#shady dealings and

[wesleysniperking]

If I was young, I'd flee this town

I'd bury my dreams underground

As did I, we drink to die, we drink tonight

Far from home, elephant gun

Let's take them down one by one

We'll lay it down, it's not been found, it's not around

Let the seasons begin, it rolls right on

Let the seasons begin, take the big king down

[cutter-kirby]

i never expected a scene of my favorite guy doing a silly jig with his bestie around some mushrooms to make me feel like this ↓ but here we are

[bluerosefox]

Our Strengths

"What do we do now? Tucker asked. His voice cracking with stress and worry as he stared at the scene before him not able to look away as his best friend and his family were being dragged out of their home.

Danny cuffed in anti-ghost cuffs and knocked the heck out with a ecto-gun pointed at his skull by one of the GIW agents, they eventually tossed Danny into their van that was parked right outside the Fenton Works. Jazz was pleading, begging them to let her brother go, even though she too was cuffed and not caring that another gun was at her back. Maddie was hissing like angry feral mama cat at the two agents, ignoring the other two that were holding her shoulders to keep her from squirming around and saying "you dare touch a single hair on my babies I will rip-" before she too was lead away to the GIW van. The last to come out was Jack and he looked haunted and stressed, and despite being a huge guy he was trying to make himself look small. He too was sent into the van, and one of the last things Tucker could see before the doors close was Jack kneeling down next to Danny and going to cradle him but being stopped by the GIW agent in the van.

Sam chewed on her lip, her eyes wide and wild as she tried to think of... well anything to save her friend and his family from this.

To think Vlad would be so petty after Danny finally told his parents about being Phantom and them accepting and loving him regardless and even apologizing for trying to hurt him that he would go and tattle to the GIW about Phantom.

Danny hadn't even told them about Vlad being a halfa either. Not even a bit. All Danny told them was that Vlad made him super uncomfortable. About how the guy seemed obsessed with his mom but seemed to be shifting his obsession to him.

And for once Jack listened, especially after Maddie finally told him the times the man flirted with her and had even tried getting her to leave Jack. With only Danny. No mention of Jazz, only Danny.

After that Jack turned papa bear mode.

Say what you will about Jack Fenton but his love for his family outweighs any kind of friendship.

So yeah Vlad finding himself being 'cut out' of the Fenton's lives, realizing the only times he could even get close to Maddie and Danny was because Jack was always welcoming to him, and finding out Jack point blank said he no longer wanted him around his family, he raged and decided to get back at Danny was to go tell the GIW about him being Phantom.

No doubt the creep was going to show up later, 'save' them and start making demands or indebt them to him.

And now here they were. The Fenton's, after being told about Phantom, were being unjustified hauled away by the GIW while all of Amity watches from the streets and despite the protest from, mostly teens, Amity Parkers no one could do anything with both weapons pointed at them or the 'law' decree.

Closing her eyes, Sam took a breath. When she opened them back up she finally looked away as the van and the rest of the GIW began to leave, her hands clutched so tight that her knuckles were turning a deadly white. When she finally released her grip she felt something in her hand.

Confused, Sam opened her hand and gasped as she recognized a familiarish green sticky note and words written in purple ink. She's never read any of the sticky notes CW would send Danny but she has seen them appear out of no where.

She read the note, ignoring Tuckers questioning, and once done she snapped her head to look at him. It was so fast that Tucker jumped for a second. Her eyes were alight with a new found kindle of hope, determination, and a plan.

"Sam? What is it?" Tucker finally asked once more, he had a feeling whatever she had in mind was going to be insane but if it sent by CW and meant to save his best friend he'd do it.

"We play into our strengths and get some help." She said as she brought the sticky note up for him to see.

"Help? From who?" Tucker asked as he took the note and instantly noticed the drawn symbols on the bottom. When he snapped his head back up to look at Sam his mouth fell open and he said in shock, awe, and disbelief "No. No way. Them? But I thought-"

"Gonna stop you right there Tucker. Remember what Dani told us last month? About that new under the radar teen hero group?" Sam cut in.

"OOoooh. Them.... Yeah I can totally get behind asking them over asking the adults." Tucker responded, his mind coming up with a plan as the sticky note words played into his head 'Use your strengths'

"Good we have no time to loose. I'll contact Dani to find out where we can find their base, you get ready to hack and find what you can so I can use it to help... persuade them into helping us."

-x-x-

Young Justice was having a normal, well as normal as a bunch of super-powered and very well trained teens could have day.

Or at least it was until their comms and entire system were hacked by an unknown hacker, a goth girl appearing on their main sceen and her saying this

"Hey, Young Justice right? Look I'll be blunt about this. We need help, our best friend and his family got taken by some shady government jerks that wanna experiment on him and we need to save them. It's a long story. However, we do not like the JL too much and don't trust them, we have our reasons, so to make sure you don't go crying to them, we're taking your systems hostage and blackmailing you with things our hacker found out." Her eyes narrowed at them, her face in a scowl and it left no room for negotiations at all, she was determined to get things her way "So that's the deal. Help us save our best friend and his family while not letting the JL know, and we let go of your systems and forget about what we found out."

[starryneitz]

Pennsylvania Dutch Miku is taking you to the Holy Grail of her cuisine and if you don't hurry you'll have to wait in line for a seat for an hour!!! All you can eat scrapple, shoofly pie (if it ain't wet bottom it ain't dutch), apple butter, whoopie pies, fausnachts, pot pie, and more! All with the only spice being salt! Come on, hurry!!!!

[flamingpudding]

How to NOT find out you're adopted

The fun thing about dying was that it messed with your mind. Well it wasn't fun perse but well it was an expirence. It was espacially fun if you have died twice.

And the best part was. Finding out through dying that you're adopted. Really Danny wanted to sarcastically applaud someone for that.

Because when he stepped into his parents portal and turned it one by pretty much dying through electrocution and then getting revieved by the portal that opened on top of him, life decided that wasn't enough drama. Because at that time a whole set of apparently lost memories reopend.

Good point. In the months after his portal accident he had been to busy to deal with that. Bad point, once he had the time to think about it he wanted to rip his hair out cause apparently that portal accident had not been his first death but second death.

Like it wasn't enough that he didn't have any memory's of anything before the age of five before, got some freaky but awesome ghost powers, no his memories has to return too.

And he didn't like it when they did.

Because that meant he now had to remember his oh so gracious grandfather killing him by throwing him into the Lazarus Pit as sacrifice. Really getting drowned wasn't fun as a first death.

Because that meant he was the son of a crime fighting furry. Someone he barely knew anything but his vigilante name and all the praises his bio mother used to brainwash him with.

Because that meant he had a brother that was likely still getting brainwashed by probably both their bio mother and the lunatic of a grandfather.

Because that meant a realization that the Lazarus Pit was nothing more than a ecto-variant. Which, screw that he now got revived two times through that shit too.

But most of all that meant he was fucking adopted and his parents didn't bother to tell him at all. Now, he really didn't feel bad anymore about not telling them about Phantom.

Really as if being half ghost wasn't messing with his life enough now he was starting to get worried about this grandfather's cult and the crime fighting Bat.

At least they wouldn't come to Amity Park, right?

[lukolabrainrot]

London Thoughts and The Events Since

Alright, y'all have been requesting it, so here we go...

First, let's take a step into a little story shall we:

26 y/o boy living on his friend's couch trying to make it as an on-screen actor (but a sweet theater nerd at heart). Starts a new relationship with someone also into theater. It's homey and nice and going well. Boy is about to give up on breaking out of theater when BOOM now introducing Colin Bridgerton. Boy meets girl playing his romantic counterpart in the show and BOOM what is all this warmth he feels for her. Boy is in awe and just mesmerized by this girl. The boy loves this girl. But wait, the boy is a little bit younger than the girl, and the boy has a girlfriend. The boy wants to make things work with his girlfriend. He loves her. So the boy pushes those feelings down and becomes good friends with the girl, but they flirt with each other constantly, and others start picking up on an energy between them. The boy's girlfriend also starts picking up on the energy between her boyfriend and the girl. She knows what her boyfriend looks like when he is in love. The boy and the girl are going to finally be the leads in the show. It is a very exciting time, and the boy and girl get a lot closer. Things with the boy and his girlfriend start to sour for various reasons, and the girlfriend starts to get a little insecure and jealous of the girl. The boy tries to distance himself from the girl, but then has to redirect all his attention on the girl when they start filming their season. This is the breaking point with the boy and his girlfriend, and they part ways. The boy and the girl channel all of their pent up sexual chemistry and feelings into their characters, and they are having an amazing time. The dials on the flirting turn to 11, and they start toying with the idea of acting on their feelings in private. Eventually, they do. Their season wraps up, and they are having a great time with each other in private. Things are going well for a while, and they are playing sneaky little SM games with the fans to tease that they might be a little more than friends. However, the girl is pretty jaded about love, and has not prioritized that part of her life in a long time. The girl also really likes the boy, and doesn't want to mess anything up between them. The boy is ALL IN though, and wants something more than casual. The girl puts the breaks on the relationship, but there are a lot of deep feelings for each other that both of them have still not shared. The boy then goes on a HBS and casually dates people who seem totally different from the girl because the boy is a little heartbroken, and does not want to be reminded of the girl. The boy is also not emotionally available, because the boy and the girl never established firm boundaries on what their relationship will be moving forward. Eventually, the boy meets someone that he has fun with, and she gets along with his friends. However, the boy and the girl come back together to finish filming for their season, and ALL of the feelings come flooding back. But the boy is again (kind of) in a relationship, but BOOM the boy and the girl then have to spend the next 6 months promoting their season all over the world with all of these unresolved feelings...

Alright, I have to say, I had a lot of fun writing that 😂 Soooo, these are my theories on where L/N were at when the PR tour started in January. And then I already talked about my theories on what happened between them on the PR tour. Which leads us to London...

London

I will say this, I personally didn't observe any MAJOR changes in the nonverbal cues in how L/N were interacting with each other in London. Also, which was particularly telling to me, N still had the total heart eyes for L (you can tell because L has this habit of losing track of what he is saying when she is looking at him like that, which he did at least twice from what I remember during the various interviews they did in London). She also just had this happy glow about her like she was really at ease and content (which I also thought was interesting because they both must have been SOO tired by this point 🤔). HOWEVER, I did notice that L seemed a little more anxious than normal, and started using more distancing language and just in general seemed way less on-board with the shipping around L/N. And by the London red carpet, I realized something big was going on internally for L based on the body language and behavior. SOME of that I think is because red carpet events are just challenging for him in general (might have something to do with his anxiety and ADHD). I also think though that there was a lot more going on BTS during this period than we were privy to at the time. Here are my thoughts on what was going on during London (based off everything we know now):

Let's first remember the goldmine that was Ireland (which was JUST a few days prior). And I choose to believe N that L/N stayed the weekend with her family (which is still WILD to me that she admitted that on a public interview, because people are obviously going to read into that 🙃). And also WHYYY would she lie about that, when it's such a personal thing and had nothing to do with the show. I mean yes, maybeee she was lying, but it just doesn't really make sense to me that she would lie about THAT.

I started noticing near the last leg of the tour (by Toronto), N started to be a LOT more obvious about her feelings for L, and was making some pretty big slip-ups (and personally I observed that it seemed L was the one who was noticing and trying to correct for that and not let the WHOLE cat out of the bag). Now why was N being so obvious? SHE WAS REALLY HAPPY WITH HIM. And I think this is a lot newer for N because she has been so jaded about love and romance for such a long time. Even though I firmly believe L fell first, I think this was a lot more of a big deal for N because she hasn't had something like this in a long time (imo). So she was just really excited and giddy and having a hard time hiding it.

I think L/N had some conversations while they were in Ireland about how they were going to handle their public narrative moving forward, because like I mentioned in my A theories here, L was always going to have to start publicly distancing himself from N (REGARDLESS of what was actually going on with L/N BTS). And personally, I think that started by the promo in London, which I think was kind of jarring for the public that was following along considering L/N's behavior just a few days before in Ireland.

Therefore, I think a lot of this change in body language and responses from L was coming from the feelings he was having around this, as well as knowing that soon he would have to go public with A. I'm sure this was incredibly stressful, and as we know, L is not very subtle or good at lying/hiding his true feelings. However, I don't think this shift in L was coming from any type of shift in feelings between L/N. I think by London, L had become super self-conscious and in his head about everything, and I think he was just ready to be done with the promo because it was giving him a lot of anxiety. I think a lot of those feelings though were coming from wanting to protect NICOLA. I think L/N had a plan on how they were going to handle distancing in their public narrative after the London premiere, BUT I personally believe A hijacked that narrative...

To Papgate and Beyond

So, I think we all know the events of everything that has happened since the London premiere between L/N/A, and I still stand by my thoughts on the situation here. This is what I will add (again, these are just theories though based on the information we have now and what I have observed):

I am fairly certain that A was responsible for tipping the paps off for the hotel pics because she was upset and trying to reclaim some control on the situation. It was obvious that DM's objective was to sell a certain narrative, and they weren't really able to get that because I don't think L had any plan to publicly acknowledge her that night (mainly based on the damage control he had to do right after, and how L/N were interacting on SM following the event). The only person who benefited from those pics was A, and all the roads lead back to her being involved with DM in some type of way if you look at all the information we have now. Now was L's team involved with the first set of pap pics after the after party? Maybe, I just don't have enough information to say yes or no. I could see though that this may have been planned in advance on his side to start to publicly distance/seperate himself some form N. However, I don't really have any information to prove that, more just a feeling.

I think part of the understanding that L came to with A after Brazil was allowing her to get attention by publicly linking herself to him, regardless of the negative impact it may have on his career in the short-run. I think the reason it seems like he is just passively letting things happen around him related to SM and the press is because HE IS. After Papgate 2.0 and all the information that came out around that, it became clear to me that A has a larger goal to get her name out there THROUGH HIM, regardless of how it makes him look. And I think there is an understanding between L/A that he's just not going to ask questions and let her do what she wants and let the cards fall where they may for right now.

Now you might say, that doesn't make a lot of sense, why would he do that, it seems like kind of a poor choice career wise? Yes, I agree, this was not a great career move (and I think he underestimated HOW MUCH of an impact this was going to have). However, like I have said, it is my belief that L decided he was going to take the bullet for what (MAY) have occurred between him and N on the tour because he's trying to protect NICOLA's public image. I think he had a different plan though on how he was going to introduce A to the public, but once A hijacked that, I think he was kind of just stuck in a situation where he had to let A do what she wants because again, HE DOESN'T WANT A TO LEAK INFORMATION ABOUT HIM AND N.

If ANY of my theories around A that I have mentioned so far are true (and I am almost certain that SOME of them are), there is NO way L/A are doing great on an emotional level. Which is why the public optics around them have looked so strange starting from when she was publicly introduced at Papgate. I think it is also PARTICULARLY telling that even though the cat is out of the bag regarding A, his team will still not publicly confirm she is his girlfriend. Personally, I think that is intentional because it makes it easier to untangle himself more quietly from her in like 3-4 months (which I think is the plan). I could be wrong though of course, but something in my gut, based on everything I have seen, tells me that they aren't all happy and boo'd up like A the press wants us to think. There are just too many weird and shady things going on BTS.

Lastly, I think it was ALWAYS the plan for L/N to publicly disconnect after the London premiere. However, that doesn't really have anything to do with their private relationship. We only see a small sliver of their lives, and we have no way of knowing the full story BTS because we don't know them. I also think a lot of people are struggling with the fact that there was SO MUCH content of them for MONTHS, and now we have been cut off cold turkey. I don't personally find though the lack of content or SM interactions with each other currently as a direct indicator of the status of their relationship (ex: I don't think it's a direct indicator that they have ill feelings towards each other). Let's assume my theory is correct that the PR tour forced the two of them to address some deep feelings for each other that they had been having for a while, and those feelings were reciprocated. And then this newfound evolution in their relationship played out on a very public stage while L was publicly connected to someone else. That is a lot of pressure and incredibly stressful. I could not even imagine. Therefore, I think L/N are navigating some complicated things in private, but I don't think that it negates the positive emotional shift they had during the tour. I think they need to take this time out of the public eye to explore these complex, newfound feelings and developments in their relationship. I still don't think though that we would have seen what we did between L/N during the tour by Toronto if they weren't on the same page about seriously exploring their romantic feelings at some point in the near future. But those are just my thoughts...

Anywhooo, that concludes my L/N timeline theories 😊 Thanks for coming to my TedTalk! 😂

[fisheito]

still thinking about those promo pics where they locked the tops and bottoms in separate rooms

[necrotic-nephilim]

this is not a ship post, but something that frustrates me a lot in fanon concerning Jason Todd that attempts to soften Jason's return to Gotham for the sake of found family domesticity or easy hurt/comfort or just sliding him into the Batfam sooner, is they all seem to fundamentally misunderstand Jason.

because there seem to be a lot of fandom popular concepts of Jason coming home much sooner and just not having his whole Under The Red Hood arc. which in theory is fine and i can see the want to simplify canon to make room for your lighthearted more fluff-leaning concepts. but in everyone without fail, the way they address the clown-shaped elephant in the room is by having some throwaway line that "oh Jason quietly kills the Joker and moves on".

when the Joker being dead or alive is not the *point*. if by some chance accident, the Joker had died prior to Jason's return, whether by ridiculous freak accident, getting whacked by a fellow villain, hell even someone actually doing so to avenge Jason, it *would not* satiate Jason's anger. because Jason's end goal in UtRH is not to simply kill the Joker: it is to make *Bruce* kill the Joker. Jason's anger is directed to the idea that to Jason, if Bruce truly loved Jason, he would've killed the Joker. that is love, for Jason. compromising your personal values for love and not letting someone go unavenged. when Jason was Robin, almost every angry or misguided thing he did was born of love. he wanted to kill/hurt Two-Face because he believed Dent killed his father. he was so angry at Felipe because an innocent woman was dead due to that man's actions. he wanted to save his mother in a situation he knew he shouldn't be in because he loved her. his anger, his violence, it is driven by love and feelings of righting wrongs. that is how he thinks wrongs *should* be righted. that is how you avenge and *love* someone.

because so long as Jason's return to Gotham doesn't end in Bruce killing the Joker (which, it never will bc Bruce is Bruce), Jason will never forgive Bruce. you cannot wave away the layers of hurt and complicated trauma by killing Joker offscreen. because Jason will still be angry that Bruce didn't avenge him. in his eyes, that means Bruce did not love him enough. he was not truly loved by Bruce the way he loved Bruce. bc Bruce was Jason's whole *world*. prior to being taken in, Dick and Tim, they had support systems. they had loved ones. they knew what stability and healthy family love looked like. Jason *didn't*. and that's not to say that Catherine Todd did not love him with her whole heart and thus he loved her, but it certainly wasn't a stable and safe support system for Jason to grow up in. Bruce was Jason's first real sense of a stable, healthy life. and so of course Jason poured everything into Bruce and loved Bruce so devoutly. Bruce was his world. like he says, if it had been Bruce, Jason would've stopped at nothing.

so his betrayal is rooted in that he was not avenged, not that Joker is alive. so long as the Joker does not die by Bruce's hands, it will never be enough for Jason. (in this era, at least.) notably, this is also why i don't think it would change a thing if Jason knew the whole "oh Bruce wanted to kill the Joker but Superman stopped him" tidbit that fanon has really latched onto as a way to pacify Jason's anger toward Bruce. Jason knowing that wouldn't change a thing, in my opinion. because Jason knows Bruce. and a tenant of Bruce's character is that he grapples with murder *every day*. the whole point is how *easy* it would be for him. he is a human weapon, trained by killers, trained to be deadly. he is the greatest strategist to exist. he knows he could kill someone and get away with it. *no* trace, no proof, nothing. and he knows he *wants* to. wants to kill the Joker, Joe Chill, anyone who's hurt him that viscerally.

but he *doesn't*. that's the point. Bruce wakes up every day with that question on his mind, and every day the answer is the same. Bruce's morality is not a decision he made in an alleyway when his parents died, it's a decision he continues to make every day and he *must* continue to make in order to remain who he is. Jason is quite familiar with the fact that Bruce grapples with this daily. i do not think it surprised nor fazed Jason to know that Bruce did *consider* killing the Joker. that he wanted to. maybe even planned to. but a consideration, a want, a plan, is just a thought. it's nothing substantial, and substance is everything to Jason. at the end of the day, Bruce didn't. he was talked down by *Clark* of all people with an excuse of diplomatic immunity, as if Jason and Bruce don't both know that Bruce could've *easily* found a way to make it look like an accident or some other loophole. because he's Batman. there's always a loophole. he always finds a way when he actually intends to. but he never actually intended to kill the Joker. so he didn't. and Jason would know that there was never an intent. it's an interesting piece of fodder to add to the nuance of Jason and Bruce, but honestly, i think it'd make Jason angrier to have that excuse thrown in his face. as if Bruce hasn't beaten Clark half a dozen times by now. it's a flimsy nonsense excuse that Jason would rip to shreds.

so while yes, i understand the wish for easy lighthearted fanfic that doesn't have to deal with the nuances of canon, i think that Jason's character will always be so deeply robbed and altered if you try to fix his thirst for vengeance with an off-page killing of Joker at Jason's hands. it was never the point. the point was that -in his own eyes- he wasn't loved enough for Bruce to make an acception. he realized that not even his *death* would come before Bruce's Mission. Jason truly believed that Bruce loved him and held him as the most important thing in the world, and now he has proof that Bruce didn't. because the Mission mattered more.

i'm not saying i have a solution to this conundrum if you're attempting to solve it for fanfic/fanon, nor am i even saying it's a bad thing it exists. i just think it becoming overwhelmingly common has led to misunderstandings surrounding Jason's motivations and feelings about this arc and it's an unsatisfying solution that only seeks to pacify Jason's rage and his trauma responses for the sake of found family-ification.

[lemonberry-soda]

Do you ever think about the fact that Ted is hypersexual due to his childhood/teenage traumas or is that just me?

Like not only did he associate losing his first love forever with not being douchebaggy enough, but he also experienced the Lumber Axe and survived. With how quickly Peter was about to be murdered for looking at Ted’s old magazine you KNOW Ted probably had to deal with narrow escape after narrow escape himself. Ted literally suppresses the memory of the Lumber Axe entirely until bringing Peter to camp reminds him, and he doesn’t even take Peter with him as he runs away. He is FUcked up.

My guy went for the cat lady who cut off his fingers because sex is inherently dangerous to him in his mind. He goes for the worst options on purpose because sex isn’t safe unless there’s risk, and he goes for the best options just to lose them on purpose so they don't leave him first, as many times as possible until he's single and lonely at the wedding reception. He’s a sleazeball as a coping mechanism, and he keeps dying for it. One single safe relationship would decimate this dude, and it also wouldn’t fix him. Therapy would do wonders if he actually accepted how messed up he is. And tbh, if TInky wasn’t around there might’ve been a chance for him to recover.

Anyway another reason this dweeb is doomed by the narrative and fucked up beyond belief

[m00nchildwrites]

Team Rafayel is more than just a silly, bratty baby girl.

I mean... are y'all even paying attention?

[batarangsoundsdumb]

[secriden]

so. lets talk about an unhappily married rich tai tai!tongrak and bodyguard!mahasamut au

Note: tai tai (太太) is slang for a trophy wife of a rich man who doesn't work and lives a life of luxury. (think Desperate Housewives types)

(inspired by this inexplicably TVB drama-esque fortpeat photoshoot and a feverish exchange yesterday with @williamrikers):

tongrak winds up being arranged marriage off as a child to the son of another rich family (something like lian/kuea in cutie pie, but minus any actual feelings/history). tongrak's family is new money rich and not as established but his husband-to-be is from one of those old money practically royalty families and MUCH wealthier. tongrak decides to uphold the agreement once he's of age cuz it'll help his family establish their business too and and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with his life anyway. so he gets married right out of university to his fiance who is. fine. you know, fairly handsome and decent in bed and stuff. tongrak can't complain.

so things are just normal and honestly kind of boring and tongrak spends most of his days shopping or hanging out with connor and vie when they're not busy or writing for fun. he likes writing a lot, and his husband allows him to indulge in his hobby although he's told in no uncertain terms that he can never try to get published because that wouldn't be a 'good look' for the company.

but over the years his husband grows increasingly controlling, needing to know where tongrak is at all times, limiting his time with his friends (especially connor), and growing more and more jumpy and paranoid as if he thinks someone is after him.

things come to a head one day when their house is broken into. the invaders use tongrak to threaten his husband (he gets a smacked around a bit) and this is how tongrak finds about the secret safe, and the shady business partners, and the fact that their entire fortune is now tied up in some very risky business ventures with loose ties to the mafia. (like they're still rich af but if things go wrong the whole company could crumble like a house of cards)

tongrak is furious. husband tells him he'll handle things, orders him to be silent. threatens to go after his sister and mother if tongrak goes to the authorities. so tongrak has no choice but to keep quiet, but he demands that he gets to find a personal bodyguard and insists that he gets to choose him personally.

enter: mahasamut. tongrak finds out about him through connor, and mahasamut agrees to move from the island to Bangkok to bodyguard for a truly insane amount of money because why not? (connor doesn't tell tongrak that mahasamut had refused the job until he'd sent him tongrak's picture) ((for the purposes of this story, mahasamut's has a vague military background))

at first, tongrak and mahasamut don't exactly get along because mahasamut is cocky and sarcastic and rude and pushes all of tongrak's buttons. (he's also so fucking sexy and tongrak finds himself waking up to wet sheets for the first time since his literal teenage years. he starts something with his husband but although they both come tongrak still feels like something was missing).

the 2nd time their home is invaded, the husband isn't around and mahasamut manages to fight off the 3 men sent to their home who were suppose to beat tongrak up as a warning to his husband. who is evidently Not Handling It.

in the aftermath, tongrak is very shaken and at one point had gotten cut because one of the thugs had shattered a glass cabinet which triggered a flashback of his memories of his abusive father. mahasamut winds up talking him down from his panic attack (although the invaders manage to escape while mahasamut's attentions are on tongrak), and holding tongrak until he stops shaking.

things thaw considerably between them. mahasamut is so incredibly gentle with tongrak over the next few days and keeps trying to cheer him up/distract him from his worries cuz he gets super jumpy. they go on cute grocery shopping dates outings so mahasamut can cook for him. tongrak also delights in watching mahasamut try all the fancy fusion food you can only find in Bangkok. he tells mahasamut about his writing and mahasamut asks to read some of his work and tells him what he likes about his stories and tongrak's never felt so seen in his life.

husband comes home from his business trip and tongrak and he have a huge yelling match where husband dismisses tongrak's fear because "nothing really happened to you, you're fine" and keeps insisting he just "needs more time to sort things out" and "stop being such a drama queen about this".

(mahasamut stands outside the room, fists clenched, feet rooted in place. he knows he can't do anything but the way tongrak's voice breaks with his tears nearly makes him reach for the door.)

husband goes on another business trip and tongrak says fuck it. he doesn't feel safe in his home, so he asks mahasamut if they can go visit his island. husband is displeased but can't really find a good reason to say no to the request, so tongrak books the flights and the private yacht and mashsamut watches in fond amusement as tongrak packs his bag with completely unpractical cothes - all silk and velvet tops and leather and corduroy pants with silver buckles.

(mahasamut secretly packs a much more practical set of clothes in his own bag for tongrak: shorts and light cotton shirts and hey if he adds a few of the semi-translucent shirts he loves on tongrak that's his business.)

the island is truly paradise, and tongrak is able to forget the whole mess of the situation with the business and his husband. mahasamut takes him out to sea, teaches him how to free dive and shows him all the secret places only the locals know. talks about how much he loves the island and its people and how greedy corporations are starting to slowly choke the life out if the land. opens up about his father and how he's learned to be strong because he never had anyone to rely on. how he's learned to embrace violence so he'd have the power to choose gentleness.

when tongrak leans forward and kisses him, it feels inevitable. it feels like fate.

[explicit stuff under the cut]

what are we doing? tongrak thinks, even as he goes pliant under mahasamut's hands, licks his fingertips, before sucking them into his mouth.

where is this going? mahasamut wonders, as he watches tongrak sink down on his cock, pretty pretty lips caught between teeth as they both gasp for air.

i'm going to keep you. tongrak vows, as he presses his fingers against the red marks littered across his collarbones and lets himself fall back into masasamut's endlessly warm embrace.

(they don't talk about it, even though they probably should. but tongrak doesn't know what he can promise, and mahasamut is too afraid to reach for too much only to watch tongrak slip entirely from his fingers.)

they fuck like animals for the week they spend on the island, learning each other's bodies inside and out. tongrak has a series of discoveries about himself and his body that has him questioning how he could have lived in his passionless marriage for the past 10 years.

the days leading up to their return to Bangkok are hard. tongrak hates watching the marks mahasamut left on his skin slowly fade again. mahasamut starts marking him with his come instead - on his chest, his lips, his cock, his hole; rubbed into his skin like an invisible promise. it's not enough, but it helps; settles tongrak inside his skin just a little bit so that he can bear going home.

returning home isn't easy, and once-familiar spaces feel like strangers; tongrak cannot recognise himself anymore in the rich tapestries and ostentatious furniture. he feels hallowed out, like mahasamut dug into his core and then put him back together wholly differently.

he hates that he has to be careful now. he can't touch mahasamut, can't allow his eyes to linger too long for fear that his husband's servants will report to their master that tongrak's been unfaithful. he knows, now, that his husband can be cruel, that he has ties to people who can make mahasamut disappear and suddenly tongrak's gained a slew of new nightmares overnight.

his husband's hands feel like brands on his skin. he can't refuse, because he has no reason to; tongrak's never refused sex before, so it would be too obvious if he suddenly starts now. but its torture and tongrak hates the splintered look of pain in mahasamut's eyes the morning after his husband returns home.

the night after his husband leaves again, tongrak lays awake until 3 in the morning, waiting for the house to fall completely silent around him. he sneaks his way to mahasamut's room, crawls into his bed, lets mahasamut kiss away his silent tears and quiet his frantic apologies; lets mahasamut make love to him until dawn begins to break. when mahsamut comes inside him, something fundamental slots back into place.

it's mahasamut that breaks the silence. eyes wide, shoulders hunched - its the smallest tongrak has ever seen mahasamut and it pulls something sharp inside his ribs.

i think i'm in love with you, mahasamut tells him, and tongrak has to stifle his sobs in his fist.

(the servants are waking up soon, he has to go, but this matters. this matters.)

i love you too, he whispers back and the way the first rays of the sun break on the smile on mahasamut's lips makes tongrak's breath catch inside his chest.

when tongrak sneaks back into his room, barely settling under the covers before one of the maids knocks on his door to 'wake' him up he feels settled in his skin in a way he never has before. he doesn't have an answer yet, but he will.

something has to give, and for the warmth of mahasamut's arms and the desperation in his kisses, tongrak will find a way.

[artemis-pendragon]

Hands up if you're excited for the angst and drama when Dorian finds out about Orym's deal with Morri

[rat-rosemary]

"Jeez, I wonder why Dteam fans don't like us"

^^^ Was immediately aggressive and rude the moment the fandom even brushed against yours

[an1muuarts]

what was komaeda like during his school years at hpa?

bc there are contradicting stuff in the series

in sdr2, it was because of the stress of the killing game that caused him to be active in causing mayhem, like convincing ppl to kill in ch1 and 2

in island mode, he's pretty harmless, he just says some out of pocket stuff from time to time

but in makoto's secret file, komaeda was "constantly getting into trouble, so much so that it concerned the headmaster"

and idk if he's just being weird, or he just straight up doing criminal stuff in hpa

(if the former was true, i find it ao funny bc in the short story, the board of directors, four old men, shuddered at the mere thought of this guy)

returning back to topic, i wonder what kind of environment hpa actually is. bc it is described as the most peaceful and hopeful time before junko came along. we never actually saw what its actually like inside

if its a really stressful environment, almost matching the stress of the killing games, then it would make sense that komaeda would start shit up; otherwise it doesnt

in the dr3 anime, it really seems like its a very laid back school, where the stress only came from the examinations that come from time to time. other than that, the students just do their own thing in the meantime, i dont think they even hold classes

well, i dont think the dr3 anime is canon, cuz its not written by the dr team nor kodaka

[offjumpoladulkittiporn]

I'm so glad off got to meet his fashion icon at paris fashion week this year 🥰 our hawaiian shirt KING 😍