#ooh the high school flashbacks of it all��.

[dream-with-a-fever]

What is your favourite hinny fict of all time?

ooh this is a great question!!! several come to mind, because there are some really incredible writers out there who i think capture harry and ginny perfectly in their writing. and i can’t pick one so here goes:

Orchards by @whinlatter

this oneshot is incredible, building up hinny’s relationship over the summer that we see so little of in the books. it’s just so in character, funny and beautiful. you really see their easy dynamic and how perfect they are for each other. i’ve reread it several times and i will do it again it’s THAT good. also her other work Beasts about post-dh ginny and everything that follows the war with lots of flashbacks and added details. it’s really honest and gritty portrayal of grief & recovering from the trauma of a war

The Path From You by @takeariskao3

i am obsessed with this fic. it’s wonderful bc it has all the canon elements but it’s set a few years after the war, and the main plot is completely fresh and new. it’s like a harry x ginny second chance romance, harry is super protective and they’re both like still so in love with each other it’s ughhh *chefs kiss*! it’s so well-written too. i LOVE it.

quick-fire and warm front by @jiilys

these are two oneshots that i think perfectly capture hinny’s relationship after the war. the writing is just beautiful.

Come Stay for The Summer by @ashotofogdensoldfirewhiskey

this is such a fun and hilarious text-fic. i’m such a fan of hinny in a different universe, like regular high school / soccer fics. just another fun exploration of their relationship. also basically any of the oneshots by this author are so good.

Bewitched by @starlingflight (apologies for tagging the wrong author!!!)

i loved this fic so much. such an orignal concept — it’s mainly a non-magical storyline but with a twist. loved the characterisations and the non-linear format. so cute and fun and the ending is perfect.! also this author has lots of other wonderful works.

FloreatCastellum on ao3 is also wonderful - their missing moments works are so on point.

i also might take this opportunity to self-rec my fic too (lmao sorry) which is-

but i’m a fire, and i’ll keep your brittle heart warm by me hehe

it’s a fic about the beginning and blossoming friendship of harry & ginny during order of the phoenix. basically missing moments and build up to explore how and why these two eventually end up together !

but i am always looking for more fics to read so pls give me recs!!<3

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Learn the Hard Way 3

Warnings: non/dubcon, power dynamic, age gap, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Characters: Lloyd Hansen, Nick Fowler (Professor AU)

Summary: you return to campus is less than glorious.

Part of the Bad Professors AU

Note: Please leave some feedback and reblog <3 As always, I love to chat with you all. 

Despite the apartment being a dream come true, almost too good to be real, you find it hard to settle in. Something has you uneasy. You know how life goes. There’s going to be a kick in the mouth at some point. 

You’re still waiting for it the next day. You shower and dress before you head off to campus. You wear your favourite getup; not that you have much variety. Jeans, vans, and a plain tee under your grey denim jacket. It gives off the vibes that you don’t give a fuck, yet you really have a lot of fucks to give. 

First on the docket is your most dreaded. The Business of Photography. You’re sure it’s practical but you’re also not the best at logistics. You’ve looked over the syllabus and there’s a whole unit on accounting. Gulp! 

You follow a group of girls in uggs and barrel jeans into the lecture hall. One look from the blond with the high ponytail girds you way from attempting to ingratiate yourself. Flashbacks of high school have you finding a seat well on the other side of the room. 

More students siphon in and the room grows raucous as their voices rise to the high ceilings. You sit with your head down, scrolling on your phone. Oh! You forgot. You bring up Auburn’s convo and type in a quick hi. You haven’t heard from her since right after you parted the day before. You wonder how her classes are going. 

You black the screen of your phone and put it face down. You lean back in your chair and flutter your fingers impatiently. Your ears are starting to itchy from the sheer volume of your peers. 

The overhead speakers scuff and a deep voice fills the hall. “Shut the fuck up!” 

The silence that falls over the rows of students is so stunned you almost laugh. What you overheard amidst the cacophony was way worse and you had half a thought to tell them the same. You peer down to the front of the hall and wince. You knew that voice was familiar... 

“Now that I have your attention,” your landlord lets go of the microphone and stands straight at the podium. “I’m Professor Hansen. Professor Mason has gone on a sabbatical so here I am to pick up his mess. This is--” He pauses, seemingly annoyed at even being there. He pulls his phone and squints at the screen. “The business of photography? Good fucking luck.” 

He’s unbothered that his last comment echoes in the speakers as plain as day. You hide your mouth behind your hand. It’s not funny. It’s obvious he doesn’t give a shit. That being here is like plucking hairs from that mustache of his, yet, his agitation is entertaining. 

“Alright, which of you is gonna get up here and get the slides going?” 

There’s hesitation and students look back and forth, hoping anyone is brave enough to sacrifice themselves. There’s no volunteer. Hansen’s sigh wafts over the mic. 

“Four-eyes,” he points and snaps at the front row. “You look like you play League, get your ass up here.” 

The skinny boy in the front row stands, hesitating before he gets his footing. He crosses to the podium as Hansen snaps his fingers again and stomps his foot. “Chop chop, Revenge of the Nerds.” 

Ooh. You haven’t seen that in a minute. You know for damn sure it aged like lettuce.  

The class is silent as the unlucky soul assists Hansen in setting up the projector. You can hear the little snipes through the microphone. What a start to a class. It only dawns on you as the slides flash onto the screen that this is weird. You’re taking a class with your landlord. Should you switch sections? 

“Alright, hey, Poindexter, take a seat,” Hansen chirps and points the skinny coed back to the front row. “Let’s get started.” 

He swipes up the clicker and goes to the next slide. He groans, “really? Look at this shit. I’m no artist but the composition...” he stares up at the projected slide. “Holy fuck. Alright, write this fucking down.” 

He tosses the clicker. 

“Business isn’t fucking pictures. Business is numbers.” A murmur ripples through the classroom and Hansen leans into the mic again, speaking directly into it. “Did I say you could fucking speak?” 

You snort into your palm and keep it flush to your mouth. You shouldn’t laugh. It’s really not funny. You lean your chin into your hand and focus on keeping your amusement locked up. 

“Back to business. Literally.” He says, “and that’s how you fucking use that word, girlies. Your little feels, those aren’t ‘literal’,” he mimics a California bleach blond in the last utterance. 

There’s an uncomfortable shift in the seats. You huddle down as much as you can. As funny as this very crass and unprofessional lecture might be, you really don’t need to be noticed. Especially considering you could very easily bring any drama home with you. Would that be literally? 

Hansen continues on in his lecture-slash-diatribe. He might be blunt and at times condescending, but he knows what he’s talking about. He dismisses the class with a ‘you can go now’ and slams shut his laptop. He definitely is not happy about this spontaneous assignment. 

You’ve never seen college students move as fast as they do in that moment. There’s a low buzz of voices, too afraid to rise over a whisper, and the rustle of skirts and jackets, the squeak and scuff of sneakers. You sidle along the row, penned in by those closer to the center aisle. 

You come out at last and as you head for the rear door where everyone else is streaming toward, that deep timbre rolls over the hall again. 

“Ashley,” Hansen calls out. Several girls turn around in dread as the professor calls out the common name. “The one dressed like Cobain, get down here.” 

You lift your foot to the next step and stop. The rest of the girls quickly flee. You think he forgot your name. You turn and point to yourself with your thumb. 

“Me, sir? It’s Ash,” you explain. 

“Don’t give a fuck, come here.” 

Great. How the hell did he sift you out of the sea of students? You slowly descend as he lifts his bag from the table and crosses his arms. He approaches you around the other side of the podium. 

“So?” He prompts. You stare back at him dumbly. “The apartment?” 

“Oh, yes, it’s awesome. Thanks.” 

“Sure the fuck it is. All the work I put into it. Look, was gonna drop a notice but I’ll just tell you now. I need to check the alarms. City bylaw.” 

“Right,” you nod. “Okay.” 

He narrows his eyes, “I need your schedule.” 

“My schedule?” You wonder. 

“Fine, I’ll just fucking walk in, I don’t care.” 

“Shit, sir, I mean... I just, okay, like I didn’t know what you meant. Fu—shoot,” you take out your phone. “I’ll send you a screenshot.” 

“Fan-fucking-tastic. Now get the fuck outta here. I’ve had enough of you college girls,” he growls. 

You nod and turn back up the steps. As you ascend, you mutter to yourself, “my fucking pleasure, sir.” 

He huffs, “fucking heard that.” 

You freeze and cringe at the doors ahead of you. 

“Like I said, have a good day, sir,” you turn back to wave then quickly flit out. Well, that went horribly. 

[munson-blurbs]

086: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader Series

Chapter 002: The Devil Has Come to America

Summary: Following orders and toeing the line is your specialty, but when Patient 086 tries to bargain with the doctors, you're tempted to step out of your comfort zone.

Warnings: dark themes, mostly canon-compliant (Eddie lives), violence, blood, restraint, amnesia, abduction, that scene at the end of S4E9, flashbacks, drug/alcohol use

WC: 5k

Divider credit to @saradika

October 30, 1984

“Have you seen the new guy?” Heather giddily asks you and Carol through a mouthful of macaroni salad. A soft blush creeps into her cheeks as it often does when she gets flustered. 

Carol nods enthusiastically. “He sits in front of me in algebra.” She offers a smarmy grin as she tucks into her own lunch. “Let me tell you, I might actually show up to class every day if I get to stare at his ass all period.”

Heather laughs, covering her lips with a manicured hand. “Don’t let Tommy hear that,” she jokes.

“Don’t let Tommy hear what?”

Carol swats at her boyfriend as he sits down next to her, giggling as she explains the situation. “We were just talking about the new kid, Billy…something-or-other.” She waves it off; clearly, the shape of his butt is more important than his last name. “I think he’s from California.”

Tommy nods knowingly. “Yeah, I have phys ed with him. I was gonna see if he wants to go out for basketball this year. He’s pretty damn good.”

“Better than King Steve?” Carol snickers, reaching onto Tommy’s lunch tray and swiping a French fry. “Or should I say, Mr. Nancy Wheeler?”

Heather laughs at this, too, but you can tell by her unnatural lilt that it’s forced. She’s been doing that a lot more often lately–pretending to be amused by Carol and Tommy’s antics just to fit in with them.

Tommy throws a letterman jacket-clad arm around his girlfriend. “And, uh, speaking of dudes who are totally whipped,” he says under his breath, eyes sweeping to the corner of the cafeteria where the Hellfire Club sits. You know exactly what he’s looking at; sure enough, when you drag over your own gaze, there’s Eddie Munson, staring longingly at your table. 

“Ooh, I’ll bet he’s gonna be selling at Tina’s party tomorrow!” Carol flashes you the grin you only get when she needs a favor. “Can you talk to him? You know he’ll give you a discount.”

Never mind the fact that you didn’t smoke, or that the last time you’d done this for her, she hadn’t paid you back a single cent. The question is a simple formality: you will get cheap weed from Eddie, whether you like it or not. 

“Y’know,” Tommy breaks in smarmily, eyebrows raised like he’s offering classified information, “I heard he flunked last year on purpose so he could keep selling at high school parties.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. He could’ve graduated and still swung by to sell.”  The retort spills from your lips before you can stop yourself, but it’s true. It’s not unheard of for recent grads to pop in to snag some beer or jungle juice. 

Your words are met with glares from Tommy and Carol; Heather’s foot brushes your own with a dual meaning of are you okay and don’t get us in trouble. 

“Sorry,” you mumble, desperate to avoid the unwanted social consequences that await you and Heather if you mess this up. “I can, um, talk to him at the party tomorrow.”

Flirting with him for discounted pot doesn’t sit right with you. But since Heather is your only friend, and she’s now friends with Carol, you can’t risk losing her. 

You let yourself look over at the young man who’s been harboring a crush on you since this school year began, feeling a pang in your heart. This is the last time, you tell yourself, and then I’m done leading him on. Carol can buy her own shit, full price. 

But when you hear Heather laughing again, you realize that you’re only lying to yourself. The only thing worse than high school is enduring it alone, and if that means temporarily turning into someone you hate, then so be it. 

March 30, 1986

“EDDIE!”

The shouted word reverberates around Patient 086’s skull as he wakes up suddenly, body trembling from the nightmare and from the headache forming behind his temples. He winces when he opens his eyes, the overhead lighting only enhancing the pain.

“Eddie,” he whispers to himself, letting it melt on his tongue. “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.” He smiles despite having every other reason not to.

I’m Eddie. My name is Eddie. 

His joy dissipates when he fails to recall whose voice was calling out for him. It’s a balloon that keeps getting whisked away in the wind, just out of reach.

Eddie grits his teeth, overdue tears streaming down his scarred cheeks. I know this–it’s…it’s…

“Fuck.” The swear is all exhalation, hardly any force behind it. His shoulders shake as sobs wrack through him, his quest to remember seemingly still fruitless. He’s so close, but still too far away.

The door to his room swings open without warning, one of the doctors from his earlier scuffle standing in Eddie’s line of vision. It isn’t the one he’d bitten–Dr. Snell–but the one who appeared to be the leader. His mere presence unsettles Eddie, like there’s an invisible evil seeping from his pores.

“086.” An unfriendly grin stretches his lips. “I take it you’re feeling rather…well-rested, yes?” He takes immediate notice of the way Eddie’s hands clench into fists, one by his side and one still cuffed to the gurney. “I think we got off on the wrong foot, 086. Perhaps we should start fresh, now that you’re aware of our non-compliance protocol.”

“Eddie.” Eddie grunts, not daring to make eye contact. “My name is Eddie, not 086.”

The doctor’s eyebrows furrow in momentary confusion before he clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “Yes, right. I forgot that 055 accessed that memory.” His signature smirk returns as though it never left. “We use numeric identifiers here. Easier to keep track of our patients. So while you may have been Eddie, you’re now 086. Understood?”

But Eddie’s mind remains trained on the doctor’s previous statement. “Someone…accessed my memory?” He curls inward at this privacy violation. A person he didn’t even know was able to see his memories–yet he still couldn’t.

“Very briefly,” the doctor confirms. “It was more difficult than anticipated because you were sleeping. We will require your cooperation for this task.” His arched gray eyebrow informs Eddie that this is not up for discussion. “Be aware that while it is challenging for 055 to access your memories while you’re asleep, it’s not impossible. If you choose to behave as you did earlier, the consequences will be the same.” He holds out a water-filled paper cup and a small container of two pills, chuckling at Eddie’s ambivalence. “Just some ibuprofen for the headache. They’re standard after memory accession.”

Every muscle in Eddie’s body tenses, his already-dry throat feeling like sandpaper. He gulps down the medication, utterly defeated. “C-Can I just ask…why do you need my memories?” What secrets could he possibly hold that interest them enough to steal them from his unconscious brain?

The doctor sighs, weighing the options of honesty and deceit. He speaks after a moment with a carefully curated response. “The place we rescued you from was nowhere you should have been. Nowhere anyone should ever be.” His lips purse in concentration. “We need to know who, if anyone, was with you to ensure their safety and wellbeing.” The doctor lowers his voice as though revealing priceless information. “What if they’re trapped there, 086, just as you were? We can’t know unless you allow us to see.”

Eddie doesn’t miss the faintest smile, disappearing almost as soon as it forms, as though the doctor is proud of his presentation. Like he’s telling an elaborate fictional story rather than insinuating true mortal danger. 

“Okay,” Eddie pauses but agrees, despite the nausea pooling in his stomach. There may have been people with me. Family or friends or anyone links to my past. To who I am, or who I was. “I’ll do it, but I want to see more than just the end. I want happy memories pulled, too. Can 055 do that?” He keeps his voice as insistent as possible, vaguely aware that he just may be making a deal with the Devil himself.  

“Of course she can.” He eyes Eddie’s singular restrained wrist; for a second, Eddie thinks he’s going to let him go, but the man just continues speaking. “I’ll bring her in as soon as she’s ready.”

He’s too quick and too smug in his response, but Eddie has no choice but to believe him. It’s the last bit of hope that he has. 

October 31, 1984

You can hear music blaring before you and Heather even pull up in front of Tina’s house. She’s meticulously checking her lip gloss in her compact mirror, one manicured fingernail scraping around her mouth to remove any nonexistent excess. 

“How do I look?” She asks, eagerly awaiting your opinion. It’s a seemingly stupid question; she always looks gorgeous. It’s almost unfair how beautiful she is, not to mention an impossible comparison standard to which you’ll never measure up. 

She’s truly outdone herself tonight, dressed as Wonder Woman. The corset amplifies her cleavage and the blue barely-there shorts showcase her long legs. Diana Prince’s signature crown is perched atop her hair. 

“Amazing. Billy’s gonna lose his shit.” You smile as she blushes and gets out of your car, excitedly slamming the passenger door behind her. There’s no point in fielding her the same question; she’ll placate you with an untrue compliment that won’t do anything to boost your ego. 

You adjust your black mask and step out, cautiously teetering in your high heels. It was Heather’s idea for you to be Cat Woman, claiming that she couldn’t dress sexily without you, but you feel like a fish out of water. The latex suit just doesn’t look right on your body, or maybe the problem is that your body doesn’t look right in the suit. 

Heather waits as you get your bearings, hooking her arm with yours and bringing you an immediate sense of comfort. This is the Heather Holloway you’ve grown up with, the one who’d encouraged you to face your fears and ride a two-wheeler bike, the one who’d used her own allowance to buy you a new pair of pants when you got your first period in the middle of Sears, the one who’d let you sleep over whenever simmering arguments with your parents reached a boiling point. Regardless of her newfound affiliation with Carol–and Tommy, by default–she’s still your best friend.

Someone lets out a low wolf-whistle as you two walk through Tina’s house and to the backyard. Heather holds her head high while your gaze stays glued to the ground, unwilling to make eye contact with the perpetrator. It’s highly unlikely that the flirtation was intended for you, anyway. 

Outside, the crowd is chanting as Tommy stands beside the keg, propping up a guy in a leather jacket. Heather squeals and tugs on your sleeve excitedly. “That’s Billy!” she exclaims, discreetly pointing to the man currently upside down, guzzling beer like his life depends upon it.

After twenty-two seconds, Billy motions to be lowered back to the ground. Foam spews from his mouth and drips down his chiseled abs, slick with sweat.

“We got ourselves a new…keg…CHAMP!” Tommy announces, slipping a lit cigarette between Billy’s fingers.

Billy takes a triumphant drag, exhaling smoke as he declares, “That’s how you do it, Hawkins! That’s how you do it!” He looks around the party with a squared jaw, assessing who is impressed by his feat besides the Tommy Hagan-shaped puppy yipping at his heels.

You turn to Heather, trying your best not to roll your eyes while she outwardly swoons. “There’s your Prince Charming,” you mutter, stomach curdling as Billy’s blue eyes flicker up and down her body, a predatory smirk crossing his ale-drenched lips.

Heather saunters over to him with a confidence you haven’t seen from her before. One hand wraps around Billy’s bicep, pulling all of his attention to her. “That was really cool,” she says breathily, biting her lower lip and peering at him through mascaraed lashes.

Billy shakes his mullet of curls, inhaling from the cigarette again before he speaks. “Yeah, well, someone had to breathe life into this shitty excuse for a party.” He sighs and stretches, causing his muscles to ripple underneath his jacket and snaking an arm around her waist to tug her closer. “But it looks like it just got a lot more interesting.”

He’s a walking cliché, the absurdly attractive new kid obnoxiously strutting around like a proud peacock while girls fall at his feet. You can’t blame Heather for being entranced; you just wish she could see through the shiny exterior and realize that, to him, she’s just another pair of panties on his bedroom floor.

An impatient tap on your shoulder draws you from a disbelieving stupor. Carol stands behind you, arms folded across her chest as though she’s irritated with you before you can even say a word.

“Freak’s here,” she reports flatly, shoving a crumpled bill in your palm. “Whatever twenty bucks can buy.”

Right. The second reason you’ve dragged yourself to this party, in addition to being Heather’s loyal sidekick, is to awkwardly flirt your way to a weed discount.

You shuffle back into the house, spotting Nancy Wheeler sloppily ladling jungle juice into a cup, swaying with the beginnings of tipsiness. Your heart sinks; it seems like everyone is enjoying themselves at this party–or is trying to, at least–except for you.

Why are you like this? Why can’t you just be normal and fit in? It was simple for Heather; Mrs. O’Donnell had assigned her and Carol to be lab partners, and within a week, she’d begun her ascent up the social ladder. But you were resistant, remembering Carol’s constant barrage of snide remarks hurled your way, never trusting her the way your best friend did.

“C’mon, don’t you want to be popular? To finally be noticed?” Heather had pressed, eyes shining with the prospects of landing on Hawkins High’s proverbial A-list. “You can’t just let people trample over you for the rest of your life.”

And so you’d tagged along for the ride, only to find that you’d graduated from punching bag to doormat. You did what they asked because they had the power to obliterate your already meager social life, and they knew it. 

That’s why you currently find yourself looking over at Eddie Munson as he digs through his tin lunch box. He takes a handful of bills from Linda Becker and gives her a pre-rolled joint, shoving the cash in his pants pocket. He shakes his mop of curls out of his eyes and moves onto his next customer, a junior who just crushed a Miller Lite can on his head. 

Eddie only sticks around these parties long enough to sell whatever’s in his stash before he slips away; if you put this off any longer, you risk pissing off Carol, which will upset Heather and further strain your friendship. 

You take a deep breath. It’s just some harmless flirting; you’re not proposing marriage, or even sleeping with him. Bat your lashes, tell him he looks nice, ask him about his day, and get some weed. Yeah, you can do this. 

Here goes nothing. 

One hundred eight…one hundred nine…

The squeak of his door opening disrupts Eddie’s meticulous wall tile counting. Annoyance prickles under his skin when he loses focus. He tries not to let it show, keeping up the cooperative façade so the scientists will be willing to give him what he wants–a glimpse into his past. Not just the parts of 086 they deem important, but the smaller moments that comprise him. The parts that make up Eddie.

The man he’d bitten—Dr. Snell—stands in the doorway with what appears to be another patient. She wears a hospital gown identical to his own, and her hair is also cropped close to her scalp. 

Dr. Snell speaks first. “086, this is 055,” he says, gesturing to the young woman to his right. Eddie tries to get a better look at her, but it proves to be more difficult than he’d anticipated. She doesn’t allow her gaze to meet his as though she’s afraid to be seen; ironic, considering she’d infiltrated his mind just hours earlier. 

“Um, hi,” Eddie sputters awkwardly, not quite sure how to navigate this unique introduction. Thanks for uncovering my memories? Sorry for whatever you find in there? Also, if you could look past the bloody mess and let me know who the kid screaming my name was, I’d really appreciate it?

He sighs when you offer only silence in response, using his untethered hand to scratch a spot on his scalp where his hair is shaved a bit too close. Impatience gnaws in his chest. “So, uh, we gonna get started on this memory pulling thing?”

Dr. Snell nods, hesitantly making his way to Eddie’s bedside. “086, I am going to remove your restraints. When I do, I expect you to continue giving us your full cooperation. Is this understood?” He conspicuously fiddles with a button hanging from a cord around his neck; Eddie can only assume it’s used to page the other scientists in an emergency. 

“Yes, sir.”

“Very good.” The doctor pulls a key from his pocket and plunges it in the slot that joins the clamps together. The metal digs into Eddie’s wrist before the pressure disappears altogether, and he exhales a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. 

“Now,” Dr. Snell continues, turning to 055, “you will continue revealing 086’s memories of the Nether. You’re going to determine who else was there and what they may have seen.” He ticks off the two agenda items on his pointer and middle fingers as though it’s a simple task. 

Eddie watches as 055 pulls up a chair across from him, still avoiding making eye contact until it’s absolutely necessary. “Sit up.” It’s an order, but a polite one, and Eddie follows it without a second thought. “I need you to take the memory I pulled and think about pushing it to the surface of your mind. Do your best to focus only on that, and it’ll make my job a lot easier.” 

There’s a familiar cadence to 055’s voice, her last sentence laced with both honesty and a hint of humor. Eddie’s surprised to find himself relaxing a bit, a hint of a smile dancing on his lips. He reflexively closes his eyes. 

“N-No…leave them open.”

His eyelids flutter open, embarrassment pinkening his cheeks as though this was something he should have known. He concentrates on the already-fading memory of the boy shouting for him, biting into his lower lip so hard that it draws a bit of blood. The metallic taste stirs something within him, his ribs suddenly aching where they’re scarring.

An earthy scent overtakes his next inhale, a stark contrast from the sterile lab environment. Eddie’s moving too fast to be on foot, the bicycle wheels spinning across dirt and sinking into the mud as he frantically pedals. Something weighs on his back, but he can’t reach back to feel what it is.

He leaps off of the bike without warning, faintly hearing it clatter in the distance, but it’s quickly drowned out by violent shrieking. The sound tornadoes around him as he grabs the items from behind him: a makeshift spear and a garbage pail lid with nails driven through it. 

Clang! Clang! 

The flying objects ricochet off of the lid, the spikes not impaling them enough to do much damage. The shield begins to bend under their impact, but Eddie continues swinging with all of his might. His grunts are barely audible over the screeching bat-like creatures. His chest tightens as he musters up his remaining strength and courage, bellowing into the wind.

“COME ON!!!”

The scream provides no intimidation; it only further depletes his already-limited energy. He pauses for a second to take another breath, but his air supply is cut off by a barbed tail wrapping around his throat.

Eddie instinctively drops the spear to unravel the beast’s grasp from his neck, but he knows it’s too late. He’s done for. While he wrestles with the bat, others latch onto him and drag him to the ground to feast on his flesh. 

“EDDIE!”

The boy.

Eddie hears him over the blood pounding in his ears, willing him to stay away, go back to safety, but shock has rendered him wordless. 

And then the shrieking stops, leaving only the sounds of his own ragged breathing.

“Eddie!” The boy’s voice is quieter but still panicked, his face coming into view as he tends to Eddie’s wounds. Shiny braces adorn his teeth and mucus muffles his speech. “Oh my God, Eddie.”

Eddie can only look straight into the misty darkness, unable to move his body. “‘S bad, huh?” he manages through terse lips. 

“No, nononono, you’re gonna be fine,” the boy sputters, trying to convince himself more than Eddie, “we just gotta get you to a hospital, okay?”

“Okay,” Eddie agrees too easily, feeling the fight leaving him with each passing second. 

The two of them grunt in frustration and agony as Eddie uses his friend as a crutch, but he knows it’s no use. There isn’t any sense in this kid wasting his precious energy saving him from his inevitable demise. 

“Just give me a second, okay?” Blood pools in Eddie’s throat; he swallows it down and forces a small smile. This is it. He has nothing left to give. 

His gaze meets the boy’s, and they share an understanding glance. There’s nothing that either of them can do: Eddie is going to die. 

“I didn’t run away this time, right?”

“No, nonono. You didn’t run,” the boy reassures him with a swift shake of his head, his curls held in place by a thick band. 

Eddie grabs his hand, shiny eyes flitting over so he can drive home his point before it’s too late. “You’re gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, okay?” 

“No, you’re gonna do that yourself!”

“Nah, man.” He needs this; he needs this promise fulfilled before he can fully let go. “Say you’re gonna look after them.”

The boy almost starts to deny it again, but Eddie’s steadily loosening grip informs him that his time is limited. “I’m gonna…I’m gonna look after them…” he chokes out, no longer able to look Eddie in the eyes. 

“Good.” Haziness engulfs him, blurring his thoughts into a swirl of memories that has no beginning or end. “Because I’m actually gonna graduate…” He punctuates the statement with a small snort as he laughs through the pain. 

The boy lets out a strained cry, pity and sadness and the early stages of grief rolled into one small sound. 

“I think it’s my year, Henderson. I think it’s finally my year.” Eddie’s eyes glaze over; with his final breath, he ekes out a promise of his own. “I love you, man.”

“I love you, too.”

It’s the last thing he hears before the world goes black. 

Eddie’s eyes snap open now, the dull roar of a headache barely affecting him. The present bleeds into the past, tile and disinfectant replacing dirt and overgrown moss. He blinks a few times to adjust. 

“H-Henderson,” he stammers, looking between you and Dr. Snell. “My friend—Henderson—he was with me there. Dustin Henderson!” He snaps his fingers excitedly, pushing away the discomfort from the rapid movements. “I think we go to school together. Oh, my God, Dustin Henderson!” He laughs aloud, beaming from ear to ear. He remembers Dustin Henderson’s name, which means other memories of him can’t be far behind. 

Eddie turns back to you as you wipe away the trail of blood under your nose, speaking so eagerly that he’s tripping over his words. “Okay, I’m gonna—I’m gonna keep thinking about him, and you pull more memories.” He looks you directly in the eyes, emotion written all over his own. “His name is Dustin Henderson. Got it?”

Before you can answer, the doctor cuts in. “I’m afraid that’s all we have time for today, 086.” He doesn’t seem apologetic in the least, practically baring his teeth in a sinister grin. 

“N-No, he said—he promised,” Eddie sputters, feeling increasingly pathetic. 

Dr. Snell shakes his head. “Who’s ‘he?’” he sneers. “I don’t recall making any promises to you.” He crosses his arms over his broad chest. 

“The other doctor—he said that she,” Eddie glances at you, “could pull more memories. Good ones.”

Your blood runs cold; this is the first you’re hearing of this, and you suspect it’s one of Dr. Moseley’s many empty promises designed to foster compliance and break spirits. 

Eddie’s throat goes bone-dry and his stomach curdles as the doctor says nothing more, cuffs him back to the bed, and leads you away from the room. You look back for a split second, briefly making eye contact with him, but quickly turn around. 

Please, Eddie begs silently, please help me remember. There had to be some good in my life, and I need to know what it was. 

Cynicism chips away at his waning hope as you get farther down the hall until he can no longer hear your clipped conversation with the doctor, your presence becoming a memory in itself. 

Your time in the lab thus far has been spent obeying orders and doing your best to remain inconspicuous whenever your services are not needed. Your allegiance, coupled with your refusal to make waves, is what’s kept you from experiencing the scientists’ wrath. Silent unless spoken to. 

Guilt gnaws at your insides, churning bile in your stomach, and you know what you have to do. 

“Dr. Snell, I have to use the restroom.” You push the words out in a single breath, lungs tightening when he actually stops in his tracks and faces you. Skepticism is written all over his face, and with good reason, but you double down on your statement with the three words that fluster nearly every man: “Got my period.”

Sure enough, his cheeks turn magenta as he sputters, “Yeah, yes, of course.” He steps aside as you rush back towards the bathroom, your urgency very much real though the excuse is a blatant lie. You stand behind the door and silently count to five, peering out to ensure that the coast is clear. There’s no sign of Dr. Snell–or any of the scientists, for that matter–so you make your way to Eddie’s room, cursing the soft noise your bare feet make on the tile floor. 

Turn back. Don’t risk your safety to play the hero. 

If you’re caught, there will be repercussions. You could easily find yourself strapped to the bed or thrown in isolation for days on end; all of the trust you’d built up with the authorities will be tossed in an instant. 

Something propels you forward; perhaps it’s the desire to do what’s right, but you know it’s mostly the guilt of what happened between you two, whether he remembers or not. 

“Ed—086,” you quickly amend, your voice barely louder than a whisper. Eddie looks around, disoriented and fighting the post-accession headache. 

“Y-Yeah?”

You tiptoe closer to him, doing your best to ignore how vulnerable he looks right now. If you think about it too much, you might cry. “You need to obey the doctors, especially Dr. Moseley,” you say. 

“Why?” Eddie spits back. “I tried, and they fucked me over. Why should I help them?”

You lean over and tug on the handcuff. “You see this? Notice how I don’t have one?” You shake your free wrist to emphasize the point. “That’s because I do as I’m told and fall in line.”

“This whole place is a goddamn prison,” he retorts, rolling his eyes. “Who cares if I’m strapped to the bed or not? Where the hell am I gonna go?”

“You’re not hearing me.” You want to scream, and it takes everything inside you to hold back. “The less trouble you give them, the less they’ll watch over you, and the more I can access your memories. The ones you want to remember.”

This throws a temporary wrench into his anger, scowl softening until he recalls how he’d recently been tricked. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice—”

You cut him off, grabbing his one free hand without warning. Staring into his fear-filled eyes, you pull a memory, though he doesn’t know that it’s easily accessible because it’s one of your memories, too. 

That’s a conversation for another day. 

The smell of stale beer and unfiltered cigarette smoke clouds the bar while a band of four boys plays onstage. Eddie has one ring-clad hand wrapped around the electric guitar’s neck and the other strumming intensely as he launches into the song’s chorus. 

For whom the bell tolls Time marches on For whom the bell tolls!

He turns around and faces the drummer, grinning headbanging along to the beat. The kid behind the drumset is a bit younger than he is, and considerably more nervous, but Eddie’s encouragement allows him to lose himself in the music. 

You end the memory before present-day Eddie can hear the applause; you know you were the one cheering the loudest that night, and you can’t let him recognize you. 

“There will be a lot more of that if you fly under the radar and give them a reason to back off,” you tell him, plucking a thin tissue from a nearby box to clean your nose. “Trust me, they don’t want to watch over you 24/7. They have bigger issues they need to deal with.”

Trust me. The last time he trusted you, it destroyed him, whether he remembers it or not. This is your chance to make it right. 

“Just think about it,” you plead, adrenaline waning and anxiety drawing you back to your room. “Help me help you.”

You leave him with even more questions than he had before. Hopefully, that’s incentive enough. 

--

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[justatalkingface]

Let's talk about the Bakugou Problem

Yes, everyone, it's finally time, what is probably my most requested rant: The Bakugou Problem. Or rather, the Bakugou problems, because there's two:

The first is the fact that he's an unrepentant asshole who is only now, at the end of the manga, truly starting to realize basic shit like 'apologizing'. The second is that, for all intents and purposes, the Bakugou the characters seem to interact with is a different person than what we're being shown.

There's been plenty of deep dives on his issues, so I doubt I'll propose anything new, but this should fun anyways, right? Let's start here:

I think, at the core, Bakugou's problem is he just never grew up.

Way, way back early on, we see some flashbacks to Earlygou, and in summary? Earlygou is an ass. Fun fact: for all that it's commonly held that Bakugou grew worse over time after getting his Quirk? He called Izuku Deku before that. He was just a bit ahead of the class, looked at Izuku's name, and saw 'Deku'. Boom, he starts saying it, and it's only further entrenched in his mind as he outperforms his peers physically, while Izuku lags behind.

Then he gets his Quirk. Let's quote what he's told: 'Ooh, another impressive Quirk! You could be a hero with a Quirk like that, Katsuki!'

I know we all think he got coddled for his Quirk, and later on he was, but that? That was just a teacher giving him the verbal equivalent of a gold star. Meanwhile, Bakugou?

'Makes sense. I'm awesome. I'm better than everyone else!', he thinks, while having this look on this face like he's being enlightened to a Fundamental Truth. He took some generic praise and ran off with it.

So yeah, Earlygou was an ass. Here's the thing: a lot of kids are assholes. It can be hard to remember sometimes, but kids, really young kids who don't get how the world works at all, do and think a lot of impulsive, assholish shit, not because they think the world revolves around them, but because they can't comprehend a world that isn't all about them.

Here's another thing: kids grow out of that. They realize, eventually, that other people matter, that their actions have consequences, and all that other stuff that makes people into functioning adults.

I don't blame Earlygou for being an assholish child. I blame Bakugou for never growing beyond that. And it's interesting to think about that, because his parents seem legit. His dad is quiet, sure, but he's solid and down to earth, and while Bakugou clearly takes after his mother, she also seems to have gotten the 'morals' message he didn't, and has concerns that he didn't do the same. They're not poor, and are working in fashion, and implied to be doing well enough that, if they're not rich, they're at the very least well off.

So... school, I guess? Here's one of the times where the setting suffers for its lack of lower level development, because I would love to see what non-Aldera schools were like. Everyone else in 1A seems like they wouldn't have a major problem with Izuku being Quirkless, or at least be mild enough in their prejudices to not spend their free time torturing him. Is Aldera different? Is it an age thing? Are they just the good eggs and would have had assholish classmates who would act like Aldera did? Would other teachers be OK with how Izuku was treated (my limited understanding of the depressing Japanese view on bullying says, 'yes', but fuck if I know, and honestly, two hundred years in the future, shouldn't they be better than modern Japan)? More than that, the public view on Quirklessness is, for understandable reasons (cough cough Bakugou), highly underdeveloped, so we don't know how much Izuku was treated was the normal, but I think part of the reason Bakugou got so bad is that he had Izuku near him, as this convenient target. By pushing down on the 'acceptable' target, all his peers approved him, cheered him on, which both fed his ego and his popularity, and combined with his high-status Quirk, this cycle continued swelling his head until we reached canon Bakugou, king of all he surveys. The kids follow him, the teachers suck up to him, his potential, his future, all are limitless!!!!

...Sigh. Before I keep going, let me touch on one other thing: Izuku trying to save Bakugou after he fell when they were children.

On the first take, it seems utterly unreasonable, how badly he responded to that, right? And the second, and third, it still seems the same.

Someone, somewhere, said this take in a comment in a fic I read and I've never been able to forget it: think about it from the view of a heroic saturated society.

Think about it from the lenses of MHA, where All Might is a few steps short of a god in the eyes of the public. Everyone knows him, everyone loves him, especially the kids, and especially Bakugou and Izuku.

Look at that scene again, how Izuku reaches down for him. Overlay him with All Might.

That is what Bakugou saw: Izuku making himself unto All Might. While Izuku just wanted to save him, of course, somewhere deep in his unconcious Bakugou took that symbolism and ran with it, and reached a completely (ir)rational conclusion: Izuku was looking down on him. It went, I imagine, a little something like this:

All Might is the strongest. All Might looks like that when saves other people, who are weaker than him. Izuku is channeling All Might, therefore he is saying that he is stronger than me.

Bakugou, in his child mind, saw Izuku, not as helping him, but T-posing at him. To him, that was Izuku trying to assert dominance.

And he never got over that. Never grew beyond that impression. Do you want to know the worst part about it, though, when you look at it that way?

Think about Bakugou again, and his motivations, with your Bakugou Logic goggles on: All Might is strong. Bakugou wants to be strong like All Might. All Might asserts his power over others by saving them. Therefore?

Bakugou wants to save people like All Might.

Can you imagine if Bakugou was built of that dynamic? Like, with Shirou in Fate, if that scene was etched in his mind forever, and he was obsessed with remaking it over and over, but on his terms, with him as the savior? Him as the one looking down on the weak?

Still canon-style Bakugou, still an asshole, still lusting for power... but when asked what he wanted to do with it, or why, he would answer: so I can save everyone.

And even if it was for the crudest, most self serving of reasons, even if it was only so he could feel good about himself and lord it over everyone else that he was the one who saved them; it would have been so much better than canon. There's so much fascinating complexity to explore in a character like that, as well as a clear path to redeem him: under that logic, Bakugou would, over time, learn to save people, not for his own satisfaction, but just because it's the right thing to do. Hell, even the way people treat him would make more sense, because even if he was an asshole, if his motivation, which he cheerfully shouts about at any given moment, was to save people, then suddenly his acceptance feels more realistic, doesn't it? Him being compared to Izuku as a rival makes more sense when both of them are in it to save everyone, that core of heroism, but each represent a different part of how modern heroism is expressed, with Bakugou as the corrupt, media saturated part of it, while Izuku channels the original, pure spirit of heroics.

Can you imagine that with me? What could have been in another life? It could have been beautiful.

But, sadly, that's nothing more than a dream, and we should return back to reality (though I might want to expand on that at some point, it really does sound interesting to me).

Change and Improvement. These are words that some hold in the air whenever Bakugou is judged harshly, and they wave them like talismans to try and banish others objections.

Let me tell you a truth: change and improvement are hollow words without context. They are a statement that something has happened, not a measure of how much it has happening. In many ways, this is similar to a unit of measurement, like inches, and a number of inches. If you're talking about something, and you say, 'it can be measured in inches'.... that is generally unhelpful. Saying that it is, say, eight inches long is far more useful information.

Still, these aren't exactly moral statements, and change in particular is distinctly amoral. If something has 'improved a little bit' it, you know that it's better, and generally how much. But is it good now? Was it good then?

Let me put it another way: say that, once a day, every day, I appear to you out of the shadows and force you to eat a cup of shit. Exactly a cup, every day, at 2:30 PM, without fail; nothing you do to protect yourself from me makes any difference, nowhere you go is safe. You can't run. You can't hide. I am inevitable. The shit is inevitable. You will eat that shit, no matter what you think about it.

Then, one day, I come with only a half cup, and from then on you are only forced to eat a half cup of shit a day instead of a full one.

Isn't that both a change and an improvement? It's literally half as bad; doesn't that sound like a lot better? Yet, while that may be true, is the situation actually better in a meaningful way, or it as firmly negative as it was before? Should you be mewling gratefully to me that I'm being less horrible to you, or can you still hold a grudge against me for everything I've done to you and continue to do?

What if I apologized, one day, after forcing yet another half cup down your throat? What if I told you that I shouldn't have done it, but the way you looked, the way you acted, that vapid, cow-like look of joy on your face... it was just so shitty that I had to, that you made me do it? Then I say this changes nothing, and that we're still on for tomorrow for your daily dose at the normal time.

Tell me something: do you feel better? Has my generous apology moved your heart? Are we friends now?

This is Izuku's situation in a nutshell. Bakugou's treatment has changed, has improved even. It's reached a point where there are actual differences in Izuku's daily life. That doesn't mean it's still not shit treatment, and it doesn't matter if it's served in a cup or a tablespoon, shit is still shit. And the thing is Bakugou treated him like shit, and he still treats him like shit.

Context matters. So let's talk about the context. Let's talk about what Bakugou did.

Well, first off, there's the Deku thing, but I feel a lot people don't get how bad that is, so let's spell it out in detail. Once upon a time, as I've said, Bakugou was a little better at reading than everyone else. He looked at Izuku's name and saw 'Deku' in this, and thought it was hilarious, and so he started talking about it.

Bakugou looked at his name, and saw Useless in it. He didn't just call Izuku that, he said, this is in your name, it always has been there, to the point that, all these years later, he physically struggles to use Izuku's actual name.

For Izuku's entire childhood, the one person truly on his side, who truly loved him, was his mother.... who gave him that name.

In other words, every time Bakugou called him that name, with that history behind it? Bakugou was telling him that, when Izuku was born, Inko looked at the child she held in her arms, turned to the nurse, and said, "I'll call him... Useless."

He called him this, every day, every time they talked, for over a decade. Saying that the real meaning of the name his mother gave him was useless.

But it's not just that, even. He led the school, his neighbors, effectively everyone Izuku knew in anywhere near his age group, to call him that. There were probably people in Aldera who didn't know Izuku by any other name. There were probably times Izuku thought of himself by that name, that his name was Useless. It's not that big a reach from responding to it as his name, after all, and by the time the story start's he was well trained in responding to it.

Then, there's the more 'basic' bullying; insults, taking his stuff, breaking his stuff, using his Quirk on him. Again, for years and years, until Izuku is beaten down into terrified compliance, where Bakugou blowing up his stuff, his desk, and him* in front of a teacher isn't something anyone even really notices anymore. And why does he do it? Because it's fun. Because he feels strong breaking things, hurting people, being the big man on campus. Because he wants attention, respect, glory.

Because he can. Because it's fun.

(*And isn't that weird, when you think about it? Bakugou has been hands free with his Quirk on Izuku since they were, what, four? Why doesn't Izuku have burns?

Bakugou uses explosions. His hands can burn hot enough (probably as part of the lighting process) to burn clothes, and that's when he's clearly holding back with it. There's no way he's been careful enough, kind enough to not hit skin with that his entire life. So why doesn't Izuku have burns from all that?

Answer? There is no good reason. You can mention how MHA humans are, well, inhumanly strong, but we see heat resistant Shoto being burned with boiling water; it's not like they're immune to it. More than that, though, Izuku is explicitly Quirkless. He is a mortal in a world of magic. He wouldn't have that same kind of resiliency.

So Izuku isn't burned because, A, Hori didn't want his main character to be scarred over, both for aesthetic reasons, and probably for ease of drawing, and B, because that would make Bakugou look worse. Because even then, back when Bakugou had consequences, that would be too much consequences for him, that he permanently scarred Izuku, since the Heroes Rising was the original ending, and Bakugou was always supposed to be redeemed. Hori probably figured, if he thought about it, that that was too far for the readers to forgive him for, and finally, C, he just didn't think about the consequences of Bakugou's actions.

But let's be honest: Izuku would be burned. The fact he isn't is just the prettying up of the situation.)

This is where Bakugou starts from: abusing Izuku to the point where he doesn't dare protest out of years of deeply ingrained terror, doing his best to systematically destroy Izuku's life, while being careful to avoid going too far and damage his chances for UA, which judging by his comment on smoking, may be the only real internal check he has on his behavior.

Because that's the thing; he's cruel, but calculatingly so. He's not a wild animal. It motivates him, but he can think about his actions, think about the possible consequences of them, how they'll react... and as long as they won't harm him, he's all for it.

Then we go to UA, and when he realizes that 'Deku' has a Quirk? Much less such a strong one? He attacks. Viciously, instinctively he goes into attack. He's stopped, but no consequences are given (more on that later), so he doesn't stop. Why would he? All he's learned is this teacher won't let him attack Izuku without a motive.

And then he gets one. Bakugou walks into the Battle Trial planning what he'll do to Izuku. His first words in there are don't dodge... which is especially bad considering what he'll say in a little bit.

His plan? To beat the living shit out of Izuku, to vent all his frustration on him, but stopping just short of it being bad enough for the Trial to be stopped. And as Izuku defies him (by dint of not letting himself be beaten up), he gets angrier and angrier at him for the gall of it, for the audacity to not lay down and let Bakugou beat him up until he feels better, until it reaches the point where Bakugou brings out those gauntlets of him.

'Dammit, Deku, don't dodge me!' 'He won't die if he dodges!'

Yeah. He says both of these things in the space of the same fight. When Bakugou fires that damn gauntlet of his, he's finally reached the point where, for the first time we've seen, he's no longer thinking of the consequences even a little. He wants to kill Izuku, if only to prove that his Quirk, that he, is better (note this too; we'll talk more later about this) than Izuku and his Quirk.

Well, for obvious reasons, that doesn't work out for him, since Izuku's Quirk is the strongest in existence, and small fraction of it, badly used, is still enough to clap Bakugou's attack, enhanced by support equipment (who the hell approved that, by the way? It literally destroys buildings. It seemingly exists for no other reason than to cause massive collateral damage). Then he's forced into an existential crisis when Deku 'wins'. His arm is broken, he's beat up, but by the rules of the game he won anyways and because of that, Bakugou's world collapses.

This, more than anything, I think is Bakugou's true catalyst for change: not being saved by 'Deku', but losing to him. Granted, being saved is enough to force him to avoid him, but it probably helped that Izuku only bought him moments of air. He may have saved him, but All Might did the work, All Might the strongest, the greatest, his idol.

This though? This was Izuku surpassing him, and all on his own.

And I want to pause to consider something here: something that was stressed since the beginning of the story, and still is, besides the terrible mixed messaging at times, is that being heroic is more important to being a hero than sheer ability. Izuku was heroic with his complete lack of ability at the start, after all, while All For One is one of the strongest beings in the setting, and is the farthest thing from heroic. And when you look at Bakugou, as we're introduced to him? There's not a speck of that in him. There's no kindness, no mercy, no sympathy; Bakugou has no positive aspects to him. He has talent, talent for days, but talent isn't a person, a personality. He is a creature of pure ability, and nothing more, and that makes him a singularly unheroic creature.

But the story continues, and Bakugou is forced to confront his own weakness compared to his classmates... except, you know, he doesn't. Even as he does everything wrong, as picks fight with classmates, teachers, villains he should be avoiding... he faces no real consequences for it.

Because, as I've said? Bakugou used lethal force on Izuku. Knowingly. As a teacher tells him not to. That... that sounds like something that even a normal school would be concerned about, much less this elite school that is focused around being a hero, and whose student body is largely comprised of very lethal people, who they intent to unleash upon the world with minimal restrictions on their behavior.

I mean, forget the school; why is All Might fine with this? Aizawa? Nezu? Any of these teachers? How about all of their fellow students, all of who are heroic, and watched this happen live, and All Might's response, no less?

This is the second problem of Bakugou: what they see, talk to, and interact with, doesn't seem to match with the reality that we see, and these two problems are so intertwined that is hard to talk about them separately.

Because on Day One of school, Bakugou attempts to murder his fellow student, and no one cares. The worst he gets is a waggled finger. The fact that he isn't expelled is mind boggling beyond belief, when you pause for a second and consider that fact.

Aizawa talks like he just rough housed too hard or something, and the worse thing All Might mentions is failing the exercise.

This is something that many people have talked about, and at times have named many different ways. For this, I've decided to call it, 'Bakugou's Tsundere Field', because it makes other people act like Bakugou is tsundere, acting tough but with a kind heart, instead of just... acting like a shit person. You know, like he does.

Like I said, it's hard to realistically seperate that from Bakugou's general behavior, so I'm just going to keep going and point it out as I go along.

Next, let's talk about... the Sports Festival. The Sports Festival is where, if you need the reminder, Bakugou starts things off by insulting everyone else and making them hate his class. Twice.

First, by insulting the, admittedly vulture like crowd gawking over 1A's near death experience (I still don't like that), and the second as the valedictorian, where his 'speech' is his two sentence statement that he's going to be first... and yet, for some reason, Izuku watches this and marvels over how he's changed. Because normally, he'd do this but he'd be gloating. Izuku. Izuku. This isn't some mind boggling big thing to be in awe of.

Actually, let's chat about that a bit, because that's honestly such a big problem it's almost a third concern on it's own right: Izuku is our major narrator, right? So we get a lot of our views on Bakugou from his perspective, and... well, he's very much an unreliable narrator, whenever it comes to Bakugou. Every time he talks, there's this sense of awe in it that's been there ever since he was a child; it taints his narrative every time he talks about Bakugou, makes it always more positive than it should be.

Because, wow, Bakugou, that's different from before, an improvement, right? Well guess what? That shit is still shit, even if there's less of it. Izuku is just so biased, so traumatized, such... an abuse victim, that he he takes what Bakugou gives him and doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, because he, Deku, has no self respect, and Bakugou is the biggest and the baddest, the most beloved of their childhood, and it's something he never seems to get past. Even when he stands up to Bakugou, fights him, he still can't get past staring at him in awe, and barely ever complains about how he's being treated.

And because Izuku is our main viewpoint? This view on Bakugou taints our view on him, and it's easy to look at him with Izuku's admiring eyes.

But I digress. In the cavalry battle, Bakugou basiclly breaks the rules by flying off the horse, but gets away with it because of a technicality, which, you know, is great impulse to nurture: it's fine as long as it's technically legal! Sounds really heroic, right? Like something you want your law enforcement to live by?

Meanwhile, during this same fight, both Aizawa and All Might praises him for his ambition, and I just. Do you know what Bakugou says right before they think about that?

'I'm going to be Number One and leave piles of bodies in my wake!', he screams, while literally throwing a tantrum on national television and hitting the top of Kirishima's head like it's a desk.

...Wow. You know what? Maybe you two are mixing tenacity with bloodlust. That's one of the least heroic things I've ever heard in my life, and yet everyone just falls over themselves to praise him for it just because he's not content to settle for second place.

It's times like that I have to wonder: are they... are they seeing something different than what we do? Are all of Bakugou's most violent phrases and actions edited out for them? Did Hori add them for his fans? Or is it just The Tsundere Field(TM)?

Not even mentioning third stage where: he's praised for taking a woman 'seriously' for no apparent reason, and dragging it out when he would normally, just like he always does, just leap in mindlessly to attack, and this one time he really thinks it through it backfires when Ochaco turns it back around on him, only for him to just... over power it, with no ill effects. This comes with the double plus stupid on his part of him doing that because he's... what, afraid of her touching him?

Seriously? This entire post exists for me to call Bakugou out, but even I can't call him a coward. Every time he fights a villain, all of which want to kill him, and one who has Ochaco's power but lethal, he still charges in. Moreover, all it does it make you weightless; Bakugou's power explicitly gives him a way around that; if she tosses him, he can just fly back to the stage.

So... why is this a thing? This is a thing so, when the heroes, who at this point are symbolizing the audience's discontent with Bakugou, start complaining, Aizawa can step in, verbally slap them, us, and then explain how great Bakugou is, which get magnified by how casually he shoots down her plan at the end.

And here's the super special bonus problem with all of this: a hero's job isn't to protect themselves. A hero's job is to protect everyone else. Even if they, personally, are hurt, a hero is expected to risk their health, and lives, so that the general public is safe. You want to know what the problem is when protecting yourself and allowing the villain time to do things in the process? It means they get to do things. Like, say, set up a giant meteor shower that could cause mass casualties? You know, like what Ochaco actually did as Bakugou held back?

This is that plan that, need I remind you, Eraserhead was defending.

Then there's the fight with Shoto where, under the actual logic of the setting, according to Hori's very notes on how their Quirks work, Shoto should have froze him and thusly stopped him in his tracks, no fire needed, since it would stop Bakugou from sweating. But, instead, Bakugou powers through, somehow, and clinches a win anyways. And then, and this is after he eavesdrops on Shoto's conversation, BTW, which means he knows exactly why Shoto doesn't use his fire, he throws a fit that Shoto didn't use his fire on him anyways (which, considering he sweats nitroglycerin, means he would have exploded).

Now let's look at the Intern Arc, and I'll be honest: no matter how much a non-character Best Jeanist, I'll always be a fan of him for one simple reason:

When everyone else looked at Bakugou, and says, 'This kid is awesome', this is the one person in the entire setting who saw a problem. And as a bonus, he acts to do something about it.

In the same vein, I'll never forgive Hori for making him seem like such a pretentious twit, much less how hard he ends up cheering for Bakugou's every word later in the series. I'm relooking at these manga chapters, and his big attempt seems to be... jelling up Bakugou's hair, and... something like focusing the body and mind via the power of... tight jeans.

Wow. I mean, wow. The one time we get someone honestly, actually trying to change Bakugou for the better, to call him for what he is, and his big plan to do this is apparently giving him a new look.

Really? Like, beyond how much of a failure of an opportunity this is, beyond how it makes Best Jeanist look useless, it can give the reader that the impression that the reason why Bakugou is so wild and untamed is that those who want to reign him in are elitists who are wildly disconnected to reality, that he is right to be this way, because people following the rules are just holding him back.

And we come to... sigh. The Final Exam test. The fact that anyone who has spent five minutes with Izuku and Bakugou thinks that this clustefuck needs to happen is more proof of the terrifying powers of the TF. I mean, I just... when one person is constantly yelling, constantly aggressive, constantly swearing, constantly throwing fits, and this same person is constantly picking fights with another student, who, at worst, defends himself, and and more often just seems to take it..... what do you think they need?

Is it to be thrown together into a teamwork based, sink or swim test with seemingly enormous penalties for failure? Or is it to make one of them get therapy? And also detention?

Well, according to All Might, Aizawa, Nezu, and who knows who else....

*shrugs helplessly*

If only we could use Bakugou's powers for good, rather than making Izuku suffer.

But we can't. So the school locks an abuser and his victim together in a pseudo-deathmatch where teamwork is required to survive, as a form of therapy to treat the lack of cooperation that comes entirely from one party. Wonderful.

And, as anyone could predict, this promptly goes terribly. Bakugou attacks his teammate for the crime of... *checks notes* trying to work together with him against All Might, the strongest being in the setting. This is such a terrible crime because *checks notes again* ...Bakugou can totally take him.

Bakugou Katsuki, everybody. A 'genius' with the brain of a yipping chihuahua trying to fight a mastiff.

Recovery Girl watches this happen live and just goes, 'They're just absolutely the worst team, those two."

And oh, and I'm going to be honest, when you look at Recovery Girl she's kind of a piece of shit. She barely gets any scenes and any time they involve Izuku (a lot of that small amount) they are pure ass. But this? This just takes the cake.

Wow. They're such bad teammates, sure. Such heroic insight. Why, that's like saying putting Muscular on the same team with Kouta would be a bad team! That would have some truly terrible teamwork as well, right? It's something that is technically correct, but is just.... so heinously missing the core of the problem that you honestly have to wonder what in the actual fuck she's thinking. All Might and Aizawa, at least, have the excuse that they don't see that, at least as far as we know, but she deadass watches it happen, what the fuck.

And, as it has often been pointed out, Bakugou passes, after attacking his teammate and being carried out afterwards while Sero, who heroically sacrifices himself for the win and never once attacks his teammate, loses for exactly the same thing.

Simply marvelous.

Now let's move Training Camp Arc... where, when Bakugou is informed in the middle of an attack by villains that he is the target (and oh, we'll get to that in a moment). What is his first response to this? What does he do?

Le-fucking-roy right at them. Here's something that bothers me about how the story talks about Bakugou: he's so intelligent, he's analytical, all this stuff... but every time he gets into a fight? Or near a fight? His response is always, always to jump in. Needless to say, a heedless charge at the problem backfires, and he's captured. Surprise!

And back to Bakugou as target: the League of Villains watch him on TV and the first thing they thought about him is, I like the cut of his jib.

The worst people look at Bakugou and say he's clearly one of them.

This... this is something that's never really discussed. There's a press conference, Aizawa basiclly says he's too heroic to ever join them (ironically, since Bakugou's argument isn't about heroism or villainy, but that they're losers), and this just... never comes up again. There's no doubt in anyone's mind about anything after Eraserhead gives him that support

No one is concerned that, hey, maybe he did actully join them. Or the man with ten-thousand Quirks did something to him, brainwashed him, and honestly? That's not even a reach. That is actually what AFO was planning to do to him. This is a setting, need I remind you, where actual brainwashing Quirks exist, much less whatever the fuck happens to the Nomu and no one is concerned, after they all agree that there is already a mole, that Bakugou could become another mole, or maybe even was that original mole in the first place. No one goes, 'Hmm, well, the scum of Japan think he's one of them, maybe this is something we should be concerned about?'

I mean, fuck, no one just sits Bakugou down and tells him to pull his shit together, your image is ass and the media is probably going to be watching you until you die, ready to stain you with the accusation of villainy, and they can make your life hell if you slip up, and so far you don't seem even seem to care. Also, your heroic career, that you're oh so concerned about, is never going to get off the ground if everyone thinks your a villain, and a villain will never be Number One.

There's just... nothing. Bakugou is made out of warning signs, one the entire fucking setting ignores at times, but this is just... fuck.

Alright. Bakugou vs Izuku Two; Wank Bakugou Harder!

Actually, no. Before that... let's talk about one of the major lead ups to that: Bakugou finding out about OFA. Why? In part to force him into the plot, sure, but a large part of it is Izuku feeling... guilty. He feels guilty for lying to him, guilty for seeming to have a Quirk of his own; I'm not really going anywhere with this, I just want to talk about how fucked up that mentality is, that he felt he owed Bakugou that. He owes Bakugou nothing. Bakugou isn't his friend, isn't even his acquaintance, he's his abuser. Bakugou doesn't treat him in a way that deserves such sympathy, much less information on one of the greatest secrets in the setting. If Bakugou wants to assume that Izuku somehow hid that he had a Quirk for his entire life? Allowed himself to be constantly beat down, insulted, and mistreated, and for what? For this one gotcha moment of surprising Bakugou? Let him. If he's too stuck in his own idiocies to think of anything else, let him wallow in his own ignorance.

Anyways, BvI2: also known as that time Bakugou pulled his frequent victim aside to attack him and both of them got in trouble for it.

And this is billed as this big thing for Izuku, but he fights against Bakugou, metaphorically, all the time, and he's already had this big moment of physical defiance in BvI1. This fight isn't about Izuku, on any level. This fight exists solely for Bakugou. It starts because he starts it, he starts it because he feels upset and violence is apparently how he sorts through his emotions, and he wins it because he needs to.

But not just because he needs to win, oh no, there's more to that. Thematically, you see, this is important for Bakugou's growth. Or rather, the idea of his growth that never seems to persist between his growth moments. You see, thematically, Bakugou stands for victory via force, but him winning this fight doesn't make him right, doesn't give him All Might's approval, and to him, that's almost a paradox; that paradox is needed to move beyond who he is.

But that's the thing though. Bakugou needs it. Bakugou needs to win for Bakugou's growth. This growth is, both literally and thematically, at the expense of Izuku, because Izuku? If he won this, just... out matched Bakugou in a fight, no tricks, no technicalities, no crippling injuries, none of the things from their first fight? That would have been huge for him, for his confidence. It would have been Izuku, heroic Izuku, finally and truly eclipsing his old bully in every possible way, and that would have been great for him, for his confidence, for his self respect. Moreover, though, that still would have been good for Bakugou, because even when he loses, he never loses, and he could use an actual, humbling defeat to help screw his head on straight.

But Bakugou loses all the time, I hear people say? He lost in their first fight, true, but that's a technicality; anyone looking at them would know who won combat wise. He won the Sports Festival, even though he bitches about how it wasn't 'right'. He loses against All Might, sure, but All Might is the strongest man on the planet; that loss means nothing. Moreover, he wins against him through the goal of the exam at the end anyways. He loses to the villains, sure, but it was a bunch of them against him; it wasn't a fair fight, which is the whole reason him picking it was stupid in the first place. And now, here, he could have finally had a real loss to give him some perspective... but he doesn't.

Moreover, Hori just... hypes up Explosion as a Quirk more than it really deserves. Is it a good Quirk? Strong? Sure. But let's be honest here: he sweats nitroglycerin. Literally, his Quirk is his two parents mashed together into the best possible option, and it's basiclly lazy ass chemistry via genetics. There is, by the very definition of the substance that he explicitly makes, a cap to how much it can do with a certain volume; that's why new, more explosive explosives were made to replace it

One For All, all the heroic thematics aside, is literally just pure power. All Might changes the weather with a punch on accident; I'm convinced if he punched the ground and meant it, he could actually fuck up Japan as a island. The cap with OFA is yes. There is no way, under the logic of the setting, that Bakugou can ever contest that.

Like, look at Endeavour: when he wants more fire, he makes more fire. It's bigger. What the fuck is Bakugou going to do, rain his sweat on people? What happens when he dehydrates, because again, this is his sweat, which comes from his body? Cluster doesn't even make sense, really, that he somehow super concentrates it to make it more powerful, and AP Shot is literally him making a circle with his fingers before blowing up a bomb in it, yet somehow it makes, like, a laser?

The thing is that more loose Quirks, like Endeavour's, again, aren't as limited to science as the more 'realistic' Quirks like Bakugou's, so there's nothing really saying he can't just... make more flames. He could damage himself, sure, but since he already pulls that shit out of nothing, Endeavour increasing the volume of his magic ass firebending isn't hard to accept. Hori wrote himself into a hole here because if Bakugou just made explosions by magic? If he just... conceptually made explosions? A lot of this stuff would make sense (except AP Shot; fuck AP Shot), and it feels like that's how he treats it sometimes. But that's not what he did: it was his Dad's Acid Sweat with his Mom's Glycerin which means he sweats explosive sweat. And then, when it's convenient, he has shit like the Gauntlets, and basiclly all the rest of his support gear, that are explicitly filled with his sweat.

Bakugou's powers are basiclly whatever the fuck Hori wants at any given moment, and it's honestly frustrating when he tried to play so much of this setting's powers so seriously at first, and Bakugou's Quirk in particular is explained more than almost anyone else, and yet he tosses it the moment he thinks of something that sounds cool.

...But I've gotten off topic. The point is, OFA is OP and Izuku should have just won that on pure ability alone.

Anyways, after all this, the teachers finally come, once it's settled in Bakugou's favor, and they're both in trouble. For a fight that was 100% Bakugou's fault.

So, throughout all of this, Bakugou has changed, yes, but beyond the first couple of days, the changes have been grudging and glacial, and the reasons why are best exemplified in the License Exam where we find out that, for all intents and purposes, Bakugou is incapable of showing basic empathy. I mean, fuck, he fails to show that when, with any amount of logic, much less that of the genius Bakugou, would say that now is the time to fake it. An actual, factual sociopath would do better than him, purely because they would know to act for their own betterment.

(And the fact that his teachers look at this, explicit proof that he is seemingly incapable of actually trying to save a person, but do nothing with this information speaks volumes.... mostly about how bad Hori is at writing Bakugou and the implications of what he does constantly. Surely there's no way that, without the Author hyping him up, they'd just let that slide, right? ...Right?)

But, then, hope on the horizon! He has a make up exam, and it's apparently centered around pounding basic morals/how to deal with civilians into his thick skull! Surely, this is the time Bakugou will finally, finally, get the point, right?

And that's the thing: he does. There's this, probably to other people, touching moment where he sees himself in this asshole kid and talks about how you can't just look down on people. And it's like... finally. Finally! The switch has finally been flicked! He gets it! Change, improvement, development, fina-

Then the second he gets out of it he promptly goes back to calling everyone extras.

That dynamic in many ways is the perfect embodiment of Bakugou's development, and it's... It's like watching someone fighting off a disease. There's an infection, right and symptoms increase. Sometimes the symptoms appear out of nowhere, sometimes they increase over the span of several days. They peak, finally, then they fall back down, again either dramatically, or over the span of several days, and then you are back to normal.

Bakugou makes changes. He makes realizations. He gets 'humbled'. He has a single moment of heroism that the narrative hypes up, sometimes with a bit of build up before hand for a few chapters, and with people sometimes reacting to it for a few chapters afterwords.

And then it passes, like he's just finished fighting off a case of Morals.

You see, Bakugou is well liked. And, honestly, I get it. The asshole can be therapeutic to root for, at times. The problem is that he's too popular, and that this story is too about people being good. So Bakugou, to keep the fan base, to keep the sales, has to stay Bakugou, stay the unrepentant asshole constantly telling people to die.

But, at the same time, Bakugou is an anti-hero, basiclly, and this is a setting that just... can't handle the complexity of an anti-hero, in how people react to them, what they do and the morality of it, how it would affect society and so on, and so Bakugou can't stay as Bakugou, has to grow and be better and become a hero proper.

So... Hori goes, 'Why not both?' Thus, Bakugou gets his moments of 'development', and a slow, slow, slow trend to the better, and the fans get to see him do his thing, even though he's 'changed'. And it's easy, when you just sit back and accept the narrative, to believe that. But if you don't....

All of that? It makes his character empty because after a certain point, it's clear that Bakugou won't change, in so many fundamental levels, even if everyone around him acts like he does. Like attacking his teammates, like blindly charging the enemy , like constantly insulting everyone around him is just different because he's The New Bakugou now, like it's just fun and games, even when this was a dead serious problem early on. He didn't stop, he didn't change, or dial it back; everyone else just started acting differently when he does it. The same way in day one he attacks Izuku for having a Quirk, far later on he throws his metal... hair thing at him for daring to talk about his Quirk. And it, like, impales him, but haha! It's just funny now, it's so funny, that we can apparently see Izuku's brain! It's funny that, when Izuku is seriously thinking about his predecessors, Bakugou just instantly insults them for not being famous! Look at how patient Izuku is dealing with him as he acts like a bratty five year old child throwing a fit, look how fond All Might is as he insults his beloved teacher that he probably has deep seated trauma about regarding her untimely death!

In the War Arc, where Bakugou 'Rises'? Maybe ten minutes before his 'Rise', he was threatening to attack Izuku for daring to ask why he's following him. In a war zone.

The entire story, Bakugou has been described as a creature of instinct, a natural born warrior with a talent for battle. All of that is to contrast him with Izuku: where Izuku, instinctively, has the urge to save, Bakugou has the instinctive urge to fight. This is fundamental to him, a core characteristic, one of the (many) ways it's explained about how good he is at fighting.

And yet, suddenly, when Izuku is in danger, he moves without thinking (aka instinctively), but it's not attack Shigaraki, which, you know, he was shouting about doing not too long ago, it's to save Izuku.

And. And am I supposed to believe that?

I mean, fuck. In the FInal Arc, he has a Big Speech in response to SFO: about being 'way over fear and rejection since long ago', which SFO was talking in the context of how they create inequality in society, and how he wants to fix it... which, doesn't that mean Bakugou just doesn't care about them? Because being over them doesn't actually solve them, genius, it just means you, personally, are beyond them, and even now, he still treats everyone like they're unequal to him. Bakugou has always been the one to profit from inequality in society, between his Quirk, his talent, his well off family, so honestly all of that rings hollow.

He talks about how he has friends now, who are willing to move beyond them, and OK, that works a bit better, except when he still doesn't treat them like friends, in fact not too long ago he yelled at Momo for getting his stupid ass chuunibyou name wrong.

Or, maybe a minute later, when Bakugou gets a power up and/or realization about how SFO moves or something, and you know what he does? He instantly charges in blindly, alone, and is killed over it. Right after this speech about teamwork, while everyone was just... cheering his determination, and prissy Best Jeanist says, with a straight face and actual awe, 'Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight'.

And then when he sees Bakugou get smacked around, Eraserhead's first thought is to scream, desperately, 'Save him! Save him so he can try and become the Number One Hero!' in the middle of all this shit that is happening.

All of this is presented to us as this... thrilling thing, with music that is going to be swelling in the background when its animated, and everyone cheering him on, right before he's tragically struck down for being too stupid to live (no, seriously, SFO actually lampshades this. Before this big 'dramatic' moment, he says that getting up close to him is pure idiocy, and all that it will do is allow you to get get smashed by an All Might like power. Then, you know, Bakugou closes in, again, because he had bitchslapped Bakugou before, and then a second time during that boast, and it goes exactly as SFO said) and we're supposed to mourn him. Again, actually, even though this is a blatant set up for him powering up, since this is literally the same set up as the War Arc.

All of this work, all of this emotion, and all of it rings hollow because, well, it's Bakugou, and no amount of trying to hype up teamwork battle is going to make it work for me when the second the Big Moment is over he reverts to his normal asshole routine.

That Tsundere Field, guys. Too strong, too broken.

While I'm at it, let's talk about Bakugou being Quirkist, because, well, he is. It's a big part of his early character: the reason he rags on Izuku so hard, so successfully, the reason he's so big and important as a child, is about Quirks. When they get introduced the past users? His first comment is that they have weak Quirks.

Izuku saves him and he still doesn't think much about him; it's only later when he starts actually acknowledging Izuku.

When he has a Quirk.

And it's not just a Quirk, it's more than that: it's a strong Quirk, powerful. Enough for him to defeat Bakugou. All the respect Bakugou builds for Izuku? And while it stagnates for awhile, I do have to admit he does respect Izuku more than he did originally... and it's not because Izuku is kind, or heroic; he still hates that. No, he starts respecting Izuku because he is strong. His respect isn't about Izuku as a person, it's about Izuku's Quirk. All his respect, slowly built up throughout the series, comes from the corrupt foundation that Izuku is worth respecting only because he has a Quirk. Later, this gets worse because he learns about OFA and starts valuing Izuku as important, but it's only because his Quirk is important. It's All Might's Quirk. His second fight with Izuku is because of it's All Might's Quirk. He starts training him (that one time, and apparently never gain) because it's All Might's Quirk. When Izuku goes 'rogue'? And when he heroically goes to hunt him down? One of the first thing he does is talk about how he's so great because he has One For All, and then calls him an All Might wannabie*.

And you know what? I just talked about Class A hunting down Izuku recently, but let's talk about that more, because I hate it so much.

I really, honestly wonder if Hori is blind to the parallel he set up here, or if he invoked it on purpose, to try and show how Bakugou has 'improved'.

Look back at the first chapter, where we first see Bakugou. Think about that dynamic: Izuku, beaten down, on one side, while on the other, Bakugou. Strong, proud, with minions at his back, all of them ready to throw down at his command.

The thing is? The first time is shown as clearly villainous in nature, a cruel bully against someone who is weak but heroic. The second time, everything is the same, but it's shown differently. Bakugou is being shown as heroic for doing this, heroic for leading Izuku's friends to hunt him down, heroic for attacking him.

*And ah, Bakugou the Hypocrite. Let's finish this up by talking about Bakugou's name. When we first talk about hero names, Bakugou's naming sense is much like it is for his final name, and Midnight promptly shoots down every one of them because, well, they aren't heroic, and the story pokes fun at him a little because he clearly doesn't get it.

Then it's the War Arc. Bakugou has 'grown', there's all this hype for his big heroics moments, and he announces his new name... Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight. And I'm just wondering... am I getting punked? This is the the same shit as before! No, actually it's worse than that, it's bigger, longer, and more ridiculous.

The universal response is that it's tacky. Nejire thinks it's disgusting. Mirio literally thinks it's a joke.

But the story itself treats it seriously, and over time? People start accepting it, taking it seriously as well, treating that stupid name with respect. What the fuck kind of hero name has the word murder in it? What kind of hero calls himself a god?

And finally, it's Dynamight. Which resembles All Might, the Greatest, Most Beloved Hero, the one Bakugou has always considered the best and viewed as his goal to surpass.

And yet he says that Izuku, who is calling himself Deku, is the one viewing himself as an All Might wannabie.

[prettytoxicrevolver]

The Way I Loved You | Quinn Hughes

quinn hughes x reader and jack hughes x reader

You and Quinn break up after a roller coaster ride of a relationship but when you end up dating his calmer, sweeter, kinder, younger brother you still end up thinking about Quinn anyway

wc 2.1k

flashbacks are in italics as always :)

It was no surprise when Quinn got drafted to Vancouver, Jack to the Devils, and Luke headed out to Michigan for school. 

It wasn’t a shocker when you followed Quinn to Vancouver either. 

Out of the three of them, you and Quinn were the closest. Your parents joked that when he did go to Vancouver, you’d have to get a surgical removal from each other. You were always together. 

To you, it was a no brainer that you’d move to Vancouver with Quinn. You had already finished your undergrad degree and could virtually work anywhere you wanted and what better place to go than where your best friend was. You couldn’t see an issue with it. 

Well, no issue until you ended up moving back to New Jersey. 

Your phone pings with the special text message sound you have set for Jack. Like clockwork, your roommates “ooh” like high schoolers teasing their friends and you roll your eyes. 

“Say hi to Jack for us!” Lauren yells and your other roommate giggles next to her. 

“Have fun being jealous tonight!” you respond back. 

Your roommates laugh loudly in response, yelling out that your boyfriend is “just too hot” and “he’s so sweet” and that they “can’t help but be jealous”. You walk out, shaking your head but smiling nonetheless. 

You step out of your house to see Jack leaned against the passenger side of his bmw. Your heart jumps at the sight, his eyes trailing upwards to meet yours and his shy smile is so endearing you nearly awe out loud. 

“Damn,” he lets out when you get closer and a giggle escapes your lips. He slips an arm around your waist, pulling you flush against him and presses a quick kiss to your lips. 

“You look beautiful tonight,” he says and your blush is prominent at the words. 

“Thank you,” you say, ducking your head away from his intense gaze. Your whole body felt like it was on fire at his touch and his words only made the flame burn brighter. 

He lets go for a moment to open your car door and helps you in before getting in on his side afterwards. Jack takes off towards your destination and the car ride is mostly quiet except for the music and casual conversation. 

During a lull of sound your eyes trail out towards the scenery flying by you. The sights blur around you and you find your mind wandering back to him. How fast he drove, one hand always lingering somewhere on your body, the exhilaration in every breath, every touch, every word. How you never felt that passion with Jack. 

But it’s a passion that takes over and rules above all and puts your emotions on a rollercoaster that you never know when is going to drop next. It’s exciting and exhilarating and damn fun. It’s also scary and frustrating and yet you sit here letting yourself be absorbed by the memories of Quinn. 

It was Quinn that wanted you at this banquet. Quinn who had begged you for weeks to go. Quinn who offered to buy you a new dress and pay for your nails. 

Quinn who ignored you literally all night long. And then had the audacity to be frustrated with you on the drive home. 

“What the fuck is your issue?” Quinn snaps as he shifts his car to park. 

“My issue?” you nearly scream back and Quinn huffs like you’re the one acting utterly ridiculous and not him. 

“Fuck off Quinn,” you mutter after a moment of staring at him only to realize his question is genuine.

You shake your head, pulling the car door open and slamming it shut behind you. You don’t make it far, a hand grabbing your arm and yanking you back and you nearly lose your balance from the force and the rain sliding violently down the driveway. 

You’re tempted to shove him away, scream at the top of your lungs and really tell him how it is. You had foolishly spent hours getting ready for tonight’s banquet and Quinn had spent it ignoring you. You were completely and utterly done with his bullshit. 

“What’s wrong?” Quinn asks. It’s quieter this time, almost like a plea but not quite. He’s trying his hardest not to yell but you can tell he’s still pissed at you. 

“What’s wrong is that I’m a complete and utter idiot for thinking that this was more than what it actually is.” 

“And what did you think it was?” he asks, pulling you closer but his grip on your arm softens. 

“I-” you start but falter upon his intense stare. 

“Say it,” he says, now barely above a whisper. “Please say it.” 

“I thought you were finally asking me out.” 

“That's my girl.” 

His lips are on yours faster than you can comprehend and Quinn has to tug you closer for you to respond. His lips mold perfectly to yours, a roller coaster of emotions flowing through every inch of you in what feels like seconds. You never knew you could feel that much so quickly and so intensely. 

Passion like that doesn’t always last. 

“Baby?” you’re brought back by Jack’s voice and you look over at him. “You okay?” 

“All good,” you promise, a smile slips onto your lips but Jack notices that it doesn’t quite reach your eyes. 

He nods, reaching over and squeezing your thigh before focusing on driving once more. 

You didn’t move back to New Jersey just because of Quinn. Your family all lived in the New England area and your parents bought a house for retirement in the rich part of Connecticut. 

You could visit them whenever you wanted, see childhood friends in New Jersey, and hangout with Jack and his teammates more. You reminded yourself of this as Jack was running late to your parents house. 

“Jack!” you hear your mom greet him at the front door. 

You make your way over from the kitchen and spot Jack standing with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a gift bag in another. He smiles that thousand dollar grin of his and leans down to hug your mom. 

“Hi Mrs. (y/l/n),” he says and your mom beams back at him. “These are for you.” 

“Oh sugar you shouldn’t have!” 

She takes the flowers from Jack, insisting on another bear hug before walking back towards the kitchen. Jack follows her and you don't realize you’re grinning until he’s standing in front of you. 

“Hi,” you say. 

“Hi,” he responds, leaning down to press a quick kiss to your lips. 

“Suck up,” you whisper when he pulls away and the two of you giggle quietly. 

“Jack!” 

Your dad’s voice pulls your boyfriend back and he offers a hand that your dad clasps in a strong grip. You watch as Jack hands him the gift bag, mentioning something about a new book your dad would like and that proud father look adorns his features. 

You don’t see Jack until later, your father and him wrapped in discussions of hockey, news, business, etc. When dinner rolls around, you’re content watching Jack charm your family for the millionth time. He’s polite, always saying please and thank you, complimenting your moms cooking, holding your hand beneath the table and squeezing it reassuringly, joking with your father, it was picture perfect from head to toe. 

Nothing in this world could make you more comfortable than in that moment. 

And yet, some unshakeable force brings your brain back to memories of Quinn. 

“Wait,” you say and Quinn offers a confused look. “I’m nervous.” 

“You’re just meeting the guys,” he says, like it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  

“What if they don't like me?” 

“Then I’ll knock some sense into them on the ice later,” he reassures, leaning over to press a quick kiss to your cheek before getting out of the car and opening your door for you. 

You step into the restaurant and it feels like a whirlwind as you’re swept into conversation with Quinn’s teammates, friends, and one of his brothers. They ask you a million questions and at some point Quinn has to tell them to back off for a bit. 

Finally, you find a seat in between Anthony Beauvillier and Quinn, listening to the boys tell stories about your boyfriend and smiling as he flushes from embarrassment. 

“So, what do you do for a living?” Anthony asks from next to you. 

You answer him, turning your body so you can hear his voice better and vaguely notice the glance from Quinn. You both dive into conversation, the words flowing so easily between you two that you don’t notice when Quinn sits back and stares angrily at the two of you. You fail to see the worried glances of his teammates or the jealousy building in your boyfriend. 

So, when you get home and Quinn still hasn't said a word to you since the restaurant, not only are you confused and worried, you’re a little bit angry as well. 

“That went well, right?” you ask, still testing Quinn’s mood. 

“Yeah,” he snaps out and your head rears back in confusion. “I love watching my girlfriend flirt with my entire team.” 

“What?” you sputter out, confusion evident in your voice. 

“You barely said a word to me all night, you were batting your eyes at any guy that looked at you, and you basically let Beauviller eye fuck you all night!” 

His words are harsh against your skin, heating you up all over and lighting a fire that only exists in intense moments with Quinn. You feel your mood change in a snap and you find yourself crossing your arms defensively and glaring at Quinn. 

“Even if Anthony was eye fucking me I can’t control that!” 

“You could if you actually acted like my girlfriend.” 

“You are un-fucking-believable,” you sigh out. 

Quinn can’t help the angry expression that rests on his face, his fear of losing you so overwhelming he can't help but explode in anger. He was still wrestling with the fact that he loved you so much it physically pained him some days. He didn’t know what to do with all of these intense emotions. Even worse, society had made it practically impossible for him to know or learn how to express those feelings in other healthy ways, not just anger. 

“But I’m right,” he responds and you shake your head. 

“Fuck you Hughes.” 

“What's going on with you?” 

Jack's calm and concerned voice sparks your thoughts, bringing you back to the present. You glance over at him, a false smile appearing on your lips with an ease that scares you for a moment. He places a comforting hand on your thigh and your smile falters for a moment. 

You should be in love with Jack. You should be happy, over the fucking moon by all normal standards. He’s sweet, always calls exactly when he says he will, is close to your family, charming to your friends, makes sure you're comfortable and protects you always. 

So why couldn’t you stop thinking about his older brother? 

Quinn had driven you up a wall the entire time you were in Vancouver with him. He’s late to everything, never has a clue what’s going on, got hung up on little things, could never truly express what he wanted or was feeling. He was frustrating, intoxicating, complicated, wild, crazy, and a million other words that could explain your annoyance with him. 

“What’s got you all worked up beautiful?” Jack asks, turning in his seat to look at you. 

You hated the way he was staring into your eyes, the way he just knew something was going on with you and that no matter what he did he knew he couldn’t solve it. Like he was about to tell you what was bothering you instead of you telling him. 

“Is it Quinn?” 

“Jack,” you start and he shakes his head, offering a smile that makes you nervous. 

“I should have known,” he admits, shrugging his shoulders and if he didn’t look so damn understanding yet hurt, you would lean over and pull him into your arms. 

“You always did get along with Quinn better,” he jokes and you let out a watery laugh. Much to fans and media’s dismay, you never wanted to fuck up the Hughes lives the way you already sort of did. You never wanted to hurt either brother or even put Luke in the middle. 

“We hated each other,” you say laughing and Jack starts to chuckle as well. 

“Yeah well,” he says and now you’re both laughing. 

“I did love you,” you remind him, pushing his chin up with your finger so he looks at you. 

“I love you too,” he says and the present tense makes you flinch a little. 

“Go get him.” 

You press a kiss to his cheek before getting up and leaving Jack’s apartment. 

[astraeasatelier]

The Person I'm Waiting For is Far

If you don't want to be hurt, then telling me that must have been painful too, right?

Includes Parts 1 & 2

Images will be added at a later date.

Part 1

Ena: Kanade, Mafuyu!

Kanade: Oh, Ena.

Ena: I know I just mentioned it on Nightcord, but I think there's another place Mizuki might go.

So I'm gonna go there now. I'll leave the school to you two!

Mafuyu: Got it.

Ena: Thank you!

Kanade: I hope she finds Mizuki...

Mafuyu: Me too.

Kanade: ...Oh, what'll we do if she comes in through the school entrance...?

Mafuyu: We'd have to tell Ena first. But as for Mizuki...

...It'd be best if she didn't even know we were here.

Since she's avoiding Ena, if she sees us, she might think Ena is here too.

Kanade: So I guess we'd better hide...?

Uh...where should we hide...?

Mafuyu: The road leading up to the school is rather open, so I think the only option we have is to enter the school grounds and hide in the bushes.

Kanade: Ah... ...

Mafuyu: ...I think it should be difficult to see us from the building or the road here.

Kanade: Squatting is kind of hard for me but...I'll do my best...

Mafuyu: ... ...

If Mizuki notices us, it might be better for us to say that we came here to see Ena.

Kanade: Uh, why?

Mafuyu: Like I said earlier, if she notices us, she might think that Ena is here too.

So...it'd be better if we acted like we're looking for Ena instead.

Mizuki hasn't logged into Nightcord for a while, so she wouldn't know about this.

So... ...we can act as if Ena stopped logging in after Mizuki stopped.

Kanade: I wonder if she'll worry about Ena and talk to us...?

Mafuyu: We'd have to lie...but it'd be better than her running away.

Kanade: I see...

But...what if she runs away before we can even talk to her...?

Mafuyu: Well...

We'd have to catch her. We'd need to chase her with all our might.

Kanade: Ugh...

And Mizuki is pretty athletic...

Mafuyu: Mm.

When we were playing tag in Sekai once, Mizuki was the last one to be caught.

She's not in any sports clubs, but she seems to have quite a bit of stamina.

Kanade: Yeah...

...Sorry... I probably won't be of any help if we have to chase her.

Mafuyu: I already know that.

As long as she stays on the road, it should be fine.

When I came here to look for her, I committed a few of the side roads and back alley paths to memory.

Kanade: Eh? You mean...you memorized them...?

Mafuyu: Yes. Things like where the roads connect and what could be a shortcut.

Mizuki plays hooky frequently, but she's still a student of Kamiyama High. Since she's at an advantage in that regard, I figured I should at least do this much.

Kanade: It's incredible that you went that far...

Mafuyu: ...I only did what I thought was necessary.

Flashback

Ena: Please, I’m counting on you two.

Flashback end.

Mafuyu: ...So, if Mizuki does come here...

Kanade: Right.

Mizuki...we'll be waiting for you.

Part 2

Location: Scramble Crossing

Mizuki: Oh! There you are, Mafuyu!

Where's Kanade? Did you guys not come together?

Mafuyu: She's picking up a CD that she ordered from that shop.

Mizuki: Ooh, I see.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm on time!

I woke up, like, an hour before I had to leave, so I was in a hurry.

So I only got to eat one slice of bread before I left...

Mafuyu: ...Were you really that hungry?

We'll be celebrating at a diner anyway, so couldn't you have endured it and arrived with some extra room?

Mizuki: Well, I was kinda hungry. Though, I really wanted to eat pancakes today, you know! And like, eating dessert on an empty stomach is just not how things are done, right?

But on the other hand, eating pancakes at a diner is kind of a lame pick, isn't it?

Mafuyu: I've never thought about that, so I don't know.

Mizuki: Ahaha, I'll just ask Kanade and Ena when they get here!

I get the feeling that Kanade will have the same opinion as you, but Ena will definitely have something to say!

Mafuyu: True.

Mizuki: ...Speaking of which, I was wondering if you remember something...

When we were talking about how scary it is to think of being rejected by someone... I was talking to you, I think.

Mafuyu: ...Yes, I remember that.

Mizuki: ...I was thinking about how scary it is to be rejected by others.

Especially if the other person is someone...really important to you...

How, even if you really take the time to talk to them, what happens if they don't accept you? Thinking about that is really, really scary...

So because of that, I thought that it's better to just not say anything at all...

So that's why I wasn't able to move forward at all, either.

...But, I realized something.

In this world, there are more people on your side than you realize.

Well, now that I'm looking back on it, it really was heartless of me... How I failed to even realize it back then.

...How the advice I gave you then was something I needed to apply to myself.

Because I value myself, the thought of rejection is scary... Especially because I don't want to be hurt.

Mafuyu: ...So, why did you tell me that?

If you don't want to be hurt, then telling me that must have been painful too, right?

So why... Why did you tell me?

Mizuki: ... ... ...Luka told me something before.

I'm a coward who only knows how to run away, so there was something only I could tell you.

At that time, I believed that too...

And besides...

...I couldn't turn a blind eye to you, Mafuyu...

Mafuyu: ...I see.

Mizuki.

Are you going to stop running away now?

Mizuki: Maybe… I think that it'd be nice if I could stop…

...I mean, I've learned that even if I do run, there are some people who'll just chase you anyway.

Mafuyu: I feel like those people just don't know when to give up, though.

Mizuki: Ahaha... Well, it's the first time that's ever happened to me.

In the first place, I was the one who told Ena, "Please wait until I'm ready to tell you."

But she found out before I could even tell her, so I ended up running away after all that...

So of course she'd chase me and go "What the hell is going on?!" y'know?

Mafuyu: ...She hasn't stopped complaining since then. She says it's your fault that her legs still hurt and her eyes and throat are so sore from crying.

Mizuki: She told you that, huh...?

Honestly, I really hated how she was running after me.

I kept thinking, "I hope she gives up soon."

But now... I think I'm really lucky to have a friend who would chase after me so desperately.

So that's why...

As long as Ena and you and Kanade are here, I don't want to run anymore... That's what I'd like to think.

Though, uh... Just be gentle with me, I guess?

Mafuyu: I understand...

Mizuki: Oh, Kanade's there! Hey, over here!

Mafuyu: Ena's with her too. ...She looks sleepy.

Mizuki: Eh? ...Ahahaha! She does!

Once they get here, I'm gonna ask them what they think about eating dessert on an empty stomach!

Mafuyu: You're still on that, huh?

Mizuki: Well, duh~

Hey, Kanade! Ena! We're over here!

[inklyqueen]

Things I Noticed About Velvet and Veneer Specifically

And a small thought I had about Crimp

Because I'm on the Trolls 3 Brainrot. Some headcanons might be in here too. Idk I heard that cover of Fame/Remember My Name and the Freshman theatre kid in me started crying tears of joy because I was in the high school version

Disclaimer that I am not an attorney or licensed anything. I grew up watching Game Theory, so I've learned a lot of MatPat's research methods. That being said, information I've found could be incorrect because, after all, it's the Internet. This is all in regards to a work of fiction, though do consult an actual attorney or legal team if you see a need to.

Content warning for topics in this including torture, kidnapping, and murder. Also Long Post warning.

- As time went on with their songs, I noticed that Velvet was beginning to overpower Veneer. Idk if it was an intentional detail on the director's/music dept's part, but if you go through all of songs in the order they're sung (including Sweet Dreams in John Dory's flashback) you'd notice the following:

- There's an even audio/equal turns in their duet during Sweet Dreams. Velvet has her riff moments but she's not overpowering Veneer. The song itself is also mildly ironic because of the lyrics in context:

...Some of them want to use you/Some of them want to be used by you/Some of them want to abuse you/Some of them want to be abused...

I'm sure the context is obvious, what with Floyd and the rest of the boys being outright abused by the both of them. Though my thought on it goes mildly deeper because when you listen to Watch Me Work, the arrangement is like this (I recommend listening to the song with headphones on/both earbuds in btw):

Purple for Velvet, Green for Veneer, Blue for Both

Never gets old no matter how much I'm told, I'm amazing, You're amazing

Hard to get tired when I'm always on fire, I'm blazin', ooh, you're blazin'

All my greatest, It doesn't come for free (yeah)

All my talent, It doesn't grow on trees

Take a breather (ooh), Then take it all away

If the top is where you wanna stay

You gotta work hard (uh-huh) To make it look it easy

You gotta live fast to keep makin' that money (ooh)

If you want to be as famous as me

You gotta work, gotta work, gotta work

Watch me work...

... Go ahead and watch me work

Haters wanna be me or be with me

Yeah, they're f-f-freakin', Ooh, they're freakin', yeah

I just keep on workin', lurkin', smirkin'

When they think that I'm peakin', never peakin', yeah

Velvet is starting to overpower her brother, not in a social or public image sense, but he's heard less in the music now. On top of that, the song seems to be specifically about Velvet (and the fact that this entire performance is a lie). Veneer is singing to Velvet in agreement of her claims. It's not, "They think that we're peakin'," it's "I'm peakin'," and "All my talent." The only time Veneer sings is to riff/add under it with flair, or to agree that Velvet is blazing on the charts. I'm 99% sure that the idea alone to use Floyd for personal gain was her idea. I still want context as to how they learned that the diamond perfume bottle works that way, and how they ended up grabbing him in the first place okay it's KIND OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION DREAMWORKS

And again in Mount Rageous and the use of Fame/Remember My Name:

Same colour code applies, anything in black are the background/back-up vocals, or a combination of Velvet, Veneer, and Back-Up Vocals together

(Fame!) I'm gonna live forever, I'm gonna learn how to fly

(High!) I feel it comin' together (oh, yeah)

People will see me and cry (Fame!)

I'm gonna make it to Heaven (Heaven), Light up the sky like a flame (Hah!)

I'm gonna live forever, Baby, remember my name...

... All my greatness, It doesn't come for free

All my talent, It doesn't grow on trees

Take a breather, then take it all the way

If the top is where you wanna stay...

...You gotta work hard

I'm gonna live forever, (keep makin' that money) Learn how to fly

If you want to be as famous as me, You gotta work, you gotta work, you gotta work

You gotta work hard...

...If you want to be as famous as me, Famous as my name

Notice how Veneer didn't get a chance to sing alone once in this number, not even for a riff or extra flair. The end of the song when she sings Name she's riffing the highest she ever has alone. Though I do believe that Veneer had had enough at this point and stopped singing, as he didn't want to do the encore. He knew they already won; all they had to do was take the award, finish the night out and go home. PR would most likely be the ones to handle the media with questions regarding why three little Trolls rolled up claiming they kidnapped four other Trolls, and then immediately began jumping at them repeatedly at a specific part of their outfits that they'd covered from the cameras in the first place. (Unless of course, the police got involved. Love how Bruce was the only one that thought to say "Call the authorities," and even if they had the authorities could've at least retrieved Floyd for them maybe so the abuse would stop? I'm sure there's an AU Fanfic in that somewhere—)

- Continuing on this in regards to Veneer, he is the definition of a morally grey character to an extent. There's some minor issues here and there, but I haven't seen a good grey character in animation in a while, so props to the Trolls III team on his development.

But instead of calling it there, Velvet, high on the adrenaline and the fame now lodged into her core, demands he sings again. She refuses to let the Trolls walk away with what they want, even though she's already won and made it to the top, and even if she'd stop there, she wouldn't let any of those Trolls leave if she had anything to say or do about it. So, looking to make more history, she screws herself over in the process. One part on Crimp's "betrayal," (more on that in a minute), but also in one part that Floyd would not have made it through that first song in her encore, and she would have croaked and embarrassed them both. Veneer outright told her he wouldn't make it and she did it anyway (or attempted). Hell Floyd barely made it through the ending chorus with his brothers by the the tip of his black eyeliner pencil.

- Adding to this, I noticed that Veneer never had Floyd in his shoulder pad slot things. In fact he wasn't ever truly the one that had ahold of Floyd's diamond cage for longer than a few minutes at a time. Velvet always spritzed herself first. Velvet almost always had the diamond in her hands. The only time Veneer has the diamond is when he spritz himself, and the two-to-three minute conversations between him and Floyd. When Veneer catches Floyd, he's immediately prompted to hand him back to Velvet. Velvet is almost always in full control over Floyd. Even during "What's with your vibe and your face?" She moved the diamond away from Veneer as if she were defending the bottle. (If I remember correctly. I need to watch the movie in full again and not a bunch of snips and clips.) She doesn't even trust her own brother to be alone with the bottle for longer than a few minutes.

The issues I noticed was how, despite going back and forth about how what they were doing to Floyd was right or wrong, he leaned more towards his sister's viewpoint when reminded of small things, i.e. the illegal pet monkey, but then leaned away from his sister when he stopped and saw what his actions were doing to a little guy like Floyd, who probably only wanted to visit Mount Rageous like a tourist or something. AGAIN I NEED ANSWERS DREAMWORKS

Veneer suggested ways to ease off using the perfume bottle, but didn't push the boundary when Velvet shot him down, and he's outright blunt that she kind of has no excuse to continue the charade. "We grew up in the suburbs, our parents were dentists." (You know they were rich kids if BOTH parents were dentists.) And with the cash they were making off their careers, they could hire a vocal coach AND require a signed NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). (Also how do you tax evade when purchasing a yacht??? You literally have to like— Do a credit check or something- Unless they paid with cash in full—) It wasn't until he realized that he'd almost killed Floyd (for real at the end) that he said enough was enough. His mini-panic attack upon Floyd's fake out shows that he has morals, but is ignoring them. He stops to listen to what Floyd has to say and is open to the conversation, rather than shutting him down. ("Just because she's your sister doesn't mean you should let her treat you like garbage." "Doesn't it?") I would not be surprised if Velvet ended up outright leaving him behind in her further climb in fame and the charts if they'd continued beyond the movie without intervention.

As for Crimp:

My biggest question with Crimp is how the hell she managed to get away with her involvement in the kidnapping and torture of a Troll.

Hear me out: I'm assuming now Trolls have more protections after the liberation and total turn around and revival of Bergen Town and the Rock Apocalypse, since she explicitly states "Troll-napping, Troll Torture," rather than just Kidnapping and Torture in general.

Upon her hire-on as an assistant to the twins, I assume she'd have to sign a NDA with their record label to protect their livelihoods and whatever music and songs she sees them working on, but a NDA does not protect a company or person from the law. (Noting that I'm going off USA Law here since these are about the same across most of the fifty states, and I honestly could compare Mount Rageous to Hollywood or Los Angeles, CA at this point?)

NDAs give a company the right to file a cease and desist against an employee if it's found they're giving out private corporate or internal information. This isn't the same as a HIPPA or other kind of protection law that prevents an employee's personal information from being aired out or an HR case being put in the open (think when a customer wants to complain about a retail worker and asks for their last name, you're not allowed to give that information. Or if someone comes to customer service asking if a specific person is working at the moment, you're not allowed to answer that. (At least the store I work at has those rules.)) In the USA with most states, you are usually required by law to report a crime if you know of it. Failing to do so is called a Misprision of a Felony. So if you know your boss has murdered someone and covered it up (*cough cough* Sing 2 *cough*), you are required to report it. If you know your assigned pop stars are holding a protected citizen (or species? I guess?) hostage and are exploiting their powers through means of ESSENTIALLY torture, you'd be legally required to report it. Otherwise you'd be at risk of being held accountable of aiding and abetting. Which technically she could be held accountable anyway because she made that "fruit extractor" for them on Velvet's lie that it's for smoothies on stage. Hell she was LITERALLY getting ukulele lessons from Floyd.

A NDA does not exempt you or your employers from the law or reporting illegal activity. A judge is likely to take that NDA and throw it away when it comes to information regarding the case. The excuse that the NDA prevented Crimp from reporting the crime doesn't hold. Hell I didn't even see a hint of blackmail or threat of harm to herself in this case, unlike Jimmy Crystal in Sing 2, where he outright threatened to kill Buster Moon multiple times and then attempted to commit the murder in front of thousands of people. The only real thing Crimp could ride on with a defense attorney is the fact that Velvet lied and told her that it was for smoothies. She also had a whole cell phone and could have called the authorities when they locked her in the closet. (Internet cell service is not the same as mobile phone service. Phones, even ones that don't have a SIM card or unlocked phones, are required by law to allow phone calls to 911 or numbers that are required emergency services in the USA. It's why your hidden phone from your parents say SOS where the reception bars would be, and also why that hidden phone still got that emergency alert system text.)

I actually did a detailed research post on Jimmy Crystal's offences and what he could face for prison time here if you wanna read over it :3

Anywho, I love them a lot, I hope this post was helpful or gave you some new thoughts and insights :3

Bonus Floyd Gif bc I love him

[rip-us-xoxo]

Tightrope- George Weasley x Reader (REPOST)

Posted  OCTOBER 20, 2020 

Reposted APRIL 16, 2023

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warnings- it gets pretty angsty, but it ends up good :)

Song- 'Tightrope' from The Greatest Showman

Italicized= Flashbacks       Italicized, bold= Song Lyrics

Enjoy!😁😁😁

——————————————————————————

You looked up at the clock, it was 7:30 pm. “George promised to be here 30 minutes ago,” you sighed sadly. He’s been doing this for the past few months. He promises that he’ll be home and then doesn’t come home until much much later. He and Fred have been really busy with the shop lately, and you understand that it’s their dream, but sometimes you want to see the love of your life, you know?

You sat up and looked at the dinner you had prepared for you two, and you looked down at your dress that you decided to wear for him. You groaned and sat down at the table, eating your meal by yourself.

“I’ll be home by seven love!” you mimicked Georges’s voice, “Bullshit, it’s all bullshit!”. You stabbed your fork down and kept eating.

After you finished, you sat your dishes down in the sink and turned on some music. “I might as well dance, even though I have no one to dance with. But, I’m used to it at this point,” you whispered to yourself.

“Tightrope” from The Greatest Showman started playing. “This explains my life right now,” you chuckled sadly then started singing, “Some people long for a life that is simple and planned. Tied with a ribbon. Some people won’t sail the sea ‘cause they’re safer on land. To follow what’s written. But I’d follow you to the great unknown. Off to a world we call our own,”.

You thought back to when you and George were talking about your future during dinner one day at Hogwarts. When you mentioned getting a job at the ministry he said that that was boring and no fun.

“What do you mean that’s "boring and no fun”?“ you asked. "I want a job where I can have fun, sure, it might not pay well. But it’s a lot better than getting an office job where you’re bored out of your mind. And besides, it’s fun to have a little risk!” George exclaimed, “What’s the fun in having a life that’s planned? It’s so much more fun to not know what’ll happen tomorrow! It’s fun when there’s some unknown to your life, it makes it exciting!”. “Well, I guess wherever you end up, I’ll end up,” you sighed dreamily and leaned toward him. “We’ll make the world our own,” he whispered and kissed you.

Your heart fluttered at the memory.

“Hand in my hand. And we promised to never let go. We’re walking a tightrope. High in the sky. We can see the whole world down below. We’re walking a tightrope. Never sure, never know how far we could fall. But it’s all an adventure, that comes with a breathtaking view. Walking a tightrope. With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. With you,” you sang.

You tried to be optimistic about all of the time George has to spend at the shop because you know that one day it’ll all be worth it. But, it really doesn’t seem like it because it’s been months of this and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. At some point, the shop could completely crash and you two would be screwed. But on the other hand, it could work out amazingly and you two could be set for the rest of your life. You never know, you guess.

“Mountains and valleys, and all that will come in between. Desert and ocean. You pulled me in and together we’re lost in a dream. Always in motion. So I risk it all just to be with you. And I risk it all for this life we choose,” you sang and remembered to when Fred and George were trying to convince you to leave school with them. Mainly because George couldn’t imagine not being with you for the rest of the year.

“Come on, Y/n! Umbridge is the worst and we could get out of this hell-hole, away from her and her horrible ways,” Fred tried convincing you at dinner. “Please, Y/n, we’ll live out our dream of making the world our own! No more school, just you and I,” George said and grabbed your hands, “Along with me!” Fred butted in which made the three of you laugh. George gave you pleading eyes, “How can I say no to you? Fine! I’ll do it,” you agreed which made George ecstatic.

A few weeks later, you left with the boys making their grand exit and you flipping off Umbridge before flying away with George. And with that, you didn’t finish school. Meaning, that you couldn’t get a good job. You were dependent on your job at a small bookshop and the joke shop.

“Hand in my hand. And you promised to never let go. We’re walking a tightrope. High in the sky, we can see the whole world down below. We’re walking a tightrope.Never sure, will you catch me if I should fall?”.

At this point, you felt alone. Even though George came home every night, you were asleep and when you awoke, he was gone.

“I promise that no matter what happens with this shop, I’ll always be there for you,” George said as you two were walking down Diagon Alley. “Promise?” you asked, “Promise,” George reassured. As you started walking away, you felt that George wasn’t walking with you. You turned around to see him on one knee, “Y/n Y/m/n Y/l/n, you make me the happiest chap alive. I know that that’s cliché, but it’s true. You’ve supported me in my dreams and I promise to do the same, for the rest of our lives. Which I guess brings me to the big question. Will you marry me?”. You stood there with tears in your eyes before jumping up and down and screaming, “Yes! Yes! A million, bajillion times yes!”. He slipped the ring on your finger before you both shared a passionate kiss.

You looked down at the engagement ring on your finger, “Well, it’s all an adventure. That comes with a breathtaking view. Walking a tightrope. With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh,”. You then thought back to the Yule Ball.

“With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. With you,” you sang while spinning around acting like you were dancing with George.

He had asked you to go with him the moment you heard of it happening. You wore a gorgeous gown and you looked perfect, just like how your night went. You and George danced the night away and nothing else mattered except the two of you being together.

The music in your kitchen had engulfed you and you felt like you were in the great hall dancing the night away, just like that night. “With you, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh,”. The music then stopped, bringing you back to your current reality. Your dress immediately stopped flowing and you looked out of the kitchen window. You were at home, with no George insight.

“With you, ooh-ooh-ooh. With you,” you sang while walking toward the counter so that you could lean on it since you were now tearing up at your current situation. “Oh Georgie, what happened to us?” you whispered to yourself and leaned over, sobbing, “We used to be madly in love, and now we’re not. I just want it to go back to the way it used to be,”.

You turned around and wiped a few tears before seeing George standing right on the opposite end of the kitchen. “Oh, hi love!” you exclaimed and wiped away your tears. He didn’t say anything back, he was just standing there sadly.

“How much did you hear?” you croaked out, starting to cry again. “I heard that we’re not as in love as we used to be and that you want things to go back to the way they were,” George said quietly.

You couldn’t keep it in anymore. You let out a sob and walked over to George, falling in his arms. “I just- I just, I miss you all the time. You’re never home and- and I feel like we’re falling out of love for each other,” you sobbed, “I mean, this is the first time we’ve touched in weeks,”. “Don’t say that love,” George cooed.

“But it’s true,” you sobbed, “we’ve been engaged for a year now and we haven’t even been able to plan the wedding because you’re always at work. I feel like you don’t care about me or this relationship anymore,”.

George didn’t say anything, he just looked down. “Do you not care about me anymore?” you said angrily and pulled out of his embrace. His head shot up and he started rapidly shaking his head 'no’. “No-no, I care about you a-a lot,” he sobbed.

You shook your head, not believing him at all. “I-I really d-do!” George cried out and reached out his arms to grab you, but you backed up. He watched helplessly as you walked past him and to the couch so that you could sit down. “I don’t know if I can believe you anymore, George,” you spat his name out like venom.

His heart broke when you called him by his name, you never do that. You always called him 'love’ or 'sweetie’, really anything except his name. “But you can! When have I ever lied to you?” George asked and ran next to you on the sofa, dropping to his knees in front of you. “When you said that the shop wouldn’t stop you from being there for me!” you sobbed.

He looked like he was about to say something, but he couldn’t say anything. You scoffed and stood up, walking to your shared room, and slamming the door. “Wait, Y/n! Wait! Please!” George pleaded and banged on the door.

You just sobbed and slid down the door. He was on the other side leaning his head against the door, banging it occasionally, and sobbing. He felt horrible and so did you. But, you couldn’t do it anymore; waiting for him every day, not knowing when he’ll get home, or eating dinner by yourself every night.

You. just. couldn’t. anymore.

You stood up from the door, which George heard. You grabbed a bag and walked over to your dresser to pack some clothes. You weren’t going to leave him entirely, but he needed to get it through his head that you didn’t deserve to be treated this way.

“Y/n!” George sobbed, “Open the door, sweetheart!”. You just wiped away your tears and kept putting clothes in your bag. “Please!” George sobbed and banged the door. You breathed out and walked over to the door, opening it. He slightly smiled when he saw you but it immediately dropped when he saw the bag in your hands.

“Y/n, what are you doing?” he asked. “Leaving,” you simply stated and pushed past him, “not for a long time, but enough time for you to figure yourself out,”. “But you don’t need to go away! I love you, isn’t that enough?” George asked, you just jerked your head around to look at him.

George breathed out, “I know that I’ve been at the shop a lot and I know that we haven’t planned the wedding at all. I just-”, “'You just’ what?! You just have a lot of work to do which makes you just forget all about your fiance?! The love of your life?!” you screamed.

“But I haven’t forgotten about you! Look, I know I screwed up, but pleas-please don’t leave. We’ll figure it out together, we always do!” George sobbed. “We haven’t been doing a lot together lately. It seems to just be you with me trailing behind,” you spat.

“I didn’t know you felt that way and-and I’m sorry. But, I’m begging you, please don’t go. You’re the one thing that’s been keeping me going these past few months,” George pleaded, “when I come home and you’re asleep, I love to hold you close when I get into bed. It’s calming and makes me forget all about the stress of running the shop. On my breaks, I always look at the picture of us at the Yule ball that’s on my desk. I have the little friendship bracelet you made for me when we were first years in my pocket with me at all times,”. He pulled a tiny bracelet out of his pocket, and sure enough, it was the charm bracelet that you gave to him all those years ago.

“You’re the one thing that’s kept me from losing it, so please don’t go. I’ll fix it- we’ll fix it- together,” George said and walked slowly up to you.

You stood there for a second, taking everything that he said in. It was the same for you too. Even though you never saw him anymore, he was the one thing that was keeping you from leaving him completely.

No matter what happened between the two of you, no matter how bad it was, your love for each other always shined through and brought you two to your senses about the fact that you both loved each other and there was nothing that could change that.

You dropped your bag and ran to him to hug him, nearly knocking him over. “Oh, love. You don’t understand how much I love you,” he whispered and kissed your temple. “I love you too,” you said, “Really?” he asked. “How could I not?” you giggled.

He smiled so big that it made your heart swell with happiness. You two quickly locked lips and stayed there until you both were out of breath. “I love you so so so much, and I’ll never let you feel that bad again,” George breathed out, “I love too, ginger,” you giggled, making him smile even bigger if that’s even possible. You two then shared another passionate kiss.

You two really were walking a tightrope. At any moment everything could come crashing down, but then again, life with George was exciting and unexpected. As long as you two kept your balance and kept loving each other, you would keep walking along that tightrope effortlessly and your life would be magnificent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

xoxo

[itzsarahhh]

Let’s get it… My live reactions to The Rebound 🏀 Episode 3: (this is gonna be long and I’m so sorry for that) (also spoilers)

-Love the flashback, Ryu and Zen were so cute together. they definitely got close enough to kiss. So the question is did they actually kiss or did someone pull away?

-the tension between these two is crazy. And of course he kept the key to your locker

-yes boys, Ryu is better than all of you at basketball

-love that Emi’s character (don’t remember her name) is standing up for Ryu but I definitely think he will get into a fight

-not the bullying. of course Ryu steps in to help. Love that but hope this doesn’t cause any problems

-Oop and here is the teacher. And he got a warning for preventing bullying? What about the other kid, the actual bully?

-is Jedi gonna sit with Ryu? Omg cute! I love Jedi. Galactic alliance! (Ghost ship #1 perhaps? Just kidding but I support this friendship)

-omg an autistic character? In my sports bl? It’s more likely than you might think

-and now for the basketball playing scene. Love seeing Meen do what he does best

-sir you’re worried he’s gonna start a fight and then YOU (try to) START A FIGHT WITH HIM? Ryu is a head taller than you and from the streets he would clearly beat you if you actually fought (maybe that’s what he wants so he gets kicked off the team)

-100 push-ups? I would kill that man (Jed, not the coach). Yeah Ryu was not in the wrong on this one

-oh hi Frank

-atom, zen is a lifeguard and he thought you were drowning. he was just doing his job lol

-Ryu I don’t think it’s that easy to quit. And it’s hard to tell if the brother is actually helping

-atom I’m not sure if you like him and want to be friends or more than friends. But he still seems like a sad boi. Also he’s got that rizz asking for his insta

-Lin! That’s her name! Also girl I think a book report is more important than club duties

-Oop the parallels are paralelling. Goddamnit not the brother ruining the moment

-Yes Zen!! You hug that man from behind. He is definitely still in love with Ryu

-the Boss guy gives me the creeps

-why is it so dark out already? I guess if practice ended at 7:30 it could get dark soon but it looks way later at night. How long was that drive?

-ooh the famous bl bridge.

-the wiping of the mouth! A bl trope staple. I could never. I will give you a napkin and you can do that yourself

-Oop that father flashback. I’m guessing he passed away. Poor Ryu

-ok the brother is playing for Ryu but does he know how to play basketball?

-Q is annoying me. Sir your brother is a high school student, the only place he should be is in high school. Don’t you want him to have a good life and not stuck with that creepy boss like you are?

-oh no not grandma!! At least atom was there to help. But I can’t have her getting sick or dying.

-Q!??? When I catch you Q. Wtf are you doing to Zen??

-not the episode ending there. Thank god the next episode is tomorrow

Final thoughts: the show is keeping me interested and entertained so far. MeenPing continue to serve chemistry and I like how you can tell their characters still like each other. Q is getting on my nerves already trying to drag Ryu into his mess. Also are they blood related or is it just the honorific Phi? Anyways I will be tuning in tomorrow. Thank god I have the day off, so I won’t have to wait to watch it. If you made it this far I appreciate you deeply! Stay tuned for my episode 4 thoughts

[lightprkdraws]

ooh okay now I'm curious: what don't you like about v3's ending?

Hhh I hope you won't regret asking this, because I am going to rant a looot about it XDD

SPOILERS for ALL danganronpa main games (also, long rant ahead)

The first thing that I want to say is that it makes me cringe. It makes me cringe so hard when the in-universe characters talk about the previous games and literally say danganronpa. It's too meta for my liking.

Additionally, it feels mean spirited to the player. Sorry, I can't get to the moral high ground here, I just don't like getting lectured for the things I like by the things I like. It's a bit hypocritical too, no? You were the one who made the murder mystery game, not me!

---

Having gotten those two points out of the way, it feels really silly as a reveal in comparison to the previous two games' reveals. The first one basically said that the world as the characters knew it had ended, and the second one not only said that, but it also revealed that they were the ones responsible.

In comparison, DRV3 has a very bizarre (also overused, also juvenile) "we live in a society" kind of reveal. "Ooooh look how uncaring all these people are!"

(also, seriously? who could watch 53 of these killing games without getting bored? that number is ridiculous)

It certainly tries to give it more of a punch with the inclusion of the characters' audition tapes (seeing that they signed up to be psychologically tortured and literally murdered on live TV) in an attempt to make it more like DR2 instead of just DR1, however that aspect is brushed aside in favour of dealing with the bigger issue (the actual murder show). It's so incredibly cartoony and weird, and not in a good way. Maybe if it were some kind of underground, dark web type of deal there would be a better flavour to it.

Also, there were sooo many red herrings in the previous chapters, instead of a slow buildup of the reveal. For comparison's sake:

In 2-2 the characters learn that they've lost their school memories, and, after that, Monokuma starts talking about the world ending on multiple occasions. In 2-3 we read a document about a reserve course that exists at hope's peak. We also learn about protests that were carried out by said reserve course. Then in 2-4 we get the payoff that Hajime is in the reserve course. Finally, in 2-6 we learn that all the people of this game were the instigators of the apocalipse. Hajime's personal struggle is only a small part of the bigger reveal, but it also supports the bigger narrative: the fact that Hope's Peak is an incredibly corrupt organisation that treats people as expendable labrats, and how that led to the protests, and how that helped Junko escalate the situation in a massive way.

Meanwhile, in V3 we get some flashbacks of Suichi talking with a random young kid, him talking with some classmates, him being chased by a mob of people. Then there's a whole thing about getting to the exit through the tunnel and hope's peak building a sanctuary for the last remains of humanity?? And let's not forget Kaede's sister, for whatever reason. I'll admit that I don't remember all the details of V3 because it's been a while since I played it, but all these events are so disjointed and random. There's just so many things shown that in the end don't have anything to do with the reveal (apart from showing how stupid the whole organisation running these killing games is).

Another thing to mention, is the existence of the nanokumas. The creators must have really liked the fact that Monokuma could see everything all the time in DR2, because they had to somehow make that work outside of a digital context in V3. I hate the nanokumas. They are so incredibly dumb as a concept.

And after all is said and done, the game has the gall to say "but who knows what the actual truth is"

Neither of the previous games had such an unecessary open-endedness to them. But ig I have to admit that, specifically with DR1's ending, there is a bias of certainty because we got multiple sequels that confirm what the truth is (although I still believe that it didn't really leave much room for debate).

Both games had a feeling of "and the story continues" but not a "wait, what was the truth after all?", if that makes sense.

---

Now, about Tsumugi specifically. It's really really dumb that she was made out out to be a big bad evil mastermind, when she's just a showrunner. She's got 0 actual power. Nothing like Junko or even Izuru. They were the instigators. Tsumugi is a small cog in a machine.

Idk if I've said this before, but I'd like her a lot better as a mastermind if she'd been some rich spoiled girl who's obsessed with the danganronpa franchise and ends up kidnapping a bunch of her classmates and brainwashes them in order to make her own real-life killing game. That to me, specifically for Tsumugi's character, would be 1000x or even 1000000x more compelling than her canon motivations and role. This way, you can even keep the meta-narrative of the previous games being fictional in the V3 universe, but can completely remove the entire world being in on the joke. AND it would make her more interesting because she'd be so passionate about this game that she's literally willing to die for it!

---

In conclusion: there's probably things I can't remember right now, but these are the main points that come to mind off the top of my head.

Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun playing it until the trial of chapter 5. It became too confusing and convoluted for me after that point. But before that, I liked seeing most of the character interactions.

I do feel bitter that Kaede was killed in the first chapter (it'd be a lot more interesting if Suichi had died and Kaede had then had to learn how to take on his role, there could even be a lesson that one does not need to keep themselves within the confines of their assigned ultimate talent), but it's not like the whole game suffers from this one decision.

I especially liked the interactions between Suichi, Maki, and Kaito during their nightly meetups. Such small moments of bonding time is something that was missing from the previous two games.

[snootlestheangel]

So I just suddenly got a flashback of a story I started working on in Freshman year of high school. It was in notebooks upon notebooks!

It was a secret Area 51 run team. And they were basically social workers for supernatural beings. I remember it was gonna be like a crime novel about rookie case worker, Angelina (Angel), and her veteran case worker, Alistor, who was very tired with the job. And they were gonna be helping out a werewolf pack that had settled into a small town. That was currently having issues with like the local vampire family. I don’t remember it all really well.

But that’s why I think I’m so excited about this new WIP of yours! Because it reminded me of them and now I’m excited to hear even more about it!

Ooh exciting!! So happy you're reminded of something and it's making you excited!! *still have a headache from the migraine I had this morning so brain hurty*

I honestly fucking cannot wait to post this fic

It is one of the few fics I've been genuinely like bouncing off the walls excited about.

Just can't wait for yall to learn the lore about Ghost's cryptid self and just *happy flaps*

I'll answer more questions and stuff about the au, I just can't think of anything specific at the moment.

[ranchthoughts]

sorry for the late addition but the eclipse and MSP are canonically in the same universe!! you can see people holding signs for suppalo (ศุภพโล) in the hotwave crowd in ep 8 (and in tinn's flashback in ep 2 if you're looking for it lmao), and then (spoilers for the eclipse our skyy) in the eclipse os special a kid from nyomsil wins the student directing competition along with wat.

anyway i think about it every other day re msp's late reveal that homophobia exists in-universe and how these kids are all having Very Different but very genuine experiences as queer high school students. their shared universe delights and haunts me.

Ooh!!! Thank you!!!

Gotta update that post huh

Also yeah the implications....

[lgcseojin]

✱  BSIDE 001

FLASHBACK — APRIL 2018 : KATC IN NONSAN

A brief look into Seojin's time in basic training. ( CONTAINS: bullying, violence )

It was expected Seojin's stint in the military would be no walk in the park. His father warned him plenty of the hardships men would endure within — to which the overly confident nineteen year old assured him would be a 'piece of cake'. He could not bear to look at his mother during the induction ceremony, too focused on the guilt weighing him down and the final feeling of fingers through his overgrown hair before he loses it all.

Three weeks into basic training and it still did not feel real. The true gravity of the situation had not quite settled. Park Seojin still floated above the clouds, far above the other young men in his unit. They turned their heads away, concealing meek expressions and darting eyes. He, on the other hand, lounged about on his bed, feet propped up, music magazine held above his head as he nonchalantly flipped through the pages.

"...hey."

The opening of a door nor the sharp tone of a voice registered enough for a passing glance. ( Or perhaps he willfully ignored it. ) A melodic 'ooh' escaped his parted lips. "Gibson SG Special in cherry red satin? Damn, not for—" The printed images departed from his hands at full force. Above him lingered another trainee soldier, eyebrows curled like the devil horns of the guitar he had just been ogling. "Hey, asshole. I was readin' that!"

He had little more time to protest before hands gripped into his shirt and pulled him onto the floor.

"Sit up. I said sit up, kid! Are you fucking listening to me?!" "Yessir..." The response was laden with an exasperated sarcasm. "Louder! Tell me your name!" "Uh... YES! PARK. SEO. JIN." The flesh of his face and neck ignited in bright red, the blood rushing to the surface. "Does this look like a public bathhouse to you?" "No, sir."

"Did I give you permission to speak?" The other recruit clicked his tongue loudly. He raised his hand, pushing down against the back of Seojin's head. A resounding thud echoed against his skull. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn his brain bounced around inside.

"Quit cuttin' me off! Last time I checked, we a—"

A loud grunt forced its way from Seojin's throat. How could his body have resisted the visceral reaction? Getting a shoe stuck in the ribs happened to be far too painful to ignore. He keeled over in his spot, forehead colliding with the floor. A fair amount of drool spilled from the corners of his mouth.

"I ask you fuckers to do my chores and our little roommate said you told him not to do them. You want to look down on a higher rank like that still? Fucking punk. You do what you're told." He dug in his heel. The feeling is familiar, painful against the healing bruise in the same spot. "I'm tired of your shit and your damn backtalk."

Seojin growled out a scream and raised to his feet, stumbling forward until his head collided with the other's abdomen to bring him down. Unfortunately, he caught his footing enough to resist and push Seojin into the nearest wall. The cabinets shook violently and the other new recruits retreated back onto their beds or closer to the door.

It did not take long for punches to begin flying. A throw against a jaw, the dull sound of a tooth cracking against a sharp knuckle. Seojin pulled his hand away, the skin on the surface bloodied and scraped. A fist collided with his cheek before he had time to duck. He bites into the delicate skin of his own lip. Informal boxing lessons could only get him so far. He had been in several real fights before, typically against those his own age, his own size, back in high school. This was different. The man attempting to pummel him into the ground was of taller stature, slightly overweight, and older than him. The fire only quelled when the unit commander stormed into the room. All broke into silence.

"What do you think you two are doing, huh? You think this place is a schoolyard?"

"Commander Choi, sir!" Seojin straightened his posture and gave a salute from his temple. "This crazy as— This soldier thinks he can push us around just because he's got a few weeks start on us, sir! Someone had to show him, sir!"

The commander removed his helmet, simmering anger clear on his scar-flecked face. "You both are still ignorant trainees. If you can't make it through basic without killing each other, how will you manage in your assigned units? You want to die here?"

Both young men shook their heads, chins now tucked against their chests.

"Trainee Kang, you are several years older than Park. You should know better and I will not tolerate abuse of power on virtue of days trained. You think because you have already been assigned that you can abuse power the day before you leave Nonsan?"

Seojin shot a glare in the other soldier's direction. "If only you knew, sir."

"Can it, Park... Before your mouth gets you in more trouble." The older man scoffed. "I want you to run 7 miles around the barracks and clean the toilets until they're spotless. The rest of your unit will do the same."

The other recruit unleashed a reaction he was unable to mitigate, protesting. "Shit, we're fucking dead!"

"What do you expect? All be punished for your screw up. They were obviously too incompetent to prevent you both from fighting. Now, out of my sight. CBR training is tomorrow." He placed his helmet back on, brushing past them. "And brush up on your etiquette, you worms."

"CBR? The hell is that?" Seojin waited until the coast was clear to mutter underneath his breath.

ㅡㅡㅡ

Commander Choi paced along the new soldiers, inspecting their posture and line of sight. "Chemical! Biological! Radiological! Today, you will be given a gas mask. Once you get inside that room, a gas will be released and you will remove your masks and endure! It will not harm you but it will be incredibly painful for those moments."

The booming voice carried, each loud inflection causing the man to Seojin's right to jolt and fidget about. He reached behind to give his wrist a light pinch. He would know what it meant.

They shuffled in a neat line into the crowded concrete room, nervous hands placing the gas masks over their heads. They were instructed to take a seat along the wall as the commander laid down some sort of device that immediately billowed with a yellow gas.

"Remove them." Silence. Stillness. "Remove your gas masks!" He commanded again — to which none immediately obliged. Not for thirty seconds or so. Several of the young men exclaimed with apprehension, hands kept firmly in their laps. They glanced around the room, making fleeting eye contact with one another.

"Fuck's sake..." Seojin reluctantly placed his fingers underneath the material, lifting it over his head.

To say the gas simply burned would do the pain no justice. It seeped into his eyes and mouth, scalding the open cut on his lip that was soon overrun with drool and tears he could not stop. He managed to keep his eyes pried open enough to see no one else with their masks off. Was he too impulsive?

Commander Choi's tone was understandably displeased. "I said take them off!" His eyes focused on Seojin, who simply stared forward with bloodshot eyes. "No one will leave here until everyone has removed them!"

He took in the silence; though, every second felt closer to a minute until the pain made him helplessly numb. He did not quite remember when the rest of the unit removed their masks, a few frantically running to the locked door in an attempt to save themselves.

Humans were hopelessly selfish, Seojin knew that well by now. How many times would he willingly make a martyr out of himself? Turn himself into Icarus time and time again?

( Isn't that giving someone like me too much credit? )

The primitive human condition displayed itself clear as day when the gas dissipated and the doors finally opened. The recruits frantically poured out, leaving himself and the nervous young man sitting next to him, Trainee Jung. He brought himself to his feet despite his sore legs, calmly reaching down to grab and pull him out of the concrete room. Jung leaned against him, coughing violently.

It was not until they made their exit that Seojin threw his head back and exhaled a strangled scream.

ㅡㅡㅡ

END OF PART 1.

[dragonsworn05]

ooh like start it out with a “normal”, neurotypical, middle-class, sporty gay white boy who has a crush on the cute but anxious nerd. He has a quirky, ambiguously queer, female best friend and the perfect home life. Maybe there are subtle hints at something off (camera cuts out right as two female characters are about to kiss, uncharacteristic lack of sex jokes & innuendos for a high school, quirky conspiracy theorist best friend always remarking that “they” are watching) but nothing major really.

Through the first five episodes the eeriness slowly ramps up (main character finally asks love interest on a date & the love interests asks “are you sure?” but their eyes flick directly to the camera as it happens, quirky best friend slowly devolves into paranoia and has less screen time as it progresses, little sister says fuck in one scene and mysteriously disappears for the rest of the episode before coming back recasted in the next) until you reach the big kiss between the main character & the love interest.

Maybe they were on a park bench. Maybe they were slow dancing at homecoming. Hell, maybe they were in the main character’s car on a hill overlooking their Idyllic Small Town™️. What’s important is that Main Character asks if they want to go back to his place and Love Interest freezes up. He gets all tense and is like, “we can’t. y’know?” and tries to play it off as a joke but the main character is like “no, i don’t know.” The love interest goes deadpan and just says “They are watching.” Cut to black.

After this point it’s pretty much one thing after another. The best friend disappears. The love interest is hit by a car and paralyzed from the waist down, making him break up with the main character because he’s “not right, not good enough, not normal enough”. Main Character’s dad finds out that he’s gay and hits him, throwing him out into the streets, but the next episode starts with MC in their normal bed and the father is recasted when he gets downstairs for breakfast. Through this all, the main character is seeing dark, blurry figures in the corners of their eyes and desperately trying to figure out who “they” are.

The last episode is the main character desperately trying to find their best friend and finally going over to her house (clearly in a poorer neighborhood than the MC’s) to try and find them. He learns from the friend’s mom that she had committed suicide and finds out all these things about her that he’d “never known before”, including the fact that “she” is actually “they”. The mom leaves him alone in their room and he finds an old scrapbook underneath their bed that makes the memories of these things start coming back (in flashbacks) while a suicide note to the mc is read in voice over by the best friend. The main character starts crying and is clearly having a mental breakdown. He wrecks the room and curls into a ball in the middle of the wreckage, sobbing. Eventually he calms down and his head slowly peaks back up. He meets eyes with the camera and his eyes fill with terror as the humming that had slowly been present through the breakdown grows louder and louder and louder. Suddenly, black screen and silence. Credits roll with a calm, classic piano track over it. No stylized credit sequence like the rest of the episodes had. Just white text scrolling over black, a lone piano, and your thoughts.

I want someone to make one of these new sterile teen gay romance shows on Netflix but halfway through they pull a Doki Doki Literature Club and it turns into a fucked up fourth wall breaking psychological thriller that deconstructs the heteronormative and middle class ideals of the genre

[storytimewithnova]

How i met your mother (is so cliché)

Atsumi:daddy can you tell me the story of how you and mommy met? the little girl asked her father for her older brothers to get annoyed, Itsuki:god no please Imōto

Shoin; Spare us sis Atsumi:why not Onii chan it's probably romantic shoin: it's totally not it's so cliché

Atsumu looked at his son and said

Atsumu" it maybe cliché to you but to us then it was considered Romantic

after Atsumu said that his twin sons replied the twins:it's not really but what ever helps you sleep at night dad their mother who was walking pass their bedroom said

Shona:Twins let your sister hear the story and stop being rude to your father,

the twins:ugh fine 😩

🎶Mmm, woah, mm🎶

Atsumu:🎶I walked into the room and I then I saw your face You looked me in the eye and then I wanted to erase myself Erase myself🎶

Flash back (inarizaki high school) Sho was new just transferred to inarizaki she was waiting to introduce herself atsumu ran in to class out of breathe and said .past Atsumu:sorry i am late miss I had to drop something off for Osamu

teacher:it's fine Atsumu now class as you can see we have a new student would you like to introduce yourself past shona: Hey i am suna shona you may know my big brother Rintaro I originally went to Karasuno i was their only female player in the boys club hope you look after me

Atsumu was staring at sho's face she looked in his eyes and smiled her sunshine smile

Back in the present

Atsumu:🎶I didn't wanna fall but then I stepped right in I looked down at the ground and then I felt it right within It was too late for me too late for her🎶

Past atsumu's pov

I had no intentions of falling in love especially with the new girl but something about her drew me in i started to be shy around her looking at the ground like that was more interesting than anything else honestly it was to late for me i had fallen for this girl i had fallen hard i hope she felt the same other wise i will be making a prat of myself

Back to present Atsumi:then what then what The little girl asked her eyes sparkling Atsumu:Atsumu well angel this what your mother did next 🎶You took a step forward and tilted your head With a curious glance you stared and I felt dead oOh my god, I think I'm dying🎶 Past Atsumu Pov as i was about to walk over to you you came over to me instead and tilted your head at me curious glance i felt you stare i felt dead oh god i think I'm dying

Back to present Atsumi: so what did mommy do when she came to you

Atsumu:oh well 🎶You said "Hey" and I said "Hello" "What's your name? I'd really like to know about you" Too bad I stopped at "Hello"

Flashback

past shona: hey

past Atsumu:hello- what's your name I'd really like to know

Before atsumu could finish saying what's your name I'd really like to know sho saw her brother ran to him

Atsumu’s thoughts💭 too bad I stopped at Hello

Back in tbe present

Itsuki:see Imōto see how cliché mom and dad were

Atsumi:why are you complaining onii chan it's cute it's more than you will ever do for your gf you can't even say hi at least dad tried

Shoin:*stiffles laughter*

Atsumi hit her brother then turned and smiled sweetly to atsumu and said

Atsumi:continue daddy

Atsumu:🎶I just stared and you grinned And looked right back, it felt like just one big whirlwind One big emotional whirlwind🎶

Past atsumu's pov

I just am just staring at her constantly she doesn't care though she grinned and looks back at me that sent a mix of emotions from nervousness because she looked at me to happiness becase she actually notice someone like me and disapointment when i see yet another boy trying to confess to her samu said i should confess and put my feelings out there but i am not as confident as he is

Back in the present

Atsumi:so you were going to give up on mommy all together

Atsumu:Hai i was let's just say your uncle Samu kicked me up the backside and i started to think more clearly

Sho smiled as she carried on cleaning Up toys and picking up clothes back with the kids and atsumu

Atsumu:🎶 Over the next few days We got to talking with every single word I started falling farther, farther, and farther for you🎶

Past Atsumu pov

Over the next few days like 2-3 we got talking we actually had more in common than I thought and I couldn’t help but to hang on to her every single word and started falling farther, farther, and farther for her

Back in the present

Sho went in to the kids room to see how the story was going she then cut in and said

Shona:🎶You were so witty and so charming, swept me off my feet You made me laugh you made me blush, no one could compete 🎶

Atsumu’s thoughts💭🎶No one could compete🎶 yeah damn right they can’t

Atsumi:aww mommy that’s sweet

Shona:🎶 I wanted to be with you only with you We clicked like legos or the clacking of tap shoes🎶

Atsumu smiled at his wife as she continued the story waiting to jump in

Atsuhina:🎶You said "Hey", I said "Hello" "How's your day?" You said "Better now" with a smile Oh, what a cliché, but to be honest it made my day🎶

Shoin:see what we mean Imōto it’s so cliché

Atsumi:Shut Up Onii chan you too wouldn’t know romance if it came up and slapped you and your so called bromance you have with your friends that don’t count unless you losers plan on asking Bokuto and kuroo out

Atsumu:bokuto and kuroo?

Atsumi:Katzu Bokuto Izu Kuroo anyway back to mommy and daddy's story

Shona:🎶And that's what we were, a simple cliché It wasn't made to work, but I wouldn't have it any other way Any other way🎶

Itsuki:why does it sound romantic when mom tells it

Shoin:i noticed that too

Shona:🎶You were so witty and so charming, swept me off my feet You made me laugh you made me blush, no one could compete No one could compete🎶

Atsumu:🎶It seemed too good to be true it was too good to be true I wanted to be with you and only with you We clicked like legos or the clacking of tap shoes🎶

Atsuhina;🎶You said "Hey", I said "Hello" "I gotta know, do you feel this way?" You said "Yeah, I do But I was scared of what you might say"🎶

Shona:🎶And that's all we were, a silly cliché I still think you're cute But maybe it's better this way🎶

🎶Bah duh duh dum, bah duh duh dum Bah duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh dum Bah duh duh duh dum bum🎶

Atsumu:🎶That's okay, we're just a little cliché a little cliché But that's okay🎶

Atsumi:it's not that cliché daddy i think it's romantic

Atsumu:thank you angel now bed time for our little fox goodnight angel

Atsumi:Night daddy

Itsuki:dad can me Shoin stay up a little longer we have a class project to finish

Atsumu: 5 more minutes

Shoin:10 Shona:your dad said 5 twins what you don't finish i will have a crack at

The twins:thanks mom you're the best

Shona: yeah yeah now go at get started

The twins ran off Atsumu kissed sho and said

Atsumu: i love you honey bee

Shona:Love you too

Sho suddenly shouted out to the twins

Shona:you are on a timer boys before i come in

The twins got to work on the project and what they didn’t finish sho did atsumu sat that admiring his wonderful wife and beautiful family and wondered how he got so lucky yeah it was a Cliché at the end of the day but if he could go back in time he would do it all over again he wouldn't change a thing and as Atsumu and Shona sat on the couch, watching their children with a smile.

Atsumu: They're growing up so fast, aren't they?

Shona: Yes, they really are. It feels like just yesterday that we were in their shoes, having our own little cliché moments.

Atsumu: Yeah, I never thought I would find love in such a cliché way, but I'm glad I did.

Shona: Me too. Our love story may be a bit cliché, but it's our story, and it's special to us.

They shared a tender moment, holding each other's hands, feeling grateful for the love they have built together.

Atsumu: I love you, Shona.

Shona: I love you too, Atsumu. Forever and always.

They kissed each other softly, cherishing the love that had brought them together and the family they had created. As they watched their children drift off to sleep, they knew that their own cliché love story was just the beginning of a lifetime of happiness.

And so, the little family spent the night together, filled with love and warmth, cherishing the simple clichés that brought them closer together every day.

[quidfree]

have you every watched voltron or she-ra? if not, highly rec!! she-ra's amazing ( in my humble opinion ) voltron is uhh the start was great bUT GIANT ROBOT CATS THAT TURN INTO A GIANT ROBOT HUMAN

hi anon- i’ve watched both, actually, though not all the way through- thoughts below the cut just because i can feel this will be long despite my best efforts. def agree on voltron but cannot say i think shera is great haha

let’s start w voltron bc it’s the og. i watched it when it was first coming out and yeah- received w great enthusiasm. keith, unsurprisingly, was my guy. allura was probably my second favourite character. love the space lion robots of it all. really enjoyed the alien fantasy drama. was extremely on-board with unlikely teammates saving the galaxy and secret galra heritage and shiro’s war ptsd and all that. i think the early seasons had a good balance of drama and comedy, too.

definitely went downhill fast, and i didn’t watch past the season where lotor first starts playing a big role in the show, in part because i could Feel the bad prince zuko arc they were going to do and absolutely did not have the time for it (cannot believe they had him and allura be a thing…. and then she dies at the end of the show). basically just got frustrated by the way the characters were handled after a certain point, the tone was a mixed bag and the plot got messy. i was lucky bc keith was one of the people who got the most consistent/thorough focus and development, but the sidelining of certain charas and the weird dvp of others was just annoying. plus the ‘funny’ episodes… no. love shiro getting gay married tho good for him #lovewins.

shera…. hm. to give it some credit: i do enjoy the silly retro cartoon energy of it (the Names!!), i think the core 3’s friendship is good throughout, and naturally i think adora and catra’s relationship is compelling, fucked up and endearing. also there were def points where (like w voltron) the smaller-scale conflicts were pretty engaging to me, esp in the way they managed to overlap them w personal struggles- adora vs the horde, glimmer’s family drama… and mermista is an icon throughout love her energy.

now for my overview of the show… season one was promising for me but the like Positivity of it all just doesn’t speak to me- it’s Very power of friendship sparkles somehow. yeah theres darkness but i feel like it always gets mishandled. the villains in shera are sooo inconsistently framed as big menacing evil or harmless funny guys & i hate it- for eg why set up shadowweaver as this military evil child abuser for the early seasons and then make her a snarky teammate by the end?? it has ambitions of doing moral greyness but it’s mostly just badly executed for me… and that extends to catra fyi, for as much as i love her. shes easily my fav character but shes not very well-written. let’s not even start on hordak and his whole mess of a plot.

on that note both shows have a weird relationship w their genocide plots also. if you want to have genocide in your fun lil show you still need to take it seriously and there are ways to do it- think of avatar or of full metal alchemist, idk. making the big bad someone who wipes out planets and civilisations to raise stakes without ever considering the ramifications / while giving them easy redemption arcs is so lazy.

both theme songs absolutely slap though.