#only halfway through s6

[elliedafish]

So, I officially get the Rory x Jess stans/defenders. He's fs the best one for her. And I say this as a used to be Logan stan.

[teabroomsandbooks]

It's so much fun when you recommend something to a friend and they absolutely love it. Not only that but they devour it and are nearly as crazy about it as you are. 10/10 would recommend again

[il3x]

The perfect big sister! <3

Ft. my "Toga Himiko is a Bonesaw" take under the cut:

I'm not very familiar with the superhero genre beyond Worm and MHA, so I might be missing a pre-existing trope - but I think these two share an archetype: Little Girl Villain who juxtaposes extremely gory, visceral acts with a happy and innocent demeanour. Their villain personas epitomise idealised archetypes of girlhood; frilly-dress-and-tea-party '50s little-girl for Bonesaw, and lovesick tween schoolgirl for Toga. These archetypes are anchored to a specific age - the age they were when they lost the chance at a civilian life.

On that note, neither of them got much choice in life, with Toga branded a villain for her Quirk and Bonesaw groomed into villainy by Jack. They both lost their families, and seek a surrogate family in their villain group, whose goal is (ostensibly) mindless destruction.

Is it any wonder that they're frozen in stasis at the age when they were traumatized? I find it interesting that they're both older than their archetypes (Bonesaw, at 12, is pretty much the age of Toga's archetype!) but are unable to move past these personas.

[inconsistentlywrittensoul]

Okay, fine, rewatching it as an adult, Season 6 is pretty damn good.

(Wrecked still sucks though.)

[thatsparrow]

halfway through s6 in this buffy rewatch, and honest to god, I don't understand what the show's intention is with regard to spike/buffy, particularly in terms of equating buffy's growing attraction to spike with willow's overuse/abuse of magic. like, one of these things is clearly harmful to willow and dangerous to those around her, and the other is—what's so bad about buffy sleeping with spike, really? she feels shame about it, and at points you could say it's distracting her from other responsibilities (see: her staying out all night and leaving dawn home alone), but if not for the shame, if not for the clear feeling that this isn't something she's supposed to want, what is the actual harm at this point in the season (for reference, I'm just after "wrecked") of buffy sleeping with spike? but you have these moments of buffy defending willow's overuse of magic when what buffy's clearly actually trying to defend are her own actions/feelings to herself (can't remember the ep, but the language around "being seduced"), and then in "wrecked"—when willow almost gets dawn killed!—the episode doesn't end with the shot of willow going through magic withdrawal, but instead it's buffy in her room, holding a crucifix, suggesting that her trying to resist the evil seductions of spike is not only equivalent to what willow's going through, but is arguably the weightier moral challenge. and for what! for what!! not to mention how the season starts with spike as a more integral part of the gang, as one of dawn's go-to caretakers, the whole "I can be alone with you here" scene, setting up this shift of him as someone buffy trusts, someone she's comfortable relying on and confiding in—but as soon as we start getting into territory of him as romantic prospect, it's like none of that happened and he might as well be pre-chipped big-bad spike

[bakudekublogblog]

i’m only halfway through mha s6 but I did drop everything to watch the OVA right away incase of bkdk content and I was NOT disappointed

they’re having a domestic dispute they’re so cute

[ninii-winchester]

Unveiled Sorrows (Part 5)

Pairings : Dean Winchester X Reader, Sam Winchester X Reader (platonic), Dean Winchester x Lisa Braden (mentioned)

Word count: 4.6k

Warnings: heavy angst, spoilers s1-s6, mentions of violence, foul language, brief mentions of pregnancy and childbirth.(no details).

A/n : This series follows canon plot line but some scenes might happen differently or be completely changed. Check the warnings for each part before continuing

A/n: For the purpose of this series, Sam came back with his soul. Gemma and Will Campbell are OCs.

I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION TO COPY MY WORK, TRANSLATE IT OR POST IT TO ANY OTHER PLATFORM. REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED.

Bobby watched Dean drive away. He never imagined he'd do something like that. He turned to see y/n on the ground.

"No...no Sammy. Come back." She dug her fingers into the ground. "Please." She sobbed as she continued digging as if the cage would still be under the ground. She hoped by some miracle it would open up and give her best friend back.

"Y/n let go." Bobby tried prying her hands off the ground. "Let go God dammit your fingers are bleeding." He jerked her body upwards and dragged her off to his truck. He made her sit inside and grabbed her stuff from her car. He got into the driver's seat, and took off. After an hour of driving she calmed down.

"Hey! How come you're walking again? I mean not that it's bad but I'm curious." Y/n asked Bobby.

"I sold my soul to Crowley to find Death. He said he could give me anything so he gave me my legs back too."

"Crowley the demon? Gave you your legs back?"

"Strange world we live in." Bobby shrugged. Y/n give him a look. "What?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Excuse me?"

"You sold your soul to a demon? You're gonna have your ass dragged to hell you know that?"

"He said he's borrowing it."

"Wow Bobby, he said and you believed. Thats a demon. You can't trust demons." Bobby didn't say anything after that. Halfway through the drive Y/n called out Bobby's name. He glanced at her urging her to go on.

"I'm pregnant." She said making Bobby hit the brakes abruptly.

"Come again?"

"I'm pregnant."

"What?" He was shocked to the core at the revelation. She only stared ahead not looking him in the eye. "What the hell were you thinking confronting Lucifer? Are you mad? Did you have no regard for your life or that child's?" Bobby yelled as he started to drive again.

"I'm sorry I just couldn't sit back and watch." She whispered.

"Did you three plan this scheme 'kill Bobby of a heart attack'." He sighed and then he paused. "Who's the father?" He asked.

"Dean." She looked out of the window as the scenery passed.

"Figures. Did you tell him?" She shook her head 'no'. "Will you tell him?"

"Do you really think he wants anything to do with me after the way he left?" She snapped. Bobby stayed silent.

"I'm taking you to a hospital, we need to get you checked." Y/n nodded.

The two of them made their way back home after a long drive and a pit stop at the doctors. She was fine and the baby was healthy too. They gave her some prescription and told her to rest. Bobby had told her she'd be staying with him from now on and he won't take no for an answer. He cared for the three of them like their own. Now with Sam being dead and Dean being God knows where he'd like to keep her here safe. Ever more now that she's pregnant.

"I'm telling you, you should tell Dean. He deserves to know."

"Dean didn't give two shits before walking away from us Bobby, we've known him for years. Do you think he'd care for a bastard child like that?" Y/n retorted.

"Watch your language, young lady. That's my grandchild you're talking about." Bobby scolded her. Ofcourse he thinks of Y/n as the daughter her never had.

"Well news flash Bobby this ain't no love child." Bobby rolled his eyes at her comment.

"I'm sure he'd-"

"You know what actually? I'm sure he would want to know but I don't want to tell him. Walking out was his decision and not telling him about this is my decision." Y/n said walking away.

It had been two months since Sam died and Dean left. Y/n still mourned Sam's death and she missed him dearly. She wondered how he'd react to the news of her being pregnant. She's at five months now. She was in the main room cleaning and refilling her guns. Just because she's not allowed to hunt for the time being doesn't mean she won't be cautious.

She heard a knock on the door and she knew Bobby wasn't supposed to be back until later. She grabbed her gun and stuffed it in the back of her jeans. She grabbed her shotgun and went to the door. When she opened the door, her jaw hit floor. She couldn't believe her eyes. There stood Sam Winchester in the flesh.

"Y/n." He breathed out and she pointed the shot gun at his chest. "It's me, Sam."

"Not you're not. Sam's dead."

"I know I died Y/n but I'm back."

"That's not possible. Who brought you back? Was it Dean?" It pained her to say his name but now's not the time to think about that.

"I don't know what or who brought me back but I'm willing to go to every test." He raised his hands in surrender.

"Alright." And with that she shot him.

"Ow son of a bitch. That hurt Y/n." He complained.

"It was just rock salt, don't be a bitch."

"Jerk." Sam replied and for second her guard dropped. Still pointing the gun at him she grabbed a silver knife from her back pocket and threw it at him. He caught it and sliced his arm, he showed her as the blood trickled down his arm. She then grabbed the holy water and threw it at his face.

"A little warning would've been appreciated." Sam sassed  as he wiped the water from his eyes. "Can I hug you now?"

She kept staring at his face. She grabbed his arm and dragged him to main room and made him stand under the devils trap. Sam looked up and then moved away from the trap. Before either of them could say anything Y/n jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back and he felt something different about Y/n as he hugged her.

"How did this happen, Sammy?" She asked as they pulled away.

"Uh i don't know." He replied looking at her oddly. Y/n was thankful that she was wearing one of Sam's shirts, it was huge on her so her body was completely covered. Not that she had huge bump but still whatever she had, it was covered.

"How long have you been back?"

"Two months?"

"TWO MONTHS? SAM WINCHESTER YOUVE BEEN BACK FOR TWO MONTHS???" She exclaimed loudly. "Where have you been for the past two months?"

"Yeah I've been researching, I needed to know how I came back and uh I went to see Dean." He explained.

"You met Dean? Why's he not here?" She shouldn't care but she did.

"I didn't meet him. I just saw him." Sam replied.

"What do you mean? Why didn't you meet him? Where is he?"

"He is living with Lisa and Ben. He uh... he looked normal, he's living the apple pie life he always wanted and I couldn't go up there and take it all away from him." Sam told her with a sad smile. They both knew Dean would drop anything for his brother.

Y/n knew Lisa, she's met her once when they helped her get her son, Ben, back. Lisa was in Dean's life way before Y/n was. That was his only serious long term relationship she's ever known of. Lisa is a wonderful woman and it made sense why he left Y/n for someone like her.

"Was he...did he seem happy?" She had to ask.

"The happiest I've ever seen him. I didn't have it in me to go ahead and ruin everything. He looked so happy but I knew if I went in there he'd leave all of it to be back in hunting. I couldn't do that to him." Sam told her honestly.

"I agree."

"Where's Bobby?" Sam asked and the man in question entered the house and gasped at the sight in front of him. He grabbed the shot gun by the stairs and aimed at Sam. "Aw dammit not again."

"It's alright Bobby i checked. I did all the tests." Y/n intervened. The older man lowered his gun.

"Tell me something only Sam Winchester would know!" He demanded.

"A month before I fell, you lost your years to a witch in poker and then Dean lost to get your years back which made him old. But then I won back Dean's years and he turned back to normal." Sam narrated.

"What? When did that happen?" Y/n giggled as Bobby pulled Sam in a hug.

"When Bobby came to help us with the witch. You stayed back when we last hit the road." Sam replied.

"Oh I remember that, but you didn't tell me Dean got old." She laughed.

"Dean told me not to." Sam replied.

"Did you tell him?" Bobby asked Y/n and her eyes widened.

"Tell me what?" Sam asked warily.

"Uh look at that would ya? It's time for lunch. Why don't you wash up Bobby I'll set the table. You must be hungry too Sam." She said walking into the kitchen as Bobby went to freshen up. Sam followed her into the kitchen and she brush past him.

"Tell me what Y/n?"

"Would you like a beer, Sammy?" She pulled out a bottle and passed it to him. He banged his hand against the table gaining her attention.

"Tell me what?"

"I'm pregnant. It's Dean's." Y/n said calmly. The beer bottle slipped from his hands onto floor and shattering into a million pieces.

"What?" He asked completely in shock. Y/n pulled her shirt up a bit and it showed her bump. Sam stared at in utter disbelief. "I had no idea you and him? You and Dean you...?" He stuttered.

"It happened one night. It was a mistake." She lied. Ofcourse it wasn't one night and it wasn't a mistake either. But what can she even tell him.

"Does he know? Did you tell him?"

"No." She replied as she continued to set the food on the table.

"Why? Why wouldn't you tell him? he wanted a family for as long as i can remember."

"And he has a family. With Lisa. And Ben. I'm a hunter Sam, he can't have that white picket fence life with me which has with them. Don't you think he should live with the woman he loves and not with some good lay and a bastard child?" She snapped.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to say that word?" Bobby glared at Y/n as he entered the kitchen.

"What? That's your summoning? I say bastard child and you appear out of thin air?" Y/n replied sarcastically.

"You watch how you speak to me." Bobby's glare deepened.

"You can't kick me out. I'm carrying your grandchild." She stuck her tongue out the man she's come to love, as her father, over the years.

"I can when it's born."

"You wouldn't." She rolled her eyes.

"Are you two done? Because i would like to rewind to the part where you called yourself 'some good lay'." Sam sighed.

"What? You want me to say I was bad?" She joked.

"How are you not affected by all this? Stop acting like it doesn't bother you." Sam bellowed. He knew it must've been killing her inside.

"It doesn't bother me Sam."

"You have to tell Dean." He pressed on.

"I will not and if you did, I will shoot you. Not with a shot gun filled with rock salt but I'll put an actual bullet through you. And this is not an empty threat."

"I know things weren't good the last time we were here, he said things, he was stressed -"

"No Sam. It has nothing to do with what happened the last time."

"What is it then?"

"He left." Bobby said. "After you fell, he drove off leaving me and her behind. He didn't look back and we haven't heard from him since." He said solemnly looking at Y/n.

"I won't tell him. I promise." Sam said to y/n and She nodded. Sam felt a pang of guilt hit him. He remembered the talk he had with hin on their drive to Detroit. If only he hadn't made Dean promise to not find Y/n and go back to Lisa, things would've been different. Dean would've been here with his child and Y/n wouldn't have to go through this all alone. If only he had known. But how could've he known.

"Sam? You zoned out.!" Y/n called out.

"Yeah uhm I'm fine just too much to take in." Y/n nodded in agreement and Sam filled the two of them about the past two months. How his grandfather Samuel is also back from the dead. And he's been staying with him distant maternal cousins for the past two months.

Sam introduced Y/n to Samuel and his family. They've been getting along fine and Sam's back to hunting with the Campbells.

Three months later Y/n gave birth to Adeline Mary Winchester. No-one other than Bobby and Sam knew who the was the father of Adeline. Adeline was the cutest baby Sam had ever seen and much to Y/n's dismay, she looked exactly like her father. She had bright green eyes and dirty blonde hair. She had freckles all over her cheeks and nose just like Dean's. She reminded her too much of Dean.

"She looks exactly like Dean, no offence y/n." Sam said as he cradled his niece.

"None taken, Sammy. I know she looks like him." He placed her in her arms gently. "Hi there sweetheart." Y/n cooed at her daughter. "Isn't she adorable?"

"She's lovely." Sam commented. "I wish Dean was here." She wished too.

"But he's not."

"Because he doesn't know." Sam replied.

"I'd like to keep it that way. And we're not having this conversation again."

Y/n missed hunting. She'd been staying put and helping with research at Bobby's but she missed hunting. Neither of the men allowed her to go on hunts even if it was a basic salt and burn. Adeline had turned four months old three days ago. She was currently in Bobby's arms as she slept and Sam's on a hunt with Samuel.

The phone rang and Y/n answered it before it rang too much and woke up Addy.

"It's Gemma." She's one of Sam's distant cousins. Barely eighteen but a good hunter. "Me and Will are on a hunt and seems like we might need backup." Y/n relayed the information to Bobby hoping he'd let her go since there's no one else. The old man rolled his eyes and nodded. Y/n squealed with happiness and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you. Addy darling mommy's gonna be back before you know it." She kissed her daughter's cheek. "Don't bother the old man okay? I love you."

Y/n packed her stuff and drove her car to the town Gemma told her they would be in. It was dark when she left Sioux Falls and she arrived at the town at 4:20am. She met up with Gemma and Will. They decided they'd get those ambush the nest first thing in the morning. The three stayed in a motel room where Gemma took one bed and Y/n slept on the other. William was kind enough to give up on a bed and opt for the pullout couch instead. It had been a while since Y/n had been in a motel room.

It reminded her of Dean, how he would pull her in for a kiss every time Sam went out. Or how he would make her feel good when they shared a room. How he would make sweet passionate love to her and how the two of them created Adeline in a motel room. Then she felt bitter. He didn't make love to her, he had sex with her. If only he loved her like her told her, he would've never hurt her this bad. Or leave her alone by herself.

The morning came earlier than she expected and the three of them drove to the warehouse which was the supposed Vampire nest. There were nine vampires in total. Y/n hadn't felt this thrill in the past few months and she was thriving on it. Pumped up with adrenaline, she went in for the kill and ended up killing five on her own. All her frustration washing away with vampires' blood . Gemma and Will finished off the other four. The two rookies were impressed by her skills. The sun had set when they were with cleaning and disposing off the bodies. The three skipped town as soon as they cleaned up because a few of Gemma and Will's guns were at the motel, out in the open, the cleaning maid saw them and called the police.

They stopped two towns over to grab a few drinks. It was around nine pm. It had been a long time since y/n had alcohol. They went inside the bar and grabbed a table. Gemma and Will ordered beers but Y/n went for whiskey. She downed it one go and asked for another.

"Hey don't look at me like that, it's been a while i hunted or even drank." The two smirked and cheers to her. She decided to give Bobby a call and let him know that she'd be home in a few hours and asked if Addy was doing okay. To which he told that Sam's back and Addy has been with him since. She sighed in relief when she heard that.

"How's Addy?" Gemma asked.

"She's good. Sammy is back and she's with him right now." Y/n smiled thinking about her little girl. Her Dean jr.

The bar door opened and two men walked inside, one of the them was chattering too loudly which made Y/n look up and she wished she hadn't. She saw Dean walking in with a man she didn't recognise. She watched as Dean heard his friend's chatter with a smile on his face. He looked...normal. Just some guy you'd find at a bar on the weekend. He didn't look like Dean Winchester. The one she knew. She hoped he doesn't see her but has luck ever been on her side? He looked at her and their eyes met.

Dean stopped dead in his tracks as soon as his eyes landed on her. His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest. It's almost been an year since he last saw her but the mere sight of her was enough to make him fold. She looked just a beautiful as the day he left her. The day he broke her heart but ripped his own into pieces. She looked like he had gained some weight, but it suited her. And then his gaze dropped to her lips, those same lips that he used to kiss sore, the same lips let out those sinful noises when he made her feel good. Those lips, he'd give anything to feel against his own.

"Dean, are you okay?" Sid asked as he noticed Dean stop.

"Yeah man, I'm good." He said still looking at her. He knows he shouldn't, but he couldn't help himself before he spoke, "i think I saw someone from my high school, let's go say hi." He said walking towards her table.

"Sure." Sid followed behind him.

Y/n's heart rate picked up as he got closer, why is he walking towards us. Is going to act like he knows me? The sheer audacity of this man. Hasn't he broken me enough why..

"Hey.! Gracie Henderson, right?" Dean spoke as he reached their table. Gemma and Will turned to look up at him.

Damn you Dean. Fuck you. He had to strike a nerve there. That was their alias when they had to go undercover as a couple. It was always Y/n and Dean since Sam couldn't like a couple with Y/n. He just had to make everything awkward, so it was always Dean and Y/n. Gracie Henderson and her husband Troy Henderson.

Ofcourse he couldn't miss the chance to hurt me again. Y/n thought to herself.

"Huh?" Y/n feigned ignorance.

"You're Gracie right? We went to high school together." Dean said looking right at her.

"Sorry? I think you have the wrong person." Y/n spoke the alcohol in her system giving her the courage to speak to him. "I never went to high school and its Adeline."

"Alright my bad." Dean said, his friend mumbling a sorry before they went to sit at the table beside theirs. His friend went to order for them and he sat there eavesdropping the conversation happening at the table beside him.

"He definitely knows you. That was one of your aliases." Gemma said as soon as Dean left. Y/n shrugged in response ordering another drink. "Cmon y/n tell us why did you act like you didn't know him?"

"Because he's Dean Winchester." She practically sneered his name. Dean flinched at the way she said name.

"What really ? He's Dean?" Will spoke for the first time in awhile. Y/n nodded.

"Why didn't you tell him to join us?" Gemma asked and Will added a "yeah why not?"

"Are you two dumb? What part of his appearance says he's a hunter? He's not in the business anymore. And the guy that came with him? He screams 9 to 5. So what did you two expect me to invite him to our table and reminisce the time we went to a fucking high school to burn the body of his brother's friend and his friend's bully?" Y/n spoke agitatedly and the two nodded in understanding. She downed her drink.

"I can't believe i came here out for this. You two needed backup for nine vampires? You know Bobby doesn't let me go on hunts. I came out to hunt after almost a year and its some stupid fucking vampires." She sighed dramatically.

Dean perked up when he heard her say she hadn't hunted in almost an year. Is she out of the business too? What does she mean Bobby doesn't let her hunt.

"You haven't hunted in almost a year and still you took down five vampires on your own." Will sat there in total awe. "You're my new role model."

Sid had already came back but Dean's attention was still on y/n. He smiled when he heard she took down five vampires on her own, that's my girl. He thought to himself.

"You two kiddos did good too. I'm sorry I snapped, I'm a bit stressed." Y/n said.

"It's alright." Gemma smiled.

"I'll head out." Y/n said grabbing her jacket and threw a few bills to for her bills.

"You're driving back to Sioux Falls?" Will asked and she nodded. "Aren't you drunk?"

"I've only had three drinks."

"Yeah of whiskey." Gemma added.

"Trust me kiddo. It takes a lot more than that to get me drunk." She replied and Dean noticed a lingering sadness in her voice.

The love of his life has been through hell and back and she's still kicking it. He wishes he could just grab her and disappear from the surface of the earth. To keep her from harms way and keep her protected from all the sadness and hurt. He wish he could love her the way she deserves to be loved. He watched as she left the bar before yelling a "get home safe kiddos."

The first thing y/n did as she reached home was to see Adeline. It was around five in the morning when she reached home. She saw Sam in the kitchen eating cereal and looking at his computer while he held Adeline on his lap.

"Good morning." She said as she entered the kitchen.

"Look Addy, mommy's back." Sam said holding her up. The baby giggled as she saw her mother approaching her.

"There's my baby." She picked up Adeline in her arms. "Did you miss mommy?" She asked in baby voice and the little girl flailed her arms, excitedly tapping her mother's cheeks.

"How was your 'first' hunt?" Sam joked earning an eye roll.

"It was good, vamps nest." She said sitting beside him, pulling her hair away from Adeline who was gripping it too tightly.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked noticing the stress lines on his best friend's face.

"I'm fine, why'd you ask?"

"You have that look on your face." Sam replied gesturing to her face.

"What look?"

"That look when something is bothering you but you're too prideful to say."

"I don't have such look on my face." Y/n said bouncing Addy on her lap.

"Y/n." Sam stared at her. He knows it's only a matter of seconds before she's spilling the truth.

"I met Dean okay? No big deal." She sighed.

"What? You met Dean? How?" Y/n filled in him with everything that happened after the hunt.

"He looked like a common man, it was weird seeing him. And the audacity to walk up to me and say hi? He was lucky he was with someone or I would've bashed his face in the table." Y/n growled her hold tightening on Adeline.

"Maybe he missed you and he thought after seeing you again he could talk to you." Sam said hoping he could get her hate him a little less.

"Well he thought wrong." She said angrily making her way out of the kitchen.

"Do you want me to watch Addy while you rest?" Sam called out from behind her.

"I am very much capable of taking care of my daughter on my own." She snapped, she didn't mean she didn't need Sam's help, she always appreciated his existence. But at the moment her words had a different meaning. She wanted Sam to know that just because she met Dean doesn't mean she will let him be in Adeline's life.

Sam sighed as he watched her walk away. He most definitely understood the meaning behind her words. Y/n went to her room and laid Adeline on the bed. She kneeled beside the bed and looked at her daughter. Adeline wiggled amd giggled staring at her mother. Y/n couldn't help but let a few tears run down her cheek. She never wanted this to be her daughter's life, she didn't need her innocent baby to grow up around monsters, without her father being there to protect her.

"How I wish I could hate your father, Addy. I resent him for what he did to us but I still love him. How could I not when he has given me you." She whispered, her daughter stared up the her with her bright green eyes that reminded her so much of her lost love. She placed soft kisses on her chubby cheeks before putting her in her crib. Y/n sighed as she got into bed. Little did she know this was the last time she had a good night's sleep in a long time.

Tags:

@spnfamily-j2 @queensilber @deangirl96 @galway-girlatwork @hobby27

[thelikesofus]

Buddie Fic Recs

REC LIST NUMBER 6! The theme is PINING if you couldn’t already tell. I haven’t done a lot of writing recently but I have done A LOT of reading so here are some of the lovely stories I have come across over the last few weeks. As always, please show these authors some love in their comments xx REMINDER TO CHECK THE TAGS AND TRIGGER WARNINGS

where our eyes are never closing by @rewritetheending | T | 6k

After the lightning strike, Buck asks Eddie to take candid photos of him to help prove to Buck that he still exists. Absolute PEAK Softness. Buck through Eddie's eyes! I was a mushy puddle by the end. 10/10 would recommend

put my heart inside your palms by @markofalover | T | 3k

An accidental pet name, a thoughtful dinner, and a shared shirt. Buddie are too domestic for my health and well-being! I want what they have!!

because we'll all arrive in heaven alive by @neverevan | E | 75k 

During a search and rescue, Eddie disappears without a trace, leaving Buck to grapple with the sudden possibility of a life without him AKA the Mudslide Missing!Eddie fic with pining for daaayyyyyyyzzzzzzz

Left Unsaid by C_M2 | M | 33k 

The discovery of a small facebook group full of tsunami survivors rocks station 118. This fic is amazing!! The perfect amount of pining angst, domestic feels and firefam love and goodness 💕💕

If I Should Fall by @elvensorceress | T | 23k

Buck thinks Tommy has died but it's actually Eddie. He is not dead but almost and they have to figure things out from there. This fic had me feeling like my heart has been gutted from my chest and dissected before my very eyes but it has the happy ending we all deserve. 

the distance to the stars by cloudydaisies | G | 27k

Eddie is the only one who doesn't realize he and Buck are dating 😭 This is a perfectly sweet and angsty miscommunication fic. 

the weekly bet (but the forever kind) by @theleftboobgrabber | E | 49k

The firehouse has a bet and Buck and Eddie work it in their favor. Once again Eddie pining for dayyyyzzzzzzzzzzz. (I’ve been on a Pining!Eddie kick recently). Perfect Buckley Diaz family feels. 

light me and i'll burn for you by @woodchoc-magnum | M | 31k

An old friend of Buck's joins the 118 and he kinda sucks. Eddie pines and falls down a hole (literally). Seriously though the pining and the angst in this fic is just delicious and with a happy ending to boot <3

The Aftermath of Liberation and Love Confessions by @elvensorceress | T | 17k

Eddie makes the love confession to end all love confessions while perfecting the balance between pining and not giving a f*ck. I love me a Jenwyn fic and this one is fabulous as always. 

love bites so deep and we've got tiger teeth by @usereddie | M | 10k

Rather than going to texas with his grandparents Christopher goes to stay with Buck for an extended sleepover and Eddie realizes he is incredibly in love with his best friend. Honestly I am OBSESSED!!! This is officially my season 7 ending <3

hearts on fire by @woodchoc-magnum | M | 65k

This is a canon divergence on Season 2 where Buck and Eddie almost get together but then Abby comes back and Eddie lets buck go and then regrets it while trying to be happy for him. The pining, the self-sabotage, honestly is all one big tasty meal and topped off with a happy ending and a side salad of the Shannon and Eddie friends/co-parents arc that they deserved!!

like a dog with a bird at your door by @shitouttabuck | E | 51k

Set post s6, Eddie is injured on a call and Buck moves in to help with his recovery whilst learning to navigate his feelings for his best friend and pining for the position Eddie’s girlfriend holds. honestly, I’m actually only halfway through reading this fic but OMG I’M ASDFFGGHJJKKL and I just already knew this would be making it onto the next rec list so I'm adding it to this one preemptively. 

[irrealisms]

Hey so I want to get into lifesteal. I don’t exactly feel like watching hundreds of hours of vods. I did also watch one of the three hour long summaries by one of the members but most of it went right over my head. At this point I’m mainly interested in watching pangi’s and clown’s pov. Could you catch me up with the lore and maybe recommend a few vods?

absolutely!!! the first thing i'll say is that lifesteal is sort of like hermitcraft or the life series (if you're familiar with those), in that it has multiple seasons, each of which is on a different server and comes with new teams/plotlines/builds/etc., although they do sometimes reference past seasons. so if you want to only watch some seasons and not others, that's an option! both pangi and clown joined in s2 and are still members today in s6; clown is imo most famous for his s3, which is where clownzy comes from.

(if you don't want to watch hundreds of hours of vods but don't mind watching like a hundred hours of edited videos i also have playlists of all the edited videos buuuuuut i assume that you do not want to do that either lol. i'll link the playlists of Just clown and Just pangi povs though bc those should b shorter!)

the good news is that clown doesn't really stream and does make edited videos, and pangi is also pretty good at making edited videos. the bad news is that pangi streams a lot. the other good news is that i love Talking About Lifesteal.

uhhhh first off. some edited-video playlists:

clownpierce s2 (11 videos, 2.5 hours)

pangi s2 (2 videos, 15 minutes)

clownpierce s3 (9 videos, 3.5 hours)

pangi s3 (5 videos, 45 minutes)

clownpierce s4 (3 videos, 1 hour)

pangi s4 (10 videos, 2 hours; has some videos not by pangi if they are relevant to pangi's story)

clownpierce s5 (7 videos, 3 hours)

pangi s5 (2 videos, 30 minutes)

[there are no clownpierce videos for s6]

pangi s6 (16 videos, 2.5 hours)

general overviews of the seasons and whether/how much i recommend them:

i quite like clownpierce's s2; it's kinda old and a bit messy, it's from when he and lifesteal really blew up as youtubers, and also from when he was cracked at crystal pvp. he's very involved in the ~main plot, between the M.O.B. (clown's team) and the Poggies (parrot's team). he gets some delightful monologues and fun moments. if you have derangements about Content and Narrative within mcyt the way i do i definitely recommend his s2. pangi ... only joins halfway through s2 and doesn't really do much lol

clownpierce's s3 is REALLY good. there is a reason that clownzy is the #1 lifesteal ship on ao3, and it's because of clown and branzy's s3. i personally prefer branzy pov of s3 tbh but clown pov is also quite good! evil clown runs casino, falls in love, does a lot of scamming and murder. very good imo. pangi's s3 is good but kind of forgettable imo, although it (especially the last video) is good as leadup for...

pangi's s4! once again i REALLY like pangi's s4. (not to brag but you can spot me in the twitch chat of one of his videos.) he gets very involved in the plot this season; he starts shit with the NPPP, clownpierce, and team awesome, in that order, and has a deeply messy relationship with princezam, including "princezam literally flying to the netherlands and using pangi's minecraft account to give pangi's hearts to his enemies", "princezam pretending to be on pangi's side when pangi declares himself king only to actually be double-agenting", and "pangi traps a suicidal princezam in bedrock". love those guys. and pangi's s2-3 (but ESPECIALLY the princezam empire) sets up their friendship a bit more if you end up interested in them! you can skip the valentines date & escape room if you are primarily watching for major plot events, they're very filler-y, but they're a fun time and they were pangi videos from s4 so

clown's s4 is. fine? it's got one video of "this event is also covered in the pangi playlist" (shades vs clown duel) and two videos that are fun for clown but pretty disconnected from The Rest Of The Server. that said if s3 got you invested in clownzy you should check out I Trapped Him In Minecraft's Safest Base. clown basically did not log on for most of s4 and it shows ToT

pangi's s5 is another. it's fine? it's really really short. it is literally two videos. one of my favorite s5 streams that never went anywhere or got made into a video is related to pangi but it, uh, never went anywhere or got made into a video lol. tl;dr: he and zam are teammates this season! for real this time and they aren't going to have a big dramatic breakup!!! this lasts...about half the season until they have a big dramatic breakup (not shown in the youtube videos, which are all set before that). he also got involved in some Dragon Egg Shenanigans and started some shit with subz early-season but nothing huge.

clown gets more involved again in s5! he's not quite as involved as he was in s2-3 but he is There for a lot of stuff: he makes the PMC with Minutetech, Leowook, and Sort Of Branzy, doesn't log on for a while, logs back on to help with the scavenger hunt during void arc (aka "do our scavenger hunt or else we turn all of spawn into void"), and then betrays the PMC for end-of-server. there's some good stuff in there imo.

pangi's s6 is ... mostly just Silly Bits rather than Getting Involved, both in videos and vods. that said it might be worth watching some of it as a realm viewer bc it's the origin of his current bits--eg the therapy thing is a lifesteal s6 original!

in terms of character stuff about the two of them:

with clown there are a couple things i want to talk about. the main thing everyone talks about is clownzy, and i'd also like to talk about the broader phenomenon that creates clownzy, which is that clown really loves having a Little Guy: someone who's kind of pathetic and bad at pvp, so that clown can Protect Them and be a little threatening to them and even more threatening to their enemies. the other thing i want to talk about is actually not clownzy-related? clown likes (and is quite good at!) playing evil menacing villains, but he's in many ways a believer in politeness and fair play; he's a very gracious loser, to the point where lifestealers have said before that they feel kinda bad when they win against him, and he tends to strongly favor fair fights over traps or exploits. which is interesting to me! uhhhh another thing that's interesting is that (as is the case with many/most lifestealers) his videos tend to editorialize; his s3 especially stands out to me for this, for a few moments but one that stands out to me is that when mr. cube successfully rigs the casino against him he just cuts this out of his video even though he's got the moments right before and right after it in his video.

with pangi something that sticks out to me is .... well first of all i could talk about his relationship with zam for aaaaaaages. there's a thing there of. he and zam are quite close ooc, and so zam tends to take him for granted as an ally, even when zam treats him quite poorly and doesn't prioritize him? this was most obvious in s4 but i would say even in s5 when they teamed up again uhhhhhh zam does very much (a) find another team that zam ends up much closer with (b) plan to spawnkill pangi. but pangi's still very much in a position where his strongest/closest relationship is usually zam. there's also a thing where he's currently known as a Silly Lighthearted Bits guy and not someone who gets seriously involved in the LoreTM and i think sometimes people forget that this wasn't always true? but even in s4 when he was much more involved in things there's some level of disconnect; in late s4 there was a lot of "major developments happen while pangi's asleep, the next day zam catches pangi up on everything that happened". and i would also argue that all of this is v related to pangi being european time zone and lifesteal being overwhelmingly american. it's harder for pangi to form strong bonds or get super involved in things when people are just... not online at the same time as him.

uhhhh also if u just want to jump in w s6 u can do that. pangi hasn't had any Big Lore this season you can just start watching him. go for it. clown doesn't really stream it bc he hates us but he hasn't done much in s6 so far so if he starts doing stuff, again, you won't be missing things, u can just jump in

i was going to talk more about the lore for each season beyond whether i recommend it, since you mostly wanted me to give summaries that catch you up, buuuuuut this post is already absurdly long. most of my favorite pangi vods either got made into videos or i mostly enjoy them for other characters (e.g. there are at least three pangi s4 vods i really like because zam is being incredibly suicidal in them lol) BUT. have the princezam-pangi divorce vod from s5 in which zam tries to spawnkill pangi bc zam needs hearts and pangi gets away and then they argue for like an hour. this is the aforementioned stream that never got made into a video. i know it is a zam pov stream but i really like it for pangi as well :3

if you prefer vods to edited videos and want me to recommend a few others that did make it to videos, or if you want a more in-depth summary of any of the seasons: just send another ask and i will happily yap more!!! this is kinda all over the place bc i'm sick rn but i will do my best. i am torn between "i hope this wasn't too long" and "i am worried it should have been significantly longer in order to actually answer your questions abt lore instead of just linking videos" lol but ! as i said feel free to just, send another ask, u have no idea how excited i was to get this ask, i love talking about lifesteal ^w^

[batsplat]

speaking of smallville now that was certainly a show. how many seasons did you manage and when is it best to stop? I am currently at s2 and already I would kill every other character for lex, wyd it’s only gonna get worse 😭

lmaooo okay so I got to. six. which actually kinda kills me because I swear I poured my heart and my soul into that stupid show, it drove me insane it left me a lesser person and I BARELY GOT HALFWAY

my basic analysis of the default journey with that show that I'm going to pretend is universal is like. it hooks you with something compelling in s1 and you still have enough naive faith to give it benefit of doubt that the writers actually know what they're doing, because you just wanted to have a bit of fun but, hey, these characters are actually more interesting than you expected!! then in s2 you're starting to get doubts but you're already kinda too deep. then s3 breaks your sanity and makes you scream and at this point you just see how far this shit goes. then s4 is.... mid..... but is also in a way the last remotely palpable season? and then at some point in s5 you're just like. wow I don't even enjoy the hate watching any more. and s6 is. yeah. eventually there was one storyline that is so insanely uncomfortable that it's just. enough. enough!

[mild spoilers to follow]

if s2 drives you insane on lex grounds then!! boy!! s3!! the thing about s3 from lex's pov is that. okay it's extremely angsty and does increasingly radicalise you... I have to say I started this show in a very innocent jokey 'oh ho ho I heard they have some good superman/lex luthor queerbait in that noughties show!!' and was ready to be a lex fan like. as a bit. and y'know my readiness to adopt morally dubious characters is pretty high anyway. but the first few seasons made me go?? okay but he genuinely isn't even the villain?? like I'm not even saying this for the bit, he LITERALLY is not the bad guy in this story?? guys??? and then by the end of season 3 I had been completely radicalised to the 'Actually Lex Luthor Should Turn Evil And Kill All Of You People And I Will Cheer Him On' stance. but what really, really, really kills me is that after all that, they still manage to bungle his transition to evil. like, they ignore all the very obvious reasons for why lex would turn evil after all that, and just come up with completely new ones? that have fuck all to do with this character you've been writing up to that point?

and the worst bit. the WORST bit. is that after all that, he literally does not even have fun being evil. like, you know that season one episode where he's being mind controlled and does his gay little swagger. this scene, yeah:

first of all, again, they ended up erasing lex's canonical motivation for turning evil, which is being so queer-coded he might as well be wearing a sign with slurs around his neck while he's stuck in a small town in fucking kansas. like "you think I don't see the way your parents look at me? the way half the town looks at me?" okay, great, love how this entire arc is eventually concluded by having the show say the entire town including clark's small-minded parents were 100% right to be suspicious of him, that there was something fundamentally defect with him basically from birth and he was always going to turn out to be evil. I feel like you definitely thought through the implications of what you wrote here!

but never mind all that, my actual point is that lex is having fun here!! this is one of several episodes where they're 'foreshadowing' lex turning evil by 'having a paranormal reason to make lex evil for a few minutes' (some subtle writing, this), and he's generally having a lot of fun with it!! he's leaning into the camp of it all!! he's freed from all his nasty and completely unnecessary inhibitions like 'not killing everyone in smallville' which. good. and he's just having a great time. and then he becomes a villain and he's literally just miserable all the time!! it sucks!! like omg if you're going to butcher his writing and ruin the character then at LEAST let him have some fucking fun?? at least let him experience joy at his own depravity or whatever? like he doesn't even get to do any fun villain monologues at clark, he's literally just sad clark isn't his friend any more while clark is giving him the homophobic dog slur. and then also about twice a season something paranormal happens to clark and he physically assaults lex to the point where he like, almost kills him, and then after that everyone pretends it didn't happen and clark never apologises and continues to burst into his room demanding answers. like omg?? lex, they hate you anyway, can you please just attempt to shoot clark?? also, obviously the turn to villainy should have been in large part motivated by lex finding out clark's secret and going?? the fuck is wrong with you for not just SAYING this?? (plus finding out everything clark did to lex in season three to keep his secret like it's genuinely so fucked up #lmao) but. I hate to break bad news to you about where we're at with the whole 'does lex know clark's secret yet' situation at the point where I gave up. genuinely what is the point of all this building and perfectly interesting character work if you're NEVER gonna deliver

but quite possibly an even worse sin of the later seasons that genuinely broke my brain was the treatment of lex's father. like, not to give the game away too much here, but the show's philosophical stance on rotten apples ends up being.... well. it's interesting which characters this show feels is worthy of redemption!! also interesting when they retcon several seasons of writing for the show that already very much set up why a character would actually perfectly legitimately go insane and instead settle for 'well his father sure did know there was always something wrong with him'!! watching some season 3 and season 5 episodes back to back would leave your face scarred from the amount of whiplash in the writing. the whole thing's kinda incompetent and dumb but is also like?? actively a little bit evil when you really think about the implications of what they're writing here

anyway. it's a brave stance on superman to go 'okay but what is being a superhero really about if not a whole whole lot of gaslighting'. and I do love the clark stalking room!! but the problem is, they could've played the clark/lex dynamic in a kinda tragic 'wow clark really has been so blinded by his parents that he's gonna end up destroying his relationship to lex because he just can't be honest with him and lex really needed one person in his corner who actually trusted him but clark wasn't the right person to provide that' way. they could've played it in a sort of fun 'yeah this is kinda fucked up and weird and toxic how they simply cannot stop doing dubious shit to each other' way where you just kinda roll with how terrible the whole thing is. but they don't go for either of those!! they're so stuck with treating clark's parents as the moral centre of the universe, with their "marriage is SACRED, clark" schtick and all that (yeah, there's an episode where clark gets lectured about the importance of the bond of marriage, this is a thing that happens) that they're blatantly unaware of what story they're telling but ALSO just refuse to lean into the batshit insane elements and just have!! fun!! and it's one of those things where you really do feel like an idiot for even thinking about this stupid fucking show so!! much!! but I swear, I swear they had a dynamic that hit like crazy in season one... also some of the fic out there for them is CRAZY like it kinda does make it all worth it but still!! still!! this shit infuriates me!!

anyway, here are some bonkers plot bits I remember happening in this show for you to enjoy if you continue in this endeavour:

the lex luthor slut shaming episode

clark kent slut shaming lex luthor, which is conceptually funny anyway but becomes funnier if you just read it as clark being unable to figure out he is actually just subliminally attracted to his friend. like, okay, clark being disappointed at lex for sleeping with thirteen different women, I see you

like. multiple lesbian lana moments. she's constantly getting herself in lesbian situations. and I get this is some kinda weird fanservice-y shit from the showrunners but, sue me, I thought lesbian vampire lana was cute

which is a thing that happens

they get spike from btvs to tell clark vampires aren't real, which is the one funny thing they wrote in about a season

the native american stuff is always deeply uncomfortable but it becomes even weirder when they invent some native american prophecy *deep sigh* to explain how lex was always evil

clark steals a car from lex several episodes after committing like, one of the most obscene acts of betrayal it is possible to commit against a friend (lex is unaware of this and possibly never finds out? I think the writers maybe forgot about this.) and lex is just like. it's fine <3 I know friends sometimes have to do crazy shit for other friends!! you're my friend, right?? and clark goes... yeah. sure

I vaguely remember lex buying stuff the american football high school team at some point and showing up to the lockers to give a speech and it's just?? this is right after the friendship break up and it's basically lex talking right at clark and he's talking about the importance of fresh starts and it is so fucking funny

the one episode where lana is in paris. they had built up to this for ages as like a whole thing where lana finally frees herself from that miserable town and all the people in it (don't ask how the 'lana knowing clark's secret' situation develops. it doesn't) and then she's there for. one episode

martha kent tells clark how they can't harbour illegal immigrants at one stage?? she eventually changes her mind I think but what even was that all about

the papa kent goes into politics arc. shoot me

lex becomes like. possessed by zod. which somehow manages to make everyone involved more dull

silver kryptonite makes clark paranoid, which ends up being pretty funny because he genuinely talks the exact same way

lex thinks clark can throw him across the room because he's been hypnotised

lex starts capturing various clark super powered friends and delivers these gay villain monologues to them (like genuinely, in one of them he's got shirtless aquaman strapped to a gurney and he's like, leaning over him, teasing him with a glass of water) and they're some of the best bits of the show

clark discovers the clark stalking room, which I will say was very funny

chloe basically saying lex always sends clark these massive gifts as a way of keeping his affections which?? clearly true but I thought we were keeping that the subtext

clark gatecrashes lex's wedding high on red kryptonite

one of lex's old bullies gets killed by like, a statue falling from the top of the building they're standing next to and stabbing the guy and then some of the blood splashes on lex and he's just like ?? bleh. fantastic scene

and THEN there's several scenes with his father where lex is like 'well that sure was a nice shirt :(' and lex's father is berating him for his lack of humanity. or something

there's an episode where lex is split into good lex and evil lex and it's genuinely the only worthwhile thing the show did that season. like the writing is still kinda incoherent but, crucially. it sure is fun

the spirit of lex's mum tells him she thinks he sucks

worst show in existence. I'll never forget it

[misterbenzadrine]

♡ day 7: kenny payne ♡

oh em gee chat one week ! so we're in the final stretch starting with kennyyyy i'm gonna try not to yap too much this time since i went so overboard with devon :,(

so much like devon, kenny has been very special to me since he was introduced.

something that could be said for the whole younger cast is that the writers definitely crammed too many characters into the show halfway through and got stuck with a dozen half-baked characters BUT that doesn't mean they're not still cool, that just means the fandom gets to create personalities for them !

so kenny BEFORE his brainwashing was so cutie, his dr. scribblebottoms cosplay was precious, 100% convinced lia would've loved it if it was really her and not anthony.

one thing i notice a lot with kenny is people comparing him to hawk, and i do think he's a lot like if eli didn't have demetri. hawk gets his villain arc either way but how much would he have been able to take had he not had demetri by his side? how much sooner would he have snapped? that's kind of the answer with kenny.

obviously they aren't perfect parallels, and i personally associate kenny with demetri more, but they work bc this was probably the writers' main intention.

with demetri, eli's kind of content to let him do the talking and at least has someone who he can call a friend. in all the time we saw kenny as a new kid, lia seemed to be the only person that was nice to him (which is meant to parallel daniel obvi but still). and TECHNICALLY, since the writers hate me, demetri and eli were never romantic (i call bullshit but i can pretend to not see chemistry for this purpose) so kenny's only friend is also his crush which makes things all the more complicated in trying to talk to her and spend time with her bc he's nervous ! and flustered ! so he doesn't have that same support system that eli did (what little he had anyway) so it's a lot easier for him to do that 180 instead of the gradual one we saw with hawk. (this is also me rationalizing the speed run of kenny's arc for the sake of getting him in that cobra kai headspace by the end of the season but i digress)

i hope the writers give us more soft kenny moments, like the scenes he had in s6 so far are so cute and i love them. he deserves to be happy, petition for more scenes with shawn, would love for his parents to make one last cameo at the all-valley/sekai taikai

also his relationship with robby is so important to me and i hope we get a moment in this last part where they talk one last time (like i'm hoping for with devon/tory) THE KEENRY KIDS NEED TO HAVE ONE LAST HEART TO HEART WITH THEIR PARENTS

also the fact that he's canonically one of the best fighters (i genuinely think with more time and training, he's going to be the best fighter, even better than the core four) and he wasn't even training that long.

AGAIN LIKE DEMETRI SAID cheap shot notwithstanding, but he's definitely fast and strong. and unlike demetri, he found a way to use his intelligence AND his speed to make him a really strong and incredible fighter that could for sure put up a good fight with any of the main six.

i personally don't love his dark era, it's really good from a character standpoint. like i stated before, he lacks that support system with his dad is serving, shawn is in juvie, his mom (if i remember correctly) is busy with work and obviously under a lot of stress without her oldest son and her husband. and he's the new kid at school that got ruthlessly picked on by anthony and his friends for pretty much no reason other than them being rich little jerks. and he's kind of a wimp, he's goofy, he likes spending his free time on dungeon lord, it made a lot of sense for terry to exploit that and for kenny to turn against robby in s5.

and his relationship with terry in general is so cool like i love that each sensei kind of has a favorite (kreese and silver through more...nefarious intentions) and i love that terry's is kenny bc like i said, the main intention with a lot of these characters is meant to parallel and emulate daniel and johnny. it's always brought back to daniel and johnny, that's like the number one rule of the ck writers room. TERRY exploits KENNY the same way he exploited DANIEL but instead of doing it for revenge on kenny, he does it for revenge on DANIEL. it's so perfect. it's the perfect full-circle moment. and it almost works too. terry, personally, is so truly evil and the fact that he molds kenny (and the other ck kids) into perfect child soldiers while ruining every aspect of daniel's life so he can target daniel and his kids is mind-blowingly wicked. tyring to elevate my hater game to terry silver level fr.

like i hate terry and kreese with a PASSION but lowkey terry did what kreese couldn't, and that deserves to be applauded bc yeah he had those kids not even really questioning things (mainly bc they're background extras) other than tory and devon. and he almost succeeded incredibly but he overlooked one tiny detail, the power of trauma-bonded gay teenagers (samtory, kiaz, and hawkmetri <3) if it weren't for the power of homosexuals the core six, daniel genuinely wouldn't have managed to overcome terry's mind games. johnny, chozen, and mike pushed him, sure, but that final kick at the flagship dojo wouldn't have happened without the kids breaking in and exposing silver. (i have a love-hate relationship with season five for this exact reason like why is it so complicated and evil but so basic? could i have written it better? probably not, but i can still criticize it)

but again personally i love his fighting and his softer moments, i hope we get like an epilogue of kenny and anthony being friends (lowkey ship kenthony too)

also the writers cooked SO HARD giving him the last name payne, they ate with that one little thing !!

!! headcanons !!

bc my fav characters are all the nerds, kenny's gotten a lot of overlap already between demetri, hawk, devon, and anthony; so for more hc, defo go check those lists out !! :3

kenny was obviously really close with his brother growing up; even when shawn made fun of his dorky stuff, he still knew all about it because kenny loved it

kenny doesn't know and never entirely will but a lot (if not all) of his presents when he was little were either bought or informed by shawn, since he knew him the best (robby like kind of knows about this but obviously never tells kenny)

daniel and johnny don't interact much with kenny at first, even after the sekai taikai, but amanda, robby, devon, and hawk keep pushing for him to get more acquainted with the rest of miyagi-do/the senseis and he eventually becomes just as cared for as everyone else

speaking of, amanda has basically adopted him and tory as her pseudo-children. (daniel has sam and robby, johnny has miguel and devon, chozen has hawk, amanda has tory and kenny)

while amanda isn't as big of a presence for kenny as she is for tory (since he still has his parents and his brother), she does frequently check in on him and invite his family to various events (which means so much to kenny's mom) (amanda and kenny's mom being besties, iktr)

he gets a few good months of bonding with hawk before he leaves for college (either he's moving away or he just takes time from the dojo because he's busy) and they both unintentionally help each other work through their complicated relationships with anthony and demetri (the unmentioned understanding of someone being your worst enemy and one of the people you care about most, mhmm)

there is one moment where they're joking around about nerdy stuff and hawk just stops like "dude you're so much like demetri, this is crazy" (meaning they have a lot of the same opinions and ideas on nerd crap) and kenny is personally so offended (hawk and demetri think this is the most hilarious thing ever)

while kenny never really talks to demetri one-on-one (mainly BECAUSE he's embarrassed he was compared to him), the few moments he does get alone with him are spent with demetri unintentionally showing him why mercy and pacifism are a better technique and strategy than force and violence. (these unintentional teachings are due to demetri's constant references to his favorite comics and game characters)

SPEAKING OF DEMETRI, while kenny doesn't seek him out, demetri (likely due to him being neurodivergent) doesn't seem fazed by this and often recommends different comics and games that remind him of kenny (he does this with everyone in the dojo but it makes kenny feel more comfortable in miyagi-do)

robby maintains a normal brotherly type of relationship with kenny and still sometimes talks to shawn (idk as of RIGHT NOW what the writers are gonna have robby do post-grad but whatever he's doing, he's keeping up with the paynes)

honestly, robby is second to shawn who kenny trusts the most. as he gets older, anthony and devon make their way behind robby.

he does develop a good friendship with anthony, hawk, and demetri through their dungeon lord obsession but is a little hesitant for a bit, since he's still a little embarrassed and uncomfortable being that vulnerable and nerdy again. after a while, he notices how dorky demetri is and how anthony and hawk don't judge him for it so he slowly opens up again.

he stays surprisingly close with anthony post-grad (either trauma-bonding, similar interests, or the fact that their moms are friends) and he'd probably even call anthony his best friend once they get to their 20s

gets along with miguel and hawk primarily bc of their music taste (do i mean kendrick lamar? obviously i mean kendrick lamar. but everything else too) (just hc all my favs as kendrick lamar fans bc i can)

PERSONALLY i think he'd win the next all-valley and anthony, like demetri, would be one of the semi-finalists (hawkmetri parallels~)

final thoughts: kenny my beloved, you really should be higher on this list if it weren't for my current obsession with other characters that have more screen time than you. if i'd made this last year, you'd be number three or four bookie. you deserve the world. 10000/10 valid crashout, you have done no wrong (shhh no wrong), and i'm glad you're FINALLY getting the recognition you deserve in miyagi-do, joining the team for one day and immediately propelling them out of elimination, you are the karate king ever. i wish we could get a spin-off of you and see how your skills progress the same way we saw the older kids but alas, this journey has been a long one together and i'm nevertheless proud of where you're signing off 🫡

[lifesteal-headcanons]

Parrot is a phoenix avian and his actual name is just X2, but everyone calls him Parrot cuz of how his feathers look like (when they're not on fire of course). He just went along with that nickname to the point that its just how he introduces himself.

Spoke was the only one Parrot explicitly told about his origins, while Vortex and Woogie already knew, and Mapicc (bcs he was the server admin b4 Parrot) and Clown (bcs hes just Clown) figured it out on their own.

Phoenix magic can be really powerful but it costs ones own lifespan (in their current life at least) so he rarely ever used it until wormhole time, because the Watchers were extremely close to just wiping the server out of existence out of "necessity" and "preventing the spread of the wormhole," so Parrot used all but six months of his lifespan in one sitting to get the Watchers to gtfo and let Lifesteal exist. So then he "left" Lifesteal halfway through Season 5, according to most members knowledge. The few who do know the truth know he's either still a pile of ash, or is reincarnated somewhere in a different server or world (which would be UU).

Also Derap probably figures it out sometime in the middle of S6 while trying to figure out how to revive everyone (including bringing back Parrot who's death/revival situation is very complicated, as he found out)

.

[talas-first-lady]

I tthink in general s5 and s6 lacked in the relationship department. When z1 came she formed bonds with Ray, nate, Amaya, Jax, Sara etc. Z2 comes and she has 1 episode with ava and then nothing till s7, and then it's just behrad and by extension nate and later John. Astra had a connection with John and then just Spooner and in s7 with Gideon and b. Spooner had bonding with behrad and Astra and ava till s7 where she connects with others too. They even say that in s7.

To continue my previous thoughts, I think s5 and s6 had a lot of cast changes happening at the same time (while the other seasons had 1-2 cast changing) and at the same time a lot of things were changing as well, no time bureau so ava had to have a new place in the waverider, there was a new time line, the audience didn't know behrad but the characters knew him, Z2 instead of z1, Ray leaving, Astra, Spooner etc. They could have spare more time for the characters bonding. Last but not least, I tthink even the audience didn't bond with the s5-s7 crew as much as with the s1-s4 crew judging by the amount of fanfictions and other content. But I think that's natural tbh and imo legends did a far better job with constant cast changes than most shows I know.

Personally, I only started watching Legends halfway through season 6. So I can't really speak much to what the fandom was like prior to that.

But a few thoughts:

It's important to consider that the seasons are all different lengths. Season 7 was by far the shortest. So there just literally wasn't as much time to mix and match characters. Season 3, in contrast, was one of the longest.

I don't think we can judge anything on the basis of number of fanfic for the simple fact that there are 6000+ Ao3 fics tagged with a character who died in season 1. Even when you exclude fics that are also tagged as The Flash, Snart has 3200. That would be insane if not for the fact that he had a built-in fanbase before the show started. So the numbers are really skewed.

Sadly we also have to acknowledge that the Arrowverse fandom at large has a racism problem. The Legends fandom is often an exception to this rule (I was honestly really worried that the historical costume tournament I was running was going to turn into a shitshow and could not be more pleased that Amaya and Zari did so well). But we've heard from Candice, Javicia, Azie, and probably others that there are some major issues. So the fact that some people aren't super passionate about Astra and Spooner is *maybe* for reasons besides their relationships with other characters.

Like seriously, there are over 15K Legends fics on Ao3 and not one POC character breaks 2K fics.

I think you're selling short some of the little character connections that didn't get much time but were still meaningful. Spooner had solo time in season 6 with John, Sara, and Mick. Z2 may not have major central arcs with Ava in every episode but she is always interacting with her in the background. Most characters don't get a Here I Go Again level of personal interaction with everyone, but there are definitely relationships when you look for them.

Anyway, time for work!

[reidirect]

as somebody who gets graphic intrusive thoughts a lot, I really like cm S2E11 (sex, birth, death) but I wish there was something that incorporated the whole "I know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind" thing with reid more. I know he gets the whole new arc in revelations, but would this feeling not be amplified with the addiction thing? now don't get me wrong, I'm not very knowledgeable about addiction and everything, but from my experience, I know traumas can make thoughts worse, so why was he just. agitated with no further explanation (maybe he was thinking ab the things im talking about but we'll never know so)

the only time I can really see this pop up again is with the migraine thing in s6 and the dementia thing in s11 but I really don't think reid was talking about those things when he specifically said that above quote. what did this man go through?? tf was he scared of?? and is THAT why he went into the fbi instead of some other career where he wouldn't get kidnapped 264850 times and tortured and traumatized and everything under the damn sun

I've only rewatched like 3 episodes so far so my memory might be foggy, but I guess this could also apply to elephant's memory? reid sympathizes with the unsub because of bullying and stuff, so is that a way of implying that he's thought about the possibility of himself snapping like that as well? I think this was after the addition arc though

also. you're telling me we get lore that reid's dad left because diana helped kill/at least cover it up the death of that pedo I think but no explanation about reid's connection with nathan harris? I get that he feels responsible because he went to him, but PLEASE just tell me what reid related to specifically instead of just implying everything

maybe it came up after prison arc (I stopped watching halfway through s12 but I know a few plot points after that)? like with how he talked about killing scratch or whatever but something happened before s2. so what the hell was it.

give me more unhinged spencer reid. we know he's traumatized so why does he always mask it so well with no explanation (again take this with a grain of salt I may have forgotten some things)

also this is totally not me projecting (it is). I thought the nathan harris episode was great I just want to entirely pick apart reid's brain but I can only do that officially through what's seen in the show so i'm starting to get feral over this

[some-stars]

i spent yesterday rereading all my old fic that i hadn't read in years and years, including the unfinished stuff, and man, i know i'm two fandoms deep in Soft Shit and Happy Endings now, and it's not that i don't love that stuff because i really do, but i forgot how deep my love for toxic complicated nonsense runs and now i kinda miss that.

like ten years ago i wrote 10k words of an Oz fic (AU where beecher didn't fall for it in s6 and stayed out, so two years later keller breaks out and shows up at his house) and then didn't look at it again until yesterday, and that shit was not only better than i remember, it was satisfying. i mean not completely satisfying bc it stopped halfway through but ohhhhhh my god, the fucked up self-destructive each-other-destructive painful wildly passionate deliciousness of it all........i know IWTV could fill this hole for me but i wouldn't DREAM of trying to write fic for a show that genuinely brilliant. like what would i even add.

and i used to do that all the time!! like if you go back before 2020 on my ao3 page it's at LEAST 50% ambiguous-to-sad endings. and my WIPs from before then are also wonderfully Tangled. genuinely i miss it so much?? but i have absolutely ZERO interest in writing anything sad in deadpool fandom, i don't think. so i just gotta wait i guess. someday...............

[hurricane-eva]

I am doing another full watch-through of Endeavour. I'm halfway through Icarus now, and I love it so much (WHY WAS NOT MORE DONE WITH THAT ONLY ONE BED SITCH, I ASK YOU) and bracing myself for S6, which is SUCH an unsettling season to me.