#now s3-s4 is a different conversation

[lmaowhatt]

"can we please go?" - jj m.

summary: jj, ever the hormonal young adult, cant wait long enough for the two of you to get home from a party at the boneyard.

set: a short time after the pogues return from south america, probably between the 18 month time jump of s3 and s4. however, for my sanity, and some of yours, s4 doesnt exist.

pairing: jj maybank x pogue!reader

warnings: jj begging(?), horny/clingy jj, foreshadowing to sex.

if theres any others feel free to comment them!

main masterlist

the party at the boneyard, which now seemed like an annual occurrence had been in full swing for a couple of hours. the sun had fallen well below the horizon, the moonlight providing just enough light for the inexperienced —now drunk— tourons and some tipsy locals to move around without bumping into one another.

the seven pogues had split up somewhat early into the party. jj was currently hanging around some of his surfer friends, laughing and joking about . pope and cleo relished in their time where the other pogues were distracted to walk along the shore together.

kiara was sat on a log, talking to a random touron girl who you and sarah had both urged her to go talk to, teasing her about always sulking at home, being the last single one of the group. after some reluctance and continuous badgering from you, she agreed.

john b had distanced himself slightly, still rightfully sulking over his fathers passing during their return from south america. sarah had regularly gone to check on him, making sure he was okay before going back to where you stood, continuing the previously halted conversation.

jj glanced around the party, moving to fix the clasp of the flimsy shark tooth necklace that has somehow survived through everything the young adult had been through during the past two-ish years as his eyes landed on you. the boy bit the inside of his cheek as he shamelessly let his eyes wander down your body.

a pink spaghetti strapped top, the hem of which stopped right above your diaphragm, overlayed with a white knitted halter top. a blue ankle length skirt hung low on your waist with a small silver belt serving as a contrast to your gold dangly earrings, a mix of dainty silver and gold necklaces of different lengths hanging around your neck.

jj bit the inside of his cheek, watching your boobs bounce slighty as you laugh along to a joke sarah said, taking a sip of the beer in your grasp. he cleared his throat as he looked down at his feet, dragging a hand through this messy blonde locks, before placing his signature red cap backwards on his head.

"yo jj," one of his friends, jace, slapped the back of his shoulder to grab his attention. "you good?" the boy asked, furrowing his eyebrows as jj looked up from the ground. jj cleared his throat once more, trying to will away the waver he knew would be there as soon as he spoke.

"yeah, uhm. im good man." the blonde nodded, dapping jace up and waving a lazy hand to the others near him, "im gonna go, hit me up this weekend." jj spoke, fixing his shorts and rolling his shoulders back, weaving through the crowd as he made his way towards you.

you stumbled forward slightly as jj wrapped his arms around your shoulders, cradling his head down and placing a soft kiss on your cheek. "hi mama," he mumbled below your ear, raising his eyebrows at sarah as a form of greeting.

you placed a hand on his forearm, holding it as you rolled your eyes playfully at sarah. "hi baby. you okay?" you asked, smiling at sarah as she excused herself to 'find john b.' you sighed, leaning back ever so slightly as jj began peppering soft kisses onto your neck and along your collarbone.

"can we go home?" he muttered in between kisses. you laughed softly, turning to face him as his lips detached from your soft skin. jjs eyes naturally wandered to your chest, which was more accentuated as it pressed against his.

you snapped your fingers near his face, "eyes up here, maybank." you smiled as his eyes eventually flickered up to yours, his arms loosely wrapping around your waist. he let out a soft whine, "please baby? this.." he huffed out a heavy breath, forcing his eyes to stay locked on yours. "this outfit.. definitely one of your best. can we please go?" he asked with pleading eyes.

you tilted your head with a smirk playing at your lips, "but the party only started a while ago, you dont have friends to catch up with?" you asked, wrapping your arms around his neck and watching as he bit the inside of his cheek softly in thought.

he eventually shook his head. the boy didnt have a valid reason whatsoever, he just wanted to spend some 'quality time' with you, away from the others of course. "they can wait. this cant baby." he said, motioning towards them, then towards you and him with his finger.

you sighed as you looked around at the party. sure, you were having fun after going through weeks, if not months of hell with the entire el dorado situation, and the entire 'being hunted for weeks' situation.

you looked back at jj, whos eyes hadn't moved from your features. with a soft sigh, you silently agreed, taking a hold of his hand and leading him to the twinkie which was parked on the side of the street. jj moved to wrap his arms around your shoulders as you walked the both of you to the twinkie. "i love you much, yknow that?" he whispered into your ear.

just as you went to talk, he interrupted once more. "not for this. trust me, its a perk alright, but i love you for you." he kissed your neck softly. "i love you for how you treat me," he sucked lightly. "i love you for how you treat our friends like family." he swiped his tongue over the small bruise.

"i just love you."

a/n: this is my first ever fic on tumblr so pls be nice. or dont 😭

[biancasaidstfu]

YOUR FAVORITE ANON HERE

I've been thinking of the recently released pap pics and the circulation they are making from DM to E! News to People Magazine and every gossip site in between. And I have THOUGHTS...

First thing to remember: Nicola has always told us to pay attention and listen to the story SHE IS TELLING YOU and not the one you read on gossip sites.

Back in August, Nicola attended the music festival on Sunday, August 18th. We did not see any papped pics of her and JD until one week later on Sunday, August 25th when the Irish Sun published an online article. I believe that the pap company may have reached out to try and sell the pics to Nic's team first and and when they would not pay the (typically) exorbitant fee, they may have negotiated for the company to not allow them to be released until 8/25. This was the day before the Kate Spade release which would help bury the pictures. It also gave Nic an opportunity on Thursday, August 22nd to update her insta grid with the "it's all yours" post for Luke. This is a subtle nod to fans that HER STORY includes Luke.

Here we are now. I am of the belief that these pictures were taken in late September (pre-NYC). I think someone may have been following Nic and JD with an agenda to obtain these pictures for nefarious reasons. The photos were taken and were held for a "rainy day." It is important to note there is an entire faction of the "fandom" actively rooting against Nicola and Luke and going to extreme lengths to collect evidence for this Nicola and JD narrative. On Wednesday, October 16th, Nicola's TIME article was released online and included an entire paragraph about Luke including a line about people wanting them to get married. This took the internet by storm and I can only assume angered those with the opposing narrative. So they have the photos released. Again, I'm sure the photos were attempted to be shopped to her team and they once again declined with the caveat of one week til release. The next four days include a media blitz on the internet. Interviews and clips from the S3 World Tour are re-released along with never been seen footage. Interviewers were conversing with fans about the chemistry and love between Nicola and Luke. This all culminated on Monday, October 21st when Nicola surprised everyone with a selfie of her and Luke. I do NOT believe this was the "S4 Polin Selfie" - this was purely just a spur of the moment selfie between two people in love. And I believe this was a repeat of her "it's all yours" situation from August and she was telling everyone that HER STORY IS LUKE. Tuesday, October 22nd ends with Nicola posting a random story about a "paper moon" which can also be used to describe a fake relationship or situation - an ominous warning to all fans involved.

Once the pictures were dropped by Deuxmoi on Wednesday, October 23rd, tags on Nicola's instagram were actively being deleted. The night ended with 10 pictures from the pap drop remaining in her tagged section and more of them were deleted the following day. By end of the day on Thursday 10/24, the "date night" pics were spread to all the major gossip sites including E! News, Entertainment Tonight, and People Magazine. All of these sources cited the pictures as being taken on different dates: Monday 10/22, Tuesday 10/23, the week of 10/15 - the true mark of a sketchy situation.

I want to end this by acknowledging that I know the fandom is frustrated and upset but I think it's important to not feel "duped" by Nicola. I do not believe she was involved in what occurred with these pictures. She was purely walking home with her FRIEND and they may have been a little closer but I think that can be chalked up to him helping her and covering her through the scary situation - imagine if you were walking home one night and got ambushed by cameras on a side street! Her team did work on the front end with the media push of the old clips and she posted a pic with Luke for everyone. At this point, they're just letting her name be out there and living up to the old adage of "no press is bad press." I PROMISE YOU that this is not a PR situation that they will not be able to get out of. There will be a plan in place and she will get through this.

And from this point on, it IS important to remember the following: PAY ATTENTION TO THE STORY NICOLA IS TELLING YOU AND NOT THE STORY THAT DEUXMOI AND THE GOSSIP SITES ARE TELLING YOU. And if you feel the need to spiral, it might be time to take some time off away from social media because none of this affects any of us personally. We just want Nicola and Luke to be happy and healthy!

My favorite anon never misses.

Make you sure you all study this.

I WILL be testing you on this later.

[doodles-bi-tea]

radio ga ga

Mickey’s a bit of a fanboy. Paparazzi is too.

pairing: lt. mickey “fanboy” garcia x fellow wso reader [second person, no y/n – callsign: paparazzi]

warnings: probably inaccurate pilot/in-sky jargon, profanity, alcohol consumption, no beta / real editing, ambiguous ending…

word count: 1,974

a/n: I thought my overly-top-gun-obsessed days were long behind me (in the days of 2022/2023) but one of my two film classes said “NO! go back to hyperfixating on lewis pullman and danny ramirez in the midst of your james mcavoy obsession.” and here we are, folks.

[good god I went through a whole tizzy trying to figure out what exactly I wanted the reader’s callsign to be. “paparazzi?” no, that’s plural! “paparazzo?” grammatically correct, but solely masculine. “paparazza?” feminine-aligning in the native language but not everyone is solely feminine (myself included). I gave up and just went with the grammatically incorrect “paparazzi” because then it doesn’t have to be a gender thing – I already have enough trouble figuring out what gender I am, I don’t need this to send me down another rabbit hole. ... ANYWAY that was my little rant about the callsign. I have a whole list, because, let’s face it: are you really a top gun fan if you’ve never thought about what your own callsign might be?]

4/14/25 update: UM as of posting this, this was actually started a really long time ago and I kinda gave up on the ending so either it’s bittersweet and ends here or I can write a part two if anyone really wants it lmao… but i’m back to obsessing over romance games and mythic quest again so that’s a thing! I literally just finished my s1-s3 rewatch and started s4 right before I saw jessie ennis' story about how it got cancelled bro 💔💔

˚⋆࿔༄ᯓ ✈︎

ᯓ ✈︎｡༘⭒

“Comms check. This is Paparazzi, filling in for Harvard, behind Yale. Yale, Fanboy, Payback, do you copy? Over.”

“Payback here, I can hear you loud and clear. Over.”

“Yale reporting for duty. Over.”

There’s a pause.

[paparazzi] “Fanboy, do you copy?”

[fanboy] “No, Paparazzi, I do not copy.”

[paparazzi] “Payback, tell Fanboy to check his comms.”

[fanboy] “Checking ‘em right now.”

[payback] “Fanboy, you can’t hear us?”

[fanboy] “Nope.”

Another pause.

[paparazzi] “He’s fucking with us, isn’t he?”

[payback] “...Yeah.”

You turn your head to the left to look at Payback and Fanboy’s F/A-18, flying parallel to your and Yale’s own aircraft. He’s already looking back at you.

“Sorry, Paparazzi. The opportunity was too good to pass up.” Fanboy’s laugh crackles over the radio as you flip him the bird.

˚⋆࿔༄ᯓ ✈︎

ᯓ ✈︎｡༘⭒

“What a gentleman.” You scoff, knocking your knuckles on the back of Mickey’s blue-streaked helmet.

He clearly wasn’t expecting it from the way his neck gives way at the contact. You two walk side by side on the tarmac after the exercise with Reuben [Payback] and Logan [Yale].

“I hadn’t realized this conversation was suddenly about Bob.” He chuckles, before trying to knock your own helmet out of your hands by smacking it.

Your grip falters slightly but instead moves the helmet to rest against the side of your stomach furthest from Mickey.

“My tone would be different if it were actually about Bob. Not that I expect you to know the difference between jokes and seriousness.”

“I do, too! You play too much.” He says dismissively, as if actually offended at your comment.

˚⋆࿔༄ᯓ ✈︎

ᯓ ✈︎｡༘⭒

“I play too much? Are you hearing yourself right now?” You laugh incredulously into your mask.

Fanboy’s F-35 flies somewhere slightly behind yours. You, Bob, Halo, and he are engaged in a pretty routine individual speed drill. Being WSO’s, you don’t get as much flying time as your respective partners, but still need the practice just as much.

“No, actually, I can’t. It’s pretty hard, since, we’re, you know, in planes right now?”

You roll your eyes behind your tinted visor – not like he can see it anyway.

“Break right!” Bob’s voice rings clear over the radio.

You see him, at the front of the line, start to turn, soon followed by Halo, who flies directly in front of you. Your gloved hands move along the plane’s controls to follow the two of them.

“Leaving me on heard? Real cool of you, Pap.”

Beneath your mask, your lips press themselves into a thin line. You bite your tongue for the time being, knowing you all need to finish the drill on time or Mav (and Hangman) would be on your asses about it. Fanboy’s taunts can wait.

“Break left!” Bob instructs. “We need to speed up a little, guys. Increase after the turn.”

All four of you follow suit. Turning left, then pushing the thrusters. Pulling G’s makes your body ache a little, your head feel like it’s under a weighted blanket (not in a good way!), and your stomach turn ever-so-slightly. Your mind goes blank, thoughts drowned out by the engines’ rumbling.

“Mark!” Halo calls, breaking you out of your trance. “We got two minutes, forty-seven seconds. Better than last time.”

The four of you slow and align into a horizontal line rather than a vertical one, now flying side by side.

“Good run, guys.” Bob says into the radio.

You can’t see his face, but you can tell he’s smiling when he says it.

˚⋆࿔༄ᯓ ✈︎

ᯓ ✈︎｡༘⭒

You’re packing up your duffel bag in the common room, waving goodbye to Cassie [Halo] as she leaves, when Mickey exits the mens’ lockers and enters the room. You try ignoring him at first, but he initiates conversation regardless.

“What happened up there, Pap? Did pulling G’s fog your brain up so much you couldn’t come up with a decent response?” He sets his own bag down on the pool table as he folds one of his shirts.

“Stop saying ‘Pap’ like it’s a good nickname.”

“Doesn’t mean anything bad.”

“It sounds like a… fuckin’ pap smear or something.”

“That…” He tucks the shirt into his bag. “Oh.”

You roll your eyes for the “who-knows-how-many”-th time of the day and harshly zip your bag closed. The heels of your shoes resounded muffled clicks on the carpet as you went to leave.

“Hey, wait, I, uh, I know I’ve been particularly annoying today,” Mickey stutters over his words as he throws his bag over his shoulder and runs to catch up. “But do you wanna go to The Hard Deck?”

“So you’re aware of it?” You scoff, continuing to walk towards the door – click clack, click clack.

He chuckles sheepishly, now walking at your side. “Maybe a little. But really, you wanna come with me?”

“And why should I?”

“Because… Uh…”

You hum hesitantly. He hums eagerly back. There’s a moment of silence before he breaks.

“I’ll pay?”

The footfalls finally stop as you both reach the door.

˚⋆࿔༄ᯓ ✈︎

ᯓ ✈︎｡༘⭒

And that’s how you end up four beers deep at The Hard Deck, sitting across from Mickey at a small table on the outside patio overlooking the beach. The sun’s gone down a long time ago, the brisk, salty air is chilling the tips of your nose and fingertips, and your beer bottles are empty. You and Mickey sit in a quiet, slightly-drunk stupor together. Looking at the ocean together only furthers the warm feeling that pools in your stomach from all the alcohol.

“I’m gonna go pay now, be right back,” Mickey’s words slur together slightly as he stands up and takes his wallet out of his pocket.

You hum in acknowledgement and slump down, arms folded over the table and head resting on top. The door opens, then shuts, as you hear Mickey go inside. The cold air prompts you to close your eyes – for just a second. Or, at least, what feels like a second.

When you open them, you’re met with Mickey’s curious and playful gaze. His face is still relatively far away from yours but you make eye contact because he’s leaned down to look at you. It’s almost as if you’ve grazed hands or held onto an embrace for too long. He smiles, in a surprisingly meek fashion, before gently nudging your arm.

“Wake up, soñolienta.” [“Wake up, sleepy.”]

You hum, before sitting up. The beer bottles are all cleared from the table and the bar is mostly empty, like the patio had always been. Penny stands behind the bar, wiping the counter. Jimmy sits across from a young man at a table on the side, talking while drying now-clean glasses. A few random customers are dispersed around the edges of the room but whatever party had been in the room earlier was clearly over.

“Thanks, Mick.”

“No problem,” he responds softly before going back to sit down in his chair on the opposite side of the table.

There’s a comfortable pause.

You rest your chin on your hands. “You’re actually kinda nice when you choose to stop being so damn annoying.”

“You too.”

You both laugh, another bout of warm silence – contrasting the chill of the sea air – following soon after. Your eyes lazily trace the surroundings. Where the sky meets the sea; Where the sea meets the sand; Where the sand meets the patio. The sand bleeds onto the sun-bleached wood. The patio meets the rest of the building, its sliding-glass doors, and the warm-toned LED globe lights that are suspended on the overhang (you and Bob had gotten into a pretty interesting conversation about lights with Penny, the two of you eventually convincing her to buy LEDs instead of using the old incandescent bulbs she previously used). The few speakers that are attached to the underside of the roof’s overhang play some random radio station. The tune doesn’t sound familiar, until the first song ends and a new one starts.

“Hey, I like this song,” You mumble absentmindedly.

Mickey perks up upon your mention of the music – he pauses to listen with you.

“Is this Djo?”

A surprised smile sneaks its way onto your lips.

“You know Djo?”

“Duh,” He teases. “Who doesn’t?”

“I’m just surprised. I don’t know what kind of music you listen to, besides the stuff you post on your Instagram stories,” You chuckle. “Which is mostly rap or really random hype music.” [shoutout to the danny ramirez instagram follower gang, his stories make me giggle bc he’s just such a boy and always posting about the miami canes and random selfies and stuff – I feel like a lot of danny’s personality bleeds into his characters (joaquin torres especially) so I tied this in with mickey…]

“I gotta keep up appearances, you know? Can’t be posting random pop and alt when people want the manly…” He motions around aimlessly with his hands while he looks for the words. “Hype stuff. I don’t know.”

“Sounds to me like you just don’t want to admit you have any semblance of decent music taste.”

“That is not true.”

“You’re a dork.”

“Says you, dork.”

“I can tell a lot of thought went into that. Great comeback.”

“Too bad you couldn’t come up with one when we were in the air.” He raises his eyebrows and cocks his head slightly in your direction with a toothy grin.

“Whatever. Just let me enjoy the radio in peace.”

Another eye roll added to the count. And yet, you can’t help the slight upturn of your lips as you look away in an attempt to seem aloof – key word being ‘attempt;’ it doesn’t work.

“I actually really like ‘Go for It,’” Mickey suddenly says.

His admission is another pleasant surprise.

“Damn, maybe you are a real fan.”

“It’s all in the name, sweetheart.”

You try to ignore the way your heart leaps into your throat at the nickname, a slightly flustered scoff working its way past your lips. The beer still sits in your stomach, but instead of providing warmth, it now feels stagnant. You glance over at Mickey as he checks his phone for a moment.

Was he always this cute? Or is it just the way he stands out against the night sky under the yellowing light? The way the outer edges of his eyes are threatening to press together as a content smile sits on his closed lips? It could just be the fact that his mouth is closed, for all you know. You don’t know, but it’s making you rethink everything. It’s… not a great feeling.

He must notice your smile drop as you space out, staring blankly in his direction, because he turns his phone off and looks back at you.

“You okay, Pap?”

Shaken from your daze, your jaw goes slack for a moment before you press your lips together and turn away. Your ears barely register the nickname.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, just… thinking.”

Mickey quirks an eyebrow. “About what?”

“You.” Is what you want to say.

The name of the song he mentioned seems to mock you. ‘Go for It?’ Yeah, right. You’d settle for biting your tongue instead of dying of embarrassment right here on the beach.

“Just work stuff,” You shrug it off – it’s technically not a lie if you’re thinking about your co-worker.

Mickey hums in understanding. “I get that. I feel like work follows me off-base, home, more often than I’d like.”

You glance back at him now. His face is to the ocean, so you only see his side profile, similar to when he was on his phone. Any semblance of the smile he usually wears is completely gone. His sobriety is… sobering, to say the least. It’s not often he drops the jokester persona. It almost tugs at your heartstrings a little bit.

“You wanna talk about it?” You tread lightly.

Mickey pauses. “Nah, it’s okay. Just tired right now, I think. Just… ‘work stuff.’”

You both chuckle halfheartedly at that. The sea air grows stale as the silence grows.

“I should, uh, get home,” He suddenly clears his throat and throws his hoodie on.

A sense of panic arises in you as he finishes tugging the grey material down his torso. Say something or let him leave.

Say something? Or let him leave?

[miwiheroes]

Hi welcome to miwiheroes <3

MY BYLER ESSAY

*australian accent* 'Ello this is Eli, president of miwiheroes club and I realised I never made an intro post, also this is a little masterpost where you can find all the analysis/ byler rambling posts without having to scrolls through my account :D

I'm 19 years old

At university for psychology

he/him

I may look like an aggressively straight man but no one knows i'm actually hyperfixated on shipping two queer guys from a sci-fi netflix show

I'm a capricorn, infp, bisexual and trans ftm

my hyperfixations right now include byler, the elder scrolls (oblivion), link click, aot, the magnus archives and dan & phil <3

i'm from england

my spotify is 'figflower' and: Here are my byler playlists!!

i never used to write analysis on film but thx byler tumblr because i've been missing out

if you were wondering, my favourite characters from stranger things are (in this order): will, mike, hopper and el <3 okay see ya

MY ANALYSES:

(i will update these as i make them. my more massive analyses are highlighted in blue)

ANALYSES I'M MOST PROUD OF:

El's arc of her desire for a normal childhood - "Pretty"

Mike displaces his anger at himself onto others

A little ST5 theory

This theoretical model of relationships + ST couples

Mike and Will and El cannot be replaced by a different gender - they are tied to a queer narrative

All my Airport Scene Analyses

Blue and Yellow theory is completely canon

Will is not getting a new love interest in S5

Season 3 ending scene full analysis

Mike and the theme of promises

OTHER:

We have been heterobaited far more than queerbaited

Insane Loverslakegate proof

Mike's treatment of El's powers vs. Will's powers

The difference between Byler's interruption trope and Mileven's

Common Romantic Tropes used with Byler

The D&D Substitute scene is Mike questioning his sexuality

Byler + Reciprocal Looks of Love

The existence of a Love Triangle proves Byler endgame

The Painting Lie is Chekhov's Gun

'The Will Voice' isn't a thing Bylers made up

The original S3 ending script reveals inner thoughts

Mike's lack of attraction to women other than El

Purposeful blocking analysis

Purposeful music choices and music titles

Will's understanding of Mike makes the audience root for Byler

Mike has to be wrong about needing to love El

Elmike breakup vs Byler fight contrast

Phonegate canon or not canon? analysis

Mike's bedroom detailed analysis

How Mike treats El's letters vs. Will's art

Mike's conversation with El in the grocery store is queer coded

Byler parallels with other canon ships

Answering a mileven ask part 2: electric boogaloo

Answering a mileven ask part 1

Mike's self-sabotaging avoidance to incriminate himself

Silly queer coding jokes

The M&M Scene

Will's 'I'm not gonna fall in love' is a bigger proof than you think

Confirmation that Mike jumping into the quarry was about Will

Milkvan's conflict, Byler, and the concept of understanding

Byler and the insane amount of Closet Imagery

Season 1 Mike is extremely queer-coded

What if Mike's gay from the beginning of S5 like Will in S4?

You're not delusional: What I noticed when I wasn't a byler

Thinking about the monologue…

Mike is clearly thinking about Will in the Snow Ball scene

Light is symbolic for truth = byler endgame

MY FICS:

My AO3 Account: miwiheroes

vibrant days (caution to the breeze) - 15,204 words

Mike and Will's relationship has been secret for 2 months. Neither of them want to bring it up, but things build and build until it becomes more of a burden than just a little mutual understanding. Will's growing up (and getting drunk) and it's impossible for Mike to stay in the same place forever, with words always on the tip of his tongue.

aka mike and will are hiding their relationship and avoid talking about hard subjects

is my timing that flawed? - 14,621 words

In the aftermath of a harrowing escape from the Upside Down, Mike and Will grapple with physical and emotional wounds. Faced with Will's new plan and doubt of what's real and what's not, Mike must confront reality and something that he had never been able to truly control.

aka wound cleaning fic + a devastating cliffhanger + Will not knowing what's real and what's not

it's rotten work (not to me. not if it's you) - 15,919 words

Ten years after everything, and Will hasn't been able to shake a debilitating fear of anything medical-related. So when the only option and smart thing to do is get a blood test from the hospital, Mike is sure to take the time to be there for him.

aka will needs a blood test but has a phobia of needles and mike takes time off work to support him

what you really want - 46,456 words

aka a s5 speculatory mike wheeler-centric fic about his internalised homophobia and a lot of moments where he's not so clever about his feelings with will

our hearts were singing - 13,724 words (dnf)

aka karen invites mike and will over for christmas, but mike still hasn't told his whole family about his relationship, even after a year of them definitely not-so-platonically living together. maybe it's time.

you can't help but become the sun - 16,267 words

aka mike offers to be will's reference, they talk about mike's self-esteem issues, and more shenanigans with paint ensue

stay with me a while - 9,515 words

aka mike confessed to will to save the world, but will wasn't conscious enough to say it back. when he wakes the next morning, they have a lot to talk about.

life used to be so hard - 5,697 words (incomplete)

A collection of drabbles and short one-shots that tell a non-chronological story about Mike and Will's life after the UD. Stay tuned to put the pieces together and figure out a full story <3 Further explanation is in the notes of the first instalment.

the boy with the thorn in his side - 53,566 words

aka mike figures out his sexuality in the worst way possible, but as always, will is there to help. in more ways than one.

how could i be blind to it? - 16,082 words

aka holly's missing, and her friends are determined to find her and bring her home. one person in her friend group in particular is more passionate than the others about finding her, and soon mike finds out why that is. and why he felt so different about will to his other friends when he was a kid.

answers you seek will never be found at home - 12,325 words (incomplete)

aka mike begs will to escape their small town after too many run-ins with homophobic small-town bs. he knows will's meant to find himself elsewhere, but he never expects to find an answer to the age-old question of his own fate. prom, gay bars, sleazy hotels, train stations, two lesbians and their not-so-legal marriage - they aren't the traditional sources of wisdom, but he can't complain.

MY BYLER EDIT COMP ON YOUTUBE

Have fun! And if you don't ship byler ur allowed to interact but if you want to hate on it, please don't interact! I'll just delete any hate because I personally think there is no space for homophobia or negativity on my page.

You'll also find 0 byler doubt here. I don't want to worry people. So ily <3

[higuysetc]

Genuine question- not to clown on milkvans or anything but how do you ship Mike and El AND like their characters???

Like Mike is not good for El. That’s been shown time and time again. Their relationship is mostly built on shared trauma, codependency and both of their obsessions with being normal (see El watching an insane amount if soaps and romcoms in isolation and Mike paralleling his parents every chance he gets when he’s with her).

I genuinely don’t understand it. Other than the surface level teenage boy fantasy of supernatural chick gets with nerd or the idea that El deserves a boyfriend (a boyfriend who loves her, but we’ll get to that), I just don’t get it. El’s entire arc is about coming into her own and not needing no man (Hopper, Brenner, Mike) and Mike turns into such a dick (Ted behaviour) whenever he’s with her- he’s trying too hard to reflect the romantic dynamics that he sees in his parents. And Mike’s arc is about being a leader, protector and he desperately wants someone to need him. Which is exactly what El doesn’t need right now.

Their needs are so different that they can’t even communicate verbally, unlike for example Jopper and Jancy who really don’t need to say the most important things out loud and understand each other anyways. The entire S4 California love triangle plot highlighted how incompatible they are??? The superhero thing, the fact that Mike couldn’t say I love you until she was dying and even then had to be pushed by Will, El slamming the door on him because she knows he lied (S3 parallel)???

I could talk about the Stancy parallels or Byler but those are whole separate conversations. I genuinely would love to hear a mileven’s take on this. I really don’t see how they would work narratively and feel like they’re only cute because of the boy-meets-girl and the trauma bonding thing (which also isn’t necessarily a good thing). But outside of that ???

This isn’t about the fact that it’s a straight ship (which is one of the stupidest arguments I’ve ever heard by the way???) because they could have written mileven to be beautiful. They could have built it up slowly and not paralleled El and Mike to ET and Elliot or siblings, or have them get together later when El actually understands to an extent what romance even is and not have Mike throw himself at her the moment he becomes hyper aware that she is a girl. They could have had El and Mike get to know each other as people outside of: this lab girl that I found who knows nothing and has superpowers/this boy who saved me when I was at my mist vulnerable. They could have built that up. There was a lot of potential but I think this wasn’t a bad writing decision, I trust that this was deliberate which is why mileven won’t be endgame.

Anyways, if you guys have any mileven contacts who won’t like shoot me on site or something please lmk I genuinely would like to have this discussion. I tried my hardest to keep my anti mileven stance out of this but i wouldn’t be surprised if I failed lol. No hate to anyone who supports the ship, I just really wanna know your reasoning.

[zylian]

Did you know I love time travel au’s! here's one:

imagine just all the zams- like s2 zam of mob, early and late s3 zams like cleanser and empire, the 4 versions TA/castle, eclipse, solarunion & wormhole s4 zams, the 3 pirate, abyss and joker zams

they all get thrown into s6 right infront of paladin zam

he has to deal with 10 past zams wondering how they got there and he freaks the hell out, in turn shoving them into his prismarine base

on the tab list it only shows as one zam so no one notices and paladin zam has to use fear tactics to keep them in his base away from everyone since he has no idea what would happen if they die since the server isn't recognizing them as a player

the pure chaos of 10 zams conversing and figuring out their timelines while paladin zam puts all his plans on pause

the 10 zams are having the time of their lives finding out what their future self did and paladin zam is freaking out cause if he returns them back in time it messes everything up

wormhole zam is the one to tell paladin zam it will be fine cause of different timelines so really nothing is actually corrupted so he calms down

than at the calmest point mapic logs in and a third of the zams screams while the others cheer and paladin zams heart drops cause of course the only person who knows of his base had logged on

paladin zam going through loops attending to the zams never ending questions and accommodations while actively ignoring every other player trying to converse with him

that is until mapic whispers to him about needing help, he drops everything, telling the other zams to stay put and rushes over to mapics coords, only to be greeted by 7 mapics

empire mapic says he can kill bfb now easily with his new army and paladin zam yanking him away to talk about the reality of the situation while TA mapic stares him down

TA mapic is scary and paladin zam wants to leave immediately and not entertaining empire mapics idea in the slightest so they end up arguing a good chunk away from the mapics

due to rising tension, paladin zam may have said a little too loudly about all the other zams being thrown here as well and now the 1 on 1 discussion became 6 on 1 as the other mapics shoved empire mapic to the side asking paladin zam to show them where their timeline zams are

paladin zam instantly hides behind empire mapic as he gets bombarded with questions, empire mapic thinks it would be funny to see TA mapic meet TA & eclipse zams while paladin zam strongly shakes his head

the zams are getting restless, the mapics are too eager to get answers to their questions, empire mapic is not helping paladin zam get to any sound conclusion and the looming possibility of everything going wrong grows stronger with every second

[buddierecs]

mutual pining buddie fics pt2

all explicit rating - 18+ only!!!! make sure to kudos/comment on these amazing works :)

i like you so much (it's kinda gross) by: aficatyourfingerstips, brewrosemilk "eddie is an MMA fighter and buck thirsts on twitter" word count: 10k important tags: celebrity au, social media, texting, sexting breathe out now and we fall back in by: withoutthetiger "set during the summer after 5b, buck and eddie are complete idiots (affectionate) while they pretend to be in love and then realize they haven't been pretending at all. It's just a lot of fake dating, written for the prompt "you could never hurt me." word count: 32k important tags: fake dating, friends to lovers, touching, first dates, first kiss, grinding, hand jobs, blow jobs, anal sex stupid people by: brewrosemilk "new in los angeles, and having recently admitted to himself that he's gay, eddie figures that hiring a sex worker might be a good way to keep his private life cut off from his job and his son. a way to keep things from becoming too complicated. it works. for a while." word count: 160k important tags: different first meetings au, sex worker!evan buckley, friends with benefits, friends to lovers, multimedia, blow jobs, rough sex, praise kink, come slut!evan buckely, light dom!sub, phone sex, riding if i need you to rearrange my particles - i will for you by: dylaesthetics "buck joins a support app for first responders and matches with a firefighter who has ptsd and a kid who likes giraffes, apparently." word count: 45k important tags: secret identity, texting, ptsd, anxiety, panic attacks, sexuality crisis, sexting, masturbation, getting together  to feel the need of your touch by: honestlydarkprincess "the one where buck is touchstarved and desperate for eddie. they fuck but it's also really sweet." word count: 7.5k important tags: light dom/sub, hurt/comfort, oral sex, anal sex, barebacking, evan buckley has a praise kink, dom!eddie diaz, sub!evan buckley, porn with feelings

while we do what lovers do by: withoutthetiger "set during s3/s4, featuring a lot of sex and angst and love and beautiful idiots (affectionate) who could always save themselves some trouble if they had one thoroughly honest conversation." word count: 27k important tags: first with benefits, hurt/comfort, feelings realisation, idiots in love, porn with feelings, hand jobs, blow jobs, rimming, anal sex doin' something unholy by: bekkachaos "eddie makes a tiktok account so he can monitor chris' activity on the app, and he stumbles across buck’s profile. It’s a lot of silly trends, a couple with chris (previously eddie approved), but when he scrolls to the newest video it’s one of those transition thirst traps and oh yeah, eddie’s been sucked in, hard." word count: 7.4k important tags: tik tok, feelings realisation, getting together, masturbation, voyeurism

cause in my head i do everything right / when you call i'll forgive and not fight by: aficatyourfingertips, eddiediazisascorpio "the one where buck and eddie are separated." word count: 31k important tags: married but separated!buddie, different first meeting au, miscommunication, eventual happy ending, angst, anal sex, oral sex, angry sex, mutual masturbation, phone sex

- pt 1 of explicit mutual pining fics - mature rating mutual pining fics - general audience rating mutual pining fics

[cnl0400]

(Trying to make sense in the Simeon human >> demon pipeline. Very Headcsnnon heavy post so be warned)

Simeon steals the Ring of light and gets told off by Michael. Michael enters panic mode because that means Simeon messed up with a human life spawn and he would be punished/banished for this

(Reminder that in the conversation with Michael in S2OG, he mentions how If he would have been more like MC, things would have gone different and he wouldn't have lose Lucifer/his brothers. So in a way, trying to stop Simeon from falling/being punished Is his "second chance" on doing everything right)

The punishment for messing with a human life spawn Is basically being forced to wander through darkness for all eternity (both NB & OG mention different punishments for Lilith, my rule Is that the newer version it's whats considered canon unless stated otherwise), and going against the CR in general Is losing your angel status and become a fallen angel. So Simeon punishment was odd since the start

To stop the whole process of Simeon becoming a fallen angel, Michael turns Simeon into a human. In that way, Simeon doesn't have enough magic to go throught the whole metamorphosis. Also explains why he was defenseless for the whole S4OG

S3 happens and Simeon Is "human" the whole time. Probably in the same way that MC Is human (that they can see that he's not a regular human and has a supernatural origin, but still pretty weak by himself)

Raphael regularly checks on him for the whole S3, he was probably keep in the dark about how bad the situation situation Is, judging by his actitude in L48NB

S4 Happens and Raphael gets into the exchange program, to keep Simeon safe and to inform Michael about whatever changes he may be going through. Luke also says that Michael asks him more about Simeon so it's probably that Simeon being human just was a way to gain more time to fix the whole issue

** The whole Nightbringer/Time traveling arc happens (S1 & S2 of NB), not a lot happened here since the time barely moved in the present

They return to the present, Solomon cast a protective spell on Simeon and that's where everyone starts to see that something Is going on with Simeon. My theory Is that now Simeon has enough magic in himself to "transform"

(Also: Simeon apparently still has hidden power within himself, even after becoming "human" but tbh that's makes everything more confusing. Sry Solomon)

** Something that I found interesing Is that 7 Lessons after L41, this lesson was the one they choose to make reference to the past. Solomon references his time with MC in Cocytus hall. Does this mean something? Probably not. But I'm still on the cracktheory that Simeon & Nightbringer are in this together.

[astridthevalkyrie]

not ship in ck has good writing or good development because the writers are not good with romance or plot consistency - they’re only good at making references to the old movies and the win of the show goes to the ones making the fight choreographies.

but let’s be honest robby/tory happened because they needed a way to go back to sam/miguel without creating a love triangle or drama. the writers wanted the legacy kids dating, got it, then changed their minds about it and needed an easy way out. and tory was right there.

the way samrobby was handled was very unfair considering is canon robby was in love with sam. & sam had genuine feelings for robby. it wasn’t a tory and miguel situation because sam wasn’t using robby as a rebound. they were build on a mutual friendship and interest (miyagi-do) first. the relationship between sam and robby was way different than the one between tory and miguel. and should’ve not been treated as if it was.

but as I said, the writers backed out and needed a reason to further the rivalry’s.

tory/robby S3 arc was a very odd because their only interactions were tory trying to blame the school fight on sam and her privilege “for walking out of it” and while robby did call her out for hurting sam - the writers never gave a damn about sam and her issues & would actually prop tory up when it came to trashing sam. but most of their S3 arc was just her using robby’s hate for the larusso’s to her gain. and i genuinely couldn’t even imagine robby being ok w tory after what she did to sam/larussos in s3.

the writers also never allowed sam and robby to have closure. sam was still emailing robby during juvie that summer but the narrative never brings it up. they wanted you to believe she never cared and was only after miguel’s wellbeing. even when you see sam clearly heartbroken and hurt over what happened with robby, the writers just never allow her that moment. the fact they never got to sit down and talk it out and that robby thought sam never liked him is crazy work. a good writer would’ve given them that closure.

in the start of s4, it was pretty evident robby was still in love with sam. & even in the skating rank where he was trying to be mean you can still tell he was hurt by having to shut her down. the prom fight scene has more levity to sam & robby that it did for tory and miguel who didn’t even talk. robby was shocked to find out that sam was just as heartbroken by him and it wasn’t some one way situation. they even had miguel react to their moment. but i guess since tory & robby kissed now that’s over? the fact they were harboring feelings for miguel & sam respectfully is forgotten by the narrative? the writers seem to think a big fight is the end of it all lol it’s funny because tanner himself says he did not like robby on S4 because he thinks he wasn’t acting like himself.

then came S5 and i guess the established couples is all that matters? i do think it’s very unfortunate how the writers fumbled what sam and robby’s relationships could’ve been even as a non-romantic dynamic because mary and tanner arguelly had the most natural chemistry and the fact they didn’t get to have legitimate scenes until S6 Part II feels like the writers just didn’t want any of their potential dynamic to overshadow the “couples” they wanted endgame.

robby vs sam fight at the all valley plus them having a conversation about their relationship should’ve happen and i will forever die on this hill.

yeah that first thing you said right there. not a single canon ship in ck is good. they all have potential but they also all fall flat. and i love samrobby! i just think their relationship and every other relationship with the teens suffers from boy meets girl so boy and girl must like each other because they are boy and girl.

i haaaaaate the narrative that sam was using robby as a rebound. nothing about their relationship suggests that! she pursues him (which is also why it's refreshing compared to the other ships), clearly likes spending time with him, works well with him, cares about him. it's not tory and miguel, where miguel was talking about sam in the same scene he and tory kiss. and sure, i can accept that sam had lingering feelings for miguel that she didn't realize until she saw him again, but that doesn't make her feelings for robby any less real. UGH. anyways.

it's so ooc for robby to be friends with tory. even more ooc of him to be with her. and like i said about keenry before too, robby doesn't get anything out of the relationship, aside maybe from being understood by someone who also comes from a low income home? and it's not enough for me.

it's also crazy that sam is suspended for the school fight at all. the only thing you can say against her there is that she should have tried to leave the school instead of engaging with tory but that's more on the teachers because how the hell did the teacher allow her to leave that classroom 😭 but yeah they never really talk about how unfair it is that she was suspended and i think it's because the show accepts that sam shares the blame for the school fight as canon. which, i'm sorry. she doesn't. tory telling robby about how sam got off scot free and has him wrapped around her finger......yeah okay cobra kai. realistically not even tory should actually believe sam got to "go back to normal."

there's so much they should've talked about during season 4 or after. how sam did not use him as a rebound. how sam had already known about the medal of honor before robby confessed. what robby went through in juvie. what sam went through in school after the fight. her writing him emails and going to his skateboard park every day. him defending her twice while he's actively mad at her. THE YOU BROKE MY HEART TOO LINE ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

and yeah after prom samrobby and toriguel are nonexistent they may as well have never happened. i'm also a firm believer of no gender divisions and sam should've fought robby during the all valley thank you. but at least they get that little conversation in season 5 lmfao. toriguel never speaks to each other again after season 3. which is insane. INSANE! quick note ck writers, people of the opposite gender should not become irrelevant to you just because you're not dating them!

[rinmonsterer]

So happy to have found your blog. QaF is one of my favourite shows. I've watched it for the thousand time last month and started listening to a podcast so the obsession is strong this time (and there is no one to obsess with). I have a new appreciation for S1 and new and improved dislike for S4/5. The only things I liked from those season being: britin cancer arc, ted/brian friendship, ted×blake endgame, some drew/emmet and, I don't know if it's unpopular or not, brian's "I love you" [I think it was needed at some point to have it expressed in words, could have done without justin's sudden obsession with settling down at the old age of 22 lol] and the britin ending. As much as britin is my OTP and I think they are endgame, Justin needed to be on his own, to be himself away from Brian. They do work because of their age difference, but that also means that Brian has lived his life before Justin while Justin doesn't know who he is outside of his relationship with Brian. My HC is that after a year and half, they decide to start working toward being together in NY and a year and half later Brian moves. So a 3 year long distance relationship (they do their own thing, meeting when they can).

Last thing before this word vomit is over: the things that pisses me off the most is that they never develop a relationship between Justin and Emmet and Justin and Ted, it would have given it something more to have him be a part of the gang apart from being Brian's bf (even if it's implied to be the case). I do not get why they decided to make Micheal the friend of all people. Big anti-micheal sentiments from me. I do not think he's the worst in general (even if I personally can't stand him) but he IS the worst in relation to Justin AND Brian, even if I get his narrative function.

Thank you for reading this, I really needed to get it off my chest. Hope you have a nice day👋👋

OH MY GOD Anooonnnniii Are you me? Have you been going through my braincells? Thank you for sharing your feelings! Don't mind me if I share back.

1.

Season 1 is a classic, but I think s2 is becoming my favorite. Loving s3 is too easy!

Season 4 and 5 are heartbreaking because I think something changed in Randy's acting in s4. It's more flat and reserved. And Justin got some insane personality transplants (Pink Posse gave me 3 aneurysms and 2 PTSDs). And it used to be that all these characters had conversations and chemistry, now they have Clunky Dialogue and Interpersonal Dynamics Curated For Plot Development. Like... when Brian and Justin approached Emmett at Woody's in 401 and Brian was like "excuse me, have you seen my friend Emmett? He used to be so fabulous 🥰" -- that was a fucking jumpscare. Brian got possessed somebody bring the hoLY WATER!!!

The Pink Posse dialogue made me cry pink bloody tears. I kept reminding myself: it's okay for them to be so cringe. They're only 20! When I was Cody's age I, too, was an angry edgelord always trying to provoke strangers into a fight because I had no friends to talk to, only I did it on online anime forums instead of assaulting random people on the streets. But like... even 17 y/o Justin was cooler and smarter than thiiiiisssssss.

I love Ted's storylines in season 4. I love his recovery arc, his relationship with Blake the Counselor and Ted and Brian are my brOTP.

I'm currently rewatching season 4 so will hold my angsty thoughts about s5 for later. But i have a lot of resentment and anger over it.

As to the Britin ending - i think I hold all the possible opinions about it and struggling to pick one. On the textual level, it's not really a breakup. And yes, 100% Justin needs to live through his formative years and find out what he actually needs - without staying in Brian's shadow, without the meddling of that "chosen family" because that boy is way too easy to absorb other people's influence. And I love NYC for him, with all the holes in that makeshift plan they got for him. 

But when I watch season 5, it feels like Brian and Justin have been drifting apart and Justin doesn't even like Brian much anymore (and honestly I can see why because cowlip did him dirty). I choose to believe for now that it's all just a feeling I get because of Clunky Dialogue, reading too many Randy interviews, and because of tired acting, but it makes me so angsty that I can't feel the love even when I'm told it's there.

Now:

2. trigger warning: Michael getting cancelled here!

I just tried to write a list of 5 things that Michael did that made me um... not a fan. And honestly, I think just the JR custody battle was sufficient. Y'all can keep him, I don't want him. BTW, on my first watch I was a B/M shipper for like 10 episodes!

You're right - Justin and Michael do not make sense as friends. Michael is terrible when it comes to how he relates to Justin, with like 3 random exceptions. When Justin joined the gang, he instantly clocked Michael as a petulant manchild and idgi how that changed, because Michael hasn't. Michael is not smart enough - neither intellectually nor emotionally - to keep up with Justin and their only conversation topics are Rage and Michael's vintage 1992 edition of The Brian Kinney Operating Manual.

I just don't buy their friendship.

Brian wouldn't be friends with Michael if they met as adults, and neither would Justin if Michael and Brian weren't a package deal. But hey, maybe I'm projecting because I don't know how to be friends with someone if we can't even have a conversation about like, American imperialism, neoliberal commodification of self, or at the very least ADHD and our childhood trauma. Brian and Justin are equals intellectually; Justin and Michael are not, and neither are Brian and Michael. I hate that Michael became such an influence on Justin because it should be the other way around. 

I just rewatched the cancer arc and I am SO ANGRY at Michael for ratting Justin out and at the fact that for Plot Reasons Michael was given this show's singular Emotional Intelligence Stick for 50 seconds and HE had to school JUSTIN of all people, to tell him that Brian was afraid of being seen as less than physically perfect. Biiitch, Justin RAISED that boy for 3 years after you fumbled your custody, don't tell him how to do his job! 

And to add insult to injury: when Michael spilled the beans to Brian, he made it all about himself and then it was Brian having to comfort Michael and kick Justin out. UGHHH I'm gonna stop now before I develop a working hermeneutic theory that Michael is the actual villain of QAF lmao

Anyway. This was very cathartic! Thank you Annonniiiiii, let's scream into the void again and hopefully I won't get cancelled too hard hahaha

[fivewantscoffee]

So, Five x Lila. I need to get this out of my system so I can maybe finally move on:

I don't like the ship.

I don't like the characters together. I find the pairing a baffling one, and I don't like what it does to the show (and characters) either.

First of all, that wasn't Lila. I don't know who it was, but it wasn't the woman we saw off at the end of S3, or even the one we started off S4 with.

It just wasn't her.

You can blame trauma, or six years of being on the move. That's going to change a person, for sure, but this wasn't about giving Lila any character development.

It was about giving Five a love interest.

Because that life? Yeah. I could see it for Five. I could see him deciding to settle down and take life slow, I could see him being sweet and domestic with a partner should he have one. After he's had some time to heal, now that he's finally free of the apocalypse, I could see that for Five.

But Lila? She was unhappy in her marriage, at least partly because the domestic, stay-at-home-mum life has proven to be something that doesn't fulfil her. She wants more out of life, which is why "bookclub" happened, which is why she ended up in the subway with Five in the first place.

And okay. For the sake of argument, let's go with this. Let's say Five x Lila happened so they could cope with their situation. It was survival, like Lila said. If we were going to have to endure this bad, messy plot point anyway, (which we didn't, we really, really didn't), it should at least have been treated with the seriousness it deserves.

Because, Five? The complete, callous lack of remorse on his part? What the fuck was that?

Even if you pick through the crumbs and try to make it make sense, this wasn't a romance. At best it was survival, and coping, and kind of a tragedy all at once. Five shouldn't be picking fights with Diego. He shouldn't be acting like a spurned twenty-something-year-old.

And yeah, characters can be flawed and in the wrong, but why like this? This didn't feel like Five to me. He is brusque and, when looked at it from a certain angle, I can see why some would call him selfish (which I don't necessarily agree with, but that's a different conversation), but under all his layers, he does love his family. To me, that's the core of his character and has been since S1. Everything he's done, he's done to ensure their survival, then when he agreed to give up in S3, he was content to simply die by their sides.

So, you're telling that this Five, the one we've known and followed for three seasons, had a fling with Lila and didn't even feel guilty or conflicted about it? You're telling me loved this woman, yet was willing to keep her from her family, her children?

"Five is selfish" "Five is tired" "Five is finally moving on"

No. Not like that. To me, the Five from previous seasons (S2 specifically, because that's where a lot of it goes wrong) is only "selfish" in that he wants his family to survive and is willing to go to any lengths to achieve that. He's not exactly compassionate about Allison and Viktor having to leave Ray and Sissy behind. And yeah, he leaves Diego in the asylum because he doesn't want him messing with the timeline.

Is he in the wrong for that? Answer this any way you want, but I don't think it matters to Five. Does he want his siblings to be happy? In my opinion, of course he does, but they're not going to be happy if they're dead.

That's not the same as what S4 does. Not by a long shot. Five cares deeply about those he loves, and granted, he is pretty bad at showing it, but he does care.

He nearly worked himself into the grave trying to solve the first two apocalypses, with little regard for his own well-being. When he realised a third apocalypse was happening, he didn't say fuck it and continue his Pennsylvania retirement road trip... he immediately dropped everything to try and fix it.

So how did we get to S4 Five, who got with his brother's wife, found a way home, didn't tell Lila, AND THEN, after he finally gave her the notebook and they went back, he acts like that?

Yeah, no. That's not my Five.

Also, five x lila happening isn't Five moving on. If anything, it's how he copes with the situation they're in. That's just his Delores 2.0.

Anyway, all of this is moot because the fact of the matter is, they chose to make this happen. Five and Lila getting stuck in the subway together for seven years didn't have to happen.

I don't know.

This used to be a show about family. It also used to be a show about the effects of child abuse on this group of siblings. This started to fall to the wayside after S1, but the family aspect of it still remained.

At its core, tua has always been about family, so what was the point of making S4 at all if this is what they were going to give us?

It's not just Five x Lila. They messed this up across the board, with how flippantly the absence of Sloane and Ray was treated, how shallow and surface-level all of the rest was. They gave us some crumbs with Klaus and Allison, but they couldn't even do that without retconning their entire relationship. That's not even mentioning the ending. The Hargreeves all sacrificing themselves in the end could have worked, but this was not the way to do it.

Anyway, this rant is over. S1 Five, you'll always be famous to me.

[coffeegnomee]

Im curious, if you had to make a required reading list or VODs to watch before anyone was added to Lifesteal, what would you put on there? My starting point would be barrier blocks and then I think I’d lose my sense of ideas

oh like for new players? hmmmm. barrier blocks for sure because it breaks down how the server works from the meta. and then some explanation of the cycles by someone, i'm partial to my post but that's pure bias.

but maybe a hot take, but i don't think new members need to watch the past, esp vods. i think it skews their perception of the server.

this is something that i thought about a lot last season looking at minutetech, bc he's been watching lifesteal for a long long time.

but it hit me one day during the joker arc just how insane it is to go from being a viewer to being a player on the server. because you can watch two players interact all day every day and see how lifesteal works,

but that's not YOU there in that conversation. You yourself are going to be different and will affect the story completely differently than anyone else.

you can watch mapicc and zam talk, but take out one of them and they're going to act differently towards you than they act towards each other. it doesn't really matter how they are between each other or any other member, you have to survive for yourself.

and it hit me in the joker arc bc minute had this perception of zam, knowing that he cares about the server and isn't this destructive, but none of that mattered because 1) zam had been changed by s4 and all of s5 up to that point and 2) minute was being a menace Specifically to zam, not dying all season, and now wanting to end the server in peace, which zam was absolutely against.

minute's actions changed how zam approached their relationship, so it didn't matter how much minute knew about the server and about its players, he was going to have to figure it out for himself what to do.

and i think a little (or a lot) of the tension this season is because kab and derap were longtime viewers before joining. they both have a perception on how zam is and acts and it affects how they interact with him, but zam doesn't have any of that same kind of backstory for them so he acts differently than they might expect. this was huge in how derap was pushing zam do things for himself so he wouldn't burnout and go evil like he always does. and kab thinking he was spineless bc all she remembers is eclipse (though her memory for the past is so terrible)

mane was also a long time viewer, but it doesn't feel like he's particularly taking the relational knowledge and putting it to use (at least not yet), but he did have a perception that lifesteal is all about the pvp and he had to learn otherwise. idk who he definitely watched, but it was for sure zam since s2 (when he also took mapicc and zam in a 2v1 and thought he would win but then got obliterated by them which made him realize the lifestealers were better at pvp than he expected) and obviously probably clownpierce and between that you would think it's only fighting. and probably write off zam being zam for why he would take loosing fights, but conclude that that was not being the point of the server.

basically your best teacher for how lifesteal works is logging on and doing things.

but i also might change my mind on this. there's a good number of youtube videos i think would be good for new members to watch, the cleansing and s3 finale, s4 TA prison (and bacon's second channel video on how he got in), leo's s3 finale and the dupe war, honestly spoke's wormhole truth video, subz's repairing s4 spawn after duper war, clown's funhouse. kind of a broad strokes on the exploits used and how, different types of video ideas, and a bit on how teaming and betrayal plays out.

but the lore just lores, you can't understand how it works until you live it.

but as an audience member i got lists and lists of required vods because i think for us it is always good to understand how people interact with each other in the past to understand why they are the way they are now. and we're not actually involved in anything.

[marianasue20]

the wedding episode of the bear s4

so everybody thought that the season will begin with tiff wedding and end with something like a wedding (maybe a celebration at the bear )

but I was shocked when , the wedding episode is likely will be ep number 7 .

so at the end we get tiff wedding .

what we know :

ep7s4 is the longest episode

it was said , that it was written by joanna calo

the wedding is at a beautiful , luxiourious place

there´s gonna be a dinner and dance

the berzatto family is there , jimmy , richie , fak .....

the three important women in carm life are gonna be there: donna , claire , syd

what I truly think about that episode is :

the wedding will happen after the alleyway fight .

syd is still working at the bear , but she and carmy are disconnected

richie will be the one who invites her to the wedding maybe as a support or she may help him in something .

carm doesn´t know about syd coming

richie introduces syd to donna , and we have the conversation .

donna meets carm

carm panic attack for sure

the revelation of who is carmen real peace

carmen and sydney conversation , some strong eye contact between the two .

in ep 7 of s3 we had that line : you look nice , now in ep7 of s4

we may have another famous line .

I feel like we may get emmanuel and carm conversation at the end of ep 7 (or ep8) and the revelation of syd lie when she said that the beef was the favorite spot and every sunday story .

so how I imagine it : carm and syd will leave the wedding earlier , claire will notice that and everybody also , they will walk to her house maybe or her dad´s , and by luck they will find emmanuel , .

carmen will be invited for a drink or something and the lie will be exposed .

orrrrrrrr maybe in ep 8 . what I ´m sure about that the conversation will happen only between emmanuel and carm but sydney is not with them . also claire fight maybe at the end of ep8 or 9 .

the final episode :

I think it will happen at sunday because we know sunday is the day that carmen hates , so I feel tis is gonna be a significant day in his life.

something will happen . I don´t know many possibilities . (fire at the bear , thy found money , they win something ........)

the running scene of carmen (he is going to the restaurent) he is chasing something :

something = michelin star=peace=family=fun and enjoyment=love =sydney adamu

guess who will find coming also : sydney

we gonna have a quiet emotional scene , and answers for :

why carmen doing all that .

why syd lied

why she didn´t tell him about the best dish

sydney positive effect on carm and how her voice and presence calmimg him .

we will have a scene between the two like the end of s1 two tops booths , family style .

the scene will be like the vows of the wedding each one promising the other .

we will get carm saying : I love you with all his heart and sydney also saying it . and the difference between the I love you of claire and sydney one , will be clearrrrrrrrrrr .

maybe a strong hug

the scene will end :

syd and carmy outside the restaurent , the sun rising (new day , new monday , we don´t know what will happen (claire statement about mondays guys) we don´t know if the bear restaurent is saved or no

and the scene end with the two like that :

something like claire and carmen first kiss .

and the scene goes black :

so this is just a general ideas , but I feel something similar will happen , you know they drew too much comparision between claire and syd scene , so I guess they will make it clear this season .

not a problem if the alleyway fight happens after the wedding but I think it´s before (more logical)

claire "big role" : will be about something between sydney and carm .

yeah this is what I have , I´m not expecting a kiss , but I´m expecting a physical touch like a strong hug or the two holding heads .

tell me what do you think ?

are we sharing a similar vision !!!!!

[sweetpastillas]

tom & elliot's role swap video is interesting to me because . what if luther and viktor Did switch some places in s4?

this would likely include [this is an au idea]:

a down-on his-luck luther, shifting through various jobs

in hindsight i just want more depth back for him

in this au, sloane is fully dead via reginald incompletely programming the universe & allison pressing the button early. let's visualize all the flashback montages we should have gotten over their 6 years, and insert in one where he finds her grave.

(this would cut to ben finding this out in a phone call, scowling with a hint of mourning, before turning away to greet more of his crypto buddies)

it says something like "sacrificed her life saving people from the fire of the hotel obsidian [or something heroic]."

he has no picture of her

it's not a timeline where he's fucked up, like the unshaven floorcrying on the moon or s1's furry rave breakdown. he's numb. happy to go to family events, not as stoic as s1, but numb every once in a while

he still picks up ben from prison. hugs him too tight – ben complains once.

he actually squeezes more often in his hugs. death is too real. klaus gets it but still panics for closeness and germs as they meet at the party

viktor, on the other hand, is as neutral as he's always been. happy without his powers, able to take deep breaths dealing with annoying regulars at the bar without rattling all the bottles on his shelves

he's happy to be part of the family – it's not like he has sissy or harlan left. so he answers his calls, sends the niblings pictures of canada wildlife, and is happy to go to every meetup. he's missed only a couple, because distance.

viktor's still the one most pissed about his powers coming back, at least. "i could put us at risk and the end the world again."

it's luther who's even more visibly awkward when allison shows up to grace's 6th. everyone can assume it's because of oblivion, but we the audience can guess it could be about the rumor SA and their complex history

we can take it to the town with keepers and evil santa – viktor and allison could have a different scene, one that acknowledges where they are now

("we've killed each other's children, we've hurt each other, but you asked me to trust you and i did." "i guess i can't ask you to be in my corner then." "show me a good reason to; i know you can" *cue proper alli redemption arc*)

but alli/luther... there's more hurt there because really the show broke their closeness and put a transparent bandaid to pretend it's still there despite s3. they used to be besties with a childhood that turned them into exes and circumstances have changed that into worse

so it's luther who tells her that "we can't be anything else, right now.. i don't think we can even be friends. i'm sorry"

allison and that brilliant thing where emmy raver lampman acts out trying not to cry

take your pick of reasoning – the SA, or he blames her in part along with reg for not programming sloane into the timeline. either because she went with it, or because she pressed the button early

in my au we settle loose ends btw. they talk it out or help each other in battle, as long as they make truce at the end.

we keep the exact scene as from the roleswap video. we also keep the deleted conversation with diego later on.

if we have to actually integrate the cia in any way (bc in this world, five works at an actual deli and spies on the keepers at night) one of them finds various files on them, and sloane too. takes the picture of her to keep it.

i say one of them because a viktor-diego arc would be cool and luther travelling with reg, actually calling the shots better would be interesting.

viktor's the one who both gets an insight into diego's vigilante fighter style, and is also there to let him figure out that change is ok. "the civilian life isnt so bad, here's an anecdote from something i actually liked about being ordinary back in the original s1 timeline."

(have i also said this au is just lila and diego missing the action in their lives but without cheating. they both work 9-5s and are tiredly trying to keep up and this is settled later)

no matter what the picture ends up in luther's hands by the end

it's what luther clutches amidst a proper final battle and ending, hoping to find sloane in the next life

[liminalmemories21]

Is your interstitials series canon divergent now? I was looking bad at the rest of the series and Enzo is obviously very different, and Carlos and TK have already had a conversation about taking in Jonah and Carlos's reaction was very different to in the show.

Looking at it now, it all seems so simple is at this point definitely an AU of the Out of the Woods series.

I wrote it between S3 and S4 and gave TK and Carlos a conversation about kids pre-wedding, and had Enzo makes sensible decisions about his child's guardians in the event of something happening to him.

I got joss'd extremely hard by the writers between seasons 3 and 4, but I liked the story so I left it up as an optional extra.

The rest of the series is still pretty canonical. And I do some very fancy tap-dancing in the S5 story to get the version of Enzo I've had in my head for 150K (and written a fair amount about) to mesh with what canon gave us. @rmd-writes has helped me write my way out of a lot of corners this season.

I'm going to start posting S5 sometime later this week probably. Hope you enjoy!

[quitealotofsodapop]

In most of the aus, there's no need to say that Wukong and Macaque need a very long, long heart to heart conversation a out everything that happened between them and the question of just WHAT they are to each other now, but I feel that goes doubly so in the Slow Boiled Au. Because where it's easy to see, Wukong was mostly in the wrong (although Macaque certainly wasn't entirely innocent) in both Canon LMK and in most of the other aus... in Slow Boiled Au it isn't quite like that. They BOTH hurt each other greatly, Macaque for abandoning Wukong when he had needed him most and attacking him, and Wukong for lashing out while he was under the mountain and killing Macaque during the Journey. They both genuinely hurt each other the most out of anyone else, but at the same time, had it not happened that way, then Yubei wouldn't exist. They wouldn't have what they have NOW if they hadn't had the pain of the past. And that's something they need to talk about, especially if Macaque wants to step up as a parent and be there for Wukong's daughter... and to make it up to Wukong for hurting him and abandoning him to his extremely risky pregnancy alone.

In Slow Boiled Au, it's different because the cards are more stacked in Wukong's favor, because after everything that had happened, Wukong has every right to demand Macaque leave his life and never interact with their cub. Because Yubei isn't really Macaque's despite her appearance and them claiming she is, there is no DNA connection. She is Wukong's and Wukong's alone.

But Wukong also cannot deny the pain and suffering he put his mate through as well as how Macaque's actions had led to Yubei's creation.

I can just imagine Wukong and Macaque laying in their bed one night, tired after the day, and Macaque finally getting the courage to ask Wukong that question

"What are we?"

And Wukong... probably won't have an answer. They never absolved their courtship as mates, but it's so much more complicated now with the pain they put each other through and the cub. And now Macaque is pregnant as well, complicating things even more.

Yuuuup

These two have a whole new chapter of their lives to write, and it kinda scares them?

Wukong and Mac post-S3 are cautiously introducing eachother back into their lives. Its a very slow, careful process. Wukong doesn't want to lose contact with Mac forever, abd he wants Mac to be in his cub's life and vice-versa... but Wukong also harbors some resentment for how Macaque was quick to judge not only his pilgrim brothers but also his new found family. He wants Mac to actually *talk* to him about why he was upset by these people and have Mac give them true apologys before they can move forward.

Macaque on the flip-side, is going through the same crisis of parenthood Wukong had many centuries ago, and is struggling with some deep self-hatred over his rash behavior + genuine doubt if Wukong still feels love for him in his heart. He wants to be there for little Yuebei, and be a good mate to Wukong, but he isn't sure *where* to begin.

Macaque and Wukong share a nest. They care for the baby together. They tend to the island and the smaller monkeys. They go into the city to meet friends. They help MK hone his skills. They're happy to do almost everything together... but they need to sit down and talk before they become comfortable calling eachother "mates" again.

Then S4 happens, forcing both monkey parents to navigate eachothers past memories in order to reunite and save their kid(s).

Thanks for the free couples theraphy Azure! >:)