be understated, or said enough. This isn’t art, so we don’t have to take the artist’s intent into consideration.

No matter what he meant to do, like tap a guy on the shin or whatever other excuse, the video evidence is looks bad enough that a 10-game suspension was frankly warranted. But Vermette’s not a fan, so he’s gonna run this up the ladder as far as it’ll go in hopes of getting Wideman’d. That is, probably not really getting the suspension reduced, but recouping a little of the money he lost.

I think it’s dumb that it’s dragging on like this, but I don’t blame him. Just serve the 10 games and shut up, sure. You slashed a linesman so that’s fine. But why not try to get that cash back if Wideman, who ended an official’s career, did it?

4 – Jonathan Quick is back now

Jonathan Quick has been out so long you kinda almost forgot about it unless you watched a few Kings games and said to yourself, “Wow, they sure are playing Budaj a lot.”

This is another one of those classic Kings seasons. Muddle around in the standings, get solid enough goaltending to make up for the lack of offense, and dominate possession. Getting Quick back helps to ensure it continues, because while Budaj had been very good to this point (.917 ain’t bad at all, baby!) he’s also Peter Budaj so those wheels could fly off at any time.

And while Quick is coming off a long injury — and one to his groin, which is always a worry with a capital-A capital-G Athletic Goalie — he’s still way more likely to deliver .917 for the remainder of the season. And if he’s not, well, there’s always…

3 – The Lightning blow-up

Speaking of the Kings’ goaltending, it’s hard to see Ben Bishop heading there as anything but an insurance policy for Los Angeles (in case Quick can’t get back to his former level or, more worrying, gets hurt again). This is a pure rental. Can’t imagine the Kings will want anything to do with retaining the guy after this season unless Quick’s career is in jeopardy or something. Which, you have to figure they wouldn’t be letting him play right now if it were.

But what the Bishop contract really speaks to is the Lightning’s current and future cap constraints, and the fact that they have (wisely) given up hope that they’ll make the playoffs this season. They basically took very little back (a decent prospect, a late pick, and Budaj) for a guy they could have traded for a lot more nine months or so ago, but hey, they had every reason to think they were Cup-competitive this year. Weird stuff happened, so they aren’t. That’s life.

Then, of course, Brian Boyle got dealt to Toronto for one of the Leafs’ roughly 9 million second-round picks in the last few years, so yeah, things are a little off-kilter if it’s the Bolts selling and the Leafs buying.

Again, it’s a good call for this team to sell. They still have the talent to go on a run and maybe even do some damage in the postseason if things go their way, regardless of Bishop and Boyle being on the roster any more. And if not, maybe they sell a little more as well. They have no reason to have a full-on fire sale, but if you’re getting picks and prospects for guys you weren’t going to keep anyway, that’s just good business. Bless up.

2 – That Shattenkirk trade

Here's the new look for @shattdeuces…Big #NHLTrade pickup for the @Capitals! pic.twitter.com/if3yE4CnRk

— NHL Store NYC (@NHLstoreNYC) February 28, 2017

I’m a little surprised Kevin Shattenkirk went to the Capitals. I’m a little surprised the return was so small. I’m a little surprised no one else could come up with a better offer.

I’m not at all surprised the Capitals are pushing all-in with this roster. Because they were all-in anyway. Of course they were.

A roster with stars this old and expensive — Ovechkin’s 31 and he ain’t gonna hit 50 this year, and that’s about to become a lot more commonplace even though he’s signed for four more seasons after this at almost $9.54 million AAV — that’s also playing this well? If you’re Brian MacLellan this is maybe the last year or two you’re gonna be in a really strong position to win a Cup. You might as well give up what’s gonna be a late-first, a conditional late second, a good prospect and a career AHLer for another top-pairing defenseman (of which the Capitals now have three, which is nice) and a goalie prospect you already had before and very much liked.

Yeah it’s a pure rental, but what the hell? The time to Go For It is now. Now you just gotta hope you don’t pull the Pens in the second round again.

1 – Mumps!!!!!!

Mumps is back and this is the best joke about it anyone’s gonna come up with:

Boudreau, aka quote machine, hopes he doesn't contract the mumps: "I'm already fat enough. I don't need to get lumpy anymore." #mnwild

— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) February 28, 2017

(Not ranked this week: Shock! Amazement! Wonder!

 Shane Doan gets to say, “Man I don’t know about the direction of this team!” And no one said, “Hold on buddy, what are you talking about?”

Like, come on, man.

You play for the Coyotes, right? Have for a little while now? How is this not a thing to which you’ve become accustomed? He just signed a one-year deal this past offseason. He had to know going in this was a team that was going to tank hard. Look what they did in the offseason. Hell, look what they’ve done every offseason forever. 

The Coyotes are very wisely tanking to get actual talent on the roster. The fact that 78-year-old Radim Vrbata leads the team in scoring tells you plenty about the quality of this group. For Doan to be gobsmacked by it tells you he’s either naive or not paying attention. Either way, that’s on him, not John Chayka.

The latter’s just doing his job right. It’s a big change in the desert, I know. Competent governance? They’re not used to that.)

— 

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All statistics via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

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