#ok here are the movies and ships in order. god help me Tumblr posts

[gatogotica]

My favorite horror movie couples, all in one AMV :)

[mizkit]

new blog post: Recent Reads: Starbridge

new blog post on https://mizkit.com/recent-reads-starbridge/

Recent Reads: Starbridge

Recent Reads: Starbridge, AC Crispin (amazon affiliate)

This is one of my favorite books. It’s a first contact story, led by a teenage girl, and I was the same age as the protagonist when I first read it, which probably helped cement its place near and dear to my heart. :)

Mahree Burroughs (I only noticed the nod to Edgar Rice there in this reading!) is a human from an Earth colony, on her way to Earth for the first time to go to college. Their ship, captained by her uncle, picks up a signal that doesn’t seem to be natural, and the adventures of First Contact begin, with culture clash, social expectation, and secrets being kept on both sides escalating to system-wide danger.

The characters are pretty well-realized, all around. From an adult perspective, Mahree is kind of annoying with her concerns about being ‘just ordinary,’ which, well, for one thing, you’re the protagonist of a book, kid, so you’re obviously not that ordinary. But she’s just barely 17, and let’s face it, there’s a lot about 17 year olds that’s annoying, so honestly, I can’t fault the characterization there, and I can assure you it didn’t bother me at all when I was on the edge of 17 myself. :)

Nearly all of it ages surprisingly well: the tech is mostly not described so thoroughly as to be dated, and while the hero’s fascination with 20th century movies is perhaps a stretch, it’s also a nice touchstone for 20th (and 21st) century readers. And also, it’s a thing for that character, not everybody; lots of the other characters think he’s slightly bonkers for liking these old movies. :) Mahree uses ‘cassettes’ to record her memories, but technologically speaking, I’m like “yeah, ok, that works well enough,” even if a modern writer would probably use different tech for a teenager’s daily diary. (And 30 years from now, that would be outdated too!)

What does *not* age well, and which is a problem in at least the second book of the series as well, is that the teen protagonist embarks on a romantic relationship with an adult; in this case the 24 year old medical prodigy Rob Gable, who is very young for his job but is also, undoubtably through his characterization, a grown-up. There was a brief time reading this one where I thought that the years on Mahree’s home world were longer, and so she was perhaps 17 by her calendar but somewhat older by Earth standard, but…unfortunately, no. It’s not a coersive relationship, and in 1989 it didn’t bother me aaaaaat aaalllll, but it’s not 1989 anymore and I now 100% find it squicky.

THAT SAID, one of the things I like (and we get into proper spoiler territory here) is that Mahree is at least able to recognize she’s not in the same place on her journey as Rob is, and later books make it clear that their relationship, which I do actually accept is based in love and admiration, is also…not really terribly successful in a lot of ways. Which doesn’t exactly make up for the squick factor, but it does make their overall arc a little better, from this side of time.

The much stronger, non-romantic relationship in the book is with Mahree’s new alien friend, who casts his lot in with Mahree in order to try to prevent the adults in their lives from making extremely bad mistakes.

There were several scenes that, in this reading, got me choked up. I don’t remember that happening before, but god, I’ve become a moosh, and they were obviously well-written enough to really get me right in the feels. Overall, even with the “augh I wish they hadn’t gone there” aspect of the romantic storyline, the book still really, really works for me as an adventure, a coming of age, and a launch pad for the longer series. I’ll be re-reading the series over the next few months, and I’m almost certain I’ll review the second one independently too, because it’s ALSO one of my favorite books, but IDK yet if I’ll do all of them or if I’ll just lump the later ones together. :)

WE ARE NOT ALONE, AND WE’RE ABOUT TO MEET OUR NEIGHBORS.

After more than a hundred years of space travel, a stray radio signal indicates the possibility that alien life might exist. The crew of the Désirée has no training in interstellar diplomacy and a minor dispute turns to disaster that could escalate into a full scale war.

Can the bond formed between two very different friends be strong enough to bridge their differences and save their people? Come along in this first book in the StarBridge Series in an exciting journey across the stars in a desperate gamble to save both their worlds.

Starbridge, AC Crispin (amazon affiliate) at Amazon!

[letarasstuff]

Unbreakable Bond

(A/N): This is based on this post and this tiktok

Summary: A big age gap between Aaron's children doesn't have to mean that they are unable to form a strong bond

Warnings: Mentions of Haley's death and failed relationships

Wordcount: 1.8k

✨Masterlist✨

_________________________________

His life took turns Aaron never expected. It’s not the “Oh, mh, well that was unexpected”-type of turns, I talk about the “God played Cards Against Humanity with angels and decided to make it happen for someone”-type. But looking back he would not want to change a thing.

After Haley and Beth he was convinced that God, the Universe, something out there shared the opinion that romantic love isn’t the right thing for him and Aaron accepted that fact. Even more when he and Jack went into witness protection. I mean, when you are worried about the life of your family being in danger because of a stalker, you don’t think about the beautiful neighbor, who lives next door, right? Right?

Well, without going into too much detail, Hotch did think about her and she about him and vice versa. Everything went good until Aaron received the message that the team found the stalker and that it was safe to come back. He decided to come clean to his girlfriend. They talked about the possibility of moving back to Quantico.

In the end they decided in favor of the move, the final argument was the surprising announcement of her being pregnant. Hotch wants to raise their youngest where his and Jack’s roots are located. But he decides against taking a position at the BAU, instead taking a desk job in order to be more at home. He also has the opportunity to work from home after little (Y/N) was born and continues to do so until she is old enough to go to Kindergarten. Even then he takes two days the week where he stays home. Aaron learned from his decisions and mistakes he made in the past and wants to live up to them and be a better father and husband than before.

And Hotch keeps it to this day, six years later. It’s (Y/N)’s first day of school, while Jack just graduated high school and goes off to college in a few weeks. Even though they have an age gap from twelve and a half years, their parents are sure there are no other siblings with such a strong bond.

Ever since his baby sister’s birth Jack is her biggest supporter, protector and friend. Her first word was his name, though it was more of a “ACK!”, but that’s the best nickname he ever got. As soon as (Y/N) was old enough to comprehend the concept of movies, he introduced her to Star Wars. Since then lightsaber wars out of cardboard pipes are not uncommon. Last Halloween they even dressed up as Chewbakka and Han Solo. You get three guesses on who was who.

“JACK!” (Y/N) runs into her big brother’s room with an excited expression on her face. “Daddy promised to buy me a real lightsaber after I read ten books! With lights and sounds and all! Isn’t that cool?” Jack smiles. Aaron did a similar thing with him. For a certain amount of books he got a reward they discussed beforehand. This way he felt motivated to read and improved writing and reading skills.

“This is awesome. I think that means we have to go book shopping together, what do you think?” (Y/N) is not only the cool kid that has an older brother, she is also the cool kid, whose older brother has a drivers license, a car and a part time job. She nods with big eyes, speechless, because the offer sounds like heaven to her. Getting books and one on one time with Jack after he was really busy with school for weeks? This has to be heaven.

“Ok, then you put your outside clothes on and I’ll tell Dad about our plan.” At that the little girl rushes to her room, not wanting to waste any more time. Jack makes his way down to the kitchen, where Aaron wipes the table from lunch down.

“Dad, I take (Y/N) to this bookstore in DC and we’ll probably go eat ice cream after that. Is that alright?” Hotch looks up at his son. It still feels like yesterday as he told Haley that Gideon is a big no as a baby name. Now he is all grown up and just a few weeks away from the next big chapter in his life.

“Of course, just let me get my wall-” Jack cuts him off. “No need, I want to use this as a kind of goodbye thing. At least until Thanksgiving.” Aaron knows what he means. It’s his last day before he goes off to college and just a couple more until the first classes begin. The family still hasn’t told their youngest exactly what’s going on. Else she would refuse to go to school and go on with her day, insisting on using all the time they have until Jack drives off.

Two hours later the siblings leave the bookstore, both of them having a bag in their hands. Of course Jack's heavier, but both he and the cashier assured (Y/N) that they lift the same amount of weight.

“Uncle Spence will be excited when I tell him that I read Harry Potter, he told me so many good things about it”, the girl gushes. Jack nods, indicating that he is listening. Of course they also picked books that are not that advanced. Still, no sister of his shall grow up without knowing the beauty of the wizarding world. Also, secretly he is hoping for her to turn out as nerdy as he is so they get more things to talk about. His next step is superheroes, especially the Marvel ones.

They converse until they get to an ice cream parlor and order both their usuals. “Do you think you are ready for me to tell you something important?” The older one asks after they sit down at a table. (Y/N) nods, confusion taking over her face.

“Uhm, you know how I graduated from high school? I’m done with school, but I want to get a degree, but for that I have to go to college. It’s pretty far away so I can’t come home for a few months. But I’m back home when Thanksgiving is and also for Christmas.” It doesn’t matter what Jack says, a sad frown has formed on the little one’s face. “Oh. And after Christmas, will you leave again?” He nods and explains when he is off from college and when not.

“We can always skype and write letters. How does that sound? And when you get your first phone, we can even text.” That (Y/N) lights up a bit. For her first year of school she got a stationary set and is eager to use it to this day.

“I’m going to miss you so much”, she says hugging her big brother. Jack pats her back. “I’ll miss you, too.”

The goodbye the next day is a heartfelt matter. Everybody cries, especially (Y/N). She can’t fathom a scenario where her brother isn’t there for her all the time.

The following weeks are also hard for the family. The youngest refuses to sleep alone for the first three days after Jack’s leave. She is more closed off and mainly just does her school work or reads the books he bought for her. By the time Thanksgiving is only away for another two weeks, (Y/N) has read through all of them at least two times.

Her father already ordered the lightsaber he promised her. Unfortunately shipping takes several months, so the little girl still has to wait patiently for her reward to arrive. In the meantime she works on getting the next and she is already pretty close to the comic book collection she wants.

“Sweetheart, can you set the table, please? Your Mom will be here soon from grocery shopping and she will need help getting them from the car into the house”, Hotch calls for his daughter while stirring in a pot.

The little girl nods, putting her stationary set and pens aside to do as her father asked. She is in the middle of answering her brother’s last letter, telling him that she is now the one that usually has to read aloud for the class because of her advanced skill for a first grader.

Just as she sets the last piece of silverware down the doorbell rings. “Sweetie, can you please open it? This should be your mother.” Happily (Y/N) runs up and turns the door knob. Over the last few months she hit a small growing spurt and is finally tall enough to reach it without standing on her tippy toes.

“Mo-” She nearly chokes on her own saliva. The one at the door is definitely not her mother. “JACK!” (Y/N) runs up to him and jumps onto his leg. “Hey Princess. I thought now that you read your books, we need to hold the most amazing lightsaber fight in history.” With a mischievous smile he pulls two from his back, giving one to his baby sister.

It is the most epic fight in history between an elementary schooler and a college boy. They can only be stopped by their parents announcing that it is a tie between both of them and that they have to sit down, else the food gets cold.

The following weeks mostly consist of (Y/N)’s joyous laughs and cuddling with her big brother. She even insists on him sleeping with her in her much smaller bed. On his last night before going back to college, the little girl turns to him in the middle of watching her favorite movie in the living room.

“Do you promise not to forget me when you are away? Because I alway think about you and tell my friends so much about you. I told them you are a hero, my hero, just like Daddy. They wanna meet you because of that.” Jack has to hold back tears at her statement.

“I also think of you so much. All of my friends at college are pretty jealous of me having such a sweet baby sister. Maybe one time you can visit me and I can introduce you to them.” The thought of that makes (Y/N) smile and is a little consolation to the thought of her brother leaving again.

Aaron watches the interaction going down, happy to see the strong bond between his children, despite their age gap. This is nothing like he and Sean were and that is a relief for him and the worries he had in the beginning. It is a sign that he did do some things right as a father.

Taglist:

All works:

@dindjarinsspouse @big-galaxy-chaos @jswessie187

Criminal Minds:

@averyhotchner @mggsprettygirl @herecomesthewriterwitch @ash19871962 @ellyhotchner

[ishigamisenkuwu]

Wedding Ceremony~ [requested]

 Before the petrification, you and Senku are lovers for 2 years. It started when he confessed to you that caught you off guard. But that confession was planned by Taiju and Yuzuriha your two other best friends. 

 “Y/n, I like you. Will you go out with me?” Senku was practicing while looking at the mirror. He was 10 billion percent nervous that you would reject him and his confession would ruin your friendship. “Come on man! Don’t be scared I’m sure that she likes you back,” Taiju was really trying to cheer him up.

 “Yuzuriha why am I dressed like this?” you asked your best friend and she avoided your gaze. “N-nothing Y/n-chan. I just thought it would really look good on you,” she said and her phone rang. She picked it up and looked at you, “It Taiju-kun. Hello? Oh, y-yes we are on our way t-there.”

 She said then she dragged you to the train station. The four of you agreed to go on a friendly date since it's your summer break and you don’t have anything to do besides trying and inventing new recipes. 

 When the train stopped at your station you walked together with Yuzuriha to the mall since you want to enjoy the summer breeze. You were wearing an off shoulder yellow dress with a floppy black wide-brimmed hat. You were wearing flats that go along with the entire outfit.

 “You look really good on that Y/n-chan. I’m sure Senku would like to see you in that,” she said and you blushed. She knows that you have a crush on the leek haired scientist and you told her to keep it a secret from Taiju because he can be loud and he might tell it to Senku.

 Yuzuriha was busy texting, probably Taiju when you got inside of the mall. “Yuzuriha! Y/n!” you heard Taiju’s loud voice calling for the both of you at your favorite coffee shop. You saw Yuzuriha blushed and you know it is because of the embarrassment. 

 You walked towards them and you looked at what Senku was wearing, it was like he matched your outfit. He was wearing a yellow shirt, white pants, and black shoes. You stared at him in awe and you noticed that Yuzuriha and Taiju were matching too, how cute!

 The four of you ordered your coffee and cakes then chatted for a bit. “Senku what are you up to right now?” you asked him and then took a sip from your frappe. “Nothing much to be honest. Just doing some research and learning with the dude we met in NASA,” he casually said and ate his cake.

 After you ate you made your way to the cinema and picked a horror movie. You sat between Yuzuriha and Senku so every time that there is a jump scare you hide your face on Senku’s shoulder while Taiju and Yuzuriha laugh at your reaction.

 “That’s bullshit we shouldn’t have picked the other one!”

 “C’mon Y/n your reaction was priceless!”

 “Tsk, she kept on hiding her face behind me, you big oaf”

 “You looked cute together earlier,” Yuzuriha blurted out that made you blush and distance yourself away from Senku. You saw a cotton candy stand and you dragged Senku towards it, “Senku buy me some.”

 “Tsk, you shouldn’t have done that Y/n. Just tell me if you want that I’ll give it to you,” he said and you bought it for Taiju and Yuzuriha as well. The four of you when to the park and ate some ice cream. The sun was setting and you felt Senku poking your cheek.

 “Y/n, w-we’re going for now. My mom asked me to buy her doughnuts and I’m bringing Taiju along. Sorry to leave you with Senku! I love you Y/n!” 

 “Senku! You know what to do man! Good luck!”

 “I love you too Yuzuriha-chan!” you said and you looked at Senku with a confused look on your face. “Y/n.. I n-need to tell y-you something im.. important,” Senku said with a shaky voice and avoiding your gaze. “What is it Senku-kun?” you asked and he held your hand while looking deeply in your e/c orbs using his ruby ones.

 “I like you and go out with me,” he bluntly said and you were shocked of course.

You laughed when you remembered how he confessed, he seemed nervous at first but he demanded you to go out with him too. “Why are you laughing Y/n?” he asked and you looked at him. His face didn’t change a bit after 3,700 years he still looks gorgeous as ever.

 “Senku,” you called out for him and he hummed as a response. “I love you so much,” you said and you saw him blush and Ginro saw it too and started to tease him about it. “Look at Senku! He’s blushing when Y/n said I love you to him!” he shouts it out and Chrome joined in to tease him too. You heard Gen, Ukyo, and Ryusui laugh behind you. Gen went beside Senku and nudged his shoulders, “So the mighty and smart Senku blushes eh?”

 Senku only scoffed and continued to do what he was doing. It was near lunchtime so you decided to help Francois to make some food. After preparing food you and Suika called the others to eat.

 Senku planned to create cities all over the world and find what caused the petrification so the both of you doesn’t bond like before that made you upset a little bit but of course you respect Senku and you want him to achieve his goals so you help and support him.

You went to sit beside him and started to eat but an idea popped up on your mind. Teasing and making Senku blush and embarrassed was one of your hobbies when you two are together. You cut a piece of pork, “Senku say ahh.”

 You noticed that everyone around you stopped and watched the both of you and all of you noticed a blush on Senku’s face. “Tsk, what are you doing Y/n? I can eat by myself,” he said and looked at his side. You pouted and sniffed in short you were acting like you are upset, “B-but Senku.. *sniffs* I’ll cry if you not gonna eat this,” you said and Senku looked at you and he was surprised when he saw the tears running down your cheeks. 

 “You brat,” he said then took the piece of pork you cut for him. Senku doesn’t like it when his baby cry. Yup, he calls you baby when you two are alone and away from the others. Ginro, Chrome, and Gen started to tease Senku after the meal and Yuzuriha said you did great and she asked if you could help her to make some clothes.

 “Hey Y/n-chan, if you and Senku will be married one day I’ll be the one to make your dress ok?” she said and you just blushed. You never thought of it especially you’re just 18 and he’s 19 and he is busy as hell to rebuild the civilization from scratch. “You really have an advance mind huh?” you said and then laughed it off. 

 “Stand up y/n please. I’ll take your measurements,” Yuzuriha said and you looked at her confused. “W-well I’m t-trying to attempt uhh you k-know.. To c-create a wedding dress and I want you to b-be the model of it,” she said it fast but stuttering at the same time. You just nodded as a yes and stood up.

 “36 24 36 is your vital statistics eh? That’s like the perfect vital statistics y/n-chan!” she squealed and hugged you. For you, it doesn’t matter as long as you have a full-body you’re fine. “What kind of wedding dress are you even planning to do Yuzuriha?” you asked and she showed you a sketch. “Here! It’s kinda cute isn’t it?” she said and started to do her magic. After four hours the both of you finished and you are wearing the dress the both of you made. 

 It hugged your curves perfectly and it is backless which you like and there are some laces. You noticed that she took out some gloves as well and she put them on you. “This is good! You look really great even without make-up y/n!” she said then you remembered that Senku made some makeup and you asked Suika to grab it for you.

 Yuzuriha called Ruri, Kohaku, Suika, and Francois to help you. You were just going to model it why the heck they made it looked like you are going to get married? After 30 minutes of hell, the girls squealed except for Francois. They said to look in the mirror and you did.

 You look really beautiful and elegant, the girls said you should show it to Senku and the others and you blushed furiously. “It’s embarrassing guys! I’m just gonna model it right? WHY THE HECK ARE YOU WEARING THE SAME DRESSES?!” you asked shocked. They looked like your bridesmaid and Suika is the flower girl. “Aww, how cute y/n. You are going to get married today!” Ruri said and you were confused as heck. Married? You? To whom? Then you remembered Senku. Your blush becomes deep red and you just felt someone covered your eyes and dragged you outside.

 Because the tent where Yuzuriha work is far away from Senku they made the preparations for the wedding ceremony you didn’t noticed it. Senku looked at the rings Chrome and him made, it is made of gold and there is a ruby gem in the center of it. Senku knows how much you talked about how his eyes look like ruby and how much you love them. One of the villagers brought the ruby to him as a thank you gift for curing Ruri which made him plan all of this.

 “I’m his best man you idiots back off!” he heard Ryusui said. He sighed and looked at Taiju, “Come here you big oaf, you’re my best man.” Taiju looked at him teary-eyed and he hugged Senku, “I’m so happy for you Senku! Finally after those years of trying to confess to her you two would get married!” 

 You nervously took slow steps as the girls guide you to God knows where. “Where are we going?” you asked but they seem to ignore you.

 “I can’t believe Senku, why he didn’t propose first?”

 “You know him Kohaku-chan he is not that type of guy.”

 “Yuzuriha you don’t make sense he should’ve proposed first.”

 “Senku-sama needs time too. You know he is planning to revive the 7 billion people around the world, Ruri-sama.”

 “I don’t get you at all but I’m happy to be a flower girl for Senku and Y/n!”

 You just gave up and let them drag and guide you while they were arguing why he didn’t propose.

 The place looks so beautiful with all of the flowers and decorations. The wedding would be held near the Perseus and the reception would be on the ship. Senku was so happy even though he knows that you would complain about why the hell he didn’t propose first. He wanna laugh just by thinking about it. The aisle was covered with the curtains that Yuzuriha made so they wouldn’t see you. 

 You stopped at your tracks and you felt they removed the thing that was covering your eyes. You blinked twice to adjust to the light and you saw flowers everywhere. It looks like some of the decorations for a wedding. 

 “What the hell is this, Yuzuriha?” you asked and she just smiled at you. You saw them lined up and walked to the aisle. 

 Your maid of honor is obviously Yuzuriha. The bridesmaids are Ruri and Kohaku along with the females in the village. Tsukasa, Chrome, Ukyo, Ryusui, Magma, Kinro, and the other males are the groomsmen. Suika is the flower girl while Ginro is the ring bearer. 

In Senku’s mind, everything is perfect, the plan was going smoothly. They heard the violin played by Francois, where the hell did they get that? Simple, Senku and the old man Kaseki made it and Francois was playing Beautiful in White. This is the signal that you are going to walk down the aisle with Gen.

 Gen was wearing a tux that Yuzuriha probably made before. “Let me walk you to Senku dear Y/n,” he said and you wrapped your arm around his arm and you started to walked when they removed the curtains.

 Senku looked at you with tears in his eyes but he wiped them away so no one could see how pathetic he looked. In his mind, you were so beautiful in the wedding gown, the way it hugged your curves perfectly, and how it looked so good on you. Although he can’t really see your face because of the veil he knows how beautiful you look right now.

 You looked at Senku wearing a white tux and you noticed him wipe his tears, you giggled and Gen copied you probably he saw it too. When you were near Senku Gen said something that made you blush and he handed your hand to Senku, “Don’t ever hurt my sister Senku-chan.”

 Yep, you and Gen are siblings not by blood because you were adopted by his parents. You hugged Gen and said thank you to him. You and Senku walked to the priest and the wedding ceremony began. 

 Time skip brought to you by the lazy author and Gen’s Flowers~

 “I now announce you husband and wife! You may now kiss the bride”

  Senku put up your veil and looks at your e/c orbs then he leans forward and kisses your lips softly and you kissed him back. You heard claps from everyone and some wolf whistles and that made you blush. You looked at your ruby ring and Senku. “I can’t believe that we’re married,” you said and Senku just smiled at you. “Well I wanna marry you as soon as possible,” he said and you playfully hit his chest.

 The banquet started and everybody enjoyed the food that Francois made and the booze that the villagers stored at their tents. Meanwhile, you and Senku were in one of the rooms at the Perseus and…

 I’ll leave the rest to your mind reader-chan!

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

  The second request from its chan. Gomenasai minna-san! >///< It’s too long aacckkkkk

[dangermousie]

2020 End of Year Post - kdrama edition

You can find my 2020 cdrama post here: dangermousie.tumblr.com/post/638449659546845184/2020-end-of-year-post-cdrama-edition

This is only going to cover kdramas that aired in 2020; if it originally aired another year, it’s not on this list.

It’s been a pretty lackluster kdrama year. There are probably only 5 kdramas I truly loved and only three of them I was really obsessed over. Better luck in 2021!

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

42 Born Again - so bad, so incoherent, so insane, I have no idea why the leads signed up for it (and unlike some of the other watchers, I think it was awful from the very start.) There is literally nothing about this drama that makes sense.

41 Love with Flaws - a bunch of people who should be tried under the Geneva Convention.

40 Sweet Munchies - Jung Il Woo proves his inability to pick a functional script.

39 Meow the Secret Boy - if you ever wanted to bang a cat, this drama is for you. Not being a furry, however...

38 Do Do Sol Sol La Sol - I lost braincells just typing out this title.

37 When I Was the Most Beautiful - the only way it’s not the dumbest, most pointless melo of 2020 is because Born Again considerately came out the same year.

36 Woman of 9.9 Billion - if you want to watch an artsy French movie about miserable people, but only badly made, boy do I have a drama for you.

35 Lies after Lies - screams after screams.

34 Backstreet Rookie - people were up in arms about various problematic plots. I am a survivor of many plots much more problematic but even I couldn’t survive how utterly boring and annoying this drama was and how utterly irritating the leads were. This has taken Ji Chang Wook off my top favorites into “should I even check his latest Lovestruck in the City? Probably not” territory almost single-handedly (Melt Me helped, to be fair.)

33 Men Are Men - boring is boring.

32 Dinner Mate - two beautiful boring people eat out a lot.

31 Was It Love - no it wasn’t.

30 Alice - Joo Won in the shower can make up for a multitude of sins but not plot nonsense of such magnitude. When you find yourself thinking it would be better if he hooked up with the alternate universe version of his mother because at least then something entertaining would happen, you know it’s bad.

29 More than Friends - started out OK, then made me hate basically everyone and kept going.

28 Start-Up - honestly, it’s probably more decent than its place here, but the toxic and batshit fandom for it (the worst this year) made me feel like breaking out in hives any time it’s even mentioned.

27 The Spies who Loved Me - how to take a good cast and waste it.

26 Private Lives - it was good but it never took off with its concept and spent more time on the incoherent plot than the OTP which was its one strength. It’s a decent drama but coming after Heartless City and My Beautiful Bride from the same writer, it’s a disappointment.

25 Record of Youth - as high as it is due to Park Bo Gum hard carrying this entire awful drama on his shoulders and doing it so well I finished it. Alas, while he is in one drama (and that drama is great), the rest of the characters and the entirety of the script are a pointless useless mess.

24 Do You Like Brahms - excellent first third, mediocre middle, and terrible last third. I don’t know what musical term applies to this? Diminuendo, I think.

23 I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice - nice and mellow but nothing much happens.

22 Forest - mainly for Park Hae Jin’s excellent and frequently naked bod.

21 The Ballot - I didn’t love it as much as everyone did but it was well-made.

20 Hyena - more romance and less weird law stuff would make it better.

19 365 Repeat the Year - surprisingly solid.

18 The Game Towards Zero - see 365.

17 When My Love Blooms - very old fashioned, very lovely.

16 Chocolate - also very old fashioned and very lovely but also with Yoon Kye Sang performing medical procedures bleeding and shirtless. MMM.

15 (tie) Secret Royal Inspector - a fun if run of the mill sageuk.

15 Find Me In Your Memory - best melo this year.

14 Mystic Pop Up Bar - surprisingly good even though I wasn’t planning to check it out.

13 Where Your Eyes Linger - came out of nowhere but was tender and hopeful and lovely.

12 Itaewon Class - Park Seo Joon hard carries a drama that is already excellent. Love it.

11 Psychopath Diary - Yoon Shi Yoon is such a treat in a hilarious, cynical, dark comedy.

10 Kairos - more like ouroboros.

9 Queen Love and War - in a year where sageuks are very rare, this was solid and surprisingly moving and shippy.

8 The King Eternal Monarch - people didn’t like it but I did. It’s no masterpiece and both the leads and the writers have better dramas, but it was a lovely romantic fairy tale for me.

7 Mr. Queen - sharp, hilarious, and some of my favorite actors.

6 Psycho But It’s OK - healing, sharp cinematography and even sharper chemistry.

5 Crash Landing on You - the last ep pissed me off so much this drama is dead to me but I loved it so much until then I can’t place it lower in good conscience.

4 Train - who knew I would go this hard for an OCN drama or that OCN would do romance so well? But this time-travel mystery romance is just incredible and I shipped the OTP and rooted for the characters and loved every last bit of it.

3 Run On - this is the drama Record of Youth wanted to be but failed. Smart and lived in, you feel like you are peeking at real people, but also even four episodes in, I am so invested in the main characters separately and together, and care for them so much, it’s a little frightening.

1 (tie) Tale of the Nine Tailed - my perfect fantasy romance. I liked it better than Goblin, yeah I said it.

1 Flower of Evil - all the tropes I love in one incredible package. I would rewatch episodes waiting for new ones trying to puzzle the story and to stay withdrawal but it works just as well on rewatch. Lee Jun Ki brings his trademark tortured intensity and for once, both his leading lady and his script back him up and are worthy of that. It’s perfect.

FAVORITE DRAMA

It’s a tie between Tale of the Nine Tailed and Flower of Evil but if I had to pick just one, FoE, because it had me seriously obsessed and guessing about the protagonist and gave me the narrative tropes I love so much and an OTP that statisfied all my hurt/comfort kinks and then some.

WORST DRAMA

Born Again - honestly, this is so bonkers it almost becomes good but alas...

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Do Hyun Soo/Baek Hee Sung, Flower of Evil - he is so messed up, so on edge, so traumatized. Yet capable of so much warmth and caring even as he himself doesn’t realize his humanity. FoE is basically a story of a man pushed and punished by the world for his entire life who, because of one woman, finds a safe place and peace and slowly comes to life without realizing it, and watching his desperation to keep this small bit of normalcy is so heartbreaking and exciting all at once. Plus, you start the drama thinking he’s a psychopathic serial killer and end it (if you are me) thinking he must be protected at all costs and if anyone even looks at him wrong they must suffer, and that’s quite a change!

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Nam Ji Ah, Tale of the Nine Tailed - she is so funny and tough and smart and loving and amazing that I will totally buy that a literal demi-god will do anything and everything for her and love her for literal eternity.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Dad in Record of Youth - yes in a year with serial killers and supernatural demons, I picked a normal character from a mediocre drama. It’s his everyday awfulness to his family that hits so hard and I am sad he never got his comeuppance.

FAVORITE SHIP

Ji Ah x Yeon - a fearless reporter and an immortal demi-god who’s been hoping for his human beloved to reincarnate. A really rare set-up where the OTP is equally ride or die, so compatible and completely BAMF. I got why he waited for her for that long and then fell in love with her all over again. Perfection.

Runner up: Flower of Evil - he is so messed up he literally does not believe he is capable of love or empathy, but he falls in love with her anyway and so utterly she permeates his entire life. She is tough as nails and only believes what she sees and is the sole person who believes in him against the world. She loves him but he needs her. She needs him but he loves her. They are amazing.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Seo Dan x Gu Seung Jun, Crash Landing on You, North Korean x Conman were so good I shipped them harder than the main OTP and the end of that storyline pissed me off so much I dumped the drama and didn’t finish it for months (and it’s still dead to me.)

NOTP

Record of Youth - it started out and they didn’t have much chemistry but the dialogues were interesting and I thought the chemistry would grow. It didn’t and deteriorated, their dialogues became boring and relationship had zero development (about as much as the supposed female lead.) I think we were supposed to feel bad they broke up and they were going for a bittersweet open ending, instead I found myself happy about the break up of two incompatible, chemistry-less people and hoping for the love of God they never get back together.

FAVORITE SCENE

Yeon and the bridge of knives, Tale of the Nine Tailed - Yeon choosing to undergo the creeptastic bridge of knives for a chance to save Ji Ah, who at that point he is not aware is the reincarnation of his Joseon love because, as he says, he doesn’t care if she is or isn’t, it just would be more horrible to have her die than to undergo the horrific torture he is undergoing, and then the sequence with his catching her, her weeping over him and the fact that she is the original Joseon girl revealed and all the bandaging and his watching her sleep and all that loveliness, is everything for yours truly.

Runner up: Hyun Soo having that break-down at the cliff at the end of ep 15 of Flower of Evil as Ji Won desperately tries to convince him she is alive and he finally stumbles to her.

Runner runner up (it’s my list, I will do what I want): Do Won preparing to blow his brains out to give a chance to Seo Kyung to live in Train.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Seon-Gyeom, Run On. Yeah, I know. Im Siwan is tiny, delicate featured and has a runner’s build, none of which are things that normally appeal to me. But his character is so odd, so honest, so unflinching in pursuing what he thinks is right, so incapable of self-pity despite plenty of reasons for it, and so ridiculously attractive when he smiles, I don’t even care.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Kim Bum, TotNT - I started out being annoyed by him and ended up looking forward to his scenes and being distraught by his ending.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Honestly, none. I was fine with all the endings. I wouldn’t mind seeing post-end life of Tale of the Nine Tailed characters or the OTP settling into their literal new world in Train, but I am good.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Time jump that solves all the problems off screen or alternatively years pass and everyone is frozen - something that kdramas need to learn and need to learn badly. See Record of Youth, Brahms and Start Up.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Men who are ride or die for their OTP - this was a great year for this - the male leads of four of my five dramas were beyond anything on that scale (only exception is Run On because it’s still too early to tell there.) Yes PLEASE.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

This was a banner year for that what with Start Up, Do You Like Brahms, Record of Youth, and Private Lives all starting out well and nosediving off the cliff but winner is Crash Landing on You. I loved it so much for bulk of its run but the last episode pissed me off so much I deleted all my files and called it a day.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

Flower of Evil - I had no expectations of this drama and wasn’t even planning on watching it despite liking both the lead actors because yet another “look at evil serial killer be evil” drama with no romance was not my thing. Luckily someone convinced me there might be some romance and I peeked curiously. Honestly, their promo campaign was the most misleading and dumbest thing ever.

Runner up Psycho but it’s OK - I have never liked Kim Soo Hyun in anything before and the drama premise seemed WTF but it was shockingly good and KSH totally blew me away.

Hardest Working Lead

Yoon Shi Yoon - he starred in two (!!!) dramas in 2020 playing three characters and not only were both these dramas awesome in a lackluster year, but if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew it was the same actor and the fact that the characters shared a face, I would have never believed that they were played by the same actor. So good!

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

My Beautiful Bride and Deserving of the Name - I was obsessed with both of them and honestly, they were much better than the bulk of 2020 kdramas I watched.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

The Moon That Rises in the Day, Hong Chun Gi, Joseon Exorcist, Island,  Frightening Cohabitation, Snowdrop.

[edourado]

Driving on Clouds

It appears that I can simply no longer write. Thank you, anxiety.

This one was written in December, 2018. I was way too insecure to post anything Sense8, so it just sat there on my files until now.

It's short, but hopefully it will help me kick my writing back into gear.

With much, much love.

(Read it on AO3, if you prefer)

___________________________

When Wolfgang walked through the doors, he knew where to go. The doorman was told he was coming.

“Ah, yes, you’re expected”, he said from behind his station. “Go right ahead, sir. It is the penthouse.”

Yes, he knows.

Kala was not there, he knew that, too.

After Paris, they wanted to be together, and they were, in a way. But he had to go back to Berlin before joining them in Bombay.

Will had told him, and so had Riley. Visiting is great, visiting is essential, visiting is like breathing, but physical presence is unbeatable.

Today, though, of all days, she had to be on blockers.

Lito was a mess, both working on his movie and freaking out about it. Nomi was still wrapped up in her honeymoon, so things could get… Distracting. Sun was fighting a whole war of her own back in Seoul, trying to put order to her father’s company, dealing with her criminal brother, her lawyers, the media, politicians, her new relationship, her dog, her training. It was a lot. Capheus was a little bit in over his head with his campaign, he could get both overwhelmed and overwhelming. Will and Riley had a lot of shit to sort out, back in America and Iceland, but they were the easiest ones to deal with. Still, Will needed Kala’s attention often, that pesky heroin habit was not that easy to kick, his body was still recovering.

But she did have a job to do. And if she really wanted to regulate Rasal’s shipping protocols, she needed to focus. So did Rajan.

She had a meeting in the morning, he had one in the afternoon. Wolfgang's flight from Berlin had arrived sometime during lunch hour, and Rajan did send a car to pick him up, but neither he nor Kala were able to be there.

“Let me know when you get here”, she had told him before she took her blocker, sitting by his side on the plane - first class, thank you Rajan - while finishing her make-up before work. “Text me, or something.”

“Seems absurd”, he mused, admiring her figure in the pencil skirt she was wearing. “Having to text you.”

Kala smiled, turning to him after putting her hair in a high ponytail.

“I know. But I have to focus, this is important. I can’t risk having Lito doing his voice exercises while I’m in the middle of trying to convince the board to change their entire business practices. Capheus also has a meeting, can you imagine the mess?”

Wolfgang sat there, looking at her, wishing this flight would land already.

“Or you”, she went on, softer, and he felt his mouth curving in a smile, knowing what she meant. “Popping in without any clothes on.”

“I wouldn’t do that”, he said, lying, because he would.

“Right.”

She leaned in to kiss him and Will was right. It felt good, kissing her when she was not really there, but he had experienced her in the flesh already. He had kissed her for real, and they visited while doing it, that connection was something addicting.

“Hopefully you’ll be here when I’m done”, she said, leaning back to caress his face, all business again.

“Is that Wolfgang?” Rajan asked, walking into the bedroom, looking for something. “Is his flight on time?”

“Yes, it’s on schedule”, she replied, and Wolfgang watched as her husband walked around looking for something, a little frantic, and Kala asked what he needed, and he said he lost his briefcase, and she suggested he looked in the car, and he walked out again, stressed, talking about too many things to do at once.

Wolfgang had stayed with her until she had to walk in for her meeting, kissing her goodbye while she nodded to her assistant that she would be right there.

“See you in three hours.”

Blocker in, connection dissolved, he spent the rest of his flight alone.

Now, he rode the elevator to the penthouse he had never actually been in, but knew every inch of.

Rajan was in his office when he walked in, on the phone, and Wolfgang didn’t understand the language he spoke - another downside of not having the connection with Kala.

He looked serious when he looked up and saw him. Wolfgang dropped the bag from his shoulder and sat on the chair in front of the desk, frowning while Rajan seemed to argue with the person on the other end of the line.

“Everything ok?” He asked when the man hung up, a sigh escaping him.

Rajan got up, rubbing his hands on his face, and Wolfgang got up, too.

“Fine, yes. This Ajay thing, it’s more difficult than I anticipated. But no matter. How was your flight?”

A lot had happened in Paris. A lot. The hug they shared seemed, at the same time, appropriate and out of place.

“Kala wanted to know when you arrived right away.”

Wolfgang nodded, and explained. “My phone died.”

Rajan walked them to the living room, to pour them a drink before he needed to leave.

“She is still in her meeting, anyway.”

They sat and talked about life, normal things, Felix and Fuchs and Berlin and the kingdoms. Rajan told him what he could about the investigation, his worries and reservations, and shared the part he didn’t burden Kala with, about feeling anxious about their - and especially her - safety.

“If I can help…” Wolfgang offered, not sure if he could, but willing to, anyway. Rajan smiled, not quite cold but not as warm as he normally did. Worried. He looked a bit thinner, and had bags under his eyes.

“Make yourself at home”, he said, getting up to go to work. “You must be very tired. Rest, eat something. She will be here before me.”

Wolfgang nodded and reached his arm out to grab Rajan by the front of his shirt, pulling him down until they were, quite literally, face to face.

Wolfgang understood that this was all very new to Rajan still. Including this level of intimacy with another man - even after Paris. So the kiss he collected was a chaste one. Slow, careful, a touch of lips, nothing more.

Sure enough, Rajan blinked at him when he let him go, but smiled, a bit awkward, but sincere.

“We’ll all have dinner, yes?”

Nodding, Wolfgang let him go and watched as Kala’s husband walked away.

Alone in the apartment, he looked at his watch: one, maybe two hours until she was here.

.:.

The blocker wore off while she was in the car, and she helped Capheus with his tie, updating him on the progress she was making with the company and the shipment policies. She wished him good luck with his own meeting, and then she was alone with her driver again.

“Hello, my wife” Rajan had greeted her when she walked into her office and found him waiting for her. They talked about work for a few minutes, because she didn’t want to immediately ask what she wanted to ask. But he could read it on her face.

“He is here”, he said. “His phone died, that’s why you didn’t get a text message. But he is waiting for you.”

She kissed him before she hurried out, grateful all over again for how incredible he was being about this.

Ganesha had not failed her. Her husband was, truly, a gift.

She felt the water around her when she crossed the threshold. He was swimming, and she should have guessed that was where she was going to find him.

That pool was, after all, for him. Always has been, her decision to get his place more than a little influenced by it.

Still. Seeing him actually here, even if he had visited it so many times before, was incredible.

Kala watched as he did his laps, the afternoon sun glowing against the water.

His wet fingers caressed her arms while she watched him swim, and she took her shoes off before stepping to the edge of the pool, his lips on her face as he swam back to her.

Her skirt soaked quickly when she sat down, her legs in the water, and Kala wanted to sigh in happiness when his hands, his actual hands, touched her calves, fingers running up to her knees and caressing her thighs.

He was here, she could touch him, and she did, but they visited, and that connection ran through them like electricity and honey, alive, a current of presence that threatened to lift her up into the air.

Her fingers in his face were his on her own, running up to his hair, her hair, her fingers, his fingers, his face, hers, they’re here.

They’re here.

Wolfgang pulled her into the pool with him, and she giggled and he smiled, her clothes soaking, neither of them caring.

She was all wrapped around him, finally, she felt she could breathe again,

“I missed you”, she said against his lips while he gently pulled her hair tie off, and Kala was honestly losing track if it was his hand or her hand doing it.

Who cares, at this point.

“Me too”, he said before kissing her, finally, open and soft and hungry and devoted, a few weeks without him and she had been left yearning, even if hardly one night went by without him in her bed - Rajan couldn’t possibly know how many times he was actually kissing him instead of her, no matter how honest she tried to be and how hard she tried to explain.

He removed her clothes and they sat by the edge of the pool, soaked, and they were alone while he explored her and she clung to him in the water, thank goodness. This was their moment, and she wanted it to be just for them.

After lunch, however, they were in bed and he had told her he liked the wind coming in through the window, he was on top of her and she had her legs around him, and then there were four people, two in Bombay and two in Chicago, four people that understood the connection between two sensates in love within their cluster, she felt Riley’s lips and Will’s hands, Wolfgang, Wolfgang, Wolfgang, two places at once, four people, lips on her neck, the echo of a kiss that followed the real thing, his tongue against hers, his hand pressing so hard on her hip, she had missed him so much, Wolfgang, she would never go back, she would never give this up, she would never let go of him, Wolfgang-

Thank God for gravity.

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 309 Spoiler Thoughts: Izuku and Inko Midoriya, and Some More Things Along The Way

The chapter leaks are here again!  Thanks to all the people on Twitter and here on Tumblr for providing us with scans and translations.  This chapter helps explain some things that a lot of us were wondering about.  Sadly, there’s still no Bakugo, or Shoto, or any other UA kids really; they’re only in flashbacks.  But, we do get to see what All Might and the Top 3 Heroes (Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist) are up to, so that’s something.  Anyway, remember to take what I say with a grain of salt until the official translations come out on Sunday:

The chapter starts a few minutes after Deku beat Muscular.  He’s flying through the air taking an unconscious Muscular tied up in his Black Whip.  The other Ketsubusu Academy students from the Lisence Exam see him too.  Thankfully the stubborn civilians from 2 chapters ago are willing to help Yo Shindo recover in exchange for not listening moving to the school shelters.  Also, Shindo’s barely conscious, but he does actually remember Deku.  He’s just not the same Deku as before.  Not much for me to say here except that I wonder if Shindo’s going to help spread the word about Deku’s actions.  Not just to his classmates, but I wonder if the words’ going to get out to the news and UA.  Actually, word might not even get that far since Shindo was only one of the few people in that exam that really even interacted with Deku...

Deku hands Muscular over to the police for them to take care off.  He also makes sure to cover himself up in Smokescreen to hide his identity.  So, Deku really is working in the shadows here.  It is best that the public doesn’t know what Deku is doing so that the LoV don’t track him down.  My man’s really going down the Batman route.  Oh, I also have to admire Deku’s smartphone here kept in this steel case.  I was going to say it’s a burner phone, but burner phones break easily for a reason and this one clearly doesn’t.  Maybe it’s a special one that can’t be tracked down.    

And we finally get to see All Might again!  He is actively working with Deku instead of just not knowing where his protege is.  He’s wearing casual clothes (jacket, jeans, sunglasses, the works) when he meets up with Deku in an alleyway.  I’m honestly glad that All Might is still supervising Deku.  I mean, Deku on his own would’ve been badass, but when you’re going up against people like AFO and Shigaraki, you’re going to need some help.  Especially when laying low.  Even with supervision, I still think Deku counts as a vigilante b/c I don’t think his license works if he’s not at UA.  I will believe this unless proven otherwise.  

It’s explained that the “wrapping” on Deku’s arms are actually gauntlets called “Mid-Gauntlets”, which are what are helping hold Deku’s arms together.  And they are VERY similar to the gauntlets that Melissa Shield from Two Heroes gave Deku.  Deku even says that All Might ordered them from the USA before travel restrictions were put in place.  I know that it’s only implied, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Deku’s new gauntlets were made by Melissa.  Even if you want to doubt it, at this point, Two Heroes (and by extension Heroes Rising and probably the upcoming 3rd movie, World Heroes Mission) are canon.  Honestly, I’m cool with it.  I liked Melissa and I’m glad her presence is still around (she was even in a Team-Up Mission chapter with Hatsume).  I do wonder if we’re ever going to see her in the main story.  It would be nice to see Melissa again.

The gauntlets are test samples and are used to enhance endurance.  All Might says that they can’t withstand 100% of OFA yet.  Which means that Deku actually beat Muscular with less than 100% unlike their first fight where Deku had to use over 100% just to knock him out.  So, does this mean that, say, Deku’s current 45% is stronger than his 100+% back in the Forest Camp?  Or maybe it was just the combo of moves and strategy rather then Deku just punching his way through things.

Small detail, but All Might’s phone goes off with that “I AM HERE” ringtone we heard before and Deku comments that this particular one is from All Might’s Silver Age TV Special!  It’s such a small thing, but I love that Deku still has that All Might fanboy in him despite everything 💚!  Somethings truly never change.

And back to the Top 3: Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist!  Endeavor and Best Jeanist are teaming up to kick a villain’s ass while Hawks is talking to All Might on the phone.  It looks like Hawks got a few costume changes particularly his visor/glasses which look more boxy than they did before if that makes sense.  Oh, and they’re also helping All Might work with Deku.  Makes sense since all three vowed to help take down Dabi earlier and Shigaraki and AFO definitely extend from that.

Deku’s Danger Sense is going off, so he’s probably going to check out any danger he can find in case it’s the LoV.  I do wonder if that harms Deku still.  It was said that it felt like a stabbing in his head and it must’ve been bad enough for the 4th OFA Holder to live in the forest away from society.  Man, I really hope our boy is ok (I know he’s not really, let me have this).

But yeah, Hawks (still wingless, but with a nice little undercut btw😳) explains that Deku's afraid of dragging other people in his battles like All Might.  Hawks also goes on to say that it’s best to take the initiative in taking down AFO and Shigaraki rather than waiting for them to appear all powered up.  He also wants All Might to keep supporting him despite the difficult position he’s in (remember that All Might’s technically Qurikless again and can’t really fight on his own).  It makes sense for them to go after the Villains again while they can.  If Deku fought Shigaraki while Shigaraki was at full strength, Deku would lose easily.  Even at 75%, Shigaraki was able to kill and injure A LOT of people, and Deku was lucky to even make it out there alive.  They need to find Shigaraki SOON!  

Flashback to Central Hospital before Deku jumped UA ship!  Recover Girl and Central Hospital’s high-tech were responsible for many of the patience recovering quickly and being discarged.  Deku was just there a little longer than the others.  So, we can assume that all our UA kids and some notable heroes made it out alive after being treated.  Still don’t know what happened to some people like Tamaki and Fat Gum tho 😭.  

All Might and Deku’s mom, Inko (thank god she’s ok), are by Deku’s bedside as his casts are taken off.  Deku’s doctor (who looks like Super Mario/Luigi; the whole Super Mario crew must run this damn place.  Where’s Bowser and Princess Peach) explains that despite his former warnings about his ligaments, Deku’s limbs are still functioning because he’s not the same as he was before.  So, before, Deku’s injuries were like his limbs were exploding from the inside, but this time those “explosions” were able to escape his body.  Also his Black Whip cast helped keep Deku’s arm in tact so that he wouldn’t pulverize himself.  His ligimates are still degrading too, so Deku still has to be careful.  I think he might have a few more small scars too, but that could just be shadows or muscle lining from Horikoshi’s pen-work.  

Ok, honestly, I’m not sure how this logically works...  I’m no medical professional, but I assume this means that Deku’s built his body up so much that it’s naturally able to withstand more damage than before and that’s why he’s more durable.  But, I don’t know how Deku was able to let the “explosions” escape this time.  I get the reverse; I get how he got injured before, but I don’t get this.  Was it the Black Whip brace he made for himself?  I honestly don’t really understand this.  Maybe the official translations will clear this up.  Or Horikoshi will in a Tweet or Volume Extra.

And Inko is finally informed of OFA thank the gods!  She was in the top of my list of “People who should really, really know OFA and what’s going on with Deku because I swear...”.  She’s clearly shaken up as anyone would be, but I’m glad she at least knows what’s going on with her son.  Yes, she’s still worried, but at least she can stop guessing why all this is happening.  

Deku announces the reason why he won’t go back to UA and it’s basically that Shigaraki can sense where Deku is and he doesn’t want to see anyone else close to him get hurt and/or die.  So, basically what I thought would be the reason.  Absolutely no surprise there.  But, going after Shigaraki and AFO first was originally Deku’s idea, so that’s something new.  Kid’s bold.

And this broke my heart 💔!  Inko insists that Deku stay with her to stay safe, but Deku knows what he has to do.  So, he thanks his mom, thanks her for making him happy, and tells her that he’ll be ok and that he’ll come back home with a somber smile on his face.  We see a flashback to Little Deku and Inko too when they were happier.  Bro, I don’t even know what to say.  I am in tears just writing this 😭  I’ll just post these two panels so y’all can cry with me.  I will never recover from this.  I’m fucking devastated.  You better come home, Deku: 

*sniffs* All Might remembers what he said to Inko.  He remembers how he said that he will protect Deku with his life.  All Might encourages Deku to go and he says that he’ll go with him with tears in his eyes.  He asks the Top 3 to help with this mission (finding Dabi) as their own mission coincides with Deku’s (finding Shigaraki and AFO).  I’m so glad all these adults are staying by Deku’s side throughout this.  It’s good to know that Deku still has support, though I wish it were from some of his friends too.  Maybe one day.

Deku goes to see Grand Torino in his hospital room to talk to him about OFA.  He mentions his friend and 7th Holder Nana Shimura.  Torino thinks he was responsible for killing Shigaraki (he really wasn’t let's be real).  He also tells Deku that Deku shouldn’t be so persistent in saving Shigaraki as killing can sometimes lead to salvation. Ok, few things:

1. I am surprised Grand Tarino is still alive.  I mean, we don’t know what happened to him after this talk, but at least he got to hear from Deku again.  It’s kind of nice to know that Tarino willingly passed down his cape to Deku too instead of Deku just taking it after his death.  Also, I’ve been watching some of Jujutsu Kaisen like everyone else has and this give me some Yuji & his grandfather vibes to it.  Knowing what happens there and that JJK’s magaka is good friends with Horikoshi, I have a sinking feeling I know what happened after this talk...

2. Deku looks so much older here.  Like, it’s not that cute, innocent baby face we knew at the beginning.  I don’t even know what it is exactly (maybe the eyes), but he just looks more mature here.  Also, his uniform some buttons down looks really good on him, I’m sorry but I need to mention that too 💚.

3. “Killing is a means towards salvation”.  Oh, boy...  I mean, I get it.  Some people just can’t be saved or captured in hopes of rehabilitation/redemption.  Sometimes killing people is necessary to save others.  But, Deku is not a killer.  He will try to save Shigaraki no matter what.  That was established again last chapter.   He tried to save Muscular for god’s sake.  But, I am curious if Gran Tarino’s words are going to hold any weight in the final fight. Like, will Deku have to kill Shigaraki?  What will that do to Deku as a person?  I’m really curious if Horikoshi is going to make Deku do this.

And finally, there’s a page showing off the Top 3, Deku, and All Might team up with the resolve to beat the LoV.  I am really interested to see where this goes.  Deku is working with the big Pro Heroes instead of his classmates/friends.  This hasn’t really happened before.  I also wonder if Shoto and Bakugo know what Deku’s doing then.  Because Shoto’s going to help Endeavor and his family find Dabi.  Endeavor’s activley helping Deku.  Also, Endeavor and Best Jeanist are both Bakugo’s mentors.  All Might too actually.  Look, maybe I’m making excuses to see my Origin Trio together again, but I do have to wonder if Shoto and Bakugo are involved somehow.

Welp, that’s it.  This chapter was a rollercoaster!  I was excited, I was confused, I was worried, I cried my eyes out at one point because THOSE TWO PANELS I CANNOT 💔😭!  I’m honestly just waiting for Horokishi to drop some major time-skip on us at some point.  I don’t want him to, but I won’t be entirely surprised if he does.  The end of this chapter is a good place to end if Horikoshi wants to segway into something else like, oh IDK, THE UA KIDS LET ME SEE THEM AGAIN HORIKOSHI PLS I’M BEGGING 💸  

Me @ Horikoshi almost every week:

[its5amandimbored]

Part five of my fowl twins memes/review/reaction Ok so I reread all the artemis fowl books and made memes on them which you can find down here (I'll be keeping the fowl twins stuff in there too, just to keep everything together)

Artemis fowl memes

I basically decided to blindly read the fowl twins and react to it and talk about while also sprinkling in some memes

Also you probably shouldn't see this until you've read the book or be prepared for spoilers. Fair warning.

Previous

Myles is such a little shit tbh. Like imagine you're a genius, like a certified genius, with like a shit ton of life experience cause you've been through hell and back and you've seen death mutiple times and have been traumatized and saved the world multiple times and been close to death to many times to count have seen your mother go into insanity and your father die. So you're just done with life at this point, you're just a tired person. And you go to a university to give a lecture because you're a certified genius with three doctorates, and you're little brother who's like 15-18 years younger then you (depending on whether you think legally or physically) right, he's like 6 years old or something and he sneaks into the audience and starts like bullying you from the audience and insulting your scientific theory. And then you go to space and he sends you a message insulting you and your theory as your on way you to mars. Like. I would not be able to handle a brother like myles, artemis must be the most patient man on the planet to deal with him on a daily basis for years and never hurt him. Would've turned that rocket ship around to slap him. Maybe that's what his whole development lead to in the books. Maybe all the growth he went through was to help him not physically or emotionally destroy his little brother. I like to think if artemis had have to deal with myles when he was 12 he would've been verbally bullying him all the time while now he's just like tiredly nodding along like "yea ok."

----------------------------------------------------------

Holy shit. Myles is crazy. He's like "I'll prove I was right! I'll show em! I'll show em all!" Proceeds to destroy a building to prove his theory. I know no one got hurt or at least according to the books but he didn't know that.

----------------------------------------------------------

Imagine knowing your brother is such a little shit that in order to stop him from finding out what you're doing and stop him from being a peice of shit with your work you have to make up an entire scientific theory, present it in a lecture to some prestigious university in the hopes that he'll make fun of it and dedicate so much time to making fun of it he won't realize what you're working on.

----------------------------------------------------------

Lazuli involved in this crazy fowl adventure like

Lazuli is gonna get back like "holy shit. Oh my god. What the fuck was that??" And Holly's gonna be like "oh honey, same. I can tell you some stories"

----------------------------------------------------------

Ok artemis smiling more when he thinks of his little brothers greeting him is adorable. Artemis with the twins reminds me of a picture I saw a long time ago where someone was holding a grumpy serious cat and a goofy golden retriever and was like "this is my grumpy asshole, and my idiot. I love them both so much" and I really want like a picture of artemis hugging the twins with myles looking like he gonna punch someone and beckett just with a goofy grin with that caption cause honestly

----------------------------------------------------------

Kind of don't like that they keep saying this. Like first, don't keep saying like "fowls are friends with fairies" when it's really only the one fowl and the like 3 fairies. Like artemis is the only fowl to ever befriend or help fairies. Also stop saying friends forever artemis fowl the second would never say that and it reminds me to much of the movie. Also it has not been long it's been a few years, not even a generation. Like I guess he's just trying to emphasize the points so his brothers don't like try to make enemies with these fairies but it's still bothering me. Also don't just trust every single fairy. Fairies have tried killing you. And you do have magical enemies so like

----------------------------------------------------------

Alright artemis being a cute protective brother and myles being a little shit like "god we could only die. Stop being so emotional brother." Is the content I wanted. Why can't artemis be in the books? Like I just want some good sibling interactions. Also like artemis is around 10 years older then the twins. I know technically he's older because of the fifth book but he must feel around ten years older then them. He was 14 when he first met them and they were toddlers. Plus his parents seem to never be around, basically every time we see the twins they're home alone or with juliet or artemis or something. So he must've felt super protective of them, especially considering he went through so much trauma himself he would've wanted to prevent his little brothers from going through that. Like the few scenes we get with him and the twins in the artemis fowl series and this book is nothing but him being a very protective care giver. The very first scene with him and the twins, this is literal weeks after him meeting them, he's teaching them stuff and finger painting with them despite him hate doing messy or childish things, and he also programs myles toy monkey to have phrases and respond to myles. This is a little bit after he meets them meaning that he basically came home after 4 years of his life gone. He literally lost four years of his life he will never get back. Found out his parents immediately had children (I would've felt like they had replaced me.) And that he had two little brothers. And his immidete reaction was to make sure they were happy and to play with them and teach them new things and make toys for them. Like damn. Then in the 7th book he tells his mother that this will the last adventure and then he'll spend more time with the twins. Not "I'll spend more time on my education" not "more time with the family" more time with the TWINS, specifically his little brothers. Then in the 8th book despite usually being a serious person who tries to stay away from emotional reactions and stick to logic and reason, even when butler gets shot although he's very upset he forces himself to not cry and to immediately find a solution while in the 8th book he finds out his little brothers are in trouble, and immediately takes off for the house despite knowing he's running into danger and that there's probably safer ways to solve this if he stopped to think. Then he abandons all logic when faced with his brothers being possesed and even forgets the problem in front of him, of there being basically zombies in his house, because he's to focused on myles holding a sharp object and hurting himself. We then find out he got a customized fairy chair specifically made for his little brother and also knows his brothers favorite drink and exactly how to make it and serves it to him to comfort him from the recent possession. Then in this book we find out he made the NANNI system for his brothers to keep them safe, connected it to myle's glasses, gave him a laser but not a strong one because he was scared of his little brother hurting himself or others by accident, had a bonding moment with his little brother working on the NANNI system with him, and told them bed time stories of his adventures. Like it's adorable. Especially when you see someone so professional and serious and formal like artemis acting like this

I just wish we could see him interacting with them in person

Next

[fatilightwood]

Our story

You can read it on Ao3

Chapter 3

Notes: Bold letters is for the person who texts first and the other person is going to be italics.

Chapter 4: I want to see you again

When Thomas entered his apartment, he was immediately showered with questions. “So how was it?”

“Did you have fun?”

“When are you gonna see him again?”

“Why isn’t he here?”

“Are you embarrassed of us?”

All of the Merry Thieves talked at the same time. Thomas didn’t even know what to answer first. And really, it was then when he realized he hadn’t asked Alastair out on another date.

Damn it. How could he forget? Wasn’t that a question everyone asked? Well, just the ones who actually wanted to see the other person again. But Thomas was one of them. Oh, God. Would Alastair want to see him again? He would think so, they had fun, he knew that. And he kissed his cheek! But why he hadn’t said anything?

“No, I’m not embarrassed of you guys, but he had things to do, and no,” Thomas interrupted Matthew when he saw him opening his mouth “I didn’t asked him to come here, we just talked and it came up in conversation, and yes, we had fun.”

Thomas had indeed thought about inviting him but restrained himself because he knew it was too soon. And anyway Alastair had things to do and Thomas didn’t want to distract him.

“Now, weirdos, can I take two more steps? I would like to let my backpack on the couch.”

“Right.” James said.

They all retreated to their previous seats. James was reading in the table, Kit was highlighting one of his books and taking notes and Matthew ended up lying on a couch, reading some pages.

“You still didn’t tell us, when are you going to see him again?”

“Eh, I don’t know, we didn’t set a date. I’ll ask him later.”

“So, that fun, huh?” James said.

“Well, yes, he’s funny, sarcastic and smart, we’ve talked about our families and friends, careers. He’s kinda mysterious, I think. We’ll see later, if he wants, but I liked the way we talked and talked and it was like the conversation just kept going and you know, there wasn’t any uncomfortable silence.”

“Tom, he would be a fool if he didn’t want to continue knowing you.” James talked with the seriousness of a parent.

“Just let him know that we’ll have his guts for garters if he hurts you.”

“So melodramatic, Matthew.” Thomas said, rolling his eyes at his friend. “I’ll be back, what are we ordering tonight?”

Every Friday they ordered food, it was their tradition now. They also watched a movie.

“For example I wouldn’t say no to Chinese or pizza.”

“Pizza!” James and Matthew shouted.

“What?” Kit said at last. Having noted he missed the conversation while he was reading about substratum and agar he continued with the last information he heard. “Oh, I think pizza will do.” Then he returned to his book.

Thomas went to his room, he changed his clothes and laid down on the bed until he heard a little sound. Alastair had texted him.

So, the coffeehouse was amazing. And yes, you got an A.

Btw, I’m home.

You?

Hi. Yes, I’m home.

Thanks, you also proved yourself. I think I won’t ever doubt you and your notes.

Told you.

You’re just so untrusting.

Well, I can’t just go and trust everything.

What about everything I say?

I would have to know more about you but I’ll dare to say we are on a good path.

Speaking of which

Well, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of you knowing me

Would you like to go out on another date?

Can we meet some other day?

They had asked the same question at the same time. Thomas couldn’t stop grinning. He sent laughing emojis.

I’ll say yes if you also say yes

Definitely

Perfect. When are you free?

Sunday or Monday. You?

I think Monday will be great. I’m free after 5.

Well, I’ll be free after 6. And judging the time, I think we will end up at the coffeehouse again.

Would you mind if we did?

Nope. And I’ve been told by my sister that I need to bring more muffins to the apartment.

So she liked those?

That’s an understatement, and I also need to taste the iced coffee.

Then it’s settled.

Now, I hate it but I have to say goodbye, I really need to work on my essay.

Ugh. Good luck.

Meanwhile, and obviously I’m not making fun of your situation, I have an appointment with the couch cause you see, it’s movie night.

So funny, Lightwood.

Thanks for noticing

Thomas sent an emoji winking.

Seriously, good luck.

Thanks, see ya

And then, Alastair managed to make Thomas smile some more, when he sent a sticker of a hedgehog making an ‘ok’ hand gesture.

Thomas was still grinning when he came out of his room.

“Is it Perfect Eyebrows?” Matthew asked.

Thomas looked at him. “What?”

“Your date guy, he does have sharp eyebrows. I thought I’d point that out. I wonder if he shapes his eyebrows himself.”

Thomas was sure Matthew was right but that wasn’t hard to admit. Not when Alastair was so beautiful. Of course he had perfect eyebrows, and eyes, and hair, that wasn’t such a novelty.

“It was him.”

“Anyway, as much as we love seeing our ship progressing, say goodbye, because James just picked the movie.”

Thomas decided it was better to remain in silence. They had one date. Just one. He shook his head and wondered what book adaptation they were going to see.

Every week, one of them chose the movie. And the others couldn’t do much more than complain. Which they tended to do, constantly, throughout the movie. It was fun, because all of them knew it was a joke but sometimes the discussion ended in a popcorn war.

The munitions were almost ready.

“Done.” Christopher said, pouring the popcorn in a large bowl.

When they finally took their seats James pressed play, and in effect, the rest of the Merry Thieves were prepared for James’s comments about what really happened on the book.

***

“Someone’s had a good day.” Cordelia said when she arrived at the table. Alastair was still holding his phone.

“Yep, a very interesting one.” Alastair told her.

“And that’s everything you have to say?”

“What do you want me to say? Guy is handsome, kind, funny—” He stopped. “Let’s just say he is not just a pretty face.”

“Very well. I’ll take that, but I want to meet him later.”

“Easy there.”

Cordelia just winked at him and left to prepare tea.

That was easy, Alastair thought. He suspected his sister wouldn’t pressure him because she knew about his past relationships.

But he had one more to go. He opened Ari’s chat and texted her.

I’m home, alive and before you ask, yes, very surprised and happy.

Yassss, I knew it. He seemed so sweet.

You made me text you the address because ‘what if he’s a serial killer?’

One can never be sure, and you'd do the same for me. Btw, lovely place.

I know.

And, we’re going there again next Monday.

Ahhhhhhhhh

Baby, you are fast.

Alastair couldn’t help but laugh.

Oh, God

Easy.

It’s just coffee.

Whatever.

You’ll see.

They continued talking, Ariadne got some information about Thomas and seemed pretty excited about it.

Alastair just laughed. But she was right, something about Thomas made him feel hopeful, he just wasn’t ready to admit that. He’d been wrong before. Now he would just settle for taking one day at a time.

Chapter 5

[firelxdykatara]

hello!! i just wanted to ask- i wanna do an ouat rewatch bc CAPTAIN SWANN but its pretty long and i honestly dont care for the other characters/how badly the overall writing was handled.. which are your favourite captain swan eps? anything them centered and i think ill just skip around to rewatch their romance as they did invent romance 😭😭 ty in advance <3

they absolutely did invent romance, you are right about that and i love them so much

UHMMMM as far as my favorite CS eps, here’s a roadmap of what I personally consider key eps in their journey (some of this is from memory but I haven’t done a full rewatch in a while so i’m going through the episode list as a refresher)

2x06: Tallahassee--this is a must-watch ep for any CS fan, and I really think this is the episode that sparked the fire that CS would become as a fandom. It has everything--flirtatious banter, all kinds of tension, deliberate parallels drawn between Emma and Killian’s pasts, as well as their first meeting being intercut with her relationship with Neal (which serves, especially in hindsight, to highlight just how sketchy that relationship was, and why she couldn’t bring herself to trust Killian--because the last time she felt this way about anyone, it ended horribly)

2x08 and 2x09: Into the Deep and Queen of Hearts--these episodes cover the race to the portal between Emma&co and Hook/Cora and while they don’t do a ton for CS as a relationship since they’re still enemies at this point, it lays great foundation for their future relationship development. Plus, sexy swordfight, Hook going out of his way to save Aurora’s heart--he may be a pirate, but he has standards ok--and Emma realizing Cora can’t remove her heart without her permission? Poetic Cinema

2x11: The Outsider--more of a Killian-centric episode, it shows a lot of Killian at his worst but it’s necessary for his overall character arc and I genuinely love looking back and seeing just how far he managed to come, to the point of eventually even letting go of his (very understandable) grudge against Rumplestiltskin.

2x12: In the Name of the Brother--am I including this purely for Emma&Hook banter in the hospital, and Killian saying ‘hey beautiful’ when he’s lying on the road because he just got hit by a fucking car? You bet I am. Also, go to youtube and look up ‘ouat season two deleted scene jello’, because it’s beautiful and there was a tremendous outcry in the fandom when we realized it had been cut from the episode lmao (It’s also the episode that made me start shipping Frankenwolf, which I’m still sad never went anywhere, but they had a lot of potential and great chemistry.)

2x22: And Straight On Till Morning--A few of the episodes in between have some fun minor interactions and flashbacks (and I always approve of episodes where Killian gets one up on Rumple, so 2x15 is fun for me if i ignore all the Neal bits) but the finale is where we finally get a glimpse of who Killian could be beyond his need for revenge. He didn’t have to come back, he didn’t have to bring back the bean and help the town--but he did.

Season 3a: there’s a lot of really good stuff here for Hook and Emma that is interwoven between the A plots of other episodes. I think, as far as half-season arcs go, it’s one of the best (and everything after 4a bombed hard, but I digress) But there are a few episodes that stand out if you don’t want to watch the whole season. (I recommend starting with the premier though, it was a really solid season starter overall.)

3x05: Good Form--this is the culmination of David’s poisoned-by-dreamshade arc, and is also Peak Captain Charming Bromance. Hook not only keeping David’s secret, but doing everything he can to help save him??? Poetic cinema. It also provides some crucial Killian backstory, showing how he lost his brother to the very same dreamshade. Plus, the character development--Pan offers Killian a chance to escape the island with Emma if he kills David, and instead, he saves him, refusing the deal and damn the consequences. Also also? The first CS kiss which drove the fandom WILD.

3X06: Ariel--not only to I love OUaT’s take on Ariel, but this episode has the infamous Echo Cave scene, which involves a lot of feelsy confessions and Killian being the one to tell everyone that Neal is alive and helping Emma save him despite his own growing feelings for her.....IT’S JUST A LOT AND I LOVE IT.

3x07: Dark Hallow--oh man, I’d forgotten about this episode, but it has Killian and Neal fighting over Emma, which may sound eye-roll worthy, but Emma is allowed to tear them a new one about it and it’s one of the few times she’s allowed to actually???? put her own feelings first so I have to include it here on spec

3x11 and 3x12: Going Home and New York City Serenade--these mark the end of 3a and start of 3b respectively, and it has some amazing shit like Killian vowing never to forget Emma and Emma smiling as she replies, “Good.” And then she and Henry are in New York with their memories completely altered, but Killian shows up because Storybrooke is back and in jeopardy, and he helps Emma get back to her family and her home and, much later, Emma finds out he sold the Jolly Roger to be able to do it and it’s just. It’s beautiful ok.

3x17: The Jolly Roger--there’s honestly not a whole lot in the back half of season 3 (until the CS movie) but of course anything named for Hook is a must-watch, and this is where we get the iconic line I swear on Emma Swan--which is Killian saying he’s in love with her before he even realizes it. We also find out just what he did to Ariel, and his attempts to make amends are what lead to Zelena being able to curse him, so it’s great from a character perspective as well.

The next four episodes round out the end of the season, and there’s a lot of great stuff in them--Hook refusing to get Emma to kiss him, but Emma feeling like she can’t trust him because he didn’t tell her about the curse to begin with, and then kissing him anyway to save his life regardless of the consequences.... but the only ones that are absolutely necessary are the final two episodes.

They are colloquially termed ‘The Captain Swan Movie’ for a reason, after all.

Killian and Emma essentially have an entire Time Travel adventure all to themselves, where they accidentally ruin her parents first meeting and have to fix it so that she’ll even be born, Emma finally getting into the storybook, the pair of them dancing at a ball, Killian rushing to save Emma only for her to get out of the cell herself, because “The only one who saves me is me.” Killian saying “I would go to the ends of the world for her... or time.” Finally fixing the timeline and making it back to Storybrooke and Killian feeling like he doesn’t deserve a place at the table so he doesn’t go inside, but Emma comes out to him anyway and finds out he gave up the Jolly Roger for her, the true start to their relationship...... IM CRYING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT I’M SORRY.

I personally really enjoyed 4a, the Frozen arc was one of the last good half-season arcs of the show, but a lot of people disliked it so it’s really up to interpretation. I don’t have as many Intense Opinions on this season (except hating almost everything about 4b and the queens of darkness arc), but I will say the episodes with good Killian/CS moments are 4x02 (Emma nearly freezes to death, Killian is desperate to save her, Captain Charming teamwork, my heart hurts), 4x04 (Emma asks Killian out on a real date, he tries to get his real hand back from Gold, things go massively awry and he winds up back under Gold’s thumb), 4x08 (Killian tries to save Emma from Gold’s plans), 4x11 (the 4a finale is just great in general), and then..... it cannot be overstated how much I hate season 4b, but 4x15 is the Killian-centric ep where his past with Ursula is revealed and he makes amends to her in order to get her to leave the QoD alliance and it’s great character stuff for him, and then there’s the season 4 finale.

Both parts are worth watching, if only because Deckhand Coward Hook still being a braver, more heroic man than ‘Hero Rumplestiltskin’ warms the very cockles of my heart, and of course the second part of the finale has him helping Henry to save Emma and it’s beautiful and also Emma watches him die for her and it is angsty as FUCK but gods I love it. Here’s where it gets tricky, though--my recommendation is, turn the episode off right after Emma finds Killian back in the present day of Storybrooke and they reunite.

Just turn off the episode there and skip right ahead to the s6 musical episode (Emma and Killian’s wedding ep) and pretend they got married and none of seasons 5 or 6 ever happened. >.> (Although I will say certain parts of the Underworld arc were incredibly feelsy despite how much I overall hated the season: 5x11 (the 5a finale, Killian as the dark one STILL being a better man than rumple, we love to see it), 5x15 (I am not immune to Brothers Jones feelings ok), 5x20 (emma literally takes a True Love Test trying to find a way to save killian, you don’t get more romantic than that--also Killian telling Emma to promise she won’t put her armor back up just because she lost him again??? my HEART), 5x21 (Hook does what he can from the Underworld anyway and zeus sends him back to Emma, they really just said ‘today I will invent romance’ and then Did That)

And then, yeah, just skip to the wedding. It’s beautiful, I enjoyed the music, personally, though I know musical episodes are hit or miss with most people. And if you turn it off when the last musical number starts (after the wedding ceremony, I believe) you can pretend it was the end of the show! =DDD

.....Oh my god I just rambled for years. I HOPE YOU FIND THIS USEFUL, ANON. I 100% support a CS-centered rewatch, their episodes were consistently some of the best across the entire series, and they are truly one of my favorite romances of all time.

[greekgeek21]

Percy Jackson & The Avengers: Convergence - there is a fight scene included

I am not dead, just extremely busy. My summer lacrosse season just ended, so hopefully I get some inspiration to write some new chapters. In the meantime, I hope this will tide you over for some time.

Keep in mind, this was written weeks ago, so I am not in the mood to answer any weirdly specific questions about my artistic choices. In other words, if you don't like it, you don't have to read it! I know, it's a truly monumental realization.

For my kind & loyal readers, don't forget to comment, like, and follow!

- your author

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Avengers or PJO!

Ω ♆ Ω

By the grace of the gods, the group managed to pass the sirens without an issue. It seemed like the mortals had finally accepted that it was in their best interest to listen to the Seven. So, as soon as Percy warned everyone to fill their ears with wax, they filled their ears with wax. Of course there were a few complaints, but that was expected. Nobody was perfect (no matter what Narcissus insists).

From there on out, the nerves were building. Percy had informed the team that their next stop would be Polyphemus' island, and everybody, mortal and demigod alike, knew what that place was. It was where the most infamous cyclops lived, but most importantly, it was where Annabeth was being held, if Percy's father was to be trusted.

Since it would still be another two hours or so, according to the sea expert, until they reached the island, the group decided to try resting. Some tried to nap, while others sharpened their weapons or hung out on the deck. It was futile, but they were trying to prepare themselves for a situation that they had never before encountered, not even Percy.

It was safe to say that everyone was scared shitless.

Ω ♆ Ω

Leo had decided to go downstairs and tinker with some stuff from his belt as a distraction from their impending doom. It was working too! He was in his own little world that only machines could enter. That is, until Tony Stark walked up to him.

"Whatcha doing, kid?" he asked, peering over Leo's shoulder to catch a glimpse at the boy's creation.

"I'm making a mini automaton to help us find Annabeth when we get to the island," was the answer.

Taking a closer look, Tony started to see it. It was a very small machine, but if you looked closely, it was clear that it was made of metal. The automaton was about the size of a quarter, and looked like a celestial bronze spider. Leo was currently adding the last two legs to it when Tony walked up.

When Leo looked up, he held up his creation with a proud smile. "This baby can be our spy. It's eyes are tiny cameras, and it's made almost completely of celestial bronze. We can send this in, and then know where Annabeth is before we storm the place."

Tony nodded, "Yeah... Pretty good idea, kid."

And ok, so Leo was freaking out a little bit on the inside because one of his idols had just complimented his work. But on the outside, he just smiled a little wider.

"You haven't even seen the best part. You've gotta see it after I turn it on. I added stealth-mode so nobody should even be able to know it's there," Leo said, grabbing the spider and flipping it over to press a button.

As soon as he had, the spider flipped itself over in his hand and started crawling up his arm. Tony was a little creeped out, but it was blocked by the fascination for this new kind of science the demigods had. The spider should have to be controlled by a human, but it was moving like it was almost...thinking on its own. There was no way it had an AI, but that was the only solution his mortal brain could come up with.

"Is it an AI?" he asked.

"Nope. It's a greek automaton. They don't need AIs. I programmed it to listen to a few simple commands when needed, but if we don't order it around, it'll just stick around me waiting for orders. Pretty cool, right?"

"Awesome," Tony whispered, in awe of how smart this seventeen year old kid was.

"Thanks. I think I finished it just in time because I heard Percy calling us back upstairs," Leo said. Before he had even finished he was walking towards the deck, not a care in the world for the metal spider crawling around on him.

"Oh, I'm definitely becoming friends with this kid," Tony muttered to himself before following Leo.

Ω ♆ Ω

"Did you get it done, Leo?" Percy asked as soon as he had seen him.

"Yep. Here it is." Leo held up the automaton-spider.

Percy smirked. "Oh, Annabeth's gonna love that."

Leo shrugged, acting clueless. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The spider was just the first thing I could come up with."

"Sure it was," Piper snorted.

Leo fake-gasped. "Beauty Queen! How could you ever think I would lie?! I would never!"

Clint whispered to Natasha, "The kids clearly have a strong bond that only comes from fighting for their lives with each other."

Frank turned to them, surprising the spies that he had heard them, "No shit, Sherlock."

Before anything else could be said, Percy reclaimed the entire group's attention. "If you look to the right, you can see Polyphemus' island. We're going to dock on the south side of the island because that is the only way to get on without climbing a cliff and facing carnivorous sheep. Hazel should be able to disguise the ship until we invade the base, so don't worry about being seen. Leo will send in his spider to check things out and then we'll follow after we know where Annabeth is. Everybody got that?"

At the noises of affirmation, Percy nodded. "Good. Suit up if you're not already."

Of course, Tony had to break the calm solemnity by saying, "Cap, I thought that was your line?"

Everybody collectively rolled their eyes.

Ω ♆ Ω

After they docked, Leo released his spider with specific orders to find Annabeth Chase while staying hidden. That was working until Polyphemus' stupid super-senses could smell the celestial bronze. Leo hadn't known that a blind cyclops would be able to smell metal, but you learn something new everyday, right?

The spider lasted all of five minutes in the cave before Polyphemus smelled it and crushed it under his giant smelly foot. Percy had thought that the cyclops would take longer to reform, but when had he ever been that lucky? Something that completely baffled him was how the mortals got him to not eat them. The dude had been pretty desperate for food the last time Percy had run into him, so how had the weird boss guy gotten him to hold off?

The only thing he could think of for them to feed him would be...nope! He's not going there right now.

The last thing the spider had transmitted to the group was a picture of a mortal holding a gun to Annabeth's head while she was gagged and chained. It made his blood boil.

"I'm going to kill them," He growled, starting to get off the boat and storm the place.

Jason stepped in front of him before he could, "Easy, Perce. You don't know what you're walking into. They want you to go in half-cocked, so we can't give them that. You know Annabeth can handle herself, so just take a breath and we'll figure out a plan."

Percy took a shaky breath, but it did nothing to cool his anger.

"Jace, if you don't step out of my way in the next two seconds, I will be forced to move you, and trust me, you don't want me to do that."

The son of Jupiter stood his ground, "I'm not moving. I know you Percy. Hurting me would go against your fatal flaw. I'm your best friend; your family. I know you would never intentionally hurt me."

Jason glanced over at the rest of the group, who hadn't dared to move if it upset Percy even more. The guy was a ticking time bomb, and they needed to defuse it before it went off and destroyed any chance of getting Annabeth back safely.

Percy almost looked in pain as he spoke his next words, "Jason, I love you. You're my cousin, but Annabeth is my everything. I will hurt you to get to her."

Jason sighed, expecting that answer. "Then at least let us come with you on your suicide mission. I'm not letting you die without me."

"Fine, but hurry up. I'm leaving now," and Percy shoved past Jason and started the trek up to Polyphemus' cave.

Jason turned to the others, who were all staring after Percy with shocked expressions. "Well you heard him! Move your asses!"

That seemed to startle them awake. Everyone but Bruce started moving.

Ω ♆ Ω

By the time the team had been able to catch up to Percy's fast pace, he had already reached the nearest entrance to the cave. It was a dark, narrow path that had walls of rock on either side reaching up for hundreds of feet.

"This is the part in the horror movies where I start screaming at the tv to not go in there and they still go in there," Piper whispered.

They were all just staring at the darkness, and it was getting awkward. For someone who was so hasty to get to Annabeth, Percy was sure taking a long time to get there.

"Are we gonna go in or..." Tony said.

Percy sighed. "Yeah. We're going in. Just don't separate from the group."

He led the way into the cave with Steve right behind him. Percy appreciated having someone else who could take some of the responsibility off his shoulders. Almost his entire time in the godly world, he had been expected to be the leader because of his father, and he had stepped up, but that doesn't mean it didn't weigh on him. Annabeth was the only one who had been able to help him with the stress, and without her, he was losing it. He had already been barely hanging onto his control over his powers, but now without her, what he was doing could barely be called control. It was more like holding back a rampaging bull with a string.

Ten minutes later, they found themselves hiding behind the wall that led to the room where the gang was waiting. Just as the spider had shown them, Annabeth was kneeling under the gang leader's feet while he held a gun to her head.

She looked murderous, so at least something was still normal in the world.

Steve poked his head around and gave a quick scan of the room before turning back to them, "Ok so we've got at least ten humans, with five monsters. One of the monsters is as tall as a building so I think he's the largest threat. Tony, Clint, Nat, and I will deal with the humans if you guys handle the monsters. The main priority is getting Annabeth to safety. Percy, that's your job."

Saying that last bit was just to clarify for everyone else, though they looked like they didn't need to hear it. Percy had a determined look on his face, one that said he wasn't going to allow anyone else to have his assignment.

"You got it, boss," Tony remarked. "Do you just want to storm in there?"

Before he could get an answer, Percy charged into the room, leaving his friends entirely unshocked, but the Avengers were looking a little mad.

"Don't worry, plans aren't really his thing. Even if we do make them, they never go our way. It's better to go with the flow when fighting with Percy," Hazel reassured, and then turned to follow her godly cousin. The rest of the Seven followed, leaving the Avengers to just stare at each other in confusion.

"I like their style," Tony said before flying into the room.

Natasha sighed. "I'm really starting to regret meeting these kids."

Clint smirked at her before leaving, closely followed by Steve and the Black Widow herself. For all three of them, everything about this mission was against their nature, but there wasn't much they could do about it. They were in unknown territory with a group of newly-allied teens and no backup. It was a shitshow before they had even left.

Ω ♆ Ω

Frank was fighting a dracaena, and it was making it super annoying. The thing would not stop talking about grocery stores. It was quite distracting when trying to kill it.

"Seriously! Can you believe how nobody can see how bad those chains are?!" it exclaimed.

Frank sighed, ready for it to be over. Whenever he would try to stab it, it would just slither away right at the last second, all the while continuing to complain.

He decided to use his shapeshifting abilities to catch the thing off-guard. In reality, he could probably deal with it in seconds, but when he really used his inner son of Mars, it drained him. He needed to save his strength if he was going to fight Polyphemus.

Speaking of, so far, the cyclops had stayed out of the fighting. He was just sitting on his throne made of rock, picking at his teeth with what Frank really hoped wasn't a human bone.

Frank changed into a squirrel for a second, climbing up onto the back of the dracaena with the animal's speed and before the monster could react, he changed back into a human and stabbed it through the back with his spear.

"Huh. I guess you can shut up," he remarked as the monster turned into dust.

After, Frank turned to help Hazel take down an empousa. She had already defeated four before that, so it was a pretty easy fight. He had been keeping an eye on her throughout his fight. Sure, he trusted she could take care of herself, but it was also his job to watch her back.

"Thanks," Hazel told him with a quick peck on the cheek after they finished.

Believe it or not, that kiss on the cheek was a major improvement. It had been a real adjustment for Hazel to learn how couples expressed affection nowadays, and it had taken even longer to start showing it herself. It helped that Frank preferred words over touch, too.

"No problem."

Ω ♆ Ω

"Get some, térata!" Leo screamed, running up to the manticore and sending giant, continuous blasts of fire at it.

He had heard of Dr. Thorn from Nico, Percy, and Annabeth before, and had somehow retained the knowledge that it was extremely durable on the outside. That meant that he had to think smart in order to beat it.

So far, Leo was distracting it and holding it off with his fire while he thought of a plan. However, he could only hold it off for so long. He would eventually tire out.

Come on, Leo, THINK!

Then it hit him.

It was so simple! He had been told the story of how the Nemean lion was defeated at Camp. Now usually, he would totally ignore any schooling he was given, but the stuff they were taught at Camp was much more interesting than algebra. So yeah, he remembered some stuff.

So, he decided that his best shot at beating Dr. Thorn was landing a large enough hit inside of him. That meant he had to figure out a way to get him to open his mouth. That wasn't really the hard part, though. The hard part was figuring out how to not die when he had to get closer to the monster.

"Estoy jodido..." he muttered before taking a step forward, never once stopping his assault on the beast.

The Manticore didn't seem to be moving back from the intensity, but rather reveling in the fact that he hadn't gained one burn from the fight. He was just waiting out Leo.

That was not a fun revelation for the son of Hephaestus to have.

And that was when the thorns started attacking him. He should've been expecting it, really. The guy had a tail of poisonous thorns and he hadn't used it yet? Something should've registered in his mind. But that was past-Leo's mistake. Present-Leo had to deal with the super tall, scary, poisonous, and royally pissed-off greek monster in front of him.

Dr. Thorn let out a war cry and swung his tail around, releasing a line of spikes at Leo, who managed to just barely duck out of the way. He was not keen on becoming swiss cheese!

"Ok. It's time to end this." Leo sighed in annoyance, jumping back up and charging.

He swung his battle hammer up and lit it on fire, deciding that he might as well stick with the common theme of stupid ideas. He managed to keep dodging attacks all the way up until he was within ten feet of the manticore. Then, he threw his weapon at the monster, praying to Apollo for good aim. He had fixed the sun chariot plenty of times, so the god had to owe him at least one favor.

Once again, Leo's stupid demigod luck kicked in and the hammer somehow embedded itself in the monster's mouth, which had been opened in a prideful roar. Honestly, the son of Hephaestus didn't know HOW he did it, just that it worked.

With the distraction of having a flaming hammer in his mouth, Dr. Thorn didn't see Leo running up with his arms raised and prepared to fire. By the time he did, it was too late because long blasts of fire were flying straight towards his open mouth.

The monster was able to mutter a silent curse before he disintegrated into dust, once again sent to Tartarus.

"Take that, bitch."

Ω ♆ Ω

Piper was absolutely sure the Fates were laughing at her. They had to be. There was no way that she just happened to be stuck with the two empousa. It didn't help that Jason was struggling to not drool over the girls. She just had to keep chanting in her head that the monsters were using their charm powers on him, and he was not actually attracted to the disgusting things.

After the two monsters tried to both swipe at her at the same time, she growled and shouted, "Jason! Get your head in the game and come help me!"

He had been blinking and shaking his head for the past two minutes and it was getting quite frustrating to have these donkey-cyborg-vampires ganging up on her with no back-up. Once this was over, she was going to make Jason work to get back in her good graces.

With just a little bit of her charmspeak added into her order, Jason was finally able to break free from the empousai's spell. He quickly willed his gladius to be a javelin and launched it through one of the monsters, which made it explode into a shower of golden dust. A traitorous part of Piper's brain insisted on calling that move hot, but she was able to school her expression back into a scowl before her boyfriend could notice.

The other empousa let out a shriek and said, "You MONSTERS! That was my sister! I'll make you pay for that!"

They only had a second to appreciate the irony before she launched herself at them with even more fervor than before, fueled by the rage of losing her "sister."

Jason couldn't help but notice how she was wearing a cheerleading costume. It was very ripped and destroyed, but it was clearly a cheerleading uniform. And as he was deflecting her claws, the ADHD part of his brain realized that the logo on the uniform was for Goode High School, Percy's old school. He almost wanted to laugh when he remembered the story of Kelli, an empousa acting as a cheerleader during Percy's freshman orientation. Percy had always said the monster had a nasty habit of coming back quickly, but Jason had just thought it was an exaggeration. But no, he and Piper were really fighting Kelli, one of Percy's recurring monsters.

It would be hilarious later, truly. But for now, he had to actually kill the thing.

Kelli had backed off when she realized that attacking out of rage wasn't going to work against two experienced demigods, and that also gave Jason and Piper a chance to make a plan themselves.

"Got any ideas?" he asked Piper.

She grinned with a terrifying amount of murderous glee. "I thought you'd never ask."

And then she told him her plan, which was essentially just using him as bait while she got to do all the killing. The prideful Roman part of him wanted to insist on him killing it, but he managed to reign that in when he saw the look on Piper's face. She was not asking, she was telling. Who was he to say no, especially after he hadn't been able to fully resist the empousai's charm?

A scary thought told him he was turning into Percy. He brushed that off for later nightmares.

"Come get me, bloodsucker!" He shouted, raising his arms up in a taunting manner. If he was acting like Percy, might as well go all the way right?

With yet another shriek, Kelli stormed at Jason, completely disregarding the daughter of Aphrodite that was stepping back and preparing to literally stab the monster in the back with her dagger.

Sometimes Jason wonders how a creature could be so stupid. Their plan was so obvious!

It went off without a hitch, technically. Piper let the empousa get a little too close for comfort before she killed it, but he trusted her to get the job done and she came through. Kelli had been prepped and ready to bite into his neck right before she exploded into dust.

It was one Hades of a trust exercise, that's for sure.

"Please don't let it get that close next time, Pipes," he breathed out while he put away Juno's Gladius.

Piper gave him a quick peck on the lips, "Not a chance, Superman."

Ω ♆ Ω

Considering the circumstances, the Avengers weren't doing half-bad. They were actually fairing pretty well. They knew how to deal with humans, so their job wasn't that hard. The only difficulty was that there were four of them and ten of the bad guys. They were sorely outnumbered.

Currently, Steve was fighting two at once, with a third opponent already knocked out a few feet away. He was blocking one with his shield while punching the other in the face. He then switched roles, instead kicking the first attacker and driving his shield into the gut of the second. The one he gutted gasped and fell to the ground, and was knocked unconscious was a simple hit to the temple. While he was distracted with taking down his partner, the still-conscious bad guy recovered from the kick and was able to land a hit to the back of Steve's head. Clearly, the fighter had been prepared to have achieved some form of disorientation from the Captain, but all he got was a pissed-off Avenger.

"That tickled."

It took less than five seconds for Steve to take him down after that.

Natasha also started with three adversaries. Key word being 'started.' It had taken barely any time to take down the first two. And all she had to do for the third was a scissor kick and hold until he passed out. She had just finished doing that when a call from Clint got her attention.

"Nat!" he shouted.

She turned on instinct and threw a throwing knife at the person running up behind her straight into their chest. They stopped with shocked features before falling to the ground in a heap, dead weight pushing the knife even further in and no doubt killing them faster.

"Getting rusty, Clint?" she teased, throwing a look over at her friend.

"No," he defended. "I'm just making sure you're not getting rusty!"

The archer hadn't realised one of his two attackers had sneaked off to go after the "bigger threat." He would never let Nat know he thought she was the bigger threat, though. That would be fueling an ego he knew was somewhere deep down in her.

Tony had been given two people to fight as well, and he was doing pretty well. He had the obvious advantage of being in the air, so all the gang members he was fighting could do was try to shoot at him with their guns, and his armor was designed to withstand a nuclear bomb. Bullets weren't gonna do much damage.

"Guys, seriously, we should just talk this out. We both KNOW I'm going to be knocking you both out in five seconds, so why don't you surrender instead? It'll be so much easier for the both of us!" he said, raising his hands and readying his repulsors.

As expected, the bad guys didn't show any sign of slowing down their useless attack on him. With a roll of his eyes and an obnoxious sigh, Iron Man shot them both in the chest, knocking them out cold.

"That felt too easy. Did that feel too easy to you?" He asked the other Avengers as they gathered back together.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tony," Natasha said, "That fight was too good to be true."

Now that the truth had been revealed to them, the Avengers could blame what happened next on the Fates.

Ω ♆ Ω

There it is! I hope you liked it

other chapters :)

[melchron]

Nightmare Time Episode 1 Thoughts

Ok. It took me about an hour but I think I can develop some thoughts on Nightmare Time. I'm just gonna type as I think so events will be all out of order.

My mom decided to watch it with me last minute so that was nice. She doesn't remember much from the Hatchetfield shows but she enjoyed this anyways.

The Knok Twist made me mad and happy at the same time. I have adopted all of Joey's soft boy characters and now I have to send my new son back for being a defective creep. But also Ted is hilarious, I kind of missed him (just a little though), and it was a nice twist.

Was Konk fully naked the whole time? Was he at least wearing pants or shorts or something?

Every entrance Robert made as Hidgens killed me. When he kicked down the door but had to scoot into frame with his leg still up, I died.

His dramatic Hidgens reveal made me squeal. I knew he was coming but I love how his reveal was dramatic anyway. It was like he went "Oh they want Hidgens? Time to Hidgens harder than ever."

Angela was so good as Lucy. I love how she is nothing like Lex. I love seeing more if her acting range. She is so talented.

I think I might like Ted now. Like before he was fine. I know people were obsessed with him but I was one of those jerks being like "They only like him because of SSN and their weird CharTed ship. He was funny in SSN but he's not that great. He's just fine. (I never said any of this to anyone. People can like what they like no matter my opinion. I kept my negative thoughts to myself.) I don't know what happened here but I think I like him. Still not obsessed but he's pretty cool. Maybe I'm still trying to have Konk idk.

I knew Hidgens was insane before but know he's absolutely unhinged. Before he was crazy like "A musical world is my dream and I want it. You think I'm crazy? Well it would also bring world peace so there I justified it. My actions are actually helping and not at all selfish." And now it's like "I will murder to make my musical. No justification here. I am absolutely selfish and I don't care."

How, when, and why did Ted decide to join Hidgens on his crazy plan?

I wonder how CharTed shippers feel about Lucy.

Bill is back and I'm loosing it!!

When did Alice get so moody? I know we didn't see much of her in TGWDLM but she seemed chill. I know denying doing drugs while underaged isn't the goodest possible thing but she seemed like she was a rule follower. I'm not mad at this Alice and I don't think it's bad, it's just different than what I imagined.

Bill is trying his best and I love him.

James's Blinky voice is cool and I love it.

James's bowtie was effected by the green screen background and that was funny to me.

I can't wait to meet Ziggy.

TED HAS A LITTLE BROTHER?! AND HE'S NERDY?! I WANT TO LEARN ABOUT THEY'RE DYNAMIC SO BAD!! NAME? LASTNAMES? MORE PLEASE!!

Bill saying he loves Alice but doesn't like her hit different. I had a friend whose mom said that to her as jokes and now I do the same to my brother. It was weird hearing someone be serious and then the person they said it to got actually hurt.

Is Snigglette ok? Do they sniggles have their own minds? I always thought they had a hivemind too. Why is there a Papa Sniggle? Did he birth them (Male sniggles can probably give birth we don't know) does every god in Drowsy Town have their own brand of sniggles? Where did the original sniggle come from? Is Papa the original? Who birthed him? Do the sniggles decided which god they want to follow. Do they have to follow whoever their Papa follows? Is Papa just a Smurfs reference and I'm overthinking his importance to sniggle lore? I have so many questions.

Do Wiggly and Blinky coexist or is this a different universe?

Can I get a date for whe this takes place? Like a month drop would be good.

Deb being an artist and Alice being a playwright made me extremely happy. Just two creative girls loving each other. Can we get a script drop? I will pay money?

Can we get a Blinky doll drop? I will pay money.

Matt did such an amazing job scoring the whole thing. Everything he played set the perfect mood.

Jeff is one of the most talented people I know of. All of the songs were so good. OMG that intro gave me chills in the trailer and everyone singing was so beautiful I love it.

I am obsessed with the Blinky song. James, Curt, and Jeff is now one of my new favorite harmonies I love their voices together.

Was the Becky Barnes tree thing a reference to their little Irish girl Becky who didn't come down for supper? If so, how does Hidgens now about Becky's childhood? How does Hidgens know Becky? Is she actually Irish?

How did Ted know about Lucy falling?

Why was this so spooky? I love horror movies and this actually had horror movie vibes. TGWDLM and Black Friday had its moments and they were spooky but I never got chills from them. I got chills from this.

What was Jon's character? Was he a sniggles or just some guy that was under Blinky's control? Either way he was creepy. He was just so eerily normal.

I wonder if in universe they were actually swearing in the Blinky song. Imagine parents just being like "I don't know what this is but I think it's supposed to be for kids. Oh well, their enjoying it so idc."

Surprise Jaime appearance was appreciated.

Everyone is absolute royalty but Corey and James are the kings.

Bill got a happy ending. It's what he deserved. Wait.....WE GOT A HAPPY HATCHETFIELD ENDING!!!!!

I think those are all of my thoughts. I absolutely love this and am most definitely buying tickets for 2 and 3.

[henrik-von-schneeplestein]

Crazy To Suppose

Ship: marvelsepticeye, background/established schneeplebro

Summary: Chase and Henrik invite Jackie, Marvin, and Jamie over to celebrate New Year's Eve. The night doesn't go the way Jackie imagined, and the end of his year is far from happy. The beginning of his new year, however, starts looking up.

Warnings: alcohol; not so much a warning but just a note that this story obviously does not take place during covid - don’t go to parties during pandemics!!!

Word Count: 1812

Click here if you’d prefer to read it on AO3 :)

--

Jackie snuggled into his blanket, flicking through channels with the remote Chase had left him with. Jamie was still sitting next to him, but Chase and Henrik had gone upstairs to put the kids to bed and Marvin had wandered off and disappeared. 

It had been a nice evening so far. Dinner was delicious - Jackie had spent more New Year’s Eves than he’d care to admit ordering delivery from overtaxed restaurants and waiting forever for it to arrive. And even aside from the homecooked meal, it felt good just to get out of his apartment on the holiday and end the year chatting, laughing, and watching Chase’s kids try to stay awake until midnight (they didn’t even make it until nine).

He heard footsteps coming back into the room behind him; Chase had said something about watching a movie until it was time to watch the ball drop, and left Jackie in charge of picking. Marvin still wasn’t back, so Jackie pitched the others some options as Chase and Henrik brought out some snacks and made themselves comfortable on their couch. He almost jumped when a voice came from right behind him.

“I’m gonna head out, but thanks again for dinner guys.”

Jackie turned. Marvin, apparently, had been in the bathroom changing into a sparkly gold dress that came to his mid-thigh. He looked glamorous and perfect as always; like a model in a fashion magazine article about New Year’s Eve. It made Jackie understand the saying “dressed to kill;” it was like Marvin was stealing the air right out of his lungs.

Chase was less impressed. “You’re gonna freeze in that.”

Marvin rolled his eyes. He walked back through the kitchen and opened the hall closet without asking, helping himself to one of Henrik’s coats, a long black one that extended down to Marvin’s knees. It was loose on him, so he ignored the buttons and just pulled it around himself. “Does this meet your standard, mother?”

Chase crossed his arms but didn’t say anything.

“I’ll bring it back tomorrow. I’m leaving this here anyway,” Marvin said, dropping a bag that looked to contain the clothes he’d worn earlier in the evening. He fished out a smaller bag, one that matched his outfit, and started putting his shoes on.

“Do you at least have your phone?” Chase asked. “How are you getting home? You don’t have your car.”

“My date’s driving.”

Jackie didn’t know why it hurt so much more than usual. Marvin went out on plenty of dates, and it was never easy, but Jackie had gotten used to telling himself that it was ok, that it wasn’t his business. Being in love with him didn’t give Jackie the right to judge Marvin’s decisions, and just because Marvin never showed any interest in Jackie didn’t mean it was a personal attack when he went out with someone else. But Jackie had thought that they would be together tonight, even if just as friends, and now he had to watch him ride off with someone else. And maybe, when he’d seen Marvin dressed for a party, he’d had the tiniest hope that he was going to ask Jackie to come along.

Headlights appeared outside the window, Marvin waved goodbye and wished them all a happy new year, then left and closed the door behind him while Chase was still in the middle of telling him to be careful. In his absence, there was a five minute intermission for Chase to rant about how inconsiderate he was and how he was going to end up dead in a ditch one of these days, and then they redirected into the movie. Jackie chose a superhero movie, since Marvin wasn’t there to complain about it, but found he only missed the way that Marvin would’ve made fun of it when they ended up watching in almost complete silence.

They caught the last fifteen minutes or so of the live footage in Times Square, and before they knew it they were counting down. When midnight struck, he found himself staring as Chase and Henrik kissed each other, swaying a little as they held each other. They were so happy. Jackie wondered if he’d ever know what that felt like.

He felt a kiss on his cheek and turned to see Jamie smiling at him. He tried to smile back as Chase and Henrik finally separated and turned to hug the two of them. He knew he should enjoy the laughter and friendship, but he was stupid enough to check his phone. Marvin hadn’t texted him.

Chase and Henrik didn’t really have a guest room, what with having five kids, but since Henrik’s kids were with their mother that night, they offered Jamie and Jackie to crash in their empty beds. Jamie accepted and went upstairs with them, but Jackie figured he’d honestly be more comfortable on the couch than in a twin, and besides, he was grateful to have the TV, especially once he was alone. He couldn’t sleep, and it gave him something to distract himself with.

He was zoning out in front of some 90s sitcom he’d never seen when his phone buzzed at around 1 am. It was from Marvin - “hey can you let me in”

What did that mean - it made it sound like Marvin was right outside. Jackie walked towards the front of the house and squinted through the window. He could see something moving. “Jesus,” he muttered. He opened the door and Marvin slipped through. “You’re creepy as shit, you know.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem. What are you doing here?”

“I accidentally left my keys in that bag with the clothes I changed out of.”

“Oh. Is your, uh, date waiting for you?”

“God, no. He was an asshole. I took an Uber; I’ll just crash here tonight.” He took off his coat, revealing a full bottle of wine he’d been hiding under it. “We can have our own party.” He opened the bottle expertly and took a drink directly from it. Then he held it out to Jackie. 

“I don’t know if we should -”

“Oh come on,” Marvin said, giving him That Grin. “You already helped me sneak in, you’re complicit here. Besides, Mommy and Daddy are fast asleep upstairs, they’re not gonna catch us.” He dropped onto the couch, making himself comfortable in the space Jackie had abandoned.

Somehow, Marvin had a way of making it feel like they really were rebellious teenagers breaking all the rules, and the sadness that had hung around Jackie all night suddenly seemed distant, like the two of them had been a part of this secret scheme all along. He accepted the bottle and took a sip.

“Sorry if that guy ruined your night. You want me to beat him up?”

“Nah, not even worth the energy. He tried to do the whole ‘kiss someone else at midnight’ thing to make me jealous. Please. I practically invented that move.” He leaned over for the bag of chips on the coffee table and took a handful. “I mean, the crazy thing is,” he said between bites, “I used to do that with Chase, back when he was fun.” He rolled his eyes.

“What’s up between the two of you, anyway? Why are you at each other’s throats all of a sudden?”

Marvin hesitated. He wouldn’t quite meet Jackie’s eye, staring down at the wine he was swirling restlessly. “He’s mad at me for going out tonight. He thought we should all hang out, make sure you had a fun New Year’s.”

“Me?!”

“Yeah. Just cause, y’know, it’s the first holiday season since Lizzy, and he’s been worried.” That was the last thing Jackie had expected. Lizzy was his ex-girlfriend, but they’d broken up months ago, back in spring, and he’d been the one who ended it. But then again, they’d been together for two years, everyone had been asking when the ring was coming, and she really was great. Maybe he should still be upset, but he hadn’t even really thought about it. That was why he’d broken it off in the first place - he knew it made him a jerk to stay if he had feelings for someone else, and even now, his only real feeling was hope that maybe the reason Marvin hadn’t invited him along tonight was because he couldn’t take him away from a party that was meant to be for him. 

“And I would’ve stayed, it’s just that I already had those plans.”

“It’s all good. Chase is sweet, but I’m really fine.”

“I was stupid to go anyway. Honestly, I knew this guy was a loser I just… I know it’s dumb and it doesn’t really compare to your thing, but ever since Nico I’ve been weird about dating.” Nico was Marvin’s ex. Jackie didn’t like him, obviously, but the other guys didn’t either. He was weird, dark and broody, and they were pretty sure his name was really just Nick. Marvin had stayed with him longer than he’d ever been with anyone else, though. “I know we weren’t together as long and that you guys didn’t like him, but he was always sweet, y’know. And I still wonder if I made a mistake ending it.” He took another long drink. “And it’s like, any time I meet someone too nice it just freaks me out, I don’t know. Like I don’t wanna do that again.”

“That makes sense. I don’t think it means you should go out with assholes, though.”

“No. I think Anti’s snake is getting hungry; I keep stealing its dead rats to put in guys’ mailboxes.”

Jackie laughed. “You’re something else, Marvin.” He grabbed the bottle and took another drink. He didn’t even like wine, it was just nice to share. “You’re gonna figure it out.” He raised the bottle in a toast. “To a year of dating nice people, for both of us.”

“Mm, yeah.” He rested his head on Jackie’s shoulder. Jackie could feel the tickle of his long hair, smell the booze on his breath, and it made his heart beat faster. “That’s the spirit,” he yawned.

“There are beds if you think you’d be more comfy.”

“Nah.” He pulled his legs up under him. “I’m good here if you are.”

“I’m good.” He tried to fix the blanket so it was over both of them, and Marvin’s weight grew heavier against him. 

He was pretty sure Marvin had fallen asleep, so he was surprised when he heard him mumble, “I can’t believe I didn’t get a kiss on New Year’s Eve.”

Jackie leaned over and kissed his forehead. “How ‘bout that?”

Marvin hummed, now so out of it that his voice came out in a muffled breath. “Nice.”

Jackie laughed. “Happy New Year.”

 This time, he didn’t receive a response at all other than deep, steady breathing.

[annakie]

Voyager Post-Show Books Read Order + Rewatch List

I’m lending my Voyager + some TNG books to my mom to read, and I sent her an email with this list that I made.  I thought it might be helpful for other people, (and also it’d be easier for me to find next time) if I posted it online somewhere.

First, it’s also a read order for the major books covering Voyager happenings plus a few TNG books that I also own for the same era.  It’s got all the major Voyager happenings in it, and a few TNG books that are optional, though most play into what’s happening with Voyager.

In reading the books, I found it was helpful to go back and rewatch certain episodes to do things like remember who the minor / guest characters were and their plots when they showed back up, or review some character arcs for the main characters, or just the overarching plots of episodes which the books referenced.  

I also linked to their pages on Memory Alpha for easy referencing, but rewatching is better.  

Unless otherwise marked, suggested episodes below are Voyager episodes.

Any episodes I put a * after I'd say is critical to understanding the book(s), otherwise it's just helpful.  I’m happy to add to this list if anyone has other suggestions.

Voyager - Homecoming - This book deals with the immediate aftermath of Voyager's Endgame (the series finale). This and the next book are a two-parter.  They're good but not great.  The Voyager books get much better starting with the fifth. Rewatch List - Non Sequitur (2x05) Hunters (4x15) Lineage (7x12)   Prophecy (7x14) * Author, Author (7x20) Endgame (the very last episode) *

Voyager - The Farther Shore - Part 2 of the above.

Voyager - Old Wounds - This and the next Voyager book are also a two-parter.  They are... okay.  The Voyager books get a new author after this and then they get really, really, really good. Rewatch List - Tattoo - (2x09) *  Nothing Human (5x08) TNG Journey's End (7x20) (Chakotay's people live on the planet Starfleet is trying to relocate in this TNG episode.)

Voyager - Enemy of My Enemy - Part 2 of the above.

TNG - Death in Winter -  Non-essential for Voyager.  This takes place shortly after the movie Nemesis and deals with Picard having to rebuild the crew.  This is maybe the worst of all the books I've read in this series, but one important thing does happen. Rewatch List - TNG Nemesis (the movie) * Eventually, you're going to want to rewatch the below episodes, I think it'd be useful to watch them before the following books.   TNG - The Best of Both Worlds 1 and 2 (3x26, 4x1) Voyager - The Q and The Grey (3x11) * Voyager - Scorpion Part 1  and 2 (3x26, 4x1)  

TNG - Resistance - Moderately important for future Voyager stuff, skip if you want.  Most rewatch episodes were covered above.

TNG - Q&A -  Honestly, a rewatch list for Q&A would be every single episode with Q in it that hasn’t been touched on.  This is maybe my favorite of the TNG-only books on this list, but it’s not very important for the Voyager list.

Voyager - Full Circle - FIRST HALF ONLY!!! - There's a break in the middle of this book, with a timeskip in between.  ONLY READ THE FIRST HALF at this point if you’re doing an in-order read with TNG books as well.  If you don’t care about anything but explicitly Voyager books, skip down to #12 as Beyer does a good job of explaining what happens in the subsequent books between the two parts of Full Circle. This is also the book where Voyager starts becoming amazing.  The only bad thing about Kirsten Beyer's books is you'll be sad all the rest of the Star Trek books aren't as good as hers.   No watchlist as mostly the first half of the book is wrapping up the storylines from Christine Golden's first four Voyager books. 

TNG - Before Dishonor - This is nearly as much a Voyager book as TNG.  This book is instrumental in understanding everything that happens afterwards.  I won’t get into my opinion about the book itself though because it’s not very flattering.  You probably want to read at least the first and last chapters, the rest is... skippable if you’re not enjoying it. If you haven't rewatched Voyager's The Q and the Grey and Endgame yet, you're really going to want to here.

TNG - Greater Than the Sum - Just started reading this one, I’ll update once I’m done. Yes, I’m reading some of these books very of out of order. :)  *edit* It was an improvement over Before Dishonor, I’d recommend reading as it does bridge into the next books.

TNG/VOY/DS9/More - Destiny Trilogy - (Gods of Night/Mere Mortals/Lost Souls - I bought them all as a collection)  This is a massive crossover event trilogy but next on my to-read list  I do know that characters from TNG, Voyager, DS9, Enterprise, plus Titan (Riker's ship) are all in it. I don't have a rewatch list but I'll make it as I get to reading it. *Edit* OK I’ve finished reading it. My opinion is that you should read this trilogy. Yes, it’s long, but also very worth it.  Probably my favorite non-Voyager books on this list.  There are only a couple of cameos of Voyager characters but they are meaningful, and Seven has a small storyline of her own, as does Tuvok (since he’s on the Titan serving under Riker.) The writing is very good, the story is great, and reading it massively increased my understanding of and investment in a major storyline throughout the rest of the Voyager books.  I also just really, really enjoyed it.  If you don’t want to read anything else not explicitly Voyager, I still rec you read this trilogy. Rewatch List Enterprise: Home (4x03)* Affliction (4x15) & Divergence (4x16)

Okay, now read the second half of Full Circle.  Cry a lot about it. Everything I talk about from here on out is just Voyager.

Unworthy -  The adventure finally re-begins! Rewatch List In The Flesh (5x04) Okay but maybe put off rewatching this episode after the climax of the books. Life Line (6x24) Homestead (7x23) TNG - Darmok (5x02)  (The new Voyager CMO is a Tamarian, though you can put off rewatching this until Acts of Contrition if you really want, the character doesn't get important til then.)

Children of the Storm - No rewatch list.

The Eternal Tide -  My FAVORITE of all the books. Rewatch List- Q2 (7x19) * The Gift (4x02) TNG True Q (6x06)

Protectors -  This and the next two books are their own trilogy, so the below episodes are for all three. Rewatch List - Twisted (2x06) Unity (3x17)   Counterpoint (5x10) Dragon's Teeth (6x07) Unimatrix Zero (6x24) and Part II (7x01) (If you haven't rewatched TNG - Darmok 5x02 yet, do that now)

Acts of Contrition 

Atonement

A Pocket Full of Lies - Watch List - Year of Hell Parts 1 and 2 (4x08 and 09) * Shattered (7x11) *

Architects of Infinity - It’s been a couple of months since my first reads of these two books but I don’t recall any particular episodes jumping out as needed rewatches as I did.  Let me know if you think I’m wrong and I’ll update the list.

To Lose The Earth 

[365days365movies]

May 10, 2021: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (Recap: Part Two)

Said I’d talk about artificial humans in sci-fi, so...

There are a HELL of a lot of examples of artificial humans in science-fiction, as well as the ethical and philosophical concepts that their existence raises. Now, your definition of “artificial” may differ from medium to medium. At its base form, these are humans that are not born, but made. I’ll be talking fleshy organic humans, not robotic ones. The most common of these is, of course, clones.

A clone, strictly speaking, is a genetically identical copy of a pre-existing organism, in this case a human. While this isn’t technology we’ve applied to humans as of yet (due to the NUMEROUS ethical problems and questions), we have done so with animals, mostly sheep and cats. It’s actually a good way to de-extinct certain species, and we’ve already done experiments with that. Of course...that has its own concerns.

Keeping up the Jurassic Park reference streak! Anyway...

There are a FUCKTON of examples of clones in science-fiction, but since I’m a massive comic book nerd, I’ll use Superboy. The genetic combination of Superman and Lex Luthor, Conner Kent is one of the most prominent clone superheroes. He’s not the only clone of Superman, of course. He’s not even my favorite clone of Superman, to be honest...

Bizarro am the worst. ME WILL LIVE ON THAT HILL.

Oh, and let’s not forget THE most prominent artificial human in comic books PERIOD. I don’t care what her origin in the movies is, that’s never been my favorite version of Wonder Woman. Making her a demigod robs her of something important, in my opinion.

...Should I make a comic book blog? Shit, thinkin’ about it.

OK, before I do that, these are just my favorite examples. Fact is, there are FAR too many examples of artificial humans to go into, whether they’re built, grown, sculpted, conjured, or a chemical reaction with an extra ingredient in the concoction.

And look, I could go on all day about this, but we got a long-ass movie to get back to. SO, lets jump back in. Part One is here!

Recap (2/2)

Understandably exhausted, K returns home, confused and conflicted. However, he’s greeted with a surprise from Joi: a prostitute! Namely, this is Mariette (Mackenzie Davis), one of the girls who approached him earlier. Joi’s called her here in order to be “real” for K, the effect is impressive, if somewhat...off-putting. Still, while K obviously didn’t need this to be happy with their relationship, Joi might, and Mariette’s all on board.

And it doesn’t take K terrible long to get on board, either. As both Mariette and Joi strip, it makes me wonder...how much does this subscription service for Joi cost. There’s no goddamn way this is free, right? Like, how exclusive IS this AI? And they cut from that scene to a Joi commercial, where we hear that Joi becomes anything you want her to be, and does anything you want her to do. But something tells me that...well, that it’s not quite so simple.

Once the night is over, Joi tells Mariette to leave, and not nicely either. Mariette leaves, rebuking her on the way out as well. K, meanwhile, knows that the Blade Runners will soon be coming after him. He’ll be going on the run, and Joi wants to go with him. And so, they put her inside of a remote device, while deleting her information from the main apartment console. This gets the attention of Luv, who head over to the apartment to figure out what’s going on.

K goes to Doc Badger (Barkhad Adbi), who analyzes the horse for him. It’s discovered that old radiation can be found there, and that amount and kind of radiation can only be found in areas where a dirty bomb has been set off. This would be in the desolate and weird-ass ruins of Las Vegas. While nobody lives there at this point, K and Joi go to check it out.

An IMMENSELY frustrated Luv, unaware of K’s discovery about himself, goes to confront Joshi about K’s whereabouts. Luv berates her for being afraid of change, and tells her that she “can’t fend off the tide with a broom”. Which is a great line. However, as Joshi is no use to her at this point, Luv just straight up kills her. Which, I’m sure, will go over well with the whole “Replicants aren’t dangerous” thing.

Meanwhile, in Vegas...shit is WEIRD. First off all, the desolate wasteland is full of statues of giant sexy wimmin, and I mean GIANT statues. Beneath one of them is a series of beehives, which K goes into to get a hand of beeeees. After that, he goes into an abandoned hotel/casino, rigged with tripwires and booby traps. OK. What.

So, somebody’s using this place as a hideaway, despite the entire city being destroyed by a dirty bomb, and probably extremely radioactive. K searches around and finds it empty. He begins to play a piano, hoping to draw someone out. He ends up drawing out a dog, as well as the inhabitant of the hotel.

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), baby! Quoting Stevenson’s Treasure Island and holding K up at gunpoint with dog at side is the original Blade Runner himself, Rick Fucking Deckard. God, I love this. Deckard hunts K down throughout the casino, where we see some trippy holograms, and the future of Vegas stageshows (probably).

The two fight, but eventually call a truce and decide to get a drink at the bar. K gets to it pretty quickly, and confronts Deckard on his potential child with Rachael. He confirms that Rachael was indeed pregnant by him, but he had never met his child. Which was the plan, to be fair. He wanted their child to be protected, not hunted down and eventually dissected.

Sometimes, to love someone...you gotta be a stranger.

To an old Frank Sinatra song, a forlorn K (now calling himself “Joe”) looks around, and sees carved wooden animals that resemble the horse that’s haunted his life and memories so much by this point. Which makes sense, considering the foil unicorn from the previous film. Neat little tie-in there.

But paradise is not all it’s cracked up to be, as someone soon comes to find both K and Deckard, despite the fact that K came alone. Although, now that I think about it, Joi may not be one that you can truly trust. Deckard and K try to escape their pursuers, but are caught pretty quickly. In the process, K is injured, but manages to get up in order to fight back. However, this is Luv with these people, and she beats K down EASILY. Turns out that Luv is actually an enforcer, rather than just a secretary. And when Joi awakens from K’s device to ask her to stop, well...she kills the device, and she kills K. In the process, she also takes Deckard away, leaving K behind. Fuck.

K wakes up, only to discover Mariette standing over him in the Las Vegas wasteland. She takes care of him as he wakes up, also stitching up with wounds from the explosion. She tells K to trust her, as well as her compatriots. One of them is the hooded woman from earlier, a Replicant named Freysa (Hiam Abbass). An old friend of Sapper’s she saw the delivery of the child, the “miracle”, and also hid the child away, as it was a symbol that the Replicants are more than just slave, that they are their own masters.

Freysa is building a revolution in order to free the Replicants once and for all. And I’m hard-pressed to disagree with their cause, not gonna lie. However, this comes at a price. In order to prevent Wallace from killing the cause, K must prevent Deckard from leading them to Freysa. They must do what they can until they can reveal the child to the world. For she will be their leader.

Fuck.

Understandably COMPLETELY crushed at this revelation, and more confused than ever, K collapses. Freysa tells him that they ALL wish they were the one, and they all believe. It’s at this point, that K realizes exactly who the Hybrid is: Dr. Ana Stelline. The horse from earlier, it turns out, did in fact belong to her, and she planted her childhood memory with the horse in K’s mind as a Replicant. Damn. DAMN! That’s why the memory moved her so: because it was hers.

Meanwhile, Deckard awakens to a separate nightmare: Jared Leto telling him how he feels about him. After all, Deckard helped to create the first Replicant-human hybrid. He asks him for his help in obtaining the child, so that the key of Replicant reproduction can be further unlocked. And he proceeds in convincing Deckard by playing audio of Rachael and his first meeting (from the first film, of course).

Niander fucks with him further, by suggesting Deckard was summoned all those years ago specifically to fall in love with Rachael in order to father a child with her. But despite all of this, Deckard refuses to give up any of his information. And so, Niander pulls out his ace-in-the-hole...and it’s a real shitty thing to do to a man in mourning. 

Damn. Dude rebuilt Rachael, tries to tempt Deckard with her, FAILS, then lets Luv shoot her in the head. Fucking power move, and fuck Niander for playing it. Dude is a DICK. Meanwhile. that one visual from every single ad of this movie is happening, and I can FINALLY use one of the 8000 GIFs of it, goddamn.

Not gonna lie, it’s an iconic appearance, so I get why it’s so famous. Anyway, K considers a suicidal option, now that he knows the truth. However, before we get to see the final decision, we get to see Deckard being taken back to LA for interrogation by Wallace. However, to prevent him from potentially leading Wallace to the secret of Ana Stelline, K suddenly appears, opening fire on their ship.

The craft is downed, and K exits the car to engage in a firefight with Luv. He appears to win, but Luv isn’t killed once she’s shot. The two have a fistfight out in the rain, and Deckard waits for water to slowly kill the craft that he’s still inside of.

As expected, Luv handles herself well, and despite a number of close calls, she JUST. WILL. NOT. DIE. Damn, she’s resilient. However, despite K, Luv, and Deckard all nearly drowning in an INTENSE fight between the Replicants, an enraged and crazed Luv finally eventually drowns, ending her threat for good. 

K saves Deckard from the sinking ship, and agrees to stage his death, allowing him to meet his daughter for the first time. Once at her facility, K returns Deckard’s horse to him, knowing that it was a gift from him. He tells Deckard that his best memories all come from her, implying that this makes him similar to Deckard’s son, which he picks up on when he asks if he’s OK.

Deckard goes to meet his daughter, and K hangs out on the stairs outside. He feels the snow fall on his hand, and he just...watches it all fall around him. He sits, and he watches it all. And meanwhile, Deckard meets his daughter for the first time.

...Can I just say...GODDAMN!

That movie was absolutely stellar, and it’s definitely landing in the high ‘90s for me, calling it now. I...wow. Seriously. Amazing.

See you in the Review!

[sunmoontruth-stiles]

Hello!! I saw you take prompts for TW and I couldn't resist. I was wondering if you could work some magic with the pairing Erica x Boyd? Berica is my second fav ship (after Sterek) and I feel they need more love. I don't know if you have specific themes/tropes you like to write but would love anything fluffy. A marriage proposal or love confession perhaps? Whatever takes your fancy :) Thanks heaps!

Did I get so excited when I saw this ask that I sat and wrote this immediately? Yes. Absolutely. Berica!!! Ok so this kinda takes place after 3A, but they lived!!! ~1600 words

———

After the alpha pack, Erica and Boyd were inseparable.

Erica had been near death after fighting Kali in the vault. Boyd stayed by her hospital bed for weeks as she slowly healed. He slept in the wooden chair, that was just too small for him, night after night. Erica had always been so animated. She always had a snarky comment, or she was starting a fight. Boyd was never much for conflict, happily fading into the background. Now she was silent, and her expression was softer than he'd ever seen. The others tried to coax him away, asking for his help with the various attacks on the town, but he'd always refuse. Boyd was adamant. He would never leave her alone in that horrible white room. He knew how much time she'd spent in the hospital growing up, and he would make sure she wouldn't wake up alone this time. Erica was his only true friend. Even Issac, his fellow beta, was a stranger to him. He'd sided with Scott, probably the smart move considering his new true alpha status. Their alpha, however, he'd been demoted to beta like them. Boyd wasn't sure if he and Erica even had a pack anymore, but he knew they had each other. She kept him sane in the vault. Her strength amazed him, so Boyd stayed. He stayed until the day she woke up.

The day she woke up was one he'd never forget. After almost three weeks, Erica slowly stirred awake around five in the morning. The steady rise in her heart as she woke up caught his attention from his slumped position beside her. He raised his head and studied her face as her eyes opened with slow, heavy blinks. Erica had looked down at the heart monitor and IV with a hollow familiarity, but then she met his gaze. They just looked at each other silently for a moment, but when her lip began to quiver, he was out of the chair without another second. Boyd just held her. Erica's grip tightened around his large frame with the strength that would crush a normal human's bones. They just stayed like that for a long time.

After her release, Erica wanted to see Derek. She was still loyal to their alpha, even if she hadn't spoken to him since they'd tried to run away in search of a new pack. Boyd explained that Derek was no longer an alpha, that he'd given up the power to save his sister, Cora. Erica just looked at him with those big brown eyes, and he was already on his way to the loft.

When Derek saw her, Boyd could see the guilt and relief wash across the man's face. Their alpha had been so clearly distraught when he found her in the vault, bloody and barely alive. Boyd knew he cared about them, even if he wasn't always a great leader. He made them to increase his own power, but pack is pack.

Erica wanted forgiveness. She wanted Derek to accept that as pack again. Boyd thought he looked physically pained when he told her that Scott had to be the one to accept them as pack. She understood, but she still starred at him. Boyd knew what she wanted. Maybe he wanted it too. They wanted Derek to tell them he didn't resent their past mistakes. What they got was a stiff smile, but for Derek, that meant a lot.

Erica and Boyd weren't quite ready to go to Scott. They knew they'd need a pack, an alpha, but they needed time to heal from what they'd been through. Putting off talking to Scott was like ignoring the rest of the world for awhile. They just drove out to the woods and laid on the hood, starring up at the sky. The clear night let the stars shine brightly overhead. Boyd looked over to Erica, her blonde curls surrounded her head like a messy pillow. He'd seen her face every day for weeks, but it was like she'd finally become herself again. The warmth in her skin and the way her lips twisted up in the corners, like she was mocking the world, were a welcome change to her recent cold, lifeless state. Erica glanced over at him, her eyes sparkling with the reflection of the stars.

"Boyd, we're omegas now, right?" Erica asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"Right," Boyd nodded. Erica seemed to ponder this for a minute.

"We have each other though, right?" Erica asked quietly. Boyd smiled.

"Right," he repeated. He'd never felt so close to anyone else, even feeling like a stranger to his own family most days. Erica smiled.

"Boyd, you know I love you, right?" Erica turned to him, her blonde curls falling to the side. He turned to face her.

"Right," he said softer this time. She watched him for a moment. "I love you too, Erica," Boyd returned her feelings without any doubt. He felt like he'd said it a million times before, and he knew he'd say it a million times more. Erica beamed up at him, and she leaned over quickly, grabbing his face and pressing a kiss to his lips. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he melted into her, wrapping an arm around her waist. She was all the pack he needed.

— 5 years later —

Boyd unpacked the last of the boxes from the truck. They'd had been moving in all day, their collective belongings from each of their college housing filled the moving van almost completely. Though, Erica's things probably took up three quarters of it. The pack came together to get them moved into their new apartment. Scott, Issac, and Derek helping with most of the heavy lifting. Stiles, Lydia, and Allison decided their skills were better suited for directing them, while they sat off to the side and watched the wolves do all the hard work.

"Hell ya! Take your shirt off!" Stiles shouted at their former alpha, causing Derek to roll his eyes. Lydia and Allison just dissolved into laughter. Erica smiled and shook her head behind a large box. Boyd came over, lifting the box from her hands.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Erica jumped up, trying to reclaim the box. Boyd smiled and laughed.

"I got this. You go hang out with the girls," he said gesturing over to the trio of humans. Erica pouted and glared.

"I'm a werewolf. I think I can handle a heavy box," she pursed her lips.

"I know you can, but there's only a few boxes left. We got this. Go have fun," Boyd leant down and kissed her head. A smile broke out across her face. Erica gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking a seat on the counter beside Stiles. Boyd smiled fondly over to her before going back outside to the truck.

"So, when are you doing it?" Issac popped up beside him, asking in a hushed tone. Scott came up behind him and raised an eyebrow.

"Later," Boyd smiled and grabbed a box.

"Very specific," Issac rolled his eyes.

"How are you doing it? Are you gonna take her out to dinner? Go somewhere special?" Scott, ever the romantic, flashed his lopsided grin.

"Here. Down on one knee. What can I say? I'm a traditionalist," Boyd smiled before heading back up the stairs. Issac and Scott sighed, hoping for more theatrics, Boyd assumes. That wasn't his style though.

He got back upstairs and found Erica laughing with Lydia and Allison, while Stiles and Derek bickered. Boyd rolled his eyes. Derek never was much help when Stiles was there to distract him.

They finished unpacking the truck and got the boxes sorted into the right rooms. The pack went their separate ways, and Boyd and Erica fell into their couch with a exhausted huff.

"Pizza?" Erica prompted.

"Pizza," Boyd nodded. She smiled and pulled out her phone, ordering it to their new apartment.

They ate the greasy food and watched their favorite movies. The boxes could wait till tomorrow. After a few hours, they were resting comfortably, Erica leaning into his side, and his arm holding her close. The sun was slipping under the horizon, and the glow from the TV and kitchen lit up the room with soft, warm light. Boyd glanced down at Erica. Her hair was in a messy bun, with random blonde curls poking out in various directions. Her black eyeliner was smeared at the edges from the long day. He smiled down at her and caught her eye. Erica glanced up at him, returning the smile with a questioning look.

"What? What are you thinking about?" Erica leaned up a bit to get a better look at him. She paused the movie, studying his coy smile. Boyd shifted to face her.

"You know I love you, right?" He watched her lips hold back a large grin. She nodded.

"Right," she answered firmly.

"You know you're everything I've ever wanted, right?" Boyd said with great fondness. Erica smirked.

"Right," she repeated cockily. Boyd just smiled wider. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the small black box. Erica's eyes got wide, and her confident expression fell to surprise.

"Will you marry me?" Boyd was never one for dragging thing out. He never wanted to waste time, when he knew how quickly it could be taken away.

Erica was nodding before he even got the words out, "Yes! Oh my god, Vernon!" She grabbed his face and tackled him in a kiss. They toppled to the ground and laughed against each other's lips.